Through The Looking Glass

Top 5 Desserts in Hong Kong 2016

Posted on January 9, 2017 | 1 comment

2016 wasn’t my favourite year by a long stretch, but there were still a couple of sweet spots in it – five to be exact! So here are my five favourite desserts in Hong Kong last year… and here’s hoping 2017 will be even sweeter.

Chocolate H20, Cobo House

When Cobo House first opened in Hong Kong, people actually started sending me social media photos of this dish, saying “this has your name written all over it”. Sure enough, its main components are chocolate and salted caramel – and short of actually calling it “Order Me, Rach”, there was no question that I’d be falling for Chocolate H20 hook, line and sinker.

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged 2am Dessert Bar, Adam Cliff, best cheesecake Hong Kong, best chocolate mousse in Hong Kong, best dessert dumplings Hong Kong, best desserts in Hong Kong, best pecan pie Hong Kong, cheesecake, chocolate, Chocolate H20, Cobo House, Cobo House Hong Kong, coconut dumplings, CRFT PIT, CRFT PT Hong Kong, desserts, desserts Hong Kong, end of year lists, favourite, favourite desserts Hong Kong, Janice Wong, labneh cheesecake, Maison Libanaise, Maison Libanaise Hong Kong, Mercedes Me, Mercedes Me Hong Kong, patisserie Hong Kong, pecan pie, salted caramel, salted caramel Hong Kong, Samsen, Samsen Hong Kong, top 5 desserts Hong Kong, top desserts Hong Kong

Through The Looking Glass’ Top 11 Posts of 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 | 1 comment

Everyone loves end-of-year posts, right? Especially when they come, not at the end of the old year, but at the start of a new one!

So with my trademark lateness (and wish me luck with last year’s best dessert list hitting the blog before the end of 2017), here are TTLG’s most read posts of 2016:

1. Australia’s Next Top Model, Cycle 7
2. Hong Kong Murders: The Braemar Hill murders
3. Arcane restaurant review
4. The Intercontinental Hong Kong afternoon tea review
5. SK-II Facial Treatment Essence review
6. Skin Laundry facial review
7. Clinique Chubby Sticks in Two Ton Tomato, Mighty Mimosa & Pudgy Peony review
8. Mott 32 restaurant review
9. Lancome Blanc Expert Ultimate Whitening Hydrating Cream moisturiser review
10. Australia’s Next Top Model, Cycle 4
11. Top 5 Desserts in Hong Kong 2015

It seems the key to being a popular post on my blog is to be an article written several years ago! Anyway, thanks as ever for reading and here’s hoping 2017 is a great year for us all.

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Tagged best articles 2016, best posts 2016, end of year lists, favourite, lists, most popular posts 2016, top 10 posts 2016, top 11 posts 2016, top ten lists

Wicked @ Hong Kong Academy Of Performing Arts review

Posted on December 22, 2016 | 2 comments

It’s been a while since I got goosebumps in the theatre… So enter Jacqueline Hughes as Elphaba in Wicked to deliver a whole year’s worth of them in one night.

It’s over a decade since Wicked, the smash hit musical based on a novel reimagining the events of The Wizard of Oz, first debuted on Broadway – which of course, means it’s only now arriving in Hong Kong for the first time. It tells the story of how Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West became well, wicked and it’s probably not much of a spoiler to say she wasn’t really that wicked at all… just you know, misunderstood, except with green skin (actually created using MAC eyeshadow, fact fans).

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Posted in Culture, Theatre

Tagged Carly Anderson, Defying Gravity, HKAPA, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Jacqueline Hughes, Lunchbox Productions, musical, musical theatre, review, Stephen Schwartz, theatre, Wicked, Wicked HK, Wicked Hong Kong, Wicked Manila, Wicked Philippines, Wicked Touring Production, Wicked UK Touring Production

ENVIRON Optimal Skin Facial at The Mandarin Spa, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong review

Posted on November 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

Another new day, another new spa treatment to review – it’s a tough job but someone has to do it, right? Provided anyone is still reading having not boiled over with beauty blogger hatred (#sorrynotsorry), the latest treatment on my pampering dance card was the ENVIRON Optimal Skin Facial at The Mandarin Spa in the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong.

