Eating out Moscow : (Valentine's Special) Jon Joli

Valentine's day fell on the weekend, we decided to eat out and try something new. I have heard from friends that there's a good Georgian restaurant in Tretyakovskaya - Jon Joli.
We have not tried Georgian food so we thought it is a good choice to have some Georgian food.

I booked a table in the restaurant for lunch since it is quite hard to get a table in the restaurant. The restaurant is really famous among the Moscovites. During celebrations, it is even harder to get a table.

The interior of the restaurant is feels cozy with the wooden interior. It reminds me of a cottage house, it has that Russian dacha kind of feel to it.
To make it feel like Valentine's, they even added a touch of heart shaped balloons for Valentine's.  I find it really sweet.

Pkhali , this is a traditional Georgian cold appetizer made from chopped cabbage, beetroot, beans with a combination of walnuts, vinegar, onions and herbs.

I love this dish, it is very flavourful, the blend of herbs is so aromatic.

Move away! Khachapuri is the new pizza.
This is probably one of the best thing I have put into my mouth. The dough and the mixture of Suluguni and Imeratian cheese is just to die for. Both cheeses melt to an elastic and chewy finish  . The cheese, dough and half boiled egg just go so good together.

Chashushuli
Veal stew in tomato broth. This taste really good too, the meat isreally tender and the broth very flavourful.

Chanakhi
A traditional Georgian lamb stew with tomatoes, aubergine, potatoes, greens and garlic.

Veal Khinkali.
A traditional Georgian big dumplings.
They kind of remind me of the distant Chinese cousin xiao long bao. Upon puncturing the flour layer, the dumpling oozes out the veal broth. Very delicious dumpling.
They are pretty huge dumpling at 95g per dumpling. You could get full with like 3 of these.

Pelamushi.
It is a traditional Georgian dessert made of condensed, thick grape juice.

It does not taste bad, in fact it is pretty nice but I am not a fan of the texture. It taste a little weird for me.

Overall, I love this restaurant and I would really recommend this restaurant.
Every food ordered taste so good and delicious but the star has to be the Kachapuri.
Service is great too. The waitresses are very attentive to your needs and the serving time is very fast.

I will be going back to this restaurant for more Kachapuri. 

FOTD : new products + short review

For this FOTD I have tried out quite a few new products. I will give a product breakdown and then I will go more in depth into the products I am using.

Face : Nivea Men Post-shave balm, Essence Pure Nude Foundation, Catrice All Matt Powder, Flormar Terracotta Powder in Dual Gold, Daiso Pink Blush
Eyes : Catrice Camouflage High Coverage Concealer, Essence I love nude eyeshadow in Coffee Bean, Art Deco in 373, Catrice Absolute Nude Palette, Rimmel Scandaleyes Precision Micro Eyeliner, Rimmel Wonder'full Mascara, Catrice Eyebrow Pencil, Kiss Me Eyebrow Mascara
Lips : L'oreal Infalliable Mega Gloss in 110 " I got the power"

If anyone is interested in the nail polish I am using, it is China Glaze's Pink-ie Promise.

First, I am gonna start talking from the base products.
The Essence Pure Nude Foundation. From the name of this product, I would expect the product to deliver a flawless skin-like finish.
Did it deliver? Yes.
The finish is very skin-like it is because this foundation runs very sheer. The texture is very runny. The coverage is very sheer, it is just to even out skintone, it does not cover anything at all.
You need a perfect skin to rock this foundation if not, every small red spot is going to peep through. It doesn't cover even the slightest spot. I used about one and a half pump of this foundation for my whole face and usually I use half to a pump. I was applying this foundation and the coverage is so sheer so I layered on a little more. It layers on nicely, no caking but still the coverage do not seem to build up.
Do I like this foundation? I would love it when my skin is on a good day like this time around where I do not need to cake on the foundation.
Would I repurchase? No. I think there's so many better drugstore foundation in the market who gives a slightly more coverage and provides a skin-like finish.

The next new product I used is the Catrice All Matt Powder. This powder seems to work great as a setting powder for me. I just swirl very little in the pan and powdered over my face with a kabuki brush.
Is it mattifying? I can't give an opinion because my skin is quite dry. Although it seems to hold my makeup in place and there isn't any shine at my nose which I usually get slightly oily throughout the day.
It does not leave me looking powdery or cakey though which I do appreciate.

