OOTD: Chartreuse & Cobalt Brian Atwoods

Top: Zara, Jean Leggings: Hue, Scarf: Saks, Necklace: Bauble Bar, Shoes: Brian Atwood

Arm Party: Bauble Bar, Tory Burch & F21, Bag: Chanel

Loving the warm weather we're having right now it's inspired me to wear as many bright colors as possible!  I can't stop looking at my feet.. I'm completely and utterly obsessed with my new cobalt blue Atwood's!  I think I've worn them 3 days in a row hahahaha.  Makes a statement with whatever I'm wearing!

I'm also completely obsessed with bright lipsticks right now as well - my favorite shade is Revlon Matte Stormy Pink (I'm wearing it in the post)! :)

Chanel Duty Free Travel Makeup Palette

I would just like to preface this post by saying that I am soooooo excited about blogging about this particular item!!

I know I did a Taiwan Chanel make-up haul post a little while ago here but I left this particular item out of the haul post because I really felt it deserved a blog post all to itself! hahaha :p

I purchased this Chanel Travel Palette in Duty Free.  Unfortunately I think this palette is ONLY offered IN flight because I looked for it at every possible Duty Free shop that I encountered on our trip.  We had a layover in Beijing and I checked all of the Duty Free stores at the Beijing airport and then later I checked all of the Duty free stores on our return flight from Taipei and could not find this palette anywhere.  But it might have been out of stock when I was traveling (although to be fair I went to 5 Duty free shops and could not find it) so I would definitely check Duty free whenever you can but be aware that you might only be able to purchase this in flight.  The palette is 515 Chinese RMB which is about $81 USD.

It comes in a sleek little velvet case.

The inside opens up to a fairly large sized palette and a mini mascara.

The palette comes with 5 eye shadows, 2 lip glosses, 2 lipsticks, blush, concealer, foundation and mascara.  And you can see it also comes with their respective mini brushes.. a small blush brush, lipstick/lip gloss brush and two double sided wands for the eye shadow.  Although now that I think about it it doesn't come with any type of sponge or anything for the foundation.

Isn't this palette GORGEOUS?!  I haven't even started using it because I really don't have the heart to mess it up yet ARGH.. I just keep opening it and staring at it HAHAHAHA. I know.. I know that.is.so.lame. *SIGH* hahaha

I'm going to also list the retail price of each individual item should you purchase them at Chanel or at a major department store.  Just so you can see what a STEAL this palette is!!!

The left side of the palette going straight down are the 5 different eye shadows offered in this palette.  If you were to go to the Chanel or a department store and purchase a quad (4) eye shadow compact that would run you roughly $60 bucks!  And this palette offers 5 eye shadows! And I think they are the same size if not LARGER than the size of the eye shadow product offered in the regular Chanel quad compacts.  

On the right side of the palette starting from the top are the two lip glosses and then following are the two lip sticks.  Chanel lip glosses/lipsticks retail around $30 bucks a pop.

At the very bottom of the right side the light beige color is the concealer.  So as you can see they really thought of EVERYTHING with this travel palette.  It's really a one stop shop and this is all you would need to take on your trip.  I've seen lots of travel palettes before but this is really the first time I've ever encountered a concealer being offered as part of one.  The retail price for a Chanel concealer will run you $40. 

You also can't forget about the mini mascara that's included with the palette!  A regular priced Chanel mascara will run you around $30 bucks.  

I should mention I love love Chanel powder foundation!!  It gives really great coverage and is definitely build able.  It can also go on wet or dry.  If you want it wet just dip your sponge in some water before you swipe it across the dry product.  You can wear it alone as powder or on top of liquid foundation.

Close up shot of the foundation and the blush.. I really love this blush color it looks like a really pretty pop of blush pink and I think would be so pretty applied to just the apples of your cheeks to give you that fresh dolly look.  The retail price of a Chanel blush would run you around $40 bucks.

I put my regularly sized Chanel powder foundation compact next to the travel palette side by side so you could see that the travel palette actually offers quite a bit of foundation product - it is at least half the size of the regularly sized foundation compact if not slightly more!  The regular foundation compact retails for $50 USD.

I actually calculated (yes I'm sick and I cannot resist knowing that I got a good deal) that if you were to purchase each of these products from Chanel it would run you roughly $360 bucks!  Granted some of the pieces in this collection are miniaturized like the mascara and the foundation's only half the size of a regular foundation compact.  But things like the blush and eye shadows are regular sized products. The cost of 5 Chanel eye shadows would run you roughly $75 dollars if purchased at retail!  Just the 5 eye shadows alone pretty much covers the entire cost of this travel palette!!  And if you were to purchase 2 lip glosses and 2 lipsticks at $30 bucks a pop that would run you $120 bucks at Chanel!

