Tag: indonesia

SPRING FLING

Don’t you just love Spring makeup? Showered with gorgeous bright colors, Spring translated to be one of the most wearable makeup in the beauty business. Don’t trust me? Check out these looks by Make Up Store.

It’s great to know that our very own Jakarta, Indonesia has the first concept store in Asia which resembled the one in Make Up Store’s native Sweden. When I met Elaine Fong, Marketing Manager Make Up Store for Singapore & Indonesia for the Spring 2014 product launch previously, she said, “Even Singapore & Hong Kong haven’t got one.” Now that they have more than 200 stores worldwide, their Plaza Indonesia store is the must visit ones for beauty addicts. Check out my pics of the store above.

Make Up Store has different collection for each 4 seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. So you can imagine how walking to the store feels like. Lots and lots of makeup products, not to mention they also have range for tools, body care and face care too! This Spring, Make Up Store presents three collections and looks: FUSION, POETIC & DELUXE.

For red and pink colors fans, you’d be delighted with FUSION, a futuristic & eclectic interpretation of two feminine colors.

How to get FUSION look:

  • Blend the new Marble Eyeshadows in Blue Venato & Volcano to create colorful composition.
  • Apply Eyepencil in Not So Dark to complement the eyeshadow shades.
  • For a waterproof result, mix Cake Eyeliner in Dark Grey with Mixing Liquid to frame the eyes.
  • Stroke Volume Mascara to the lashes for that thick luxurious volume without the clump.
  • Pick your gloss. LED Lipgloss in Hot Pink, or Lipgloss Wand Duo in Clementis.

If you consider yourself as an artistic & dreamy, you’ll love POETIC. Sheer, romantic and light, this look also focus on nail decorations, perfect for nail art.

How to get POETIC look:

  • Blend Marble Eyeshadow in Rossi Asiago which is great as blush too.
  • Apply high pigmented Microshadow in Tiffany, Harlequin & Cava to create rich colors & long lasting result.
  • For more intense result, apply Eyepencil in Not So Dark to create that beautiful dark grey color.
  • Decorate your nails with choices of Flowers or Butterfly.

Last but not least, is my favorite look above all, DELUXE. The name said it all, it shows a luxurious look for those who enjoy all the good things in life. Perfecto! I tried the DELUXE look myself (as you can see at the pic above), thanks to Yani from Make Up Store Indonesia.

How to get DELUXE look:

  • Use Eyeprimer before applying Microshadow in Old Lace & Thistle for more long lasting effect, especially if you want them to last the whole day.
  • Complement those colors with Eyepencil in Not So Dark.
  • To add more shimmering effect, dust Eyedust in Sparkle & Umber.
  • Lipstick in Bittersweet will nurture and color your lips in the same time.
  • Top the lipstick with more sparkle using LED Lipgloss in Elegance.
  • Set the brows with Brow Set Fix in Tinted. Your guy can use them too!
  • Color those nails with Nail Polish in Jessica. It screams spring!

For more updates on products or promotions, follow Make Up Store Indonesia’s instagram @MAKEUPSTOREINDONESIA and their Facebook Page: MAKEUPSTORE-INDONESIA

DEFINITE MUST TRY FOR CULINARY EXPERIENCE

If you love to eat as much as I do, there’s a (quite) new bar&grill in Jakarta that you have to try.

Bluegrass Bar & Grill is located at Bakrie Tower in Kawasan Rasuna Epicentrum, Kuningan, Jakarta. They claimed themselves in their facebook page as an Asian Fusion Restaurant and American Restaurant. I went to this restaurant before they moved to a new location, and I personally love this one better. They have a quite large space to separate the smokers and non smokers, and the bar is the heart of the it. The ambience is quite masculine, do not expect girly things inside, but it’s cozy enough for family dine out (they have Kids Meal!).

When I visited BlueGrass today, it was lunch time, so lots of working people and I spotted some expats having their lunch break there, too. Miranda Tobing, Marcomm Manager for BlueGrass said, it’s much more crowded after office hours with lots of expats and younger crowds on weekdays. I can imagine the empty bar at lunch turned crowded after the sun goes down. 

From Miranda’s recommendation, I tried the appetizer, their signature mocktail, their best seller burger and the yummiest dessert ever! Let me break it down.

Perfect Chemistry: Very very refreshing but not too sweet mocktail. Combination of peach, lychee, kaffir lime leaf, lavender & peach syrup with fresh lime juice. It was a hot day, so this cold mocktail did live up to its’ name. Perfect!

