MAC Mineralise Blush in Warm Soul

Blush is something that I think is necessary to add a youthful flush to the face and I haven't been using anything else for the past few weeks except for my old love, MAC mineralised blush in Warm Soul. I got this way back in the day and my goodness has the price of MAC blushes increased substantially since. Warm Soul is an OG and it's something that works well with any look. I like that it's not completely matte (as that can look unnatural at times on me) and it gives a slight luminous glow to the cheeks. It is a lovely shade that can be slowly built up depending on occasion and since it has great blendability, I'm popping this into my makeup bag for the trip as I don't want to spend too much time blending the pop of colour on my cheeks! This blush lasts on my cheeks throughout the day as well, making it great for this trip.

I know, not that snazziest title but I am still not an owner of a skincare cupboard just yet, and this, my little cubby hole and Ikea GARNERA cake stand (a little sneak pic on that below) currently does the trick of storing all my skincare goodies.

The past few weeks have been pretty intense and with work and travelling, I can tell that my skin isn't in top notch condition. I'm very lucky to receive quite a few new skincare items from PR to test out and my goodness, I am spoilt for choice currently! Thus, the part 1. This post is dedicated to brands that are completely new to me and part 2 will consist of new products from brands that are more familiar to me.
Even though I would love to slather these all on my face, my skin is pretty sensitive and breaks out easily. I also like to slowly add one product in at a time, just in case my skin gets reaction and this way, it makes it much easier to figure out what agitated the skin. Thus, I plan to slowly incorporate into my skincare routine soon and I have not been able to try all of these items yet. I know that just telling you about these items may not be the most useful, but hopefully this post will feature some new brands that will pique your interest.

Aesop

I've never tried anything from Aesop before, even though every time I walk past the store in Ion, the scent just makes me swoon. Aesop is an Australian brand that offers skincare, hair care, soaps and fragrance. From what I've research on this brand, it feels to me like a brand that caters more to males but I am still going to try these out anyway.

I received the Aesop Primrose Facial Cleansing Masque which is a clarifying clay mask that is supposed to cleanse the skin of residual impurities, decongest and refresh while delivering replenishing vegetable oils to the skin and the Tea Tree Leaf Facial Exfoliant which is a dry blend of ground Tea Tree leaves, crushed nut shell and purified clay that you mix with your cleanser to help buff and calm the skin.

The Primrose Facial Cleansing Masque smells so lovely and is already placed in my cubbyhole! I plan to use this sometime this week. I also like the Kaolin is the second ingredient in the list, as Kaolin works so well for oily skin and it really sucks out the impurities embedded in the skin. The Tea Tree Leaf Facial Exfoliant is an interesting concept to me personally, as I've never own a scrub that I'm supposed to mix with cleanser. This sounds interesting and could possibly act as a 2-in-1 step instead of cleansing the skin before using a separate physical scrub.

You can find Aesop stores around Central Singapore and as well as Mankind.

Suisai

I am grateful to receive the entire range of Suisai skincare items and there were quite a few items that I was drawn to. To begin, Suisai is a Japanese skincare brand under Kanebo which products focus on removing impurities and hydrating the skin. I've seen Suisai when I was in Tokyo a few years back and I noticed that their Beauty Clear Powder Face Wash was a huge hit. Thus, this was the first item I busted out to use. This face wash comes in little capsules which makes it great for travel! In fact, the first time I tried this was when my friend brought some along to our trip to Seoul. I really like this.The cleanser contains two different enzymes and amino acid cleansing ingredients that is said to exfoliate your skin by removing keratin plug and residue in pores and reduce roughness. This foams up nicely and my skin feels clean after washing but it doesn't feel stripped of moisture. A box of 32 capsules costs SGD 27 which I do find is pretty pricey as that basically means a use is close to a dollar. However, for travel, yes yes yes and yes.


