dweam.com

One of the reasons why I love coming home early to have dinner.

I get free massages when I have dinner. Hahaha.

Disclaimer: No children were hurt in the taking of this photo.

Short note: Yasmin Ahmad, who was the mastermind behind the MCYS: Family TVC, has passed on at the age of 51. Rest in Peace.

I was never really one to do a good “About Me”. If you asked me to describe myself, I wouldnt know where to start. I mean if I started with the boring things no one would bother reading on, while if I started to rattle about how I enjoy exciting things and seeking adventures and what nots, labels would quickly emerge.

Partly the reason why I removed the “About the Author” page and am still in the process of trying to write a decent yet coherent profile about myself reflected through the blog.

That being said, I sorta always wondered how numbers reflect a person’s true personality.

Make sense of this.

24179511320074110101425

Care to hazard a guess? Highlight to see the answer.

I’m 24, standing at 179cm tall or in inches it’s 5′11″. I’ve taken part is 3 pageants so far the first one being in 2007. I come from a family of 4 with 1 younger brother. Last I checked, everyone in my family has 10 fingers and 10 toes. I graduated from school 1 year ago after spending 4 years on the campus of NUS. To keep myself fit, I run 2 times a week. Each time clocking almost 5km around my neighbourhood.

Perhaps the numbers on Miss Earth Singapore’s website will make more sense.

They finally updated the contestant page on the website after our photoshoot. I obviously was curious to see which of the many photos they chose to showcase to the world.

Here’s my profile.

I wouldnt say the photos are TOOOOO bad. But I do wished they had actually taken the time to post-process the photos for all the girls. Thus making the photos look that little bit more professional.

Although I know they arent going to use the photos I post-processed, here’s how I think they could have looked like. All I did was change the colours.

Not exactly my favourite shot but they put it as the first one.

I like this one better. Curious to know which whitening products I use?
Photoshop CS4. Suitable for all skin types with instant results.

Not bad. Made the picture brighter and upped the contrast.

My favourite out of the 4 although I like it much better brighter. What do you think?

But I think my all time favourite picture from the website is Michie’s jumping shot.

It is absolutely beautiful. Beautiful expression, great body lines. I love it.

The party’s not over. I’m still giving out stuff!

For those who didnt manage to land anything during the first giveaway, here’s your chance.

I cant emphasize enough how mad I am over eye makeup and mascaras so I’m giving away items so you can share in my obsession. Haha. For this and the next couple of giveaways, SilkMineral has kindly sponsored several goodies for me to share with you guys!

In this giveaway, I am giving away part of the awesome-ness SilkMineral has included in their little blue box I received almost a week ago.

Eyes are the windows to the soul and if you want your eyes to pop, take a leaf out of the pages of them Japanese magazines and swear by your falsies. But it’s not glamourous to have half your lashes hanging off your eye unless you’re going for a sleepy eye look. If you have yet to find one that has met your needs, here are some great finds you can now try out before committing to them.

#1 – Ardell LashGrip Adhesive in Clear x2 Reserved for Ruby and Sue!
For strip lashes, this adhesive holds lashes securely in place and dries quickly turning from white to clear. No worries about your glue showing up on your eye makeup. Upon removal, makeup remover or baby oil may be used to remove residual adhesive on eyelids.

#2 – Gypsy Lashes Strip Adhesive in Clear
Reserved for Ruby and Sue!
This is also by Ardell and holds lashes securely in place. Goes on white and dries clear. Adhesive can be peeled off from lash band.

But for the conservative here’s something for you too!

Mascaras!

These are all brand new and honestly, with the huge stash of makeup, mascaras I have, I most likely will never get about to using them. So I’m putting these samples up for adoption. You might even say they’re all sorta branded. You can even use these on your lashes UNDER your falsies for extra va-va-voom!

#3 – Sephora Lash Plumper Mascara gonfleur de cils 3ml Reserved for Atiqah!
The larger brush, with slightly tapered edges is touted to reach from root to tip, for truly bat-worthy volume and glamour. I’ve never tried it yet but it says no clumps too!

#4 – LORAC Publicity Stunt Lashes Long-wearing Mascara 4.2g
Reserved for JoJo!
This is an ultra lightweight formula loaded with natural ingredients that create a long wearing, innovative new technology. However, the one I have is different from the full-sized one. Because mine is a sample, it doesnt come with the comb at the bottom of the mascara wand.

Again, all comments will be screened and I will randomly select 5 commenters for the giveaway. The lucky numbers are (machiam Toto) #2, #7, #10, #13 and #20.

