It's Getting Colder!

Yes to 24 degree weather! It's finally gotten cold enough to take my Monki boots out for a spin. Loving the typhoon weather, especially when it turns to typhoon 8 and it's a day off!

Monki sweater, jeans and boots, House of Harlow necklace, Agnes B watch, Gold bracelet

Finally tried out this bun-maker thing I bought in Beijing. My layered hair still hasn't grown out enough to do this! Also wearing my safety pin earrings that I got aaaages ago. Haven't worn earrings in so long that my earlobes hurt!

32 Degrees

In this 32 degree weather, I wore a sweater.

Monki Sweater, Zara Tank and TRF shorts, Necklace from Panjiayuan Market in Beijing

Tell me I'm the smartest person on Earth.

My day was first spent Yumcha-ing with my grandma, then off to meet my boyfriend to go to Ap Lei Chau's outlet/warehouse shopping. My boyfriend has to be the best boyfriend to agree to going there and watching me shop. We went to Horizon Plaza where there's the Lane Crawford Warehouse, Joyce Warehouse, I.T. Outlet, Polo Ralph Lauren Outlet, Armani Outlet and many more. I have to say it wasn't the best idea to go since I'm not a rich bitch and I don't have a high paying job. But nevertheless, I enjoyed digging through racks and racks of clothes and looking at shoes. There were a few Alexander Wang pieces at the LC & Joyce Warehouse for around HK$1000.

Next we headed to the Prada Space Outlet located in South Horizons' Marina Square. This was probably the highlight of the whole Ap Lei Chau trip, as the stuff in the shop was actually a lot newer and nicer than the ones at Horizon Plaza. I feel in love with the black Prada Cervo leather tote with side zippers for around HK$7000. But being poor me, I only got to drool over it. For more details about Outlet shopping in Ap Lei Chau, check out Butterboom's posts here, here and here.

Lastly we sat down for some dinner at Taco Loco in Soho for some good old Mexican, a great change from eating my grandma's food everyday (not that I'm complaining!). And now there's only one day left of the weekend, and it's back to work!

Oh, dropped by Cher2 in Causeway Bay yesterday, a nail polish store which has branches in Central, Causeway Bay and Mongkok. They offer nail polish brands like Essie, OPI, ORLY, China Glaze and Jessica at a lower price.

Got myself Essie's Da Bush (left) and Topless and Barefoot. Can't wait to try them out. Also got myself Revlon's Steel-her Heart a few weeks ago at Sasa. Yay for a 5% student discount!

And lastly, I can't wait for this! I really want all three.

Image from Refinery29

I'm a Junkie

I've been super lazy and tired on weekdays, and on weekends, I tend to just laze around or go shop. But today I had a sudden urge to blog. I have a confession: I've become a cosmetic junkie! I blame it on my internship. I'm currently working as a summer marketing intern at Mary Kay, a direct selling cosmetic company. Most people probably have never heard of them since they use the direct selling route, as opposed to the traditional retail route. Over the past few days, I've attended two skin care classes and done tons of browsing and research through magazines and competitors' websites. All this marketing has just made me want to buy buy buy. What amazes me is that a month ago, I couldn't care less about cosmetics! I have THE worst skin care/beauty routine. In fact, it's pretty much non-existent, only including buy-one-get-one-free Natio Gentle Foaming Facial Cleanser, Muji Light Toning Water and Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturing Lotion. All the products I use are mostly purchases from my sister or mom, gifts from my Aunt or random discount buys from Sasa.


Me (left) & the other two interns. Taken with my shitty Nokia 2.0 MP camera, first skin care class using the Mary Kay Clay Mask!

