I love makeovers. I love how with a dab of makeup and a bit of hairspray can transform a woman.
This is one of me done in 2004
This was during an Estee Lauder promotion. I think paid for a redeemable voucher for $30 where we could choose 4 looks for ourselves. I choose the dramatic makeover with emphasis on the eyes and lips. The makeup was really pretty, but it doesn’t really look like me.
This is one in 2005
I was given a “free makeover” from Coverlooks which turns out to be a floozy, as a photo costs $10 each. Regardless, I did like the softer, rich taitai look 😀
Today, I was at Vivocity for a complimentary makeover session with Nadnut courtesy of Samsung.
There we met the very talented ladies, Sarah and Joey who did our hair and make up for us.
Look at all those makeup on the table. I love it! I’d love to have THIS type of vanity table for my room. Its awesome! So many lights!
Sarah deftly dabbed shades of brown on my eyes, soft pink for my cheeks as well as light pink lipstick. I usually use red lipstick, but this look looks surprisingly beautiful.
I love my mod look! I wished that I had remembered to ask Sarah what shades she used so that I could at least try this look for myself 🙂
And then it was Nadnut’s turn! When she was being made up, my hands were itchy to play with the Make Up Store cosmetics. There were so many beautiful colours that made me feel so euphoric.
And this is our final look. My hair looked quite Victorian while Nadnut had vavavoom curls. I think that if they had provided lighting, the picture quality would be even better, but this was good too 🙂
I was most excited. It was such a coincidence as just a few weeks back, I told mum that I needed a break. And then this invitation happened. What a fantastic way to just chill out!
As I was allowed to bring a partner with me, I called up Geri. And on the specified date, we headed to the Tanah Merah Ferry where we met the rest of the lovely blogger ladies as well as the coordinators Felicia and Jennifer who handed us our boarding passes.
I looked around the terminal area which reminded me a lot like the sentosa Mrt Terminal, Geri mentioned that the terminal has improved a lot since the last time that she was there.
While waiting for our ferry to arrive, I looked at my boarding pass and embarkation slip with interest as this was probably the second embarkation slip that I’ve ever used, the main one being the Malaysian one.
I smiled to myself. It was my very first time going to Indonesia! How exciting!
And not before too long, our ferry arrived. All of us scrambled madly to enter the ferry. Not before too long, we were already acting all silly.
The group wanted to sit in the middle of the ferry as Jenjen was afraid of getting seasick.
But I wanted to look at the sea! So I plonked myself next to the window and stared outside. There is always something calming about looking at the waters swirling up and down.
And that was what I did for most of the journey. After about an hour or so, we arrived on Bintan Island! I looked up at the clock there indicating that we had to adjust our watches as their timezone with Singapore was an hour earlier.
We stumbled around wondering where to go next. But not for too long, we were greeted by the staff carrying placards such as these.
We were then ushered to take a shuttle bus where a pretty lady introduced herself to us, “My name is Sari and I’ll be here to show you around the resort“.
Throughout the shuttle journey, I was marvelling to myself. “I’m in Indonesia!” and I stared at the greenery. It was not too long when we reached the resort.
We were given a cool drink and a wonderfully fragrant towel to freshen up, which I thought was a very nice touch and were given our keys. Not before long, we headed to our separate rooms where all of us could not wait to explore.
Me and Jenjen had rooms on the same floor and while I passed her door, I noticed that Jenjen knocked on her door before opening. I was puzzled. Its not like there was anyone inside.
That was when Geri mentioned that it was a Chinese custom to knock on the door of a place you’ve never entered before as a form of salutation to the spirits. Interesting! That was something new to me.
In any-case, both Geri and I were extremely enamoured by our room. It’s gorgeous!
I love how the entire room was decorated. It was a fusion of modern, zen as well as earthy Indonesian together. Everything looked very inviting. We loved it so much that we could not help but stop gushing.
What was there not to like?
The beds were perfect.
The bathroom was perfect.
Even the view outside was just a vision of loveliness.
Here is our reaction video the first time we stepped in our room :
After we’ve put our luggage in the room, we then headed to the cafe, called ‘Kopi O’ for lunch. Such a lovely spread that they had there. I love buffets!
Later on, after our sumptuous lunch, we were given a tour around the resort to look at the other rooms that was available there.
