Shopping for my favourite things always makes me happy. Especially with Christmas coming, this is the best and most enjoyable time to go shopping. Everyone loves shopping for the things they like. Whether I’m shopping alone or with my best friend, shopping for myself or for my friends, picking up the things I like and browsing the shelves of pretty things makes me happy.

Let’s take a shopping trip together and see what I like to shop for.

1. Makeup!
Nothing gets me more excited than browsing the shelves of mascara, eyeshadows, lipglosses and the works. There’s the voluminizing mascaras, lengthening mascaras. Then, pink, blue, purple, green, gold eyeshadows with shimmer, glitter, matte or finishes. Lip glosses with plumping effects, lip sticks to hydrate your lips. It’s no wonder I spend endless hours in the makeup section browsing. Plus, with Christmas holiday gift sets coming up, shopping for make up just got a whole lot more exciting.

2. Shoes
It’s so hard to resist heels. They make your legs look longer and add class to your outfit. Cute shoes are so important in completing an outfit. As much as I prefer comfort in my shoes, heels are so hard to say “No” to when they look like the ones I recently got from Phuket. I have a terrible weakness for killer stilettos.

3. Grocery Shopping
I get excited when it comes to grocery shopping. Walking through the aisles of delicious-ness, basket in hand, makes me just as happy as shopping for make up. With loads of delicious treats to tempt my palette, I fill my basket up with all my essential food (and beauty) stuff before I pick up a little Dove treat for myself and my loved ones.

Feeding people I care about makes me happy. So shopping for quality chocolate and then giving them as gifts is the perfect way to show my love. With an assortment of different flavours of Dove chocolate – milk chocolate, hazelnuts and raisins, dark cacao, I’ll have a flavour to cater to every palette. Plus 80g of rich, smoothness means they’ll never have to fight with each other for chocolate. Only for a while though, because I’m sure they’ll be hankering for more Dove chocolates once they’re done!

If there’s a trend that I’ve noticed recently amongst the people I meet, is the fact that they’ve forgotten to do something for themselves. No no, not in the sense where it’s on a To-Do list and you’ve forgotten a chore. But when things get hectic, we can get caught up and forget to enjoy the little things in life; we forget to do the things we love. Doing something for yourself is giving yourself a little treat and indulging in a little me-time.

These days I like to take extra time to spend on myself. When I’m grooving to the smooth tunes of my favourite artists, I make sure no one takes my chocolates away from me as I sneak a velvety smooth piece of Dove Milk Chocolate. The packs are smaller than usual (80g) and uhh.. before the end of the playlist, I usually realise I’ve finished about half the entire bar myself. Lol.

My other indulgences are obviously beauty related. It’s the littlest things like painting my nails that make me happy. You’re probably no stranger to my countless nail escapades and just like I like my nail polishes with dazzle in them, the hazelnut and raisin in the Dove Chocolate Hazelnut and Raisin gives you that extra bit of flavour and kick to enjoying chocolate.

Then when I’m in the midst of reading my brand new book, the rich flavour of Dove’s brand new 66% cacao dark chocolate provides a sensational taste and smell experience in tandem with the visual imagery of my book. It’s a complete sensory experience indulging in me time with whichever chocolate complements your moments. With the new 80g Dove Chocolate packs, you get a full burst of indulgence in small dozes that go with the little things in life.

My best friends have seen me through all sorts of hair colours and hair styles. They been through countless birthdays and all the heartbreaks, and we’ve endured fashion trends of all sorts together. From mid-riff baring tops to comfy hoodies, we love each other whether we’re heavily made up for dance or practicing bare faced.

But what we really love to do to really enjoy each other’s company and bond is to share food together. Nothing makes our relationship sweeter than sharing chocolate because sharing is caring. Like how we share all our food, sharing one bar of smooth and delicious Dove chocolate between the 3 of us sweetens our time together. We slowly savour the silky smoothness of the fine chocolate by breaking it off piece by piece accompanied by chit chat and amidst laughter. Dove Chocolate perfectly compliments these moments with people you love and was definitely meant for sharing.

With my very busy schedule both before and after Miss Singapore Universe, I’ve always believed in rewarding myself for everything I do. Taking time off to indulge in the little things that make me happy keeps me going despite the constant madness.

Back when I was studying, chocolate was always a constant companion through the late nights, sky-high notes and endless assignments. It reminded me to focus on myself after all the effort I’ve put in through the night. I always celebrated the end of a textbook chapter or finishing an assignment with a little piece of dark velvety goodness.