What really opened my eyes (and wallet) to cosmetics was definitely attending skin care classes. Depending on the topic of these "classes", you learn the basics about skin and the full routine and steps you should follow, how to apply products and you get to actually use it on your face. More importantly, these classes are free and they really try to emphasize that they aren't going to pressure you into selling. While they may still try to subtly sell to you, its definitely less pushy than the sales you encounter in Hong Kong. The ones I attended were both for skin care routine, which includes five steps (Cleanse, Exfoliate/Mask, Toner, Moisturize, Protect/Sun Screen). We tried out their Botanical Customized Skin Care line and their Clay Mask. After really learning more about skin care, it really made me buy some Mary Kay products or run down to Lane Crawford or Sasa to buy masks and try out different brands like Origins, Nuxe, and Dermologica. Not to be biased because I'm working at Mary Kay now, but their skin care products are actually quite good! You can actually see the results of the Clay Mask whitening, tightening and lifting the skin! They also do a lot of research and consumer studies to support all their product claims.

Here are a few of the products I'm currently lusting over as I am (im)patiently waiting for my mom to come down to Hong Kong so I can make use of that Lane Crawford and Sasa discount of hers!

Top to Bottom, Left to Right:

Pretty much the whole Aveda Botanical Kinetics line, Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel

Aveda Intensive Hydrating Masque, Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask, Nuxe Masque Frais Hydratant

Mary Kay Botanical Customized Skin Care Mask, Kiehl's Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub, Aveda Deep Cleansing Herbal Clay Masque

On another note, over the weekend, I paid a visit to Langham Place to shop for some Monki and Kiehl's. Monki was having a 50-75% off sale, which was AWESOME. The sale section was around one third of their whole store, I think a lot of the stuff I wanted was still regular priced. I ended up buying a white holey sweater (HK$250 to $125), a pair of jeans (HK$250 to $125) and a pair of boots (HK$400 to $150), which altogether cost me HK$350! As for Kiehl's, I got my boyfriend some skin care products and got myself the Ultra Facial Cleanser. Here are two of the photos I took that day, more on my camera that I still haven't uploaded yet.

Got those boots on the right! Looking forward to the weather getting a bit colder soon! Though I do love summer.



Enough information overload for now, until next time!

Monkiiii

Look what came in the mail today!

I signed up for their newsletter a month or so ago, and didn't realize I'd also get the Monki Magazine. I was quite excited when I got it. The packaging is really cute, with the umbrella printed on the frontside of the outside plastic, and the hot air balloons and ostrich on the back.

More when I take a good look at it, watching the Oscars rerun right now :D

so cute!

This is so cute! I was just going through my receipts (yes I keep my receipts...hah) and I found this one from Monki a few weeks ago with its little characters. I love the colors and the illustrations.

I mentioned in my previous posts that I was going on a shopping trip, mostly for vintage shops, after I was finally free from my never-ending workload. And I've procrastinated on posting about it, but finally, since I'm posting about the receipt, I might as well post about the trip.

First, we stopped by H&M. I feel like I shop there at least twice a month..really does damage to my wallet. But I just can't help buying one or two things from there each time, whether it be accessories or basics.

Though Hong Kong isn't that cold to wear hats in the winter, I got this beret cause I lost my old one :(


Again, HK isn't cold enough for leather gloves, but I'm going back home for winter. Well Shanghai isn't really my home, seeing as I've lived in Beijing my whole life practically. But my parents just moved to Shanghai.


I've been having an obsession with rings recently. I think it was after I saw Lisa O's post on rings, which reminds me. I was looking through H&M's upcoming products that they'll be releasing and this one looked pretty cool.

Gonna be on the lookout for it :)

Had lunch after at Ajisen Ramen, a delish spicy fatty beef ramen.


Then we finally went to do the vintage shopping. Started out by going into the Hollywood Road/ Soho area. Along the way, we passed by a huge crowd. Being true cantos and seeing a line, we went and lined up, since we found out it was where Hong Kong's first milk tea originated.



My friend, Dawn, at the back of the line.


So when we finally got to the front, we realized the line was for eating at the place. Some stupid guy had said that it was the take out line. So in the end, we just stood outside and ordered from a guy who looked too busy for his own good.


