Will you be my Valentine?

Soooo I'm a little late to post this... But happy belated V day for all you romantic folks out there.

Another event day photo series courtesy of @7braidstrong/www.7braidstrong.com to commemorate Valentine's Day although I don't actually celebrate it. Okay, so just an excuse to take a couple of photos. I think we've reached some peak moodiness here. Love it!

So on this special day for lovers, let's talk about love, shall we?

I love a lot of things/people/experiences that exist at present in my life - clothes, shoes, dogs, exercise (it's a love-hate thing), great movies and music, my friends and family, so on and so forth, but there are a couple of things I absolutely would love to have but I sadly do not. The list below is not exhaustive (obviously) and it doesn't include things like "having all the money in the world" and "eating as much as I want without putting on any weight or getting a heart attack" because duh, plus those are too obvious:

1. The ability to make my dog, Nacho poop on command. Instead, he has to take a really long time deciding on the right spot, and sniff and mark on everything, regardless of rain or shine. 
2. You know those Transition lenses, those that change in different lighting conditions to protect your eyeballs from evil UV rays? It would be cool if I had transition lens eyeballs instead because I always forget my sunnies so self-adjusting eyeballs would be cool.
3. It would be swell if I could just not drop anything for one frickin' day in my life. I could win an award for being a klutz, total butterfingers here.
4. The magical skill of being able to make fruit the perfect stage of ripeness at the point at which I intend to consume it. Sames goes for making food that's gone soggy/laohong to be unsoggy/unlaohong. Food at the perfect stage is important to me. 
5. I'd love to be able to sing and dance well. I cannot do both. It pains me deeply. Watching La La Land filled me with waves of unfulfilled desire for a talent that shall never be.
6. How rad would it be if the body came with an internal alarm that notifies your brain when you're at the peak happy-fun alcoholic state so you know never to surpass it and thus avoid ever having to suffer the next day?
7. I wish I had the power to have the basic synopsis (minus spoilers) for movies delivered to my brain via magic brain waves upon request.
8. I would love if all the stuff in bottles (like makeup, conditioner, etc) would just not stick to the bottle. Like y'know towards the end, you'll be like squeezing that shiz out and tons of it just sticks to the side of the bottle? Yeah, if it would just not do that, that'd be swell. 
9. My dream feet - the kind that never get blisters. No plasters/socks/apparatus needed. Just unblisterable feet. Yup, that's a word now.
10. Self-cleaning makeup brushes. Actually, self-cleaning everything. I'm sick of chores!

Okay I've gotta stop here, this list could go on pretty much forever. Hope your would-love-list isn't as lengthy as mine. Here's to hoping that your would-love-list is far surpassed by the list of all the things in your life that you already have! 

Happy Valentine's Day lovers, thanks for reading!   

Carefree

Top: Smooch the Label (Similar here) | Pants: Calvin Klein (Similar here) | Heels: Pedro (Similar here) 

Earrings: Twentyeight Lane | Ring: Jessica Buurman (Similar here) | Sunglasses: Pieces (Similar here)

So I work with a few young temp staff, fresh out of school and waiting to go to university or find their first job, many of them have been wonderful and proactive and happy. But there have been a few who make me think "Ah, millenials" with a soft sigh and an upward roll of the eyes.

It's terribly exhausting because of 2 main things:

1. They quit within a short span of time which means I have to go and get someone else to fill the role quickly and that means more paperwork
2. It reminds me of my youth (so long gone, and dearly missed) 

When I was younger - had better skin, had the ability to go out all night but still wake up feeling refreshed, and had the metabolism that deserves a bloody prize - I held down a couple of different jobs here and there including:

Sales assistant at DKNY and then Awfully Chocolate - both good experiences overall
Sales assistant at Tangs for Dr Hauschka - Not great, I quit after a day because I was a spoiled little brat who didn't want to go through the staff entrance because it was dark and smelled like smoke
Administrative exec for a publishing company - I was dumb and quit after a day because I'm a spoiled brat who didn't understand Excel. Much regret.
Door bitch - I did this for 5 years and it was pretty fun although so exhausting.

