Diamond Canopy | UK Fashion and Lifestyle Blog

A little bit of Kirei

2012-01-26T16:00:00.002Z

Continuing with my love for jumpers/sweaters at the moment, this dusky purple jumper from H&M which I bought after Christmas is another one of my favourite things. I wear a lot of purples and blues so this works really well in my wardrobe and goes nicely with this pretty silk scarf that I was sent over from HK for Christmas! FYI, I spent ages tucking and knotting that scarf to make it look like that!

Jumper (H&M) Scarf (Gift from HK) Skirt (UO) Knee Socks (Primark) Shoes (Dune) Necklace (HK), Bag (Sisters from HK)

The candy pink coloured bag belongs to my sister Hailey. She bought the bag on one of our shopping trips in HK and I couldn't help but borrow it and attach this big fluffy charm on it.

The charm is actually made up of several charms which I had bought on a whim in Hong Kong in the Summer. They're actually intended as a phone decorations but unfortunately my phone doesn't allow phone charms (damn!) but it goes nicely on my bags! The fluffy ball and ribbon charms are from Kirei, a small accessory shop in Causeway Place which stocks lots of cute Japanese accessories. From what I gather, Kirei means pretty and this charm certainly is! The little Hello Kitty sitting in a Hong Kong taxi was a random (and touristy!) purchase in Sogo department store. It was far too cute and kawaii for me to pass up! Yeah so the charm in it's entirety is either super kawaii or sickeningly girly depending on the way you look at it. I'm OK with that.

Other cute things in my life include these new iPhone cases which now join the collection that I have amassed since Hong Kong. Iconemesis got in touch recently and sent me these cases for me and Hailey to play around with. Iconemesis are pretty cool because they work with some really talented artists to create designs for their cases. The cases are sturdy (perhaps slightly heavier than what I'm used to) but they do the job at keeping my phone scratch free and pretty. Having bought a case from them before, I can tell you that their customer service is excellent and are also constantly looking to improve their products.
Speaking of iPhones, I think I may start to do one of those weekly Instagram round up posts. I take so many photos on my phone, it would be nice to share them on here! Before I sort that out, here are some pretty pastels I captured last week.

I have been loving all these pastel shades that are starting to make an appearance in the shops lately. I am always swooning over Acne in Selfridges which let's face it, they're a LOT out of my price range but the colours of these coats over at Oasis are a lot more purse friendly!

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-22T21:53:00.001Z

It's hard not to do a repeat of the same post every year as I know my posts during Chinese New Year have always been pretty similar. Photos of CNY preparations, mandarin oranges, red and gold decorations around the house and that sweet box full of candied fruits. Maybe my instagram pictures will put a slightly new spin on things then? If you're on instagram too, my user name is Diamond Canopy. All but 3 of these photos here are taken from my iPhone, which has made photo taking today super quick, snappy and er...sneaky!

It's the Eve of CNY and the tradition is to have a big noisy get together with your family. It only seems like yesterday when we were all at my grandma's on Christmas Day but here we were earlier today, gathered around several tables at my grandma's house (the one above is the 'kids' table!) tucking into some yummy traditional food.

Below are plenty more photos from around my grandma's house and all her lovely decorations. My grandma is hard at work cooking up a feast in her little kitchen in the first photo! I really do love Chinese New Year, I love the vibrant colours, the traditions and the awesome atmosphere. I am determined to celebrate it in Hong Kong one of these days, the celebrations are unreal!
I learn new things every year to do with traditions. One of them includes the first door decoration below. I asked why the symbol for 'good luck' was upside down and I was told that it was arranged that way on purpose. According to tradition, the upside down character is placed that way to show that luck is coming for the new year. I rather like that!

Of course we finished off the evening with a noisy game of Mahjong (yay, I won a game!) and I took a photo of these awesome Hello Kitty lucky red envelopes (laisee) which were a couple that were given to me today. I always keep my favourite ones because they're just so pretty.
Right, off to complete one of the last traditions on the eve of CNY and that's to take a bath and throw in a whole bunch of fragrant pomelo leaves. It's meant to bring good luck for the rest of the coming year. It's strange one, but I love the tradition and it smells just lovely!

新年快樂, 恭喜發財!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Saranghae!

2012-01-17T18:06:00.000Z

Korean BBQ is one of my favourite things to eat and it's essentially, an indoor barbeque which is pretty fun. If you were wondering, Saranghae means 'I love you' in Korean and well, I guess I do love Korean food and that phrase is just about all the Korean I know after listening to Korean pop and watching their dramas. I wish I could say that my last decent Korean BBQ meal was in Korea but the closest I have got to that country is of course, Hong Kong. Cue, me opening up my HK folder and finding a bazillion photos of food which I have not blogged about yet! So lets get back to business and let me introduce you to Kaya, a Korean restaurant I visited back in the Summer in HK near Times Square.

Similar to hot pot, it's all about sharing and cooking each other food! It's fun but your clothes definitely smell of the smokey BBQ later and you only have yourself to blame if you get food poisoning....so you need to make sure everything is cooked through! You order the meat you would like to cook and it always comes with lots of side dishes which of course includes the traditional Korean dish, Kimchi which is a fermented vegetable dish (usually Chinese leaf) and it is chillies that give it the red colour.

Super blurry pic, sorry! One thing we always order a beef brisket/stewtype dish but this pot was tiny and was hard to divide among so many people.

The restaurant was full of Korean customers which is always a good sign and also run by Korean staff. I always stress this, but if you find 'locals' inside restaurants then authenticity can be guaranteed which I suppose is obvious. The place itself was slightly more expensive than we had experienced before. You can tell just from the quality of the beef, the slightly marbled slabs of beef are definitely highly graded.

Grandma, Hailey and Me

All finished off by some Sujeonggwa which is a Korean cinammon based dessert/tea

While this place was lovely for dinner, my HK family didn't rate it as much due to value for money and selection of food on offer. However, if you want more of an atmosphere (i.e. rowdy Cantonese style), cheaper menu and more side dishes, visit Han Ah Rum in Causeway Bay which was pretty good too but there was a distinct lack of Korean being spoken there...or maybe the HK locals were drowning them all out?

There are a couple of places that do Korean BBQ in Birmingham but they're not authentic and run as Hot Pot/Chinese restaurants. Though in a more international city like London, you're bound to find some authentic Korean restaurants if you wanted to give this a try!. One thing is for sure, Korea is definitely a place that Hailey and I are desperate to visit. I really need to visit and say hey to my friend in Seoul who said she would introduce me to the er...food. Sounds good right?

Acrylic Love

2012-01-12T20:37:00.003Z

I like Muji a lot. They're pretty well known for their minimalist homeware, stationery and for the foodie that I am, I never ever leave their store in Hong Kong without a quick trip to their snack section. I still wish they sold food over in the UK! I miss their green pea potato snacks and they are something I will be requesting off my dad when he flies back for a short trip next month. Anyway, their stackable acrylic storage boxes are pretty awesome and I bought the large double flip top box and two of the cloth trays and filled it right up!

I love that I can see everything! I'm so used to storing my earrings and things in random bowls around my room so this has made a real difference. I know that Kristabel is pretty keen on the boxes too for make up and I agree, these would be an awesome make up storage solution too.

This has come a little out of the blue but it has absolutely made my day. Without me knowing, I've been added to the list of bloggers for the Company Magazine Blog Awards. I'm not really sure how this happened but I'm in the 'What I wore' and 'Favourite blogger' categories along with lots of other friendly faces.

So if you feel inclined to do so, vote for me and any of the other lovely bloggers mentioned. Yay!

Shades of Grey

2012-01-09T16:57:00.000Z

I am definitely more of a Spring and Autumn kind of girl but one thing I do love about the Winter months is getting to bundle up in lots of warm layers. I'm always on the lookout for some lovely knits mostly because I have an abundance of cardigans but very few actual jumpers. I am practically living in this Zara jumper these days.

Blouse (Miss Selfridge) Jumper (Zara) Skirt (H&M) Tights (Miss Selfridge) Shoes (UO) Bag and Ring (HK)

It's probably not the cosiest of knits, I checked and it has a tiny 5% Angora content but it's great for layering with a brightly coloured blouse, especially because one of my favourite colour combinations is grey with a pop of colour. Throw on a coat, scarf, my trusty headphones (beats ear muffs in my opinion, music and ears are warm? Definitely a winner) and I'm good to go!

New Treasures

2012-01-05T02:39:00.001Z

Hello 2012! Welcome to the 4th year of Diamond Canopy, well done if you've been reading my rambles since day 1 but also a big hi to all you lovely new readers! Maybe this year I will finally get round to buying my own domain but we'll see...

Let's start the first post of the year with a couple of sale and non sale purchases that I've made recently. You guys might recognise the L'Oreal Professional Mythic Oil in the post below as it featured in one of the Glossy Boxes a couple of months ago. I didn't really take much notice of it as I was set on buying Moroccon Oil but when my hair stylist used it on me, I was won over. So after Christmas, I promptly popped into my salon and purchased my own bottle. This stuff smells so yummy and makes my hair silky smooth!

I also had a whole bunch of empty MAC products (my mum goes through the eyeliners like crazy) and I swapped them (see back to MAC) for this pink-red Creamsheen lipstick in Lickable. Since it's one of their Creamsheens, the formula is more moisturising, slightly glossy and adds a bright burst of colour. Yay. Not bad for a freebie.

The tie-dye flats below are from Dune. They were a bargain in the sale for £26 but armed with a couple of gift cards, I only had to pay a measly £6 for them. They are made from buttery soft leather and the bows are always a winner with me.

The dress below is from Dahlia on ASOS in the sale and it's the prettiest thing ever! Apologies for the bad lighting, the weather has been truly awful (gale force winds?!) so I've not been able to snap a pic outside for you guys yet. The contrast material in black makes this dress super flattering. As much as I love Dahlia, I would definitely be hesitant to purchase this at full price which was originally £65 on Asos (however, I know they mark it up a little from the actual Dahlia website) just because of the quality of the material. It IS very lovely though and I can't wait to wear it with thick tights, cardigans and then bare legged in the Summer!

The Ring above, gloves and dress below were all new non-sale buys from my sister Hailey (she should totally start her own blog right?!) from Monki. She has such a great collection of rings, I will have to snap a picture one day and this double leaf ring fits in nicely with her collection. The gloves below I absolutely adore.

The dress is lovely too. It appears more of a mustard-orange shade on the website but it's definitely Orange in real life. Hopefully she'll wear it soon so I can get a photo of her in it!

So what other new things have I gained from the post-Christmas holidays? Definitely far too much chocolate. I really need to start eating more healthily, however I've been invited to hot pot at my cousins so that's not going to be put into action until at least next week. Ha, so we'll see about that one. What a fatty.

I've also gained new Mahjong skills! As with many Chinese kids, I grew up with the deafening sounds of clattering Mahjong tiles at every special occassion at my grandmas and often, my cousins and I would be playing Chinese card games (such as Big 2) nearby while the adults played Mahjong. On these occasions, the adults were the undoubtedly noisier than the kids! One of my favourite things in her house is her wooden Mahjong table with drawers to stash winnings, if you wanted to gamble that is!

As kids, we used to use the resin tiles to play our version of Jenga (basically a wall made from the tiles!) but I finally sat down and learned how to play properly. It's essentially a noisy card game where you collect different combinations of suits. There is something very satisfying about slamming discarded tiles and shouting for tiles to complete your hand. I'm still getting the gist of the game (the scoring is the only thing that confuses me) but my grandma is a keen player and she loves that we now play with her!

Double Trouble

2011-12-31T18:00:00.000Z

I know we probably say this every year but how fast has this year flown? I have had an amazing year and my favourite part was definitely the month away in HK. Hopefully 2012 will be a year full of new opportunities and plenty more adventures to be documented on here! So let's round off the very last post of the year with a double outfit post with my sister Hailey!

When we were little, my mum used to dress us exactly the same and people used to ask if we were twins. Of course those days are long gone, but on the very odd occasion some borrowing of clothes still happen and now my youngest sister, Becky is now starting to borrow our clothes. I'm beginning to think we should create a big walk in wardrobe where we can pool all our clothes together! I rather like that idea actually...

Hailey: Blouse (Zara) Jumper (Whistles) Bow (Miss Selfridge) Jeans (Topshop) Boots (Dr. Martens)

Hailey's shiny new docs.

Dress (c/o Motel) Belt (Topshop) Boots (Topshop)

You might have noticed that I managed to check a few things off that Wish List of mine! The guys over at Motel very kindly sent me the Claudia dress which I am extremely thankful for! The dress is lovely but a little bit too big. Since it's quite long on me, a belt is needed which helps with cinching in the waist along with the excess material. Despite this, I wore it on Boxing Day and happily paired it with my awesome new boots, Mawi x Disney earrings, Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette and lip gloss by Japanese brand, Aube.

I also wanted to say a big, humungus thank you to you all for reading this blog for yet another year. I really do appreciate you all and I'm just amazed that I have such an awesome bunch of readers who actually like my random blog posts about my life, personal style and food!

Hope you have a fabulous NYE whether you're partying it up or having a cosy night in with friends/family. Happy New Year and Happy 2012!

Festive Feasting

2011-12-28T18:16:00.001Z

Christmas is all over for another year, it always passes in the blink of an eye but it's definitely my favourite time of the year. Christmas is always about family, friends and food and that is definitely an understatement at our house! Here is a quick post documenting the last few days!

Christmas eve is when the feasting begins which begins in a typically Chinese style. After my parents finish work they rush home and we start preparing the food for Hot Pot. This includes our annual dumpling making session and cutting up those century eggs which smell foul but taste awesome in hot pot.

My family are all in the catering trade so my relatives and family friends all arrive about midnight after work and we gather for our feast! We always have two tables for hot pot, one for the adults and one for the 'kids' even though us 'kids' are now well into our 20s! All sorts of foods go into the simmering hot pot including Chinese vegetables, salmon, beef, fish balls, beancurd skins, lamb, scallops and prawns. All dipped into my dad's 'famous' satay sauce.

We tend to stay up until at least 4 am which is kind of crazy. Before long, we've only had a couple of hours sleep and we're up again, this time getting ready and preparing our Christmas Dinner! Oh and of course a cheeky chocolate from our advent calendars.

Our festive tea towels come outand before long, my parents, my sisters, uncle and more cousins are all sitting down at the table, ready to dig into our turkey with all the trimmings!
This is definitely the biggest meal of the day! After dinner, we usually sit in the living room, where adults fall asleep and the kids play with their new toys. This year we played on the Wii dance party and guitar hero. I have zero coordination so I am truly awful at both!Whilemost people settle down for a small dinner on the evening, we do the complete opposite. About 4 hours later, we hop into the car and travel over to our grandmothers. We are greeted with even more cousins, aunts and uncles and we tuck into her epic traditional Chinese dinner. Lobster, suckling pig, steamed Turbot fish, Roast chicken were all on the menu. My grandmother's house is always chaotic at this time of the year with so many younger cousins running around!

Boxing day is always the most chilled out day. Turkey toasties and tea are our snacks in the day and then we usually pop into town to have a look at the sales. This year I came home empty handed but at least my stomach was nice and full! After the shopping, we went to our favourite Cantonese restaurant and we feasted on more yummy food (crab, prawns, fish etc) with my parent's friends.

Despite the feasting being well and truly over (phew!), our houseis still full of festive treats! This includes a huge crate of clementines that my mum bought from the market and plenty of Baileys and Chocolates. We'll be eating these for days on end!

Hope you all had a wonderful few days! Now back to reality...

Happy Christmas Trees!

2011-12-23T01:25:00.001Z

OK so the Christmas shop is finally over, our presents are wrapped and all sitting under the tree until the big day. I've spent the last few days catching up with friends which is definitely one of my favourite things when it comes to Christmas. In fact, I've just returned from a night of pizza, popcorn and wine with friends and watching Love Actually, so I'm feeling suitably festive! I'm sure you're all in the festive mood too and one of my favourite things about Christmas are the decorations and nothing beats a good Christmas tree. Our one is purple and gold this year.

I was browsing the shops with friends today and we stopped by Paperchase and I was persuaded into buying this pink Christmas tree and decorations. For just £4, how could I resist? I picked up the Gingerbread woman from Accessorize whose decorations are now all half price! I love my new pink tree.

I was also amazed when I arrived at my friend Katie's house for a pizza and movies. Her parents have kitted out their house in so much Christmas stuff and I couldn't help but take photos of her amazing tree.

