At Dries Van Noten p.2

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Before, I didn't really see the need for eyeshadow primers. You see, I bought the Smashbox eyeshadow/lip primer before and it did nothing, absolutely nothing, for me- except maybe reduced the redness of my eyes so then the color appears better. But I can achieve that with a little application of my YSL Touche Elcat. Nevertheless, being the beauty addict that I am, the other day I got the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion after hearing so many rave reviews about it- and now I am a convert.
At first I wasn't sure if I was just having a good eyeshadow day or it was the potion, but after having had 3 good eyeshadow days I am pretty confident that it was the potion. And by "good eyeshadow day" I mean going a whole day (morning till night) with no crease, no smudging and sharp color! Its really quite incredible. I didn't think it was possible. Oh and another point is that it literally glides on and really creates a nice smooth surface for eyeshadow application that really sticks. And no, I did not just copied that from the blurb on Sephora. And since I'm about the most oblivious person around when it comes to the whether a beauty product works game, this product really DOES make a difference! So if you haven't already- I highly recommend it!

Ps. Happy Halloween!

Image Source: Sephora

On the Street....Beijing, China

On the Street....Right Bank, Paris

Lane Crawford Party For Beijing Store Opening - part 2

The fantabulous Sarah Rutson

At Dries Van Noten p.1

The Sartorialist: Behind The Scenes

ABC News followed me around the day I took these photos.

If you want to check out the webcast, click on this link ABC News Webcast

Daisy, the Marc by Marc Jacobs Perfume

I'm not a big perfume lover. I spray perfume maybe 10 times a year, usually for nights out. But like most girls, I can't resist browsing at the ever-interesting perfume bottles and sniff all the new scents. There are so many scents that I like, but because of this, I can't possibly buy all the scents I 'like'. Out of all the scents, there's one scent that has grown on me and I have fond memories of, the Marc Jacobs Eau de Parfum. And I've been meaning to buy a bottle for awhile, but I've been slightly hesistant becaues I wasn't sure if the flowery smell was too strong for me to wear for too long of a time so I never got around to buying it.

I was excited when I saw the new ads of Daisy, the Marc by Marc Jacobs scent, in Teen Vogue. It's got that sweet, non-chalent The first time I smelt it, it smelled like any other perfume out there in the market. But at the encouragement of the Marc salesgirls (who told me not to buy the Marc Jacobs perfume but try Daisy instead,) I sprayed both scents onto perfume paper and brought them home to smell for a day. (The salesgirls also told me that their first shipment at the Hong Kong store soldout in 3 days!)

After smelling both scents at least once an hour, I've decided that on the surface, Daisy smelt only like a light, fruity, flowery scent. But later on, the scent smelt musky and most importantly, of Gardenia, the signature scent of the Marc Jacobs perfume. (Yes, I know I think too much before buying things.) According to the Daisy site, Daisy's notes include strawberry, ruby red grapefruit, violet leaves, gardenia, violet leaves, jasmine petals, musk, vanilla and white woods. Not exactly what I smelt, but close enough. And surprisingly, since I've bought it two weeks ago, I've already used it 4 times. Perhaps the reason I haven't been using much perfume before was that I haven't found my right one yet?

What do you think of Daisy? Isn't the bottle simply adorable? Has anyone smelt it or bought it yet?

Image credit: www.sephora.com

Lane Crawford Party For Beijing Store Opening - part 1

You may recognize one of my favorites on the left - Antonio of Dries Van Noten
Mr. Christian Louboutin

On the Street....Curios Mix, Hong Kong

On the Street....Blue Camo, Beijing

On the Street.....Theatre Lane, Hong Kong

I love how the bag really brings a lot of color to this look.

Sorry I was out of touch for a few days in Beijing. I don't think I have ever gone so long without posting - I was having withdrawal symptoms !

I really like Hong Kong but Beijing rocks!!!

Hong Kong really is just like New York in the feel of the city but Beijing really feels like China.

It was such a challenge to shoot on the street in a city where people not only don't speak English but they don't speak a language anywhere close to my language.

At least in Italy I can say a few words in English or bad italian and the subject basically understands but in China they had no idea what I wanted to do. Most people thought I wanted them to take a picture of me with my camera.

I have never been turned down for taking a photo in my life but I guess I understand the reasons.

Anyway, eventually I got the hang of it and got some really great images in both Hong Kong and Beijing that i will be posting this week. I also look forward to writing a little more to help explain what I was seeing.

Sorry not many (any) men's photos on this trip, the men's style ,in general, really lags behind the women's. That will be my big challenge next time.

I guess it is safe to announce now that I will also start doing a page every month in Vogue China starting January or February.

This came up before I went on this trip. Of course I was excited to do the page but after this visit I am now double, extra excited about being involved with Vogue China.

