I got the DHC Pore Essence in my Watsons Ambassador kit previously but had way too many beauty products at that time to try so I’m only trying it now. I’ve never really used any sort of pore essence before so I really don’t know what to expect. There were quite a few raves in a couple of beauty forums about this product and its supposed to ‘close’ your pores, retain moisture and improve clarity of your skin. Sounds awesome!

I’m definitely one with large open pores, especially on my nose area. I attribute it to starting a good skin care regime too late in life. I only actively washed my face everyday with a cleanser after I turned 20! I never really had bad skin so I took skincare for granted but while I never had major breakout issues, my huge open pores are a constant reminder of how not taking care of my skin has its consequences. I don’t really expect a miracle cure to minimize my pore with this essence but it’ll be great if this product can help to make sure my large pores don’t get clogged with impurities.

After application of the product, my skin does feel tighter and I think it’ll be a great product to use for the days when my skin tend to be a little overactive and oily. It’s easily absorbed into the skin and has a pleasant scent. I’ll be starting to add this to my skin care routine so if my skin suddenly seems smoother and pores tighter, you’ll know why!

I’ve still got tons of backdated photos to share so I won’t be showing my CNY celebration pics till I clear my 2011 December ones!

Sometime in December, Sebastian and Xing invited me to the grand opening party of Lucky 13, a new club in town. It was a costume party and I brought along some friends including Regina, JW, Melva and Ang. . Before the partying began, Ang, Regina and I had dinner at Food For Thought which is a little cafe along Queens St near SAM.

Regina had the risotto which didn’t look too appetizing but tasted good. And I ordered the chicken cutlet which turned out to be humongous!!! Definitely the dish to order if you are hungry.

After dinner we had drinks with Sebastian, Xing and Alex and 313 Somerset while waiting for Melva. Everyone was so prepared for the costume party I felt underdressed! LOL. Sebby had broke his leg (for real!) and had a cast on his leg so he had no choice but to build his costume around that and bandaged his head as well! This is probably the first time I’ve been out clubbing on the dance floor with someone on crutches! Xing was Lady Zorro and Alex went full force with his shrek costume! It’s hilarious seeing Shrek boogie on the dance floor!

There were so many others in the cutest most ridiculous costumes. My favorite that night was of a gal in the full vegas show girl costume with feathers and all, and a couple that came as Little Bo-Peep and her sheep! I really got to give the guy 2 thumbs up for coming as his girlfriend’s sheep.

After the party at Lucky 13 we all headed to Zouk but I was pretty tired and chickened out at the entrance in favor of a good maggie mee goreng supper at Newton instead.

I’m not sure if you still remember blogging about N.E.mation and how I had so much fun at a stop-motion workshop. Well, that was just the basics of stop motion. Using the same principles, there are so many creative ways of creating stop motion videos and I was at the back stage scene of the 10 finalist teams of the N.E.mation! 6 competition.

It was a total eye-opener. The area were divided into tents and each tent had a team working really hard to bring their ideas to life. The students were remarkably hard working, coming in very early in the morning to start work and staying till the wee hours. They were doing what professionals out there are doing except with a lot more passion and at a much younger age. It was a very motivational experience for me to see how hard they strive to win.

Harnessing their different talents, the used different mediums for their stop motion productions. Clay, water color, paper cut outs, drawing with gyroscopes and more! Every single movement has to be absolutely detailed! It’s honestly enough to drive some people insane!

But these students did what most adults have never been able to do in their lifetime and they did it with so much commitment and professionalism; it was simply impressive. I just walked through tent after tent with my eyes wide with wonder and my jaw dropping to the ground.

And finally I’m glad to announce that their work is complete! You can visit http://nemation.sg to view their full videos and participating in choosing the top 3 videos. It’s gonna be a tough choice to make cause I think they are all really good!

I think that their home grown talent should be appreciated and commended and I would vote even if there were no incentives. But N.E.mation! is really kind to reward voters with the chance of winning a prize as well. So here are the prizes that you might win should you vote for your top 3 videos.

Prizes to be Won

1iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G worth $848

10 pairsGolden Village Movie Passes

On a completely unrelated note, here’s what I wore the day I headed down to the back scenes of the stop motion process to cheer the teams on. It’s was straight after work so I was a little washed out.

