Chocolate works in mysterious ways.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion, Food & Nosh, Make-Up & Beauty
So on Monday, I finally met Yumi for a pancakes and pasta brunch date - we were both from the same design school but never really knew of each other’s existence till she found me via tea noir and twitter. Coincidentally, we’re both going to be stuck in Melbourne for the next couple of years so I thought- ah what the heck, let’s quit being the cool, mysterious arty design bitchez we already are for a day and get to know each other lol!
Yumi’s half Japanese and prior to our date, she was trudging in the snowy mountains of Fukuoka, bravely battling the high winds to shop for the kitschy cute and weird Japan is known for. She told me she got me a couple of stuff which is incredibly sweet considering we’ve never officially met lol. I mean I could have easily been an unmarried 40 year-old man with a make-up fetish posing as a girl who writes beauty entries to lure other girls in but Yumi fearlessly decided that she was going to meet me despite the odds - you’re fierce, girl, just fierce.
LOL OK JUST SO WE’RE CLEAR: I am NOT a 40 year-old man posing as a girl mmkay. Anyway look at what Yumi got me:
HOLY. MOTHER. OF. OSAKA. When she handed me the bag (isn’t it the cutest plastic bag EVER?) I was like O__O dayumm, that’s like the whole of Japan in there rofl. She got me so many things from food to chocolate lip balm omg, thank you so much sweets!
She got me a bottle of her favourite leave-in hair treatment. I have no idea what brand this is but let me tell you girls, this is the SHIT right here. The treatment has a watery gel-like consistency and has the most amazing scent similar to that of sun-ripened fleshy peaches growing in the valleys of Persia. My life feels a little more complete now that my hair smells like peaches rofl XD Btw I am loving the engrish on the bottle - “Even turns high damaged hair from coloring and perm into moist, manageable, and shiny beautiful hair just by ‘Sa~tto’ applying it” HAHA WHUTTTT.
Yes, yes getting to the food bit now. ROYCE Fruit Bar Chocolate is a Hokkaido-exclusive, you can’t get it anywhere else except Hokkaido. Yumi’s mom received a box of ten from a friend and she gave me a piece to try. I don’t know about you guys but this feels as epic as someone giving birth to 10 beautiful babies and giving one of them away for the greater good. LOL WHERE AM I GETTING ALL THESE RIDICULOUS ANALOGIES FROM?
I have to be honest here: I’ve never been fond of mixing fruit with chocolate so being the skeptic I am, I was really expecting the usual: pieces of fruit stuck in a bar of milk chocolate (mehhh) but what lies beneath the deceiving milky pink packaging is perhaps THE best fruit-based chocolate I have ever tasted.
It’s mainly made of puffy cereal with pieces of mango, banana and assorted berries lodged in between the minute gaps and covered with a light berry-flavoured WHITE CHOCOLATE. You guys have no idea how obsessed I am with white chocolate - I know it’s not really chocolate but who cares.
ROYCE, please accept my sincere apologies, I will never doubt your supreme chocolatey powers for as long as I live. I will tell the stories of your chocolates to my children and they will then pass on these stories to their own children, thereby continuing your chocolate legacy forever. God, I’m so high on sugar right now (I just ate 2 donuts), someone save me before I start rambling incoherently >_>
Milk-flavoured candy + keepsake tin can = happiness. It’s a magic formula!~
WHOO HOO JAPANESE CURRY! And at only 178kcal per serving, how can something so good be….diet-friendly?!! BRB MOVING TO JAPAN NOWS TTYL.
OMG another pack of royal milk tea kit kat!! T__T I’m hiding this one in my room to prevent chocolate thieves, I am not going to let this out of my sight.
Kellogg’s Cocoa Rice Krispies lip balm…I have no words - I’m completely out of adjectives to describe how awesome this is. It smells and tastes like chocolate, I’m awfully tempted to just eat the damn thing.
Yumi hooked me up with a copy of egg magazine which focuses on the gyaru fashion culture in Japan.
Japanese make-up tutorials are epic, they’re really detailed and give you step-by-step instructions on how to recreate a certain look. I think this page shows you how to apply different falsies, so fascinating lol.
Oh and Yumi, here’s proof that I have a cat LOL. He sleeps in the weirdest positions ever. Thank you so much for the Japan-in-a-bag treat lol, I LOVE EVERYTHING and er thanks to your filtering/packing horror stories lol, I’ve started to pack and I totally agree with you when you said..
PACKING IS A BEECH. OMFG YOU GUYS. My pretty glitter-flecked knits…my gold brocade skirt..my houndstooth sweater..my warm cosy layering basics…my sexy forest green dress my mother must never see T__T I think I’m going to have a serious clothing meltdown soon urghhh.
