A snapshot of Guan, Adam and me at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia 2016

9am: Drama from the start Anyone who knows me knows I live for fashion and have always wanted to visit Australia. So when the invitation to fly to Sydney for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia as a guest blogger for GRAZIA arrived appeared in my in-box, I couldn’t stop jumping up and down. So excited!

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More than a day late, but so happy to see Adam when I arrive at Sydney Airport

Every good story involves some drama, and for me the big drama happened right at the start of my adventure – my visa took longer than expected to process, so I had to change my flight by a full day. We touched down after an 11-hour flight just an hour before the first runway show of the day, Ginger & Smart – such a beautiful Australian brand with soft draped fabrics that showed lots of skin. I loved the enormous hats, which I’m sure were for wow factor in the show, but would actually be so good for protecting your skin at the beach. (I’m super conscious of my skin and anti-ageing).

See the pretty Ginger and Smart runway looks.

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A look from the Ginger & Smart Resort 2016 show

11am: Always enough time for a facial on the run My manager Adam Huang had arrived a week before me, so he was waiting at the airport when I finally landed in Sydney from Shanghai at 8am. The international arrivals area was SO calm compared to home, but the next two hours definitely weren’t. I had 90 minutes to get to my hotel, check-in, dress from the rails of clothes that designers had left there for me, do my make-up and hair, then race to the fashion week venue – a really cool industrial centre called Carriageworks that was literally once a huge workshop yard for old trains. It was such a whirlwind. And I felt like a mess after 14 hours in transit…

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My limo driver had never seen someone wearing a face mask in his back seat before

My GRAZIA friends must have had a sixth sense, because waiting in my Mercedes Benz limo was a gift bag from art director Dane filled with treats from my fave skincare brand, Estee Lauder. So I made the most of being stuck in peak hour morning traffic and lay back with a Powerfoil Advanced Night Repair for 20 minutes and showed my poor dehydrated skin some TLC. Adam and my driver laughed at me, but what could be worse than dry, dull, post-flight skin before fashion week?

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Finally settled in at the Old Clare hotel and ready to Sydney

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A look from the Manning Cartell Resort 2016 show opposite the Sydney Opera House

6pm: fashion, fashion, fashion So many shows – Georgia Alice, Albus Lumen, Yeojin Bae, Aje and Mischa Collection starring Bella Hadid, who flew into Sydney just to open and close the show – and so many beautiful clothes, but Day 1 was really, really long. And I had still had four more days of fashion week to go!

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A look from the Dion Lee Resort 2016 show

I was so excited about the Dion Lee show held on top of one of Sydney’s most beautiful sky-rise buildings – 1 Bligh Street – at 9pm that night, especially as he’s one of my favourite designers and had loaned me THE most beautiful dress to wear. The show was incredible – he’s a master and the sequins teamed with satin and unusual structure was so cool.

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Backstage with Adam Huang at MBFWA

10pm my fave way to end the day Ms Guan, who was also in Sydney for fashion week, Adam and myself raced back to the hotel to change outfits and freshen up for a late dinner and some Sydney nightlife… but all I wanted at that point was my Old Clare Hotel robe and another Estee Lauder face mask to work miracles on my skin before I faced the street style photographers again the next morning. A lady needs to get her priorities right, right? 

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No partying for me tonight. It’s my Estee Lauder mask and bed for me. Tomorrow is another full day of shows…

Main image (at top): By Johnny Resort 2016 show finale