Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
0

Shades of Spring with Skin Inc

Posted on Friday, April 22, 2016

Even though we don't get four seasons here in Singapore, I do feel in the mood for spring when I see my Instagram feed loaded with pretty pastels of cherry blossoms and what not! Anyway, I've received more goodies from Skin Inc - this time a limited edition range of My Daily Dose bottles in Rose Quartz and Serenity (S$169.00 each), inspired by the Pantone Colours of 2016! Heh, so I always thought that just Rose Quartz alone was the colour of the year, but it turns out so is Serenity (am I the only one?) - and they both represent equality and balance each other out perfectly.

The ingredients for this range are pre-selected - a Spring Concoction for Rose Quartz, containing Ceramide to strengthen skin's barrier, Collagen to plump skin and improve suppleness and Vitamin A for a rosy glow; and a Heat & Haze concoction for Serenity, containing Ceramide as well to strengthen skin's barrier, Hyaluronic Acid to replenish moisture and French Pine Bark to fight againt free radicals!

I've been jumping between the two bottles - and the dropper is kind of addictive (also now in rose gold!) I know the bottle looks small (30ml), but I only use around 2-3 drops each time and it's more than enough to cover my face, so it definitely lasts quite a while!

Anyway, what stands out to me the most about Skin Inc product is how they have no smell. It's almost like revolutionary, because all beauty brands have their "signature scent", which is great too -but it feels "cleaner" when a product has no scent because it feels like I didn't put anything on! I  know results can't come some soon, but I've been using these two consistently for the past week and I really feel that my skin looks so much more vibrant already... or maybe I'm biased?

But seriously, try it yourselves guys. I feel so pampered by their cool and sturdy glass bottles, just looking at them alone makes me happy!

0

Island Cafe

Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2016


Love Bonito Rohais Knit Sash Dress | Forever 21 Ribbed Camel Turtleneck

So even though I've been out of school for a while and my job is pretty solitary and most of my friends having normal jobs to go to on weekdays, I find it interesting how I still have the chance to meet new people through Instagram! Luckily for me, dear Georgina of @seaofknit was free to hang at a space I've been wanting to go to for a while - Island Cafe at Tangs. So much inspo, so much salted egg fries, so much talking... and photo taking, of course :3

Anyway, I'm loving my outfit for the day - I've had this Love Bonito dress and top in my closet for ages (some of you may recognise the top from TOC's Sara Kate photoshoot, haha) and got inspired by the new layering trend to create something new from two existing pieces! Love how a casual dress can suddenly become work-appropriate... though not that I have an office to go to (*half cries half laughs*).

Anyway, can't wait to meet up with Georgi again once her sem is over :)

Photos by Georgina Foo and Myself

0

Vietnam Visual Diary: A Day Trip on the Mekong Delta

Posted on Friday, April 15, 2016




Day 2 in Vietnam! For our only full day in Ho Chi Minh City, Trishna and I pretty much unanimously decided to hit the Mekong Delta Tour instead of the other popular alternative for tourists, the Cu Chi Tunnels Tour.

Booking the tour
Based on online reviews, we booked our tour in person at Sinh Cafe Travel when we reached Ho Chi Minh the day before, because the reviews online said it was the cheap + reputable (they also sell bus tickets between cities!) For a day tour to the Mekong Delta we paid 289,000 dong - approximately USD13.00 or SGD18.00.

After speaking to our fellow travelers from Airbnb, we found out that they paid USD35.00 for basically the exact same tour itinerary with the same tour group size - because they booked online through an angmoh site, i.e. Viator. Their tour guide was apparently enthusiastic, but they couldn't understand what he was saying anyway because his English was so accented.

So, if you want cheaper tour packages, booking online may not be the most value for money - just head to the famous De Tham road (where all the tour agencies are) when you are in HCMC itself to book it in person!

Our tour experience
Ok, so our tour guide wasn't the most passionate guy about the Mekong Delta out there. He clearly does these tours every day based on his dispassionated narration throughout the trip such as "To your left, here comes a watermelon boat... To your right is a rambutan boat..." I am sad to say I don't know any more about the history of the Mekong Delta than before I came to Vietnam. But hey, I guess you get what you pay for, haha.

BUT regardless, we had our own fun just chilling, chit chatting and taking pictures! The chartered boat for our tour group took around the villages to try their local delicacies and see the rural Vietnamese "way of life". Clearly, everything was a tourist trap to sell us goods such as their rice paper (for spring rolls) selling at double the price as the markets outside (a good price to pay would be 20,000 - 30,000 dong, or SGD$1.50 for a stack of them) but even at the inflated price, it's still really cheap and supports them, so... heck. And at least we got to see how they were made, so that was interesting.

Also for some odd reason, even though we were on an English speaking tour, there was not a single Westerner in our group despite there being tons at the agency when we were making the booking. It seems that as we made the booking, the tour agency basically racially profiled us... LOL?

Lunch
We stopped by a village in which they had prepared a spread for us - including the scary ass looking fried fish above, braised (mystery) meat, fried spring rolls, and random veggies it looked like it had been sitting out there for a while, but no tummy problems at all!

A Vietnamese lady entertained us throughout lunch by cutting up the fish and rolling it into spring rolls. These were actually my favourite spring rolls the entire trip. I think it has something to do with a legit local personally hand rolling them for you, and yes, it was delicious. Also, Trishna and I would never have ordered an entire fish for just the two of us the whole trip, so I'm glad we got to try this out!

By the way - the lunch was included in our tour price (SGD18.00) - super worth it!

Overall thoughts
The bus ride was really long back from the Mekong Delta to Ho Chi Minh City - 3 hours, hence we spent almost the whole day from 7am to 5pm out there. I guess I wouldn't have minded one more day just to cover the Cu Chi Tunnels and learn some actual history about Vietnam, but luckily there's Wikipedia? Also, classic Vietnam, but the bus driver basically honked non-stop for 3 hours all the way back to the city, and not in a useful way, but more of an I-have-anger-management-issues way, haha.

Soon yeah I guess it wasn't my favourite day out of our whole trip. We had our own fun but at least there were better things to come! If you have any questions feel free to drop them in my comment section, I'd love to share more about my experiences :)


Bye Mekong Delta!