[Star Gazing] The Shining Star That Is Kim Soo Hyun

The fever was way high but we only managed to catch it at the tail end. Has it subsided for us? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. We can't help but to notice his boyish look, his infectious smile, his cynical nuances at times, but most of all, his sunshine personality and his ability to just mesmerize you with the characters he chose to play in, be it film or Korean dramas. Bet you all know which star gazing personality we are talking about by now! Yes, the one who plays Do Min-Joon to perfection in You Who Came From The Star (My Love From The Star), actor singer model Kim Soo Hyun *_^

Kim Soo Hyun became a household name in 2011, playing a country bumpkin who turns out to be a musical genius in the teen drama Dream High. He quickly garnered the much needed stardom and attention in his other period drama piece, Moon Embracing The Sun, which was number one in its time slot when it was aired. This rising star and award-winning new comer (begged the 2012 Baeksang Arts Awards) picked up even more momentum by making his big screen debut playing alongside star-studded casts in the heist film The Thieves and eventually landed a role in his latest drama which made him a sensation, just by playing an alien who has the ability to stop time and teleport himself across time and space!

Burberry Dances Its Way To Shanghai Elegantly

Only one word could describe how Burberry as a brand always succeed in delivering - MAGIC. They did it again last month, with their opening of Shanghai Burberry flagship store! Burberry took more than 1500 of its attended guests on a journey from the streets of London where the brand was originated, to the Autumn/Winter 2014 runway in Shanghai, amidst a dreamlike storm of beauty, from design, colours, magnificent visual presentation to live performances, music and fashion, all melt into one harmonious emotive performance that was breathtaking, to say the least. Burberry literally dances in Shanghai that beautiful night.

This British luxury brand celebrated its mark in Shanghai with a global audience eagerly watching and many celebrities guests on the night, followed by a paved London street flanked by city street lamps into the auditorium of the cinematic theatre style set. On the banks of Huangpo River, the custom-built venue in the Shanghai Shipyard features handcrafted elements inspired by the brand's global flagship, 121 Regent Street, which was the original site of one of the first cinemas in London. This night, the place came alive with all the glitz and glamour and guests were in for a huge surprise! 

[Inspiration] Beautiful Pink Wednesday

Sometimes, you just need to be reminded that life is beautiful

Sometimes, you need to know that

Hopes and Dreams do survive and live on

Sometimes, you just need to bath in the positivity of

what life will offer

Sometimes, you need a little more love

Sometimes, you just need to be inspired by colours you love,

Sometimes, you only need to listen to your heart

and smell the flowers in the garden of aspiration

Sometimes, it could simply just be a little of everything

NARS New Lip Gloss - Sheer Shine Reimagined

Nars recently re-launched and added some new shades to their existing lip gloss range, with a new formulation that promises to lavishly coat your lips in a full spectrum of wonderful shades (so much to choose from, looking very juicy indeed!) that they call it sophisticated natural shine.  

It is said that with the nourishing ingredients included, it will help hydrate and smooth away those fine lines on your lips, leaving them soft and supple and Sea Lavender helps to protect against signs of aging. Isn't that wonderful?

It comes in a wide selection of 30 shades, including 7 fashion-forward new shades and 23 iconic favourites that are very significantly NARS. The newly designed clear-tube packaging also makes for easy spotting of your colours of choice. So, which ones are LUMI's favourite shades? Shown here below. We love something a little more neutral, yet we also love the more bolder and stronger shades for those special occasions when we feel like making a little statement through our lips and let them do the "talking" *_^  

For more shades and selection, do check out NARS website here. The makeup item we got previously during NARS first launch party in Malaysia was their Sheer Glow Foundation and we have been using and loving it since. It has a natural radiant finish and does really well in even out the skin tone, very naturally. The best part we love about this foundation is that it is non-comedogenic and fragrance free *_^ To see how much fun we had during the launch party, our previous blog post here.  

