Was lucky to be invited to the Singapore launch of US-based Vita Coco's cold pressed organic coconut oil on Wednesday! Vita Coco's coconut water has already won the hearts of millions internationally since it's processing from fruit to packet ensures that drinking from the packet is almost like drinking from the nut itself.

The humble coconut has been heralded as a wonder fruit and thus, this jar of coconut oil has been aptly called the 'little jar of wonders' as coconut oil is packed rich with good fats (medium chain fatty acids) and acids (Capric, Caprylic and Lauric) which nourish, energise and stimulate your body’s metabolism. In fact, the only other natural source of such a large quantity of these rich fats and acids are in mother’s breast milk, which strengthens the immunity of her baby.

Due to the wonders of coconut oil, the running tagline for Vita Coco is "Eat it. Wear it. Swear by it!". Let's touch on the "Eat it" portion as food is always close to the heart.

Here I am enjoying a glass of Coconut Margarita and mind you, this was my 2nd cocktail. I had earlier drunk a glass of Coconut Water Mojito! Yummy and refreshing! There were mocktails too but I wasn't driving so bring on the alcohol!

The team had engaged the chefs at Glass House, Hotel Fort Canning, to come up with a 3 course meal to showcase the variety of ways that Vita Coco's coconut oil and coconut water could be used in one's cooking.

First came a simple salad of baby spinach, tomato, cucumber, roasted walnuts, mandarin orange slices drizzled with some coconut oil. The result was very refreshing and it was interesting to smell the coconut but not eat something that is very rich but light.

Second course was the chicken soup that was cooked with coconut water. It was a bit too sweet for my liking and I reckon that it's because the chef added sugar and not because of the coconut water. I've cooked broth with coconut water before and it tastes really yummy, especially when you mix it with chicken broth as the coconut water adds another dimension to it. Alternatively, I feel that coconut water is a good vegetarian broth! Just remember to add the salt.

Lastly is Coconut Butter Chicken with Savoy Coconut Rice. It uses both coconut oil and water as part of the ingredients.

Chef preparing the Coconut Butter Chicken

We had a cooking demonstration as well! Chef taught us how to prepare the Coconut Butter Chicken dish and if you'd like the recipe, you can head on over to my other blog In Chef Mode to download it.

As mentioned earlier, coconut oil is versatile and not only can you eat it, you can use it and this brings us to the "Wear it" portion.

I'm currently using Coconut Oil in what is known as oil pulling. Basically, you gargle with coconut oil for about 20 minutes before brushing your teeth. This 'pulls' the bacteria and dirt in your mouth due to the anti-bacterial properties of coconut oil. I've done it for about a week or so and what I like about it is that it doesn't dry my mouth and lips, unlike normal mouthwashes.

One of the attendees getting a scrub made with Vita Coco coconut oil

Model having a mask applied onto her face after makeup removal using coconut oil

Due to its moisturising properties, you can use the coconut oil as a body scrub by mixing it with rock salt or sugar. Also, you can use it as a harmless and effective makeup remover!

Another way of using coconut oil is a hair conditioner, just like how a lot of Indians use it traditionally. If you have fine hair, it is also advisable to coat your hair with coconut oil before shampooing. Called a 'pre-poo', this prevents your hair from getting dried out during the shampoo process.

You can get more information and tips on how to use coconut oil at http://www.swearbyit.com.

So where can you get your hands on this little jar of wonders and the refreshing coconut water? The 250ml Vita Coco coconut oil is retailing at S$20 and will be available at all major supermarkets and specialty stores from November 2015 onwards. The coconut water are already on sale in the major supermarkets!

To find out more about Vita Coco and their nutty story, visit http://vitacoco.com/sg.

Moon and I were very lucky to be 2 of the 100 selected to win invites to Cosmopolitan Singapore's 3rd Anniversary Bash yesterday, where they celebrated Fun Fearless Fabulous (females)!

Doors to F-Club were supposed to be open at 7.30pm for registration but they didn't really open up till 8pm. We arrived at about 7.45pm to see a long snaking queue and we had to get in line. Thankfully there was a roving hunk and FFF Cosmo photog to entertain us with Polaroids and chocolates!

