Eason Life Concert March 2014 Singapore

Finally, Finally, I attended Eason's concert though Singapore is not exactly the location i would like to attend the concert. Never mind, its Eason's concert. It had been on my bucket list to attend his concert and I attended. That's what that matters... and i had a pretty ideal seating.. what more to ask since i am not forking out the money either.



It was held at Singapore's indoor stadium and started at 8.30 pm.  The repertoire of the songs were well selected..with a blend of new songs and earlier hits.  I thought it was a good showcase that Eason had moved on from his earlier successes and moving to new genre of music with new songs.

It was heartening to hear his vocals back in form. Compared to his duo concert, i felt his vocals were really better now. That is really the icing to the cake.  From my previous collection of his concert's DVDs, I had seen how the musicans and artistes were carefully selected for his concert.  Hence, i had high expectations for his performance.  It DID NOT disappoint at all... Kudos too to the performers... be it the musican or the performers... They are the guest appearance for his concert in Singapore. The shortfall with this concert - it's too short...... too few songs during encore.  Wished he is more generous with songs at Singapore's concert's encore. (He sang 8 songs in HK.  Anyway, its never enough.... never!... listening to his songs from youtube as i am writing this post.)   Oh i must mentioned 70-80% of the songs at the concert were cantonese songs :) Satisfying for me....

I will be looking forward to his next tour...

NYx is finally n officially in Singapore

As this long weekend comes to an end, I made an amazing discovery. Sephora Singapore has obtained the distributorship for nyx. This is good news for fans in sg. For a long time, we can only lay hands on the parallel imports. Range n products are albeit a bit limited or from past seasons.  While nyx products costs a little more than those parallel imports, it is after all an official channel n we can look forward to more current season products. It's still cheaper than what guardian charged when it tried to bring in the brand earlier. Fans, what r u waiting for.... Time to check it out at sephora. Here is the pic of my purchases at sephora.

Rachel K Cosmetics

WI have recently found a little gem which will give many high end cosmetics brands a run for their money.  Came across Rachel K cosmetics - a range of cosmetics which it claimed is made for Beauty Queens.  The range of products are really limited - CC cream, foundation and lip gloss.  3 colors variation for each product line.  While its limited in range and variety, its easy to find a tone that matched any skin color. 

They claimed that its CC cream is better than the current rage of BB cream with a host of benefits. 
Quoted from Rachel K's facebook:

"Rachel K Mineral CC Cream guarantees: less oily, more whitening and brightening effect, better coverage, no breakouts, more moisturizing, more lasting and better stability. Perfectly in control of your skin."

I was attracted by the product's benefits and bought thelatest CC color in a bright fushia tube. Yet to try but read that it was supposed to turn to a powder form 2-3 min after application.  You can use it on its own.  Will be good if you are on a light make up day.  THe best part, you does not need to use a make up remover at the end of the day like most BB cream as it is also a skincare product.  I have used a brand of BB cream from Korea.  Well if you did not use make up remover at the end of the day, you will get clogged pores which led to breakouts.  Priced at S$29.90 and available at selected Watsons stores.  While slightly more expensive than Maybelline's BB cream, the content and volume made up for it.  Definitely value for money if you also take into consideration the benefits of the CC cream.

What I like is the foundation, not only is the powder fine, it really provides full coverage and last throughout the day.  I am a oily/combination skin person.  My working hours can be long and sometimes stay outdoors throughout the day.  Most of the foundation either melted away under the hot and humid weather of Singapore.  I have to remove my make up and reapply during mid day (touch up? no no i cannot stand the patches and what's more, it will clog the pores). THis foundation definitely fulfil my needs.  What i like is that there is a plastic cover which prevents the applicator from coming in contact with the powder when not used.  It also cuts off contaminating factors that might be present in the environment.  Thought this is a well thought design.

This pressed powder is definitely going to be a permanent feature in my make up stash alongside with my Dior.  Highly recommended even if you have sensitive skin. 

