Collaboration with Bellaoggi

Last week, most of my friends and also my sisters took the precious long weekend for a overseas short trip *jealous*.

Myself, I was working *slight depress* >.<

Recently, I had been collaborating with quite a few beauty brands.  Last Friday was a special one with Bellaoggi, a Italian beauty brand which required nailarts.

I managed to tuck in my art brushes, acrylic paints and a hand rest all into this golden hand carry cosmetic case.  It looked so glam with my all black outfit.

Most of my clients requested full black outfit.  Kinda hate it especially if I need to work late.  I have this phobia of being knock down on the road.  Wearing mourning black crossing the road at night is dangerous to me.  I had seen it myself numerous times while travelling in my hubby's vehicle.  Most girls insisted that wearing black has got a slimming effect.  But aiyo, fat means fat lah sia, si mi visual illusion also don't change reality lolxx... back to the topic...

My work station from Friday to Sunday, at Bugis Junction Hylam Street.

Bellaoggi had engaged Precious Nail Services to promote their gel-effect nail lacquers.

The young girls I worked with were very nice and chatty.  2 of them were 17 years old, only a year senior than my Darren son lolxx....  They were such cute darlings ^.^

Such collaboration work "force" me to adapt to lacquers of different textures, different bottles and brushes within a very short time frame.  As in I have to familiarize myself with them in a couple of minutes.  Then I have to hold them in my palm affectionately and paint flawlessly on customers or guests, heehee...  Pretty challenging and I love it!

Bellaoggi gel effect lacquers are bold with strong color pigments.  Love their flat wide brush and the streak-free texture.  In fact I was quite impressed by the quality.

I had gain knowledge and valuable experiences exposing to different brands, not just OPI OPI and only OPI.

The following were some of the nails I had done with Bellaoggi lacquers over their 3 days roadshow -

Some of you who followed my Dayre or Instagram may know that my hubby was down with sudden illness and was admitted to hospital during the same time.

There wasn't a slightest clue given when this happened and I was totally caught.  As much as I was worried, I tried not to let my personal problem affect my work.  Darting between work and the hospital wasn't easy, but I held on and pulled through.

The satisfying smiles on the customers looking at their mirror shine manicures were priceless and motivated me further.  Friendly and understanding working partners of Bellaoggi had also made everything most pleasant during my tough period, very thankful to them.

End this post with self advertising for Precious Nail Services -

https://www.facebook.com/precious.nail

http://preciousnailservicessg.blogspot.sg/

Joy + Suay-ness in Dec 2013

A summary of what had I been doing in Dec 2013 ~~

1 - 11 Dec
Juggling with nails, attended a couple of blogging events, airing winter wears to make sure they don't smell and pack the luggages until I shag.

12 - 19 Dec

Went for a 8 days tour to Beijing with family.  Temperature between -3 to 5 degree, but it was so dry that it didn't snow, wtf.  A visit to a ski resort with man-made snow was the only "console".

Managed to look quite glam without shaving my armpits for 8 good days lolxx...

Had seen The Great Wall, Tian An Men and Palace on TV numerous times ever since I was child.  When they stood right in front of me, I felt as if I walked into TV, the familiar yet strange feeling was indescribable joy.  Everything is magnificent with aged beauty of more than hundreds and thousands of years of history.

I will blog about this trip in detail before memory fades away.

On the second day while visiting 紫禁城 palace, I fell on a slippery slope.  My first reaction was to press my hand on the floor to prevent myself from landing on my butt.  The pressure was too great and I sprained my right wrist a little.  The pain subsided after a short while and I continued my explore happily.  In fact, I forgotten about it.  The "jia liat" part happened on the last day where I sprained it again while pulling my stupid luggage out of the hotel room for check out.  That's it.

20 Dec

Touched down Singapore around 5.40am wee morning.  After catching some sleep, went my trust worthy Ho Hong Meng Chinese Physician to bandage and secure my wobbly wrist.  Heng arh, can claim insurance.

 Then out I went to Copthorne King's Hotel for corporate nail service in the evening.  Yes, still can paint nails.  A few ladies were very nice to show their concern, I assured them I was alright ^^

Sooooooo...... tired, but I need to build up my portfolio and earn some keeps.  Many people envy self-employed, but 手停口停 you know.

21 Dec

Went for facial at Sylvia Skin Atelier which my bandage hand.  My skin was really bad after the trip.  Skin peels and yet oozes out oil like nobody's business.  I looked hideous >.<

Had a Christmas gathering at my kid sister's place.  Decent Sakae Sushi platters and a very special Lychee Log Cake from Pine Garden Bakery.

