Tag Archives: review

THANN Eden Breeze Collection – Aromatherapy Shower Gel, Body Oil, Body Scrub and Body Butter review

thann eden breeze collection hong kong

Now I love me a spa day as much as the next lady-of-leisure, but sometimes time – let alone bank balance – simply are not willing. In which case, don’t listen to that Mohammed fellow and simply let the mountain come to you… via some lovely spa-tastic skincare products instead! Case in point: the THANN Eden Breeze Collection.

THANN is a Bangkok-based beauty brand that boasts award-winning, uber-relaxing THANN Sanctuary spas dotted all around the world, including Hong Kong. But for a little taste of spa-style luxury in the “comfort” of your own home (i.e. smaller, nowhere near as nice smelling, and with inquisitive puppies often crashing your zen), their line of body and skincare products totally do the trick at injecting a luxurious dose of pampering into your general beauty regime – even if they don’t come with your own personal Thai masseuse (rats!).

THANN’s beauty products are largely based around essential oils and aromatherapy properties, meaning they all smell blooming gorgeous and nicely evocative of a sensuous spa day – and the latest Eden Breeze Collection, based around jasmine and rose essential oils, is no exception.

thann eden breeze shower gel

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MAC Submerged nail polish review, Alluring Aquatic Collection

mac submerged alluring aquatic

As soon as I saw the amazing packaging for MAC’s Alluring Aquatic Collection – turquoise (squee), metallic (double squee), gorgeous pretend water droplets sprayed onto the casing (stop, seriously, can’t breathe) – I already knew I needed all of it in my life. In fact, I barely even bothered to look at the colours of the make-up itself before snapping each piece up, as every single synapse in me was squealing “BUY, BUY, BUY”.

Thankfully, the colours are all actually very nice, and my top nail polish pick – MAC Submerged – very much leads the flotilla of fabulous!

mac submerged

Submerged is absolutely the kind of stunning colour you would hope to find in a collection inspired by all things seductively sea-like. A deep metallic ocean-blue that flashes brilliant teal and dark indigo-violet in different lighting and angles, it’s what us nail polish folks call a duochrome (or more accurately here, a multichrome) – lacquer geek speak for a polish that shifts colour in a similar way to an oil slick. For Submerged, I’d say the colour shift is a bit brighter and more obvious in the bottle, but it’s still very pretty on the nail too.

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HARE Polish Bisbee 2.0 nail polish review

hare polish bisbee 2.0

So, I have a confession. Last weekend, I painted my own nails for the first time in over a year. For a blog practically founded on a passion for all things polish, this was not ideal. However, if ever there was a polish that was going to get me out of my lacquer blues, it was going to be HARE Polish Bisbee 2.0!

For those not on-board the indie nail polish train yet – come join us on a trip to wondrous faraway lands of glittery, multi-coloured uniqueness! These mysterious places may occasionally be hard to find, but that just makes reaching them all the more sweet… and such is the case with Bisbee, which I had lusted after for about four years before finally getting a taste of its turquoise-and-golden goodness.

hare bisbee 2.0

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Sense Of Touch Tseung Kwan O Spa review – say sawadee to your own private pampering pavilion!

Sense Of Touch Hong Kong Bali Decoration

There is more to life than Central. And no, by that I don’t just mean Sheung Wan!

It can sometimes be hard to convince non-Central dwellers of this fact – but for those willing to stray beyond the blue line, a little tropical escape awaits you. Its name? Sense Of Touch Tseung Kwan O Spa.

Located at the far reaches of the (shock, horror) purple MTR line in the Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Kowloon East hotel, the Tseung Kwan O Sense Of Touch has to be one of the best, most unique spas I’ve found in Hong Kong. Most hotel spas here are grand, maze-like entities, with labyrinthine corridors leading to sumptuous treatment rooms; however, the Tseung Kwan O Sense Of Touch is instead a series of gorgeous, individual cabanas, spread out over a spacious tropical garden.

Sense Of Touch Tseung Kwan O Hong Kong Reception

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Tap Dogs @ Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts review

tap dogs hong kong

Call it a childhood spent watching far too many MGM musicals, but the sound of tap dancing does something strange to me inside. No, not that kind of strange (get your minds out the gutter, people!), but there’s just something somehow stirring about the pitter-patter of tap shoes that I just can’t get enough of.

