BLOGMAS Day 7: Ma Maison (Anchorpoint) with Mr Chung!

Mr Chung is doing his reservist next week and I'm very sad, but a man has to do what he has to do so I shall not complain. A woman also has to do what she has to do, and so I shall continue shopping for Christmas presents :D 

Also, we are going to make our first HDB payment next Sunday and I'm both excited and sian. Yay, got HDB! But wahlao CPF empty again. I hope I get a decent pay rise next year *fingers crossed*. 

Both of us dined at Anchorpoint's Ma Maison and it was a delightful experience as usual. I don't really need to read the menu or look at their special seasonal menu because I don't bother ordering other things. I order French Onion Soup and Beef Stroganoff with Omurice EVERY SINGLE TIME. Too good already. 

Kengyang ordered the special seasonal ginger pork set. It was good, but ...

... NOT AS NOMS AS MINE. This is the best Omurice man, the egg is so soft and smooth, and the butter rice inside is extremely fragrant. Don't ask me how to describe the beef stroganoff - I'm not a food blogger and I cannot give you bombastic descriptions for how good it is. I can only give you "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm". 

Aiyah so gian, I want to eat this again. :S But we just had Sunday Folks (best waffles ever?! photos coming soon!) and now I'm in food coma. It's also raining heavily outside - the most appropriate condition for napping while in food coma. Bye! zzzzz.

BLOGMAS Day 6: Review - Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R and Spot Essence W

For new readers, a quick background of my skin type and condition - I have oily, acne-prone skin and it gets worse when I'm under stress. My acne usually sprouts (lol) at the jawline and upper-lip areas - a condition diagnosed as Google doctor as "hormonal acne". I also believe I'm in that awkward hormones-bo-balance stage (or in proper English, hormonal imbalance) so my body is rebelling and as a result my skin is not cooperating as well. Before I hit my 20s, I barely had pimples. :( I miss those days so much. 

This is why I'm always on the search for anti-acne skin products, and recently I trust South Korean brands more because they are less harsh and works as effectively as the usual spot treatment creams with benzoyl peroxide/salicylic acid. I loved the Etude House AC Clinic line and I was eager to try out other popular South Korean brands that offer an anti-acne skincare line. 

I was on Qoo10 one day (like which day am I not on Qoo10 right? HAHA) and a store selling Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble products had a time sale so I jumped at the chance! I bought both the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R and Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W for less than S$30 - a steal considering how each can go up to S$30+ in the local brick and mortar stores. 

Packaging: I really love the choice of colour for the outer packaging. This minty green colour is the perfect colour for an anti-trouble line! Words are in white instead of black, which gives it a more soothing and professional. I know, I'm looking way too much into their packaging, but this is how customers like me are intrigued to try anti-trouble products. The cleaner, less busy, more soothing and more professional the outer packaging, the more I feel like I can trust this product.

A full-sized Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R has 15ml of product, while a full-sized Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W has 30ml of product. This makes a lot of sense since both products are supposed to be used differently -

• The Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R is for more serious breakouts - especially those that are extremely irritated or painful. 
• The Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W is to soothe and treat bumpy skin (i.e. minor spots that don't hurt). 

A little bit of the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R is good enough for a really enraged pimple, hence the 15ml of product is more than sufficient. On the other hand, the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W can be applied on more areas, hence you will use this up faster than the R product - 30ml is reasonable. 

Starting with the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R:

For this product, you are instructed to use a cotton swab to apply the product on desired areas - you definitely don't want to transfer more bacteria onto your erupting painful mess by using your fingers!

On the other hand, the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W can be applied as per normal - after cleansing, toning and moisturising.

Product texture/consistency:

• the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R has a thick green consistency that dries off into powder after blending. The green colour also helps to hide the redness around the acne. 
• the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W feels more like a lightweight moisturiser that applies very well under makeup. 

Therefore, I will suggest that you use Spot Essence R at night before bed since it will leave a greenish tinge on your skin, and you can use Spot Essence W in the mornings before makeup. 

