The lovely Shirley from Summerhaven nail spa has came along to sponsor my nails for

International Women's day as well as my SimplyHer shoot.

Here's a preview of my first Gelish experience at her plush looking nail salon.

The highlights were

-Sterilized and ndividually wrapped nail tools
-a drink menu which includes mocha, milo, teh tarik, chrysanthemum tea and a nice caramelized biscuit to munch on while you had your nails done
-Avaliability book the salon for 2-3hrs for your private events such as hen's nights, birthdays and more
-BYOB and use their free champagne glasses
-The lovely nail spa was awarded by Expat Living last year as their reader's choice top nail salon (Mind you it was conducted as an open ended questionaire and still they won).

I'll write an indepth review of the lovely manicure and pedicure session in my next post.

Loving my 4 day old gelish nails and hope they last nicely for 2 weeks at least.

Earlier this week,

I went to the photo studio as I was going to be featured on April's issue of SimplyHer magazine.

I then met Eileen from Expect studios (liang court) and watched as she used a flat iron to give me soft curls for the look they wanted for me. It's always nice to have someone see to your hair and make up, but it's not like we have access to one everyday. And I realised it isn't hard to pick up a skill or two in doing it yourself if you can afford the time from home. This isn't the first time a flat iron was used to curl my hair by hairstylist. And I've never wanted to try because I had curling tongs at home. Not till I spotted a keratase travel size flat iron in my mom's room the other day.

So the day after shoot, just before attend the Zegna spring summer launch of Z zegna at Paragon, I tried to recreate the look.

Making curls with a flat iron turns out to be pretty simple. It just takes practise to understand the angles and strength you want to apply while doing so to get a variety of curls. It's the same with curling tongs where you learn to vary how tight you wanted your curls to be and in what angle you wanted them to curl.

Below is a video from youtube that illustrates the basic technic on how to twist your flat iron. As mine was a travel sized one, the curls were a little smaller.




Check out the Spring look on How to carry of flowery prints in this April's issue of SimplyHer. More behind the scenes in my next post

Labels: curling tong, curls hair, emernegildo zegna, flat iron, simplyher, sph magazines, spring, summer, zegna

Published in 1971, The Lorax carries an environmental message that still rings true today amidst the dangers of logging, pollution, and disregard for our fragile environment. In The Lorax, we find what we've come to expect from the beloved Dr Seuss: brilliantly whimsical rhymes, delightfully creatures, and weird undulating illustrations. But here there is also something more - a powerful message that Seuss implores both adults and children to heed.

How apt to see the Singapore Environmental Council handing out tickets to their staff and partners during the preview session too. Apart from its strong environmental themes, especially regarding issues such as deforestation, and air and water pollution. The film also speaks strongly against greed, and the capitalist system.

Dr. Seuss’s books, though aimed at kids, often explore topics that can be fodder for controversy in this day and age. Some think it unsuitable for kids, and others call it a sort of propaganda. Personally, I do not see how a sweet little book as such could be found as fault.

In his 30th book, The Lorax tells the story of a mystical creature called the Lorax, who watches over a pristine forest full of colorful Truffula Trees and carefree animals. A merry and naive adolecent called The Once Ler moves in, chops down the trees, pollution the water and air, which forces the animals, and eventually the Lorax, to leave.

The setting is still the polluted town of Thneedville, where trees don't grow and fresh air is sold in jars. (Something I find quite frightening when I think for the future). In the original book, the character - called " The Once ler" was never revealed, but illustrated as a mysterious character with a pair of green gloved hands. The other characters include "Ted", a character named after Dr.Seuss. And Taylor Swift who plays "Audrey", a new character named after Seuss' widow, Audrey Geisel, who happens to be the producer of the film. Admist Ted's quest to find a living tree for his object of interest, Audrey. He is led to The Once Ler who betows upon him the seed of the last Truffala tree at the end of the show.

The ending is both grim and hopeful:As all the trees were gone, and the Lorax floats away “through a hole in the smog” but leaves a pile of rocks with the word “Unless” written across them.

The quote “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s Not,” flashes across the screen. And as it turns out, we've got a happy ended where the Truffula tree seed survives, and holds out the promise that if it is treated with care, the the trees will grow once again".

For those who are keen on the lovely book - here's the book on youtube. Pardon the quality, but enjoy the rhymes anyway.

A little note of thanks to Omy.sg and United Pictures for tickets to the media preview of The Lorax.

Labels: Dr Seuss, movie review, Omy.sg, The Lorax

This 2nd March Cartier brings you - L’Odyssée de Cartier, three-and-a-half minute short film that chronicles the brand’s 165-year history, retracing the cultural influences that impact that maison and its founders, and how travel and culture translated into inspiration for Cartier creativity through the eyes of the iconic panther – a rich dialogue between past and present, dream and reality.

