Through The Looking Glass

Beauty Spot: Hunger Games mani and tutorial

Posted on April 10, 2012 | 8 comments

Those of you who know me personally will know of a feverish obsession that has overtaken me the past month: THE HUNGER GAMES!!!

I read the books over a weekend and was unable to eat, sleep or shower until I had devoured every last page. I may have started crying and shaking when I got involved in a discussion about it. I even became gripped by a strange sort of Tourettes, whereby I would just randomly start shouting ‘HUNGER GAMES!’ to anyone on Twitter, Whatsapp and just passers-by on the street. Move over K.Mid, I’m all about J.Law now – KATNISS 4EVA!!!

Anyway, I managed to salvage something pretty out of the depths of my madness! In the books, Katniss is ‘The Girl On Fire’ and gets an appropriately fiery manicure to rock alongside a dress that bursts into flame. Inspired by this (and one of my fave beauty bloggers Eugenia from Ommorphia Beauty Bar), I decided to make one of my very first attempts at nail art in the name of THE HUNGER GAMES with my special Hunger Games manicure.

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Posted in Beauty

Tagged Becca Pasa Doble swatch, cosmetics, glittery French tips, gradient manicure, how-to, Hunger Games mani, Hunger Games manicure, make-up, nail lacquer, Nail Of The Day, nail polish, nail varnish, NOTD, photo, swatch, tutorial

La Creperie restaurant review – why every day should be Pancake Day

Posted on April 6, 2012 | 2 comments

Whenever my friend Mirander and I meet up, we fall into incredibly girlie stereotypes. We gossip, we shop, we eat desserts. You’ve already followed our expedition for high tea at Robuchon, but now for one of our favourite pit-stops… La Creperie.

Unassumingly tucked away on the first floor of some nondescript serviced apartment building mid-way between Admiralty and Wan Chai, La Creperie is probably Hong Kong’s most authentic purveyor of French crepes – specifically buckwheat pancakes, galettes hailing from Brittany (thinner, larger, darker and crisper than the more conventional ones). Sweet, savoury, seafood, salad… they’ve stuffed them with anything they can get their hands on here… great news for greedy cochons like me, who can opt for crepes as both a main course and dessert!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged Admiralty, afternoon tea, best crepes in hk, best crepes in hong kong, best dessert hong kong, best galettes in Hong Kong, best pancakes in Hong Kong, Causeway Bay, crepes, dessert, dessert hong kong, desserts, galettes, la creperie, La Creperie Hong Kong, la defi, le four, pancakes, restaurant, review, salted caramel, salted caramel Hong Kong, Wan Chai, where to eat in Admiralty, where to eat in Causeway Bay, where to eat in Sheung Wan

China Glaze Lorelei’s Tiara nail polish review

Posted on March 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Over Christmas, my make-up inevitably turns to bling. Oh, who am I kidding, it turns to bling nearly all the time! And, of course, where else to start with the sparkles than the nails?!

My manicure over Christmas fell into the silvery sparkly hands of China Glaze’s Lorelei’s Tiara, part of their Eye Candy 3D Glitters Collection. You know you’re onto something special once China Glaze busts out those silver caps – as seen on their Kaleidoscope and OMG collections of holographic polishes, need I say more!

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Brasserie De L’ile restaurant review – frites for my sweet…

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 6 comments

UPDATE: Brasserie De L’ile is now closed.

I may have mentioned on just a couple of occasions (like here… and here… and errr… here too) that my boyfriend is a bit of a chip connoisseur. For him, fries are one of the main food groups and golden chip fat probably runs through his veins. So when I heard about a new joint in town, Brasserie de L’ile, that was serving all you can eat fries, I knew it wasn’t a matter of if we would go, but WHEN!

Luckily for Brasserie de L’ile, it is located on Arbuthnot Road – and Central not being one of our frequent hang-outs, I felt slightly less nervous that my boyfriend would manage to put them out of business in just one visit!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged best moules in hong kong, best mussels in hong kong, Brasserie De L'ile, crepes, eating out, F&B, fine dining, fleur de sel, French cuisine, frites, HK, Hong Kong, Moules Mariniere, restaurant, review, salted caramel

NARS Night Rider nail polish review

Posted on February 21, 2012 | 2 comments

A few months ago, I made a brand new discovery… the NARS counter! Why had no-one told me about this brand before?! All the amazing colours, powerful pigmentation and cosmetics expertise of MAC, but without the crazily made-up sales assistants – what’s not to love?

I’m blaming the fact that I was oblivious to NARS for so long on the fact that it just didn’t exist in Nottingham (back when I lived there anyway) – unsurprising given that I remember the big fuss made when we finally got our own MAC store. And as you can imagine, as soon as I knew about NARS… and knew about its nail polish… the make-up hauls began!

