///: January 2014

Comment Faire Si Tu Fais Tout à L'envers?

Recently been loving these girls from an all-female French rock band The Plastiscines' not-so-new single "Comment Faire". I also like their old-fashioned (kind of?) theme for this music video, and I especially love their outfits here. Mom jeans, overalls, pastel colors and all.

While the song is catchy, I can also learn French at the same time. It's like, the best of both worlds.

January Favorites

I have obviously been watching too many YouTube videos. I really have. And I'm trying as hard as I can to cut that habit off but, eh, it's just not happening at the moment. And yes these usual posts are inspired by the lovely YouTube.

I wanted to post this post as quickly as possible even thought the end of January isn't even close, but do you get that excitement to post just because you love those products so much and you just can't seem to control that patience and just, you know. You know what I'm talking about. But obviously I had to list down the things I would post about because I seriously had a massive amount of products which I have been liking a lot, but of course I'm not going to go through all of those am I?

Let's jump in to my January favorites:

1. Soap & Glory 'Scrub Your Nose In It'

I was looking for a facial scrub that really cleans and soaks up all the oil on my face and I came across this. I got this quite a while back, and what it says on the packaging instantly caught my eye and decided to give this one a try. And I have to say I really really love this stuff. It comes out green with gentle beads to exfoliate the skin. The smell is oh-so-refreshing. It has a mint type of scent which feels really cooling on the face. I scrub my face every night with this and it leaves my face squeaky clean.

2. Lush Jasmine and Henna Fluff Eaze

This was a very last minute purchase before I went back home from Singapore. And if I could pick one scent in the world that I could wear forever, it'd be jasmine. First of all, love the scent, and I've seen tons of amazing reviews of this, so I decided to pick this up. It is supposed to be used on dry hair and definitely, definitely does what it says. My fluffy hair was completely tamed down and it became sooo soft, manageable, and left my hair smelling divine which is a bonus! The only downside is that this takes a lot of product in just one use because it is applied on dry hair. My hair is only shoulder length but because of its crazy thickness, I could only use this product three times before I ran out of it. But for the price, you totally get what you pay for. Definitely give this one a try.

3. Victoria's Secret 'Secret Charm' body lotion

We can all agree that Victoria's Secret body lotions undoubtedly have the MOST perfect consistency out of all the body lotions out there. It glides onto my skin perfectly with just a tiny amount of the product. It's not too think nor too runny. A little bit goes a really long way. The combination of honeysuckle and jasmine is like, the most perfect combination I could ever think of. You know me, I looove jasmine-scented everything. Anything includes honeysuckle and jasmine is a good scent. Trust me.

This body lotion comes in a 250 ml size (or whatever you want to call it?), and it's going to last me a heck of a long time because I'm currently using another Victoria's Secret body lotion in a 125ml size as a gift and I don't even think I'm halfway through.

4. Soap & Glory Hand Food

Goodness gracious. Is all I can say, folks.

I was on the market for a hand cream because I ran out of my hand cream and I was in desperate need of it cause my hands get extra dry really quickly. I saw this hand cream at Sephora and instantly fell in love with it. The smell, oh the smell. This is the heavenly Soap & Glory signature scent which drives me nuts, really. Very hydrating and it is the most astonishing hand cream ever indeed, just like it says on the packaging. Love everything about it. Hydrates my skin, smells really nice, and I absolutely love the packaging. And of course I couldn't just get one tube. So I got another one for backup.

5. Victoria's Secret 'Midnight Exotics' fragrance mist in Deep Berry

I mentioned in my last post that the store in Singapore had this deal where I could get three mixed products for SGD 49, and this was one of the products that I purchased. It took me a heck of a long time to pick the three products because there was a giant amount of products and obviously I had to smell all of them first, right?

This smells really sweet and I love the pink packaging. The lasting power is unbelievable. I was quite impressed that I could still smell this scent on me after a couple of hours, because it's not an eau de toilette or eau de parfum, I expected this to have a not-so-impressive lasting power. Turned out that I was wrong.

Singapore Trip ++ SAM

Finally. I mean, finally my family and I got the chance to take a trip to Singapore (Yes, I was THAT excited). I stayed there for 5 days which is a heck of a long time if you ask me. Usually I would stay for 3 days but I found that my last trip wasn't quite enough because I was pretty bummed out when we had to fly back home.

On the first day we went straight to the apartment from Changi, then we grabbed some lunch at Takashimaya. Then I got to Sephora at Ion Orchard for the very first time and I freaked out right away. Seriously though, for a first timer (I don't know if that's even a word), it was absolutely overwhelming. Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW is all I can say. I went back and forth to Sephora three times while I was there. I bought a few not-so-exciting products, but I was thrilled about it!! I got two tubes of Soap & Glory's Hand food (50ml tube and 125 ml tube), and two tubs of Percy & Reed's Totally Hydrating Mask. Yes, I like hair masks and I like to pile things up. For backups. Normal, right?