Have I convinced you yet??!  Have I completely pressed upon you how much you NEED this palette in your life??! YOU NEED TO FIND THIS PALETTE WHEN TRAVELING OVERSEAS!!! HAHAHA OK I know I sound totally cray cray but this is how strongly I feel about this makeup palette!

I also snapped a couple of shots of this Dior makeup palette that I seriously contemplated getting as well.  They sold this both on board the flight AND inside Duty Free at the airport (unlike the Chanel palette which they only offered on board) so I got to see it in real life before purchasing.  Ultimately I didn't get this one but I couldn't help thinking this was a seriously awesome set as well.  It's 520 Chinese RMB which is $82 US dollars so it's practically the same price as the Chanel palette.

The inside the palette it appears that it offers 6 gorgeous eye shadows (I really love that purple-ish color!!), 4 lipsticks/lip glosses, a blusher/highlighter and mini Dior eyeshadow.

The best part of the palette as you can see in the picture is that it is offered in a really adorable zippered makeup bag made to look like the infamous Lady Dior bag.  I've actually handled this palette at duty free and I can vouch that it is very well made and heavy - very similar in fact to the real Lady Dior bag.  If you wanted to you could actually take the makeup palette out and use it as a small wallet or tiny clutch and I think that would be worth the price of the palette alone! 

Anyways I just wanted to show you some of the great finds at Duty Free so the next time you dolls are planning an international trip make sure to save some time (and money hehe :p) for the Duty Free store!!  I often find that you can find seriously amazing limited edition products at really amazing prices at Duty Free!  Especially when it comes to high end makeup pretty much all the major makeup companies do a "travel palette" similar to these two and it ALWAYS ends up being such a bargain versus if you bought each individual item piece meal.  So be on the lookout next time you guys are flying overseas :) 

KAOSHIUNG & TAINAN

Our hotel in Kaoshiung had this AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG AMAZING bakery on the ground floor... it took everything in me not to buy one of EVERYTHING!

I discovered this really peculiar channel on our hotel TV.  I kept seeing asian people randomly walking up to these phones, place a call and then walk away and I kept thinking "what kind of show is this?? is this like "asia punked" and I kept waiting for something to happen.  AND then I would see people coming in and out of these swinging doors right next to the phones wearing uniforms that looked remarkably similar to the hotel staff at our hotel and  and it suddenly dawned on me that the reason why the uniforms looked so similar was BECAUSE IT WAS OUR HOTEL!!  And these phones were the courtesy phones in our hotel lobby right next to the reception desk!!!!!

So I sent the Hub's down there to pretend to use the phones BAHAHAHAHA!!!!  Look at his facial expression hahahaha.

It was pouring rain so the Hub's offered to go out and hunt for some food and this is what he came back with!  The egg custard tart on the bottom right was out of this world.. the best egg custard tart I've ever had in my entire life... it was so creamy and rich I wish I knew what this place was called ARGH!

Unagi bowl

Later in the evening we had some hotel grub.. Love love a great slab of unagi over rice.. this was pretty nommy!

Club sandwich

Look at those giant slabs of bacon!!  The fries were super delicious as well. 

Buffet breakfast on the top floor of our hotel has this gorgeous glass ceiling. 

The free buffet breakfast was actually pretty impressive they had lots of yummy things to eat and they even had yogurt drinks!!!  I LOVE LOVEEEEEE yogurt drinks!

My Dad and The Hub's... not sure when are why but my dad has started doing this thing with his arm as of late....

Hubs made me take this picture.

Gorgeous hotel lobby!  

A hotel with a Dior store built in.. LOVE IT!

See he does it again here!! bahahah!

The hotel had a HELLO KITTY SECTION!!! YAY!

I wanted to take this home SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD!!!!!!!! 

It's a Hello Kitty toiletries kit with the hotel name embroidered on it.  It had a hanging toiletry bag in light pink and a face towel, soaps, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, lotions, shampoo, conditioner and a couple of other things.  $1080 Taiwanese dollars is roughly $30 US.. so I passed on it.. but it was SO SO CUTE that I had to document it! 

Life size jade cabbage!!!

I have a strange obsession with jade cut into the shape of chinese cabbage AHAHAHAH I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!  But for years and years I have really wanted a jade necklace in the shape of a chinese cabbage hahaha.

The gorgeous hotel lounge!

Delicious iced coffee drink.. the bottom was STRONGGGGG pure black coffee.. I think I was suppose to mix the top part with the bottom.. but didn't realize it until after I'd eaten practically all of the whip cream. OOPS. hahahahahah

Waiting for the mall to open!  