Cool thing is that with the hashtag #CosmoFFF2014, we had our Instagram photos printed out inside the event space!

Instead of your usual wristbands, each of us were given a paper DKNY watch band! Really quite cool in terms of marketing because this highlights DKNY's signature timepiece for this season while making the attendees really remember about DKNY's branding.

As you can see from the photo above, the space was pretty packed. One of the organisers said that there was a limit of 300 pax within the F-Club and it certainly felt like the place was maxed out.

Really liked the DKNY catcher booths (there were 2!) and we wanted to try our luck but the queues were too long and I had NO patience to queue although we had free flow of Somerby's Cider (yum!).

For food, it was only a dessert table that had these really cute red velvet cakes with the Cosmo logo on white chocolate discs. Below is a meringue flower on a stick that was really cute too! Pardon the really crappy photo because I was walking and taking the photo - all done in low light.

After jostling with the crowd for about 20 minutes, my stomach said, "You need real food instead of just booze and sugar. The crowd's suffocating too." Thus, Moon and I walked out with our goodie bags and headed over to Liang Court for dinner/supper!

I must say that I'm terribly impressed with the goodie bag! Check out the loot:

Items inside were:

• Kellogg's cornflakes
• DKNY bangle
• Asience Shampoo & Conditioner
• ZA BB cream and cleansing oil
• The Natural Confectionery Sours
• Kao Steam Eye mask
• $50 watch voucher
• $10 hair voucher
• $50 Spa Voucher
• Flight 001 kit containing:
• 2 travel tags
• laundry soap sheets
• body cleansing sheets
• combination lock
• Lush shower gel
• SheShops discount voucher
• Latest edition of Cosmopolitan magazine

I won't be using this because I'm trying to save $$, hope that you guys will benefit from this instead! Go ahead and use the discount code but do remember that it expires on 31 Oct 2014!

It generally was a fun event but it was just too crowded for my liking. The ZA cosmetics were just placed on the bar tables and it was a shame that it was too noisy and crowded for people to just play around with them or talk to the ZA staff. The free flow of cider was EXCELLENT and of course, the games were a fantastic idea. I also like the printing of photos through the hashtag. All in all, it was great to celebrate everything that's Fun, Fearless and Fabulous!

It comes with great regret to announce the closing of Oct 1983.  It has been my online baby for the past 2.5 years but it has been a struggle to juggle my full time job, tutoring and this business.  As such, 30 June will be the last day of Oct 1983 products going on sale.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank friends who've been so supportive as well as clients who helped keep the business afloat. :)

Good news is, I'm having a clearance sale of up to 50% off!!  So please help me clear my stock and get a good deal while you're at it.  ;)

Thanks and peace out!  www.oct1983.com.sg

 The new Flora Sunglasses range by Gucci is so cute!  Love the little butterfly at the corner and the shades come in various colours.  So cute!!

My gosh...the Epi leather tote comes in such a yummy candy colour!  I'd love to just have it for a day but I'd have trouble matching it with a lot of my clothes though.

Hah..that's all.  This is quite a random fashion post :P

Warning: long blog post. Ok...now that you've been forewarned, please proceed at your own "risk". Hee... ;)

Well, first up, let me highlight this contest/ cause which is so cute. Ladies, would you like to win a Gucci bag? Then join "Shopaholic's" cause!! Just click here.
I like how they put it as "spend to help the economy". Its true. We do need to keep the economy afloat and NOT spending will hurt.

That being said, I have spent too much. My savings have depleted and I received my credit card bills last night. *Gawks at bills* Oh my...I had to ask Wince for an advance for my part time work, otherwise, I don't think I can pay off my bills and then I'll be accumulating 23% interest. I have already incurred $10 thanks to that. Yup...last month was the first time in history where I didn't pay up my credit card bill in full. "But Mel...what happened to your savings? Don't tell me you're such a spendthrift!!" you say. Well, I've got investments and they haven't matured yet. I can't sell them off. Yet. Looks like I ought to call my broker and find out...hmms...

Ok...now back to the 'main' thing that I wanted to blog about. Met Mel Li at Haji Lane yesterday because I wanted to go to Arab St. to get my jewellery stuff (yes, ended up buying $23 worth of stuff and I had already held back from going mental from the choices of Swarovski crystals). I love Haji Lane. Its this little narrow lane that's chock-ful of wonderful finds - vintage/ local designers/ handcrafted goods and a good place where bohos like to hang out. Some friends of mine like going there to smoke the sisha (forgive me if I spelt this wrongly). I went into all the shops touching stuff that I can no longer afford to purchase and yes, I heavily bemoan that fact.

Both Mel Li and I bought a scoop of ice cream from Pluck@Haji Lane and although its quite ok for $3 a scoop, the consistency of it was quite icy and that disappointed me the most. Both of us literally ate chunks of ice. It's Ice-cream...not ice with cream. Ah well...at least our sweet tooth was satiated.

We ended up eating dinner at Nabins's - a Nepalese restaurant that faces Bali Lane (perpendicular to Haji Lane). I must say that the food was surprisingly good and sorry...we were so busy talking and eating that we forgot to take pictures. =P Both of us ordered the Nepalese set meal (grilled chicken, not lamb) and it was a bit like eating North Indian food minus the yoghurty feel of the sauces. Still a lot of lentils, ghee, spices and chickpeas/potatoes but it was yummy! A tad salty but then, I don't eat a lot of salt...so you might find it just nice. There's an upper floor too, which we didn't go but apparently, it has low tables and no shoes allowed.

After dinner, we went on over to Clarke Quay to Fashion Bar. Ladies...you'd be glad to know that Fashion Bar is having a $5 martini promo for ladies for the whole of March. Yes! Its only $5 with GST and svc charge included. Bottom's up! No...I'm not getting paid to write about this but I'd like to share good deals with everyone.

This is my 2nd time to Fashion Bar and I don't know how I feel about it. I love the couches, the drinks, the decor and sometimes the music. I think the prices are quite normal for a bar/club...especially one that's owned by LifeBrandz (side note: stock price only $0.10. Cheap cheap!! I've never seen this go up or down. Lost money and wanna park your cash somewhere? Why not consider this? Didn't even fluctuate despite the MOS fiasco. 1 lot only $100...cheaper than my aldo shoes).

Brace yourselves...this is where the "but" comes in. BUT what I don't quite like about it is the half baked theme of "Fashion" where the only visible signs where Fashion TV on a few of the LCD TVs. Another thing is their unisex toilet. It feels too trapped and seriously, there will be loads of awkward moments when a guy comes in/out and a lady goes in/out. The only bar that has successfully pulled this unisex toilet off is Fairmont's (formerly known as Raffles the Plaza) Ink Bar. You don't pull a door into the unisex toilet and it has an open concept. The only door that you open is the individual cubicles. Then you come out to a common sink area. The one at Fashion Bar feels confined and trapped but there's this huge area where they left an empty bathtub (???!!).

Anyway, I ordered a hazelnut martini and it was quite good! Mel Li ordered a chocolate martini and I half sniggered. "What what?" Mel Li asked. "Well, I'm wondering whether you're gonna regret your choice,"I replied.


Her chocolate martini came and seriously, it isn't half bad but Morton's wins hands down. Make that both hands down!! Morton's has truly spoilt us when it comes to chocolate martinis. The chocolate flavour is robust but the kick from the alcohol is just as strong. Yum. That's chocolate martini perfection. Tasted a better chocolate martini other than Morton's? Tell me!!

We arrived at Fashion Bar at 9pm and we horrible two actually chatted till 12.30am. Gosh...this is deja vu. The last time we got together was the same. We can really talk a lot. Mel Li suggested that next time, we should prolly sit at the bar and chat with the bartender as well. Goodness...I think we'll leave only at 3am then.

Went home and I went into half-obsessed mode with adding pages to my jewellery website. Gor still saw me online at SST 5am and messaged me: "You're surely not online still?" I actually replied him. Yes...I was online till 5.30am this morning. Told you I was half-obsessed with launching my website. I am proud to say that it is 90% done!! Feel free to view it by clicking on the words "jewellery website" above. A male friend went, "Wow...so purply." Ah well...I like the colour scheme. Beats the blog one. ;) Do support me for Oct 1983. As I told Mel Li, I need to sell like 100 pieces to make up for my cost. =P

请多多指教！よろしくお願いいたします！