The Little Black Jacket Exhibition - Sydney

Last Saturday began with a lovely little Chanel exhibition. Mallhaciel invited me to go check this out with her, an exhibition that she has been absolutely dying to see and as I do love it when fashion meets art, I did not hesitate to say yes. The most difficult part of the outing really was what to wear as I did not own many Chanel items. It all boiled down to this one piece.

and a black tweed jacket I purchased from Ally's for $40 for my 'very Chanel' look. Of course Chanel makeup was in order too. Eye-cream, Powder, lip-liner and lipstick the rest of the look was Burberry and Dior, Oh I cheat.

It is a beautiful place, the Pier. Just remember to avoid wearing heels cause it gets stuck in the gaps in the floor. Walking in from the sunlight into the dimly lit exhibition space was daunting at first, but the excitement got us over that really quickly.

The first and last piece of the show that I saw was a series of stills of Yoko Ono with a video of her posing for the shots, shot from Karl Lagerfield's iPhone. It was meant to be an interpretive dance, her take on her life. And it was mesmerising. Poignantly tragic, but like a car accident, you were drawn to it and couldn't turn away from watching. Tragedy and Art goes well together.

If you go, you have the option of receiving any of Theophilus London, Astrid Berges Frisbey, Anna Mouglalis, Elle Fanning's posters to take with you. A little reminder that you were part of this exhibition. And they are generous gifts. I really appreciated getting mine as I had to brighten up the teenage boys' room I currently live in somehow (the posters below covered up theirs of Cars and NBA players) instead of removing their childhood memorabilia.

Mallhaciel's got a way better and more informational post than mine. I only tagged along to have a good time. But after work, whilst the sun's still up, or this weekend, why not stroll over to enjoy this?

Exhibition information:

PIER 2/3

13 HICKSON ROAD

WALSH BAY

SYDNEY NSW 2000

11AM - 7PM

FOR MORE INFORMATION: + (61) 2 9900 2910

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The perfect Asian smokey eye

The night before at the Big week of beauty Burberry event, we met Wayland who promised us the perfect Asian smokey eye. As you can imagine, with that promise, we were very happy to visit the counter again the next day.


Tada! It is a darker shade for a real glam look, but the same technique can be used with a very sheer pink shimmer shade to enhance the size of the Asian almond shaped eye.




The instruction class was part of the VIP gift with purchase which incorporated a complimentary Makeup masterclass, if you go, do make an appointment with Wayland at the Burberry beauty counter, he is fantastic with colour matching and makeup tips and tricks. I learnt so much from him this weekend refining my makeup application technique (which are so antique now as they were learnt from magazines from when I was a teenager).




We went home with a personalized face chart each, ours were the Burberry iconic looks and I must say that there are two products on here that I would love to own some day. Burberry's sheer foundation that gives awesome coverage but doesn't even feel like its there! And the gold gloss, it's so luxurious having it on my lips- both the look and its feel.




If you compared the eyes (both mine of course) on the top, the technique on the left was done by another makeup artist for an evening out. But contrast that with Wayland's technique on the right, Observe how my eye really pops and is better accentuated on the left, which is the real difference between using techniques that suit and don't suit the shape of your eye.

The clouding technique is the secret. Deposit the eye shadow colour very close to the upper lash line and then blend it upwards on your eye like painting little clouds of smoke to create a gradual effect. The last touch is to accentuate the bottom outer corners of your eye with a little bit of eyeshadow just to add depth to the eye.

It's harder to describe really, the best way is to head down to David Jones Burberry beauty counter and ask to be shown your personalized Burberry iconic look!

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The Ultimate Beauty Glam-A-thon

David Jones Sydney last night hosted Beauty beats, a night full of extended hours of beauty consultations and samples galore. We didn't anticipate the extent of the celebrations as we were really only there for Marie Claire's Burberry Beauty event, the launch of the new Burberry Beauty counter. Alex Noonan, beauty editor for Marie Claire was there to introduce the festivities and share on her thoughts on the latest Burberry makeup colours. I couldn't hear very much, so intent I was soaking in the richness of her Burberry Lip Velvet lipstick colour and how gorgeous that Burberry Rose Gold Trench coat was on the model.

Then they unleashed the crowds on the beauty counter. Being new, everything on display was in mint condition: the check patterns on the makeup pallettes all intact. We were so shy to test. Perhaps I haven't been testing colours on myself for a long time. I recall my teenage years lurking around the drugstore painstakingly swabing every colour and employing all the magazine beauty tricks to 'find my colours'. I haven't done that in a long while having found my basic palettes and having stuck to them for years. But Alex Noonan says, "Lipstick is back, gone are the days of lip gloss" And I agree whole-heartedly, I just wasn't brave enough to venture into the deep plum reds quite yet, the bold on-trend statement look of now.

