Personal Outfit (Wicked)

Last week, the bf gave me one of the best gifts ever! 2 tickets to see the musical Wicked!!



He even got front row view from the dress circle! So we had a totally unobstructed view of the entire musical.

I've wanted to watch this musical for the longest time but most of the time, the entire act is based in Broadway or in London so for them to come to Singapore is an amazing feat all on its own.

The play was amazing, I hung to every note and word during the entire play. I was completely riveted with their performance and felt kindda sad when the play ended, I could sit there all night and watch them if possible. I'm just alittle sad that I never got the chance to watch the original Glinda and Elphaba actresses, Kristin Chenoweth and Indina Menzel, singing on stage. However, to be able to watch this play is already one thing off my bucket list.

It was also my first time watching a play at the lovely Marina Bay Sands. I've been to a few plays at the Esplanande but the stage and theatres there are alot smaller with more seats crammed in. Not a very pleasant experience if you are unlucky and get horrible people seated next to you throughout a play.

It's always fun to dress up abit for the theatre. Sorry for the blurry pic, I was rushing to take it before the doors closed after intermission.
Dress: Spiral Girl

Stockings: Can't remember

Black floral pumps: Prada

Bag: Mety Darmali

Necklace (not seen): Vivienne Westwood

A closer look at the Mety Darmali bag with its signature corset-style ribbon detailing and whimsical 3D appliques. I love her bags so much however, they are quite pricey but its understandable since everything is stitched by hand.

The Bf also dressed up for the evening in his suit. Looking spiffy!

Bought the musical's program and a shirt as souvenirs from the musical. My mom has a different shirt that she got when she watched the musical with her best friend, so we can easily swap with each other.

Here's a video of the amazing original actresses for the 2 main characters in the show. Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Indina Menzel as Elphaba performing for the 2004 Tony Awards. If you're wondering why they look so familiar, Kristin and Indina have both appeared in the TV show, Glee. Indina is Rachel Berry's mom, Shelby while Kristin acted as a temporary instructor but she's also well-known for the black comedy, Pushing Daisies.

I'm actually rather lucky that my mom instilled a love for musicals and stage plays in me from a young age. I've been lucky enough to watch Miss Saigon twice, Cats before they retired, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat and Oliver. I'm just waiting for a chance to catch Les Miserable as well as The Lion King.

I guess stage performances will always be a lifelong passion of mine and I'll never stop wanting to watch them.

Tagged & Majolica Majorca Glass Drop Gel Top Coat

Doing this little questions thing after being tagged by Steph, because she threatened facial disfigurement and bodily harm if I didn't do it (nah, just kidding... I figured it might show alittle bit more of me to my readers).

The rules:


-Link the person who tagged you.



-Answer the questions.


-Tag 11 other people.

-Ask the tagged ones 11 questions.


-Inform the tagged people

The questions:

1. What do you drink while you are blogging?
Nothing most of the time.. the few times will be water or Coke zero if I want something sweet

2. Which Dashboard you use - old or new one?
The old version

3. What is your favourite colour?
Depends on my mood, most of the time it'll be purple, black, pink or red

4. Have you got Pen Pals? If not, would you like to have one?
I used to have pen pals, and yea I'd definitely love to write letters again

5. Dress, skirt or trousers?
Dress

6. What makes you easily smile?
Most things. I smile alot and very easily

7. What is your greatest obsession?
I don't really obsess bout stuff

8. What is your daily routine?
Depends alot. If I don't have plans, I'll be home lazing around, doing school assignments & taking care of Dusky. If I do go out, I have a whole ritual involving dressing up, putting on makeup & doing my hair.

9. Which colour has the number 1 for you?
Must I choose? I can't decide between pink & purple. Pink creeps into my life, I have no idea why I have so many pink stuffs but I'm partial to purple for being able to be dark yet feminine at the same time

10. What was the last movie you watched and liked?
Howl's Moving Castle, and it will always have a permanent place in my heart

11. What are your future plans?
Plan a graduation trip with friend/s and get a decent job after graduation

I don't feel like imposing myslef on anyone and forcing them to do this questions and tagging thingy, so if any of my readers takes up the challenge, remember to drop me a comment/link and I'll definitely check yours out!

