Eeek!!

Today, I just want to post a short rant about something I saw while driving past the SS2 morning market. It was towards the end of the morning market and the owners were cleaning up their respective stalls. I saw this owner of a, I guess it was a 'Yau Cha Kwai' stall and I saw him wiping down his wok and thought, 'oh, that is good of him to keep the wok clean'! When I looked closer, I saw that he was wiping it down with newspaper!! I mean, is there a good reason to do this? Isn't the ink detrimental to the health of consumers??!! I could not believe my eyes. Note to self, let's not eat food from those stalls anymore!!! Eeeeek!

Serenity Gemz - CHRISTMAS OFFER

Serenity Gemz is currently offering a 25% discount on ALL items until 31st December 2009 as part of its Christmas promotion.

Do check it out and who knows? Perhaps pick out your own Christmas present? Hehe....

EcoTools in Malaysia

Has anyone ever heard of EcoTools? Well, EcoTools has many products under its earth friendly line but the brand is more well known for its makeup brushes. Why? Because EcoTools brushes are made of natural and recycled materials and much cheaper than other branded makeup brushes and supposed to work just as well. It was all the rage in the USA but unobtainable in Malaysia. I managed to buy a few brushes when a friend went to the USA.

Yesterday, while I was walking around One Utama Shopping Centre, I decided to pop into the Shins retail outlet just to check out if they had anything interesting. And my eyes nearly popped out when I saw that they were selling EcoTools makeup brushes!! I couldn't take any pictures as the shop was very small and had 3 SAs which would probably be eyeing me curiously if I were to start taking pictures.

The pictures below are some brushes that I managed to obtain through a friend in the USA:

Bamboo 5-piece brush set - Baby Kabuki, Mineral Powder Brush, Concealer Brush and Eyeshader Brush

Bamboo 6 piece brush set - Blush Brush, Concealer Brush, Eyeshading Brush, Eyeliner Brush and Lash and Brow Groomer

EcoTools Powder Brush

EcoTools Foundation Brush

I managed to purchase the first 3 items at a total of about RM125 after conversion. Here, the price of the 6 piece Bamboo Brush Set was retailing for RM85, while the Powder Brush was retailing for about RM50. I must apologise for forgetting to check the price of the 5 piece bamboo brush but seeing that the price of my 3 items from the USA is only equivalent to the price of the 2 items in Malaysia, I'd say it's way more expensive to get in Malaysia.

The makeup brushes are made from synthetic bristles which are 100% cruelty free and bamboo handles that have a low impact on the earth's resources as it is a highly sustainable plant. The silver part of the brush is actually recycled aluminium. Although the bristles are synthetic, I must say that the brushes feels truly soft and luxurious. I personally like the eyeliner brush and the concealer brush. For eyeshadow, I prefer a more dense makeup brush. The blush brush works really well in picking up blush powder as well. I found the baby kabuki brush to be too sparse to work effectively and I think one which is more densely packed would be a better kabuki brush.

Anyhow, this posting is for those of you who might have wanted to try out EcoTools brushes but never got the opportunity to try it out. I can't be sure whether all Shins outlets now carry EcoTools so just pop into the one at One Utama New Wing to avoid disappointment!

Have you ever tried using EcoTools brushes? If you have, let me know your comments!

Totebags Galore!

Has anyone ever heard of the brand Rootote? It is a brand which was created in Japan in 2001 and it's called a Rootote because each bag has a convenient side pocket called a "Roo pocket" (as in kangaroo, I think). There are also convenient pockets to hold all your gadgets and stuff inside the bag. For those who are afraid to use bags with no zip enclosures (like me), you can put your purses and such in the Roo pocket as it is a cleverly hidden pocket with a zip enclosure at the side of the bag. To see what I mean, please visit Rootote.com.

Here are some pictures of the Rootote bags :

Cosmetic Pouch

The prices for the totebags ranges from RM50 to RM125 for limited editions. The cosmetic pouches retail for RM45. The bags made from polyester materials are priced at RM50 and the cotton canvas ones are priced from RM55 onwards. I have seen these and I feel that the material that is used for the totebags are strong and durable, perfect for everyday use. And the above are just a fraction of the designs that are available.