I will talk more about the team at Lane Crawford later in the week but I want to thank them again for sponsoring this trip and taking such good care of me.

I would like to say I was shocked by just how good the Lane Crawford stores are but ,honestly, wasn't that shocked because I knew they were good but I had no idea they were THAT good, that level of good.

I spent 15 years in sales and marketing dealing with department and specialty stores all around the world before i started this blog. During that time I developed very strong opinions about what makes a great store and what a great shopping experience should feel like. The fact that I don't write about stores very often should tell you that ,more often than not, I am rarely excited by most shopping experiences but this trip to the Lane Crawford at IFC and Beijing was really inspiring.

More than the beautiful stores and great locations, I was really impressed by the edit of the buy for each designer and the depth of strong fashion pieces. No safe, watered-down presentation of Marni or Dries that often happens in stores solely driven by the bottom line and lacking in a clear long range vision.

Ok, I can feel I'm starting to get worked up here and I could write at length about this but I have to catch my plane back to New York. I will continue this thought later in the week.

Thanks Sarah!!

On the Street.....Pacific Place, Hong Kong

A Lesson In How To Wear Tailored Pants, Paris

Bold Nail Varnish

Having been a devotee of the pale pink/whitish nail varnish for most of my nail varnish wearing life (seriously, I have about 5 bottles of pale pink varnish in slightly different shades), recently I've finally jumped onto the bandwagon of bold (darker) colored nail varnish. I am not exactly sure what go me into it....perhaps its because everyone on TV has it and since I watch so much TV it has subconsciously filtered into me and displaced my initial notion that bold nail colors look old and trashy. About time too! I think the trick is to keep nails short and rounded. Long and sharp...now that is trashy.

My first bold color obsession: red. Bright red. Mine is a similar color to this, An Affair in Red Square, from OPI, except mine is called Fishnet Stockings from Essi. I just couldn't find the Essi website. But yes, I randomly bought the bottle and tried it on and I LOVED it. Its just so SHARP and cool! I actually spent a few minutes in the mirror checking out my new nail color afterwards! :)
The next color I wanted to try was Purple. But not electric purple. And not reddish purple. Cause then it'll just look too purple. It was a tough choice, but in the end I settled on this Russian Navy, from OPI, which has a bluish, purplish tinge. This one actually took me a while to get used to (I think I'm still trying to get used to it), but I think once winter comes on full force, it'll fit my wardrobe perfectly.

Incidentally the whole new OPI Russian Collection fits my recent fall/winter mood perfectly. Dark, rich colors of blue, purple and red. Its fabulous. Although I'm not sure about the texture. Maybe its just me, but I find them not to go on as smoothly as my Essi ones.

And lastly, HOW does everyone apply their dark nail varnishes? I am phenomenally bad at application. So I try not to mess up by just applying one layer (no, I'm seriously bad) and for these bold colors, its not too bad since its already so strong. But I can't help that I accidentally apply over the edges and then it just looks like a little kid coloring and going outside the lines. Also, a lot of times, I get streaks. HOW am I suppose to DO this properly??? Please help!

Image Source: OPI

Guilty Pleasures

Having had a stressful few weeks, I decided to treat myself to a day of guilty pleasures.

1. My top guilty pleasure is sleep. And by that I don't mean the usual 8 hours. I mean sleeping for however long and whenever I want. See, I'm not a morning person. Hence I never feel like waking up in the morning. So this morning (afternoon), I woke up late. And then I went for guilty pleasure number 2......
2. Romance novels. I find the newer novels these days to be much too formulaic and tedious to go through to find a good one. Hence I love reading the old ones that I know are good. The classics never get boring. They are all the same anyway, its just the quality of the writing that differs. Besides, all I'm looking for is a happy ending to escape from the real world. One of my all time favourites is Jill Mansell's, Miranda's Big Mistake. Its super sweet. Mansell is generally pretty good, though I can't say much for her newer books......And while I was reading by the window next to the warm sunlight, I indulged myself some more and rest my eyes whenever I need to.
3. Next on my list is endless hours of mindless TV shows. These days I watch just about anything, Greys Anatomy, Samantha Who, Gossip Girl (love it), ANTM etc. But my ultimate favourite is still the chic lives of the girls on Sex and the City. I can never get bored of them. They are classic!
4. And we must not forget nourishment. Guilty pleasure number four: eating ice cream out of the carton. Then you can really eat as much as you want. And the ultimate pleasure of all? Sleep after you eat. I know that it is highly not recommend it. But succumbing to food coma is just the best thing I can imagine. Even if you cannot sleep for the rest of the night after....
5. But thats ok, because then you can indulge in guilty pleasure number 5: talking on the phone with an old friend and going down memory lane- for hours. 4 hrs and 5 minutes to be exact. There is no path better than memory lane. Now I really want to read all those Christopher Pike books I loved to read when I was 13...... especially Starlight Crystal. Its about this girl who falls in love with this guy but a few days later she had to go on a spaceship that is designed to be a time capsule that observes human evolution over time. And then something goes wrong and there is this huge time warp and....I just remember it being more cool than it sounds now.
6. Staring into space and letting your mind wander...and closing your eyes for a few minutes whenever you like. Especially nice if you have a nice view or a clear sky to stare at.
7. And the last of my guilty pleasures? List making. I love list making. I make lists about everything (observe this blog). And diary writing. It really keeps track of your thoughts and clears your head up. Besides- its awfully entertaining to read a year later....especially if you make interesting lists, like new years resolutions and checklists... I highly recommend it.

