July Love 2013

Nothing more relaxing than enjoying a delicious choco mint and taro ice cream on a sunny weekend. Organizing my nail polish collection and had them neatly stacked in my newly purchased transparent box from Muji. Saturday night out with BFF, trying a new bar in LKF, whilst sipping away on my exotic lychee sangria.

Losing myself in a homeware shop, where I was captivated by their cute nick nacks, such as candle holders, clocks, photo frames, note books, and the list goes on. Finally went to the Totoro exhibition, which was the talk of town recently, and i fell in love with this giant sized Totoro stuffed animal instantly! Totoro is just oh so cute and fluffy!!!! Impulsive shopping spree to stock up on my summer outfits at h&m is always fun times.

A glass of red wine with BFF while overlooking the Victoria Harbour, is the way to kill any Monday blues. Bought a pair of neon colored Nike trainers to add some fun for my gym and hiking sessions. I’ve always wanted a wooden alphabet stand and i was in heaven when I came across this shop that was selling these alphabets in red,black, and white, and at a cheap price too. Now I just need to decide what alphabet to get.

I am blessed for each and every day that was filled with love, fun, laughters, and sharing special moments with people i love and care for. You are my July Love 2013.

January Love 2013

Finally managed to get a taste of my very first box of macarons from Laduree in Hong Kong, thanks to my dearest BFF who surprised me with them one night. You should had heard my “omg” shriek, hehe. Catching up with a good friend over red velvet cupcake and a mocha at Brick Lane after a very filling Shanghainese dinner. Adding some nail fun with my new American Apparel nail polishes to kick off those cold winter days. Love the golden “Meteor Shower” glitter nail polish!

Walked passed Harvey Nichols whilst taking a walk during lunch hours, and was in love with this gorgeous giant Miss Dior perfume shown on their window display. Stocked up on some crafty decorative tapes to add onto my stationary collection. Finally got my lovely and fave Chloe eau de parfum back in my perfume collection and oh my, how i have missed you sooo dearly. You will always be my fave.

Last min shopping spree and got this golden snake necklace and leopard peplum top for my company annual safari themed dinner party, where i was MC’ing away in Ms. Leopard style. Received these ever as cute flower balloons from a colleague who was leaving our company, such a sweet gesture. Celebrated a good old friend’s belated 30th birthday and enjoyed a “Fallen Angel Chocolate Bath” dessert, which was a chocolate cake with whipped cream and a shot of espresso to pour over it, super delish!

I am blessed for each and every day that was filled with love, fun, laughters, and sharing special moments with people i love and care for. You are my January Love 2013.

Winter nail polish fun

Waking up to chilly mornings in the winter time is always no fun, at least not for me. But there is nothing where a little bit of nail polish fun that can’t brighten those dull winter days that are here to stay for a while.  One of the top beauty fun things i like to do is go out and look for some new nail polishes that suits the season. This time of the year is when i tend to shy away from summery and bright nail polishes and bring out the more wintery and earthy toned nail polishes.

With my recent trip to Vancouver where i had my first Christmas there, i managed to buy some lovely nail polishes from American Apparel.   I popped into the shop following my friend’s lead where i could already sense a style that was nowhere close to mine, with their casual attire to my left and right, I quickly had my eyes directed to the cashier. That was the moment i saw this tall and big see through plastic shelf holding these gorgeous and colorful nail polishes that was calling out my name. There were so many varieties ranging from neon, metallic, glitter, glow in the dark, sheer, to their normal nail polish colors to choose from. It almost felt like being this young girl in the candy shop and drooling over everything!

Peacock, Mount Royal, and Hunter

I had my heart set on getting more wintery color tones and i stuck to my guns. I gave sheer and neon a try but it was not working for me. I finally chose 3 more darker tones, with the dark turquoise “Peacock”,  dark blue “Mount Royal” and dark green “Hunter”, and. To add a bit of fun, i also got the golden glitter “Meteor Shower” and rainbow glitter “Supernova”, to kick some life to those nails of mine. I have not tried them yet and as this is my very first time using nail polish from American Apparel, i am really excited to try them out. Chinese new year is arriving next month so it’s the perfect time to try the glittery ones out!

