Weekend Roundup (26.10.2013)
POSTED ON: Saturday, October 26, 2013 @ 8:54 PM | 0 comments
1. #PolishTogether
Been really busy the whole week preparing for our Strategy module's case study presentation on Starbucks. Thank goodness that's over now, and time to focus on my other group projects.
So a very late post on last Sunday's #PolishTogether Birthstone Series hosted by @perpetualfunk. The theme was OPAL, and we were to paint our nails with flakies or glitter polish. Funny how she described Opal as a gem who couldn't make up its mind.
Here's my mani for the event. Two coats of Blue Is Beautiful by KPT without topcoat, my first thermal polish from them, purchased from the BeautySoFly website. Since Singapore is so terribly warm, my nails remained in this translucent greyish colour for most of the time.
Been really busy the whole week preparing for our Strategy module's case study presentation on Starbucks. Thank goodness that's over now, and time to focus on my other group projects.
So a very late post on last Sunday's #PolishTogether Birthstone Series hosted by @perpetualfunk. The theme was OPAL, and we were to paint our nails with flakies or glitter polish. Funny how she described Opal as a gem who couldn't make up its mind.
Here's my mani for the event. Two coats of Blue Is Beautiful by KPT without topcoat, my first thermal polish from them, purchased from the BeautySoFly website. Since Singapore is so terribly warm, my nails remained in this translucent greyish colour for most of the time.
And this is in an airconditioned room, I'm guessing the temperature is around 23 deg?
A more opaque greyish blue with the blue and silver glitters more distinct.
Was never able to get my nails cold enough for the polish to turn really sapphire blue (as pictured on the BSF website). So that was kind of disappointing for me. I'm considering having a contrasting colour polish under this thermal polish next, since its translucent most of the time. Maybe pink? Maybe purple? Should be fun watching the colours change~
And the last photo here has nothing to do with the #PolishTogether event, but I'm excited because this is my first essie polish! Blanc. A pure white creme polish. Great as a base colour for colourful nail arts. The formula is great so I can see why I have friends who swears by the essie brand, but I still prefer OPI's large fan brushes.
2. Friends are like diamonds
Friends are like diamonds, and diamonds are forever.
The start of the week was a really horrible horrible one. Won't go into the details why but I'm thankful for the few friends I have who will always be there no matter what. The number of close friends I have a so few I can probably count them on one hand. But I suppose I am thankful for these few people in my life.
Here's a screenshot of what a friend sent me when I was depressed.
Thanks guys. (:
3. BBM
Andriod and iPhone users can finally download BlackBerry's BBM service!
BlackBerry reported that over 10 million people have downloaded its cross-platform mobile application in the first 24 hours since its release, and topped the Apple app store's free apps list in over 75 countries. Some very excited and anticipatory BBM fans there and I'm one of them! Here's my BBM pin below!
4. Second Hand Polish Sale
As mentioned a few times in previous posts, I'll be going to Stockholm, Sweden for exchange from January to June 2014. While on exchange, I'll definitely need to spend lots of money. Air fares, accommodation, transport, groceries, daily necessities, food etc. Most of which I don't even pay for on my own when I'm here in Singapore. And since living in Europe is more costly as compared to living in Singapore, I would need lots of money, which is kind of a worry as I don't have a lot of savings to spend. My daddy did agree to help out with my expenses overseas but I don't want to spend too much of my daddy's hard earned money either.
Hence, I've thought long and hard and pondered over this idea for days and days. I'll be posting up my collection of nail polish for sale to raise money for my exchange trip next year. They have been used a few times, but all still in great condition. I will include their prices as well, but feel free to contact me and negotiate for a better price if you're sincerely interested in purchasing them or if you're buying quite a few bottles at one go.
Really upset to be letting go of all my beauties but it's the best way I could think of to earn money in the shortest time and most convenient way possible. Work wasn't a good option since I still had to concentrate on schoolwork. I can't bring all my polishes overseas either so they would be left lonely at home too. ):
So please support me and don't hesitate to purchase one if it catches your eye.
