Skin Scan

On our last shopping trip before we head back to our respective colleges, Harrods Girl and I went to a Facial/Spa Salon to look at Dermalogica, the skin care brand that sells exclusively at skincare salons such as the one we went to. There, we filled in a survey and had a free skin care consultation, which included a free face scan. The face scanner basically looks at your skin under ultra violet light. And it gives a very accurate picture of what your skin condition is really like. It is able to to reveal pigmentation, dehydration, sensitivity, sun damage, congestion and dead skin cells.

Basically, you just stick your head under the clothe and into the box. Inside there is a mirror for you to see your own reflection under ultra violet light and a hole opposite so the expert can take a look as well and explain what everything means. If you have near perfect skin, I am assuming that you would look like this lady below.
But in reality it is not such a pretty experience. We are no expert, but from our combined experience, we do know that patches of purple means dry skin and white means dead skin (not make-up, this machine goes beyond the surface of the skin, so one doesn't need to remove make-up to have a face scan-super convenient!).

Anyways, even though it wasn't a very pleasent experience (reality often isn't), we highly recommend a face scan, because it really reveals all the problem areas of the skin one has neglected or was unaware of. Better late then never right?

Shopping with Mother

During the weekend, Barneys Girl and I flew back to Chicago and London respectively for a new school term, (sigh, where did the summer holidays go?) So before I left, I spent some quality mother-daughter bonding time with my mother doing well, obviously shopping. It's fun to shop in nice stores knowing that at least one of you can afford the things.

So off we went to the wonderful fashion department stores of Hong Kong. First we hit Lane Crawford, where we were lured towards the Chloe section, and I was even more amazed that they had one Chloe Paddington left! After explaining it is more rare to see Paddingtons available in shops than to seeing rabbits hopping along the road, my mum was very impressed and tried the bag. Unfortunately, neither her nor I anticipated how heavy Paddingtons really were! So being sensible people that we are, we decided to purchase a Chloe Silverado instead (we bought a red one):

Then, we hit Miu Miu, where my mum was thinking of buying an Hermes-lookalike. But I adviced against it, and we spotted a similar bag as shown below. I love how it looks so classy and classical in the sense that it would not go out of style unless neon-colored bags were suddenly 'in'. The one we bought is sort of a tube shape.

Afterwards, we went to Joyce, where my mum bought a Marni coat that she has been eyeing for awhile. It is the same as the one shown below except the one she bought is dark grey and light grey with a tint of silver.

I absolutely LOVE that coat -it is so easy to wear and match with clothes. I can't wait to borrow it this winter!

Studded Bags I

The studds are not limited to the denim either. They are also quite prominent on bags this season too. The studds add a much edgier look to the otherwise pretty bland leather bags.

I mean, wouldn't this Be & D bag look so boring without those gold studds?

They are simply just the perfect detail for this Gucci bag.

Studds here add dimension to this Gillian Julius Moroccan Bag from girlshop.com.

And I absolutely LOVE the studds on this bag. Instead of using it as a vehicle to give edge, Miu Miu has cleverly used studds to create a gorgeous embroidered effect that is simply exquisite. I WANT this bag!

And THIS, now THIS Moschino bag is the perfect bag for fall. This is large enough to fit the shopping essentials, I LOVE the shape and the irregular shaped studds are just SO adorable!!!

Sigh, I'm loving the role studds are taking for the last two bags. It is so edgy yet so feminine.

Denim Trends FW05 II: Studded Jeans

Today has been a terrible day -my laptop broke down just two days before I have to fly back to London! The horror I felt when I realised my hard drive could not be saved. I am still panicking about all my lost data. I am now using my mum's laptop to blog -thank goodness for wireless broadband at home!

Anyways, it seems like ornated jeans are really 'the' denim to have this season. Apart from embroidered jeans, studded jeans are also prominent. 7 For All Mankind, which stuck Swarovski crystals to its jeans' pockets in the past seasons has now launched a wide range of jeans featuring studded pockets (and other parts of jeans.) And of course, we all know that studded things are just so fashionable this season, such as studded shoes and bags at Miu Miu, Prada......

Studded A-Pocket Jeans -They look just as classical as the original A-Pockets, but I just think such classicals are meant to remain original, ie. unstudded.

Studded Jeans -I LOVE this pocket design! The studs really bring out the design. Maybe I just like it because it's symmetrical. (I have a thing for symmetry.)

NY Studded Jeans -Err... are those studs meant to represent a sun? Or is it simply a random blob on top of the classical Sevens swiggly line?

'Havana' Studded Flare Jeans -I was absolutely shocked when I saw the price: $695! I mean, I do see all the craftmanship that must have been involved to stick so many pieces of studs on, but seriously, when has the craze for lux denim gone so high that Sevens can actual demand that much? And strangely enough, I found this pair at the Nordstrom website instead of the upper-end department stores. I don't know whether to love or hate these jeans...

London Spring/Summer 2006 Wrap Up II

London never ceases to intrigue me. It is always so different and english compared to the preppy American runway. Here are a few that intrigued me this season. .