One of the rooms that we went to was what the original rooms looked like before it was renovated. It looked similar to our deluxe room, apart from the lack of decorations and furnishings.
And then, like a piece de resistance, we were shown the suite. It was such an exclusive room. There was a walk in closet, a powder room. a four poster bed and a jacuzzi bath tub.
It was so luxurious.
I bet if I had had that room, I would never want to ever leave but reluctantly we left and we were in for another surprise! Our very own buggies to drive!
It was such a treat for me. Sure, it might not be a true car, regardless, I’ve never imagine that I would ever drive it.
Excitedly, I jumped in. Geri, having experienced in driving cars and buggies, guided me on how to manoeuvre. It wasn’t that difficult, apart from reversing. And with our buggies, we explored another part of the lagoon – their villas.
Their villas were quite lovely. The feel was different from our rooms, more rustic and private even. Sari told us that for all of the villas rented, has a buggy attached to it so that it’ll be easier for the occupants to move around the resort.
Here is a quick video overview of one of their villas.
I quite liked the villas, it looked clean and comfortable and homey and would get it if I were having a vacation in a large group.
After viewing the villa, we were given a few hours of free time. Geri and I decided to head back to our rooms to rest after our explorations.
Sitting in my bed, I looked out of the window and waited for the sun to set. As Bintan has an hour difference compared to Singapore, I was a little fuzzy at what time it would set. At 5 pm it was still rather bright, so I decided to watch a bit of telley. I was fascinated by Spongebob Squarepants speaking in Indonesian.
I dozed off for a bit and jolted up to find out that it was already dark at only 6 pm! Which was a waste as I wanted to catch the sunset.
To console ourselves, Geri and I decided to go to the beach anyway and frolicked in the sea before having dinner.
It was such a beautiful sight. The luminous, full moon that greeted the two of us. And there were just the two of us. There were no one else on the beach when we were there. It was as if, we had our own personal beach.
I love the sound of the waves crashing and the softness of the sand that it was comfortable enough for the both of us to jump around happily. Refreshed, it was time for dinner at the resort Nelayan Grill where Nadnut, Jenjen and Sassyjan were already changed and looking beautiful in their dresses.
Nelayan Grill was a lovely restaurant, decorated with tiki torches around. It was a quiet and romantic area, quite nice for couples.
While waiting for our main course, we were given gado-gado as an appetizer. I think that that was quite creative as usually the vegetables would be mixed up as a regular salad but here it was wrapped up.
Later on, after our appetizer, we looked quizzedly at our menu – ‘Surf and Turf’.
Which turned out to be an entire medley of grilled food consisting of seafood, meat and vegetables. It was a hearty meal. Nothing beats the taste of freshly caught seafood 🙂
After dinner, we said goodnight to each other and retired to our rooms, to be ready for tomorrow’s adventures.
Recently, I was with my colleague and boss to Anjappar. Having already been here before in June with NTT and Malique, I thought that the food was nice, my only qualm was that many of the items that I wanted to eat on the menu were not available when we went there in the evening.
Thus I was extremely thrilled to see the range of food available there when I was there the second time.
The place
Anjappar was situated along Racecourse Road slightly off the hustle and bustle of Serangoon Road where the heart of Little India is. Searching for parking area might be of a problem for motorists though as even at 11.30 am when we reached there, there were few empty slots on the road.
Dont worry, its not always this crowded
We entered the restaurant where one staff welcomed us and ushered us to our table. I looked around and the same as in June, – there were a simple and rustic decoration with its Tamil styled artwork on the wall and the wooden chairs and marble tables.
Then something struck me about the place. Didn’t this place used to be Muthu’s Curry about 2 years back? The shape of the restaurant and the location seems to be it. I remember that Muthu’s Curry was nice, but it just wasn’t hot and flavourful enough for me.
The Service
The menu has changed since the last time that I’ve been here. Glancing through the menu, the prices costs slightly more but at the same time, there were more items in the menu compared to before. I took a while to decide what to eat and we munched on the papadum while reading the menu.
In the end, the boss decided to order for all of us and called out for the staff. The staff were very attentive. In no time at all one popped out and took our order in his nifty PDA.
