Tag: indonesia

SCENTS & SENSIBILITY

Thanks to Living at The Papilion, I was able to meet the person behind the fragrance I’m wearing.

Francis Kurkdjian, Master Perfumer, Co-Founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian Paris was here in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday. And lucky me, I was invited by Living at The Papilion to meet him and had a chat with him & fellow press. Check out my twitter @shintarosvita for my pic side by side with Francis!

Anyway, Francis was here to introduce Maison Francis Kurkdjian new scented range for the body. Five new body creams were added to his collection: Aqua Vitae, Amyris, APOM, Lumiere Noire Femme and OUD. Each was created in perfect harmony with the same name fragrances.

Why body cream? “Body cream is important. Some people just like to wear body creams only. And I think it’s important to have consistency in the range. They’re a favorite in the US and Europe. Very good for the skin as they’re very rich,” said Francis.

Surprise, surprise…In my lazy (OK, super lazy) days when I didn’t even bother to spray any perfumes, I always count on my shower gel and body cream. But what do you expect if you purchased those typical shower gels or body creams from the grocery racks? Scents will be gone once you walked out that door. So, imagine my happiness when my favorite perfume now has a scented body cream. Not just enhancing the perfume, the body cream is nourishing and moisturizing (thanks to Shea Butter extract as one of the main ingredient). And lately (thanks to aging), my skin needs more than just ordinary body lotion which didn’t work well like it had before. So, body cream in thicker texture is my skin savior, especially if I have to spend time indoor with AC on for 24 hours. My favorite? Maison Francis Kurkdjian Aqua Vitae Scented Body Cream. Carrying the same fragrance whose name it bare, (Aqua Vitae) with notes like Lemon from Calibria, Mandarin from Sicily, Tonka bean and Gaiac wood, it’s fresh, light yet sensual like a second skin.

Always remember that layering is a trick to wear the perfume you already have, BETTER! This will extend your favorite Maison Francis Kurkdjian scent throughout your day, especially in our weather.

FACTS ABOUT FRANCIS:

  • He teaches (for five years now) at a perfumery school named ISIPCA Versailles (outside Paris), which he graduated from in 1993.
  • Most of his students are female (considering there are more male perfumers out there).
  • Between 1995 and 2013, he already designed more than 40 fragrances for luxury & fashion brands, such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Lanvin, Dior, YSL and Elie Saab.
  • His average time to produce one fragrance is 18 months (even though he admitted that he’s not a very patient person when it comes to work).
  • He only wears a fragrance that he’s currently working on. Once it was created, he won’t wear it anymore. He confessed that he’s only using Maison Francis Kurkdjian Liquid Detergent to wash his clothes.

 

LITTLE MISS BUSY

Yup, it has been a hectic week for me.

I promise to update as soon as I can, folks. Meanwhile, please check out my work (lots of them), in conjunction with the most anticipated fashion event in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jakarta Fashion Week 2014. 

AS EASY AS 1,2,3,4,5

Bagi saya, bermain dengan makeup mata itu menyenangkan. Area mata adalah satu-satunya bagian pada wajah yang dapat menerima beragam warna, tanpa terlihat aneh. Ulasan beragam warna pun akan mampu mengubah penampilan dalam sekejap.

Berdasarkan pengalaman, banyak teman yang ternyata masih saja clueless akan penempatan serta pengaplikasian warna eyeshadow, terutama jika mereka membeli sebuah palet eyeshadow yang hadir dalam beragam warna. Mereka bingung, warna mana yang harus diusap di kelopak, di ujung luar atau di sudut dalam mata. My favorite for this makeup problem: REVLON PHOTOREADY Primer+Shadow. Jika kita ingin bereksperimen dengan warna-warna yang belum pernah kita coba sebelumnya, palet terbaru dari REVLON ini sangat membantu.

Dalam setiap palet terdapat 5 warna, lengkap dengan petunjuk aplikasi untuk masing-masing warna yang terdapat di balik kemasan. Petunjuknya pun dilengkapi dengan nomer 1 sampai 5, untuk langkah demi langkah pengaplikasian warna. Yes, it’s that easy.

My tips:

–        Aplikasikan sedikit untuk tampilan smoky eyes yang lebih natural di pagi hari & touch up lebih untuk gaya smoky eyes yang dramatis untuk makeup malam hari, karena pigmen warnanya sudah cukup pekat.

–       Selalu gunakan primer sebelum mengaplikasikan warna lainnya dalam palet. Primer akan membuat riasan mata bertahan lebih lama dan mengeluarkan warna seperti tampak pada palet seasli-aslinya.