Frost French
Following Sienna's most stylish post Jude Law fashion, Sadie Frost also thrives most stylishly after finalising her divorce with Jude. Her Spring/Summer collection with design partner Jemima French was most elegant and for lack of a better word, english.

I can actually see Sienna walking on the streets wearing this very casual yet elegant yellow outfit. And that grey dress is purrfect for a cup of tea at the Ritz.

I love how update these very old english styled pieces. Matching the edwardian blouse with shocking (for that period) short shorts. Using old english floral prints on this loose flirty dress. Absolute genius!

Giving the little black dress a different edge with sparkles, trims and thigh high socks.

Roksanda Ilincic
I have never heard of her. But having came across her collection, I must say, I am loving her. Her collection is luxurious and elegant. Though not elegant in the usual slim fitting Armani way. But in the voluminous, rich, russian princess way. It is simply divine.

The blue bubble dress is like candy wrapped in shiny paper. And the beige one is like toffee. Yum!

The black and gold dress reminds me a lot of Chanel. . except in a more bulky kind of way. And the black dress on the right with the rosettes, it is oscar worthy!

Betty Jackson

Three words: chic, lux and sweet.

This loosely tailored short and cropped jacket combo and red button up dress is both very office chic.

I just adore these shiny structured boxy jackets. The volume and the shiny material makes it all feel so rich and lux.

And these two are pretty self explanatory. They are just downright sweet!

London Spring/Summer 2006 Wrap Up I

Paul Smith
To me, Paul Smith was always about a mix of English preppiness and practical elegance. Whenever window-shopping at Selfriges, I always drool over their pretty chiffon tops. But this collection left me a bit dissappointed -it seemed to lack a strong sense of direction. There were a few pretty creations here and there, but the others I would expect an unfashionable lady-who-country-clubs to wear. I did manage to find a few outfits I liked to show here:

Basso & Brooke
The show named "Vanity Affair" is certainly an unexpected suprise in London Fashion Week -it is not often that you find such an alarmingly bright and costume-like collection in the usually more quiet London fashion scene. My first reaction (as many others I'm sure,) was shock -it this really ready-to-wear? But if you bother looking through the whole collection slowly like I did, then the craziness will start growing on you and you'll actually start to admire the creativity put into the collection. But of course, whether you would actually wear the clothes is another story...

This very first outfit was my favourite out of the collection: so pretty, creative and undeniably cool.

You got to notice the artistic hats and shape of the dresses.

Emma Cook
Emma Cook, always one for subtle and casual elegance once again showed us what a quiet, fashionable English girl would dress like. There were a few outfits I really didn't like, but all in all, it was just a nice, typical London collection.

Preen
To be honest, I haven't noticed this brand until now, but I was blown away by a large part of Preen's collection. What impressed me the most is how the outfits while having a feminine cutting and coloring (lots of dusty pink and grey) still looked so cool. It's like when you see a head-turning, effortlessly cool girl wearing something so simple walking past you and you undoubtly turn to gawk at. Here are my favourites:

Wish I had them in my wardrobe...

The Complimentary Eye Make-Over

The other day while shopping at Lane Crawford (the local department store equivalent to Barneys) I came across the beauty concierge promoting complimentary eye make-overs. And me being the make-up lover that I am, couldn't pass up a chance to get my eyes done to "perfection" by a professional for free now can I? So I immediately signed up and had a lovely 30 minutes discussing make-up, make-up and make-up.

The great thing about the beauty concierge make-over in a department store is that you are not limited to one brand with the cosmetics lady trying to sell you every product in their line (don't you just hate that?). At the beauty concierge, they actually know which brand is good for what and would recommend accordingly.

And then, she showed me how to do this very simple eye make-up that works for almost all eye shapes. I'm sure its nothing new to a lot of you make-up professionals out there, but since I've never thought to do it myself I thought it was brilliant and bought more colors so I can do the look myself at home. Purple (and green) apparently are my color, and she basically just outlined the rim of my eyes with the darker color, covered the rest of the lid with a lighter shade and highlighted the arched area with this beige-ish color since she thought white was too dramatic for day time.

She then finished the look with Dior Snow mascara (which she claims to be better than the Lancome one) and curled with this Shu Uemura eye lash curler. I'd always known these were good products, but I seriously never knew that my eye lashes could be THAT long and curled. Now I'm a convert. Although I suspect that this may be due to her superior technique. I noticed how she inched the eye lash curler up bit by bit while curling it. And I remembered my friend (who has been experimenting with make-up for much longer) telling me how happy she was to have finally mastered this inching technique the other day. So i'm guessing this is one and the same.

Anyway, I LOVED the consultation. Afterwards, she gave me a diagram of all the stuff she used, and then took me around the various counters showing me the products in detail. It was like having my very own personal shopper, except for cosmetics! And she was sooo knowledgeable about the art of beauty too, showing me good exfoliators, eye creams and how I shouldn't drink water half a hour before bed cause it makes your eyes puffy. All great fun! All department stores should have this service. It really does help boost sales-because even if it does say its complimentary, one would at least buy something just for such excellent service!