Sweet Enchantment has some rockin' rock candy

If you thought I was merely making a bad pun in the title, let me clarify - I'm not joking about the rockin' rock candy that Sweet Enchantment (located in Vivocity) has to offer! If Sweet Enchantment rock candy were rock musicians, they would be straight-edge. That's because they're made of all-natural flavourings and colourings, as described by Sweet Enchantment on their Facebook page:

South East Asia's first All-Natural Rock Candy Shoppe - Our range of products include Rock Candy, Lettered Rocks, Sugar Art, Lollipops and all things sweet! - made from all-natural ingredients. That means no artificial colouring or artificial flavouring. (Example, Orange and Yellow comes from carrot skin, and Purple comes from grapeskin!).

Remember my homemade rock candy comparison post pitting two local rock candy shops - Sweet Enchantment and Sticky - against each other? That certainly garnered quite a bit of attention! Getting back to the present, I recently visited Sweet Enchantment to check out their new flavours. Bernard Chow, "Lollipop Farmer" cum co-founder of Sweet Enchantment (along with his wife) kindly invited me to drop by their store and sample some of the newer flavours that were recently made available: Hachimitsu Honey, Matcha Green Tea, and the new candy mix "Sweet Treats", which is a mix of Caramel, Honey and Milk Jam (Dulce de Leche) rock candy. Read on for a review of these flavours!

Scotch Naturals Seaboard Swatches and Review

Hello folks, my exams are finally over and the summer break is a-calling! I imagine balmy summer afternoons spent lazing on an armchair, a good book and a glass of Tom Collins in hand, though what will most probably happen is a summer job to support my spending habits, which have been put on hold by the "recession" that has hit my bank account.

Regardless of my summer job plans, I have other big plans for my approximately 3-month long break before I head to Switzerland on student exchange of about 4 months. Yes that's right, I'm heading off to the land of cheese fondue and snowy mountains. Fret not, I'll still be updating the blog from time to time. As for my summer plans: I recently jumped onto the DIY nail polish jewellery bandwagon! I've always been a creative person, and love doing crafty things. After seeing so many beautiful nail polish jewellery and accessories made by many talented nail polish lovers out there, I have decided to try my hand at making them too. I got some ring bases and glass cabochons recently, and will be posting updates on this project soon as a few of these rings materialise, heh.

To start off my exciting summer break, let me introduce you to a brand of water-based nail polish I've been really curious about. I'd been hearing a lot about water-based nail polish, but never had the chance to try it until Andrea from SG Nails kindly sent me Scotch Naturals Seaboard for review!

I ripped open the package in record time, and found a mass of bubble wrap waiting for me, which I proceeded to rip open too, unearthing this gem...

Read on for swatches and review!

One Does Not Simply Buy Lynnderella Nail Polish

One does not simply buy Lynnderella nail polish, oh no, one must be waitlisted at Llarowe. With the indie polish trend really taking off in the nail polish community, you can expect other favourites to disappear in the blink of an eye once they're relisted. *sigh* I want my Floam.

This is just a short post in lieu of normal posting due to my essay due Monday and an exam on Wednesday. Wish me luck!

EDIT: Llarowe is no longer selling Lynnderella nail polish. Lynnderella polishes are to be found on eBay now, sold by Lynn herself.

Blaze Scented Cuticle Oil Review

Remember how I said I was a nail polish obsessed girl? While that is true, I also know the value of taking good care of my nails. The reason why I don't do nail polish swatch/review posts very often is because I like giving my nails a break. Every time I apply nail polish, I leave it on for about a week and after that I remove it and let my nails take a break of at least a week.

On their own, my nails do recover and regain their original healthy pink tone (yellow and brittle nails are the bane of all nail polish addicts/nail bloggers out there!) within 2 weeks. However, there's a way of speeding up the process and helping my nails to maintain their health - and it all comes in a pretty little bottle of flowers. And oil of course, but I thought "bottle of flowers" was too poetic a phrase to be missed. My photos and my full review after the jump!

Floating flowers in mango-scented oil

Naruko Tea Tree Oil Out Acne Clay Cleanser Review and Pictures

[EDITED 16/5/2013]

I no longer use this product every day as a cleanser as I found out that my skin is actually dry/combination instead of oily/combination. My skin was producing a lot of oil in the past as I was drying it out by using oil-control products that strip even more oil away from it. I use this product now only as a clay mask type of product. Just dab a little on a pimple and wait for a bit before washing it off; the pimple should become less inflamed!

