Glomax Aesthetics Facial Review

June 25, 2013 Ena Teo 6 Comments

Hello! A while back I received an invitation from GLOMAX Aesthetics to try one of their facials for a non-obligatory blog review which I promptly agreed and I went down to the salon about 2 weeks ago, on the 14th of June. So though the facial I tried was complimentary, I am in no way paid to write a review for them, but I want to because I am glad to share my pleasant & positive experience with GLOMAX Aesthetics PR lady, manager and beautician as well as the overall ambience of the salon. Plus, there are also perks for YOU, my readers. 🙂 Read on to find out more! Now let’s let the photo do the talking, shall we? 🙂

Before I went down for the facial, I decided to dress up in my new floral printed dress which was perfect for a warm summer day!

GLOMAX Aesthetics – The Face Artistry

Fo location and contact details refer to the end of this post.

The sixth floor walkway towards GLOMAX Aesthetics. As GLOMAX Aesthetics is located in Soho 2 adjacently above Clarke Quay MRT station, getting there is convenient by MRT. A little bit of a digression, but SoHo is a term that originally means South of Houston, shortened to SoHo where this area, in London was repurposed to the residential neighbourhood into small offices and shops. Credit wiki. Today, the term Soho in Singapore typically refers to buildings with home offices, offices that are small but fully equipped with toilets and kitchenette, where it can double up as both office and home! 🙂 So that’s why getting to GLOMAX Aesthetics is much like visiting a professional acquaintance that stays in a condo, both cosy and posh at the same time.

GLOMAX Aesthetics’s #06-168 homely entrance. Press the doorbell on the left to enter. 🙂

So after I was welcomed the staff of GLOMAX, I settled down at the counter for a consultation with beautician Sun.

After clearing the basic administrative work like filling in health forms, when was my last facial, where and what type, Sun took a look at my facial skin and recommended me to try GLOMAX Aesthetic’s Intensive Acne Medic Treatment.

A before facial picture (at my request, kekeke) with beautician Sun. 🙂

Then I was ushered into one of the two beautifully decorated facial rooms.

Oriental style decor with a golden earthy glow. Very lush and relaxing ambience.

Really love the Bamboo and Floral golden printed wallpaper together with the wooden furnishing.

Then I changed into their in house orange robe/dress. 🙂

Next, it’s time to take close up shots of my face, pre-facial for record purposes. 😀

Frontal.

Right profile.

Left profile.

This was shortly after my trip to Philippines abroad and I unfortunately didn’t take sufficient water and fibre and hence you can see a fair bit of pimples due to congested pores, especially on my right profile.

But otherwise, I am fairly happy with my skin condition as it is under control, not too oily. 🙂

I agreed with Sun’s recommendation to try their Acne Medic treatment which is described as such:

Suitable for problem skin with congested pores and acne, start with a sonic cleansing that gently lifts impurities and dirt off skin surface before the problem areas are healed with a mild antiseptic high frequency. Combined with acne IPL to rebalance the sebum level, problem skin will dramatically clear up after each session.

This description is from GLOMAX, and it is the exact treatment which I went through. After a gentle and thorough cleansing, Sun started with a sonic cleansing, removing the oil and dirt from the pore followed by normal extraction, before administrating IPL which stands for Intense Pulsed Light (wiki link). It is basically technology that utilises specific wavelengths of light to target various chromophores in the skin. What it does to my skin in this case, is to reduce my sebum level, but also has the effect of improving my skin tone and also reduce the rate at which my facial hair follicle grows. Extra information told to me by Sun but you can also refer to my researched link online from here.

It was my FIRST time undergoing IPL! So it was very interesting, to have strong lights shining down, much like take photos with very strong lights, but with eyes closed. It also certainly felt warm.

There are a few things to take note before undergoing IPL to achieve maximum effect from the treatment, that is to avoid strong sunlight pre and post the treatment, about 6 days, or risk undesirable effect/darkening of the skin. So I definitely didn’t go under the strong sun before the facial, as I’ve been avoiding the sun and applying sun block to prevent unnecessary pre-mature aging of the skin.

Also post treatment, I was instructed by Sun to take special care to moisturize my facial skin when it feels dry, which I sure did, as the haze in the air also had a drying effect. Even when I was hiding in the air-con from the haze as well!

Sun said it will take about 6 days to see the full effect taking place on my skin, that is for my skin to clear up and have smooth skin!

So what do I think of this treatment?

As assured by Sun, my skin did improve over the next 6-7 days after the facial. So I definitely think it was effective. I also enjoyed the facial under the trusted care of Sun who has more than 5 years of experience as a beautician with GLOMAX Aesthetics and before GLOMAX, she worked as an assistant to a dermotologist and before that, she studied in-depth about dermatology and thus has many years of knowledge as well as experience on facials and medical treatments on the face.

What’s my review for GLOMAX Aesthetics?

I would recommend them in under an heartbeat! The reasons are 1. They are polite and professional. When I was talking to them about some of how my readers (yes, some of you 🙂 ) have commented on the inconsistency of other facial salons and described it as “heng shuy”, meaning depends if you are lucky or unlucky, you will get good or bad beautician and corresponding services and treatments. However they, the PR lady and Sun assured me with smiles that with GLOMAX Aesthetics, service and quality is assured to be consistent. 2. Positive service approach. What I mean to say is, the feeling that I experienced and took away from GLOMAX was that my being and my judgement was placed first. That’s how confident GLOMAX is of their service and standard. Sun tells me that most of their customers are recurring customers from years back and even bloggers they previously invited for reviews and I am not surprised at all.

I am considering taking up a package with them when I begin work, which I hope it works out. Depending on where I work, if my work place is convenient, as I stay in the east and it might not be very convenient if I have to travel down during the weekends. I will update you all, when I do! 🙂

The results show, check out the photos I took in the following days after the facial. 🙂

17 June, 3 days after the facial.

My usual Hada labo 3in1 sun block with very light coverage, blusher and eyeshadow. With the additional moisturizer, also Hada Labo, before that. No primer, foundation or BB cream at all.

18 June, 4 days after the facial.

Same as above, with Hada Labo moisturizer, sun block and blusher but without eye make up in this one.

