2016

It has been a year since I last posted anything. Since it’s the start of a new year, I guess maybe I should do some reflection for 2016.

Before I know it, 2016 is already over. It feels like I have done a lot of things the whole of last year and there is not much time to document down everything. Thankful for the technologies these days that allows me to take photos of anything.

So many things to talk about for the year: Work, holiday, friends..

I’m into my current job for almost 1.5 years and it feels like I have already worked for years. Too many things happened and what I can remember about 2016 is probably things that has happened last month. I guess I shall not mention too much about work.

Holiday is one that excites me the most! Holiday is a must for me and so last year we decided to explore China. After much thoughts, we thought that Shanghai would probably suit us the most since it’s more city like.

Sharing some of my favourite photos taken during the trip!

First experience at Hai Di Lao! Service was really good!

 The Bund!

 Xi Hu

 

 Lastly Zhu Jia Jiao!

My favourite food got to be Xiao Yang Sheng Jian and the cheese tart!

Besides Shanghai, we also managed to venture out to Hang Zhou and made a trip down to Xi Hu.

I always thought Xi Hu got to be a place that is located out of nowhere but to our surprise.. It is conveniently located near the station and what amazes me is, there are so many brand stores located opposite of it. It was very different what I expected it to be.

Nonetheless, it was an eye-opening trip for me! Different culture and the behaviour of humans in different countries.

December is the month full of celebration and it’s also the time where I get to meet all my friends to catch up and to do gift exchange! Christmas has got to be the best holiday of the year because everywhere is having sales and you get to be surprised by friends with different kind of gifts.

I guess the surprise was real since you wouldn’t know what kind of present you will get.

Starting 2017 in a better note with an upcoming trip to Hong Kong and another trip to Bangkok next month with sis.

The last I visit Hong Kong was almost 3 years back. Kinda miss the weather and the food!

Will be back with more updates!

ERUCA Hair Shampoo

I have always been on a lookout for affordable shampoo that could save my dry hair and I was really glad when I was approached to try out Eruca shampoos. 

The whole series of shampoo that I was given to try out.

If you have not heard of Eruca, Eruca is Japanese hair care brand of botanical oil infused shampoos and conditioners.

Eruca 3D Volume Up contains a unique volumizing ingredient wraps the whole hair in a thin veil to create volume from the roots without the use of harmful hair products!

Eruca Moist & Repair tames your unruly hair into beautiful lock of hair with the hair defining formula that aims to restore water and oil balances in your hair and scalp for frizz-free hair.

Eruca Scalp & Volume uses botanical oil extracted from specially selected seed oils help to restore balance to your scalp and alleviate common scalp problems like itchiness and dandruff.

The focus has been on seed oils, providing nature's 'silicon-like' effects but without the harmful effects of silicon itself. Seed oils from broccoli, cowberry, bilberry, milk thistle, etc is the hallmark of this moisturizing and shine-inducing formula, while the blend also contains other rich botanically sourced oils such as argan, virgin prune and marula oil, which helps rejuvenate tired tresses. Extra Volume Up collection wraps the whole hair in a thin veil to create volume from the roots without the use of harmful hair products! Moist & Repair collection restores water and oil balance in your hair and scalp for frizz-free hair. Scalp & Volume collection repairs the scalp and alleviates common scalp problems like itchiness and dandruff.

What I really like about Eruca products is smell of the shampoo and packaging of their products. I guess Japanese always have their ways to appeal to consumers.

After washing my hair, the smell of the shampoo remains. It is like a kind of perfume for the hair.

This is the scalp and volume series! 

After trying out the whole range of the shampoo, I personally feel that the Moist & Repair collection suits me the most as my hair is lack of moisture. That is why my hair is always feeling dry.

This is what I mean when I say their packaging is really great. Most shampoo that you see out there do not have bottles as nice as this. 

So this series is the Eruca Moist & Repair. It tames your unruly hair into beautiful lock of hair with the hair defining formula that aims to restore water and oil balances in your hair and scalp for frizz-free hair.

My hair really feel much more moisturized after using it! 

The repair component works from the inside out to repair any damage while also internally moisturizing each follicle. Seed oil provides a shine, luster, and silkiness to your hair that you will have never experienced before.

How To Use:

Just use the right amount of shampoo for your hair length, lather, and rinses and apply conditioner.

*Tip: if you have short hair, use only small amount of shampoo (about the size of a 10 cents coin). 50 cents coin size for average length and two-20cents coins size if your hair is past your shoulders.

Suitable For: All hair type especially dry scalps from excessive sebum being removed by regular shampoo.

