IMATS 2010 - the Fallout

The International Make-up Artist Trade Show 2010 was officially the biggest and best attended IMATS in the history of the event. This year, the London leg of the show tour was at the Alexandra Palace in North London. Brands from all over the world attended; from the hair care, tanning, prosthetics and cosmetic industries. Our involvement with the show was very last minute; Alex Box signed up as a keynote speaker and Spob - Head of Professional Development here at Illamasqua - organised our participation.

We enlisted the help of some of our fabulous counter staff including Adam, Halimah, Lucy, Urszula [from Fenwich Newcastle] and Nicola. As many of you are aware, Nicola creates videos as Pixiwoo on Youtube and she was in high demand at the event for photos and signatures!


Lucy, who specialises in body art and fantastical make-up, went to work on a model creating a beautiful Avatar-like look whilst Adam set about creating a range of porcelain dolls.

My video from IMATS will be going on to Youtube - I'll post the link shortly!

I grabbed a quick word with an exhausted but exhilirated Spob this morning, who tells me "it was fantastic to meet so many make-up artist students. We can't wait to host more academy events at their colleges. If they would like more information, ask their head of year to email us at info@illamasqua.com. It was also amazing to meet so many of the bloggers and beauty press." What did she think of Alex Box's speech? "Thankfully, Trudi and I had a seat reserved for Alex Box's speech; the queue to get in was rather crazy! It was fabulous to see the reception she received." So, plans for next year? "Oh yes. Bigger, better... I can't wait! But I will definitely be booking a holiday for the week after!" I think you'll deserve it, Spob.

Trudi - "At Illamasqua, we have a determined policy to invest time in the professional world. It's an important message as we are the first truly professional make-up brand. During the next year we will be working with professional artists and make-up colleges to get them familiar with the brand and demonstrate what our products can do as well as to inspire and excite them."

"IMATS wasn't on our agenda but the opportunity presented itself and we just had to do it - it is THE make-up show!"

"I had a great time meeting professional artists, students, bloggers, press, the IMATS team... what a great reception we got! Alex Box's keynote speech was fabulous and the blue Medium Pencil in 'Debonair' that she was wearing on her lips quickly sold out."

"Someone said to me that Illamasqua is new but not new; that we have fitted straight into the professional environment, which is unprecedented for a brand only 14 months old. I thought that was lovely."

Below is the winner of the student make-up artist competition, where the theme was Alice in Wonderland. I think this look to some influence from one of Alex Box's images...


Spob, Trudi and I would also like to thank the entire Illamasqua team for all their hard work and dedication.

IMATS!

Make-Up Artist magazine produces the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show (or IMATS), and on the 30th and 31st January it will be time for IMATS to hit London! The anticipation has reached fever pitch in the bloggersphere from what I can see - and I am just as excited.

IMATS have been chasing us to appear at the event for some time - we finally agreed about 3 weeks ago and poor Spob [Head of Professional Development] has been slaving away getting everything organised - and there is a lot to organise, but we do love a challenge!

As I am sure you all know, Alex Box will be speaking around 2:30pm on the Saturday. I will be going along on Saturday to help out and to meet some bloggers, so if you want to grab a coffee let me know and I'm sure I can fit in some time to see you! Especially you guys I haven't met before :-)

I will also be doing some filming so come along and give us your views!

As well as the speakers, I am looking forward to the makeup museum that I have heard whispers about, as well as the contests featuring make-up students. If you are a student or a teacher from a make-up college, we have developed an Illamasqua Academy that will come to your college to discuss Illamasqua, the products, some tips and tricks as well as the chance to meet some top theatre, film and fashion make-up artists. Drop an email to info@illamasqua.com if you would like to speak with Spob further on this. She will also be at IMATS so come along and have a chat with us.

One More Day To Enter MizzWorthy/ Illamasqua Competition...

To all of you already on your Christmas breaks, or with a spare evening tonight, why not enter our competition where you can win a Limited Edition Alex Box by Rankin book, signed by Alex Box herself and a set of Limited Edition lashes.

Our critically acclaimed cruelty free brushes worth over £60 make up the second place prize.

All you have to do to enter is...

Come up with a make-up look inspired by your own alter ego... something different, inventive, innovative, creative... what ever you like!

Red eyes, silver lips, gold cheeks... anything goes! The winners will be judged on the basis of originality and creativity not just professional technique. Simply send in a photograph or blog page to the mizzworthy blog.

You can use any products or media you like to create your look...

The contest closes at Midnight on Wednesday 17th December. This is the final deadline and no extensions will be made - if we extend then Alex Box will be unable to judge due to her schedule.

