Happy 2012 and 11 Questions Meme

Hi! Hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! 

I've been tagged by Janine to do this 11 Questions Meme, so, here goes:

The Rules

Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.

Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.

No tag backs.

No stuff in the tagging section about 'you are tagged if you are reading this.' You legitimately have to tag 11 people. 

11 Facts About Me 

1. I'm married! I tied the knot with my long-time love two years ago. Settling down has been one of the best things to happen to me in my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way ^~^

2. I love lipgloss. There are about 5 in my handbag at any one time.

3. I was a chorister for 10 years. The position that I sing is Alto.

4. I live in sunny Singapore - previously I lived in Durham, UK.

5. I have two little brothers (who aren't so little anymore). 

6. My favourite colour is pink.

7. I don't drink alcohol, at all. The reason is because I make a miserable drunk XD

8. I'm a cat person. =^.^=

9. I'm very short - only 5'1 (-ish. On a good day)!

10. I love a good laugh. I'm a huuuuge fan of Community, How I Met Your Mother, and other witty comedies.

11. I love meeting new people, so, y'know, say hello sometime! ^~^

Questions From Janine

1. Where is the best place you've been to?

New York, New York! I visited in the summer of 2009, and its vitality and energy left a huge impression on me. Can't wait to go back again!

2. What is the best movie you've ever seen?

Breakfast at Tiffany's. Audrey Hepburn was beautiful in that movie.

3. Which do you like more: Curly or Straight hair?
I have straight hair, so curly has always appealed to me. Guess the grass is always greener on the other side!

4. Would you spend more money in makeup or shoes? 
If I had the means, both! But at the moment, I reckon I'd spend more money on makeup.

5. What is your favorite makeup brand?
Paul & Joe is a firm favourite, along with Etude House and Skin Food. Is that too many? o_o

6. What is your fashion must-have?

High heels, or a good sweater. I'm terribly sensitive to the cold, so having one nearby is always essential.

7. If you had the chance to travel, to which country would you go?
America or Korea, both of which I've been dropping not-so-subtle hints to the husband so that he'll bring me there for our next holiday.

8. What is your best feature?
My sense of humour. 

9. Which do you like more: Ice Cream or Cake?

I can't decide! Ice cream cake?

10. High Heels or Flats?
High heels always, because I'm real short! Though it always helps to have a spare pair of flats in your bag in case feet start to hurt!

11. Would you like to go to the Past or Future?
I'd like to stay right where I am. Part of the fun is finding out what's around the corner when the time is right ^~^

 

Tagged!

1. Jian @pinkfishtart

2. Miko @mikoblogsit

3. Browning @KawaiiBarbie

4. Ann @otypekimchi

5. Fanny @fashionparade-fanny

6. Hee Jeong @Jeongie

7. Soo @mu-tokki

8. Lippi @cutielippi

9. Cominica

10. Pinkbuble

11. Whitechoco

Questions From Me

1. What is your occupation?

2. What is your favourite colour?

3. Describe your style in three words.

4. Name the one beauty item you could not live without.

5. What is your pet peeve?

6. Which is your favourite holiday?

7. What is your favourite fashion / beauty brand?

8. Which is your favourite city, and why?

9. Name your favourite cartoon character.

10. Who is your inspiration, and why?

11. What was the highlight of 2011 for you?


My favourite photos from the holiday season. Goodbye 2011! 

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year's Eve!

I'm back from Hong Kong, and I had a wonderful time - eating, shopping and spending time with my family. It isn't often we all get to be together at the same time, and actually, this time was no different, because my youngest brother wasn't with us - but the rest of us had a really nice time because it's been ages since we've been on a family holiday.

I've been reading all these lovely post-Christmas posts, and I have a mini-post like that to share with everyone too! Hope that your holiday season was warm, joyous and bright. As 2011 draws to a close, I hope you've all got your resolutions drawn up too!

Family duties call, as I have a function to attend tonight, but in advance, I hope that everyone gets a kiss when the ball drops. Goodbye 2011, hello 2012!

I'll let the lovely Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play me out: What are you doing New Year's Eve?

Merry Christmas!

I'd like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a merry, merry Christmas!