Now for the best part!

☆ ★☆

Enjoy Intensive Acne Medic Treatment 60 mins at only $88* (UP$150) when you quote “Blogger Ena” while making appointment. *For first-timers at GLOMAX Aesthetics and by appointment only.

☆ ★☆

Here are the details & HOW to get to GLOMAX Aesthetics from the Central Mall, conveniently for you, after you have made an appointment with them! 😉

GLOMAX Aesthetics – The Face Artistry

12 Eu Tong Sen Street. The Central, Soho 2. #06-168 Singapore 059819

callglomax@gmail.com | Tel: +65 6225 5193

These are the instructions I received: “If you’re driving, park at Central Clarke Quay and cross over to Swissotel Merchant Court (ground floor). We’re next to the hotel. Punch in “06168doorbell” at the intercom and take the left lift up”

As for me, I travelled via MRT, alighted at Clarke Quay MRT station. So some helpful photos:

From there, turn right, walk out of the Central Mall, towards the right and you will see this crossing. Cross and walk just slightly further up.

Then you will see Soho 2 and proceed to take the lift up!

That is all, hope you enjoyed this review!

I’m pretty sure you girls & guys will have questions, ask away! 🙂

Be Beautiful, inside and out! 🙂

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)

Inspiring

3 Ways we can smile at the Haze

June 18, 2013 Ena Teo 4 Comments

By now you should probably be aware of the haze situation that Singapore is in, with smog that comes from forest fires in Indonesia, as Indonesians choose to clear their forests by burning.

Yesterday it reached unhealthy levels of PSI (stands for Pollutant Standards Index) 155 at about 2pm.

Today the haze PSI stands at 115.

I know it’s really bad when I couldn’t sleep late Sunday night because I felt like I was choking instead of breathing and had to turn on the air conditioner.

I know it’s really bad when my family and I choose not to open our house windows because we didn’t want to let the smoke outdoors pollute our home indoor.

I know it’s really bad when I went out Monday evening (last night) and thought if there was any day I were to wear a mask out, it’s not because of H5N7 (new strain of avian flu) but because the haze is getting that bad.

I know it’s really bad because people are starting to curse on Facebook.

You get my drift.

So enough for how bad the haze!

Since the last weekend, I’ve been seeing some really creative and funny ways my friends / subscriptions have reacted on social media! So partly inspired by them, I’ll be sharing 3 Ways to smile at the haze. 😀

1. It’s time you can take memorable smokey and cinematic photos around Singapore, without actually having to lug a smoke-machine around because it’s actually there, and free! We know Singaporeans love a good freebie! 😀

Examples of creative smokey and cinematic photos around Singapore:

Okay, this is probably a photoshopped picture and not actually in Singapore, but it’s a creative inspiration! credits: igsg instagram

I didn’t get the #TVD (The Vampire Diaries) reference, but a quick google reveals that Mystic Falls is a place featured in the TVD drama series. Told you the haze makes cinematic photos right? ^^ Credits: jovial_jj instagram

2. Imagine you’re in a scene of Harry Potter / Your favourite movie scene which includes some copious amount of smoke. 🙂

Harry Potter, Smokey, Movie Scene! Image credit: here

3. Last but not the least, make all the Haze jokes while it lasts!

Hehehe HEYZ! 😛 Credits: Sudy on Twitter

LOTS of creativity on SGAG’s FB!

Hope you’ve found a reason to smile at the haze now! ^^

x Ena

P.S. Let me know in the comments, on twitter or FB if you’ve got any Haze jokes to share! 😉

Uncategorized

Follow Ena on Bloglovin’

June 17, 2013 Ena Teo Leave a comment

Hello~

I’ve just linked up my blog on Bloglovin’. 🙂

Do follow me on Bloglovin‘ if you’ve an account there!

Ena

Continue reading Follow Ena on Bloglovin’ →

Fashion, Inspiring

Fashion Stylin’ | How to pull off Maxi Skirts effortlessly

June 16, 2013 Ena Teo 2 Comments

Just this week, I had a fashion conversation with a close friend, Joey about how to wear a Maxi skirt.

She told me that she doesn’t venture to wear Maxi skirts because it’s hard to pull it off as it may back fire and make the dresser look short and stumpy instead. She also asked, should wearers of maxi skirts reveal their ankles or wear a maxi that touches the ground and cover their feet completely?

I don’t have a concrete answer for whether the Maxi skirt/dress should cut off at the ankle or not, and my answer for her was that dressing is about proportion. If you’re not too tall, like I am, I usually don’t venture to wear maxi skirts as well as they overwhelm my petite frame and just isn’t as flattering as if I would wear short skirts. But when I do wear long skirts, then I always ensure that I’m in heels or wedges and that the skirt is highwaisted and usually belted, so that the overall look is elongated, cinched at the right place and looks proportionately balanced.

So by now, you probably might know that I am quite an avid Pinterest user. I started my Pinterest account way back, almost 2 years ago and for a while after I began, I lost interest in it but in the past year I’ve kept returning to it because I find it an immensely inspiring and relaxing portal of fashion, food and lifestyle imagery and it’s completely easy for me to save / “repin” images I love to my own boards and Pinterest page.

So when I was browsing Pinterest today, I came across a slew of images with girls in Maxi skirts and reminded me of the conversation with Joey and I decided to write a blog post about my thoughts and tips for how to pull off Maxi skirt / dress effortlessly!

In the photo above, you can see that:

the maxi skirt is worn low at the waist,

paired with heels and the skirt is slit very high that the cut is placed at where a mini skirt would be.

The principle of balance is at play here where a relatively covered up knitted top is paired with a sexy and revealing skirt. Also the proportion is right with the heels, if she was in flats, she won’t look as flattering.

In this photo,

The same idea of balance is reversed when you see:

The wearer is wearing a laced top which has a peek-a-boo effect and also revealing her tummy area, which some people find very sexy and is definitely a trend this summer!

While she keeps her lower half all covered

AND revealing half her wedges creates a “pedestal” effect that perfects the look.

In this photo,

The maxi skirt is worn with flats but it’s proportionately flattering because

She wears the skirt above her waist so it elongates her lower half and makes her look like she has longer legs.

