Ion Orchard

More of my HDR trials in my flickr. :)

I don’t shave my arms for fear that the hair will all grow back uglier and thicker. Instead, I wax. I’ve tried several types of wax in the market. From easy to use wax strips to hot wax, but I ditched those, because they either didn’t work well or were just too messy for my liking. Earlier this year, I finally found something that I really really loved:

Aromacology Sensi’s Cold Wax

What I love most about this wax, is how cost effective it is. You don’t need to buy expensive wax strips/cloths, just use plain paper. Yes, paper! Even scratch paper will work just as well!

Here’s a quick step-by-step visual to show you guys how easy it is to use:

Just scoop a small amount of the cold wax straight from the pot (yes, no heating required!) using a spatula. A little goes a long way!

Apply a thin layer of the wax in the direction of the hair growth. See how long my arm hairs are? Haha!

Lay a strip of paper over the wax and rub in the same direction as the hair growth.

With a swift motion, pull the paper back against the growth of the hair.

Tada! Check out all that hair! =P

Repeat several times covering the entire arm. Afterward, clean the skin with a warm moist towel to remove excess wax.

Look ma, no hair! =D

See how fast and easy that was? :) I can enjoy several weeks of hairless arms with this baby! Plus, it’s only selling at the affordable price of Php215! That’s only about $4.50USD! It’s definitely the perfect salon treatment in the comfort of your own home. I just love it! :)

To enjoy other spa treatments in the comfort of your own home (no eye creams, though), do hop on to Revitalize Spa. :)

“I wish I could just take a year off to travel.”- Gouache in my moleskine sketch mid 2008.

This year has been pretty eventful for me in terms of traveling. I shuffled quite a bit between Manila and Singapore, and had several trips to other countries, including Brunei and Malaysia too. Next weekend, the boyfriend and I are also heading to Bintan, Indonesia for an overnight getaway before I fly back to Manila.

I obviously enjoy the thrill of traveling. Sometimes I wish I could really just take a year off, hop on a plane (after buying some travel insurance online, maybe) and go from one country to another. ♥

I started the day early by getting up while JR was still snoring away in dreamland. I whipped up a meal for both of us, and surprised him with breakfast in bed:

Our favorite breakfast treat: bacon and pancakes!

The smell of the food wafting from the kitchen had  already jostled him from his sleep before I even brought him the tray of goodies, but he stayed in bed and let me surprise him anyway. :)

For dinner, we wanted something a little more fancy, so we reserved a table at Novus.

We hadn’t really heard of the restaurant until only a few days before. Nestled inside the Singapore National Museum, we quickly agreed that it was just the perfect place to celebrate our relationship.

What a wise choice it was, because we were definitely not left disappointed.

The food was delectable! We chose our meals a-la-carte, and started off by sharing our starter:

Angus Beef and Buffalo Mozzarella Carpaccio garnished with Parmesan Flakes and Celeriac Julienne with Hazelnut Dressing.

This was simply divine! The mozzarella cheese snuggled at the center of the thinly-sliced beef was a surprising treat that got us emptying our plates in no time!

For our main course, JR opted for beef:

Black Angus Beef wrapped with Spinach and Ricotta Crust served with Rosemary Pearl Potatoes and Beetroot Reduction.

While I ordered lamb:

Braised Lamb Shank with Barolo Wine garnished with Saffron Risotto and Diced Garden Vegetables.

Both our dishes were cooked to perfection. Each bite burst with flavor in our mouths that every forkful became a treat to savor.

He was happy.

And so was I. :)

See, we were both hap-hap-happy! =D

Our main course left us full to the brim, but dessert is something we could never pass, so we each ordered something to please our pallates even more. =P

JR’s Dessert:

Zucotto with Chocolate Chips, Whipped Cream and Chopped Almonds.

My Dessert:

Warm Chocolate Volcano Cake served with Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop.

