Clarins Beauty Flash Balm and Welcome Kit

After hearing all the rave over the Clarins Beauty Flash balm, I got very very curious but it is rather expensive to shell out $70 to try.  I got the $20 Beauty voucher from Tangs and accumulated some points on the Tangs card so thought I can give it a shot.  M also redeemed his credit card points so I got this free!!!  

  I was pleasantly surprised by the welcome kit given for newly joined members.  The SA gave me the new double serum for 7 days of application (looks like it can possibly stretch to 14) and 10 satchets of their best-selling products.  I haven't been hanging out at the beauty counters after years of buying my stuff at the warehouse sales so I'm rather happy with this purchase.  

  I'm trying out the balm as I writing this.  The makeup still look fresh after 3 hours of wear.  I shall see how it perform later this evening at the wedding dinner.

Crazy doll lady look for Halloween

I've been feeling rather inspired by the halloween makeup this year.  Some were beautifully done, some cute, and some downright scary!  I love them all!  With no party to attend though, what should I do with making up?  Well, you only live once and only young once, I did this makeup after a long day.  It was done in under 30mins and the pictures took another 1 hour to take and process!  I was in a hurry to get this done cos the dude at the back was getting rather disturbed by me!

  I watsapped the pics to a few friends to test-run it uploading.  Glad to hear positive feedback and someone said, "ewwww!" Oh well, can't please everyone.  Next year, I shall be better equipped and do a better job at this!

Mini MAC haul

Ruffie alerted me to a MAC sale on thu and we made our way there for the 2nd day of the sale. The lighter foundations and brushes were snapped up on the first day, I heard. It's ok, I'm only aiming for some lip products and this should keep damages to the minimal.
Here's the haul:
2 x Iced Delights Lip and Nail set (Rocking and Drama)
1 Eye pencil in indigo
1 sheen supreme lipstick in Korean Candy
1 Lipglass in Curvaceous
1 nail varnish in Al Fredo (ello yellow!)
All S$10 each!

 

L to R: Curvaceous, Korean Candy, Kanga Rouge, Hang-up

  The iphone cam managed to capture a colour-true image of the swatches of he lipsticks.

Curvaceous is easy to wear on its own as well as over another nude lip colour.

Korean candy is orangey red but not over the top orange as it is sheer and buildable.  

Kanga Rouge is a deep berry colour which applies evenly and smoothly without much bleeding at the edges.

Hang-up is a blue-tone red, almost fuschia. (By now, I have given up taking lip swatch using the iphone cam as its just can't capture the red properly)

Mama's flavour

My mama used to make this for us when we go on school excursions. She would wake up early and pack us off with this before 7 am. She hasn't made this for a long time and I wanted to let M try what I have been reminiscing about. He gave this the thumbs up!

Incredible Portobello Mushrooms Fries

I saw this on The Chew while I was on MC at home.  Ah, the luxury of afternoon TV talkshows!  We love mushrooms at home and no one I know doesn't like shrooms.  It's up there with on my top 3 favourite food list.  Next time, when any friend who ask me what do I want for my birthday, I might just as well request for shrooms!
  I modified the recipe and cooking method slightly.  Instead of deep frying, I panfried them in my Happycall pan.  It's not because it's healthier, I just don't want to use up my oil too fast :P  I'm not shy of fat and you shouldn't be too :P

Ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour
5 average-sized portobello mushrooms

For the Panko mix:
1/2 cup panko (I used Korean bread crumbs)
3 tablespoon grated cheddar cheese
3 tablespoon of garlic powder (unsalted, if you are using the salted ones, just cut your salt later)
A few generous dashes of Cayenne pepper powder
1 teaspoon salt
- Mix well

Steps:
1. Clean the shrooms with a kitchen towel.  Do not rinse or soak them!  Unless you like soggy fries and oil splattering everywhere, including very possibly, your eyes.
2. Cut into 1.5 to 2 cm sticks.
3. Coat the shrooms sticks with flour.  This will help in adhering eggs to them.
4. Dust off excess flour.
5. Dip in the beaten eggs.
6. Dip in panko mix.
7.  Pan-fry with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil (don't let it smoke!!) on medium heat.  You may need to top up the oil as it gets absorbed by the batter.

Oh, don't waste the shrooms stalks. We never waste food at home.  Trim off the exposed ends, cut into strips. Just dip into the leftover eggs and panko mix for frying too.

  Try it!  You can try baking it instead of panfrying.  I like a bit of oil and want to save on electricity bills too.  Oh this is my very first recipe posted here and actually, ever!

Curious bunny

BB having a go at the new chair while (he thought) I was away.

I love Soy Beansprout

Fried with black fungus and wee bit of sambal belanchan.

