Fabulous Friday!

[via savvyhomeblog.com]

Emerald

Hello Pantone colour of 2013! EMERALD. 

Look how beautiful it looks incorporated into interior decor:

Wishing you all a calm end of the week - we're getting so close to Christmas! xxx

Merry Monday

Happy Tuesday



Loft.

[ Via photographer David Engelhardt ]

ASOS Christmas Purchases!

Hello guys! 

Hope you are all having a nice day/evening. Today I would like to share with you what I ordered last night on ASOS! I got a little carried away with all the wonderful Christmas sales items (and some not on sale *ahem*) so ended up buying my parents' Christmas presents as well as part of my New Year's Eve party outfit (and a sneaky bag as well that is completely irrelevant to the Christmas season but I thought it was stunning), so here they are:

1. ASOS Suede Studded Shopper

How gorgeous is this Valentino lookalike bag?? I love the suede with pleather panelled sides. The olive colour is also beautiful (not sure why ASOS call the colour "mink", it's clearly green!) and of course, the rose gold studs... *slurp*! They also have a black version which is kind of even nicer but I figured I had enough black bags!

2. ASOS Top with Leather Look Cutout Back

This black peplum top will be perfect for partying on New Year's Eve! I love the cut-out back detailing, and the shape will be very flattering. Planning to pair this with my black skinny jeans, the necklace below, my black peep-toe pumps and maybe my Bottega Veneta cream coloured leather weave clutch (for a pop of lightness against an all black outfit - yes I have already thought about this quite a bit, haha).

3. ASOS Spike and Stone Bar Necklace

Next up is this spike and stone bar necklace that I bought to match the peplum top above. This will also be worn on New Year's Eve. I thought it looked really good on the model with the black top.

4. Lipsy Swirl Pelt Faux Fur Crop Jacket

This one is for my Mum (but I may try to steal it once in a while, hehe). It's faux fur and looks super soft and cozy! Pretty sure she will love it as she lives in comfy clothes. It will also be great to wear to the office :) Unfortunately this was so popular it is now out of stock.

5. Selected Leather Bomber Jacket

This leather jacket is for my Dad - yes he likes to think he's still in his 20's and young and hip =P I liked the simple, classic cut and my Dad loves anything leather (this is 100% real leather) so fingers crossed he will like it! We stopped him from getting a leather sofa for the living room so this can make up for it, haha. 

Whew, that's it and I am now broke! My wallet is silently weeping. What do you think of my Christmas picks? What are you planning to get (or have already gotten) for your friends and family this Christmas?

P.S. This is NOT a sponsored post - I'm just a very loyal ASOS fan and customer. 

All images were "borrowed" from ASOS.com.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

[Source: tessaclark, via youthandboots]

All I want (and got) for Christmas...

All I wanted for Christmas this year was a pair of black leather riding boots, flats, no heels. I've always liked how the right riding boot can seriously flatter your legs (suck everything in) and at the same time look so elegant and understated. 

This is where my Stuart Weitzman riding boots come in! Yesterday while I was window shopping with my parents at LAB, we came across a pair of black riding boots by Stuart Weitzman. I swiftly took a peek at the price tag, chuckled and walked off. HK$6,900??? No way. I can't afford that on my humble trainee solicitor salary!

Anyway I tried them on (just for fun), strangely egged on by my mum. I have to mention that last weekend I shopped high and low at Hysan Place and tried on 7 pairs of riding boots, none of which would zip up over my (massive) calves. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when the Stuart Weitzmans slipped right on! Not only that, but they sucked everything in (as I had hoped), elongated my legs, because the front goes slightly over the knees, and made my legs look slimmer as well (thanks to the two toned fabric from the side - half leather half elasticated something). At this point I still thought they would never come home with me - surely boots with such a high price tag would only stay in my fantasy boot land? 

All of my sudden my mum says, "I know you've been looking for riding boots for a while now and that they are all you want this Christmas. How about your dad and I get them for you as a joint Christmas and Birthday present?" (my birthday is in January). Obviously I was like "YES PLEAAAASSSSEE!!! SOLD!!!"

And that's how these beautiful boots came home with me last night. 

(I later discovered they were FAR CHEAPER ONLINE on http://www.stuartweitzman.com/womens-shoes/boots/. Too bad they're completely sold out of ALL sizes!!!)

Architecture at its Best

To me, this is architecture at its finest. Love how the stairs are both outdoors and indoors and in one piece - just a wall separating the two parts. The little terrace is also so neat and literally built into the house, it's almost as though you could pack this whole house up and move it to another piece of land! The geometric usage of cubes and sharp lines is also very modern and fresh.

What are your thoughts on this design? Is this just your kind of house or do you prefer something more traditional and cozy? 

Happy Monday!

[via desiretoinspire.net]

Dannijo

What an insanely cool necklace!! Tribal and rocker at the same time. Just not sure if I'd be able to pull it off.... but how great would it look with a crisp and casual white shirt? Definitely a statement piece...