Meteor Shower and Supernova

Which nail polish brands are your favorites? and what do you think of the American Apparel nail polishes?

Beauty Diary: Pastel nails

With the seasons ever as changing, so does the clothes in our wardrobe as well as the way we style and i say, this concept is just as important when it comes to our beauty routine.

Having said that, as summer has officially arrived, one of the easiest beauty routines that you can start off with is your nail polish. Yes,  it is time to ditch those dark and wintery colored  nail polishes and embrace all the bright and cheerful colors on your lovely hands instead.

I’m normally the type to wear a lot of vibrant colors such as shocking pink, neon orange, or glittery nails, but i have found a new love for my nails recently. With all the pastel trend catching on lately, i knew it was only a matter of time before i would go out and venture on the pastel nail trend, and i’m totally smitten by it now!  Truth be told, it’s a very new style for me as i’m not used to wearing such pale colored nail polish but i am liking it so far.

What do you think about pastel nails and which color is your fave?

Photo source: weheartit

Snapshots in a week…

This week we had a public holiday on Tuesday for Labor Day, and hence we didn’t have to go to work!!! Oh goodie!!! Although it was only one day, it was still a holiday well spent doing the things i wanted and spending time with people i care for.

As i had a sudden urge to eat Japanese food, i called up a friend and we went to Watami where we had some nice sushi, Japanese style thin pizzas, salads, and I ordered myself this delicious Apple Berry Soda drink. We had a good catch up and spent the night away talking about our lives and what not.  Funny enough, my friend had a sudden urge to buy jelly beans and so we headed to Toys R Us to get our quick fix at the Jelly Belly counter. I only bought a small box but she bought a whole bag of them!!! Pure Jelly Bean fever if you ask me! And it made me feel like a kid again, the good old days!

My cousin’s wife also recently gave birth to a baby girl a few days ago and i had the honor to go and visit both the mommy and her little angel at the tender age of only 2 days old. Awww…..she was such a cutie pie lying so still in my arms as i carried her, where she was in a deep sleep with not a single movement. It was such a magical moment for me!

I also managed to get some fitness into my hectic schedule and decided to hit the gym during my day off work, which was a great move. I ran on the treadmill for 33 mins and i felt so refreshed and great afterwards. I seriously think i need take more trips down to the gym.

I have been giving my nails a 2 weeks break from applying any nail polish and I have to say, i knew it wouldn’t last long! With that said, i started painting my nails away this week and i have to say, i’ve missed you dearly!!! This week i’m rocking the tangy neon orange nail polish. It’s such a lovely neon color and perfect for the summer times!

The weather has still been rainy this week but we were in luck and had slight signs of sun shine this weekend. After seeing the big sun on my yahoo weather forecast, i immediately seized the opportunity and arranged to meet 2 of my friends for a biking day!!!

If you have read my previous post about summer, i did mention that this must be on your “to do list” for this summer, as well as some other fun activities suggested,  as shown here.

The weather was absolutely lovely and breath taking today, apart from the slight hotness, lol. But we all had our bottles of water to keep us hydrated and of course, we wore our sunnies to avoid the sun’s UV rays whilst looking stylish, hehe.

I also went into a slight shopping spree today, no surprise there! I went to H&M to accompany my friend to look for a scarf and guess what? Yes, i ended up buying 3 tops but i have fair reasons to justify each purchase.  Each top had it’s function which was work wear, casual/basic wear, and a glam top wear for special night outs. Pretty good justification eh?

My fave is that white top with the glittery sequins and the grey top with ruffles.  There’s nothing too special about the black basic top but the selling point is that it has a see through back!

I’ve used up my day/night face cream and serum and so i went to the Korean cosmetic brand, Laneige, just to check out what was in stock. To my surprise, their prices are quite reasonable and they give a lot of freebies!!! I’ve been told that most Korean cosmetic brands give out a lot of freebies so that is good to know!

I ended up getting what i needed – day/night face cream and serum and also this other product called “White Plus Renew Emulsion”, which is to be applied before the serum. I’ve not tried the products yet but i do hope it will work its magic and give me that glow, lol.

Fore the freebies, they gave me a sample size base, foundation, a key chain with a lip gloss, BB cream (it’s kinda like blemish/concealer cream for the face), sleeping mask, serum, and a few smaller sample sizes of their other products.