You can find the above bags at :

Life & Style Co.
P2-L1, Tropicana City Mall
No 3, Jalan SS20/27
47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

The shop also sells other brands of totebags such as Funtote (from the USA) and Envirosax which are environmentally friendly designer shopping bags. Everyone should be encouraged to use these bags as their contribution in saving our environment!

Enjoy!!

Souvenir from Prague

It's been a while since my last post and I will have a few new posts coming up. But for now, I just want to write a short post about a souvenir my mom brought home from her recent Eastern Europe trip.

Can you guess what it is?

Yups, it's a Nail File!

I thought it was the cutest thing. Embedded with Swarovski crystals and the actual file I think is made either from a special type of glass or crystal too. I'm one for shiny things. Hehehe, ask anyone I know. And it's not just for show, it actually works. :)

Two of the same???

I am writing this post at the risk of looking silly and stupid to my readers. Hahaha. A couple of months back, I went to a Times Bookfair (that they have a couple of times a year) and picked up some books which I thought would be a good read and good value for money.

Among one of the books I picked up was Tony Parson's, Family Way.

I recently only read it and thought it was a very good book and could not put it down. After I finished reading the book, I proceeded to place the book back into my bookshelf (which is located in the study) and lo and behold, what do I find??!! There was the same book (albeit a little smaller and in a different coloured cover) staring right back at me from the shelves!!!

Suffice to say that I felt totally stupid. What more that the first edition I bought was even slightly cheaper than the recent one I picked up!!! And let me say, that this is NOT the first time that this has happened to me!!! Sigh, guess I can't keep up or remember, especially when they change the book covers!!

Have any of you ever done the same silly thing??

(at the time of this posting, I suddenly realised that I might not have bought this book but loaned it from a friend. But she can't remember if it's hers, so I guess it's the same thing! I have two of the same books!!)

Latest Arrivals on Serenity Gemz

This is just a short posting to all my readers that there are new arrivals from Foxy Originals on Serenity Gemz now!

Here is a preview to what's in store:

Casablanca Hairband from Foxy's latest Brazilia Collection - RM 135

Peacock Necklace from Foxy's latest Brazilia Collection - RM 180

Heaven Necklace by Foxy Originals - RM 170

Sahara Ring by Foxy Originals - RM 165

Love Birds Necklace by Foxy Originals - RM 180

Please visit the blog store for my new items. Serenity Gemz is currently having promotions as follows :

Buy 2 items - get 15% discount off total value

Buy 3 items and above - get 20% discount off total value + one large size velvet gift pouch

MAC Cosmetics Store - Pavilion Shopping Center

I just want to make a short posting on something I was quite surprised with. A few months back, I bought a lip gloss from MAC Cosmetics from their Plushglass range. I decided to try this range because it was supposed to plump your lips, or rather, make your lips look plumper than usual and it contained peppermint as part of its ingredient (and it makes your lips tingle when you have peppermint in any lip product).

Anyhow, my lips felt funny the first time I used the Plushglass but I didn't think too much about it. It felt like there were small, tiny rashes on my lips (invisible to the naked eye but you can feel it) and the lips felt rough in texture. I decided to then take note and put on the Plushglass again, and this time, the same tiny rashes on my lips appeared and it took about one week for my lips to go back to normal! I was so freaked out and was telling a friend of mine about it. She encouraged me to go back to the store and ask for a refund or an exchange since I was obviously somehow allergic to the product.

Now if I was overseas, I would have definitely gone back to the store and asked for a refund or exchange but as we all know, it's difficult to do so in Malaysia. Anyhow, since I had plenty of time on my hands, I thought I would try by first calling up the store and telling them my story. I was pleasantly surprised as the store manager told me to bring the product back along with my receipt and that they would gladly exchange it for another product.

