Blue and Gold

Here's an outfit that I wore for quite some time ago already. I've been wearing a lot of long sleeves in hopes of trying to hide the fats in my arms (really, this fat thing is getting annoying isn't it?)

Necklace: Stradivarius

Top: Emoda

Skirt: Romwe

Shoes: Online

I like how the sleeves are sheer and though it hides most of your arms, the skin still show through. Great to wear in the office, actually, giving one that modest-but-not-too-modest type of feel. I always wear skirt/shorts with long sleeves, because my basic rule is show skin on top, hide the bottom, or show skin on bottom, then the top must be less exposed.

And since I saw how nicely blue complemented the goldish tinge in my hair, I opted for a gold accessory as well.

Been staying so late at work the past days that I thought I must always reward myself by blogging during free time. Lol. Hopefully you guys are having a great week so far!

BB Cream for Acne Prone Skin: Dr. Jart Ctrl-A Beauty Balm Review

I mentioned in my previous post that if I ever find a good BB Cream for my skin that is currently soo prone to adult acne, I would share it with you. And so a few months back, I tried one, called Dr. Jart + Ctrl-A Beauty Balm. I've been using it for more than 2 months now so I can safely say that I'm quite confident in this product.

Before anything else, this is an unsponsored post and I searched for this BB cream by myself since I was in desperate need of something to cover up my blemishes but at the same would not be harsh to my already sensitive and full-of-breakouts face. I browsed through a lot of possible choices until I decided to buy this at Luxola. Unfortunately, it's quite hard to find in Watson's/Guardians or other cosmetic stores ; it can only be found online.

~ Update!  Dr. Jart+ is available in Guardian stores:

• Takashimaya
• Bedok Mall
• Parkway Parade

Ctrl+A range can be bought from here. As for their other best selling BB creams and ceramidin range, they are available in selected SASA stores:

• Nex
• Jurong point
• Tampines One
• Wisma
• Holland Village
• Vivo city
• Causeway point
• Plaza Singapura
• Lot 1

As you can see from above, it's targeted to clear and prevent breakouts, and is especially for sensitive skin. It doesn't irritate the skin at all and it doesn't block pores, but don't expect it to really CLEAR your breakouts. We all know blackheads, whiteheads and acne need a lot of care, attention and even medication in order for us to eradicate them. And although it may not clear those that you already have, this BB Cream does not cause any, which is its major selling point.

Price. S$42.00 which may be a bit pricey for some but it's worth it.
Fragrance. Almost with no fragrance at all, which is very important to me. Scented facial products almost always irritate my skin so this was a good sign!

Texture. It's a bit on the thick side, but not too thick that it will cake nor make you look like you're wearing tons of makeup. Also, it's up to you if you want to apply it thinly if you don't really need much coverage, but if you do, you just have to adjust the heaviness of your application depending on how much and which areas you want to cover. I actually don't use foundation or anything else anymore, just this, even on evening events because it's enough to cover up my blemishes or any redness.
Colour. It IS on the fair side as most asian BB Creams are, and as much as I've seen so far, it's only available in this colour.

I had a bruise on my hand on the day I took this photo (dunno where it came from though). As you can see from the "After" photo it even covered up this mark and made the skin look brighter.

And this is for those of you who like to look through ingredients. What's important to me is that it's free of paraben, fragrance, talc, pigment, mineral oils, Phthalate , alcohol, benzophenone, petrolatum nor marked preservatives.

It also has UV Protection SPF 30 so I don't use sunblock anymore, despite my friends' and dermatoligist's protests that I should NEVER GO OUT WITHOUT SUNBLOCK. I'm hoping this would be enough since most sunblocks also have SPF 30.

Below is what I look like, well, half of what I look like before I use the BB Cream.  I'll let you cut it out and connect the two together because the full picture doesn't look too good LOL. I had a very bad breakout experience from the past months and I'm still trying to recover from it.. even my skin is so tired from fighting this battle :(

And above is after I applied the BB Cream! Initially it will look like you really did apply something but after a while it blends nicely into your skin.

One thing though, is that it does feel a biiit greasy at the end of the day, but that's because my face is really oily. Just need to dab a bit of tissue here and there, reapply a bit, and you can go off again for a nice dinner with your loved ones.

I really love it and overall, I give it a 9 out of 10!

Hope this helped those of you who are just like me, suffering from acne and looking for something to cover it up without making it worse. I do still want to go makeup-less and have my good skin back but for now this at least helps regain my confidence!

Red is for _____

I'm kinda late in posting this outfit and so I'll let you guess whether I wore it for Christmas, CNY, Valentines or even my birthday. Lol. Red is really so often used when it comes to special occasions. But I'll just say Red is for Monday, to beat the blues.:)

I know it will be annoying if I'll be calling myself fat all the time, but my recent weight gain is quite obvious here. Oh well at least I look healthier?