I have major tree envy. That tree is so beautiful and perfect! I've never had a real tree before and one day this will have to change! For now, I am pretty happy that I have a new tacky pink tree perched on my shelf in my room. I'm just sorry that I didn't buy it earlier- next year I will have to purchase mini fairy lights for it.

So this is the last post before all the Christmas festivities begin. I'm really looking forward to our yearly mish mash of the usual Christmas traditions and our Chinese ones which includes Hot Pot, Turkey Lunch, Lobster and our Harry Potter Boxing Day Movie (last HP sob!). Bring it on! So from me to all you guys reading, I hope you all have a REALLY wonderful and amazing Christmas.

Open Sesame!

2011-12-19T00:37:00.001Z

Something I rarely blog about is make up, but in actual fact I am a bit of a beauty junkie. I remember my first foray into make up when I was about 13, mint lipgloss from Collection 2000 and then Vanilla lip gloss from Boot's Natural Collection (yep, we've all been there right?). Fast forward to working in retail during uni where I used to diligently spend my earnings in cosmetic halls, especially MAC. It was like an obsession. A scary obsession. I have a silly amount of blushers and I managed to fill two MAC pro palettes within a couple of months, one of which is filled with rainbow brights! Thankfully those days of collecting green and purple eyeshadow are a thing of the past and I managed to curb my obsession long ago. It's funny because you'd never know since my only necessity these days is liquid eyeliner!

However when the guys over at Find me a gift asked if I wanted to review the Pink make up gift set by Me Me Me, the beauty junkie was unleashed and I said yes!

In theset there is a blush, a light up/mirror lip gloss and a pale pink nail polish. The gift box itself is really sturdy and I'm tempted to use it as new make up brush storage. Moving onto the nail polish, I liked the wide brush applicator (a little like the Rimmel nail polishes) and the consistency was OK but the colour is a bit dull for me as it's more of a natural pink manicure kind of colour. The pink lipgloss is a bit of a novelty with the automatic light in the cap and mirror on the side. It's a pretty nude-pink shade and slightly minty with a subtle shimmer which reminds me of the Origins lip glosses (for a fraction of the price!). Since it's slightly on the novelty side, It's definitely suited to a younger audience and my little sister quite happily took it off my hands.

My favourite is definitely the blush which includes a little mini brush. The packaging is cute and obviously looks a lot like Benefit packaging. It's finely milled, super soft with a slight frosty shimmer and for MAC lovers out there, I think it's really similar to their beauty powder. I had a look online and the MeMeMe blusher itself retails for £8.50 which makes the £11.99 gift set quite the bargain. Crazily, the website is still offering Christmas delivery so if you're tempted you can still get it in time for Christmas.

Onwards to something that's definitely not unusual for this blog, er yes that would be FOOD! One of the stranger things that has recently been introduced to me is black sesame spread. It's one of my favourite dessert flavours but I was a little surprised to find it in this form. It's meant to be really good for you as it's packed with antioxidants, vitamin E, calcium and all sorts of good-for-you stuff. Oh and yes that's black marker on the jar. I'm not really sure what it's meant to be blacking out but from experience it's probably because it's claiming to be beneficial for something but it's not official (or at least not in this country since the sesame paste is a product of Taiwan).

I know it looks kinda crazy (I admit it looks like tar) but it tastes super yummy! This spread is a little like peanut butter but with a strong smokey sesame flavour. This along with Kaya (or coconut jam- from Malaysia) are my favourite spreads on toast at the moment. Nom!

Made with love

2011-12-13T21:38:00.001Z

It's funny how fast the weather changes, just a few weeks ago, I could happily leave the house wearing flats and not worry about my feet getting cold. However, now I'm always thinking of thermal socks and heat tech tops (hi Uniqlo) which are totally unglamorous but they are a necessity right now! If leaving the house wrapped in a duvet was acceptable, I totally would (who's with me?). This outfit was taken not too long ago when such thoughts were definitely not on the radar just yet.

Blouse (Miss Selfridge) Blazer (H&M) Faux Fur (Vintage) Jeans (c/o Next) Shoes (Zara)

I like how the colours of the blouse and blazer work together and I think it's clear that us bloggers love a good faux fur stole come Winter time. I bought mine last year and I love how it pulls the look together and always transforms coats and jackets. The perfect winter accessory.In keeping with the red colours in my outfit, I swapped the faux fur for this lovely red scarf.

It was knitted by my youngest sister Becky for my birthday last month and I adore it. It's incredibly thick, super warm and as the post title suggests, made with love!

A box of tasty treats!

2011-12-10T14:57:00.000Z

Whenever my relatives in Hong Kong send us parcels they are always wrapped in the same way. Without fail, they are wrapped in thick green parcel paper and often reinforced with string that I know my grandad has meticulously knotted together. This makes them easy to recognise whenever the postman is at my door with that familiar green parcel in his arms. I happily signed for the package which contained perfectly wrapped Christmas presents and lots of other goodies crammed inside.

Inside were lots of treats which they knew that we would appreciate. Including the super random Hello Kitty sandwich bags which let's face it, are much better than plain sandwich bags. In keeping with the Asian stereotype, we were also sent lots and lots of noodles!
My relatives wasted no space in the box and stuffed random treats to fill up the space. The Japanese Caramel Candy below are awesome. They're melon and sweetcorn flavoured. I guess sweetcorn seems like a funny flavour but it's lovely and milky and you have to try it to understand! These sweets join the rest of the contents of our 'Sweet' drawer at home which is stuffed with random Asian treats. The 'Sweet' drawer and the 'Tea Cupboard' are definitely my favourite places in the kitchen!

My favourite things in the parcel are all the green goodies. Wasabi Pretz, Mint Pocky and for the tea junkie that I am, they included two packs of loose green tea (yay!) which I can't wait to try. Now for Christmas day to discover the contents of all the other goodies...

A Long Weekend in London...

2011-12-07T00:30:00.000Z

So as you know, my lack of blog posts over the weekend was because I was away in London celebrating my friend's birthday. Our friend from Germany was visiting and as a group, we decided to have a weekend to remember and do lots of touristy things too! So here is my weekend in (food) pictures starting with a trip to the wonderful Maison Bertaux. It was actually through the wonders of Twitter that led us to this old fashioned patisserie, right in the heart of Soho. I asked the oracle that is Twitter (thanks for the suggestions guys!) and now I have a a whole bunch of tea rooms and coffee shops that are in dire need of Winnie visiting.

It's totally worth a visit. The cakes were fantastic and we filled our little table with tea, scones and lots of choux pastry much to the amusement of the people that worked there. The tea room was really cosy and full of random art work and after a little bit of research, I found out were created by people such as Noel Fielding. Traditional but also a bit quirky? Yep, I liked it a lot and I can't wait to go back.

Afterwards we stopped off at M&M world. I've been to the one in New York before and it's pretty much the same. It's M&M consumer heaven (or hell depending on how you look at it) and every single person inside has the hugest grin on their face, including all the staff! Of course I stocked up on some M&Ms. I mean, how could I even resist?

After the crazyness of M&M world we decided to have a wander along and found ourselves on Carnaby Street. I excitedly noticed that Monki and Cheap Monday have shop spaces there and will be opening their stores soon. I predict a mass blogger pilgrimage when the stores open. I love Carnaby Street at Christmas, the decorations are so pretty.

My friends were really excited to check out The Diner since I've instagrammed pictures after every single one of my visits there recently. This time, I sampled their pistachio ice cream which is only £1 for a scoop! Total bargain.

Later on that eve, we went out to Grace Bar which is just off Piccadilly Circus. It was an awesome night but I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted Cristal on the drinks menu. Wowza, just loose change for some eh?

The following day was our lazy day in. We spent the majority of the day vegging out and watching a film and eating my friends awesome pancakes. Her Mushroom and Bacon and Blueberry pancakes are incredible and I need to learn to make these.

When we did escape the flat, we had dinner and then my friend introduced us to Foundation Bar in Covent Garden. The interior is amazing and they have cocktails served in teapots with accompanying biscuits. For someone who adores tea, this was the PERFECT place for cocktails.

Lucy and I loving our cocktails!

Lastly, on Monday we went to Camden and explored the markets. I haven't been back here in a little while and it was fun introducing friends to the infamous Cyber Dog which sells gadgets and trance club wear and is practically a rave in itself! It's a little bit nuts and probably the most bizarre shop in Camden.

Kudos to Lucy who introduced me to Bento Cafe. Their sushi is INCREDIBLE and I'm hungry just looking at the pictures. I'm totally going back there next time. It's always great to discover new Sushi places to try out. I had an amazing weekend with my friends and I'm so sad that it's all over but it just means that I have to organise regular weekends like this soon!

Lovely Surprises

2011-12-02T15:29:00.000Z

Woo Hoo it's December! Every day now begins with a little chocolate treat from my Thornton's Advent calendar. One day I'll have that super fancy Lancomé one from Selfridges. Though it's crazy expensive and it's a lot to pay for a 24 little tester sized products but you know, it would be nice right? However, I'd totally want a Chocolate calendar too because I'm greedy like that.

I always love a bit of a bargain and this dress is a recent favourite and if I remember correctly, it was about £16. I like basic dresses like this since they're fun to accessorize and I've been wearing pretty collars with this to spruce it up recently.

Dress (Internacionale) Shoes (Office) Bag (c/o Motel) Necklace (c/o Gogo Philip)

One of the things I had for my birthday last month were these boots from Office. They are the comfiest boots ever and if I'm not in my Converse these days, I'm pretty much wearing these all the time!

Unfortunately, my necklace isn't very visible in the photo but it was sent to me as a gift from of my favourite jewellery brands, Gogo Philip. You might remember a post from way back in the Summer when the earring version of the necklace was on this wishlist and my favourite earrings are still these prism earrings. So clearly, I was over the moon when these arrived through my letter box!

The star necklace is my favourite. It reminds me of being little and going to Chinese restaurants with my family and making stars out of the toothpicks on the table (what Chinese/Asian child has not done that eh?). I guess the necklace is a lot classier than that!

Jacket (H&M) Skirt (Topshop) Scarf (Market in KL, Malaysia) Bag (Vivienne Westwood) Umbrella (Fulton Umbrella-Amazon)

I found this picture of my sis, Hailey floating about on my computer from the Summer and had to post it, especially as the flowers go so well with the teacup above. This was taken a little after she arrived back from SE Asia (see here and here) which explains her golden tan!

I'm off to London for a long weekend tomorrow morning for my friend's birthday. I'm so excited. We're going to Winter Wonderland, eating cupcakes and generally having a merry old time! I will definitely be taking lots of photos so stay tuned. Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Wishlisting...

2011-11-29T16:34:00.000Z

Yup, Christmas is coming and our tree will be going up this weekend. I've attempted to do some online shopping for gifts but I can't help but notice that my own virtual basket of things I quite fancy for myself has been steadily increasing. Oops. Oh well, they can definitely be put to good use in another one of my collages.

I've been eyeing up that Motel Claudia dress for a little while now, I really love the sheer sleeves which is a winner especially as I generally prefer dresses that cover my arms up. If like me, you're a fan of Motel, they are offering the discount code of SEQUIN15 and you can receive 15% off all products across their site from now until 11th December. Tempted?

*Motel Claudia Dress is now £42

One of the things I'm particularly excited about is the Mawi jewellery (available on ASOS) which I mentioned not too long ago in this post. Swoon, I NEED one of those Disney pieces in my life. They are so cute, bright and sparkly! Christmas list? I think so too.

The Urban Decay eye shadow kit is such a popular palette and almost all Beauty YouTubers seem to own it. I love watching Beauty Youtubers, have you guys ever seen the 'my make up collection' style posts that are out there? They always make me feel a little horrified at the sheer amount of make up that some people own (serious bucket loads) but they also fascinate me and make me want to hit the cosmetic halls and stock up on absolutely everything!

Finally- let's forget about Christmas Shopping for a moment, I'd love to know what is on your wishlists for Christmas?

Condé Nast Heaven

2011-11-25T22:28:00.000Z

On Wednesday, I popped into the wonderful little space that is the Condé Nast World Wide News shop which is round the corner from Vogue House in Hanover Square. I'm so glad I did my research because walking into Vogue House looking to buy a magazine would have been the most embarrassing mistake everrr. Seriously.

Around the corner from that infamous HQ is the shop, the first of it's kind and it's pretty much Condé Nast Heaven. Building on the idea of a modern newsagents, it's an overwhelming sight when you walk in because despite Condé Nast being the publishing powerhouse that it is, you don't really get to see just how many different publications that they have. The magazine wall is such a feast for the eyes, incredibly visually stimulating and I'm such a sucker for brightly coloured magazine covers. How awesome would it be to have a room in your house set up like this?

Looking super happy with a copy of Vogue China, Thanks Nina for the photo!

I was amazed to see such an array of magazines stocked in such a small space but here you'll find 130 of their worldwide publications (with more titles constantly being stocked) ranging from British Vogue (of course!) to Vogue Australia, Modern Bride China, Tatler Russia and Romanian GQ all with corresponding flags noting their country of origin. Obviously many of the magazines are imported so be prepared to shell out at least £16.50 for far off magazines such as Vogue Nippon. Speaking of Japanese Vogue, I thought that the Asian magazines were all super thick in comparison to British Vogue.

Vogue Korea and Vogue Girl Japan

I spoke to the lovely Nina who told me that one of her favourites included Vogue Bambino, which is as the name suggests, a magazine devoted to kids. Super stylish ones obviously and this goes for Nina too! I don't think she expected me to take a photo of her when I visited but I was loving her cosy blue jumper and her moustache necklace from Tatty Devine. She also told me about the editor of Vogue Brasil who once bought a staggering £300 worth of magazines for research into making her magazine the best out of all the Vogues. So crazy. I had a good browse through Vogue Brasil and looks like the research was well worth it as it did look pretty awesome.

Greek, Brazilian and Australian Vogue

I also got to check out the hotly anticipated Style.com magazine which is full of great editorials. Given it's background, I think it was pretty smart to have an online vibe when it came to the layout inside.

The battle between Print and Digital is an interesting one. While some claim that digital is taking over, when you step into a place like Condé Nast World Wide News it's a reminder that the two can blend together seamlessly! Among the magazines, you'll be able to spot video screens showcasing the corresponding magazine websites.

There are also iPads for you to browse all the different Vogue Apps. I thought this was great as it does allow you to try some of the apps before deciding to buy them on your own iPad/iPhone.

The shop has been open since February and if the store is a success then you can look forward to seeing a store like this opening in other fashion capitals! I was pretty content in there among so many amazing magazines. I loved reading through magazines that I'd heard of but was never able to get my hands on like Korean W Magazine but also discovering new ones like the adorable, Vogue Bambini. Given that it's a stones throw from Oxford Circus, it's most certainly well worth a visit but you'll leave wishing you could read about 30 different languages! Definitely a place I will be popping by whenever I am in London from now on.

Of course, I couldn't help myself and HAD to buy a copy of one of their many magazines. I have to admit, I was pretty torn with which issue to go for. In the end I settled for Vogue Girl Korea and I can't wait to share some of the editorials with you guys!

Pancakes, Cocktails and SS12

2011-11-22T16:31:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I was in London to check out the NEXT press day where I got to check out what the high street retailer had to offer for SS12. It's always a great excuse to catch up with other bloggers when I'm down in London and well, us girls have to eat! So we marched over to The Diner in Soho and had the most amazing brunch. You've probably noticed but this place has fast become a blogger favourite and for good reason, this place is good!

When we arrived at the Next venue, we were greeted by yummy cocktails, lots of friendly faces and of course next seasons collections. I spied plenty of pastels and I definitely need to get my hands on some of those knits and skinny jeans. Colour blocking is still going strong and lots of cute heart and spot prints.

This navy lace and pleated dress is definitely right up my street.After a good browse of the collections, a catch up with the Next team and other bloggers were in order! It was such a lovely chilled out day and it's always a pleasure to attend their press days. I think it's safe to say that we could have sat there and chatted all night long!

Spot the Blogger: Kavita (I heart vintage) Next PR extraordinaire (Ellie Wilcox) Jen (A Little Bird Told Me) Vicky (The Magpie Girl), Daniela (Couture and Crumpets)

I couldn't resist taking a photo of Jen and Kristabel in their co-ordinating outfits. I was actually very close to buying those River Island jeans myself and if I had, I would have worn them on the same day too. That would have been quite the photo!