It is my first time using the Rimmel eyeliner I purchased. I was so sloppy in the application. The tip is fine but flexible so I had a hard time controlling it since I am so used to the Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner's harder felt tip.
This eyeliner is very easy to use, the tip is really which makes every stroke precise. Shade wise, the black is not very black. You can see it is still slightly translucent. The eyeliner stays put all day though.

Also, I think I am really hating the Rimmel Wonder'full mascara right now. Have been using it a few times and from this photo I could see how horrendous it is on my lashes. It clumps really badly and it weighs down my lashes like no other.
I will go back using either L'oreal or Maybelline. These two brands have been doing it so far for me when it comes to the mascara department.

L'oreal Infalliable Mega Gloss in 110 ' I got the Power'

Such a beautiful lipgloss. This shade is a pinky-brown nude shade. It is absolutely gorgeous.
Texture wise I love how cushiony this lipgloss feels.
It is not sheer. It gives enough colour to the lips.

The weather ha been really cold here, like -10 or lower. So, I find myself grabbing glosses more since they are more moisturizing. 

Around Moscow : Laduree Moscow

Laduree has open its door in the heart of Moscow on the 15th of March.

The other day we were at the area, so, we decided to pop into Laduree to take a look.
It is located at Malaya Bronnaya Street, 27/14.

Laduree just reminds so much of Paris and how much I miss Paris.
Look at the beautifully decorated macarons and Laduree boxes.

The shop is small with just a few tables.
I went the 2nd day after the opening and there was just a small line.

Here, there is 15 flavours offered.

Salted Caramel, Pistachio, Rose Petal, Orange Blosson, Green Apple, Spicy and Soft Fruits, Raspberry, Marie Antoinette Tea, Liquorice, Chestnut, Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry Candy "Guimauve", Lemon and Coffee.

Each Macaron retails for 225 Rubles a piece, more expensive than what Paris has to offer.
A box of 6 in their classic napoleon box is 1800 Rubles.

The shop carries their signature tota bags, confectioneries such as chocolates and noughguts and also tea.
They do not carry the famous Laduree keychain.

Rose Petal is my favourite macaron flavour from Laduree. 

Lip mania : Essence haul

Catching up with the current makeup trends, Essence has released their version of the liquid lipstick.
Ofcourse I have to head down the beauty store to get them to try them out.
At the same time, the beauty store has brought in Essence Longlasting Lipliner after so long it has been launched. I have mentioned it before but I am gonna repeat myself that I love Essence's lipliners. I think they make one of the best lipliners in the drugstore market. I have used their Longlasting Lipliners before and I love them, so I have to pick up more colours to expand my collection. The great part is, the lipliners are just so affordable. It does not break the wallet.

The shades I have picked up are Sweetcake and Lovely Frappucino.

Lovely Frappucino is a cool mauvy brown. It somewhat reminds me of Satin Mauve with a whole lot more brown.
Sweetcake is a pinky-rose.

I picked two shades from the liquid lipsticks. I have decided to pick up two shades first and give them a testdrive to see whether I like them or not before getting more shades.

The shades I got are Beauty Secret and Colour Party.

Beauty Secret is a dusty rose.
Colour Party is a baby pink.

Let's talk about the packaging, you could tell that Essence got the inspiration of the Liquid Lipsticks' packaging from Dior's Fluid Sticks. It comes with a sturdy transparent plastic tube with products filled inside to resemble a lipstick bullet shape and a plastic lid. The plastic lid looks cheap but actually it is quite sturdy. Essence packaging are not the best looking but they are sturdy enough. You pay for what you get.
It still looks cute and young. 

Tiny events #14

So, the spot of death attacked my camera again and now I have sent my camera for some repair works and cleaning. It has been an annual thing where dust will just accumulate at my sensor. It is getting pretty annoying to send my camera for such routine cleaning yearly.
Looks like I will not have my trusty camera with me for some time.

"I have just ended my hectic therapy cycle which means I will have more free time updating on my blog. It has not been an easy 5 weeks, it has been very tiring.
Now I have ended it, I guess I will miss this cycle.
I do not post pictures of me in classes but here's a picture to the end of my therapy cycle and also my final one.

