Christmas Celebration & Reflection for the New Year

Late post but then again better late then never right?

I had a quiet (okay not quite quiet when a gang of relatives invaded my home for the night) Chrsitmas eve dinner with relatives and we had a pot luck party with plenty of food to go around. Too much food actually, my fridge and freezer is still stuffed with leftovers that my sis and I are slowly trying to finish. We had roasted chicken, Black pepper & Honey herbs, honey baked ham, Bratswurst sausages, garlic bread, potato salad and 3 different desserts. No pictures because the table was a mess with everyone ravaging the food hahaha.

I did manage to take shots of 2 of our desserts before they were sliced up and served:

 Bf's contribution to the potluck was the lovely cream tart. I still have 2 slices in my freezer, I love this company's fruit tart though it can be bit heavy sometimes

 Stupid blogger is being stupid, refusing to turn my pic around. Anyway this is German Stollen, my aunt brough this as well as half a Carrot Walnut cake with cream cheese icing. It's my first time trying Stollen and its definitely better then fruit cake, I hate that stugg, but the preserved candied fruits still got to me after awhile, I'm just not fond of the taste.

In my childhood, Christmas day was spent with the relatives on my Dad's side of the family. However, ever since my paternal grandmother passed away, everyone has sorta gone their own paths, bit sad but nothing can be done I guess. My dad is also currently away due to work, so my sis, mom and I decided to watch Les Miserable!

 Our Tickets

The movie was amazingly great!! Hugh Jackman was stellar in his performance and I love Amanda Seyfried being cast as the sweet innocent daughter and her high voice totally suited the look for the role. Anne Hathaway was wonderful and it was brilliant to watch her character fall from grace on screen, and I love how hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were as the antagonists of the movie. I still hum their song "Master of the House" from time to time as their scene replays in my mind.

My mom wasn't impressed by Russell Crowe's singing, not that there's anything wrong with his performance, but when you compare his performance to the Broadway version, there is a significant difference, but then again, Broadway and film are different.

Anyone, on to the fun bit of Christmas, pressies!!!

  

 Blogger being ridiculously stupid, shall just ignore. Anyway, here's some of the presents I received from family and friends, not everything is here as I couldn't fit all of them in. The bf bought me a mini vacuum that resembles a pokeball/Haro when not in use ROFL, and a pair of Necomimi (been eyeing it since forever!), My sis got me a picture book of Howl's Moving Castle (useful to ogle at the film's beauty without needing to play the movie), Steph got me an amazing Emoda top (so comfy & stylish) and cute nail polish and her mom surprised me with an amazing Christian Dior charm bracelet.

 The nail polish set from Steph. It's supposed to be used to create checked patterns and the different colours can be mixed together to create new colours! Unfortunately clumsy me hasn't gotten the hang of it, but I do love the colours alot!

 The beautiful Christian Dior charm bracelt that Steph's Mom surprised me with, I had been wanting a charm bracelet for a long time but I figured I'd might as well save up and get a Tiffany or a Thomas Sabo version, but now I don't need to! I love how the charms look like little presents, too cute!

Here's a picture of me playing with my Necomimis before my relatives came. It's so fun to watch feel it swivel around though its near impossible to really control their actions. It took awhile before I could get this shot of the ears on alert mode, as they kept swivelling around or drooping down into relaxed mode. My mom and sis were quite amused by it, though Dusky couldn't care less. Funny because I thought he would freak, but maybe he's finally gotten used to the fact that he has a weirdo for an owner hahah.

Tomorrow's the last day of 2012, it's been a great year though alot of crap has happened lately, but still I'm grateful. I graduated, got a job I somewhat enjoy, attended nearly all cosplay events and made so many new cosplay friends as well as getting to know some of the cosplay elites that I had always admired from afar, became closer to some friends and went overseas with one of the best friends I'd ever known. It's had its fair share of ups and downs so here's to wishing to a better year ahead.

I'll be attending an office party on new year's eve before making my way to a Kenneth's belated birthday/New year party. It'll be the first time I won't be celebrating the new year with my family but since I'll be surrounded by great friends from a hobby I love, it'll be a great start to the new year.

How will you be celebrating your new year?  In th mean time wishing everyone a Happy New Year! 

Meet Up with Steph

Had a bad day at work last Friday, so bad that I was kinda miffed bout it through the whole weekend, though I know holding onto such negative emotions does nothing but bad things to you. So I asked Steph out just to chill and shop abit to get my mind off things.

I decided to doll up too, so that I'll put my mind into a good vibe. It certainly worked because I felt like my old self once more after my makeup and hair was done. 

