Remember when I went all coral cray-cray with my review of MAC’s Coral Bliss Lipstick and Stay By Me Blush (basically a distillation of the fact I’m actually coral cray-cray for life!)?
Well, I decided it was time to give some love to the other shades on the blush spectrum and step out of my coral comfort zone, in the form of a pretty-in-pink look using MAC’s Sunny Seoul Cremesheen Lipstick and their Stay Pretty Pro Longwear Blush! Ta-da!
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Beauty, best pink blushers, best pink blushes, best pink lipsticks, blush, blusher, cosmetics, Cremesheen & Pearl Collection, Cremesheen Lipstick, FOTD, lipstick, look, Mac, MAC cosmetics, Office Hours Collection, photo, pink, Pro Longwear Blush, review, Stay Pretty blush, Sunny Seoul lipstick, swatch, where to buy MAC Cosmetics in Hong Kong
This is one review I never thought I’d get round to writing.
I have long had to make peace with the fact I’ll never manage to blog about every single piece of make-up I want to; however, after trying the Innisfree Hand Cream Collection, I was so pleasantly surprised that I felt the need to share the good news with you all!
Innisfree is a Korean beauty brand that opened its first stores in Hong Kong (in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok) earlier this year. Unlike other Korean cosmetics brands like Etude House and Tony Moly that concentrate on the cutesier side of beauty, Innisfree has a much fresher, cleaner feel – they’re all about natural pure ingredients found on the Korean volcanic island of Jeju (a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, doncha’know). Forget hand creams shaped like penguins or make-up ranges themed around princesses – Innisfree’s packaging is simple, chic and eco-friendly; both the store and its products give me a Body Shop vibe but with an Asian twist.
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Beauty, Canola Honey Hand Butter, cosmetics, Green Tea Pure Gel Hand Cream, hand butter, hand cream, hand cream set, hand lotion, Innisfree, Innisfree Hong Kong, Innisfree stores in Hong Kong, Korean beauty brands, Korean beauty brands in Hong Kong, Korean cosmetic brands in Hong Kong, Korean cosmetics brands, Korean make-up, make-up, review, skincare, swatches, Tangerine Blossom Perfumed Hand Lotion, where to buy Innisfree in Hong Kong
As part of my day job as Editor for a lifestyle website, I often get the opportunity to interview people – however, I’m not quite Ryan Seacrest yet so half the time, I don’t even know who half these people are! However, when the email came asking if I wanted to interview Charlotte Knight, the founder of Ciaté who was in town for Lane Crawford’s Vogue Fashion’s Night Out, I jumped at the chance!
I found Charlotte really likeable, fun and down-to-earth – and I loved how heavily involved in Ciaté she still is. I could really tell how passionate she is about nails, which as a customer, is something I really value in a brand. Since I put myself through the hell of listening to my voice over and over again to transcribe our 30-minute chat, I thought I might as well stick up the whole interview on here for all you fellow polishaholics! Enjoy!
Tagged Beauty, Caviar Manicure, celebrity interview, Chalkboard Nail Kit, Charlotte Knight, Ciaté, Ciaté Hong Kong, Ciaté nail polish Hong Kong, Corrupted Neon Manicure, cosmetics, Feather Manicure, founder of Ciaté, interview, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, profile, where to buy Ciaté in Hong Kong, WOW kits
I was once told by a commenter online that Asian girls shouldn’t wear red lips – and my reply, being the spiteful so-and-so I am, was that people telling me I shouldn’t wear it only made me wear it even more! So let me practice what I preach by showing you Shu Uemura’s Baby Flame Rouge Unlimited Lipstick, from their new Sweet Red Collection.
Left to right: Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited lipsticks in Dolly Red, Laquer Red, Mon Shu Red, Baby Flame
The Sweet Red Collection comprises six varying shades of… yes, how did you guess… red lippie! Red lipstick should be a weapon in every woman’s make-up arsenal, but the nice thing about Shu’s shades here are that they’re good entry level reds – they all have a sweet translucent shine to them rather than a strong matte look, and amongst the six, there should be a shade for everyone.
It seems my love of desserts is starting to spill over into my love of nail polish… nearly every polish I wear these days reminds me of something deliciously edible! So after the blue strawberry slushie of pa AA162, the choc mint milkshake of Deborah Lippmann’s Rockin’ Robin and the cupcake-inspired Nail’s Inc Sprinkles Collection, it’s time for a set of polishes inspired by ice-creams – Etude House’s Sweet Recipe Collection.
Etude House is a Korean cosmetics brand famous for cutesy girlie designs and playful fun packaging – and their adorable ice-cream cone nail polish bottles have got to be some of their best work yet! The first one I have to show you is probably my favourite of the bunch, Mint Choco Chip… and yes, how did you guess, it involves yet another variant on all things turquoise!
Posted in Beauty, Pretty Things
Tagged cosmetics, Etude House, Etude House ice cream nail polish, glitter, ice-cream nail polish, Korean cosmetics, Korean make-up, make-up, Mint Choco Chip, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, photo, Pretty Things, review, swatch, Sweet Recipe Collection, turquoise, where to buy Etude House in Hong Kong
Having sufficiently scratched my cultural itch (for now anyway!), it’s time to bring my blog back to basics – beauty basics, that is! And as every girl knows, one of the key building blocks to any well-stocked make-up drawer is an arsenal of neutral make-up!
