Tag: indonesia

STYLING MYSELF

I can see why Kate Moss was picked to be the star of Mango’s ads. Her personal style reflected through her super ability to mix and match in the higher level. And personally, I believe in the power of styling yourself, just because you know yourself better than anyone.

And I found Mango, one of my favorite brand, to be so easy to mix and match with. Last month, I went to one their store in Jakarta, and stumbled upon this contest announcement, MANGO Style Up Yourself Contest 2012. That time, I was looking for more printed pants to add up to my collection, and I remembered I’ve tried many (yup, they do have plenty of printed pants in the store) before ended up buying two pairs and a plus one, an embellished sweater (that’s what I called out of plan).

So I put together my Mango paisley printed pants from the current collection, mixed matched with my own white peplum top+stacked bracelets+ankle booties+socks, Mango necklace + scarfs, LV Alma bag & Ray-Ban shades. I thought, here we go… if I won the contest, they will give out vouchers, reason for me to shop for more Mango. And guess what? I won the 1st favorite winner of Mango Style Up Yourself Contest 2012. Yeay!

Gotta go now to spend the voucher and stay tune for more Mango styling by me! Special thanks for Mango Indonesia’s team. 

WONDERFUL JOURNEY OF AROMAS

From Provence at South of France, Morocco, Uganda to Japan. The latest scented body collection from Kiehl’s brought us a sensorial trip around the world.

Yesterday, I was invited to attend the launch of Kiehl’s Aromatic Blends in Bird Cage, one of the lavish cafe in Jakarta. A perfect ambience to represent the body collection with an inspiring fragrance blends. The sitting down luncheon with fellow medias and beauty bloggers were full of information and fun, as we were given a chance to create our own fragrances inspired by one of the series from the Aromatic Blends, Orange Flower & Lychee (more on that fragrance making, here: https://www.facebook.com/shintarosvitatumblr).

Jennifer R. Avancena (Brand Manager Kiehl’s Indonesia) made the first presentation, briefly about Kiehl’s that has been around since 1851, the upcoming holiday collection (limited edition set from Kenny Scharf and the ‘Squirt’ figurine) and what they’ll be launching next quarter (BB cream and Clarifying Cream). 

Then, Dyah Fitrisally (Product Manager Kiehl’s Indonesia) presented the four collections from Aromatic Blends, Fig Leaf & Sage, Nashi Blossom & Pink Grapefruit, Orange Flower & Lychee, Vanilla & Cedarwood. She explained that each scent carried in the trio products (Aromatic Mist, Skin-Softening Body Lotion and Skin-Softening Body Cleanser) was formulated with fewer ingredients which were found in traditional fragrances. Two unique key ingredients created a pure aroma which perfectly represent the company’s apothecary heritage. She also mentioned that the Body Lotion were inspired by the iconic Kiehl’s Creme de Corps, which is proven to deliver hydration throughout the day. 

Each collection has a unique sourcing location and inspiration from around the world. Ingredients like Orange Flower, Pink Grapefruit and Sage essential oil were captured on-site directly after harvesting by a natural ingredient extraction, using steamed water to deliver their freshest and strongest aromas. Vanilla and Cedarwood were harvested from sustainable sourcing to support local community. And the most interesting approach is Aromatic Reproduction. They used this technique to recreate the scent without destroying the real plants and to mimic the real aromas of Lychee, Nashi Blossom and Fig Leaf.  

This new family of products really suit the overall Kiehl’s apothecary heritage (hello New York!), right down to the packaging. Perfect for those who opted to wear layering body care products for everyday use. All you have to do is pick your favorite line out of four. Yes, it’s that simple. 

BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL

If I ever going to buy a piece of art, spend a lot of fortune on it, I’ll make sure that it won’t just stand there collecting dust. If it’s that beautiful to look at, it should be useful as well. Of course, use with lots of care.

Attending the launch of Flora Di Fornasetti by Fornasetti at The Papilion, Jakarta, last Monday on the fifth of November 2012, was like visiting a contemporary art gallery indeed. Beautiful and unique pieces of Fornasetti are everywhere, from tables sets, trays, vases to scented decorative objects.

