Welcome to designer J. Maskrey's blinged-out world

in Apartment O in Causeway Bay, surrounded by sparkly shoes and crystal skin transfers, vintage furniture and kitsch modern art, flame-haired accessories designer J. Maskrey seems to blend in perfectly with the colourful interior.

She's known as one of the precursors of "skin jewellery" - her registered trademark - though cheaper imitations can be found everywhere. But Maskrey takes it with good humour.

"I think you just have to look at it as a compliment - unless it's very literal, of course. You'll always have new ideas anyway," she says. "I'm very creative and I would be very bored if I always had to do the same thing."

A Hong Kong-born Eurasian, Maskrey moved to London in 1996 after studying sociology and classical Chinese. "I spent three years in between in Paris, but moved back to London because I couldn't speak the language. Being a Cantonese speaker, I found the French pronunciation impossible."

She started off as a make-up artist for magazine editorials. "I love painting, and make-up is like painting on people's faces," she says.

One day, for a photo shoot, she came up with the idea of using rainbow-coloured cake sprinkles on the model. "It was like edible jewellery. Then I just happened to say to the stylist, 'People should really buy this stuff, you know'. And the next thing I knew, I got a special commission from Lancôme, then Estée Lauder, then for Sonia Rykiel, so it was just one thing after the other."