I do not usually wear makeup to class but since it was the last day and we are going to have a photoshoot after class, I just slapped on some makeup on my face. "

" On the night where I have ended my therapy cycle, I went and feast on food with my housemates. We had Cinnabon's Pecanbon and Magnolia bakery's cakes. What a sinful night.
The calories for a Pecanbon is a whooping 1100 calories per piece. That is like my one day's worth of calories intake. Ok, I lied, not one day's worth, maybe 80% of daily calorie intake.
It's only once in awhile. We will be fine.

Pecanbon is so deliciously sinful. My favourite out of all the flavours they have to offer. "

" Magnolia bakery has a 20% off all cakes and cupcakes after 9pm. We actually waited till 9pm to order our cake so we could take advantage of the 20% off.
20% off is still money for us poor university students.
I have not seen this flavour around. It is their Pistachio cake. Their Pistachio cake is really good too.
Magnolia bakery is one of the good bakeries that is hard to come by in Moscow.
I always go there for their cakes.  "

" This is my first time making lasagna and it turned out to be quite a success. Lasagna is very easy to make but very time consuming as you have to prepare two different sauces and then boil the pasta and layer the pasta, sauces and cheese, finally bake them. By the way, I shred my own cheese.
I did not use the traditional lasagna recipe with Bechamel sauce, instead, I opt for the Straganoff. It is less fattening and healthier with low fat sour cream and much easier to make. No whisking needed .
It also taste equally delicious. It does not compromise the flavour of the lasagna.  "

On the beauty topic.
I have been controlling my makeup hauling habits this month because I am broke as heck.
I have been hauling too much for the past months. I have been so into liquid lipsticks That I picked up quite a number of them from various brands.
So, await a huge haul when I fly home during summer.
Releases in Russia has been extremely extremely slow, I guess it is due to their unstable currency. There's any hardly any new launches from brands like L'oreal, Maybelline and Rimmel. Even the trend editions from Catrice and Essence takes forever to be shipped in. The Rimmel The One Lipstick, Maybelline The Nudes Blushed palette, some of the L'oreal Infalliable line items and Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet new shades just came in not too long ago but they are like a past story in other places of the world.
I am looking forward picking up some of the Rimmel The One Lipsticks and new shades of Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet especially those Rouge Edition Velvet. I have been waiting for the shades for eons. 

FOTD : Chinese new year + Birthday celebration

This look is a little sloppy since I was in a hurry. It took about 15 minutes to do my look. Usually I take longer because I want to be more precise with my brows and eyeliner.

Face : Etude House Face Conditioning Cream, L'oreal Nude Magique foundation, Maybelline Dream Lumi Highlighting Concealer, Catrice All Matt Plus Shine Control Powder, Flormar Terracotta Powder in Dual Gold, Essence Me & My Ice Cream Cream Blush, Essence Soooo Glow Highlighter in 010. 

Eyes : Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner in Black, Rimmel Wonder'full mascara, Catrice Absolute Nude Eyeshadow Palette, Essence Mono Eyeshadow in Triple Choc

Lips : Essence lipliner in Satin Mauve

Such sloppy eyeliner application. I thought I would do it better with the Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner but no, it looks so messy. Luckily from afar, no one can tell the application is so sloppy. 

This eyeliner is drying up, I am just using it to its last leg so that I can throw it in the bin soon. You can already see that the black is not very black anymore. 

I can't decide if I like this eyeliner or not after using it for such a long time. It's a not bad eyeliner. The felt tip is sturdy and it is very easy to control but it kind of fades away mid-day and it dries down slow because when I draw my liner before curling my eyelashes, the line will just 'stick' on the curler and half of line will be gone. I always wait to curl my lashes after I am done with my whole face, the liner still does the same. 

Essence lip liner in Satin Mauve.
Love this lipliner. Go get yourself some. 

Eating out Moscow : Obed Buffet

Obed Buffet is a new chain of cafeteria style restaurant in Moscow.
I got to try this restaurant last summer when they were offering 50% off the whole menu.

The cuisine leans more to Russian fusion cuisine. Food selection is great. There are salads, grill, main courses,garnishes, bread and pastries, desserts etc.

The price concept of this restaurant is by weight.
For example, let's say per 100g is 99 rubles and you took 200g of pasta you will pay 198 rubles for your meal.
I don't really like this type of pricing concept.

The interior of the restaurant is neat and modern.

My favourite part of the restaurant has got to be their desserts bar. They have a great selection of cakes and pastries to choose from.
Also, they just look so delicious.

This is our food.
Various salads, meat dishes and garnishes.

