As many of you guys know, I flew up to Sydney last weekend for the long-awaited IMATS (International Make-Up Artist Trade Show)!
I will actually blog separately about my IMATS haul, so this post is just to take you through all the fun things I got up to for the weekend (which other than IMATS, was mainly eating LOL!).
Beautiful view of the famous Bondi Beach from the plane. The weather was gorgeous when my boyfriend and I arrived on Friday!
We stayed at Four Points By Sheraton on Darling Harbour. The location was nice and convenient and only about a 10 minute walk away from the Convention Centre where IMATS is held.
Even before we got to the hotel, I already had a bagful of shopping! We passed by Ice Accessories while walking to our hotel and they were having a closing-down sale where everything in the store was $3 and under! I just HAD to go in and grab a few things.
I ended up getting a pair of leopard-print stockings, bows and flowers, rings and a pair of funky safety-pin earrings. These 7 items only cos me $8, can you believe it?!?
After we settled into the hotel, we decided to go for lunch at ‘Wagamama’ on King Street Wharf. We sat in the outdoor area with a lovely view of Darling Harbour.
I ordered the Thai style stir-fried noodles, which was rather unimpressive and overpriced. Essentially it’s a Pad Thai, but the flavours were not right, the noodles were chewy and the chicken was dry. Oh well, at least we had a nice view!
For dinner, we went to Din Tai Fung, which is my favourite ‘noodle and dumpling’ restaurant. However, this time we decided to try the new DTF ‘Dumpling Bar’ in Westfield Shopping Centre, which is an express food-court version of the restaurant.
I ordered the braised beef noodle soup, I’ve had this in both the DTF in World Square Shopping Centre and in The Gardens Mall in KL, and the quality of this was not up to par. The dish looked like it was quickly thrown together, the portion was smaller and the beef had alot of chewy tendons.
We also ordered some steamed goodies on the side. Xiao long baos are a must-have as it is one of DFT’s signature dishes (and one of my favourite things to eat!). XLBs are tiny little buns with paper-thin skin filled with meat and a whole lotta soup (hence they are sometimes known as ‘soup dumplings’).
DTF takes their XLBs very seriously – they show the chefs meticulously making them behind glass windows and they even have an instructions sheet on how to correctly eat XLBs 
After dinner, we visited the bustling Opera Bar for a few drinks and admired the breath-taking night-time views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, two of Australia’s most iconic landmarks.
The next day was IMATS!! I went for a sweet and simple makeup look, similar to my Pretty Peach Makeup Tutorial. I wore a pair of hazel colour circle lenses (my fav!) and used some soft beige and brown eyeshadow on my eyes with a pair of flirty false eyelashes. I swept some peachy blush on my cheeks, added some highlight and finally finished off with a peach lipstick and gloss.
For my outfit, I wore a black and white dress from ‘Valleygirl’ with a black cropped blazer (which I bought from Paddy’s Markets when I was in Sydney last year). Because there was a cool change in the weather, I added a pair of black patterned stockings with my brown chunky booties (which was not the best idea considering I did alot of walking around). I opted for a cute brown handbag to finish off the look.
I got to the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre around 10am and there were already quite alot of people there. Luckily I bumped into Pearl (pearlbeauty1020) in the line and we went in together. Inside the hall, there were booths upon booths of makeup, makeup and more makeup – total heaven for a makeup junkie like me! 
There were many brands that I was familiar with (such as Napoleon Perdis, Inglot, M.A.C., Ben Nye) but just as many brands that I’ve never heard of (such as Gorgeous Cosmetics, Illamasqua, Hakuhodo, Royal & Langnickel). There was every type of makeup product and tools imaginable; from everyday makeup to crazy, special-effects makeup.
There were also lots of amazing makeup demonstrations from The Academy of Makeup, Napoleon Perdis and a Student Competition.
There was a male model (above) who stood there for HOURS while the Napoleon Perdis makeup artists transformed him into a golden gladiator – admirable!!
But of course, the highlight of the event was meeting all my lovely fellow Aussie beauty gurus! YAY!!!!
I met Cassie (lilcammo93), Pearl (pearlbeauty1020), Jen (meejmuse), Rosie (RJAD07), Kate (KatiieKhaos), Alee (Aleesang) and Sarah (alllldolledup). Most of us have corresponded one way or another via Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, and it’s so amazing to actually meet everyone in person! I can honestly say that each and every one of the girls are as bubbly and genuine as they come across in their videos. We all had a great time browsing, shopping and lunching together and I’m grateful to have spent my day in such good company ^___^
I also got to meet the lovely Elessa aka Pursebuzz, whose videos I have been watching since forever! She is just as sweet in person and it totally made my day when she told me that she knows who I am because she’s watched my videos I also bumped into her after the show when I was walking back to my hotel and found out that she was staying at the same hotel as me! What a coincidence!
And to top it off, I even got to meet Napoleon Perdis! He happily chit-chatted and took photos with everyone before his presentation.
On the following day (our last day in Sydney), the weather was cold and miserable. As it was not ideal weather for sight-seeing, the only sensible, next-best-thing to do is go on a food marathon!
We kicked off with ‘Mamak’, a Malaysian restaurant in China Town. There were chefs busy making roti in the window, and you know when something is publicly on display means that it’s good!
We ordered half a dozen chicken satays, which came with the traditional onion and cucumber pieces on the side and a huge bowl of satay sauce. It was yummy but not mind-blowing.
We also ordered two types of roti – roti canai (plain) and roti telur bawang (egg and onions). The roti canai was the most authentic I’ve had outside of Malaysia, it was thin and crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside. The roti telur bawang was not as nice, there was so much onion to the point that it was overpowering.
Next stop was Sydney Fish Market, which is a market as well as a renowned eating spot. Above you can see me with the resident Fish Market pelican (he was also there when I visited last year), he is obviously unimpressed by my attempt to kiss him -____-
Inside the Fish Market, you can choose from an array of fresh seafood, served hot or cold – we decided to go for both. We ended up getting oyster kilpatrick, grilled scallops, king prawns and fresh oysters.
The last stop on our food journey was ‘Hurricane’s Grill’ on Darling Harbour. I’ve heard alot about their ribs, so we ordered half a rack of pork ribs and chips to share.
We even got paper bibs because things were about to get real messy! The ribs were very tasty and tender, although some bits were too burnt. I felt like the biggest carnivore afterwards!
Overall, I had an absolutely fantastic and fun weekend in Sydney Although I would have liked to gone for both days of IMATS, I’m also glad that I didn’t because I definitely would have spurlged more! I would love to go again next year!
- Miss Pixie Lulu