Break off one little piece of silky-smooth Dove Chocolate each time you complete an
assignment to reward your success and indulge in the rich texture in your mouth. It is a
perfect companion for my me-moments. Just like me, whether you’re out winning medals, finishing projects, hitting the gym twice a week or even just managing to clean your room, spend a little me-time and indulge yourself, because it’s your life and you deserve the best.

Really, who has the energy to go out after that and how is it possible to stay fresh after such a long day? Even more so when you have your period. Sometimes, it can feel like you have to work your schedule around your period.

But I’ll share with you a secret. The different days of your 28 day cycle actually have certain benefits to your daily life. I previously was one of the Whisper’s Happy It’s Here ambassadors who got some tips and insights into the secrets of the cycle. It showed me how I could maximise the benefits of our cycle! In reality, it’s not that big an inconvenience and you can actually stay fresh and dry throughout the day regardless of your activities. So with what I’ve learnt, I thought I’d share with you some of my beauty tips on how to stay fresh all day, more specifically Ultra Fresh.

1) Water

We all know the benefits of drinking water, and I cannot emphasize how important it is to drink water to keep your skin hydrated and fresh-looking. 2 litres of crystal clear water is the minimum we need a day. But here’s a simple tweak you can make to your lifestyle to help you through your periods: Instead of your usual ice cold water, drink warm water to help reduce those cramps.

2) Keep a bottle of fragrance in your bag

Regardless of wherever I go, I love to keep a bottle of eau de toilette or body mist in my bag. In fact, I have about 2 different scents in my bag at the moment. Whenever I’m in need of a pick-me-up, I just spritz on some of the refreshing mist and I’m ready to face my next challenge! Also, it’s hard not to get some heads turning when I smell this good.

3) Indulge in a little chocolate

Did you know that your body burns carbs the best on the first two days of your period? Yes it’s true! I will personally attest to feeling and looking much skinnier on the first two days of my period. Since your body is metabolising carbs so efficiently, it’s the PERFECT time to indulge in a little bit of delish chocolate. Your body deserves it, really. Go on, one little piece wont hurt.

4) Dance baby, dance!

Exercise helps to chase the blues away. And with Whisper Ultra, I get the freedom of movement without any worries! I feel, clean, dry and fresh all day long. I’m free to turn on my music in my room and dance like no body’s watching. I can break out in whatever funky moves I want without anybody judging! Hahaha. My all time feel-good track? Whitney Houston – Wanna Dance with Somebody

5) Get dressed in your favourite outfit

They say “clothes maketh a man” when it really should be “clothes maketh a WOman“. Dressing in my favourite best outfit never fails to make me happy. But if your period hits and you want to keep yourself looking perfect, Whisper Ultra keeps you fresh throughout the day. When you look good and feel comfortably dry all day, you naturally walk with your head held high. And you can be sure that in the fashion realm, confidence never goes out of style.

How was your Chinese New Year? Mine was pretty good. We had our reunion dinner the eve of Chinese New Year as per tradition. Then the first day consisted of the usual visiting and getting all excited about dressing up. Okay, my priorities seem a little messed up. Haha. It’s as though I get more excited about the dressing up and going out rather than seeing my relatives. Lol.

But anyhoo, that’s the besides the point. Because it’s Chinese tradition to adorn ourselves in new clothing each new year, the blog has also undergone some changes!

If you havent noticed the change, I really suggest seeing an eye doctor.

Fret not. While the changes are on-going, the usual posting will not be disrupted. The pink skin is probably temporary until I find a better outfit for the blog. Shopping for the perfect outfit always takes time.

If you have suggestions about what changes you will like to see made on the blog, please do drop me a comment. I would love to hear from you!

In the meantime, here’s my outfit from the first day of visiting.

Outfit breakdown

Orange/red tunic top with layered necklace print – Nichii
Rocket Skinny Leg Jeans – Guess Jeans
Balmain lookalike booties – New Look

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

New year, new start.

If the new year was an indication of how the rest of 2010 will be like, I spent most of it at home, eating and nua-ing in bed watching Zombieland. Haha.

New Year’s Eve was slightly different. My New Year’s Eve was spent doing some cardio.

Dancing is always good to burn up the extra calories from the festive eating.

And then making monkey faces to say good bye to 2009.

Of course, going out on special occasions always means a great excuse to dress up. I made me a special pair of bling eyelashes and I got to wear them out!

