Tag Archives: Japan

Giveaway Contest | Ebizo Ichikawa Japan Theatre

September 14, 2015 Ena Teo Leave a comment

Hi Loves!

Are you a fan of Japanese theatre? Then you’ll be pleased to know thatEBIZO ICHIKAWA XI’s JAPAN THEATER 2015 will be here in Singapore in October!

Ebizo Ichikawa XI is from one of Japan’s oldest and most prestigious kabuki families. This October, the ‘Crown Prince of Kabuki’ will be coming to Singapore to debut two new kabuki plays, Uwanari and Mimasu Kuruwa no Kasauri. Uwanari has not been performed in a hundred years, and its debut on the 17^th of October marks a significant moment in kabuki history.

Catch a glimpse of the show on video here:
https://youtu.be/sdDsKAke7JA

The show will be running for two days on the 17^th and 18^th October at Marina Bay Sands, and the show-times are indicated below for your easy reference:

	Showtime
17 October 2015 – Saturday	3pm & 7:30pm
18 October 2015 – Sunday	3pm

Thanks to EBIZO ICHIKAWA XI’s JAPAN THEATER 2015 & their PR, we are giving a way a pair of tickets, each worth $145!

Contest Date: 14^th September to 25^th September

Terms and Conditions: No age limit, no photography nor videography during the performance, and no reselling of complimentary tickets. The organizer reserves the right to make changes to the terms and conditions.

All you have to do is to go to my IG and FB page to look out for the giveaway post and follow the steps to qualify for the giveaway!

Good luck!

Ena

Inspiring, Lifestyle, Travel

Wanderlust Strikes

October 8, 2014 Ena Teo Leave a comment

Lately I think about the travels I’ve had abroad and a very strong urge of wanderlust strikes. I was very fortunate to travel to Japan, Hong Kong & London last year and this year I haven’t been abroad except for Malaysia…

I want to go to Paris, Italy (again) and Taiwan…

Let me leave you with a quote and pictures from my travels last year.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.

Xoxo
Ena

Beauty

HABA Japanese Non-Additive Skincare Review

March 16, 2014 Ena Teo Leave a comment

Hello~!

Today I’ll be reviewing a set of products from HABA, a Japanese skincare and beauty line. ^^

HABA the brand, is an acronym which stands for Health Aid Beauty Aid.
HABA believes in beauty from the inside out:
that the right skincare and healthcare will lead to a better life.

HABA also desires for their users to experience a Non-Additive mindset,
which originates from Hokkaido, Japan.

What is unique about HABA is that it boasts to be:
Paraben-Free
Mineral Oil Free
Artificial Colourant Free
Artificial Fragrance Free
Petrochemical Surfactant Free

These are common additives (aka preservatives) in many brands’ products
that can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions.
Instead, HABA uses ingredients such as sasa kurilensis water (bamboo extract) which acts as a preservative, contains antibacterial properties and helps to keep the skin moisturized. (Is that why bamboo juice is so refreshing on a hot summer day?!). HABA only uses ingredients that are safe and healthy for the skin.

Weeks back, I was invited down for a mini facial and skincare treatment at the HABA Suntec outlet.

The skincare treatment consists of the items which I also brought back for use to review.

The regime is as such:

1) Cleanse
with HABA’s Micro Force Cleansing
2 in 1 make up remover and cleanser

Usage:
I pump 1-2 times on my cotton pad and wipe away my makeup.
Then I will gently cleanse my face with water.

After using this to remove my make up, it also cleanses my skin, so technically it saves me one step!
That said, however I still use a gentle cleanser in the shower. 😛

I love this water based cleanser as it is very hydrating and moderate in consistency,
much like a water based lotion and cleanses gently as much as thoroughly.

2) Special Care
with HABA’s best selling whitening serum, White Lady

Usage:
I use 1 pump for my entire (small) face.
Pump generously into your palm for how much you require,
and gently pat on your face with your fingers.

This serum is developed from a doctor’s formula,
contains sasa kurilensis water (bamboo extract) and vitamin C,
it is moisturizing, antiseptic and has sterilizing effects.
The serum is light weight and is liquid in consistency.

3) Moisturize with
HABA’s VC lotion, whitening toner

Usage:
Apply VC Lotion by patting lightly on the skin with both hands.
HABA encourages ladies to apply this toner 5 times during each use.
This way, the product can fully penetrate the skin, leaving it refreshed and supple.

I was quite amazed at why I was never previously educated on this method,
it does make a lot of sense since toner bottles always come in such big bottles and take forever to finish.
That said, it’s still important to check and follow the recommended dosage for different brands
as not all toners are formulated in the same way. 🙂

VC lotion is a moisturizing alcohol free toner infused with Vitamin C derivative
which can penetrate the skin better and is non irritating to the skin.
It also contains Ceramide nanosome which
helps to keep moisture levels in your skin for a longer time.

4) Protect
with HABA’s Squalane

Usage:
With hands and face still moist from toner lotion,
apply one drop of Squalane on your moist hands,
spread the Squalane on your palms and press them gently on your moist face.

This is also one of HABA’s best selling products.
Extracted from deep sea shark’s liver oil, this is the same oil
that is in our skin that created a protective film to retain hydration.

After using this set for weeks in the morning and evening, I feel that my skin is pampered and properly hydrated. I would definitely recommend this to ladies who are looking for natural skin care products, for hydrated and supple skin, especially in dry weather.

The prices of the featured products are as such:
– Micro Force Cleansing (Makeup Remover) 120ml, S$46
– White Lady (Whitening Serum) 30ml, $78
– VC Lotion 180ml, S$85
– Squalane (Beauty Oil), 15ml $29
I’ve been using these products for about 3 weeks now,
and I approximate that these will last for 3 months.

5) Moist White Beauty Drink
A fresh, crisp beauty drink that contains Haskap (blueberry honeysuckle),
a fruit that is coveted for its powerful whitening and anti-aging properties.
It also includes collagen, ceramidea and L-Cystine
which helps to enhance skin clarity and firmness.
Each bottle contains 3,000mg of collagen and on 21 calories per bottle. 🙂

The taste is sweet, smooth and I love the blueberry flavour.
I only got to try 1 bottle, so I can’t attest to it’s longer term effect.
Also, as I am also in my early 20s I don’t (yet) have to worry about collagen loss.
Altho’ I’m quite sure when the time comes (another 5-10 years) I’ll start collagen intake regularly
as it’s been said that collagen drink works wonders for your skin! 😉
$49/box (of 10 bottles).

When I was in their store, I als got to try their Ion My Esthe II,
a home esthetic treatment device that cleanses and treats your skin with the power of ion.
It performs two basic function in two modes:
Ion Cleansing Mode and Ion Care Mode.

I tried their Ion Care Mode as such:
Apply 8-10 pumps of White Lady Serum on face
Soak a face sheet with VC Lotion
Put the mask on face and slowly roll on Ion My Esthe II on my face
At approximately 8 minutes, a beeping sound will go off to indicate that the treatment is done.
Remove the mask and apply lotion Squalane on your face.
It is recommended to perform Ion Care Mode twice a week
and Ion Cleanse Mode once a week for maximum results.

