Wednesday, October 31, 2012

I.T. Sample Sale

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Bally Eyewear


Bally has jumped onto the eyewear bandwagon and come up with their first luxury eyewear collection for men and women with a partnership with eyewear group TWC L’AMY . The boys can choose from the Top, Office and Casual range while the ladies get a Fashion and Sport & Casual collection. What do you think? Like or dislike?

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sweet 'N Scary


As if we didn't love those Hotel Icon cupcakes enough the way they were, cream-filled with that moist, fluffy cake texture that's enough to elicit strings of saliva more commonly spotted on my gluttonous dog... here they now have Halloween-themed versions for tomorrow's festivities! If you're too old for trick-or-treating (we know you're young at heart, but strangers might be wary of adults going door-to-door seeking candy donations) then these will certainly satisfy that sweet-tooth. That pumpkin one is clearly a lemon poppy seed! Get them at Green.

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Marie France Van Damme Resort Wear


Summer may be almost over but I can't stop looking at resort wear. I think in part it's because I feel that I'm way due for a holiday where all I do is lounge by the pool and drink fruity cocktails. Yes, I've only been back to work for two odd months since my Europe trip but if you ask Christina, I've been working really really hard and truly deserve it! Sadly though, this will continue to be a pipe dream as I don't see any vacation time coming up. So I guess all I can do is share with you these pretty photos from Marie France Van Damme Resort Wear's mood book. For the uninitiated, Marie France Van Damme Resort Wear is a family run, Hong Kong based company currently distributed in department stores around the world including Lane Crawford.

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Monday, October 29, 2012

Save Racks at Racks


It's particularly apt that RACKS is hosting a party this Wednesday to benefit the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation. It's the last day of October -- breast-cancer awareness month -- and a nice chance to get your costume on while pitching in for a good cause. Am helping to organize and will be there in something pink. Going for that breast-dressed title, you know. Come and join! There'll be goodie bags with lots of good stuff (from Burt's Bees, Becca cosmetics and Oya Clinics spa/salon), pool and dart competitions, and a raffle draw for prizes that include dining vouchers at Chili Fagara, Hotel Icon and more. OH, and for those of you who like to quench thirst, a two-hour open bar.

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Eiten at mamoz


If you've not got plans on Nov 2, be sure to head on to mamoz in Causeway Bay where Okinawa street artist Eiten will showcase a live performance of his art on both the body of Atsushi Takahashi, a Dragon Ash Japanese dancer, and on canvas. Eiten has been involved in a number of activities from interior painting to CD cover design to live painting sessions. During that evening, mamoz will act as Eiten's gallery. Sidenote: I had completely forgotten about Dragon Ash whom I used to listen to back in high school. This promptly led me to rummage through my old CDs. Atsushi Takahashi is a contemporary dancer who does solo performances and performs as part of Dragon Ash as well as choreographs for the band. Just for nostalgic factor alone, I think I might have to pop by if schedule permits!

Details below:
Opening and live DJ set with special drinks offers: 8pm to 10pm
Body art dance performance by Eiten and Atsushi: 10pm
Live street style art by Eiten: 10:30pm
Live DJ set: 11:00 until 3am

mamoz: 27 & 28F Cubus, 1 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

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Friday, October 26, 2012

Bag Lady: Balenciaga Padlock


Hello pretty yellow Balenciaga Padlock All Day. Come to mama! HKD13,700 (smooth calf skin) or HKD18,000 (python skin)

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

SHOErotica: Nicholas Kirkwood Frilled Pumps


Needing this for my Halloween costume this weekend. So I can be a funky plant princess. Or an underwater goddess. Or a seaweed. Whatever best allows me to purchase these. Even though they are pre-order only at Nicholas Kirkwood on Moda Operandi for SS13. Such a tease. Pay a lot of money, and receive your goodies in ONLY a few months time! When I find it a hassle to wait the three days for my Asos orders to arrive. We live in Hong Kong, we want our shit now. Don't you understand?

Get them at Moda Operandi before October 29.

