When Sabrina and I were thinking of how to celebrate Mothers' Day this year for the company, we didn't want to do something typical where it's obviously a commercial gimmick where we ply you with marketing messages to buy a particular gift for your mother.

Being daughters, we recognise that there is a special bond that we have with our mothers and when we were younger, we were often compared to our mothers. Does the line, "Ooh...you're looking more and more like your mum!" sound familiar to you?

This year, let us be the judge of that join our fun Mother-Daughter Look Alike Contest! We'll let the public vote and then the pairs who get into the Top 10 will get a special photoshoot with my friend Ashley Low of Ashley Low Photography.

Moreover, the winners will get a makeover as well as a family portrait with Ashley. The runner-ups will still be pampered with an awesome Anti-oxidant facial with TOUCHE Elite!

Join us and be part of this fun contest while celebrating the women we love! To register, visit www.sauceink.com/mothersday2016. Do note that you will need to sign up as a member of SAUCEink to complete the registration but registration is completely free!

Together with wellness coach, Chong Su Lee, and consultant, Natalie Turner, I've organised a luncheon entitled "Effortless Beauty On The Inside Out". During this workshop, we'll touch on the following:

• What to eat to get better skin
• How to portion size according to your lifestyle
• New technologies in skincare
• Proper skincare regime
• Demonstration on 2 volunteers

Attendees will get the chance to see this make-up essential to say 'bye bye' to wrinkles and eye bags!

To add, all attendees will stand the chance to win a D'Arts Jewellery box which is handmade from chicken eggs! Each unique box is worth $80 and is a piece of art on its own.

The ticket price is to cover the cost of lunch and we're not making any profits from this but we're just sharing our knowledge to like-minded ladies. After all, it is a journey to look good and feel great!

To register, click here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/effortless-beauty-from-the-inside-out-tickets-22978324788?aff=melfann

I had the honour of meeting Elim Chew, founder of 77th Street and other famous brands in Singapore, where she was our mentor for the day during my workshop. As suggested by her, Pásshen will be undergoing a name change but our core mission remains the same.

Some of you would probably be wondering what Pásshen is all about in the first place. To break it down, it is essentially about enabling everyone to be Body Confident. Does not matter what shape or size you are at, just as long as you are comfortable and take steps to becoming healthier and feeling great.

Thus, we've created a poll and that's where we'll need YOUR help. There have been so many ideas that I can't decide which name to choose. There's also that irritating thing called domain which we had to cross check for availability whenever a nice name popped up.

Please help vote for your favourite name and one of the lucky ones who pick the winning name will also win a bottle of red wine (worth $80)! To vote, please fill in the poll below or visit https://poll.fbapp.io/help-us-choose-our-new-name

Kimono inspired clothing, bags and pouches by local designer Alice.K

Day 4 of our Beauty Week was all about cosmetics and transforming ourselves from ordinary ladies into kawaii (cute) Japanese dolls! The workshop was led by Mia Yeh of M.Y. Makeup Artist, a freelance makeup artist whose services are listed on Pásshen.

Mia started the workshop by asking the class to imagine that they're now in Japan, surrounded by cherry blossoms and whatever screams 'Japan' to us. Why was it important to imagine this? Similar to the mindfulness workshop, if the mind is thinking of it, the end result of our makeup will definitely be more Japanese than if we were not conscious about the 'goal'.

Once we imagined ourselves in Japan, Mia then went on to show several images of Japanese celebrities dressed in kimonos and pointed out that what makes Japanese makeup different is that it's clean, flawless, simple with emphasis on large round eyes. It's almost natural-like makeup, which is one of the hardest to achieve.

Mia applying customised foundation on a participant

In order to achieve that flawless look, the foundation was of utmost importance. As there seldom is a shade of foundation that is exactly the same as our skin, Mia then showed the participants how to mix foundations with tinted moisturiser or serum in order to achieve a customised foundation that's perfect for each individual. As it is normal for makeup to oxidise, Mia recommended that we mix the foundation such that it is one tone lighter than our actual skin.