Ended my day pass 12am, again.

22 Dec

I spend my day packing up.  As much as I like to clear up all the rubbish, my hand just won't allow it.

Did a set of nails in the evening.  Hand pain.....

23 Dec

I called this day Susan 受难日.  Didn't know the rain was heavy, shared an umbrella with 2 sons.  We were semi-wet reporting to Tampines Sec School at 9am.  Yes, King Luis made it into the same school with his brother Darren.

Darren was such a darling to help us with most of the books, Luis and me (half handicap) really can't cope with the heavy load.  Had breakfast at Wendy's, not fantastic but we were warm with shelter for a while.  Brave through the wind and rain again to the ATM (not enough money to buy uniform) and back to the school.  I was WET, COLD, PAINFUL (wrist), HEAVY (books).   Call me pampered but I was never in such a pathetic plight.  But King Luis being able to get into Tampines Sec and filial act of Darren made my heart beaming with joy.  What more can a mother ask for....

By the time I reached home, I was about to die of fatigue.  I kept my last breath to nag and nag at hubby for not fetching us around.

Hubby:  Aiyo, like that my fault lah?

Me:  Of course your fault lah!  You know the books so heavy, then my shoes soaking wet ...... I walked so far to the stupid ATM  %$#@&...........

Hubby: *face palm, walks away*

I know very well it's not his fault, he needs to work.  I just have to vent my frustration and want somebody to acknowledge my suffers.  And always, the person who kena is hubby.  I guess is the same to everybody, the closest person always gets the most shit from us.

Had an appointment at 3pm, which was too much for me deal with.  The pain on my wrist got worst.

This is likely the last set of nails I had done for 2013.

After sending off my customer, went back to bandage my wrist again.  PaIn pAiN PAIN!!  Most unwilling to cancel this year's nails appointments, but I am left with no choice in this condition.  Hope that I'll recover fast enough to take in CNY nails appointments else I can forget about shopping in Bangkok at March 2014.

24 - 31 Dec
Taking a break to ease my body aches and rest my 猪手.   Not going anywhere for Christmas, I was out so much until I scared already.  I just want to hibernate.

Meanwhile put away all the old books and prepare my kids for school reopen.  Foresee new challenges in 2014, need more strength to move on!

Lastly Merry Christmas to my readers!

Treasure and be grateful to people us, strive hard for our goals, hold on to happiness with our palms!

If you like reading personal posts like this follow me at dayre.me/singaporeauntie ba, thank you!

Owl Cafe + BlackBall at Star Vista

Date of visit: 22.09.2013

This post is actually a continuation from my Labrador Nature Reserve trail HERE.

Walked till hungry, drove to Star Vista shopping mall or rather a food mall.  Damn "mountain tortoise" I didn't even know this mall exist lolxx...

Was spoiled with choices with floors and floors of eateries and restaurants.

It was lunch time on a Sunday but only a few tables were occupied in Owl Cafe.  Took the "gamble" and walked in, cos' I want to try something new and not any of those familiar food chains.

They have outdoor seats but I suppose will only be comfortable to sit in for dinner.  Our weather here cannot make it >.<

Love the embossed cartoon flowers wall facade design which extend all the way to the part of the ceiling.

Ice Lemon Tea S$2.90

Seafood Spaghetti S$10.80

Loads of veg and seafood was blanket beneath the melted cheese.

Instead of the usual tomato pasta sauce, it's in unique spicy sauce and it's highly addictive!  Spaghetti so springy that I wished I could stomach in another serving.

Insane YUMMY!!

The portion was generous, but we wiped it all out!

6pcs Tea Platter S$8.80

The platter consist of the mini grill chicken burger, tiramisu, coffee puff and chocolate cake.   2 durian mousse were served cos' they run out of another item, but we were thankful for the that!

The durian mousse was sooooooooo...... GOOD!!  So smooth, so creamy, so duuuuuurain, ma ma mia!

Here's our bill, with address printed.

Don't understand why was this little cafe under appreciated while some food outlets can have branch after branch open at every single shopping mall for serving average food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn't order much at Owl Cafe cos' I need to walked to Blackball which was one or 2 shops away.  There were so many raves, so just have to try....

Here's the bill with address printed on (so I can type lesser ;)

It's a dessert kiosk with less than 10 stools.  Attractive big poster panel on wall with local artist introducing their desserts.

Blackball Signature Icy S$5.40

Big bowl of dessert full of colors.

Add in milk, looking really good....