It was such a funny conversation. The boss likes a variety of food while he eats so he ordered quite a large number of food. After a while, the staff got a little concerned and said, “I’m not taking any more orders from you!“. He was worried that we would not be able to finish the food.
That was the first time in my life that any restaurant would not take more order!
The Food
The food was prepared pretty quickly and before you know it, was on our table in no time at all! And in front of me were food with a an attractive range of colours and really lovely smells of spices. I couldn’t wait to pounce on the food.
I love Indian food!
I love the exhilarating feeling that I get after eating chilli – your mouth will be begging for mercy, your nose will water unglamorously. But after that, the heavenly feeling begins.
This was the Sura Puttu.
This is an interesting dish made of scrambled egg with shark. The boss said that in Southern India, Shark was not common and thus a delicacy and would usually be prepared in this manner.
I couldn’t really detect the egg from the spices and herbs but the unique taste of the shark was there. It was really delicious. I liked it a lot.
This was the Chicken Tikka Masala.
Oh my gosh. I love this a lot! This was delicious with the roasted chicken chunks cooked in tomato gravy. Such a delight. It was not too sour and it was full of flavour – just perfect.
If I am not wrong, this was the Mutton Masala.
I’m not big on eating red meat, but this was really tasty. Knowing how challenging mutton is prepared made me appreciate how the meat was tender and melts in the mouth.
This was the Chicken 65
I liked this a lot. Chicken 65 is chicken cubes, marinated in Masala and then deep fried. The taste is just wonderful and bursting with flavour.
I was curious about the name Chicken 65. Why 65?
It was then when the Boss mentioned that traditionally, when the chicks hatched, 65 days later they were then taken to be used for this dish. Upon hearing that I was a little sad for the chickens but he added that most restaurants here just used the recipe with regular chickens.
Next in line is one of my favourite food. Naan!
I love love love Naan. Naan is leavened white flour dough which is cooked in a clay pot. Ever since I’ve been to Penang and had tasted the most delightful Naan there, it was hard to find Naan here that matched up to it.
Till now.
This was my Stuffed Chicken Naan. Just smelling it when it arrived whetted my already excited appetite. I love the smell of freshly made Naan! And the Naan having cottage cheese, with chicken and onion and herbs. It was really delicious I tell you. One bite and you’ll fall in love.
I’m still thinking of my naan at this point of writing.
We also had the Mutton Dum Biriyani as well as the Chicken Dum Biriyani.
Mutton Dum Biriyani
Chicken Dum Biriyani
I love seeing the colours in Biriyani. I always find the yellows and orange cheerful and attractive so this was no exception. With that whole hardboiled egg hiding insouciantly, it was kind of cool.
Their Biriyani were paired with these two gravies :
Their delicious and flavourful mutton curry which was just lovely to be eaten with the biriyani.
As well as their onion Raitha which is a yogurt dish. This was surprisingly tasty to me considering that I’ve been other other Indian restaurants where I’ve tried their Raitha and I didn’t like it as it was just too sour. But this one was good. It was sour but not unpleasantly sour like the others that I’ve tried.
By this time I was already feeling as stuffed as my stuffed naan. The boss and colleagues were feeling like they were bursting too. The staff jokingly asked, “Would you still like your chappati sir?”
We washed our food down with hot coffee and tea – I found the taste unique.
It was thicker than fresh milk and but not as sweet as condensed milk. I just could not put a finger at it.
At the end of it all, as stuffed as I was, I was feeling very contented. Happiness! Forget about diet, happiness comes first. In fact, you know what? I want more! MORE!
Sidenote : Dont forget to pop some of these in your mouth at the end of your meal and as you leave. These are usually placed at the counter to give you a fresher breath after your fiery meal.
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Recently, I was invited back to back on two camera launch events – Sony as well as Canon along with a couple of fellow bloggers. I was rather excited to see how technology has progressed throughout the years considering that my very first digital camera was a rather decrepit and clunky 2.1 megapixel camera. It still managed to take pretty nifty pictures like this one that I took in Phuket, Thailand.
In the Sony event, held at the very beautiful White Rabbit we were introduced to 3 new cameras in its cyber-shot series, namely the DSC-T77, DSC-T700 as well as the DSC-T500.