Margarita Grilled Shrimp: Not even a touch of fishy smell from the grill prawns (maybe because they marinated it with Tequila?) and I love how they served them like satays. And the fruit salsa is very fresh, it really complement the taste of the grill prawns.

American Classic Burger: As classic as it can be, with a choice of bacon (turkey or pork). And yeay! They served chips, rather than french fries (lots of restaurant bored me with these burger companion). Also on the plate, fresh coleslaw. The homemade beef patty was marinated well and it didn’t taste dry. And the buns… they’re soft without crumbles and delicious.

Banana Cake: This made me bananas! What can I say, I have sweet tooth. Served warm, this sweet banana cake has this incredible sugar frosting on top which taste cold when you put them inside your mouth. Incredible warm and cold combination of dessert. Me likey!

SWEET BODY TREATS

As I love the taste of honey, and legend said that honey was Cleopatra’s secret beauty weapon, the latest range from The Body Shop will definitely be my favorite beauty regimen. 

What a better way to experience the whole range of The Body Shop HoneyMania, than a spa treatment. At the Spa Hotel indonesia Kempinski, I got the chance to luxuriously dip into The Body Shop’s latest body care range. The range contains Community Fair trade honey collected from handcrafted hives in the Ethiopian rainforest, made from the nectar of a thousand of wildflowers, and they carry soap, lip balm, EDT, shower gel, body scrub, body butter and the innovative Bath Melt. 

My treatment at the Spa began with a warm bath. I felt like a queen bee, literally! I love the texture of Bubble Bath Melt, which really resemble honey. So deliciously looking and felt really soothing on skin, thanks to the creamy bubbles it created. And the smell is absolutely luxurious, very rich floral and honey scent. 

After the bath, time to scrub with HoneyMania Body Scrub. Don’t worry about harsh texture as I can feel it’s very creamy. Before the body massage, time to shower with the Shower Gel, my personal favorite! The soap-free shower gel will be the best way to start lathering on the scent. Next step is the body massage, using the Body Butter. I always find Body Butter is very good when my skin is very dry due to harsh weather, thanks to its’ buttery texture. Who knows it’s also good for body massage as it glides on really well? Well, from now on, I’ll bring Body Butter to my regular spa rather than using unknown oil on my body, for sure!

Last but not least, spritz of EDT will complete the whole sweet & luxurious experience of HoneyMania range. It’s very light, but if you use the layering technique, the rich floral scent surprisingly last longer than ordinary EDT’s. 

Overall, even though honey is literally the main ingredients for this body care range, they’re different from other honey products. It must’ve been the contribution of a thousand of wild flowers scent which made these products didn’t smell like (literally) honey! I love the scent and the soft silky skin result after trying the whole range. And the packagings was so attractively yellow bright, with deliciously looking honey comb illustration, I believe it’s hard not to touch them on store display. 

Remember, to always watch out for counterfeit products, therefore I always recommend to go to The Body Shop stores near you or for Indonesians, you can shop online, here. 

LASHES, LASHES WHERE ART THOU?

How desperate am I with my own natural lashes and brows? That desperate, I decided to do lash extension and eyebrows embroidery. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love how they both worked out. Instantly, my eyebrows look darker and full of shape, and those lush lashes are to die for. Until, one of those unlucky day when my eyelash extension fell into my own soup, a tell-tale sign that they desperately need retouch, and so are my eyebrows which getting lighter and lighter. *sigh*. 

When I do my regular retouches, even my beauty therapist said I need a vitamin for my lashes to keep their roots strong to hold the fake lashes extension. And what a perfect timing, RevitaLash Indonesia invited me and fellow bloggers plus medias, to learn more about their products. The event was launching/presentation/pampering time at Blossom Nail Spa in Hotel Intercontinental Kempinski, Jakarta. Listening to presentation while manicuring & pedicuring was heaven! 

The brand’s background is L.O.V.E. Michael Brinkenhoff, MD came up with RevitaLash Advanced as a present for his wife, Gayle while she was recovering from metastatic breast cancer treatments. Her eyelashes had become dull, brittle and lifeless due to intensive chemotherapies. Thus, a product which was created for one special lady has become a world wide known product which can be used by any gender who long for thicker and fuller lashes.

Sandra Natalia, owner of PT Cantika Berkat Abadi, main distributor of Revitalash in Indonesia said that if we use RevitaLash Advanced regularly (as in only once at night), we can see the changes within 3 weeks. They recommend to apply a thin line with brush provided, directly to dry & clean eyelashes, right above the level of where you apply eyeliner. And she reminded us to always use clean hands when doing it. 

