IMATS Sydney 2011 - Show & Tell and Sydney Stay

IMATS (International Makeup Artist Trade Show) was in Sydney over the past weekend (24^th and 25^th September) and it was held at the ‘Sydney Convention Centre’ at DarlingHarbour.

IMATS is brought to this country by ‘MakeupArtist Magazine’ and this is the third year that it’s been held in Sydney, apparently this year there were twice as many tickets sold to IMATS as last year so hopefully next year that figure will double again and IMATS will just keep getting bigger and better!

I had a wonderful time, I was there all day Saturday and a couple of hours on Sunday! I was so happy that I got to meet ‘PurseBuzz’ and some lovely girls from YouTube, some bloggers and some of my subscribers, it was great to meet everyone :) I also saw ‘Pursebuzz’s’ demonstration and caught ‘Napoleon Perdis’’ Keynote Speech at the end of Day1.

I did some shopping and bought a few brands that I haven’t tried before, I don't think I went overboard with my purchases and I tried to focus on brands that I hadn't tried before and weren't over expensive!!!! 

So first up I bought myself a delux brush belt from 'Designermakekuptools.com' for $17, down from the regular $26.95 and a pack of 3 'Beauty Pods' for about $20, down from $30.

I bought a S.I.L.K 'Flat top Kabuki' brush from 'Royal & Langnickel' for $6.00 because I really liked the density of it, I'm not sure of the original price of it as on their site it's sold in a pack.

Next up I visited the 'Temptu Pro' booth and grabbed myself a 'Pro Transfer Delux Workstation' (Temporary Tattoo Kit) and 'Matte Sealer', I can't lay my hands on the receipt for this right now but it was defs cheaper than on the site!

I then headed over to 'Inglot' which is a brand that I've wanted to try for some time. I wasn't disappointed, the pigmentation of their line is wonderful and they had a discount going of 30%, needless to say this was also a very popular booth.

I picked up a 'Highlighting Powder' pallet, 'Pressed Powder', 'Duraline', 'Face and Body Illuminator', 'Eyeliner Gel', 'Body Sparkles' in No 65, a four piece 'Freedom Blush System' and a five piece 'Freedom Eyeshadow System'.  Somehow my eyeshadow system seems to contain a colour I didn't pick out myself, the middle one, could of been a mix up at the booth so that's something to keep your eye on next year.  All this cost me about $200 plus they gave me a 20% off voucher for next time I shop online at their store.

Ben Nye is a brand I've heard a lot about and really wanted to try so I picked up the 'Media Pro HD Sheer Foundation 18 Colour Pallet' which cost $65 and they were also giving out free samples so I got one in 'Fair' and one in 'Bella'.  Unfortunately on my trip home to sunny Queensland the temp must have got too hot for my Ben Nye and a couple of the colours melted a bit :/ but they are all good now :)

Next up was 'Illamasqua' and 'OCC' (Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics).  I bought a 'Cream Foundation' in CF133 for $20 and two Lip Tars in 'Trollop' and 'Stalker', hehehe .... nice names!!! :D The Lip Tars were $14 each.

So all in all I'm happy with my stash of goodies, I would have liked to have seen some better discounts for us Aussie ladies because we really do pay a lot for our cosmetics here but I'm happy with what I got and that I came home with plenty of money too!!  The variety of booths was decent and the Student Competition was really interesting to see progress through the day.  

I didn't go to IMATS with any preconceived ideas on what it would be like, being in Australia IMATS is pretty new here and needs time to develop and grow into something sensational and something that meets our needs downunder.

My Weekend in Sydney .....

I flew out of Queensland on the Friday morning on a gorgeous sunny Spring day and arrived shortly after lunchtime to beautiful sunny Sydney, I was picked up from the Airport by my Uncle who was hosting my friend and I for the weekend.  Later in the day we met Katie at Central Station and settled her into the apartment too.  My Aunt joined us after her work and we all enjoyed getting to know each other a little better.  That night we went out for Thai food and saw some of the sights of Sydney like the Opera House and Harbour Bridge which we didn't climb but there's always next time. The 'Chinatown Night Market' was next on the agenda where we had a great time soaking up the atmosphere before heading back to the apartment for some chatting 'til late.

Up bright and early on Saturday, struggled to look half decent for a full day of IMATS where we met other YouTubers, Bloggers and Subscribers, it was so much fun! :D Watch out for my IMATS #2 video which will be up soon.

Other youtube and blogger girls I met at:

Kate - http://www.youtube.com/user/KatiieKhaos
Lucy -- http://www.youtube.com/MissPixieLulu
Alee -- http://www.youtube.com/user/aleesang
Jen - http://www.youtube.com/user/meejmuse
Dom -- http://www.youtube.com/user/DOMMsmiles
Reese - http://tropicofbeauty.com/
Pearl -- http://www.youtube.com/user/pearlbeauty1020
Rosie -- http://www.youtube.com/user/RJAD07
Shell -- http://www.youtube.com/user/shellbarbie
Sarah - http://www.youtube.com/user/alllldolledup
Samm - http://www.youtube.com/user/simplysamm762 

By the end of IMATS we were exhausted, my feet were 'KILLING' me (flat shoes next year) and it was raining so we caught a bus back instead of walking and spent the rest of the day meeting some of my relatives, going through our goodies, listening to Uncle's exciting stories and resting our feet.

Up again on Sunday which was again grey and raining and we decided we wanted to have a look for a couple more things at IMATS so we went back for a short time.  While waiting for my Aunt and Uncle to meet up with us for lunch we accidently wondered into an 'out of bounds' area (not quite sure how that happened :/) and proceeded to get lost,  I can't believe security had to come and find us in the bowels of the building ....   After our 'rescue' we headed to 'Westfield' for some late lunch after which Katie headed home and I continued the day with some more shopping.  

My Aunt and I came across a little store called 'Blush Cosmetics', I think they were opening a new store and they handed me a little bag with some samples inside which was really sweet and I'm looking forward to trying out.

 Sunday evening was spent relaxing and watching a DVD and listening to funny of stories of when my mum was young o_O

Monday I was up at 5.00am for an 8.00am flight back of sunny Queensland ..... what a wonderful weekend it was in Sydney, all too short and I just can't wait to visit again and see more of this great City.

My goodies from my weekend minus a ring I bought myself :)