Love is Eternal

Baja Fresh – Mexican food in Singapore

Renzze — Sun, 26 May 2013 02:02:20 +0000

If you’ve travelled to the USA before, chances are that you’ve come across Baja Fresh before as it’s a popular American Mexican chain store. Now Baja Fresh has opened a store in Singapore at the Rendezvous Hotel Gallery. I noticed it when I attended the Watsons Beauty Day out at the Full House last year but it wasn’t until recently that I managed to check out the offerings.

The setting feels really casual, a lot more fast food styled rather than restaurant even though it is sitting in front of the Rendezvous Hotel. I’ll be first to admit that I don’t know much about mexican food can can’t differentiate my burritos from my Fajitas but thankfully, the staff at Baja Fresh were very friendly and patient at explaining the different dishes to me.

As you can tell I had a whole lot of mexican food that day which is less sinful than most fast foods as Baja Fresh serves the freshest and high quality food with lots of vegetables. Baja Fresh focuses on ‘Fresh Living’ which means that all their food is handmade and not processed. The meat used are all natural and their ingredients are farm fresh, not tin-canned. I also love the bright, clean environment with their contemporary, intimate décor.

We ordered from an array of tacos, burritos, salads and fajitas all featuring fresh and flavorful ingredients. Although burritos, fajitas and tacos are all basically wraps with different ingredients, the biggest difference is in the combination of ingredients and textures that give each one a totally different feel. I’ll try my best to put them in words but the best way to understand the difference is actually to taste them.

Burrito consists of a wheat flour or corn flour tortilla, but in cylindrical shaped with completely wrapped form. The filling in fully wrapped tortilla may be different like Baja rice, beans, meat, Monterey Jack cheese and guacamole. In different combination of ingredients and styles, Baja Fresh offers about 20 different choices ranging from S$12.95 to $15.95.

Fajita is the name of a Tex-Mex dish recipe that is equally famous in Mexico and Texan. Fajita is a form of Mexican Taco, but essentially consists of grilled meats or seafood as a fillings and lots of fresh vegetables are added as well. Baja Fresh offers 6 variety of Fajitas and you have a choice of ordering it in 2 sizes – regular or grande.

Taco also consists of wheat or corn flour tortilla, but in half wrapped form with different filling materials. At Baja fresh you have a choice of ordering taco platters or single tacos. You can further specify if you like it Baja (corn) style or Americano style so the choices are endless for mexican food lovers.

The salads are gorgeous and must try. Offered in 3 styles - Caesar, Baja Ensalada, Tostada and in 5 different choice of main fillings – Chicken, Char Siew (pork), Veggies, Shrimp, Mahi Mah. This gives you a total of 15 different possible combinations. That’s a wide range of salad choice that is rarely found anywhere else.

Quesadilla is probably the Mexican dish that I recognized the easiest. Baja Fresh quesadilla is made by using grilled flour tortilla as a wrapping material and Monterey Jack cheese guacamole, sour cream and your choice of meat as filling materials. The specialty of quesadilla is its half moon-like shape that is made by half wrapping the tortilla around the filling. This also comes in two sizes.

As you can tell, the portions of the food are really generous and I highly recommend sharing when coming to Baja Fresh.

In their simplest form, nachos are tortilla chips covered in cheese, sour cream, guacamole and/or salsa. At Baja Fresh, they have 4 different salsas which is free flow and you can use them on any of your orders.

Surprisingly, despite it’s fast food feel, this place serves alcoholic drinks and their cocktails are pretty good.

Another surprise was that this place actually serves one of my favorite snacks – churros. I don’t normally associate churros with Mexican food but since they are one of my favorite food, I really can’t complain.

Overall, I would say that the food here is really delicious and very fresh. I don’t take mexican food very often but this is probably one of the better ones I’ve tried in Singapore.

