It's Only Tuesday??

This week has gotten off to an extremely slow start..so might as well write what's on my mind in attempt to make the time go by quicker!
My personal shopper, aka Mr Ng, kindly forwarded me the latest new arrivals at the Christian Louboutin store in HK, including this hot pair:

But 13k?! I've only ever paid that amount for boots, I have yet to splurge that much on a pair of sandals. Plus I've only just started to foray into the world of exotic skin bags so will try to build up the bag collection first. Bags will always be my first love! Got a bit distracted by shoes for the last couple of years but the love has been rekindled in the past few months. Those shoes are really sexy though huh..

And speaking of sexy, The Stella McCartney corset and briefs never went on sale but I just came across this Agent Provocateur 'Love' set:

and I think the hunt for the wedding day lingerie has finally ended! Just have to figure out what size I am now.

What's Been Happening

Unfortunately just as I was gearing up to get back into the swing of things I succumbed to a cold in the middle of last week, which I suppose was inevitable given the cold weather and the fact that people all around me seem to be sick. But thankfully Manuka honey works wonders and I've managed to avoid the worst of it..for now.

So the most interesting thing to happen recently? Mr Ng managed to score me a red nano from Celine!

Grabbed this photo from The Purse Forum which is a comparison shot of the nano (front) and micro. I am so thankful to our lovely sales assistant over at Sogo in HK who remembered to call as soon as a new shipment came in. And of course a big thank you to Mr Ng for always being my personal shopper, calling stores overseas to secure items for me and arranging for things to be picked up and paid for as quickly as possible. Can't wait for more even more exciting shopping adventures with you in the future!

While the nano was being picked up, this drool-worthy piece was also offered to me:

Absolutely divine. Had I not already bought the blue python I would've snapped this up. Plus I'm trying REALLY hard to be good as I have just booked to go to New York at the end of October to pick up the wedding dresses - which gives me four months to get into shape argh!

I'm Back!

Arrived home last Thursday morning but have been too lazy to post anything up until now. I am forcing myself to get back into the grind of things including a yoga workout this afternoon for the first time in more than two weeks which should be interesting!
The trip was a nice break although I can't say I'm sad to be home, 5 nights in KL is more than enough for me. The first batch of wedding invites have now gone out (which was mainly the point of the trip) and I managed to pick up three pairs of shoes and a bagful of cosmetics - details to come once I get around to snapping some pics.

For a while now I have been on the hunt for a beautiful lingerie set to wear under my wedding dress. Although I live in my Calvin Klein bras and Bonds/Victoria's Secret undies, I want to wear something more special on the day. I originally had my heart set on something by La Perla but nothing really 'did' it for me. And Agent Provocateur stuff seems alot more appropriate for Honeymoon than Wedding Day. So just my luck that just this morning I stumbled across this lovely over at Keep Calm and Shop:

which is appropriately named the Josephine Marrying corset and briefs by Stella McCartney. I have not actually been looking for a corset but the set seems to fit the bill in terms of colour (NEVER wear white underwear under white clothing!) and the briefs option (I want to be comfortable on the day so there is no way I'm wearing a thong).
The Net-a-Porter UK sale should be starting any day now so hoping that it will go on sale..

Busy Busy Busy

It's been such a hectic week, can't wait to leave for KL tonight! In the meantime a few things to share.

On Tuesday after work I managed to go to The Teahouse at the Camellia Gardens in Caringbah for high tea. Although a little cold that day, we had a lovely spot on the enclosed balcony looking out onto the gardens:

although I think the view would be much nicer in Spring. It was also extremely cold that day and although the enclosed balcony was bearable with no heating, it would probably be more enjoyable with slightly warmer weather.

The tea set was lovely:

as was the high tea that came shortly after everyone had arrived:

The high tea also includes scones with jam and cream and your first drink - I opted for the hot chocolate which was really good:

Not bad for $30 huh! Was a nice afternoon out. The Teahouse is open 7 days a week although high teas must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

Totally off topic, but I've been trying to get into the habit of getting my nails done at least once a week. But after a horror experience at one of the Vietnamese salons in Hurstville I came to the conclusion that it was well worth the drive going to my favourite salon in Chatswood, Blush Nail Spa. Although Blush charges about one and a half times the price of your normal nail salon, it's one of the cleanest nail spas I've come across in Sydney (due to the high prices I had been wanting to try out the David Jones nail spa in the city but Mr Ng took one look at the cleanliness of the place and told me to stick to Chatswood). What's more, the girls there are MUCH more gentle.

Blush Nail Spa is located on the Ground floor of Chatswood Chase and is open every day.

Short Week This Week

Flying off on Thursday night so my usual work week of 6 mornings is cut down to 4 this week yay! Although it's another night flight and I absolutely HATE night flights. Fortunately though it is only eight hours this time, so hopefully it won't be too painful.

