International Cosplay Day Event

This post is alittle behind schedule as the event took place last Sunday, but honestly, I've been alittle tired mentally and I've also been making constant trips to the Bf's place as he completes a costume for me for this weekend's event.

The event wasn't as large as other events that are held at conventions and stuff,in fact, it was hosted in a school's event space but it was the perfect excuse for my friends to make use of the school's basketball courts and lockers as backgrounds for their cosplay of Kuroko no Basket, a basketball anime/manga that shows plenty of BL (Boy love). I just felt like cosplaying for abit as it's been nearly a month since I last did anything cosplay-related, so I used my easiest costume, which was my Persona 4 Rise costume. I was extremely flattered when a girl came up to me telling me I did a great job cosplaying Rise and she said I was pretty before snapping a quick picture of me and asking for my coscard. Alittle compliment goes a long way, I was cloud nine for the rest of the day!

The event was more like a gathering of sorts for me so naturally alot of camwhoring took place.

 With Selicia, oh how I envy her skinny figure and she has the perfect height and face to be either a very good looking guy or a sexy girl

 With darling Esther

 With Kanoe of the far left, Minichaos on the left and Kitska on the right

 Amazing photographer Rescend and he cosplayed in my previous FF Type-0 team too!

 With Blacklash, too bad she's changed out of her costume by the time we took this shot. She's the leader and driving force behind my FF Type-0 team and a real senior in the cosplay cirlce in Singapore. I'm still alittle shy around her as I feel like such a noob next to her

Walking around the event space, I found a couple of interesting things:

 A Dalek!!! Doctor Who cosplays in Singapore are extremely rare and I've only ever met a pair who has done it, so it was surprising to find this Dalek parked next to a stall

 This is a bike covered in multiple images of Sheryl Nome from the anime, Macross Frontier. The owner must be a die-hard fan

Surprisingly, the event did have a few foreign cosplayers and I saw a lady dressed as Penguin from DC Comics (I suspect she's cosplaying as Penguin's daughter though I may be wrong) and she even pulled along 2 penguin balloons as props! There was also a Joker cosplayer with her, not as good as the famous Harley's Joker but still pretty good nontheless and he gave me the Joker grin as he was being driven off after the event haha!

But the star for the day was famous American cosplayer, Yayahan! I was lucky enough to get to meet her though I didn't manage to chat with her or take a picture with her as she was talking to another cosplayer and I didn't wanna be rude, but I was lucky enough to get her card!



Yayahan's coscard, though my friend managed to get her limited edition card with her cosplaying Oruha from the CLAMP manga Clover. 

Though I didn't get to talk to her or snap a pic with her, she did sign her coscard for me!!! It's my first celebrity coscard as I didn't manage to get Reika's or Yuegene Faye's when they were in town. I'm just alittle sad I forgot to pass her my own coscard as she was signing this card. Yayahan, if you do ever read this post, I'm sorry if I was bit rude that we didn't exchange cards!! >.<  

Here's a fabulous picture of her taken by photographer Shiro Ang during the event. Can you imagine, she had the patterns on the suit specially printed for her! Talk about dedication, if I were in her shoes, I would have just gone with a PVC costume and be done with it

I also managed to bully Kenneth into taking some pictures of my cosplay during the event though I was mostly helping out Mini, Esther and Selicia with their shoot and trying to not get heatstroke in the mid day heat. But those pictures shall be posted only next time when they've been through some editing processes first.

On a side note, anyone going to STGCC (Singapore Toys, Games and Comics Convention) this weekend? I'll be there one both days so look out for me! I'll be cosplaying Drossel von Flugel ( a white robot with shining blue eyes, so no one can see my face haha!!) and Zatanna from DC Comics (look for the black hair, red lips and magician's outfit with fishnets) during the weekend. If you happen to see me do say hi and just ask for my coscard, I'll make sure to have plenty to give out to people! 

Quick Getaway (Super Image Intensive)

Steph and I had a quick but refreshing getaway to Kuala Lumpur last weekend for some shopping, lots of bonding and just basically destressing. We both badly needed this trip as we had been under alot of stress and pressure from alot of things, so it was the perfect excuse for some R&R.

Me on the bus ride there, with zero makeup. I was sleeping most of the time so the five hour bus ride flew by pretty fast.

The coach made a quick stop at Yong Peng for us to stretch our legs and have a quick toilet break. While wandering around, we both spotted this amazing vintage Bentley for sale. It's almost perfect, just need alittle cosmetic touchups here and there

After bout an hour more of riding in the coach, we finally reached our hotel. We stayed at the Dorsett Regency, not exactly five-star with the limited facilities but comfortable nonetheless and the best part was being conveniently located near KL's Golden Triangle, so we could shop to our heart's content. After unpacking, we applied makeup, refreshed ourselves and got ready to head out.