Here is what the website said about the pressed powder:

Rachel K Mineral Color Control blemish balm pressed powder is a 4-in-1 makeup foundation, a natural mineral makeup concealer, powder and SPF 15 protection. The pigment-rich powder protects skin with antioxidants and bound with Organic Shea Butter and Vitamin E. It is designed to glide on smoothly to blend with and allow the natural skin tone to show through and provides excellent coverage for flawless finish that lasts all day. This full-coverage mineral foundation is good for every skin type and condition, from oily skin to dry, mature types.

The pressed powder costs S$35.00 when i bought it.  There is an upward price adjustment recently and it now costs S$38.00.  Nonetheless still worth it for its long lasting properties and benefits.  Some of the drugstore brands might be cheaper but then does the fineness of the powder and benefits of the products live up to this??  This product is a steal.

Looking forward to the new products from this company. 

My Makeover by Dior

It was Easter.  I mistakenly remembered the wrong date for a make over appointment I made with Dior counter. Luckily, one of the clients did not turn up for her appointment so I get to have my makeover session earlier.  The session includes make up, hair do and a manicure.  COmes with a photo shoot too.  Customers get to select a photo.  you can buy all your photos at an extra cost.  I bought all my pics. Below is the result of the make over.  The rest of the pics are stored in my fb.  This series of pics are probably the only few of me without my glasses. :)

(PS Dior launched a new range of lipsticks - Dior Addict Extreme. 12 shades. I am a sucker for lipsticks.  Could never say no to one. I always avoid pink.  However this shade of pink turn out well on me.  Was told that Kate Moss wore this shade for Dior's advertisement.)

Latest Craze - Eyeshadow

By a stroke of the lightning, the plain, simple me became highly interested in cosmetics recently. Besides reading up on the internet, there are the trips to the cosmetics counters to try out the products. Its amazing how technology and exotic ingredients are combined in these products.

While I rarely apply make up, I do have a stash that serves its purpose when there is an event or a nice dinner that I have to attend. Enough to get by.

Maybe age is catching up... cosmetics can work wonders if you do it well. Maybe its just pure vanity... My interest with cosmetics piqued when I chanced upon this brand known as NYX. The brand offers a wide range of lip colors. I simply love lipsticks as it brightens up my face immediately. Not to mention, the affordability of the brand, just S$5.00 each. However, its not the lipsticks that impressed me.

Eyeshadows - they are value for money. Lots of colors to choose from. Some of the colors are unique. You can create different looks and image from them. Highly pigmented. The eye shadows are available in single, trios and palettes. If you use these on top of a primer, not only does it lasts, the colors comes out vividly. I bought a few pots of the single eye shadow from an online site in Singapore - Tara Shop. These lovelies are going at S$6.90 each. Bought more after that. If you want more, check out Smoochiezz. They carry a much wider range of Nyx products. However, they do not carry the single eyeshadows. I have also bought some of their eye liners. There were great reviews online about them. Practising with them now. Do not restrict yourself to black. Be adventrous, try gunmetal, charcoal, green and purple. Oh their liners are made in Germany so erm.... quality should be there.

I am bought over by Nyx after using it with my Dior 5 color eyeshadow palette (S$94 each). While Dior also offers good quality and highly pigmented eyeshadow which lasts and offer variations for each palette, just how many are willing and able to splurge on these every season? Nyx offers the novice to the more experienced users a good, inexpensive alternative to add on and/or build a range of eye shadow colors that caters to your own style and image.

Now I am trying to figure out how i can get more of these stuff. Nyx does not ship internationally. Alternatives? You can purchase these from Cherry Culture, Gmarket Singapore or Blanc to Noir websites.

My social experiment

Was having some bad patches in life. So to divert my unspent energies and bottled up feelings, I started a social experiment - starting an e-store online. Now we have read that many companies have a storefront online to complement with their bricks and mortar business. Gradually with the advent of blogs, it brings along a whole new breed of blogstores. Blogstores tend to be 1 man show, often it is the sideline of the owner who either handmade stuff or selling some items which was sourced elsewhere. Pretty amaturer pending how the owner dressed it up.

