The following weekend as the fashion celebration continued throughout Sydney, Royal Australian Fashion Week gave fashionistas the opportunity to buy from some of the designers along with many others at Fashion Weekend. Held in the Royal Hall of Industries at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, the venue was chock full of stalls set up to sell to the general public at heavily discounted prices (which I personally and gratefully took advantage of: HELLO my darling new leather handbag was $490 reduced to $190). Stalls contained racks of clothes, shoes, bags, skin care, nail polish, fragrances and accessories from labels such as The Cassette Society, Shoes of Prey, Billion Dollar Babes, Life With Bird and Meow Girl. Even Nintendo appeared, showing off their hot new DS machine and ever popular Wii Fit console).
One of the other popular stalls of the day belonged to Essie. Created by Essie Weingarten, the cult American nail polish brand has grown from its original 12 shade production into a 300+ nail polish shade, nail treatments, nail accessories, spa products, and lip glosses global company available in over 250,000 salons and spas in 95 countries. Fashion Weekenders were served by two delightful men who outlined that for a small fee you could select one of the many Essie colours [the choice of colour came from either a small mini pack of Essie colours (which I chose - It included a mini Angora Cardi, Midnight Cami, Mink Muffs and Pink Parka) , a colour from the back wall (which included one of each of Essie’s colour range) or a colour/top coat combination], then proceed to the nail bar and have a mini manicure done by one of the Essie nail girls who were there to paint and show you how to wear anyone of Essie’s extensive and fabulous colour range.
Essie was a clear favourite stand of the day, as the constant line of people waiting to get their nails done and the little Essie bags walking around the Fashion Weekend stalls could attest to. I should point out they were a favourite of the crowd and a favourite of mine. I got them to apply the shade ‘Angora Cardi’ on my nails and at the risk of sounding sensationalist; it is the most perfect nail colour in the world. It is long lasting (a big deal for me) and very wearable with most all colours.
I also think Essie should be commended for being a big presence at and contributing to Fashion Weekend. As an offshoot to Australian Fashion Week it’s fantastic to see an international brand supporting Australian fashion!
NOTE: Essie products are available for purchase from Australian online beauty site Adore Beauty.
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01: My computer. It’s a HP touch screen all-in-one computer that I love. I do miss my laptop (it died on me recently) but this has been a wonderful replacement.
02: Antique ‘sparrow’ candle holder. (the odd looking thing to the side of the computer) I bought this in an antique store in downtown Phoenixville during my trip to the states last year. It’s probably an outdoor item but I think it’s so sweet I like to keep it on my desk. I should really find a tea candle to put inside at some stage…
03: My pretty IKEA lamp. I don’t know if this style is still available for purchase (I couldn’t see it on the site) but I fell in love with it because it reminded me of something Charlotte from SATC would have in her apartment. Ha, I’m so lame.
04: 750ml Pump water bottle. I always have a bottle of water on hand. I prefer the pump water bottles because of the pop-top. I don’t know why, but I find it easier to drink more water out of these than the regular screw-top bottles.
05: Kikki K Notebook. I write lists for practically everything. This book contains a lot of those lists. I like to keep track of things I might want to blog about, products I need to review, bills I need to pay etc – all of that goes into this notebook.
06: Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream. I was sent this product to review and have kept it on my desk for nightly use. I love it, and will post about it soon!
07: Manicare All-In-One & Essie Angora Cardi Nail Polish. I painted my nails on Wednesday evening (you all need Essie Angora Cardi btw – a friend of mine sent me a bottle as a gift, and it is perfection) and still have the bottles lying around.
08: Kikki K To Do List. I update this every weekend with the things I need to remember to do. Exciting things like “run fish filter” and “grocery shopping”. Do not envy my glamourous life.
09: Half completed grocery shopping list. I have a terrible memory (in fact I just thought of something to write on this list but have since forgotten…) and writing a grocery list is necessary for me to remember everything I need to buy for the week.
10: My engagement ring. I try not to wear this at night incase I give myself or Mr B a black eye by accident.
11: 45 cents. I clean my wallet out of all of the silver coins at the end of the week and put them into a big container to eventually take to the bank. I have only ever gone to the bank to complete this process once in my 25 years. I have a lot of silver coins stored for a rainy day!
12: Kikki K Love Heart Post It. I only have one left! Eek! Lucky I have a replacement pad in my storage box…
13: 2 loose leaf tea canisters. I picked these up at a tea party a friend of mine had to launch her friend’s organic tea range. They both have original blend loose leaf organic herbal tea inside.
14: Kikki K Accordian Expandable Filing Folder. For storing monthly bills and various important documentation.
15: Gogol Bordello Non Stop DVD. I bought this recently and have watched it, but need to take some screencaps for a Pamela Racine site that I set up and run for a friend.
16: Kikki K Proof Of Purchase Receipts Book. I like to keep track of what I spend my “shopping allowance” on every fortnight – and I do so in this handy little book!
17: Vitamins! I take Cod Liver Oil (with vitamins a&d), Zinc Formula and Vitamin E every night. Keeping them on my desk helps me to remember to take them.
18: Yet another Kikki K To Do List. This one is smaller and is in sticky note form. I use these throughout the week to remember things I need to do at work or around the house when I get home.
19: Kikki K Pen Holder full of various things including: abraham lincoln bookmark (purchased from the lincoln memorial store in washington), tiny bamboo hand-painted bookmark (gift from my best friend from her travels through japan), kikki k magnetised pegs, various pens, yellow and green highlighers & a paul and joe kitten nail file.
20: Kikki K Storage Box full of various things including: paper documents for filing, press releases for products I am yet to review, age of empires 3 PC game (nerd alert!), replacement kikki k to do list pad, blank kikki k notebook, replacement kikki k love heart post its, blank CDs, organic loose-leaf tea packets (so I can remember what tea I’m drinking), receipts for filing.
21: Some random things… A Sweet Valley High TV Series DVD (loose), Woman’s Weekly Chilli Con Carne Recipe Printout, $20 Sussan Gift Card & a pump water bottle cap.
How exciting! If you’re curious you can click the numbers next to the item in question and see some individual pictures I’ve taken with my iphone. So – what’s on your desk??
