That is the Valentino woman. Well known for their couture, Valentino’s new fragrance Valentina eau de parfum, was inspired by the women of Valentino. Valentina is beautiful, radiant with charms belonging to a modern heiress. And the new women’s fragrance, Valentina, created just for her is no different.

Two master perfumers, Olivier Cresp and Alberto Morillas, created the Valentina perfume fragrance as a tribute to today’s Valentino woman. With attitude, sophistication and unexpected characteristics, the bouquet of Valentina blends an irreverent Italian floral oriental in which each facet reveals a paradox.

Understanding the different notes of the perfume gives you a better idea of the story of Valentina, the woman of Valentina eau de parfum. In the top notes, Calabrian bergamot gives Valentina it’s opening exuberance and freshness. Think citrus-y oranges. This top note is also punctuated by the boldness of white Alba truffles which gives Valentina it’s sassy quality.

Then, at the heart of the Valentina eau de parfum, jasmine, Amalfi orange blossom and tuberose celebrate radiant beauty. The delicate fragrance of the jasmine has got to be my favourite. Not only is it delicate, it’s delightfully refreshing. Although we were told about the rebellious streak of the wild strawberries in this note, I couldnt detect it. I was probably too enchanted by the jasmine and reveling in the deliciousness of it.

Finally, in the bottom notes, cedar and amber give Valentina its strength and warmth. The smell of the Valentina perfume in its entirety reminds me so much of a classic, modern, very independent yet feminine woman. An enchanting paradox if I must say so myself.

The beautiful Valentina perfume is perfectly complimented by the even more beautiful couture bottle. I’d have to say out of all my collection of women’s perfumes, the Valentina perfume bottle is the prettiest of the lot.

Adorned with three flowers in pale shades, white, ivory, and nude, these colours are apt choices because they are characteristic colours that appear repeatedly in the new collections of Valentino. The sleek bottle is further topped by a silver ring and a black pearl that represents a contrast of naughtiness and innocence.

The couture flowers have got to be my favourite part of the bottle. They’re just soooo pretty! I’ve been receiving so many lovely flowers recently and at the Valentina perfume event, I got the couture Valentina flower brooch that I can wear in my hair. Haha.

Valentina by Valentino is only available as an eau de parfum and not an eau de toilette. Even their teeeeny 4ml miniature is an eau de parfum! Perfect for throwing into my handbag!

Valentina by Valentino Perfume price list:
Eau Da Parfum
80ML – $175
50ML – $135
30ML – $95
Body Lotion 200ML – $73
Shower Gel 200ML – $64

I’m not complaining about having long hair; I loved all the crazy, sexy things you could do with it. But when I took up swimming as part of my new weight management program, something in the water told me that it was time to get a fresh new look. Split and dry ends were not the trend this 2012, and might possibly never be in years to come.

I’ve been wanting to chop my hair for the longest time but never really had the guts to go fully short. IT’S SCARY HAVING A TERRIBLE SHORT HAIR CUT! Yall know how crucial it is to have a good hairstylist cut your hair short for you. We’ll all been to that one salon that messed your hair up really badly and made you go OMG WTF.

Because I’ve seen other bloggers who’ve worked with Salon Vim by Chez Vous, when they approached me to be one of their ambassadors, I said “YES ME WANT!! Why yes, that would be very nice. Thank you very much.”

Heidi Klum’s bob has always been the look I wanted. And sitting in the chair that day at Salon Vim, I was excited yet nervous. I may LIKE the look on Heidi, but it might not be something I could work with. If that hairstyle turned out horrendous on me, could I stick all the ends that were cut off back onto my head? I was cutting AT LEAST half of my old hair length off!

But Gary, head stylist of Salon Vim, was absolutely nice and reassuring. He looked through the visual I presented, consulted with me the exact hair style I wanted before proceeding to do any damage to my already damaged hair.