There isn’t images of maxi dress per se, but the same elements can be applied to the maxi dress, like cinching the dress at a high waist, if you have a shorter/petite frame and going lower waist belting if you are tall or have a longer torso!

Remember that balance and proportion is key!

So I hope you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to wear a maxi skirt and venture to wear one after this post, if you’ve never dared to before! And if you do, be sure to @ena_teo on twitter or post in on my FB page here, or leave the url of the photo of you in your maxi skirt in the comments below and i’d be sure to check it out! <3

Have fun! 😉

Ena

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

Ena Reviews Bio-essence New Launch – Royal Jelly + ATP range

June 3, 2013 Ena Teo 1 Comment

At the age of 38, Taiwanese actress and model Vivian Hsu don’t actually look a day older than 30, doesn’t she?

Have you ever wondered what’s Vivian Hsu’s secret to her youthfulness and V-shaped face?

That’s what I’ll be sharing with you folks today! 🙂

Bio-essence Royal Jelly + ATP Shape V Face 3 Treasures

Vivian Hsu endorses Bio-essence’s Royal Jelly & ATP Shape V Series in maintaining

her V-shaped face and youthful skin.

Thanks to Bio-essence Singapore and EK Media’s kind sponsorship, I am able to give my skin a royal treat with the all new innovation from Bio-essence – the Royal Jelly & ATP Shape V Series.

The 3 treasures from the Royal Jelly & ATP Shape V Series are

Deep Exfoliating Gel with Royal Jelly + ATP
Radiant Youth Essence with Royal Jelly + ATP
Face Lifting Cream with Royal Jelly + ATP

The 3 treasures still in their pretty and shiny blue boxes delivered in a white Bio-essence bag.

The 3 treasures looking equally if not more stunning in their shiny tubes and tub.

The 3 treasures belong to the Royal Jelly & ATP Shape V Series which consists of:

Deep Cleansing Milk with Royal Jelly & ATP
Deep Exfoliating Gel with Royal Jelly & ATP
Nourishing Deep Cleanser OR Nourishing Foamy Cleanser with Royal Jelly & ATP
Deep Nourishing Toner with Royal Jelly & ATP
Radiant Youth Essence with Royal Jelly & ATP
Face Lifting Cream with Royal Jelly & ATP

The entire Royal Jelly & ATP Shape V Series Range

Bio-essence has innovatively blended Bio Energy Fluid, Bio Mineral Amino Acid Essence and precious natural ingredients such as Ginseng, Aloe Vera and Angelica with the addition of Royal Jelly & ATP to create the latest V Face Series.

You may wonder what exactly are the effects of the much touted Royal Jelly and ATP?

ATP stands for Adenosine Triphosphate, which provides energy to skin cells, effectively improving micro circulation to renew and repair skin.

Royal Jelly is a thick and nutritious liquid secreted by the nurse bees and Queen bees feed exclusively on this which accounts for their incredible longevity. Thus it has superior youth restoring power.

Royal Jelly contains proteins and 17 types of amino acids (sources of protein which is the growth factor of skin cells), vitamins (B1, B2, B6, B12), abundant minerals and trace amounts of carbohydrates and fats.

Royal Jelly deeply nourishes skin, improves skin’s radiance, leaving skin soft, smooth, fair and glowing with a feminine charm. It also has excellent anti-bacterial property which helps to disinfect pimples and acne skin.

Let me now introduce the 3 treasures and their efficacies before I review each of them.

1. Bio-essence Deep Exfoliating Gel with Royal Jelly + ATP

Ena Reviews:

The Bio-essence Deep Exfoliating Gel with Royal Jelly + ATP is a thick consistency, jelly like substance when dispensed from the tube. When I apply it on the face, it begins to disintegrate like liquid on the face and when I rub it in circular motion on my face as recommended, small flakes, much like eraser flakes begin to form, gently and painlessly exfoliating a layer of my dead facial skin. After rinsing my face with water, my skin looks brighter and feels more ready for facial cleansing. I feel my skin is more ready for cleansing because the layer of dead skin is removed, which previously forms a layer preventing the cleansing foam to deeply cleanse my facial skin.

2. Bio essence Radiant Youth Essence with Royal Jelly + ATP

Ena Reviews:

The Bio essence Radiant Youth Essence with Royal Jelly + ATP is a green and oil like liquid when shaken well and dispensed from the tube. This is because it contains 95% Green Tea extract. When applied on my face, it glides smoothly across and is rapidly absorbed into my skin. Even hours after application, my skin still feels smooth and supple, which proofs its effectiveness in hydrating the skin and locking the moisture. I will definitely recommend this to be used in cold weather where is air is very dry!

3. Bio-essence Face Lifting Cream with Royal Jelly and ATP

Ena Reviews:

The Bio-essence Face Lifting Cream with Royal Jelly and ATP is a white and fairly thick consistency cream. When applied on my face it feels nourishing and moisturizing and also has a tightening effect which is unlike other moisturizing cream I have used before and also explains its facial skin lifting effect! I would recommend this to women with busy schedules which reveals signs of fatigue on their skin and is looking for a product which will boost and tighten their skin to look fresh and young. It is most definitely useful for women in their 30s and above who is looking for a product that will maintain and lift their facial skin while keeping it moisturized and supple.

This image explains the Bio-essence Royal Jelly and ATP Skin Care Regime.

I am currently using the Bio-essence milk based make up remover, but the non Royal Jelly and ATP version, having bought 2 bottles on offer at a Robinsons sale last year. As I only use a little in removing my eye make up, 1 bottle has lasted me almost a year. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a milk based make up remover as it surprisingly cleanses well despite it’s milky consistency while additionally having a nourishing effect.

When I bought the Bio-essence milk based make up remover I was told by the lady promoter that it is a popular bio-essence product and she also gifted me a full size deep cleanser. The Bio-essence deep cleanser also includes ATP and is milky like, which feels nourishing even as it cleanses. I would recommend it to anyone who prefers and is looking for a cleanser that feels nourishing.