I am quite amazed at how ION treatment works, in the sense that I am unsure how it works.:P
(Maybe my learned chemical engineering sister can tell me how?)
It’s also hard for me to say how effective it is as I’ve only tried it once.
However I can attest that it’s definitely safe, it uses our/my own body’s ION power to
charge this instrument. Cool huh?!
That’s one of the reason why I love being a blogger!
Getting acquainted and to be able to try new and cool
beauty products and treatments to share on my blog. ^^
Given the chance, I would definitely love to try using it for a longer period. 🙂

The Ion My Esthe II (Facial Instrument) costs $350.

HABA also has make up products, which I had the pleasure to try during my visit.
Their make up products are light and feels very natural
and also creates a very Japanese look, in my opinion.
If you’re a fan of natural/non-additive products, do give their make up range a try. 🙂

~ For my dear readers ~ ^^
Quote my name “Ena” and get 15% discount, valid till April 2014.

I will also be having a HABA GIVEAWAY &
1 lucky winner will win more than $200 worth of HABA products consisting of:

– 1 make up remover

– 1 White Lady (whitening serum)

– 1 toner

– 1 Squalane oil

To join, simply do the following:

Step 1: LIKE HABA’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/haba.com.sg

Step 2: Like my blog Enabalista Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/enabalista

Step 3: SHARE this Facebook post here.

Deadline: 30 March 2014, Sunday 7pm.
Winner will be announced here and on my Enabalista FB page shortly after.

Winner will have to provide his/her email address and pick up the products at the Suntec store!
HABA staff will select the suitable products after checking your skin type. ^^

You can find HABA outlets at:

Suntec City Mall #01-306

Ngee Ann City #B2-13A

And their *NEW* OG Orchard !
To celebrate this event, they are having an exclusive promotion, see below image for more info.:

Follow HABA on their Facebook here.

Thanks for reading! <3

Ena

Uncategorized

CoCo Ichibanya Curry House @ Star Vista | Food Review

November 11, 2013 Ena Teo 7 Comments

Recently I was invited down for an intimate food tasting session at
CocoICHIBANYA Curry House at Star Vista!
😀

I was delighted to be invited for this food tasting session
because I am a fan of Japanese curry rice
which is flavourful and yet not too spicy
and I’ve previously dined at CocoICHIBANYA outlet at 313Somerset!

Star Vista is conveniently located close to Buona Vista MRT station
with sheltered walk way all the way till the mall.

Let’s take a look at what’s on the menu shall we? 😉
As you can see on the menu above,
First you select the curry dish from the various selection available,
then you select the quantity of rice,
choose the spice level,
& lastly add toppings if you’d like! 😉

By asking for less rice, there’s a $1 deduction!
Best for ladies who wants to enjoy Jap curry rice
without busting their waistline
& extra savings, woohoo~!
ヽ(^。^)丿

For the spice levels, level 0 is standard.
We also tried level 1 and 3.
More on the various levels in a bit!

Here’s another pic of the toppings available on the menu,
such as cheese, kimchee (!) & mushroom.

Here’s our lovely host Lucas ordering delicious Japanese curry dishes for us. ＼（＾▽＾）／

With my sister, Jia Hui. (^▽^)

Our salad greens that came with our mains.

Lucas’ salmon croquette with cheese
less rice
& spice level 3!

We had the a taste of the curry and it had a stronger pepper/spice taste,
definitely recommended for those who’d like their curry that pack a punch! 😉
Our pork cutlet curry rice
less rice
spice level 0.

The cutlet was fried to a golden perfection,
but it was a pity that it slightly on the overcooked side
and a tad too tough for our taste.
We gave our feedback to the staff and hopefully it won’t be too tough for others in the future!

Our omelette rice aka Omu rice with mushroom & cheese toppings
with less rice
spice level 0 standard.

We ordered chicken karaage to add to this dish~

As mentioned, I am a fan of Japanese rice
and I am also a BIG fan of omu-rice!

The combination of eggs, mushroom and cheese with the curry was yummy!
I liked that the mushroom tasted fresh and flavorful in diced pieces
& the chicken karaage was also perfect!

I probably had too much of goodness in my belly that day.
>.<
So this has got to be my FAVE dish of the day.
☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

We also tried beef curry, on Lucas’ recommendaiton
with extra spinach topping that added a sweetness to the dish
with spice level 1
My sister noted that this dish had a stronger tumeric taste to it!
Definitely recommended combination for people who like beef and spinach. 😉

We also ordered a strawberry yougurt smoothie
which was sweet & refreshing!
Def’ a hit with folks who love strawberry + yougurt. 😉

With my sis & Lucas!
Follow us on Instagram, @jiahui2289, @ena_teo & @niftylucas. 😉

Check out CoCo Ichibanya Curry House Facebook page here.

CoCo Ichibanya Curry Outlets in Singapore
‘cos you do wanna eat their curry rice right?

Star Vista outlet
The Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green, #02-06, Dover, 138617

313 @ Somerset outlet
#B3-25, 313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road

Their latest outlet at Bugis+!
#01-10, Bugis+, 201 Victoria Street

Budget
~$11-15 person not inclusive of drinks

Did you know, CoCo Ichibanya is also the largest curry chain in the world in term of the number of branches?
There are about 1,268 branches (and counting!) w(°ｏ°)w
around the world in countries such as US, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand!

So for all my non Singaporean reader friends, you can also taste this delicious Japanese curry
if you’re visiting one of the above countries!
☆*･゜ﾟ･*(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆

A selfie picture I posted on Instagram after the lunch and
I commented that my face was bloated
probably because I pinned my hair back
but also probably because of too much delicious jap curry rice!
:’D

Check out my instagram @ena_teo for more of my updates~!
♡〜٩(^▿^)۶〜♡

Till the next post,
xoxo
Ena

Inspiring, Travel

Ohaiyo Japan (5) Tokyo Senso Temple & Asakusa

June 24, 2013 Ena Teo 1 Comment

Ohai~~~~

It’s the last installment of my Japan trip blog series!

Without further a do~

DAY 9

Our breakfast at Tokyo Grand Hotel. It’s buffet as usual, and here’s what I picked out. ^^

I find myself fascinated when staffs are suited up! So… classic and professional. 🙂

Our Lasalle table, where we are busy filling in our thoughts and remarks about the last 8 days of Kizuna project.

Our final day began with an art exhibition commemorating the earthquake and tsunami disaster in an art gallery 3331.

I was curious what 3331 mean and the staff explained that it is the rhythm or claps that Japanese traditionally end their meetings.

It goes:

Clap x3, Clap x3, Clap x3 and Clap! Thus 3331. Cool huh! 🙂

It’s an art gallery housed in an old elementary school.

We were introduced to the current exhibition titled “Making as Living” which talks about how artists began socially enterprising businesses and artworks post disaster. It’s when the Japanese began to realize that when there’s nothing else you can do, you begin to make the best of what you have, you make, like how they start to make use of the wood from broken houses to rebuild things and thus Making as Living. It’s very inspiring.