Hope that your holiday season is merry and bright, and that everyone gets to spend time with the people they love, with loads of presents!  ^~^

I got spoiled this year by the hubby and family - will post pictures when I get a moment, as I'm off to Hong Kong for a short trip tomorrow. Are you going anywhere nice for the holidays?

Going off to pack now, but I leave you with happy Christmas greetings from cats in party hats.

Haul: Pre-Christmas Things

I've been stuck at work the past week or so, and have fallen back on the Christmas shopping! I managed to go out and get the last couple of bits for Christmas this weekend, though, which was a relief, because scrambling last-minute is never nice. ^~^ The husband was nice enough to follow me around unquestioningly around town while I picked up Christmas gifts for family and friends, but invariably I managed (eep) to get a couple of things for myself. Here's what I got:

 Canmake Christmas Bag - S$24.90 from Watsons   Beauty Credit Lovely Liptint in Red - S$15.90 from Beauty Credit, Raffles Place   Artbox Pink Glitter Cat Cup - S$6.90 from Artbox   David & Goliath Goodbye Kitty Pocket Mirror - gifted by a friend! 

Daiso Sweet Room Soft Hairband - S$2 from Daiso 

Daiso Apple and Rose Hand Cream - S$2 from Daiso Have you finished your Christmas shopping already? :3

Surprise Hair Bobbles!

I've been complaining about misplacing my hair bobbles for the past few days, so the husband brought me back a surprise today when he got home from work:

Aren't they cute? I like the polka-dots - it also means that I don't have to go around with my hair looking like I've been dragged backwards through a bush then! ^~^

Have you had any surprises lately?

Giveaway: Makeup Stash! Christmas 2011 Giveaways

Mag from Makeup Stash! is organising another one of her wildly successful Christmas giveaways, and it looks set to be a corker! There'll be items from Anna Sui, Maquillage, Clarins, and even a little something from the limited 2011 Holiday Collection by Wong Kar Wai for Shu Uemura range.

Click on the image to go straight to the giveaway page! Unfortunately, the cut-off date is midnight 18 December 2011 (that's this Sunday), and the giveaway is open only to Singapore residents. That said, good luck to anyone who decides to enter, and big kudos to Mag for organising such a generous giveaway ♥

SOTD: Elle Me Dit - Mika

This song makes me want to jump around - which is rare, believe you me. ^~^

O.P.I. Muppets Collection

I love the Muppets. They sing, they dance, and they filled my childhood years with a great deal of joy. Who didn't sing along to the Muppets theme tune? I remember crying when I learnt that Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, passed away, despite not being acquainted with the mechanics of life and death at the time. These days, the Muppets are a Disney franchise, and The Muppets Movie, released in late November 2011, is the latest in a string of Muppet movies that have seen kids through the years.

As a tie-in to the movie, O.P.I. released a series of 12 polishes (6 glitter, 6 sheer) inspired by Muppet characters. I found the mini-manicure sets recently when I was roaming the little shops in the shopping area near my workplace. Sadly, most of the glitter colours are gone, leaving the burgundy-ish, maroon-ish shades, but nonetheless, it was an awesome throwback to my youth to be able to see these fun polishes. Maybe I'll think about getting some the next time I'm in the vicinity ^~^

(From left)

Fresh Frog of Bel-Air - A glitter that prefers the greener things in life. Of course, inspired by Kermit, because it isn't easy being green ^^

Excuse Moi! - Ahem! This pink glitter has something to say! That would be Miss Piggy. She is the inspiration for the most of the glitter polishes in this line.

Gone Gonzo! - The aqua-blue glitter is taking over the world! The Great Gonzo lends his name to this polish, and it's one of my favourites of the lot, too.

Rainbow Connection - The rainbow glitter of your dreams. Named after the brilliant, brilliant song, the Rainbow Connection, it's a multi-colour glitter that just looks perfect for the holiday season.

Getting Miss Piggy With It - Red glittery fun for everyone! Another Miss Piggy-esque polish, this time a pretty cherry red.

Divine Swine - The finest, most fabulous magenta glitter ever. Yup, another Miss Piggy one, only purple.

p/s: I also love how some of the names for the glitter have Fresh Prince of Bel-Air references!

(From left)


Designer, De Better - And this light metallic bronze is ready for the runway. I like the sheeny, shimmery quality of this creamy, silvery polish.