I headed there after a long day of work and didn’t have time to change into something more appropriate to the Red Sexy Christmas theme. Luckily I was already in a red dress so I guess that counts for something right? Anyways’ Regina was totally dressed to theme

I’ve been a little inspired by old movies lately and Soylent Green was one of which I watched. And I’ve taken a liberal use of this futuristic Sci-Fi show about the end of the world to name my blog post and outfit shot.

Headed down to town for a dress fitting at Granny Days Out. It’s actually quite fun trying out vintage dresses especially when you come across vintage clothing that seem to fit your style completely. I was personally taken in my 2 very pretty vintage evening wear.

Regina accompanied me for the fitting of the clothes and after which we had fun trying out wigs! Unlike Regina which had a drastic image change when she covered her short hair with long hair wigs, the long haired wigs were so similar to my real hair that even the SA couldn’t differentiate whether I had a wig on or off. The one one that made a world of a difference is the fringe wig. Yes, they actually make wigs for fringes and I look uber nerdy with short fringe! LOL! But it was definitely a distinct look and maybe someday I will share with you on my blog. I actually never got down to wearing it after buying!

After the long shopping day we headed down to Tampopo Deli at Liang Court cause we’re both huge fans of the fruit cake and the salads there.

In the midsts of our hunger, we wandered into the neighboring Japanese Restaurant called Okinawan Diner Nirai and it is absolutely themed like Okinawa Island in Japan. A rustic beach vibe with lots of 1950s Japanese memorabilia. I had the fried pork with rice and it was so yummy! Regina ordered the noodles but it was only average. I haven’t tried anything else there yet so I guess I need to go back again to try something else!

I’m not sure if this place serves authentic Okinawa food which is famed for low-salt, low- fat healthy food. But I think it’s worth another try for me.

Made by leading U.K retailer, Superdrug. I had this bottle for some time but though I’ll test run it for awhile before sharing my reviews with my readers. This serum uses technology garnered from experimenting and studying the cells of a nearly extinct variety of apple, the Uttwiler Spätlauber apple. The apple had an unusually long storage period that allow it to maintain its perfect appearance without shriveling and when the fruit is still on the tree, when punctured, appeared to heal itself!

The serum absorbs into the skin almost instantaneously, leaving a slightly powdery so it’s not oily at all. Its suppose to minimise pores as well but I don’t think my pores were minimised. However, this serum doesn’t clog my pores, and I wake up to pretty smooth and hydrated skin! I took this on my trip to the states and used it at night, skipping moisturizer.

It’s available at Watsons for S$39.90 which is cheap considering that it uses the same ingredients as Clarks Botanical serum which is a whooping US$355 and made famous by US First Lady Michelle Obama.

It’s not a miracle cure in my opinion but I love anything that doesn’t make my sensitive skin breakout and yet keeps my skin hydrated and matte!

The first stop is Baba Charlie. It’s a very famous nonya kueh shop ( I mean, they even have a Phua Chu Kang endorsement that says that it is the best!). The store only opens till 3pm everyday except Thursdays when they are closed.

And if you want to check the store out the next time you go to Malacca, here’s the address.

72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2 75200 Melaka

My mum was really excited about the nonya kueh here because she says that it’s difficult to find really good ones these days and this is about as authentic as you can get. They even use flowers to color their kuehs instead of commercial colorings! There were so many different varieties of kuehs, I didn’t know the names to most of it. I tried the Ondah-Ondah and it was really yummy with gula melaka (coconut sugar) oozing out with every bite!

The love letters were really fragrant and every one of their products is still handmade from scratch. The kitchen is an open concept next to the little food selection area and if you are lucky, you can smell the aroma of freshly made kuehs sifting through the air.

We bought tons of kuehs, and other nonya specialties. I’m sure you can tell from the pictures, the crazy amount we bought and my very happy mummy will be bugging me to bring her back to this treasure trove of nonya kueh soon.

There are tons of entries by I’m going to share with you my favorite 4 videos. (in no order of ranking)

The Team

(video can also be found on youtube here)

Home

(video can also be found on youtube here)

You can take the boy out of Singapore

(video can also be found here)

Year of Independence

(video can also be found on youtube here)

Keep up the good work and I really hope to see more of such creative video productions from our Singaporeans!