A huge wall cover of a scene of Tokyo from the birds eye view. Very organized town planning as you can see, in a grid system.

This art work is a series of 3 long panels which showed the number of artworks, songs, shows. documentary about earthquakes and tsunamis since the 1950s or even before.

Then we came to this Indian restaurant for lunch near the Asakusa area! It’s very interesting eating Indian flavoured cuisine with Japanese ingredients like vegetables grown in Japan. Very fresh, unique taste. No photos but the food was good, tasty and authentic.

A pretty flower along the streets!

We came to visit the famous temple at Asakusa.

It’s said that the smoke gives you good blessing.

And so is the water from this fountain from what seems like a warrior from the olden days. 🙂

A sneak photo of Japanese ladies decked out in their traditional kimonos. Very pretty! 🙂

Another sneak picture of more Japanese girls. Sorry I am so sneaky but I don’t dare know know how to approach them to ask for a photo. >.<

The food stalls with very Japanese style lanterns and banners.

Cute bags of cotton candy with cartoons which I like, Hello Kitty and Marie! 🙂

Des, Calli and Ying looking, choosing Choc-coated Bananas. 🙂

Grego feeding Des? Heh.

Happy Des.

Cute dog along the road! Japanese dogs are so pretty! 🙂

Not sure why I was giving such a spastic face! And it was really hot here, like almost 30degrees! We were perspiring…

With Yings! 🙂

With the whole super gang!!! ^^ So much love.<3 <3 <3

Cute cartoons on vending machine.

Ice cream dispensers!

Amazing rickshaw pulley who is soooo skinny. >.<

Cute Yings with a sign that says “Get down the horse” kekeke.

Our dinner bento before we left for the airport!

Here’s a pic w our Super leader Ginette. 😀 She posted on FB saying she travelled to HK and Jpn with me. So blessed! :’)

A farewell pic with some of our fave people from the trip! Jacq, Beatrice, Dylan, Dominique , Myself and Ying. 🙂

We bought Tokyo bananas from the airport. Here’s the giraffe patterned, caramel flavour, its better than the original! 😀

And my goodies loot which I bought back for self, family and friends. 🙂

I am super thankful for the chance to travel to and experience the beautiful country of Japan. It was an awesome cultural experience and I love that the Lasalle group of us had so much fun together and even got together to finish the Kizuna10 project! May God bless the country and people of Japan! We love you Japan! Lots of Love from Singapore! 🙂

Ena

Ohaiyo Japan (4) Isohara Seaside & Tokyo Tower (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Ohaiyo Japan~ (3) Traditional House Tour and Glass Frosting Workshop (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Ohaiyo Japan~ (2) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Ohaiyo Japan! (1) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
What’s Kizuna 10? (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Asakusa Day Out! (cosmiccheeseburger.wordpress.com)

Fashion, Inspiring, Travel

Ohaiyo Japan (4) Isohara Seaside & Tokyo Tower

June 21, 2013 Ena Teo 2 Comments

Ohaiyo~

And I am back with part 4 of Ohaiyo Japan! 🙂

Another day of pretty breakfast at Isohara Seaside Hotel! You know I don’t think anyone can possibly tire of looking at how beautifully Japanese presents their food! This is my type of meal, with meat, eggs and vege!

A breath-taking panoramic view of the seaside from our room. The hotel is designed so that every room has a seaside view, brilliant isn’t it? 🙂

We took a walk down to the seaside for a closer look! Look just how serene the place is. 🙂

Another awe-inspiring panoramic view of the seaside. Click the photo to see an enlarge version!

An obligatory touristy pose with the iconic “rock” on Isohara beach! It’s not actually a rock but rather a tiny island named Futatsujima. Meaning two-island, Futatsujima is a famous coastal landmark reflecting contract.The north island,with high steep slopes,is covered with grass and visited by thousands of birds at nightfall.The south island is small, and continuously washed over by the sea’s eroding waves. Credits here. Little Futatsujima island used to be covered in green trees and plants but unfortunately was washed away since the 2011 tsunami and has not yet since grown back.

We then proceeded to the Honda Civic Center for our presentation preparation and practice sessions in the day and early afternoon!

Here are our lovely hand drawn props of Singapore iconic landmarks, by Ade and Xav! 🙂 Merlion, flyer, Esplanade, CBD area and a hint of MBS! 🙂

Our group, split into the “actions” team and the “singing” team as we present the song “Singapore Town” ^^ The action team and their props. 🙂

Our two cute representatives, Beatrice and Dylan, smiling for my camera in between practicing their script for the powerpoint presentation.

We took a break for lunch and here’s a series of selcas with Ying! 🙂 I love how well lit the place is and how lovely the photos turned out, taken with my Iphone and no filter or post processing at all!

🙂

😀

Our sandwich lunch box! Mustard sandwiches, Pumpkin sandwiches, Croquette in bread and fruits!

After our morning and afternoon practice sessions, we took a short break at the plaza for #OOTD.

Thanks to styling and photo whiz Greggy for capturing this photo!

Anddddd somehow Ginette cajoled Ying and I to take this action photo after we did some jump shots! She used an app to create this dramatic effect! 😀

Next up, we came to “Wedding Place Bihou” which is basically a beautiful hall with a restaurant for weddings. But we were using it for our thank you, farewell and cultural exchange dinner with our hosts from Ibaraki region, meaning all the hosts we’ve met at all the places we’ve been in the Ibaraki region came down! )

Before the event, the 4 groups took turns to practice our short 5 minutes item on the actual stage, so that allowed the other groups to venture the place.

So here’s another photo! Heh. 🙂

And another with Ying 🙂

Naturally the spread and the atmosphere of the dinner was fantastic, but as the indoor lightning was dim (intentionally so), so I didn’t manage to capture nice photos. We managed to speak to the managers at the previous Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) to thank them for their warm hospitality. 🙂 It was also a great time where we presented our items and enjoyed watching others present theirs. What’s more important was that the Japanese hosts seem to be really delighted by our presentations and we also enjoyed ourselves a lot too. 🙂

An commemorative photo of the Lasalle aka SUPER gang: Greg, Des, Ade, Xav, Alex, SJ, Myself, Ying and the elusive Callison (Not sure where he is in the photo lol)!

Day 8 !

Final breakfast at the Isohara Seaside Hotel, this time with fried fish, meat, pasta and a soft bun. 🙂 Blogging about Japan trip has made me constantly hungry, seriously! >.< 😛 All these fantastic looking food makes me crave for meat and carbo, which I love!!! 😛

Thought I’d capture the bedside table which felt pretty old school, with the clock, phone and what seems like a radio. Heh.

It’s our last day in Isohara Seaside Hotel and the region of Ibaraki region as a whole, so Greg, Ying and I quickly grabbed the last chance to take our #ootd at the seaside after breakfast.

The same Isohara seaside, but a totally different feel isn’t it? 🙂 The weather that day wasn’t as great as the day before, it was slightly gloomy and definitely much colder.

