Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

October 2015

0

The Company of Cats

Posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2015

I've been playing with the idea of getting a cat for a while now and try my best whenever I'm free to do research on how to keep one, and of course spending some time with actual cats to see how I feel about them. The Company of Cats is a newly opened cat cafe in Singapore, so of course I rushed down with fellow Feline-o-phile Sujin to check it out!


I've only visited one other cat cafe in Singapore - Neko No Niwa (you can read my review of it here) so naturally I did draw some comparisons between the two cafes.

On first entering The Company of Cats, I would say that it is a bit smellier of the two because the litter area is situated inside the playroom (compared to Neko no Niwa's which is located outside and further away). But your nose gets used to it fairly quickly! Of course, TCOC has extra points because of their adorable lattes with cat drawings in them. Unlike Neko no Niwa, they also have a selection of toys like those feather dangly things to play with the cats (though I kind of sucked at using them - the cats never caught my bait, sob).

Cats wise, they kept running away from me. WHY??? Only Belle (the fluffy mink/white one I brushed a lot) stood still to let me give her mah lurve. Apparently she's a crowd favourite! Other than that, an hour really rushes by when you're in there (it's $14.00 an hour including a standard drink + $5.00 every subsequent half an hour. The cute lattes are not a standard drink and cost $5.00 extra). If you want cheaper rates, it's only $10.00 an hour on weekdays from 12-4pm, reason being the cats are all asleep! They start waking up around 4:30PM onwards.

It occurred to me that I could pay $23.00 for entry to the Singapore Zoo and see a zillion more species of animals for as long as I wanted, but you know... I want to see cats.

The Company of Cats
6B Mosque Street Singapore 059486
Reservations: +65 6220 3835

0

Parisian Hauls

Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Just some things I picked up on my trip to Paris - I believe that many of the items you can buy from all over the world but to me they're special because I know where I got them from.

By the way, I sometimes feel like taking pictures of my stuff gives me more "value" for the amount I paid, does that make sense to anyone???



Firstly, I never knew H&M had a Home section overseas??? I'm so making this a regular stop every time I go to Europe in future. A tray like this would have cost so much more elsewhere - so even though it was my very last day of Paris and literally had no space in my luggage, I somehow found a way to stuff it into my carry-on, yes I did.


& Other Stories Steel Garden Hand Cream and Body Mist

I can't resist popping by and getting a little something from & Other Stories every time I'm in Europe (such a huge fan). I secretly hope they never come to Singapore to destroy the mystique, if you know what I mean! But anyway, Stories has plenty of other equally awesome sounding and smelling scents such as Moroccan Mint and Sirocco Sands, but Steel Garden appealed to my nose more so that's what I bought.


Roses Candle €44.00 190g
L'Ombre dans l'Eau €70.00 50ml

I bought my first Baies Diptyqe candle from London - but Paris is the cheapest place you can buy Diptyque stuff, for example if I bought my standard size Roses candle in London it would have cost £40.00 (around S$80.00) but in Paris it's €44.00 (around S$65.00). So yep, now you know the secret guys. Fun fact: If you want to smell like a Baies candle, L'Ombre is basically Baies in perfume form. I was almost going to buy my rose scent before realising this, and you can guess what I went with!

Don't forget to ask them for samples! They'll always give you some.


Medium Eiffel Tower €5.00

I'm not really sure what the market price on these things are, but basically avoid the tourist shops if you want to buy one home. We instead bought ours from the troves of African American men walking around the Eiffel Tower area because you can get a better deal by bargaining. I got the medium one and 3 small Eiffel Tower keychains for €5.00 altogether and the guy said ok really quickly - so I'm guessing we could have gone even lower!



Actually, they have Aesop in Singapore but it's just a little bit cheaper in Paris (though it's an Australian brand) and I get my VAT refunds (about 10% off) so I paid around S$55.00 for this in Paris compared to S$69.00 in Singapore for the Amazing Face Cleanser (I think it's so cool how they literally gave no shits on naming their products - there's another one called Fabulous Face Cleanser, I shit you not).

The Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm actually comes in a more value but not-pink container at €29.00 for 120ml (versus €23.00 for 75ml), but I'd be the first to admit that I was taken by the pretty pink packaging. #truth, guys, #truth.