Finalists will be chosen by Mizzworthy and Krystal and the shortlist forwarded on to Alex Box who will come in to judge the winner and runner up by 22nd December.



HAVE FUN!

For inspiration, I have included some images that Halimah created for our Golden Goddess video on Youtube and some beautiful images I found on ModelMayhem - one of my favourite places to have a browse when I need some inspiration of my own!


Go to modelmayhem.com and search for a make-up artist and click on one of their images. Underneath this it will come up with a "list" and show all the lists that the image has featured on. If you click on the "list" it will show all the images that that particular list creator loves. Seriously, only do this if you have a spare hour as I predict you will spend ages browsing!

Here are some of my current favourites...

Bah! Humbug! The Anti-Christmas Party With The Broken Hearts DJs

The Broken Hearts, a seriously cool DJ duo - described by Timeout magazine as "Turntable goddesses... guaranteed to pull out a plethora of delights from both the DJ crate and the dressing-up box" - hosted the Back to Ours: Bah! Humbug! Anti-christmas party at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden on Friday 11th December.

They are big fans of Illamasqua and asked us to come along and create some party looks on their guests, so Adam, Mika and Helen set up a make-up table complete with stencils and went colour crazy!

Alex Box [Creative Director] and Kate Massarella [Brand Director] also popped down for a lime daiquiri [or three] but I couldn't find any pictures of them... I think they were too busy propping up the bar!

Black heart motifs were painted on to everyone from the bar men, to the Broken Hearts themselves and almost all of the guests - who ranged from burlesque artists to club kids to media moguls - using Eye Liner Cake in 'Mislead' mixed with Sealing Gel for ultimate staying power.


On hand to take lots of snaps was the lovely Christopher James, founder of weknowwhastyoudidlastnight.com

The beautiful set was designed by Petra Stoors, the acclaimed set designer who has a client list that includes Alexander McQueen.




The black and white theme of the evening was only broken by the bright Intense Lipglosses - 'Besotted' and 'Indulge' were the most requested according to the artists.

It all got a messy at the end, a sure sign of a great night...

Thanks to The Broken Hearts girls, Christopher James, Ali at The Hospital Club, Petra Storrs and everyone else for a fantastic night!

New Trend?

Are the lower lashes the new upper lashes? When a style setter such as Agyness Deyn rock the look, you can guarantee that this is what all the cool kids will be up to over the Christmas party season.

I tried the look with our False Eye Lashes 23 - the ones with the green shot through. I think the effectiveness of Agyness' look is highlighted by that super dark, glossy blunt fringe to accentuate her blue eyes.


What do you think?

I also hope you are all rocking your Sophie wristbands today...

Product of the Week: Medium Pencil in Severe

Due to the rapidly diminishing sunshine hours of London at the moment [total today: approx. 12 minutes...] I think that an autumnal colour deserves the accolage of Product of the Week.

When Alex Box became Creative Director of Illamasqua, the pencils were one of the most important products for her; "I wanted a product that could be used anywhere - face art, body art etc. I wanted to leave the interpretation of the product up to the user rather than saying "This MUST be used on the eyes or this MUST be used on the lips. It's just a stick of intense, matt colour."

The Illamasqua Medium Pencils are unique because of the formulation, versatility and colour intensity. The creamy consistency means that they can be used in place of [or underneath] lip products, yet are also long wearing and smudge-proof on the eyes or for scrawling all over the body!

Both Halimah [Product Development intern and working make-up artist] and I love 'Severe' for the deep wine stain that it leaves on the lips. Personally, I like an eye pencil to be as bold on the waterline as much as on the actual skin and for this reason, I believe the Illamasqua Medium Pencils to be one of the best pencils on the market.

As you can see above, it creates a flawless matt finish. I am all about the matt, but if you like a glossy look, just slick a clear gloss on top. Nothing says autumn has officially arrived like a burgundy lip!

Mika Comes to Cardiff!

Mika will be making a highly anticipated guest appearance on the Debenhams Cardiff counter on Thursday 19th, Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November.

If you would like to meet the Selfridges London National Make-up Artist, star of the Dystopia collection adverts and infamous mainstay of the London club scene, give the Debenhams Cardiff Illamasqua counter a ring on 02920342278.

I grabbed a quick word with Mika to find out more about the Dystopia photoshoot, his favourite products and his excitement about visiting Cardiff...

Hey Mika! How are you?

"Really well - looking forward to meeting the girls at the Cardiff counter tomorrow. They have all offered to take me out on the town and I haven't visited Cardiff before so it's all very exciting."