I also busted out their Moisture Emulsion II. Suisai has 3 ranges, I (light), II (rich) and III (extra rich), to cater to your different skin concerns. As someone with oily but dehydrated skin, I opted for range II which I felt was more suitable. The Moisture Emulsion contains fermented ingredients (Soymilk Ferment Filtrate and Pear Juice Ferment Filtrate) as well as double hyaluronic acid (both sodium hyaluronate and dimethylsilanol hyaluronate) that helps to throughly hydrate the skin. I can't find the ingredients list online (and everything on my bottle is japanese) but I am pretty sure alcohol is really high up the list. This has been on and off in my skincare routine for about a month now and the reason why I can't bring myself to use it daily due to the alcohol scent to it. Upon application, the scent of alcohol is really strong and as someone who isn't extremely comfortable with alcohol in my skincare, this is something that turned me off. Other than that, I do think that this does work well in hydrating the skin without feeling heavy which is perfect for Singapore's humid climate.

There are many other items in the range such as the Skin Tightening Cool Lotion which sounds like a great pick me up in our hot and humid climate! This is said to help tighten skin with a cool and refreshing sensation, leaving skin silky and smooth as it features skin-beautifying fermented ingredients that create moisturized, well-toned, and smooth skin. Sounds like something I would love to use, especially in the mornings. I rarely do use toners but this does sound intriguing and I do plan to give this a try!

You can find Suisai at Welcia BHG (Bugis and Northpoint City) and Don Quijote (Orchard Central)!

Finally, I'm back with my favourites for the month of April! I have not had a monthly favourites for a while now as I didn't have many new and loved items recently. However, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and regular routine to start trying new items. Be it new products or items that I've dug up from my makeup collection, these new found loves are now seated permanently on my vanity.

Bespoke Parfums Artisanaux Uluwatu Perfume

I am so glad that I chanced upon this local perfume brand when I was strolling around the store Naiise. All of the brand’s perfumes are hand-blended and made with raw, ingredients. What attracted me was actually the price. This costs SGD 38 for 50ml! Super affordable and after sniffing everything, I was drawn to the scent, Uluwatu, The top notes for this scent are Pineapple, Mandarin, and Papaya, middle notes are Peach and Candy with the base notes of Coconut milk, Sandalwood, Musk. How unique! This smells like mango lassi and it smells incredible. The scent is personally uplifting and it does last a good amount of time on my skin. I do recommend giving this a whiff whenever you're at Naiise as this is extremely unique. For the affordable price tag as well, this is definitely something to check out. You can also check it on the Naiise website.

SK-II R.N.A Power Eye Cream

So I've got my eyebrows microbladed and I want to share with you the entire experience. Spoiler alert, as you can see from the above image, the eyebrow looks natural yet full and I'm very pleased.

Eyebrows have always been an important part of my makeup routine. I take pride in my brows (they frame the face after all!) and it is one step that I will usually never go without when I step out of the house. I've seen so many videos about eyebrow microblading and how much easier life became so of course, I was intrigued. Then the opportunity came along when Fresver Beauty introduced eyebrow embroidery as part of their specialised services and after much consideration, I decided to give it a shot.

I am pretty lucky to have quite a bit of brow hairs but I do have some sparse areas, especially around the arch of my brows. This does result in slight difficulty when it comes to filling them in as the shape of the arch is mostly determined via the deposition of my brow product. To begin, having a good idea of the shape you would like is key. As brows do frame the face, the shape, length and intensity of brow will affect the overall look that you're going for. For me personally, I prefer a brow that has a slight rounded arch and one that isn't too thick in width. I also did not want something too thin as thicker brows are said to give the illusion of more youthful features.


When I first arrived, I had a consultation with Fresver's eyebrow specialist, Nana, who has over 20 years of experience doing eyebrows. Nana was very accommodating and she provided me with many useful suggestions and advice. We discussed the shape that I wanted as well as the colours to be used (I did not want something that was too dark as I am not a huge fan of a bold brow).


In addition to micro balding (the small strokes that give the illusion of hairs on the skin and the blade on the right), we were also going to add in some little dots of colour to the brow, which is known as the misty brow embroidery (powdering technique and the needle on the left) to help provide more definition and fill in some sparse gaps.