Grass jelly was wobbly soft, bubble pearls were really nice to chew on.   I had eaten grass jelly and bubble pearls else where of course, but these were more superior and exciting in terms of taste and texture.  Nay to the chewy but relatively bland gluten balls, I rather they use steamed yam, tapioca and sweet potatoes like those in bobo chacha.  Overall, it's worth trying, pricing is reasonable too.

It's awful that Star Vista is so far away from my home at Tampines T____T  How can I stop at just 2 eating spots sia?!!  Need to go back to "explore" other restaurants leh.

But then, I don't see a chance this year, cos' I am getting really busy.  Busy with nails for ladies who wanted to doll up for weddings and year end dinners.  Coping with allergy reactions caused by the chemicals on my hand really stressed me up.  But that's my rice bowl which I can't break since blogging is still like a dip sauce only.

Had been cutting down on blogging events else I'll die of fatigue.  Like other mothers, am packing away my kids' old textbooks, wrapping up their new text books; oh yes King Luis going to Sec One next year leh, so I got a lot to do.

Meanwhile I am washing and sun-ing my entire family's winter wear (it's more than 100pcs of tops, bottoms and jackets leh).  But it keeps raining these few days giving my laundry a hard time :/  Don't foresee myself relaxing till after Chinese New Year.

Will still be updating this space frequently, please continue to visit and support my blog ok?  Thank you!

My neighbourhood facial salon - Radiance

*sponsored

Look at me.

I am not be drop dead gorgeous with V-shaped jaw, tiny nose and big eyes.

But I had actually passed my 40s.   No need to look for wrinkles or crow's feet, I don't have any.

Wow..... yes, I know, thank you!

The makeup and filter had made my skin seemed flawless at this photo.  But I have to confess that I have combination skin with oily T-zone with visible pores.  Those areas are very easily clogged with both white and black heads which often erupts into pimples if I ignore them.

Already not easy to deal with, ageing skin creeped onto my skin which I managed to notice around 7 years ago.  Those fine lines were only visible when I looked at the mirror at 2 inches close; those laugh lines were getting more obvious; cheeks were getting droopy and I felt like a.....

droopy dog --_____--

To be frank, during then, it wasn't obvious to others, but that's when the situation can be "salvage".   A lot of people would always wait till those fine lines turned into deep lines before they start to panic and ask for miracle.  The old saying of "Prevention is better than Cure" is always right!

So, ever since 7 years ago I was with Radiance Boutique Spa, which had since take care of my face till today.  I have to say that my ageless appearance really owes to Radiance.

  It's a neighbourhood facial salon located at Ang Mo Kio, near my dad's place, my 娘家 to be specific.

It's a small place with all essential fittings though nothing extravagant.

I had been to a few trial facials with big names and atas ambience but none's able to tackle my face like Radiance facial salon.  They do very thorough extractions, cleared all the pores so that my daily skin regime can be more efficient, products are absorbed better into the skin without clogged pores.

It's amazing that they do vigorous blood circulating facial massage for me without causing breakouts.  And yeah, that contributes to a more firm looking skin!

Products used are from Japan or France, each series of products target different skin types.

I couldn't help but to recall the recent horrifying incident of a young beauty blogger whom her face reacted very badly from her sponsored facial.  I showed my experienced aesthetician Josephine the photos, she said that it's an allergy reaction to the products used..... there were more she shared with me but I think it's better to keep it between us in case things gets sensitive.

What I am trying to say is that Josephine, my aesthetician, knows what's she doing and I trust her ^^

This may be a sponsored post, but being with this little salon for more than 7 years, contributing to my ageless complexion which is the more than wordy testimonial, you know that this is not a superficial advertisement.

It's not easy to find a facial salon suitable for yourself, so here's a little something I can offer -

Readers' Perk:

Quote "Susan" to enjoy

Essential Facial @S$38

or

Intensive Deep Cleansing Facial @S$55

(for 1st trial only)

Call Josephine at 6453 3826 for appointment.

Radiance Boutique Spa

Blk 453 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 #01-1803

Singapore 560453

Disclaimer -

Please note that I am not affiliated or in any way linked to this salon.  Review is based on my own experience. Service and products may or may not be suitable for other individuals.

What I had been doing this long weekend.

I was stuck in Singapore, full stop  --______--

When EVERYBODY I know flew off for vacation, darn...... SO JEALOUS!!

Didn't make good use of this long weekend cos' King Luis's having his PSLE this year, another major reason would be I am totally budget constrain TT______TT   But I know it's worth saving and scrimping for my year end winter holidays.

This post is a diary of what I did during this long weekend:

7 Aug Wed

Holiday mood set in as early as noon when my kids came back before lunch time after some celebration in school.   I worked almost throughout the day, did a couple of nice sets of nails which I forgotten to take pics.