As for the eyebrows, there’s RevitaBrow Advanced. With the power of peptides & botanicals for strengthening & conditioning, I can’t wait to see my eyebrows getting fuller, thicker and in beautiful natural shape within 4 weeks. And again, if I use it regularly on clean & dry eyebrows, once at night before bedtime with the special wand. 

It’s good to know that RevitaLash Indonesia carry the whole range of RevitaLash products. The addition are: 

  • Hair Advanced by RevitaLash to improve the look of fine & fragile looking hair.
  • FineLine Primer to create silky & smooth texture on skin.
  • Volumizing Primer to give lashes a boost before mascara.
  • Volumizing Mascara to maximize lashes with clump free formula.
  • Spotlight Highlighting Pencil to highlight and perfect for eyeshadow primer. 

How much if you might asked? In Indonesia, RevitaLash cost Rp 1.2 million (for three months supply) & RevitaBrow cost Rp 1.375.000. Pretty reasonable price, considering the high conversion rates nowadays. 

For more information about the products and how/where to get them, visit their website here. You can also follow their instagram (@revitalashindonesia) or Facebook Fanpage. 

PS: I’ll update this post by reviewing both RevitaLash & RevitaBrow after minimal 3 to 4 weeks use. I hope I’m patient enough to wait for them to grow. 

GOTTA GET THE GLOW

If a beauty product can be such a hot trend because lots of Hollywood celebs are using it, then I don’t see why not follow. 

I remember the first time I read about GlamGlow, the famous mud mask. I read that some of Hollywood celebs (not just the ladies) were using it right before their glam and important event, you name it, movie previews, award shows, etc, to get that ‘glamtastic’ skin. I’m so excited now that GlamGlow is retailed also in Indonesia, precisely in their own stand alone boutique in Plaza Indonesia, Level 4, Jakarta, and at Beauty Box stores (Kota Kasablanka, Grand Indonesia, Mall Kelapa Gading Jakarta, Trans Studio Mall, Makassar and Paris Van Java, Bandung).

Thanks to Beauty Box Indonesia, I got invited to the launch event of GlamGlow and met the husband and wife team/co-CEOs of GlamGlow, Shannon and Glenn Dellimore. They shared stories behind the brand and how they found the product that changed our perspective about mud mask. 

The inspiration for GlamGlow came when Glenn who ran a celebrity event business & spa consultant previously, met Keanu Reeves through a mutual friend. Keanu mentioned his frustration with taking a jet overseas, arriving super tired, having not slept and needing to be camera ready when he landed. Keanu practically wished for a product that would get his skin screen ready. Then, Glenn thought if it would be possible to create a fast acting treatment that would save those problems. To cut things short, Glenn and Shannon came up with common ingredients in a lot of skincare products, mud and green tea extract. Shannon was the first to try the mask. Then, they gave the jar to Keanu (of course!), Beyonce and Lindsay Lohan who were visitors at the Spa when Glenn worked. And the rest is history, viva voce continues as they love the immediate glowing result after they applied the mask on their face. 

At the event, press and fellow bloggers were encouraged to try the Supermud on our noses. I felt the tingling on it, but not for long as it began to dry (it’ll dry in 10-15 minutes depend on your skin condition, the oilier it is, the longer it’ll take to dry). Half dried, I can see the dots which apparently are the oil that the mask has pulled out of my clogged pores. Not a very good sight, but afterwards, I can see my pores on my nose shrank and the skin felt smoother. Not only for pores, and oil problems, GlamGlow Supermud (in white packaging) can also help fight all common skin concerns like blemishes, spots, black&white heads, even razor bumps and in-grown hair. 

This is what I personally called the wonderful life of living in a now beauty world, where they promised faster results. Consider yourself lucky to live in this era, when there’s a beauty product designed as a 10 minutes anti aging facial in a jar. GlamGlow Youthmud is a treatment you can rely on for that immediate camera-ready glowing skin a la Hollywood superstars. Youthmud & Supermud retail at Rp 780.000 each, quite a reasonable price for imported items considering the conversion rate nowadays.

For more infos, you can visit their website, here.

MY HANDS ARE VERY BUSY

Being a health freak that I am, I wash my hands (I think) more than normal people do every day. Dry skin on the back of my hands and torn cuticles are the most disgusting problems when I forgot or too busy to care for my hands.

I typed (when I work to write for magazines or to blog), I deal with chains & the necklace making tools (when I work for my accessories online store) and I do my own laundry (I don’t trust my helper, pronto!). So, imagine how busy my hands are every single day. And…how often my hands being washed, dried, dirty, wash and dried again. Over and over.. Well you got the idea.