“Fornasetti’s production is endless. From ceramics, porcelain, vases, home and fragrance collection, wallpaper, rugs, tiles to jewelry. Buying a piece of Fornasetti is like buying a piece of art that will increase its’ value from time to time,” said Gabriele Ferrero, Head of Global Sales & Marketing Fornasetti.

“We have an atelier in Milan, so we produced in Italy. Yes, we do have many selections, from small chests, tables, stools and chairs that are useful, comfortable and beautiful. We believe that we have to create any kind of products that you use for your house and in your life. Put one Fornasetti’s piece inside the room, and it will immediately give the room a sense of art,” he added.

Gabriele and his colleague, Laurent Delafon, CEO United Perfumes, were in town to introduce the second scent from Fornasetti home fragrance. “Our scented decorative objects are very Fornasetti, beautiful and useful. For example, the candles which are made of vegetable wax which can burn up to 60 hours. The candles’ vessel are made of ceramics hand made in Italy, and after the wax is finished, we can put anything inside the empty vessel, or just leave it like that as a décor on your cabinet,” Laurent explained.

Their luxurious scented candle really makes a great focus piece with its’ unique design. The uniqueness doesn’t stop there. They have different packaging and method for home fragrances, but only one scent, at least until now. “Before there were only one scent, named OTTO. It was conceived by master perfumer Olivier Polge, a Fornasetti collector himself. He was the nose behind fragrances like Balenciaga, Jimmy Choo, Dior Homme and Viktor and Rolf. He captured the smell of Fornasetti’s house, like the scent of antique furniture, fireplace and old paper archives. It’s very much around woods and incense,” added Laurent.

Fornasetti does have incense sticks as one of their home fragrance collection. It’s a Japanese incense stick made from cherry wood base mixed with OTTO fragrance. Use one stick (will burn about 20 minutes) to get rid of cooking or smoking smell. It’s (again) an unique and different method to scent your home with a touch of fun art. Fornasetti do have the incense box and scent sphere, a very stylish alternative to traditional home fragrance.

And now, they do have alternative for the scent as well, Flora Di Fornasetti. If the first fragrance was inspired by inside the house of Fornasetti, this time, it was inspired by outside the house, the garden. In the form of a scented candle, it is lighter and more fresh than OTTO, their first fragrance. “Lots of different flowers such as white rose and gardenia, captured and put in inside the candle,” said Laurent.

I can’t help myself attracted to the image of the vessel of Flora Di Fornasetti. It is the beautiful enigmatic face of the opera singer, Lina Cavalieri, which Piero Fornasetti (the founder of Fornasetti) found by flipping through a 19th century French magazine. FYI, he was so fascinated by her face, he took her as a muse and used them again and again throughout his career.

For more about Fornasetti history, collection and images, please visit: www.fornasetti.com

 

 

WRITING FOR PRINT (AGAIN)

Yes, it’s been a while since I wrote for print media. So, these were like my first gig as a contributor for Aesthetic and Beauty Guide Magazine Indonesia. 

I tried not to limit myself to write, after all, I am a free lady journalist. I enjoyed it as always, as writing is my passion no matter what the media are. 

GLOSS & LIPSTICK IN ONE SLICK TUBE

In conjunction with Shiseido’s 140 years anniversary, Shiseido Indonesia just launched its’ Lacquer Rouge for an event specially created for Indonesian Beauty Bloggers.

The event at Glow last Friday, November 2, 2012, was a crowded one. Fellow bloggers were there along with Shiseido’s loyal customers to actually tried and tested the new product. What is Lacquer Rouge? It is liquid lipstick inspired by Japanese lacquer ware, which apparently have been a popular beauty item in the Japanese beauty scene. It comes with vibrant, bold and intense shades with a lustrous finish. It promises to leaves lips as smooth as lacquer with an applicator that fits accordingly to the lips for a bleed-free application. 