Your always out on the town! How do you think the Cardiff night-life will compare to London?

"You'll have to ask me when I'm back! I am currently running a weeky club called Vogue at Willa's in Mayfair. The theme of the night is always the current issue of Vogue - inspired by the photo shoots or the adverts running in the magazine, the night is an artistic melting pot of fashionistas, club kids, models, socialites and a variety of people from the fashion, beauty and art worlds."

I have been dying to ask you what the Dystopia photoshoot was like - it must have been fabulous!

"You were there?!"

For about half an hour! How long did your day last?!

"The call was 8am and when I got there, Alex Box was already in 6 inch heels, which she lasted on all day - what an icon! Even I can't manage that - the whole shoot, from start to finish was 13 hours. Alex created three looks on me and each took about two hours to complete. My favourite look is the black and white one, with the swirly face patterns. Alex did all of it in one go and I was amazed at how little post-production there was. I've always assumed that everything was airbrushed for weeks after the photo shoot, but I saw the final images a few days after the shoot. You can't airbrush art; you would lose the point of it."

Too right. So, what are your favourite products from the Dystopia collection?

"I adore the Pure Pigment in 'Android' - the dark, sultry shimmer is just such a versatile product. I love to layer it on top of Cream Eye Shadow in 'Debauch' or 'Entangle' or even the Concealer in '350' for a really gorgeous, but quick and easy, smoky eye.
I also love the False Lashes 21. They are stunning."


Will you be wearing them on the Cardiff counter?

"Perhaps, but I am currently rocking the Limited Edition Decadence lashes - the silver ones. At Halloween I put them in my eye brows for winged brows!"

You'll have to send me a photo. What has been your defining moment working for Illamasqua?

"That's a tough one! The past year has been absolutely amazing for me, both professionally and personally. I think that the crowning glory would be the advert that is going to run in next months iD magazine - a double page advert of the back-to-back image of me in the Dystopia ads. I am so excited to see that I can barely contain myself! I also loved that the Sunday Times Style featured a picture of me and of course the Dystopia shoot was just the best day ever."


Here is a photo of Mika and myself - we bumped into each other at Gay Pride in the Summer... his pout is substantially better than mine!


Book now for a lesson with Mika - £20 redeemable against purchases made on the day.

People Update!

Hello everyone - phew, it's been a busy past few weeks but I am here to give you all some updates!

We were really thrilled on Saturday because the Independant ran a great feature on theatrical make-up and even had our beautiful Dystopia promo image as the front cover of The New Review, the Saturday supplement.





Click on the images to enlarge them and have a read of the article - it's very interesting and thought provoking.

We had the House of Blue Eyes show and the All Walks Beyond The Catwalk event on Friday and yesterday we created looks for A Child of the Jago fashion show at Wilton's music hall. The label is the brainchild of Joe Corre [of Agent Provocateur fame] and was attended by Vivienne Westwood, amongst others. Unfortunately, I didn't get the time to go! I am awaiting some images from the show though and will get those up as soon as I receive them.



By the way, has anyone read the 1896 Child of the Jago book by Arthur Morrison? It's a Dickens-esque novel about the life of street children in the Victorian slums. I read it as a comparison point to Oliver Twist when I was about 16 and it's a very beautiful [but brutal] analogy of the streets of London in the 19th century.

So a quick update on people:

Katie, our wonderful Product Development Manager has several top secret projects on the go for next seasons collection [ideas currently being bandied around] as well as the mascara expansion project and special products for our birthday and Christmas coming up [the celebrations begin on 31st October - I'll let you know more closer to the time but it's going to be awesome!]

Jennifer is currently managing our Sephora expansion - 27 stores at present and I can reveal that we now have a new one in Roseville, California due to launch in November! Exciting stuff.

Kate is in Birmingham today, assessing sites for our new counter and taking a look around Birmingham for marketing opportunities. I have only been out in Birmingham once but it was a great city with a fabulous night-time vibe and we really want to embrace that!

Jonathan, our Retail Operations Manager has been hard at work picking a brilliant team to head up the new Birmingham counter - new additions to the Illamasqua family! To think we only had 16 artists when we first launched... we have over 50 now, less than a year on!

Alex Box is really busy with the Fashion Weeks across the globe - Paris is the big one for her but we have still managed to squeeze some time in for an appearance at Selfridges Trafford on Saturday 3rd October - more details on that to follow!

We have some great events coming up for our first Birthday and with the excitement surrounding Dystopia, we will be sure to include demonstrations and get-the-looks across town. Plus, we have a new recruit to our Selfridges London freelance team that I think that some of you are going to be very excited to hear about....