This photo gives you an idea of how cold the place is! Haha, me freezing away with hands tightly tucked in my pockets. Photo & memories > important than being in the cold! 😛

Another series of #ootd:

Let’s just say I’m not that skilled in channeling badass. 😛 I’m out-fitted in a Mango plaited top, with a floral and denim vest, grey leggings with a skirt attached, the usual blue coat and brown boots. It’s a country singer inspired look, which is easily created with key items such as plaited top, denim vest and boots! 🙂

Quickly breaking out into to a smile. 🙂

Caught with my eyes closed! 😀

Shortly after, we boarded the coach for our 3 hour ride back to Tokyo!

The very hospital Isohara Seaside Hotel staff and our Kizuna project hosts waving back to us. We were really very sad to part. :'( We don’t wanna leave!

Anyhoos, by 3pm we reached Tokyo for lunch and after, we proceeded to Tachikawa Life Safety Learning Centre for a very engaging time of fire fighting and earthquake reaction workshops!

Here our Life Center guide is telling us the varying earthquake degrees and how to react at home/indoors when we experience a severe 7 shindo scale earthquake.

When earthquake strikes, it’s best to seek shelter under a table where we would be protected by any falling objects.

I have a video for this, where we took turns to experience what it’s like during an earthquake on the simulation stage. We were laughing a lot but of course when it happens for real, it’s not funny at all! I will upload on Youtube and update the link.

Then we proceeded to fight fire! It’s important to know how to, since the second major issue after earthquakes is the fires that erupt due to the earthquake, from houses with the fires left on and unattended before they could be turned off when earthquake strikes. 🙁 Seriously, we are SO fortunate in Singapore that we do not experience earthquakes and I am super grateful for that!

Check out Xav, Ying, Ade, Alex and SJ all so excited! 😀

Look at them valiantly picking up their water based fire extinguishers and vanquishing the fire on the screen! 🙂 We all took turns, but I didn’t pose for a picture, heh. It was definitely fun and not difficult either. Now we are fire-proofed!

After the workshop, we headed to Tokyo Tower for our dinner at about 7pm!

Though not as famous as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, the Tokyo Tower is definitely a famed Tokyo tourist site!

Look how the tower is reflected on the buses! Heh!

Ying and I decided to skip the buffet dinner catered for us/the group and with permission, we headed to eat the local Japanese ramen within the Tokyo Tower!

Sorry I have no idea what this stall is called, so you will have to rely on the photos, but I highly recommend you to eat from here given the chance you are visiting Tokyo Tower! They adopt a vending machine ordering and payment method and they will pass you a buzzer for you to collect the meal when the buzzer lights up.

The collection point.

My tasty, pork Shoyu (I think it is, keke) ramen.

My super satisfied face! The photo is not edited but the light behind creates a heavenly effect which I sure felt like I was in ramen heaven! Heh. ^^

After our dinner, we shopped for souvenirs and Tokyo banana ran out of stock! Haha.

We also bought tickets to go up the tower, which costs about SGD$8/9, if I remembered correctly, for entry.

A panoramic view of Tokyo, from the tower.

Small wooden cut out panels of writings by lovers and well wishers to make and leave their mark upon the tower! How romantic! ^^

I thought the viewing gallery on the tower was very lovely…

A last photo of the Tokyo city. I love the city, not just Tokyo but the proverbial city, with its bright lights shining in the dark. <3

We got back to the hotel about 9pm and we promptly made arrangement to sneak out beyond our 10pm curfew (oopsie!) because we HAD to explore the Tokyo city beyond the hotel and tower, right?!

A really orderly subway!

A very tired Ying and I. >.<

We may be tired but we’re happy! 😀

My first Japanese subway ticket, it’s printed on a material that seems like a very thin and bendable magnet.

Super cute ad in the subway. Not sure what it’s selling but so cute!

Here we see (I presume) the top three cities that Japanese would most like to visit! Singapore, London and New York! 😀

Spotted: Japanese women decked out in cute My Melody (Sanrio cartoon character, like Hello Kitty) bags and luggage!

We arrived at Shibuya, one of the chic Tokyo area!

Hachiko the dog says hi! He is famous for being an extremely loyal dog. Check out his wiki page here.

Japanese 7/11 sells packed ramen! Umm, didn’t get a chance to try it, but fascinating to see!

We could not decide where to eat or what to do and after a longgggg walk, we finally decided on checking out this ramen store! It was actually quite meh~ (read: so-so) in terms of the food and the drinks served. So Ying and I were glad we ate the one at the Tokyo Tower. HEH. 😛

The ramen food place. Click for a bigger version.

Ending off the post with a goofy Desmond grin! 🙂

One more installment to go~ It won’t be long before it’s up so watch this space! Heh.

Leave me your thoughts and views of Japan, whether you’ve been here before or not! 😉

Ena

Ohaiyo Japan~ (3) Traditional House Tour and Glass Frosting Workshop (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Ohaiyo Japan~ (2) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Ohaiyo Japan! (1) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
What’s Kizuna 10? (enabalista.wordpress.com)

Inspiring, Travel

Ohaiyo Japan~ (3) Traditional House Tour and Glass Frosting Workshop

June 20, 2013 Ena Teo 3 Comments

Hello!

Today I’ll be bringing you Ohaiyo Japan 三 , pronounced san in Japanese which is exactly the same as in Mandarin! 😉

I left off at the end of day 4, where we arrived at the beautiful Isohara Seaside Hotel.

So now for…

Day 5! ^^

Very tasty looking breakfast which I enjoyed a lot. Chicken, egg, wedges and banana.

A basket of really thick toast for sharing. The morning light is so lovely eh? ^^

Isohara Seaside Hotel’s entrance, taken from the coach.

And off we go for our first activity of the day, visiting students at Higashi elementary school of Takahagi City, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Guess who we saw from on the coach? Mr Green Bird! Kekeke. He was the mascot that joined us while we played with the children during our short visit..

Picture of the field where we lined up to wait for the children to join us. No photos allowed with the children, though we did take a few towards the end, but I won’t be posting here.

Another clearer picture of Mr Green Bird, that the children LOVED and bullied endlessly…… Kids will be kids, no matter the nationality! >.< Some tried to climb on his back, some tug at his legs (!!!) and some pulled his little tail endlessly. I felt so bad for him.

We were very very sad to part with our elementary school friends, each pair of us were grouped with 2-3 children and we transferred 3 pots of flowers into the planters that we made from the previous day.

After our elementary school visit, we came to tour a traditional Japanese house, the Hozumi Family Residence.

Signboard pointing us the way from where we alighted from the coach.

View of the grand house upon entrance. It reminds me a little of the traditional korean houses I watch on dramas. 🙂

Vintage photos of the house, its garden and its owners.

A drawing of the house, and it really still looks pretty much like this!

Photo of the current kitchen, which is updated with modern day sinks.

Television corner, where a sign says “No smoking.”

The tea corner, with tatami mats and traditional Japanese interior.

The same tea corner, but from a different view.