Do note that the giveaway is limited to Singapore addresses.

You know the drill!

To qualify, leave your name and working email address in the comments below!

Entries after Friday 12noon will not qualify for the items.

Short note: Pictures from the official photographer of the night. Post-processing credits to ME! =D

I’m happy thanks to Whisper.

Check out what they included in their goodie bags for the recent Blogger Dialogue I attended.

MACAROONS by Canele!

THESE THINGS ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER! Especially the chocolate one at the top right corner. The shells were crisp on the outside which contrasted very nicely with the creamy, chocolatey and very gooey inside. Oooo… Thinking about it makes me salivate again. It was absolute bliss and orgasmic. There were other delish flavours like lychee strawberry, coffee and hazelnut, but the chocolate one was a clear winner in my books.

I’ve had other macaroons from different places before, but this wins hands down and is by far the yummiest I’ve tasted to date. I’m sure the other girls were equally thrilled by the awesome find in their goodie bags too.

Ransacking our goodie bags as we get a neck and shoulder massage to relive tension.

But we were there for more than just massages and goodie bags. These, nonetheless, are always a perk to attending events because the element of surprise in finding out what they put inside is sooo thrilling. Haha.

Anyway, back to my point. The cozy discussion at House was facilitated by both Whisper’s Brand Manager and Assistant Brand Manager, Cynthia and Cherisse respectively.

No we were not there to discuss the latest technology on absorption but instead, were there to find out and discuss women’s attitudes and mindsets towards “that time of the month”. Unfortunately, majority of girls aged 18-24 polled have negative attitudes towards their periods, but did you know there’s more to your period than just those few days? Cherisse and Cynthia thus proceeded to share some seekrits with us about the cycle.

Also as part of learning to cope with our periods, we were taught some simple massage techniques that can help alleviate pain.

Eileen and Jan practising hugging themselves while Nadia meditates
“Ommmmmm……”

I, on the other hand, try my hand at weaning my head off from my shoulders.

Jan gets some help from the professionals with the same task.

At the same time Esther and I quality control previous camwhore moments.

Esther: “Ehh! I see PIMPLE! *scrutinizes*
Val: Where? *kaypoh*

I look chio here!

Beautiful Cherisse telling us about the microsite and Facebook page that will launch in conjunction with their campaign on August 19th. You too can learn the seeekrits of the cycle then. So make sure you stay tuned cause I’ll also be bringing you updates!

Final pictures before we leave.

With all the bloggers present that day – Belle, Jan, Nadia, Diana, Eileen, Esther, Kaihui and me. Inside joke: Can you guess who’s dressed as the pad, the blood and the packaging? Lol.

And finally, with the crew.

Short note: The last three pictures were taken with my Berry phone for Tweeting. The picture quality is obviously not fantastic. The only gripe I have against my otherwise awesome phone now with super chio themes!

I didnt think I’d spend my birthday 2 weeks ago in any special way but it turned out to be an awesome and fun day.

I spent most of the morning wondering how best to conduct the birthday giveaway because I’ve never done it on such a large scale. Haha. I worried and fretted over whether there’d be a loophole in the system or whether anyone wanted the items, but eventually figured out the best way of doing so. Lo and behold, in the end, I got more commenters than I thought I would have for the giveaway! I’m still reeling from the success of it and hope to do more awesome giveaways with other sponsors in the future. Silkmineral.com has kindly sponsored a whole of items which I will be giving out this week and next! Wheeee! They even included a little set for my own personal use making me a very happy girl.

Anyway, the morning spent with Mum and Nicole on my birthday passed quickly and soon I headed out to meet Mich for Ice Age 3 in 3D! Awesome show with fantastic graphics. It’s a feel-good show meant for chilling out, laughing and simply enjoying yourself. No need to crack your brains over some weird and twisted plot. What came as a surprise was that not only was the show in 3D, the trailers were in 3D too! Super cool!

After the movie we went to take Neoprints! Hahahaha. I think Neoprints are some things that you should just definitely take on birthdays or special celebrations to commemorate them. What better way to mark the occasion by capturing the moment in a pseudo photo studio? Afterall, you ALWAYS come out looking fabulous in Neoprints. No harm done.

To maximise the money we paid for the photos, we decided to linger in the studio a leeeeetle longer and make use of their background and soft white lighting. Lol.

Doing the 1, 2, 3. I leeched the pictures from Mich’s blog. I love what she’s done with the colours!