None of these jobs really prepared me for the real working world because I have a desk job and sit on my fat butt most days but I did learn some valuable lessons including:

• Working with people can be tough - it's important to guard your heart and your secrets
• Standing up for long amounts of time makes your leg veins become permanent residents 
• Having down to earth work friends can really make the job much more enjoyable (Hi to Zamri from DKNY, Sali and Azmi from Helipad!!) 
• Be nice to people in customer service and sales staff because omg it can be rough for them

Anyway, if I had a time machine and could go back in time and give young me some advice regarding jobs, it would definitely be not to give up quite so easily, over small dumb things, and also maybe to cut down eating so much chocolate ice cream and cake while working.

Thanks for reading!

Another mother

Top: ASOS (Similar here) | Skirt: Primark (Similar here) | Shoes: Topshop (Similar here) 

Sunglasses: ASOS | Bag: Aldo | Earrings: Aldo (Similar-ish here) | Ring: Gift (Similar here)

I've just realised that 4 of the 7 items listed here were bought for me by my aunt. Is it strange that my aunt is basically dressing me? I'm not complaining. I've been very lucky because since I was a kid, I had a fashionable aunt who would buy me awesome things and who doesn't like to receive pretty gifts ammirite? 

I remember in Secondary School, on the first day back to school after the CNY break, we'd be allowed to wear our CNY clothes to school. My aunt bought me a light blue metallic threaded dress that was a big hit. I remember a girl called Rosie who came up to me and said, "I like your dress, although it's a bit short." I don't know why she needed to stick that second part in there, maybe it really was too short hahaha but nonetheless, I felt good.

As I get older, I wonder when the time will come when I'll be able to buy her nice gifts back. I think I unsuccessfully bought my aunt a gift once - a very colourful candle. I can only imagine how she probably threw it into a junk pile immediately because now that I think about it, my god that candle was U-G-L-Y.

Having been born into a family of really strong cool women, I think I've been fortunate. My aunts have all stepped in to be second/third/fourth moms to me which is awesome since my mom was a single parent and I wasn't exactly easy to deal with. Lol.

Thanks to my family for being my family, and thanks for reading!

Testing my patience

Dress: Shein | Shoes: Pedder Red (Similar here) | Bag: OG (Similar here)

Sunglasses: Vans | Earrings: Vintage (Similar here) | Ring: Vintage (Similar here) 

I like this dress because it reminds me of this: 

 

Pic from wikipedia

Did you know that this is called a 'Test Card'??? I didn't. I wonder if this still pops up when there's no TV service. I feel like I should print these out and hold them up when I'm in the office and people are badgering me for things. I'll be all, 'sorry, no service, please try again later' and then try to hypnotise them with the pattern. 'You will bring me a coffee and a bagel and then leave me alone... and you are also getting sleeeeeeeepy.'

It's been a looooong two weeks. Not only have I not been actually watching any TV, I've also been working like a maniac. Anyway, what I really wanted to say is.... Look into the test card... You are getting sleepy... Give me all your money....Meh. It was worth a shot.

Thanks for reading! 

Ain't no mountain high enough

 

 

Dress: Shein | Shoes: Velvet (Similar here) | Bag: Gracious Aires (Similar here)

Earrings: Gift (Similar here) | Ring: Jessica Buurman

I really hope you sang the title of this post when you read it. Sister Act was the bomb. I guess I'm suddenly thinking about mountains because my dress has a mountain printed on it but more importantly, because I just purchased my first pair of trekking shoes!

Sweet-ass new pair of shoes

Come late September, I'll be running around the Dolomites in my sweet-ass new Columbia hiking shoes. If you recall, I went to Yosemite last year and went hiking up a pretty awesome trail. I did so in my Nike track shoes but after the two days of intense walking, my shoes pretty much gave up on me (not that my Nikes weren't good, they had already been through a lot of my stinky feet action over the course of 3 years).

I didn't want to put my cool new Nike flyknits through the same ordeal since I still like to jog in them, so I bought these new shoes. They're not exactly very pretty but they feel really sturdy and supportive. I'm not sure why they don't make chio-er hiking shoes (LIGHTBULB! Business idea!!) but these are not too ugly right?

