A scentsational experiment

Whoa, look how time has whizzed by! I've spent the last few months hard at work rushing to meet deadlines, spending as much time in yoga practice as possible and travelling a little, and before I could even check my calendar, it's almost the end of the world, if you are the sort to believe the Mayan doomsday predictions.

Well, I'm somewhat sceptical, but just in case, I've made sure to live every day as if it were my last. Come to think about it, that's actually a great resolution to make, supposing we make it to the new year lol.

Anyway in an attempt to live life as fully as possible, I've embarked on a little olfactive experiment, inspired by an article I read in an recent issue of Elle USA. In the article about male perfume afficionados, one of the guys interviewed told a story about how he lost his sense of smell during 9-11 as he was a first responder stationed at the site. Months later, he realised he was slowly regaining his sense of smell when he started to be able to smell garbage. Now that he has recovered, he is trying to build some sort of 'scent memory' by using specific perfumes for specific occasions. For example, on a holiday to Italy, he used only one perfume by Acqua Di Parma through the trip so that when he spritzes that scent in the future, memories of his vacation will come flooding back.

Easy breezy getaway

One of the best things about living in Singapore is its close proximity to nearby resort islands. There are even beautiful beaches just a one hour ferry ride away.

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend at Bintan Lagoon Resort. The picture above was taken from the rooftop of the resort's newest beachfront restaurant, Rice. Not a bad view eh. And yes, the sea is quite pretty too. Clear waters, mild waves and nice soft sand.

The resort was celebrating the grand opening of its new private ferry terminal, which is located a few hundred metres to the left of where this photograph was taken. Seriously, the hotel is a two minute walk away from the ferry terminal, which means you don't have to waste time with lengthy land transfers once you arrive in Bintan.

The resort very generously hosted a group of media people to a night's stay to take in all that the place has to offer. I decided to make a weekend getaway out of it and extended my vacation by a night so that I could have some time for R&R after all the festivities.

Is snail cream a do or don't?

It appears that the latest miracle beauty ingredient is nothing you would consider high-tech like stem cells or complex molecules with unpronounceable names like IUHE2185. Instead, it is something so simple and basic that you'd probably stop dead in your tracks and go: "WHUT?"

It is... drumroll please... SNAIL SLIME.

Ok, now that the initial bout of expressions of disbelief is over, yes, I kid you not. I first heard about snail creams a few years ago at a press presentation. Apparently the slime produced by snails have a high concentration of some sort of proteins that supposedly help the skin repair itself at a quicker rate.

According to the PR rep, there are snail farms for the sole purpose of harvesting this slime (no, I have no idea how they collect the slime, maybe they scrape it off the floor?). This slime is then purified and put into a jar with a few other ingredients, probably preservatives, and there you have it, a gelatinous substance to apply on your face.

I love bling!

Sort & Pepper is a new accessories website launched by a friend of mine. I want to share about it, not just because the owner is a good friend, but because I like what I'm seeing on the website.

The site has a nicely curated collection of mostly costume jewellery and some bags, sourced from Korea and Thailand. All the items neatly categorised so you don't have to plow through pages and pages of stuff just to find something you like. The name Sort & Pepper is a play on salt and pepper, in reference to how accessories are meant to add a little flavour to your outfit.

I just love those cute opera singer rings, $19, pictured above. So fun to wear and they're great conversation starters too. And yes, the items are all in this reasonable price range, which makes it incredibly affordable and a guilt-free indulgence :)

Click on for more of my favourite picks.

Maybe she's born with it

Some people have a stash of brand new clothes that they break into whenever they want an instant-pick-me-up. Well, I have that too, but I also have a collection of brand new beauty products waiting to be ripped out of their packaging and sampled for the first time.

So last week, I decided to give myself a HUGE perk-me-up all at once and dig happily into an entire bunch of brand new Maybelline products all at once. I got these at the recent Lashionista launch party and was waiting for just the right (and auspicious) opportunity to use them, especially since these days, I don't have to rush through my new items but get drag out the pleasure instead :)

First things first, the star of the range - Lashionista, $21.90 (though I thought I spotted it at Watsons going for a promo price of $19.90 over the weekend). I'm a fan of Maybelline mascaras in particular, they're reliably good and well priced, especially for an item you should throw away every six months. This one is formulated for Asian lashes, which are typically stubby and sparse, which is why it contains tiny little fibres that stick to the lashes to lengthen them and make them look lusher.