 After make and hair. Steph says my hair is fine but I just felt like it wasn't as good as how I used to do it, perhaps its the way I curled or I'm due for a haircut pretty soon.

 Outfit:

Dress: Bought in Macau

Military jacket: Topshop

Stockings: I've forgotten

Beret: Accessorize

Shoes: Gal Star

Bag: Snidel

We went to JRunway because despite being open for so long, and me being into Japanese fashion, I've yet to set foot into that store. It's pretty cool since they had brands like Emoda, Algonquins, Spiral Girl etc.

Found these d.i.a. style shorts on a rack, they were so tacky with the buckles that they actually looked good ROFL. Steph tried and eventually bought the  black version while I tried the blue version. I qite liked it but at $75, its kinda steep especially when I'm not so much into the hardcore d.i.a. style



Bought this Mystic cardigan. It was placed along the sales rack so its a steal compared to its previous price. The wool is alittle rough but I like the fit and considering my size, I find it difficult to find good wool and knit cardigans that fit my frame.



Bought these rings too. I'm in love with the vintage style one on the left. My tastes have been geared more towards a much softer feminine style lately. The stacked rings on the right were really pretty and I like how they can be stacked together for a more dramatic look or worn seperately. Sadly one of the diamante on the stacked rings has dropped off, so I brought it back to be exchanged.

 I chose this 3-way hair accessory in its place. All 3 can be worn together as they're linked by the chain, or be worn separately with the chain becoming a really cute bracelet.

 Loved the details on the back of Steph's blazer. The pleats are such a cute addition

It started to pour heavily after wandering around JRunway, so we explored the new section of Plaza Singapura. We stumbled upon Tally Weijl , a high street brand popular with alot of Swedish bloggers. They had some cool stuff, so I may return to check it out once again.



Took this picture of us while we were waiting for our dinner and the Bf to arrive

It was also the first time that Steph and the Bf met each other in real life despite chatting online at times. It was interesting to watch them talk non-stop about games especially Nintendo stuffs.

The week is certainly flying by rather fast. I hope 2013 will be a better year for me especially on the job front. In the mean time, Merry Christmas to all my readers!



Skincare Review: My Melody Oil Free Moisturizing 3D Fitting Mask

*Sponsored Post

Secretive Pte Ltd was kind enough to sponsor some facial masks for me once again and I'm pretty glad too! their masks are always lovely and fit so well on my face.

The mask that they chose to send this time made me squeal in excitement because of how cute it was. I mean just look at it:

Ultra cute My Melody packaging!

The mask this time is an Oil Free 3D Fitting mask, its main objective is to deeply hydrate your skin while reducing the amount of oil produced. Perfect for me and my ever so oily skin!

The key ingredients in the mask are France Bretagne's Gulf Stream sea water, Antarticine, Marine Collagen, Bulgarian Rose Nectar and Hyaluronic Acid. All the ingredients also help to whiten one's skin though I'm actually already happy with my skin tone haha.

 Blogger being a bitch again and refusing to turn my picture. But that's not the point, the main thing is notice the My Melody character showing you how to apply the face mask. I mean how much cuter can it get? 

After ripping open the pack, I gently pulled out the mask but whilst fumbling around with it, I accidentally tore the fragile mask. It wasn't a deep tear so it didn't affect the integrity of the mask, but it did show just how soft the material of the mask was. 

The mask on my face. Super unglam shot of me but who cares?

The part that surprised me the most were the eye flaps, it's the first I've ever seen on any mask I've ever used before. Useful, since most maks do not work on the eye area and it's bit troublesome to apply an eye cream/serum after you're so relaxed from enjoying the mask. It also had a chin flap that fitted nicely around my chin area. It's nice to know that such areas of the face have also been factored into the design of the mask.

However, I chose to not use the eye flaps since I was watching an episode of Psycho Pass (HOMG!! Everyone should watch this anime! It's too awesome for words), so perhaps that's why my eyes felt abit tight and dry throughout the next day. My skin felt alittle tight too, it wasn't uncomfortable but it was noticeable though it got better once I applied my day moisturizer.

The ultimate test if the mask worked was at the end of the day after a day out in full makeup. I noticed that my makeup hadn't slid off as much as usual which probably meant that the amount of oil produced was definitely reduced. I did get abit shiny but that's pretty normal.

Overall, the mask is great and definitely my favourite product sent thus far. I'll definitely purchase it on my own next time.

Image Post: EOY Event & Rurounin Kenshin Movie

Image heavy post so I apologise if your com kinda slows down while loading.

Lets start with cosplay, I attended the End-Of-Year (EOY) event cosplaying as the character Q, from the anime series, [C] Money of Soul & Possibility Control. It was abit sad that Mini and Esther weren't able to attend the event due to other commitments, but at least I got to meet other friends as well as having a cosplay partner and the Bf be with me throughout the day.