I also had to take a photo of Daniela's La Sardina lomo camera. I love the Cubic edition, it's such a cool design! This reminds me, I've been wanting a lomo camera for a little while but can't decide which one to go for. Do you guys have one and which one would you recommend?

Glitter and Velvet

2011-11-18T00:09:00.000Z

Darker days and rainy afternoons equals photos in my bedroom, which I suppose is a nice change from that brick wall! Oh how little things change around here, those postcards and random posters have been on my wardrobe for about 6 years now. I just can't bear to take them down because they all tell a story as they're momentos from various events, birthdays and trips I've been on.

Blouse (Argyle Centre, Hong Kong), Skirt (Monki) Belt (New Look) Shoes (c/o Stasia)

You might recognise the blouse from this HK post. I do love this blouse, it's so batwingy and flappy and as you can imagine, wearing it is quite fun, well at least in my head anyway. When I was in Hong Kong, it was a little too hot in the Summer to wear it buttoned all the way like this, so I wore it unbuttoned, worn loose as a cover up. The skirt was bought on the same day where I found myself in Mong Kok and visited the Monki store in Langham place. Priced at about £10, I couldn't help put pick up this blue and peach coloured cotton skirt with geometric print.
The shoes were a gift from Midlands (yay!) based shoe company, Stasia and these blue velvet flats were definitely my kind of thing. Velvet always makes a come back in stores at this time of year so while I can't quite decide whether I want to add a Velvet dress/boots/jacket to my wardrobe, at least my toes will be right on trend this Winter.

This week I met up with a friend of mine from uni this week and she gave me a little belated birthday present (Hi Carly if you're reading!). She told me that she questioned whether it was fit for a 25 year old when she added the Gingerbread man to the little package. Er, yes?! She knows me too well. I love a bit of kitsch and I actually have a gingerbread man hair clip among my treasures (see this super old post, omg how much has my blog changed and how much has my hair grown?). Funnily enough Carly was one of the first people I showed my blog to when I first began writing it, mainly because she was my housemate and I felt the need to explain to her why I had become such a recluse at the time!

My friend actually MADE the gingerbread ornament which makes me love it even more. Plus she added a little Cath Kidston pocket mirror and this amazing OPI polish in Gone Gonzo. It's a clear polish with micro blue glitter and larger silver discs which is hard to photograph, it's super glittery. I wore it over the top of this Topshop polish called Jewel in the Crown (a gift off my sister Hailey) and it's had plenty of compliments!

I also finally bought Juicy Jules by Models Own. So it's safe to say that I'll definitely be rocking the glitter nails this Christmas, they'e such festive polishes! Which reminds me, I better get started on this year's Christmas shopping. Please tell me guys, have you started the Christmas shop yet?

Nothing but a big kid...

2011-11-14T15:51:00.001Z

One of my birthday presents was this fun colouring book by Nina Chakrabarti and it is the most perfect procrastination book ever. I have it in my room and find myself flipping to a random page and doodling away to my hearts content. It's pretty much like the colouring books you have when you're little, except fashion filled and none of those join the dots activities.

Another little present that I was given were these Hello Kitty Jelly Beans. As you guys probably know by now, I am a bit of a sucker for Hello Kitty. The love for the mouthless kitty has not dampened since I first discovered her when I was little! I remember when all my Hello Kitty things came from Hong Kong because it was impossible to buy Sanrio goodies over here...oh how that has changed!

I haven't bought a magazine in ages and I've realised that I buy most of my magazines in the Winter months because somehow, I find more time to read them during this time. I guess there is nothing better than to curl up on the sofa with a hot drink and a good read. So armed with Jelly beans, a magazine, a cup of tea (and a doodle in my colouring book if I get bored) this is the perfect way to spend a gloomy afternoon!

Shoe Spotting!

2011-11-10T12:10:00.000Z

After much umming and ahhing over what to write for my next post (I am one of those bloggers that don't prepare lots of posts in advance) and wondering whether to sift through more HK food posts but instead, those will have to wait as I opted for a shoe post. Mostly because well, I like shoes as much as food (I think?!) and one can never have too many shoes in my opinion!

Some of the things that I have been lusting after my go-to shoe, trusty High-top Converse. I really like the look of these Grey Suede Converse with shearling lining. Converse have never been good at keeping my feet warm but at least with the fleecy lining, these would try their very hardest! The aztec print ones are also pretty awesome too.

I like a good sturdy shoe which explains why a lot of my heels are of the brogue variety and a chunky heel is a huge bonus. The Miss KG Caroline pumps above were spotted in store the other day and they're super comfy. They're versatile too but my only gripe is that they are suede. I am always drawn to suede shoes but they do require a lot more care than normal leather shoes and getting them wet is always a fear!

Apart from my window shopping dilemmas, here are some other shoes that I've spotted and loved. Firstly, I discovered the fabulous Yull Shoes recently at the Midlands Fashion event that I've been volunteering for, where she had a stall and supplied shoes for the show. I'll definitely be blogging about the show soon.

Sarah Yull, the brains behind the shoes creates the most fun and vibrant designs and a deep rooted passion for all things British, which means of course the shoes are made in good old Blighty! I love the heel height of her shoes and the red and black ones above are my favourite, such a great classic design! I love the vintage feel to the shoes.

I also spotted these Marc by Marc Jacobs studded boots which were worn by Sarah Yull's friend. How awesome are they? I spotted these shoes a mile off and I had to ask her for a photo. I'm a little bit in love with the stud detail and they look super comfy too with the slight platform.

Next up are THOSE Finsk wedge heels that we've seen all over the blogosphere. These beauties were worn by Kavita from I heart Vintage and they drew lots of attention from fellow bloggers that day. I also think she owns the best colour, swoon!

Finally these are some lovely patent brogues with red laces worn by the fab Hannah from Bow Dream Nation. This picture has been floating around on my computer since London Fashion Week and I'm so pleased to finally include it in a post. I think adding different coloured laces or ribbon to shoes is a really great way of breathing new life into them. I love how she's worn them with contrasting blue socks.

Oh I really want to go on a shoe shopping spree now...

Cake and Cocktails!

2011-11-06T23:03:00.000Z

So with my promise of more frequent blog posts along came my Birthday and real life promptly took over from the land of the blog! I had a fab birthday, spent with my family and friends. It all started calmly at home where I celebrated my birthday jointly with my mum! Happy Birthday to you too Mum! xx

Our cake was another one of the creations from one of the Chinese bakeries in Birmingham. We chose a more traditional style, light fluffy vanilla cake, fresh cream and decorated with fruits! The cake was so light that I could definitely eat the entire thing to myself...

After the cakey goodness, it was time for an outfit change to spend the evening with my best friends who I've known since I was 11 years old. A time when I didn't even own a computer and had no idea what on earth a blog was!

A friend of mine recently said that I have a thing for blouses and I couldn't agree more! I admit I have a very similar blouse to this from H&M but it's not nearly as lovely as this newest Zara purchase. It has a cute gold studded collar, the buttons are all hidden and it has a little pocket which is stitched on sideways...so it's completely defunct. It's definitely all about the details, even if it's just me who notices them!

Blouse (Zara) Skirt (Topshop) Belt (River Island) Bag (Hong Kong) Shoes (Office)

My birthday evening began in Jamie's Italian in Birmingham where we sat in one of the booths, had a delicious meal and we were served by the most enthusiastic waiter. Their posh chips which are cooked in truffle oil and topped with Parmesan is one of my favourite things in there.

I can hardly believe that I've known these girls for 14 years now. I love you guys!!

Among my gifts was an amazing teacup and a yummy batch of peanut butter and raisin cookies. I was really tempted to ask if my cocktails could be served in the cup! After the meal, we went to Island Bar, which is the best cocktail bar in Birmingham and also where Aussie hosted one of their parties and where I took my friend Sally (below) as my plus one!

Their cocktails are actually sublime. I discovered my favourite cocktail courtesy of my friend Hannah who bought one and we all swooned at its yummyness. If you ever visit Island Bar, definitely check out the cocktails specially created by them. The one below was made from Amaretto, cherry juice and a whole bunch of other yummy goodness. I think it was called Mi Amore but I can't remember exactly...

After a night of sipping cocktails and dancing the night away, we retreated home! Bit of a dark photo, but what better than to come home after a fab night out with your best friends and drink out of your brand new tea cup and nibble on freshly baked cookies? Most definitely a perfect end to an awesome birthday!

Highlighter Yellow

2011-11-01T17:03:00.000Z

With daylight saving having kicked in at the weekend, it's definitely a race to get the outfit shots before it gets too dark. This explains the poor lighting in the shots below but to be honest, the yellow of the blouse is really hard to capture in any kind of light as it's a shade of fluorescent yellow.

Blouse (Random shop in HK) Cardi (Gift from HK) Jeans (c/o Next) Necklace (COS) Boots (Office)

My favourite thing about the outfit is this necklace. I found it in the COS sale and it makes the most awesome clackety noise when you run your fingers through it. My sister likens it to the braids that Monica in Friends had in that Barbados episode (I love that ep!) and I have to admit, the sound of the beads are pretty similar! Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my new purchase, it looks great tucked under the collar of the blouse.

Speaking of necklaces, here are some awesome statement necklaces that I found at LFW which I've been meaning to blog about. Tatty Devine always makes amazing jewellery and I'm sure that collar necklace would go down a treat with the blogosphere, especially because everyone is pretty much obsessed with a peter pan collar these days!

One of my favourite jewellery stalls I came across during LFW was the Disney Couture for Mawi stall. They're currently stocked over at ASOS and I adore the pink Minnie Mouse designs for next season. I think my favourite has to be the ring, we could definitely do with more statement jewellery in our lives right? I'll definitely be looking out for it when it's stocked next season...

Sweet Tooth

2011-10-27T23:09:00.002+01:00

One of the things I love and miss about Hong Kong (or perhaps this applies to Asia in general) are the unusual foods that are available. About half of the snaps I've taken below and grouped together in this dessert post are Japanese snacks. Japanese cuisine and culture are extremely popular in Hong Kong and is evident in the many Japanese supermarket chains and department stores that make up some of the main shopping destinations in the thriving city.

My aunts have a lot of colleagues who frequently travel over to Japan for business trips and one of them very kindly bought these Matcha green tea Kit Kats for us to try! My aunts had actually saved the chocolates in their fridge anticipating our arrival (which is a distant memory now!). If you're a fan of Matcha in general, you would love these. They taste a little like green tea lattes in solid form! Yum.

The fish shaped dessert below is a Taiyaki. They are traditionally made from waffle batter and filled with red bean paste (adzuki beans). As you can see from the slight ice still left on them, these are ice cream versions! I suppose they're pretty much like ice cream sandwiches but they are filled with Vanilla ice cream with a layer of red bean paste. These remind me of being little, not because I used to eat them regularly but I recall them featuring in many of the Animes that I used to watch!
On the left is Hailey and her melons. Haha ok (I couldn't resist), they're little watermelon sorbets that I snapped while we were in one of the Japanese supermarkets. I think this was in City Super at Times Square, Causeway Bay. As with most Japanese supermarkets, it's full of cutely packaged food and adorable kitchen paraphernalia. On the right is more Green tea goodness (you guys know I'm obsessed with anything green tea flavoured!) and it's a green tea ice lolly filled with red bean paste. To be honest, I think Green tea, Red Bean and Sesame are three hugely popular flavours in Asia, and it's something that I always miss when we come back home to the UK!
Speaking of sesame flavoured things, this was a dessert that we had at the end of one of our many dim sum sessions or yum cha (literally translates as 'drink tea') that the Chinese tend to refer to it as. They're little dumplings made from glutinous rice flower (tong yuen), rolled in an almond powder that are filled with a black sesame paste. Oh my, this was one of Hailey's favourite things and she definitely let out a little 'oooh' in nostalgia as she saw me putting the images together.
One of my favourite desserts ever is Tofu Dessert (Dofu fa). The dessert is made from very soft Tofu with a sweet ginger syrup. Other times sugar or syrup is added to taste. It's the best thing ever! The dessert shop, Sweet Auntie or 甜姨姨 in Tin Hau, serves the dessert in the traditional way in a little wooden bucket! My grandad ordered this and he was given a timer. When the timer beeped, you were allowed to take the lid off and eat it. This was torture for my grandad, as we all finished our cold desserts and he hadn't even started his.
I love this picture of my grandad, he was SO pleased when the timer went off and he could finally dig in! The photo on the right is actually an Instagram photo I took yesterday, just so you guys know what Tofu dessert looks like. I also take a constant stream of the photos I eat on Instagram, it makes me obsessive about well presented food!
The thing is, when you're on holiday you eat so much which is not so good on the waistline! My family kept surprising us with various treats. So after a long day of shopping and entertaining ourselves around Hong Kong, we came back to these yummy Napoleans one evening. Forget that crummy one from this post these ones might not look as colourful but they were amazing and filled with fresh cream and made on the spot for us.
These were even more cakes that we carried home one day from near where we live.As ever, they're all made from the lightest sponge which is traditional with Chinese style cakes and I spot a Chocolate, strawberry, Mango, Black Forest and Black Sesame flavours.
The last of my green tea flavoured desserts on here is this lurid green tea ice cream we had one evening at a Korean BBQ restaurant. I've definitely had better but it's still something I'd order without a moment's hesitation.

Lastly, It's not exactly dessert but Bubble Milk Tea is one of my favourite things and they're pretty much a meal in itself with the large tapioca pearls that you end up chewing on. Yum! On the left is me sipping some Chocolate Soya milk by Vitasoy. You guys probably know by now that I am hardly a giant at only 4"11' so the proportions do look a bit funny in this photo! The Vitasoy in hand is actually mini and we couldn't resist buying a pack and coo over their miniature cuteness. I think all Asian kids grow up with this drink and the Vitasoy brand is STILL very much a staple in our fridge at home!

Over and out! x

Little Blue Dress

2011-10-23T01:13:00.000+01:00

Oh I feel so out of the loop these few weeks when it comes to blogging. I remember the days when I used to blog three times a week back when I was at uni (what on earth did I write about?) but blogging more is definitely something I need to try and do. This is especially because after months of volunteering for a local fashion event, it all came to fruition on Friday night which means I have a lot more time on my hands! I will be posting about the fashion show soon. It was an amazing, sold out show and I managed to get lots of backstage pics as well as from the end of the runway! Anyway, enough of my rambling, here is an outfit shot featuring another little HK purchase.

Dress (Apostrophe- Island Beverley, Causeway Bay, HK) Cardi (Oasis) Necklace (c/o Tatty Devine) Tights (House of Holland) Shoes (New Look) Ray Bans (c/o Mister Spex)

I love this dress which was bought from Island Beverely in HK from one of the miniature boutiques that can be found inside the mall. It's actually asymmetrical with the ruffle going over my right shoulder. I have a thing with my upper arms so I tend to keep them covered up but that suits me fine in the UK as cardigans are pretty much needed all year round.

Barry M Nail Paint in Indigo and Gold.

I do miss the sun. You know the seasons have changed when you take to Twitter and start tweeting about cups of tea, winter boots, woolly tights and cosy knits with other bloggers. Actually, what am I saying? I love all of those things!!

Fashion and Birthday Cake

2011-10-14T23:08:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I was invited along to 'The Show' at the Bullring Shopping Centre, where I took my seat at the end of the catwalk situated within the mall with my sister Hailey and the lovely Fritha from Fish Tank Fashion. The mini-fashion show showcased what the UK High Street had to offer in what is now, a yearly fashion event for the Bullring. This particular spot is also where TV stylist and haberdashery lover (well I had to say it!), Gok Wan likes to put on his roadshows. The show itself featured brands that were available in the shopping mecca that is The Bullring. They also played with the idea of the hologram and a screen at the end of the catwalk displayed images of Tiffany Pisani (winner of 6th Cycle, Britain's Next Top Model) appearing alongside the live models who strutted their stuff down the runway.

Personally, none of the looks that went down the runway were really 'me' but it's great to draw inspiration from them from the textures, tailoring, layering and accessories. There were some really fun pieces and I particularly loved the turquoise trousers and jacket combo which of course, was from Zara. It's all in the tailoring isn't it?

After the show, the lovely Emma (thank you!) handed us press passes to the final show of the day of Style Birmingham Live at Birmingham Town Hall which is hosted by the always dapper, George Lamb.

