My picks: Lace & Ebony

Previews of the collection launch happening tonight at 10pm! (:

I've picked out some of my favourites and the pieces I've kept. Yes, this is evidence of my growing wardrobe and I do want to clear it very badly. I'm reluctant of going down to a flea because some aren't that good and it's quite tiring! I feel like having a garage sale at my house but yeah... haha that really isn't very possible! Shall see if I can take more pictures so I can officially announce my secondhand site, otherwise with the few that I've only captured, it's kinda lame. Haha!

This is a backless dress that I absolutely adore! I don't usually pick out backless dress for Lace & Ebony because I understand the hassle, but this has got to be a great dress for the festive season! This dress is padded as well so you can really go without the nubra if you like! Just have to use fashion tape at the sides to adhere to you better. I love the back details, the ribbon is too cute!! Keeping it in White because well... LWD (little White dresses) are my thing! It's not toooo revealing because there's a huge ribbon hehe!

Another piece that is going into my wardrobe is this versatile zipper dress! I love how it allows you to zip up or unzip to allow you to carry off the look that's appropriate for the occasion. This dress is definitely a keeper for me! Fits so well too.

Going into the new Lace & Ebony basics is this New Look inspired handkerchief top! New Look has the lace version of this, but this is made in solid colors. More versatile too! This comes with an inner lining and adjustable straps. Quite comprehensive for just a basic piece, quality is superb. I love the White & Blue, hence keeping them both! (:

Can't resist pretty frocks so the next two are simple yet lovely dresses to take you through days you just don't know what to wear. Simply throw this on with some accessories and heels (if you'd like), and get dressed up so effortlessly! The first comes in a shade of a light pink! It's almost inbetween White & Pink, so it's a very very pretty shade that I love! The other color is a Rose Pink. Or how I would like to call it. Heh. This isn't very dusty pink either because it doesn't blend into my skintone. It's about the same color as the manufactured Barnes Blazer!

The last item has got to be my pick this week! 

I LOVE THE PLEATS! It has a wavy hem on a pleated fabric. So feminine, so classy, sooo going into my wardrobe! It can be worn 3 ways too! Off shoulder, on your shoulder, and as a tube. My favourite has to be off shoulder, of course ;)

Absolute must-get!

More previews will be up on Facebook.

See you at the launch tonight! (:

www.laceandebony.com

FreshKon Alluring Eyes

[Advertorial]

I am an avid colored contact lens user, so you can't imagine my excitement upon receiving an email regarding a FreshKon Alluring Eyes sponsor! :D It's my first time trying on FreshKon, plus, I am reviewing the 1-day disposable lenses, something that I've honestly haven't got a chance to try too. I've been wearing contact lenses since I was 14, only switching to monthly colored contact lenses at 18. Whoaaa... that's a lot of years being dependent on contact lenses!

I've chosen the FreshKon Alluring Eyes One Day Disposable lenses in Winsome Brown. I love brown lenses and how they accentuate the asian features softly. These lenses do help to create an illusion of a bigger pupil, embracing the dolly eyes that has grown so popular to girls everywhere. Not only do these contact lenses help you with your eyesight, giving you the much needed convenience for the modern woman, these come with added protection too! With UV blocking technology, the lenses help to protect your eyes as you wear them. Something that your spectacles might also help you with, but not other Korean/Japanese lenses.

Unfortunately, I have (quite severe) astigmatism, so donning on colored lenses wouldn't be able to provide me with a perfect eye sight. I would say it gives me about 75% vision, but sufficient for me to go round my normal activities. For those with high astigmatism, the colorless contact lenses would be able to help you achieve the perfect eye sight that you'll need. But vain girls are vain, so colored it is! :)

I've received a 10 day trial kit, which came in time for my Birthday trip to Phuket. Yes, double the happiness because it is going to be extremely convenient there, and would save me a step or two trying to wash my contact lenses. All I'll have to do is to open a new set and throw it away at the end of the day! *yay*

Took a selfie before doing the eye test at Paris Miki before collecting my lenses. It's a pity that I couldn't do a full accurate test at that point of time because I wore my contact lenses down and I could only wait an hour before the test would be accurate. My eyes need some time to adjust I think? But anyway I had an appointment soon after so I couldn't wait :( The consultant however did a check on the state of my eyes, and the results weren't at all good. It seems that my personal bad habits have caused my cornea / pupils (I forgot which) to dent a little, which I think is what causing the astigmatism to worsen. Hence, I need to rest my eyes more often, and probably don on my glasses more. (Which I really have been doing dilligently now! Can't play with your vital organs) I love the comprehensive service and checks at Paris Miki, thumbs up for the staff there!

