Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Antoinette ♥ at Penhas Road

Discovered a new place for tea and pâtisseries! Antionette at Penhas Road. It's at Lavender (farrrr) so I'm looking forward to the opening of the more central outlets!

Interior, spacious and pretty!
I love the purple seats and the huge pot of flowers


Macarons

Didn't try them, but they look tasty - big and generous with the filling~


Menu

If the color was green instead of blue I might've mistaken it for Ladurée.
(I LOOOVE Ladurée's macarons! They're like a piece of heaven )
The design (motifs and borders in gold) is similar^^


Left to right: Le Royale, Saint Honore L'amour, Antoinette, Strawberry Shortcake, Religeuse Caramel Fleur de Sel, Montblanc

Left to right: Strawberry Shortcake, Religeuse Caramel Fleur de Sel, Montblanc, /forgot/, Baba aux Fraise, Brittany

Left to right: Antoinette, Strawberry Shortcake, Religeuse Caramel Fleur de Sel, Montblanc.

Meringue


Boulangerie corner


Chocolates corner


After a long time deciding, I got the Saint Honore L'amour!
(They don't have tiramisu or fraisier, my 2 favorite pâtisseries)

I didn't really like the cream outside,
but I loooved the cream inside the mini choux puffs, it was good!

Happily holding my lovely dessert~


It's pink! And has a petal!
Which I ate...and it tasted like salad.
The drops of "dew" are actually jelly.
The jelly was sweet~

Baguette with hammm, cheese and salad.


The hammm looks good!


My friend got strawberry shortcake.

I think Antoinette's way of slicing cake is amaaaazing, the slices are so sharp, straight and neat! This slice is really a cube, even the cream didn't sag/droop after being cut, looking from the top the cake is straight, not lopsided and no need for the plastic sheets some cakes places like to wrap their shortcakes with. 11/10 for presentation!

And of course I got tea too!


It was called Petit Rose.
Of course it was rose-flavored!

The pâtisseries are great~ They have lots of food on their menu too (crêpes, baguettes, meat, soupe, etc). This was just the kind of place I've been waiting for (for eons!) to appear! Singapore really should have more places like this!

But haha I can't help thinking that the person who wrote the menu probably doesn't speak French, lots of the agreements (singular vs plural, feminine vs masculine) in the names of their dishes are off. (I'm just odd and notice these things, okay!^^) Though I guess most people won't be able to tell or even care since majority of the Singapore public doesn't know French, and neither did the waiters!

But overall this place is great! If it were in my neighborhood I'd go there everyday for pâtisseries. Everything not only looks good, but tastes great as well~ My only gripe is that it's in some weird location not remotely near anywhere I'd go (other than to renew my passport) So...I can't wait for the more central branches to appear! :D

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

LE Dolly Wink Set available in Singapore

A little FYI for Singaporean Dolly Wink lovers (: Got a mailer from Mandom Singapore, they're bringing in the limited edition Dolly Wink sets. They will retail from S$24.90, the same price as a box of Dolly Wink lashes.

I got mine when I went to Tokyo, so it was 1,260yen (~S$19.50). The set contains a pair each of No. 2 Sweet Girly and No.6 Baby Cute, and the eyelash case in a limited edition purple color. The regular color is pink. So you get two types of lashes in one pack, instead of 2 pairs of the same lash. And basically, you get the case for free (:

The Limited Edition Dolly Wink Set will be sold at the following Watson's outlets in Singapore:
- Parkway Parade
- Heartland Mall
- Wisma Atria
- Great World City
- Hong Leong Building
- Compass Point
- Ngee Ann City
- Marina Square
- North Point
- Blk190 Toa Payoh
- Tiong Bahru Plaza
- Anchor Point
- Bugis
- Far East Plaza
- Suntec City
- Vivocity
- Tampines Mall
- Raffles City
- Jurong Point
- West Coast Plaza
- East Point
- Yew Tee Point
- Lot 1
- TampinesOne
- Bukit Panjang Plaza
- Orchard Ion
- Junction 8
- City Square
- West Mall
- Ang Mo Kio Hub
- Sun Plaza
- SerangoonNex
- IMM
- ClementiMall
- Hougang Mall
- Plaza Singapura
- ChangiAirport Terminal 1

Monday, June 27, 2011

Diamond Beauty Cream Cheek Swatches ♥

やっと来た~!! The lovely Diamond Beauty Cream Cheeks~ (and Cream Shadows) finally reached my greedy waiting hands These are summer limited items so I'm not sure when they'll stop selling them.