Top: Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R
Bottom: Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W

Do these work as claimed?

• the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R is marvellous. It dries up the pimple within a day and after 3 days, you have your flat surface again. The best thing is once you apply this on an incredibly painful area, the pain gradually goes away and you don't feel the pain after half a day. I really hate it when pimples are painful - most of my pimples are around my mouth area, and it affects how I smile. Like smile already, then damn pain, so sad right?? 
• the Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence W, on the other hand, is just an average product. It's targeted towards minor spots that don't hurt and so it's not as obvious whether it is effective or not. I have used this for a more than 2 months on such areas, and I don't really see a difference in my skin condition. The good thing is those areas remained as they are in the 2 months, no new spots, and none of the spots evolved to face demons. 

Will I buy these again? I'll definitely purchase Innisfree Jejubija Anti-Trouble Spot Essence R again, but not the Spot Essence W. 

Any of my readers have more South Korean anti-acne/anti-trouble products to recommend? Do let me know if you have any good ones that you want me to try! 

Have a good weekend! :) 

BLOGMAS Day 5: Singsale Goodies - Brushes, Toner and Footwear!

I'm suddenly on a Singsale craze again. Initially, I only wanted to take a quick look because it was announced that NYX would have a sale on that day, but there was no time frame given, so I accessed the website in the morning, and kept refreshing. So boring right? Okay, I browsed the website and ohmygosh so many things on sale! I even wanted to get a bed sheet set just because it was discounted and pretty. In the end I had three things in my cart that were NOT from NYX (the sale sucked by the way, it was mostly old stuff) and because my pay was in the day before, I just checked out. 

I was so excited, then after a few days, I realised why I stopped browsing Singsale a few months back - the shipping/delivery is going to take ages! I ordered on 27 November and as of now only two out of three items have been shipped out. One (the Michael Todd toner) just arrived in their warehouse and it will only be shipped out earliest 7 December. So for everything to reach me, I will estimate maybe end of the year? The last time I shopped on Singsale, my items arrived 1.5 months later. 

I guess cannot really blame them because the three things that I purchased were from three different companies from different parts of the world, so getting the items to arrive at their warehouse really depends on when the companies mail the items out. Looking at how I barely can remember things these days, I'd probably forget about all these purchases and be pleasantly surprised when they arrive. "Wah! I got buy this meh??" - this happens way too often. 

I got myself a 24-piece brush set from Bella Brush, my 4th bottle of Michael Todd toner and Therapy & Because sandals. There was also some promotion going on, so I had discounts on top of discounts. I love it when you can stack vouchers! :D 

I don't need more brushes, but I'm lazy to wash all my brushes, so when these come, I may throw some of my old brushes away. I also googled and reviews were not bad!

No need to explain more about this because I raved about it in one of my older posts. This is my 4th bottle!!

This pair was only S$9! WHAT?!

20 more days to Christmas! YAY!

BLOGMAS Day 4: Review - NYX Matte Lipstick in MLS 10 Perfect Red

Funny how a few months back I'm adamant about not wearing lipstick, and now....I'm all about matte lipsticks. NYX is incredibly reliable (not to mention extremely affordable) when it comes to matte lipsticks. I have tried both the soft matte lip creams and the matte lipsticks, and I love them both! I'll highly recommend both products to those who love matte lipsticks - more so if you are a fan of bright/dark coloured matte lipsticks. All of the NYX brighter/darker colours that I have tried have not disappointed me. 

This post will be dedicated to my favourite red lipstick - the NYX Matte Lipstick in MLS 10 Perfect Red. Different stores (online or physical) sell this at different prices but most of the stores will not sell the NYX Matte Lipsticks for more than S$15. If I remember correctly, I got mine for less than S$10!. 