I’m going to take photos of my make-up collection before I start wrapping them up in bubble-wrap, that should be interesting lol. The MAC All Ages, All Races, All Sexes Collection is finally out in Singapore, I bought a couple of things from the collection yesterday so you girls can expect that in my next entry ;D
Tags: food: chocolate, japan, life, nosh: japanese food
How to impress your BFF (who has everything) on his birthday
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
Say you’ve got a BFF who’s of the opposite sex, someone you can talk just about everything to, watches the same shows you watch (except Gossip Girl, bless his heart), has a very healthy saving habit so he can buy whatever his heart desires (which sadly is short of a CHANEL 2.55 for me ;_;) so what the heck do you give someone who most probably has everything he’s ever wanted?
Girl, you do what I do every year: You take him out for a nice meal some place posh and swanky. Trust me, there will be less drama, your sanity will remain intact and all of humanity is saved.
If the place you’ve chosen happens to have a sorta old English thing going on in their chosen interior design theme then you know it’s a safe bet to take your best friend here especially if he a) also happens to be a designer b) appreciates good brand identity that’s reflected in their store design c) likes all things English.
It’ll be even more awesome if the restaurant has a couple of randomly hung crystal balls around the dining area because that’s just cool and hey it doesn’t matter if the chances of you being impaled by a large, probably very heavy crystal sphere thing just increased ten-fold - IT’S YOUR BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY SO SUCK IT UP!
And you gotta make sure the restaurant specializes in something e.g. french cuisine or whatever. In this particular case, tea is the poison of choice so you betta make sure the menu has over 800 different varieties of tea blends, doesn’t matter if you don’t know or can’t pronounce half of them (wtf is “Happy Flute Tea”? srsly.) because these 800 tea names will be listed out in an excruciatingly small but elegant font spread over 5 pages and that would totally impress the BFF.
All you got to do is just squint your eyes, randomly select a tea you think sounds delicious - in my case, the Pomme Prestige tea (cos Pomme is like apple in French duh) and when your BFF asks “Erm what do you recommend?” You clear your throat and smoothly reply like a true tea connoisseur - “You should check out the Happy Birthday tea!” And he orders just that XD
SO WHAT if the place charges exorbitant amounts of money for their tea time sets (smartly named “Chic” and “Celebration” to justify their prices) which include chi-chi tea sandwiches smaller than the size of your palm?! Remember they’re made from tea-infused crème fraîche and that tiny smile on your BFF’s face when the sets arrive? PRICELESS BB. He’s trying to hide his best to hide his excitement but you can almost see it bubblin’ from deep within LOL.
Ok ok TWG will always be me and the BFF’s favourite tea haunt, we both love tea (dude my domain name has the word tea in it rofl) and although we usually get our tea fix from there, LK/Dejiki/Nicholas (dude has a lot of aliases) and I have never actually sat down and enjoyed one of their infamous tea time sets before so what better excuse to do so than on his birthday right? Depending on which set you order, you get to choose 3 macaroons, 3 tea sandwiches and a patisserie.
I had 2 Cucumber with “Earl Grey Fortune Tea” infused cream cheese sandwiches and a Smoked Salmon with Mascarpone and Chive sandwich, loved both of them but the cucumber one’s my fave! It’s very light and the cucumber + cream cheese made quite a happy marriage of flavours lol.
My choice of pattiserie was a slice of their Singapore Surprise cake tart which is apparently their signature cake. LK had a few bites and thought it to be like a “crème brûlée but the EXTREME version” and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s got raspberries in a light, airy cream that’s been infused with their “Vanilla Bourbon” tea and the top is made of burnt brown sugar, love it.
The real star of the show was actually the Chocolate Meringue cake LK chose for himself. It’s essentially made of an insanely smooth and dense semi-dark chocolate cream topped with crumbly layers of…more chocolate! I think TWG chocolate cakes are a force to be reckoned with, I tried the Chocolate Macadamia cake with Hid some time back and it was just as good!
Teas are their main forte of course, I’ve tried a couple and I would seriously recommend the Pomme Prestige tea (black tea with apple), Happy Birthday tea (black tea with berries - order this on your birthday, it’ll make you feel special!), Silver Moon tea (green tea with vanilla and strawberries, my ultimate fave!), Crème Brûlée tea (green tea with vanilla and berries, similar to Silver Moon but is sweeter to resemble the decadent dessert) and Sakura! Sakura! tea (green tea infused with sakura petals, jasmine and berries - very flowery and how adorable is the name?)
TWG Tea Salon & Boutique
Raffles Place, #01 - 22
Republic Plaza
Singapore 048619
Tel: +65 6538 1837
I realized yesterday that I totally forgot to blog about my trip to the KRYOLAN Cosmetics store in Melbourne, geez. I’m so absent-minded D: I’ll talk about that in my next entry + other random beauty stuff. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Thank you so much for reading Tea Noir, it’s been great knowing all of you! Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2010 - cheers to love, peace, beauty and food xoxo
Tags: life, nosh: desserts, nosh: TWG
There’s no escaping the food - Melbourne Part 2
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Misc
As you can tell from the title, this entry is mainly a jumble of food porn photos so I do not recommend reading this on an empty stomach. Run along now and get to the nearest source of food, your fridge, your momma’s stew, whatever you like. It’s nearly Christmas so there’s no need to watch the diet.
