5 star worthy products: Innisfree Green Tea Shampoo & Holland & Barrett Evening Primrose Oil

Hi all,

I apologize for my absence. With busy mornings and mounting deadlines, I have yet to blog about great products that have became essentials in my life. There are so much to be done, but I rather be blogging about beauty products and in the interim, escape from the horrors of reality.

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Lately I dropped by Innisfree and bought another bottle of Green Tea Mint Shampoo and also try Perfect Clean Foot Mist for the first time.

I do like Innisfree for obvious reason - their products are really affordable.

Their concept of eco-friendliness and incorporating natural ingredients is just what I felt is lacking in many commercial brands. They even included a recycling bin in their stores, which is the perfect solution for recycling needs.

Review: Innisfree Green Tea Mint Shampoo

Price: At SGD $10 for 320ml, it is as reasonable as it can get. Most of the innifree products cost lesser than then their Korea brand counterparts.

Packaging: Packaging is simple and in line with Innisfree's concept of eco-friendliness.

Product: The color of the product is minimal, which I appreciate. The minty smell of the shampoo is refreshing although I couldn't trace so much of green tea as stated. The texture is light and there is enough lather to go about for a small dollop of shampoo.

Overall: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
I only have raves for this product. Not only it feels caring for the scalp for being mild, it also leaves a soothing and minty sensation after rinsing. I do not feel any itch or discomfort for the rest of the day.

Holland & Barrett Evening Primrose Oil

For daily supplements, this is the only product I stick with throughout because of it's effectiveness.

I understand most vitamins or supplements takes a considerable time for effects to show and thus difficult to assess effectiveness.

I consume Primrose oil mainly for reducing PMS symptoms and to control breakouts, but there are other uses too:

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1006-evening%20primrose%20oil.aspx?activeingredientid=1006&activeingredientname=evening%20primrose%20oil

Anyway, it takes only a few days for results to show so it is pretty amazing! My sister recommended me this product after seeing the results on herself and I have been eating them for more than a year and I see a difference too. There are generally fewer breakouts and my skin appears clearer and smoother.

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With that, I am going back to work. I would be posting about another restaurant soon. Stay tuned!

Kiss Me Heroine Mascara

Hi,

  I am back at work and at the same time chalking up on my makeup reviews because there are so many products I cannot even find time for. Where did all the time go?

I have probably owned more than 50 mascaras (based on a modest estimate) and I can proudly declare it has stayed in my makeup pouches as it did in my makeup routine for the longest time.

The continuation of my support for awesome mascaras come in the form of reviews.

Anyway, choosing between volumizing and lengthening mascaras is a tough call so today I did both for your benefit:


1) Kiss Me Heroine Make Volume and Curl Mascara

Without mascara:

After 1 coat:

After 2 coats:

One last coat:

Price: Less than SGD $20, which is reasonable. (I have gotten this in Japan which is cheaper than in Singapore.)

Product: The texture is more watery as compared to most mascaras I have used. The mascara smells a little funky, but it does not bother much. It coats the lashes quite effortlessly, but application can be messy. The packaging is handy and fits well in my pouch.

Effect: It delivers volume and curl as promised. I have used better mascaras with more volume but this one makes up for it's ability to hold curls. I like the fact that it reapplication is easy as it does not clump much. Removal is fuss-free with my regular Biore makeup wipes.

2) Kiss Me Heroine Make Long and Curl Mascara

Noticed the fibres?

Without mascara:

After 1 coat:

After 2 coats:

All set and done!

Price: Almost similar to the above.

Product: Texture is also watery, but with fibres. I felt that some fragrance is added to the concoction but the funky smell still persist.

Effect: The fibres are great for a lengthening effect but it almost does nothing in terms of voluminizing. My lashes looks spindly after application. The mascara coats well and reapplication is also easy. However, the application is rather messy as it smudges on the eyelids. (Probably it takes too long to dry.) It does it's job in lengthening, but the curling power is negligible.

Overall: ⋆⋆⋆ to ⋆⋆⋆⋆
Both mascaras are affordable and delivers some of the desired effects, I have no issues with removal which some users encountered difficulty with. The effects are subtle and I would prefer mascaras with very noticeable effects. They tend to smudge on the lids and I could not imagine applying them without q-tips to clean up. Apart from that, the mascaras are one of the few which are clump-free even after multiple coats.

City Square, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

In the very last of the previous post, I mentioned about JB and I am back with a spanking new post about City Square, Johor Bahru. I can't proclaim I am a know-it-all when it comes to JB because god knows the amount of day trips Singaporeans take to Malaysia every single day.

