The weekend that was… ABBW 2011 and IMATS Sydney
Last weekend I had the privilege of taking part in the Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend (ABBW), a history making event that brought together over 80 bloggers from across the nation. The ABBW was planned to coincide with IMATS Sydney 2011 (the International Makeup Artists Trade Show).
It was the brainchild of two extraordinary women who knew the beauty industry inside out, who are passionate about blogging, and who could subsist on 2hrs of sleep a night- they are Kimmi from The Plastic Diaries, and Jacie from You’ve Got Nail.
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IMATS
The International Makeup Artists Trade Show (IMATS) is held annually in Sydney, Toronto, Los Angeles, London, and New York. It’s one of the biggest events of the year in the makeup industry and caters for both professional makeup artists and hobbyists like myself.
Last weekend the IMATS exhibitors included MAC Pro, Inglot, Illamasqua, Ben Nye, Makeup Forever, Hakuhodo (aka the best brushes in the business), Napoleon Perdis, and Ardell. I went absolutely NUTS (will do a haul post very soon).
Our ABBW 2011 perks included a press pass to IMATS, as well as an upstairs chill out lounge just for ABBW bloggers (sponsored by Royal & Langnickel Brushes) with food, free manicures, and a free brush kit.
Did I feel like a VIP? Hell yes.
IMATS Sydney 2011 *
The long queue at the MAC Pro stand at IMATS Sydney 2011
Ooh Chromacakes .... MAC Pro stand at IMATS Sydney 2011
Photobombed! Sarah from Hip and Haute at IMATS Sydney 2011
Keep reading after the jump!
At the Inglot stand: Sarah from Hip and Haute, Meg from Beauty in the Sky, and ME.
IMATS Sydney 2011 special effects makeup demo
Lovely Celeste from Becoming Beautiful, Stevie from BeautyButterfly89, and Marusya from Crashing Red at ABBW lounge IMATS Sydney 2011
IMATS Sydney 2011- upstairs lounge *
Napoleon Perdis stand at IMATS Sydney 2011
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Beauty Directory event
On Saturday afternoon we all attended the Beauty Directory event at the Novotel Darling Harbour. Beauty Directory is described as a ‘Media and Industry insider’- for those working in Australia, it is the single best resource for both brand and product info, as well as media contacts.
This event was probably the most valuable part of the weekend for me. I learnt so much in that afternoon, and it’s changed the way I think about blogging, PR-blog relationships, and networking.
One of the points that kept coming up during the panel discussion was that PR companies do not expect or welcome “selling out” by bloggers. The integrity of bloggers is a big reason why we are quickly become a powerful voice in the market, and most PR companies understand that and do not expect us to abandon our honest opinions when reviewing a product that has been sent.
That said, when we work with PR companies we are working with them in a professional capacity, so professional courtesy should always be observed.
Beauty Directory event at ABBW 2011 *
Me with Eleanor Pendleton beauty editor of Instyle magazine *
about 10kg of goody bags each! Me with Marusya from Crashing Red and Steph from Beauty Soiree
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Maxted Thomas Gala Dinner
On the Saturday night, Maxted Thomas PR hosted an extravagant Gala event at the Establishment hotel for the bloggers attending ABBW 2011. The details were kept top secret right up until the moment we arrived.
As soon as we got out of the elevator we were greeted with champagne and goody bags. A pop up hair salon was set up (sponsored by Sebastian Professional and Remington) where we could get our hair styled by a senior hairdresser. In another hall, Orly were doing manicures with their new Gel Fx range, NIVEA had organised a photobooth, COTY PR had tastefully displayed their high end perfumes around the room (Balenciaga and Marc Jacobs), and Burts Bees were there too.
I was squee-ing on the inside.
We were spoilt later that night with an amazing dinner, an apparently bottomless wine glass, and a great opportunity to chat with other bloggers.
Maxted Thomas Event ABBW 2011
Getting my hair done at the Maxted Thomas Event ABBW 2011
Getting my hair done at the Maxted Thomas Event ABBW 2011
Lilit from Makeup and Macaroons, Me, and Annika from Haute and Stylish at Maxted Thomas Event ABBW 2011
Maxted Thomas Event ABBW 2011 *
Sunday
By this time most of us were running on adrenaline. The ABBW 2011 itinerary was 8am-10:30pm on the Saturday, and there was a 9am start on Sunday.
On the Sunday of ABBW 2011 we had some interesting events in store. First up we had the Alpha H presentation where we learnt about their new Liquid Gold Skin Perfecting System (and were lucky to receive a goody bag with the products); next we had the Face Of Australia workshop; and finally we had a rather interesting/controversial presentation by Key Note Speaker Bahar Etminan of rescu.com.au . I’m not going to go into detail about that here, but you can read all about it on Marusya’s post.
Me with Amy from Things I Love on day two of ABBW 2011
Me with Stacey from Add To Cart on Sunday morning
The post ABBW blues is a very real condition- I’ve been struck down with it myself and bloggers been tweeting about it all week. For the love of God let ABBW 2012 come round quickly!
* Images taken by Liz Giacco for The Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend, and are not to be reproduced, republished or reused without inclusion of this credit. Images remain the property of The Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend.
Posted by myfunnyvalentine on Oct 1st, 2011 in Miscellaneous | 1 comment
One Response to “The weekend that was… ABBW 2011 and IMATS Sydney”
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Optometrist/beauty blogger/crazy cat lady. It's Jenny, NOT Jennifer. jenny@myfunnyvalentineblog.com
What an amazing weekend! Thanks for all the great pics and words!