At first glance, the cybershots were extremely attractive – the body looked elegant and yet fun with its bright and colourful exterior. In both the DSC-T77 and the DSC-T700, there were several memorable functions such as the slideshow.
This function will sort your pictures are sorted according to the dates the pictures were taken and its even possible to sort it according to smiles and faces! I thought this was a very useful function as I tend to leave my pictures in my SD card. It’s actually a bad habit but its something that most of us are guilty of. Thus this function made it so much easier to see the pictures that I wanted, rather than to trudge through the hundreds of pictures that I had.
Snapped using the Sony T700. No editing in this except to resize and watermark
Another function that I found interesting was the smile shutter which automatically snaps a picture once the camera detects a smile. The first time that I seen this in action was when Jean was showing her new camera at a blogger event last year and I thought that it was very cool.
But the camera that I had my eyes on was the T500. Although it was not as slim as compared to the other two cybershots, the T500 was unique due to its ability to record HD Videos.
Being a video enthusiast, I was very interested in this camera. Undoubtedly professional video cameras are more renowned, but small cameras such as these are very portable. And yet, visually, the image was sharper and the audio was clearer too when compared side by side with regular cameras. And I think that this could be very useful for me.
In the second event held at Tower Club and then later at the Supper Club, it was time to see what new Cameras that Canon was coming up with. Having owned and used several Canon cameras such as the 350D SLR, the Ixus 750 and the Ixus 80 IS, Canon was a brand that I was very familiar with.
Canon introduced a wide range of cameras. There were so many that that it was over my head. Some of the ones that I can remember were their new powershot series – namely the A1000 IS as well as its Powershot E1.
Powershots are known to take good quality pictures. This picture below was taken with the A1000 and there are no Photoshop done to this picture apart from resizing and watermarking. I thought that it produced a very quality picture even with my unsteady hands.
Personally for me, I’m not too fond of the Powershot series as it uses the AA batteries – making it bulkier than the Ixus’s series.
The new E1 was designed to appeal for the ladies, with its cute pink and blue exterior. I don’t feel too comfortable carrying a camera which looked too toy-like and plasticy. Thus the elegant ixus series is more for me.
There were a number of other cameras that were intriguing to me such as their EOS 50D camera which had 15 megapixels. Thats way more megapixals than evenmy SLR. It incorporates their new digic 4 processor which will allow for even faster processing and noise reduction for higher ISO – the details of the image is zoomed in the computer was clear and I found that pretty impressive.
There were also the SX10 IS which I found interesting – you could pull out the LCD display and twist it to face in your direction so that you could preview the picture before snapping – very useful for taking self photos.
I wished I chance to play with the cameras for longer. I would have liked to try the cameras out and use them in day to day situations. The thing about events is that it was hard to make an opinion by just a few minutes of tinkering.
p.s I really like this photo printer. This will be great for the guests to use during the wedding. 🙂
Woman’s Day Out is a yearly women-only aerobic-based sporting event organized by the Singapore sports Council.
Though I’ve always been keen on to participating, it is only this year that I finally had the confidence to attend this event. Moreover, this could possibly be the last time that I participate in something like this.
Registering for the event was easy enough. All I had to do was to surf the website, give my particulars choose the activity that I wanted and paid $28. I chose the Aerobics Challenge 1 which consisted of the CardioLatino, CardioBlitz and Kickboxing.
A week before the actual event, I collected the Official T shirt and the number tag.
That day was quite memorable to me as in the middle of my journey to Millenia Walk, the heavens decided to pour its blessings on me. Even with my raincoat on, I was soaking wet. My sneakers went squish throughout as I walked in the upper-end shopping centre.
Unfortunately for me, on the actual day, I was rushing off from home and I’ve completely forgotten to bring my number tag along with me. And thats when the mayhem started.
I reached Ngee Ann Civic Plaza at about 3 pm. I’ve already missed an hour, having attended the Talkback session earlier on. Thus I was a little flustered upon reaching the registration booth.
Me : Hi! I need help. I forgot to bring my number tag, can you help me?
Helpers : Sorry, we cant let you in unless you have proof
Me : Here is my identity card.
Helpers : Sorry, can’t help you. We don’t have a computer database with us. You should get online instead and show us your verification email.
Me : Wha? Ok fine.