That’s why I keep my hand cream close. That close! I always have one in my beauty bag to travel and I keep one closer, on my bedside table. I tend to slathered more at night time. Me resting, and so do my hands! As you can imagine, I’ve tried plenty of hand creams. Many..many brands. But I found my hands keep coming back to L’Occitane. The good and trustable, Shea Butter Hand Cream. It absorbed quickly as 1,2 3, I love the tube packaging and the scent reminds me of Provence. Apparently, I’m not the only fans, as one tube of Shea Butter Hand Cream is sold every three seconds around the world. 

This year, Shea Butter Hand Cream celebrates its 20th anniversary (Yeay! Congrats!). And L’Occitane Indonesia invited me to try their famous signature hand massage and manicure in their pop up booth at Pacific Place, Jakarta, yesterday (thanks L’Occitane Indonesia). After the hand massage and manicure at the booth, I believe it’s very easy and time saving for all of us to try this hand treatment at home, instead of just slathering on hand cream to keep them hydrated. First, scrub for one minute with L’Occitane One-Minute Hand Scrub then rinse properly. Dry your hands with towel, and apply your choice of L’Occitane Hand Cream liberally on the back of the hands (& palms if you wish). Finally, brush on Shea Butter Nail & Cuticle Nourishing Oil on the cuticles. Voila! That simple and fast. 

You can easily find these L’Occitane products at L’Occitane authorized boutiques. Please be aware of counterfeit products, especially via internet sales. Where to shop? Please visit L’Occitane Indonesia’s website here. 

LIKE A SHOT OF CAFFEINE 

Pardonne-moi for such a long (too long) hiatus. You don’t wanna know why. But anyway…I am back!

This time, I’m going to review about body scrub from JUARA. One of their top product, Invigorating Coffee Scrub. JUARA, which actually means ‘champion’ in bahasa Indonesia, is 100% vegetarian, no animal testing, paraben free, contains no artificial colorants, sulfates or phthalates skin care products. Judging from these only, this brand is already a winner for yours truly. 

As you can see from my pictures above, the color of the scrub is dark, real dark. As for the texture (imagined grind coffee beans), it’s not as rough as I imagine it would be when applied and scrubbed. Some scrub made my skin red afterwards, but this one left me with no red marks. You might wonder about the coffee scent. Well, somehow, for me it smells more like a combination of chocolate and coffee. But yes, you definitely can smell the coffee there. 

I applied on dry skin, before shower, scrub and rinse. I love how it contains gentle, sulfate-free cleansing agents, so it acted as a cleanser too. No need for shower gel afterwards, even though it didn’t produce any foamy effects while rinsed. Touched with water, it gave this moisturizing feeling on my skin, a bit filmy. But…after I dried myself with towel, I can definitely feel the softness on my skin. And the chocolatey coffee scent did last longer than any shower gel I’ve tried. 

So, is this product a ‘JUARA’? You bet!

You can get JUARA products, here.

IF NATURAL MAKEUP IS YOUR THING…

You’ll love Bobbi Brown.

“I believe all women want to look like themselves, only prettier and more confident” – Bobbi Brown.

At the exclusive beauty bloggers event this week in Rustique, Plaza Senayan, Jakarta, me and fellow bloggers were properly introduced to the beauty brand made famous by a professional makeup artist which started her makeup line in 1991. Amanda, trainer for Bobbi Brown Indonesia explained, “It was very hard for Bobbi to find a natural color lipstick at that time. Everyone was into rock and roll, so red color was very in. That’s why she created a line of natural color lipsticks which debuted at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City.”

The makeup maven also created 10 step beauty, her simple 10 step (literally) makeup routine. Bobbi believes with the right knowledge and the right products, any woman can be her prettiest and most confident self. And here they are: 
Step1 Corrector/Concealer 
Step 2 Foundation
Step 3 Powder/Bronzer
Step 4 Blush
Step 5 Lipstick/Gloss
Step 6 Lip Liner
Step 7 Brows
Step 8 Eye Shadow
Step 9 Eye Liner
Step 10 Mascara

If 10 steps scared you, no worries, because Amanda also shared that we can always stop at step 6 if we’re short of time to do our makeup in the morning. As Bobbi herself believes that with blush and lipstick, we’re good to go. Interesting, right? 

And always…always remember that a good healthy skin is an important base to any makeup, natural or not. So, never skip a good moisturizer, a good eye cream and last but definitely not least a balanced diet and life!

BLINGY FLIP FLOPS? WHY NOT 

Once upon a time, there was a simple type of footwear, worn in a very casual way, mostly at the beach, named Flip Flops.