 I love the crunchiness and the "green" taste of the soy beansprouts more than the mung bean sprouts that are more commonly seen.  I can fry a bag of it and have for dinner, all by myself. 
  This time, I took on the challenge of making beansprout kimchee since I love it so much.  I followed the recipe from the lovely Beyond Kimchee blog.  The recipe is very easy to follow once you managed to get all the ingredients.  Not a problem since there are many Korean grocery shops all over town. 

  I made about 1.5 kg of the kimchee and gave away some to my parents and friends.  It didn't last more than 1.5 weeks because it was so delicious, I had to have it at every meal at home.  It's been more than a month since I last made it, so I'm drooling at the thought of it.  Any volunteers to help with picking out beansprouts??

My first attempt at making beansprout kimchee.

Ingredients for the kimchee

Garlic chives kimchee

Never say never... And Derma-roller

To botox, that is.

Since last week, I've noticed this drooping of the lips corner left side.  I think this is the first sign of aging that has been bothering me.  Not that there're no other sign of aging on my 33 yo face but this is nagging. The right side is not too bad but I have the habit of sleeping on my side. One day if I do decided to sleep on my right side for a period of time, I think the right will suffer the same fate.  This got me seriously considering botox as a quick fix, nip it in the bud before the line gets deeper.  Maybe I should do some facercise, try to sleep on my back more (but it's really quite difficult for me)?  The next best thing to do now is to start using the derma-roller diligently to stimulate collagen production.  I have very sensitive skin and prone to ezcema so I have to be careful not to roll too hard (quite impossible to roll really hard anyway) and avoid rolling when there is a breakout.  I've used it 3 times only since getting it 3 weeks ago.  The first time I used it, my hand sort of went jelly as it is really rolling 15mm needles on your face and trying to exert enough pressure to stimulate the skin but not enough to break the skin.  Some people use it with numbing gel but I don't have that.  Let's see if this works with rolling 3 to 5 times a week, for 1 month before shelling out the moolah for the botox.

Note:  I also realised that I like to prop my face up with my hand on the left side.  I think that likely lead to more creasing.  So hands off the face!   

Update: I stopped using after 1 week as I had breakouts.  Haven't touched it since!

Brunch with 18 yrs worth pals and the little ones

 

Hey, do you know these people?  Do you think they will like us?

 My farmer's breakfast.  Yum yum, nicely poached eggs :)

 I love the greens

 Kuma DeeDee is really Princess Lilia's pet, can you tell?

 Peekaboo!

 Whimsical decor in Mimolette

 Let's sit in the shade while the adults go out and play.

It's really the month of gatherings, so here we are, having a nice brunch at Mimolette.  Come to think of it, the last meetup with these old pals was for brekkie at Hediard.  It's a good thing we shifted the date to today as tomorrow, it'll be crowded as they will be having event for Easter.  Walking into Mimo is like walking into a picture as the decor is quite whimsical.  The tables, lightings and chairs are painted in white and outlined in black to look like drawings.  Of cos, this is a not-to-be missed photo opportunity so I brought Lilia,  Red Cherry and Kuma DeeDee.  The friends were a bit alarmed when I whipped out the girls and asked me why do I bring them out? Do I bring them out all the time? I think they overcome their embarrassment later (plus there're only a few tables with politely discreet peeps around us) and helped with the posing of the dolls. 
I had the farmer's breakfast and Ms Bo has the eggs benedict.  We all thought that mine will be quite a big portion but turned out the eggs benedict is the big portioned one.  I think the poached eggs were done quite decently.  One thing missing there are cakes and selection of breads.  

  We wanted to walk around and peek at the stables but the sky looks quite threatening with dark clouds.   It'll be a nice place for gatherings and kids since they can run around quite freely.  Our preggy fren is considering the place for her baby's full month party!  I'm looking forward to it :)

Challenge No.1: Finished-It-Up (FIU)

FIU.
Pronounce as you would the word, "Phew!" Like "FIU! I finished the cleanser/shower foam/lipstic (that almost never happen)!

Like the hoarder I am, there comes a time when I want to open up something new to use, be it makeup or skincare, I'm left with too many choices!  Why do I say it like it's troubling me when other pple have the problem of running out of skincare with none to choose from?
The problem with me is that I hoard stuff from the sales.  I buy and keep until curiosity gets better of me and I decided to open the item.  This usually happen within 24 hours or never.  When I do run out of, say foundation, I go open my cupboard and look through multiple bottles of foundation and think, "What if i don;t get to go to the sale this yr, better save it until absolutely necessary!"
Then I go out and buy a new bottle of foundation.
You see, with such warped mentality, I will never ever finish up my stuff.  I can use them until 80 yrs old!
Recently I've been trying to convert to using more organic products and these can't last that long.  I must really try to use them up.
So here's my first 5 products to use up:

1. John Master Organics: Vitamin C Anti-aging face serum
  I got this probably for about 2 yrs?(!!) and still haven't finish it.  My friend thought it smell abit funky but I think it's what stuck at the nozzle going bad if you don't use it daily.  Anyway vitamin C is known not to be the most stable ingredient and since it must be way past it's prime.  I thought I'll try to use it on the scars on my legs to lighten them if it's still potent.
 Left about 10%, it was too funky to use up!

