Take Him To The Cleaners

Orly's Take Him To The Cleaners is the only Orly nail polish I own. This meant that I didn't know what to expect in terms of quality, even though I knew that it was a 'high end' nail polish brand. Apparently so high end in Hong Kong that I had to buy it for 50% more than the price of an OPI polish!

Take Him To The Cleaners (and how cute is that name?) is a blackened red. You could also say it's got some slight brown and purple undertones as well. It's a very complex shade. One of those almost-black-but-not-quite colours :) I looked up OPI's Black Cherry Chutney because I thought they would look similar. Take Him To The Cleaners is pretty much a darker version of Black Cherry Chutney. This is almost as vampy as you can get when it comes to nails :D

The formula of this Orly polish was AMAZING. Dare I saw even better than OPI?? It's incredibly smooth, and the perfect consistency - not too thick, not too thin. One coat gave enough coverage, but I applied a second coat onto certain nails that didn't look as evenly covered. It dried pretty quickly, and left a gorgeous shiny finish. I do have a top coat on in the picture above, but it was shiny regardless (a bit less shiny than with a top coat). It's one of those nail polishes that you just KNOW is extremely high quality when you're applying it.

Needless to say, I'm absolutely in love with this nail polish. I'm very impressed with Orly... I just wish it was more easily accessible in Hong Kong! So far I've only found one shop that sells Orly. :(

Do you guys like this shade? And what do you think of Orly polishes in general? xxx

Shoe Obsession

Designer: Kris Van Assche

Pictures taken from http://becauseimaddicted.net/

Weekly Interior Post: Black Borders

I want to start doing weekly interior design posts, so each week I will post pictures of interiors that are inspiring me at the moment. What do you guys think of this idea? Are you interested in seeing interior design posts?

Here's a taster :) Today's post is on black borders - anything from window frames to wall moldings. Enjoy!

Updated Skincare Routine

Chanel Red Lip

Today, I bought my first red lipstick. I figured such an important milestone (I'm allowed to be superficial on this blog!) deserved Chanel. I had intended to get the Rouge Allure Laque (Chanel's liquid lipstick) in Dragon - a shocking but somehow also deep and sensual red. However, on my lips it was just too shocking. Gorgeous for formal events, yes, but not suitable for everyday wear. I was searching for a red that I could wear even with casual clothes (a la Mary-Kate Olsen), so I continued looking around the Chanel counter.

This is what I ended up getting - and I couldn't be happier:

















 Chanel Rouge Allure #14 Passion

Some people say this is a blue-based red, some say it's a yellow-based red. In my opinion it's more yellow-based, making it suit my warm skin tone. However, it's only ever so slightly yellow-based (mainly neutral), so it would definitely suit both warm and cool skin tones. The finish is satin.

Chanel Precision Lip Definer #24 Rouge

What do you think? Do I suit red lipstick or do I look completely ridiculous!
I must say, the lasting power of this lipstick and lip liner is phenomenal. I couldn't remove the lip liner swatch from my hand, even with the most rigorous scrubbing with a tissue (the lipstick came off), and after eating and drinking, I'm left with a sexy 'bitten' stain, with absolutely no bleeding or any colour outside my lip line. It also feels extremely lightweight on the lips, almost as though I don't have anything on them. Win!

One Word Tag

This tag has been going around YouTube, and I figured why not do it on my blog! I tag all of you reading this to do it as well, either as a comment or on your own blogs :) Enjoy!

Where is your cell? vanity

Where is your significant other?work

Hair colour? dark

Mother? controlling

Father? nerdy

Fave thing? bags

Last dream? strange

Dream or goal? marriage

Room you're in? bedroom

Hobby? make-up

Fear? speech (public)

Where do you want to be in 6 years? married

Where were you last night? home

What you're not? decisive

One of your wishlist items?chanel

Where you grew up? HK

Last thing you did? youtube

What are you wearing? PJ's

TV? rarely

Pet? none :(

Computer? macbook

Mood? bored

Missing Someone? yes

Car? lexus

Something you're not wearing? watch

Fave Store? NARS

Summer? tan

Love someone? boyfriend

Fave colour? blue

Last time you laughed? today

Last time you cried? wednesday

Hope that was vaguely interesting. It was kinda fun to do! xxx

Giant Mango

Two nights ago, I ate the biggest (1/3 of a) mango I've ever seen in my life...

It was delicious.
...and no, I didn't end up buying anything off ASOS ;)

NARS Taiga

The newest addition to my NARS collection is this eyeshadow duo called Taiga. I went to the counter with the intention of getting Earth Angel (if you guys remember, it was on my wish list), but ended up falling in love with Taiga. Earth Angel didn't look like anything special on my eyes, and the two shades seemed to blend into each other and looked very blah. With Taiga, it's a whole new story :)

With flash.

Without flash.

I would describe the lighter shade as an off-white/light gold with silver glitter particles, and the darker shade as a grey-toned dark olive with gold glitter particles. As you would expect from NARS, the shades are very unique.