What impressed me most was the amount of detail Gary put into taking care of my hair. No thanks to chlorine from the swimming pool, my hair was as dry as the desert. Ironic how all the dryness came from the water. To help restore the health of my hair, he did a keratin treatment before another treatment, then he worked his magic. Snip snip snip and soon, TADAH!

NEW SHORTER LENGTH!

But Salon Vim wasnt finished yet. Drying my hair on “Medium heat” (what did I tell you about paying attention to details?), Gary decided that a natural perm at the ends near the front of the face would do nicely to frame my face. PLUS, that also meant I would never have to intentionally use a straighter to iron my hair out. Such a simple but clever idea!

Just by drying it, without touching the ends, my hair is perfect all the time! Yey! I’m totally loving the new shoulder length. Absolutely refreshing! Now, should I go EVEN shorter, layer it up and maybe even do a Halle Berry? Hahaha. What do you think? Cant wait to go back!

Address:
Salon Vim
313 Orchard Road
313 @ Somerset
#04-07/08/09
Telephone: 6884 7757 / 6884 7767

Whenever I mention losing weight to anyone, they look at me with incredulity and go, “What weight do you have to lose?!” Now now before you start the hate, I wasnt on a mission to lose weight. My recent dietary and lifestyle changes were more in pursuit of a healthier body. The weight loss came as a by-product of all that change.

Even when I hit my all time sexiest fittest in Brazil, Sao Paulo during the Miss Universe competition, it wasnt because I was trying to keep up with the rest of the girls. The reality is that I fell sick during the last week of the competition and lost my appetite. I ate much lesser than I normally did and ended up picking at fruits, a few leaves of vegetables or protein for all meals. That’s how I got so se.. skinny. Comparing my photos from the official Miss Universe Singapore photoshoot, I had significantly lost a whole lot of weight without even intending to.

For sure, I’ll probably never be that Miss Universe size again, and I thought I had put on a whole load of weight after stuffing myself silly in New York. But a recent date with the measuring tape surprised me! I’ve been a waist line 26/27-incher for the longest time. Mind you, that’s not considered fat by my height standards. But I have to say a 25-inch waist is pretty swell. HELLLOOO CURVES! Of course achieving 25 wasnt without hard work and resistance. I must be doing something right with my new work out and diet routine!

Throughout this time, there are a few things I’ve learned regarding how to lose weight. Losing weight isnt about starving yourself. I eat plenty and my friends will attest to the fact that I’m always hungry. A cornerstone of weight loss is being aware of what goes into your body. So, here are my tips on how to lose weight and get the better body you want:

Cutting carbs
Carbs give you energy and we all need it. It’s an important staple and I wouldnt do without it. I eat my bread, rice and noodles… Just not all of it. I’m not gonna start with all the calorie counting because we’re not all blessed to deal with Math. How I went about reducing my carbohydrate intake was to limit it to one bowl of rice (or equivalent) a day. If I had a full portion of rice during lunch, then that was a sign dinner was going to be purely protein and fibre. If my lunch was light, then dinner was the perfect opportunity to indulge in a bowl of ramen.

Of course, eating with friends and family will certainly help your cause. Because sharing is caring, instead of eating that whole bowl of rice by yourself, why not share it with someone else? That way you’ll also have more space in your bowl for the other goodies on the table.

Oh hello you pretty little thing. Get in mah belly!

Sugar, the innocent looking devil
This one is a real toughie. Considering how much I love my desserts (ohhh Red Velvet how you make my heart flutter), you’d probably have to straight jacket me before I completely give this up. I love my desserts: cakes, cookies, chocolates and all them pretty little treats.

But, sugar has got to be the sneaky little devil that creeps onto your belly without being invited. The worst part is the little devil refuses to budge! Unfortunately, you cant cut sugar out completely just like you cant not have carbohydrates in your diet. The trick to not eating sugar isnt to totally resist your favourite foods. It’s to be well aware of the hidden sugars in your food. Canned drinks, bottled juices, cakes, chocolates all have sugar in them. Choose water over bottled drinks, yoghurt over ice-cream, fruit over chips. When it comes to cakes, well, my best advice for cake fanatics like me is this: share them with someone so you only get half the amount of sugar but still all the goodness of that delish treat.