Details will be up on the blog in the same post as the sales post. I thank you all in advance for helping me out.
Halloween's just around the corner. Happy Halloween everyone!
Love,
Lorraine
Weekend Roundup (19.10.2013)
POSTED ON: Saturday, October 19, 2013 @ 12:46 PM | 0 comments
Week 3 of the Busy Girl Nails Fall Nail Art Challenge. The theme for this week is OXBLOOD.
Base colours used are Revlon's Raisin Rage and CG's Angels Breath. Pictured here is two coats of each per nail, without topcoat.
[Yeah it was on my Instagram a few days ago...]
Cherries on the pointer and ring finger! And little yellow bling studs on the middle and pinky.
I really like this mani and it looks so much better irl than on camera.
Hashtag your nail pictures with #busygirlnails and check out what the other busy girls have on their nails this fall too! Hosted by @BeautyByArielle, @Drinkcitra, @FierceMakeupAndNails, @MrandasMakeup and @Marijonails, I'm loving this challenge and already halfway through it! Excited to know that this one might just be the first challenge that I'll be completing (:
Oh yes and tomorrow's #PolishTogether Birth Stone Series event again! Hosted by @perpetualfunk,
Opal is the theme for the month of October so let's paint our nails a flakie or glitter polish. Spread the word and have everyone join in the fun! Remember to tag your photos with #PolishTogether on Instagram and have a look at what the other ladies came up with too!
Yeap, flakie or glitter polish...can't wait to try out my new polish (:
2. Magnum Pleasure Store
Having lunch with my daddy is always good. Thursday saw us taking a slow drive to Vivocity and we settled for Marche. The wide variety of yummylicious desserts were really tempting but I knew I had to save my stomach for the Magnum ice creams downstairs at The Plaza, right outside Bakerzin at the first level of Vivocity.
Here's a photo of daddy's and my customized Magnum ice creams. Mine had a dark chocolate coating, sprinkled with pistachio nuts, gold flakes and chocolate hearts and drizzled with white chocolate. Daddy's had a dark chocolate coating too, sprinkled with sea salt, nuts and oats (I think?) and drizzled with milk chocolate.
For $7 each, it was a really fun experience to pick all our "ingredients" on our own and watch the staff prepare our customized ice cream step by step behind the counter.
Second photo here shows the process...
Step 1: Choosing 3 toppings from a wide variety of toppings
Step 2: Coating our ice cream (choose from milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate)
Step 3: Sprinkling our toppings on our freshly coated ice cream
Step 4: Drizzle on more chocolate (again choosing from milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate)
And last of all (not pictured here), placing the chocolate Magnum logo on our creations and they are ready for my tummy~!!
A short 13sec video of the staff preparing my Daddy's ice cream...
Very pleasurable indeed ^^
3. The Motivational Penguin
4 more weeks till the end of school and 6 more weeks till the end of exams...
4 more weeks till the end of school and 6 more weeks till the end of exams...
Love,
Lorraine
Purchases From BSF
POSTED ON: Friday, October 18, 2013 @ 12:25 AM | 0 comments
My first ever bottle of Essie (Blanc) and my first ever bottle of KPT (Blue Is Beautiful). Here are pictures of my two new lovelies from the BSF website.
Can't wait to try them on tomorrow!! (:
Love,
Lorraine
Weekend Roundup (12.10.2013)
POSTED ON: Saturday, October 12, 2013 @ 12:43 PM | 0 comments
This week was my long awaited recess week - one week break off from classes! Lucky me only had to head back to school on Tuesday for a project group meeting (compared to my other friends who were in school for such meetings almost everyday of the week), and ended off Tuesday with a good dinner at Astons with my fellow OCSP friends. OCSP stands for Overseas Community Service Program, and we went to Siem Reap, Cambodia for our project last summer. It was an experience of a lifetime and I do plan to go back there again someday!