Produk REVLON yang saya gunakan:

REVLON PHOTOREADY Primer+Shadow #510 Graffiti

REVLON PHOTOREADY Primer+Shadow #515 Renaissance

REVLON PHOTOREADY Primer+Shadow #525 Avant Garde

REVLON PHOTOREADY Primer+Shadow #535 Pop Art

REVLON Powder Blush #02 Tawny Peach

REVLON Colorstay Eyeliner #Black

REVLON PHOTOREADY Concealer #002 Light Pale

REVLON Colorstay Lipliner #Red

REVLON Colorburst Lipgloss #018 Fire

REVLON Colorburst Lipstick #090 True Red

Please check out my video tutorial below to see how I achieved ROMANTIC & BOLD LOOKS BY REVLON.

Romantic Look

Bold Look

FASHION STYLING IS ALWAYS FUN

Whether you realized it or not, we do it every single morning. What to wear? Do these outfits look good on me? Are they proper for today’s activities?

Personally, I am a great believer of personal styling. Nobody understand yourself better than you. That’s why I love high street brands, they do give us ability to mix and match our wardrobe without breaking the bank. One of my favorite high street brand is DOROTHY PERKINS from the UK. Recently, they launched their latest Autumn/Winter capsule collection, named Style Essentials. I’m lucky to be one of the bloggers to collaborate with Dorothy Perkins for this perfect collection of 10 key pieces to update Autumn/Winter look.

I found this range as very easy to wear and more long lasting. Being a mother/blogger/owner of an accessories online store, I’m practically leading a busy life and in desperate need of looking effortlessly stylish all the time. And Style Essentials by Dorothy Perkins come to my rescue. From sculpted tee, 2 in 1 dress, fit and flare dress, pencil skirt, blouse & skinny pants/leggings, they made me feel like I’m having a whole new wardrobe staples. And their prices are more affordable too. Yeay for that!

See how I mixed matched Dorothy Perkins Style Essentials Collection and feel free to explore your own style, as they’re already available in Jakarta, Indonesia. Always remember that your style is yours!

THINNING HAIR?

What would you say if I tell you that there’s help?

Internal & external factors like UV rays, stress & hormone imbalance will contribute to slow hair growth. They caused a situation called Normoxia (over production of oxygen), which made it harder for the follicles to produced new hair. At this phase named Dormant, hair follicles activities will stop & produced no hair for 2 until 12 months before they enter the new life cycles. If you’re unlucky, hair follicles can be stuck in this phase until 10 years!

Oh dear…But thank goodness for L’Oreal Research which found a fact that during this Dormant phase, stem cell hold a key role in the hair renewal process.

The latest hair serum from Kérastase, DENSIFIQUE, was launched last week at La Seine by Marquee, Cyber Tower, Jakarta, Indonesia.

This very innovative product can mimic the essential condition of stem cell activity on our scalp and reactivate the follicles to reveal up to 1700 new hair in three months. At the event, Caroline Dery, Group Product Manager Kérastase Paris explained how to apply DENSIFIQUE everyday. “This will be a new routine for our scalp and hair. Apply one bottle a day to a freshly cleaned (after shampoo, conditioner or mask), towel dried hair.” Currently, you can buy DENSIFIQUE in 128 Kérastase Salon in Indonesia for Rp 785.000/box of 10bottles.

 

WHY I WILL ALWAYS LOVE …

SPANX!

Ever since Oprah raved about the genius pantyhose back in 2000 and claimed that the fabulous footless hose has changed her life, every women in the world wanted Spanx. Including me. Hey, I want my life to change too, you know?

Looking at my mom’s corsets back in the days was definitely not a good sight as I recall my teenager’s memories. It was painful to look at and I can’t imagine her feeling wearing one. But Spanx is nothing like the good old corsets. The material is way thinner, the style is much cooler and the best part is…they’re nothing in sight if we’re wearing tight clothes. I used to buy Spanx whenever I got a chance to go abroad, but not anymore. Last year, Spanx arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia.

And then came September 2, 2013. I was invited to the launch of new line from Spanx, Assets Red Hot Label (still from the uber famous Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx). So what’s the difference with the previous Spanx? They aim to make Spanx more accessible to younger market and more affordable as well. In Indonesia, Assets Red Hot Label by Spanx is 20-30% cheaper than their Spanx counterparts. Launch for the medias at Avorio Italian Restaurant in Plaza Senayan Jakarta, Indonesia, I can see why this new range is more suited to a younger market. I saw fun laces here & there (but do not worry, they won’t show under those body con dresses of yours, trust me!), and (the best part) they’re shorter in lengths. God forbids that Khloe Kardashian’s moment with her Spanx.