What do you think? Would you wear this, and if so, what would you wear it with?

Happy weekend everybody! xxx

MUFE & Jewellery Haul!

Hello everybody! The video above is about my current make-up, skincare, hair and perfume favourites. It's a bit long but I do hope you'll bear with me and I figured it sort of makes up for the lack of videos on my channel recently. If you do enjoy, please feel free to subscribe to my youtube channel. I would looooove that very much :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! It's mid-autumn/ moon festival here in Hong Kong so we have a 4 day weekend, which means that not only can I catch up on sleep but there will also be an awesome fireworks display on October 1st to celebrate National Day! xxx

Travel Jewellery

I didn't bring much jewellery with me to Beijing, mainly with the objective of travelling light and expecting the weather to be too hot and yucky for me to want to wear much jewellery. Little did I expect the jewellery shopping to be so great in Beijing! I came back with many new pieces, which you will see below...

From top left, going from left to right: "Van Cleef & Arpels" bangle and ring from Silk Market (Beijing), multi-stone ring from Spitalfields market (London), turtle ring from Berlin, triple gold rings from ASOS, silver bangle from Morocco, wrap bracelet from Silk Market (Beijing), wrap bracelet from Princes Building (Hong Kong), "Hermes collier de chien" bracelet from Spitalfields (London), turquoise bead bracelet from Spitalfields (London), rose gold deer antler necklace from Spitalfields (London).

As you can see, I like to buy jewellery from all around the world and actually all but one of these pieces were purchased this summer! From Morocco, London and Beijing. As you can see from my quotation marks above, some of these are "inspired" by designer brands, such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Hermes and Chan Luu. What can I say, I love me a bargain.

I got this beautiful Chan Luu inspired wrap bracelet from Silk Market in Beijing, an indoor market with loads of great bargains, where you can haggle the prices down by at least 50%. I got this piece for RMB35 (around £3!) This one is great for nights out because it has a bit of sparkle.

This multi-stone ring is from a jewellery stall at Spitalfields market in London. If I remember correctly, it was £20.This one is also perfect for night time, because it adds a bit of glamour to your outfit, especially if you're wearing something dark and quite simple like a black top.

This rose gold bangle and ring (matching) are inspired (or copied? lol) by Van Cleef & Arpels and are also from Silk Market. I got the bangle for RMB120 (£10) and the ring for RMB 70 (£6).

This white leather bracelet is inspired by the Hermes collier de chien bracelets. I got this from Spitalfields in London and it was around £15.

I actually bought even more jewellery in Beijing after taking these pictures but am feeling too lazy to take pictures of them. Hope you have enjoyed seeing and reading about my recent jewellery purchases anyway :)

Reflections on Beijing

Hi everyone. I'm back from Beijing and had an incredible time! To be honest, I was quite reluctant to go and had put it off for over a year (my mom originally wanted me to study Mandarin there for a year). Well, I am now very glad that I went! Met some amazing people whom I now miss a lot and my Mandarin has improved. 

Great Wall of China!

Beijing Olympic stadium - Bird's Nest!

Two of my new friends from Beijing :)

Scorpions on a stick! They were still alive at this point and some of them were struggling! If you buy a stick, they deep fry them and come back all crispy... Safe to say I did NOT try this but a friend did. She said they just taste like deep fried stuff, a bit oily and very crispy.

Summer Palace - looks like a painting!

Summer Palace again

and again

The night we went for traditional Beijing hotpot dinner

Ancient Cultural Street in Tianjin

We all bought Mao Communist hats for RMB 8 each.

Cool shop in Tianjin selling these ceramic water holders

A clubbing night.

Tianjin at night

After this month in Beijing, I can safely say that I would be happy to go back again! There were a lot of sights that I didn't get around to visiting, and some I've visited years ago when I was around 12 years old on a school trip that I would like to revisit, such as Gu Gong (故宫).

This Saturday, I start my training contract at a law firm here in Hong Kong. While I'm looking forward to finally making my own living, I can't help but feel apprehensive! Really hope I can do well in this job and impress the firm. Wish me luck!

Hello from Beijing everyone! After my hellish journey over from Hong Kong, the Hong Kong airport actually managed to misplace my suitcase so I didn't get all my stuff back until a few days later! I was without clothes, toiletries and makeup so you can imagine how unhappy I was! Really felt like a hobo. Thankfully they managed to find my suitcase so now I have all my beloved products back. My skin was starting to go haywire from not using my usual skincare and my eyes were shriveling up (not literally of course) from not having any eye cream!

Slightly off topic, I would like to share a piece of poetry I wrote several years ago when I was around 18. That was the peak of my interest in poetry and writing. This poem was inspired by Sylvia Plath's poems, which I was studying at school for the IB programme at the time. Hope you like it.

Here, I give you my heart.
Not a jigsaw puzzle but
A map
Of my world in a thousand pieces,
In a million colours.