The story of the maison is brillantly depicted in a short film that features supermodel Shalom Harlow. From England to Russia, China and then India and then back to Paris the story unfolds.







L'Odyssée de Cartier will debut first on Cartier's Facebook page on March 2 and on Cartier's dedicated site on March 4.

In Singapore, the screenings are as such:

TV: Channel 5 on March 4 at 9.30pm
Channel News Asia on March 4 at 7.30pm
Cable: STAR on March 4 at 9.50pm
FOX on March 4 at 9.20pm
Cinema: March 8 to 28 – along with selected movies such as Hugo and The Iron Lady.

At The Cathay Cinema, Cathay Cineplex Cineleisure Orchard, Shaw Lido, Golden Village VivoCity - Gold Class, Europa and Golden Village Grand and Gold Class Katong.

I couldn't help feeling tiny

The Oscars- so much better when you watch it live with a whole lot of media and industry folks! :)

Once again I was happy that my co www.party-parlour.com was the instant photos provider at Golden Village's screening of the Oscars. I bumped into a few friends which includes Nick Bloodworth who is now with Beam artist. Along with Tara Rushton, Keegan Kang and May.

The biligual radio crew, made up of Queenie, Abigail and Roger were also present and shared alittle with me about in988.com which is internet radio. Abigail even mentioned about having me talk about photography on their show. Perhaps I would explore that in the near future:). She's really sweet natured and meeting someone like her made my day and made work all the more lovely.

I'm nominated as one of 100 Most Inspiring Real Women by Cozycot to commemorate International Women's Day 2012. Thank you Sihui & Pris for this wonderful piece of news.



more details soon :) later this march.

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”

--Chuck Close

Ahhhhh what a statement! I love how vintage it looks



Holga iPhone Lens at the Photojojo Store!

And guess what, it's available in Singapore at this shop in holland village called

SNAPSHOP asia

The product retails at30 USD on photojojo and likewise (only with more savings on forex).
it's 30SGD here!

The case looks vaguely like a rotary dial for an iPhone 4 or 4S, with the dial providing ten different filters. As noted on the Holga Direct website, those ten filters do the following:

Dual Image Lens: Produces 2 identical images similar to a Holga 2-way split image filter
Triple Image Lens: Produces 3 identical images similar to a Holga 3-way split image filter
Quadruple Image Lens: Produces 4 identical images similar to a Holga 4-way split image filter
60mm Macro Lens: For taking photos at approximately 60mm from the lens
Empty Hole: For taking images with no effect
Red Filter with Clear Heart Shape Centre: Reduces absorption of blue & green lights with clear heart shape centre to stand out
Red Filter: Reduces absorption of blue and green light
Green Filter: Enhances green colors
Yellow Filter with Clear Center: Clear circular spot in center to stand out with surroundings in pale yellow to mimic sunset
Blue Filter with Clear Center: Clear circular spot in center to stand out with surroundings in blue to mimic gentle moon atmosphere

Address:
1 Lor Mambong, Unit 01-10, Holland Village, Singapore, Singapore 277700
Hours
Daily 12noon - 9pm

Labels: holga iphone lens case singapore, holga singapore, snapshop asia

Has anyone tried the beauty blender? This egg shaped contoured sponge that supposedly gives you a seamless, airbrushed look when you apply foundation with it? Have I stumbled upon the holy grail of make up sponges?

I am aware beautyblender is available at Sephora for $25 and up (can't remember exactly.)

And while shopping at ALT beauty at Bugis's BHG departmental store last afternoon, I spotted a dupe. Manicare's version of the beauty blender at a mere $10.90 (not to mention there's a 20% off in store right now).

I did some research and turns out there's a really cheap version sold in the UK for 5 pounds by Cosmopolitan (Man I thought those were magazines only. They make sponges?).

wonder if I can get those in Singapore? Otherwise I might consider Sephora's beautyblender since it comes in a set with the sponge cleaner too. The cleaner doubles up as a brush cleaner for your other stuff!


Where do you shop for cosmetics in Singapore? I read the you can find cosmetics at mustafa for on the average $2 cheaper then in stores. Might be a good idea to head there?

Otherwise ALT beauty (part of BHG at Bugis) is having a storewide 20%. They've got haircare and cosmetics as well as a huge range of japanese products which I realised are stocked at Watsons too. Only that you get them 20% cheaper for now at ALT beauty (Altho I'm not sure how long this promotion would last). Yay?

So Gwen Stefani - the perfect hairdo for a retro outfit

As luck would have it, work takes me to interesting places quite often. And so, there I was at Majolica Majorca's Chapter 33.

It was great to meet Kailing whom I have been liasing for this event since I was supplying them with the magician who was gonna carry out their magic workshop during the blogger's engagement. And then I was pleasantly surprised to see Kanny there, turns out she's one of the ambassadors.

