Pink products to make you (and me) happy

Phew what a weekend it has been. It's good to know that there are great people to offer support in times of need, in KL as well as in JB.

With that, settled. It's time for work. Frantically (erm sort of) doing some literature review for my research project (i need some inspiration) while blogging at the same time. That's how good i am at procrastination. I guess Sunday's do that to me.Not too sure whether it happens to everyone. But i definitely feel so very lazy on Sundays.

Here are some of my recent buys, most of them not surprisingly pinkish..

Since i was a teenager, i've seen numerous permutations and ads of the Ginvera Marvel Gel, the current one being Green Tea. I've always been skeptical about this product but when i read a UK based beauty blogger raving about this product, i find no reason not to give this Singaporean product a try. Ginvera and Bio-essence is born out of the same company.

The marvel gel that touts to remove blackhead painlessly- the concept if like the FACESHOP blackhead remover grommage- but less messy, and i heard of the Ginvera one first.

After using up the sample sized gel cleanser given free with the Clarisonic Mia (yup post exam i went ahead and bought it and it's been good for me so far), i went ahead and bought something similarly gentle on the skin (since i double cleanse anyway), Cetaphil! A whole big bottle of it. I don't think i'll be running out of cleanser anytime soon.. just when i wanted to go and try Philosophy's Purity cleanser.. Drats!

As the bottle says, it's VERY mild! Don't like the fact there are parabens in it though..hmm..

The whole arm candy craze has gotten to me, hence my first foray (i find it extremely difficult to get anything that looks good on my tiny wrists)- these gamut of ethnic mix from Forever 21 for RM25. I can probably get this for less than RM10 in Cambodia/Thailand/local nightmarket though (kicking self). And would you believe it the colour from the red beaded bracelet runs!

WARNING: A lot of pink stuff ahead, all courtesy of a dollar shop called Daiso.

Bath salts, Rose scented. I wanted something for my feet to soak in. This turns the water a crazy red pink colour.

Peach handcream bought solely on the basis of the pretty white polka-dot on pink background packaging.

Door hook with pink jewel detail. How it works is it hangs at the top of your door and the jewel portion is the hook to hang your clothes. Simple concept but oh so pretty!

How the whole door hook looks like.

Chocolate with strawberry flavoured centre. Quite decent. Not many chocolate pieces in the bag though.

 I went on a pink spree in Daiso that day but managed to keep the item count to a limit of 5. I'm so frugal i amaze myself.

The fifth item is this 'sort of pink' Royal Milk Tea - i mean the packaging not the tea. It's tea, in powdered form (I know ..i really don't recommend this) Plus it tastes really bland.

Made some crepes with my brother's girlfriend the other day and decided to take some pictures since i seldom ever make anything edible, so it's quite an event.

This is hours of labour right here.

I know, it looks like runny pancakes stacked up.

The view from the top.

 The Mille crepe cake after 4 hours of refrigeration.

It tasted okay and it was satisfying to make a cake without an oven

Travel - but for work

I really wish i can update my blog daily with all things pastel,happy and buy-worthy. The sad reality is though, i've been busy. Working. Like everyone else.

I passed part one of my Masters in Pathology programme and thus for part 2 of the programme I can now sub-specialize into my chosen field, Haematology.

Choosing to come back to Jb for my training means work is a mere 5 minutes away, food is always on the table, many willing people (my family) to listen to my whines and complaints, Singapore TV! and a designated library at home for me to study (yup, my dad really wanted us to read). I am comfortably back into my comfort zone after nearly a decade away from home.

However, that also means i have to constantly travel to see my hubby who is still in good old Slim River, as well as for attachments and courses in KL. Which is probably a good thing, since i get the best of both worlds? But travelling is pretty tiring.

Just yesterday, this was my travel schedule, with price added in just in case anyone's wondering.

6:25 am Train from Slim River to KL Central (RM10)
8:00 am Taxi from KL Central to Hospital (RM18)
4:00 pm  Finish class and presentation
4:15 pm Taxi from Hospital to Bus Terminal (RM10)
5:00 pm KL to Jb (RM 31)
9:00 pm Reach home

Phew, thank God for Iphones. Or else i would be so bored!

And now i'm stressing out on finding a research topic.