Mia showing where to apply the blusher for that trendy 'cute' blush

Next came the blusher. Mia mentioned how the new trend is to apply the blusher directly under the eyes, where the apple of the cheeks are. However, she stressed that this was only suitable for those with high cheekbones and if your cheeks were more towards the sides of your face, it should be applied directly where your cheeks show up when you smile. Nonetheless, it should not go towards the ears as this is only suitable for high fashion photoshoots and not real life. Moreover, we were told to be bold and put on more blusher than we normally would as the final dusting of loose powder would lighten everything.

After letting our foundation 'settle' through the warmth of our skin, we were soon ready for eyebrows and eye makeup!

The Japanese tend to have the eyebrows looking very natural so no fancy shapes or arches. The doll-like eyes also mean that we had to draw thin eye liner around the lids and even the waterline at the bottom of the eye to make our eyes seem rounder than usual.

The difference between falsie and none

False eyelashes also really help to make the eyes seem larger than usual, which you can see from above the difference it makes!

To complete the transformation to Japanese ladies, Mia then helped each of us with a more Japanese hairstyle, complete with flowers to adorn! We then tried on the various kimono inspired outfits courtesy of local designer Alice.K.

Chantek Rena transformed into a Japanese lady

The end results!

We all had so much fun that we didn't realise that we overran the time! One attendee remarked after the event that she enjoyed herself so much during the workshop that from today onwards, she will really read Pásshen's newsletters so that she is aware of future workshops!

Mia does weekly 2-hour makeup lessons every Thursday at her home and Pásshen members get a discounted price of $35 instead of $38! To book the class or any other of Mia's services, please visit M.Y. Makeup Artist's page here.

Talking about stress and mindfulness

Day 3 of our Beauty Week was all about dealing with stress and learning how to deal with it. Living in this fast paced rat race, we often deal with stress only when it becomes too much to handle. Tonight's workshop was all about recognising the signs and learning how to deal with it mentally as well as physically.

The workshop kicked off with one of our speakers, Theresa Chin who is a counsellor working with the Health Promotion Board, who talked about mindfulness. What is mindfulness? It was started by a doctor who realised that mindfulness was a good psychological way for patients to deal with pain. However, research soon showed that people who practised mindfulness were also aging a lot slower than their peers! Maybe this is the 'real' fountain of youth!

So how do you practice mindfulness? It is all about mind over body and recognising that you're exhausted or anxious. Once you've recognised that you're stressed to the point of exhaustion, then you need to learn to tell yourself to move from that point and trust that there are loved ones around to support you through this period of stress. Then, of course, you need to do something physical to reduce the stress.

Participants doing breathing exercises

After Theresa, our next speaker, Wing Phua from My Santosh, taught our participants some simple breathing exercises and stretches based on yoga. Wing taught very practical stretches that anyone could do while seated at their office desk. She highlighted that because of the modern lifestyle, our bodies have since adapted to have very tight shoulder muscles that tend to be slightly hunched inwards. To counter this, it is thus very important to stretch it out. Another way to release stress is deep breathing as when we're anxious, we tend to take very short breaths.

The various acu-points according to traditional Chinese medicine

After the yoga stretches, we went into Traditional Chinese Medicine with Dr Kong from Aegle Wellness Clinique. He first introduced us to commonly used acu-points and although there were so many listed on the screen, he taught us only the 10 most important ones!

Dr Kong showing one of the points on our chest

We were led into a self-massage session for the next 30 minutes were we learnt about the different massage techniques - one being tuina. The audience were definitely paying attention and a few were busy taking photos of the screen showing the acupressure points so that they wouldn't forget it the next day.

After Dr Kong's session, the attendees were visibly more relaxed and a couple of them even commented that they were so relaxed that they could sleep on the spot! Looks like the Chinese really do know which spots to press!