2. Biore Bodycream: I got this in Japan thinking it's a body shower cream! You can tell how bad my Japanese is.  It was a cold cold night and I was tasked to go out to the nearest 24hr mart to get shower cream for the family so I grabbed whatever Kuri-mu I can figure out.  It's not bad, quite moisturising without the heavy grease.  I wouldn't mind getting it again if I'm out of moisturiser and I can't find Yuskin cream.
Proudly finished!

3. Suki Delicate Moisture Body Oil: Ah, this I got it for J but as it was expired so vendor refunded me and J told me to keep it for myself.  I like this alot and despite it being expired, I don't think the oil went stale.  If you like woodsy fragrance and enjoy using oil as a moisturiser, this will be for you.  It's abit pricey though, hence the small volume dispensed with each pump (hence, lotsa rabbit fur sticking to bottle) so I don't think I will buy it again. 
Proudly finished!

4. Juice Beauty: Oil -free moisturiser
  This came with the trial size kit that I got quite long ago too.  As it feel rather sticky on the face, I have neglected using it for a long time.  Also, my face is quite sensitive on and off, I forgot about it until digging it out recently.  I shall give it a try again as it is supposed to have a matte finish and not sticky.  Then again, with out humid weather, everything can turn sticky.
 Still 50% left, not funky yet

5.  Origins: A Perfect World Antioxidant moisturizer with White tea
  I really this what this does for me.  It plumps up the skin when I used it on skin stressed by sun or lack of hydration.  My working environment can be quite drying and unclean due to the dirty air ducts (full of dust and fungus) so if I do diligently use it nightly, the skin behaves quite well.  It's almost used up, probably a few more nights' application.  I can't quite remember why I stopped using it though. 
 Finished!

Oh hey, it's Earth Day today!  Perhaps it's quite apt to post this challenge to myself today.


I like what The Non-Consumer Advocate says:  “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

My very first link exchange!

Hi!  Here's my very first and probably only link exchange cos I'm really not active online.  SP has already put this up eons ago and I've postponed it until now cos I haven't got the time to write something decent to do her justice!  She has 2 blogs, one of all things crafty and beautiful and another on blythes dolls.  If you're also a Blythe collector, pick up some tips from her blog as she's very adventurous in customizing the dolls :)

One down, one more to go

 Red Cherry having her treatment done.   

Phew! The counter is actually clear of clutter and clean enough not to dirty my pretty dress!

For the past 3 days, time flew by in a blur.  I was suddenly down with flu with no sniffles but lotsa coughing and tightening of my airway.  My doc must have been very kind or he has misheard me asking,"Can you please cover me for today?" as a plea for 2 days's rest.  Even the old doc is coughing so I guess it's the former!
I must have slept for more than 15 hours each day for the first 2 days of rest.  Then on the day of the planned leave, hubs is down with flu.  Lotsa of sniffles but no cough.  When a man is down with flu, oh man, he's like a big baby!  Actually worse, cos babies can't verbalise, yet.  Today we're still grounded cos it seems to have gotten worse.  I have no choice but to let him have the anti-viral tablets that costs more than $10 a pop.
"Here, this is from Dr Bryan, u better get well on these as it's more than $10 per tablet"
I peeled out the 1st and then started on the 2nd.
"What?!!" so this is like $30???!!!" said hapless hubs whom I think is considering that i keep the 2nd tablet.
"Aiya, just eat lah!"
The thing about hubs is that he doesn't seems to take to my medication well.  He slept for like 3 hours straight and woke up groggy, eyes throbbing.
But of cos, who wouldn't when one is cooped up in an airless room?? Don't blame it on the drugs.