Similar to last year, it was full of theatrics and lots of choreography, the kind you tend to see at the Clothes Show Live. This show concentrated on department stores and shops around the city centre, with the likes of House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and local boutiques taking part. I thought it had improved a lot on the previous year as they had left out the lingerie modelling which let's face it, is a little on the cheesy side. When Kristabel and I visited last year, we thought was super random!
I've become more of a fan of all things red over the past few years so I love the red pieces above. I also couldn't help but note the very Chuck Bass-like influences in some of the male styling. The one below is definitely Chuck worthy. Yep, I still watch Gossip Girl even if the series seems to be crumbling around the edges and has kind of lost it's sparkle, any thoughts? All in all, it was a pretty fun day and I did leave wanting to go shopping and inspired to stock up on a few Autumn/Winter essentials (hello Velvet and statement jewellery!).

On to the next event in the Diamond Canopy household! You know I love to talk about my family and it was my youngest sister's 14th birthday. Of course, she had a wonderful cake and chose this calorific chocolate cake to celebrate. Such pretty packaging!

The cake was incredible. Absolutely Chocolate laden but made from the typically light sponge that is used in Chinese cakes and layered with chocolate caramel filling. So moreish! Usually we have the more traditional Chinese cakes covered in cream and fruit but I would say that this kind of style cake is more contemporary Hong Kong style.

Of course I took out my Instax and snapped a few pics of Becky and her cake. It's been a while since I've taken any photos using the camera. I have so much film all stocked up now, I really better get back into the routine of using it again!

Me, Becky, Hailey, Cake, Becky's new HP net book and random plastic fruit in the background (yeah I think this is weird too!)

So here is another photo of us sisters, you guys must be used to seeing our faces after our many family snaps in HK (plenty more food posts to sift through yet!). Becky has just had a new wardrobe and it's looking rather empty and forlorn as she's just cleared out a whole bunch of her kiddy clothes. She is itching to fill it up with lots of new clothes and this definitely spells trouble! She's already taken to reading Tavi's Rookie Mag (I wish I knew what a blog was when I was 14!) and I know it won't be long until her wardrobe rivals ours!

Mmmm noodles and dumplings!

2011-10-07T15:58:00.000+01:00

On to my next HK food post! When I'm with my dad, a restaurant that we always seem to visit when we're in HK is the Sichuan restaurant, Wing Lai Yuen. So on one particularly hot day, we visited their restaurant at Hunghom over on Kowloon side. There are many ways to travel over to Kowloon but my favourite is one of the oldest modes of transport, the Star Ferry which is also one of the cheapest! We hopped on at Wan Chai and it wasn't long before we arrived a mere 20 mins later. It's always nice to sit on the ferry and a great way to see the HK skyline too.

I love the shot below that Hailey took of a block of flats near the restaurant. To me, it pretty much sums up HK. High rise living, plenty of washing hanging out despite the smog, fast fashion, food and of course, those iconic red taxis. Oh how I miss them!

As with many restaurants, Wing Lai Yuen can be found inside a building/food plaza called Whampoa Gardens which houses many other restaurants. It has a mock traditional decor which pretty much borders on kitsch. Lots of red wooden furniture and also plenty of Chinese silk embroidery and framed awards on the walls.

Ready to stuff my face!

My dad likes to pretend that he's a HK food connoisseur and he has so much fun ordering dishes that he might have seen on Chinese food programmes. I think his dream job would be to present his own food show, exploring Asian cuisine. Actually, that sounds like my dream job too!! So soon enough, our table was filled with lots of dishes and among the things we ordered at Wing Lai Yuen were their famous and most popular, Handmade Sichuan Dan dan Mien (noodles) all served in a yummy spicy peanut soup. Writing this post is making me so hungry!

We also ordered lots of side dishes including Jellyfish, Thinly sliced braised Beef and below you can see Sauteed eel with Chinese chives (garlic chives), cucumber and bean starch noodles with peanut sauce. We also ordered plenty of dumplings including wor tip (Chinese gyoza) but my favourite are the dumplings in chilli oil.

Wing Lai Yuen: Shop 102-105, 1st Floor, Site 8, Whampoa Gardens, Hunghom, Kowloon, HK.

My dad said that it wasn't as good as the last visit (about 3 years ago) but I liked it, especially because the unfussy food is modestly priced and a meal for a family of 5 cost us about HK$500 which is £41. I'm not really picky about food but HKers absolutely love to compare food places and actually my dad didn't consider the food cheap (which is funny because obviously in the UK, it would be an absolute steal!). The dining website, Open Rice is hugely popular over there and many people consult it to find the best restaurant to visit depending on the cuisine/price/location etc. The majority of my visits to various restaurants in HK were found via that particular website. It's also available in English, so non-Chinese readers can also give it a go when they visit Hong Kong.

After our lunch, we decided to leave Hunghom. There really isn't much to do over there, although there's a department store (Justco) situated on a landlocked ship which is a bit random. From past visits, I took lots of Purikura (Japanese photo booth) in there when I was younger. So it wasn't long before we decided to make a move and caught a taxi to nearby Tsim Tsa Tsui. Not before taking a couple of pictures with my sisters of course!

Me, Hailey and Becky

When we arrived at TST, we hopped over to Harbour City, where we browsed the shops and er...stopped off at one of their cafes to take a quick break (Strawberry Forever) and sampled the overly-custardy strawberry Napoleon below (but too vibrant not to take a photo of!).

The Cafe really isn't really worth talking about and was just a place to rest our weary feet (Harbour City is a gigantic mall!). However the view as we were digging into our pastries was pretty damn awesome!

PS: Marian has an incredible Give away for an Alexander Wang Diego bag, I'm totally entering!

Sweet Violet

2011-10-02T18:14:00.001+01:00

Firstly, how on earth is it October already? Secondly, what crazy, beautiful weather we're having at the moment! Every Summer we talk about having an Indian Summer but it never happens, so I'm welcoming this heatwave with open arms. When it's this warm, I stick with simple outfits so this t-shirt and skirt combo is literally just something I've thrown on. I rarely do back to back outfit posts but the previous post was of my sister so that doesn't count right? (Props to those who didn't skim over the text and assume it was me!) Anyway, I'm not gonna lie, this post is less about my outfit but all about the new addition to my bag collection.

Tee (UO) Skirt (DIY/Thrifted) Belt (Topshop) Shoes (Nine West) Bag (Motel)

I love a good satchel and there are so many lovely ones out there to choose from. I've not come across a decent in-between size yet so when Motel (thank you Selina!) sent me the Violet Mia Satchel, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't too big or too small. I also love the rucksack version which Carrie sports in one of her recent posts from her holiday in Portugal.

So what better opportunity to do a 'What's in my bag' post which I've been meaning to do for a while. I kind of love these posts and they always satisfy the curiosity in me when I see other bloggers post these.

Valentino purse, Hello Kitty Fuji Instax, Paperchase Pass holder, Audio Chi Headphones, Ray Ban shades (c/o) Mister Spex), Moleskine and Muji pen, Keys with Totoro Keychain, Rilakkuma iPhone, W♥C Make Up bag.

The little make up bag is from popular Japanese brand, W♥C (a freebie from Japanese Nylon) and is ridiculously empty. Inside is my Majolica Morjorca pressed pore compact, Hello Kitty x MAC lipstick in Big Bow and a sample of Burberry's Body. I am LOVING this fragrance! The marketing tactic of placing a sample in my shopping bag has annoyingly worked on me. So very tempted.

My favourite thing about the bag is the Violet colour which contrasts so well against the orange leather piping, it also has a lovely bright yellow lining inside. Since it's made out of Canvas rather than leather, it's less versatile on rainier days and I do dread getting it dirty. However it does mean that I'll take it out as often as I can before the rain decides to visit!

As a little extra bonus, Motel are celebrating student month (oh how I miss the student life!) and there is 20% off all your purchases until the 16th October with the the code "STUDENT20". Hmmm...there is a playsuit with my name on it waiting for me...literally!

Stripes, bows and a bit of bling!

2011-09-25T22:25:00.006+01:00

My sister, Hailey has become very much a part of this blog now and here she is again, this time firmly back in the UK and not on her travels across SE Asia (Still jealous! See here and here). We're both big fans of Zara and we both have the very same dress, except hers is caramel and mine is red. I know that a lot of other bloggers have the same dress and I've seen this style of dress now in almost all the high street stores.

Dress (Zara) Jacket (H&M) Belt (Causeway Place, HK), Shoes (H&M) Umbrella (Accessorize)

I'm loving the elements of pattern in Hailey's outfit. From the spotted bow belt to the stripes in the umbrella. Generally, Hailey has much more of a nude palette to her clothes with hints of colour. It's funny how two people can like similar things but have very different styles. She's also much better at wearing heels than I am!

I have to say a big thank you to Simply Beach who sent me this bikini from Surf brand, Protest. In the weeks leading up to my HK holiday, I was trying to find something for a possible beach trip with my friends (yup, there is actually a beach there!) and that's when Simply Beach came to the rescue, letting me take my pick from the vast range on their website. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the beach in the end. Perhaps, this is a good thing, oweing to the amount of food I consumed while I was there! However, the guys over at Simply Beach were fab and it's definitely worth keeping them in mind for any pre-holiday purchases! I'm just sorry that I didn't get to wear it but I would very much like to escape on a beach holiday right now...

Speaking of HK and spangly new things, this is yet another iPhone case that I bought while I was out there. The above was from the infamous Ladies Market which is full of touristy tack, mobile accessories, counterfeit/copycat goods and lots and lots of Sanrio goodies. I've been prancing around with it and my friends have looked at me quite often in disbelief with that look of "Winnie, are you sure you're 24?". Yes indeedy! Whether you love it or hate it, it's bling-tastic!

Food Glorious Food...

2011-09-19T00:32:00.011+01:00

So while it is the middle of fashion week and from experience, I know that this time of year you spend the majority of your time waiting in queues, rushing around with very little time for any kind of nourishment. So in spite of all that let me launch into my first HK food post! Wahey! So if you're looking for an escape from the constant stream of fashion week posts (as amazing as they are) then you've found it...

So let's get stuck in! While I was in HK, we booked ourselves a table at the buffet restaurant in the Island Shangri-La Hotel in Kowloon for one of their epic buffet lunches. Now the thing is, I'm not the hugest fan of buffet food. Specifically, it's Chinese buffet's I dislike most of all since it's just take-out food and especially because my family are in catering too. Therefore, it's not particularly exciting to me. However in HK, buffets are taken seriously. These are all housed in fancy hotels which makes it a whole different kind of experience.

Firstly, Shangri-La is pretty fancy, with pretty chandeliers, marble and plenty of gilding everywhere. Even the carpet in the lifts are changed DAILY. Just in case you forget what day it is of course, it's a hard life!

Hailey and I before we tucked into our food...

The sheer amount of food on offer was crazy. Since we're in HK, the food is mainly of the Asian variety with ample supply of Salads, Seafood, Sushi, Noodles and specialty Chinese dishes. There were at least 100 different types of options to choose from, with lots of busy staff constantly preparing the food.

Sushi lovers rejoice! You could have your fill of sashimi and sushi and also ask for custom hand-rolls. I was quite happy just filling up my plate here. My hand-roll was soft shell crab with fish roe which came on a stand and everything. Yummers!

Freshly grated Wasabi

There were lots of little dishes to choose from including a dim sum area, roasted meats, curry section and also a noodle station with lots of fresh ingredients to create your own unique dish.

At one point during our meal, the kitchen staff announced that the soup of the day was ready by hitting a gong! Almost instantly lots of people started queuing up (noticeably of the middle aged lady category- including my mum!). We had noticed a big clay pot earlier and it seemed there were lots of pots of soup within it and soon, a chef was seen with a big hook, pulling them all out in quick succession. The Chinese soup was a type of Chicken broth, made from Silkie chicken (a breed of chicken whose skin is actually black which originates from China). The clay pots were pretty creepy though with little heads that feature as handles on the lids.

The desserts were incredible. They really were a feast for the eyes in their brightly coloured bowls. I particularly liked how some of them were displayed in these amazing bird cages. Honestly, when food is presented like this, you can't help but feel like a kid in a sweet shop. So much fun!

Looking pretty happy with my desserts!

We were pretty well looked after and our glasses of water were constantly topped up, our dishes taken away and hot towels to hand. I have to admit that I didn't eat as much as I would have liked, I think I had 2x rounds of mains and just one solitary plate of desserts. There really is only so much you can eat! However, I rounded off the meal by choosing a complimentary drink in the form of hot lemon tea.

I've been to a fair few hotel buffets in HK in the past, including one at the Marriot where I remember a magician attempted to entertain my sister Hailey, with his lame card tricks. The Shangri-La was definitely better and thankfully, a distinct lack of magicians (phew). As it's a luxury hotel the buffet was definitely NOT cheap and around HKD$400 which is about £32. Yikes! Seeing as it's all you can eat, high quality food at a 5 star hotel, then you can understand the price tag. However, it's definitely more of a luxurious treat rather than a necessity when it comes to visiting HK. I certainly wouldn't have visited if I wasn't tagging along with my family, I'm quite happy with cheap won ton noodle soup at the local cafe.

However, if we're going to do buffets then this is the way to do it! I heard that the Grand Lisboa in Macau has over 200 varieties on offer. Mind Boggling stuff! One day I will have to make a visit, who's coming with me?

Sweet Little Things...

2011-09-11T18:00:00.001+01:00

My holiday has produced so much content for the blog in one form or another. I can't stop churning out the posts to do with my favourite city! Today I am wearing a little peter pan, polka dotty dress I found in Laforet Mall, Causeway Bay. Owing to it's shape (it's quite fitted), I find that it's quite smart and so it will be perfect for other occasions too. I've paired it with a little leather bag I bought from Laurustinus in Tin Hau and I'm kind of in love with the lime green colour which reminds me of lime starbursts, my favourite!

Cardi (Oasis) Dress (Laforet, HK) Belt (Accessorize) Bag (Laurustinus, Apple Mall, Tin Hau) Shoes (Office)

Other new things that have come my way that are not HK related are some delicious doughnuts from Krispy Kreme x Glamour (in stores now). The courier delightfully handed me the box bright and early and told me that they looked like breakfast. Yeah he was right, I didn't hold back and tucked into one of the strawberry glazed rings asap...as did the rest of my family!

Mmmm so glossy!

Other glossy things that I like are of course nail polish! I hate it when my favourite polishes go all gloopy and for that reason I don't buy the crackle ones anymore. They go gloopy far too quickly and I've only ever got a couple of uses out of them. Everyone has had this problem right? Here are a couple of the normal polishes that I bought recently from trusty Barry M.

Indigo, Mint Green, Lemon and Peach Melba

You all know that I am a sucker for kitschy cute things and so to finish off the post let me show you my favourite thing at the moment. My iPhone now resembles the little Japanese bear known as Rilakkuma. It's ears were the deal breaker!

I bought this Rilakumma case from this seller. Oh it's ears, it's little face, how could I resist, it's so kawaii!

Lastly, it's Mid Autumn Festival tomorrow, so to those who celebrate, 中秋節快樂! Don't eat too many moon cakes!

Daytrippin' to Macau

2011-09-05T18:53:00.004+01:00

While we were in Hong Kong, we hopped on the ferry over to neighbouring Macau which is about an hours ferry ride away. Given the fact that our ferry was named the 'Turbo Jet' you can imagine that the ferry is not your typical slow ferry, we raced across to Macau in no time!

Macau is like Hong Kong (also majority Cantonese speaking), as it is a special administrative region of China, therefore it is responsible for it's own legal system, immigration and policing etc but essentially, China is it's big boss. Generally, it's a little hotter than Hong Kong and that day was no exception and I remember it being a sweltering 39c.

The Venetian Hotel

Macau is extremely touristy. It's pretty much like the Las Vegas of China and it's famous for it's casinos, luxury hotels but also the Historic attractions that lie in the centre of Macau. Our first stop was a visit to the Venetian Hotel. Yup, the very same as it's Las Vegas counterpart complete with it's mock canal, street lamps, painted ceiling and facades of traditional Venetian buildings. The hotel is well known for it's casino but also it's vast shopping mall. In Macau, it's still legal to smoke indoors so it was very strange (and not very nice) walking around and seeing people smoke their cigarettes as if it was really the outdoors. It's all a bit surreal and somewhat claustrophobic, especially when the gondoliers who ferry excited tourists up and down the fake canal break into Opera which echoes all around the mall. Must be quite an odd job.

