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
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
“Summer summer summer summertiiime…”
Come on, you’re singing along already aren’t you?!
Apart from ice cream, Wimbledon and Pimms o’ clock, summer marks the season where colour comes out to play – and even the most traditional make-up companies are happy to join in the fun! Forget boring beiges or sleep-inducing smoky eyes, it’s all about COLOUR, and Chanel’s L’Ete Papillon de Chanel is definitely one of my fave collections for Summer 2013.
As you may have gathered from my love of Clinique’s Chubby Sticks and Urban Decay’s 24/7 Eye Pencils, I am all about make-up in stick form. It’s just so EASY. And I am really really lazy. So the items calling my name loudest from L’Ete Papillon de Chanel were their limited edition Stylo Eyeshadows, a brand new product for Chanel that features sticks of creamy eyeshadow conveniently located in a sleek black twist-up pen applicator.
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Beauty, best cream eyeshadows, best stick eyeshadows, Blue Bay, Chanel, Chanel Stylo Eyeshadows, cosmetics, cream eyeshadows, EOTD, FOTD, Jade Shore, L'Ete Papillon de Chanel, look, make-up, review, stick eyeshadows, Stylo Eyeshadow 24/7 Pencil comparison, Stylo Eyeshadow Caviar Stick comparison, Stylo Eyeshadow Chubby Stick comparison, Stylo Eyeshadow vs Caviar Stick, Stylo Eyeshadows, Summer 2013, swatches
I’ve gone dotty!
Well, the ‘gone’ bit might be questionable (some might argue it’s more a case of ‘always has been’) but I’m totally seeing spots at the moment – and of course, it’s all because of nail polish! Hot on the heels of the blue strawberry slushie that was pa AA162, I finally managed to get my mitts on Deborah Lippmann’s Rockin’ Robin to continue my dotty delirium.
Posted in Beauty
Tagged aqua, Beauty, cosmetics, Deborah Lippmann, glitter, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, pastel, photos, review, Rockin' Robin, Staccato Collection, swatch, swatches, turquoise
Forget about the current nail polish trend for texture (you say texture… I say bed-sheet marks from your polish not drying properly), I’m all about the current craze for dots, spots and all things speckly! Both Illamasqua and Deborah Lippmann have come out with glorious collections of pastel crème polishes speckled with black glitter spots – and so to satisfy my dotty urges before I could get my mitts on either of those, I picked up pa AA62.
I know, catchy name, innit?! pa is a Japanese cosmetics brand currently wreaking havoc with my MS Word spellcheck as it’s written all in lower-case, and their polishes come in tiny Borrower sized bottles. Which is a shame, as AA62 is definitely a polish that you will want a whole lot more of!
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Beauty, best glitter nail polishes, cosmetics, Dear Laura, Japanese nail polish, jelly, make-up, nail lacquer, nail polish, nail varnish, pa, pa nail polish, review, swatches, turquoise
The English language has much to thank Tyra Banks for – popularisation of the word ‘fierce’, creation of the phrase ‘booty tooch’, invention of the infamous portmanteau (and excuse for me to use the word portmanteau at least once in my life!) ‘smize’. However, nail polish fans should also be particularly grateful for her coinage of the phrase ‘ugly-pretty’ – simply because it’s the perfect description for so many polishes that have hit the scene over the last few years!
Gone are the times where the only acceptable nail polish colours were pinks, nudes and reds; nowadays, weird shades of greige, decaying purples, mouldy greens, wincing neons and eye-boggling glitter combos rule the roost! Which brings me neatly onto my new favourite nail polish and definite contender for an ugly-pretty award (unless Tyra’s already patented those), Butter London’s Two Fingered Salute.
Posted in Beauty
Tagged Beauty, best green nail polishes, Butter London, green, make-up, nail lacuqer, nail polish, nail varnish, photo, review, shimmer, swatch, Two Fingered Salute, ugly-pretty, unique nail polishes
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 