Baja Fresh

9 Bras Basah Rd

Singapore 189559

Tel: 6337 7300

*****

Outfit of the day

I went for a swim before heading to Baja Fresh that day which explains my rather casual outfit. I felt a little underdressed that day especially since I went for coffee with the always immaculate Elaine at Rendezvous Hotel Cafe after the tasting session.

Top: Ginger Snaps

Shorts: China (super comfy and a great holiday purchase)

Earrings: Chanel

Bracelet: Hermes

Bag: Alexander Wang

Crystal flats: Singapore

Visiting the last sovereign Malay Sultanate in the World

Renzze — Sat, 25 May 2013 02:48:28 +0000

I’m really excited cause tomorrow I’ll be taking a trip to discover Brunei courtesy of Royal Brunei.

When I first told my friends that I was going Brunei, most of them looked at me with raised eyebrows and ask me why I would want to go there. They said that of all the many places I’ve travelled and visited, why would I be filled with such excitement to go to a 鸟不生蛋 niǎo bù shēng dàn (meaning deserted and literally translated into “bird don’t lay egg”) place. This is actually quite ironic because Brunei is actually home to an abundance of migratory and native birds. Lol.

Personally, I’m curious as to why anyone wouldn’t want to go because I’ve had Brunei on my sights for quite sometime already. I love how the country has maintain its integrity of preserving its natural and cultural assets. It hasn’t sold out to tourism by packaging itself as a party destination or letting tourism eat into their way of life.

Instead, it is a wholesome place with an unhurried pace of life, evergreen surroundings, unique architecture, beautiful coral reefs and a wild sense of adventure. It’s really perfect for me actually because I love my getaways to take me as far away from the fast paced Singapore lifestyle so I can refresh and find my inner balance.

Even though I’ve not seen Brunei for myself yet, I can think of many reasons why I’m can’t wait to explore Brunei and here are just a couple on my list.

1. It will be my first time taking the Royal Brunei Airlines.

2. Brunei has one of the world’s highest percentages of tropical rainforest coverage of its total landmass. A cool 78% of Brunei is covered by greenery.

3. I’ll be visiting the 2nd smallest country in the world which is not an island in itself, or a micro-state. If you are wondering who is the smallest, that title goes to Luxembourg.

4. Brunei is home to the world’s longest unbroken reigning dynasty, with 29 Sultans of the same dynasty, ruling Brunei since 1362AD.

5. If you are a nature buff, Brunei has the most easily accessible pristine rainforest in the region. You can count on it that I’ll be doing some trekking into some of these for sure.

6. Brunei is known as a rich country as they are blessed with a rich source of oil and gas. Thus, it’s only natural that they also have one of the most unique and fabulous hotel properties in the region. I’ll be staying at the incredible Empire Hotel and Country Club to experience Brunei’s finest!

7. I want to visit Brunei while there are less tourists around before it gets too popular and loses some of its magic to commercialization (think Phuket or Bali).

8. I seriously can’t wait to check out world famous Ulu Temburong National Park as I’m a huge fan of ecotourism.

9. I heard from a girlfriend, Jolene, who went Brunei last year that the food there is delicious and my inner foodie swoons at the thought. I hope I’ll be able to try Ambuyat which is the national dish of Brunei.

10. I’ll be able to spend time frolicking on the beaches and islands in the South China Sea and even try going wreck and reef diving.

11. Since I’ll get a chance to stay at the Empire Hotel and Country Club, it’ll mean that I’ll get to see the Jack Nicklaus designed 18-hole floodlit championship golf course and maybe practise horse riding on the grounds of this luxurious jewel in the crown of Brunei’s man made attractions.

12. Since Brunei is one of the only 3 Monarchies in the world to be ruled by a dynasty claiming descent from Prophet Muhammad, I’m looking forward to see their iconic and beautiful mosques and islamic influenced architecture.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I worry that I won’t have enough time to soak in all that Brunei has to offer. I’ll share more about my trip when I get back! But if you want to catch me in action, follow me on my instagram/twitter at @renzze or track the updates I post on my Facebook Page.