I figured I should start off this entry with fruits because it doesn’t clog up your arteries like all the other food stuff I’m about to show you baha. Don’t say I didn’t try to make this entry healthy.
We drove about half an hour away from the city to Baccus Marsh, a small town where you find vast fields of plantations, fruit farms and pretty lavender fields. We got to pick our own cherries and strawberries! You only pay after you finish filling up the plastic container they provide and it goes by weight so it’s very affordable. No funny entrance fees, yay!
Never in my life have I seen a cherry tree before! The cherries are pretty easy to pluck because they grow on low trees so the fruits are at your eye level. Fyi the “cherries” you get on ice cream sundaes are fake, I can’t remember what they’re made of but they should be banned. I hate their plastic sweetness. Give me the real deal anytime bb.
Strawberries! The ones we get in the supermarket here are usually not very sweet and more on the sourish side but oh my god, strawberries in Australia are DIVINEEEEEE. They are absolutely perfect, sweet with a bit of a tang.
LOOK MA! APRICOTS!
Muffins are EVERYWHERE. Apple muffins, chocolate, vanilla coconut (I hate coconut but this was gooood), banana, caramel, white chocolate raspberry (another winner!)…this is why my diet’s non-existent anymore.
HOLY FRICKIN’ OYSTERS! Granted they’re an acquired taste; some people like it grilled with a little sea salt, some people like it just like that, some people like it baked with a little mozzarella. I like mine raw with a lil lemon, nothing can ever beat that.
It’s sad that you can only find dips here in upperclass supermarkets and they’re not made fresh at all. Dips over there are made with care, from secret family recipes passed down from generation to generation so each store has a different set of dips for you to choose from.
Time for a water break! Finally got my hands on a bottle of vitaminwater…it was nothing special to be honest but I have been in love with the bottle and label design since forever, sorry I’m a designer - I can’t help but be drawn to good packaging and pretty things.
Cotton candy ice cream! so yummy and it makes me happy just looking at the swirl of purple and pink.
HOLY FRICKIN’ PIZZA! Soft, fluffy dough with copious amounts of my favourite toppings: salami, fresh mushrooms (holy crap they even used fresh mushrooms! not the canned shit we get here!), olives and a combination of mozzarella + edam cheese. This large pizza was only $8 EIGHT DOLLARS GUYS, where can u buy a decent large-sized pizza in Singapore for $8?!
Fish n chips which was $6. Look at the size of that fish. Would you rather have a mcdonald’s burger meal for $6 or an insanely huge and fresh battered white fish fillet cooked the minute you order? Ok so they’re both not exactly healthy but whatever, I’d take the latter.
One last flower power image to go before I end this entry :3 Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as the last one! The food in Melbourne is amazing although I have yet to try out the Asian cuisine over there ‘cept for a few sushi rolls ;P I think I’m going to have a really hard time maintaining my weight when I eventually move down under, erk.
Anyway, Christmas is just 2 days away now! What are your plans for Christmas? I’ll be traveling out of the country again, this time to the capital of Malaysia which is just a 3-4 hour drive away to visit my aunt and do a little bit of eating + shopping! I don’t celebrate Christmas but I am feeling the holiday cheer ;D I would like to wish everyone a merry christmas, spend time with your family and have a good time opening those presents!
Tags: holiday: australia, life, nosh: western food
Melbourne, where I got hit on by a fishmonger - Part 1
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
How has everyone been? I’m finally back from Melbourne! I enjoyed every minute of it (except my 5 hour transit in Perth, that was a KILLER), I like how everyone’s so relaxed despite the bustling atmosphere and the food, OH MY GOD THE FOOD. Don’t get me started - I think I must have gained 2 kilos because everything tasted awesome. I felt a bit like thirsty traveler stumbling upon an oasis in the desert. I won’t be rambling any further because this entry is about to get extremely image-heavy so I much rather have your loading time be saved for the images I took instead.
We arrived in Melbourne in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel and left immediately to do some grocery shopping at the infamous Queen Victoria Market which is one of my favourite places on earth. I’ve been to Melbourne when I was 8 and I’ve had the best childhood memories of eating yummy jam doughnuts and playing with the pets on sale at the market. Lovely times.
I love mah fish as you can tell. It’s really fresh and I love how most of the white fish are prepared as boneless fillets, that’s just super convenient. The fish is really cheap too and if you get there just before the market closes, most of the fish have bargain prices. Oh and I got hit on by a fishmonger LOL! I was taking photos of some of them at work and one of them came up to me, introduced himself and gave me his email hahaha, cute.
ZOMG DOUGHNUTS FROM MY CHILDHOOD, THEY STILL EXIST!
Yessss strawberry jam-filled sugar-coated goodness to go. I think we must have bought like 8 bags of doughnuts the entire trip. See what I mean? It’s no wonder I gained weight lol, oh but it was worth it.
Flowers at the market, just a kaleidoscope of pretty.
This is for all my girlfriends, I wish I could give each of you one of these roses here - they smelt heavenly. Roses will forever be my fave flower, take note boys 8D
THE BEST KEBAB EVER. If you happen to be in Melbourne, have a kebab at Alasya in Brunswick because it is just gastronomic heaven for me. I am extremely picky with my kebabs, I like them to be as authentic as I can get them to be and Alasya serves some real mean foot-long monster kebab rolls which took me literally hours to finish. They make their own oven-fired bread in-house, the meat is perfectly seasoned and I’m one happy camper.
I like how the roads in Melbourne have a special lane for cyclists! Spotted this dude in Brunswick.
Cafes are a big deal there, I’ve seen one on almost every street. This particular one had a nice rustic feel to it, love love.
This is probably one of the few shots of me lol. We were at the sunday craft market by St Kilda’s beach and it was freezing cold. I was practically living in that shawl the entire time lol. I had very minimal make-up on the entire trip and some of you wanted to see what the Shu Uemura lipstick I got looked like on my lips so there you have it, ladies. It’s the perfect nude, really.
The craft market were filled with artists, jewelry makers selling their wares. Everyone was really friendly and didn’t hesitate to give you a free item or a discount if you like their stuff.
Colourful handmade soaps! Each soap had a different scent and they were made with natural ingredients which are good for the skin. I think I must have bought like 6 soaps? Can’t wait to try them out.
Chadstone Mall, this mall is HUGE. I almost kissed the floor when I saw CHANEL. There were some great designer deals here with Christian Louboutin heels going at $400 from their usual $1800 price tag and nah, I didn’t get any because the heels on sale were, forgive me Mr Louboutin, not so hot.
I wish I had time to check out the little little local designer and vintage stores in the city, oh well I’ll have all the time in the world when I move there next year. So that’s part 1 of my melbourne trip! Part 2 will be up soon. I’m going back to reality aka work tomorrow and I suspect things will get busy for me. I have so many blog posts to catch up to, my google reader unread posts count is at an incredible 1,200 so I’ll try to read and comment on everyone’s entries tonight and tomorrow.
Tags: holiday: australia, life
Urban Decay and some holiday talk.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty
OH MY GOD, I’ve not blogged in ages. My excuse: been busy, busy, busy, busy.
I’m sorry I’ve not been commenting much on everyone’s beauty blogs - I’ve had to play tag team with so many things this week:
My job (which btw required me to google up high-res images of ants a couple of days ago for some design powerpoint thingum….a small ant blown up at 400% on my super sharp monitor is not exactly pleasant), researching and emailing property agents in Melbourne on apartments that aren’t ravaged by rats or frat boys with a little too much to drink, pinpointing potential Melbourne coffee haunts on google maps, meeting friends after work for sushi and coffee and finally going back home, ready to fall into the comforts of my bed but not before I talk to my friends from all over the world on MSN (that’s you Aaron bb!)
I should really mention that I’m moving to Melbourne next year for university which kinda explains how swamped I am right now with work and moving plans. It’s single-handedly one of the biggest life-changing decisions I’ve ever made, I’m going to be there without my family and that’s just really cool and scary at the same time. I’ll be flying to Melbourne later this week with the family though for a holiday/apartment-hunting so it’s been kinda crazy, I have yet to start packing!
Some of my beauty buys from the previous month have finally arrived in the post so it’s HAUL TIMEEEEE!
Urban Decay had their 30% Friends & Family promotion last month and since I’ve been wanting to check out their Primer Potion (UDPP) and their 24/7 eyeliners, it was a good time to grab both!
I was terribly tempted to get more stuff but er I had to save some of my salary for my holiday >.> Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original and 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Honey.
The packaging for UDPP’s pretty neat, I know people have been complaining about the genie bottle design which I agree is kinda stupid because it’s so hard to reach for the remnants of the product after you’ve used it up but..there’s no denying it’s quite unusual. I like how it’s encased in this metallic floral printed box with a transparent case, it makes you feel like you’ve actually purchased a genie bottle from the fairies in the woods.
So if you’ve never heard of UDPP, it’s basically an eyeshadow primer; it makes your eye make-up last longer, stops it from creasing and makes it more vibrant than ever. I have yet to try this out but I have a dinner party to attend later so I’ll be taking this baby out for a test drive ;P
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Honey which is a gorgeous, gorgeous true gold. I’ve never seen anything like it from other cosmetic companies so naturally I had to get it! I think it’s going to make an awesome eye-brightener if you use this on your waterline instead of the commonly-used white eyeliner.