They were perfect treats to our toothsome cravings, that we finished them down to the last crumb! =D

To add on to the dozens of different flavors throughout our dinner, we also ordered two glasses of celebratory champagne:

These, we enjoyed throughout our entire meal. :)

<3

Our entire dining experience was pleasantly satisfying. Both food and service were excellent, with very little waiting time in between our courses. Maybe we were just lucky that we were there on a not-so-busy evening, but either way, it’s a place we would definitely love to dine in again. :)

Before leaving, we wandered around in the museum. The exhibits were already closed (no viewing of any Singapore history, food, fashion, or auto accessories for the day), but we found an interesting spot at the lobby where we spent a few minutes fooling around with the camera:

At the meeting point. Haha!

Waiting.

If it isn’t already obvious, yes, we do love the camera! LOL!

It was another well-spent Anniversary celebration over good food and great company. Six years down, and a whole lot more to go. :)

Happy 6 years to us, my love! <3

**More photos in my multiply. :)

We turn 2,193 days old today. I still wake up in the morning feeling like that very first day. <3

Happy 6 years to us, my love! :)

My latest craze at the moment are bokeh shots. Been trying to create images using different shapes as bokeh filters (not air filters), and have been having a blast bringing along my toys into the picture.

Here’s one I shot the other night, using heart bokehs:

Dreamin’ of You. <3

And this is what I looked like, shooting with my heart-shaped filter:

Yay, hearts! :)

More of my bokeh shots over at my flickr. :)

Since most of my recent purchases have been eye shadows, I ended up doing an EOTD. I wanted to do a dark-to-almost-smokey look, so I chose my new pot of purple shadow from MAC (Nocturnelle).

Eyes closed. Taken with flash.

Looking away. Taken with flash.

Eyes open. Taken with flash.

Products Used:

• MAC Paint Pot in Painterly
• MAC Eye Shadow in Nocturnelle
• MAC Eye Shadow in Black Tied
• MAC Eye Shadow in Dreammaker
• MAC Eye Shadow in Shroom
• MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
• L’Oreal Double Extension Waterproof Mascara

I was a bit lazy to do the rest of my face, so I just used some MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC30 under my eyes, and dabbed on MAC Studio Fix in NC35 all over.

The look was actually a lot darker in person.

My quick makeup fix also triggered me to do a mini photo shoot of my own, complete with soft lighting:

There are two more shots in my flickr. :)

Anyway, being back in Singapore means more food tripping for me! I have to be careful, because I might end up gaining all the weight I lost when I was back in Manila. Haha! If only staying away from food (without any weight loss diet pill, please) was just as easy as counting from one to ten! LOL! Good luck, me! XP

Achieving a blemish free skin has always been a battle for me. Like most girls out there, I tend to breakout especially during the time of the month. It becomes a real pain, because my pimples tend to take quite a while to dry up. Finding the best acne treatment has been an even bigger challenge, because sometimes the actual treatment/product end up becoming the very cause of the breakout! However, I did find something that truly worked to get rid of my unwanted pimples:

Aromacology Sensi’s Tea Tree Oil

I have been using this for over a year, and the result has been amazingly positive. I no longer worry about the sight of a growing pimple, because with just a tiny dab of this Tea Tree Oil, I can banish the bump before it even becomes full-blown!

To top it off, this product is not used just to treat pimples. Tea tree oil being nature’s most effective versatile healer for skin problems, it can also be used for cold sores, warts, burns, althlete’s foot, insect bites, blisters, dandruff, eczema, rashes, and so much more. It’s an all around healer that’s perfect to stash inside every girl’s purse!

And what I love most about this product is that it’s 100% Philippine made! Which also means that it is locally available (you may order them at our online store: Revitalize Spa), and is sold at a very affordable price of only Php185 (a little less than $4 USD)! Definitely a great deal for such a powerful product. :)

To see and experience the wonders of this product for yourself, please visit www.revitalizespa.multiply.com.