Awkward pose lol

Outfit:

Top&Headpiece: Stradivarius

Skirt: Bugis

Red Boots: Online

I noticed that I seldom wear red, I always prefer to be on the safe side with black and light colours. One thing I noticed about it though, is that it's a cheerful color, apart from yellow! No wonder red is the colour during CNY and other celebrations, it looks so festive.

Can't wait to update you guys again, have a wonderful week ahead, everyone!

Catching Up

First of all, I am truly really sorry for being gone for more than a month.. After my last post, I was busy preparing for my 2 week vacation, and during the 2-week vacation itself, I was supposed to update my blog since I would be having a lot of free time. But alas, I did bring my laptop but I was so unlucky to have left my hard drive! :( And then when I came back 2 weeks ago, it was busy as hell at work, I moved to a new project and here I am now, although still busy, trying to update this beloved blog of mine because it's one of the things that can keep me happy.

And so it is sunday today, I am still doing some work... but the kind that I like^^ Currently munching on chips, but organic ones! Since I've been stressed out and have been gaining weight.:( Better start thinking about consuming guilt-free stuff!

 Viva La Papa! - the Organic Hand Cooked Crunchy Chips from Peru

I personally like the purple-colored one, as well as the Chillies&Lime.:)

Some info regarding the chips:

Sustainable

Viva La Papa selects the most delicious, sustainable varieties of native potatoes and other roots. These potatoes originated from Peru thousand years ago. Today, the Andean communities have grown hundreds of colourful and nutritious varities. 

It is also the proud sponsors of Amantani, who run educational boarding houses for children in the remote Andes of Peru.

Cooking
Hand cooked in small batches with pure sunflower oil, with a hint of delicious natural Peruvian flavours.
 All Natural


Gluten free

OU Kosher
 (yeah I've also wondered,  OU is the world's largest kosher certifying agency, while the Hebrew word “kosher” means fit or proper as it relates to kosher dietary law-- which I believe is the diet followed by Hebrews as described in the bible. Kinda like how Halal is to the muslims)

No GMO


No Trans Fat

NO artificial additives

Flavours

Andean Pink Salt Potato Chips

Anticucho BBQ Potato Chips

Chillies & Lime Potato Chips

Exotic Sweet Potato Chips

Andean Native Potato Chips

And then.. apart from my weight gain I also have a lot to improve with myself for this year.. From the superficial ones which is caring for my hair, skin (hopefully heal acne scars soon), and teeth, to thinking more about my career and how I want to spend the rest of my life, because I am not getting any younger! I am really grateful that I have a stable job now, but I also have dreams and goals, so I must be working even harder and doing better in my job from now on.

Oh and speaking of hair... been recently careful to use haircare products because of my recent bleaching. From my previous post, I mentioned having been given the Shining Hair Water and the Damage Care Hair Water. I must say it did manage to make my hair less frizzy over the last few weeks, and I also made sure that I don't wash my hair everyday anymore...

 My hair, after bleaching + dyeing. Do you see all the frizz? 

My hair now after using tsubaki products. It's still dry but at least there's less frizz! I know I still have a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go to regain my hair's health, and I would need a lot of salon treatments, but at least I'm now paying more attention to it than before.:)

Luckily I also received O&M haircare products! Just in time, huh? Le Bono Collection was thoughtful to have given me the ones for coloured hair :) Will be using it from now on and I'll post again for results!

A brief description about O&M products:

All products are free from Sulfates, Parabens, MIT, Phthalates, Triclosan and Propylene Glycol, meaning they are a kind to your body as they can be, without compromising on quality and style. 

Sourced from diverse geographical locations from the desert to the ocean, these Australian native actives deliver many benefits while nourishing and protecting the hair.

They can be found at:

Department Stores

TANGS Orchard Lv 2 

Robinsons Orchard 

Online retailer 

http://www.luxola.com/ 

http://www.survivesg.com/

https://estore.tangs.com/ 

http://www.lebonocollection.com/

http://www.zalora.sg/

Salon

http://www.urbanhair.com.sg/

Focus Hairdressing

Passion Hair Salon 

Trimmings Hair Salon 

BLOC+ 

Thanks again to Le Bono collection for letting me try out these new products! That's it for now and I promise to blog more soon! Thanks for checking in, loves!

Tsubaki + Senka | Butter Studio

Hello hello~ I'm back, and with a lot of backlogs since my blog took advantage of the holidays instead of me, I didn't go on vacation whatsoever, still had to work. >.< But that's alright. Anyway! Last December we were invited to a media event for Tsubaki and Senka. If you're not too familiar with the brands, both are from Shiseido, Tsubaki bringing hair products that aim to bring luster and shine to women's tresses, wheareas Senka is a skincare line for those who want simple yet effective skincare. It also comes at a highly affordable price but with premium quality (as most Japanese products are, high quality, that is.) It was held at a very cozy cafe, the Butter Studio!

