Make-up tips learnt from a pro

As part of a media training that I just completed, the last lesson was on make up and how it is important to look natural but yet neat in front of the camera.  As the class is small, each of us had to go under the mini 'make-over' by the professional make up artist, who was also our trainer for the day.  She was really funny as she mentioned to one of my colleagues that his shade of foundation is the same shade as the one she used on Steven Tyler when he performed the previous week!

Anyway, we were told to go to the session sans make up so this is me before...

This photo is quite forgiving but my T-zone is rather oily so under any other lighting/ camera, my face will shine bright like a mirror.  LOL. Ok, I'm exaggerating but you get the idea.

And post make up...Tada!!

No shine whatsoever!! We were introduced to the wonderful mattifying gel by Bodyshop ($26.90) which you can use under your foundation or on top of your make up.  It really helped to take off the shine and it lasted quite long. My face was still oily after 4 hours but it was two-thirds less shiny than it would've been without the mattifying gel.  MAC has a version but it's aboiut 3x more expensive while I've used Anna Sui's primer and it no longer absorbs that much shine.

She used a very light make up which pros used and she also used eyebrow powder/gel to help fill in my brows.  Touch of blusher and natural lip colour plus super fine powder and I'm done!  No eyeshadow, no mascara.  I did have a bit of hairspray to get rid of fly-away hair.  It was so natural, nobody mentioned that I was wearing make up or anything like that.

Ladies or Gentlemen who have long fringes like myself, trick to the hairspray is to tilt your head back slightly, spray the hairspray, wait for it to dry and then flip your head front.  It will be a bit stiff but you can then use your hand to scrunge and loosen it up so that it doesn't look like you plastered your fringe to your scalp.

Another useful tip that I learnt that day was about hairloss! Apparently, drinking 4 cups of stinging nettle tea everyday continuously will help hair growth!! Ever since that day, I've bought the nettle tea bags as well as the capsules.  Will faithfully take it everyday and report the effects month-on-month.  Always excited to have natural remedies to hair growth! Only another colleague and I were so excited with this news and I shared with him about the tea bags in Holland & Barrett.  LOL.  Another exciting thing was the Body Shop's matt primer which I bought after the workshop.  Terrible me ended up spending enough at Body Shop to become a member.  Gah. I must stop shopping!!

Sweetheart Nails for the week - 25 May 2013

Although I really liked the bling effect of last week's Bling It On Feathers, it was snagging on my clothes, hair and cotton pad!! This really irritated me so for this week, I decided to do something simple. 

I just love this lilac Canmake nail polish so I decided to use it as my base.  I then used my Glow-in-the-dark heart stickers only on my thumb and index fingers.  On the rest, I did a bit of a silver sparkle before putting large dark pink sparkle nail polish at the tips.  I've found that place more nail polish at the tips do help my nails last a bit longer.

I can't decide what to do for next week.  I'm tempted to do some complicated design but on the other hand, laziness creeps in.  Any ideas?

Music Matters Live 2013 in Singapore

Went to watch Music Matters Live 2013 at Clarke Quay mainly for Flumpool and Weaver (reached at 7.30pm and it was already crowded!) but managed to discover Dubfx who is an Aussie beat boxer who is really really good!!

He performed everything live by recording and looping beats.  I was blown away at how he can create a whole 'band' with only his voice box.  Simply amazing! Dubfx had a very short set of about 20 min.

After Dubfx, we had a rock band from Taiwan called 'The Chairman' and all of their songs were in Hokkien!

They had scary painted faces and it was quite interesting to hear the fusion of rock, traditional Chinese opera and Hokkein together.

After 'The Chairman' was the band that Siew Mai and I were waiting so long for....Flumpool!!! They were really entertaining and you could see how much they enjoy performing live. Siew Mai and I wanted to 'accidentally' hit the signs that some fans brought. I can completely understand why they brought them but as a standing-only concert, it really blocks one's view of the stage.  There was another woman whose fan kept getting in my way of getting a good shot of Flumpool's lead vocals, Ryuta. :(

After Flumpool was Sid but Siew Mai and I wanted to see Weaver and Flumpool's 'secret gig' at Beer Market so we left after Flumpool's set.  Thank goodness we did that because we had to queue for a very long time before we could get into Beer Market!!  Anyway, below are the videos that I took and you can find them on my YouTube Channel too.