There are 4 shades available, 2 pink-ish shades and 2 orange-ish shades, and I got all 4^^ Doesn't come in a box, just wrapped with plastic (the tear along the dotted line to unwrap kind) and a star sticker.

Kind of reminds me of Canmake's Cream Cheeks but I like the Diamond Beauty packaging more, it has fairies and stars! It's not hard to open as the bottom half sticks out slightly to ease the opening motion. (ie use your index nail to push on the bottom whilst using your thumb to push up the top)

Ingredients
Isotridecyl isononanoate, dimethicone, dextrin palmitate, methyl methacrylate crosspolymer, polyglyceryl-2 triisostearate, vinyl dimethicone/methicone silsesquioxane crosspolymer, talc, sorbitan sesquistearate, diisostearyl malate, dimethylsilyl silica, tocopherol, phystosteryl/octydodecyl lauroyl gluatamate, alumina (aluminium oxide), hydrogen dimethicone, borosilicate (calcium/aluminium), silica, barium sulphate, mica, titanium oxide, iron oxide, yellow-4, red-226.

They're made in Japan (not China) so I feel safe putting this on my face^^ The plastic casing is lighter and less dense than the one used for Diamond Blushes. Onto the pictures!

These are inexpensive, retailing for 840yen (~S$13/US$10) each, but I paid S$16 for each as a friend's friend helped purchase them when she went to Tokyo. My favorite shade has got to be 03 Peach Orange!

Brand new, unused, first time opening...the shininess of the cream blushes ...soon to be ruined ^^

01 Baby Pink (ベビーピンク)

A sweet dolly baby pink, it has fine shimmers in it. Can turn out a tad chalky if you layer too much at once, so blend properly, use as a complementary highlight or blend a darker shade over it! It's really a very lovely, girly color

02 Strawberry Pink (ストロベリーピンク)

A darker pink somewhat leaning towards purple. In the pan and on tissue it looks really pink, but on skin (at least my skin) too much results in a sort of iridescent purple sheen? But for thinner layers it blends out beautfully

03 Peach Orange (ピーチオレンジ)

A peachy orange, perfect mixture of pink x orange, I love l
ve love this color! It blends out really well and gives a really natural glowy look

04 Pure Orange (ピュアオレンジ)

This is the orange-est blush I own. Has faint tiny flecks of shimmers evenly distributed within the product.

Left to right: Pure orange, Peach orange, Strawberry pink, Baby pink.

These are all unblended. They aren't actually extremely pigmented. Obviously when you blend them the color spread out, lightens and blends in with your skin color. When blended, they look extremely natural and not too obvious~ You can layer for intensity.

Close up swatch of 01 Baby Pink
When blended, it looks something more like to the right.

Close up swatch of 02 Strawberry Pink

Close up swatch of 03 Peach Orange
(To the right is 02 Strawberry Pink, see the purplish sheen?^^)

Close up swatch of 04 Pure Orange

The cream product is directly in the plastic container, there's no extra metal pan inside. So once finished you can still use the plastic case if you'd like! Recyclable~

Verdict?
Overall, I really lve these, the colors are pretty (though common), the finish emits a glow, the texture is smooth, creamy, is easy to blend and goes on like a dream. They're inexpensive albeit a little hard to obtain if you don't live in Japan. And since they're limited edition, they might not be available anymore a few months down the road :(

Repurchase?
Definitely! If I have the chance...and if they weren't so darn hard to obtain!