Anyway, while he's out, I had nothing to do but to find my own entertainment.  Oh dear, this is but royal weekend!  There's nothing to watch on national TV except programmes on royalty!
Which got me feeling conscious of my unpolished skin and decided to do some facial pampering.  Hmmm.... which got me thinking, what's this time wasted doing nothing (sleeping is not nothing, mind you!)?
I shall do some cleaning up and tidying.
Why can't I relaxed doing nothing while having a mask on?
Well, 1 thing for sure is that now that we're fully fledged in a tiny hdb flat, parents aren't going to clean up after us, there is no dog to put the blame on for the messiness.  Boy, isn't the pressure great to present to friends and relatives a sparkling home when they come to visit?  While I know that most of my friends don't mind my college kids kinda living conditions, you know, books, mags everywhere, dishes unwashed, mailers on the dinning table,  I've heard comments that I certainly do not welcome on a few occasion when all I've done is to generously open my home. 
For the record, I love having mags and books within reach ALL the time.  Not doing dishes can't kill me so what's up with the dirty look (pun fully intended).
But that said, I do love the fren who did rolled up her sleeves and helped me with my kitchen malfunction.  It's a better place after she left.
My point is, as with a lot of other issues, if you can help, offer.  If you can't, please don't look at things so negatively without putting yourself in others' shoes.

Seed cards from Cargo Plant Love

Have you tried growing things from seed cards?  I haven't and this is the first!  I got Cargo Plant love lipsticks for a friend and myself online over a year ago.  The Plantlove range from Cargo is free from parabens, phthalates,synthetic fragrance, synthetic dyes and petro-chemicals.  The lipsticks are named after celebrities and the colours are quite pretty.  I've got a hot red (Maria) and something alot milder for friend (forgot the name of the colour).  One of reasons I got them, other than the fact that it's on sale, is that the packaging is eco-friendly and has wildflowers seeds embedded.  I finally got down to planting the seeds after I decided to pull out the bryophyllum which is becoming too much for me to handle.  I also planted Pangea's boxes which have basil seed embedded. I didn't manage to take pictures of Pangea's boxes or notes printed on the non-plant-able  cardboard cos hubs threw them away.

The pot with Plantlove has already sprouted while those with Pangea has only a few sprouted between the 2 pots planted.  I'm not sure if all the seedlings are from the seed cards as the soil was recycled from a big pot of bitter herb (good for sorethroat) that I uprooted some months ago (yes, I'm a plant killer).  I'm hoping that they are and I'm very curious to see how the wildflowers will turn out.  More so, I want some basil for my pesto!

Guess who?

 Introducing Kuma DeeDee and Princess Lilia

 Kuma Deedee is cheeky and loves photography.

 Princess Lilia loves anything in shades of purple and her new lavender filled comfy cushion

 Oh, and she loves to be photographed!  More than Momo who, by the way, just had a trim and rebonding done. Can you tell?

Hallo, Girls! And more

After CNY delays in postal service, everything seems to be coming altogether.  We've happily received the 4 new girls and the olympus trip!  Nicky Lad, Frosty Frock, Bohemian Peace and Aubrena.  I like Aubrena very much now, which is  a surprise as I thought Frosty might be my favourite.  May because she looks too precious to take out of the box and play.

And then there's more, I didn't even notice the little invaders/protectors until LB pointed them out.  Aubrena doesn't look too pleased though.

After a long break from sewing class

I took a long 2 months break from sewing class and just return for the 4th item of the syllabus.  We're supposed to do a blouse with collar and sleeves.  Both my sis and me chose the peter pan collar and gathered sleeves.  We're really running out of inspiration on the fabric to buy.  And I thought we were away from Chinatown long enough to have a fresh eye on the fabrics!  We decided to go for plain fabric this time as any prints can go dangerously wrong.  I picked up a nice pastel pink fabric which is written on the samples as silky cotton.  Feels very smooth and soft, reminds me of good high threadcount bedsheet :)  Somehow, I'm still not getting a vision of the blouse, except that there should be some details added, like maybe collar of a different colour, printed or adding lace somewhere?  After some googling, I think I may be getting somewhere with this combo:

Hey, do you think you can let me out?

1st to arrive from The BAY :)

Craft it Forward!

A good friend, SP, invited friends to join this movement.  I thought it'll be a good idea as I've been lagging off crafting in any form for a loooong time.  It didn't help that I haven't been to sewing class for just as long.  This should set me on the right track again!
So here's the deal:
Via Simplypeaceable's blog via Brigette’s blog via Ginger Urchin’s blog post:

I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They in turn must post this statement and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their blog post.The only other rules are that:
1) it must be handmade by you and,
2) it must be sent to your 5 people sometime within 2011.

 Join me and don't be shy, experience not needed ;)

Lizzie galore

I think lizards like me.
They came with my lunch box.
Patrols my kitchen countertop for errant flies and ants.
Live and died in my new plant pot.
Joined me in shower, on my foot.
Dropped on my newspaper when I read on the floor.
Now, this one has to be mummified on my cabinet

I didn't rotate it by 90 Degree either way, btw.

Oh, I showed my love for them when I joined herpetology group during my hons field trip....

I love postal packages

When the goodies are these: