Painting photos with reflections.

La Alhambra

Trees Copenhagen

Reflection of trees in Copenhagen

//Top to bottom: trees reflected in a puddle of water at La Alhambra, Granada, Spain; reflection of bare trees near Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød, Denmark//

I don’t know when or how it started, but I have grown very fond of capturing reflections in water. The movement and flow of water create different effects, sometimes making a photo look like a watercolour painting, other times forming interesting distortions. Most of the time, I would flip the photo vertically so that the image is the “right-side up”, and this changes the perspective a bit.

Mostar
Pont du Gard
Itsukushima Shrine's torii gate.

//Top to bottom: Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Pont du Gard in Vers-Pont-du-Gard, southern France; the Itsukushima Shrine torii (gate) at low tide in Miyajima, Japan//

I’m still a long way from taking spectacular photos of reflections, but practice makes improvement, right? Perhaps one day I will be able to shoot reflections as brilliant as the ones that JN takes!

Crabtree & Evelyn, Tea

It’s never too hot for a warm cup of tea!

tea

Ever since my friend Yuki made me a warm cup of green tea accented with rose buds, I fell in love with this simple blend of light flavours. Yuki has blended different types of teas for me to try and warm up during the cold days in London — which is pretty much every single day, even in the summer! — but this one is by far my favourite.

I know it’s nearly 30 degrees celcius now in Singapore, but I’m terrified of the cold, so I never find the weather too hot for a steaming cup of tea. I took a leaf out of Yuki’s book and popped a few French rose buds into my tea for a throwback in time to when we were both struggling with intense deadlines. It’s impossible to recreate the exact taste of the tea Yuki made me, but it was close enough. She used high-grade green tea that her dad sent her from China, and also used Chinese red rose buds instead of the French ones I have. French rose buds are paler in colour and give a stronger aromatic taste, but both types are good for a cup of refreshing tea.

As for the green tea I used, a few of my close friends, knowing that I like tea, bought me a box from Crabtree & Evelyn for my birthday a while ago. I’ve always associated this brand with luscious hand creams, delicious cookies and gorgeous scented candles (they also bought me a lovely pomegranate scented candle from there), so I was very surprised and pleased to find that their tea is heavenly as well!

All this talk about tea has jogged another memory of Angela and I smelling and tasting different flavours in a Whittard shop (I think we went to the one at Covent Garden). We were so determined to try every type of tea they put out that we even waited for them to refill the flasks that were empty so we could try them! I’m pretty sure we tasted a chocolate-flavoured one and didn’t like it at all. I mean, chocolate tea? That’s just weird…

Bath & Body, Essie, M.A.C, Makeup, Rimmel, Soap & Glory

Tiny Boots haul; wish I’d bought more!

When I lived in London, I went to Boots at least once a week, even if I didn’t have anything that I wanted. I find it really fun to casually browse aisles full of high street makeup and other beauty knick knacks; my friend Angela would tell you that whenever we went out on a weekend, especially if we happened to walk past the amazing Boots store at Picadilly Circus, I would ask to go in to have a quick look.

Last month, I went back to London after a holiday in Spain to attend my graduation. I had a list of things that I wanted to get from the UK and was really looking forward to doing some major damage at Boots. Unfortunately, we spent most of the time visiting places that my sister had missed the last time she came to visit, and places that my dad wanted to go, so the only time I stepped into a large Boots store was when we were in Newbury. We spent a great amount of time in there because it was really cold that day, and like many small English towns, there isn’t much to do or see in Newbury in the winter except visit the high street.

Essie Lilacism; Essie Mint Candy Apple; Rimmel Pro Matte Finish

I think I had around ten nail polishes that I wanted to get from Essie, but only bought “Lilacism”, which is my favourite colour and my previous bottle had dried out, and “Mint Candy Apple”. I don’t remember why I decided to give up on other colours, probably because I was a little concerned with my luggage weight, silly me! Apart from those two colours, I also bought two bottles of Rimmel’s Matte Finish topcoat. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find it really difficult to get matte topcoats in Singapore. This one from Rimmel is incredible, and cheap too! They make my nail polish last for at least a week without chipping, and the broad brush makes application really easy.

The other thing that I was really excited about is the Tangle Teezer. I don’t own a single brush or comb, much to the surprise of my dad when he asked to borrow one when we were out one day. I told him I don’t have any, and my sexist dad said, “How can a girl not have a brush or a comb?”, a comment that didn’t bode well with me, but I won’t go into that. The Tangle Teezer works like a gem — it brushes and untangles my hair without causing much breakage; I used to comb my hair with my fingers and would pull a sizeable chunk of hair out whenever I did it, so I am very pleased with this brush. I wish I had gotten the travel sized one too…maybe I’ll get my brother to help me buy one when he goes to England next month.

Soap & Glory body butter and hand cream; Limited edition L’Occitane hand cream in Mango Flower

I hadn’t intended to buy any L’Occitane hand cream, but my hands were really dry in Barcelona and I happened to see this at a duty free shop so I bought it. As for the other two, Boots was having their usual 3-for-2 promotion for Soap & Glory products, so I bought two travel-sized hand creams and one travel-sized body cream for only £5. Sephora sells the hand cream at $7 each, so this was a very good deal indeed! My sister got their Super-colour FabuLipstick Powdercoat Matte (what a mouthful!) in Pom Pom, a really nice burgundy shade, and I really regret not getting one too! The colour is very pigmented, the lipstick glides on smoothly, and despite being a matte lipstick, it doesn’t dry out your lips at all! A really fantastic product, but our Sephora stores don’t carry Soap & Glory lipsticks, at least not the ones I’ve been to.