The range are designed to go with every outfit (YES!) and features bras, light slips, shapers with lace, slimming tops, and of course, full body shapers & the ever favorite high-waisted pants. If you haven’t jump into the wagon of ‘the power of a shapewear’, I believe this is the right time to do so.

Red Hot Tips: Always, always pick the right sizing. Read the labels behind the packaging or go to Spanx website to check yours. 

Assets Red Hot Label by Spanx are now available at Metro Department Store, Jakarta, Indonesia. 

GO GLOSS!

Are you in love with your hair color?

If your answer is no, you should run to your favorite L’Oréal Professionnel salon and try their new service, “Hair Gloss: In Love With My Color”.  At the press conference last Tuesday, Ivonne Vania, Product Manager Color L’Oréal Professionnel Indonesia said, “4.2 million Indonesian women are afraid to color their hair, based on our survey in salons. They afraid coloring might make their hair dry and brittle.” While me, (duh!) colored my hair like once a month. I believe this new service will be great for first timer aka virgin hair that never been colored before, and those who long for natural colored hair, with or without highlight. The difference with other coloring services? Hair Gloss will make your colored hair shinier and softer to touch.

“If you want to covered your grey hair and if you want to make your colored hair look more natural, this service is also for you,” said Yola Sutjiutomo, Business Unit Manager L’Oréal Professionnel.

Three different products are the key for this latest service, DIA RICHESSE, DIA LIGHT & PLATINIUM. Dia Richesse to cover grey hair and create natural colored hair. Dia Light will give extra shine and soft color. While Platinium creates a perfect, natural and soft highlight.

There are 3 looks to inspire & most probably will make you fall in love with your hair color (again): GLOSS HIGHLIGHT, SOFT COLOR GLOSS & GREY BLENDING.

As an addict for any hair color products or services available, I’d definitely try this service. I’ll keep you posted for sure. 

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Last July, Mustika Ratu (which has been around for 38 years as one of the biggest jamu & cosmetic company in Indonesia) invited me, fellow bloggers & media friends to their media gathering event “The Beauty Statement”.

The event was held at their first ever Taman Sari Royal Heritage Spa, located in Jalan Wahid Hasyim, Central Jakarta. It wasn’t my first time there, as I visited the spa many times before. I love the traditional therapies there, and the Javanese royals ambience they’re bringing to the spa (check out my pics above).

We were break fasting together with delicious Indonesian meals, tried out new products, watched Mustika Ratu’s make up artist put on the makeup demo on one of our media friend & get an inside view about sleeping problems from Dwi Putri Yanthi, General Manager Marketing Pt Mustika Ratu, Tbk.

At the very educative talk show, Dwi explained how many of us have sleep deprived problems due to stress and modern lifestyles in metropolitan cities such as Jakarta. But many didn’t know, it’ll cause bad side effects to our own immunity systems and in a long run, will cause cancer (I’m knocking on wood three times as I typed).

Many rely on sleeping pills to beat their insomnias. But for those who opted for more safe yet reliable and natural ways, there’s help from Mustika Ratu, Sleepwell Tea. Yes, it’s tea, herbal tea to be exact. Made from natural active ingredients such as nutmeg, for quality sleep and fresher you in the morning. Try drinking one cup of Sleepwell Tea at least half to one hour before sleep. Not recommended for preggers and breastfeeders, it was said to relax and calm your muscles so sleeping won’t be an issue anymore. From a survey conducted by Mustika Ratu, 92% of those who’ve tried Sleepwell Tea slept easier after sipping their cup of tea before sleeping.

 

BEAUTY IS NOT (ALL) PAIN, IT’S A SACRIFICE

I’m writing about eye brows embroidery. Lately, it’s booming everywhere in Jakarta, with all those different names and numbers.

Why did I say “Sacrifice”? Imagine this, for a woman who washes her hair and face each time she takes a bath, it is a BIG DEAL. No water for 7 days near the eyebrows area is a BIG DEAL for me. Yup, I also freaked out about the idea of doing local topical anesthetic, since the heavy anesthetic I had when I got caesarian to deliver my first boy didn’t work on me (thanks to all those pain killers I took). Let’s just say: I am P.A.R.A.N.O.I.D.