So I read this Spring 2012 Majolica Majorca introducing Chapter 33 “Lash King”.

A mascara with 5 mm super long fibers that blends in with lashes. The new Acrobat Catch Brush mascara wand coats every single lash evenly. Unlimited length, ultra thickness and unbelievable fullness. Achieve king-sized lashes so perfect that they are out of this world. That mesmerizing beauty could only belong to you. Broad-toothed comb helps to apply mascara liquid perfectly along the roots creating an eyeliner effect. Contains volume up powder and volume impact wax which attaches onto lashes. It contains speedy dry oil which maintain long lasting curls. With Vitamin E Derivative and Macadamia nut oil that cares, firms and treat your lashes. Waterproof resistant to sweat, sebum and tears.

“Blood On” – A new paste type texture creates a ruddy glow on your cheeks and lips. Can be used as a base before applying cheek, lip colour or gloss to achieve a radiance reddish glow. ( I love this one, great alternative it is to benefit's benetint isn't it! And how lovely the packaging is!)

“Majoromantica J” – A flora and oriental fragrance with fruity/spicy (top note), floral/milky (middle note) and Sweet/Mysterious(last note) . It's so tiny , it'll fit right into your purse when you head to the clubs. I loved how it had glitter in it.

You can get these at Watson's from tmr 2nd Feb onwards.

Lash King Mascara – deep black BK999 (S$25.90), Blood On ( S$17), Majoromantica J (S$25.90)

I hear that a giveaway is being conducted on facebook so do check Majolica Majorca's fb page for a chance to this

Oh Hello.

So I dyed my hair recently at Snip Avenue, this affordable chain of hair salons than you may find in every corner of Singapore (And thank god no pushy ah tiongs trying to convince me to do a hair treatment or something). It cost me a mere $65.80 for a L'Oreal hairdye and I chose a gold tinged blonde which I was happy with after, but I'm also itching to try out ash blonde (Maybe this July!)

I was quoted $150 the week before at some random salon in NEX for the same thing.

Having moved to Kovan recently places me well......quite comfortably within the heartlands of hougang. I'm kinda happy to have a provision shop located just beneath the block now. Not that our condo didn't have one but it was a walk across the pool and usually in the hot sun.

It is easy to miss the east but I do enjoy living it up north since I spent all my childhood and adolescent years growing up in HG and supporting The Worker's Party? For one thing, there's lots of good food here, more so than in bedok! And there's tonnes of supper places, perfect for voracious eaters like me. You'll find punggol nasi lemak, teochew porridge even at 12midnight. And in the day you have the fabulous hawker food, and dominos pizza which I'll write about later this week since Omy.sg has invited me to DOMINO's tasting event.

Because my head felt a little heavy and I am pretty sure it wasn't my brains. :( I decided on a whim to get a hair cut. I'll refrain from calling it a trim because Kason Kiu, this new stylist I read alot about online lopped up significant amounts of my crowning glory. I was pretty happy with the results - back to the old bangs or what my bf would term as "bowl" hairstyle. I requested for some layers on the side since my hair tends to be quite flat and bought a pot of hairwax. I'll test that out sometime soon and hopefully as Kason promised, I would be able to get a more voluminous look.

This is my hair before - I look like marilyn manson in this one.
(Oh the good news is I am now an owner of a ring flash. I plan to use it for my instant photography booth work but I guess it will come in handy for the blog as well)













And here's the after shot- with my stylist innit and a more sane expression from me.













My friend, Rachel Xie, the wonderful beauty writer at SImplyher magazine swears by Kason and I guess I'm a new convert now.

His haircuts cost $39.90 for both men and women alike. And he's off every monday. See if you're keen.

Twister Salon's located at Level 5 of Tampines-1 mall

10 Tampines Central 1
#05-26 Tampines 1
Singapore 529536
Tel: +65 6481 4044

Operating hours:
Weekdays 11am - 9pm
Saturday 11am - 8pm
Sunday 11am - 7pm

I've 2 IPL packages for hair removal.

One at Fabulous where I go for brazillian IPL hair removal and the other at Jean Yip for underarm hair removal

At both estasblishments, I've gone for treatments 7 times each during the past half year and the effects were such contrast.

I visit the Tan Quee Lan (BUGIS) branch,
and things have been greats so far. Just some pesky fine hairs left after 7 visits.
My package here cost about 1.4K for 8 sessions including my first trial session.
Somethings I balk at how much it costs but at least the results have been fantastic and my therapist Joreen, is quite thorough and gives great service! Fabulous also helps by sending reminders to your phone a day or two before you appointment (great for forgetful fannies..pun intended). The wonderful thing is the equimpent used here doesn't require gel to be applied to your coochie. (pardon me).