Ena Review Bio essence Royal Jelly + ATP 2

My Bio-essence deep cleansing milk, deep cleanser along with the 3 treasures from the new V Shape Royal Jelly and ATP Series

Do visit Bio-essence’s Facebook page and take part in their app game here, “Unlock Your Feminine Charm” and stand to win daily prizes!

That is all, ending off with a final photo!

Lots of Love <3,

Ena

Beauty, Inspiring

Laneige, Korean Actress Song Hye Kyo’s Beauty Secret

June 1, 2013 Ena Teo 1 Comment

This is my entry for a Nuffnang & Laneige sponsored blogger’s challenge.

I am a K-drama fan, and I have loved watching Korean actress Song Hye Kyo in dramas especially since her Full House days. I also loved watching her in the drama, Worlds Within, where she had spectacular chemistry with her co-star Hyun Bin, whom she dated for a while after the show.

Song Hye Kyo and Rain in korean drama, Full House

They had such good chemistry in Worlds Within, Song Hye Kyo and Hyun Bin.

Most recently, Song Hye Kyo starred in That Winter the Wind Blows, where she doesn’t seem to have aged and her skin is still flawless and fair…

With her co star, Jo In Sung and Song Hye Kyo, looking fine as ever.

The secret to Song Hye Kyo’s fair and bouncy skin is Laneige, being their face and ambassador, Song Hye Kyo has no lack of access to their very hydrating products that keeps her skin smooth and supple!

Laneige is introducing their new BB cushion which is a compact that contains a patented cushion filled with cooling air and BB cream. It is a unique type of BB product with 5 benefits; soothing, skin tone correction, SPF 50+ PA+++, brightening and sweat proof.

How the Laneige BB Cushion looks like!

Laneige is looking for 10 winner who will attend the make up session recreating K-beauty looks with the Laneigh BB cushion.

And thanks to Laneige and Nuffnang, the 10 K-Beauty looks will enter the Laneige Beautiful Blogger Challenge where a Grand Winner will be crowned through public voting. The lucky beautiful blogger will win a 1 year Laneige K Beauty Blogger contract & $2000 cash price from Laneige!

The question we are to blog about is:

Which is your favourite Laneige skincare & make-up product, and why?

And my answer would have to be Laneige’s Water Drop Sun Care!

And of the three above, I’d pick Sun Block Supreme!

That’s because I think the most important beauty routine is protection against the sun’s harmful rays to prevent pre mature aging (ugly spots!!!) and the Sun Block Supreme has powerful sunscreen and waterproof formula that resists water and sweat which would be the most suitable in Singapore’s sunny and humid weather! 🙂

If I am selected to be one of the top 10 winners, I would choose to re-create of my favourite looks from below:

1. Song Hye Kyo’s cute sexy looks in Full House

Cute floral inspired looks with pink and purple eye shadow and blush colours.

2. Son Ga In’s sultry sexy looks

I probably won’t go shirtless like she did… HA.

Edgy and rock chic brown and black eye colours.

Last but not the least I might also go for Yoon Eun Hye’s Pretty in Pink in her Missing You look:

In the show she gives off a feminine fashionista look often carrying very light pink lip colours and au naturel looking skin, lightly brushed facial foundation coverage.

If I were to be selected, which look would you like me to recreate? Vote below and I’d go with the most popular /voted look!

Ending off with a photo of what I’d consider a typical Ena make up look, bare face and dark eye liner! 😉

Ena

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

Beauty

Hada Labo Whitening Lotion Review

May 15, 2013 Ena Teo 1 Comment

Hi~!

Today I’ll be reviewing two sponsored products (edit* I’ll leave the 2nd product for another day~! ^^) *update, check out my Deep Moist lip balm review here~* that I received a week back, starting with

Hada Labo’s Whitening Lotion with New Nano Formula

The featured product of this post is the one on the right.

I’ve been using this product for a week now, twice daily in the morning and evening after showering.

What I like to do in my after shower beauty routine is to apply toner, moisturizing lotion, sun block before I apply my make up.

I usually use Hada Labo Moisturizing UV Milk which triples up as 1. Moisturizing lotion 2. Sunblock (SPF 50++ PA) and 3. Make up base after applying toner and before I apply my make up. You can read my review of the product which I wrote last year here.

The triple effect in one single product makes it convenient and time saving, I love the product.

But when I awake with more time on my hands, I will also use another series of products. In this case when reviewing the new Hada Labo Whitening Lotion, I follow up with a separate sunblock, the Estee Lauder CyberWhite Brilliant Cells UV Protector which also doubles up as a make up base. 🙂

Read the official product information of the Hada Labo’s Whitening Lotion with New Nano Formula followed by my personal review! 🙂

One Drop Reveals Natural Fairness

A Combination of 3 Types of Hyaluronic Acid for 3X the Hydration Power

It is available at Watsons, Guardian and NTUC Fairprice outlets, $22.90.

My review of the Hada Labo’s Whitening Lotion with New Nano Formula:

The Hada Labo’s Whitening Lotion with New Nano Formula is a very hydrating lotion. I squeeze a little portion on my palms and apply over my face in the day and it keeps my skin hydrated all day long, so much so that there is no sign of dehydration, of my skin drying from the day, which usually does in Singapore’s hot weather. It’s a nice little touch as it keeps my face dewy even into the evening.

In the evening, a little portion on my face after showering also keeps my face fresh into the night and till I awake the next morning.

Perhaps the only concern is to not over apply the lotion on the face, especially for oily skin types. For such skin types, like myself, I would advise to apply a thin layer over the face, avoiding the T-zone where the skin tends to be more oily.