Can you believe the lemon coloured building with the red canopies is a Mcdonalds? far too pretty!

Not long after, we decided to catch the bus into the centre of town to visit the Historic parts of Macau. As you probably know, Hong Kong used to be a British Colony and similarly, Macau used to be a Portuguese Colony which is reflected in the beautiful architecture in some of the old buildings. It felt like I was in the Mediterranean but with a twist, as all the street signs were in Chinese, Portuguese and English!

Macau is a dream for photographers because of it's vibrant colours and it's clash of cultures (Chinese/Portuguese). Some of the following images are photos taken on my phone so you can imagine how amazing SLR photos would be if you are lucky enough to own one! Above is St. Augustine's Church and it is such a vibrant yellow that it's really hard to miss when you turn a corner into the square it's situated in. However, the main attraction is the ruins of St. Paul's and all that stands today is the front facing facade of the old church which was destroyed by fire in the 1800s.

View from the top of the ruins

Apart from the thriving neon casino culture, ever growing attractions, delicious traditional Macau foods there is a further reason why HK residents love Macau so much. My dad said it is very much like old Hong Kong, particularly 60s HK before many of the 'old' buildings were torn down and replaced with shiny new skyscrapers. I definitely see the charm as it's in stark contrast to the previous attraction at the Venetian which makes Macau such an odd place to visit. One of my favourite things was simply walking down the backstreets and taking some of the photos below. Definitely some of my favourite photographs that I took during my time in Hong Kong/Macau.

One of the things I adore about HK is visiting Dessert shops for a quick snack. In Macau, it's no different. During our brief visit to Macau we stopped at Yee Shun Milk Company/義順牛奶公/Leitaria I So to sample some traditional desserts. The steamed egg/milk dessert is pretty famous at this Macaunese chain and whose desserts are made from buffalo milk.

Senado Square

There was so much that we didn't do in Macau and it really does need a few days to explore the other surreal and strange attractions. To me, Macau is one big theme park, worth visiting for Historical value but also a taste of the extreme with it's crazy hotels and other attractions. One such example is the Macau Fisherman's Wharf which is a theme park built to resemble world sea ports and includes a Volcano, Aladdin's Fort, Roman themed shopping centre and the yet to be completed Tang Dynasty Fortress. Odd? Most definitely. Maybe I'll visit it next time...but I much prefer the old buildings.

So when we hopped off the ferry and back on to HK soil we stopped by a local noodle shop in Tin Hau called Tai Lee/大利清湯腩. This particular restaurant has done well with reviews and has had some great press coverage. I chose to have their famed Beef Brisket with Vermicelli noodles in clear broth but the rest of my family opted for wheat noodles which is a little more filling. It may not be the prettiest dish on the menu but it's really good!

We also had a side order of deep fried fish skins which was amazing and something I've not had before. I suppose they must seem a little odd to those unused to such foods but they were really morish and pretty much like crisps.

So there goes my day in Macau in one post for you! Hope you enjoyed the journey. I've still got that food post to write but it's so daunting given that I have almost a month's worth of food pictures to choose from, crazy! Hope everyone has a lovely week.

What's the time Mr Wolf?

2011-08-28T21:42:00.002+01:00

...Dinnertime! Well, that's judging from all the photos that are yet to come from HK. It's kind of embarrassing as my friends and family keep asking me what I did other than eat and shop. I really have to think long and hard to tell them what else I got up to because even meeting up with friends involved eating, shopping or BOTH! Well, errr, I think they are perfect partners, don't you agree?

Dress (HK), Cardi (Oasis) Belt (Vintage) Shoes (Nine West) Watch (c/o Guess)

The dress with it's paintbrush-heart print was a cute little find in the mall at Causeway Place that I keep mentioning (I told you it's my favourite mall!). On the very first day we arrived in HK, we headed straight to my family's apartment, dropped off all our luggage, greeted my family and then swiftly hopped in a taxi for Dim Sum with my grandparents in Causeway Bay. I remember feeling ravenous and my sister and I devoured our favourite dim sum but sure enough, the jet lag was starting to kick in. Much to the amusement of my grandparents, we fought against the sleep and we headed straight to a busy Causeway Bay and we BOTH picked up a dress each. Hardcore! This was within 3 hours of getting off our 12 hr flight but we did feel like zombies at the end of the day.

While I was there, I was lusting over some of the white toy watches that were sold everywhere and featured on too many wrists to mention. So imagine my excitement when upon my arrival back to the UK, H Samuels asked if I would like a new watch from the full range of Guess watches that they now currently stock. Well, what else is there to say other than 'yes please'?!

I was so excited to receive this watch as it's something I wanted but don't have the money to treat myself. One thing is for sure, I need to get out of the habit of pulling my phone out to check the time or even worse when people ask me what the time is and I say I don't know, only for them to stare at me and then at the watch on my wrist that is most definitely there and not a figment of their imagination. Sorry!

I'm impressed too, the only thing I can't do with it is snorkeling and scuba diving. I'll just make sure I do the washing up, walk in the rain, wash my (dad's) car, have a bath and go swimming with it on. It's OK, I'm alright with that.

The Shopping Post!

2011-08-22T20:11:00.007+01:00

So HK is pretty well known for it's luxury shopping malls (and luxury hotels) and if you've ever wandered around Central, along Canton Road then you'd have seen the luxury brands that call Canton Road home. They are also some of the largest stores that I have ever seen! Chanel and Hermès are among the many who actually employ security guards who let people in one by one, as if they're night clubs- red rope and all! I also visited Elements mall in Kowloon which is full to the brim with luxury brands and with it's convenient transportation links to the mainland, it definitely caters towards Chinese tourism. The mall also boasts amazing, hotel like bathrooms (think hand creams and magazines), the largest cinema in HK (complete with vibrating seats and speakers in the headrests) and situated next to the exclusive W hotel. You get the picture! However, HK is also well known for the other extreme, where you can really grab a bargain if you look hard enough.

Since the lovely people over at So Feminine set me a little style challenge to see how much I could get for £50 (which they very kindly sent my way- thank you so much!), I decided to see what goodies I could buy in HK. So armed with HK$640...I hit the shops and this is what I ended up with!

The dress was bought from Causeway Place on George Street in Causeway Bay. The scalloped bag was also from there too. This is one of many 'youth' malls that can be found in Causeway Bay, it's slightly cheaper than the others found in the area and one of my favourites. These malls feature independent designers, stores that stock Japanese/Korean fashion and accessories all housed in tiny little shops seen below. These shops are fun to browse and usually open mid afternoon, so don't be too surprised if you find the shop assistants eating their lunch or applying their make up when you arrive! Sometimes you can bargain with them but often you'll walk in and they'll tell you that there is anything from 10% to 30% off the items.

Another one of these malls is Island Beverly which is located opposite SOGO department store so it's pretty much unmissable. In the photo below it's the building with all the flags. On the same side as Island Beverly and about 6/7 shops down is Laforet Mall which I mentioned in this post.

Of course if you're in Causeway Bay then almost everyone visits Times Square which has some luxury brands but there are some affordable shops too. However, my favourite thing to do there is browse the book store, Page One on the top floor which has the hugest selection of Japanese magazines.

The shacks you can see at the bottom of the photo were part of a Harry Potter/Diagon Alley promotion!

One of the things on my list of things to do was to visit Langham Place in Mong Kok to check out Monki. Surprisingly, I didn't go crazy in there and only bought a t-shirt and a skirt and of course, the obligatory changing room shot. After seeing HK bloggers take shots inside the changing rooms, I was keen to do the same!

While in Mong Kok I bought the blue blouse from the Argyle Centre on Nathan Road. Here you'll find teens shopping for the latest Japanese fashion while eating noodles from a bag, often you'll find pictures from ViVi pinned next to similar styled products. It's far cheaper than any of the malls in Causeway Bay. It's definitely a little on the chaotic side but it's fun to browse! My sis bought some really cheap false lashes from here.

The Instax film was found at Kwai Chung Plaza in Kwai Chung (Kwai Fong MTR). This shopping mall is a little markety selling everything from phone covers, second hand school books, hair accessories and food. It definitely has quite a local vibe. The film was cheapest here (but only by a few dollars compared to the Computer mall in Mong Kok). You can definitely grab some bargains but it's also a bit hit and miss here and it's further out on the MTR. Still, I was pretty pleased to grab these films as one pack sets me back £10 in the UK.

A few stops before Kwai Chung on the MTR is Lai Chi Kok. Here you'll find Sunny City which is a fashion wholesalers, the kind of fashion you might find in the little youth malls that I spoke about before. On Saturdays it's open to the public and as you can imagine it was crazy busy! However, if you are determined to shop then you might find a few pieces. It's definitely a place where you end up moving with the crowd even if you don't want to. I'd recommend visiting late afternoon when the crowds have dispersed a little.

Granville Road in Tsim Tsa Tsui (TST) is definitely worth a visit and is essentially, a road full of shops. There are a couple of HK stores along here but they are mainly of the outlet variety selling current fashions for cheap! Obviously, with places like these you might compromise on quality but in the past, I've bought things from here that I still wear today!

However, if you want a more peaceful shopping experience then worth a mention is City Plaza in Tai Koo Shing. There are so many other malls in HK but I visited this one a lot because there are some decent restaurants located here. It's a spacious mall and not overly crowded and here you'll find the likes of Uniqlo, Japanese Dept. store Apita and HK dept. Store, Wing On. It also houses one of my favourite stores, Muji which is one of their anchor stores in the mall (it's that big!). It also sells snacks which is one thing I wish that the UK stores would stock! All the Ice Rinks in HK are located in shopping malls and City Plaza has one of them.

I have to admit that one of my favourite things to do is browse supermarkets. Particularly the Japanese ones that are everywhere in HK. My favourite is Jusco (another Japanese dept. store) which is next to City Plaza. Here, I found some crazy grapes which are priced at $329 which is £26! Apparently they are super sweet and graded quite high by Japanese standards.

Above you can see white bitter melon (definitely not my favourite Asian delicacy) and very convenient packs of ingredients for Chinese soups.

I keep ending these posts with pictures of my family but here we are outside Harbour City over at TST. Harbour City is essentially, a luxury mall and I definitely had to look the other way when I walked past the likes of Mulberry only to look into the windows of Y-3 round the corner. Worth a mention is 'Ocean Terminal' part of the mall which to my delight, I found Japanese brands such as Snidel and Hysteric Glamour. Certainly fun to browse but a little pricier than my usual bargain buys so I left empty handed. Since it's such a big mall, there are definitely some affordable shops in there, so it's worth having a browse at least. Shopping aside, I'd recommend the view from here, especially near the Star Ferry as the view of Hong Kong island is amazing.

Shopping post done...now all that's left is the food!

HK: The Summary

2011-08-16T00:00:00.008+01:00

So here is my long awaited post on Hong Kong! A month passed by in the blink of an eye and before long, I flew back to the UK and away from the land of 24hr dim sum, late night shopping and where taxis are as cheap as buses! Hong Kong is a city that feels like home because up until the age of 18 my parents still lived there and where some of my family still reside. My dad has always said that when he retires he will move back there, I guess he'll just have to convince my mum! Maybe I'll live there some day or maybe it will forever be a holiday destination. Who knows?

I took so many photos (mainly consisting of my meals) that I thought I would put together a picture post of what best represents HK for me!

Starting with the epic 12 hour journey from Heathrow to Hong Kong International Airport.

This is the most awesome feeling when you realise you are about to arrive and the map is hovering over the city. Plus I quite enjoy getting to use my HK ID card with a quick scan of a fingerprint to enter the country, rather than join the long queues at immigration. The long process of getting that organised when I was 18 was a bit of a pain but worth it in the end. However it meant that I didn't get to add any stamps in my passport, oh well!

Hong Kong is of course famed for it's Dim Sum and even though I have Dim Sum (or 'yum cha' as we call it in Cantonese) every Sunday, it is so much better in HK! The Cantonese love good food (as is obvious from the many food shows that they broadcast there) and in HK there is every single Asian cuisine you can think of. Asian food is my absolute favourite (not that I'm biased or anything haha) so I have several more food posts which I will definitely be sharing!

東海/East Ocean Restaurant, Tai koo Shing.

In HK, my sister and I spent about $200 (£16) on Sushi Lunch a couple of times and we could barely move from the amount of sushi we consumed. So coming back home to the UK where Yo Sushi can easily set us back £40, it's kind of ridiculous!

Soft Shell crab at Mi Ne Sushi, Causeway Bay

It is also the land where table reservations must be made! In HK, while you do have occasional meals at home, it's the norm to eat out so restaurants are always bursting with people. I also love buying such fresh tropical fruit from the local fruit stalls...lychees by the bunch!

It is also the land of Chinese pastries and it was awesome to walk downstairs from my family's apartment to buy freshly baked pineapple buns.

I also miss the beep-beepbeep of the octopus cards in the MTR and er...spending the colourful HK dollars.

I love Instagram and I'm Diamondcanopy on there!

Hong Kong has the best public transport. There is the MTR (underground) and below you can see a bus, light bus, taxi and tramlines. All of which are pretty cheap and convenient to use.

I miss hanging out at the apartment where my aunts and grandparents live. They live pretty close to the Sanyo sign on Hong Kong Island.

Hong Kong is pretty built up and commercial buildings can look right into residential buildings which means blinds/curtains are a necessity! Even though it's easy to forget when you're there, the majority of HK is pretty green and you can see the mountains peeking through in the background of the photo below.

Speaking of the apartment, one of my favourite things to do is shelter from the insane heat outside (36c and 90% humidity while I was there!) and have traditional Congee (rice porridge) at home. Usually we add a few side dishes bought locally including noodles, rice noodle rolls and the chinese version of croutons (油炸粿).

I also love the fact that ice tea is served everywhere and I've been obsessed with recreating it in the UK but it's never quite the same is it?

I love the little cafes that solely serve Chinese desserts, mainly consisting of sweet soups. I am a sucker for anything black sesame flavoured and this black sesame sago Tofu pudding with black sesame ice cream is right up my street.

甜姨姨/Sweet Auntie in Tin Hau

As we live relatively near the shopping mecca that is Causeway Bay, I inevitably spend a lot of time wandering around in the local malls there.

We ventured over to Mong Kok on several occassions. My dad loves it for the streets that specifically sell model toys but there are also streets that sell soley flowers, trainers, aquarium supplies, pets, lighting and home improvement. It's a fun area to shop (until you get a whiff of the stalls that sell stinky tofu). I bought a fair share of iPhone cases there and spent far too much time browsing stationary at the famous Ladies Market. I also stocked up on cheap Fuji Instax film at the electronics/computer mall which is a must if you own the Instax.

I wasn't going to visit the Peak this time round as I've been up there so many times. However since I had friends visiting HK for the first time it is definitely the no.1 Tourist attraction. I asked my friend who lives in HK if she ever gets bored of the skyline and she smiled and shook her head. Yeah. it's pretty awesome.

We always order local favourites in HK including the Red Bean Ice drink. We also love the butter rolls which are known as 豬仔包 or 'piggy rolls' and no wonder because they're rolls which are 'buttered' with condensed milk. I know it sounds strange but it's so good!

I mustn't forget won ton noodle soup either. It feels wrong if I go back to HK and don't sit in a local cafe restaurant and slurp these with my family.

I also love drinking Bubble Milk Tea and eating the HK favourite of 雞蛋仔 aka egg waffles! Wow, Hong Kong really is ALL about food huh?

There are soooo many other things I adore about HK but I think the most important to me is my family! Hopefully I'll be back there next Summer...

Lace, Ribbon and THAT skyline

2011-08-10T16:30:00.006+01:00

Isn't it terribly difficult getting back into a routine after you've taken a holiday? A friend of mine said I was suffering from homesickness rather than the holiday blues which I thought was really sweet! While I struggle with the fact that I won't be back in Hong Kong for at least another year, here is an outfit post while I get my blogging-act together.

It features one of my favourite things that I bought while away in HK. The lace collar is such a girly and cute addition to any outfit and I've been hankering after one of these for a long time and was over the moon when I managed to find this in a boutique in Hong Kong.