The fire place and an example of how the kettle is hung! Here I am excitedly standing under a plum tree that’s flowered in early spring. 😀

The next stop was Otsu port, where we observed and heard first hand experiences of the fishermen / staff of the Otsu port.

Here the two Otsu Port fishermen standing in the middle are sharing about how the crack in the ground where they are standing on, came about after the tsunami and earthquake.

Here we see where the arrow is placed, the height of the flood brought about by the tsunami back in 2011!

With Greggy, Ginette, Ying, Dez and Myself. ^^ We were FREEZING in the cold! Heh.

A castaway starfish on the gravel. This starfish has unfortunately dried and died. Reminds me of the inspiring story of the old man why the young boy why he is picking up starfishes along the beach and throwing them into the sea when it is impossible for him to clear all the starfishes on the beach. The young boy pondered for a moment as he threw in another and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!” The story is adapted from The Star Thrower story written by Loren C. Eiseley and it speaks of the idealism of children and youth that can change the world. :’)

The HUGE seagulls that were about the port. You can’t tell from this photo, but they were roughly twice the size of an average mynah or crow in Singapore. Probably because they thrive on the rich seafood in the area!!!

Here we see workers methodically packing away fresh octopus right from the buckets into styrofoam boxes with ice.

A boat docked along Otsu port, in the setting sun.

Then we headed back to our hotel for dinner!

A panoramic shot of our dinner venue in Isohara Seaside Hotel.

Tuna and mushroom pasta which was super yummy! I am not a fan of tuna but I am a fan of this dish. Infact I am a huge fan of Japanese and Western fusion pastas, like Spaghetti Goemon restaurant chain in Singapore. ^^

Not sure if this is a Japanese dish, but it sure looks and tasted like the Vietnamese rice paper spring rolls!

And yummy tempura fish with a very generous helping of tar tar sauce for sharing.

Super yummy cream puffs! 5 to a table, each of us took 2-3 and finished the entire plate. 🙂

AS IF we didn’t eat enough. 😛 We headed out because we wanted to try the sashimi plate at the neighbouring restaurant but we were a step too late as they closed at 9pm so we headed to nearby local Japanese fast food chain, Sukiya.

The boys, Greggo, SJ and Alex.

Adeline, me, Xav and Desmond. We look tired because we probably were but we didn’t want to waste our time sleeping in our rooms and wanted to experience more of Japan instead! 😀

Obviously we were stuffed from the spread at dinner, so we shared this one beef rice bowl with raw egg dip! 🙂 You can choose to mix it into the bowl or take the beef, dip in the egg and eat it with the rice, we is what we did instead!

Day 6

Our first activity of day 6 was to visit Glass Workshop Silica and attend a workshop to design cups that would be frosted!

The beautifully designed Glass Workshop Silica, with a modern, futuristic architecture.

My design, with a four leaf clover inspired design and “爱“ which stands for love, both in Japanese and Mandarin. The cups we design and frosted would be sold in the workshop and funds would go to the Kizuna Bond Project.

Here’s our group’s resident quirky girl Beatrice while she’s intently at work!

Here Dylan our fashion design extraordinaire is designing his cup.

And not missing out our super stylist Greg or aka Greggy Woo with his paisley inspired design. They were all too busy to finish up in the all0cated 45min to look up at me for the photos! 😛

I had minutes to spare so I walked about the workshop and snuck this photo with my #ootd and the simply breathtaking background scenery. :’) I would LOVE to wake up to a scenery like this everyday!!!

For lunch, we came by to this place Ichiba Shokudou which is located right next to a fish market.

It was a super Tempura spread!!! Xav, standing up with the other seated Temasek Poly (TP) fashion design girls.

Omo, omo!!! Fried wedges, fried CHEEZBALLS, fried fish!!! <3<3<3

Then we took a quick walk at the fish market and here’s a snap of fish sashimi for sampling! Thumbs up for fresh Japanese seafood!

Before our 1 hour lunch break was up, Ying and I snuck to this beautiful vast plain field for a quick #ootd shoot. My outfit’s inspired by Japanese school girl uniform, hence the school girl skirt, Peter Pan collar top, layered with a red cardigan with matching stockings. Finishing the look with my trusty coat and boots which I wore for everyday of the trip. Both the coat and boots I bought from my HK trip at Mongkok, Argyle shopping center for about S$20 each. ^^

After the workshop, we headed to Hitachi Civic Center to prepare for our presentation. No photos for that today, but there will be when we are back again on day 7.

Dinner time!

Delish fried fish and cookied veggies~

More tempura fish, mushrooms and sweet potato.

Chilled soba (Japanese for noodles) with soba sauce!

On this night, the group of us managed to make it on time to the restaurant next door for a platter of sashimi for sharing and ice cream! But I didn’t manage to capture any flattering photos as I was more caught up with eating. Heh.

After our 2 rounds of dinner, we headed back to our room, specifically the one I shared with Ade and Xav for our group meeting sesh where we prepared slides and props for our presentation on what and how we plan to share our trip in Japan when we get back to Singapore. That’s how Kizuna 10 came about! 🙂

And with that, sums up Ohaiyo Japan (3), days 5 and 6!

We’re more than mid way into our Japan trip, this series of photos are taking a lotttt longer to edit and caption than I’d expected! AND i am gaining weight while preparing because looking at all these mighty delish food keeps making me hungry and snacking. 😛 Hope you are enjoying it! ^^

Ena

Ohaiyo Japan~ (2) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Ohaiyo Japan! (1) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
What’s Kizuna 10? (enabalista.wordpress.com)

Inspiring, Travel

Ohaiyo Japan~ (2)

June 18, 2013 Ena Teo 7 Comments

Hello~

And YAY! For ROUND 2 of updates from my Kizuna Japan trip! ^^v

Ready or not, here we go~!

DAY 3

I left off after we checked in and spent a night at Hotel Omoide Roman-kan, Daigo Town, Ibaraki Prefecture.

This is just round 1 of my breakfast serving! It’s an international breakfast spread with traditional japanese food like porridge and side dishes which I took in round 2 but not pictured! 😛

We woke up to this BEAUTIFUL scenery. After breakfast, Ying, Greg and I decided to go for a quick walk and snap some #OOTD (means outfit of the day, for the uninitiated).

Cute plants, what do you call this? ^^

A candid photo of Greg shooting Ying’s #OOTD, using my camera’s miniature mode.

Our lunch bento box!

After lunch we also went for a walk around our hotel! 🙂

And we saw little birds lined up on the cables/wires. How cute!

We also saw red berries along the way… Not sure if they were edible or not! 😛

The view of Daigo Town, just behind our hotel! Lots of restaurants that seem to thrive from the tourists and also visitors that drive along the road.

A closer look, the poster seems to say that the noodles are 100% handmade! 🙂

After lunch, we headed to Oku-kuji Recreation Forest area where we made wooden planters to show support for the reconstruction of the affected areas, as our wooden planters will be used in the elementary school which we were visiting later during our trip. 🙂

Materials for our wooden planter! Pieces of wood, nails wrapped in the newspaper and wooden hammer.

