Sydney IMATS Weekend featuring The Lip Lab, Sephora, Bloggers United AU and Mecca Maxima

Tuesday 29 November 2016


The last time I went to IMATS was about 4 years ago, so I jumped at the chance to leave the hubby and kids at home and go to Sydney alone earlier this month.

I left Adelaide very early on Saturday morning and left Sydney very late on Sunday night thanks to my plane being delayed. It was a crazy weekend and I packed about 800 things into the weekend. 


Other than checking into my hotel, the first thing that I did was make my way to IMATS. I knew what to expect at IMATS so I feel like I wasn't disappointed with my experience. IMATS Australia isn't as amazing as it is in other countries. It's a lot smaller. Most of the brands at IMATS are available online anyway, so it's not like you're having access to brands that are impossible to get, except for Hakuhodo. Most of the brands have some discounts on the day, but not all.

I didn't pick up a lot at IMATS because I knew I'd be also spending money at Sephora and Mecca Maxima. 



I ended up going to Girlee Cosmetics first to pick up a Mixing Plate and their Express Brush Cleaning Mat. I use The Body Shop Lightening drops most days, so the mixing plate is to keep in my bathroom so I don't have to get it all over my hands when I mix it with my foundation. 


I also got their brush cleaning mat as I have their brush cleaning glove and love to use it but most of the time I just place it in my sink and use it like a mat, so I thought for $14 I might as well just get a proper mat.

I went to the Hakuhodo stand about 5 times before I bought anything. I kept going back and forth on if should I buy anything. I ended up only buying 2 brushes. The J146 Tapered Blending Brush and the J4004 Fan brush. I do eventually want to buy more brushes from them, but I really need to do a clean out of my brushes first. I have wayyyyy too many brushes but a lot of them are cheaper brushes so I want to sort through and throw out anything that I don't use or don't love and then see what's missing. I also picked up a really cool small mirror. It has 4 mirrors in the compact and will be good when I do my eye make up because I always struggle to see without my glasses! Most of the time I squint as I'm blending hoping that it looks ok. 




The last thing that I picked up was these Artis inspired brushes from Crown Brush. I was inspired to buy this after seeing one of the girls at the Beauty News meet up show what she had bought. The Full Face Contour Set are a synthetic brush set that help to highlight and contour your face. I thought that even I I didn't like them, they'd make cute Instagram props! 


While I was at IMATS I also stayed to see Rae Morris talk. She's really inspiring and wonderful to watch. Her philosophy is less is more. She doesn't hide everything (eg blemishes) as it's easier to retouch "naked" skin rather than retouching make up that's thick and heavy. 



When I was walking back to my hotel I found this cute Korean store that had beauty products. Nothing was in English, so I decided to stick to the face masks as I could tell what was in them. I picked up all of these Innisfree and Etude House face masks. They were so inexpensive. They were between $1.80 and $3 each and when you bought 5 or more you got an extra 10% off. I wish that I had picked up more. 



On the Saturday I also went to Pitt St to check out Sephora. Well I tried to!! It was so busy and I could barely check anything out so I ended going to the Broadway store instead. It was so much more chill there and I ended up spending an hour there shopping. I didn't really get a lot because a lot of things you can buy online but the one thing that I really wanted was the Elizabeth And James Nirvana Black Perfume Rollerball. While the white version was nice, I really loved the black one. I only picked up a rollerball as I want to try it for a few weeks. If I like it I'll get my hubby to buy me a full size one next time he's in the US.  

I also picked up some of the Sephora Creamy Body Wash Pods to use in Sydney and also some extra to take home.

I picked up one of the small Jason Wu for Caudalie Beauty Elixir bottles because these aren't available online. I've never tried the Beauty Elixir even though it's raved about by everyone.

A complete impulse purchase was the Beautyblender Liner.designer. I suck at eyeliner, so hopefully it helps. It's a little gimmicky, but i
f it works it's worth it!!  



I also ended up getting some cute deluxe sample freebies from Sephora. I got a 3CE lipstick and a Marc Jacobs mini eyeliner and lipstick duo. I also traded in 100 of my perk points to get a deluxe sample of the Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara. A lot of people rave about it, but for the price it's pretty average.... pretty but no better than my Covergirl mascara. 


I also caught up with some other bloggers on the Saturday night which was really lovely and was much better than being alone in a hotel room. 



Early Sunday morning I went to The Lip Lab in Paddington. At The Lip Lab you can create your own lipstick or lipgloss. You let them know what colour you want, if it's matte/creme/shimmer and if you want a scent. They make it right in front of you so you can say if you want more or less of something. 

I wanted a bright and glossy red. It was inspired by the Louboutin red sole. While I was there we got a nice red but I wanted it a little bit more orange, so she was able to add in more colour to change it to what I wanted. I also added the scent Mimosa as it smelt amazing and was very different to other lipsticks that I have. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. The only thing that sucks is that it needs to set for 24 hours before you use it. We don't have a Lip Lab in Adelaide so it was worth getting up early for! 

They keep the details of what colours they used to create your lipstick, so you can reorder it again in the future. 

It cost $68, which is a bit pricey for a lipstick but you're paying for the service as well so when you add in the 30 minutes it takes, it's really a reasonable price. If they open up a store in Adelaide, I think I would go back a couple times a year to make a new lipstick. 



I have been on the fence about the Smashbox Light It Up LA Lights Palette for a while but Kimberlie from I Shall Shop raved about it on her Instagram so I knew that I needed to get it. I'm soooo glad that I got it as it's now sold out online and we don't have a Mecca Maxima in Adelaide. 

And finally I attended the Bloggers United AU Sydney event. Bloggers United gets together bloggers with other bloggers and brands. The Sydney event was more about behind the scenes issues that bloggers face rather than finding out about new brands. It was a fascinating afternoon. I learnt so much from everyone. It was also lovely to meet so many bloggers that I know from their websites or from social media. Everyone was so lovely and even though I don't live in Sydney I felt so included. 

Did you go to IMATS? Did you enjoy it?
Amy, XO

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4 comments:

  1. You got some great stuff and you've inspired me to get to a Lip Lap and have my own lipstick made. It was so lovely to see you again and catch up at the Bloggers United Event :)

    Kayte xx

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  2. Whooo! Looks like you got a great haul on your little getaway, love some of the items you got, I really want to go to Lip Lab, but I haven't got a clear idea of a shade I want, so I think I will have to wait until I know exactly what I'm after!

    Kez | acaciasdreams.com

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  3. You picked up some slammin' products, babe! And it was amazing meeting you in person!

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