Where To Buy: Guardian and Tokyu Hands. Online purchase at Maimee's Corner (maimeescorner.com)

Retail Price: $18.90 - $22.90

Website: eruca.sg

Eruca holds weekly contest on their facebook and they have really attractive prizes. 
Go and ‘Like’ ErucA on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/erucasingapore/ to participate in contests to WIN prizes!

To try out Eruca products, you can redeem FREE sample on SampleStore.com here: https://www.samplestore.com/eruca-3d-volumeup-moist-repair-scalp-volume.html

Biore Aqua Jelly Makeup Removal

After I have learnt to put on makeup, I realized the importance of removing the makeup on our face. It is really damaging to our skin if we do not remove our makeup properly. Sleeping with our makeup on would actually worsen it!

Makeup can actually cause clog pores and also make our pores bigger if we don’t remove it properly. It may also cause wrinkles and even cause outbreaks!! And I believe everyone hates having pimples on our faces. It can even lower our confidence and also cause one to have a really bad day.

So.. It is really important for us to remove our makeup thoroughly no matter how troublesome it may get. I guess the hardest to remove would probably be the mascara and eyeliner.

I have been using Biore Cleansing Oil Cotton Facial Sheets for quite some time and it is quite effective for me! Biore has recently launched their improved version of Biore Aqua Jelly Makeup Remover! Haven't tried before the older version but I guess it should be quite good too! 

The new Bioré Aqua Jelly Makeup Remover, with its revolutionary jelly-like texture, comes in an even smoother, lighter consistency but with the same high cleansing ability that effortlessly dissolves and lifts off more makeup in a gentle glide.

Personally, I have really sensitive skin. Some days I wake up with my face feeling really itchy, and red patches would start to form on my face. Skin products that I used are really important! So this is really perfect for me because it is suitable for all skin types!! 

Things that I looked out for in a makeup remover product:

Smooth

I guess this is better than the cleansing sheet because I don’t have to wipe it too hard to get rid of the makeup. Less tugging of my skin means less wrinkles. We all know how bad it is to keep pulling our skin each time we remove our makeup.

Ease of removal

One thing that irritates me the most is spending too much time to remove my makeup when I did not even put on a thick makeup. I like it when I can remove it in 2-3 swipes. It has to be really gentle and easy to remove. Sometimes, my mascara still remains even after I have cleansed my face.

One last thing is I don’t like it when my face still feels oily from the makeup removal after removing all the makeup from my face. It feels worse than having my makeup on. I’m not too sure if I have to wash my face with the cleanser after the removal or the removal should work like the cleanser. Right now, I have always been doing both.

The improved product benefits of the Biore Aqua Jelly Makeup Remover

• Smoother jelly-like texture is gentle on skin and rinses of easily and quickly without any harsh tugging or pulling action on skin. 
• High cleansing ability dissolves and lifts of all traces of makeup effortlessly. 
• Made with 40% moisturising essence nourishes and hydrates skin for a dewy moisturised finish.
• Lightweight formula leaves skin feeling refreshed, with no sticky or greasy after-feel.

I did a mini test to see try out the makeup removal and I’m really IMPRESSED with the result. It only took me about 2 swipes to get the makeup removed. Previously it always took me about 2-3 glides to remove those eyeliners. And usually it requires a little strength. But for this, just gentle wipes and tadah! 

Before

AFTER

I managed to completely removed the makeup with no trace left. And my hand still feels smooth and soft after removal. Not really oily at all. 

This type of makeup removal is really easy to use. 

Usage Direction

1.  Pump an appropriate amount (2-3 pumps) onto hands and spread evenly over face and eye area. 
2. Massage gently to dissolve makeup. 
3. Rinse thoroughly with water. It is not necessary to remove cleansing liquid with cotton pad or tissue.
4.  For best results, apply on dry face and hands. Do not use facial cotton pad or tissue.

It can be found in all leading supermarkets, personal care stores and western pharmacies & departmental stores at the price of $24.90! 

Essential CC oil & Night Care Milk!

The first thought that I have when I wake up is “How am I going to go to school with such hair?!”

I always believe that good hair days will definitely means a good start for the day.

I have really thick and damaged hair; and this is due to all the colouring and rebonding that I have done over the years. Since then I have always been on a lookout for hair product that could solve my hair problem.

Right now, I am very happy to have found 2 really great products from ESSENTIAL that are able to solve my hair problems. Who doesn’t love hair products that can make you and your hair happy?

That is when I started to learn more about the 5 hair stresses that will damage our hair!

1. Blow-Drying

With really thick hair, I have to blow dry my hair with the hair dryer every night before heading to bed. Can you imagine after a long day of work, you still have to sit down and dry your hair. It will take hours for my hair to dry if I don’t do it with the hair dryer. Hair dryer is the fastest way to dry my hair. However, it is said that blow-drying will actually remove the moisture from our hair both inside and outside the hair that will leave our hair dry and brittle to further damages.