 Camwhore shot of me, the harsh background lighting totally blurred out the picture. I used a ton of pink/red eyeshadow as well as my heaviest lashes for the character's makeup.

 Selicia looking so bishie

With Mikage, one of the members of my Type-00 team

 Took a polaroid with Skye, one of the best cosplayers in Singapore! I'm still amazed that she's so sweet and down-to-earth despite being such a pro at cosplay. I'm also quite surprised she remembered me from Cosfest as I'm like pretty much a nobody in the cosplay scene as compared to her.

Photo of my partner, Tsukiya cosplaying as Mysu and I. Her friend took the pictures though I don't know him personally.



 A closer shot of us.

 Towards the end of the day, Skye and a few others surprised Zelmer aka Kenneth, with this little muffin for his birthday. He was really surprised because he hadn't suspected a thing!

EOY was incredibly fun as I managed to meet quite alot of friends at the event, though I'm still alittle sad that Mini and Esther couldn't be there to share the fun. It felt so different not having the three of us hanging out together during an event.

A couple days later, I managed to finally catch the live action Ruronin Kenshin movie! I was seriously behind, most of my friends had watched the movie like at least 2-3 times each before I finally caught it.

Mini helped to buy the tickets as I rushed down from work. 2 others are for Selicia and her sister.

Fan girl moment! Posing with this standee of Himura Kenshin (sorry I look so crappy, it was after a long day of packing and inventory at work)

The action scenes in the movie were great and most of the cast suited their characters, I'm just disappointed in the actress for Kaoru, she wasn'y violent enough, whined alittle too much and sadly, didn't look as pretty as Kenshin, which is pretty wrong. The slow scenes in the movie also felt like they were taking forever instead of helping the story to progress.

I'm just uncertain now, why my friends rushed to watch the movie multiple times, it is nice, but not nice enough for me to consider buying another movie ticket. Hmm... different tastes I suppose :/

Francfranc's Christmas Event

Initially wrote this post using d blogger app for iphone, but the layout felt so foreign to me, I ended up switching back to my laptop

Attended the Francfranc Christmas event last Friday. It wasn't that big an event, just to launch their latest Christmas & Cruise collection.

Steph & I ended up poking & prodding alot of things along the way. It was fun despite the band butchering some of our favourite songs as they played in the background.

I wore a dolly Kei influenced outfit as I felt that it suited Francfranc's style better

Steph kept commenting bout how hip hop style this sofa was & how she wished she could shove it into her house! 

I loved this quirky chest of drawers. The irregular shapes make it so cute and fun looking, thought the real appeal were the door knobs. I found out later that the knobs were sold seperately :(

This chair is more my style LOL

Bought this phone cover to replace my current one which is kinda discoloured now

Received a goodie bag because of my purchase. Inside was a plastic Lowry's Farm bag (perfect for cosplay events/shoots), a guide to the Cruise collection, a slim mug and a voucher for future purchases.

Outfit for the night:

Dress: Ice Lemon Tee

Belt: Taobao

Fur stole: Uniqlo

"Bird Brain" Bag: Vintage Enid Collins

Oxfords: Rockport

Stockings: Gift from Aunt (Clearer pic to be uploaded)

Necklace: Metropolitain Museum of Art (clearer pic to be uploaded)

Found a comfy sofa in the showroom to chill and chat abit during the event. I love Steph's Emoda knit top

Took some camwhore shots too

Here's some extra details that the pictures couldn't take of my outfit that day:

Pulled my hair back with this hair barrette that I had bought as a gift to myself from my first pay cheque.

 

 Picture of the details on my stockings. It's the first time I've worn it since my aunt gave it to me as a gift like a year or so back

 



My necklace, unfortunately, I don't have the curtain tassle necklace that the Grimoire staff are well-known for wearing, neither do I have much vintage necklaces. This was the best option as it was a copied design by the Metropolitain Museum of Art from some necklace that dated back to the 18th century or something. The gold colour also matched the belt I was wearing.

 



 

I'll do a quick image post soon as a few thing have happened recently, namely, the EOY (End-Of-Year) cosplay event as well as finally managing to catch the Rorounin Kenshin live action movie before it stops running in cinemas.

 

I've got a few reveiw posts to do too, ugh!! Woes of a working life, too many things but too little time, lets hope I'll be able to churn out those posts ASAP!

Outift Posts (Steph's Birthday & Movie Marathon)

Late post again becuase I've been extremely busy and totally tired out from work lately, so there's no way around it.To make up for a lack of a life on weekdays, my weekends tend to be packed with all sorts of activities, it does leave me physically tired but at least I'm mentally refreshed from work.