As for Whitening, the lotion is light on the skin does help to improve the complexion of my skin over the course of 5 days. The Arbutin and vitamin C does take effect and boosted with Hyaluronic acid’s hydrating effects reduced the dark pimple spots on my face, yay! 😉

For Singapore Only: Want to try the Hada Labo’s Whitening Lotion with New Nano Formula before deciding whether you want to commit to a full bottle? Here’s your chance! Simply click to their FB page, sign up with your details and await for the delivery of your FREE 20ml travel size bottle of Hada Labo Arbutin Whitening Lotion & Cleansing Oil samples! Let me know in the comments below how you find them! 😉

Btw, the Hada Labo’s Whitening Lotion with New Nano Formula is not to be confused with the Hada Labo’s SHA Hydrating Lotion. Personally, I would go for the Whitening lotion because of Singapore’s relentlessly sunny weather, the whitening effect comes in handy to keep my complexion fair. 😉

There you go~ Hope you enjoyed this review and keep a look out for my next one~ I’ll update the link when I’m done! ^^v

<3,

Ena

Art & Design, Fashion, Inspiring, Travel

Ena’s Hong Kong Day 3 & 4, visiting Lane Crawford and G.O.D studio

May 14, 2013 Ena Teo 3 Comments

Day 3

Mouse over the photos on your desktop to view my captions! Not sure how it works out on mobile, in case you’re reading from your mobile. 🙂

Ferry Ride, Lunch at Tim Ho Wan and HK Design Center

Shanghai Tang Maison Tour

Temple Street

Day 4

Breakfast and Lane Crawford Department and Office Tour

G.O.D Design Studio

Something different from how I usually update my travel photos! How do you find it?

Not sure if I like this way more or the usual one…

Till the next post~

<3,

Ena

Fashion Food Fun Ena’s Hong Kong Day 2 (enabalista.wordpress.com)
Let’s begin with Hong Kong! (enabalista.wordpress.com)

Fashion, Travel

Fashion Food Fun Ena’s Hong Kong Day 2

May 11, 2013 Ena Teo 4 Comments

Hello~

Today I’m back with HK Day 2 round of photos. I’ve decided I won’t be editing them into a scrapbook format because that’s taking up too much time and I have too many photos to update hahaha. ^^v

Here we go~!

Selcas with bestie Bini early in the morn’

One-shot at the floor lobby~

One more infront of an art gallery opposite our hotel. 🙂

We walk pass a rather small and cosy but vibrant local market on the way to the train station…

And a very lovely floral shop…! ^^

I love roses~~ Red and pink roses. Look at ’em so pretty!

We also walk pass a local square where elderly gather to read the mornin’ papers.

A shot of the local breakfast place where we had most (2/3) of our local HK breakfast!

My tutor, classmates and their funny poses, kekeke.

I love how weirdly colourful put-together advertising bills are on the streets… Peculiarly making up a certain kind of HK design aesthetics!

With lovely Sharlene, while we were travelin’

This was en route to Shim Sha Tsui (unsure if I spelt it right) to the fabric market! The HKers seem to keep their floor cleanin’ a very formal affair! 🙂

We came across this building… that looked like it has a mask of pins and needles.

And we met a super cute puppy while passing by a convenient store!

The owner gladly posed for a pic with the cute puppy. Ok maybe it’s not a puppy but an adorable grown up cute dog.

And our three crazy Indonesian representatives in their highly expressive poses! ^^ Kekeke. L-R: Sifra, Shella and Sharlene.

Now for photos of HK’s fabric market, where there’s rows and rows on end of fabric samples free for buyers’ a taking home to consider and deliberate to make calls back for orders! Most of them ship internationally!

I love tweed fabrics. They come in many colours!

Check out those lovely rose designed fur fabrics! So prettyyy and warm looking. ^^

A lot more fur… Those on the bottom right look like wolf/animal inspired!

Cool visually striking graphic fabric.

Animal lovers beware… This looks like a real fox/animal skin with the nose intact. >_<#

China porcelain inspired fabric…

3D inspired graphic fabric…

More graphic fabric…

Then we had a bear-dog sighting! Look at them crossing the street!

Finally managed to get a shot of him looking towards our direction… I wondered where it stayed, considering HK houses are really small…

Another unique fabric… this one’s like a beewax/organic inspired lace fabric.

One last shot of a typical HK fabric market street. 🙂

Then my tutors brought a few of us to visit Hong Kong Poly Uni, before that we had lunch!

This was at Misocool at a mall conveniently located right at the exit of a train station. I forgot which station now. Oops!
I can’t be sure if I was really hungry or this was really good cause I MEGA LOVED THIS MEAL. If I didn’t remember wrongly, it’s tomato beef soup with salmon flavored rice. It is so awesome I am salivating just as I am typing this. :'( Anyway you can eat the rice alone or together with the tomato soup! The rice is cooked/baked to be a little crispy on the outside, very awesome!

Then we made our way to HKPU, it’s one of the top University in HK.

We beelined our way to the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, where we met Chanel, the marketing executive lady who brought us around on a tour.

The laboratory where they conduct research on threads and fabrics…Students having their lab sessions inside.

This is the view of a Zaha Hadid designed new design school wing of HKPU. I am a personal fan of Zaha Hadid and though I would like to argue that countries should support their local designer/artists/architect, I still think it would be uber cool to be studying in a Hadid designed building…

More views of the school…

We enter the Fashion and Textiles Resource Centre which if I did not remember wrongly, it is 2 levels deep.

A fabric art work at the entrance of the library…

Students studying/lounging in the library.

Then we walk pass the Intimate Apparels Institute Hall of Fame where award winning works are hung up along the gallery walk way. Love the neon and multi coloured design! ^^

Then we visit more laboratories filled with industry standard machineries. These ones are fabric weaving machines… While we don’t have technical courses in Singapore, HKPU offers technical courses for their students so when they graduate, they would be working in fabric or garment making factories.

Now for some more interesting photos of fabric moodboards and trend boards…

These fabric samples here are samples of what can be made from the CAD machine, where you input a design and the machine knits out these samples, whole! Amazing, I tell you.

Following the tour, we ended with a 3D, yes 3D I kid you not, show reel of their latest fashion graduate’s show case. It was honestly the most outstanding and jaw dropping fashion showcase I have ever seen, not so much for the design but the presentation of it. Not that the designs were not spectacular, but the presentation blew me away.

A few touristy shots around the campus.. here with some flowers blooming, kekeke.

We had a free night, so Bini and I went touring around our hotel area… Hollywood road is famous for antiques and we did see a handful of antique stores and items…

We chanced a upon a lovely store named Pantry Magic selling designer home wares… coincidentally they also have a branch in Singapore, along Club Street. 🙂

An artsy shot, hehehe, of the HK tram on HK street. ^^v

And another, because this is my blog and cause’ I can, haha. 😛

Look who we met~!!! Chen Hao! Famous HK actor. HEHEHE.