At that point of time, I felt snubbed that they were so unwilling to help me. I was wearing the official t-shirt! Why would anyone be lying just for the sake for entering the arena!
Luckily for me, I was carrying the eee pc and I went inside the shopping centre to try to find a connection. It was such a waste of time! Even though there were supposed to be about 7 to 10 open wireless@sg connection, I could not connect to any of them!
I spent about 30 mins walking around different areas and still nothing. Even asking the information counter was fruitless when they told me that there were no internet cafe in the shopping centre.
I felt really frustrated and was really going out of my mind and felt so helpless that even as a grown woman, I began to cry out in public. The interesting thing was that no one even looked at me, which was a revelation as I thought we were the busybody type of society.
It was comforting to hear Mus and Vandalin‘s voice on the phone when I called them up. They helpfully snapped a picture of my email and mms’ed it to me.
Unfortunately, the mms never arrived. With only one hour left to go to my event, and not wanting to waste my time and effort getting here, and money paid for the event, I picked up the courage to march up the manager.
Me : How could you just push me away? Why can’t you guys make and effort to help me! I am wearing the official t-shirt! What other proof do you need!
Manager : I’m sorry, but this is a paid event. We cannot anyhow let people in.
The manager and I were both extremely pissed at this point of time. And then I remembered that I scribbled my confirmation number in my trusty manual PDA.
Manager : A confirmation number! You should have told me that earlier!
Finally she took my IC, gave me a new number tag and I was just in time to participate in the last hour of kickboxing. Which was good as I has so much anger inside that I kicked! I punched! I jabbed with all my might.
But the terrible experience prior notwithstanding, it was a very good workout as it was the most intensive workout that I had ever had. Even more challenging than any of the cardio that I’ve attended. I’m not sure if I would be able to survive the complete 3 hours!
But was such a thrill for me to see so many rosy cheeks around me. You should have been there. These ladies were truly glowing – its difficult for even the best cosmetics to recreate this.
Look at that! That’s gorgeous!
All in all, despite the drama earlier, I did enjoy myself. I dare say that it was one of the best workouts that I’ve ever had and though I’m feeling a little bit of an ache, its a good ache and I’d love to attend more events such as these.
Moreover, look at the fabulous goodie bag that I got after the event!
Here are just some of my swags as I pretty much already consumed all the food related stuff in there. I love my new bag. And looks like I don’t need to buy a new water-bottle! And there’s even mekap! Woohoo!
I survied the Amore Woman’s Day Out! And now I will collapse and die.
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It’s nice to finally see a face after hearing their voices on the radio for the longest time!
Next to me is Keith De Souza and Barathi Jagdish who are both the hosts for Fresh! – A programme on the radio that I tune in each morning on the station 938live.
Each weekday morning, they would open up an interesting topic to be discussed with the listeners, usually about current events and I emailed them about my thoughts some while back in response to a caller who thought that the Singapore National Anthem should be changed from Malay to English.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a reply from Barathi that my email was read on air and I was given an invite to participate in their live talkback outdoors session. I asked around if there were anyone interested and thus, I was accompanied by the two handsomes Mus and Vandalin.
It was a very interesting session for me. At the risk of sounding geeky, it felt like a Secondlife discussion! – We sat in down to listen to the panelists and can join in the discussion at any time.
I really enjoyed hearing the different thoughts and opinions, regardless if I agreed with them or not.
The first topic of discussion was :
Are we a sporting nation? Do we support our local athletes enough? Do we encourage our children to take part in sports? Are we ready to host big international sporting events?
We were joined by National Swimmer, Teresa Goh, her dad, Senior Parlimentary Secretary of the MCYS, Teo Ser Luck, as well as sports editor, Raj Kumar.
There was a parent who said that schools should be more proactive in spotting out young talents and to groom them into sportsmen with more sports activities to be made compulsory in schools.
I thought to myself, why do we always have to depend on the schools when it should be the task of the parents more. If you see that your child is good and interested in an activity, regardless of what it is, why wait for the school when you can do something about it?
And Mus added, an institution could have the best policies in the world, but if the child isn’t interested, there isn’t much point to it.
The second topic was :
Is the job market too competitive? What employment issues do you face? Do women face problems going back to work? What do you feel about the employment of foreign talent?
We were joined by MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Josephine Teo. I couldn’t catch the other panelist’s name.
