4 My Skincare Regime

I had oily skin since my school days, then in university I tried on a cleanser that gave me serious allergies where my skin cracked and bled from the hairline at the back of my head all the way to my cheeks.
My friends from uni might remember that.
Anyway, I had to get an allergy shot and my skin was never the same again.

I tried numerous brands (L'Oreal, Nivea etc) and my skin started cracking and peeling (milder though) after I use them.
As a last resort, my mom gave me her Bio-Essence (a Singaporean brand) serum and it worked wonders, so I continued using their cleanser, toner, serum and BB cream for a few years with Clean & Clear's moisturiser.

It all came to a screeching halt when I forgot to apply my moisturiser before work once last month. I slathered everything on after work and my skin was still peeling for a few days, no matter how much I moisturised.
So I used the Hada Labo's Super Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing set which my mom gave me.
They were laying around for a couple of months with their plastic wrapping still intact.

I was very skeptical of Hada Labo's claims of how "One Drop Locks Up an Ocean" and their moisturising lotion's of "1 sold every 4 seconds in Japan". (Bottle on the far right)
You know how skincare ads fall flat on their promises.

Hada Labo actually DID live up to their claims! I've never had such clean, smooth skin and refined pores in my life! (Well, after puberty anyway)
The little jar of moisturising cream wasn't really necessary for my skin as the moisturising lotion has already done wonders.
Techincally, Hada Labo's cleanser and moisturising lotion saved my skin.

I have no idea what it says on the packaging though as it's all in Japanese.

6 Galaxy Manicure DIY

Hui Yen (our latest co-editor at Elements Magazine) passed me the link to this galaxy manicure tutorial for me to try out, and I finally got the time to try it out!

Mine isn't as pretty as the tutorial's though.

Colours used:

• Sally Hansen Black Out
• Chanel Peridot
• OPI Pink Flamenco
• OPI Sparkle-iscious
• Sally Hansen Disco Ball

PS: I applied too much glitter :/

15 The Big Miu Miu Reveal

Remember these?
They were the very last pair of glitter booties that were in my size.

I tried them on back in December just to see what the hype was all about and I understood why.
(This is why I should never try on expensive things)

After that, I obsessively checked eBay, Saks, Neiman Marcus, Net-a-Porter etc. as the Christmas sales were going on and the shoes were retailing at about $600-700 excluding international shipping.
Most of the boots were the ones without glitter and you all know how much I need sparkly things in my life.

2 weeks later, my aunt and her family dropped by from Singapore and we went hunting for her new Prada bag, and I entered Miu Miu again.
The shoes I tried on were 40% off! (Another Miu Miu fate)
It was as if they waited for me to come back.
We made Miuccia Prada very happy that day (and vice versa)

Let's just say we had a ladies' understanding not to bleat our purchases to our families since we have our own crazy collections.
(My bag-obsessed aunt did show her bag to my bag-obsessed mom though)

They are definitely the most expensive item I've ever purchased, but hey, I've gotten my first salary and I have a new job with a slightly higher pay so I guess it's finally time to blog about these shoes.
As my belated awesome birthday (11.11.11) + Thank-God-Trixie-survived + graduation (I literally clawed my way to my engineering degree) + I-got-2-new-cool-jobs present to myself, I have no regrets ;)



I love how sparkly they are under sunlight!


The shoes are very well-made and the heels, although curved, are surprisingly very sturdy!
Huge thanks to Sheila for helping me take this shot (and keeping it a secret for so long! Cheryl too!)

PS: Top notch customer service at Miu Miu, KLCC. The salesman literally wanted to play dress up with me by shoving bags, sunglasses and shoes for me to try on when I tried the shoes on for the first time and he kindly obliged when I told him I didn't want them then.

6 Serai, Empire Shopping Gallery

So my sister and I had lunch with Sheila and Niralji yesterday, and what a wonderful lunch it was.
We headed to Serai at Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang Jaya.

Being only 15-20 minutes away from our home, we usually go to Italiannies.
Serai (lemongrass in Malay) is always packed with patrons, and now we know why.


Sis ordered the Crispy Skinned Salmon, which was cooked perfectly.
The potato cake was delicious!


Niralji had the Chicken Parmagiana. It's better than Italiannies', IMO.


I ordered the Penne Beef Rendang. Beef rendang is a traditional Malay dish which consists of caramelised curry with tender beef. A Malaysian favourite.
It's a great "East meets West" combo.


Sheila ordered the Gourmet Lean Beef Burger.
Everyone at the table agreed that it is THE BEST BURGER EVER!


Having read reviews online, Serai's Berry Pavlova is not to be missed.
It's enough for 4 of us to share, and we literally scraped the plate clean.
Serai's pavlova beats Delicious'.
We wanted seconds but we were too full, unfortunately.


Loved the flowers on each table.
No photos of the decor, sorry. The little restaurant was packed to the brim.

6 Hat Yai: Morning Market

This is a(nother) overdue post from my trip to Hat Yai.
We visited the morning market, and grrr I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!





Thai chillies are the most explosive! And this is my first time seeing fresh peppercorns.



These double-yolk duck eggs look rather weird though.
I have no idea how to eat it.