2. Combing

Combing is said to cause friction to the hair cuticles due to the daily combing.

For me, I don’t usually comb my hair. I used to comb my hair a lot when I was younger, then I heard about how combing would damage my hair, and so I stopped using it.

Combing through wet hair causes great hair damage as the hair follicle is at is most fragile state. Likewise, the friction caused by coming through dry hair can form hair knots, which makes hair prone to unnecessary breakage

3. Split Ends: Fraying of hair shaft due to dry and brittle hair

The ends of your hair are the oldest and driest parts. When the protective hair cuticle is destroyed at the end of the hair, the hair splits into two or more parts.

4. Hair Breakage

In the extreme hot weather like Singapore, we always ended up tying our hair up into a tight ponytail or into a bun. However, this also exerts more stress to our hair and resulting in it to break easily. 

5. Dryness: Dry hair that feels rough

Constant exposure to the sun and aircon can also cause hair dryness.

The hair cuticle that protects the hair is weakened and is unable to retain moisture within the cuticles of the hair.

And so the product that Essential has come up with to solve hair problems like this is the Essential CC oil!!

The CC oil is non-greasy and is invisibly light and it leaves hair smooth and tangle free all day!! And it smells really good too!! 

The ‘CC’ in the new Essential CC Oil stands for Cuticle Care.

The concept of Essential CC Oil = 1 oil protects your hair from 5 hair stresses

-       CC Oil forms a protective coat around each hair strand and protects your hair from the 5 hair stresses, leaving you with more beautiful, less tangles and manageable hair.

Usage

• Use on towel-dried or damp hair. 
• Pump an appropriate amount onto your palm and spread it evenly onto your hair from the middle to the end of the hair! 

Essential Night Care Milk

Another product that Essential has come up with is the ESSENTIAL NIGHT CARE MILK that aims to protect our hair from pillow friction when we are asleep!

Coupled with cuticle coat protection ingredients, its rich yet non- greasy milk formula weightlessly leaves hair smooth and manageable the next morning!

What exactly is pillow friction?

When we toss and turn at night, there is friction between our hair and the pillow, causing the cuticles to be misaligned

• Misaligned cuticles creates frizz, resulting in the fabulous lion’s mane the next morning
• Washing our hair will ‘reset’ the mane, which is why many women have no choice but to wash and blow dry their hair in the morning before going to work.

Personally, I do not like washing my hair in the morning. I would rather spend that extra 10-15 minutes sleeping in bed before heading out to work.

So when I received the Essential Night Care I was really happy to find solutions to my hair! So pleased to find that it works well for me! It really saves me a lot of effort and time to wash and to blow-dry my hair before heading out in the morning. And I can get to have extra sleep every morning! Good hair & more sleep!

The Night Care Milk has the same application usage as the CC oil! All you have to do is just pump an appropriate amount onto your palm then spread it evenly on your hair! For better results, wait till your hair is dry before heading to bed!

This is how my hair looks like when I wake up! 
BEFORE

Although they are straight, but you can see all the funny and weird hair that are pointing to all directions. 

AFTER

After using the Night Care Milk, my hair feels so soft and manageable! Can you see the difference? Every strands look so healthy! I don't even have to wash or blow it!

For better results, you can consider using it with the Essential Shampoo and Conditioner! I have been using their shampoo and conditioner for a long while! It's definitely one of the more affordable shampoo that you can find! 

PLAY Essential’s Mane Hero Facebook game and combat the 5 evil Hair Stress

Brothers and Pesky Pillow King and win attractive weekly prizes!

This is a really easy game to play! You just need 2 arrows the left and the right ones! 

Invite friends to play together and you can get extra lives from them!
You can now play it at  https://apps.facebook.com/essentialmanehero/

Good news is both bottle are only priced at $11.90 each! 

Definitely worth the money and the try!!

Sydney Travelogue Part II

Day 3

Woke up early in the morning for our adventure to Blue Mountain! Before heading to Blue Mountain, we decided to settle our breakfast over at Devon Café that is located at the Central Station. And this is really one of the best café brunches I had throughout my whole trip! The food is just soooo good! Although the price is a little steep but the quality of the food is superb! We ordered the Eggs Blini and Breakfast with the Sakuma’s!

