I’m not one for Valentine’s Day AT ALL… but when I saw these cute and fun V-Day foodie illustrations by my fabulous blogger friend, Mochachocolatarita (try saying that when you’ve had a few!), I knew I just had to share!
Rita has taken some much-loved matches-made-in-HK-food-heaven and turned them into very sweet, loved-up illustrations for Valentine’s Day. Forget cheesy giant teddy bears and half-dead bouquets of flowers… these pictures are much more fun!
Posted in Hong Kong, Pretty Things, Random
Tagged artists, cute, design, drawings, foodie, funny, Hong Kong, Hong Kong art, Hong Kong artists, Hong Kong food, illustrations, pictures, Pretty Things, Valentine's Day
I’m a sucker for desserts… and a sucker for pretty packaging. Add the two together and you have Rach dropping hundreds of dollars on chocolate she never even wanted or needed in the first place!
So say hello to these uber pretty chocolate bars from French brand Comptoir du Cacao. They were about $50 each (*wince*) so I have to stick them on here to claim that as a blog investment, right?!
I swear I’m not obsessed with them… OK, OK, maybe I am… but I am loving these cute postcards from British fragrance brand, Penhaligon’s!
Their Guides to Gentlemanly Behaviour and British Tea Drinking Etiquette are quirky, witty and fun; I’m a sucker for anything done in this vintage-style, which totally fits the heritage of their brand (over 100 years and counting, baby!).
Ever since joining Instagram, a whole new world of pretty things has been opened up before me – and one of my favourite discoveries has been the work of Miss Magpie Fashion Spy, aka UK fashion illustrator Niki Groom.
This type of drawing is everything that is totally up my street – my trademark favourite watercolour-esque sketchy style (see here… and here!), cute girls, gorgeous dresses and beautiful details peeking out of every corner.
Posted in Pretty Things
Tagged art, artwork, design, drawings, fashion artists, fashion drawings, fashion illustration, illustration, Miss Magpie Fashion Spy, Niki Groome, Pretty Things, sketches
Are there any problems in life that aren’t solved by afternoon tea?!
Well, that’s a question I frequently put to the test with my cake partner-in-crime, Mirander! Our afternoon tea sessions usually consist of long periods of chatting, sighing, ranting and crying – mostly on my side, whilst Mirander says, “There, there,” and orders us some more cake.
Having drank a lot of tea and eaten a lot of cake in our time, the likes of Starbucks and Pacific Coffee just don’t cut it anymore. We love uncovering cute little cafés in Hong Kong where we can vent to our heart’s content in delightful surroundings – and our latest discovery is Hit The Road.
Posted in Food, Hong Kong, Pretty Things
Tagged afternoon tea, afternoon tea hong kong, best cafes in Causeway Bay, best cafes in Hong Kong, best dessert hong kong, café, Causeway Bay, coffee shops in Hong Kong, CWB, dessert, dessert hong kong, eating out, Hit The Road, Hit The Road cafe, Hit The Road Hong Kong, independent cafes Hong Kong, independent coffee shops Hong Kong, review, upstairs cafés, upstairs cafés Hong Kong, where to eat Causeway Bay
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
“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
What with Ladurée and Pierre Hermé opening here in swift succession, Hong Kong has gone totally macaron mental. And whilst my sweet tooth knows no bounds, I do draw the line at queuing hours for what is essentially a little puff of sugary air!
So… six months after opening and with everyone flocking to Pierre Hermé in ifc instead… I finally hit up the Ladurée’s Hong Kong store in Harbour City. Better late than never right?
Posted in Food, Hong Kong, Pretty Things
Tagged best dessert hong kong, best macarons in hk, best macarons in Hong Kong, best macaroons in Hong Kong, dessert, dessert hong kong, Laduree, Laduree Hong Kong, Laduree locations Hong Kong, Laduree macarons, Laduree stores Hong Kong, Laduree stores in Hong Kong, macarons, macarons hk, macarons hong kong, macaroons, review, where to buy Laduree in Hong Kong, where to buy Laduree macarons Hong Kong
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
Sex. Clothes. Popularity. Whatever.
I’ll admit to not being the most stylish cat in town… but I am like, totally buggin’, because something amazing has happened. Something I am actually obsessed with has become fashionable!
Yes, apparently Clueless – one of my favourite films ever, re-watched religiously every few months [Boyfriend: Didn’t we just watch Clueless like… last week?], the script of which is committed to memory ‘as if’ I learnt it in Sunday school – is currently the hottest style inspiration for designers. Short of the catwalks being inspired by the wardrobes of Disney princesses or Jem & The Holograms, I am likely to never be this en vogue ever again!
Do you prefer fashion victim or ensembly challenged?
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 