So happy to see him… Haha!

We came across a mini mall near our hotel.. Not too sure what it’s called but it had a lot of nice setting to cam-spam with. hehe ^^

With lovely nutcracker…

And a British telephone booth! O-hai~! ^^

Ok, now that I came back from London recently, and I did not take pics with London Telephone booth, this photo is proving a little funny. Anyway, the reason we find a lot of Britain inspired aspects in HK is because HK was colonized by the British until their unity with China back in 1997, so HK feels very much like an extension of Britain, albeit in a chinese populated place.

Moreeee UK in HK Telephone Booth pics, kekeke.

I am talking to no-one in particular…

Yes it’s nice to play pretend for the photos.. just like we were young and we play pretend cooking and playing house all the time… ^^

Bestie and her victory sign in the booth~ ^^v

For dinner, we all arrived at Chilli Fagara, touted to be one of HK’s best spicy boutique restaurants.

Address: Shop E, No. 45-53, Graham Street

Take note that it is near the Soho area, as there is another Graham street near Central HK.

This is the meat in lettuce wrap dish. Very yummy.

This is their recommended dish, the Chilli Fagara Chicken dish. Super spicy but oh-so-good! It’s crispy fried chicken prepared with a lot of chilli fargara – the huge chilli flakes you see above. It’s so spicy but deliciously crispy that though your tongue is burning you keep picking up another piece for more!

Here’s 2 shots of us crazy Chilli Fagarettes~ we went crazy battling with chilli. ^^v

And two shots of our meek Crispy Duckettes as they resigned to eating Crispy Duck and posing with it. kekeke. ^^

The restaurant is designed to be very dark and oriental inspired.. Check out some props:

And they won a Trip Advisor cert! I approve! 🙂

A long flight of elevator up the Soho area…

One of the real classy looking restaurant around the Soho area. It is so named Soho as a lot of expatriates and wealthy tourists frequent the area for dinner and after dinner drinks in the night and boutiques opened in the day.

I couldn’t help but LOL-ed when I saw this…. This really really small tiny apartment quite out of nowhere. Look at the number of people below the apartment, it’s literally just 6-8 people wide! o_O This i guess, is a testament to just how tiny HK apartments can get!

Some of the cute boutiques we passed by that was already closed in the night…

And a very HK road side supper/dessert soup store. Too bad we didn’t get to try it!

Ending off with a shot of a cute artshop, named Artitude. Very cool indeed. ^^

This ends off my HK Day 2 photo travel log~

I hope you enjoyed it!

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below and I’ll answer you~

xx,

Ena

Let’s begin with Hong Kong! (enabalista.wordpress.com)

Travel

No longer a Student, Not yet an Employee (???)

April 23, 2013 Ena Teo Leave a comment

So, I am having A LOT of difficulties to focus on finishing my FYP project.

I’m in a state of INERTIA. As my title says, I’m no longer a student but I’m not yet an employee, with ??? – question marks. Let me explain. So my classes have officially ended last Wednesday but my final presentation is on this Friday (some of my classmates have their slot on Thursday) and our documents can be submitted the following Thursday.

BUT unfortunately this entire journey feels exceedingly drawn out that’s why I feel like I have not more stamina and I sincerely just want to finish up but somehow there’s this inertia that’s getting to me and I have been trying to fight it continuously since… like for the whole of April. T^T

On a slightly different note, being in this stage of my life feels awkward. VERY awkward. People are CONSTANTLY asking me, so are you done with school/have you graduated/are you working – depending on how young/old they perceive me to be. Unfortunately, the impression I let on is a lot older than I really am. I’m only 22 going on 23 but it seems like people think I have been working for.. a while. Sadly. Though arguable that’s true because I did work / intern during my hols and before my degree started. Heh.

AND I feel that I need to document this awkward stage of my life down. It’s not like I’m going to experience many times of graduating from university and worrying (but not really) where I’m headed to after.

I think being in this state of flux… the between, unsettles me. Not ~~knowing how to move forward~~ wanting to move forward perhaps out of a subconscious fear of losing the past. I hold dear to my life in school, I do, I don’t deny it. I love it. I feel protected, challenged but sheltered. It’s not that I feel I’m not ready to begin work. But work life is tiring, I know it, I’ve been through it and I think being thrown out of a student’s life and into work life, it’s daunting, its sad. This stage of my life can be summed up in one word – bittersweet. Sick-sweet, like dried up roses in the window pane.

Sorry guys, this isn’t me and I stole this off tumblr, I think.

I have gone for job interviews, but I have no confirmed offers. I’m genuinely not worried because I think at ~~worse~~ optimistically thinking, I can be a full time home tutor that earns a lot money and besides I like teaching! HAHA. Ok, I’m half joking and digressing. The truth is, I just rest assure that God has it all worked out and my fretting ain’t gonna do any good to me. ^^v

OH yes and the ??? in the title is also regards to I don’t know yet if I am going to be an employee or enjoy being called that. I don’t want to be an employee. I don’t like that term. Contributor yes maybe. HAHA. Anyhoos. Moving on…

Easier said than done. BUT DO IT ANYWAYS! (image cr: RemedyQuarterly)

OK so I’m just gonna crawl back to finishing up my work. AND I promise myself (kekeke) I will upload work I’ve done in the 3 years of my life in LASALLE, from business reports to trendboards and project proposals, AFTER I’ve graduated, which is SOON!

THAT plus photos from HK and JPN.

AND I am heading to UK, London this Sunday, how exciting is that? Anyone from UK reading this? Please contact me for a meet up! 😉

After UK, I’ll make it back for my own graduation show preparations before leaving to Philippines for my THIRD mission trip there! CAN’T WAIT.

xx
Ena

p.s. addicted to this song atm:

Inspiring

Beyond Boston Bombings, Love Will Keep Us Alive

April 18, 2013 Ena Teo Leave a comment

By now you should have read about the Boston marathon bombings that happened on Monday, 2.50pm in US time.

It saddens me to read of such news.

