Ahh the inaugural ABBW. The event I’ve been tweeting about for months, and even more so last weekend. It was the weekend in Sydney where 85 beauty bloggers from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth gathered in (mostly) one location – the Novotel Darling Harbour. That weekend, Sydney saw a lot of hotties 😛

Prep had to be done for the weekend. Woe betide me if I did not look my best, because I’d be amongst 85 gorgeous ladies, so the pressure was on. I had my hair done and nails Shellac-ed for the occasion. I had to rehearse my makeup days prior to the weekend. The last time I did that much to look good for an event was for my wedding.

Emily, Val, Molly, Mel and I left for Sydney on the same flight on Friday. Registration for the weekend was at 6pm at the Novotel. The goodie bags train had already started in our room (there were two big bags from Dove, INNOXA, Australis and Le Tan waiting for us there), and we received another one during registration 🙂

Beauty bloggers flooded the registration floor. There were a lot of “OMG it’s you!“, “we finally meet!” and “Oh you’re so-and-so on Twitter right? I read and love your blog!” I absolutely loved the enthusiasm, and could not wait for the weekend to finally begin.

DAY 1

IMATS

Emily was my roomie at the Ibis Darling Harbour. I finally saw her without her makeup on, and I’ll be damned; that girl looks just as good without makeup on as she does with. The alarm clock was set for 7.30pm, but excitement got the better of us, and we awoke well before the preset time.

Emily, my roomie!

The first half of the day was at the IMATS, which I mentioned in my previous post. What I did not mention in the IMATS wrap-up article for Beauty Directory was that during our time at the IMATS, Royal & Langnickel gave us beauty bloggers the royal treatment at a suite above the hall. We were spoiled with food and drinks, and there were free manicures and makeovers for anyone who was interested. Upon leaving the suite, we were gifted a set of high quality Silk by Royal & Langnickel makeup brushes. Such generosity!

Image by Liz Giacco for ABBW*

Beauty Directory Event

We headed back to the Novotel in the afternoon for a short seminar hosted by Beauty Directory. Prior to the event, we were introduced to brands like La Purete, Trishave and Pure Therapy by The Purist Company. We had the opportunity to learn more about the brands and their latest products before the seminar began.

The Beauty Directory seminar was my favourite event of the weekend. Jackie Maxted, the managing director of Beauty Directory, gave us very good tips and tricks on how beauty bloggers can work with PRs, what we should do when attending events, the challenges beauty bloggers face, etc.

After her opening speech, there was a panel discussion amongst Jackie, Eleanor Pendleton (beauty editor of InStyle Australia) and Kimmi, who’s a full-time blogger on The Plastic Diaries. I thoroughly enjoyed the Q&A segment between the bloggers and the panel, because they were very candid and honest in their answers. Nothing was sugarcoated.

After the Q and A session, each table (with about 10 beauty bloggers) was given sheets of paper with questions about blogging. Each table had different questions, and a member from Beauty Directory to get the ball rolling. We had a good time answering the questions about what motivates us as bloggers, what inspires us, who are blogging inspirations were, etc. I thought it was an excellent way to break the ice amongst the bloggers too.

Maxted Thomas Beauty Bloggers Gala

I was highly looking forward to the dinner hosted by Maxted Thomas. First of all, I’ve heard that they do fabulous events, and more importantly, *ahem* I get to dress up! 😛

Image by Liz Giacco for ABBW*

The evening started off with pre-dinner cocktails. There was a showcase of beauty brands during cocktail hour, which included Nivea, Burt’s Bees, Orly, Remington and Sebastian Professional. There were complimentary manicures using Orly’s Gel FX and you can get your hair done at the Remington and Sebastian Professional stands. The photobooth was also a lot of fun! 😀

Image by Liz Giacco for ABBW*

Image by Liz Giacco for ABBW*

I had a fantastic time that evening. We had pre-arranged seating at dinner, which I thought was a good idea as it allowed us to mingle. The three-course dinner was good, and the atmosphere was booming. There were even some amazing prizes to be won at the end of the evening. It was too bad the Tina-Jacie dance-off didn’t pan out, but then there’s always next year, no? 😛

And that’s it for Day 1! It was a very packed day which I have enjoyed immensely.

Stay tuned for Day 2 with more photos!

*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.