I was a little cheesed off when there were one foreigner commented, “Why are Singaporeans so afraid of us taking over jobs when they are not skilled enough to fill them up?”
In any case, it was quite an experience to sit in a discussion. It has been a while since I’ve seen a real life debate and I really did enjoyed myself.
Thank you Mus and Vandalin, it was wonderful to have your company and insightful thoughts. Can’t wait to go to the next one 🙂
Sidenote : Can anyone notice something interesting here?
I got for myself the 88 eye-shadow palette some months back from a livejournal spree. I was really fascinated by the multitude of colours. And after using it for some while now, I love it heaps!
What I love about the 88 eye-shadow palette is that you can experiment with different looks without worrying about wasting your make-up. At about $26 per palette it is even more affordable than the 2-4 colour eye-shadows being sold in regular stores.
My problem with many eye-shadows is that many of them aren’t vivid enough on my eyes. But personally, I think that the quality of the 88 palette eye-shadow is just as good and perhaps even better than the ones in regular stores in the sense that the colour pay-off is surprisingly excellent.
Take a look at this!
Nice?  I love it as it’s bright and cheery! I did not even add in any eye-shadow primer to it.
Though I’m not as good at eye makeup as most of the ladies in Cozycot or the makeup guru’s out there, I really think that this looks nice.
Let me show you how
I chose these three colours as circled in the picture.
Step 1
With the darkest colour, the turquoise, glide it through at the base of the eyelids.
Step 2
Make a surprised face like this!
Then take the lime green colour and sweep it over the curves of your eyeball. This will naturally blend with the top of the turquoise.
Step 3
Finally add the beige as a highlighter, below the eyebrow which acts as a guide. Gently blend the meeting colours so as to not have harsh lines.
And then add eye-liner and mascara if you want to and you’re done!
Simple right? Even a make-up dummy like me can do it. If rinaz can mekap, so can you!
Updated August 2009: Now that I’ve used the palette for several months now, and use it more regularly, I think that
The colour tends to crease after some hours
I notice that I tend to use only certain colours
I need to swatch the colours on my own skin – what you see isn’t always what you get
Thus, I would recommend it more for people who are just starting out with eye-shadows.
Somewhile back in August, there was a contest whereby readers give their thoughts about the touchsmart and the judges pick comments based on their creativity. The judges were impressed by Jurlique‘s entry in my HP post. And that made the both of us to win a HP Touchsmart each!
It was so unreal that it took us some time to the information to sink in. I really thought that Claudia was pulling my leg when she sms’ed me her congratulations.
But in the end, we finally saw the official email. Jurlique and I were both grinning from ear to ear when we finally hand the touchsmart in our hands.
And very recently, I was at the Samsung Innov8 event and participated in their photo taking contest whereby contestants were to take pictures with the theme of what inspires me about the phone.
Thus, I was walking around with Wishbone and I asked for her help as I re-enact some scenarios. In my mind, I already knew what type of shots I wanted to get.
Even though I was not confident of winning anything, I thought I’d give it my best shot anyways. I even told Wishbone, “If I win (which I know I wouldn’t) I’ll split this phone into two with you.”
There were heaps of picture display which I took time to admire. In particular, I like Leonard’s picture of him with one eye shut with a silly grin – as the Innov8 had the smile shot and anti-blink function.
After we’ve done our presentation, we waited with in anticipation at the results and turns out that I was one of the winners for the Samsung Innov8!
I was most excited, surprised and happy that my hair started to magically curl.
Looks like I have to split the phone into two now 😛
But before I split it into two, I’ll post a review about it. I’ve been using it for about a week now and so far I’m liking it a lot.
Whee!
Sidenote : Actually, there isn’t really a point to this blogpost. I just wanted to share the good news. Feel free to come over and play with my new toys 🙂
For a change, I thought I’d dress Cart up in a songkok! Doesn’t he look smashing in them? 🙂
Anyways, I spend the last days cleaning my room as well as helping out in the kitchen.
With all the onion chopping and the chili blending, my hands feels as if it is on fire!
Regardless, on this Hari Raya, I would like to wish everyone Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf zahir batin! Forgiveness for our wrongdoings and words which are uttered accidentally 🙂
For a change, I thought I’d dress Cart up in a