Yayz to milk tea. I'm wearing my Zara trench coat, H&M grey long sleeve shirt, H&M Sqin jeans, Pedder Red patent bag, and silver chain from Beijing's Panjiayuan market.

Next, finally onto vintage shopping. We first stopped by Vintage HK.


Bunch of little earrings.


I thought this tooth necklace was super cool, but I wasn't willing to a few hundred HKD on it.


A bunch of vintage rings, again hefty price tag. But they were definitely pretty.


A Bottega Veneta for a few thousand HKD.


I was falling in love with that cute little bow ring and the aviators ring with the black stars. Looked quite cute, but I just felt like that might be something I could find in China. The prices ranged from 150ish to 200ish.


I also thought this skull necklace was kinda cute, and those bone earrings. I kinda never really wear jewelery, despite the fact that I still buy it.


I wanted that chain bracelet, but again, too expensive (around 200-300 HKD) for me to consider.


Super cool vintage watches and other accessories. Few thousand HKD for the watches. Maybe in a few years time!


Vintage sunglasses!

After Vintage HK, we headed to Armour Antique. There was a huge range of gorgeous jewelery, except most of it was above HK$1000, clearly unaffordable for a student like me.

Lastly, we headed to Select 18 to end our vintage trip. It was the furthest away and took a bit of time to walk there. I think one of the satisfying things about going to these little shops is the process of finding them and then finally finding it and discovering a bunch of hidden treasures.

It was definitely fun looking at all the jewelery on this shelf. There was this one tiny purse (can't see in this photo) that I was considering getting, but I thought I probably wouldn't use it too much since it was too fancy and I got 4 new bags this summer.


Bags, and bags, and bags, and more bags! I think they had a second hand Balenciaga at the store.


This shop is literally packed with stuff, not that I'm complaining. Though there weren't that many people after awhile, it was still hard to get around cause there was only enough space to fit one person on the sides. But I definitely think it's worth it.

I didn't take any other photos cause I was too busy digging through all the stuff. Another section was at the back, which included a bunch of menswear, as well as sunglasses. They were pretty awesome, but I'm guessing they cost quite a bit.


These are the pair of earrings I came home with, they cost me after 180 (there was a discount on most items), I think it was about 200 something before.

The owner, Thomas, also said that he had a bunch of Topshop stuff that he didn't take out, so I definitely have something to go back for! There's also a website, which includes an online shop.

Finally, went to Mongkok to meet up with Chloe and another friend for dinner. Since Dawn and I got there early, we decided to stop by Monki to check it out. I didn't take any photos cause it was super crowded in there, that I just wanted to look and get the hell out after.

I found two pieces I liked, one was a tank dress & a black slip that I ended up getting.


The tank dress (HK$150) was something like this. Well, not hard to understand what a tank dress is... I didn't end up getting it cause it seemed kinda baggy near the arm area.


The slip, HK$200. I've been meaning to get one of these, and since I was already spending so much that day anyway, I decided to get it.


Their character is super cute! Loving the design aspect to the brand/store concept, they really emphasize on the artsyness.

To end the post, more food! We ate at 西門町台灣麵食 Seam Eett Taiwan Noodles, super high rating on Open Rice (one of the greatest creations in HK).

鸡丝粉皮, in other words.....vermicelli with shredded chicken? well according to nciku.com, 粉皮means sheet jelly made form bean/sweet potato starch. Yeah, no idea. But I love the peanut sauce.


What Dawn, my other friend Katic and I all had. One of my must haves for Taiwanese food, 卤肉饭. Basically minced beef with rice. So much more than it sounds. The sauce is delicious.


What Chloe had, 牛腩面. Beef tendon. It had a lot of....tendon.

So much other stuff to post....too lazy and no time. 3 group projects for Marketing, Management and my Mandarin language classes. So many deadlines to meet. Hopefully I'll have some time to update soon.