Till then, stay luminous and happy, always *_^

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Shiseido Professional SS 2014 COLOR ME KNOT Hair Trends Looking Very Edgy

We love a good combo of nice hairdo to go with the fashion trend. We are currently loving the new Shiseido Professional latest hairstyles as they go really well with the fashion styles and makeup designs via the Spring/Summer 2014 collection aptly called Color Me Knot. It was unveiled recently at the Shiseido office with the guest appearance by Yoshiyuki Takahashi from the Beauty Creative Team in Japan. WHITE is being spotted on the runways for both men and women's fashion, minimalist, clean, providing a white canvas for Color Me Knot to accentuate the hair colour further, to communicate an aesthetic technique that infuse hairstyles and fashion that goes hand in hand, more often than not. It further seals the position of Shiseido Professional in the hair industry for being a brand that constantly pushes the boundaries of creativity when it comes to both products and artistic presentations. Check out this previous blog posts here and you will know what we mean.

When one think of this basic colour white, words like soft, pure, natural, romantic would conjure up in your mind, but this Spring/Summer 2014, under the interpretation by Shiseido's team, white has a new meaning - powerful, futuristic, sharp and mysterious, it goes well with everything, but it cannot be ordinary! As for hairdo, be prepared for wet and dry, natural and strong, tight and flared hairstyles by Shiseido Professional. 

The Photo App That Matters by VSCO

We at luminnej absolutely love beautiful visuals, we adore the fact that these days, any picture (even the ones taken with a mobile phone) can be beautiful, as long as you know how to achieve that, with some help from mobile apps which are so prevalent out there. Some of our favourites are snapseed, Fotor, Line Camera, Tadaa SLR, among others.

Of late, we stumbled upon an app that is so so awesome. It's an app basically for enthusiastic photographers, for artists to showcase their work, with the use of some built-in filters, which the fine people at VSCO called presets. It's truly amazing how much you can achieve just by tweaking your pictures with the app. It is also a community which truly appreciate the art of photography. They make it a point not to make it too social driven with likes and number of followers like Instagram (which in a way, is the fun part of it too), it's solely stunning visuals to be admired upon, in their exact words, "Beautiful imagery trumps social clout, therefore number of followers, comments and likes are absent from the platform".

So much talents and excellent work out there. Just to elaborate how far the range is and how much you you could manipulate and enhance your pictures, here are some of ours, with different look and feel. If you love to play with visuals, you will love this. Check out the mobile app called VSCOCAM here or their main website here. We had so much fun fiddling with it recently. The only thing that the app doesn't have is the ability to "sharpen" your pictures. Once you are happy with the end result after the editing, you can upload them onto the space called GRID. They have a curated grid where good works are being featured constantly. Must check it out there!

All pictures were taken with mobile phone except image2, 4 and 7 (the wholemeal bread on Home Journal Magazine) We hope you like our shots. Do check out more of our VSCO pictures here. Give it a try, we are pretty sure that you will love it too. Have a great weekend *_^

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Get Funky With Your Designs

Do you love DIY? Do you have a tendency to want to move your furnitures around once in a while, or have the urge to decorate your wall with DIY items? If yes is the answer, then this wonderful website is where you should head to and check out. It's called Funkytime (here for more) It is full of interesting designing ideas and how you can beautify your space with some DIY approaches. They are packed with wicked ideas like how to iron-on your own minecraft t-shirts or create your own party invitation cards! We came across some home styling ideas which are awesome to spice up a space, especially with that bright yellow splash of colour to add some zest into your life. See for yourself what a difference a colour can make. 

[Faces] The Passionate Fashion Designer, Beatrice Looi

The bright sunny afternoon of some time in March at Publika welcomed us warmly, as if knowing something beautiful was about to come our way. Indeed it was as we approached our meeting destination called Elegantology, cosily tugged into a corner of this busy row of fine restaurants and hip eatery, filled with casual patrons during this lunch hour. As we stepped into this gallery and restaurant that was elegantly put together, we were swiftly greeted by the ever friendly Marketing Director, Andrew! It was not too long ago that we caught up for the Jason Zeck fashion show (here for more) prior. This time, we were there to meet and have a chat with the fashion designer whom most of us have come to know and love very much, the lovely Beatrice Looi.

Being served a cup of beautifully brewed hot coffee while  waiting for Beatrice to finish up her meeting was definitely heavenly. As Beatrice approached our table, she quickly greeted us and spoke confidently that she was actually finishing up a meeting with some clients and naturally put herself at eased at the table. She looked radiant with her cat-eyed look for the day, paired with her long silky smooth black hair, definitely chic in her own manner. Though we have not met her in person much before this, but by her diving into the conversation with breeze made it seem like we have been friends for the longest time. We chatted over coffee and here are some of what we delved into throughout this enchanted afternoon.