So off I went happily to the store and all I had to do was fill in a form which actually had questions like 'What was the result of using the product?' in it. Does this mean lots of people have allergic reaction to their products? It was quite a long form to fill up but I was glad to do it. Better than having a brand new lip gloss lying around going to waste right? :)

Co-incidentally, I have to say that the MAC Store in Pavilion is the only one that I like going to. Why? Because the people at the other MAC Stores make you feel like an idiot that shouldn't be buying MAC stuff if you don't know how to put on make up. And they are usually not very polite when they are doing so. However, the service staff at the Pavilion store seems more polite, not pushy and very helpful, especially a girl called Chloe. So anytime I want anything from MAC, I will make the effort to go all the way down to the Golden Triangle. :)

Has anyone ever had the same experience that I had shopping at other MAC stores?

Sephora in Singapore

This post is about my recent visit into Sephora Singapore at ION Orchard during Merdeka Weekend. This is actually not my first visit to Sephora as I had already visited the Sephora in New York about 10 years ago. Only then, I was much younger and wasn't really interested in cosmetics so, did not think that Sephora was a big deal. Hahaha.

Anyhow, I was not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the Sephora store. Yes, I was a geek and asked the store people if I could, and they said 'no'. So, here's a picture of the store front.

It is actually a very spacious store and I hope that in the future they will choose to bring in more brands. For now, they have the following brands (I will try to list the brand names from Memory):

• Sephora (in-house brand)
• MAC
• SK II
• Pop Beauty (UK brand)
• Smashbox
• Too Faced
• Clinique
• Clarins
• Kose
• Bare Minerals
• Bliss
• Burt's Bees
• Makeup Forever
• Dr.Hauschka
• Federik Fekkai
• Nvey
• Dior
• Sisley

There's more but that's about all I can remember. They also sell perfumes by a lot of brands so Sephora is not only for skincare and cosmetics. :)

Basically I was only interested in Burt's Bees and Bare Minerals products as I have heard good things about it and wanted to try Bare Minerals foundation powder. There were many sales assistants around and I would say most of them were very polite except for the one that attended to me at the Bare Minerals counter. Anyhow, I bit my tongue and walked away with only one product (if she had been nicer to me, perhaps I would have walked away with more). Hahaha.

I apparently have yellow toned skin so the SA matched me with the mineral foundation in 'Light'. I have been browsing bare minerals online but was quite shocked when I saw the size of this thing up close. The above only contains 2 grams worth of powder and costs SGD48 (about RM 118). Although on the upside, it provides you with a sun protection factor of 15 (i.e. SPF 15).

I must say though that after trying the mineral foundation, I really love it. It gives my skin a natural finish with some coverage and on the overall, you get a glowing look. If you want light coverage, use a normal powder brush to apply it on your face. However, if you want a little more coverage, then use a kabuki brush to really buff the powder onto your face. The only downside is my pores becomes a little bit more apparent than normal but no one has commented on that fact yet! ;) I will be going back to Singapore in October and thinking if I should try something else from them. Hehe. You can read more about Bare Minerals cosmetic line by Bare Escentuals here.

I also got some brushes from Sephora's own line of brushes. First was the angle brush for cheeks, then another flat round top brush for either blusher, bronzer or powder and a crease contour brush. The brushes range from SGD20 to SGD35 and they are made of natural hair (whatever that means). Hahaha. But they are very soft although I haven't used it yet...Still too new. Hehehe.

I also bought a lip balm from Burt's Bees and another eyeshadow palette from Pop Beauty. I would say that the eyeshadows from Pop Beauty are pigmented and very smooth to the touch. I have not used them yet so I can't comment on whether it's long lasting or whether it goes on nicely.

I just wished that Sephora brought in Urban Decay because I really love the eyeshadows and eyeshadow primer potion! We can remain hopeful. :))

Feel free to leave me your thoughts on Sephora Singapore!

Comparison between Nail Salons

This post is going to be a little boring as I have no pictures to accompany it but felt a need to write about it anyway. I have been going to the same nail salon for about two years (I think), as I followed my manicurist when they decided to open shop on their own. Anyway, the place I normally go to is called Nailz Spa and it is located in Desa Sri Hartamas. However, recently my manicurist decided to call it quits and re-open in Sunway instead. I NEVER go to Sunway unless I have to so this time, I thought I'd try out a new place - Glitters Nails and Waxing Salon in Bangsar Village II.