It comes in a pretty natural shade of brown so I really really love it! I know brown color is not very "natural" for Asians, but it honestly isn't very stark when you look into my eyes, and it's definitely much more subtle than my usual pair.

Here are some photos taken during my Phuket trip when I was using it all day & night and very pleased how it didn't dry my eyes out or cause too much discomfort to be wearing it for long hours on a holiday! I know it isn't very healthy to wear it for long hours. The maximum is 8 hours I think! But on a holiday... it's hard to stay out only for 8 hours so... :x 

I really love how natural it looks, and knowing that it protects my eyes while I'm out in the sun, reassures me that I'm doing the most for my eyes. Plus, it's absolutely convenient for the busy modern day women, who wants fuss-free steps before going to bed to get her beauty sleep. I know the hassle of having to wash your contact lens container everyday, and make sure that your contact lenses are clean before you store them etc. It might only take a few minutes, but when you're that tired and dying to head to bed, you can save on these few steps! Also, being one day disposable lenses also means that each lens are "fresh" everyday and don't dry out like how my monthly lenses dry out! (Y) So many perks all in one product! (:

Absolutely no cons about this product, and worth the splurge if you can afford to wear dailies! I know it may be a burden to some students because of the price tag, but if you don't wear contact lenses on a daily basis, this is something you should consider. Protect your eyes at an early age to reap the benefits longer!

Thank you once again, CozyCot & FreshKon for the lenses!

They make a great and timely birthday gift, teehee! <3

Gift from above

I figured out that blogging short & sweet posts might be a little easier on my load because it takes up less time & I can have more updates to not make my little space stagnant and boring! I don't have a very interesting life, admittedly, so I'll do less daily posts, and I'll touch more on food places, fashion (Lace & Ebony, and my random OOTDs), and perhaps a little beauty every now and then! These are my top 3 passions and I think it's very clear to people who know me well or follow my Instagram, teehee!

But today, my post will not be on any of those three listed above. It's long overdue, but here's my 23rd birthday and 3rd Anniversary present from the sweetest boy. It's something worth blogging about, to capture in pictures & memories, and to pen down because I know G reads my blog occasionally, and I really want to thank him for the immense & dedicated effort he put to create presents for me despite being very busy himself.

My birthday and our anniversary is actually about a month apart... so... yeah, the smart boy dragged it out teehee!! But I'm really not complaining because these sincere gifts really make it all worth the wait. He is artistically talented, and draws soooo much better than me, so making such things (besides being time consuming) comes easily to him (:

Such a pretty front!

We actually bought the ring from Pandora earlier this year because I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. It's much prettier in real life (my iPhone can't capture the sparkle well), and I'm really glad we got it then because it's no longer for sale now. Also glad that we got it together so I can get it in my size! He stuck the ring in a light blue sand box, surrounded by flower pins. Such a gorgeous sight!

Ended off the back of his little gift with a personalised drawing of my favourite flower - Rose, and the way I love my "A". I love it in this font (used it for my 21st birthday), and he remembers/somehow knows. Oh and yes that's the Pandora ribbon tied to the top hehe.

Having guys hand-make your gift, really makes him one in a million. I know and am very thankful that he still does it for me whenever he can. However, he realises that I am truly running out of space in my room to display his hand-made items so... the era of such gifts might come to an end. Aww... :( But I will make it a point to capture plenty of pictures of his gifts because I treasure the tremendous effort he puts into each and every one of them. I also prefer keeping them in a box because honestly, these items do collect dust and "spoil" faster out in the open, so I want to preserve them for a little longer. Shall find a way to achieve that so that decades down the road, I can look back and reminisce the good times <3

Thank you for your truly amazing love.

I can only aspire to be half as wonderful as you are as a person,

and work towards being twice as wonderful as you are to me.