This is the IPL machine used at FAB. Alot larger than what you will find at Jean Yip..



I've actually had a trial IPL session done at Strip once but swore never to do it again. Having icy cold gel squeezed all over your gluteus and fanny isn't a joke. Mostly it feels like you're sitting bare butt on an ice slab waiting for god knows what.

But at Jean Yip (Tampines), my therapist insist that there has been effects. Although my observations tell me otherwise. I am contemplating if this is a waste of my time or not but decided to give it one or two more tries. My boyfriend purchased a groupon voucher awhile back (I think this cost about $129) and entitles me to 'unlimited' underarm IPL hair removal. The catch is that the first 6 sessions are a month apart, and subsequent sessions are 2months between each.

Each time, they apply a type of gel to cool your skin and commence zapping your underarms some 4-6times per side (Sufficient? Not quite), the process then ends with a 15min cool down period with the old gel removed and colder gel placed on your underarms once again to tame the heated skin. Thereafter, a healing cream is applied and you're good to go. I am still waiting for a miracle which I hope will happen soon.

That said, I am wondering if I should consider the underarm IPL trial at Fabulous for $48. Now if only there was a groupon deal for this one hehehe

We all know being called bird brained isn't quite a compliment? Now then why do people let these cute little feathery friends pick TOTO numbers for them :)?

An acceptable answer would be that the birds are uber cute! haha

That's what I learnt in media sch - Bad publicity is publicity nonetheless (Congratulations FILTER)

I was kinda neutral to the signs put at at Filter last weekend. And in fact, I was in the club when it happened. It was worth a laugh or two but I could see which it was offensive to others..esp the IJ girls.

The AC one is still somewhat funny and yield a bunch of laughs from my friends who used to come from ACS but the CHIJ one just came off as a little tasteless.

It was reported on the news that alumnus, as well as the sch's board were really pissed off. uh-oh.






More on the news as reported on Asiaone

I guess we never grow up. And so here's my favourite mouse with one of my favourite jewelry brands.(Even my fiesty 80 year old grandmother agrees that we should all be playful no matter our age).

Chopard presents - The Happy Mickey Collection.

Complete with them happy diamonds for course, spinning freely on the dials.

Check out the online catalogue here

or view pictures below starring Caroline Scheufele, and the stylish Alexa Chung. Some well know London bloggers were invited to the event held at the nostalgic Nottingham Cinema. (I would assume that similar launches took place in paris and other cities too) Makes me wonder if there's gonna be a launch event here in SG soon?

As Chopard puts it, "The intrepid mouse and the daring jewellery company share the same joie de vivre, the same dynamic attitude and the same resolutely independent spirit."

This time, I'm picking the watches over the jewelry pieces.

The watches in this line come in three size diameters. The 30 mm Mickey Mouse watch from the ‘Happy Mickey Collection’is in stainless steel, mother-of-pearl dial embodying the Mickey Mouse design, one mobile black diamond, 2 mobile yellow sapphires, 2 mobile rubies, 1 yellow sapphire set on the crown. The model is water resistant to 30 metres and is powered by a quartz movement. The strap is white satin with pin buckle.

The 36 mm Mickey Mouse watch from the ‘Happy Mickey Collection’is in stainless steel with a diamond-set bezel, mother-of-pearl dial with a Mickey Mouse design, 5 mobile diamonds and one blue sapphire set on the crown. The model is water resistant to 30 metres and is empowered by a quartz movement. The strap is black satin with a pin buckle.

The 42 mm Mickey Mouse watch from the ‘Happy Mickey Collection’ is also in stainless steel, with a diamond-set bezel, mother-of-pearl dial, one mobileblack and white diamond set Mickey Mouse head, 3 mobile diamonds and one pastel blue sapphire set on the crow. It is water resistant to 30metresand possesses aquartz movement. The strap is white satin with pin buckle.

J'Adore!

The Happy Mickey Collection is exclusively sold in Chopard Boutiques and Corners. They just launched in the UAE in dec.

Discover the full collection on www.chopard.com/happymickey

Aren't they cute? :)

I had tonnes of fun painting their lovely little faces too at a recently birthday party held at Aspen Heights.

Right now, I am working to train more people in doing so, thus I can expand the team that represents www.party-parlour.com

I can't believe I am taking the longest time to actually launch my new website.

Do you know someone who loves children or enjoys working with them?
Students who are keen on a part time job usually assigned to you on weekends and free training to be a face painter , glitter tattoo artist, airbrush artist or balloon sculptor, please write to me at hello@party-parlour.com.

We pay a pretty handsome fee for an hour or 2 or your time :)

We want people who are:
Curious
Dedicated
Independent
Sociable
Responsible

and SUPER PUNCTUAL.

write to us if you fit the profile.

Labels: balloon sculptors, birthday parties, face painting lessons, kids parties

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