A beneficiary of one such shopping spree, NARS Night Rider nail polish is part of their Night Series Collection, with the lacquer shades based on some of their pre-existing eye shadow colours (ones preceded by the word ‘Night’ – see it all makes sense now!). Night Rider is a soft dusky lilac with tonnes of silver flakes of glitter and a quite unique but very pretty finish.

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Tagged Beauty, cosmetics, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, Nars, Night Rider, Night Series Collection, purple, review, swatch

OPI Nicki Minaj Fly nail polish review

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Celebrity nail polish collaborations seem to be the next big thing. Forget fragrances, Katy Perry, the Kardashians and even Justin Bieber have been at it recently. The latest celeb lining up to get her mitts on some endorsement money is Nicki Minaj and OPI’s Fly is one of six polishes in her small but perfectly-formed collection.

At least, unlike Bieber, Minaj’s collection is exactly fitting with her image (not sure when you’d expect to see Justin sporting polish with little heart sequins in it). It’s loads of in-your-face brights, vibrant rainbow hues that would totally clash if all worn together – and I’m sure Minaj has probably tried!

Fly is vividly vibrant teal crème. I’ve seen a lot of photos on the Internet (damn you swatches!) that made it look rather more blue-leaning but in reality, I found this was pretty much a straight-up teal in my book.

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Posted in Beauty

Tagged Beauty, cosmetics, Fly, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, Nicki Minaj Collection, O.P.I, OPI, review, swatch, teal, turquoise

Monki see, Monki do! Monki Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

Posted on January 23, 2012 | 3 comments

My story with Monki, the Scandinavian street-style sister brand to H&M, has been a potted one. But, and I’m going to spoil it now for you all, it’s one with a happy ending – completely down to Gloria, their superstar PR in HK.

When it first arrived in Hong Kong, I rolled up to their Mong Kok store excited at the prospect of something new (no Monkis in the UK back then!) – but I was hugely disappointed. Everything was black, baggy and oversized or black, cropped and oversized, there were far too many pairs of leggings for me to process and overall, the whole thing was far too fashion-forward for me. I scuttled back to H&M tail between my legs and vowed never to return.

I then wrote an article criticising Monki and wished Cos, another of H&M sister’s brands, would make the trip to the 852 instead. Enter Gloria, who went to the trouble of finding my email address, messaged me to say that she was sad that my experiences at Monki had been disappointing – but wondered had I been recently, as actually Monki had had a bit of a style makeover. I took a look at the pictures and was amazed. Colour! Non-baggy! Not all leggings!

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Posted in Hong Kong, Pretty Things, Style

Tagged California Girl, Hong Kong high street, Hong Kong shopping, Langham Place, Mong Kok, Monki, Nautical But Nice, new range, Spring/Summer 2012, Suprematism, Welcome To The Jungle

Illamasqua Raindrops nail polish review

Posted on January 15, 2012 | 4 comments

I never bothered to do a list of my favourite beauty products for 2011… but if I did, this lovely would have been right up there!

Illamasqua’s Raindrops is a truly beautiful polish, which is absolutely true to its name – a bit of a rarity in the cute but crazy world of nail polish naming! A dusty pale blue jelly base with tiny iridescent flakies suspended within, Raindrops came into being thanks to an Illamasqua competition winner who was inspired by a photograph of raindrops on a windowpane.

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Posted in Beauty

Tagged Beauty, cosmetics, dusty blue, flakies, Illamasqua, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, Raindrops, review, swatch

OPI Steady As She Rose nail polish review

Posted on January 3, 2012 | 4 comments

Aharrr me hearties! Yes, you’ve guessed it; I’m still slowly making my way through OPI’s Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection and today it’s the turn of OPI Steady As She Rose to join her mates Stranger Tides, Mermaid’s Tears and Planks-A-Lot on-board the good ship Through The Looking Glass!

The Pirates Of The Caribbean set is one of my favourite OPI collections… well, ever, really. I know a lot of people out there weren’t impressed that the colours were so un-Jack Sparrow like, but its range of dusty creamy pastels totally did the business for me – pirate-appropriate or not!

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Posted in Beauty

Tagged Beauty, cosmetics, dusty pastels, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, O.P.I, OPI, pink, Pirates Of The Caribbean Collection, review, Steady As She Rose, swatch

Lush Jilted Elf shower jelly review

Posted on January 1, 2012 | 5 comments

Before the Christmas season is entirely done and dusted, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite festive products from this year – Lush Jilted Elf Shower Jelly!

Showers are usually pretty mundane affairs but, as ever with Lush goodies, shower jellies bring a splash of fun to the bathroom! These are exactly what you’d guess from the name – super-squishy, wonderfully wobbly, jiggle monsters! Whilst the different types of shower jellies come in a rainbow of colours and scents, all feature seaweed gel as one of their main ingredients, which is chock full of natural vitamins and minerals to make your skin and hair feel super-soft. Some people use it as a shampoo or to shave their legs with, and you can even freeze it for future use; however, I just use it a shower gel and it does the job just as brilliantly than a regular body wash… but with a tonne more fun!

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