In 2007 I was lucky enough to travel to Israel and experience all the beauty that the country has to offer. Fast forward to this past Wednesday where I got to experience it all over again.. kinda.

This small country in the Middle East is home to many things. Aside from religion, Israel also boasts a major tech scene (they invented the cellphone), as well as the Dead Sea, where you may be familiar with the salt scrubs that come from the area. Long story short, the country boasts some of the best skincare products in the world, all made with this magical Dead Sea salt.

Keeping skincare in mind, my friends and I headed out to Shalom Square at the Asper Jewish Community Centre for the Israel pavilion on Wednesday. The Israeli pavilion is one of those pavilions that occasionally takes the year off, but whenever it’s in Folklorama, there are usually big lines to get in.  It may be because of the magic of the country, or maybe because of the talented internationally renowned Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble. Either way, you’ll get to experience all the country has to offer.

We didn’t get the chance to dine at this pavilion, although their food offerings looked so amazing (think falafel, hummus and pita, latkes… okay I need to stop), but instead chose to focus all our energy on the entertainment, the displays, and the overall culture that the country and region emulates. Oh, and also Snapchat; this pavilion had their own geofilter, so we made sure to upload a few snaps to our stories (follow me – apopofcolour).

Since Israel boasts so many skincare products, I chose to keep it all looking natural and made my skin centrestage. I used a light dewy foundation (Tarte Rainforest of the Sea) and filled in my brows using a powder to make them more pronounced. I used a little bit of concealer under my eyes (Maybelline Super Skin Better Stay Concealer) to open them up, then just let my eyelashes do the talking. For the cheeks, I used a bit of bronzer (MAC Refined Golden) to contour and give me that middle eastern glow, and for blush I used Benefit LolliTint for a peony-coloured glow.  For the highlight (oh so important) I used the cream highlight from the Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting Face Palette and for the lips I used MAC lipstick in Hot Chocolate from the Vibe Tribe collection.  Since Israelis tend to have tanned skin due to the sun, I made sure to apply some Vita Liberata tanning mousse prior to showtime.

For the outfit, since it gets so hot in Israeli I went with something light and airy. Both the black slacks and floral tank are from Nordstrom. The tassel necklace is from BaubleBar (via Nordstrom Ottawa). The floral sandals are Prada.

After the Israeli pavilion we made our way over to the Serbian Kolo Pavilion at the St. James Civic Centre where we dined on Serbian desserts, cabbage rolls and stuffed peppers. Our last show of the night was the South Sudanese pavilion, which celebrates the youngest country in Africa. South Sudan found their independence in 2011 and we watched as the performers did an amazing job on stage (and definitely the happiest looking bunch out of any pavilion i’ve been to so far).

Week one wraps up tomorrow night with week two starting Sunday. There’s still a few more shows I want to catch before the shows change up, in particular the Russian and Chilean ones.

Which pavilions did you see? And which ones are you excited for next week?

Also, don’t forget to enter my Genuine Health giveaway, I’m giving away a tub of their new fermented Greek yogurt proteins+ powder and bars!

Like what you read? check out these related posts:

• #WovenTogether: Mariachi madness at the Mexican pavilion at Folklorama = a Latina-inspired look
• #SeeItAll: Folklorama German, Spain, UK, and Warsaw-Poland pavilions + German and Spanish-inspired looks
• #SeeItAll: Colour + culture at the Cuban pavilion at Folklorama
• Raindrops on roses… Too Faced A Few of my Favourite Things set