Anyway, the boo was buying a new pair of soccer boots at Queensway Shopping Centre so I tagged along and I ended up buying these for what I think was a steal - $110. The retail assistant told me that I need to break them in so I guess I'm gonna be stomping around for awhile. I wonder if I could get away wearing them in the office. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, even a noob hiking enthusiast knows that good shoes make a huge difference so I thought I'd share what I know so far. Also good for your consideration if your budget is even tighter are these shoes that Nic recommended. She says they are cheap and good, as are many of the other shoes on the site, apparently. Now I'm kind of wishing I hadn't bought mine on a whim because man these Quechas are cheap!!! Plus I trust Nic's expertise in shoes because she is really a pro in comfortable footwear and doing actual research before making a purchase.

Oh well. Thanks for reading!

Lash out

Top: Romwe | Skirt: Sheinside | Shoes: New Look (Similar here) | Bag: FCUK (Similar here)

Ring and earrings: V&A (Similar here and here) | Sunglasses: Far East Plaza (Similar here)

 

My beautiful cousin Nom has the most enviable lashes. They're long, thick and curl up making his already decently larger eyes look even larger. I am SO JEALOUS.

He'd probably fly back to Singapore to kick my butt if I posted the full photo so I cropped it but you can clearly see those glorious lashes (sans mascara but helped by eyeliner).

In order to make my slitty eyes look larger, sometimes I'll bust out the falsies. The results are inconsistent at best, because I am really crap at applying them on myself. But after several attempts, many failed, I think I've learned a thing or two so I might as well share it to help the rest of the eyelash-challenged individuals.

The tools

Because I such at it, I have to use tools to apply falsies. I got this plastic lash... errrr... Let's call it a 'kiaper' from Starlash. It's quite easy to use but one of my gripes is that it is a bit too curved. My lash line isn't so oval shaped when I close my eyes so I kind of have to apply my lashes in sections rather than just place it on in one swift move.

I use the metal thing, actually also a kiaper, but I use the bit with the pink silicon to press down on the lash. You can also do this with your fingers but I just don't because I'm used to using extra tools. I suppose I just like to make my life more difficult and spend more money than necessary. 

The falsies

I first got the Diamond lash one and I thought I wanted something natural so I got a brown shade. This was a disaster because it actually looks really unnatural against my black lashes. I like that it's not too long so I don't need to go through the extra step of cutting it but that's about it.

I haven't tried any other brands because I got a recommendation from Nic who basically knows everything about makeup and beauty products. She recommended these hand made ones from Taiwan and so far so good, they have SO many types (different lengths, different fullness, criss-cross, straight, lined, unlined, etc). I buy mine from People's Park, I think it's about $6 a box. Because I'm not very terribly adventurous, I got the really basic not too long or fluffy kind so they look really natural but I don't know, if I want drama for evening I probably have to double them up which means 4 times of potential disaster.

The glue
I've been on the hunt for the perfect glue because I'm already such a mess. Glue near the eye is... Not fun.

Duo
I started my falsies journey with Duo but I find that because of the squeezy bottle style, I can't control the amount of glue that comes out and sometimes it'll be a huge glob of glue and that's wasteful and messy. The glue dries clear so that's not too shabby but I don't feel like the lashes stay put for very long. I'd rate it a 6/10. 

Starlash
I got this in white (which dries clear) first and I liked it, the applicator wand style means I can control the amount of glue that goes on the lash. I then bought the black since I thought I could handle it. This was a mistake because I am not 100% able to stick the lashes great the first time round so this leaves black stains all around my eye which is a pain to clean off. This is my fault, rather than the glue's, so I'm not judging it based on that. Just a word of warning I guess. The thing I don't like about this glue is that when you remove the lashes, some of the glue ultimately remains along the lash line. Which makes you end up looking like you're got eye-poop. I guess this means the glue sticks really well but it's such a mess to clean up and I end up having to mad scrub my lids and pick at them. I give this a 7/10 rating.

Shiseido 
Nic bought this for me from Japan and I really really really liked it the first time I used it (partly due to the fact that I was able to apply the lashes well the first time round that day). The squeezy bottle thing still means that I can't totally control the amount of glue that comes out every single time. Maybe I'm just defective. However, this glue has great sticking power. I wore it for several hours and my lashes didn't budge at all. One bad thing is that it doesn't dry clear so if you apply too much glue, you'll have white globs around your lash line. But for all it's stickiness, when I remove it, it doesn't leave any glue behind. I would rate this 7/10.

So that brings me to the end of the sharing session. I hope you learned a lot. Please do let me know if you've got better stuff to introduce to me! I'm always happy to get recommendations.

Thanks for reading!