Well, there are pitter-patters in abundance at Tap Dogs, the award-winning show by Australian choreographer Dein Perry, which has been going strong for 20 years and has now arrived at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Except forget “pitter-patters” and think more “bloody massive stomps”, because this is tap dancing with the testosterone factor.

tap dogs hk

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LAKA Manicure Express review: the fastest mani in Hong Kong!

UPDATE: LAKA Manicure Express has now closed in Hong Kong

I think you all know how much I love my nail polish by now… but you may have noticed the sweet stuff hasn’t been appearing much on Through The Looking Glass lately. Fact is, I just haven’t had that much time to devote to painting my nails recently – which is where LAKA Manicure Express comes in!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Faster than a harassed commuter dashing across the platform at Admiralty MTR, LAKA express manicures clock in at an impressive 20 minutes – the quickest I’ve found in Hong Kong so far. And far from being speedy but slapdash, their therapists are veritable varnish whizz kids, leaving you with a pristine and near-perfect mani that looks just as good as the ones that take waaaaay longer.

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Kate Somerville ExfoliKate review – your new favourite exfoliator

kate somerville exfolikate

May I introduce you to your new favourite exfoliator? She’s called ExfoliKate, she’s all the way from America and she will turn you into a one-scrub-only woman!

Renowned American skincare brand Kate Somerville recently arrived in Hong Kong at Lane Crawford – and I was thrilled to be invited to their launch party (where I met the lady herself!), where I managed to get my mitts on some of their hero products. First on my to-try list was the Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment… and I soon understood why Somerville has earned her reputation as the “guru of glow”!

kate somerville exfolikate exfoliator

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Cath Kidston afternoon tea at FEAST review – it’s all coming up roses

cath kidston afternoon tea hong kong

Cath Kidston + afternoon tea = a marriage made in “pretty things” heaven!

Yep, I’m back on the afternoon tea trail, this time with the Cath Kidston afternoon tea at FEAST – the casual all-day restaurant located at the EAST Hong Kong hotel in Tai Koo.

cath kidston afternoon tea feast hong kong

I actually eat at FEAST quite regularly… but with the Cath Kidston afternoon tea in full swing, the restaurant was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. In fact, it was full on oestrogen overload! Girls seem to be drawn to Cath Kidston prints like bees to a floral-decorated honeypot; factor in a highly Instagram-able afternoon tea set (is Instagram-able a word yet?) and you end up with a restaurant packed with tables of girls all doing an awful lot of photographing/swooning over cute teapots and not that much actual eating!

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Mott 32 restaurant review – bringing sexy back to Chinese dining

mott 32 hong kong

I have real issues spending big bucks on Chinese food. Perhaps it’s because my auntie rustles up amazing Chinese cuisine right in the comfort of my own home (and I don’t even need to change out of my pyjamas) or perhaps it’s because my brain finds it hard to shift gear from my usual diet of el cheapo cha chaan teng prices… but if there’s a place for me to start splashing the cash on siu mai, then it sure as hell is going to be Mott 32.

mott 32 hong kong private room 2

The first Chinese restaurant from Hong Kong hospitality super group Maximal Concepts (the folks behind Brickhouse, Blue Butcher and Fish & Meat), Mott 32 is the very definition of Asian fine dining… And I’m talking seriously “fiiiiiiiine”!

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Sisley Phyto-Lip Twist Lip Pencil in Cherry review – let’s twist again (and again… and again!)

Phyto-Lip Twists Lip Pencils Sisley

It’s weird; as a child, I never had any inclination for colouring in with crayons… yet as an adult, I simply can’t get enough of the things – but for my make-up kit, of course!

Ever since Clinique launched their Chubby Stick lip balms, beauty brands from the wallet-friendly to the high-end have been seeking “inspiration” from these jumbo crayons of awesomeness. New on the scene are Sisley’s Phyto-Lip Twist Lip Pencils – and they might just give the Chubster a run for its money.

sisley phyto-lip twist cherry

I was given the Sisley Phyto-Lip Twist in Cherry to try – my predilection for a strong red lip clearly precedes me! I immediately fell in love with the gorgeous packaging; the funky zebra-print design is eye-catchingly stylish, whilst thanks to its metal cap and chunky shape, the Phyto-Lip Twist has an expensive-feeling weight to it too. This is the kind of lip product you definitely want people to spot peeking out of your make-up bag!

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