Eye of the day
M.A.C Paint Pot in Rubenesque
M.A.C Mineralise eyeshadow Gilt by Association
Kate Gel Eyeliner
NARS eyeshadow in Pandora

They matched well with the theme that night: Black with a Touch of Gold. Thank goodness for all the inspiration from monoxious.com. Spending all that time with them, gave me loads of ideas how to dress up that night.

The person who said it must have been a beauty queen of some sort.

The last time we were so sleep deprived was the time we travelled 8 hours on the bus from Subic to Mamburao. If my sleep-deprived-working-in-safe-mode brain still serves me well that is.

We had our final long gown competition last night in Pagcor and Sandra, Miss Philippines, definitely had the most outstanding gown among the top 15 finalists. We were blown away the moment she stepped on stage. Alongside Best in Swimsuit, she thus also bagged Best in evening Gown.

3am and we leave for the airport to Iloilo. A convoy of buses carrying girls in states of unconciousness blazes through the surprisingly still busy streets of Manila. We arrive at the airport and everyone files out. You’d think that a bunch of Hollywood celebrities have arrived since almost 80% sport large sunnies. But really we’re all hiding behind our oversized shades trying to conceal our fatigue.

Iloilo’s CPU was the venue for the talent competition tonight. It was a tough fight but Tahiti danced her way amidst other hiphop, traditional and song performances. She definitely wow-ed the audience and the judges with her nimble hips.

As I was watching the contestants, I did wish I had continued with dance more. Haha. I miss dance so much! Especially my loves jazz and hiphop. I could have been up there with a fighting chance. LOL.

But I’m so proud of Neu!! And so happy for her. She is such a sweetheart. Tonight she was excellent on stage. Not only were her moves fantastic she won the judges over with her beautiful smile. Yayyy!!! Group 3 for the win! So far we’ve got Best in Talent, Best in National Costume and Miss Congeneality to our group’s name. Wo00ot! I hope somebody from our group gets Top 4 spots.

Just a couple more days to Coronation before a new queen is crowned. It’s tiring but hang in there girls. This will probably be the only time in our lives we do something like this.

No one ever said being beautiful was easy.

Everyone loves good service. But that was not what I expected when I got my Gmask done at Plaza Singapura. They offered a 1 month warranty after masking covering defects including workmanship and I thought I’d go back and get my mask done again because the prints had somehow faded even though I put my Berry back in its case after I got the mask done. In my mind, it probably was something she didnt do that caused it to fade because I’m careful when it comes to my gadgets.

I mean, I’d used the magic Berry case EVEN after masking. Double protection yknow. Wanted to protect both the mask and the phone.

However, I was sorely disappointed when I went back there. After explaining my situation to the girl at the counter, the salesgirl said that the fading of the print was due to the fact that MY BERRY PLUS THE INSIDE OF THE CASE WAS DIRTY! Hello a 2-month old Berry is not DIRTY. It’s not like I use it while bathing in mud either. I obviously wasnt pleased with her “reason” of my Berry being dirty.

I’d paid good money for this. But sadly, it didnt deliver and live up to my expectations. But hey, since I’d already covered up the original backing (albeit with a high price), I might as well zhng it the way I want it right? Turn the BlackBerry into a BlingBerry without ruining the original cover.

Rummaging through my DIY box, picking up scraps and a couple of hours later, my Berry is now a chio BlingBerry.

But as Murphy would have it, happy with my BlingBerry now, the owners of Gmask themselves actually contacted me via email and offered to remask my berry for me at the original boutiques in either Junction 8 and Suntec!

click to enlarge

I’d first said thank you and turned down his kind offer since I’d already covered the mask with my own handicraft. But it was his persistence and strong belief in his own product that impressed me. He honestly didnt have to contact me; he didnt have to offer an explanation that included shouldering the blame and explainiing thoroughly the masking process because the branch I went to at Plaza Singapura was only a franchise and not directly managed by the owners themselves. They dont have direct control over the staff working there.

Despite that, he humbly apologised on behalf of the girl although it was not his responsibility to. It was his sincerity and faith that impressed me. The fact he was able to eat humble pie, unlike so many we usually encounter, is what I called putting service above self. One is able to see that he truly believes in what he’s selling. He even asked for suggestions and feedback with regards on how they could improve. And for someone like me who’s worked in service, I’d never sell anything that I dont personally use or believe in.

So now, my question is what do I bring down for them to remask? My iPod Touch is already blinged up as is my Berry Bold. Maybe I might just get my camera done. Hrm…

I get free massages when I have dinner. Hahaha.

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