IMATS Sydney 2011 is Coming!

On the 24th & 25th of September, the Sydney Convention centre is playing host to the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show. That's less than a month away!

As my very first blogger event, I am very excited to be attending IMATS as part of the Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend (ABBW)!

The ABBW has been organised by the hardworking Kimmi behind The Plastic Diaries and Jacie from You've Got Nail, as a two day event, involving 80+ beauty bloggers from all over Australia. That takes some serious organisation!

I am looking forward to meeting some of Australia's awesome beauty bloggers and picking their brains. Oh an shopping up a storm!!

However, if you aren't attending the ABBW, IMATS is open to the public! So if you're interested in attending one or both days, you don't need any credentials from the beauty industry.

Tickets are available at the door, but to avoid disappointment, it is recommended that you purchase online.

Entry is $65 for a two day pass or $75 at the door

or $40 for a single day or $45 at the door ($20 for children aged between 5-12)

Show hours are 8:30am - 5pm on Saturday the 24th

and 10am - 5pm on Sunday the 25th

Once you're in, you also have access to several speakers well known in the beauty industry who will be presenting over the weekend.

Most notably

Napoleon Perdis

Elessa Jade of Pursebuzz

Rae Morris

Nicole Thompson

The full schedule of speakers may be found here.

If you're after shopping, IMATS won't disappoint!

M.A.C.

Napoleon Perdis

Inglot

Ben Nye

Crown Brush

just to name a few, will all have stalls at the event.

The full list of exhibitors can be found here.

I would love to know if you are planning on attending IMATS, might see you there!

Nox Twilight Sugar Plum

A month or so ago I was perusing the OPI stand in DJs when something caught my eye. After a little chuckle, I headed over to the '25% off all twilight merchandise' sign to have a quick look at the cosmetic line just to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything.

The whole nail polish line was still there along with some lip products that featured Cullen and Black staring at you creepily. Just a little heads up, i'm not Twilight's biggest fan ;). I've picked up the holographic 'Disco Darling' a few times, but just couldn't justify the $30 price tag. I wasn't planning on buying anything on this occasion either, but Mum who I was shopping with that day, took the polish up to the counter to see if they were included in the storewide stocktake sale.

Turns out they were selling for $7.50 each! A bargain in Aussie terms, so I rushed back over to the stand and picked up the other polish that had caught my eye, and left with Disco Darling and Sugar Plum.

The bottles feel rather heavy and expensive and hold 16ml.

Sugar plum is a medium pink with strong purple undertones and blue shimmer.

The formula is rather thin and dries very glossy, this is three coats.

These are older pictures as my ring finger nail on my swatch hand is still growing out. Here's hoping that  it's back to normal before the ABBW!

China Glaze OMG

Today i've got some silvery holo eye candy to share!

Although temperatures are back down to usual winter frigidness and the clouds have rolled back in, I managed to get a few holo swatches in during last week's blazing sunshine! Unfortunately i've had three breaks since then, including one on my more photogenic hand. So lots of naily envy, solar oil, old swatches and boring colours while I grow them out again boo!
These photos are over freshly (lightly) buffed nails and a ridge filler because I find that holo polishes are extremely unforgiving to any imperfections.

The first photo is sans top coat and the second is after. I really can't see any dulling of the holographic effect with top coat.

@_@

Love that rainbow effect!!

Mmmm this one's going to get a lot of wear come summer, the perfect polish for a day out in the sun!

OPI Purple with a Purpose

So I have something a little bit special to show you today.

Back in 2008 after a fair bit of window shopping I found a purple dress that I wanted to wear to my formal. As I was still a nail biter at the time, no mani, but I wanted to find the perfect purple pedi colour. I had absolutely no idea where to start looking! I had never bought nail polish before, I had no need for it, and if I wanted to give myself a quick pedi i'd just borrow one of Mum's Revlons :P

Woo! Spinning in my pretty dress :)

(Incidentally, this picture won me a free lippie in Australis' Shadey Friday competition that they run through their facebook page. Will definitely swatch once my face clears up a bit)

So this led me to my first visit to the OPI section of the local David Jones. I'd never seen so many pretty colours!! After a good half an hour of drooling, I walked away with this polish clutched in my hot little hands.

I apologize for the overly shiny/blurry pictures, but my camera freaks at the mere mention of purple and these were the only two that didn't look horribly washed out.

Purple with a Purpose would be just your average purple polish if it wasn't for the lovely red and blue shimmer that comes out to play in good lighting.

Looking at this colour now in comparison to some of the other colours in my stash, it's a little boring. Don't get me wrong I still love it as a pedi colour to go with a more complex purple mani, but I think i'm a little spolied by for choice with the more outrageous colours in my collection! It is a very nice staple to have.