Eat your breakfast
They say breakfast is the most important meal because that’s when you load up on the energy to fuel you through the rest of the day. The good thing about packing your plate with carbohydrates early in the morning is having the rest of the day to burn them up!

I find that eating a hearty breakfast helps me eat less throughout the rest of the day. I load up on cereals with milk, throw in energy rich fruits like bananas into the bowl and I’m good for the rest of the day… Until lunch time, that is. Hahaha.

Ariel and her brand new human legs. Where’s the mermaid tail?

Work it out
I used to run 3 times a week until I took an arrow to the knee. Well, not literally of course. But I did sustain a knee injury no thanks to my heroic acts of floor work back in the days of dance. So now instead of running, I swim. And I couldnt be happier.

Not only has making the switch to swimming helped me overcome some sort of innate fear of swimming pools – I know, I know, it sounds crazy. I’ve done cliff diving and all that kinda crazy water sports, but swimming pools scare me. Maybe the Loch Ness Monster really lives in there – but swimming is a full body workout that not only helps with cardio, it also works to tone up your muscles! Add in daily light weight training and hello beach body!

Consistency is key in building a new habit. Having a fitter and better body is a combination of exercise and eating right! For sure, making dietary changes and embracing a new workout routine isnt always the easiest thing especially when old habits die hard. But incorporating a 30 minute a day workout is all it takes to getting fit. Just as brushing teeth becomes a habit, so does spending some quiet time with my weights become part of my daily routine. It’s the smallest changes I made and being highly aware of the choices I made that got me to the 25 mark. Now, 24 anyone? Hahaha.

I’m proud to say I take pretty damn good care of my skin and am absolutely comfortable with leaving the house with nothing but sunscreen on. Going for regular facials is certainly on my list of good skin tips because it’s important to have a professional take a closer look at your skin. Judging by the number of comments I’ve received on the Leonard Drake facial review post, it’s heartening to know that a lot of people are also interested in taking better care of their skin!

Many have left comments or emailed me to ask about the facial packages price and I’ve never been able to fully provide details of the Aster Spring (Leonard Drake) facial package prices because I dont work for them. I thus, decided to do the next best thing on my last visit: whip my phone out and snap a photo of the actual package prices!

Click to enlarge

With budget flights available at the click of a mouse button to this new generation of world travelers, a country a month over the weekend is not that difficult to achieve. Flash packing requires no check-in luggage. Just lug a couple of important things in your hand carry and say hello to a new culture a month. Because you’re just going for a short weekend away, you dont need that many things. So here are my travel tips for packing light:

• Go back to basics
In life, you’ll never go wrong with your basics – whether fashion, grammar, beauty or health etc, travel is exactly the same. Pack your basic tank tops in various colours with different embellishments, 2 pairs of your trusty jeans, flirty skirts and maybe 2 cute dresses for nights out on the town. Mixing and matching your tops and bottoms gives you several outfits options.

Accessories, such as scarves, I find always make a whole lot of difference. You’ll even be able to use them as hair accessories! When it comes to jewellery, pack statement pieces that you’ll be able to use with most of your outfits.

Shoes dont make for light travel packing. Honestly, you dont need that many pairs of shoes, just unless one for the road and a really dressy pair. Or maybe just one more cute one.. Just for an alternative. But remember, we’re trying to think about how to travel light. 2 pairs of shoes should do the trick for a 4 day trip, unless of course you’re packing for a photoshoot. Even then, on my recent trip to Jakarta, I packed a whole bunch of dresses and still managed to fly sans check-in with 4 pairs of shoes: 2 heels, a pair sneakers and sandals.