I also bought this playful peachy/orangy lip gloss because i was only HK$50 short from getting the freebies, lol. The things we do for beauty and money we waste eh?!?!

I gotta say, i always get sucked into those sales tactic in how you only need a few dollars and you can get this and that! hahaha…please tell me you guys fall for this trap too, at least once in while?!?!?!

So what have you all been up to this week? I would love to know.

7 things to do this summer…

It has been non stop rainy weather for the past few weeks that i started to question if i was in London.  Just the other night there was thunder and lightening, which managed to scare the heck outta me every single time, where I do this little jump (or a small whisper “omg”). Meanwhile,  it has also been extremely humid and hot where the temperatures rise as high as 30 degrees Celsius!!! Apart from the humidity,  i have to admit, i am really looking forward in doing more summery things as  we approach summer.

With a little prep work and putting some thoughts into it,  I have come up with 7 ways to make your summer a little bit more fun. So ready or not, here it is.

1. Cycling

I’ve recently picked up cycling again for the past year or so, and i already can’t wait to hop on a bike and start my adventure. So far i’ve only cycled in the New Territories area of Hong Kong and it is definitely worth a go. The journey from Tai Po to Tai Wai (or vice versa) has a friendly cycling route, where you can witness Hong Kong’s nature surpassing  high mountains, rivers, and greenery.

Wherever you are now, i say you hop on that bike this weekend and start your journey. I’m sure you will find it inspiring and a good break from your daily routines.

2. Froyo/Ice cream

Froyo and ice cream are another fave food that i crave once i feel the boiling temperatures. That cooling and sweet sensation in my taste buds is enough to put a smile on my face. I tend to go for froyos with fruits now as i try to be more healthy.

One of my fave froyo place to hang out at is Yo MaMa,  where my friends and i sit there “MMmmmmmmmmmm’ing” over our dessert whilst catching up. Okay fine, the “MMmmmmm” has died down a bit since i go there quite frequently,lol.

3. Beaches

I don’t actually do this enough but i always imagine trips down the beach where i can spend the whole afternoon there doing nothing. I find it very relaxing to lay down on the warm sand as i hear the waves crashing against the shore. That mind easing sound makes me feel more connected to nature and allows me to leave all of my worries behind for a while. Not to mention, i can get a lovely tan!!!

4. Perfumes

Perfume is a must have in my daily life style.  There is not one day i do not leave my home without spraying perfume on, apart from the times when i was too sick to even care about smelling good. It’s one of the easiest way to freshen yourself up if you have one of those last min emergency dates to go to.

I like perfumes that are fresh and mild in sweetness during the summer. Right now i am thinking to get Daisy by Marc Jacobs.

5. Summer dresses and skirts

The best part about summer is that you can bring out all your girlie dresses, mini skirts, and wear things as colorful as you want, without feeling out of place.

The feeling of loose silk or polyester fabrics against your skin is for sure to make you feel fabulous! Sometimes i do get a little kiddy as well, and the temptation of doing a small twirl with my skirt kicks in!!!

6. Sandals

Summer is also the time you can wear sandals and finally let your feet out to breath and flash it to the world!  The ease of walking in sandals is a no brainer and not to mention the variety of summer sandals that are out there waiting for us!

I don’t know about you but I always feel like a kid in a candy shop when i go shoe shopping. Of course, pedicures are essential in such situations and being a nail polish freak that i am, i couldn’t have asked for more.

7. Vibrant nail polishes

Nail polish is a must for me all year round and with the hot summer time, i take the advantage and try to go with more vibrant colors. Lately i have been liking the pastel tones, and i really want to get the minty color. For those that are color shy, I suggest you to try out with the pastel tones first. If you feel more comfortable after a while, you can try to experiment with more bright colors and just have fun!

I’m not sure about you ladies, but a bright and clean manicure always gets me in a better mood!

What about you? Are there some things that you love to do or suggest to do during the summer time??? Please feel free to add to the list!!!

And the winner goes to…

The entry for the gift giveaway has officially closed and i am pleased to say, i finally picked a winner!!!! I am super excited about this announcement  for my very first gift giveaway so without further ado…

Big congratulations to Clare!!!!