Top, Cardi, Skirt, Shoes (Topshop), Collar (Laurustinus, HK), Bag (Laforet, HK)

Situated in one of many, MANY local mini malls that exist in HK, Laurustinus can be found in the Apple Mall in Tin Hau (opposite the MTR) which is only a stop away from Causeway Bay so not too out of the way if you're around that area anyway. Worth mentioning is that malls like these usually open quite late averaging around 2pm/3pm, something I'll mention again when I discuss where else I shopped! Luckily my family live quite near by so I took the opportunity to wander down there after dinner one evening and er...a couple of other trips after that! The shop itself is tiny (as is the norm for these kind of shops) and full of handpicked garments with stock mainly from Korea and Japan. Definitely worth a visit and Peggy the owner is wonderful to chat to too. The bag is also a new find and from Laforet Mall in Causeway Bay.

Given the recent trouble in the UK, I've found myself doing little else but watching the news and checking twitter for riot updates. Something I never, ever would have imagined myself doing and it makes me so angry and sad. I do hope that those from the affected areas stay safe!

Before I disappear to try and reorganise my HK photos (serious lack of touristy shots I'm afraid but plenty of food shots), let's end this post with something that makes me smile! Introducing you guys to my favourite skyline in the world. Swoon!

July: ViVi

2011-08-05T15:00:00.001+01:00

I can't believe I've arrived back in the UK! This month has passed so incredibly quickly but hopefully, I won't leave it so long until I am reunited with Hong Kong again. It is a home away from home. However, being back in Blighty means I am reunited with my computer and I am itching to blog properly and share with you all the things that I have been up to here. I took a crazy amount of photos so I will organise myself and share them with you guys soon!

A little bit late but here are the July scans for ViVi. Enjoy!

As always, there are plenty more scans to be found on my Flickr!

Hailey's travels. The Journey to SE Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia

2011-07-26T15:00:00.004+01:00

After the most amazing time in Thailand we spent the next month traveling completely on our own, without the comfort of the tour group! Luckily, we made some amazing friends on the trip who decided to join us for the rest of our travels! We didn't get lost once and no trips to the hospital so all in all, I feel it was successful! I know most people say this but I miss it soooo much and almost wish that I had appreciated it even more than I did at the time! Even though that would be impossible! Anyway, here are some photos from my time out there:

Next stop: Vientiane, Laos

The journey from Bangkok to Vientiane Laos involved two trains and some tuk tuk journeys. First was the 12 hour sleeper train from Bangkok to Nong Khai. We were actually very lucky because our sleeper train was clean and comfortably but we have heard of stories from friends of sleeper trains being full of cockroaches! From Nong Khai we took a small local train to Thanaleng, Laos. From here we crossed the border into Laos, visa's were sorted on arrival, and we took some tuk tuk's to the centre of Vientiane and then to our local hostel.

Bangkok - Nong Khai sleeper train.

One of the first places we visited was the Ho Phra Kao Museum, holding a lot of Laos art. The temple we visited is adjacent to the Presidential Palace and used to serve as a private temple. Although I had seen MANY temples by this stage, this was one of the most beautifully preserved temples...despite it being the least decorated in gold.

Lane Xang Avenue and Patouxai

(Laos adaotion of France's Champs-Élysées and Arc de triomphe, having been a former french colony)

BBQ Time! Amazing how you can eat like a Queen for barely anything! I was meant to lose weight traveling but with all this amazing food, that didn't happen....

Next Stop: Vang Vieng, Laos

We stayed in a lovely hotel along the river and of course, the only thing to do when in Vang Vieng was tubing! This consists of being on a rubber dingy, floating down the river, ropes thrown to you from various bars to pull you in and getting very drunk! Didn't have a water proof camera so no snaps from my tubing experience but it was something everyone should try!

View from Popular View Guest House

The best thing about this was not only was it a cheap and clean guest house to stay in but you could tube it all the way from the start point all the way back down to the guest house. Good side - float meerily down the river. Bad side - you have to make it back before 6pm to return to the tubes. Plenty of time? Well, not when it takes you about 2 hours from one bar to the next when they're right next to each other! The bars were amazing with water-slides to mud fights and mud volleyball/tug of war! Great fun! Definitely advise anyone to have a go!

Next Stop: Hanoi, Vietnam

Without a doubt is one of my favourite places in the world, let alone my travels. For a country ravaged by so many wars it maintains it's charm and beauty. Of course Vietnam is renowned for the many thousands of mopeds that fill the streets! Photos don't even capture the scale of just how many there are! Crossing the road can be dangerous and the best thing is to look confident and just make a break for it! They tend to weave round you anyway... so it all worked out in the end!

Just 'a few' mopeds, there were many more behind this lot!

Little Hanoi Hotel

If you stay anywhere in Hanoi, you must check this place out. Run by the most kind and friendly family and really go out their way to make sure you feel comfortable and happy. Clean, all en-suite facilities too! Bargain for what we paid as well!

Jade Pagoda

(Built by the Cantonese community in Vietnam in 1900)

Sewer Tunnels prisoners climbed through to escape, Hao Lao Prison 1951

Of the 16 political prisons who creeped through the sewer door, 5 succeeded in joining the resistance base to continue the struggle.

Hoan Kiem Lake, Central Hanoi

Fanny's Ice cream

If you get a chance to go to Vietnam, Fanny's ice cream is everywhere! Their main store is located near the lake in Hanoi. It is the most delicious ice-cream parlour! Everyone we knew who had spent time in Vietnam recommended it and it lived up to it's expectations. My diet in Vietnam consisted a lot of this ice-cream!

Centre of Hanoi

I presume this was meant to be their version of a roundabout. You could spend hours here looking down and watching the mopeds weave their way around each other!

Flower market, Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Note: You can't walk through this grassy area unless it is a national holiday. We did get chased off by an angry security guard... I felt like a naughty child!

Next Stop: Ha Long Bay

Of course if you spend time in Vietnam, you cannot go without doing the boat trip to and around Ha Long Bay! Whilst it is something you don't need to do more than once, it is definitely worth doing! Amazing to discover the little villages that live in between the limestone outcrops all year round, with schools and markets! We spent some time kayaking and looking around the markets! Our boat was called "Dragons Junk"... so random! Anyway here are a few shots:

Fish market in the ocean!

Stunning views

Next Stop: Saigon, Vietnam

Unfortunately as we only had four weeks to do four countries, we couldn't go to all the places in between the two cities.. such as Hue, Vinh and Hoi An! However, it means another excuse to go back! Therefore we made our way to the capital, Saigon (aka. Ho Chi Minh City):

Post Office, Saigon

We also spent a day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, learning about the impact the Vietnam War had in Cu Chi. It was amazing to see the incredibly clever tunnel system used by the Cu Chi people to survive the war, below is a photo of one of the holes used by the Cu Chi snipers to defend their land from the American soldiers.

Cu Chi Tunnels

We also spent time exploring the Mekong Delta taking in the local scenery. We took a boat ride from My Tho on a small motor boat along Dragon Island, Unicorn Island, Pheonix Island and Turtle Island.

Along the Mekong Delta

We were told by our guide that many of the original Saigon people now live in the shanty huts along side the river, having been pushed out during the war and the rich.

Pure honey bee-keeping farm, Unicorn Island

Unicorn Island

Me tasting the amazing honey-tea!

Rowing boat along the nature water coconut canal

Motor boat trip to Ben Tre

I'd obviously given up on caring about my looks here!

Next Stop: Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia

Due to time constraints we had to make a whistle stop tour of Cambodia! Firstly arriving in Phnom Penh, Cambodia after a 6 hour bus ride from Saigon. However, the main reason I wanted to come to Cambodia was to explore the beautiful Angkor Wat Temples! I took over 600 photos so it was tough to whittle it down to only a few. Although I had seen so many temples in Thailand so far, they were completely different to the ones in Siem Reap. The Angkor were just stunning, many still intact despite being centuries old! We got up early for the sunrise at 4.30am and spent a total of 6 hours climbing/walking through the temples. The area is so huge that it requires a tuk tuk from one site to the other! Take a look and see what you make of it yourself:

Next Stop: Langkawi, Malaysia

We decided to treat ourselves and have another beach week, we just missed Koh Phangan too much! Luckily, Malaysia has a cluster of islands and it really is living a life of luxury here. We spent only a few nights in Langkawi, more than enough because there isn't an awful lot to do apart from lie on a beach, eat and the various water sports! However, the views did not disappoint...

Views from Penang Centai, Langkawi

Lovely restaurant close to our resort, so yummy! I couldn't resist taking a photo to savour the moment!

Last Stop: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It actually breaks my heart to say that this was my last stop on my travels...well except from HK, last of my back-packing holiday anyway! There is so much to explore here, so many shopping malls which is amazing if you had lots of money! Unfortunately funds were running low but it still didn't stop us window-shopping! It felt a little like Hong Kong with clean, easy public transport all with air-con! LRT and the Monorail was my new favourite best friend! Anyway, most of our time here was spent looking around the local markets, shopping malls, tourist sites and eating of course! Here are a few snaps of my time there:

Central Market, KL

China-town Market, KL

Times Square Shopping Mall, KL

Lake Gardens, KL

View from Petronas Towers, KL

Petronas Towers, KL

So that concludes my travels around South East Asia! It's actually so depressing looking back over these photos, I honestly had the most amazing time of my life! I hope that it isn't too long before I go back and get to explore even more! I hope you enjoyed the photos and hope that you too get a chance to go or if you've been, brought some memories back on your own!

Although traveling doesn't quite stop here... haha, seeing as we're in Hong Kong right now. Watch this space!

Hailey x

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Hailey's Travels. The Journey to SE Asia: Thailand

2011-07-19T15:00:00.002+01:00

So as you know, I recently spent a few months traveling around South East Asia! It was the most amazing experience I have ever had with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Anyway, Winn asked me to share some of my experiences and photos. Unfortunately I took too many to stick them all up here but here are a few favourites...

First Stop: Bangkok, Thailand

We arrived in the early hours into Bangkok, Koh San Road. I'm sure you've heard, it's ridiculously crazy and hectic! Lots of bars, road-side entertainment, pad-thai stalls and cheap accessories to buy! We wanted to get stuck in as soon as possible but first had to locate our hotel, bit of a struggle when you have a stupidly heavy rucksack on your back whilst trying to navigate your way through crowds of people! Once we managed to find our hotel, we decided to dump our stuff and explore the area on our first night before meeting our volunteer/tour group the next day!

Travel diary now filled with souvenirs and memories!

Koh San Road, Bangkok

Tuk Tuk's are the local transport around the country! We bumped into a few fellow travellers along Koh San Road and decided to have a bit of a race on these Tuk Tuk's. It was possible the must fun, dangerous and exciting experiences I have had to date!

Along Koh San Road there were plenty of stalls selling fried insects as well! Naturally we had to try some, they were salt/chill flavoured. Can you guess which one I had? I will not be doing it again, trust me! I can say that others did try the cockroach, frog and grasshopper! Yuk!
We did manage to tear ourselves away from the crazy Koh San Road to see a few of the sites around Bangkok though...

The Grand Palace, Bangkok

Wat Arun Temple, Bangkok
(VERY steep temple to climb up to! Worth the view though)

Reclining Buddha - Wat Po Temple, Bangkok

Music and Cocktails at 'Gazeebo', Koh San Road
(Possible my favourite bar!)

Next Stop: Kanchanburi, Thailand

Our next stop was a little place called Kanchanburi. We stayed at a gorgeous place just alongside the River Kwai! Our first night was spent on a floating-restaurant along the river. So beautiful! Anyway here are a few snaps:

View from the floating restaurant

Erawan National Park

We spent a day in the beautiful Erawan Waterfall Park. It was absolutely stunning as you can see. The waterfall contained the types of fish that eat your dead skin, mental that people actually go to foot spa's specifically for it! Far too weird for me! There are 7 levels at the waterfall, bit of a trekk to the top but worth it! The higher you go, the less fish you'll find and the clearer the water!

Cute menu from Camelia Resort, Kanchanburi

We explored so many temples during our time in Thailand! However this one was probably the toughest, it has over 500 steps and climbing it in 30+ degree isn't too much fun! Totally worth it when you get to the top though. Oh...we discovered that the steps don't stop at the mouth of the dragon either, there are MANY more to go after that...

Another temple, what makes this one unique is the fact there are three routes to the Temple at the top. From left to right, each represents Love, Health or Business and locals believe if you choose a route, the same up and down, to the temple it will bring you good luck in that!

View from the Temple

Tiles to write your wishes on for good luck.

Monks teaching us to meditate at another Temple.

Next Stop: Sangkhlaburi, Thailand

Sangkhlaburi was one of the locations we spent the longest time in. We were really lucky to be able to come to a place like this, it was still quite rural and under-developed. Only open to tourists in the last 10 years, it had one bar, a few restaurants, a few shops and lots of walking in between to get to them! Really beautiful though and the people were so friendly!
Here are some photos of how we spent our time there:

Elephant Ride, Sangklhaburi

I was told that Thai children have to spend either 3 weeks, or if the choose 3 years, at a monastry to learn about Buddhism. I just happened to be walking down one of the main roads in Sangklhaburi and saw a small army of them!

Baan Unrak Bakery, Sangkhlaburi

A few of us couldn't resist coming back to this Bakery for their chocolate cake time and time again! So friendly and profits go to a good cause as well!

Dream House Orphanage, Sangkhlaburi

The main purpose of joining this tour/volunteer group was to volunteer at this orphanage. Whilst a few of us spent time teaching some of the children English and child-care activities. The rest of us were busy slaving away to construct this water-tank for safe drinking water! It was tough work but incredibly worth it!

Last Stop (in Thailand): Koh Phangan!

I loved every minute of our week on Koh Phangan, as you can imagine! It was a beach week filled with time to relax, time to party and time to soak up our surroundings! Great way to end the most amazing month in Thailand.

On the way to Koh Phangan - view from the boat

Our beach huts, Mac Bay Resort

View from our stunning beach

We went out almost every single night to a place further down the coast from our resort called 'Haadrin'. Drink, alcohol or not, was filled in sand buckets (see above!) and entertainment consisted of dancing on tables, watching fire-dancers, taking part in beach tournaments and lots of madness! We were lucky enough to be there during the Black Moon Party also! Lots of neon paint and glow sticks too! Unfortunately I didn't take my camera out much, there had been many casualties involving dropping cameras in the sand! So I'll leave it to your imagination instead....

We did however, prize ourselves away from our beach and the bars to take in the surroundings. Here are a few snaps from a day out we had around the Angthong National Marine Park - incl. Wua Ta Lap Island, Mae Koh Island, Samsao Island and Koh Wao...

Where we stopped to do a little bit of snorkelling.

View of the lagoon reported to have been where scenes in the movie 'The Beach' was filmed.

View from the top of Mae Koh Island.

And there we have it, my one month in Thailand summarised into just one post! It was one of the hardest things to say goodbye to all the friends I had met, traveled and worked with along my journey. I can definitely say that if you have the opportunity to get yourself out to Thailand, to do so ASAP and i'll probably come with you! A country full of so many surprises, so many things to do/see/try and the friendliest people I have ever met. I did have a little cry when I left and i'll be sure to return soon! All i can is, at least this was only part one of my travels...

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A little bit of Coral and a wishlist

2011-07-12T15:00:00.000+01:00

I thought it was probably high time I made an appearance on this blog as with the upcoming posts by my sister and her recent outfit posts, you've probably forgotten what I look like! I've been wearing this blouse loads recently. The hem is longer at the back and much shorter at the front so it looks great tucked into shorts with it trailing behind you, but also great tucked in like this with a skirt!

Blouse and Necklace (Miss Selfridge)Skirt (Topshop) Belt (Vintage) Tights (Primark) Shoes (New Look) Earrings (Gogo Philip)

I also recently collaged the wishlist below. Some of which are probably sale items by now and completely sold out, but it was fun to make and seemed a shame not to share it!

I want the Diana Mini the most out of this wishlist!

Fashion in Motion: Yohji Yamamoto

2011-07-05T15:00:00.001+01:00

I got to check out the fantastic Fashion In Motion show at the V&A which Jazmine kindly invited me too (thank youuu!). I love the V&A (my absolute favourite museum/gallery ever) and of course, I have a lot of love for the infamous Japanese designer that is Yamamoto!

The Show featured Yamamoto's SS11 collections which were modeled by real life couples, something that he first explored during his SS99 menswear show. Everyone makes clothing their own and Yamamoto is fascinated by this aspect, stating that he creates 80% of the garment and allows 20% for the wearer to make their own.