Last Friday, Steph celebrated her birthday at her favourite darts bar with alot of her darts friends.

 They got her 2 ice cream cakes. I love this picture of her though the random person's wvaing hand kinda ruins it LOL

They playfully smeared cream all over her face, I managed to corner her for this picture before she went into hiding to wipe it off hahaha 

 As the birthday girl, she was made to drink a Waterfall & Graveyard. graveyard is probably the worst drink I've ever tasted, it was pure bitterness that lasted long after I had swallowed the drink eugh!!! I was also her "tank" (basically, shared her drinks) for the night so I did get quite a few drinks throughout the party.

Threw on comfy clothes for the night so that we could play darts (bleaugh super unflattering shot of us) 

Shirt: Uniqlo UT

Jeans: GoJane

Heels: Mondo

 Picture of us before Steph got wasted for the night LOL!!!

 I wore my heaviest lashes that night and I quite liked the look! I'll probabaly be using the same lashes for my upcoming cosplay.

Yesterday, the Bf and I decided to go for a movie marathon as there were too many movies that we wanted to watch but too little time. We managed to catch Frankenweenie and The Rise of the Guardians. Frankenweenie was super cute, I like how Tim Burton chose to have the entire film in black and white, made it so much darker and less distracting from the storyline.

The Rise of the Guardians was interesting, I love how Santa was portrayed like a Russian mafia boss and how the Easter Bunny wasn't a cute-sy little bunny. Of course, the one that stole the show was Jack Frost, whoever designed the character should get a pay raise, he's the reason why so many people have flocked to the cinema to catch the movie. The storyline was bit predictable but no surprise since it is a kids movie, but it was still very enjoyable.

 Randomly threw on thsi outfit:

top: Glad News

Jeans: GoJane

Bag: taobao

Shoes: Itti & Otto

Necklace: Chrome Hearts

Decided to curl my hair for the day, I haven't curled my hair since my last haircut and had somewhat forgotten how I looked with wavy hair. I must say, I miss the volume the curls give to my hair.

I'll be working on Saturday again... boohooo.... so I'll be missin the License to Play event on Saturday. However, I will be attending the End of Year (EOY) event on Sunday. I'll be cosplaying with my partner from the anime series [C] Money of Soul & Possibility Control (such a mouthful), as the summons Mysu and Q. I'll be cosplaying Q so if you see a green-haired emo girl with horns from afar, that's probably me hahahah.

Crossing my fingers and hoping everything will go well by Sunday. My wisdom tooth decided to be a bitch on me so I've been having an aching and slightly swollen jaw all week, however, it has helped me to lose weight since I eat less now. My eczema has also flared up and I can feel a stye forming on my right eye, ugh!!! I bet it's because of my job, since I'm being a superwoman right now and doing 3-4 different jobs due to the lack of staff. I just hope my boss keeps his word about getting more staff soon or I'll probably burn out in no time

MAC Glamour Daze Event

Steph and I managed to snag invites to the recent MAC makeup event for their latest collection, Glamour Daze. I'm usually not too bothered about MAC's collaborations but this collection definitely caught my eye, I just love the whole concept and retro-style look of the makeup & hair.

The place was incredibly crowded, naturally due to MAC's popularity, but I managed to snap a few quick pictures of the collection

 Took all I had to stop myself from grabbing these beautiful palettes. If only they came in the form of clutches, I would have grabbed them in a heartbeat.

 Their eyeshadow and blush shades look pretty similar to what I already have in my makeup box so alittle disappointing, but it was also inspiring as I never realised they could be used for the vintage look (LOL, yes I can be that dense sometimes)

 Steph and I kept molesting the pink bag, it was just so "us" LOL. The brushes were incredibly soft too!

 Watched a demo on how to get the look with the collection's makeup. I love the model's skin soo much!! It looked like porcelain from afar but I saw up close that she had alittle acne on her skin, so I'm really amazed at how well the makeup was applied to make her appear totally flawless!!

Also loved her hair, doe eyes, dress etc.... basically, they got the perfect model for the collection. End of Story. 

 Steph and I. Love her Emoda cropped top paired with the pearl necklace. I just look old with pearls, or maybe it's just me.

Outfit (amped up the exposure cuz the picture was really really dark & this was the only decent outfit pic I had):

Knit Top: Uniqlo

PVC skirt: Murua

Belt: Taobao

Necklace: Borrowed from Mom

Boots: Gripz

Bag: Jimmy Choo 

Steph celebrated her birthday yesterday with a party, so I'll churn out that post as quick as I can. But for now, gonna catch up on some zzzz before I head to work tomorrow. Nites people!