---

For those who have read my post in December 2011 on Naruko Marjoram and Lavender Brightening Eye Cream and Classic Whitening Night Eye Gelly, I apologise for the long delay between posts on the Naruko products that I use in my current skin care routine!

Today, I'd like to feature the Naruko Tea Tree Oil Out Acne Clay Cleanser, which in my opinion, is an extremely effective, affordable and gentle exfoliating facial cleanser.

As mentioned last year, I had been using Danielle Laroche Purifying Gel as my daily facial cleanser from about February 2011. In October 2011, I discovered a new line of products by Naruko and have been using Naruko products in my skincare routine ever since. (You can read more about the brand history in my post on the Naruko Marjoram and Lavender Brightening Eye Cream and Classic Whitening Night Eue Gelly and on the Naruko SG website).

My skin is oily and prone to acne and I'm very self-conscious of taking/posting photos of myself without any make up on (this is the first time I'm doing that here - don't judge). But to show you how effective Naruko Tea Tree Oil Out Acne Clay Cleanser is, I'm making an exception!

Here's happy me with make up on, holding the Naruko Tea Tree Oil Out Acne Clay Cleanser.

And here's shy me, without a trace of make up on my bare face.

More after the jump!

Featured: Kwerkee.com - Your Daily Design Sauce

The queer, the peculiar, the bizarre... for up to 70% off! Me gusta.

Reebonz, the popular local online shopping portal, has just rolled out another of its initiatives. The last I heard, Reebonz City, a Reebonz sub-portal which featured lifestyle, food and entertainment deals, is ceasing operations. A moment of silence for Reebonz City, please. I still remember with great fondness the free pair of tickets to Korean flick The Housemaid (2010), the excellent lunch/tea for two at the Heart Bistro (formerly located at Palais Renaissance) and the make up workshop conducted by Guerlain in 2011, all of which were enabled by Reebonz City. It certainly contributed to my memories of the past 2 years with my loved ones, and I'll be sad to see it go.

In lieu of Reebonz City, Reebonz presents a quirky kwerkee new addition to the Reebonz family. Looking for interesting knick-knacks? Craving some hard-to-find design pieces and everything else arty farty? Kwerkee has them all. If that doesn't sound tempting enough, everything at Kwerkee is featured at up to 70% off retail prices. And with that, I'm in already.

No, literally. I'm able to login to Kwerkee without creating a new account because this convenient feature is a privilege extended to existing Reebonz members! I was quite excited and immediately went in to explore the site. The Kwerkee portal works in the same way as Reebonz, with a list of current campaigns that you can enter to purchase items featured, and a list of future campaigns that you can schedule onto your calendar. Each item is listed with clear pictures, a description, the current and original price, as well as a 100% guarantee of authenticity. The only caveat for a college student like me is the price, which tends to be on the steeper side, as expected of designer items.

Currently, there are four campaigns open: Neivz wooden jewellery, Mimobot designer USB flash drives, artwork from Polish-American illustrator Marta Spendowska and Lady Gaga inspired t-shirts and accessories! If that doesn't sound awesome enough for you, upcoming campaigns starting on this Wednesday (18 April) and Friday (20 April) include N2 luxury costume jewellery, typeface products (this is where I squee), something to do with cute and creepy monsters, and quirky stationery. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new campaigns that Kwerkee has in store for us (pun fully intended). I'll definitely review any products that I purchase and receive them from Kwerkee, so watch this space!

... Well, what are you waiting for? Just sign up already!

Featured: Marvel's The Avengers film

Everyone's been waiting for 1 May 2012.

Because that's when the insanely awesome looking new movie, Marvel's The Avengers, is released! Just check out the trailer below. Does it look awesome or what? Unless you're completely not into action movies, comics or Robert Downey Jr. (for the ladies)/Scarlet Johanssen (for the guys), I seriously doubt you'd be missing this blockbuster.

OPI Pirouette My Whistle and Don't Touch My Tutu Swatches and Review

A quick post because I'm nearing the end of my hell week at school. I was swamped with so much work I didn't have much time for anything else. Thankfully I'll be much freer after today is over!

Anyhoos, I'm guessing everyone has already heard of the OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades Spring Collection 2012, so I won't do a rehash. After checking out swatches by Let Them Have Polish, I was utterly convinced that I needed Don't Touch My Tutu and Pirouette My Whistle in my life. I didn't buy the other colours because I didn't think they would have suited my skintone, which has very warm, yellowish undertones.