I remember I awoke on Tuesday morning in Singapore with thanksgiving in my heart, grateful for a loving God. I remember feeling very heavy hearted when I read of the news, on my way to school and wondered about how the victims and their families of the bombings would feel. I wondered why a loving God would allow such atrocity to happen to innocent people. I wondered how victims would struggle with God for allowing such tragedy to happen to them. The irony of my meditation of God’s love for man / me that morning was not lost on my train ride to school.

Then in class, for a presentation skills workshop, we were given 15 minutes to prepare for a 1 minute speech on any topic. Instinctively I wanted to talk about God’s love from the biblical passage 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. But in a tertiary education class of mixed religion classmates, I couldn’t just quote from the bible out of nowhere. So I decided to present on Love, namely Eros, Philos and Agape, a summarized version of information I took from The Seeker of Truth’s blog post here.

— My 1 minute speech —

Eros is known to be erotic love between man and woman. It is physical attraction where one finds the other attractive and is in love. Its disadvantage is said to be self-centered, because one party loves the other because it makes him or her feel good or happy.

Philos is known to be friendship, where two people meet and connect mentally. It is better for a man and woman relationship to begin as friends and get to know each other before developing the relationship further.

Lastly Agape love refers to love that is unconditional. It is likened to a Mother’s love for a child which is oft unconditional. However the true depiction of Agape love is divine and found in God’s love for us.

As a Christian, I believe that it is out of God’s Agape love for us that he sent his sinless, only son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross so that we may be saved and reconciled with Him. He died on the the cross and he resurrected three days later.

To give a deeper insight into Agape love, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes God’s perfect love as such:

^“4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.”

Eros describes physical love, Philos mental and Agape, spiritual and these are the fundamental make up of a man’s body, soul and spirit ways of loving.

— end of 1 minute speech —

It is by no coincidence that I meditated, shared and decided to write about love. I did so because I’ve been sad about a few things and I wondered why. And the more I meditated about Love, the more I realize, experience and believe the lyrics of Eagle’s hit song “Love will keep us alive” to be true. Although the song speaks and refers to mostly physical and emotional love, of physical shelter, nourishment, protection and companionship, I believe it rings true for Love in all forms.

As humans we are wired for love. We seek love, we crave love. Often a lot that we do, we do it to earn love. Whether it’s a baby’s cry for a mother’s hug, a toddler’s cry for a toy, no doubt selfish but the toy to the toddler means a parent’s material love for him/her. We work hard in school to score good grades to earn our parent’s approval, another form of love. Men work hard at work, to bring home the money for their families, as a testament of their love for them and also to earn their love.

And when we are in love, we can’t sleep because we want to spend time talking to the other party, no matter how late it may be. YET we can wake up early the next day just to hear from our loved one again. It doesn’t have to be a romantic lover. It works for close friends and loved ones. When you have love to look forward to the next day, no matter how late you’ve slept and how early it is you need to get up, you do. It works for love for work and school as well, to gain the approval/love of your tutor/boss/colleague/classmate/friends.

And that is why as I pondered about the significance and power of Love in my life, coming across the atrocity of the sudden onslaught of Boston bombing saddens me.

While I gave a speech on love, some of my classmates shared their thoughts on the Boston bombings. My classmate and friend, Malika shared that such bombings happen almost daily in Pakistan and Iraq in the Middle East region and it is just sad that one such case in US creates such huge media waves globally but we probably don’t know and care about those happening in the Middle East.

I read further about the Boston bombings, mainly from Daily Maill here and an extremely informative post from Mother Jones here. I cried a few times. I cried when I read about how hero Carlos Arredondo went down to help victims, seconds after the bombings went off. Despite the death of his son at the age of 20 when he served in forces in Iraq 2004. And his second son died in 2011, because he never recovered from his brother’s death. A man who has lost two sons and grieved, but he didn’t choose to live in despair, he went to help those who suffered and were in need.

Carlos Arredondo helping a victim from the Boston bombings. (Credits to SMH.com.au)

I cried when I read about the death of Martin who was only 8 and such a wonderful cute boy. His mother had to undergo brain surgery and his sister who is 6, lost 1 leg. His elder brother who is 12 managed to remain unscathed. And they suffered because they were waiting for their dad to pass the finishing line at the marathon. I cried imagining the grief that Martin’s dad has to go through, his younger son dead, his baby girl who lost one leg and his wife who had to go through a brain surgery.

Martin Richard holding up a message of peace which saddens us further considering how he died. (Credits CBSnews.com)

I don’t think I’ve ever posted on my blog about this before but the aftermath of war and related tragedy impacts me. Fortunately for me, I have always experienced peace in my life in Singapore, so the first time I remember feeling second-hand grief over war was during Venice Biennale 2007. I saw many artists’ works on the aftermath of war from the Middle Eastern point of view and the American point of view. The former artists painted and photographed the aftermath of war on their land. Buildings in ruins, after bombings and raids. Kids playing with humans skulls because that’s the few form of entertainment they have. Women in the typical muslim head covering, hijabs, photographed/drawn listless, fearful and lonely in bare hospitals. From the American artists, we see the entire gallery wall filled with tiny passport sized photos, each with the image of a soldier lost to war, dead. And that was only a portion from the actual dead count during a span of time which I can’t remember how long but it was relatively quite short and shocking to clock so many deaths. It is hard to describe and adequately convey the impact of these artworks individually and collectively, but I was deeply affected.

So I am decidedly anti-war and terrorism. I simply cannot understand why innocent lives must be sacrificed. I cannot help but feel emotional and tear when I see women and children helpless, suffering in the face of war, experience trauma and having to pick themselves up in the aftermath of lost loved ones, ruined lives, bodies and buildings. Let’s also not forget the war veterans, who return from war fields bearing physical and mental trauma as well.

I don’t have the answers to the questions I pose. It pains me to know of people suffering, whether they are middle eastern or american, eastern or western, victims or aggressors(knowing these roles are debatable depending on the POV). Above these labels, I remember them as man and women, boys and girls, sons and daughters, family and friends. Each, precious and filled with beautiful potential. If war and terrorism can be avoided, if pain and suffering can be diminished at the hands of those who control it, I can only pray that it be so.

