The Instant Goddess gets shirty!

This week, the Instant Goddess is getting shirty… Not only because she’s had far too many 5.40am starts due to a sick baby and one monster hangover due to a fast drinking friend, but also because there are some great shirts in the shops at the moment!

Shopping
I braved Zara yesterday with tot in tow… and that is some challenge as she has such fast hands and a penchant for shoes, meaning that we normally end up shoplifting by accident or wrecking some neatly-stacked display. Zara’s sale leftovers have now been relegated to one side rail so at last they have mostly new stock, including some great going-out and day shirts and some really interesting bold print blazers including floral, zebra and polka dots (all HKD$699). If you’re game, these would look great with plain black, but you do have to be game!

If you’re looking for a black smart cover up for evenings, this black jacquard blazer is the answer (HKD$699; you can see the detail better in the close-up). Or if you want a funkier alternative, I loved this quilted leather number too (HKD$1199).

Step into spring with this lovely bright floral shirt (HKD$399), shown here with white pants but which actually looks better with mid-blue jeans to pick out the blue of the flowers. I also loved this elegant cream chiffon shirt with its glam gold sequin collars (HKD$599).

Find all Zara stores in Hong Kong here.

If you haven’t already discovered jeggings, then I can’t rave about them enough! I discovered them last year after quite a few seasons of squeezing myself into skinny jeans and never feeling that comfortable in them, only to find that jeggings are far more forgiving and stretch with you whatever you demand of them. My tried and tested favourites are M&S “superstretch” jeggings for HKD$425 a pop (look for the yellow jegging swing tag); they’re available in different colours but my faves are the black and navy blue.

Find all Marks & Spencer locations in Hong Kong here.

Beauty
This week’s top beauty tip comes from favourite make-up artist Jaime Smith of Smudge Make-Up Artistry… especially fitting as smudge is one of my favourite words for make-up! Unless you are going for a 60s Mod look, harsh and unblended eyeliner and eye shadows are almost never flattering. Try quickly running a blending brush, q-tip or clean finger over eye make-up to smudge out any harsh noticeable lines.

Use this technique before heading out to make a glamorous smokey eye even more sultry or just to ensure that your everyday make-up is more natural looking. Two blending brushes I just can’t live without are MAC’s #217 Blending Brush for blending eye shadows and MAC’s #219 Pencil Brush to smudge and feather eyeliners.

Find all MAC locations in Hong Kong here.

Food
This week’s mid-week meal inspiration comes from Mary Berry, a legend in our household. If you don’t know her, she’s an old-school UK chef from before the days of the ubiquitous celebrity ones. Given the colder weather, I’m craving comfort food at the moment and this posh Shepherd’s Pie is just the answer with its yummy gratin topping. Berry uses minced lamb but this can be substituted with minced beef if you like. Get the full recipe here.

Yogie tea saying of the week: ‘The best way of life is to be, simply be’. The Instant Goddess saying of the week? ‘Beware of the fast drinking friend’!

Don’t forget Goddesses you are always, always worth it! Until next week…

Check out all of Katie’s Instant Goddess columns here.