This time tomorrow, I’ll be up in the air and settling into a comfy ride with Royal Brunei’s cabin crew welcoming me into Brunei, The Green Heart of Borneo.

PS- I’ll still be scheduling post and updating my blog even though I’m away!

Tokyo Auto Salon 2013 and AKB48 in Singapore

Renzze — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:24:33 +0000

This post is going to be a myriad of photos because words don’t do justice to the powerful and cute cars I saw at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2013.

For the 1st time in its illustrious 30-year history, Tokyo Auto Salon will be coming to the shores of Singapore.

I was very lucky to be able to attend the grand opening as part of a media invite and get to meet the super popular Japanese girl group AKB48 for a Q & A session.

The girls are very cute and the press room soon became a little madhouse of photographers as everyone scrambled to get their photos.

If you have been following me on instagram or twitter @renzze , then you’ll have seen my live updates while I was there!’

After the press conference, I proceeded with excitement to view the cars and the car models. As expected with such a prominent show, there were many car enthusiasts and photographers.

More than 20 of the finest and most unique cars from Tokyo Auto Salon 2013 in Japan together with Japanese race queens, as well as invited cars from Singapore can be seen.

The cars are all fitted with the latest technology and pimped up in the most unique ways. More than just a motor show, Tokyo Auto Salon brings together the most creative minds from the automotive world, culminating in a display of hundreds of custom-built automobiles by after-market parts manufacturers, custom and tuning workshops, car manufacturers and automotive vocational schools.

Singapore’s position as the hub of South East Asia will ensure that automotive fans and automotive industry players from around the region will converge at Tokyo Auto Salon Singapore 2013 to make this event the must-attend automotive event of the year.

Launched in 1983 by the editor-in-chief of the iconic custom car magazine Option, Tokyo Auto Salon has today grown to become the largest automotive after-market parts and accessories exhibition in the world. Every year, more than 250,000 automotive fans from all corners of the globe converge at Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan over a 3-day period.

Tokyo Auto Salon also serves as a valuable channel for automotive professionals to deliberate upon the latest trends and innovations from the automotive sector and with a wide array of after-market parts and related accessories showcased.

The cars were so mesmerizing that it was only with the combination of Japanese Race Queens and appearance of Japanese idols AKB48 that the crowd was able to take their attention away from the cars and focus on the opening ceremony.

The AKB48 girls were so “kawaii” and filled with enthusiasm that it made meeting them at the TAS2013 even more fun!

I had a great time at the TAS 2013 and I look forward to more unique and exciting display of cars next year!

Kinsa Sushi – Fine dining concept in the heartlands

Renzze — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:17:42 +0000

Singaporeans love food and one of our favorite cuisine is Japanese food. There are countless of Japanese restaurants in Singapore with different specialties and price ranges so how does Kinsa Sushi differentiate themselves? Kinsa Sushi is born from the idea of bringing Japanese fine dining in a affordable way to the heartlands. Situated in Ang Mo Kio, Jubilee Square, they aim to develop their restaurant so that everyone can enjoy an authentic Japanese dining experience.

Upon walking into the restaurant, you can see that Kinsa Sushi has segregated their dining areas into different types. There is the sushi bar counters where you can interact with the chefs and make your orders directly or the “bird cage” area for a more formal dining feel.

If you prefer a little more privacy, then hop into one of the cosy booths.

And if it is a special event with a couple of friends, you can also book the VIP rooms that have beautiful gold shimmering wall papers. It has a minimum spending amount of S$150 to book this room but since it can seat up to 6 pax, that amount is quite easily achievable.

Even though it is Japanese styled, you don’t have to worry about kneeling throughout your meal because you can sit normally with you legs hidden in the hole under the table. They even provide back rests for you so it’s pretty comfy.