Saturday, June 25, 2011

SBY love ♥

If you're a regular reader of gyaru magazines, especially Egg and Popteen, then you're probably not a stranger to SBY. SBY is a gyaru goods store, all the stuff they sell is made with gyarus in mind

A lot of gyaru/model-produced cosmetics are sold in SBY. Most of Diamond Beauty's new releases are usually exclusively sold at SBY first. They have 2 whole walls and a revolving stand just for Diamond Lash, so they're very well-stocked. Lots of gyaru models (especially Egg models) visit SBY, you'll often see pictures on the SBY 109 blog

And the main store in Shibuya 109 is awesome. (SBY is an acronym for ShiBuYa^^) Located on the 8th floor, there's a cafe corner where you can order parfaits/drinks and just chill, and the best is the makeup/mirror corner where there's a huge row of gorgeous vanity tables, large mirrors plastered on the walls, curling irons/hair straighteners and various cosmetics just lying there for you to use freely At no cost. You can just walk into the store and go to that corner to do your makeup or your hair! You can even charge your phone there! The staff are really friendly and well-dressed too!

They also sell cute accessories and small goods like bags, charms, hats, stockings, hair accessories, pouches, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and wigs.

In Shibuya 109, SBY is right across WC, Wakatsuki Chinatsu's brand.

This is their uber cute shopping bag! Front side is blue with the words "Love me SBY", the other side is hot pink with white polka dots. Best of all, it's made from recycled material and can be used again~

There's also a bigger size that's pink on the front side (picture of Itabashi Rumi, EdgeStyle model, carrying it. From SBY 109 blog)

Inside the bag~ From the 109 store I got legwear, Melliesh blushes, Bibo eyebrow pencils, a mirror, hair accessories, cute rose-print ribbon earrings!

Pink leopard-print bow with golden star studs.
It has a clip at the back, as well as an elastic band so it can be clipped on or used to tie a pony tail.

Heart-shaped mirror with purple leopard print and golden bow designs on the cover.

Melliesh blushes in 01 上品ローズ (Elegant Rose), 05 小顔ブラウン Small-face Brown and 06 クリアーラベンダー (Clear Lavender).

There's also a branch in Harajuku's Takeshita Doori, named SBY Happy Room, which just sells goods. The selection is smaller, but they pretty much have the same basic things. I went to the Harajuku store before I went to the 109 store.

This was the shopping bag~ Hot pink

Love the hot pink heart-shaped SBY sticker! It's actually translucent, the color shows up well because the bag is white.

Stuff I got from SBY Happy Room, cute cuddly pink bunny, Diamond Blushes, Candy Doll Makeup Base, Decolog who's Sweet lashes, a pretty makeup pouch! The pouch has a layer of chiffon on the top (paisley print!), it's thin enough for you to make out the round gold things in the layer underneath, so it looks really pretty (: The inside is gold and there's one inner pocket.

Bunny! Extremely soft, has a cellphone strap and chain on the bunny's back so you can hang her on your phone or on your bag~

Got the Diamond Beauty blushes in Gold Jewelry and Apricot Pink. Forgot to get Honey Orange :/ But...anyway I just received my Diamond Beauty Cream Cheeks (got all 4!) and Cream Shadows (01 and 02). The Cream Cheeks are awesome so I won't be needing Honey Orange for a while! Swatches of the lovely cream goodies will come soon~

SBY Website: http://sbys.jp/

SBY Shibuya 109
Shibuya 109 8F
Tel: 03-3477-5162
Opening hours: 10am~9pm

SBY Premium Shop Tenjin
Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka City, Chuo District, Tenjin 1-11-11
Tenjin Core 7F
Tel: 092-712-5557
Opening hours: 11am~10pm

SBY 109 Abeno
Osaka Prefecture, Abeno District, Abeno-suji 1-6-1
Q's Mall Shibuya 109 Abeno 2F
Opening hours: 10am~9pm
(Despite it's misleading name, Shibuya 109 Abeno is nowhere near Shibuya in Tokyo, rather, it's located in Abeno which is in OSAKA!)

SBY Happy Room Harajuku
Shibuya District, Jingumae 1-20-11
(off Harajuku Takeshita Doori)
Tel: 03-6259-2258
Opening hours: 10am~7pm

SBY Happy Room OPA
Shinsaibashi OPA 6F
Tel: 06-6282-8036
Opening hours: 11am~9pm
Closed? It's not listed on the SBY site anymore.