As you can see, the lighter shade is quite sheer compared to the typical NARS eyeshadow. The darker shade is extremely pigmented. Normally I would complain about a sheer eyeshadow, especially from NARS, but in this case, it complements the darker shade beautifully, just because the darker shade is so pigmented already, and packs a lot of punch on the eye (that sounds weird haha). If you would like to see this duo on my eyes, just let me know in the comments :)

I also happened to get a nail polish that looks almost exactly the same colour as the Taiga shadow! But that's in an upcoming post, along with a few other polishes I got recently :) xxx

Everyday Smokey Eye!

Today I went with an everyday Smokey eye. I kept the grey eyeshadows close to the eyes to keep the look from being too dramatic. Gazette Grey eyeshadow (MAC) is a bit difficult to blend and tends to end up looking patchy, but if you layer it slowly, you can achieve a more even look. The Smoke & Diamonds also helped to blend out the colour to create a faded, smokey effect closer to the brow bone. Brule was used to blend out harsh edges.

Products used: MAC Gazette Grey eyeshadow, MAC Smoke & Diamonds eyeshadow, MAC Brule eyeshadow, MAC Blankety lipstick, MAC Happy Together mineralised blush (from the In The Groove collection!). MAC MAC MAC! Lol.

'Happy Together' is the only item I purchased from the recently released In The Groove collection. Everything else was just too shimmery for me (I have visible pores). Apparently this is very similar to NARS Madly, which makes me happy because I've wanted Madly for a while now, and MAC is more affordable! Another pro about this product is that the lighter side is shimmery (excellent highlight!) and the darker side is more of a satin finish, so you can either swirl the two colours together, or use the colours separately.

Dupe Alert!

If you like MAC's Blankety lipstick (my HG lipstick), I have some good news for you! There is a Maybelline lipstick that is pretty much an exact dupe! It's the Moisture Renew lipstick in Pinky Beige (721). The only difference between the Maybelline and the MAC is that the MAC lasts longer on the lips because it doesn't slide around as much. BUT, the Maybelline is much more affordable :)

Left: MAC Blankety
Right: Maybelline Pinky Beige

Left: MAC Blankety
Right: Maybelline Pinky Beige

In the picture above, the Maybelline may look slightly pinker, but on the lips they look identical!

Maybelline Pinky Beige on the lips. xxx

The Body Shop Coconut Oil Hair Shine

I had heard and read about The Body Shop's coconut oil hair shine on youtube and on various blogs and was always interested in it, for a number of reasons:
1) I love the smell of coconut
2) My hair is seriously parched, especially the ends
3) I love any kind of flat tin packaging!

The oil itself is in solid form, and smells delicious - like natural coconuts not that artificial generic coconut smell you get from drugstore body lotions and such. I find myself reaching for the tin just to take a whiff of the amazing scent!

To apply, simply rub your fingers on the surface of the product to get some onto your finger tips and smooth onto the ends of your hair. It instantly adds shine and moisturises and nourishes your hair.

I have been applying this once a day, before I leave the house, and while I can't say it has improved the overall condition of the ends of my hair (the effect is gone once I wash my hair), it does a great job at adding shine and smoothing flyaways. Good enough for me! :)

ASOS Paint by Ciate

I own 3 ASOS Paints by Ciate, one of which is this lovely cream/greige colour called Chloe (after Chloe Sevigny).

I think this colour is a great neutral - very sophisticated, classic and appropriate for all occasions. I'm sure it would flatter all skin tones as well! The other 2 colours I have are a medium grey (Kate) and a purple-grey (Sienna). I love them all very very much :)

Julian Wass

As you may or may not already know, my number one passion is interior design, so you may find some interior design posts sprinkled here and there on this blog :) Today's obsession is this photo taken by photographer Julian Wass. To be honest, I'm 100x more interested in who the interior designer is...! I have a thing for shiny subway tiles at the moment, and the combination with the unpolished raw wood is just heavenly. Can't take my eyes off this photo.

A sneak peek at what I did in my blogging absence

Here are some of my favourite pictures taken over the last 2 weeks, when my boyfriend came to visit me! I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop using the free wi-fi because my internet at home has decided to die on me. Having left my camera at home, which has photos of my recent product purchases, this is all I can give you for now!

(Japanese) English at its best..

We couldn't stop laughing when this picture was taken. We looked too funny!

Hong Kong style desserts :) Tofu with mango and pomelo sago, and tofu with black sesame. So good.

Me looking extremely smug with my new Mulberry bag (graduation present from my parents)! Yes I decided on the Mulberry over the Be & D :)

The marina.

The other side of Hong Kong (across the harbour)

Yet another bay (Stanley beach area). The weather was so beautiful.

I thoroughly enjoyed the past 2 weeks and would give anything to live them all over again. Now i'm left feeling lonely, exhausted and ever so slightly ill :( I also don't have a clue what to do with my future now that I've graduated from uni!! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated xxx