Since this is a rather short post, I'll toss in a quick review of Majolica Majorca's Galss Drop Gel Coat:

Took this pic off Yesstyle.com as I seem to have lost my own picture of the top coat in its pristine condition

It's a top coat with an exception, it produces a really lovely shiny look reminiscent of a gel or gelish style manicure. This top coat helps to make your DIY nail polish look expensive and professionally done! It dries pretty fast too, so I haven't experienced any messes with it yet. My only gripe is that after bout 3-4 days, my nail polishes start to crack and chip apart so with lighter colours, the cracks are more obvious then darker colours or glitter polishes. However, that's something I can live with since I usually change my nail polish after a week or so.

It's thick consistency makes it easy to apply and spread around your nail, only one coat is needed for each finger. For the price of $14.50, it's alittle pricier then normal top coats but it's truly worth its price and I doubt I'll ever use other top coats ever again if they continue its production.

Personal Outfit (Culture Clash: Japanese Meets French)

The bf and I spent a day window shopping last Saturday. It was a day of simply wandering around and relaxing.

By chance, we managed to catch a Taiko drum performance by a visitng Japanese troupe.

Their performance was amazingly energetic and adrenaline-pumping though the volume nearly ruptured my earbuds as I was standing right in front of them. Its a pity that they were only around for the weekend.

We found out that there was a Japanese Spring food fair going on, hence the performance and the delicious smells wafting out from the supermarket.

The bf managed to snag himself this adorable Pokemon mask, it's called Mijumaru and its an otter, though the pokemon is kindda bit stupid in my opinion. It was so hilarious when a little Japanese girl saw him wearing the mask, her eyes went incredibly wide and she stared non-stop at him and was tugging at her mother's skirt to get her to look at the mask.

Got this amazing Pudding Dorayaki, Steph remarked that it looked like it could cause diabetes from eating it, but it wasn't that sweet. The bitterness from the caramel contrasted the sugery-sweetness nicely.

We later walked around abit before having Tea break at the new French bakery in town.

It's called Paul and seems that they have a long history in pastry-making and naturally, are very proud of their French heritage. The entire menu was written in French, luckily I can understand alittle French and there were English explanations of the dishes. Even the hostess was a fierce-looking French lady.

The bf's hot chocolate, that was super rich. It was like they simply melted down a bar of milk chocolate and added just the littlest bit of milk. So rich and cloying but oh so good at the same time.

Potato pancake with sauteed mushrooms and side salad. The whole dish was really fresh and I loved the earthiness of the mushrooms, the potato pancake had just the right amount of crispy bits as well as soft, mushy sections like mashed potatos.

Teatime set, with a slice of chocolate cake, creme brulee and 2 macarons (one lemon, one chocolate) and Vanilla tea. The chocolate cake was rich and dense in the middle with a slight crispness to wards the edges, the creme brulee was heavenly and so smooth, it was like eating pure cream. The lemon macaron was tart but not too sweet but the chocolate macaron was abit too much, maybe because I had demolished half the cake by then, so I was alittle sick of chocolate.

Relatively casual outfit as I was opting more for comfort:

Maxi dress: This Fashion

Jacket: Nichii

Bag: Jimmy Choo

Sandals: Chanel

I love the Chanel sandals to bits. They're quite comfy except the button on the right foot rubs my big toe abit and I like that its made of plastic so any dirt can be wiped/washed off easily.

Lighter makeup that day with just my RMK foundation and loose powder for the base. However my eye makeup looks heavier and its funny because I used less intensive fake lashes as well as just a quick sweep of white and gold shadow and abit of liner. I didn't even put any shadow on my lower lids! And no I'm not topless, my maxi dress is a tube style, hence the bare shoulders.

Up close of the lashes, I used Nature is Lovely S-1 lashes for my upper lid and Dollywink no.8 on the outer half of my lower lid. I also didn't use enlarging circle lenses.

Wow this turned into a pretty long post! I'll write a review of the Nature is Lovely S-1 lashes when I have the time. My school's trimester is ending in a few weeks time so I have to clear assignments as well as mug for exams, but once that's done it's at least a couple weeks of freedom! I might do a shoot then or something, but whatever the case, I'll try to update this blog as much as possible!