Drop by at our booth at the Poveda Eco Fair on the 18th of October, 2009 too. My mom and sister will be there to showcase this and a whole lot of other products too. :)

Mostly MAC!!! <3

Studio Finish Concealer in NC30 (’coz my pot’s almost empty!), and Eye Shadows in: Goldmine, Amber Lights and Nocturnelle.

Swatched: Goldmine (I’ve been lemming this for a while now, but it’s not available in either Singapore, Philippines or Malaysia!), Amber Lights, and Nocturnelle.

Mineralize Blush in Fad-Dabulous.

Mac Lipsticks in Captive and Rebel.

Mac Nail Polish: Steamy and Dark Angel.

Victoria’s Secret Lip Gloss Trio.

Extra Goodies from my cousin: Mica Bella Shimmer Powders in Tease and Intelligence, MAC Pigment in Antique Green, and Nars Eye Shadow Duo in Bellissima.

My makeup haul is nothing compared to my sister’s. She bought almost a dozen eye shadows and a whole lot of other things! Check them out at her blog. :)

I usually keep the MAC cardboard boxes (think they can create pretty cardboard displays?), but they’ve just been accumulating that I think it’s about time to throw them out already. =P

Another typhoon is here in the Philippines! It was labelled as a Super Typhoon yesterday by CNN, and it has left a whole lot of us worried about the state of our people. But thankfully, over the night, typhoon Parma/Pepeng slowed down and slightly veered away from Metro Manila. We are not safe yet, and heavy rains and strong winds are still felt in the metro, but we are thankful that as of this moment, it is reported that we won’t be hit as hard anymore. Prayers are of course still needed.

Be safe, guys!

The Philippines, being an archipelagic country, is generally no stranger to occasional flooding; Especially during this time of the year when minor flooding is almost always expected in several areas. However, the entire metro was taken by surprise when Ondoy’s wrath struck rapidly from city to city.

In Parañaque, half our village was submerged in murky water. In only a few minutes, water was already waist deep outside our gate! The water rose faster than we had imagined that we had to abruptly stop in the middle of our lunch to start lifting furniture and other equipments to higher spots.  Thankfully, both our houses were spared with the flood only reaching our garage and stopping a mere three inches below our front door.

Outside our gate. Water rose a little higher after a few minutes.

It was an even bigger blessing for our village, because after only two to three hours, water began subsiding already. By then, we were able to walk outside of our house to inspect the damage to our village.

The street next to ours was still heavily flooded. If you can see our village chapel at the end of the street, water almost reached the roof!

Dozens of cars were parked in this higher part of the village (to save themselves from having to hire car/rv towing services). Several people from BF were also caught in the flood, that they had to take temporary shelter in our neighbor’s house until the water went down.

Our street, with about 40% of the water gone.

Dozens of our neighbors were  left stranded in their flooded homes. By our village gate, water was almost one storey high!

When the water started going down, we took two families, including a nine-month-old baby boy, into our home. They were stuck and locked in on the second floor of their houses, because grills were secured on their windows. To save themselves, they had to pull out their air conditioners and climb out of the tiny holes

They showered, rested and shared with us their stories and fears during the most crucial time of the flooding. And before they left (the water completely subsided by around 8pm), we shared a candlelit dinner.

Waiting out the storm in the dark.

What our village experienced was nothing compared to the other areas affected. People were stuck in their flooded houses, some even on their roofs, two stories high. Others were even stranded in their submerged homes with no food to eat for up to three whole days!

Ondoy’s Trail of Fury c/o gomanio. This video breaks my heart every time I watch it. :’(

Hundreds and thousands of Filipinos have been victimized by Ondoy’s fury. As of this moment, death tolls have already reached 247! There are even areas that are still submerged in water.

What’s even more saddening is that, less than a week after the tragedy of Ondoy, several other countries have already experienced natural disasters of their own. More flooding, tsunamis and earthquakes.

I am fervently hoping and praying that the worst is over. :’(