Finally, a skincare post!

Unlike make-up, which I tend to dip into and sample with wild abandon and a good measure of glee, I am a lot more careful when it comes to my skincare. Anal, almost, though I wouldn't have it any other way.

My skin is thankfully rather problem free, but I'm not about to sit and wait for it to get sensitive or react adversely to some product before I try to fix it. So, when it comes to testing skincare products, I am incredibly slow and systematic. I pretty much have a core set of products I use all the time and then I swop in new products one at a time. So, it definitely takes me a little while to get a sense of which creams and lotions work for me. Here's a couple that I've tried and enjoyed recently.

Normal? What's that?!

It's been a couple of weeks since I've completed my Universal Yoga Teacher's Training course (yay!) and I've kind of been waiting for life to settle down and get back to normal. I don't mean simply getting back to waking up at a normal time instead of jumping out of bed at 530am to rush to morning practice or not having to deal with insistently sore muscles.

For some reason, I'd thought I would just go back to being the regular old me, doing my usual thing and viewing life in the same way. But nope. That totally didn't happen.

At the risk of sounding somewhat preachy, I've certainly found my outlook on life changing, and I think it is for the better. Granted, I have probably been a bit of a work in progress for a little while, especially since I made the decision to leave my day job to spend more time on doing things that actually meant something to me. Still, I couldn't help but notice a small but discernible shift after this 200 hour, 20 day course.

Something that I never ever dreamt I would say is that I've learnt to be content and happy with what I have. I no longer click open an email from netaporter or shopbop and break into convulsions when I see the dress/shoe/bag that I MUST HAVE OR DIE TRYING. Heh. To paraphrase my yoga teacher Copper, I've finally learnt to admire the beauty of an object without feeling an all-encompassing desire to possess it. And to quote him a little more, I might still buy the shoe/bag/dress (I'm not perfect so it's perfectly acceptable to cave in every now and then haha) but at least now my happiness does not depend on acquiring yet another material object.

I'm working hard to be a little more compassionate in my daily life. I am the sort of person who gets really bugged by bugs and I usually end up screaming for someone to come squash it or get rid of it for me. So it's been tough but I've consciously tried not to be so bothered by the sight or thought of insects because, really, they're probably more afraid of me than I of them. A few days ago, I spotted a spider in my bathroom and after mentally screaming like a crazy woman, I decided to leave it alone. Admittedly, it was partly because I was scared to kill it and there was nobody else to help me heh. But still, baby steps. I hope I never see this spider again :x

As for something that's a little more obvious, I've committed to eating only fruits and nuts one day every week. I am a horribly picky eater and I've never liked vegetables. In a way, this has made me a lot more conscious about health and nutrition because I'm aware that I'm not always consuming the vitamins and minerals I need. So I've always tried to cut down on less healthy food like fried or oily stuff and I try to eat a reasonably healthy breakfast daily.

According to yogic philosophy, fruits and nuts are the most nutritious to a yogi because of the prana (life energy) that they contain. That aside, since I am rather carnivorous, I think a weekly fruit and nut fast will at least allow my digestive system to take a break from all that intensive work. I've done this just twice and man, this is difficult! I'm not depriving myself of food for the most part since I'm not restricting the amount of fresh fruit I can eat. But when you're constantly surrounded by all sorts of sinful temptations in real life and also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it can be incredibly difficult to go even for just 24 hours on a simpler diet. But I'm determined to stick to this so that hopefully in the future, I won't be plagued with various health problems and I'll get to lead a nice, long healthy life where I can practice yoga even when I'm grey and wrinkly.

Anyways, I've written all this not to proselytize or to make myself feel holier-than-thou. If what I've written will inspire someone else to make some changes in his or her life, then it is a blessing that I've been allowed this opportunity to spark action in another person's life. Otherwise, this really is just so I can hold myself accountable to my actions, and maybe someday, I can look at this post as a measure of how I've grown as a person over the years :)

Beauty with a difference

There is a new, or shall I say revamped, beauty player in town, and I have a gut feeling that this time, it's going to make lovers of luxury beauty products sit up and take notice.

