The ABBW and IMATS 2011

Last weekend I attended the Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend (ABBW). It was a great honour to participate in such a high level event together with other bloggers from across Australia. The founders, Kimmi {The Plastic Diaries} and Jacie {You’ve Got Nail} took care of everything, making the ABBW 2011 a truly memorable experience. This epic post, spiced up with photos of the best beauty bloggers of Australia, outlines our adventures over the ABBW.

IMATS

The ABBW was scheduled to run parallel with the International Makeup Artists Trade Show (IMATS). It is one of the major events in the international makeup industry. As a part of the ABBW, we received press passes to IMATS, surprise gifts from Serge Louise Alvarez and Royal & Langnickel Brushes and access to a chill out lounge with refreshments and free manicures exclusively for bloggers (thanks again to R & L Brushes). It was great to relax in the lounge after running around the exhibition for 4 hours. I must add my choice to wear comfortable clothes and flats was very appropriate on that day.

Beauty Directory Event

After IMATS we attended the Beauty Directory event at the Novotel, Daring Harbour. It was set as a panel discussion between PR, bloggers and beauty media industry professionals. The main point was that PR agencies are still learning how to work with bloggers. They understand bloggers growing power and are looking for ways to collaborate. Yet, working with a PR company is not any different from any other professional relationship and that requires mutual respect and professional courtesy.

Maxted Thomas PR Gala Dinner

The pinnacle of Saturday was opulent dinner hosted by Maxted Thomas PR held at the Establishment Hotel. Upon arrival we were greeted with champagne and goody bags. Next, what a surprise! There was a pop up hair salon set up by Sebastian Professional and Remington, free manicures with new Orly Gel FX range, Nivea photobooth and skin consultations, adorable Burt Bees, Balenciaga and Marc Jacobs perfumes displayed by Coty PR... After that, there was a delicious dinner with bottomless wine glasses and witty conversation.

* Images taken by Liz Giacco for The ABBW, and are not to be reproduced, republished or reused without inclusion of this credit. Images remain the property of The ABBW.

Sunday

The 9 am start on Sunday was quite a challenge. Yet the ABBW 2011 second day program exceeded my expectations! Starting with the Alpha H presentation on new Liquid Gold Skin Perfecting System followed by the Face of Australia makeup class and to conclude, a Key Note speaker Bahar Etminan of rescu.com.au with a presentation on blog monetisation. The latter created so much heat in the audience that I had to write a separate article about that. Full details of the debate can be found here.

The ABBW 2011 was like a dream! A beauty blogger’s dream that finally came true. The founders, Jacie and Kimmi said the ABBW 2012 will be even better. Can you imagine!?

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P.S. There were too many great photos of other beauty bloggers and interesting moments from the weekend to fit in one post. So I created a photo gallery (almost done) dedicated specifically to that. If you are in any of the photos, feel free to use but be nice and give a credit ;)