Quick Review: My Beauty Diary Eye Masks

My job requires me to stare at two computer screens the entire day and when I go home, I continue watching dramas/variety shows on my laptop. This lifestyle is already a recipe for disaster. I'm not a young teenager who can survive such a lifestyle and still have bright peepers. I just turned 25 and very devastatingly, I noticed fine lines when I smiled. I think my extreme attention on computer screens is also taking a toll on how well-rested my eyes need to be. Even when I have a full 10-hour sleep, I will wake up with puffy and tired eyes. No concealers or highlighters can hide the puffiness. I can only wait till my eyes are back to normal and that's like hours later. What have I done?! 

Recently, I have decided to take frequent breaks when I'm working. I'll go to the toilet or make myself another cup of tea. I don't care if my colleagues think I have a bladder problem, I need to get this crazy habit sorted. I think I'm going to buy small plants and decorate my work table excessively till it becomes a product out of a jungle. People say plants help absorb radiation, lessen the stress and all those good stuff, so all hail the plants! 

At home, I try to pay more attention to my skincare, especially for my eyes. I have 3 different eye creams that I rotate every morning and night. I also try to apply eye masks as often as I can. Currently, my favourite is the My Beauty Diary Eye Masks. I have all 3 variations and personally I think I have serious issues with puffiness, smoothness and dark circles, so all 3 masks are the perfect fit for my eye masks obsession. 

I also love them because they have unique (ok, strange lah strange) mask shapes and I feel like a bad-ass superhero every single time I apply the eye mask. 

I got them all in Hong Kong because it's so much cheaper there than in Singapore. I bought way too many and I'm not regretting at all because as of now, I still have yet to see the need to stock up. That impulse to buy out 4 SASA stores has very handsome rewards. Go me! 

Each box of 5 costs S$11.90 in Watsons. I bought them for less than S$8 per box in Hong Kong. 

From left to right:
Puffiness Intensive Care Eye Mask
Smoothness Intensive Care Eye Mask
Dark Circles Intensive Care Eye Mask

Basically the Puffiness one looks like batman, the Smoothness one looks larger than life and the Dark Circles one looks like the kiap kiap laundry one. :D

I truly believe that one has to use these eye masks more than 5 times to actually see the difference. My personal favourite is the Puffiness Intensive Care Eye Mask. It does what it promises to the best and my puffy eyes were always more calm and less swollen after mask removal. The most difficult to apply is the Dark Circles Intensive Care Eye Mask because it works best when you have your eyes closed.

To elevate the shiok eye-mask experience, I always put my eye masks in the fridge. This method really works if you have very swollen eyes in the mornings.

My Beauty Diary Eye Masks are on a class of their own right now. However, I'm quite optimistic at this development of quirky eye masks because it means more and more brands are going to come up with their own takes on these masks and it's quite exciting right?

So, if you are a sucker for eye products as much as I do, go get yourself some My Beauty Diary Eye Masks!!

Hong Kong August 2014: Food #fatdieme

Our plan for Hong Kong was to shop and eat all the way, but truthfully, the shopping wasn't that fantastic. In the end, around 75-80% of our money went to food. Not regretting though because the food was fantastic and whatever weight we put on we can exercise them away lah. 

Here's a list of the places that we went to for AMAAAZINNGG food. Ah so hungry looking at these photos now. I'm currently desperately trying to lose the gained blobs of fat so I had salad and dragonfruit juice for lunch. The agony~~

Yes, the macaroni from McDonalds was good!!

McDonalds

Hong Kong International Airport

Arrivals Meeters & Greeters Hall, Level 5

Ate here twice because we loved the scrambled eggs so much! I also finally tried the egg white custard and it was so smooth. I want some now!!!! :(

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司  

G/F, 47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan 

We didn't eat at Tim Ho Wan at all this trip because we knew there were other dim sum restaurants better than THW. One Dim Sum was spectacular. I miss the siew mai and beef ball lah. 

One Dim Sum 一點心

Shop 1 & 2, G/F, Kenwood Mansion, 15 Playing Field Road, Prince Edward

If you like greasy oyster omelettes then this is the place for you. 

Four Seasons Claypot Rice 四季煲仔飯

46 Arthur Street, Yau Ma Tei 

WAHWAHWAH my favourite meal this trip. Highly recommended. PLEASE TRY! It's very near the midpoint of the long escalator.

Lan Fong Yuen 蘭芳園

2 Gage Street, Central

Well, there's a good reason this is so popular. NOMS.

Tai Cheong Bakery 泰昌餅家

35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central

Some random shop at Kowloon. Heh don't remember at all because we were STARVING. 

Great, great breakfast at Kam Wah Cafe. The polo bun was TO DIE FOR. My "satay" instant noodles was also damn good. Why instant noodles in Hong Kong can taste so good one??

Kam Wah Cafe 金華冰廳

G/F, 47 Bute Street, Prince Edward

This was S$8. Damn expensive please. Some more the bowl so small. But okay lor, still very nice.