These days, a simple cleanse, tone and moisturise just doesn’t cut it; in the quest for the final frontier of pampering perfection, facials are jumping aboard the high-tech space-shuttle, with more futuristic gadgets on show than the average episode of Star Trek. The Optimal Skin Facial is a case in point, utilising a fancy DF II Machine that helps ENVIRON’s supercharged serums penetrate deeper into your skin, with suitably rejuvenating results.

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Tagged best luxury spas in Hong Kong, best spas Central, best spas in Hong Kong, DF II Machine, ENVIRON, Environ facial, facial, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong Spa, Mandarin Spa, Mandarin Spa Hong Kong, MO Hong Kong, Optimal Skin Facial, review, spa

Deborah Lippman – Weird Science nail polish review

Posted on October 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

Something wicked this way comes – wickedly good, that is.

I’m normally of the opinion that Halloween is a bit of a waste of time… unless it gives me an excuse to break out a brand new nail polish of course – and Deborah Lippmann’s Weird Science is exactly the kind of special sauce that spooky season screams out for!

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Tagged best glitter nail polishes, best green nail polishes, best metallic nail polishes, Deborah Lippmann, Deborah Lippmann nail polish, Fantastical Holiday Collection, glitter, gold, green, Halloween manicure, Halloween nail polish, Holiday 2014 Collection, manicure, metallic, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, NOTD, review, swatch, Weird Science, where to buy Deborah Lippmann in Hong Kong

MiraSpa’s Splunch package – spa day at The Mira Hong Kong

Posted on September 21, 2016 | Leave a comment

Freelance life has many perks, but chief among them has to be the ability to take a spa day whenever I want (all in the name of “research”, of course) – especially when you have a business partner who loves spa days every bit as much as you do! So when the invite to The Mira Hong Kong’s Splunch package arrived in the Editors’ Ink inbox, my business partner and blogger bestie Kate aka Accidental Tai Tai and I were in there like a flash.

Running until the end of March 2017, the somewhat cringily-titled Splunch – which sounds like something Jay off The Inbetweeners might say – equates to a full day of pampering goodness for only $1388 per person, including:

A 60-minute Mira Massage
A 60-minute Aromatherapy Associates Rose Aromatic Facial
A buffet lunch at Yamm
Full use of MiraSpa’s heat facilities, swimming pool and fitness centre

Let’s dive in! Well, apart from the fitness centre…. Kate and I ignored that obviously.

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Posted in Beauty, Hong Kong

Tagged Aromatherapy Associates, best indoor swimming pools Hong Kong, best pool packages Hong Kong, best spa package Hong Kong, best spas in Tsim Sha Tsui, best swimming pools HK, best swimming pools Hong Kong, facial, massage, Mira Massage, MiraSpa, review, Rose Aromatic Facial, spa, spa day Hong Kong, spa Mira Hong Kong, spa package Hong Kong, Splunch Mira Hong Kong, Splunch MiraSpa Hong Kong, The Mira HK, The Mira Hong Kong, The Mira Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Christian Louboutin Jazz Doll nail polish review

Posted on September 13, 2016 | Leave a comment

Autumn is coming! OK, that doesn’t sound quite as epic as Game Of Thrones had led me to believe it would, but the sentiment is still the same… which means it’s probably about time I brought you my review of the final polish from Christian Louboutin’s Red Nail Extensions Collection – Jazz Doll.

Jazz Doll is actually the most unique of the scarlet trio (which totally sounds like it should be the name of a jazz band… or potentially a criminal gang from the 1940s), a cool-leaning cherry red with an underlying seam of pink shimmer. This is definite Snow White enchanted apple territory – except if Snow White met her fate via a bunch of poisoned cherries, or perhaps some enticingly shiny boiled sweets. Yes, all my references are edible!