Its funny how life is that when you have nothing to do, nothing happens. But when you are busy, suddenly all activities spring up from nowhere and start fighting for your time and energy!

Cosfest X.2 Event

Back in February, I attended the first cosplay event of the year in Singapore. Its especially significant to me as it was the first time that I had bothered taking part in an event onstage for a cosplay event. Usually I'm too lazy to bother thinking up a routine or creating stage props and stuff for the routine especially when it already takes me ages (and burns a large hole in my pocket) to get my wig, costume, shoes and makeup right for my cosplays. However, this stage event required me to simply strut around onstage, pose for abit and if I'm good enough, I'll get called back for another audition and might just stand a chance to go to Japan for the Cure Cosplay Runway!

So I badgered my partner to join the event with me. Shiro and I did Karakuri Burst from the Vocaloid mv, with her as Kagamine Len and I as Kagamine Rin:

Beautiful picture by Nicholas Yoon, with his usual style of playing with light and shadows. I think Shiro looks incredibly bishie as Len. She was dying of heat though, because she was dressed head to toe in PVC in the heat and humidity. The things we do for cosplay....

Another picture of me! I thought I wouldn't suffer in the heat and humidity as much as Shiro, but I was so wrong! The white robe was made of super thick cotton and lined with satin, which kept in all the heat especially in my arms, so I too was baking all day.

I'm especially proud of Shiro and I for actually being able to walk about decently onstage though I messed up abit at the end. I was soo terrified of either one of us falling off the stage as we were both blind in one eye (her with her eye patch, and I with my bandaged eye) not to mention, we were both wearing platforms. So the fact that neither of us stumbled ontage was good enough for me.

The next day, I cosplayed the Princess of the Crystal from the series Mawaru Penguindrum. Its an amazing series that requires you to watch over and over again to understand it fully. This costume again, was making me bake in the heat and humidity all day as I was wearing PVC leggings, gloves and corset as well as a fur-liner hat on top of my wig. However, this character was pretty fun and I'm so glad my friend, Isa, loaned me her penguin toy prop as she was cosplaying the same character the day before.

Again by Nicholas, I gotta thank my friends, Esther and Joshua for helping me hold the skirt up for this picture ;)

I like the colours in this picture. I had also put alot of makeup on for this character, considering how confident and glamorous she was everytime she appeared in the series. But it barely shows in pictures, so you can imagine just how much of a clown I looked like that day in real life. Hahahah

I'm just abit disappointed with the bottom part of my costume. I had switched my white bottoms for a bikini bottom as I thought it would be safer as the material was thicker. I just didn't count on it not being as high waisted as the original and with my corset riding up, it just made things worse. Another thing was I kept pushing my hat back to scratch an itch on my forehead, I didn't realsie how far back my hat was till after the pictures came out. It was so far back that you can easily see where I had pinned the fringe of my wig! Ugh, I'll definitely improve on them in my future shoot. But overall, this character was fun to cosplay and I was introduced to an amazing photographer who took some shots of me in it, I'm just waiting for him to finish editing the pictures and I might release them on this blog next time.

I'm looking forward to the next cosplay event, however, since I don't have a team or partner for both days I'll probably wind up digging up my old costumes to reuse again if I can't get the costumes that I feel like getting in time for the event. Ah well, I'll see how it goes...

Personal Outfit & Magnetic Nail Polish

I went to support Steph during her gig last Friday. Her band and her totally remade some songs into acoustic versions which were simply amazing! Funny enough, I was freaking out about what to wear to the event and Steph eventually suggested the outfit I ended up in:

Goggles: Shop in Far East Plaza

Zip Camisole (not seen): Tutuha

Shirt: Taobao

Tulle Skirt: Forever 21

Choker: Hellcat Punks

Thigh high socks: Shop in Ngee ann city

Bracelet: Taobao

Pic of Steph and I that night. I look so fat nxt to her... meh...

My hair failed me by refusing to curl but I really really liked my makeup that day.

Anyway, the day before the gig, I managed to snag myself a bottle of Magnetic effect nail polish. The brand I got is Nails inc. in the shade, Trafalgar Square. Its kindda like a gun metal shade of grey, the bluish undertones look great with my skin but I suspect the magnet which came with the nail polish was too weak, I could barely create the designs on my nails.