Ugh.. thank God i have have weekends off now.

But what i learnt from all my travelling? How much i miss Slim River! The temperature over there is like 25 degrees every morning, blanketed by mist. I wake up to the birds chirping, and i end up snuggling back under my comforter, because how can anyone wake up when enveloped in cool fresh air like the one over in Slim River?

I think i might end up retiring over there. Just as soon as i can find a way for me to get Singapore Tv channels and shipments of 8Days over there.

And thus. Pretty pictures will have to wait another day. But i tell you i spent RM 400 on a one day shopping spree in KL so you can expect some purchase pictures.

Till then..working hard

Vivi July Highlights

Continuing with summer themes, here are some of the notable pages of the publication we know fondly as Vivi.

The lovely Namie Amuro on the front cover. Why does this woman never age? I want to know the secret!!She looks exactly the same as how i remember her 10 years ago when she was singing 'Can you celebrate'.

Fellow non-ager, Ayumi Hamasaki,, okay.. no lar.. Ayumi has aged, but minimally so.

Peplum dresses and skirts are everywhere. And i can see why. It's really flattering. If you have wide hips, they cover it. If you have small hips, they give you shape.Spotted a few at Miss Selfridge and H&M.

Love this dress. I've seen it on my cousin before and I was wondering in my broken English tthought bubbles 'how come such a design-less tube of a dress can look so good?'

Lena Fuji making ugly T-shirt with sleeves cut off look good. Oh, it must be the flowers in her hair.

Second bikini special, in the Japan summer season.

Their one-piece looks good too!

The photoshoot was set in gorgeous Phuket, Thailand.Not too sure what beaches in Japan look like.

That T-shirt with the wings, and dress with the cut-out - trend alert!

Those things they clip on collars. They've been a trend for a while now, and it's still here.

Long sheer skirts seem to be everywhere too.. but i have not seen this version around.

Kimono's we will probably never wear but it's still great to look at.

Summer fashion makes me happy! Happy colours, colourful prints, holiday feel, thank God it's summer all year round where i live!

Singapore sights and sounds

The Marina BAy area is now the most scenic area in Singapore. With the opening of Gardens by the Bay, the place is even more photo pretty.

Lack of land? No problem, construct a lotus pond on the outdoor terrace of the 3rd floor (don't quote me on this) of a building why don't you?

LV Island Maison why you so lovely?

No waterfall on the island? No problem, construct a half filled globe of water and put a hole at the base so water flows into the man-made pond below right smack in the middle of the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.

Waiting for H&M to oepn in KL.In the meantime go check out H&M in Singapore during the Great Singapore Sale. Bad idea.. the place is packed on weekends with locals and tourists alike. The line to the dressig room was snaking, but somehow with patient and orderly customers, i did not have to wait too long.

Hate dressing rooms where the curtains feel like they are going to fly open, or leave a gaping hole while you change? Make double tiered dressing room curtains available! Every dressing room should be like this!

Some of the clothes i tried.. but only bought one dress.. i know i could have done better!

Remember what i said about pastel? It's pastel shorts/pants galore at H&M.

It helps to browse the website first before going, so you can zoom in on things you fancy.

Bought a really nicely packaged hair dye from Watsons. It's supposed to be the foam hair dye type which i bought in French chocolat. Hope it works like Liese without the horrible smell.

Comes with a free coaster.

Went to Ion Orchard. Shopped at Daiso *kiamsiap stingy savvy shopper*. But in my defence some of the stuff at the Daiso over there we don't see in KL Daiso's.

Kameria anti-acne BB cream (trial version). Only around S$4.50.

Leg slimming patch.

I don't think it works though.Anyway these are the contents of the slimming patch.

ViVi Malaysia Emoda, DipDrops, Rose Bullet event

For those into Japanese fashion, i've got news.

Go buy the latest issue of ViVi Malaysia (July) with the wonderful Namie Amuro on the cover..

.... for a chance to meet Ena Matsumoto, fashion producer of Emoda.

Sounds good? Too bad i won't be going but whoever gets to go good for you. I can imagine the clothes to be severely pricey compared to the cheap clothes we're used to.. but hey.. bragging rights!