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Show Us Your Type: Hong Kong Edition


I love social media. The awesome Hana shared this link on her Facebook and I idly clicked on it. Before I knew it, hours have past by as I discovered the amazing submissions by people. So, what is this site? In the site's own words, "SHOW US YOUR TYPE is a project about two things we adore, type and cities. We started this project to provide a creative platform for designers to share their talents and explore cities from a different perspective." Here are some of my favs and yes, I had to include the panda one for Christina. If you go on our FB page, you'll see that we have a slight affinity for those lovable bears. Also, if you can't tell from the below, we also kinda love food.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

These Boots Were Made for Shopping


Not sure why Boots came and went within Watson's stores a few years back... but now they are back, this time tying up with Watson's competitor Mannings. I'm assuming the price point will still be slightly higher than in Thailand, but still, at the very least that means that you'll be able to get products from 15 of Boots' most popular beauty lines without having to leave the country. The lines offered include: No7 skincare and cosmetics, Boots Botanics, Champneys Spa range, Boots Extracts, Boots Ingredients, Boots Natural Collection, Boots Collagenese, Boots Vitamin C, Boots Vitamin E, Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel, Boots Simple Sensitive, Boots Essentials Cucumber, Boots Essentials Fragrance Free, Caribbean Cocktail and Sabai Rom.

No Soap & Glory, though! Or E45 cream, which, as far as I know, is only available in the UK, but is used widely by all of my friends who suffer from sensitive-slash-itchy skin.

Find products at the following Mannings locations:
PRESIDENT THEATRE, Jaffe Road, Shop B, Ground Floor, 517 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay, HK
CAMBRIDGE HOUSE, Shop A, Ground floor, Cambridge House, Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, HK
IFC MALL, Shop 2004, Podium Level Two, IFC Mall, 1 Harbour View Street, Central, HK
ELEMENTS, Shop 1092, Level 1, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon
HANG LUNG CENTRE, Shop F01, First floor, Hang Lung Centre, 2-20 Paterson Street, Causeway Bay, HK
HYSAN PLACE, Shop B, Hysan Place, 500 Hennesy Road, Causeway Bay, HK
NEW TOWN PLAZA, Shops 155-156, Level 1, New Town Plaza Phase 1, Shatin, NT
REGENT CENTRE, Shop 2, Ground Floor Regent Centre, 88 Queen’s Road Central, HK
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Unit 6W511, Level 6, Northwest Concourse, Terminal 1, Hong Kong International Airport, HK
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Unit 7T100, Level 7, Landside Check-in Hall, Terminal 1, Hong Kong International Airport, HK

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Stellar Creative Dishes



Food and travel guest blogger hkLifestyleGeek gives us her next scoop on fantastic restaurants around town and travel tips.

Shang Palace at the Kowloon Shangri-La really wants three Michelin stars. It got two this year after chef Mok Kit-keung arrived from working two decades in Singapore, including stints at Raffles Hotel and Marina Bay Sands. He even cooked for the King of Morocco for three months which was surely a memorable experience. Having been exposed to various European and Southeast Asian cuisines, Mok moves Chinese cuisine forward as he's is very comfortable in mixing ingredients to achieve slightly different tastes that pique the interest of his diners. Add to that a recent makeover of the restaurant that includes a massive private room connected to an impressive cellar, Shang Palace hopes to score with its facelift in its decor and revamp of its menu.

And we were very impressed.


For starters there was a trio of appetisers. The first is a traditional Cantonese starter that usually uses chicken liver, but instead Mok substitutes it with a thin slice of goose liver layered with pork and water chestnut and lotus root for some texture. There was also the curious description of crispy fried lobster with oatmeal, but the lobster is delicious, perfectly cooked and made extra crunchy by the deep-fried oatmeal. We also had deep-fried frog's legs that were absolutely delicious, the batter enhancing the delicate flavour of the frog's legs that really do taste like chicken. There were also some slices of chilled wai san, translated at yam marinated with plums that were very refreshing.

Next came a nutritious double-boiled soup of garoupa with Chinese herbs, again one of the ingredients was wai san, that apparently helps in anti-aging. More please!


As it's hairy crab season, we were treated to a bowl of braised bean curd with hair crab roe. This dish was so delicious and instead of an accompaniment of rice, we were given rice cakes to spoon the thick sauce on and it was smooth and crunchy at the same time. Good to the last bite.