DFS Galleria Singapore's updated Beauty Hall is a stunner in terms of its sheer size and range of brands available. At 15,000 sq ft, it is comparable with Sephora. I just love the high ceilings, which give you a sense of space - something which is definitely a luxury in Singapore. There are 22 beauty brands with spacious counters to encourage browsing and testing.

By now, most people would know that Giorgio Armani cosmetics has made its debut here. But there is also another hard-to-find brand at DFS - Helena Rubenstein, whose mascara is one of its star products. Apparently, HR has been here all this while but was previously tucked at a smaller counter upstairs. Some other brands available here include Benefit, Christian Dior, La Mer, Estee Lauder, Shiseido and SK-II.   

At first glance, it may be difficult for a casual observer to tell what's so special about this place. Well, read on for four reasons why the DFS Beauty Hall is different from other beauty halls you can find along the Orchard Road strip.

Just for laughs

So I was mighty chuffed when I spotted a New York Times article on how hotels are increasingly beginning to offer "designer" toiletries to attract customers, published May 29, 2012. You can check out the full article here

I have to say I am rather disappointed by the rather uninspired headline "Hotels Upgrade Beauty Products", although the article is a lovely breeze to read.

For all the flak that we get for supposedly riding on trends that start elsewhere, at least sometimes, we get there first. Heehee. So just for fun, here's my Singapore version of the story on hotels that offer cool beauty products in their rooms. It was published about nine months ago on Aug 28, 2011.

If you're traveling soon, you may want to check out the hotels under the Como group. There's the Metropolitan in Bangkok, Uma Ubud in Bali and Uma Paro in Bhutan, just to name a few. I absolutely adore their in-house brand of Como Shambhala toiletries, which smell simply divine. It's a blend of scents but I can pick up lavender most strongly. Yes, I'll admit that I nicked a few sets while I was at Uma Paro recently to bring home as souvenirs!

My five minute face

I'm not exactly a make-up magician who can transform her face into something completely different through face paint, but I have managed to figure out what I call my five minute glam face.

This skill has been honed through four years of having to work long hours in an office and then rushing off to attend one chi chi event or another. I think it is just good manners to at least bother to look like you've made an effort to look presentable at an event that someone has kindly invited you to. (And also not look like something the cat dragged in when taking photographs with the beautiful people at these events).

So, here's the bare minimum that I do to get by - at the least your complexion should look brighter and evened out and you will look less tired. Which in turn will do wonders at boosting your confidence at sometimes tricky social events.

Here's my ten staples for the recent Audi Fashion Festival.

Pssst

The "About me" page has finally been updated :)

My personal stumbling block

Judging by the way I gush on about yoga (sometimes), most people would probably think I breeze through the classes and emerge floating on clouds.

 I wish.

For the most part, each class has its own challenges and I usually end up pushing myself one way or another, whether it is holding a lunge deeper and longer or finally managing to hold a headstand by myself without a wall for support (that was me, today!).

Bliss is...

These days, I try to count my blessings instead of my gripes because it just is easier to be happier than grumpy and annoyed.

Something I've been richly blessed with is the opportunity to indulge in one of my favourite pampering experiences - spas. I know a massage at a spa ain't exactly cheap, and I've wasted a fair amount of money going to places that I've thoroughly regretted, so here's my attempt to repay my good karma by narrowing down the choices.

Hello world!

Yes I am still around... but have been taking time off to travel a little, go on a few breathless hikes, smell the elephant dung and take leisurely rides through the mountains on rickety trains. You know, basically doing the sort of awesome things that unfortunately take me away from spending hours in front of the computer crafting blog posts.

But fear not!

I've one last trip in the pipeline and then I should be back in Singapore for the forseeable future where it will be back to regular programming and much more stable writing hours (which will hopefully translate to more frequent and more solid posts here). Expect a series of travel-related musings as I get back into the groove of things :)

In the meantime, here's a collection of my favourite travel snaps. I hope it inspires you to go on a little adventure of your own. xx

Tips from a make-up maestro

Still on the topic of natural-looking beauty, Laura Mercier is now available in Sephora Singapore. Previously, it was only available at one small make-up boutique, so few knew of its existence. The prominent displays at two Sephora stores I've passed by - Ion Orchard and Takashimaya - are already giving the brand much greater visibility here.