The salads offered in this restaurant is really delicious.
I enjoy their potato and chicken salad. I do think that is one of the best dishes their offer.
They have a fresh salad bar and a pre-made salad bar. There are up to 10 salad dishes offered if I am not mistaken.

Meat dishes are nice too. What we had were mostly stews.

The pricing concept of the desserts are different. It is accounted by per slice instead by weight.

The cakes are definitely the star of this restaurant. The cakes are really affordable and delicious.
I picked up the carrot cake and also mocha cake and I enjoyed both cakes. I prefer the carrot cake slightly better.

I forgot to take a decent picture of this but, it's fine.
Anyway, I like their desserts so much that I even packed home their pavlova.
So yummy.

Overall, it is a good restaurant to try out. I will definitely go back for their cakes. 

FOTD : About that primer...

After using the Nivea Men Post-Shave Balm as a primer for sometime, I guess now it is the perfect time to talk about this product.
I can't just rave enough about this primer.
I never seen my makeup stayed on my skin so beautifully even after being out the whole day. It has got to be the best primer I have ever used. It beats most of the primers I own and the best thing, it is so affordable.
You only need a tiny pea size each application, this product could last awhile with its 100ml content.

This is me with m makeup after a whole day out. The base makeup stayed on beautifully. I haven't notice any creasing or fading. 

The foundation I used is one of my favourite drugstore foundation which is of the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation. 

It blended so well with my skin, it just looks like a second skin. With the primer, I feel like it blended better and it helps the foundation melt into my skin creating a soft glow finish. 

Here's the breakdown of products I used 

Base : Nivea Men Post-Shave Balm, Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation, MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural, Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Concealer, Catrice Lip and Cheek Colour, Flormar Terracotta Powder

Eyes : Catrice Absolute Nude Palette, Essence Mono Eyeshadow in Apricotta, Maybelline Master Precise Eyeliner, Rimmel Wonder'full Mascara, Catrice Eyebrow Pencil, Kiss Me Eyebrow Mascara

Lips : Rimmel Vinyl Lipgloss in Fall in Love

This time I winged out my eyeliner a little. 

From the close up, you could see how flawless my skin looks. 

Around Moscow : VDKh & Trubnaya

Bracing the -19 coldness, we went to VDKha to catch the last of Christmas decorations.
To think about it, it was quite a crazy move. There were wind which adds a punch in the extra coldness, fingers, face and toes were frozen.

The gate of the square is lavishly decorated with lights.

The Central Pavillion overlooking the Christmas market and the huge christmas tree structure. 

Surprisingly there were quite a number of people even under this brutal coldness. I guess Russians just are so used to it. 

It was so cold that it was so hard to even smile. My facial muscles were frozen. 

You could enter the Christmas tree structure and enjoy the lights from within.
The light decoration is really stunning.

Since it was so cold after a quick photo session, we head back to the metro to get some warmth before taking ourselves to another Christmas square.

The next square was in Trubnaya.
The decorations of this square is not as lavish as some other squares I have seen but it is still a pretty one.

The rainbow tunnel.

The Christmas kiosk has mostly closed leaving a few kiosk selling hot drinks open since we visited the square after 10pm.
The kiosks are so beautiful decorated.

Another light tunnel

mini haul : Essence & Catrice

Highlighters have been the craze in the beauty community of late. Everyone just want to have that stroke of glow on their face and yes, I am one of those persons too.
I just love highlight. It gives the face such a radiant and healthy look and it wakes up the face.

Catrice released a limited edition collection which came with a highlighter. I went to the beauty shop, solely just to get this highlighter but I did purchase something else in the middle.

I got a blush from the Essence "Happy Girls are pretty" trend edition. The design of the blush is too cute to resist which the heart in the middle. I just can't stop myself picking up anything with pretty design.

Catrice Luminizing Highlighter.

This highlighter is different from what I used to own. The shade is a rosy champagne. My highlighters usually lean pearl white, champagne gold or pink pearl shade.
This shade is a tad darker from my comfort zone.

I am excited to try this highlighter though. It is a gorgeous shade.
If it works out too dark on me, I am sure it will make a beautiful blush topper for that extra glow.

Essence "Happy Girls are Pretty" blush.
This blush is really cute, this is what really made me get this blush.

Too cute to resist.
Essence always have the cutest limited edition blushers that makes me could not resist collecting them everytime they release their limited editions.