White shirt: Uniqlo

Skinny jeggings: Uniqlo

Black heels: Charles & Keith

Bag: Longchamp

Necklace: borrowed from mom 

We quickly realised that the bathroom had the best lighting for camwhoring LOL

Had lunch at a random Japanese Restaurant at Pavillion, the sushi and vegetables were quite fresh



We wandered round a few malls and I really wanted to get my nails done, after checking out a few shops we settled on one shop at the top floor of Sungei Wang, a local mall with lots of cheap trendy clothes.  

Steph's nails are already pretty long and considering she'll be playing bass pretty soon, she didn't wanna waste money getting extensions done. But she did get this amazing nail art as she waited for my extensions to get done, sorry babe for making you wait >w<

I had extensions done before painting on the nail art. I showed my manicurist some Rienda/Rady prints and similar looking nail designs before settling on this particular design.  It cost me bout S$96, peanuts compared to the prices local nail salons charge for such good work

After getting our nails done I was feeling peckish so we went to Jalan Alor and stopped by an Egyptian food stall. I ordered a simple meal of warm pita bread with hummus, delicious, healthy yet filling. 

 On our way back we spotted this little road side stall with these cute home-made sponge mice toys, Steph bought a pink one for her cats, I regret not getting one now as I'd really like to see how my Dusky will react to it.

Before heading back to the hotel we popped by this Latin bar close to our hotel, Steph introduced me to cigars and I was curious enough to try one. It's almost like smoking a strong espresso, pleasant but non addictive I quite enjoyed it! 

We ended the night by using our room's wi-fi to the max! I was busy messaging my bf and checking out my phone apps like Facebook and Instagram while Steph surfed the net on her Macbook pro, guess we're too addicted to the Internet LOL!

The next day, we got up really early and had a light breakfast before heading to the hotel pool

The weather wasn't too hot and there was a constant breeze, the pool was also mostly empty with just a couple of kids splashing around. Perfect for us to catch some rays without burning to a crisp

Steph looking hawt in her red bikini and shorts

My bikini finally saw the light of day after god knows how many years, but I'm still not totally happy with my body. 3 weeks of non stop stress eating and not exercising has caused me to pack on some of the weight I had lost.

After catching some rays, we went back to our room to get changed and ready for another round of shopping

Maxi dress: random shop in Holland Village

white shirt: Uniqlo

black heels: Charles & Keith 

Styled my hair abit more then the day before, I also backcombed my crown abit to give it more volume

 Quick mirrorshot whilst shoe shopping!

 While shopping at Sungei Wang again, we went past a hair salon and spotted this picture of a girl who looked EXACTLY like Steph! We were laughing so hard about it! Maybe she's Steph's sister seperated at birth hahaha

For lunch, we went to The Ship a fabulous restaurant with great steak and seafood dishes! The outlet at Penang is particularly fun since the whole restaurant is housed within an actual ship!

 Shared this bowl of Indonesian Oxtail soup, spicy but sooo good! I love eating oxtail stew!

My Beef Stroganoff with buttered rice, a tad too much balsamic vinegar but still delicious. The portion was so huge that I couldn't finish it 

 Steph dug into her massive Seafood Platter, the crab looked really yummy! Of course, she couldn't finish her plate like me haha



We did alittle more shopping and even went to Berjaya Times Square where we did foot reflexology to rest our tired feet. it was Steph's first time doing foot reflexology so she was squealing and squirming quite abit, it was really hilarious!

 We went back to Qba for another round of cigars and I also got to catch up with an old friend, a photographer called Hexlord. It was great to meet up with him as I didn't have the chance to meet up on his last trip to Singapore.

I tried a Cosmopolitan which was incredibly sweet, Steph had a Strawberry Margarita which tasted alot better. Maybe I should just stick to Pina Coladas or Mojitos if I want something sweet

Had tacos for dinner, Steph's is tofu with chilli jam and mine was spiced beef

On our last morning, we ate till our heart's content at the hotel buffet breakfast, love the french pastries there. Then we went to Pavilion and did some last minute shopping before catching the coach home. We were lucky as we only experienced a mild traffic jam on the way back.

 I didn't shop as much as I expected and I regret not taking more pictures with Steph but it was a great trip and if things go according to plan, we might travel together once again next year.

Copper Tones

My University module is finally over!!! With luck, I'll probably be graduating from University soon and I'll be on my way into the big bad world! Anyway, I'm digressing, today's post is about my new hair colour! I've been way over due for a hair dyeing session for far too long, my roots had completely grown out that I wound up with 3 differing tones on my head. Luckily, my previous hair colour was the gradient style so it didn't look too bad though it was pretty obvious to my hairstylist.

I went for a totally different hair colour this time, as I needed something that wouldn't be too bright for a corporate office but I still didn't want to totally lose my identity

I showed my hairdresser this picture of Rino, a CyberJapan dancer. After some discussion about the colour and tone, she got down to work.

 Bleaching my hair to even out my hair colour

 I wound up with this colour, and posted this picture on my Twitter. A few of my friends thought it was the final colour and freaked hahahah, I can understand why, the gold colour is horrible.