One of the most important elements in a good Japanese restaurant is the freshness of their seafood. One of the owners of the restaurant, Shannon, explained to me that although they don’t have fish tanks for live fishes, they bring in the freshest unfrozen seafood that they ice on display at the counter so that everyone can see what are their selection for the day.

If you have any special seafood or food requests (eg. Alaskan King Crab), just ring them up a week in advance and they can arrange it for you. Their menu is perfectly customizable.

I couldn’t wait to start my 8 Course お任せ omakase meal as well as 2 additional ala carte dishes. Omakase means ”I’ll leave it to you” and it’s a common Japanese dinner option at many Japanese fine dining restaurant. You basically set aside an amount per person and entrust the chef to come up with innovative dishes to surprise your tastes buds. The dishes offered in omakase is not available on the menu and the chef will use what he thinks are the best and freshest catch of the day to impress you by offering a value worth more than what you’ve forked out.

I had informed the chef that I’m allergic to shellfish but my dining partner isn’t so the chef said he would serve less shellfish items and focus on fishes and meat dishes that I can consume. While waiting for the chef to prepare my meal, I explored their vast sake choices and learnt that other then bringing in brands, they also make their own plum liquor from plums imported from Japan. Their home brewed plum wine is so popular that there was hardly any left in their last barrel but they are waiting for this year’s plum festival before they import the next batch of plums for brewing.

Soon, our zensai (appetizer) arrived.

In small tasting portions, we each had

- Yaki edamame

- Nikogori (Fish Jelly)

- Umaki ( Japanese omelette with eel)

The Umaki was really tasty and I found the Nikogori to be most unique. It was like having fish soup in a solid form.

Next, we were served a bowl of beautiful and well plated sashimi.

I love the shake harasu and really couldn’t get enough. The greens and flowers that were artfully placed around the sashimi were not all just decoration either. The waitress explained that they could be used to enhance the taste of our soy sauce for dipping the sashimi.

Using selected ingredients found in the sashimi platter, a sweet and very fresh tasting dipping sauce was created for my various sashimi slices.

Akami (Tuna)

Shake harasu (Salmon belly)

Tai (Sea bream)

Amaebi (Sweet shrimp)

Akagai (Ark shell)

Next were the soups.

The Osuimono (Clear soup) was part of the omakase meal and noting my ability to accept fish in my diet, the chef prepared Shiromi suimono (white fish in clear soup).

We tried another a la carte soup dish as well which was the Foie Gras Mizore Mushi ( Foie gras soup). The taste of foie gras is distinct and this was my first time trying it in a soup form.

For our Yakimono (Grilled dish) course, the chef prepared Nasu Dengaku (Egg plant with minced pork).

The mince pork was gorgeously flavored and went really well with the tender egg plant.

At first I thought it was served with gingko nuts but upon eating it, I realized that they were actually garlic. They were cooked really well with spices that made the garlic taste pleasant and not overpowering.

Next up is the Nimono (Slimmer dish) and for this we had the Ushio Nikomi (Stewed oxtail with miso paste) . The meat were extremely tender and slid off the bones with hardly any resistance. Alluringly plated, even the carrot came in the form of a cherry blossom.

Showcasing the chef’s array of skills, we were now served an Agemono (Deep fried dish).

The Houbou Rikyu Age (Deep fried Blue Fin Robin with sesame) was the only dish where I had differing opinions about the tasting. It was a hit with me but not so much for my dining partner. I loved the strong sesame fragrance and crispy texture while my dining partner wasn’t a fan of the sesame.

With a restaurant name like Kinsa Sushi, we couldn’t walk away without trying out their sushi.

Elegantly plated, I was excited when I saw the yummy Shake Harasu which I fell in love with in the sashimi platter making a reappearance. It was the first one to disappear into my tummy.