Aegle Wellness Clinique is listed on Pásshen and members have more than 10% discount off normal prices for consultation and treatment! You can also read the review about Aegle Wellness Clinique's treatment here.

Wellness Coach Chong Su Lee with our Director, Melissa Fann

It's Day 2 of Pásshen's Beauty Week and the workshop was aptly named "Beauty Secrets From The Kitchen" where wellness coach, Chong Su Lee, from Look Good Feel Great Always shared 2 types of beauty secrets - food intake as well as skincare.

The event was held at Route 44, a nice quiet cafe at 44 Rochester Park, which also believes in healthy meals and drinks.

The audience was first introduced to the idea of eating for your lifestyle where you should eat more carbs if you're an athlete or reduce it if you're desk bound. Moreover, everyone is NOT consuming enough vegetables. Most people consume only 1 to 3 portions a day (1 portion is about 1 fist-sized) but the daily recommended intake is more like 5 to 6 portions. That's almost 2 portions per meal! Which is why Su Lee said that she fulfils 2 portions at breakfast by drinking vegetable and fruit juice every morning. We'll soon get to juicing later.

 
Su Lee tailored the salad buffet portioning based on the book "Fit Not Fat", which was written by 2 nutritionists. In the book, it clearly states the nutritional and caloric value of things that are often found in salads and not all salads are really healthy if there are lots of dressing or fatty proteins.

Mortar, pestle, cotton wool and some interesting ingredients

After the talk about ratio of vegetables, carbs and protein one should eat in one's diet, Su Lee then went on to talk about how certain items in our kitchen can also be used to improve our skin! With her mortar and pestle, Su Lee showed the attendees how to mash up pineapple and strawberry to make simple facial masks that can help with moisturising and pore cleansing. Some of the attendees were also brave to do an oat scrub on the spot! Attendees that day also took back a 'recipe book' of all these facial masks and scrubs so that they can recreate them at home!

The buffet spread in the midst of being set up

After the physical demo, the audience could finally tuck into the salad buffet spread but everyone was very mindful about portion sizing and choosing the right ratio of protein, carbs and vegetables/fruit in their plates or bowls, depending on whether they wanted to eat a wrap or a pure salad.

For 'dessert' we were all treated to yummy cold pressed juices from Daily Juice. What's cold pressed juice? Unlike conventional juicers, cold pressed juicer does not blend the fruit or vegetables. It literally uses force to squeeze the fruit or vegetables and thus, it preserves a lot more vitamins in the juice and yields more juice per gram of fruit. In addition, nuts can also be cold pressed to yield nut milk, a good substitute to dairy.

As a lot of nutritionists advise, it is preferred to drink your vegetables and eat your fruit. Why? Because fruits are high in sugar and drinking the juice alone without the fibre does you more harm but vegetables on the other hand, are full of vitamins and it is highly recommended to eat more portions but it is a lot of hard work to chew that much veggies. But veggie juice alone isn't that palatable, which is why Daily Juice has concocted several different types of delicious juices that are high in vitamins, antioxidants and minerals.

Pásshen Director, Melissa Fann, with Yunye who won a beauty pass through intheloop magazine

After the event, several attendees said that they'll definitely be more conscious about eating more veggies and drinking more water after listening to Su Lee's advice. All who attended really enjoyed the workshop and were looking forward to more such workshops! We hear ya and will definitely keep this in mind!

Day 1 of our inaugural Beauty Week saw a second workshop in the evening entitled "Shape Your Windows To Your Soul". The idea was to learn about different face shapes and which eyebrow shape suits each of them. However, we're all a combination, so it's also about learning which one really suits our face.

It was a very hands on workshop as each participant was given an eyebrow pencil and asked to redraw their eyebrows based on what they think their brows should be. After which, Leticia of Exquisite Aura went to everyone to touch up and correct their brows.