Then I went to Victoria's Secret, H&M, Lush, Watsons, and basically every store I could come across to, the usual. They had this deal at Victoria's Secret where we can get three mixed products for SGD 49 so I got two body sprays and a body lotion. I didn't buy anything from Lush just because I wasn't very pleased with the prices, but on the fourth day I decided to go back and bought me the Jasmine and Henna Fluff Ease.

On the third day my brother, sister and I went to Universal Studios.

AND, the fourth day I went to Singapore Art Museum which I'm going to put loads and loads of pictures below because wow I really enjoyed venturing inside the museum and was totally driven head over heels for that place. Unfortunately I didn't really get the chance to take as many pictures as I initially hoped and I won't include every pictures I took (blurry pictures issues, the usual). But going there was probably the biggest highlight of my trip to Singapore.

P.S. I am very much aware of the extra blurry pictures I took. Just an ordinary girl holding a digital camera what can I say?

These are mixed pictures from SAM and SAM at 8Q, and I will also be writing a little explanation on some installations.

"Monument for a Present Future", 2013

Kiri Dalena, Philippines

"Hope Brings Us Here", 2013

Nipan Oranniwesna, Thailand

(The details are actually on the floor where you can see little dots and when you sit down and take a look closely, you can see different surroundings of Thailand in each dots)

"The Principle No-5", 2012

Iswanto Hartono & Raqs Media Collective, Indonesia & India

"Superbarbara Saving the World", 2012-2013

Boonsri Tangtronsin, Thailand

11 episodes of short videos showing this heroine called Barbara basically solving problems and helping people around her.

"Terra Sensa-Lovell", 2013

Jeremy Sharma, Singapore

"My eyeballs ate the wind

My feet ate grass

The tips of the hairs on my skin ate electricity

The back of my ears ate the sky

My tongue ate the stars last night while

My index finger ate blood

My chin ate the ceiling

My pen ate the floor

My brain ate paper

My clothes fed my nose with dust

And my back devoured the umbra on the

Mattress in full

Where my flank had failed

Then my spine ate the spring"

Cosmology of Life, 2013

Toni Kanwa, Indonesia

Different types of tiny (seriously though, extremely small that they provided a magnifying glass to see more clearly) people of Indonesia carved from woods based on different levels of each individual's 'energy'. The higher the energy, the taller the individual is in this installation.

"Payatas", 2012

Oscar Villamiel, Philippines

Thousands of excavated dolls from the Manila landfill. Yes, very disturbing indeed. But when you go into the room, it gets 100% a lot creepier. This photo is probably just about 20% of the whole installation.

"Anahata", 2013

Kumari Nahappan, Malaysia

A giant pile of saga seeds weighing more than 4,000kg and apparently this installation is located in the heart of the Singapore Art Museum.

"The Garden", 2012-2013

Sean Lee, Singapore

Sean Lee confronts mortality by taking pictures of his parents' body parts as they grow older.

"I am often afraid of my parents dying. I can see that they are getting older, it shows on their flesh. I wish to find some strength through photography to help me deal with this."

Thousands of post-its on the wall. Written on those post-its are people's opinion about how the world would be if the world changed. I just think it's beautiful and seeing some opinions was quite interesting to me. Yes, I wrote something too of course.

"It's All About Coalition", 2008

Eko Nugroho

"The Killer From Electricity Authority", 2009

Yuree Kensaku

Acrylic, carved window, painted toy skull and plastic blind

"Waiting Room", 2013

Shieko Reto, Malaysia

An installation constructed as a transgender clinic waiting room. The drawings on the walls show the transgender persons going through various phases of surgery and what they become. This room has a truly strong message I would definitely say.

"The Great Puddle", 2009

Nguyen Huy An, Vietnam

"Happy and Free", 2013

Boo Junfeng, Singapore

A video installation and you can only hear the song "Happy and Free" if you put on the provided headphones. And the bonus is, the lyrics of the song are on the screen, and you can sing along with the provided mike exactly like you're singing in a karaoke room. This song is basically about Singapore and Malaysia I don't really have a clue?

"The Aesthetics of Disappearing | Apart-ment 727 Tran Hung Dao", 2004-2006

Lam Hieu Thuan, Vietnam

A slideshow showing the communal living complex in Ho Chi Minh City.

"Your Eyes Are Stupid", 2013

Joo Choon Lin, Singapore

Mixed media installation with videos on the walls. The video right across the room is a film of a knife turning from solid to flexible. This whole concept is basically about eye illusions and stuff like that.

"Exorcise Me", 2013

Sookoon Ang, Singapore

This shows teenagers' isolation and confusion of growing up, between the childhood and adulthood state. That anxiety and being unconfident in their own skin, is showing on this 4-channel video installation on how the girls' faces are hidden and covered with makeup.

"Into the Sea", 2011

Le Brothers, Vietnam

3-channel video installation inspired by the birthplace of le brothers in Binh Tri Thiên, Vietnam.

"The Old Man and the Sea", 2013

Erica Lai, Singapore

Large format photographs of students on the walls whom Erica Lai worked with are taken at the corners of reclaimed areas of land in Singapore, to make the symbolic gesture of 'returning' small lots of reclaimed land. And in those jars are the students' imaginary of the new histories, myths and possibilities for the soil that they have collected.