And now, there’s Havaianas! Not your typical (read: simple) kind of flip flops, they have come far long the way since their first pair in 1962. Made out of a secret 100% rubber formula that don’t smell and lose their shapes, Havaianas is one global fashion phenomenon. The explosion of colors made them fashionable and fun, yet very functional. 

Their playfulness didn’t stop there, apparently. To celebrate this festive season, Havaianas collaborated with Swarovski to add those bling to your feet. The best part of all: we can make our own Havaianas. Customized and personalized right to the bling!

I was invited to their event yesterday at Galeries Lafayette, Jakarta, Indonesia. At their pop-up booth (located at level 1), me and fellow bloggers were “challenged” to be our own designer for our own pair of Havaianas with crystal pins from Swarovski. To tell you the truth, it was so hard to pick only one out of 10 color choices for soles, metallic straps and those bling-bling Swarovski pins. I almost changed my mind couple of times. Haha.. But, in the end, I decided to go with Lime Green Soles, Pool Green Straps and the classic Crystal colored Swarovski pins. 

The first step of Make Your Own Havaianas is to pick your Havaianas color combination from the wheel. Spin the wheel to see what colors you love most. Either match them, or (I personally suggest) mix them up to create a playful flip flops. Pick the soles and the straps (Rp 349.000), then crystal pin (each Rp 49.000) from Swarovski. You can also locate your pin position, to make them more comfortable to wear. After you picked them all, you can see personally how the Havaianas team at the booth created your Havaianas on the very same spot. It was really fun to see them made the sandals (how they made the holes and put on the straps and pins in it). It took about 5 minutes for the team to create my new pair of blingy flip flops (yeay!). After finished, the pair were put inside a black zipper travel pouch, perfect for traveling. 

Better hurry, because Havaianas pop up booth at Galeries Lafayette, Jakarta, Indonesia, will only be there from now till Christmas (Dec 25, 2013). If you’re not in the mood to create your own Havaianas (WHY?), you can also purchase a pair of limited edition Havaianas Slim Crystal Mesh in black or white soles (Rp 899.000 each) which were displayed at the booth. The Swarovski crystals are handstitched and sold with beautifully gift box in a Havaianas velvet lined hard case, perfect for Christmas present!

WHEN TALE OF THE GODDESS TOLD BY THE KNIGHTS …

Of Fashion.

Pardon me for such late post about the most anticipated closing event from Jakarta Fashion Week 2014. Friday, October 25, 2013, when 5 of famous Indonesian designers (FYI, all male) presenting their collections. 

Under the theme, “Tales of Goddess”, the designers showcased their interpretation of modern Goddess and I was blown away. Of course, a closing event has to be ‘something’ right? That’s why Dewi Fashion Knights always intrigued me for the whole concepts which brought dearly by each designer involved. They impressed me right down to makeup and hair, shoes, head pieces, hair accessories and leggings! Deep fashionable thoughts were made for this show, I believe. Just check out the pics above if you don’t believe me.

I have to admit the most wearable collections of them all was Populo Batik. First timer to Dewi Fashion Knights, Bai Soemarlono and Joseph Lim, the designers behind Populo Batik presented more than just traditional batik (all made by hand by their artisans in Yogyakarta). More contemporary batik were shown with casual yet modern cutting for women and also men.

Also a first timer, Toton Januar. By the way, he’s the youngest of all knights. But that certainly didn’t stop him to catch up with his seniors. With Indonesian seas as his inspiration for his ultra modern collection, he used lots of silk & brocade with (of course) sea colors tones. But I saw lots of white, off white to be exact. And I particularly love the sheer leggings embellished with coral embroideries. Yes, some of Toton’s dresses used traditional embroidery from West Java & Sumatra. 

Mixed of colors were shown at Oscar Lawalata’s haute couture collection. I love all the black ones (obviously), with more edgy touch to them. Even though some of the brighter colors have their interesting patterns, considering that those simple dresses were made by Moulage technique. (that should explain the beautifully draped dresses!)

Let me just say something about Priyo Oktaviano. For me, he’s like the most friendly and approachable designer I’ve ever met. And…he’s very into intricate details. Just look at his couture collection, named Galore. Inspired by French Baroque, with traditional handwoven Tapis (traditional textile from Lampung, South Sumatra), his collection looked very glam. 

Tex is just being Tex. Need I say more? But being backstage with him before the show, I can see why. He personally watched Qiqi Franky (the head of makeup & hair do at Jakarta Fashion Week 2014) did his models’ hair for his show, which was waxed with black mud. And he personally put his edgy tiara on his models’ head afterwards. That’s Tex!