1. #PolishUsPink
The theme for Week 2 of the Busy Girl Nails Fall Nail Art Challenge is PINK. Supposedly in conjunction with #PolishUsPink as the month of October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month. Paint your nails pink too and tag them with #PolishUsPink and #BCAmani2013. Oh and of course the hashtag for the challenge itself - #busygirlnails.
Here are the colours I used for this mani:
- Ciate's Kiss Chase on my thumb and pinky
- Butter London's Trout Pout on my 2nd and ring finger
- Some matte light pink from Etude House on my middle finger
Please pardon the shorter pointer finger, it started to chip a little at the tip so I had to cut it off. Rather upset with the different lengths now. On BOTH the right and left hands too ):
The theme for Week 2 of the Busy Girl Nails Fall Nail Art Challenge is PINK. Supposedly in conjunction with #PolishUsPink as the month of October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month. Paint your nails pink too and tag them with #PolishUsPink and #BCAmani2013. Oh and of course the hashtag for the challenge itself - #busygirlnails.
Here are the colours I used for this mani:
- Ciate's Kiss Chase on my thumb and pinky
- Butter London's Trout Pout on my 2nd and ring finger
- Some matte light pink from Etude House on my middle finger
Please pardon the shorter pointer finger, it started to chip a little at the tip so I had to cut it off. Rather upset with the different lengths now. On BOTH the right and left hands too ):
A second shot with more sunlight coming in through my bedroom windows.
And finally scallop tips using a dotting tool with L.A. Girl's Grape.
Loving the Butter London bottle but the quality of it doesn't justify the price I had to pay.
I initially wanted to do a half moon with Grape but I the idea somehow got lost when I sat down to finish up my mani. Hmm maybe next time!
Themes for the next 3 weeks...
Week 3: Oxblood
Week 4: Orange
Week 5: Dark Brown
Mid week nails, a very failed one that it. Terrible nail foils these are.
Wanted to use this one as my pink nails for #PolishUsPink this year but these nail foils were extremely disappointing and frustrating. Unlike usual nail foils which had a sticky underside, a smooth shiny surface and quality good enough for you to peel off your nails and realign them during application, this batch was terrible terrible terrible. Yes the undersides were sticky but so were the surfaces of the nail foils. One of it was ruined as the surface got stuck to the packaging as I was unwrapping it. The quality was really bad too, tearing easily and too thin and flimsy to to handle and align properly on my nails.
Bought them about two weeks ago from Watsons for $2.50. Nothing but a nightmare.
The previous set of nail foils I purchased from Watsons were fine, I don't know why this one turned out this way. Really hope the rest of them tucked in my drawers are fine...
3. Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
My second attempt at making pancakes during this break week and YES IT WAS A SUCCESS!!
My new SONA hand mixer pictured here (:
Had lots of fun preparing all the ingredients, mixing the batter, folding everything together...
Pancakes in a pan getting brown and fluffy over my stove. And a pot of blueberry sauce simmering over low heat. My whole kitchen was smelling so yummy that day hehehe.
All my friends loved my pancakes and the blueberry sauce, though daddy said he would prefer the sauce to be a little less sweet. Very satisfied with my pancakes this time although I didn't manage to get a good photo of the blueberry sauce drizzled over my pancakes. So here's the one I took of the web and I assure mine looks and tastes just as good! (:
Feeling so happy and accomplished I can't wait to try out the other 26 pancakes in that list of pancake recipes!!
3. Recess week is over...
But a it was a great one spent with my daddy over lunch every day!
Two large jugs of root beer float during lunch on Tuesday and tons of good food. I will not post them here to save your stomach from growling but you can always visit my instagram if you want some mouth-watering pictures!
Love,
Lorraine
Weekend Roundup (05.10.2013)
POSTED ON: Saturday, October 5, 2013 @ 5:02 PM | 0 comments
The recess week is here! One week break from school hurray!!
[But of course all of us still have to be back in school for project meetings on a few days...]
1. Fall Nail Art Challenge
Week 1 of #busygirlnails Fall Nail Art Challenge. This week's theme is Antique Gold.
