Yoriko Youda

Loving these beautiful works by Yoriko Youda, involving colours, characters from Hiragana and matching objects. Admire the creativity and wit behind them.

This "sa" for Sakura is my favourite!

SK-II CELLUMINATION TRIAL (Part 2)

It's been a week since I started the SK-II Cellumination Essence Ex trial (see my first post here). Visually, I can't really tell if there are any marked differences. But I must say, I'm enjoying pampering my skin and giving it a treat. I'm looking forward to witnessing that promised "radiance" soon!

Honestly, I'm a cleanse, tone and moisturise kinda person. I dislike spending a long time in the bathroom or in front of the dressing table. With this trial, I find that there's really not that much additional "work" I got to do.

Also, I've always feared the sticky feeling when one piles on lots of products on the face, be it skincare or make-up. It's like the skin can't breathe! I'm glad to report though that the 3 new additional products I am using in this trial-- Cellumination Essence EX, Cellumination Mask-in Lotion, Cellumination Day Surge UV-- are not thick and they glide on the skin easily. Here's a little reminder for all of us: if you apply too little, it's as if you're not applying at all. So make sure you are using the right amount, be sufficiently generous.

 

One pump of the Cellumination Essence EX

That's all for now. More updates next week!

Pom Pom Making

I sometimes wander along the aisles of craft stores looking at the balls of attractive yarns in all sorts of colours and wished I could knit or crochet. Well, I can't. 

Recently, I found the perfect excuse to spend my money on 2 balls of yarn. I was going to make pom poms! I've been wanting to make pom poms for the sheer fun of it for the looooongest time but never got down to it. There was always another more urgent project/something I had to do for the shop etc. But I put my foot down this time and reminded myself that I needed to remember what it was like to craft for fun. For my own enjoyment. 

There are loads of tutorials you can find online on how to make pom poms. I went along with this one. Minimal fuss, minimal materials.

It's really simple and in ten minutes, I had my first handmade pom pom! If you want a fluffier pom pom, you can give it a brush to make it furry.

Speaking of pom poms, if you are old enough (like me), you may remember the craze back then of wearing ankle socks that came with a little pom pom attached at the back. Do you? :)

SK-II Cellumination Trial (part 1)

Hello there! I just got back from a little trip to Sydney. Yes, that means we'll have a Sydney series of posts coming right! I love traveling (duh, as if you didn't already know) but I've always been concerned about the dryness on board the flights and difference in temperature between Singapore and where I am traveling to.

SK-II has kindly invited me to take part in their 4-week Cellumination Essence Ex trial and I thought it's such perfect timing!  I'm certainly looking forward to having my skin back to "normal" again and on top of that, experience the promise of brilliant translucent aura skin! 

I just went to have my skin tested at the SK-II counter yesterday and the results weren’t too bad. Guess my daily usage of the Treatment Essence is working (justifies the money spent)! Of course, there are still areas to work on. And besides, even if one is happy with one’s skin, it needs to be maintained.  So on top of the Treatment Essence, during these 4 weeks, my regime will include 3 products from the SK-II Cellumination range which I’ve not tried:

Cellumination Essence EX

Cellumination Mask-in Lotion

Cellumination Day Surge UV

Today’s the first day of my trial and I’ll be updating you with my progress in a few posts in the next couple of weeks. Stick around!

[Taipei] - Simple Market

I've reserved my Sunday in Taipei for Simple Market which happens from 1-7pm and have been looking forward to it. It is housed between a couple of old shophouses. 

Since the stalls were still in the process of set up when we arrived, we decided to check out Good Cho's which is a cafe, lifestyle shop and ice cream parlour. It is housed in one of the shophouses. I spent a while browsing the items in the shop-- zakka, local tea, organic produce-- lots to spend your cash on. I left with an indie CD, a cute roll of washi tape, a postcard and some local snacks. 

We headed to the cafe next. It was obvious that bagels (which came in different flavours) were the hot items on the menu because people were loading them onto their trays. We ordered it for our sit down lunch and I enjoyed it. If we had a lighter breakfast, I would have tried their plate of the day, which looked really healthy too.

With our stomachs filled, we were ready to check out the stalls in the market. There weren't that many but it was still nice. There were 2 sections. One part was local farmers produce and the other handmade items. Also there was a little drizzle the afternoon we were there, we had fun nevertheless!

http://tw.streetvoice.com/users/SimpleMarket/

[Taipei] - VVG Everything

If you've read my Taipei series from 2 or 3 years ago, you may remember VVG? It's a small chain of cafes/shops. This time we visited VVG Everything which has a lifestyle shop housed on the upper level of its restaurant. I love the design-centric and vintage items. I thought things were a bit on the pricier side but it's great to browse anyway. I left a happy browser :)

[Taipei] - Shilin Night Market

For T and I, a visit to Taipei is not complete without a visit to Shilin Night Market. Shilin is filled with everything to titillate your senses, especially the gustatory. And so, eat we did! And of course, we weren't disappointed.

See how stuffed these are!