A White Luminous Mother's Day Inspiration

Mother's Day is just around the corner. Let's celebrate this special day with some beauty boards that we had that kind of spur-of-a-moment AHA idea struck us the other day and then put together sort of thing went on. (We are not making sense here, but hey, who bothers, it's mother's day! And I am celebrating it too *_^) 

Here are some of our favourite things, the LUMI way (be it to give to your beloved woman/dearest mommy in your life, or just some hints to the other special half to get for you instead!). We are LOVING simplicity in all white from Zara here, a hint of mint to go with the basic colour, a pop of green heels, a Fossil watch and to pull together the clean look, we pair them with one of our all-time-favourite Japanese skincare and makeup brands, cle de peau BEAUTE latest range. Need us to say more? No because they are so divinely beautiful, right? You really have to cle de peau BEAUTE out.

Of course, one of our wishes for this day (and the rest of our lives) is to attain a more balanced life by eating more healthily (don't forget to treat your mom to a special meal or better still, cook her your own home-cooked dishes for her to savour *_^). More Zara here and cle de peau BEAUTE here. Fossil here.

Show your love to your mom and we wish all beautiful, strong and inspiring mothers out there, a very happy Mother's Day! You truly deserve the best in life. A big HUGE hug from us *_^

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Discovering The Wonders of Jaeger-LeCoultre SIHH 2014 Novelties

When time leaves a trace of its existence in a space which all fine watchmaking enthusiasts find their inspiration from, it must have also brought with it the mark of a great master - the artisans, the designers, the engineers, each and every one of the talent behind this pioneer inventor, innovator and illustrious manufacturer whose expertise and virtuosity has been consistently upheld since way back in 1833! Jaeger-LeCoultre has been fueled by the same passion in its on-going quest for technical perfection in haute horology by bringing us the finest in intricately-designed and engineered watches, conveying the designers' ideas through lines, anticipating what tomorrow will bring and subtly blending past, present and future. 

[Star Gazing] The Many Faces of Jeon Ji Hyun

We are pretty sure that you have at least heard of this recent drama, or vaguely have an impression of it by now but the one who plays this outrageous and somewhat funny Korean actress in the series is no stranger to any kdrama fans out there. Unfortunately, we personally have not really seen much of her work prior to catching the series (in an express marathon mode, mind you, within two nights, shown over at ONE!), but managed to follow this drama called My Love From The Star (official Korean website here). She is none other than the sassy Jeon Ji Hyun. 

Honestly, we find the female lead character Cheon Song-Yi, in the drama quite weak throughout, not much character arch (am putting on my screenwriter glasses here, talking *_^) but we do have to admit that Jeon Ji Hyun plays the role quite "brilliantly" by being, at times, crazily funny and never really take herself (and the character) too seriously to begin with. Actually, what was slightly more interesting about the drama was more of the character of the male lead, Do Min-Joon (played by the cute young actor, Kim Soo Hyun), which we shall not go into for now! 

Nevertheless, this tall lady does look pretty charming and beautiful in these two separate editorials for Harper's Bazaar Korea and China. There is something very "fishy" about them that you really need to check it out at our friend, Rolala Loves' blog post here for she picked it up so sharply that we didn't even notice it in the first place. 

Which version we love? We have to say both as they have a slightly different feel to them (hence we included them here. We especially love the blue and turquoise pieces worn by her. 

[Star Gazing] The Cool and Gorgeous Daniel Henney

Our very first impression of this cool American-Korean hunk was way back when he acted in the Korean series, My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, playing the nice guy who could never seem to get the girl. Much later, we caught him again, playing the "Mr. Perfect" in Seducing Mr. Perfect. There is something attractive about a dude like him who is fluent in both the English and Korean language (having the good looks to go with is not a bad thing too *_^ though he needs a little more work in his acting skill).

Here's a sizzling hot editorial of Daniel Henney for Elle Korea, the February 2014 issue, seen here, together with Kim Soo Hyun (not the "alien" though, *wink wink*). We love the retro and wild west feel to the spread, yet oozes with a certain ruggedness and feminine sexiness! Pictures via couch-kimchi here.