• Use what’s provided for you
Whether you’re staying in a hostel, hotel or couch surfing in somebody’s apartment, always check what’s being provided for you. If you’re staying just for the weekend, it’s okay to rough it out and go without your regular conditioner. Use whatever is available so you dont have to carry an extra bottle. Skincare, however, is something I never compromise on. I always bring my own basic skin care regime overseas.

• Vaseline is your best friend
This little jar of petroleum jelly was once your best friend when you were a baby and now in your jetsetter days, it returns to be your best companion on board and abroad. There are an infinite things you can do with Vaseline but I particularly love it for tackling the moisture and hair frizziness problems you get when travelling!

• Wear as much as you can
No no, dont get me wrong, I dont mean cover up. When you have a 10kg hand-carry travel luggage limit, instead of packing all the bulky items in your luggage and weighing the scale down, flaunt that jacket and be the clothes rack for just a bit. Those pretty heels weigh more than your slippers, totter about in them until you get on the plane and then you can change out of them. Layer up if you have to because they dont weigh you!

• Sharing is caring
It’s fun to travel alone, but sometimes twice is as nice. When you have a travel buddy, it can be double the fun. At the same time, it also means a load halved. You can either arrange to share toiletries or your gadgets or even just dump your stuff in your buddy’s luggage which has more space! Hahaha. We share stuff with the people we love!

But now we here in Singapore can join the legions of Philosophy fans, celebrities, dermatologists and customers alike, because Philosophy skin care is now going to hit the shores of Sephora Singapore! Yipeeee! Hope has come home!

The history behind Philosophy skin care has a medical backing. Cristina Carlino, the brains behind Philosophy, also founded the medical skincare company Biomedic, and uses their cutting-edge research to create Philosophy’s effective formulations. I havent personally tried any of their skin care products, but I do love the simplicity of their packaging: clean, classic bottles with strong, clear text. Can you spell beauty any other way?

I’ll be watching the shelves of Sephora Singapore this coming 27th April 2012 and if the price is right, Hope might just be within reach!

Asians have it good. Look at these Asian beauties we all know and admire for their beauty. Compared to their Western counterparts, they generally look younger and more youthful than someone of the same age in other parts of the world. Personally, I remember being asked if I was in my early 20s by some of the European girls when I was competing in the Miss Universe 2011 pageant. In actual fact, I was about 4 to 5 years older than a lot of them!

Environmental factors (sun exposure, weather, humidity, diet, different seasons etc) play a big role in determining our our skin condition. But genes are a big part of it too. So, what do Asian beauties like Li BingBing, Zhang Zilin, Gong Li, and ME (Wahahaha!), I mean Fan BingBing have in common other than their stellar beauty? Good genes of course (ahem!). But science can do a lot to help enhance those good genes!

Introducing the L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essence that works to boost your skincare effectiveness by TWO TIMES! You’ve probably already got your basic skin care routine which is great for keeping good skin. But how many of you have heard or experienced the phenomenon where you need to change your skin care routine after several months because your skin “gets used” to the products? Well, I used to be one of those that had to switch my skin care routine every few months, and now I have a whole cupboard full of half-used skin care products.

The problem lies not in the products you use, but really at the heart of our genes. Scientists have discovered the “recovery gene” in the our skin ages with time and in youthful skin, the recovery gene absorbs active ingredients and counter-responds to fatigue and stress up to five times faster than in mature skin. Ahhh.. Dont we all wish we could be forever young?

Looking back to my 2012 beauty resolutions, the L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essence fits right in with focusing on anti-aging. I’m definitely giving this a shot. Pump one drop from the glass bottle and you’ll find the liquid is clear and of a runny consistency. Applying it my face and neck, I found that it dries, within a short span of about 15 seconds, clear to a non-sticky finish. You can, then, instantly use your favourite moisturiser over the boosting essence. The best part is, believe it or not, this nondescript liquid increases the performance of ALL types of skincare, whether it’s anti-aging, whitening or hydrating.