Another highlight was the poached chicken soaked in Japanese sesame oil. Here Mok slow-cooked the chicken for over an hour which resulted in very tender and juicy chicken and of course lots of flavour from the sesame oil. Mok tends to prefer using Japanese ingredients and condiments for their quality and they definitely enhance his dishes.


Next came the vegetable dish of sweet potato leaves poached in supreme broth with more wai san and wolfberries.


We also liked the Inaniwa noodles topped with sliced fresh abalone that tasted like geoduck, served in a chicken stock flavoured with a touch of cheese. When asked what kind of cheese, Mok admitted it was your typical cheese slice found in kids' sandwiches. No matter -- it did the trick of giving a cheese flavour without the richness.


By now we were completely full, but not without sampling an array of desserts. These included -- get this -- black garlic mousse, that was alternatively sweet and sour, followed by truffle-scented ice cream, and a pastry filled with lotus seed paste.

Every time I come to Shang Palace, Mok has new dishes up his sleeve. We hope his creative juices will continue to flow and bring more excitement to Chinese cuisine.

Shang Palace
Lower Level 1
Kowloon Shangri-La
64 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui East
2733 8754
www.shangri-la.com

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Monday, October 22, 2012

Giveaway Contest: Tickets to the Hong Kong Ballet's A Ballet Soiree


It's time for another giveaway! No more gadgets this time, instead we're going cultural. The Hong Kong Ballet is offering 10 pairs of free tickets to readers of HKFG for A Ballet Soiree, on Saturday November 3rd at 230pm. All you have to do is email us at giveaway@hkfashiongeek.com with the subject "Hong Kong Ballet giveaway" and tell us what your favourite ballet performance is to be eligible to win a pair of tickets. In the email, please also include your mailing address, as the tickets will be mailed to you.

Winners will be notified via email on Monday,October 29. RT the giveaway on twitter (make sure to @hkfashiongeek or @cko01 so we know!), or tag yourself in the poster uploaded on our Facebook page to get EXTRA entries. This contest is only open to Hong Kong residents.

A Ballet Soiree showcases six different ballet pieces by choreographers from around the world, and stars international prima ballerina Tan Yuan Yuan with Vito Mazzeo from the San Francisco Ballet alongside Hong Kong Ballet regulars Jin Yao, Wu Fei fei, Wu Yan, Zhang Yao and more. Tan will star in a Pas de Deux from Symphonic Dances set to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov.

I've sat in a rehearsal with Tan Yuan Yuan when I interviewed her years ago, and though I'm something of a neophyte when it comes to matters of dance, the way this girl moves and performs is absolutely breathtaking. The ballet isn't always on the top of the agenda for most of us, so this is a nice opportunity to see what is probably the Hong Kong Ballet's top shows for the year.

Performance Date and Time: 3 November (Saturday), 2:30pm
Venue: Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Tickets: 2 adult tickets
Method of delivery: Mailed to address provided by giveaway contestant.


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YSL The New Vintage Collection


It's all about the corals, fuchsias and violets with YSL cosmetics this season. Being the NailGeek that I am, the nail polishes are undoubtedly what I'm most interested in. I've never been much of a pink girl but the No 8 Fuchsia Cubiste looks like it'll enjoy being on my nails. Check out the full swatches after the cut.
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty Boutique Shop 156, The Beauty Gallery, Pacific Place, Admiralty Prices range from HK$240 for the lip stain and lipstick to HK$190 for the nail polish.

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Tattooed Love


It's been around three years I think since Chanel launched its collection of temporary tattoos, but Kay Li sent me the story that Dior has jumped on the bandwagon too, with a small set of Grand Bal 24k gold tats. Like 'em, love 'em or over 'em? Admittedly the gold links are fairly fetching, but upon closer inspection some of the other motifs are pretty questionable...

Images: Luxurylauches.com

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Bag Lady: Celine Knotted Bag



I've never much paid attention to Celine bags besides the Luggage and Trapeze (the slouchier not so pretty cousin to Luggage) so I was a tad surprised when the calf skin Knotted Bag caught my eye and I discovered it was part of the Celine Winter 2012 collection. It looks ultra soft and snuggly. Methinks it's time to visit it in person to see if it looks as soft as it looks.

