SWS Spring Shop, Chinatown

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As we were strolling through Chinatown in the city this evening, a room full of flowers, flooded in pink, caught our eyes. Unable to resist temptation, we entered the store and it was as though we'd fallen into wonderland.

Whether it be something that smells nice, looks nice, or makes you feel nice, one thing's for sure: the SWS Spring palace is perfect for pure indulgence. Founded by Taiwanese student Moody Ko in 1977, this store has morphed from being a retailer of Australian souvenirs, to one with all things 'spring'.



SWS blossomed into a beauty concept store. Among the collection of pretty little things, it has both local and international cosmetic brands, with testers for the majority of these products. We enjoyed trying out the Loccitane moisturisers and hand creams - my hands were baby skin soft afterwards. They have gift packs by this brand for a pretty sweet value; around $60 each where often this is the price you pay for one of their items.



We were also loving the Taiwanese make-up range. The foundations are well suited to an Asian palette, so my friend being half Taiwanese was big on the foundation products found here. I liked the quality of their lip glosses and eye-liners, caving to a smooth black gel liner with glitter in it. A little sparkle makes everything better!

I lost count of the soaps and bath bombs we stopped to adore. Most notably were those that looked like a buffet of desserts. There was a neat little three-pack of macarons to entice any sweet-tooth, and donuts so intricately carved you see every pink sprinkle. Remember there is no 'eat me' sign so don't go nibbling into them upon purchase only to be disappointed (as a couple of patrons have done, or so the story goes). Alongside these were cake sponges with textures and toppings to match. Too cute!



The edible-looking non-edibles don't stop there. My friend fell in love with a watermelon candle. This fruity-scented piece came in the size of a real chunk of this colourful fruit, and alternatively, in the form of five tiny tea-light candles. Deciding which to decorate her home with was tough. I also spotted a set of pink and green cactus tea-lights, and a rhubarb cupcake candle, and it was cuteness overload.

There were so many other immensely flavoured candles, that contributed to us hanging out in this wonderland for over an hour. These ranged from classic Gardenia, Jasmine and other floral aromas, to candles that if you were to close your eyes and smell, would have you thinking you were on the beach with toes in the sand and salty ocean mist all around you. There was this one that just smelt like seaweed though.



There are too many pretty, sparkly, pieces to list here. I can only dream about this store being my bedroom. Last but not least of things that particularly caught our attention were the crazy socks. Socks with burgers and fries, ice-cream, bananas and elephants; hot pink socks with zebras all over them (could not say no!). With a 'buy one get one free' deal extended to us, and each around $12-15, thoughts included "Hmm, did someone say matching socks?"



The staff are so friendly and make it such a warm shopping experience. They were all for us indulging in the fragrances, testing the testers, and taking a bunch of photos. Of course, this made it harder to refrain from the retail therapy that eventuated. However, we were happy little 'Alice's' when we wandered off minutes before close. Take a whimsical little journey to SWS, especially with Christmas waiting around the corner.

#chinatown
#gifts
#girls_day_out
#guides
#haymarket
#indoor
#pop_culture
#romantic
#Services
#shopping
#sydney
#cbd
#city
%wnsydney