It looks more yellow here, my camera couldn’t capture the color well but take my word for it, it’s a true gold! It’s very creamy, probably the most creamiest eyeliner I’ve ever come across. People have been comparing the UD eyeliners with the MUFE Aqua Eyes since like forever and I think the Aqua Eyes are truly waterproof and smudgeproof but UD has some stunning colors in their collection so if you want a basic black/brown/whatever you use daily, get one from MUFE Aqua Eyes but if you want an unconventional color which you would probably use sparingly, get the UD 24/7 eyeliners.
Got some nail polishes too! I’ve never been into nail polishes but they seem kinda fun so I bought some from OPI and China Glaze on a whim. Here we have: OPI’s Russian Navy, OPI’s Royal Rajah Ruby and China Glaze’s Drastic. I’m into really dark, classic colors because they’re just effortless and fuss-free.
Lol check out my halfassed manicure! I was in a rush to take photos of everything I got this morning so I did some quick nail swatches so you could have a rough idea of what the colors look like out of the bottle. From left to right: Russian Navy, Royal Rajah Ruby and Drastic. I don’t have a particular favourite, they’re all so pretty *_*
Russian Navy’s a shimmery midnight blue with slight purple undertones, Royal Rajah Ruby is a deep, almost maroon red with fine gold shimmer and Drastic is a basic mid-tone jelly red!
SaSa at Tampines 1 is having a promotion at the counter for some ranges of Silk Whitia masks! I think they just have too much in stock so you can get a mask for $1.95 each instead of paying the usual $5.90! That’s a great deal but the masks are running out fast so if you live in the east, get it while you can! I love Silk Whitia masks because they have a really thick consistency and they’re just brilliant for whitening and moisturizing.
Organic strawberry whitening mask, just 20 minutes to a glowing complexion! I prefer the peach one in terms of scent but both are equally good! Silk Whitia has plenty of different masks to choose from and I’ve tried a couple so maybe I’ll review them sometime next week if I’ve the time!
I hope you guys have a great weekend! I need to catch up and comment on all the beauty entries I’ve missed out on this week, write and send out Christmas cards and pack for my not-quite-a-holiday holiday sigh! So much to do in such a short period of time!!
Til next time~
Tags: life, make-up: MUFE, make-up: urban decay, nails: China Glaze, nails: OPI
The small little things.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion, Food & Nosh, Misc
I had quite the busy weekend! My cousin got married on Sunday so the whole extended family was camped out at my house scrambling to put together a dinner meal for the guests; the women were chopping up what seemed to be like an endless bag of onions while the men were just sitting down and sipping their coffee. Urgh, men. The only thing they’re good for is the occasional phonecall and when we need them to pay for our shopping >D I got your back, single ladies.
The best/worst thing about having your entire family over at your house (including the ones from overseas) is that they tend to bring over a LOT of food, not that I don’t appreciate food but one aunt bought 5 large boxes of donuts from KL so you can imagine how much of a feast we had in my kitchen! diet confession: I ate 4 donuts HAHAHA…shit.
Aah don’t you remember the days when we were kids and didn’t give a hoot about our weight? Everytime we had access to sweets or cake, we had no qualms about table manners and greedily stuffed our faces with as much junk food as possible, pausing only to savour the taste momentarily.
Hid got me some really cool chocolates and a bag of mints from South Africa! Cadbury South Africa, I LOVE YOU! You make Cadbury Asia look so boring! The Dairy Milk Question chocolate had a question printed on the wrapper, “Are you keen?” and the chocolate had the answers YES or NO imprinted on it so I can imagine this particular chocolate gets sold out very fast during Valentine’s Day lol. I think it’s really cute and tastes even better, it’s dairy milk chocolate with white chocolate creme in it! Hid told me I should give it to a special someone when he comes along but sorry I wait for no man when it comes to chocolate so I shared it with my brother haha!
I love looking at my mother’s vanity table not because of what she has on it but rather what my dad has. He’s got an extensive collection of watches he keeps in a glass coffret, most of them are wind-up watches instead of battery-powered which just makes his collection even more special to me! The man knows his watches as well as I know Prada lol.
One of my fave watches is the kooky colorful watch you see on the left. It’s called Crazy Hours by Franck Muller, a Swiss watchmaker known as the “Master of Complication” because of his knack for creating complex time pieces. Observe the haphazard numbers on the watch? Normally you would think it’s 5:10 but it’s actually 9:10! The hour hand actually jumps from number to number every hour, AMAZING.
My super early new year’s resolution for 2010: GET ORGANIZED AND PLAN AHEAD. The best friend and I got a moleskine daily planner each during the Kinokuniya 20% sale; we’re keeping it sealed in its original plastic wrap until 2010 hits! I think moleskines are the best notebooks/planners around, they cost a little more than what you would expect to pay for a notebook but they are the BEST. I used to be someone who refused to pay more than 10 bucks for a notebook but I got my first moleskine at a heavily discounted price and there was no looking back - after I finished using it, I bought another at full price. They last forever, inspires you to write more and looking at it makes me happy.
What are some of the little things that make you happy? Tell me in the comments!