The sushi served were

- Akami (Tuna)

- Shake harasu (Salmon belly)

- Tai (Sea bream)

- Amaebi (Sweet shrimp)

- Tsubuga (Whelk)

By about this time, I was pretty stuffed already but Shannon recommended that we must try the a la carte Gyu Don (Pan fried beef on rice) and we gamely agreed.

This is the Soo Gyu Don that is made with Soho Gyu (Grade 4, Wagyu beef) which is specially imported from Kagoshima, Japan.

Even though we were stuffed, the beef was tasty enough to encourage us to finish it up.

Our last course was naturally, desserts. Chef specially formulated these homemade cheese ice cream to accompany the ever popular Mochi (Seseme/green tea and red bean) balls.

Thank you Shannon for the invite and for bringing fine dining to experience to heartlanders. (Of course, you can also just choose to dine in casually and order direct from their menu. *wink*)

If you want a taste of Japanese fine dining you should visit Kinsa Sushi soon and a good time to do so is this weekend. Kinsa Sushi is celebrating their 1st Anniversary on the 25th May 2013 and you can be a part of their celebrations too.

Do make a reservation with them as they are expecting higher traffic on that day.

There will be 3 dinner slots:

- 5.00pm to 6.30pm

- 6.30pm to 8.00pm

- 8.00pm to close

For more info, check out Kinsa Sushi on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KinsaSushi

Greedy Chimp – May

Renzze — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:00:57 +0000

Similar to sample package subscriptions like Vanity Trove, Greedy Chimp is the newest player in town that also delivers a surprise bag of goodies to your doorstep every month. But instead of beauty products, they source and bring you surprise snacks for less than $15 a month!

Remember how I mentioned not to long ago in my Bali adventure cycling post that I wanted to buy a bicycle? Well I did!

I love snacking and this new surprise Greedy Chimp loot bag came just in time for to take my bicycle and dog out for a day in a park.

So what did I find in my loot bag and on my picnic mat that day?

Ta dah! The first thing I spotted was the Mamee Rice Sticks because the Mamee’s blue monster brings back fond memories of the snacks I had in my childhood.

There were the new Cadbury Marvellous Creations too! Very popular and definitely very trendy you can read more about these chocolates in my previous post about Cadbury.

This was the first time I’ve seen of KIWA Plantain Chips. This one lets you snack healthy! It’s a brownish chip with a sweet flavor that is produced after the green banana becomes ripe. Hence, it is also high in potassium and vitamins. This chip has no artificial sweetener.

The American corn snack looks like it was picked out of a Thailand supermarket. But when you have corn chips and cheese flavoring, that’s an international taste that hardly goes wrong.

For popcorn lover or indoor movie nights, try Planet popcorn. It comes in so many different flavors such as caramel, cheese, seaweed, wasabi or Kimchi. Even the orignal on I had is already pretty good and crunchy. Interestingly, these are hand made and not machine made!

Lastly was a fun set of Impact mints. I threw the various mints in different hand bags and in my car so I can grab a mint whenever I need a fresh taste.

This is the first loot bag that Greedy Chimp had come up with and I’m looking forward to what other surprises they have in store!

Cooking from scratch – Babi Guling

Renzze — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:27:05 +0000

If you’ve ever been to Bali or researched about what foods to eat in Bali, you will definitely have heard of Babi Guiling. I love Babi Guling and will have it almost every other day whenever I’m in Bali but this is the first time I will be attempting (with the help from the villagers in Bali) to cook this famed traditional roast pig dish. And yes, I will do it from scratch!

I start my day bright and early in the morning market picking up the ingredients and spices needed for my dish.

There is no minimum purchase required so I could just buy whatever amount I needed to make my Babi Guling dish. Unfortunately, prices are not written out like how we are used to in supermarkets so a lot of haggling is involved. Thankfully, I already brushed up on some basic indonesian and balinese with my driver in the car on my way to the market.

