Tag Archives: cosmetics

Interview with Charlotte Knight, founder of Ciate

ciate charlotte knight 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!

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Shu Uemura Baby Flame Rouge Unlimited lipstick review

shu uemura baby flame rouge unlimited lipstick

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.

shu uemura baby flame rouge unlimited sweet red collectionLeft 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.

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Etude House Mint Choco Chip nail polish review

etude house ice cream nail polishes

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!

etude house mint choco chip

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Chanel Bel Argus nail polish review

chanel bel argus 1

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!

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Chanel Azure nail polish review

chanel azure

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.

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Penhaligon’s Fragrance Profiling – a truly scent-sational experience!

penhaligon's hk pop-up store

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?

penhaligon's hong kong pop up store harbour city

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.

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Chanel Stylo Eyeshadows in Jade Shore & Blue Bay review

chanel stylo eyeshadows l'ete papillon de chanel

“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.

chanel stylo eyeshadows

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.

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Deborah Lippmann Rockin’ Robin nail polish review

deborah lippmann rockin robin nail polish

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.

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pa AA62 nail polish review

pa AA192 turquoise black glitter nail polish

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!

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Clinique Chubby Stick Shadow Tints for Eyes in Fuller Fudge, Pink & Plenty and Big Blue review

clinique chubby stick shadow tints for eyes

I’ve seen the future… and it’s chubby.

Hot on the heels of Clinique’s amazing successful Chubby Stick and Chubby Stick Intense Moisturising Lip Balms, come Clinique’s Chubby Stick Shadow Tints for Eyes! If you’re onto something good, milk it for all it’s worth – and when it’s as outrageously awesome as this, who’s complaining?!

Chubby Stick Shadow Tints for Eyes are basically a riff on eye shadow pencils – think MAC Shadesticks, Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks, Bobbi Brown Cream Shadow Sticks, Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencils or NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils and you’re halfway there. The difference? Clinique’s Chubby Sticks are bigger, fatter and well… just plain chubbier! Whereas most of the above products are either slim-line refined sticks of shadow or supersized eyeliner pencils, Chubby Sticks are chunky crayons of colour, just the right size to grab hold of and glide across the eyelid in one swoop.

clinique chubby sticks shadow tints for eyes

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