And this is my list of guilty pleasures I like to indulge in on my "me" time. What are your guilty pleasures?

Image Source: Amazon.com

Curl Your Lashes

Last year, my routine was just tinted moisturiser and blush (on the days I actually wake up on time). This year, I have officially added eyelash curling as the final step.

If you have read any top beauty secret lists in magazines, then you would remember that curling your lashes is always one of them. Curled lashes are supposed to make your eyes look bigger, make you look more awake -basically, brighten up your whole look. I always took this advice very lightly because it seemed that whenever I curled my lashes and applied mascara, my lashes just became straight after 5 minutes, so what's the point? However recently, I've started curling my lashes at the end of my makeup routine. Surprisingly when I get home after school, my lashes are still curled, and sometimes, people even ask me if I have mascara on.

The point I'm trying to make is, try curling your lashes everyday before leaving the house. It takes less than a minute to do and really livens up your eyes! And at the end of the day, you don't even have to wash it off. Convenient huh? Makes me think we should listen to conventional wisdom more often!

Image credit: www.sephora.com

On the Street.....Subtle & Dramatic Part 2, Hong Kong

Really like the look but I really love her makeup

Young ladies here in hong Kong seem to be doing some really nice work with subtle white makeup

Notice how she has softened her eyebrows and made her lips very flat and matte with just the slightest use of white.

It is one of those things that you can't really put your finger on when she walks by but you can just tell she is doing something interesting.

By the way she is not a stylist or designer - she works in an executive recruitment office.
Going to a "corporate job" with that kind of style is why the young ladies here are pretty cool.

On the Street.....Dynamic Understatement, Central Hong Kong

Very well done

Couple of things
- This is minimalism at its best
narrow color scheme that uses texture and surface detail to deliver a huge impact

- matte sequins for day

- surprisingly sexy and yet not obvious

- love the extra short skirt with the extra long sleeve - great play on proportions

Again, I don't think any of the individual items are very expensive it is all in the way she mixed the elements

On the Street.....Subtle & Dramatic, Hong Kong

I love this girls whole look but I really love her makeup - it is both subtle and dramatic at the same time

Sorry for the delay of these Hong Kong posts.

On the Street.....Print Top, Kowloon

At Stella McCartney

Vivienne Tam Dresses

I am constantly amazed at my mom's ability to be so up to date with the latest going ons in fashion. Her latest discovery are the trendy dresses at Vivienne Tam. Surprising isn't it? I've always related her style as western with oriental influence and wouldn't exactly call it trendy. So when my mom told me she'd bought me a dress from there, I was like, what?
Luckily for me, the dresses over at Vivienne Tam seems to have gone through a revival and are much trendier than I'd imagined. The dress my mom got me was this one, except mine is black and made of a woolish material. Now to be honest, when I first saw the dress (and identified it as this one in the catalog), I didn't like it very much. It was past my knees and it has the most awkwardly positioned tie thing in the middle. That is not exactly the most flattering cut. But after playing around with it, I've tied it at the waist, such that a little puffy effect is created and is shorter, which is kind of cute with ankle boots!
This of course got me looking into the rest of the catalog and now I am lusting for more Vivienne Tam dresses! They have more simple casual (kind of shift) dresses. I especially love the grey one in the middle. The color is also so nice and wintery without being too black.

And check out those silver Mary Janes! I WANT a pair. They look so perfect in the winter with all these cute short dresses!
For something more sophisticated, there are these more polished creations. The dress on the right is my favourite! The bottom frills gives it just the right touch of girliness to the otherwise sophisticated and simple design.
Something a little more fun, there are these printed dresses. The rich silver brocade dress is so adorable! And as a side note, I really like that look on the far right (sorry about the bad scanning). Its so simple to achieve too. All I need is to go out and get myself a cute printed mini!

Who would've thought that these creations were Vivienne Tam?