Some ideas comes to mind, is it still worth the efforts for an individual to embark a more professional attempt to present their products? to sell solely online? to target the world as a market rather than targetting a region? Is it able to attract enough business to sustain a business operations in the long run? (Should i call these hypotheses?)

I had made attempts before to set up an e-store to sell fashion accessories. Well, it basically dies before it even reached the launch stage. What are the attempts I made, get professional help to design the website, internet payment gateway, shopping carts and so forth. My lack of determination and the costs involved prohibits me to carry it on.

What did I do this time? The product is the same - selling fashion accessories. Target audience - working ladies, aged 20 - 45. Positioning - Quality, limited pieces of unique fashion accessories from Korea and Japan. Selected interesting items that allows one to express their own personality in an understated fashion.

Internet had changed alot since my last attempt. As it matures, technologies and the greater convenience have made life much better than before. So on a lazy saturday afternoon, I sourced for a free store builder. Wow, a long list of free store builders are available online. Tried a few. Some even requires downloading a software and installing them. Craps, not all of them are easy to use. It may require some prior HTML or CSS knowledge which I do not have. (PLease if I knew those, I would have started it on my own a long time ago.) With a stroke of luck, I stumbled upon http://www.weebly.com/. It had really plenty of templates (you do not need lots.... cos you will be lost after browsing 8 pages of it). Simple to use (drag and drop) - at the drag and click of a mouse. Calling all IT non savvy people and even all blogshop owners out there.... This is a highly recommended store builder to use.....

All basic and even intermediate tools are available here. It even allows users to recommend tools as it gradually improves it service. I had recently taken up photography (comes in handy now) so I was able to use my own shots to spice up the page. Updating and deleting is easy. There is even a blog for the owner to interact with its customers. Its support page is easy to read and instructions are easy to follow. NO, you do not get lost in it and still do not get an answer.

Each pic cannot be above 5mb. Though its 5 mb limits, its more than sufficient for you to display really good quality pics. If you need more, just pay to join its pro service. Since this is an experiment, I keep it within limits. I decided not to have my own domain too until the site is making money to splurge on this. Weebly allows you to be using your choice name with its domain name so its xxx.weebly.com. It also offers discounts if you choose to sign up for one through its site. (not sure if that is really cheap.) Clear instructions are also available to assist you to set up your own domain whilst using their drag and drop store builder.

Paypal or Google Checkout is also easily integrated with its storefront. I had a paypal acc. Its easily to link it up just by inputting my email acc. There, I have a shopping cart with facilities to accept credit card payments internationally. No need to sign up and pay monthly subscriptions for internet payment gateways. The transactions costs are not cheap either. To cater for users who might prefer other payment methods, I subsequently added a Order PLacement page with an attached form so that customers can have more choices.

The store was up in a week or so during my free time after work. Some fiddling around but its really a breeze to get started and comes up with a decent store front. The current stage of the experiment is to get some real shoppers online to navigate the store and gives me feedback. Be it asethetic value, content, pics and whatever.... so that I can refine it and launch it to the next stage of the experiment.

So any one out there, please visit http://www.vivajasy.weebly.com/ and give me your critical comments. If anything on the website caught your attention, your valuable feedback will earn you 25% discount for any purchases there. :) please quote my blog to qualify for this offer.

New Year - new endeavours

As the year started, I manage to find some time to start a social experiment which I had been harbouring - setting up an online store. After some efforts online searching for a fairly easy to use store builder with the basic necessity functions, I stumble onto www.weebly.com . It turned out to be quite easy to use.

www.vivajasy.weebly.com had just taken form. Need some feedback on areas of improvement for the website. If you have some time available, feel free to drop in and give me some comments. :)

Thats all for now....