I wanted to just have my nails buffed (without a manicure), a pedicure and paraffin wax treatment for hands and feet. However, the manicurist did not hear my properly and went ahead to do a full manicure. Also, out of 4 therapists there, only one was a local. Anyhow, that does not matter so long as they are skilled right? But I must say, I was very disappointed with the nail buffing. Not much effort was put in and my nails did not look buffed at all. I was so disappointed with them that I did not bother complaining about it (yes, I'm strange like that 'cos sometimes I can make a big fuss).

When it came to the paraffin wax treatment, I feel that they did not know how to time the heating of the wax as by the time they brought it for me to dip my hands in, a layer of wax was already starting to harden on the top. They also did not have enough wax to allow my feet to be covered fully and ended up having to ladle the wax onto my feet. I like having the paraffing wax treatment done because I have cracked heels and I find that the moisture is effectively kept in by the waxing treatment. However, compared to the previous nail salon I used to go to, I'd say the waxing at Glitters was not as effective. Also, they did not proceed to put any lotion on after the wax was removed.

The paraffin wax treatment for hands and feet cost RM 55. The manicure plus buffing cost RM 38 and the pedicure cost RM 43.

Well, maybe I'm being fussy but all in all, I'd say, I would not go back there again. Guess I'll have to look for a new alternative. Anyone has any suggestions?? Feel free to leave it in the comments section!

Restoran Fish & Noodle House

For those who read the previous posting, the upside of today was having breakfast at the Fish & Noodle House. Basically, this restaurant is famous for its Fish Head Noodles. Now, I have always been a fan of the SOUP of the fish head noodles but not the fish head itself. Too many bones and takes me forever to finish as I have to pick out the bones one by one. So this is one of my new favorite restaurants as it gives me good fish head noodle SOUP and I can have a choice of having it with FISH FILLET. Hahahah. Love it! The soup is very tasty and I'm kinda addicted to it at the moment.

Some people might probably find their pricing a little on the high side for a bowl of noodles. The fish fillet noodles I like cost RM9.50 per bowl whereas the ones with the fish head costs RM11.50. I have attached a picture of the restaurant's full menu for your reference. I believe if you double click on the picture, you will be able to see a clear picture of what's on the menu and the pricing that goes with each. The restaurant gets pretty packed during lunch hour but as the food comes out of the kitchen quite fast, you should not have to wait too long for a seat.

Apologise for the lighting on the photos. Did not realise they had turned out so yellow!

Fish & Noodle House is located at :

No.77, Jalan SS 20/11

Damansara Kim

47400 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Business Hours : 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Closed on 1st & 3rd Monday of every month

Marmalade - Bangsar Village II

This is just a short rant of what I had today for lunch. I was at Bangsar Village and my sister and I decided we would go to Marmalade Cafe for lunch. Personally, if it was my choice, I would never volunteer that place as a choice location. Why? Well, the first time that I went, I ordered a Greek Salad. Now the essential ingredient of a Greek Salad is Feta Cheese, so lets say, I was not impressed that I could possibly count the number of Feta Cheese they put in that salad on one hand. If you get my drift.

Then today, I wasn't feeling very hungry so I decided to order a Mushroom Feta Bruschetta. When my order arrived, surprise surprise, it was ONE measly piece of bread with whole bunch of mushrooms on top with some Feta Cheese. Come to think of it, I think the amount of cheese on this bruschetta was all I got when I had a full size Greek Salad. *Rolls eyes*. It costs a whopping RM11 before tax!

Needless to say, I will not go to Marmalade again unless I'm overruled by a majority. LOL.....

Dian Xiao Er

Interior of Dian Xiao Er

My all time favorite restaurant in Singapore is Dian Xiao Er located in Vivo City. My hubby and I actually chanced across this restaurant when we were wandering aimlessly for the first time in Vivo City. Since then, everytime we make a trip down to Singapore, we will stop by Dian Xiao Er to have lunch before we leave for home. Again, I forgot to take a picture of the restaurant shop front (I was too busy taking pictures of the food), so please visit Dian Xiao Er's website here to learn more.