A quick shot of our Lasalle team ^^ You can also see the place where we were, it’s all made of wood and a very beautifully constructed place!

My buddy Ying very focused in putting the planter together! We took turns to hammer the nails in. 🙂

Us with our constructed planter! ^^ And pardon our frizzy hair-dos that got all frizzed up in the high static environment, heh!

Now you see us, now you don’t! >.<

We also wrote encouraging messages on our planter! 🙂

A shot of work that is still underway around the Oku-kuji forest area, taken from the coach, hence the blurry effect.

Then we came to Fukuroda Falls! It’s one of the top 3 falls in Japan, with a different look each season. 🙂

Us again! This time in our coats as it was pretty cold! 🙂

There, thought you’d like to see the view of Fukuroda Falls in the 4 seasons as I do! ^^ Ok I think it’s just Summer/Spring, Autumn, Winter and then a view of the lake during summer/spring.

Sadly it’s end of winter so there was only a hint of green and not a very welcoming view but nonetheless you can see the the falls!

Another view of the falls, this time with the top of the valley in sight.

And another! heh.

Me and what seems like the mascot of Fukuroda falls! SO CUTE RIGHT. (Mascot, not me, in case you think I’m praising myself, HAHA) I just noticed the falls is pictured on his hat! Mad cute! Basically it says 大子町 on the hat, which is the Japanese name of Daigo and the apple and fish are produces that the town is famous for. Cool huh! 🙂

A beautiful shot of the group while we walked down from the falls… 🙂

At the base of the falls were a slew of souvenir shops and as were early in the trip, we didn’t shop intently for souvenirs but we sure did try out the snacks! Here’s a caramel mochi (japanese for rice cake) which is sticky sweet!

This is the pretty amazing little stall that was barbecuing the rice mochis.

Then the ice cream booth caught our eyes! Many flavours but only apple and chocolate left by the time we bought.

Shot of my apple ice cream! I cannot emphasize how delicious it was, it has apple bits in it that I LOVE. Why can’t Singapore have this? >.<

Our ice cream and our thoroughly satisfied faces! ^^v

Day 4

After breakfast, we made our way to Kami No Sato a local craft workshop for a class on handmade Japanese paper, known as Washi.

This is our workshop tutor, pictured with the frame where he sieved the fibre from the pool of fibre in front of him.

He then showed us how to make markings on the Washi in the frame.

And quickly proceeded to fill the markings in with coloured fibre, in this case, red for the apple and brown of the stem.

The various buckets of coloured Washi fibre where we scooped from for our artwork! 🙂

We didn’t have to do the sieving of the Washi fibre, so we just made the markings and filling in of the colours.

My completed Washi paper decoration! Our works would be sold in the paper shop and funds would go to supporting Kizuna project, which creates awareness of the reconstruction efforts in Japan since the major disaster happened in 2011.

Close up of my Washi paper, inspired by Japanese patterns and the produces of Daigo town, which is red apple and green tea. 🙂

The lovely ladies at the paper shop where we bought ready Washi from! Can you see the beautiful paddle pop coloured papers which were used to wrap the items? Gotta love Japanese packaging! 🙂

“色即是空” Japan is a largely buddhist country and this is a famous buddhist saying that means what is visible is empty, but an illusion. I don’t subscribed to buddhist teachings, but I find it interesting as it explains the Zen concept which Japan is famous for. You can also see a bit of the ceiling of the paper shop, which is entirely plastered with writings!

How the shop front looks like.

How the Kami No Sato paper shop looks like. It also has a small area for a museum of antique Japanese paper and books. Washi-making is a dying art and I am thankful we could experience something so uniquely Japan and culturally enriching.

Shot of the road along the paper shop and workshops and a photo-ception with SJ in the picture!

Activity 2 for the day, which we were very excited about, visiting Setsuko’s strawberry farm to pick and eat strawberries!!! ^^V

Mr Setsuko, the farmer and host telling us his experience of the disaster 2 years ago. He lost many customers as they stopped buying strawberries from him because of harmful rumours and they feared radiation but his produces have been certified to be healthy and fit for consumption. Thankfully his business has began to pick up and has reached 70% of customer support since the disaster struck. 🙂

We took a walk through his tomato farm. The greenhouse technology is imported from Netherlands and Mr Setsuko expressed thankfulness that the structure and glass was very strong and withstood the severe earthquakes then.

A happy looking tomato! ^^

The greenhouse under the beautiful skies.

Plum flowers along the road outside the farm.

And a picture of us Lasalle girls, from left, Ade, Xav, me and Ying with the flowers! Credits to Xav’s from her FB ^^.

We then arrived at our final destination of the day, which is the next hotel for the trip!

ISOHARA SEASIDE HOTEL. *Mad love*

2550 Futatsujima Isohara-machi, Kitaibaraki-shi,
Ibaraki 319-1541 JAPAN
TEL:0293-42-0213 / ( from overseas 81-293-42-0213 )
FAX:0293-42-0536 / ( from overseas 81-293-42-0536 )

Website: http://www.isohara.co.jp/lang/English1.htm

This time I shared a room with Adeline and Xav. 🙂 The view of the pretty room from the entrance.

The beds.

THE VIEW of the seaside! SO NICE. *faints*

The toilet!

That’s all for now, till the next post!

Ena

P.S. Haze in Singapore is getting REAL BAD. Please take care guys! <3

Ohaiyo Japan! (1) (enabalista.wordpress.com)
What’s Kizuna 10? (enabalista.wordpress.com)

Art & Design, Inspiring, Travel

Ohaiyo Japan! (1)

June 11, 2013 Ena Teo 6 Comments

Ohaiyo!

Ohaiyo is the informal way of saying Good Morning in Japanese, the short form of Ohaiyo Gozaimasu. I won’t be teaching Japanese on my blog here, as I only know of a few casual phrases myself. ^^

Have you checked out our Kizuna 10 FB page? Check it out and LIKE it here if you have not!!!

Over this week, I’ll be uploading photos from the 10 day trip that my school mates and I took back in March. We were very generously sponsored and invited by Japan to be part of the Kizuna (Bond) project as part of 100 Singaporean students and tutors to visit and indulge in the rich Japanese culture and heritage! You can check out more of the Kizuna project here.

Without further ado, here are some photos from the 1st 2 days of the 10 day trip that my school mates and I took back in March! 🙂

Japan Kizuna Trip 11th March – 19th March 2013 (Arriving back to Singapore on the 20th March)

Pre-flight, with my lovely travel buddy Ying! 🙂

The view from the plane as we were about to land in Japan… It was the end of winter and early Spring, thus the brown fields.

As we near nearing, we can begin to see the plane’s shadow! So cute right? ^^

This is how they unload the cargo from the plane! Yes, I had a very good view from where I was seating. ^^

Our plane landed at about 4pm and we were scheduled to reach the hotel by coach at about 6.30pm but due to peak period traffic, we reach only about 7.30pm! 😮

Finally got the keys to our room in Tokyo Grand Hotel! I love how vintage the room keys are. ^^ The yellow book is our very detailed and informative handbook for the trip! My schoolmates and I were part of Group A with other students from Temasek Poly and Raffles Design Institute.