Am still also eagerly awaiting my package from Net-A-Porter (always takes a bit longer to ship during sale time) and keeping my fingers crossed that it arrives before I leave in case the sizes are incorrect.

So what else has been happening..Mr Ng and I have been slowly putting together the wedding invitations which is both fun and frustrating given my anal-ness. The invitations themselves turned out exactly as we had hoped and we cannot recommend Joy's Card enough - will try to take some pics of the invites later today.

So Tired!

What a waste of a weekend, didn't go to the Campsie Food Festival on Saturday coz annoying Mr Ng didn't want to go and then was forced to go to the Central Coast yesterday with him so there went the whole of my Sunday. And the day ended with a very late dinner at Chat Thai in the city and hence my tired-ness.

I am tagging along with my parents to KL this Thursday and I haven't even started packing, although that may also be because I am not too excited about the trip. But I did book Mum and me for facials at the Mandarin Oriental next week so at least that's something to look forward to. Whenever I go overseas I try to book in a session at a nice day spa which provides a nice break from all of the shopping that is inevitably done, hopefully this one doesn't disappoint.

According to their brochure the spa uses Aromatherapy Associates products, a brand I've been eager to try ever since reading about them over at A Model Recommends. So hopefully I'll be able to grab a couple of their products while I'm there.
I'll also be on the hunt for some products from an ecocosmetics brand called Madara which for some reason has stockists in Malaysia but not Hong Kong, funny since Hong Kong usually stocks everything!

I have to say one great thing about being able to travel relatively often overseas has to be that I'm able to stock up on all these great cosmetics products for alot cheaper and also get things that simply aren't available here. One of my star finds from a couple of Hong Kong trips back is Bioderma's Crealine H2O:

I paid almost AUD50 for 250ml whereas Mannings and Watsons were charging approximately HKD100 for a 500ml bottle - crazy huh! Won't be buying it from here anymore, that's for sure.

Blu Bar on 36

So thankfully Mr Ng finished work early last night and we were able to finally check out Shangri-La's Blu Bar on 36 and I have to say it was well worth the wait! One of the best reasons to come here is definitely for the fantastic view but I have to say it was the service that really stood out. Not only was the bartender one of the friendliest I've encountered, but when Mr Ng managed to spill his untouched drink all over the carpet after sitting down (very typical Mr Ng behaviour) the concierge had replaced the drink and the waiter had cleaned up the mess within a couple of minutes. VERY impressive.

It seems that the crowd mainly comes here for drinks so the bar menu only consists of light snacks and unfortunately no desserts. After a quick perusal of what was on offer, Mr Ng and I settled on the truffle oil potatoes and the venison burger:

which were a nice accompaniment to our cocktails.
Just some quick advice if you are planning on going to Blu on a busy Friday night: as soon as you arrive put your name down on the waiting list for the 'lounge' area which provides a much better view over the night lights of Sydney (and if you are lucky enough to sit on the far end of the room, a superb view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House).
Great views, good food and can't complain about my company ;) so all in all was a fun night out.

Off to check out the Campsie Food Festival now!

Date Night

A couple of weeks ago Mr Ng accompanied me to the Bar at the Four Seasons for some cocktails and dessert and after having such a nice time, we decided that every Friday night we should visit various hotel bars around Sydney for dinner and drinks.

Last week both the Westin's Lobby Bar and Wentworth Sofitel's Lounge were full so we ended up at InterContinental's Cortile Lounge, a really great place to just sit back and chillax.
While Mr Ng settled on his typical BLT, I decided to go for the mini waygyu beef burgers:

Not bad at all! Especially considering I was starvin marvin.
The great thing about The Cortile is that they have a special Cocktail of the Month for only $15 and lucky for me, last month's special was a Long Island Iced Tea - one of my favourites (unfortunately I forgot to snap a pic).

So where to tonight? I've been wanting to try Shangri-La's Blu Bar on 36 for the longest time but if Mr Ng finishes work late tonight not sure what our chances are of getting good seats..will see what happens.

Luisa Shoe Sale

Luisa is back at the Hilton in Sydney with their bi-annual shoe and handbag sale. And seeing as how Mr Ng's Ferragamo's broke on him last week, I plan to accompany him and see if there are any good men's shoes this time round (which is really code for I want to check out the women's selection first and then I will look at the men's section with him for a couple of minutes before going back to my stuff ;).