Our attempts to copy the Japanese girls in the posters looking kawaii failed miserably. Let’s just stick to being us.

I have so much fun with Mich because she’s so easy to be with. Thanks babe for the birthday treat! Oh and did I mention that she inspired me so much with her outfit that day, especially the Zara blazer, that I went out and bought something to that effect within the next couple of days? She’s got a wicked sense of style.

After all that excitement, I met with nadnut and Belle for coffee and got a little cake courtesy of beautiful Belle.

That somehow progressed into a mini birthday celebration involving the several SPI-ders orchestrated by my mom.

Queen Sallee. Princess Taqinah.

They so cute. They brought me flowers and a crown to simulate the crowning of Miss Earth. Hahaha! Huiwen bought the lovelies and brightest bouquet of gerberras for me. Thank you loves.

So, I am officially almost a quarter century old.

I picked up this Maybelline Define-a-Lash mascara at the Bangkok International airport on my return trip from there a while ago and bought it again at Philippines’ NAIA duty free because I think I might have just found my holy grail of mascara. Despite using it for several moths on end now, I’m finally writing a review on it .

The first thing that strikes you about the mascara is its bright green packaging; it is eye-catching and hard to miss. The entire thing looks futuristic and you might think, to youself, that green isn’t exactly a conventional color for a beauty product. But pull out the wand and here’s surprise number two: the comb is a rubbery one that is flexible. Wow, not only is the packaging bold, so are its claims.

Here’s what Maybelline says about this mascara:

This zero clump mascara creates stunning length with clean definition.

* Patented shaped-to-the-lash brush
* Ophthalmologist tested, Contact lens safe
* Waterproof; also available in washable formula

“Separated, sensuously long, no clump” lashes. Mmmmmmm… I like that. The promise of a no smudging formula would mean fluttery lashes that last from day to night. But could it withstand the hot and humid weather in Singapore? I’ve always had the problem of little mascara flakes on my bottom lids after a day of living in my mascara.

So how did this mascara fare? Let’s see.

Zero clump? CHECK!
Separated and defined lashes? CHECK!
Stunning length? Well, the lashes didnt exactly STUN me but they DID look longer.

All three claims FULFILLED! I’m impressed!

Although they never mentioned this, but another thing I really like about the mascara is it’s ability to hold a curl. Curl your lashes and sweep on about 2 coats of this fabulous mascara early in the morning and you’re set for the entire day! I came home after a long day and found my lashes sitting prettily curled just as I had curled them that very morning. On top of that, NO FLAKING! YAYYYY!

I’m SOLD.

I swear I’ve never seen my eyelashes looking so long and pretty before. In fact, I cant remember what my eyelashes used to look like before this mascara. Haha. Is it any wonder why I have 2 of them sitting in my drawer at this very moment?

Sadly, they dont carry this particular mascara in Singapore but it’s available at drugstore.com. In fact, I’m going to the Philippines in April again. Anyone wants me to get it for them? Lol.

After that long picture post of all the girls, here’s the face I sported for the day. We had to do our own makeup for the videoshoot and I got to put my brand new makeup items to good use, including the Too Faced Shadow Insurance I just got. I’m pretty proud of my improving makeup skills. Hooray for a large stash of make up items!

Face of the day

Read the rest of this entry »

There are good reasons why people use primers.

Just like how a building requires a good and solid foundation, primers
are the building blocks to keeping a good face, especially if you’re
gonna keep it for long. In this case I was looking in particular at eyeshadow primers.

It was a tough decision when it came to choosing between the Urban
Decay Primer Potion (PP) and Too Faced Shadow Insurance (SI). I’d
heard raves reviews about both and for a primer amateur like me, they
both would most likely do the job for me. It was thus a matter of
application and ease of access to the product that broke the hair on the camel’s back.

Too Faced SI comes in a easy to use squeeze tube. Although UD’s
genie-like bottle wins in terms of style and coolness, I’d heard that
when little product is left, it’s hard to get out. Thus the only
way to get your money worth of the primer is to CHOP the bottle in
half. Haha. Guess what, there are even videos on Youtube on how to do it! It was the funniest thing I heard.

They’re both priced the same (both USD17), so to save me the hassle of taking up a butchering course anytime soon, Too Faced Shadow Insurance was my latest addition to my makeup trove. Hooray!

Review coming up soon!

