Recently, I received tons of products from various brands under the company, Kosé Cosmeport. Kosé is a Japanese company that has tons of sub brands (you can find all of them here) under their belt and seeing these items gets me pretty excited as I rarely do venture into the world of Jbeauty.
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It's so bittersweet to come back from an overseas trip and while part of me really wants to go back to enjoy the bliss and lack of responsibilities, another part of me is just extremely grateful for the amazing trip that had just transpired.

There were many firsts during my trip as I travelled with my sister, who pushed me out of my comfort zone numerous times (even though I would very much love to stay nestled in). In a span of a week, I attempted rainforest trekking, took a long tail boat, stayed on a lake, explored a cave, fed and bathed elephants, had my first muay thai, yoga and thai classical dance class, and ziplined across the trees in the jungle. For a timid city girl, this list is definitely something I would never expect myself to accomplish, let alone enjoy. And despite sounding a little egotistical, I am so proud of myself and so grateful that I was able to try all of these out.

I had quite a bit of time to pen down my thoughts during our journey, and here are 4 things that I have learnt from this mini adventure.

1. To be grateful for what I have instead of focusing on wanting more

The mentality of wanting more is so pervasive in our society that sometimes, materialism can be considered almost inevitable. I used to be extremely materialistic, thinking that buying things and owning tons would make me happy. Of course, after the course of many years, I finally realised that happiness doesn't come extrinsically.

Throughout my trip, I've encountered many Thai people and I noticed how many of them were happy and satisfied with what they have. They do not have piles of material stuff and the lack of many things we take for granted like electricity and proper toilets did not stop their eyes from lighting up and a smile from forming on their faces. While I was there, we booked an overnight lake tour at Khao Sok (with Smiley Lake House) and I honestly do recommend it as I think it was a lovely experience. However, as a spoilt city girl, I struggled pretty hard while living on the lake, wishing for a proper bathroom and brighter lights to see where I was going. As I sat there in pitch darkness in the middle of the night as I was unable to sleep, I realised that I took so many things that I currently have for granted. As I type this now, I'm comfortably seated on my bed in my air conditioned room with electricity to power my laptop charger and the lights. It may seem basic to me, but it didn't strike me how some people may not have as easy an access to these. These people were making the best of what they had, instead of constantly complaining and craving more.

I realised that my habit of constantly looking out for what's better is the obstacle to me being completely satisfied and happy. Of course we should always strive to improve, but I learnt that it is ok to be satisfied, especially in a world where it seems wrong to just stop and enjoy. With rapid developments and constant change, the race to be better and get better never ends and I realised that my mind was always participating in that futile race. I was always on the hunt for something more or something better, be it a better pillow to sleep on (which I am extremely guilty of doing) to what other makeup products I can buy to satisfy that metaphoric hole in my heart. I was trying to fill my life with material things in order to "improve my life", rather than appreciating what I have in my life currently. I honestly learnt to be grateful and to give thanks to the Universe for all that its provided me so far.

2. I am capable of more

As a kid who never attempted many things as I was afraid of failing, I never really pushed myself. I always fantasised about living a certain lifestyle, but lacked the motivation and trust in myself to actually get up and go live it. A huge aspect of that was in terms of my physical ability. As someone who struggles with her weight constantly and hated physical education classes since young, I doubted myself on whether I could trek the jungle or hike a mountain or do any exploration that requires a fit physique. Sad to say, but I honestly always thought of myself as weak.

During this trip, I came face to face with many fears. The first time was when we were trekking the Khao Sok National Park and I did not see anyone else. It may sound super silly to some of you but I was extremely terrified of being alone (my sister doesn't really count). Thoughts on wild animals popping up or just me slipping and injuring myself without anyone to help me filled my mind and my muscles were tensed up the entire time. There were so many times I wanted to turn around and run back to the safety of my hotel room, but my sister forced me to go on, which I am glad that I did.