After the psychotic-ness of the Pedder Warehouse sale in Hong Kong earlier this year I'm not expecting too much in terms of selection - I always see styles at the Luisa sale that I recognise from the last time they were in town - but hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

The sale is located at the 4th floor of the Hilton and the opening hours are:
Friday 3rd June 2011 10am - 9pm
Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June 2011 10am - 8pm
Monday 6th June 2011 10am - 4pm

UPDATE
Both Mr Ng and I weren't didn't buy anything although they do seem to have alot more stock this time including a few new women's brands I haven't seen there before (a couple of Nicholas Kirkwoods and some Celines to name a couple) but sadly either my size was sold out or the styles were not very nice. Also I noticed that the prices seems a little lower than previous sales, perhaps due to the strong Australian dollar?
Mr Ng did have his eye on a pair of Versaces for work but they were made in Turkey so decided to give them a miss (Turkey for suits? Yes. Turkey for shoes? No.)
But if you're in the area by all means drop in, worth checking out even just to browse.

Not What It Used To Be

I came back from the Day Spa yesterday feeling disappointed to say the least. I don't know if it was because my appointment was a bit later in the day, but man this place has gone down. No hand towels or tissues, wet and dirty floor towels, no more body wash in the shower cubicles, striped blue and white pool towels instead of the fluffy white ones they used to provide..For the prices they charge I expect a much higher standard. Plus I'm pretty sure they ended my treatment 15-20mins early! Maybe because I was redeeming a gift voucher?

See the pool towels?? How odd!
And I don't know if it's because I've been spoiled by some of the day spas overseas but geez the lockers are small, I had to squish my B-bag in half to be able to close the door. In the future if I ever feel the need for a bit of a more high-end facial experience, I will stick to the Four Seasons, I think what they lack in facilities they make up for in cleanliness. I've been wanting to try one of their Elemis facials for a while actually, went for the Sodashi one last time but it's alot more 'holistic' and not your typical facial and I like the whole cleanse, exfoliate, massage, mask and moisturise thing.

Perhaps I will try to convince Mr Ng to join me for a couple's treatment, the only time we've had one was at the Moana Lani Spa in Honolulu and OMG that was incredible. No forest music necessary here, they open up the windows during your treatment so your massage is performed along to the sounds of the waves crashing along the shore of Waikiki beach..I didn't want it to end!

I miss Hawaii =(

The Observatory Hotel Day Spa

This afternoon I'm booked in for a treatment at one of my favourite day spas in Sydney where I'll be getting my La Prairie hit with a custom luxe facial.
And although I've been blown away by spas overseas such as the one at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong (superb facilities) and the Mandarin Oriental in New York (phenomenal views over Central Park), The Day Spa at The Observatory is still a lovely place to relax for a couple of hours (or more if you have the time!).
I'm a bit annoyed that for a $300 facial they don't provide free valet parking (unlike the Four Seasons where they valet for spa patrons for as long as you like) so I've asked Mr Ng to take the car from me when I drive into the city and drop me off at the front door.

But back to the Day Spa, all treatments include full use of the healthclub facilities which include a gym, sauna, steam room and the lovely pool:

And it really does look that good IRL! Well almost, it's alot darker but still very romantic.
Due to time constraints on my previous visits, I have yet to use the pool but today I'll have a couple of hours to kill so I will definitely be packing my swimmers. Ahh, I can't wait..

Net-A-Porter Sale Time :D

I am having some issues with a 'colleague' at work so to take my mind off things, I'm going to do a quick post about the time of the year I always look forward to. That's right, as you have no doubt already gatehred from the title, it's sale time over at Net-A-Porter! (US site only for now as usual). Wow where has the year gone?? Seems like just yesterday I was clicking things into my bag on boxing day.  Now THAT was a fun day. Mr Ng and I had booked to stay at the Westin on Christmas day in anticipation of the boxing day sales and after the whole day covering the stores in the city, I came back to the hotel that night and managed to bag my Alexa and a pair of Jimmy Choo's (which I just realised I haven't even worn yet oopsie).

But that was then and this is now.

I'm steering clear of bags as Mr Ng has promised me a Birkin if I don't make any handbag puchases for the rest of the year (although I've managed to convince him that a clutch is technically not a bag so clutches are fine). So I'm sticking to shoes, which is perfect since I've been having a bit of a shoe craving of late.

After quickly perusing the shoe sale section and discovering that all the Lanvin ballet flats I like are sold out in my size, I narrow it down to these cute Pierre Hardy's:

and this sexy pair of Brian Atwood's:

I'm trying to be on my best behaviour seeing as how this time next week I'll be getting ready to go to KL so I am going to limit myself to only one pair.

A quick email to Mr Ng reveals that he is partial to the pink pair (why he is always able to choose the cheaper option without even knowing the prices is beyond me) and so I bag my size. But the USD55 shipping seems wasteful on just one pair of shoes..I really should get a dress as well!

A bit of searching and I settle on this J. Crew dress:

which I actually think may go quite well with the pink, no? Fingers crossed that both items fit.

 

*UPDATE*

Unfortunately the dress had to go back, fit well at the waist but way too big at the bust! The Pierre Hardy's on the other hand fit like a glove ;)