Lastly, I actually bought the Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste because I need an exfoliator (and actually use it). Not sure if the effects get weakened because I slap on my cheap-ass Neutrogena toner after HAHA (I kid, Neutrogena is one of my favourite brands for facial cleansing), but I like the Aesop brand because they believe in mixing nature and science to get the best formulas. It costs a bomb, but... it's really pretty and smells awesome?

Once again, ask for samples! They'll give you some :)

0

The State of Audacious with NARS

Posted on Monday, October 19, 2015


Just a Sunday spent a little different and getting a makeover at the NARS Audacious Pop-Up right outside TANGS! Had the pleasure of meeting Priscilla Yu, who is the NARS Hong Kong Lead Stylist. She flew in all the way to Singapore for this event and to give me a new face make me crazy radiant! I am lucky to have good skin from my mum, but I never knew it could look this good!

Two products that really stood out to me were the NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer (in Finland) and what I think is the secret weapon to my new glow - the NARS Skin Optimal Brightening Concentrate (though Priscilla used a lot more "secret weapons" ahhh).


A big thanks for inviting me, Celeste!!! (Have a good trip to BKK!)

I've been slowly getting to know more about NARS over the past two years, but if you are new to the brand, this session is a nice overview to try what they have to offer! Sign ups to get your own makeover are still open on the TANGS e-store here - but only till 22nd October! I've included more information in my previous blog post on all the goodies you are entitled to if you sign up (it's worth it!) So don't wait anymore guys, be audacious ;)

Photos by Jiehui Teo, Editing by Myself

0

Picnic at Bois de Vincennes

Posted on Saturday, October 17, 2015

To me, the Bois de Vincennes in Paris is more of a "real" park rather than a park in a city like the many of the gardens (or jardins) we've been going to in the Parisian city center! While garden is incredibly beautiful in their own way, I really wanted to venture out beyond the beaten path for our picnic, and luckily, Justin was game.



The grounds are enormous. There were people but it wasn't crowded at all. We managed to find a nice shady spot to set up picnic with the picnic mat we kind of borrowed it off the couch of our Airbnb apartment (heh). Food was bought the day before from the Galleries Lafayette food hall, but in retrospect, we should have gone to La Grande Épicerie de Paris instead as it had a much wider selection of food if you are looking to have a proper gourmet picnic!


Look at Justin, so excited at the prospect of fooood.


We had such a spread it was enough for our picnic AND two more lunches after! There were croissants, poppy seed baguette (to eat with the Pâté de Campagne), Culatello (one of the best hams in the world, yum), Italian octopus in olive oil (more yum), smoked salmon and Pierre Hermé macarons (personally I prefer Ladurée macarons - the Pierre Hermé flavours are too fruity for me)... and so much more. We really got kind of overexcited shopping for food, as you can see.

This was also the day I discovered my hatred for bees - they fly EVERYWHERE and I couldn't eat the picnic in peace!!!


Mmmm tasty tasty.


Miniature pony rides (but for kids only! Boo.) We saw a line of kids riding them around the entire park, so adorbs.


After picnic-ing it was time for a little exercise in the form of... boat rowing! The boats available for rental at the Bois de Vincennes are 12 euros for an hour per boat, we saw a boat with five people crammed on it so I guess they are pretty lax about the safety standards?


Biggest fear - us overturning and my camera falling into the lake :( It's also Justin's first time rowing ever but he was really pro at it. Since only one person can row I got to chill muahaha.


Fed the swans with our leftover poppy seed baguette! At first I was so excited about them coming nearer, but once they did they are kind of terrifying so we'd throw to bread further away.




Eyelet Top (from Korea) | Denim Skirt (thrifted) | ASOS Sandals
Panama Hat (Hat of Cain) | The Ordinary Co Bracelet

Rowing around the entire lake takes approximately an hour if you don't take your time too much or got lost! Despite it's size, the lake is only 1 metre deep (the boat rental guy told us) so even if you capsized it shouldn't be too scary. We had time to take photos, feed the swans and chillax a bit with time to spare at the end so I'd say we paced ourselves pretty well. The weather was perfect, if not a little warm but that's summer for you I guess.

I wouldn't recommend Bois de Vincennes if it is your first time in the French capital as it is at least a 40 minute journey out of the city center, but since we had the luxury of time and this not being our first trip it was fun to explore more of what Paris had to offer!