A Little IMATS Haul

Hi, everyone! If you saw my last post, you know that I attended the Sunday session of IMATS Toronto this year. It was a last minute treat to slip out and visit sans baby (I love bringing Ro to events, but it is also feels nice to fly solo once in a while) and I took the opportunity to soak in some amazing demos and scope out the beauty deals of the day. 

My budget was modest this year (as opposed to last year's haul, at least), so I really took my time browsing all of the vendors, their promotions, and offered brands. I wanted to select products that were on a decent sale, cannot be found easily in Toronto, or from smaller brands that I like to support. 

As with last year, I was really pleased to see that Frends Beauty was selling Melt Cosmetics. I've heard nothing but good things about Melt and especially that their eye shadow quality is top notch and that you get a ton of product in each pan. I've been drawn to the unique and functional packaging of their Eye Shadow Stacks and also love that the brand is cruelty-free. There were several Stacks to choose from, ranging from neons to neutrals and, after much consideration and swatch-searching, I opted for the Rust Stack. It typically retails for $58USD/$76CAD and I paid a show price of $45USD/$60CAD, saving about $15 overall. 

The Rust Stack features 5 matte shadows in a range of warm-toned hues: a cream, a peach, a mustard/peanut butter shade, a rusty bronze, and a neutral deep brown. I figured it to be the most wearable and versatile of the bunch and so very perfect for Fall! 

I'll be posting a full review of the Melt Rust Stack in a future post, so stay tuned for that. I included some swatches below as a sneak peek :)

Swatches of the Melt Cosmetics Rust Stack: (L-R): Classic, Antique, Rubbish, Rust, and Rott

I feel like it wouldn't be a proper IMATS if I didn't pick up some pro makeup brushes and the ones that won my heart this year were from Blur Makeup Room, a local beauty supply store with a great range of brands. These brushes are actually from their house brand and I loved that they were vegan (with synthetic fibers) and affordable. The Small Eye Shadow Brush and Large Eye Shadow Brush were $6CAD each. They're both incredibly soft and I know they'll become instant regulars in my stash. They're such classic shapes but I don't really have any other brushes like them! 

Other products that tempted me were the glitters from Lit Cosmetics, the discounted Anastasia Beverly Hills palettes at Frends, and the shadows and Hydra Liners from Suva Beauty. But I'm super happy with my choices- and my restraint! 

What did you pick up at IMATS this year? Have you tried any of the Melt Cosmetics Eye Shadow Stacks?

Thanks for stopping by! xo

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