Mak's Noodle 麥奀雲吞麵世家 

G/F, 37 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay

My favourite fruit juice in the world. I had it almost daily when I was in Japan. Damn excited when I found it in Hong Kong. So excited I bought the 1L bottle. :D

Authentic dim sum experience! Crazy chionging for seats and food. In the end we shared a table with this cute old man. :D

Lin Heung Tea House 蓮香樓

160-164 Wellington Street, Central

Hidden gem award goes to Star Cafe. The tomato + egg noodle looks like a pile of vomit but tasted super nice. Once again I wonder how instant noodles can taste so nice in Hong Kong?!

Star Cafe 星座冰室 

Shop No. 36, Champagne Court, 16-20 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Long story short - we ate like gluttons/kings (whichever half of the glass you prefer hehe). 

Hong Kong August 2014: Airbnb Experience

For my recent Hong Kong trip, I didn't want to stay in a typical hotel, so I opted for an Airbnb apartment. Actually, I was hoping that I could stay where the locals would stay - small studio rooms in high-rise apartment buildings. I found one that's extremely near 3 MTR stations and the decor looked nice on the Airbnb listing site, so I booked while crossing my fingers. 

Fortunately, the photos on the Airbnb site were a 100% match to what we saw in reality. I enjoyed my stay in the studio thoroughly and I'm now more confident in using Airbnb for my holidays! 

Here's the link to the studio that we stayed in for 4 nights: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/692723

How the studio looked like.

The sky bridge right in front of the apartment building. This sky bridge links to Austin MTR Exit B5 and Kowloon MTR. 

The best part about this studio is its location - it's very walkable from Kowloon MTR station which means you can simply take the Airport Express to Kowloon station and walk to the apartment building. Super convenient! It's also very near Austin MTR! 

The room was clean and basic necessities were provided. The air-con was damn strong so it was a blessing to us because the weather was super hot and humid when we visited. The only problem we had was the very cranky toilet flushing system. But aiyah no problem for me at all because of the engineer I was staying with. Got toilet flushing problems, send out the engineer boyfriend and no more problems liao. HAHA. But I have told the host about this problem; hopefully he will do something about it. 

My next Airbnb experience will be for my Bangkok trip with Lirong. The apartment that we shortlisted is freaking swanky. Got infinity pool some more. The best thing is, it's freaking cheap oh my gosh?! Airbnb HUAT AH! 

Have a great day ahead guys! :)

Love-hate Relationship with Hong Kong

My 5-day Hong Kong vacation just passed like that. In a few hours' time, I'll be back at work. Not that I'm looking forward to work. The overconsumption of food and sunlight has reenergised me and I'm all ready for work! 

One sentence to sum up this entire trip - I'm never going back to Hong Kong during the summer. Yes, yes very typical of me, complaining about the weather. I thought Singapore's all-year-long heat and humidity were bad, but oh gosh Hong Kong's weather in summer is crazy! I couldn't focus at all because of how stuffy and searing it was. I googled the weather and even though the highest recorded temperature was 33 degrees it felt like 42 degrees due to the high level of humidity. Wahlao, all we wanted to do was go in to random shops/shopping centres to cool down. I also almost fainted on the last day. Couldn't breathe properly, couldn't think properly. I was not a happy tourist whenever I was walking under the hot sun. Poor Kengyang had to talk to a grumpy whiner haha. 

Despite the scorching weather, I still very much enjoyed my vacation. I had a wonderful company and I had amazing food. The single component that I love about Hong Kong the most is definitely the food. Yes the weather is crazy, but the food is always good and my mood will always be better after good food. I will definitely go back to Hong Kong again, just for the food, but next time, maybe I want to go back during the cooler months. :P 

We didn't do much shopping this time round and we spent most of our money on food. I spent the most at Sasa (lol where else right?) and Kengyang's big purchase was at Kiehl's where he bought the entire Oil Eliminator set. When we were in Hong Kong, Kiehl's launched their new Oil Eliminator skincare set for men. I spotted it at Langham Place and got a cleanser sample for Kengyang. He used it for 2 days straight and was freaking impressed at how well the cleanser worked. Initially, he was skeptical about the claim that "100% men agreed that oil is reduced", but he was a convert after 4 washes. So he bought the entire set of cleanser, toner and moisturiser. Cheaper than Singapore lah, so just buy right?! 

Photos! 

Fa Yuen Street Market in Mongkok

Australia Dairy Co. in Jordan. We had two meals here because the scrambled egg was too good. 

Mid-Levels Escalator

Finally took the Star Ferry. The journey from Central to TST was very scenic.

Camped at Avenue of Stars for the nightly A Symphony of Lights show. It was very disappointing and we left before it was officially over. MEHH. 

Times Square at Causeway Bay.

We boarded bus 6X to Stanley Market and it was one of the best bus rides I've ever taken in my life! 

Stanley, Hong Kong

Stanley, Hong Kong

The other purpose of this trip was to celebrate our 3rd year together. :) Next time, let's go to a colder place! 

I'll be posting two more blogposts - one for all the food that we had and one for the awesome Airbnb house that we stayed in. :D Time to go for my run now. Lose the weight gained from all the amazing food!!