After shaping the brow with the pencil and upon giving the thumbs up, we moved on to the application of the numbing cream. This took about 15 minutes and we were good to begin the procedure.

I have to admit that I was nervous. I have not done many invasive procedures before so the thought of the microblades did cause my little timid self to feel a tad uneasy. However, I am glad to report that the whole procedure was not too uncomfortable. A combination of both microblading and the powdering technique was incorporated in the procedure, and I did find that the scariest part of it all was actually the sound that the microblade makes upon contact with the skin. However, I got used to it after a while and the sound did not really bother me after. The powdering technique was completely fine and I did not feel nor hear much when I was getting it done. My numbing cream did wear off pretty quickly and I started to feel some discomfort, so we had to reapply but other than that, it's nothing compared to fractional laser or micro needling which I had also undergone.


To give me a natural blend, Nana used two different ink shades on me. At Fresver, they utilise a premium ink product from the french brand, Monica. These pigments are extracted and developed from plant botanics and are natural, organic and safe. These pigments from Monica are also said to have a high concentration of pigments which offer superior colour retention and thus, the vibrancy and colour will be more long lasting (which is great as nobody wants all that effort to go to waste in a short period of time!).


My entire procedure took about 2 hours, including the consultation. It was definitely not as scary as I had imagined it to be. Right after the procedure, the brows would look darker than it would be when it is healed, so do be prepared for that. It also got a tad darker the day after, as the skin was healing and the scabs were starting to form.


After care is crucial! I watched quite a few videos online and many people mentioned that they applied vaseline or aquaphor to the brows to help it stay moist, but Fresver provided me with the Monica Nutrient Concentrate to apply instead. This serum helps the skin to retain the colour better and to help the skin heal. The image above shows my brows on day 3 after the procedure where the scabs are starting to form. I have just applied the nutrient concentrate on it, thus the sheen.

A challenging part of the after care was washing my face and hair; I never realised how troublesome it is to do those steps without getting water in my brows! My eyebrows started to peel around day 3, and it did get slightly itchy. The image above was taken on day 5 after the procedure. You can really see the scabs! It took a lot of will power and determination to not scratch it and please don't if you do decide to try microblading out, as pulling off the scab prematurely will result in uneven colour and patches! My friend did it and we both agree that it does not look the best. My eyebrows took about 7 days to fully heal (which is slightly longer than what I expected).

This image above clearly shows that I have no idea how to react when a Koala looks me in the eye. 

And yes, that double chin scares me too. 

It has been about 2 weeks since I've returned from Australia and it was a little tough to settle back into the daily grind, not gonna lie (but then again, when is it ever easy? A holiday is a holiday!). This was the first time I explored a new city by myself (if I do not count my student exchange experience in Rotterdam) and while I was lucky enough to stay with my friend, I spent quite a bit of time on my own and I learnt quite a few things about this beautiful city and myself.

Perth was beautiful and I am amazed by how blue the sky is and how many stars I could see in the sky at night. It was so beautiful and sometimes just looking up gave me a sense of joy and peace. That may be a weird thing to say, but fun fact, Singapore experiences quite a bit of light pollution (yes, there's such a thing and according to The New Paper, we are the most light polluted country in the world) and thus, the sky at night especially isn't as clear and thus the lack of stars. Perth also had tons of land and nature and it is the complete opposite to our man made urban landscape that is Singapore. Less crowds there also made me more patient. I have this thing with crowds.. and that's probably why I'd rather stay at home alone in my little space.

Regardless, I had a whale of time and I thought I would share with you some of my experiences here. Before I flew over, I tried to google search "Exploring Perth without a car" or "Getting around Perth with Public Transport" and I could not find much. Even the vlogs and blogs that I've read for research involves road trips and this can be slightly despairing if you're travelling alone and renting a car to drive long distances may not be at the top of your list. So can you get around Perth without renting a car? Yes... and no. I know, that answer clearly confuses you even more but it ultimately depends on where you want to go.