This restaurant's specialty is Herbal Roasted Duck with either Angelica Herbs, Ten Wonder Herbs or Wild Ginseng. If you ask people who know me, I do not typically like to eat duck at all. But something changes in me when I'm at this restaurant and I can eat a whole lot of duck! This time, we ordered 2 portions of duck (each portion is a quarter of a duck). One prepared with Ten Wonder Herbs and the other with Angelica Herbs (or Tong Kwai). The food looks too good to collate into one picture so this is going to be a 'long' posting.

Herbal Roasted Duck with Angelica Herbs

Herbal Roasted Duck with Ten Wonder Herbs

The ducks are uber yummilicious of course, but also very tender and juicy. If you are not fan of Chinese herbs, then you might want to skip this one. But if you are, try it and you will not regret it.

We also ordered 'Dong Po' pork this time (we were just too greedy) as it was supposed to be a Chef's Recommendation on the menu. I found the pork to be fatty (as it has to be for this particular dish) but there was a lot of lean meat as well.

Dong Po Pork

And finally, we must have a vegetable dish right? :) So we ordered Baby Kailan with Salted Fish. This was also very well prepared and was very tasty.

Just look at what we ordered just between the two of us!!! So sinful!!!

Oh, did I mention that all these dishes took less than 10 minutes to arrive from the time we ordered?? That's the other reason I love this place. Good food, great service and efficient as well!

If you are the first 10 diners between 11.30 a.m. and 12 p.m., they will give you 15% off the entire bill.

The restaurant has many outlets but if you're in Vivo City, it's on the 2nd Floor next to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Parlour. It's opening hours are as follows:

Monday to Friday : 11.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

(last order is at 9.30 p.m.)

Weekend and Public Holiday : 11.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

(last order is at 9.30 p.m.)

Bon Apetite!

New Collection by Edera Jewelry

Clemence Earrings

Anya Earrings

Thetis Earrings

Delphine Petit-Four Earrings

I was so excited when I found Edera Jewelry as it was exactly what I had been looking for. Edera Jewelry is the brainchild of Ivy Long, who has been creating unique and meticulously handcrafted jewelry for ten years. Her signature craft involves meticulous interweavings of silk, gold and silver thread, embroidery, semi precious stones, vintage beads and handcrafted chains.

Edera Jewelry has created 4 pieces exclusively for Serenity Gemz (as pictured above) and is currently not available for sale anywhere else in Asia. For more information about the individual pieces and for the prices, please visit Serenity Gemz.

You need only to have a closer look and see all the work and love that has gone into the weaving and beading of these creations. Truly an exquisite, one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art.

New Collection at Serenity Gemz

Serenity Gemz has just added to its list of quality handcrafted jewelry, a collection by Lotus Jewelry Studio flown in all the way from USA. This collection basically consists of sterling silver round tags which are either hand stamped with initials in script font style or with words such as 'Peace', 'Hope', 'Faith' and 'Luck'. 16 inch chains are included with the tags.

Each necklace is priced at RM 175.

20% discount is given on ALL items until 30th September 2009!

Well Cook Gourmet

Isn't that an interesting name for a restaurant? I wonder what the owner was trying to express..Why wasn't it Well Cooked or Cook Well? Hahahhaa. Anyway, this restaurant is located in Subang Jaya and was actually featured in The Star newspapers a couple of weeks back. The restaurant is predominantly famous for its Fried Laksa which is essentially your normal Assam Laksa, but in dry form. I found it to be very tasty since I've never had sort of noodles in fried form before. Hope that makes sense. However, although the Fried Laksa is the specialty, the menu has a pretty decent variety. We also tried the Claypot Curry Laksa which I thought had enough oommph in it and was tasty without being too spicy. So hard to find good curry laksa nowadays. :)

Fried Laksa

Claypot Curry Laksa

The other things on their menu are nasi lemak, fried rice, fried kuay teow, claypot yee mee, prawn noodles (soup) and others. I'm so sorry but I still forget to take down details!!! It's pretty much your normal hawker fare but the pricing is reasonable and what is important, is that the restaurant is clean. :) The individual dishes are probably priced around RM6-RM7 per plate/bowl.

Details as follows:

Well Cook Gourmet

No.74, Jalan SS14/2, 47500, Subang Jaya, Selangor

Opening hours : 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.

You can also see more pictures at their own blogspot at www.wellcookgourmet.blogspot.com. :)