Laura Mercier, the founder of the 12-year-old brand, is credited as the pioneer in creating make-up primers, which is basically a product you apply all over your face after skincare and before foundation. A primer helps to create a smooth surface on the skin so that make-up applies more smoothly, stays on longer and looks fresh for a longer length of time.

Before: Getting my skin prepped for make-up

To mark Laura Mercier's grand re-introduction into the beauty scene, its director of international artistry & promotions, Tayaba Jafri, was in town to run a series of workshops. I was asked to be the demo model for one of the sessions and happily took up the offer so that I could get firsthand information on how to get the brand's signature "flawless face" look -rubs hands with glee-

Pretty easy pretty skin

One of the biggest beauty trends these days is having a flawless complexion that does not look like there's anything on it at all. But I can assure you that achieving an effortless airbrushed look is a lot easier said than done, especially since many people tend to go overboard with products and over apply thick layers of foundation and powder.

So, I was chuffed to find out that make-up brand Becca is now available at Escentials, a real treasure trove of cult beauty labels. This Aussie brand, which is created by make-up artist Rebecca Williams, is known for its natural beauty aesthetic, which appeals to my regular fuss-free approach to daily make-up.

I remember Becca launching at Sephora a few years ago, but before I knew it, the line was discontinued. Now, it is back at a cosier location, which I think will better suit the brand because its understated products probably got a bit lost in the huge array of brands at Sephora, especially since it is not necessarily as well known as some of the other brands there.

Pucker up

 

If I had to choose one make-up product that I can't live without, my vote would definitely go to lipstick. It really is the most no-brainer way to look at least a tad made-up. Just slick on some lippie and ta-daa, insta-glam!

I've been obsessed with bright orange for quite a while because this cheery hue is really quite amazing at brightening up my complexion. There are days when I appreciate a subtle nude or a sweet pink, but more often than not, I gravitate towards a statement colour so that I don't really have to do much else to my face to look made up.

But even though lipstick has experienced a revival in popularity over the last two years or so, after years of lipgloss dominating the market, nobody has been able to create an orange lipstick that is both bold and glossy (most tangerine lippies have a matte texture).

Well, the lipstick gods must have heard my plea.

Drugstore haul

After four years as a beauty writer, it has become second nature for me to poke around in drugstores whenever I travel to see what interesting finds I can unearth. So, while I was in Melbourne visiting my sister last week, I made a beeline for Aussie drugstore chain Priceline.

The three products I bought aren't exactly glamour items like lipstick or perfume but could potentially be extremely useful for certain skin emergencies. I don't think they're available in Singapore yet, so those who are going Down Under might want to stock up on them.

On commitment

As I kick off this new little project of mine, I thought it would be fitting to start with a post on another commitment I recently made.

One style of yoga which I particularly enjoy is ashtanga - basically a 90 minute long sequence of flowing postures. Since I left my day job a month ago, I made a promise to myself to attend an ashtanga practice every Wednesday morning at 1015am. My studio only holds a few ashtanga classes a week, usually in the morning, so I could never practice it as frequently as I would like, until now.

I love the sheer physicality of moving constantly for 90 minutes without stopping to rest. Because the sequence of postures never changes, I'm able to chart every small victory I achieve since I have a benchmark from my previous classes.

I still vividly remember the day half a year ago when I was finally able to jump from a downward dog position into a seated position (And to think I once could not even visualise how I would be able to maneuvre my body through this sequence). This morning, my instructor helped me into a headstand, a big achievement for me since I've never dared to do one without a wall behind me for support.

But much as I love this practice, there are many times when I've been tempted to skip class so I can laze around a bit more. My brain is incredibly nimble at coming up with all sorts of excuses ranging from jetlag to being unable to wake up. Sometimes, even when I've made it to the mat, the first few sun salutations don't go well because my joints feel creaky and I find myself regretting the decision to put myself through pretzel twisting agony.

Then, at the end of class, after I've battled with my lousy thoughts for the entire session, when my mind feels refreshed and energised, my body feels limber and lighter and I might have made a little progress in mastering another pose, I suddenly realise that the sacrifice was well worth it.

And really, that's what I think yoga is about. Being able to balance gracefully on one leg or having a lean, strong body are great perks but the biggest lesson I've learnt is to fight through the self doubt and difficulties to get to the end point. Someday, I hope I'll be able to accept life's trials and tribulations with grace but in the meantime, I'll keep going to Wednesday morning ashtanga classes.