Tags: fashion: accessories, food: chocolate, food: snacks, life, shopping
Golden Pink FOTD and my almost CHANEL.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion, Make-Up & Beauty
Golden pink FOTD:
Face:
MAC Studio Fix foundation in NC25
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach
Cheeks:
MAC mineralize skinfinish in Shooting Star (Limited Edition) - my fave bronzer!
Eyes:
MAC paintpot in Rubenesque as a base
Jesse’s Girl eyedust in Salmon Pink
Benefit lust dusters in Gogo Girl
MAC eyeshadow in Shroom as highlight
MUFE Aqua Eyes in 22L as my eyeliner
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander NEO
Lips:
NYX lipstick in Indian Pink
MAC x Hello Kitty lipglass in She Loves Candy
Lil note: I think Indian Pink + She Loves Candy is the ultimate shimmery peachy pink lip combo!
I like how if you take photos in the mid-afternoon, the sunrays aren’t particularly strong and the light seems to bounce off your skin creating the illusion of near perfect skin hahaha ;D I did this FOTD on Sunday when we went out to celebrate my mom’s birthday! We had lunch at the Straits Kitchen, Hyatt Hotel and er I think I murdered my diet many times over because I ate so much! It was really good food though so it was worth the extra pound I gained (omg I knowwwwwww)
I got my mom some beauty stuff - it’s a tradition for me to get her lipsticks/lipgloss every year so this year I got her a lippie from Estee Lauder (her fave brand), a dazzleglass from MAC Christmas collection (her fave lipgloss range) and a MAC eyeliner in Engrave.
She loved it but what’s not to like right? Picking presents for your own mother isn’t hard but picking presents for your own wife…not so much because my dad didn’t get anything for her LOL so he said “You can have anything you want this year.” WHAT AN EASY WAY OUT RIGHT? Except my mom told him she wanted a new bag, like a real proper designer bag omg I almost fell out of my seat. My mother isn’t one to go for branded items but I think I may have brainwashed her a little >D
We went to every boutique in Ion from Yves Saint Laurent to Dior to Marc Jacobs where she fell in love with the Stam Bag which I immediately wrestled out of her hands “Sorry Mom this bag is for a different target audience i.e ME.” and then to Bally where she was completely smitten with a bag that reminded me of the Gucci Hysteria. She told me she was looking for a roomy elegant bag with a chain she can bring out for work or dinner so I was like “OMG WE SHOULD CHECK OUT CHANEL, IT’S LIKE THE MOTHER LORD OF ALL CHAIN BAGS!!!!” so I dragged my mom out of Bally and started my little conniving plan to somehow talk my mom into getting a Chanel bag we could share.
Omg you guys should have seen me in Chanel. I was completely oblivious to the world, asking the SA to bring out every bag I wanted: The 2.55 lambskin in black, 2.55 in Beige Caviar with gold hardware (LOVE LOVE LOVE), the Grand Shopping Tote (aka GST) in Black caviar (LOVE LOVE LOVE), everything! I even had two bags strapped on me at one point lol; it was crazyyy! My mom liked the GST a lot so I started my brainwashing session “Omg mom you have to get it - it is SUCH a classic, it’s going to last forever, it’s CHANEL you can’t go wrong with Chanel! It looks so good on you bla bla bla” but in the end my plan backfired because my mom told me the GST suited me more than it suited her baaahhhh.
As we walked out of Chanel and went to look at books in Kinokuniya, I hatched another conniving plan™ I talked to my dad and told him how perfect the GST was and that if he paid half and I paid half, he didn’t have to get me anything for my birthday for the rest of my life! He kinda agreed to it and we headed back to Chanel - at this point in time I was completely bursting with excitement BUT as with all fairy tales, they don’t really happen in real life because when we got back to the boutique there was this loooong queue at the entrance (URGH WHY?!?! CAN’T THEY JUST GO TO LV INSTEAD?!), my parents were too tired to queue by then so goodbye my pretty bag ;__;
I was telling my BFF, Dejiki, that I wanted to stay in bed for the rest of my life and whine about my almost Chanel lol (yeah like that even happened.) Anyway mom got the Bally bag in the end, it’s kinda cool so I’m going to try to steal it from time to time. I hope everyone’s had a good week so far, just a few more days and it’ll be the weekend again!
Til next time~
Tags: fashion: CHANEL, fotd: neutral, life, shopping
MAC STYLE BLACK Part Deux: The Makeover
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Make-Up & Beauty
Ok I need to type this in 10 minutes flat because my cousin, Nadz, is power-napping next to me and she’ll kill me if she finds out that I have her photos all over my blog lol.
I’ve had a pretty rough friday: fell sick, had to cancel my dinner date, slipped and fell down three steps down the stairs and my butt has a ginormous bruise the size AND color of a mini eggplant - not cute. I had a sleepover planned with Nadz the following day (her birthday is coming and we thought of celebrating it earlier) so I was determined to get well, downed what must have been a million pills and went to sleep, hoping that I would wake up happy & healthy.