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Tagged Beaute Louboutin, Beauty, Christian Louboutin, Christian Louboutin Hong Kong, Christian Louboutin Jazz Doll, Christian Louboutin Nail Colour, Christian Louboutin nail polish, Christian Louboutin Red Nail Extensions Collection, Jazz Doll, Louboutin nail lacquer, Louboutin nail polish, Louboutin nail varnish, manicure, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, NOTD, photos, red, Red Nail Extensions Collection, review, swatch, where to buy Christian Louboutin in Hong Kong, where to buy Louboutin nail polish in Hong Kong

Natura Bissé Diamond Brilliant Facial at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Oriental Spa review

Posted on September 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

This summer has to be one of the wettest, greyest, most miserable on record – and I’ve been feeling rather dull and deflated as a result. So thank heavens (when torrential storms aren’t pouring out of them, that is) for lovely spa treatments that act as the perfect rainy day pick-me-up, like the Natura Bissé Diamond Brilliant Facial at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong’s Oriental Spa.

This facial isn’t just a pick-me-up for your rain-soaked soul though; it’s designed to be a real pick-me-up for dull skin, brightening your complexion and reducing uneven pigmentation… And with sun-deprived, sallow skin in desperate need of a rapid shot of radiance, I couldn’t reply to my trial invite quick enough!

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Tagged best facial Hong Kong, best heat and water facilities in Hong Kong, best luxury spas in Hong Kong, best spas Central, best spas in Hong Kong, facial, Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Landmark Mandarin Oriental Spa Hong Kong, Landmark MO, massage, Natura Bisse, Natura Bisse Diamond Brilliant Facial, Natura Bisse Diamond White, Natura Bisse facial, Natura Bisse Glyco Peel, Natura Bisse treatment, Natura Bisse treatment Hong Kong, Natura Bisse treatment Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Oriental Spa Hong Kong, review, spa

Christian Louboutin Lady Peep nail polish review

Posted on July 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Red – the colour of danger, love, anger, fire, blood, lust and, in Chinese culture, luck. You can see red, paint the town red, raise a red flag, catch someone red-handed, celebrate a red letter day and discover a red herring… and that’s before we’ve even got onto scarlet women, strawberry fields, crimson tides and ruby slippers. Basically, that’s a lot of connotations for a simple three-letter word!

So it’s no surprise that my second pick from the Christian Louboutin Red Nail Extensions Collection manages to be quite so different from the first. Lady Peep is dark and brooding where Edgypopi was bright and fresh; it’s the arched eyebrow of maturity to the fist pump of youth, the sophistication to Edgypopi’s sass. This is a long-winded way of saying it’s a dark red.

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Tagged Beaute Louboutin, Beauty, Christian Louboutin, Christian Louboutin Hong Kong, Christian Louboutin Lady Peep, Christian Louboutin Nail Colour, Christian Louboutin nail polish, Christian Louboutin Red Nail Extensions Collection, Lady Peep, Louboutin nail lacquer, Louboutin nail polish, Louboutin nail varnish, manicure, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, NOTD, photos, red, Red Nail Extensions Collection, review, scarlet, swatch, where to buy Christian Louboutin in Hong Kong, where to buy Louboutin nail polish in Hong Kong

Christian Louboutin Edgypopi nail polish review

Posted on June 13, 2016 | 1 comment

I probably have over 100 nail polish reviews on my blog – but you might have noticed one colour that’s conspicuous by its absence. And that colour is red.

Red nail polish comes next to a standard French manicure in the boring stakes for me. Why opt for boring, conformist, crowd-pleasing red when there are glittery turquoises or colour-shifting metallics to play with instead? So if I’m going to do a red, I’m going to do it right… which can only mean Christian Louboutin.

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