This is my manicure table with 2 UV lamps for each hand.

My chair is cushioned with Hikosen Cara cats, heehee....

No office politics or bitchy collegues, only colors, numerous colors in my work place ^^

Being self-employed is one of my greatest joy in life.
For those who may be interested, this is Precious Nail Services.

8 Aug Thurs

Decided to go to the Zoo to see the pandas around 12pm.  The traffic jam at Mandai Road did not look optimistic.   Joined the compulsive jam only to reach fully choked car parks.  Drove pass the Zoo ticket booth with snake queue length of more than 20 metres.   Being over crowded = fun spoilers.  Wasted our petrol, made a u-turn.  Morale of the lesson - NEVER VISIT ANY TOURIST ATTRACTIONS ON PUBLIC HOLIDAYS, wtf.

As I had mentioned, car parks were full, desperation had formed a long illegal parking of more than 1km away from the entrance of the Zoo.

We made a trip to Mandai Columbarium for my late mama.   Then went over to visit my old papa to make sure everything was in order (yeah, my 2 sis went for overseas holiday trip liao).

It seemed that having good food was the only consolation we could had.

Here's dinner for that day.

Really yummy, will do a review on another post ok?

To let out a devastating news - I'd put on another 2kg, now at 49kg.

That explained why I looked so bloated in recent blog posts >.<

I better watch my diet before my blogging career is ruin by my greedy mouth.

9 Aug Fri - National Day

I had never watch National Day Parade LIVE in my whole life as a Singaporean.   Nope, not even previews.  Didn't get to see during my school days and no luck year after year without any tix.   As such le hubby and I planned our own programme.  We gotten hopelessly romantic (and adventurous), went on a tracking at North Eastern Riverine Loop (NERL).

We passed by many spectacular sceneries, for many moments we couldn't believe we were in Singapore.

I have lots more beautiful pics to share which will do so in another separate post.

While others went fireworks watching, we found a secret place at Lorong Halus Wetland to watch the 5 Fighter Aircrafts taking off at really close distant.  They were huge, just above our heads and very loud!

Here's a not so good video which didn't do justice to what we actually saw in real.

After the aircrafts had flown their way to NDP parade, we had economical dinner at Kovan Market which turned out to be surprisingly nice!

Sambal Chicken S$7.50

The price is slightly more expensive than usual coffee shop's price range but totally worth it as the food quality is of a restaurant's.  The marinated chicken chop was perfectly grilled with charcoal, flavourful without losing it's natural juiciness.  The sambal chilli was very mild but added extra punch to the taste.  Generous serving of salad won my heart, baked potato with sour cream and bacon rites were so atas, in a food market!

I am going back to this stall to try out other dishes, hopefully it won't disappoint.

Cowboy Charcoal Grill

Hougang Street 21

Blk 209 Market & Food Centre

#01-31

10 Aug Sat

Went "bottle hunting" with hubby at Chin Swee Road, followed by early lunch.

Despite of being really picky on food, I bumped into another yummy economical stall that People's Park food centre for lunch.

Authentic Sichuan Spicy Pot with 2 bowls of rice $13.00.

Taste better than those in shopping centres' food court and much cheaper also!

I had tau pok, pork slices, hot dog, sausages, chicken gizzards and kangkong.

Very spicy for me although I ordered for "medium spicy" level, but it's addictive!

This stall has found themselves another loyal customer :P~~~

This is the stall with it's unit no. clear enough for my readers.  See?  Got queue you know, so be prepared ;)

Of course, I didn't make my trip down to Chinatown just for food.

After that yummy spicy lunch, I went to Jean Yip Loft which was opposite Outram MRT.

Not sure how I gotten a complimentary facial from them, but it was quite a pampering experience.

Was served with ginger tea and a chinese dessert after the facial session.

The sales lady did try to convince me to sign up a package but she didn't pester.

It was really tempting but the price was just too steep.

Dinner was at Ramen Champion at Changi T3.

Redeemed 3 bowls of ramen at a go, happy to the max, especially when they were all so delicious!
We had a hilarious encounter at the cashier, will blogged about it later.

11 Aug Sun

This voucher came just the right time.

Brought King Luis for a hair cut.

Bought a pair of school shoes for him.  He grew so fast!  It was like yesterday when he was still a baby in my arms.  Couldn't believe he's now bigger in size than me.

We settled for early dinner at Century Square's food court before returning home.

Came home, gave my customer a set of versatile bling nails for a kick start tomorrow.

Although I need to work during this long weekend, I was feeling very happy to be able to spend more time with my boys.

It's gonna be Monday again, but I am not blue, more excitement's waiting ahead ^^