Total sidenote but seriously how fob are The Hub's shoes? HAHAHAHAHA ironically he did not buy those shoes in asia.. they are actually from Quiksilver.  Who woulda thought?!

::WAHHH::  They are opening a Uniqlo store!!!  I hear they are opening one in San Francisco you lucky ducks! 

Why don't I have a Uniqlo store near me :(

Kaoshiung skyline from our hotel room!

City streets! 

What happens when The Hubs has too much free time on his hands bahahahaha.

Various egg custards for sale at the train station.. we tried the milk pudding and it was very delicious.. although truthfully it tasted pretty much like the ones you can get at 7-11.

Lots of adorable train themed toys and stationary being sold in the vending machines at the station.

Lunch @ 7-11 muhahahah.. one of my favorite things to do in Taiwan.. the chicken curry was actually DELICIOUS and we had a couple of tea eggs and slurpees!

Takoyaki

There was a takoyaki stand right outside of my grandmother's chinese pharmacy.  Takoyaki is a popular Japanese street dish and is essentially a savory pancake batter ball filled with pieces of Tako (Octopus) and Tenkasu (Deep Friedd Tempura) and covered in various sauces.  This was delicious and had huge gigantic pieces of Octopus inside.  It was 6 balls for $1 USD!!!  So crazy cheap!

We also grabbed a bunch of salty Chinese snacks at 7-11 my favorite ones from my childhood are the ones on top called "Patata"!

The most delicious fried chicken EVER!!!!!!  I love fried chicken in Asia.. they go a lot easier on the breading and it's usually done with all cornstarch and I much prefer it.  I generally feel the breading in the US is too thick.

Playing with our food!

I was so excited when I discovered my absolute favorite childhood dessert "Pudding" that's literally what we call it in Chinese is now in an ice cream bar form.  I have to say after eating it I prefer the regular "Pudding" version.. in the picture..  It's basically an egg custard dessert.. have you noticed every country has their version of egg custard dessert.   The French have Cream Brulee, The Spanish have Flan.. the English have trifles.. ohh the Japanese have a savory version Chawanmushi.. I can go on for days!!  Muhahaha I think I have a serious obsession with anything egg custard based!

The park directly across my grandmother's house.  I actually lived with my grandmother for a few years when I was a child so I have very fond memories of playing at this park practically everyday when I was a child!

As we got closer and closer to the water I realized there were a lot of children crowded around the lake.  Upon closer inspection I realized....

They were feeding TURTLES!!!  

TONS AND TONS of turtles!!!!  There were DOZENS of them.. here are a few courageous ones attempting to climb the rocks to get some bread!

Taro bun w/ Pear Apple drink

OMGGGGGGGG this drink was SOOO NOMS~!!!  I tried looking for it afterwards but I couldn't find it anywhere ::sadness::  I was in a rush when I picked it and I just grabbed it because I was looking for something refreshing to drink and pear w/ apples looked good but when I started to drink it I realized it had pear jellies in it!! The pear jellies were SOOOOO NOMMY! BEST.DRINK.EVERRRRRRRRRR!!!

Dedicated to Mr. Turtle :)!

Laetitia cream puffs.. pretty decent.. but Beard Papa still takes the cake! 

Samanatha Thavasa!!

The store is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute! OMG!  Everything is so whimsical and adorable.. although sometimes I can't help but feel like a lot of their handbags are sort of a rip on Miu Miu.. like they have a line of bags that look IDENTICAL to Miu Miu's bow bags. 

Giant Teapot w/ Teacups!!! LOVE~! 

Mr. Donut!!  To be fair I don't think I love love their doughnuts.. but they are sooo pretty and so cute the drink however was DELICIOUS!!  It's a blended strawberry and apple ice drink.

Lu Rou Fan

Last meal in Taipei!  Even the minced Pork bowl at the airport was delish!!!

I always thought Shu Uemura went out of business.. because they closed down all the beauty bars in the US but turns out they are still alive and kicking in Asia.. and have the MOST GORGEOUS packaging ever!!  The bottles on the inside are clear with brightly colored flowers and butterfly's on them.. I was tempted to buy EVERYTHING but resisted muhahaha.

But I did however picked up a bunch of Asian mags at the airport for the flight home WOOT! :)  THEY WERE SOOOOOO CHEAP!!  Omgosh all 4 mags came out to roughly $8 bucks US!!  And they are HUGEEE too!!  My favorite mag is Vivi mag (top right) and I've purchased it in Japantown in San Francisco before and it was $20 bucks for ONE magazine!