So Mallhaciel and I milled around chatting, sipping bubbles and nibbling at pink macarons whilst Alex Noonan, like any gracious host keeps socialising and imparts even more gems like how she embraced a bold lip colour and the secrets behind her au naturel yet very sophisticated eye makeup.

The third time she comes around to attend to us, she hands forth a lip wand. 'Go play' she encourages with the gesture and with that I began. The Lip Mist is puzzling. It's gloss on a stick. It adds colour but is really sheer and and wet. I note herewith that I loved the Blueberry of this range. If I ever venture into deeper lips, I will revisit this one as my foot into the door.
This here is my haul for the night:

With purchase of 2 items and above from the Burberry collection, we received a gift consisting of a full sized concealer, Burberry Body mini, Burberry mirror, Burberry Master Class Gift voucher and the beauty pouch as pictured above.

This was all the goodies, purchased, gifted and samples all inclusive. Gawd I had forgotten how awesome counter shopping is meant to feel with the beauty consultants pampering you with more value than you pay for via free samples of the things you wanted but didn't need. It just isn't the same purchasing from online retailers, not having that personal touch.

These were my lip velvet colours. I decided on the Peony Rose but was generously given the Antique Pink sample too, a shade browner for a sophisticated night time look when I need it.

As you can see, not much of a difference in the two shades when you look at them but check out the swatches below. #unfiltered.





I also bought the Sepia lip liner that complemented the Peony Rose. Something old world and glamourous embalms the use of lip liners. It stays with you all day long after the lip has lost its sheen, but I was taught to try something different and layer the liner on top of the lip stick to seal it it. I shall road test it fully today and see what results it yields.





Another trick I was taught at the counter was how to underline my eye with a crayon eyeliner. A trick that is smudge proof for my asian eye. I shall practice and share back on how that goes too. Now, I should go get ready for today's outing, tomorrow's post, but I can tell you, it's with Mallhaciel again (can't get enough of hanging with her *wink*) and we were promised a lesson on the perfect Asian smokey eye.

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Drape Necklaces from Topshop

Drape Necklaces from Topshop by happy-e-after featuring a box chain necklace

ASOS dress / Box chain necklace / Necklace / Beaded jewelry / Antique gold jewelry

Overlaying a revealing dress, do you think the jewelry replaces the need for a bolero with a more dramatic flair?

Chanel Vitalumiere Éclat Comfort Radiance pressed powder

Chanel Vitalumiere Eclat Comfort Radiance Compact in Beige Rose Sable is my latest best friend. After five years of Dior Snow, I was ready for a new setting powder.

I am not really a makeup snob but I do feel a significant difference between using Rimmel, Cover girl and Body Shop foundation and setting powders the few times I have deviated from Dior. The texture and the finish is never as smooth or fine.

Who knew though that there was such a difference even between applying CD and Chanel!

Background: I have been using the BRTC Gold Caviar BB cream with SPF 50 for a long time now. That product is oily and thick and the high SPF makes me look pale. So I have had to rely on a powder to matte the finish and darken the tone so that I look more natural. I stopped using sponge application about a year ago now, finding that the powder gets cakey and takes off the BB cream if I hadn't let it settle.

With the Chanel powder, it says that brush application gives a translucent finish where else the sponge application provides a natural coverage. It provides you with both!







It glided on with the brush with a silky touch. It was like it almost wasn't there. But you can see the light matte finish and it applies very evenly. Not gathering in your laugh lines or anything so the finish is very very natural.

I touched it a few times throughout the day just to make sure it was still there. And it was velvety to touch. Incredibly comfortable to wear for the whole day ( I never reapply anyways)

I don't know very much about the radiant glow it is meant to emanate, but I know that I look more youthful because it looks like I have hardly any makeup on. And it was still like that when I got home last night at 7.30pm after work. That's about 12 hours coverage.

I am very impressed with the sheer yet complex powder. Other bonuses includes it has floral notes to it as it contains Jasmine and lavender wax to preserve moisture in your skin. And another extra SPF10, cause you can't have too much SPF in Australia (Broken Ozone layer and all).

It ticks so many of my boxes that I am very happy to add it to my repertoire. Strawberrynet sells refills for $65 and get this, when I purchased this from Malaysia, the entire compact was $65 too, definitely works out cheaper than buying from counters here unless it is an emergency buy. Sorry I can't help but keep comparing it to CD (it's the only thing I've known for 5 years!) This compact costs the same as the Dior Snow compact when I was in Malaysia but it gives you an extra brush and has a far superior finish. I don't think I am looking back ever again.