I do see some darker spots here and there, almost like an airbrushed effect but I think I'll try the nail polish with a stronger magnet during the next round. The polish also dries incredibly fast, so it's pretty amazing. However, the best part I like about it is, if you made a mistake or hated the design u managed to create with the magnet, you could easily paint a generous coat of d polish over the previous polish and restart the design process all over again!

The result of 2-3 coats of polish with my first attempt at trying to get d magnetic effect. By now the nails have begun to chip abit, however, considering it managed to last nearly the entire weekend, I'm truly amazed since I'm pretty rough with my hands. I even do the housework without any gloves or anything.

I tried to paint my toenails minus the magnetic effect. In real life, there is a difference in the look of my finger and toenails, however my camera decides to get all cranky on me and decided to not snap d best looking picture. In the end, if you use this particular shade as a normal polish, the colour is still pretty nice.

Overall, if it weren't for the amazing shade of polish I managed to snag, I think the whole magnetic hype is kindda overrated. It does produce a lovely pattern however, its alittle tricky to get the right look from it but considerng I paid about $21.90 for it at Watsons, I think the price isn't too bad. It's bit pricy but not crazy expensive, so its a simple trend that everyone can try.

Bleaugh, my eyes are soo heavy and closing soon, so till next time!

Personal Outfits (Split Personalities)

Been seriously deprived of a social life recently and it sucks the most when your school conveniently decides to hold a test on Sunday, I mean who does that? (My school, apparently...) But I took it as a opportunity to finally do my old gyaru-influenced style of makeup as I was gonna meet the Bf after the test.

Lately, I've come to realise that my dressing/ makeup style has split neatly into 2 distinct styles. One is of course the old gyaru style with the circle lens, thicker foundation, pink blush & heavily shadowed & lined eyes, complete with both top and bottom fake lashes. Naturally, the clothes are louder, more revealing and just simply over-the-top and trendy with super high heels. Of course, you can't have over-the-top style without big curly hair right?

My other style is more of a casual, laidback style with non-enlarging lens, less foundation, peach-pink blush, light sweep of eyeshadow and copious amounts of mascara. The clothes are relaxed & comfortable & mostly paired with flats and simple hair that's mostly flat-ironed or tied back.

Pictures explain it all:

My gyaru-inspired look

Top: Glad News

Stockings: Can't remember

Shoes: Gal Star

Leopard bag: Jimmy Choo

Beanie: Maison Gilfy

Thicker makeup consisting of:

Face:

Primer: Biore Sunscreen

Concealer: Sana pore putty & Canmake liquid concealer

Foundation: RMK Cream foundation & Majolica Majorca Powder foundation

Eyebrow: Kate eyebrow mascara & Canmake eyebrow pencil

Blush: Canmake cream blush & Candydoll pink Blush

Highlighter: Candydoll purple highlighter

Bronzer: Bahama Mama

Loose Powder: Palgantong

Concealer (to contour my nose): Shu Uemura duo pencil concealer

Eyes:

Primer: Urban Decay Primer

Eyeshadow: White & gold Majolica Majorca single shadows & Dior 5 colour palette (brown shade only)

Eyeliner: Heroine make liquid eyeliner & Sana slanted eyeliner

mascara: heroine make Curl & Volume mascara

Upper Lash: Daiso

Lower Lash: Dollywink No.5

Lips:

Lipstick: Estee Lauder

Lipgloss: E.L.F.

Example of my laidback style:

White dress: Bought in Macau

Denim shirt: Series

Engineer boots: random shop in Bugis Street

Bag: gift from fashion event

Feather clip: Diva

Finally jumped on the feather-in-hair trend. I've been wanting to get one earlier but I've always only found earrings (I don't have pierced ears) & nowhere sold earcuffs without breaking my budget. I finally chanced upon this hair pin & bought it instantly, I love it as an additional accessory that's subtle but definitely adds an interesting twist.