Perth has trains which are quick and efficient (for example, Perth city to Fremantle took about 20-25 minutes I believe). The trains do cover many places but you would probably have to walk quite a bit or transfer to a bus for some areas. I was staying with my friend when I was there and my journey to the city involved taking bus ride for about 40 minutes before I could reach a train station and then taking the train down. That being said, buses there are impressively timely, and you can refer to the bus timetable (just google transperth and the bus number!) to see when the next bus will arrive!

So here are some of the places in Perth that I thought were easily accessible with public transport:

Perth city felt more familiar to me, due to the tall buildings and people rushing around. I did not spend too much time there but on my way to finding the bus stop to take to King's Park, I stumbled upon a Salvation Army Thrift Store and I managed to score a brand new Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert for AUD 3.45! The nerd in me could not stop doing a victory dance. After my amazing find, I did check out King's Park and the Botanic Gardens! There, if you can see a lovely view of the city as well! You can also check out the Lottery Federation Walkway too and see the gorgeous view of Swan River.


Fremantle is definitely a place to check out. It had a really laid back vibe and I do recommend checking out the Fremantle Markets if you can. The market is only open on certain days so be sure to do your research before hand. So many food options! I got myself a chicken, feta and spinach flatbread from Freo Gozleme and it was delicious. Portion is a tad big if you're an average eater so sharing this would be ideal. As for me, I ate it all and then went back for a doughnut from Levi's Doughnuts which was right beside it. Good ol' doughnut that made my heart sing (and I ate it at the beach mentioned below).



At Fremantle, there are quite a few crystal shops as well if you're into that (I got myself quite a few!) and there is also the B-shed Ferry Terminal where you can take a ferry to Rottnest Island which I'll mention about later. Lastly, there is also the Fremantle Prison where you can take a tunnel tour which shows you how life was like in the prison back then. I wished I went for one but I ran out of time. I believe that the tour was AUD 21 (can't really remember!).


If you are planning to visit Cottlesloe beach, which I highly recommend that you do as it was truly lovely, you can drop at Cottlesloe train station and walk about 8 minutes towards the beach. My goodness, the water was so clear and glistening under the sun. I didn't want to leave, but my sunburnt chest and forehead told me it was time.


This was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to and boy, did it hurt a little to leave. I still think about the blue waters now!


There, you can simply take a bus 102 towards the city (it ends at Elizabeth Quay). On this bus, you will also pass by the famous Blue Boat House (aka Perth Crawley Edge Boatshed) if you are interested in dropping by. I have to admit, this boat house was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and slightly underwhelming amidst all the hype.



Regardless, it was pretty cool and if you're up for it, you can walk along the Swan River towards the Elizabeth Quay after. That took me about 55 minutes and I highly advise against doing so in flip-flops (but what can I say? You learn from your mistakes!).


Since you will end up at Elizabeth Quay, you can check out V Burger if you're hungry! You probably deserve it after all that walking, or if you're smarter than I was and took the public bus instead. I had their Pepperizo burger and it was delish!


You can also walk across the Elizabeth Quay bridge and see The Bell Tower / Swan Bells. It was honestly extremely underwhelming for me, so much so that I did not take a picture. However, the view on the bridge is a great way to take in the skyline of the tall buildings in the city.


If you're taking the train, a little FYI, also on the blue line is Claremont. From what I saw on the train, there is a pretty big shopping complex there with a David Jones. If you're up for a little treating yourself and some aircon, this could be a stop to consider!

Rottnest Island was a lovely experience as well. I took the ferry from Fremantle's B Shed and it took about 45 minutes. Once there, you can rent a bike to explore the island (I believe it was AUD 30) or get a ticket for a hop on hop off bus (AUD 20) which I did.


Rottnest Island was larger than I've expected and if you're short on time like I was, or just riding up steep slopes seem pretty challenging, I'd recommend the bus. The bus drivers will provide handy information as they drive from stop to stop as well. Do note that the buses are usually 30 minutes apart and due to that, you may be unable to get on it if you're trying to get on at a popular stop (my bus was full ever since west end and people from all the other stops after could not get on! This isn't good if you have a ferry to catch). That being said, let's talk about the main reason to go there. Quokkas! 