I sought and picked my ingredients with as much care, trying to remember all the tips that my mother and grandmother usually tell me whenever I do (which is rarely) visit the wet market with them.

I had my list written out both in English as well as in Indonesian so I won’t forget the words when I need to ask the shopkeepers. Some of the items I bought are bawang merah (shallots), cabai (chilli), jahe (ginger), sereh (lemongrass), merica putih (white pepper), terasi (shrimp paste), bawang putih (garlic), kunir (tumeric), kemiri (candlenut), merica hitam (black pepper) and tomat (tomato). As you can see, there is a whole lot of spices in this wondrous dish.

I tried my best haggling and conversing in indonesian and balinese. Luckily, the shop keeper was so impressed with my sincerity that she gave me a good discount! Yay! Mission successful.

After another couple of hours of traveling, I’m finally back to the village again.

The local farmer delivered the suckling pig I ordered earlier. With help from the village women, the rumpah (paste) is prepared with all the ingredients I bought from the market. The pig is then removed of its innards and then stuffed & infused with the spicy concoction. Meanwhile, some of the village men helped me to set up the traditional spit fire to roast it. Cooking this dish involved a lot more muscle then I expected!

I’m just really glad that everyone was so willing and to help and offer suggestions and tips.

Roasting the pig is a long and grueling process that takes hours! Just preparing this dish would take one entire day. Most of the stores selling Babi Guling in Bali (including that one famous Babi Guling store) would normally use whole hogs instead of suckling pig so as to maximise the amount of meat and skin they can get from the long roasting hours, thus maximizing their profit.

But the villagers told me that the best and most tender tasting babi guling is made from suckling pigs which is why I chose to do it with a suckling pig.

I started off well, learning to constantly rotate the pig so that it would roast evenly. But it wasn’t so simple. Other than constantly rotating the pig, you also needed to shift the stick up and down the roasting pit because the heat from the fire is not even at different parts of the pit. I needed to learn how to control the heat from each portion of the spit to get an evenly roasted pig without burning it. It was hot and tough and my arm muscles were sore after the first hour. Since roasting takes about 3-4 hours, I was quite happy when the villages offered to swap places with me every 2o mins.

Even little kids came to help with the roasting process!

The weather is unpredictable and soon it started to rain. While the spit is protected under a shelter, it’s too small for everyone to squeeze in there.

As I ventured out into the rain, one of the villagers help pluck “an umbrella” for me. I seriously love how ingenious these people are at living harmoniously with nature.

The stem was thick and the leaf was huge so it worked perfectly as a natural umbrella and I didn’t have to worry much about getting wet as I moved between the kitchen and checking on the roasting pig.

At about the half-way point of the roasting, you could smell the mouthwatering fragrance of spices and roasted suckling pig in the air. I could distinctively smell the turmeric, coriander seeds, lemongrass, black pepper and garlic wafting through the smoky air and my tummy kept rumbling. I couldn’t wait for it to be done!

Meanwhile, the sun was setting and the ladies in the kitchen were busy preparing other dishes for my dinner. They told me that Babi Guling should be eaten with other dishes as accompaniments to make it well-balanced meal. The village ladies were more than happy to cook some extra dishes for me.

The whole dinner preparation was completed right after the sunset.

My roasted suckling pig was removed from the stick and served on banana leaves as they proceeded to carve it up for me.

Once they remove the crispy skin, you can see the infused spices they have merged with the cooked meat.

Although I was highly anticipating tasting my Babi Guling, I started off with some soup while they were still carving the roast suckling pig because I was really famished by then.

The server so expertly carved up the entire suckling pig! Really an artist at work. He put all the different areas of meat in different serving dishes.

The first thing I tried was the skin. This is the best part and it was so so so very good! My mouth waters even as I think back on it. It was extremely crispy and definitely beats the famous Babi Guling store in Ubud. I think the key reason why it was nicer is because this is a suckling pig and not a full grown hog.