Harry Potter: The exhibition

Harry Potter The Exhibition now at The ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands is basically an exhibition of the 200 or so props from all the Harry Potter movies, with artifacts displayed in settings inspired by the film set. A good way to make money and great sets mean Potter fans get to relive the magic of the franchise.

It runs from 2nd of June to 30th September.It costs S$24 per person for non-Singaporeans. The exchange rate is now 2.44 so you do the maths. It's not exactly cheap for a small exhibition but i would say as someone currently based in Jb that it was well worth it!

Getting there though was a little less straight forward.

Having gone to Marina Bay Sands before, way back when it just opened for business and all it had was a casino, i figured i'd have no problem  getting there and thus did not take much of an effort to do a google search on how to get there before the trip.

Luckily for us, we (my brother and I) met a kind Singaporean guy who was working at the exhibition, who brought us all the way there! He even gave us a few general tips on the exhibition, and gave suggestions on what to do after the exhibition. No wonder tourism in Singapore is thriving!The people are super helpful and knowledgeable!

We initially figured that since we had to book a time slot (we chose 11am-11:59 am), we would have to be there on time (at 11am sharp) and had only 1 hour to roam the place. Hence our initial desperate-ness at reaching there 11 sharp. Thankfully we found out from our pseudo tour guide that the time stated was when the ticket holder could enter (anytime between 11 and 11:59 am) and we could stay at the exhibition as long as we wanted.

That made perfect sense from a business point of view. Also the visitors wont be jostling with crowds of people at the venue. These Singaporeans plan everything! I like and don't like. More on that later.

The entrance of the exhibition.

Remember the flying car from the second movie/book? 

Unfortunately though, that's about all the fairly clear pictures i have to show, since the organizers have come up with some rules...

No filming of photography allowed or we would be 'expelled', so aptly put by one of the fake students of Hogwarts with an even more fake 'Engrish' accent. But then again it would be weird for her to speak in just normal English, so bravo on that. I just don't dig the over-the-top theatrics.

This was the point where no photography was allowed.

Somehow my camera seemed to have accidentally captured a blur shot of the Hermione exhibit.. hmmm.. how curious..

No more shots of the exhibition since rules are rules. It made perfect sense anyway. This is a travelling exhibition, with exhibits travelling all around the world. If every blogger in the world takes photos and posts it, then it takes the fun out of all the hard work put into the exhibition.

No one however said anything about taking pictures of the souvenir shop fashioned into Diagon Alley after the exhibition. Diagon Alley was so movie-like it should be part of the exhibition. The prices though were not that great.

Below are Harry Potter and Ron Weasley collection boxes.. costing something like S$40-60 (sorry forgot the exact price), which contained pieces of paper for the uninitiated, but for Potter fans these are really pretty nifty looking keepsakes. The really detailed Marauders Map was one of the keepsakes in the box.

My brother as you can see was pretty interested. If he had the money he would have probably bought most of the things in the shop.

Chocolate Frogs and Bernie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans.. spotted : vomit flavour.

Was very very very tempted to but the wands.. but luckily did not. Will explain later..

Anyhow outside the exhibition, at The Shoppes at MBS, there was an exhibit we could take a picture with..

Remember this from the first movie?

My brother bought this  from 'Diagon Alley'. Can't believe it costs S$75, but no one i think can walk away empty handed from the souvenir shop, especially if you're a big Potter fan.

Some interesting bits of trivia about the exhibition from 8Days.

But erm, they made a mistake about the Robert Pattinson bit though. There were 2 outfits of his on display.

One of the sets at the exhibition, Hagrid's Hut.

More trivia.

On why i said i was lucky i did not buy a S$ 75 wand was because, they sell it for S$40 in Orlando! Not too sure if it's the same wand they're talking about, but how many wand manufacturers are there?

It's worth going if you're in Singapore or nearby, but traveling all the way from KL like my blogger pal Laura and her friends? Only if you are a true diehard Harry Potter fan! At most you'd spend 2 hours there. There's also an Andy Warhol exhibition on at the same time if you're interested.

Getting there: From Jb- MRT from Kranji to Marina Bay. Then get onto the circle line to Bayfront station. From there you walk in air conditioned comfort to the ArtScience Museum.

Ticketing details here.