I will email you for your details very soon!!!

Gift Giveaway: Color blocking, pouty lips, and Paris coming your way!!!

With the time getting closer to the final count down for my gift giveaway, i thought this would be a great time to reveal the surprise, and present the final two gifts.

I got this really summery color blocking nail polish set in 3 vibrant colors from the Japanese brand “Beauty World”, which is a perfect way to flaunt your nails during the summer times. This is definitely a fun way to give your nails a new make over to welcome the warmer seasons! There are also images at the back to give you some nail design inspirations and  stickers are provided so you can design your color blocking nails in different ways.

To give more pout to your lovely lips, I’m also giving away this gorgeous lip gloss from the Japanese brand, Majolica Majorca. I know the color may look  like a deep bronzey color  in the photo above but it actually has a slight nude tone to it, along with a tint of shimmer.  I’ve tried the sample and it’s quite a natural color so it’s pretty versatile for all skin types. Plus it’s a great size to carry in your bag  if you want a quick touch up and freshen those tired lips at the end of the day.

For a quick recap, my first gift as part of this gift giveaway will be this Parisian themed calender. There are some lovely Parisian images in it along with lined paper at the back of each month for you to scribble down your thoughts, inspirations, or the good old “to do list”.

If you have not read my first post about my gift giveaway, you can refer back to here.

To enter this gift giveaway is very simple. All you need to do is follow me on WordPress and bloglovin, and leave a comment here or my first gift giveaway post, and tell me why you should win.

Please enter by April 16 (Monday) and I will pick a winner. Don’t forget to provide an e-mail address so i can contact you if you win. And one more good news, this is open to all countries so best of luck everyone!!!

Oh happy days!

You know how people say happy days always passes by faster? Well, i could not agree more myself. The past February flew by before i knew it and i don’t even know where the time went! But one thing for sure, i had a lot of great and happy memories and I feel truly blessed for each and every memory.

I guess my packed schedule for an entire month also explains my lack of posting but i have to admit,  I’m happy to be back at blogging and I’m thrilled to share with you all on what i’ve been up to lately.

As i mentioned in my previous post, i celebrated my BFF’s big 30th birthday and took took her to this lovely restaurant called Armani Aqua (currently under Aqua Restaurant Group), which had an absolutely lovely and cosy ambiance with very dim lighting along with a backdrop of red lighting throughout the restaurant. I know it sounds a bit freaky when you imagine an entire restaurant like that but trust me, it has a relaxing atmosphere where you can enjoy delicious food, or just to have a drink or two at it’s next door neighbor, a lounge club, Armani Privé.

Armani Aqua serves a mix of Japanese and Italian food, which is both our favorite so it was a no brainer that i had to pick this restaurant. My BFF wanted a low key celebration and so we two dined a romantic dinner together. Actually i much prefer it this way so i can have her all to myself, haha.

The service was excellent and the waitress that served us made sure everything was alright, while giving us enough privacy at the same time. I also managed to talk to the Restaurant Assistant Manager who happened to be from London, and was kind enough to give me a free glass of Chardonnay because the Chili cocktail I had ordered was too spicy for me, despite the waitress assuring me it was not.  To end the night, he offered us both a “night cap” before we finished our dessert.

The Chili cocktail

Now i have never heard of the term “night cap”, and so I mistakenly  thought he meant “night cab”.  I politely rejected him and said we were still hitting town and didn’t  need a cab, and of course, this is the point where he sat down next to me and explained this terminology. If you are wondering and don’t know this term either, it’s an alcoholic drink that you take at the end of a festive evening. Yes, you can imagine how embarrassed I was at the time but we had a good laugh about it!

Afterwards we decided to end the night by having a few more drinks at the local bar Letage, which my BFF had designed with her previous design firm. It’s an up scale cigar lounge bar hidden on 33 Staunton Street, Central in Hong Kong, so if you are ever in town please do check it out!

Carpaccio with pears and walnuts

Birthday dessert platter customized for my "skat"

I was also busily involved at work where i was asked to be the MC for my company’s annual dinner party at the Four Seasons hotel in front of 100+ people, and of course i said….YES! I guess my public speaking practice at the Toastmasters club gave me the courage or something but whatever it was, i pulled it through with great success! A lot of the management staffs said i did great in creating a fun an entertaining atmosphere and i was well pleased to hear that.  Without a doubt, it was a pretty nerve wrecking experience but my MC partner was really supportive and helped me out a lot throughout the night.  But it’s definitely one of those experiences that you will never forget for the rest of your life.