Warm and Fozzie - A feel-good shade of metallic copper. Of course, named after Fozzie Bear!


Wocka Wocka - The popular deep berry makes everything fun and merry! Another Fozzie Bear colour, though the berry shade is so-so.


Pepe's Purple Passion - This deep, decadent shade is the best purple ever, okay! I like how this one is named after Pepe the king prawn. I do love the berry, almost brown shade.


Animal-istic - This wild bright red cannot be tamed! It's exactly the shade of Animal's fur!


Meep Meep Meep - Missing out on this fuchsia would make you weep, weep weep! Although I think the colour is pretty generic, I love how the polish is named after the sound Beaker makes!

The glitter colours are far and away my favourite - just look at Rainbow Connection! Have been bugging hubby to watch the movie with me after I watched the trailer:

More about The Muppets Movie can be found here.

NOTD: Kawayi Beauty

I don't often get my nails done, because I either tend to leave them bare, or use one of my mother's many bottles of nail polish to give them a quick lick of nail paint. So naturally I'm more than happy to let my nails get looked at by a professional. On a friend's recommendation, I recently went to a place called Kawayi Beauty, which has an outlet in town.

The deal that I got included an express manicure, fitting of full-tip nails, polish, and 5 pieces of acrylic nail art. As I've never had fake nails or gotten nail art done before, I was pretty psyched.



The salon didn't look too bad, and I was ushered to a bench directly opposite the red easy chairs (pictured) to have a seat. There were red easy chairs free, but the girl who did my express manicure asked me to sit on the bench the whole time. I was a little confused, because apparently they only let customers who do a full mani pedi sit on the easy chairs. Nevertheless, I pressed on.

The girl discouraged me from doing the full-tip nails, even though I wanted to get it as it was part of the package, and kept on pushing me to do a Gelish manicure or acrylic nails. In the end, it came to a point where I just gave up on insisting that she give me what was stated in the package and asked her to do the mani on my own nails.

I chose bows for my nail art, hoping that said bows would look something like this:

Anyway, here's the finished product:



Hurriedly taken because I was heading out for an event. I think it's safe to say that the quality of the mani wasn't all that, and that I can say with some certainty that I won't be revisiting that salon. However, the mani was cute, until everything started to peel off, less than a week after I got it done. In the end, I just washed everything off and redid my nails by myself (with Etude House's PK013 polish, which, by the by, is gorgeous).

Have you ever had a less-than-ideal salon experience? Feel free to share in the comments!

Kawayi Beauty is located at Far East Plaza, 14 Scotts Road #05-47 Far East Plaza, Singapore 228213.

SOTD: Wherever You Will Go - Charlene Soraia

Beautiful cover of a beautiful song that I chanced upon recently. Brought back some poignant memories ;~;

What song has been on your replay list?

Lush in Singapore!

Ever since I was a wee student in the UK, I've loved Lush. The products look great, smell great, and are just hippie enough to be cool (Karma soap, anyone?). Actually, what's best about it is the scent - every Lush store has a heady mix of scents - from handmade soaps, bath bombs, bubble bars and shower smoothies, that is unmistakeably Lush. You can literally smell a Lush store from down the street! About a decade ago, there were 2 Lush outlets in Singapore, but those bombed (pun very much intended) after a time, leaving Singaporeans decidedly Lush-less. Ever since then, we've been jetting to the likes of Hong Kong, Australia and the UK to get our Lush fixes.


Well, wait no more, because finally, Lush is back in Singapore!

(Wait... I'm a poet! ^~^)


Above images courtesy of the aptly-named LushJunkieForever.

The grand opening of the first Lush outlet to grace our shores in a decade (or so) was today, 2 December, at 12.30 pm, with a '40s themed cocktail party. Yum! Unfortunately, I couldn't be there to witness the occasion as I'm still recovering from sinusitis, but it was great just to see the amount of support the LushSG crew garnered on their Facebook page. Can't wait to see the photos that they'll be posting up from the opening event!

While I'm here, I'd like to share a Lush Christmastime staple of mine: Whipstick Lip Balm.