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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Crayola Nail Polish



How adorable is this? Taking our childhood memories for a modern spin, Crayola has come up with a set of mini nail polishes based on their colour swatches. Available online at Fred Flare for US$12.

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

SHOErotica: Things I Should Not Buy But Bought Anyway


Welcome to this week's edition of "things I should not buy but bought anyway". Mainly because there's really, really no space in my shoe closet unless I throw out some of those things that fall into the category of "stuff I never wear but won't throw out in case it comes back into fashion or becomes a collector's item 10 years from now". But often items in the former category are relegated to the latter. It's hard to be a woman today.

On the left are Givenchys and right are Margielas. Both vetoed by one of my trusty shopping partners Caryn and then overridden by the rest of shopping crew Tina and Laura. ENABLERS! BITCHES! But that is why I love them.

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On the Vierge


I've finally discovered the world's best cleanser: Le Metier de Beaute's Peau Vierge Daily Renew Cleanser. A gel that doesn't foam up and dry your face up, it comes with two sizes of micro beads for super gentle daily exfoliation, and smell just like your morning orange juice. I love it so much I kind of want to drink it, except that it's US$50 for a mere 120ml online (and probably even more at Joyce Beauty, who sells it in Hong Kong). Nonetheless, an investment I think is worth making.

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Beauty Notes: B.liv Leach Me Moisturizing Mask


It’s been an unusual summer for me whereby I’ve been enjoying the sun a lot more than I normally do. If you ask Christina, you’ll know what I mean. I tend to avoid sunlight as I’m ridiculously paranoid about my freckles getting darker and so beach outings and junk trips have always been fondly thought of but rarely actioned upon. So much so that when I told my brother I was out in the sun, his first reaction was, how did you not burst into flame? And did you think you were going to sparkle? Your freckles are just darker not brighter. Whereby I promptly hit him.

Anyway, this summer, I’ve basically decided to hell with it and I just need to make up for indulging in the sun by using lots of masks afterwards. So when I was sent the B.liv Leach Me Moisturizing Mask to test out, it was like even the PRs agree with me that I need to get out more. Onto the mask itself, I’ve only used it twice so far so it’s hard to tell if it’s effective but what I did like about it is that it’s not too sticky. I hate masks that leave me with a residual sticky feeling even after peeling the mask and massaging the serum into the skin.

Main Active Ingredients: Sodium 1- Pyrrolidonecarboxylate (Na-PCA),Acetyl hexapeptide – 8, Acerola Fruit Extract, Fruit Acids complex

Usage:
Two to three times weekly to boost skin hydration, brightness and prevent aging
1. Remove protective sheet before placing the mask over a thoroughly-cleansed face.
2. Leave the mask for 20-30 minutes.
3. Remove the mask and gently massage any excess serum into the skin.

Packaging: Three sheets per packet; 30ml each sheet
Retail Selling Price: HKD 120
Shopping location: SASA HK Store

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

O Face


The girls at Plug were kind enough to take me out to lunch a couple of weeks ago and we decided to check out "Oolaa Sushi" in between Oolaa and Yardbird on Bridges Street. Except that it wasn't called Oolaa Sushi at all... but Sushi O. O well. It's a pretty genius idea, capitalizing on the fact that folks who lose patience waiting for tables at Yardbird will inevitably end up trickling over to the other restaurants on Bridges -- and if going from yakitori to Oolaa is a bit of a stretch, now there's sushi instead.

Sushi-wise, it's obviously not an authentic Jiro-type joint. But it's what I'd call solid expat sushi -- the kind you'd find in hip American cities frequented by wannabe Sex and the City types. And to be honest, I totally don't mind that kind of food, as long as it's not pretentious or really overpriced. They do decent Nobu-ish new-style sashimi (digging the jalapeno kingfish) and random dishes like prawn shu mai, pictured below, which is just shrimp wrapped in noodle-wrappers. Bizarrely tasty and addictive. Something to keep in mind the next time you decide you want a seat and some sushi instead of yakitori and a yards-long line. More piccies after the cut.

Call 2480 0009 for ressies.


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