How the hotel room looks like! Small but well equipped. Beds were very comfy. Japanese style robes were laid on the beds for occupants to change into. The view from our room shows the office opposite and at 7.30pm we still saw office workers working away!

The toilet is clean and well equipped.

As we reached pretty late, dinner was prepared in very dainty lunch boxes. It was far too much rice for us to consume… Heh.

Post dinner, our first night’s activity began with convenient shops shopping! HAH. There were 3 convenient shops around our hotel and pretty much nothing else. We would soon realize that’s pretty much all the shopping we could do during this except for the last day at Tokyo. 😛 Here you see MUJI stuff at their convenient store! In Singapore MUJI shop has its stand alone boutiques in town, Orchard. The prices are definitely cheaper in Japan, almost 50%! ^^

This, my dear friends, is one of my favourite food in Japan. It’s sold in the convenient store and you pick out what you want and place them in the containers provided, pour a little soup in and pay up. I bought the sausage and vermicelli and they were AWESOME. Super tasty! ^^v

We were told that Tokyo Tower was a 10 min walk away, so the Lasalle group decided to take a walk out together! We came across a subway station and decided to take a look and “recee” for our last night when we get back to Tokyo. 😛

We made our way back to the convenient shops again! Check out the cup noodles from the land of Nissin! 🙂 Totally reminded me of my JC PW (for the uninitiated, stands for Junior College Project Work) where my group mates and I researched and presented on Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin cup noodles!

My supper for the night! Tasty sweet courn noodles with dessert!

Day 2~!

My outfit for day 2~

Selca with cutie Ying~

Candid of Lasalle peeps, Xav, Adeline, Alex and SJ, during our morning walk around our hotel! 🙂

Even the dogs in Tokyo are cute!

This photo commemorates our Lasalle hero, Alex who wore shorts out in the cool weather of below 15 degrees. *thumbs up* 😛

Our resident cutie Desmond, with his ice cream and Alex photo bombing. HAHA.

Billboard along the streets of real life Japanese criminal hunt list. :O It’s scary!

The use of order, pattern and symmetry is found practically everywhere on the streets of Japan.

Even the office workers smoke in an orderly fashion!

The flowers along the roads are happy. ^^

The waterworks covers are too cute! This one’s self explanatory, is for fire hydrant hoses in case of fire.

We had to attend a talk back in the hotel on Earthquakes in Japan, but I won’t be going into details about that. 😛

Our sushi packed lunch, rice and egg and seaweed.

After lunch on day 2, we had some free time so we took a walk around the hotel and we discovered this! The REAL Yakiniku (Japanese barbeque) which we often see in Singaporean malls!

Our brave tutor/supervisor/”SUPER leader” Ginette took the first plunge. HAHA. AND boy it was GOOD. 😀 So we all took turns to buy one stick and shared with each other. ^^

Here’s a random shot of Ying all happy and cute. ^^

Look, Ma! Penang restaurant in Japan! 😛

My buys of the day from convenient store shopping. HEH. Coffee, gums and sugarrr.

After attending the afternoon talk, we packed up and moved out on coach for our next destination for the next few days!

We stopped at a pit stop during the coach ride and LOOK WHAT I FOUND. A basket of cuties!!!

I simply couldn’t resist. So I brought one with me. ^^ It costs about S$6. And it has beans in the tummy! It’s happily on my desk now.

We arrived! At Hotel Omoide Roman-kan, Daigo Town, Ibaraki Prefecture! It’s a Japanese traditional type of hotel stay.

This is how the room looked like when we first got our bags in and trying to get them sorted~.

The balcony area.

The toilet area.

And I realize in Japan, the exit is called “非常阶段“ which when translated it means “not the usual steps” cool huh! 🙂

In case you were wondering, I can read and understand chinese characters and traditional Japanese characters use chinese characters. 🙂

We quickly got things sorted and went down for dinner! 😀

LOOK AT THE SPREAD YO. This one’s dessert cakes and the super yummy greek style yogurt in the steel bowl! ^^v

Tomato pasta!!!

Super yummy Japanese tempura (fried) sticks! An assorted choices of fishes and vegetables with the descriptions, if you can read, on the end of the sticks! <3

Along the walkway you’ll find many pressed floral art like this! So pretty! 🙂

When we got back to our room… IT WAS TRANSFORMED! 😀

We decided to try the tidbit offered in the room! It was complimentary. this one’s plum flavored soft pastry. Super nice, I bought 2 boxes back home before we left. 🙂

That’s all for today! Come back soon for my next update!

<3,

Ena

Art & Design, Inspiring, Travel

What’s Kizuna 10?

June 11, 2013 Ena Teo 4 Comments

Hi!

Check out this little video which I’m in, here!

With that, I’d like to introduce to you the latest project that my friends and I are working on! It’s called Kizuna 10!

Kizuna 10 – The Kizuna Experience

Today marks the first day of our project! It follows the day we flew to the land of the rising sun.

You must be wondering. What’s Kizuna 10 about? Read on!

From our FB info page here:

ABOUT: Hi! 10: The Kizuna Experience is the Facebook companion to the 10-day social media project of the same name. We’re a bunch of students from Singapore hoping to do some good with a little bit of our creativity, so why not check us out? 😀

DESCRIPTION: Hi, we are a group of student delegates from Singapore (3rd batch) who went on a Japan exchange programme – KIZUNA BOND PROJECT – from March 11-20, 2012. The Kizuna Bond Project is a youth-exchange programme launched by the Japanese government as part of its reconstruction plans after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.This platform is an initiative to reach out to the mass on the understanding of Japan’s revival efforts through recreating our 10-day KIZUNA experience. Day by day, hour-by-hour, we will update the site real-time, so that you, our viewer, will be able to walk with us through Japan.

Check out our tumblr page here!

I’ll be taking part in this project, but will also be posting my own set of photos on my blog, combining 2 days into 1 post. I’ll update my own blog post links here when I’m done. 🙂

That’s all for now, I’ll see on you FB and make sure you like our page here ya!

Ena

Credits to Callison Neo for the designs and Xaveria for the video!

Ohaiyo Japan Day 1 & 2

Beauty, Travel

Ena Reviews Mentholatum Deep Moist Lip Balm

May 21, 2013 Ena Teo 2 Comments

Hello~~~

Do you want to know what’s Japan’s #1 Top Selling Lip Balm Brand in Japan?

Well… YES it’s Mentholatum! (Pretty obvious from my blog post’s title eh? :P)

Today I will be introducing Mentholatum Deep Moist Lip Balm in it’s *NEW PACKAGING*~~~ ^^v

#1 in Japan!

Deep Moist & its ingredients Deeply Moisturizes & Repairs!

Deep Moist Lip Balm was introduced in 2008 in Japan and it was received with tremendous success and popularity, quickly becoming the top selling lip balm in Japan’s lip care market.

The success of Deep Moist is due to 2 main factors:

the premium hydrating ingredients at value pricing and
its elegant, ergonomic packaging design.