It may not look like much, but it's actually a chocolate orange lip balm. How awesome is that? Using it is like using a calorie-free version of a Terry's Chocolate Orange (which is also intense yums, but that's by the by). Whipstick contains lip-loving ingredients such as shea butter, honey, beeswax and oat infusion will keep lips soft even through the harshest winter weather. I found this product useful when I was in the UK during the cold winter months. My lips tend to be on the dry side in normal weather, and subjecting them to cold January winds made them chap and crack - honestly, I've never had so many split lips, ever! This lip balm soothed and softened my lips, and worked great to prime my lips for lip glosses and lipsticks. Perfect, really, if you're going to be kissing someone under the mistletoe / when the ball drops this year.

I found an advert of it on the Lush Youtube channel. How cute?



So this Christmas, be sure to share some Lush love with the people you love. Furthermore, with a mission statement like this, what's not to like?

"We Believe in making products from fresh organic fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.

We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission test on animals and in testing products on humans.

We invent our own products and fragrances, we make them fresh by hand using little or no preservatives or packaging, using only vegetarian ingredients and tell you when they were made.

We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making mums proud.

We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.

We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.

*we also believe words like 'fresh' and 'organic' have an honest meaning beyond marketing."

Find Lush in Singapore on their Facebook page, or at their brand new digs at B1-13, Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Road, Singapore 238877.The world definitely needs more Lush! Do you have a favourite lush product?

Taobao Stuff!

I've been stuck at home with sinusitis and confined to bed rest with lots of medicine that makes me so drowsy T_T Still, I did get up to mischief, because I've sent off for these pretty things from Taobao:


























This was my first time ordering from Taobao, though I've ordered from Gmarket and ASOS before, and I was pretty impressed by the sheer variety of things you can get there. Prices aren't always as competitive as they could be (I think), especially because retailers tend to include hidden costs by hiking up shipping prices. That said, once I stayed awake long enough to put a few things in my shopping cart - hey presto! Can't wait for them to arrive! Links are included in the pictures if you'd like to get one for yourself ^~^


Do you shop on the internet? Which sites are your favourites?

Giveaway: Miko's and Jenwoonani's Giveaway

Miko's having a giveaway, and the Rilakkuma bag was reason enough for me to want to join! XD For anyone who likes surprise bags, this one's your thing! Click here or on the image above for more details. ♥





Jenwoonani's giveaway is too cute! She's giving away the most adorable Hello Kitty blinged-out eyelash case, as well as a bunch of other cool things! Click on the image or click here above to participate!

Giveaway: Maii's First Giveaway

Really psyched about this giveaway - the items are so pretty! Click on the image above to link straight to the giveaway, and good luck! ^~^

Events: Cozycot 10th Birthday Bash - "Shirt Up"

Local beauty, fashion and all-round wellness website Cozycot.com is celebrating its 10th anniversary this December, and to celebrate they'll be throwing a birthday bash that looks set to be really exciting! For a start, the first 100 Cotters (cute pet-name for the lovely ladies who frequent the site) to RSVP and turn up at the event on 3 December 2011 (Saturday) which starts from 6pm at, get this, an as-yet undisclosed location, to get a complimentary door gift.

Once you sign up with your Cozycot log-in, you'll be redirected to a page telling you that you've been successfully pre-registered. Your email will ping with a new message as well, which holds your all-important 6-digit registration number. This will facilitate your entry to the event on the night, and save you endless amounts of hassle, I'm guessing. ^^

What's more, this year, Cozycot is celebrating an item of clothing that symbolises empowerment, freedom and making a statement - the very ideals that Cozycot stands for. The ubiquitous piece of clothing is none other than...

The Shirt

More specifically, Cozycot has a "Shirt-On" campaign with 3 distinct campaigns for Cotters to take part in.



Campaign 1 is to wear a shirt in as creative a way as possible - the more creative the better, while Campaign 2 just needs you to turn up in your shirtly best on the night. Campaign 3 is something everyone can do - riffle through your (or your man's/family members') wardrobe and pick out clothing that could do with going to a better home. Cozycot will be donating these used items of clothing to charity, so you won't only look your best at the bash, you'll be doing your part to help the underprivileged too~ ^^

I came across a couple of videos that might be of use for Campaign 1. Enjoy!







Interested yet? Click on the image above or, more simply, just click HERE to be redirected to the Cozycot 10th Anniversary website!

For me, the date is saved!