However, please be wary when shopping for NYX matte lip products online. Due to the huge following of the soft matte lip creams and the matte lipsticks, there are some nefarious people who sell fake NYX lip products for the same price. I found a brilliant article on facebook on how to differentiate the real and fake soft matte lip creams and do take a look! I have yet to find one for the matte lipsticks but I'll definitely update this page if I find a reliable article. 

Proceeding with the review...let's go!

Packaging: Truly brilliant packaging - chic matte black texture for a matte lipstick (very appropriate and also damn smooth) with a clever addition of the transparent panel in the middle. No need to open the cap and search for the shade that you want to wear because you get to see the actual product shade from the packaging. Genius!

Colour and pigmentation: MLS 10 Perfect Red is a true red colour with quite a lot of blue undertones. Blue-based reds are great for those with cool toned skin! If you're looking for a true red with lots of orange undertones, then MLS 08 Pure Red is good for you!.

When I had Perfect Red on my lips, my teeth looked whiter than they actually were. Major love please!

Pigmentation-wise, oh my NYX Matte Lipsticks are beyond amazing. The swatch below was done with a single swipe. SINGLE! But of course, incredible pigmentation can lead to some application trouble, especially for beginners, hence I will suggest that you use a lip brush to apply this, or to apply any bright-coloured lipsticks.

Swatch under natural lighting

Swatch taken with camera flash

Application: The NYX Matte Lipstick in MLS 10 Perfect Red glides oh-so-smoothly on the lips. Even when using a lip brush, it's not that hard to get product on the brush. It will not apply matte - after application, it will take a good 10-15 seconds to mattify, or even more depending on the temperature/humidity level.

Longevity: The NYX Matte Lipstick in MLS 10 Perfect Red is not as transfer-proof as the soft matte lip creams. This will definitely transfer to any mugs/straws when you drink. However, very strangely, even after transferring to mugs and after two meals, I still had bright red lips. Yes, it did fade a little bit and it wasn't as bright as initial application, but the fading was minimal! Lasted me a good 12 hours with NO touch-ups. Two thumbs up!

Will I buy it again? More colours for me please! I'm loving Tea Rose and Angel. Maybe I'm going o get more soon! :D

BLOGMAS 2014 Day 3: Zalora Haul (December 2014)

Welcome to BLOGMAS day 3! Time is passing way too fast right? We're almost halfway through the first week of December.

I had a scary experience a couple nights ago and it really made me think hard about my health. So yes, I was sleeping with the lights off (very unusual for me because I always need a little bit of light to sleep, but I was damn tired so I didn't care) and I woke up at 3+am with a really weird feeling in my mouth. When I closed my mouth, my saliva glands would overwork and I would have a mouth full of saliva within like 3 seconds. It's freaking scary! I thought it was nothing, so I just swallowed the saliva, but it happened like 4-5 times. So okay, I sat up and wanted to calm myself down, but I felt this sudden wave of nausea. I went to the toilet and was prepared to vomit it all out when everything felt normal again. WHAT IS THIS?! I woke up the next morning (a Sunday - super wasted) with a migraine that lasted almost the entire day. :( This happened again last night and I really was quite shaken. What if I didn't wake up and choked to death? That would be a really stupid way to die. 

When I told my mom, she suggested that I see a specialist because "this kind of thing cannot play one you know?" - which I truly agree. So yes, to the specialst we go! 

Also, I cannot wait for my facial session tomorrow.  I have been really stressed at work and my skin is protesting. So many facial demons on my face!!!! BAH! 

Whenever I'm stressed at work, I always browse shopping sites and I almost always end up buying something. Like the below purchases, they were all added into my shopping cart in office. Zalora always have the best deals and the below purchases were made on 3 occasions. 2 on a Thursday (to make use of the Mastercard Thursdays promotion) and 1 on Black Friday. I think all my Zalora orders have been made with some form of promo/discount codes stacked. Super cheapo but got cheap thrill, quite awesome. 

Two dresses for myself! I hope it's cold tomorrow morning so that I can wear a sweater over the blue shirt dress, and then complete the ensemble with a pair of boots/glittery oxfords. :D

Slit Maxi Dress
Shirt Dress

Three pairs of shoes and a bag for myself (I just sold 10+ pairs of shoes on Carousell, so it's only right that I get new ones hehe) and the other two are christmas presents.

Rubi Santa Fe Sandals
Rubi Pompeii Sandals
Pointed Toe D'Orsay
Derby Shoes
Canvas Backpack With Checkered Flap
Canvas Backpack With Stripe Panel Flap

22 more days to Christmas! :D

BLOGMAS 2014 DAY 2: New in - Charles & Keith Slip-ons

It is day 2 of BLOGMAS and I'm still diligently following my blogging schedule. All is good. All is always good if I follow what I wrote on my lists. Almost every situation in my life is governed by lists. "List of things to do today", "Christmas shopping list", "List of outfits to match a pair of white Converse".... I can go on forever. The feeling of utmost satisfaction and relief when I tick a task off my list is quite addictive. I guess I feel more productive when I tick things off. 

Random self-reflection aside, how absolutely fabulous is this pair of slip-ons from Charles & Keith. I have always wanted a nude/taupe/brown pair of slip-ons with the metal-tip detail, but they were either too expensive or they made my legs look bigger than they already are. *sad face* Kengyang and I went to Anchorpoint just on a whim, and I pulled him to the Charles & Keith outlet store. SO MANY AMAZINGG PAIRS OF SHOES AT HUGELY DISCOUNTED PRICES. I had to control myself though and in the end I got this amazing pair of pointed slip-ons. Not only do they fulfill everything I wanted in a slip-on, they also made my legs look normal (pointed toe effect?). 

Also, while purchasing this pair of shoes, I had a major revelation - Kengyang is really the man for me. You know how some guys will just stand outside waiting for their girlfriends to finish shopping? Kengyang is NOTHING like that. Instead, he had more questions than I had on shoes that I had taken interests in. Very trivial things lah, but really made me realise that I have made the correct life decision. Okay okay, since I mention this already I shall just explain what happened - initially I wanted to purchase a size 38 without giving much thought into it because I'm usually a size 38, so no biggie right? Kengyang pushed me to trying both size 37 and size 38 because he said size 38 looked a little bit too loose. So okay, I tried size 37 (albeit quite unwillingly lol) and wah size 37 really fit me better?? How many guys will do this you tell me?!?!?!?! So yes, Mr Chung, don't run away liao ah. 

See lah, I went into random mode again. I hope I still have readers who enjoy my anyhow way of writing. :D 

Do visit Charles & Keith outlet store at Anchorpoint if you want gorgeous shoes with great quality at a fraction of the original retail prices! I'm definitely going back soon! 

BLOGMAS 2014 Day 1: Less than a month to Christmas!!

"It was still only mid-afternoon, yet there were already almost imperceptible signs of the approaching evening. The hottest part of the day had just passed." 

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

It's very bizarre - I woke up from my afternoon nap (yah 12-4pm of napping, TMD) with this sentence ringing in my head. I think I woke up once at 2pm to wipe away the sweat on my forehead, and then I went back to my dreamland, and then I woke up in an especially dark and cooling room because well, it's going to pour. Nevertheless, yes, sometimes I when I read a book and I think too much into the story before sleeping, I wake up feeling like I'm a character in the book with the same settings. I know lah, this is in no way related to what I was going to write about today, but hey, random musing of the day! 

Christmas is barely a month away! What happened to time?! What happened to 2014?! I have so many gifts to buy for my lovely friends and family, and I also am concerned of the outfits that I'm going to wear to meet these lovely friends and family. I wanted to wear dresses because pretty, shiny, holiday dresses are always appropriate, but then I won't have the chance to wear them often. So okay, time to find amazing separates online! I scoured tops and skirts collection online and hehe, I'm ready for the festive season! 