I have to admit, I was over the moon seeing his collection showcased in the Raphael galleries at the V&A and seeing the couples have such fun with the outfits. They were all so achingly cool and the whole show was oh SO SWOONWORTHY!

Oh the draping...

I loved this couple...

This 'blow up skirt' was incredible!
More photos on my Facebook page

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then you'll know that I'm off to HK today. In fact by the time this post is published, I've been on my flight for 3 hours already. It only seems like yesterday when I booked my flight and I'm really looking forward to returning to the urban jungle that is HK for a month. I've not been back for 3 years and I'm looking forward to checking out my family's 'new' apartment which is now increasingly closer to the shopping mecca that is Causeway Bay.

Unfortunately, I won't have a laptop with me. However I won't leave you hanging as I've got a couple of posts lined up so it doesn't get too cobwebby around here and I'll be Tweeting, Tumblr-ing and Facebooking when I can too!

Put your hands up

2011-07-02T01:58:00.009+01:00

You guys will be seeing a lot more of my sis, Hailey over the next few weeks as she is drafting up a couple of posts about her travels to SE Asia. It's a bit of a mammoth task and in her case, painful to omit so many of her photographs of the trip (she took 1000's!) but you guys are in for a treat. I've been editing some of her photos and they are just swoonworthy. Here she is...

T-shirt (Mango) Blouse (Topshop) Shorts (Topshop) Shoes (Radley) Sunnies (ASOS) Necklace (Topshop)

These headphones went sent by Hed Kandi (thank you Emily!) and as I already have my very own pair of trusty headphones which I love, I handed them over to Hailey.

K-Pop boyband, 2pm was her music of choice in these pics!

Lots of accessories she's collected from her travels...

As you can tell, we had a lot of fun in the sun taking these pics! We think the headphones will be super useful to use when we fly to Hong Kong on Tuesday and soo much better than the itchy ones you get given for the in flight entertainment. Fingers crossed there will be some decent movies to keep us amused for the 12 hour flight! I want 'Bridesmaids' to be on but that's still too new isn't it? I've heard such good things about that movie...

I don't know what's wrong with me but I still haven't packed yet. In fact neither has Hailey but then again she's not been home long from her travels and she's used to throwing a few things in a rucksack and calling it a day. Luckily my family in HK have told me to pack lightly as they will be providing PJs and toiletries. Still, I need to figure out a capsule wardrobe! I will be packed by Sunday, I will I will!

Aussie Party!

2011-06-29T18:09:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday I attended a Summer Soiree held by the amazing people over at Aussie where I found myself in a fantastic venue filled with purple balloons, plenty of hair products and lots of awesome bloggers.

All Hail Emma!

It wasn't long before the hair styling began! Sherin and Hayley got in there super quickly and let the awesome stylists work their magic!

Of course I had mine done too! I always have straight hair so having these loose curls was so much fun. I wish I could do this myself! I always miss bits when I attempt it at home. Big thank you to Amber Rose who always does an amazing job and curled my hair at this Aussie event too!

There was a spot of champagne tasting, lots of candy floss and even a bubble machine. Definitely a girly party.

The very talented Vic from The Scribbler and her candy floss!

There was also a photographer who took some pretty fun shots of all of us! Here are Fashion Daydreams and Amy from Wolf Whistle having the most fun ever! Amy had the most incredible candy floss hair which was very Topshop Unique SS11 (but better!).

Elisabeth from Thrills and Frills became quite attached to this soft toy in the shape of a deer!

Dress (Reko for Topshop) Cardi (River Island) Belt (Vintage) Tights (Primark) Shoes (Topshop)

Photos 2, 10, 13 and 14 by Sam Witney Photography

It was a really fun, girly event where I got to catch up with so many bloggers (too many to name but you know who you all are!) and we all said that it was a shame that the party had to end. Thanks to the team over at 1000 heads (especially Emma and Holly) for putting on a fantastic day!

It's all about the Sunnies...

2011-06-26T18:19:00.007+01:00

I have always loved Rayban Sunnies, particularly the original wayfarers. Yeah, I know that they are particularly popular, 'trendy' and insanely replicated on every street corner but it's a shape that I think suits almost everybody and pretty much timeless too.

They have always been a familiar brand as my dad has always owned the Rayban Aviators. Ever since I was young, I thought they looked like the coolest things ever and in the eyes of a child they made him seem even more of a Superdad! Especially after watching things like Top Gun.

Everyone has their own unique style that they go for, check out these lovely ladies in their choice of shades!

Fiona from Save Our Shoes

Kristabel from I Want You To Know

My sis, Hailey (sneak peek from a post coming soon!)

Mine and Hailey's Sunglasses

The wayfarer style is probably the most copied style ever with knock-offs found at every market, no matter where in the world you are. Hailey found a pair in Vietnam which are pretty much identical to the real thing. Speaking of Raybans, at a recent press event, Next were ever so kind to gift me these Clubmaster look-a-like sunglasses and silk scarf. I am totally in love with the floral print and it's retro vibes.

My My mum reckons they look like children's glasses but I guess she hasn't seen me wear the heart shaped ones from H&M recently! Between my sister and I, we own sooo many pairs of sunglasses, are you guys like us and have an ever growing collection?

A Yamamoto Treasure Hunt

2011-06-21T20:30:00.004+01:00

The Yohji Yamamoto exhibition at the V&A was fantastic. Somehow I got the idea that it was a going to be a large exhibition and was a little surprised when I found myself in a large rectangular room, where I could clearly see the exit as soon as I entered. However, I have to say it was a great exhibition and it was quite refreshing to take my little sister along for the ride. While I'm not at all an expert when it comes to fashion, I am at least very aware of it and I suppose, sort of immersed in it everyday when it comes to blogging. So it was interesting to see/hear my little sister's reactions to the designs. I suppose, I can compare it to Art exhibitions. Knowing the history behind something gives it more depth/understanding yes, but sometimes it's nice to forget all the finer details and just concentrate on what is presented physically in front of you.

While photography wasn't allowed in the actual exhibition, there were further exhibits which were scattered around the museum where photography was allowed. So my sister and I took on the challenge of the Yamamoto treasure hunt (the best kind of all!) and as a result we explored many parts of the museum I had never ventured to before which took longer than anticipated! The 'Satellite' exhibits were all specific to the locations in the museum and were placed 'in conversation' to the surroundings.

It seemed fitting that our first find was trio of menswear in his signature shade, black. Of course being Yamamoto, things are never quite as simple as they seem with intricate details including lace, embroidery and quilting.

Black suit jacket with back made from late. White Shirt and black trousers and a black suit with white embroidery. SS09

Next, we found ourselves in the Paintings gallery. Usually I avoid these rooms because while I can appreciate them, they're just not my cup of tea. The stunning draping of this dress really caught my eye which not only is a homage to Pina Bausch but also to the feminine form.

Long off-white sleeveless dress in homage to German choreographer, Pina Bausch. SS92

There is something that I've noticed about galleries that hold particularly old works of art. I noticed it at my universities' art gallery and in the tapestry rooms at the V&A. It's that vague biscuity smell. I conclude it must be something to do with the humidity levels. Anyway I digress, we discovered these coats which like the tapestries surrounding them, looked extremely heavy. Of course, playing with interesting materials has always been what Yamamoto is known for.

Long red coat with netting. Long black gathered dress with front pockets and black mesh top. AW95-96

At the British Gallery landing we found ourselves confronted with the stark black and white palette of Yamamoto, found in these suits, blouses and skirts all of which play with androgyny and gender stereotypes.

Selection of black jackets, white shirts, black pleated skirts.

The details and sheer amount of pleating were just stunning to see up close. I adore the sculptural quality of the mushroom pleating seen below which features in some of my favourite dresses by Yamamoto.

Speaking of sculptural pieces, the dresses below are created from white felt take on a sculptural form. The felt itself gives a determined shape to the dress but because the material does not cling to the body, it means that the wearer is not 'constricted' by the garment. Here, Yamamoto plays with the idea of the space between the garment and the person wearing it. Definitely really interesting and placed in a stunning location in the museum.

Long white dress with open back and black skirt and a white dress with a high collar. AW96-97

In the final gallery, we found a more light hearted approach with prints and words featured in some of the garments, reflecting the humour in his menswear collections. Yamamoto's key ideas behind his designs is for durability over time and naturally he finds inspiration in military, utility wear and strong fabric finishes.

Purple screen printed shirt and blue denim with white painted stripe. SS02

While most fashion exhibitions do invite you to look closely at the intricacies, both the exhibition and satellite displays at the V&A was particularly open with no barriers holding you back. Unfortunately this resulted in my sister itching to touch all the displays but the Art Historian in me held her back! (the very thought makes me squirm). I was allowed to inspect everything up close, noting the way the fabrics have been manipulated. It's probably no surprise that Yamamoto prides himself in the fabric of his garments. In fact, this is one of my favourite quotes by Yamamoto which of course I must share. Hope you guys are as inspired as I am!

"I know. It's just fabric. But it speaks to us like a world. If it were a desert and you are a traveller, you would talk about it's wind, it's stars, it's sun. You probably will"

How much is that teacup in the window?

2011-06-17T02:08:00.005+01:00

I took my youngest sister to London for the day recently. It begin with a stop at the Japan Centre where we devoured our sushi happily. For less than £10 and two free green teas it's not too shabby at all really!

We then went on to the V&A where unfortunately, the fashion exhibition space was closed until 2012. This was a shame as Becky really wanted to check out the historic dresses. However, we checked out the Yohji exhibition (more on this in the next post!) and wandered around the vast museum.

Cardi (Oasis) T-shirt (Zara) Skirt (Topshop) Bag and Belt (c/o Next) Shoes (Converse)

At first, I noted this beautiful costume for it's pretty colours but upon reading about the garment, there is definitely more than meets the eye. Lee Chung-hie is a fiber artist who uses an ancient Korean patchworking technique called chogakpo to create complex geometric designs. Here she has applied them to a traditional Korean trouser and jacket garment.

Traditional Korean trousers and jacket by Lee Chung-hie.

We soon found ourselves on the top floor of the V&A (where I had never ventured before) where we were met with shelves upon shelves of ornaments and ceramics.

It was a bit scary to be honest, especially given the gaudy collections of ceramics like the ones below. I thought it was funny how it reminded Becky of the Department of Mysteries in the Harry Potter series. It really did!

Hideous!!

However the exception was that there are a whole lot of tea cups that I want to call my own.

Speaking of tea, it was inevitable that we eventually we stopped for tea and cake in the beautiful Edwardian tea rooms.

We also stopped by Topshop where I checked out the secret store while it was there. It was a cute little space but the prices were CRAZY! Some pieces were extremely limited edition which meant that a netty top was priced at £350, so for me, it just felt like a continuation of being at the V&A. Lots of pretty clothes that I can never ever own! Even more so when I spotted some of their nail polishes with a few plastic gems stuck on and were sold for 2x more than their original price. Yup...I'm off to raid my craft box and prettify my nail polishes and save that extra fiver!

ViVi: June 2011

2011-06-12T01:58:00.007+01:00

I always have my latest issue of ViVi lying around my bedroom floor for weeks on end where I randomly flick through them for a bit of inspiration. When I can't get family members to bring over cheaper copies from HK, it turns into an expensive habit but I kind of treat them as Look Books. For this reason, I am always behind with scanning the magazine in because it takes me ages to get through it, despite not being able to read the hiragana/katakana. So finally, here are my picks of my favourite pages from the June issue!

See my Flickr for other pages I liked but didn't quite make the cut.

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Bright Red

2011-06-08T15:06:00.002+01:00

On a Sunny day, this red blouse is super bright. I kind of found myself standing out in a sea of summery pastels when I was waiting around for friends. Not that I mind, but it's like when you step out of the house in coloured tights only to realise that the tights are a shade brighter than you expected in the sunlight!

Blouse (c/o A Wear) Belt (c/o Next) Shoes (Oasis)

So as I mentioned a few posts ago, I was in London for the day and I found myself browsing the Gogo Philip in Topshop. I could have walked off with the entire stand but I chose these prism earrings which are now my new favourite piece of jewellery everrr!

After waiting around in the sun, my friends arrived and we had lunch at Bodega and feasted on yummy sweet potato fries!

Sally, Hannah and I then ventured off to our second independently owned place and found ourselves in the 6/8 Kafé where we had the best tea ever!

I'm quite the advocate of tea in all shapes and forms and I loved this fruit tea called Apple loves Mint. I'm not too fond of overly sweet tea and the rosebud added just the right amount of sweetness. Such a pretty tea!

Oooh my sister Hailey returned yesterday from her 2 months away in SE Asia and she bought me back some goodies. Along with a couple of Malaysian mags (Harpers and Hanger) that she read on the plane, she also presented me with a few bits and bobs...

I love them all. I have wanted Hello Kitty Fuji Instax film ever since I got my camera. I've also needed to replace my eyelash curlers and have always loved the Shu Uemura ones (I have some mini ones) and she awesomely bought a set from duty free! I also received this ring which she has a matching one of which she picked up when she was in Vietnam!

I feel so spoiled! Thank you Hailey :)

Another Jewellery Box...

2011-06-04T00:00:00.005+01:00

I seem to have a lot of pretty receptacles to hold all my jewellery. I think my favourites are the cupcake shaped cookie jar and the ornamental ceramic Chinese box. The latter belonged to my grandparents and I recall how it used to hold random crystals that had fallen off their chandeliers and I was really pleased when my grandma said I could have it!

In celebration of their recent collaboration with Amanda Wakeley, High Street Jewellers, Ernest Jones sent me another box to add to my collection (thank you Emily!). However, compared to all the cupcake containers, it's definitely the smartest jewellery box I own! Of course, I didn't wait around and set about filling it with my favourite jewellery...

Bottom Left- Right: Scalloped Ring (Accessorize) Snake Ring (Market Stall) Glass and Resin Ring (Gift Shop) Skull/flower Ring (Alexander McQueen) Rose Ring (Topshop) Bow Ring (Forever 21) Amber Ring (Gift Shop)

Red Bow and Untitled Necklace (Tatty Devine) Orb Necklace (Vivienne Westwood) Key Necklace (Black Pearl)

Returning back to the collab, I think the Ernest Jones collaboration with Amanda Wakeley (their second together) is pretty cool and like her designs, they've got the whole understated chic going on. Luckily, since it's a high street range, the prices are WAY more affordable. The ones I've picked below are my favourite and are all priced at under £100. Good for graduation presents or er...maybe a bit of a decadent splurge!

Ooops! Yes I spelled her name wrong in this collage...

I would have loved to have been at the Amanda Wakeley show from earlier on in the year but here is a quick reminder of her AW11 collection, Luxe Sportif. I think you'll all agree that all the black, sharp lines and 'solar encrusted' beading is perfectly reflected in her jewellery line! Swoon.

Amanda Wakeley Autumn Winter 11 London Fashion Week Runway Show from Amanda Wakeley on Vimeo.

The weather is meant to be gorgeous this weekend, let me know what you guys get up to. I so wish I had a BBQ to attend!!

Fallen Fences and Choco Boy!

2011-05-31T18:45:00.002+01:00

This is such an old outfit post and is from wayyy earlier in the year (fresh after a haircut from the looks of my super straight fringe!). Usually, a couple of these kinds of posts never make it onto my blog because they kind of get forgotten along the way. However, seeing as the fence at the bottom of our garden fell down during some recent stormy weather, I have no choice but to dig these out! If I were to take a photo right now in my usual spot, I would be staring right into their kitchen/conservatory, er...awkward!

T-shirt (Realitee) Skirt (Topshop) Belt (Vintage) Shoes (Topshop)

It also wouldn't be me if I didn't share some cute snacks right? Introducing...Choco Boy, worth buying, if only for the name and that strange slogan! I think these are Korean brand and there is a Japanese version by Meiji which is almost identical.

Anyway, I have a fun day planned for tomorrow. I'm taking my little sister on a daytrip to London and finally get to check out the Yohji Yamamoto Exhibition at the V&A! I'll probably drop by the TopShop Secret Store too. I don't think I'll be able to afford anything there...but it's worth a browse, have any of you guys been to check out the secret store yet?

Plenty of Knitwear...