Miss Hisako Inayama, Shiseido’s makeup artist from Japan who were there at the event and responsible for the makeup show, said “It’s for everyday makeup, because it’s easy to apply and have different colors to match the occasion. It will last throughout the day and it’s so intense, you just need to apply one time.”

Some of the beauty bloggers were trying it out, and they were sharing their thoughts on it as well. They loved it, as Lacquer Rouge really stands out from the ordinary lipstick. You can skip gloss, and will improve the condition of lips from time to time, leaving them smooth and shiny looking without the stickiness of ordinary gloss. A winner, indeed.

Tips: When using it, use the applicator to achieve total shine and gloss looks. For more matte looks, use your ring finger to tap on your lips.

Shiseido Lacquer Rouge are now available for Rp 290.000 a tube.

JAKARTA FASHION WEEK 2013 IS OFFICIALLY ON

And I’m thankful that this year I am officially being one of the “all access” crew. Yup, I got backstage shots and all, which I’m going to share with you asap.

Taking place at Plaza Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia from November 3 to 9, 2012, this is the fifth Jakarta Fashion Week by Femina Group as the premier lifestyle media group in Indonesia. For detailed schedule of all shows and live streaming, you can go to their website: http://www.jakartafashionweek.co.id

With theme “Indonesia Today, The World Tomorrow”, all the makeup provided by The Body Shop (mostly using Lily Cole Collection) and hair by L’Oreal Professionnel. 

For the opening night, Lie Sang Bong (Korean designer) and Sebastian Gunawan from Indonesia already stunned the VIP’s and fashionistas invited to the glam event. I’m going to share top 10 looks for each designer at my next post. Stay tune.

IT’S NOT COOL TO BE CRUEL

In this case, it’s not pretty if you’re being cruel to animals.

Have you ever imagine that the lipsticks we’re using were actually made from ladybug’s shell or the shimmer you’re applying is made possible by fish scales? That’s nothing compared to what I’ve seen through investigation video titled “The Ugly Truth” shown during the launch of Cruelty Free Campaign by The Body Shop Indonesia this morning.

Animal testing for the sake of our cosmetics is really not cool. It’s cruel. In the video shown, thank God my pics above are kind of blurred so you can’t see how the animals like mice and rabbits are suffering for the sake of our beauty products. According to Cruelty Free International, over 80% of countries across the world are still doing animal testing for cosmetics. Therefore, together with The Body Shop, they are committed to this cause and working together to achieve a worldwide ban on animal testing. As we all know, one of The Body Shop 5 values is “Against Animal Testing”. Both are now doing it with our help as customers, to sign the pledge in The Body Shop’s stores around the world, including Indonesia. “We hope that slowly, every region in the world will adapt this Cruelty Free campaign. And based on our experience, customer’s involvement and commitment will be heard more. The Body Shop has been doing “against animal testing” since 1996,” said Rika Anggraini, Corporate Social & Environmental Values Manager The Body Shop Indonesia.

Rika later explained that The Body Shop has been using a more reliable non-animal methods for products testing. “We’re using EPISKIN, it’s a synthetic human skin that react almost the same like our skin. We use them for ingredient test before the product developed and allergic test after the product has developed. It is more expensive, but no animals were involved at all.”

To kick off this campaign in Indonesia, local actresses and model, Rachel Amanda, Tya Ariestya and Laura Muljadi which are known as The Body Shop’s loyal customers since the Brit’s brand entered Indonesia, were signing the pledge at the event in Hotel Mulia, Jakarta, Indonesia. You can also help by dropping by to your nearest The Body Shop store and sign the pledge and leave your name and email. Or, simply log in to http://www.thebodyshop.co.id/ starting tomorrow.

At the same event, The Body Shop Indonesia also launched 100% Cruelty Free Makeup Collection by Lily Cole. Named the first ever global brand ambassador, Lily collaborated with The Body Shop for this lineup which includes lip shine, radiance primer, eyeliner, duo lip and cheek called dome, shimmer cubes and puff on radiance. Pretty in pink packaging, bright colors (many in purple, Lily’s favorite color) and shimmer that comes from mineral mica, not clam shells.