I don’t have the solution to obtaining world peace. Or a convincing reason why a loving God allows such suffering to happen. But to all those who are suffering in war and tragedies or the aftermath of it, I wish you Christ because He embodies Love to me and Love will keep us alive.

Love,

Ena

Beauty

Liese New Jewel Pink Hair Dye Review

April 14, 2013 Ena Teo 23 Comments

Hi!

I’m back! *SO FAST?* You may ask… That’s cause like what the title suggests, in between my travel posts, I’m reviewing Liese’s new Jewel Pink Hair Dye! Thanks to Liese Singapore and the folks at TheSampleStore /EK Media. ^^

I’ve been quite excited over it because I’ve never done hair dye at home by myself before so it’s an entirely new experience for me which I found to be quite fun especially after watching a few video demos on Youtube. *(^u^)*

So… I’ll let the photos do the talkin’!

The Liese Jewel Pink Hair Dye arrived in a lovely basket with a hairband and pink rose… I love! ^^

Now for a few photos of my dark brown almost black hair before the dye! 😉 Photo is without any filter.

More pics… was in a fairly good hair and face day~ ^^,

Photos compiled on photo app Mei Tu Xiu Xiu. You can check out a review I did on the app a while back here.

This photo was “zhenged” (Singlish speak for blinged) using Japanese app DecoPic. Loving the Anna Sui vibe frame! ^^,

No filter was used for this but the photo got even grainer through this app. Lol.

Getting ready for the dyeing process! Dressed in a shirt that I’m not afraid to be stained.

In the box, you’ll find:

1 large hair dye mixture,

1 smaller dark bottle of hair dye for mixin’

1 satchet of hair rinse treatment,

1 foam dispenser cap, 1 pair of gloves,

1 large piece of instruction sheet and 1 additional small sheet of instructions.

—

Before you begin, it’s important to read through the instructions.

I also suggest watching demo videos found on Youtube, very helpful! 😀

—

So what’s recommended:

1. to wear an old shirt you won’t mind staining.

2. Dye your hair in an open space as the mixture gives off a hair dye smell which can be choking in an enclosed area.

3. Apply oil based moisturizer on the skin of your face and neck near the hair line, this is to prevent the dye from staining your skin. You can use Vaseline as well. This is not provided in the box.

4. Have tissue and cotton pad or ear buds (also not provided) ready to wipe the foam away from your skin. This is important! Haha, cause confirm will happen.

5. Comb through your hair so that it’s not tangled!

Here’s a gif of me grinning crazily while I comb my hair…

I have totally upped my game by creating gif files on my blog…. 😛

Get the two hair dye mixtures ready for mixin’…

6. Empty the small dark container into this larger container before capping it and gently turn it for 5 times. They are pretty exact about the number, 5 times! Haha.

Yes, I did a gif for this too. Turn it up and down for 5 times and let the mixture work its

***~MaGiC~*** ^^,

The container does warm up a little after you’re done. Don’t worry about it heatin’ up! 😉

7. When the shaking’s done, change the cap to this foam dispenser head.

8. Now don your surgeon gloves! ^^

No photos for the consequent steps because I couldn’t snap photos with foam in my hands. 😛

9. Squeeze the foam out into your gloved hands before proceeding to apply and massage the foam into your hand beginning from the roots and then the end of the hair…

10. Then you twirl your hair if it’s long and place it into a pile on top of your head and allow it to settle for 20-30 minutes…

Here’s one shot with half the amount of foam from the bottle… ^u^

I took the gloves out in order to take this photo. 😛

Here’s when I’ve used up as much foam as my hair/head could take…

There was more than enough foam for my beyond shoulder length hair! ^^

Looks like an orange foam towel on my head. 😛

The foam application, massaging and leavin’ it on took me a total of 40 minutes (beyond the recommended 30min) because it took me some time to apply the whole (almost all of it) bottle of foam on my hair/head… I’m guessing if you have longer hair it will take you longer…

Then when you’re done, rinse it off with the sachet of rinse off treatment formula! It’s by Kao Essentials and it smells really really (I cannot emphasize more) ***lovely***

so much so that I think I am going to go get a bottle of Essentials shampoo soon just for the lovely scent they have.

Now for the after dye reveal~~~ *drum rolls*

Under the ***sunlight*** (^ω^)v

#nofilter photo decorated with #POCO beauty cam app

Not under the sunlight…

#nofilter photo decorated with #POCO beauty cam app

It isn’t as obvious as when under the sunlight but it does lighten my dark hair especially where the light hits at the top… ^^

A final shot of me in my newly Liese Jewel Pink hair dyed hair~ (✿◠‿◠)

#nofilter photo decorated with #POCO beauty cam app

In review:

I enjoyed the process because it is fairly simple and now that I’ve done it once, I am more confident of attempting it again next time. However, for the first try, I think my hair colour application was not as even as possible, with more dye concentrated at the top of my hair compared to the bottom of my hair, so I think on hindsight it would have been better if I segmented my hair into upper and lower tiers and dyed them from the lower tier up. As for the colour effect i think the before and after colour progression chart on the box is accurate, but the colour isn’t pink at all, I think it’s more accurate to call it orange brown or amber! haha. It is definitely more affordable and time saving compared to going to the hair salon, as it would cost me at least SGD$60 for my hair length and a bottle of Liese hair dye is only $17.90 at a promotional price at Watsons or Guardian. ^^

For more Liese Hair dye colours and information, check them out here.

To end off this post… here’s me in my before and after Liese Jewel Pink hair dye~ `(*^ω^)ﾉ

Because I know how much we love before and after contrast photos… … … o_O?!

Well at least I know how much I google <insert celebrity name> before and after <insert usually is plastic surgery>. 😛

❤ Ena

—

~*~*~*x*X*x BoNuS x*X*x~*~*~

Final bonus gif of me bobbing to disco lights.

I took a series of aegyo (asian slang for acting cute) photos when I had a really horrid night sometime this week and this is a way of me entertaining and cheering myself up. ^u^

I give you permission to download this and keep it in a place to refer to when you’re feeling down to cheer yourself up.

✌♫♪˙❤‿❤˙♫♪✌

PEACE out~!

Ena Teo | Enabalista

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