 The final result, under the sharp white light of my hairdresser's salon. Sorry bout my face, I wasn't wearing any makeup that day.

 Pic taken today under natural sunlight, the colour is less intense and there is a slight gradient from my scalp to roots due to my old hair bleaching.

 My scalp is the most orange-red looking but it fades to a softer more brown/blonde/copper colour

I haven't had reddish tones done on my hair for the longest time simply because its the fastest hair colour to fade out. However, considering I'll be looking for a job soon, the fading out part suits me just fine since it'll probably become duller over time.

My initial reaction to my hair was, "Whoa!!! The colour is so K-pop style!!" and even Steph said it looked like Park Bom's previous hair colour, but I'm loving the colour and now it's my last little fun before I wind up only dyeing boring shades if I do wind up working in some coporate office.

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On another note, Steph and I will be heading to Kuala Lumpur over the coming weekend for some shopping, its just a few days of getaway so we wanna make the best of it! So I'm asking my dear readers if you know any good shops for clothes and makeup? I've heard that with Cheesie's influence, Mode style has become pretty strong there, is that true? We're also planning to go to a bar one evening, so perhaps a recommendation for a good bar that serves nice drinks and isn't sleazy? We're also planning to get our nails done, so perhaps a good nail salon recommendation too?

Please leave comments if you got ideas on where to go! Thanks guys!!

Nail Polish Comparison: Anna Sui & Dupe

My personal favourite nail polish colour is nude. I find that it looks really classy no matter the situation, it matches any and all clothing style and its less obvious when it starts chipping. So here's a comparison between my two current nude nail polishes, my favourite Anna Sui in shade 700 and a cheaper option from Sasa labelled as sasatinnie (perhaps Sasa's house brand?) in shade Q23.

The two bottles side by side, the cheaper option on the left and Anna Sui polish on the right. As you can see, at first glance, the colour & shade look rather similar, but they differ upon application

Anna Sui nail polish was painted on the longer, left finger while Sasa's dupe was painted on the right. This is the first coat over a normal base polish, nothing more.

This picture is with a second coat of polish. By this time, you can start to see a difference in the polishes. The Anna Sui one (on the left) has a deeper pink undertone to it as compared to the dupe (on the right) which has a more beige undertone to it.

This picture shows the third coat. As you can see, the Anna Sui polish is definitely more pink-ish in comparison to the lighter dupe colour. The glitter flakes in the Anna Sui polish is also more obvious and its consistency is much thicker as compared to the dupe's rather watery consistency. The dupe also required about 4-5 coats of polish before I was satisfied with the look.

This is the end result of the dupe nude polish by Sasa. I love the look despite not performing as well as its more expensive cousin

Comparison (Anna Sui shall be written in blue, while the dupe shall be written in red):

Consistency: 

Thicker consistency that required only 3 coats for the eventual result. It also covered the white outer edge of my nail pretty effectively

Rather watery and thin and required 4-5 coats before I could finally not see the white outer edge of my nail

Glitter frequency:

Glitter particles were obvious to the naked eye in the bottle and when painted on nail but in tiny specks that aren't obvious from afar or in pictures

Minute glitter particles can be seen in the bottle but seems to disappear when painted on my nails

Smell:

Anna Sui's signature rose scent that is pleasant and helps make the experience of painting one's nails more enjoyable

Normal nail polish chemical smell, but it isn't very strong so its bearable and I even painted in my room with the air conditioner switched on with no problems of the smell wafting about my room or making me feel faint

Drying time:

Not sure, as I often paint my nails while watching TV or videos on my laptop. It does however take awhile to dry especially between coats

Short drying time, I painted my nails and it dried within an hour (including top coat) with no obivous marks

Durability:

Started showing signs of cracking within 5 days of wearing, started chipping on the 6th day no matter what kind of top coat was used

Held up for about 4 days before starting to chip in minor places, my first major chip was on the 5th day.

Price:

About $13-$15 depending on the colours

Bought mine at $5 during a sale but I think its about $11 during normal periods

Colour:

Has a pink base that is more suitable for other skin tones, it somehow makes my hands appears darker in colour

Has a beige undertone which enhances my skin's natural undertone making my hands look fairer

Overall:

4/5 (lovely packaging & smell and nice thick consistency)

3.5/5 (it only wins for me because the colour matches my skintone perfectly, but anywhere else it falls short of Anna Sui's polish in comparison and it's rather disappointing considering its normal price is close to Anna Sui's)

Overall, I would rather prefer to get the Anna Sui polish however, due to the simple fact that this nail polish matches my skintone and makes it look better makes me wanna stick with the dupe instead. However, I may pop by a Anna Sui counter when this polish is running low and perhaps ask for a similar polish, perhaps the colour will suit my skintone better then. 

Have a Nice Day

It completely slipped my mind to upload this earlier:



Photo by Street Angels SG

Taken during the Shibuya Gals event, hope you have a great day!