Being an eyeliner kind of gal, my favorite product from this line is the liquid eyeliner. Smudge to make smoky eyes look more natural, or leave the line straight. This limited edition collection will be available in selected The Body Shop Indonesia stores, starting tomorrow. And stay tune, cause this line will grace the runways in Jakarta Fashion Week, starting November 3, 2012 in Plaza Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia.

COMFORTABLE FOUNDATION

Seriously, is there such thing? 

Don’t you just hate it when your foundation, especially the one with creme or liquid texture feel so thick and uncomfortable on your skin? As a busy woman, we have to run errands for a long time (it did feel like 24 hours sometime) and we still have to check if our foundation still looks good on us.

Well, if you’re longing for a flawless look that will stand by you all day without the flaking, caking and that thick feeling on your face, you may try Revlon ColorStay Whipped Creme Makeup. The latest addition to Revlon’s foundation family, this mousse like texture foundation with a time release formula promised to give smooth coverage and that flawless look for up to 24 hours. Supposedly to feel like silk when applied, this foundation will be a great company for an all day look that stay flexible throughout our activities. 

Available in 4 shades (in Indonesia): Ivory, Natural Beige, Medium Beige and Warm Golden
Availability in Indonesia: mid November 2012 
Retail Price: Rp 150.000 

A VIEW FROM THE FRONT ROW

Every year, Indonesian Fashion Designers Association, known as IPMI (in Indonesian language: Ikatan Perancang Mode Indonesia) held a trend show as a reference for the Indonesian fashion. 

Established since 1986, this annual event was held on October 9, 2012 at Soehana Hall, Energy Building, Jakarta, Indonesia. Eight designers showed their existences through each creativities and expressiveness. The theme of the year is “Energie”, which represent their energy to explore and innovate thus create a fashion masterpiece. 

From 8 designers, I watched four of them, Yongki Budisutisna, Adrianto Halim, Tuty Cholid and Barli Asmara. Yongki brought a lot of sexy backs (mostly in black) on the runway, which mostly reminds me of 1950’s vintage style with flared skirts. Tuty and her batik collection graced the runway with mix of crochet. I love how she wrapped batik as a top, paired with crochet flare skirt. Adrianto played with orange color and ruffles a lot, yet it made his collection the brightest color on the runway last night.

The highlight of the show was a performance by Dewi Sandra, famous Indonesian singer, wearing Barli Asmara. She flirted the audience with her group of dancers, singing Lady Marmalade. Just as the Moulin Rouge performance, she looked great with flapper dress style from the 1920’s. I love how she styled her hair, braids with Avatar kind of style. She’s also one of Barli’s muse, so no surprised when she introduced Barli’s collection for the night. Quite an interesting closing of the show when Barli’s models came out with huge silver cape covering their dresses beneath. Barli’s key look: sheer, bling, flower detail and folding fan. Very art deco, the whole Barli’s collection remind me of the movie “Midnight in Paris”. 

All of their ready to wear collection will be exclusively available at Metro Department Store on April 2013.

BATIK ‘R’ US

As Indonesians, we are proud of our very own Batik. It has been there for a longest time, but only 3 years ago, UNESCO honored our Batik as a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity” right on this very day, October 2.

The recognition from the world is definitely a huge honor and also our responsibility as a big nation to preserve the heritage of batik, especially for the younger generation. Yes, of course we’re proud that many international designers such as Dries Van Noten and Julien Macdonald already used Batik or inspired by it, but we’re going to be more proud if we as Indonesians are wearing our Batik with pride.

So, in honor of our National Batik Day or simply known as Hari Batik Nasional for most of us, I asked some of my dearest friends to send their pictures wearing Batik. Check out how they wear theirs with pride and unique own style. Special thanks to Moza Pramita, and last but definitely not least, Ratu Ommaya and The Body Shop Indonesia’s team.