I love you <3

Just Breathe

A reminder to myself today to not fall victim to people who try to bring you down. 

Rise above them, rise above the problems. Cut off the negative energy that sucks the life outta you.

I need to be stronger. So take a few seconds to BREATHE and get back to it.

I'll be better & stronger for all those who believe in me.

And believe in His plans. He will show the way when the time is right.

xx

Phuket Tripping Part I

My travelogues are something I love collecting but it's quite tiring to compile, sieve and edit all the pictures. The accomplishment of seeing it all done up however, is really satisfying. Contradicting isn't it? My Eurotrip is still... incomplete, oops! I love my pictures and take immense pride in it. 7/8 of the pictures here are captured by G, and all edited by me. Been playing around with colors quite a bit, and my edits seem to be largely influenced by one of my favourite photo app filters - VSCOcam. 

This was a trip I really needed after an immense burnout from work. I've been terribly sick at that point of time too, so getting this bit of breather was essential for my system. Plus, I flew off on my birthday, hence I spent a quiet birthday in a foreign land. Probably the most uneventful birthday I've experienced, in terms of having not many celebratory meals back home BUT, best birthday present to myself, ever. Went through quite an upsetting phrase with work and even as G is there to hear my woes, I had to go through everything alone which was really, really tiring. The moment I reached the airport, my mood lifted and my excitement began building up. Escaping from reality for a bit never hurts ;)

Hello Phuket, goodbye worries.

We took an early morning flight so this was captured by G while I slept on... teehee.

Welcome to our villa @ The Village Resort & Spa, says G's very satisfied face. 

I regret not capturing more pictures of the interior & exterior!

Beautiful decor and pretty well kept I must say!

Our welcome fruits kindly delivered to our villa!

So gorgeous I couldn't bear to ruin it!!

The passageway to our room. On my left was the bathroom, and the right, a walk-in wardrobe!

Ta-da! Such a huge area with a bathtub, shower, toilet, makeup corner and sink.

Very pleased with the service and our villa. Our only misgiving has to be the abundant mozzies waiting to suck our blood. We have to be so careful about opening our villa's doors because the mosquitos there are commandos -.- They would rush at us and bite us very skilfully. Thankfully, I've got a boyfriend who smacks mosquitos well. He killed ALL the mosquitos that came into our villa. Okay, maybe 99% of them la, hahaha.

After resting a little in our villa, we proceeded out for lunch. Drove off to Phuket Town in search of some good food. We found Kopitiam, a retro looking eating place with lots of old school memorabilia and furniture. So rustic!  

The food was not bad! I stuck with the traditional offerings like Pad Thai while G ordered some Pork Chop Rice which wasn't very nice at all ahahha. The Tom Yum Soup is good though. Reasonably priced to boot. Sticking to the traditional stuff pays off sometimes! Worth a try but I would say, don't be too adventurous! 

Saved some space in our stomachs to check out this hipster cafe - Mac-chiato House & Cake Box, further down the street. It looks pretty hip and very different from the other shops along the same street but I would say, a growing trend of such cafes is prevalent in Thailand. More so in Bangkok I think!

We order Banoffee, which was YUMMY! (:

This is how a part Phuket Town looks like. It's actually quite a big generic area so you can walk around to explore... which we didn't because we had a car and we were such lazy asses.

We found a great massage place almost around the corner and G loved it so much, we made another trip down before we headed back to the airport on the last day, heehee. Which also unfortunately made us late for our dinner appointment that night.

G booked a special restaurant for my birthday dinner. We almost had a private dining experience because it's low season in Phuket and it's not crowded at most places. We had to drive for about an hour to reach our restaurant, Dedos.

Tomato butter for our bread. A surprisingly lovely combination!

Sashimi platter of Salmon, Tuna and Scallops which was really reasonable for the amount we had. The fish was alright only though, still acceptable, but we were happy because the price for the platter is something we will NEVER find back home :D We also ordered another appetiser but I think I lost the pictures!