Egg Blini

Breakfast with the Sakuma's

Devon Cafe

2 Danks St

Waterloo NSW

02 9698 7795

Mon - Tue: 08:00 - 16:00

Wed - Fri: 08:00 - 16:00 | 18:00 - 22:00 

Sat: 08:00 - 15:30 | 18:00 - 22:00 

Sun: 08:00 - 15:30

76 Devonshire St

Surry Hills NSW

02 9211 8777

Mon - Fri: 07:00 - 16:30

Sat - Sun: 08:00 - 15:30

How to get to Blue Mountain?

As the train frequency is low, it would be good to check the timing of the train before heading over to the station.
From Central Station take the blue mountain line all the way to Katoomba station
The train ride to Blue Mountain is about 2 hours.
Frequency: Approximately 1 hour

Both of us were quite lost, and glad that we did some research the night before. The weather at Blue Mountain is way colder than the city. I think it was about 13 degrees when we were there! Like many of them, we headed to the Explorer Bus booth to get our tickets to get around the village. The tickets is $40 for each adult, and it will stop at different stops for you to get down to anywhere you want at any point of time. But we figured that since we have the Multi3 pass, we should have taken the public transport to save the $80. It is not that difficult to get around Blue Mountain if you know where are the places that you want to explore. For us, the main thing was to see the Three Sisters. But since we got the explorer bus ticket, we get down at several stops as recommended by the tour guide to explore some of the places. There are also different trails that you might want to try walking. Didn’t expect myself to be trekking inside the woods for this trip but it’s definitely worth it. The weather made a whole lot of difference during the walk. Each trail takes about an hour to complete, and since we reached there at 12plus so we did not spend much time trekking around. If you are only looking to see the Three Sisters, it is located at the Echo Point!

Since we had already paid for the tickets and took the time to come this far, we continued on to explore the Leura Village. One thing that is bad was that the shop closes at 5pm, and by 5pm the sky were already dark. Because we didn’t manage to catch the previous train, we had to wait for another hour for the next one. By then, the temperature has already dropped even further to maybe 10 degrees? Both of us were freezing and despite having our hot chocolate with us, it didn’t help much.. Everything got so much better after boarding the train! We wanted to head back to hotel after dinner, but happen to pass by the Circular Quay station and saw this beautiful view! Even though we were really tired, we still decided to get off the train to check things out. That is how spontaneous we are during this trip. So there were many light and music activities lined up for the Vivid Sydney event and that explained the crowd over at Circular Quay even though it was a Monday night.

Day 4

Everyday in Sydney is a good start! We wake up really early every single morning to have our breakfast. The breakfast place of the day is The Grounds of Alexandria! Seen many reviews about how beautiful this place is, and I’m really glad we made the choice to make our way there. Erm but because we had too many days of eggs, I got really sick of poached eggs, and the taste of it is making me sick.

The place is really beautiful but the breakfast isn’t as fantastic as the ones over at Devon! But the pastries and tarts look really good! I would definitely go for that the next time round when I’m there! The Grounds is not just a café, they also have a farm and florist! Didn’t get to explore around much, but managed to catch a glimpse of these pretty flowers! And how can I say no to photos with all the beautiful backdrop and alley.

The Grounds of Alexandria

Building 7A, 2 Huntley St,

Alexandria, NSW, 2015

Mon - Fri 7am-4pm

Sat - Sun 730am - 4pm

Headed over to North Sydney to explore! There is actually Forever 21 and H&M over at Macquarie Centre! Because we figured that there should be more shopping areas in Sydney so we decided to google and find the other shopping malls in Sydney! And the websites that we had seen did not mention anything about the F21 and H&M. It was only when we googled F21 by itself then the location appeared. So for the first time we were crossing the Harbour Bridge via the train! It was a different kind of experience! In order to get here, you will have to alight at Macquarie University! This place is so different from the CBD area! In my opinion, better and more like a shopping mall! Settled our lunch at a Chinese restaurant called Simply Noodle. The char siew rice cost $13 per plate and the wanton mee cost $11 per bowl. And I started to appreciate the cheap and delicious wanton mee and char siew rice I have in Singapore! Mainly Asians students in the shop, but I guess if I were to be there studying I will be willing to pay this amount of money for something different.

Coffee from Three Beans!

Coffee break after a long walk around the mall. Got myself a new pair of heel boots and nothing from F21 and H&M. Both of us were really tired, and decided to head back to rest. But on our way back, we decided to alight at Chatswood to take a look since it was quite crowded over there and shops were still opened. So most of the time, we get to explore a little more than what we had planned because we like to get on and off the train to see what’s around. We only managed to walk awhile because our legs were really breaking!

Dinner over at ippudo because I’m kinda sick of burgers. The price of the ramen is the same as those in Singapore! And I concluded that eating at somewhere that we deemed to be expensive and as an indulgence in Singapore, is actually no difference to other meal in Sydney. Every meal in Sydney is about $15-$20?