Have a good Sunday guys! Also very belatedly, Happy National Day Singapore! I love you much much!! :) 

Cosmopolitan Hotel, Hong Kong

For my extremely swift 3D2N work trip in Hong Kong, my colleague and I stayed in Cosmopolitan Hotel, which is located in the Wan Chai area. 

It's certainly an above average hotel with quite exquisite pre-stay service. After you make your reservation, the hotel will send you an email on the weather conditions during your stay and some suggestions on how you can make your Hong Kong trip more fruitful. Direction from the airport to the hotel was also given and they even provided us with the choice of using a hotel shuttle bus from the airport. 

My colleague and I used the airport express to Hong Kong station (24 minutes only!) and we took a taxi to the hotel. On the way back to the airport, we took the hotel shuttle bus to Hong Kong station and took the airport express again. 

The hotel room itself was magnificent. Both our rooms got upgraded and we had the breathtaking city view. Before checking-in, it's worth asking for either a "city-view" room or a "racecourse-view" room, because if you're unfortunate (or fortunate if you like those kinds of things), you will get assigned a room facing the cemetery. Don't get me wrong, the cemetery itself is majestic and if you have no problem with the superstitious stuff, then all's good for you! However, I'm a coward (excessive horror movie intake) and I was very relieved when we had the city-view rooms. 

It was a very comfortable 2 nights and the wifi is really fast!! :D That's the most important factor right? 

Photos!!

This was outside every room. It's a hotel located opposite the Happy Valley Racecourse so this decor is very appropriate.

The huge king-size bed!

I'm too short to be able to each the other end of the bed diagonally.

The view outside my room!

Morning view.

Cosmopolitan Hotel

 387-397 Queen's Road East

Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Tel : +852 3552 1111

Email : generalmanager@cosmopolitanhotel.com.hk

Website

TripAdvisor page

Quick Hong Kong Work Trip

First two photos are of the breathtaking views seen from various clients' offices, and the last photo is of the view seen outside my hotel room.

I went to Hong Kong for a quick 3D2N work trip and it was fast-paced and hectic. However, I did get to finally meet our Hong Kong clients; I could finally put a face to the email address.

The weather in Hong Kong now is vile. On the last day, I actually couldn't wait to get back to Singapore. Hong Kong now is more humid, much hotter and much more sunny than Singapore. Being crazy hot didn't mean that the weather was constantly dry - we actually experienced an "amber warning" thunderstorm on the second day.

This brings me to my next important point....

... I'm going to Hong Kong again on 5th August for vacation with Kengyang, and the weather is predicted to be as scorching. I don't know what to expect but I better pack enough shorts and tops made out of light and airy materials.

I need to learn my lesson. This next trip will be my third trip to Hong Kong during their summer season. Aiyoh, next time, I shall plan one shiok trip during autumn/winter lah.

Hong Kong Haul: Fashion Products

Shopping in Hong Kong is really a dream come true. :') It helped that I allocated some amount of money in shopping and this amount just took forever to deplete. Things were so cheap, MY MONEY COULDN'T FINISH LAR. :D 

Langham Place was a dream because there was MONKI and a hugeass H&M that were both having huge sales! There's this shopping centre at Argyle Street that sells things twice (or even thrice) cheaper than what Bugis/FEP normally sells them for. And of course, there were the night markets in which things were crazy cheap already. :D 

Here are my fashion product loots! 

From Monki, I got myself 2 tanks (not in any photos, completely forgot to take aiyahhh) and a phone holder and a shades holder! :) I also got myself a new wallet (last photo of the post) and all 5 items totalled to around 260hkd? 

Random colourful bracelets from night market and a rose gold bracelet from H&M. The trio was 3 for 50hkd and the H&M one was 20hkd!

So many pretty necklaces!! All these were less than 150hkd!

GAP was having crazy sales - they will deduct a further 40% on already discounted items. This bag practically cost me nothing. It was already on 60% discount, then you take another 40% off the remaining 40% (if you think that amounts to 0%, your math fail ar!).

This bag was also from GAP and I bought the taupe one while ky bought the blue. Too nice to pass and who cares if it's meant for guys!

H&M bag for 50hkd!

Best purchases ever - 2 envelope clutches for 100hkd!!! One of these can easily cost S$19.90 in Singapore! CRAZYYYY.

Bought myself 4 pairs of shoes. Actually I just kept buying and didn't realise I bought so many haha.

The first pair is 50hkd from some random store! It looks filmsy and painful but it's not! VERY COMFY! :D

Sandals from H&M for 100hkd!

Flats from H&M for 70hkd!

Another acquisition from GAP - I paid less than 100hkd for this. Technically, GAP was cheaper than H&M the week I went to Hong Kong. WOOTS!

Tops from H&M!

The front top is from GAP and the back one is from some random store (49.90hkd!).

Striped top from Mango (79hkd!), I also bought another one in a different colour for my mom. The polka dot top is from GAP!

Skirts + 1 pant from H&M and random stores.

And wallets! :)

Obviously I went crazy shopping there, but I came back with spare cash. WHO SAID YOU NEED MORE THAN 800 BUCKS IN HONG KONG. My shopping + food + touring fees < S$700. Of course it helps that my bf paid for some things lar. hahahahahahaha.