…AND I DID! So yay! I’m having a great time with my girl, we went shopping earlier to get Japanese snacks (omg these little honey + vanilla biscuits from Japanese snack brand, BOURBON - it’s like honey stars on crack so so good) and to get ingredients for panna cotta! It’s our tradition to try cooking something we’ve never made before everytime we have a sleepover so you can expect an entry on that soon haha. We’ve already made the decadent dessert and it’s currently chilling happily in the fridge ;D
Nadz finally got her MAC Style Black eyeshadow from me today and I thought hey, this just calls for a makeover! Plus I owe you guys a beauty entry anyway - perfect timing!
You have NO idea how reluctant she was, you would have thought you know after practically knowing me her entire life, she would have a greater sense of trust in me but nooooo, the girl was sulking and squirming the whole time I did her make-up…until she took a look at the end result LOL!
I wanted to go for a subtle smokey eyed look that was suitable for the day so I combined Nadz’s sooty gold-black eyeshadow with richer shades of olive green and light gold. Nadz usually doesn’t use lipstick so I forced some midtone pink-red lipstick on her lips to make things interesting holaaa!
Nadz’s FOTD:
Face:
Dr Jart Black Detox BB cream - this bb cream is awesome btw!
Cheeks:
MAC mineralize blush in Moon River (Limited Edition)
MAC mineralize skinfinish in Shooting Star (Limited Edition)
Eyes:
MAC eyeshadow in Sable & Mink in the inner corner (Limited Edition)
MAC mineralize eyeshadow in Gilt of Association on outer lid (Limited Edition)
MAC pigment in Blonde’s Gold (Limited Edition)
Edit: Forgot to mention I used Shu Uemura’s cream eyeshadow in Suou as a base & Majolica Majorca mascara!
Eyeliner:
Clinique cream shaper for the eyes in Egyptian
Random dark blue eyeshadow from MAC - totally forgot the name eep! Will update this later.
Edit: It’s MAC mineralize eyeshadow in Ether.
Lips:
NYX lipstick in Doll
Oh crap I think Nadz just woke up lol, so I gtg! Have an awesome weekend!
Til next time~
Tags: fotd: smokey, life, mac: style black, Make-Up & Beauty
The Marmalade Pantry
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
I went out on a casual lunch date over the weekend with my fave lawyer couple, Shaz and Aidil! I’ve not seen Shaz in months, Aidil and I haven’t officially met so the lunch date was a long time coming. It was very impromptu honestly, Shaz had been tweeting about how deliciously light the food at The Marmalade Pantry was the past month, especially the risotto so I was like wait, hold on thar - did she just say RISOTTO?!
Here’s the sad truth: I’ve never eaten risotto in my life. I know it’s hard to believe since I’m pretty hardcore about food but yeah, srsly this girl here has never tasted a grain of the delicately flavoured arborio rice in the 21 years of her life.
So that was it, I had to ask Shaz out for lunch/dinner/supper/WHATEVER I DON’T CARE AS LONG AS I GET MY RISOTTO…Somewhere out there in the universe, the stars aligned in perfect symmetry and cleared Shaz & Aidil’s schedule on Sunday! We were all set for a gastronomical adventure whoo hoo!
God they are such an amazing couple. They have this special ability to make you feel comfortable, like you’ve known them for years because we just kept talking and talking and talking with no awkward pauses! They’ve been to the restaurant a couple of times already so they recommended me a few star dishes.
For starters, we shared this Warm Spinach Salad with breaded cubes of mozzarella and burnt butter dressing. It was served with a perfect poached egg on top and MY GOD IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. I have no clue what went into the burnt butter dressing but I did taste some hints of balsamic vinegar which I adore so that’s extra brownie points for The Marmalade Pantry!
* Muslims, please note that this salad originally has bacon in it, make sure to ask for the salad without the bacon when ordering!
Aidil had the Crabmeat Linguine with pine nuts in a tomato base. I had such a kick out of sampling his dish because I didn’t expect it to be…spicy. I love its spiciness, the crabmeat was flaked nicely and it was just really refreshing!
Shaz ordered the Cappellini Aglio Olio which had roughly a million tiny shrimp in it lol! I don’t know how to describe the taste of the pasta, it’s got a nice crunch and the shrimp added a slightly sharp contrast of flavour to the aglio olio - you guys just have to try it k!
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for - wait NO! it’s the moment I, ILYANA, HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY LIFE…the Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto! My very first risotto and I am happy to say I’m not disappointed at all. It’s everything I’ve imagined it to be: creamy but light and absolutely bursting with flavour. Sigh I wish I could turn back time and savour it all over again!
CUPCAKES! So pretty to look at, no? They sell out really really fast and the ones we got were basically the “leftovers”. Shaz & Aidil recommended me the chocolate cupcakes the restaurant had like The Chocolate Deluxe (O.M.G) and The Nutella (how can u go wrong with nutella right?) BUT EVERY CUPCAKE WITH SO MUCH AS A DUSTING OF COCOA POWDER WAS SOLD OUT. WHY GOD WHY?!