This one, over here
From the day
we met,
Still glowing 
with its pearly pink sheen.

Over here, in the corner,
The day I lied 
just to create 
music
For your ears.

Don’t touch, this one’s 
Fragile,
The day you walked away
Like a periwinkle
Leaving its trusty shell.

That night, the winds blew soft
and cold, gently caressing 
the contours of your shell,
Barely skimming
The surface of my velvet skin.

You were there in my mind,
This glimmering golden shard
Over here,
But your heavy feet were taking you away,
Away from me, from this.

You always thought you were tough,
Like this scarlet one overhead,
But I’m the only person who knows
The weary beatings of your heart,
The whispering nuances of your breath.

Your lips my pillow 
Where my worries melted 
Away
like candy floss
On a hot summer’s day.

Your arms my shelter, 
my executor,
Where peachy white turned to black
And blue
Then crimson red.

Here, I give you my bones.
Not my world but
A jigsaw puzzle
In eighty nine pieces,
Yellowy white.

I do not ask of you 
To put me together 
Again,
Only to store me away
In a box.

I do not ask of you
To remember me,
To set these wasted fragments
in your 
soul.

All I ask, is for you
To cremate me,
Let my ashes blow away
Like autumn leaves 
On a breezy day

Let them burn
Because the doves
Have died,
The lovers
have lied.

Let them burn
Until
You’re satisfied.

- By Stephanie Sham

Stuck

Currently stuck at Hong Kong airport because my flight to Beijing has been delayed 3 times so far! It was originally scheduled to depart at 3pm but now it's been pushed back to 11:20pm! Luckily I ran into a friend's brother who happens to be going to the same university for the same Mandarin course so we hung out for a while and figured out which hotel to stay at in Beijing for the night, since it's too late to get to campus.

Just thought I'd pop on here for a little update since I've literally run out of things to entertain myself with!

I'll be in Beijing for one month. Maybe I'll even do little photo posts from my sightseeing and/or shopping :)

Black & Rose Gold Outfit

Hello everyone! It's been a while eh?

Not sure if this outfit is even worth posting as it's so simple and really quite plain! But since I haven't updated in what seems like ages (sorry about that - I was having too much fun in London, Morocco and Sardinia!), I thought, why not??

Here I'm wearing a new top from River Island. You might recognise it from Louise's (sprinkleofglitter) youtube video a little while back. I like the off the shoulder detailing and the colourful beading at the straps. The rose gold deerhead necklace is from a boutique at Spitalfields market and the bag is an amazing £20 find from Camden market.

The low-heel sandals are old and I think they were from Nine West.

What do you think of this outfit? xx

Updated Skincare Routine

My skincare routine has changed quite a bit since my last skincare video, so here it is below if you're interested! I also include my recommendations :)

Retrosuperfuture

I got new sunglasses today.

They're from Retrosuperfuture. More specifically, from their SUPER line.

The style is 'People Francis Havana' - a twist on the classic wayfarer shape, with tortoiseshell acetate.

HKD$2,158 from Ocular Plus (above IKEA in Causeway Bay). I got mine for HKD$1,962, because this month they're doing 10% off on all items to celebrate the store's 1 year anniversary.

Visual Culture also stock a wide range of Retrosuperfuture sunglasses and glasses. I've completely fallen in love with the brand!

Check out their website and online store: http://store.retrosuperfuture.com/
(No this isn't a sponsored post. I'm just THAT excited about the brand!)

In hindsight I wish I'd bought them online because they seem to have free shipping!! :(

Outfit Of The Day: Casual Sunday Dinner

I was supposed to go to a friend's beach party today in Saikung but couldn't get myself up in the morning after quite a late night out playing pool last night. Spent most of the day lazing around at home, got a tiny bit of studying done, and finished reading the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy, "Mockingjay", whilst sitting in a beanbag on my balcony.

For dinner, I went out with my parents to the Aberdeen Marina Club, where we sat on the outdoor terrace and I indulged in the dessert buffet (only ordered a caesar salad for my mains, to balance it out!). Now I'm back home and thought I would share my casual outfit of the day with you.

Mint blazer: Zara
White tank top: H&M
Jeggings: Uniqlo
Shoes: Pedder Red (the ones from the previous post! I love them. Super comfortable.. they feel like those rubber shoes you were if you go kayaking)
Bag: Steve Madden

What did you get up to this weekend? Did you have sunny weather where you live? xxx

Being Hipster

So ever since I saw the first pair of velvet slippers out in stores and online, I thought they looked pretty cool. They're definitely hipster though, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull them off. Well fast forward to today, when I was casually browsing the new LAB store at Queensway Plaza (loving it by the way), I came across this pair from Pedder Red. Something about the shape makes them easier to pull off and I think I look pretty cool wearing them - if I do say so myself! Haha. They're made of blue velvet and they have studs in the front. Check 'em out!

They were HK$755, which isn't too bad I don't think!

What do you think of these 'slippers'? Are you into the trend? xxx