2011-05-27T14:00:00.003+01:00

If you haven't read Kristabel's (AKA I Want You To Know) latest blog post, I suggest you do! At her graduate knitwear show last week, I was truly blown away by the talent that she had kept hidden from her blog for so long. I think she only ever blogged about one jumper she made (which was swoonworthy!). So without further ado, let's begin this photo-heavy post...prepare yourselves!

Kristabel's collection is called 'Archive Assembly' and as the name suggests, it was inspired by collections, particularly bookshelves and this is seen in the patterns in the knitwear reflecting the haphazard colour blocking of books. I suppose some might say I'm biased towards Kristabel's collection but I think the pictures can speak for themselves. Her collection was magnificent!

Andy Espin 1, 6 and Jazmine 3

Impressed? I know I was! Aside from Kristabel's collection, I really adored these collections, I'm definitely a sucker for all things brightly coloured and it just so happened that these were the least blurry of my photos. Win.

Natalie Stead

Mollie Brown

I have to say that the Nottingham Trent 2011 knitwear grads are a very talented bunch! My digital camera is awful in comparison to all you other bloggers with your high-tech SLRs (I'm sure you could tell which ones were mine in the collage) and so I point you towards Jazmine's Flickr for more wonderful photos of Kristabel's collection and her fellow knitters. Here is the lovely lady herself, looking gorgeous in her red Zara dress (we can be twins now) and her awesome Jeffrey Campbell Alexa wedges.

Kristabel received some amazing news on Wednesday. She has been selected to show at Graduate Fashion Week on the 7th June! Her designs on the big stage? Super proud and a humungus congrats Kbel!

More pics of the day over on my Facebook page!

Eat Pose Blog

2011-05-24T00:56:00.013+01:00

Last week, I hopped on the train to Nottingham and my company for the day were fellow bloggers/friends, Jazmine from Jazzabelle's Diary and the always colourful Lucy from Shiny Thoughts. Together we completed the blogger motto of eating, posing and blogging and we spent the best part of the day browsing the shops on the high street and er...spending a good few hours sampling some yummy Italian food. A three course meal? Easy! Of course, in true blogger style, we whipped out our cameras to immortalise the food that we would soon be devouring.

So it's probably an understatement that we were all pretty full after that meal! We attempted to walk off all that food and we strolled into the square outside Nottingham Town Hall and of course, the cameras came out to play again.

Thanks to Jazmine for the two photos above!

Everyone had such great shoes. I so love Lucy's leopard print trainers from Kurt Geiger and Jazmine's pretty patent black brogues.

I think we must all have the same variation of these canal pictures, but how could I resist?

The real reason we were in town that day was to support Kristabel from I Want You To Know's graduate knitwear show. She was amazing and the event itself definitely deserves an entire post of it's own, so stay tuned!

The 80s and Beyond(Retro)

2011-05-20T00:24:00.006+01:00

It's been forever since I've done a Japanese street fashion post and feeling inspired, I spent a silly amount of time collaging away some of my recent finds from Drop Tokyo, Rid Fashion Street Snap and Japanese Streets. I love the bold colours or in some cases, the bold accessories. The coral and dusky purple combination in the middle is particularly striking.

Some of the Japanese street fashion that I am most drawn to are the bold, 80s inspired looks. The outfits are fun and I do love a bit of acid washed denim. I'm quite drawn to the use of one colour as the base colours in the outfits (seen in the first 3 below) and I'm especially intrigued by the girl in the acid wash shorts and sheer blue skirt combo. I also have no idea what is on that guys head, on closer inspection it looks a little like a bird-hat....

I thought that the collage above fit right in with the Acid House category on the Beyond Retro site. It is as you might have guessed, full of acid washed denim and neon colours. The website itself is also full of lovely vintage bags that I would like to call my own. Dangerous territory indeed! Aside from the genius of my post title (I know, I couldn't help myself), I found a couple of things inspired by the 80s collage above. I am very tempted to find myself a dark denim jacket and chuck a whole lot of bleach on it. Messy!

Not all the images were found in that particular category on the site, but they all look like they belong together and are all lovely vintage 80s items from the vintage emporium!

I must remind myself to have a rummage in their store the next time I am in London. The Brick Lane store is my favourite. It's humungus and even has a resident cat called Tiny. What's not to love?

PS: I've just created a Blog page on Facebook so come and say hi!

Did someone say cake?

2011-05-16T13:26:00.006+01:00

My friend Connie who is not only well on her way to becoming a Dr in Art History is a bit of a baking extraordinaire. Her blog which is aptly called Did Someone Say Cake? is FULL to the brim with her baking experiments. Yesterday she hosted a brilliant tea party in aid of Japan and well, I couldn't NOT take any photos to share the cakey goodness with you guys right?!

She has the most amazing collection of Baking books so you can imagine how impressive her cakes were. The Hummingbird bakery book is by far, the most awesome one she had, the photos inside are all so droolworthy!

I love a bit of kitsch and I loved her cushions but most of all, the fun flag she made for the Royal wedding. Brilliant!

Now for what you've all been waiting for, the cake! She had baked a whopping 20 varieties and even though I arrived late, there was still plenty left!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Meringue Whoopie pies with Chestnut filling

Chocolate, Chocolate chips and Cookie cupcake. Calorific but worth every bite!

It isn't a tea party without proper tea cups and saucers!

My friends and I left the tea party bursting with cake and our tupperware boxes filled with a selection to take home. Seriously, how pretty are they? What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Ready for the Summer

2011-05-11T00:10:00.000+01:00

Oh yes, I am SO ready for the Summer, the weather has perked up a bit and Summer is definitely in the air. The thing with the warmer season is that wearing headphones is kind of uncomfortable. They're brilliant in the winter as they double up as ear muffs and keep my ears nice and toasty but not so great when it's already warm outside. I know it won't be long until I have to swap them for my standard earphones which let's be honest when it comes to sound, they don't have anything on real headphones. I don't think I'll get to visit a beach this year but one of my favourite Summer tunes is Incubus' Wish You Were Here, which is even better when you listen to it on the beach with the sound of waves softly crashing on the shore. Oh, if only I lived near the sea rather than Birmingham, the most landlocked city in the whole of the UK. Rubbish!

Denim Jacket (ASOS) Dress (Mina UK) Shoes (Topshop) Headphones (AudioChi)

I get incredibly nostalgic when it comes to this song. It reminds me of awesome Summers on the beach, festivals, hanging out with my best friends and other happy memories. Definitely a song that I adore. Do you guys have any Summery songs that make you all nostalgic? I'd love to know what they are!

Pass me the biscuits!

2011-05-06T16:33:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I met a friend for lunch, where we feasted on our new favourite thing to share which is the antipasti at Jamie's Italian. I always order mint tea from there too which is lovely and refreshing. Anyway, here I am posing with a fork and lots of cured meats and mozzarella balls.

Later on I bought these amazing tie dye shorts from Topshop. They're lovely and given the the rest of the post below, a little bit party ring coloured but unfortunately they're just not meant to be mine and I returned them this morning. Sometimes you just don't know until you take them home and try them on with your own things. I just won't get enough wear out of them and my money is probably better spent on something else. So pretty though!

My friend who I met for lunch bought me a little present which really took me by surprise. Thank you Carly!! She told me that she had a bit of a dilemma over which brooch to buy me and settled on the purple ceramic party ring in the centre made by Kath Cooper. Perfect! Little did she know I have a thing for party rings with my knitted ones (from All the fun at the fair) already in my collection. I couldn't resist buying a real packet of the biscuity treats and putting my pretend party rings among the real ones!

Brooches- Ceramic brooch (Kath Cooper) Knitted brooches (All the Fun at the Fair)

I can't get over how real the ceramic party ring brooch feels in my hands, right down to the little ridges on the reverse. I was really tempted to nibble at it because it feels THAT real but I guess I'll just turn to my real packet of party rings for now...

A couple of favourites

2011-05-02T15:10:00.004+01:00

I would so love to be one of those people who can blog brand new outfits all the time but alas, such is the life of having a limited wardrobe. So it's no surprise that this dress has appeared countless times on here but we all have our favourites right? I very nearly blend into the red-orange brick of my house and I'm kind of kicking myself for not wearing an entirely orange outfit now, just for the effect. One for another time maybe!

Dress (MbyM) Cardi (River Island) Belt (Accessorize) Tights (Topshop) Shoes (Nine West) Bag (Vivienne Westwood)

If you follow me on twitter then you know that Sunday is traditionally Dim Sum day in my house, a routine that we very rarely break. We usually start with a congee or a noodle dish and then move onto the smaller dim sum dishes but this is done the opposite way round in Hong Kong. Please excuse the half eaten food but these are some favourites from yesterday which include Shanghai dumplings, Beef dumplings, red bean buns, lo bak gao (turnip cake), cheong fun (rice noodle roll) and of course THAT infamous Cantonese delicacy, fung jow...er chicken feet! Haha, my non-Chinese friends have been unable to bring themselves to try that particular dish...so far!

Through the Looking Glass

2011-04-28T00:01:00.009+01:00

So it's time for another one of my rare Art posts. This time, it's an artist that I am all to familiar with and that's Peter Blake. I spent a whole Summer researching the archives at Tate Britain, unearthing all sorts of newspaper clippings for my Art History dissertation. Often touted as the founder of British Pop Art (which precedes American Pop Art), he is infamous for creating the cover for The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely hearts club band album.

Not only is the album art work one of the most iconic covers of all time, Blake was paid a one-off fee of £200. Meaning that the subsequent popularity of the record did not benefit him in any way whatsoever, so as you can imagine, it's not his favourite of conversation topics. While I am a fan of his brightly coloured and often, collaged 60s art, I am quite fond of his later work too where he took inspiration from nature, fairytales, old masters and more traditional forms of art. I could go on, but at the end of the day, I am a sucker for a pretty watercolour and fairytales.

Girl in a Poppy Field, 1974 (screenprint on paper) Liberty Blake in a Kimono 1971 (Watercolour)

I've saved the real gems for this part of the post. Inspired by fairytales and a visit to the Simon Rodia Watts Tower in LA, Blake painted this image which is probably one of my all time favourite paintings by him. I'd like to have a print of this in my own house someday, where else but in the dining room?

A Mad Tea Party at Watts Tower (1968 and 1992)

Following on from the oil painting, Blake was later commissioned to paint 8 watercolours for a special edition of Alice Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1970). An edition that I would LOVE to get my hands on.

['and to show you I'm not proud, you may shake hands with me!'] [ 'and the two knights sat and looked at each other without speaking']

['But isn't it old!' Tweedledum cried] [ 'It isn't manners for us to begin, you know' said the Rose]

['For instance now, there's the King's messenger'] [Just at this moment, somehow or other, they began to run]

[So Alice picked him up very gently] ['Well, this is grand!' said Alice]

All images were scanned from Peter Blake: A Retrospective, 2007

Now, I feel a bit silly having to admit that I've never read Alice through the Looking glass, well nor the original actually. Oh man, I've let myself down after all this artsy talk but I've only ever watched Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Um, street cred? me? I've never had any in the first place....

Upside down 'M's, books and a weekend full of chocolate

2011-04-24T15:21:00.002+01:00

Ah I can barely believe that it's actually no-tights weather. The Easter weekend has been really beautiful so far and I hope you've all been making the most of it! Lots of talk of Summer holidays are in the air with friends booking them here and there and I'm counting down the 2.5 months till I leave the UK to the more humid climes of HK. Have you guys got any lovely holidays booked?

Blouse (River Island) Skirt, Shoes (Oasis)

Speaking of the warmer weather, I am itching to go shopping for a lighter Summer wardrobe. I can't help but be inspired by all the florals, pastels and colour blocking that is everwhere at the moment.

Yes, I do attempt to keep my clothes in colour order...

Earlier in the week I took my little sister shopping and she went ahead and found all the letters for her name at Urban Outfitters. I am always very jealous of people who can do that. Stores NEVER EVER have the letter 'W' and I always have to settle for an upside down 'M'. See, maybe I really am destined to be 'Minnie Winnie' after all.

It's funny how some things don't suit you but they suit other people. I tried on these floral patterned oxfords from New Look and wasn't sure about them. Becky ended up buying them and they're so pretty on her!

I was so tempted to pick up one of these beautifully bound novels. I love it when classics are republished with beautiful covers. I do love a bit of Jane Eyre.

I couldn't help but buy a couple of books at Waterstones. They're all great reads apart from maybe Cloud Atlas. After reading a few pages I'm not sure whether it's my kind of book. I guess I'm glad that I bought it with an offer. Sometimes you know when books are destined to go to the charity shop but I'll have to give it another go eventually. I should probably renew my library card!

I love getting parcels from HK. Even if they're not always for me, there's something about receiving parcels from abroad and seeing the foreign stamps. When I was younger, I used to peel them off and stick them into notebooks.

Lastly, I hope you've all had a lovely long Easter weekend. I certainly will be spending the next few days stuffing my face with the yummy Easter eggs seen above. Yum! I can't believe it's a 3 day week next week and then another 4 day weekend in celebration of the Royal wedding. I guess I'll watch a bit of it...will you guys be watching?

ViVi: April 2011 Part 2

2011-04-20T17:59:00.003+01:00

So as I promised, here are the rest of the ViVi scans! These scans feature a little more street fashion and also a certain super blogger.

I really love this particular page. Maybe it's just the hair clip and the colours but it reminds me of how Midori dresses in the film adaption of Norwegian Wood by Anh Hung Tran. A beautiful film that I highly recommend...but I'd say read the book first!

Surprisingly, it's been a little too warm for tights lately but I like these and the penchant for geek glasses.

I remember reading on Rumi's blog a long time ago about how she used to read ViVi and identify with the (predominantly) half Japanese models in the magazine. Now she is a regular feature, both as a blogger and being a brand ambassador to several Japanese brands.

Hope everything is enjoying the sunshine! I could really do with a Solero ice cream...

Minnie Winnie and a House warming

2011-04-17T21:51:00.003+01:00

We're always looking for ways of changing up our wardrobes and even better when we have items that we can double up as skirts and tops. It's almost Minnie Mouse territory (or Minnie Winnie as my dad used to call me when I loved wearing a pink and white polka-dot jacket as a teen) but I like how the red brightens up the nude based dress.

Blouse (A|Wear) Dress (Love, available at Topshop concession) Shoes (New Look)

My grandma recently moved house and it's strange seeing her old house completely torn apart by the new owners. I don't blame them, the house had not changed at all since my first memories there. Moving on to a different kind of 'mini' Winnie, the photo of me below as a toddler shows my grandma's very retro kitchen. It never ever had a revamp and looked the same the day she sold the house. Crazy!

Unfortunately, my tights still do that around my ankles. Guess not much has changed with me either!

Anyway, on her moving-in day we had lots to do including moving in all her furniture. It was so strange seeing all her things put into a new location. This included her coat/hat rack. I wish I had a hat to hang on there.

Lots of traditional things were on the to-do list including arranging these offerings and lighting incense. I'm always learning about these traditions and this particular one was to bring good luck to the new house and it's basically all good feng shui with a bit of Buddhism thrown in too. Either way, the brightly coloured fruit looked really pretty.

My Grandma and I knocked out what felt like a million of these little dumplings (tong yuen) ready to eat with the family. These ones were filled with lumps of brown sugar (the Chinese block variety) and my grandma recalled how she used to make the plain ones (with no fillings) all the time for my grandad who used to love eating them.

Finally it was house warming time and as always with Chinese get togethers we all feasted on lots of yummy food! In the blurry picture below there is suckling pig (Chinese roast pork with crackling), King prawns and my favourite Chinese veg, 'Gai Lan' which is Chinese broccoli.

I'm sure most families are noisy when it comes to big occasions and Chinese families are crazy rowdy. However, my mom's side of the family are all Hakka Chinese (the dialect is quite harsh on the ears and never ever spoken softly!) and well, let's just say that the night was deafening and headache inducing but that's when you know it's a good night. My grandma was all smiles.

ViVi: April 2011

2011-04-13T00:35:00.003+01:00

If I had to tell you one thing about myself it would be that I am terribly indecisive. So it comes as no surprise that with this months ViVi magazine (which I finally got round to scanning) I found it terribly hard to choose my favourites for just one post. So here is part 1 and I'll publish the rest later! Enjoy!

I have the shorts below...I just wish they looked as good on me as they do on her!

I am so itching to go shopping now and inspired to wear some statement jewellery with white blouses as worn by Ena Matsumoto. If like me you have a bit of a style crush her too, she has a Japanese blog (mentioned in the scan) which you can find here!