So cute and dreamy! I wanted to ask how many packs of cotton they used for setting this up. LOL

Was there with my favorite gorgeous darlings - Alene and Gwen!

We were introduced to the products as shown in the photos below, but the main stars of the night were the Speedy Perfect Whip for Senka and the Out of Bath treatments for Tsubaki! Will be divulging more on that later :)

There were a lot of games but since I have the worst hand and eye coordination ever, I let both Gwen and Alene play and I was just a spectator. LOL

We got to take home their amazing products as you can see from below!

TSUBAKI hair care products have three key ingredients in them:

1. Melanin Hole Repair Ingredient. Arginine, repairs the melanin holes as it restores the inner structure of the hair fibre that allows light to be reflected evenly to create beautiful shine and lustre.
2. UV Protective Ingredient . It helps to reduce daily UV radiation and protects the hair from UV damage.
3. Selected Camellia Oil. An oil known for its uses to repair the hair cuticle while retaining shine and elasticity, it smoothens and softens the hair fibre, allowing hair to reflect light beautifully.

Shining Hair Water

Price: $16.90 @ 250mL

(Also comes with refill pack which can be cost-saving, $13.50 @ 220mL)

A new addition to the Shining series, the Shining Hair Water instantly replenishes moisture and shine to the hair, making it silky smooth and lustrous.

Features:
*Creates silky smooth hair without oily feel
*Protects hair against UV exposure during the day
*Refreshing scent with floral and green notes

I really like the way their products'smell, flowery and not too overwhelming. I'm always lazy with haircare so I use this when my dry hair needs more lustre and shine! (which is EVERY SINGLE DAY but I'm crazy busy so I only get to use it when I remember to do so)

How to use:
Hold the spray nozzle 5 - 10 cm away from your hair and spray generously to moist the hair. Comb/ brush the sprayed hair before drying with a hair dryer or allowing hair to dry naturally.

Damage Care Hair Water 

Price: $16.90 @ 250mL

(Refille Pack - $13.50 @ 220mL)

Created to instantly repair and protect against damage, the Damage Care Hair Water makes hair elastic and lustrous right from roots to tips.

*Repairs dry and brittle hair for a smooth feel and manageability right to the ends

*Protects hair against UV exposure during the day

*Refreshing scent with floral and green notes

I use this for my very brittle and dry hair ends which tend to be all over the place! It really tames the hair and makes it look more most and manageable afterwards.

How to use:

1. Apply Damage Care Hair Water on dry hair (after blow drying). It may also be used to tame out-of-bed hair.

Really lucky to have gotten hold of these two as everyone has been commenting on how dry and damaged my hair looks. I'll be doing a before and after photo for this products after this post! Also, time for me to focus more on hair treatments! My hair really is one of the most neglected part of me :(

They also gave us the Speedy Perfect Whip together with the other Senka skincare range.

Speedy Perfect Whip
$13.90 @ 150mL
(Refill Pack - $10.90 @ 130mL)

- Creates thick, creamy foam with one pump
- New Cleansing Technology :
     Removes dirt/ impurities and oil gently and effectively without stripping away essential moisture
     Quick and easy rinsing (half the time required!)
- Leaves skin soft, smooth and moisturized

- Suitable for all skin types

How to use:
Take an appropriate amount (about two pumps) onto wet palm. Spread the foam across the entire facial area in circular motion and rinse off thereafter.

For those of you who want a fuss free cleanser, this is for you! It also comes with Perfect Watery Oil ($22.90 @ 230mL) for gentle removal of makeup and other impurities and you can use it while showering!

Took some polaroid photos with the lovely girls!

TSUBAKI Damage Care Hair Emulsion, Damage Care Hair Water and Shining Hair Water and SENKA Perfect Whip are available each exclusively in Watsons stores from 06 February 2014 onwards.

Below are more photos from our venue which was so comfy, cozy and adorable! I wanted to order and eat all the cupcakes they were so yummy O.o

Google+ did this Twinkling "Auto-awesome" photo for me. I was kinda surprised it did that without me clicking anything at all, but it really is awesome huh?

Love their decors!

Thanks again to DSPG, Shiseido Singapore and Butter Studio for having us!!

Butter Studio

147 Jalan Besar

Opening Hours:

Sun - Mon: 12:00 - 23:00

Wed - Thu: 12:00 - 23:00

Fri - Sat: 12:00 - 00:00

Closed: Tue

http://www.thebutterstudio.com/