I somehow expected them to just be wandering around and considering all the selfies I saw online, I thought it would be quite easy to spot them. That does depend quite a bit on luck if you can spot them or take a selfie with them as people tend to crowd around whenever one pops up.  I only managed to see quokkas when I left the main settlement and headed to less populated areas. I went on a free walking tour (there are quite a few at certain timings around the island) and the lady told us that Quokkas love cool and dark areas, so look for them under the trees and bushes!


On my way to Wadjemup Lighthouse, I managed to catch three quokkas under the trees! And since there wasn't anyone else and I got lucky, I tried my utmost best to take a selfie. Don't laugh, I tried my best!


I also recommend heading to Cathedral Rocks (West End Stop for the bus) to see the seals! I was so fascinated by them just chilling in the water, so much so that I fell as I could not peel my eyes off. How dumb! I did not manage to take a picture of it but there was a quokka on the deck looking at the seals as well!


Overall, I had 5 hours on the island and did not explore half of it. Thus, I do recommend spending more time there to see more! Also, check out the Rottnest Bakery; Their aroma of their freshly baked pies attracted me from afar and I was not disappointed.

Those were the areas easily accessible with public transport for me. However, I also visited other places which I recommend booking a tour or taking uber/ola/taxi:


To get to the Lancelin Sand Dunes and the Nambung National Park, I booked a tour (this one! I highly recommend it!). This is especially useful if you need transport to and fro. My guide was extremely friendly and I thoroughly enjoyed the day. My tour started off at Yanchep National Park where I got to see some kangaroos, koalas and cockatoos! You will also learn a little more about the aboriginals and their culture there.


Then, it was about a 45 minutes drive to the Lancelin Sand Dunes where you can try out sandboarding! I was so fascinated as I've never seen sand dunes before.


Was it wise to wear jeans, you ask? I honestly don't know. It was extremely hot but hey, at least I had no pesky sand bits in my delicate areas if you know what I mean.

Despite the blazing sun, the sand was cool and since they were extremely fine, they did not hurt one bit. Fun fact, the sand is white as apparently these are made from crushed shells! Warning, climbing up is a work out. My thighs cried for help.


The pinnacles at Nambung National Park is a must-see as well. It is extremely unique and while I thought it was similar to the Stonehenge in the UK where there is just an area with the formations, this was certainly not. It is a desert full of these limestone formations and it stretched out as far as the eye could see. Do go see it for yourself when you're there; It's truly something magical.


Lastly, I went to visit Caversham Wildlife Park and Swan Valley! I was very lucky that my friend and her husband showed me around as these areas are honestly difficult to get to without a car! Caversham Wildlife Park was a truly hands on experience and it is definitely a more eye opening experience than a zoo.


I got to feed kangaroos! And milk a cow (my goodness was I excited and I am insistent on showing you the picture of me pulling on the udder of the cow). Here, you can also take pictures with wombats, koalas and a snake too if you're interested.



I've never seen an albino kangaroo before so this kinda blew my mind. Also, the very first image of the koala and I was taken in Caversham too! Here's one where I try to act like a decent and socialised human being with an adorable animal.


Swan valley was once again larger than I've imagined (I somewhat imagined it to be a straight road down where I can walk from store to store. This city girl obviously doesn't understand the concept of land space)! There were shops selling wine, cheese, chocolate and much more. I highly recommend heading to The House of Honey! You can taste all their different types of honey there and my goodness, I fell in love with their Lavender Honey. So good. Just urgh, so goooooood.

That's about it for my Perth experience! The last time I visited Australia was 20 years ago so this was definitely new and exciting. The people there were really friendly and the slower pace of life was definitely welcomed. How I wish Singapore could slow down a tad! Funny story, yesterday I was at a volunteer orientation and I met a lady who lived in Tokyo for 15 years. She said she enjoyed Singapore but she finds the pace of life here pretty slow. I was flabbergasted but that just reminded me how the grass always seems greener on the other side!


Hopefully this post was useful, especially if you're planning a solo trip to Perth soon!

Till then,