Rimmel Stay Matte powder and MAC cremesheen in ravishing

Last but not least, at the top of my shopping list was Rimmel’s Stay Matte powder. I first used their powder in 2011, when I went to England for the first time to do a summer photography course in Poole/Bournemouth. I have an oily T-zone, and this powder helps to keep my skin matte for a really long time.

The very last thing that I bought on my trip during a stopover in Dubai is MAC cremesheen in ravishing. It is such a lovely colour and is currently my favourite lipstick to wear! I usually apply a little on my lips and rub it in because if I just apply it full-on, I find the colour a bit too bright for me. Apart from the one time I wore MAC russian red out, I haven’t been brave enough to step out in another bright-coloured lipstick.

As I mentioned in the title, I really wish that I had bought more! Oh well, maybe next time!

Travel

The first time I fell sick whilst on holiday.

I can’t believe that 16 days flew by just like that and I have been back in Singapore for nearly a week now. My holiday in Spain and England was fantastic, even though I was sick for three days in Seville with my bum planted on the toilet seat most of the time, and it was much colder in England this winter than the last.

Barcelona was lovely, although I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. My father didn’t think much of Sagrada Familia, because he’d been to Milan cathedral, which he thinks is the best cathedral in the world. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the architecture very much because having seen numerous churches and cathedrals in Europe, it was nice to see something different for a change! Seville has so much more to offer if you prefer experiencing a city’s history and culture to vibrant shopping and eating; if I hadn’t been ill for so many days whilst I was there, I would have loved it even more. We also took a day tour to Granada and had such an incredible time. The oldest part of this city looks dodgy and dangerous (to me that just adds to the excitement), but we had a feisty female guide with us so we felt very safe.

And then London, the place I called home for a year. I was happy to be back, ecstatic to finally see my boyfriend after five months of distance, but more on that next time.

Laneige, Skin care

Laneige water bank set.

It’s difficult to believe that just a few years ago, I only washed my face with the inexpensive Shiseido perfect whip cleansing foam. Now, my daily skincare routine consists of slightly more than just a cleansing foam, all thanks to my cousin who went absolutely berserk upon learning that I wasn’t moisturising properly, and made me start caring for my skin a bit more. Laneige is a south korean brand that she highly commended, so I let her and their beauty consultant pick a few things out for me.

This Laneige water bank set is part of their holiday collection, which includes a full size and travel size moisture essence, a gel cream, an eye gel, and a multi-cleanser that also removes light makeup. I have been using the essence and gel cream for years now; my skin used to be pretty dull, but these products have helped to brighten my skin so it doesn’t look dark and tired anymore. I’m a bit sceptical about the eye gel though because it doesn’t seem to have any significant effect on the eye area. The beauty consultant also gave me a bunch of samples to try; it’s one of the things that I love about Laneige, they are very generous with their samples!

I’m going back to London this week to attend my graduation, and the travel sizes are in for a treat because they are coming with me. Got to keep my skin well moisturised in the cool climate!

Accessories, Headbands, JRunway, Necklaces, Poketo, Rings, Rockstar

These just in: a ring, a necklace, and a headband.

Ring from rockstar

I’ve really been into rings lately, so when I saw this pretty thing sitting in an equally lovely porcelain bowl on the shelf at Rockstar, I couldn’t resist. It is such a beauty and I just love how the prism cube reflects light, leaving reflections of different colours on my finger. I currently have a couple of rings that I wear regularly, but I think this ring will soon replace them as my favourite.

necklace from poketo

Poketo is currently my favourite online shop for all things indie; I would have bought a lot more than just this fabric origami necklace if I didn’t have to pay so much for shipping! There are so many things that I want — this travel journal, one of these japanese copper graters, this beautiful ring holder, and so much more. I’m absolutely obsessed with their stuff!

headband

I don’t usually wear such dainty headbands, but for some reason, I really like this one. When I saw it at JRunway, I fell instantly in love. I’m not sure how long this infatuation will last, but I’m pretty happy with it for now.

Essence, Nails, Revlon, Sally Hansen

Worst base coat and nail polish combination.

Let me just start off by saying that these two products work fine when used with other brands of nail polishes or base coats, but they are horrible together.

Essence nude glam and Revlon base + top coat

The first time I painted the Essence nude glam in hazelnut cream pie over Revlon’s multi-care base+top coat, I thought the bubbles that appeared on my nails were entirely my fault. Maybe I had applied the coats too thick; maybe I should have waited a while longer for the base coat to dry; maybe between the time I bought the nail polish and the time I got home, the bottle had been shaken too hard whilst I was moving.

My second attempt wasn’t successful either — my nails looked like they had broken out in warts, but I wasn’t about to give up. I tried the nude colour on Sally Hansen’s mega shine top coat (yes I sometimes use top coats as base coats, please don’t judge me), and the bubbles were not as visible as they had been when I used the Revlon base coat. Also, the surface of my nails became smooth after I painted them with the mega shine stop coat! An excellent top coat goes a long way, eh?

essence nude glam

I love how the colour looks on my nails! So pretty and clean. I’ve always preferred bright-coloured nail polish, but it’s nice to have nude nails for a change.

Gena snaps and writes