IMATS and Califonia trip details DAY 1

Hi everyone! I had the BEST time in California this past weekend. I left my 2 babies with my mom, and I took my 5 year old daughter and my darling husband with me.

Day 1:

We arrived to Pasadena CA around 9am where my husband dropped me off at the IMATS convention.

There was about a mile long line to get in, but luckily, I had a nifty little pro card that got me to the very front of the line. No waiting for me!

The first class I wanted to take wasn't until 10, so I had some time to kill. I went in to the exhibit area and went right to the Kett booth. They sell really great airbrushing products. I left their booth with a 10-pack of smaller sized bottles of foundation, and 1 highlight color.

In the first class, I learned about the local 706 (union for makeup artsts). The presenter was very nice, much nicer than I had expected, and I learned quite a bit. On a side note, getting into the union is near impossible! You literally have to work for years to get in. 

The next class I took was from Donna Mee. She's an incredible makeup artist who taught about doing makeup for close-up beauty shots; how to really pay attention to detail.

From there, it was about 12:30 and I was ready to leave IMATS for the day. I had my hubby pick me up, and off to venice beach we went :)

venice beach

my husband and daughter at the beach

When we got back to our hotel from the beach, we saw a bunch of IMATS attendees standing around the lobby waiting for the after party to start. So we went up to our room, I got dressed and went down to the party solo. There were 2 parties: one was hosted by IMATS, which was very clique-y, so I didnt stay. The 2nd party was hosted by beautylish. I had met some of the editors for beautylish last year at IMATS when I was standing in line. That was when beautylish was very first getting started, and now it has blossomed into something huge! It was nice to catch up with some of the people I met last year and have a cocktail. Kandee Johnson, Queen of Blending, and a couple other bloggers were there as well.

Afterwards, my family and I headed out to Paseo Colorado, a nice shopping area near where the pasadena convention center is. Had dinner, headed back to the hotel, and had a nice night's sleep!