I have also taken the necessary holiday leaves and now I have 2 weeks of pure bliss. :') 

Random photo of my current favourite pair of earrings. I just cut my hair shorter (very much shorter actually, can't wait for it to grow a little longer) and now you can actually SEE the earrings that I have on, so I'm going all out in the earrings department.  I actually wore this pair every single day last week. Can you see the holographic multichrome this pair has under the correct lighting? LOVE. 

My very much shorter hair. The only issue I'm having with my hair now is that it's kind of flat. I need VOLUME. The shorter my hair gets, the longer it takes for me to get ready in the mornings because I have to apply hair products and then blowdry my hair in a certain way. Aiyoh. 

Anyway, since it's December 2014 already, and so many youtubers are doing Vlogmas (daily vlogs in December 2014), I have decided to do a BLOGMAS - I will try to blog daily! A very difficult feat to to achieve but I'm gonna try it out. I have around 15 posts drafted already, so I think I can do this!!

Have a great week ahead guys! :) Press on and before you know it, "deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la. Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la~~"

Tarte Bon Voyage Collector’s Set & Travel Bag

Just one visit to Sephora is enough to make me go into a frenzy. I was handed a basket from the enthusiastic salesperson and my struggle commenced. I had SO many gift sets in my basket - the Urban Decay BLACK MAGIC 24/7 Glide-On Double-Ended Eye Pencil Set, the Urban Decay VICE3 Eyeshadow Palette, many cute Burt's Bees gift sets and finally the Tarte Bon Voyage Collector’s Set & Travel Bag. In the end, after close to 30 minutes of talking to myself, I got the Tarte Bon Voyage Collector’s Set & Travel Bag because it was TOO GOOD A DEAL. 

You get 20 Amazonian clay eye shadows, a deluxe-sized lights, camera, lashes 4-in-1 mascara, a limited-edition deluxe cheek stain in Muse, a LipSurgence lip gloss in Visionary, a LipSurgence lip tint in Romantic, a deluxe-sized maracuja oil, a deluxe-sized smooth operator Amazonian clay finishing powder and a DAMN CHIO limited-edition collector’s travel bag for only S$79. HALO?? Of course buy! 

Photo from (x)

How royally gorgeous is this travel bag??!?! I definitely will not be putting this in my luggage when I'm travelling, this will be in my carry-on luggage. Imagine the boost my ego will get every single time I take out this beautiful bag out of my carry-on luggage on the plane. "Yes, my travel bag is chioer than yours, oh yeah" - yes, good buy right? I will try to squeeze my book, wallet, phone, charger, earphone, handcream, toothbrush, toothpaste, aiyah this shall be my only carry-on luggage lah!

Photo from (x)

There are so many reviews of this Tarte set online, so I won't be doing an in-depth review for each of the products. Temptalia has an amazing review on this (just like all her other reviews), do click to read her review!

Look at these 20 eyeshadows!! I like how Tarte mixes things up with lots of mattes and satins, instead of just focusing on shimmers. Always good to have shimmers and glitters for the Christmas season, but I want to use this palette after Christmas too! Also, that dark navy colour is FABULOUS.

Photo from (x)

Terrific value right!?

Struggling to avoid Sephora now. I actually want to go again today. *cue monkey see no evil emoji*

Zalora - Shop on Thursdays till end of 2014!!

So this happened....

I had $32.24 in my Zalora wallet from a previous refund, so I decided okay let's browse Zalora for new stuff...

Just nice it's Thursday and Zalora Basics had a "buy 2 get 20% off" deal. Add everything up, I only paid S$5.12. (Of course the S$32.24 also my money but that was residing in my Zalora wallet for quite some time already, so it felt like free money LOL)

Then, there was a 15% off coupon code and both the RUBI shoes on my wishlist had a "buy 2 for S$40" deal, so after stacking all the deals, I paid S$29.83 for both shoes - technically like "buy 1 get 1 free". 

Moral of the story - if you have Mastercard, shop on Zalora on Thursdays! The 10% off deal is ongoing every Thursday till end of 2014.