Company annual dinner, Four Seasons Hotel

I have recently been really into jazz and classic and so when a friend invited me to  a free mini jazz concert, i jumped at the chance. The jazz singer was Clare Teal and to be honest, i have not heard of her until that very day. So I quickly googled  her and found out that she was from Yorkshire, United Kingdom and right then and there, I already had a good feeling about her. For those that don’t know, i studied in London during my university years and so i always have this soft spot for the UK, which i love and miss so dearly.

Although the concert started later than expected and only lasted 1.5 hours, her fantastic performance along with her great humor made up for it. I ended up buying her latest album, Hey Ho, and managed to speak to her for a bit while she signed my CD. She is such a down to earth woman and is super sweet! I will definitely go to her performances again if i ever get the chance.

I also found myself diving into a little bit of retail therapy and before i knew it, i spotted a new nail polish brand at the APM shopping mall in Kwun Tong. The brand name is Laka and it’s from Israel, which i found a bit surprising. I guess i just never associated Israel with nail polish? Yes, totally bizarre eh. There was a big sale going on too and without thinking much,  i picked out three colors from their spring collection. I got so excited and tried them on the very next day, hehe.

Totally random here but i been so addicted to ice cream lately. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m prepping for the spring season? I remember i was walking by myself one Sunday afternoon down my local town, when i passed by this Japanese ice cream shop. Without hesitation, i quickly walked in and sample tasted probably over 5 flavors before i ended up with the lychee and taro. It was purely heaven just walking slowly while licking my ice cream like no care in the world, lol. Yet another reminder to myself that it’s the smallest things in life that can bring such simple happiness.

So what makes your days a happy one?

Shop til you drop!

As i mentioned in my previous post, i did some light shopping over the week with a friend.  It was nothing planned and we just spontaneously decided last min to have dinner and enjoy some shopping therapy after a hard day of work! We all deserve to have a shopping break once in a while right? hehe.

My friend has been in search for an eye liner and I’ve been told that there’s this waterproof eye liner from M.A.C. that works wonders and so with that, we headed straight to M.A.C.  We went to a M.A.C. shop that was located inside the Sogo shopping mall and my gosh, that shop was super tiny and crowded with women everywhere! I managed to squeeze in the crowd and headed straight to the eye shadow section and there were so many colors to choose from that i almost died. I felt like a little girl inside a candy shop and was drooling over everything! I ended up getting a shimmery green called “Swimming” and it’s absolutely gorgeous! It’s actually not as shimmery as it looks in the photo so it’s not too over the top.

"Swimming" eyeshadow by M.A.C.

My lovely M.A.C. eye shadow and a copy of Elle June 2011

I’ve also been meaning to look for a nail polish with the crack effect and so the hunt for crack nail polish began that night. I managed to find this small shop inside Island Beverly shopping mall that sold a great selection of crack nail polish colors from O.P.I. and China Glaze  (they even had Essie!!!). I was told that China Glaze is a younger line from O.P.I. I never knew that, what about you guys?

After looking and deciding for what seemed hours, i decided to go for grey. I haven’t tried it yet as i’ve been super busy but i will definitely post a photo of the final product when i get a chance! We were gonna leave after that but then i spotted this cute dirty pink (that’s what the sales girl said the color was called!) bag that was a great size to use for my casual weekends. To be honest, you can’t put a lot of stuff in it but it looks really cute so that’s all that matters, haha.

China Claze (Crackle Glaze) in grey

My new cute casual weekend bag in "dirty pink" color, lol

 Before we knew it the time was already 11:30pm and with that, we decided to call it a night! It was a late night but i had loads of fun so it was really well worth it.

Alrighty peeps, i better get going as i’m off to have dinner with some friends tonight at this lovely Vietnamese/Thai restaurant called Rice Paper. I  actually go to this restaurant quite often and i’ll try to snap some photos tonight and share it with you all, hehe.

For now, I wish you all a fabulous weekend, have fun!!!