I used OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark as my base colour and Goldeneye next to achieve this taped mani. I loved the base colour on its own and it took me two days before I could bear to paint Goldeneye over it. I love dark shades.
Three tips for taped manis:
i. Always make sure the base colour is completely dry before you start taping for your next color.
ii. Peel of the tape immediately after applying the second color for each nail, do not wait till you're done painting all your nails neither do you wait till the second color is dry.
iii. Translucent tapes work better for me as compared to clear sticky tapes. I don't know why either but it just does.
This is two coats of Lincoln Park After Dark without topcoat.
And this is one coat of Goldeneye over my much loved base colour.
A heads up of the themes for the next few weeks of this challenge...
Week 2: Pink
Week 3: Oxblood
Week 4: Orange
Week 5: Dark Brown
You must be wondering how the colour pink has anything to do with fall. I guess it doesn't but it's for the Breast Cancer Awareness event #PolishUsPink in October.
2. KOSE Infinity
A few weeks ago, my friend and I attended a workshop in school held by KOSE. They introduced a new range of products specially tailored to young adults like us. The Infinity Pure Advance range, for women in their twenties to early thirties.
Me being a long time supporter of KOSE was rather excited and tempted by the 25% discount at Robinsons so I had to purchase a bottle for myself. I got the Pure Advance Essence Lotion 1 which is a hydrating lotion that contains essence which moisturizes the skin with open pores caused by dryness and sebum, thus making these open pores less visible and leaves my skin feeling smooth, firm and supple. The usual retail price is $69.00 for a 160ml bottle but as an SMU student, I was rewarded with a 25% discount. You do the math yourself, it's a great deal I tell you. (:
Just a disclaimer, nobody paid me anything to do this short review. I'd just like to share some of my favourite products or new purchases that I'm very satisfied with, so hopefully others will get to benefit from them too!
3. Pancakes Anyone?
Headed down to Courts at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 yesterday evening with the intention to purchase a hand mixer. (pardon the low quality of this picture, will upload a proper one when unbox my own hand mixer...)
Oh the service there is terrible. I had to go round searching for a sales promoter for help when the section was very empty with barely any customers. This Indian man I managed to get hold of only confirmed that a brand I wanted was out of stock but before I could make any more enquires regarding the products available, his mobile phone rang and he just left to answer his call without apologizing or getting another sales promoter to attend to me. My experience at the store left me feeling very annoyed and determined never to return to that particular outlet ever again. The sales promoters at other outlets like the Megastore at Tampines were so much more polite, friendly and helpful.
Anyway, one of the main reasons why I was in such a hurry to purchase a hand mixer was to make pancakes this week. Since the coming week is my one week break from school, I decided to try making some pancakes again! My first attempt a few months ago didn't turn out very well but I recently saw this post on 27 Pancakes Worth Waking Up For and was inspired to give myself a second chance and recreate these yummylicious pancakes.
Here's the one I'm going to attempt during the break week...blueberry buttermilk pancakes with blueberry compote and maple butter. From the photo alone I can smell the yummy fluffy goodness of these pancakes, and taste the sweet and buttery combination of it all in my mouth. May this second attempt of mine be a successful one!
Love,
Lorraine
Fall Nail Art Challenge
POSTED ON: Wednesday, October 2, 2013 @ 11:13 PM | 0 comments
I hope I can complete this. Stalk my Instagram for updates yeah? Haven't been able to complete a single challenge so far oops... This one seems easy enough? Can't wait to feel that sense of achievement.
You can try it too! Tag your photos with the hashtag #busygirlnails, and remember to check out what the other busy girls have came up with this fall! (:
[Post taken from @subtleshimmer's Instagram]
And speaking of fall, it's time for some pumpkin in my tummy! Check out some awesome fall recipes from Michelle at BrownEyedBaker.com. I'm a terrible cook but I'm still hoping to achieve something this fall with all these yummylicious looking recipes!
Happy Autumn everyone! (:
Love,
Lorraine