The meat is very tender and the spiciness of the mixture was excellent!

The two above photos are also meat from the suckling pig but these are shredded from the parts nearer to the core of the pig and contain a lot more spices in them then the meats found near the surface area of the pig.

The pig inners that were removed pior to the roasting were deep fried and served. I gave these a miss cause I’m not a big fan of innards prepared by anyone else other than my own grandmother.

The village ladies cooked some rice and vegetables for me so as to complete the meal and they were pretty good though I have no idea what those dishes are called.

Here’s a look at my dinner plate.

Last but not least, I’m glad we brought along a bottle of white wine to celebrate a whole day of hard work!

While this is one of the best Babi Guling meal I’ve ever had, I doubt I’ll ever embark cooking it again because of all the effort and time it took. It does however, makes me a lot more appreciative of the stalls selling this yummy dish in Bali.

Vanity Trove – May Edition

Renzze — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:41:41 +0000

I was excited to get my May’s Vanity Trove delivered to my door step once again. Just in case you missed out on my Vanity Trove post in April and have no idea what this little surprise is all about, Vanity Trove is a surprise box of beauty delivered right to your door step each month which you can get for a simple subscription fee of SGD25 a month.

It’s packed with goodies worth more than the subscription amount so what’s in store for me in the month of May?

A whole lot of unbelievable goodies it seems!

The first things that caught my eyes were the Aqua Rine Japanese Aroma Bath Sea Salt in Peach and Rose . It has exfoliating and anti-aging properties and I’m excited to try this out soon because they smell so good ( Yes, you can smell it even before you open the pack)! Most importantly, it is in favor of eliminating tiny inflammation of skin, stop itchiness and minimizes big pores. I’m intending to use these after my swimming sessions so that I can keep my skin smooth, radiant and younger looking after swimming in all that chlorine.

Next item that caught my attention was the GO60 mask with the cute blue ribbon on the packaging. G60 is from Mary Chia and offers quality treatment and affordable prices. The Go Hydrate! Treatment Masque is perfect for me as it will quench my skin’s thirst with their lock-in hydration formula. Since it’s an overnight mask, I’ll wear it on board long flights so I don’t have to worry about removing the mask after 15 or 20 mins. I can leave it on while I sleep away and wake up to supple hydrated skin when I wake up at my destination.

Also included in May’s Vanity Trove is Kose Infinity Deep Protection UV. I’m a huge Kose fan and their sunscreens are always light and not greasy. I love the sample size because it’ll fit right into my cosmetic pouch, making it handy for reapplication throughout the day.

Lunamer Brightener is Lunamer’s star product and I didn’t get a chance to try it out until now. It is an energizing essence that recharges the skin by removing dullness-causing keratin.

Another handy travel size sample is the Nuxe Gel Demaquillant Fondant. This is a cleansing gel with rose petals that is suitable for both face and eyes. I’m not sure if I was just lucky or if Vanity Trove took note of my skin type because because the one I received is perfect for my sensitive skin.

An unexpected product is Sebamed Feminine Intimate Wash. I’ve tried Sebamed products before and I always love their cleansing shower oil for dry climates as well as their natural deodorants. What I didn’t know was that they also carried feminine wash. Their wash is specially formulated to the pH value of 3.8 of the genital acid mantle with skin-related lactic acid. The acidic balance of the pH value in our sensitive area is essential prophylactic protection against bacterial and fungal infection.

Last but not least is Bach Rescue Pastilles. They are made from natural remedies of flower essences and can help restore inner calm, control and focus. These addictive blackcurrant chewy lozenges came in super handy when I was recovering from my recent cough.

After reading all the surprises I had in May, you must be tempted to try some too! Sign up for Vanity Trove and you’ll be able to try you hand on even more exciting surprises next month!

*****

Outfit of the day

Cap: China

Sweater Top : Dip Drops

Shorts: Hong Kong

Shoes: Marc Jacobs