A day ago, I decided to try on Don't Touch My Tutu and Pirouette My Whistle and couldn't stop staring at my nails after that! The combination of Don't Touch My Tutu's sheer white jelly finish and Pirouette My Whistle, which contains pearlescent hex glitters and small silver glitters suspended in a clear base, really looks like Lynnderella Snow Angel (which I don't have). Based on swatches I found, I figured that it probably looks even prettier than Snow Angel because of the tiny silver glitters! Pirouette My Whistle looks similar to Nubar Moon Drops too, but it is more delicate as the round glitter is silver and smaller than Moon Drops' slightly larger green/silver/blue round glitter. I don't own it though, so I can't compare the two.

Many bloggers have already swatched Don't Touch My Tutu and Pirouette My Whistle in combination, so I thought I'd do something a little different. First I did three coats of Don't Touch My Tutu for all nails and two coats of Pirouette My Whistle. I added another thin coat of Don't Touch My Tutu for my pinkie to get the jelly sandwich look. Then I suddenly remembered that I had an beaded bracelet on hand and decided to play around with it.

Look at the jelly sandwich - I really love it! It's not very obvious in the photos, but it's amazingly pretty in real life because the hex glitters appear white and the silver glitters glimmer through the milky, translucent layer on top.

Anyway, I love the combination of Don't Touch My Tutu and Pirouette My Whistle. It looks so sweet and delicate - perfect for days when you prefer something more neutral and feminine with a hint of sparkle. I have few pastel/neutral shades because I love more intense colours, but this collection is definitely worth investing in. I hope I've convinced you of that, at least. We nail polish addicts who blog aim to be lemming creators ;)

EDIT: I was walking outside today and the sun was extremely bright. My mani looked so awesome that I had to snap a photo with my iPhone!

Singapore Arts Festival 2012: Our Lost Poems (18 May - 27 June)

Hear ye, all ye Singaporeans! Around this time of the year is when the Singapore Arts Festival takes place. You already knew that, or have at least heard of it before, I suppose. Or maybe not. For the uninitiated and the non-Singaporeans, it's a yearly local festival that celebrates the arts in all forms - music, dance, film, visual art etc. - and takes place around the middle of the year when school vacations start getting underway. Festival performances are conducted by both local and foreign arts groups, and have been specially curated for the festival. The theme of this year's festival is "Our Lost Poems". Below is a short description of the theme, taken from the Singapore Arts Festival website:

The Singapore Arts Festival 2012 completes the trilogy we started two editions ago: Between You and Me (2010), I Want to Remember (2011), Our Lost Poems (2012).

Our Lost Poems looks at myths, legends, wandering thoughts, reflections, lost riddles and hidden stories. It is a discovery of tales and aspirations that need to be told and retold. Stories that inspire us, legends that have deep cultural roots, and riddles that reveal the secrets of the world. This coming Festival finds us at a crossroad, waiting to reaffirm our sense of place in time as we uncover refreshing facets of ourselves:

Something ancient.

Something lost.

Something hidden.

Something new.

Sounds quite interesting, doesn't it? I found this year's theme rather apt given Singapore's youthful cultural heritage that blends both old and new, mythology and material progress, into the country we now live in. Having signed up for Arts Club membership, I recently received a few pleasant surprises in my mailbox that reminded me of my wonderful experience at last year's Arts Fest. The Singapore Arts Festival 2011 was themed "I Want to Remember", and I certainly remember the many unforgettable performances that I attended, especially Internal, A Game of You and Immigrants. I would have done reviews on these excellent performances myself if I had the time. Unfortunately, life caught up with me, and I'm reduced to linking you to another reviewer's meticulous and articulate reviews. I also have an especially vivid memory of the 2010 Arts Fest because I was working at the National Arts Council in the post of Temporary Officer (Corporate Communications - Singapore Arts Festival 2010). It was 3-month long whirl of coordinating events and dealing with foreign and local media, but I managed to attend quite a number of good performances, including Carnival of Animals, dance/film, Atsuhiro Ito's unique optron performance and a few location-based shows like the Fire Garden at the Esplanade. It was really quite a treat.

This year, I hadn't really thought of attending any of the Arts Fest shows because I hadn't received any Arts Fest brochures in the mail to remind me of the upcoming events. That was remedied with the arrival of this...

This year's Arts Fest team has really paid attention to detail! The aesthetically pleasing envelope with its black and white printed designs and quirky captions is a nice touch to the advertisements you usually receive. "The Poetic Times" broadsheet included was a pleasant teaser that suggested the programme outlines, relayed in a jaunty, tongue-in-cheek manner complete with pictures and trivia.

If that didn't do enough to pique your interest, check out what came in the mail a few days later after the jump!