Makeup:

Face:

primer: Biore Sunscreen

Concealer: Sana Pore Putty & Canmake Liquid concealer

Foundation: Majolica majorca powder foundation

Blush: Canmake cream blush & Majolica Majorca peach blush

highlighter: candydoll purple highlighter

Bronzer: Bahama Mama

Eyebrow: Kate eyebrow mascara & Canmake eyebrow pencil

Loose powder: Palgantong

Concealer (to contour my nose): Shu Uemura duo pencil concealer

Eyes:

Eyeshadow: White & gold Majolica Majorca single shadow

Eyeliner: heroine Make liquid liner & Sana slanted eyeliner

Mascara: Heroine make Long & Curl, Heroine make Volume & Curl, Heroine Make Impact frame & Curl, Too Faced Lashgasm & Maybelline Hello Kitty Volum' Express (Yes I layer them like mad, I love my lashes too much)

Lips:

Lipstick: Anna Sui

Lipgloss: Majolica Majorca

I know after sifting through the list of makeup products, it doesn't seem like that much of a difference in terms of the base. But trust me, the effect is completely different and its definitely alot thicker.

I'm so glad that I've actually managed to allow the 2 parts of my clothing personality to co-exist, with one hand wanting to be loud, different from the crowd and all dolled up while the other wanting a more relaxed, simpler and comfortable look. Unfortunately, my wardrobe is the poor casualty from the long and tedious period of trying to balance both sides. So I need to sift through it soon and start purging unwanted stuff from there.

What about you? Do you have mixed personalities in your wardrobe too?

Advertorial: L'oreal Paris Youth Code Pre-Essence

I had a fabulous time at Cosfest last weekend, however, I'm still trying to sift out the pictures that were taken there as well as arranging new shoots and new cosplay plans with my friends. So in the meantime, I'll do this little review:

Today's review is the L'oreal Paris Youth Code Pre-Essence

Nuffnang was kind enough to send me some little samples of this amazing product

So I got these cute little 5ml tubes of the product. I was abit apprehensive at how long these little tubes would last but it really surprised me, I've used them every night for bout 2-3 weeks nows and I've yet to even finish one tube!

A single drop is all that is required for an entire face (okay bad picture, the pre-essence is so liquidy that it started to run once I applied it to the back of my hand)

The Pre-Essence claims this:

In 1 drop: More Radiant

In 1 week: More Refined

In 1 month: Rejuvenated Skin

It's also supposed to be the result of Pro-Gen Technology which helps to recover genes by working on a cellular level. But enough of all these bombastic sounding science-y stuff, what truly matters is whether it actually works right?

In my experience, this little tube of Pre-Essence has become a real holy grail item in my skincare regime. My old skincare regime consisting of solely my Sana moisturizer on my face was starting to lose its effectiveness and my old problem of having massive breakouts on my face during my PMS period had returned.

However, upon using this product, my skin instantly started to clear up! Even the clogged pores that had refused to surface slowly went away and now I have smooth, clear and radiant skin once again. It also passed my PMS breakout test this month so I can safely say it's pretty effective.

The product is a mostly clear liquid that isn't thick and it gets absorbed into the skin almost instantaneously. All I have to do is rub it between my palms and tap it onto my face and it'll be absorbed immediately. The smell is also a pleasant slightly floral scent but it is barely noticeable so I doubt people who are sensitive to smells will be affected by it.

At only $29.90 a bottle, its getting a permanent spot in my skincare regime. It's an amazing product and with only a single drop needed during each application, I'm sure a full-sized bottle of the product will last a few months which is total value for money! I've also read a few reviews comparing this product to Lancome's Genefique Youth Activating Concentrate, so of course price-wise this L'oreal's Pre-Essence definitely wins hands down.

In summary:

Texture: Slightly viscous but mostly runny

Absorption: Near instantaneous absorption

Effectiveness: Highly effective in making my existing products work harder (I have less blemishes but use less moisturizer at the same time)

Price: 4.5/5 ($29.90 at Watsons and Guardian outlets, not bad for a product that only requires a single drop per application)

Use: apply the Pre-Essence after cleansing your face and applying toner but before your serum and moisturizer (I don't use toner, so I just apply it straight before my serum and moisturizer)

All in all, it's a major find and is now a holy grail item for me.

*Samples provided by Nuffnang, however, the review was 100% my personal opinion*