The key moisturizing ingredients in Deep Moist lip balms are:

Hyaluronic Acid, a premium ingredient that forms a smooth, moisture locking shield for softer, smoother lips. It can hold 1000x its weight in water, or 6 litres of water with just 1g. WOW. *(@^@)*
Shea Butter heals the skin and gives a soft pleasant texture in the lip balm.
Jojoba Oil gives pro-longed, whole day hydration to the lips.

Really unique oval shaped container…

And of course accompanying unique Oval Shaped lip balm stick!

The Deep Moist lip balm comes in an innovate OVAL SHAPED container design that fits the corner of the mouth well and make it easy to apply with a single swipe. Special~! No other lip balm like this one! *(^^)*

Now for my review~ *drums roll~~~*

Ena’s Review of Mentholatum Deep Moist Lip Balm

I am very excited to review Mentholatum Deep Moist Lip Balm because having tried many lip balms before and many of which are also under Mentholatum’s brand, I wanted to know and experience for myself if this little moisture rich stick was as good as it’s touted to be. I am glad to report back that it hasn’t disappointed, I applied only once in the day and it lasted well throughout the entire day, from morning to night.

The lip balm is made up of a pretty solid oil state and slight pressure has to be applied for the balm to come off to the lips. The texture feels rich, which comes from the Shea Butter and Jojoba Oil. It is however not overly sticky and feels rather lightweight on the lips.

Usually the skin on my lips will turn chap and start to peel towards the late afternoon / into the evening, ESPECIALLY if I apply lipstick on top of the lip balm. However Deep Moist lip balm proved effective in preventing my usual lips cracking which made me very impressed at how it effective it was when I was removing my lipstick in the evening and found my lips skin in tact~ !

I have not shared this on my blog yet but ever since I went to Japan I can FULLY UNDERSTAND why Japanese beauty products, especially those HYDRATING/MOISTURE LOCKING type are so raved and sworn by. That’s because Japan’s weather tend to be very dry especially in the winter wind. For a foreigner like me when I visited in March (end Winter, early Spring), my skin on my limbs and lips were turned chapped just hours out in the open, EVEN under protection, like under long sleeves and jeans. T^T So that’s why it’s the perfect place to test and produce these beauty products and if the majority of the beautiful Japanese girls *(^^)* support Deep Moist Lip balm, I don’t see why I wouldn’t! Just too bad I only received this product for review after I came back from Japan~! 😛

Sneak Peek of about 1000+++ photos (no kidding) I’ve yet to edit and upload from Japan *smile cries* :’)

It was the end of winter cold and colder yet when we were near the coastal regions. But when we were in Tokyo, the earth and the skies began to warm up, we caught sight of the early Sakura blossoms near the traditional temple festivities, with a group of friendly and boisterous group mates, there’s no where else we’d rather be… Japan trip was quite magical, I hope I can update soon!

Now for some photos~

To achieve this bright fuschia pink lips, I applied lip balm, followed by a layer of bb cream and then the lip stick. This is because I have naturally fairly dark lips, so the bright fuschia colour is best brought out when I subdue my natural lip colour with the cream. I find that applying lip balm first nourishes the lips and keeps it from cracking under the cream. 🙂

Many thanks to Mentholatum Singapore and The Sample Store for this moisture stick~! ^^

That is all~ for now at least!

Still many posts from my travels and events I’ve been attending! *sweats* I totally need to be more consistent in blogging. *grins*

Till my next post~

*MUACKS*

Ena

Inspiring, Travel

Japan, Japan

March 15, 2013 Ena Teo 2 Comments

Hey guys!

I have not updated for a long time and here I am in Japan!

Was in Hong Kong earlier, will update photos from that trip later.

Ill do up a more proper post when I’m back home next week. 😉

Photos from Japan now!

Beauty

Book Review: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

June 28, 2011 Ena Teo Leave a comment

Hi guys! This is my first book review blog post, hope you’ll like it. I decided to write book reviews because it’s a good way to summarize the story as well as introduce to you books that I read. Do drop me book recommendations under comments! 🙂

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is a story written in the male protagonist, Toru’s perspective in post war Japan about how he deals with loss and love.

Norwegian Wood is definitely not just another predictable romance story. Written in the perspective of the male protaganist, it’s likely a book that boys can appreciate better than girls. I find the male perspective to be interesting, to see the world through a male’s eyes. Girls might appreciate the book as it provides a peek into the minds of boys.

The story is sensual and provocative. Many times I find myself reading through salacious scenes on the train, looking up to check that people are not reading what I’m reading. The sensual scenes are not written like those run-of-the-mill B-grade novels that is filled with tawdry descriptions but rather it is written with literary flair, in an innocent and beautiful light.

I like that the book touches on issues on death, sickness, mental illness as the main themes of the story. Issues that are very intimate, personal and real and rarely the core themes of a romance story. Perhaps that is why this book creates an impact all around the world from decades ago till today.

The story is very much anchored in post modern mentality where there is no judgement on the characters, no matter what actions they take. No matter the severity of the action, it is treated in a matter-of-fact manner, like just a phase of life. The story doesn’t delve into the reasons for Toru’s best friend, Kizuki’s death. In fact the reason is unknown. Perhaps it’s due to Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko’s illness but perhaps Naoko’s illness is perpetuated by Kizuki’s death. Neither does the story justify or makes judgement on Toru and his friend, Nagasawa’s philandering ways.

The story is believable in all points except for Naoko’s “retreat” somewhere far out in the countryside. Perhaps the physical retreat, an “asylum” of sorts for the people is meant to be a metaphor of mental escapism for burdened and worn out city-dwellers. Maybe it’s something that really exists in the Japanese culture but it definitely comes across as queer and fantastical, which does not fit well with the story.

Set in a post-war Japan, the entangled romance and friendships between characters are intertwined with patriotic or pseudo-patriotic protests in Toru’s college. The story conveys the very sense of loss, helplessness and acceptance of tragedies experienced by Japanese in the post-war era.

The book is not a favourite for me but it’s definitely a good book for anyone looking for something light to read. It would definitely appeal to anyone who has interest in the Japanese culture. 🙂

Ena Teo | Enabalista

Tag Archives: Japan

Giveaway Contest | Ebizo Ichikawa Japan Theatre

Wanderlust Strikes

HABA Japanese Non-Additive Skincare Review

CoCo Ichibanya Curry House @ Star Vista | Food Review

Ohaiyo Japan (5) Tokyo Senso Temple & Asakusa

Ohaiyo Japan (4) Isohara Seaside & Tokyo Tower

Ohaiyo Japan~ (3) Traditional House Tour and Glass Frosting Workshop

Ohaiyo Japan~ (2)

Ohaiyo Japan! (1)

Day 2~!

What’s Kizuna 10?

Ena Reviews Mentholatum Deep Moist Lip Balm

Japan, Japan

Sponsored Review | Sunplay Super Block SPF130 PA+++

Sponsored Review: Mentholatum’s New Organic Lip Balm Range

Book Review: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

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