I confirm and promise this is not sponsored or a requested post!! I just found everything while browsing since my office network is down now. :D

Review: Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette

How many nude palettes do I actually need? Just one. 

How many nude palettes do I actually want? GIVE ME ALL OF THEM. 

Seriously man, ever since trailblazing Urban Decay started the nude/naked/neutral eyeshadow palette trend, every single brand in the cosmetic industry (generalization here to illustrate the booming neutral palette situation) has formulated one of their own as well. And I'm not complaining because even though palette A looks exactly like palette B, which is also highly similarly to palette C (and palette D, and palette AA and palette ZZ), I still want to possess as many as possible because as shopping is my vice and I need to fulfill my vice to be happy. Yah okay, it's a long paragraph to basically explain my total addiction to collecting neutral eyeshadow palettes. 

I bought the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette a couple of months ago from ShoppingDistrict.net for S$38.90 and I'm glad I bought the second installment instead of the first one. 

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette 

Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette

The Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette focuses more on the reds and corals of the neutral eyeshadow family, while the Coastal Scents Revealed Palette contains the more usual neutral shades of browns and taupes. To be honest, I like the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette better because it's a palette that can complement my other neutral eyeshadow palettes. I have Urban Decay Naked, Lorac Pro and NYX Nude on Nude and these 3 palettes mostly have browns and taupes (just like the Coastal Scents Revealed Palette), hence second installment is a better fit to my makeup collection. This does not mean that I didn't have the temptation to get both palettes. Oh yes, I had both in my cart... 

Ingredients list

Packaging: Very travel-friendly. It's not a bulky palette (like the Naked series) and it's very compact and thin. It actually reminds me of the Lorac Pro Palette, just that this one has no mirror, which is both good and bad (less heavy, but less convenient for application). The cardboard packaging does not bother me at all because the design on it is sleek and very appropriate for a neutral palette with all the different hues of browns and reds. The only thing that irked me a little bit is the black cardboard on the eyeshadow side - very irritating because if I'm not careful, the product will get everywhere and black being the packaging colour on this side of the palette, the mess can get pretty obvious. So I always make it a point to load the product on my eyeshadow brushes very very carefully. Mild OCD perhaps? I don't know... Everything must be clean, always!!

Colour selection: The Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette has an impressive repertoire of colours. The first row is mostly lighter shades with a great balance of mattes and shimmers, corals and reds. The second row introduces you to darker shades of the same family, complete with a matte black for that classic smokey eye or just for lining the eyes. The most disappointing colour for me has got to be the second from the bottom right side - it looks pretty with the black base and red glitters, but oh my gosh it's a fallout disaster and the chunky glitters have the tendency to make their way INTO my eyes. A nightmare to apply and a nightmare to maintain. I ended up having super irritated eyes when I used this colour on my eyes.

Pigmentation: Great pigmentation on a whole. I'm most impressed by the mattes. Usually matte eyeshadows in palettes are quite redundant because you can't get any pigmentation out, but in this one, all the matte shades have amazing payoff - not only swatches, but also on the eyelid!

Longevity: To be honest, these eyeshadows don't have the best staying power. Without a primer, give them 4-5 hours and the colour will start to fade and at the end of the day, the shade is much less intense than when you first apply it. With a primer, the situation gets a little better, but still not the most long-lasting eyeshadows. In comparison, my Lorac Pro eyeshadows maintain their intensity after a full 12-hour wear WITHOUT a primer. but then again Lorac is a high-end brand so I can't really do a 100% comparison with this palette. For a S$38.90 palette, the Coastal Scents Revealed 2 Palette has decent longevity. 

Will I recommend this palette? For those of you who are (like me) into collecting neutral eyeshadow palettes, then this is a good addition! If you're just a beginner when it comes to eyeshadows, I will suggest that you get the first installment because browns and taupes are safer colours. Overall, it's a great palette (with one black-sheep shade) that's worth trying out!