But, having a chat with Anggie Rassly herself(the lovely lady behind Brow Studio by Anggie Rassly), made me at ease. She said, “I’ll add the anesthetic cream if you still feel any pain while I do your embroidery.” Consultation with her is the first baby step before the whole brows embroidery thingy. She’ll ask about your best eyebrows moment, that moment when you felt you did great on drawing your own eyebrows (get some pics taken while at it). If you’re satisfied with her drawings, then it’s a go. Anesthetic cream was applied by her assistant, then she put the plastic wrap on top of each brows for about 15 minutes. And it all began.

Using embroidery machine, Anggie showed me the new super tiny needle that she’ll use for my eyebrows. Did I feel the pain of the needle? Well, between yes and no. Because she only did it on outer layer of the skin (epidermis), let’s just say it didn’t hurt that bad. It was like a quick repeatable pinches. She used golden brown ink on my eyebrows, judging from my eyeballs color (Anggie won’t pick a color based on clients’ hair colors because she know they changed all the time-so me!). The whole process took about 45 minutes for me, but just a tip, spare more time to chat with Anggie, she’s really a great chatter even if she just met you that day. She said, “by chatting, I’ll know a bit about my future clients’ characters. From there, I can decide which shape of eyebrows suited for her/him.”

Ehm, him? Yup, FYI Anggie has many men clients. Apparently they wanted to get rid of their bushy brows. One of her men client, was an 11 years old boy. Seriously? “Yes, his mom brought him here, because he was playing around with a scissor and accidentally cut off his own eyebrows. So I fixed them for him,” said Anggie.

Here comes the hardest part (at least for me): not washing your eyebrows for a week. No water, no cleansing milk, no toner, no nothing near eyebrows. Pronto! So what a girl should do? Here’s what I did: I didn’t wash my face in the shower like I used to do. I used facial wipes to clean my forehead, stayed away from any eye makeup for a week and washed from eyes down only. It should do the trick, even though at the fourth days (as I’ve been told by Anggie) they’re going to be itches and flaking process (see my pics for details).

My verdict after the whole eyebrows embroidery thing? I regret all those moments in the past when I have to draw my eyebrows early in the morning while I was still sleepy and I regret that awkward moment when I popped out of the swimming pool with no eyebrows in tact. Nowadays, I wake up every morning with beautiful eyebrows. And….if I have one till two more years of these beautiful eyebrows in tact (that’s how long they’ll last so I’ve been told), I am a (really) happy woman.

Brow Studio By Anggie Rassly
Jl. Gunawarman No. 57, Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan
Telp : (021) 7067 3337 / 0811 1890 283 

 

YOU CAN NEVER CHEAT STYLE & ELEGANCE

When I heard the name Carolina Herrera, I automatically think of her classic white shirt that never (ever) wrinkled and her undeniably graceful presence.

She became a fashion designer because of her personal ‘best dressed’ style. So wonderfully dressed, her friend, Diana Vreeland (Editor-in-Chief of Vogue), suggested Carolina to built her own clothing line back in the 1980’s. So successful on the runways, late 1980’s, Carolina developed a line of perfume. And that was the beginning of the CH Fragrances universe.

This year, Carolina Herrera launches CH Eau De Parfum Sublime. The latest fragrance by Carolina Herrera de Báez (that’s Carolina Herrera’s daughter which joined the family business in 1997) inspired by the allure of a sophisticated, elegant and sensual woman (resemblance characters of her mother, perhaps?)

I was at the launch event of CH Eau De Parfum Sublime*, in Hotel Mulia Senayan, Jakarta last July. Held by Multi Wangi Alami Group (the main distributor for CH Fragrances in Indonesia), me, fellow bloggers and medias experienced five different theme rooms, identifying the five qualities of the CH Eau De Parfum Sublime woman. Ingenious, eternal, enigmatic, singular and attractive represented in each note, such as bergamot, rose, orchid, passion flower and patchouli from Indonesia! Apparently, we have the best patchouli (yippee!). And in each room, we were shown different master pieces from Carolina Herrera’s designs such as belt, headband, shoes, hand gloves and clutch, all decorated with a pretty bow.

What made this EDP (yes they only come in Eau De Parfum) so irresistible? Well, as they said love comes at first sight…just look at the pretty bottle. It’ll surely become a delightful view for our dressing table. Take a glance and you already know that this fragrance captured the sublime essence of a woman’s femininity (just like the creator, Carolina Herrera de Báez said). Fresh, sweet, unique, enigmatic and sensual, all sides of a woman personified in a scent.

 

*CH Eau de Parfum Sublime are retailing at Rp 1.000.000 (for 80ml) and Rp 1.260.000 (for 100ml).