I put the L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essence to the test by using it before my moisturiser and after a proper cleanse. It’s crucial to apply it before the last moisturising step as a booster is meant to help to prep skin to absorb the active ingredients in the following moisturiser or treatment cream. Since sleep is the best time for skin renewal, I slept in the L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essence wanting to see the efficacy of this essence. Well, the results are in. The next day, I woke up to more luminous and plumped up skin! Visible results instantly! YAY!

Compared to other essences from other major beauty brands, the L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essences comes at a steal of SGD $39.90 for a 30 ml bottle. One drop of the powerful essence gave me visible improvement in the softness and smoothness of my skin. I didnt even have to touch it to know it. I could see it.

If you’re going to get your bottle of L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essence this month, you’re in for a treat. For the month of February, L’Oreal Paris is running a special promotion! You’ll be able to get your L’Oreal Paris moisturizer (be it Anti-Ageing, Whitening or Hydrating) at only $9.90 (usual: $25.90 – $29.90) when you purchase Youth Code Boosting Essence. $9.90! That’s ridiculously cheap! It’s time to stock up on your moisturisers cause the promotion ends 28th Feb, at selected retailers only.

You can also go to the L’Oreal Paris Facebook page to find out more and stand a chance to win a SGD50 Robinsons voucher! Seriously, it’s not often you see with the naked eye an immediate change in skin surface texture upon using a product. But this immediate result with the boosting essence only gets better with long-term use in conjunction with a regular skin care routine. One week of using the L’Oreal Youth Code Boosting Essence visibly improves the texture of your skin while continuing to one month of helps regain the youthfulness and radiance in your skin. Who says you cant reverse the hands of the clock? I most certainly want to look like Gong Li when I’m her age!

The thing I love most about Spring is all the amazing colours it brings. Bright, cheery colours that you can add to your palette, both in your make up and your wardrobe. After attending the P&G Beauty Debate with Sarah from facesbysarah, I’d say I was on the right track for my Spring 2012 colour palette during my New Year visiting!

Experts from the beauty panel predicts several colour trends for Spring 2012 including:
- Sand Dunes: Everything to do with luxurious naturals, nudes.
- Visible Aura: Glossy healthy sheen with lots of natural shine.
- Tango: Bold strong colours like black/daring pink. Lots of lace. Inspired by Latin America.
- Beauty Graffiti: To do with DIY and personalization. Colour splashes in an artful way.

These trends can be incorporated to both fashion and beauty so I decided to pull a little bit of the above 4 Spring 2012 colour trends during my Chinese New Year by getting this very beautiful teal Greecian Slant from The Velvet Dolls and coral Dipped Back Flare Dress from Jipaban! Going bold with colour splashes!

As for my hair and makeup, I decided to go for a more natural, healthy look in tune with the Visible Aura Spring 2012 trend. Light eye makeup and a healthy flush of colour on the cheeks and lips was in order to match my coral dress. Then I top all that off with highlighters on the cheeks and nose bridge for a truly visible aura!

Face of the day
Face
Inglot Under Makeup Base
Bobbi Brown Colour Corrector in Dark to Medium Bisque
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer
Burberry Beauty Sheer Foundation Luminous Fluid Foundation
MAC Prep and Prime Transparent Finishing Powder
MAC Pinch-o-peach blush
Sephora Sculpting Disk

Eyes
Too Faced Smokey Eye Palette
MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liner
Acuvue 1-Day Define Contact Lens in Vivid
Maybelline Define-a-Lash Volumizing Mascara

Lips
Rimmel London Full Colour Lip Liner Definer in Pure
Lancome L’Absolu Rouge in 380

The beauty and hair trend for Spring 2012 is all about hair being free to move with a glossy, healthy bounce. So to emulate the clean, freshly washed yet polished look, I ironed my hair out, worked some hair serum for a shiny finish and spritz a wee bit of hairspray just to hold it all down. Dont overdo the hairspray because hair needs to be light and made but not overdone!

Will you be incorporating any of the Spring 2012 Colour and Beauty Trends in your fashion and beauty routines this year? Which ones will you pick?