Anyway, my memories of JB is backdated to at least 5 years back, which was the last time I step foot into City Square for Stonegrill.

This time we went straight in without expectations. In actuality, its in name of taking time off work.

We started from the top level of City Square and noticed a new, spacious food court cafe chic-like interior.

We shopped around and I realized some of the brands like Truimph is about 20% cheaper than in Singapore. I got a bag from Mango Touch and paid around SGD $63 while it costs SGD $69 back home. The rest of the smaller apparel shops are not exactly fashion forward so we mostly watch out for brands.

Here are my loots:

Back home, NARUKO is only available in Watson's store but having a walk in store meaning more variety and possibly cheaper prices, since we are talking in terms of exchange rate. I usually get my skincare fix at Qoo10 but this time my moisturizer got lost in the mail and I ran out of mine. Thus I have NARUKO's in exchange for moisturized skin. Price range is between SGD $20 to $30 for this product I singled out, and a pore-minimizing moisturizer sounds awesome.

I will try and squeeze some time for a review, okay?

Apart from shopping, food is also our priority. We settled for dinner at Canton-I for some dim sum.

For recollection sake, we had a total of:

1) Four plates of noodles (choice of 2 meats such as roasted pork belly, char siew, chicken ecetera)
2) 3 baskets of salted egg yolk buns
3) 2 baskets of siew mai
4) 1 chee cheong fun
5) 1 plate of fried prawn dumplings
6) 1 plate of beancurd wrap
7) 2 drinks

It is sufficient for 4 people, and the bill came up to only SGD $18 nett per person, and we were sold. Anyway most of the food are average or better and definitely considered cheap. I can't single out a dish that is exceptionally good or bad, but overall experience is satisfying. (Food serving came fast too.)

In the later part we walked pass Dragon-I, the parent company of Canton-I and saw extra large xiao long bao with a straw raised from the center! We look forward to try those out on the next trip.

We stopped by Hui Lau Shan for some sweet treats:

 
Macaron from Lavender Bakery:

Here's the SGD $2 Pizza Hut pizza I have been telling people about! I wish I have extra stomach space to contain more of these...

There is a new mall located beside City Square by the name of Komtar JBCC so we went in to find reasons to spend money on. (That is where the pizza came from.)

We walked in a 3CE store, got nothing in exchange for money and moved on. The variety is limited and there isn't anything for us.

I also managed to check out Charles & Keith and prices were much higher than in Singapore probably because it is a Singaporean brand? Sephora items came in slightly cheaper though.

For a happy ending, we top our trip off with a few rounds of Lasertag and skipped movies since it was the first time for all of us. Although the game rules were simple and foolproof, there were a fair bit of workout for our lazy bones. It was fun while it lasted.

Alright, there you have it, that's my combination of food, shopping and fun in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I hope most of you gained some tips. Remember to dress down, and if anything fails, there is $2 pizza!

Stew Kuche & Tim's Restaurant & Cafe

If you don't already know we eat for a living, last week we went to check out a newly discovered food place at Queenstown.

It was a typical Friday night and a good way to celebrate TGIF for sedentary office workers and that  could very well be a meat feast.

Hence, Stew Kuche!

B have been telling me a lot about Stew Kuche, which is a coffee shop with vendors selling Pork Knuckles, Chicken Wings, Escargot and other western cuisine dishes unlike the other coffee shops. Apparently the selection of beers is also impressive for coffee shop's standard.

We are not big on beers and thus we ordered none.

We got 4 chicken wings from Two Wings and a pork knuckle set from Stew Kuche. We were told that both waiting time could very well be 30 minutes but we didn't mind the wait.

The pork knuckle arrived soon after. The brown sauce coupled with the pork knuckle is sinfully savory and the mash is tastefully bland. We ate in silence for the next 20 minutes because it is extremely addictive! The entire dish is less than SGD $20 which seems reasonable.

Another backdated post would be on Tim's Restaurant & Cafe, which is a stone throw from my workplace.

The restaurant is of a comfortable walking distance from Braddell MRT. 

I shall leave you with some visuals:

The momos is one of the must-try dish. It is equivalent to the chinese xiao long bao but in smaller in comparison, and less the gravy. I find the sauce is tangy and interesting.

The mains were not too bad. My colleagues enjoyed the scallops very much.

I shall use this as a valid excuse for a welfie as an attempt to show some interior of the cafe.

This marks the end of our meat feast. I can't believe this post have sat in my draft for more than 2 weeks. We would be making a trip to Johor Bahru on Friday, till then!

Overall: ⋆⋆⋆⋆ to ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

Because both are reasonably priced and servings are generous!