The second time was when we entered the Nam Talu cave in Khao Sok. This brought me face to face with many of my fears - the dark, water, frogs, spiders, sharp rocks and narrow tight spaces. Part of me did not want to go into the cave, but after the tiresome trek of about half an hour, I was determined to not waste all my efforts by waiting outside. The cave was pitch black and there were parts with water currents and water coming up to my neck. The ground was filled with rocks of different shapes and sizes and we were surrounded by sharp, jagged stones. So many scenes of potential final destination moments flashed in my mind as I struggled my way in and out but oh boy, what an experience. It made me realise that I can do it, albeit slower than others, but what matters is that it opened my mind to what is possible. I never thought that I would be able to go through with a cave hike, since fear usually controls me most of the time, but I realised that I am braver than I think I am, and I am definitely capable of more. It's time for me to get up and do more things that I was previously afraid of.

3. To occasionally abandon logical thinking and to let my hair down more 

My rational mind plays a huge role in my life and I rely heavily on logic to make my day to day decisions. Even if I am not a fan of always being so cautious and uptight, my decisions are mostly based on what I think should be right. Thus, just relaxing and going through the motions is extremely difficult for me. I can't seem to fully immerse myself in many experiences as my brain would come up with cautionary tales and think of stupid things like I should not get this dirty as laundry would be a pain. What if I can't wash this off? What if I fall and injure myself? What if, what if, what if... This usually causes me to always take a step back and watch cautiously from afar, instead of diving in and getting all up and dirty.

When we were in Phuket, we decided to visit the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. We got the chance to feed them, bathe them in the mud and in the water pool. Logical thinking me would probably not go anyway near the mud, as it is dirty and laundry after would be a killer. I know, even as I am typing this, I realised how much of a drag I could be. This time round, I pushed myself to dive in straight and not think about what is going to happen after. This led to me having one of the happiest times of my life. Playing in the mud with the elephants and then scrubbing them in the water pool where their poop was floating around was truly amazing. These elephants were majestic and I was so happy to be this close to them. There was this 70 year old grandma elephant named Sandy and she was a true joy. I could hug her trunk and stare into her eyes all day. All these would not have been possible if I was afraid of getting close and dirty. I learnt to let go more, and just go with the flow.

4.  To switch up my mentality of daily life 

When I was flying back to Singapore, I was writing my journal and I had an epiphany. I noticed myself being able to wake up really early in the morning whenever I am on a holiday but when I get back home to my regular routine, even waking up before 10am could be extremely painful. The enthusiasm and anticipation during a holiday fuels me up, making me eager to get up and explore. However, back home, the curiosity and zest for life is greatly diminished as I struggled to get by day by day. It made me realise that my mentality about my life is plain wrong.

Sure, my environment and surroundings are different when I am overseas versus my mundane routine back home, but that should not dampen my curiosity and excitement for life. I realised that I was just simply getting by while anticipating my next getaway. Isn't it sad to have a life that I constantly want to get away from? Why shouldn't I be excited for the day when I am back home? After all, there are never ending things to explore and experience, and I should make full use of my time when I am still alive. My temporal existence on this Earth is limited, and I should not waste my precious days constantly craving for an escape. I learnt that I should switch my mentality, to appreciate what is around me, even if the routine is stagnant and the environment is the same everyday. I told myself that I should try to change up my routine constantly as repetitions breeds boredom. Lastly, I learnt that I need to maintain that passion and zest for life regardless of where I am and what I am doing.


Despite being back from Phuket for about a week now, I noticed that by writing these thoughts down into my journal and onto this post helped me to further ingrain these lessons. I am pushing myself to try new things in Singapore, such as volunteering at the pet shelter next week (exciting!!) and going for yoga and muay thai classes to switch up my routine.

I hope this post wasn't too much of a drag and I hoped that by sharing this with you, it could help you start thinking about certain aspects of your life that you maybe did not think about before. Of course, all of us are different and our thought processes will inevitably differ as well. Regardless, thanks for reading and back to more beauty related posts next!

Till then,

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).