Then, everyone started talking about the Sally Hansen Salon Effects real nail polish strips while I stubbornly resisted them. I continued resisting them because I was happy being old school and painting my nails. But eventually, I succumbed. I decided I would try out the Cut It Out floral design for Spring 2012. Flowers on my nails couldnt be better for the New Year! Plus, Watsons was having a 20% off the nail strips, so I only paid about SGD15 from the original SGD17.50! Yipee for discounts!

In each pack, you’ll find 16 nail stickers for you to find the perfect fit, a nail stick, mini nail file/buffer and detailed instructions; everything you need to DIY a salon effect manicure. Application of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects real nail polish strip is easy enough that I managed to perfect the application by the 4th nail. It’s really a simple technique of stick-and-go.

Peeling the strip off its backing, you’ll realise the strips are really quite thin and flimsy and need to be handled with care. But if you make a mistake pasting the rounded part at the base of your nail, you can gently wean the nail polish strip off your nail and readjust it without any loss in stickiness. Oddly enough, as much as I thought these were just stickers, they smell exactly like nail polish, though not as strong. I guess that’s why they call them real nail polish strips.

Because the strips are so thin, instead of buffing them like the instructions recommend, you can actually tear them off at the edges. On the first few applications, I made the mistake of pulling the Sally Hansen Salon Effects real nail polish strips a wee bit too much thinking they’d adhere better. But all I really did was tear the strip a little bit. Lol. I eventually found out a gentle tug is all that’s needed to ensure smooth and bubble-free application.

The Sally Hansen Salon Effects real nail polish strips are slated to last for up to 10 days but I couldnt decide if it was because of my weak nails or my rough and tumble that the nail polish strips chipped off at the nail edges like regular nail polish does within three days. I resorted to applying a top coat and to my surprise, found that I really liked the effect of the shine on the nail polish strips. It gave the nail polish strips a better finish. Perhaps if I had applied a top coat earlier, it would have preserved the condition of my Salon Effect manicure for longer.

Removal of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips is identical to how you would remove real nail polish: you’ll have to remove them using a nail polish remover! My only gripe about the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips is the fit of the strips on the nails. Sometimes they dont cover your entire nail breadth-wise.

Otherwise, I simply love the ease of application of the Sally Hansen Salon Effects and the no dry-time. On top of that, you get all sorts of intricate designs without having to sit through 2 hours in the nail parlour. I think I’m going to search for more of these nail polish strips.

Have you tried the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips or any variation of these nail stickers? Would you give up your nail polish for them?

That’s when I like to turn to what I call my 5 minute make up. Technically, it doesnt actually take 5 minutes but it’s easy enough that it sure looks like it. The focus of this simple day make up look is a a fresh, clean face. You want to look like you got out of bed and look this naturally beautiful every single day. Dark eye rings are a big no-no, so concealer and colour corrector IS. A. MUST.

If anyone were to ask me how to get rid of dark undereye circles, I’d have to say colour corrector or corrective concealers is the secret to getting rid of dark eye circles. Concealer seems like a misnomer because concealer actually lightens instead of changing the colour of dark eye rings. It’s all about neutralizing with colours.

For instance, if you have redness on your face, you’d want to use a green make up base to help reduce this redness, while a purple make up base can help correct yellow-colored skin. So depending on your dark-eye rings (either blue or grey-blue), you’ll need to the get the corresponding neutralizing colour to really rid your makeup face of dark under eye circles. Hip hip hooray to not having two white patches under your eyes anymore!

Here’s a look at the products I used in this simple day makeup video:
Face
Bare Minerals Matte Powder Foundation *
Bobbi Brown Colour Corrector in Dark to Medium Bisque *
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer *
Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Loose Powder
Sephora Sculpting Disk

Eyes
Sonia Kashuk Eyeshadow Quad
MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liner
Maybelline Define-a-Lash Lengthening Mascara

Lips
Bare Minerals Lip Gloss in Chiffon

* must-haves for getting rid of dark under-eye rings