We settled for the Limonata which is, if you might have guessed, a lemon glazed cupcake and the Strawberries and Creme (no explanations needed for this one I’m sure lol) They were nice but Shaz told me the chocolate cupcakes were much better in terms of taste and texture so I’m going to skip out on the fruity flavoured cupcakes and beeline for the chocolate ones next time.
Not only was it my first time eating risotto, it was also the first time I ventured into sticky date & toffee pudding land aka real-life heaven. This was actually Aidil’s but us girls being girls, we stole some baha! I LOVE THIS STUFF. I heard from the couple that this was the restaurant’s best seller and it’s no wonder really - the pudding was moist and slight chewy, accompanied with a sweet caramel toffee drizzle + a scoop of some damn good vanilla bean ice cream. Such a perfect symphony of flavours, yummm.
I think I’m in love with The Marmalade Pantry. I like the atmosphere, the food, the whole brand identity (srsly how quaint is the logo?!) I love this huge ass flower that sits prettily on every table (can someone identify this flower for me?), the prices, I won’t lie, are a little steep compared to what most people are used to but I believe you get what you pay for so if you have a special occasion coming up, bring that special someone here!
Lol moment: Aidil playing around with my wallet while we were waiting for the bill, you don’t mess with PRADA k!
A quick shot of me, Shaz and Aidil before we headed home! We watched Julie & Julia in the cinemas after lunch, you should check it out - it’s a nice heartwarming FOODIE movie! Just don’t watch it on an empty stomach, you’d be lusting after french food during the entire movie.
The Marmalade Pantry
Unit 03-22
Orchard Ion
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801
Til next time~
Edit 10/11/2009: Okay guys I’ve just been informed by a commenter that the Risotto and the Cappellini Aglio Olio contains white wine in it! We were totally clueless about it and I’m slightly devastated that I can’t eat my risotto again. Muslim readers, I don’t want to go all preachy because I’m sure we get enough from our parents to last us a lifetime lol but please take note!
Tags: friends, life, nosh: desserts, nosh: italian food, nosh: salads
I dream of Tokyo.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty
I love Japan. I’ve had a crush on Japan since I was 11 when I watched my first anime (Akazukin Cha Cha lol, REMEMBER THAT?!), the crush deepened when I discovered sushi at 14 and then slowly this infatuation grew into full blown L-O-V-E when I got exposed to a Japanese language module in school & multiple Japanese cultural exchange programs where we got to meet students from Kumamoto (it’s in Kyushu!) It was a wonderful experience and I made some lovely Japanese friends!
And I love twitter. I’ve gotten to know new people; my readers (I LOVE YOU GUYS!) and other individuals around the world who just followed me because we had similar interests! I met Miho on twitter - she lives in Tokyo, a city I could just quit my job, pack my bags and take the first flight out for.
I was just tweeting about how I wished we had more Japanese beauty products here in Singapore because their packaging is to die for and Miho tweeted me back saying she could send me some, how sweet is that? We decided to do a swap- she gets me Japanese cosmetics and I get her chocolates, sweets from Singapore! EXCITING~~
You guys know I’m a big fan of Majolica Majorca right? Well their new collection just came out and ahh, their new liquid eyeliners are to die for. Gorgeous, gorgeous blackened jewel-tone shades in a budge-proof eyeliner formula encased in a streamlined automatic pen-like packaging = Ilyana NEEDS. I asked Miho if she could get me the Perfect Automatic Eyeliner in GR604, a deep forest green shade with shimmer and well, I just got it in the mail two days back via express mail no less!
YAY goodies direct from Tokyo! I was so shocked when I saw the package in the mail, I didn’t expect to receive it so soon!
I opened the package and inside it was another envelope waiting for me. I unwrapped it and finally saw this lil’ note written by Miho! That’s sooo sweet of you, I’m so glad we’ve become friends ♥ ♥ ♥
This is the best part…she sent me TWO eyeliners even though I only asked for one! I DIED. She got me the eyeliners in GR604 and BL603 which is a rather opulent midnight blue! You have great taste, Miho! ;D
I was literally speechless for half a minute, trying to digest how/why there were two eyeliners in the package instead of one. I immediately called my bff, Nadz, to tell her about it because I was just very very stunned (in a good way). Duh, that’s the way we girls roll; if something bad happens, we call and if something good happens, we hollerrrr!
MIHO YOU MADE MY DAY, ありがとう!!! I am so touched and grateful you took time off from your busy schedule to write me that note and send me these eyeliners, they’re beautiful and I can’t wait to try them out! I sent your box of treats via express mail too, hope it gets to you safely! xoxo
Til next time~
p.s you may be wondering why on earth were there kitty paws in that third photo? My cat chose to plunk itself right in front of the envelope I was shooting for some nap time! His name is Mikhail and isn’t he the silliest cutest thing? ;D
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