Now I know… neutral and nude generally equals beige and boring, right? WRONG. Not when Benefit are involved anyway! Benefit has been one of my favourite beauty brands ever since I first started getting into make-up, thanks to their cute and quirky (but never cringe or kitsch) packaging – and of course, you can trust them to bring a fun take on neutral make-up… Enter Benefit’s World Famous Neutrals Kits!
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Benefit, Benefit Creaseless Creams, Benefit eye shadows, Benefit Most Glamorous Nudes kit, Benefit Most Glamorous Nudes palette, Benefit World Famous Neutrals Kit, best eye palettes, Birthday Suit, Call My Buff, cream eye shadows, eye palette, Gilt-y Pleasure, It's Complicated, Kiss Me I'm Tipsy, Most Glamorous Nudes, neutral, neutral eye palettes, nude, nude eye palettes, palette, powder eye shadows, review, swatches, Two Cents, World Famous Neutrals
“We love nails… and we know you love nails too!”
Well, as far as emails go, that’s definitely one to grab my attention!
Guys, I have found my nail soulmate in Hong Kong – and amazingly enough for me, she just happens to have started her very own nail salon too!
The sender of my email from the nail gods was in fact, the very lovely Ping Lam – owner and founder of The Nail Library, the first and only premium nail spa in Hong Kong. Forget ghetto mani places down dodgy back alleys or anonymous chain joints in bland commercial buildings, The Nail Library is a little piece of nail heaven hidden in the oh-so-hip Poho area of Sheung Wan.
Posted in Beauty, Hong Kong, Pretty Things
Tagged best manicures in Hong Kong, best manis in Hong Kong, best pedicures in Hong Kong, best pedis in Hong Kong, Butter London, manicure, nail art, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail salon, nail treatments Hong Kong, nail varnish, pedicure, Poho, review, sheung wan, The Nail Library HK, The Nail Library Hong Kong, where to get a mani Hong Kong, where to get a pedi Hong Kong
Nail polishes often make me feel like I have butterflies in my tummy (hint: they usually involve either turquoise or glitter!)… but here’s one that takes things to a more literal level!
Chanel’s Bel Argus nail polish is from their Summer 2013 L’Ete De Papillon De Chanel Collection – and like Le Vernis Azure before it, it’s named after a type of butterfly. Unlike Azure, Chanel has actually got the colour right this time though!
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Beauty, Bel Argus, blue, Chanel, Chanel Bel Argus Le Vernis, cosmetics, duochrome, L'Ete Papillon de Chanel, make-up, metallic, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, photos, review, Summer 2013, swatches
I already wrote about Chanel’s Stylo Eyeshadows from their L’Ete Papillon de Chanel Summer 2013 Collection – but c’mon, do you really think the range could have passed me by without picking up a polish or two?!
First on my nail polish hit list – obviously, it’s turquoise – was Chanel Azure.
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Azure, Beauty, Chanel, Chanel Azure Le Vernis, cosmetics, duochrome, L'Ete Papillon de Chanel, make-up, metallic, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, photos, review, Summer 2013, swatch, turquoise
For me, scent is the most evocative of all our senses. It’s amazing how one smell can instantly make certain memories flood back, remind you of a certain something or someone, or make you feel a certain way with just one waft of a fragrance.
For that reason, perfume fascinates me. How do you bottle an emotion? How do you create that intoxicating mix of ingredients that somehow manages to speak to so many different people? And is there a perfect perfume match out there for everyone?
Don’t worry, I’m not going to throw it all in and become a perfumer just yet! But for those reasons, I was incredibly excited to be invited for a Fragrance Profiling Experience at Penhaligon’s Hong Kong.
Posted in Beauty, Hong Kong, Pretty Things
Tagged artisanal perfume Hong Kong, Beauty, best perfumes Hong Kong, cosmetics, fragrance dos and don't, Fragrance Profiling, fragrances, Harbour City, IFC mall, luxury perfume Hong Kong, make-up, packaging, Penhaligon's, Penhaligon's Artemisia, Penhaligon's Eau Sans Pareil, Penhaligon's Fragrance Profiling, Penhaligon's Gardenia, Penhaligon's HK, Penhaligon's Hong Kong, Penhaligon's stores Hong Kong, perfume dos and don't, perfume explained, perfume tips, perfumes, pop-up shop, pop-up store, Pretty Things, review, scents, where to apply fragrance, where to apply perfume, where to buy Penhaligon's Hong Kong, where to buy perfume Hong Kong
I'm Rachel Read, a Hong Kong-based freelance writer and editor, make-up addict and general layabout. I'm powered by bacon, cupcakes, nail polish and the needs of two cute Yorkies.
All products/meals were paid for by me, unless otherwise stated.
Contact me at
rachelmread+ttlg@gmail.com
Photo by Sabrina Sikora Photography
© Rachel Mary Read and Through The Looking Glass, 2010-20.
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Through The Looking Glass 