Pasta with vodka, smoked Salmon & Vodka-Dill-Cream sauce

Pan seared Yellow-Fin Tuna fillet in Cashew nut – black pepper robe, Tabbouleh & wasabi-crème fraiche

We could have ordered a lot more because everything on the menu looks really tantalising, but sadly our stomachs can only fill so much, plus I was severely sick. I couldn't even hold a proper conversation with G for 1 minute without coughing several times. It was really really bad :(

After being so stuffed, the waiters came out holding a plate of dessert and singing the birthday song together with G. Awww! (: It's a simple simple surprise but I LOVE IT. I love (good) surprises and very blessed that he would take the initiative to request for a birthday surprise for me. Thank you <3

The dessert was sweet (taste and gesture), and thus ended our extravagant dinner at Dedos. Couldn't be happier because I know that this would have cost x2 in Singapore, and having such a pleasant dining experience in a foreign land makes it even better. Happy happy girl that night! (:

I had one of the best dining experiences in a humble area of Phuket. The food was fantastic, the ambience is soothing (too soothing in fact; all the pictures are captured in lowlight), and the waiters are really attentive. Two thumbs up for Dedos, a French-Asian fusion restaurant! 

The next day, the sun was out (at least for a while), so we headed down to the beach to catch whatever sunlight we can get before lunch. Yes when we are on holidays, we catch 10-12 hours of sleep! Such a waste of time, I know. But for me, it's impossible to get such luxurious sleep back home because I'm surrounded by work. I wake up to work, I work where I sleep, so yup. It's not a very good environment honestly...

Happy us! (:

We stayed near Karon Beach but decided to head downwards to Kata Beach to explore. Got terribly hungry and sieved through many restaurants before finally deciding on one. Because everywhere is so empty, it's very difficult to decide on where to eat because we are afraid of tourist-trap restaurants. Thankfully, whatever we ate on this trip was nothing short of fantastic. 

We stopped to have lunch at this restaurant called Eightfolds (near Kata beach). They had a tripadvisor feature hanging off the wall too so we decided to take a chance!

Verdict? We LOVED THE FOOD. Again we chose the usual traditional stuff, but since you're in Thailand, eat Thai food right?! Haha! It was flavourful and filling! Very indulgent :P

While randomly driving around, we passed by this scenic spot and just had to stop and take pictures!

This, is our pick-up truck hahaha!!! We picked auto so I can have a taste of driving, but honestly I don't feel very safe driving in busy cities except for Singapore... sooo... G drove all the way :P It feels like some times, you need to have the balls to charge your way, people just don't give in and it's not like they are rude or anything, but that's the way things are.

Stopped by a tourist attraction, which is the southern most point of Phuket. Yup, so apparently that is a tourist attraction? Haha. I think, if it wasn't for the rainy season and the clouds, we would have quite a lovely view of the setting sun and the waters.

I LOVE DOGS. Love them. This cutie stopped and obediently allowed me to take its picture, but refuses to face the camera straight. Whenever I'd move, he/she would move too, hahaha.

Yup, this is the view! Quite pretty actually. Plus the winds there were soooo good.

Spotted this dog too. My heart broke after I saw him/her. It was blind in one eye, and its tail had only a small bunch of fur left. It definitely dealt with a lot physically, but it was so cheery when it came up to people, wagging his/her tail, hoping to get some food. It kinda showed me how we should always be. 

Life might sometimes deal us a bad card, but we just have to get back up and face the day in the best way we can. We can make it through the difficult times if our attitude is right (:

I was intrigued by all that has been said about Patong being very touristy and all, and I don't know if it's a city girl thing, but I feel like I need to have people around me. Hahaha! I wanted to see what it's like anyway, so we drove down. I'm quite thankful we went in low season, because I can not imagine how bad it would be in high season. No parking lots, crowded streets and beaches. There were many many touters. I think that's the only thing that really annoyed me at Patong!

Again we had to walk around before deciding on where to eat because there's simply too many choices around! We also had my trusty phone + 3G to google and check out the reviews for the places. Finally settled on a place called The Sweet along one of Patong's alleyways, and yes it had that tripadvisor award thing again, haha!

Oh and we spotted a Winner too!!

G's BBQ extravaganza! The special for the night. It was filled with so much food!

I settled for boring ol' green curry that was really nice but spicy!

This concludes Part I of our Phuket Trippin'! Teehee!

Till the next time ;)