Fun in the sun on Saturday with the babes at Sentosa Beach Resort early in the morning! We were due at 8.30 in the morning for a video shoot at Siloso Beach Resort. I was there super early cause Dad drove me to the Resort but the unfriendly car park attendant said that we were not allowed to park at the hotel since they were not informed of any Miss Earth event. Not a good start to the Saturday morning. Grrrr…..

After much haggling, checking and double-checking, we decided to concede defeat. We were about to walk out and head for Siloso beach itself when Cheryl herself drove up and confirmed that we did in fact have a function room reserved for us. HOOOORAHHH!

BUT! Even after that, he still REFUSED to let us park our cars there. Not even Cheryl’s! But thank goodness the guy who liaised with Cheryl got there after many calls, so we eventually got to leave the just TWO cars there.

Before we started with the shoot, we got complimentary breakfast at the….. cafe? I dont really know what it’s called because it isnt exactly a restaurant. We sat al fresco but keep in mind that because we’re at Sentosa, the cafe was just next to the road where the beach tram trawls. So whoever’s on the tram can see you being unglam stuffing food into your gaping wide mouth.

We didnt eat much but still the food helped wake us up and give us energy for the rest of the day.

Going for the shoot after getting a fat bloated tummy! Girls crammed in a lift in their bikinis.

We headed for the pool on the 5th floor and it LOOKS LIKE NIRVANA! Awesome waterfall in the background and the green grass/beach chair combination makes it look like you arent in Singapore anymore.

Time to strip change! Dont forget your sunblock girls.

Stella. Mira. Cindy.

We only had 9 present that day out of the usual 13 (or was it 12?). So here’s the unofficial line up for the day.

Because it was the day we had to do our video shoot cum “mini interviews”, we were broken up into groups of 4 and 5 for the interviews. I was grouped with Stella, Cindy and Michie.

Group photo: Stella, Cindy, myself and Michie.

The other group.

Mira, Ashley, Xuanhua, Suet and Deborah lounging on the beach chairs.

Horsing around with mah group. Lol.

Michie and I taking a break from our individual self introductions on camera to goof around.

Seriously when a camera is pointed at you, things like what your name is or how old you are slip through the cracks in your brain that you never thought were there. It was difficult because they only allowed each person 2 takes. Wtf. Extra pressure. And here you thought talking in front of a camera was easy.

Once we got that out of the way, we finally get into the pool!

But not quite. We had to sit at the edge of the pool and wave for like, what, 5 minutes?

THEN we finally get to splish splashing!

Im sure this is the part you’ve been waiting for.

We moved to the beautiful waterfall and posed with it for your customary photos.

Dont you agree that the waterfall makes an awesome backdrop to photograph at?!

It really looks like we’re somewhere else instead of home. Maybe this place should be labeled as one of the kept secrets in Singapore.

When that was over and done with, we FINALLY mucked around and GOT WET!

There was a slide at the pool area and we got to go down it despite it being reserved usually for kids. Haha.

Getting ready to go down the slide!

But that was not the end. The video shoot took longer than expected because we proceeded to the roof top to video each girl’s catwalk. Intimidating much?

Deb and Mich workin it!

That however didnt stop us from having fun because the view from there was spectacular! You look over Siloso Beach and had a clear view of the sea from there.

With such a picturesque scene, it’s not hard to want to take pictures in front of it.

That place looks over the pool too. Check out Mich dancing. Must be dancing with joy. Hahaha.

The shoot was over at about 12noon. We had lunch on site, catered specially by the resort. It was scheduled just before the redesigning workshop and we again ate el fresco – yummy kebab in pita bread. Slurp!

Deb and Ashley having lunch. Can you see the beach tram stop in the background?

The workshop was held in one of the many function rooms. They set up tables and chairs nicely for us and it was a cozy setting mimicking a group of friends getting together to trade old clothes.

Michie and I cam-whoring whilst discussing ideas about how best to redesign an outfit that we ACTUALLY have to wear on Coronation Night.

We have to make two outfits: one casual and one formal. So here’s half my casual outfit (the shorts) in the making.

Before AND after. Hurhur.

I got an old pair of denim 3/4 pants and decided to cut them. I used to wear them when I was in this whole baggy pants phase (partly due to me dancing so much also), but just decided one day they were TOO baggy for me. I think they’re actually men’s pants. So to jazz them up, I cut them short and made them hot!

The almost finished product. I’m still going to add some finishing touches to em.

And with the excess cloth from cutting the pants (shorts now?) I made this for a top that I hardly wear anymore. Most likely gonna match the top with the shorts.

Awesome much?

Now to crack my head over what to make for the formal outfit.