I really enjoyed the gig at Beer Market because it was a lot more intimate and you could hear the vocals of both leads a lot better.  The downside was how long the set up for Weaver and Flumpool took! The gig was supposed to start at 11pm but it took the staff 40 min to set up for Weaver.  After Weaver's performance, it took the same staff an hour to set up for Flumpool!! To make things worse, the band went up on stage to do further sound checks!! Made you wonder...wouldn't it be faster if the band had done the initial sound checks instead of the staff?

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself (despite one evil look from a staff of Beer Market when she asked me whether we're going to order more drinks and I said 'No.') and I'd love to see all these great JRock bands perform live in Singapore again!! Kudos to the organisers of Music Matters Live.  I know that it must've been a logistical nightmare but I think that it was generally well put together! Enjoy the other photos that I took!!

Nails for the week - 20 May 2013 (Bling it on Feathers with lilac)

It has been some time since I've last painted my nails and and it's all because of all the chipping and peeling thanks to me not really paying attention to them.  I couldn't take it anymore and went ahead with this design!

I love the Bling It On Feathers by Nails Inc and I bought the whole set from Sephora ($36) about 3 weeks ago.  The lilac purple is from Canmake, which I bought in Osaka and it costs half the price as in Singapore!

I'm quite thrilled with the effect and the Nails Inc set comes with a darker sparkle feather which I think I'll use in contrast with Black or some other dark shade.  Puts me in a disco mood...bling bling! LOL.

Lunch at OChre - a pseudo Italian affair

Met up with my caterer, Kitchen Language, at one of their restaurants for lunch last Thu as we needed to finalise some logistical matters for my Ladies Workshop that was held last Sat.  It was my first time eating at OChre, although I knew that it was an Italian restaurant and it is priced to be slightly more premium.

I wanted to order their set lunch but the mains from the ala carte menu looked more interesting so I did a mains and dessert swap with my friend and catering manager.

For starters, I chose the scallops...

From left to right: scallop with caviar and a swipe of uni sauce, scallop with pan fried foie gras with a swipe of truffled mushroom sauce and last is just scallop with truffle oil.  Soooo good....

After that starter, I was looking forward to my main of cod fish.  As appetizing as the photo above appears, I must say that I was rather disappointed with this dish.  The fish was cooked perfectly and you can't go really wrong with cod and soy but the vegetables were the main let-down.  The radish and brocolini were tasteless.  I forced myself to eat them so that I get some fibre.  The soy was also a bit weird considering that OChre is supposed to be an Italian restaurant.

My dessert was HEAVENLY.  I ordered the "Sweet & Salty" dessert (S$18+) which consists of a square of warm walnut cake served with ice cream and a smearing of salted caramel.  It is adorned with hazelnuts and almonds as well as a few berries.  Really very yummy and will immediately remind you of a sticky date pudding but less cloying and sweet.  Thank god for this dessert, otherwise my meal would've been spoilt by the lack lustre main.

That said, the food served during my workshop was gorgeous.  The truffle mushroom soup was THICK and the smell of truffle oil permeated the air.  The pizza served was nice and flat while juicy because of the fresh tomatoes used.  Delish!

My friend told me that on Sundays, OChre has a buffet brunch where you will get a full-sized main in addition to whatever is being served at the buffet line. Be sure to go there with an empty stomach!  If you're not going to eat, OChre also has a bar/lounge area that boasts a wine cellar filled with bottles of Italian wines.  Overlooking Orchard, the roof bar is quite a nice chillax area and I would do that one day, when I do have the chance to just kick back and relax.

Great thing is that they don't charge 10% Service Charge but they do have a dress code of 'Smart Casual'.

OChre
181 Orchard Road
#11-03/04 Orchard Central
http://www.ochreitalian.com.sg/

Update: OChre is no longer around as of November 2013.