It's a sad, sad week when not one of us is drinking Champagne for breakfast, living out of a suitcase or on a constant mission to find the next Instagram-worthy beach shot. Fear not though Blog Buds, I can guarantee that our passports won't be loitering in the drawer for long, our travel toes are already itching and we're very much in planning mode for our upcoming overseas jaunts - watch this space...
In the meantime, I've been making the most of being back home for a bit, enjoying summer and catching up with friends. In glass half full mode, and chanelling that well-worn saying "a change is as good as a break", I guess if you're coming back from a long trip then staying at home is effectively a holiday (just with less bikinis and more spreadsheets). Convinced? Yeah, me neither?! I have been doing my damndest to cram the last seven days with as much lovely stuff as possible though, so here's a quick round-up of all that's new and fabulous in Mouseland. This week the Mice have mostly been...
Turning a whiter shade of pale now that I've finally caught on to the pale nail trend. The London Mice who are much cooler and more fashion forward than their HK sister, blogged about Tippex talons this time last year. Twelve months on, and I'm just about playing catch up.
When it comes to nail colours, given the fact that I work in a more corporate environment than the London Mice, I tend to stick to deep reds and pretty neutrals. Post my last couple of holdays though, with hands a little more tanned than usual, I thought I'd give white nails a try... I've braved them in the office over the last few weeks, and so far no outraged comments about their inappropriateness, so I'm going to take that as tacit approval.
I started with low cost, fairly safe, white-toned beiges and pinks courtesy of Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine nail polish. I opted for Rosehip (pinky white) and Almond (beigey white) which are a bargainous £3.99 each and last on my paperthin nails for a good three or four days with minimal chippage.
And then, sold on whiting-out, I graduated to blinding white - we're talking full-on tippex-esque nails here - with Chanel's Eastern Light.
All three colours are fairly tricky to apply and pretty prone to streaking but with careful loading of the brush and three coats I tend to manage to make them look passable. If anyone else is as backward in adopting trends as I am, I'd highly recommend all three products for clean, modern, summery nails.
Having serious concerns that I'll turn into the old woman who lived in her shoes after previewing the brand new Charlotte Olympia Fall collection at the Hong Kong Landmark store last night.
The Shanghai Express collection will hit stores in a couple of months time but is currently available for pre-order. With Ming vase inspired platforms, panda flats (the perfect Eastern take on the much-loved Kittys) and Dollys with tasselled backs, each and every pair are kitschy fabulous and I want them all! Here's a little look at the range...
I also got a sneaky peek at the 9 till 5 Collection Lookbook and have my name down for a pair of Natalie's... Well, it's wrong not to bag a pair of your namesake shoes isn't it?! If you haven't heard about this new range yet, let me fill you in... Due to drop in stores in Hong Kong in late August, the 9 till 5 collection is designed to offer shoes that can be worn all day, every day.
Charlotte Olympia fans (let's call up Olympians) will know that her platforms can reach a neck-breakingly awesome 6.5 inch height, which is fine for taxi to curb nights out, but not so great for trotting around the office. Step up the 9 till 5s which sit at a much more manageable 4 inches and come complete with a pair of matching stockings and a super-cute briefcase-inspired shoebox designed to sit professionally under your desk. Keep your eyes peeled for well-heeled girls everywhere spinning Charlotte's web in an office near you very soon...
Getting flicky with it following my acquisition of the full-sized Benefit They're Real! Push-Up Eyeliner. I blogged a couple of weeks ago about trying out the sample of this brand new Benefit liner and summed up by saying it was good but not game changing. Well, after picking up the full-sized version in duty free last week, I've sort of changed my mind. Where the sample size has a squeezy tube which makes dispensing the correct amount of product tricky, the full-sized version has a twist base which means that as long as you'e restrained in your twisting, you get a perfect amount of liner. Having a full-sized pen to hold also makes applying a precise line much easier. The result is a much finer, tighter line than I can usually achieve with a brush and a gel liner.
As I said before, once you've applied the liner, it's pretty much there until you remove it and in fact, lots of eye make-up removers aren't even up to the job of shifting this stuff. Great when you want eyeliner that goes the distance, not so great when you're trying to avoid the panda look the next day. To combat this issue, Benefit has formulated a product specifically deisgned to remove the They're Real! liner and masacara - the aptly named, They're Real! Remover... While I haven't tried it, reviews are good, but the £14.50 a tube pricetag is fairly punchy. My top tip is to use Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make-up Remover which gets rid of every last scrap of black in just a single swipe and comes in at just £8.50 (as far as I'm concerned this is a total dupe of the £21 a bottle, Lancome Bi-Facil Make-up Remover too).
And that's all for another week! I don't know about you, but...
This weekend I'm thinking that if a little of what you fancy does you good, then surely a LOT of what you fancy is going to make you awesome...
Have a wonderful weekend!
x
The Mice