All the participants raved at how they saw marked improvement in their eyebrow shape and it was a really fun atmosphere as we each saw the transformations. Every single one of us couldn't help but exclaim to each other how their eyebrows were looking better than before!

Challenge for us now...to keep up with the brows!

Leticia also brought samples of the Japanese lash extensions that she uses for her clients. They were super soft and felt almost like natural lashes. This is why the lash extensions that she does for clients do not poke the eyes uncomfortably.

Leticia also shared that for her, she glues each extension onto every SINGLE strand of eyelash, which is considerably more tedious than what a lot of beauticians do - glue 1 extension to 2 or 3 strands. Hence, with proper care of these extensions, they can last up to a month without any irritation as the lashes can grow out naturally. Moreover, by gluing individual strands with the extensions, the lashes will not break off easily as they are allowed to grow plus the added benefit is that you can wash your face as per normal! Only exception is NO oil-based cleansers and NO mascara on said extensions.

Another lesson learnt - the difference between Japanese and Korean lashes. The Japanese like the doll-effect and so the lash extensions tend to be longer in the middle and highly curled. The Koreans on the other hand, are looking for the length so it tends to be long at the outer edges of the eyes.

All attendees to Pásshen's Beauty Week were treated to a S$50 voucher for semi-permanent make up (eg. eyebrow embroidery) or 10% discount for eyelash extension to be used when booking made via www.passhen.com. To know more about the services and classes that Exquisite Aura has to offer, please click here.

We kicked started Beauty Week with the basic gel manicure workshop conducted by The PinkRoom International at 2pm!

It was a very small class of 5 but because of it, all of us managed to really get 1-on-1 experience with our instructor and the overall atmosphere was that of fun and laughter.

Minghui from The PinkRoom International giving us a brief presentation on the school and their various courses

The course officially began and our instructor, Jolene, taught us the difference between gel nail polishes and normal nail polishes. Did you know that gel polishes do not dry out when exposed to air? That is why bottles of gel polishes can last for decades! Gelish is just the brand of gel nail polishes so there's no difference between Gelish and all other gel nails with exception to types of pigments and whether it's a 1-step or 3-step process.

Showing us the consistency of gel polishes

Gel polishes are also naturally more viscous compared to normal nail varnish and for this particular brand, the pigments used are organic and it's only a 1-step gel polish. In other words, no need for base  or primer! Moreover, gel polishes do not stain the nails as the pigments do not get absorbed by the nails after curing under a UV or LED lamp.

Now, onto proper nail care. A lot of us think that gel polishes are bad for the nails but according to both Jolene and Master Educator, Joe Chua, it is actually the knowledge of your nailist and technique. So...let's get a bit educated.

First: Nails are like hair. They're not 'alive'. There's no real need to let them 'breathe' as such but of course, healthy nails are also an indication of personal health. Which is why The PinkRoom kept emphasising on how to care for your nails by first removing the cuticle with a pumice stone if you're not confident to use the metal ones. It's gentle and it is exactly like how you'd remove dead skin from your feet. This also helps to set the nail clean for the gel polish to adhere properly onto your nail bed. They do not recommend using nail files to buff the nails, which is what most manicurists would do to prime your nails for the gel polish. Instead, use a gentle buffer and this would not thin down your nails.

In fact, as emphasised by Joe, a proper manicurist would be buffing away the base coat from your previous gel manicure during this process. If your nails did not have a previous gel manicure, all the more the manicurist should be using a gentle buffer rather than a file.

Soon, we were taught how to apply the layers of gel polish and to cure them in the lamp. LED lamps cure a lot faster than UV lamps and a lot of people prefer LED lamps over UV lamps thanks to all the articles written about UV exposure.

For today's workshop, we were taught how to draw a penguin! We could choose our preferred base colour of our penguin before we went back to our seats to DIY.

Check it out! All of our different penguins! There's an extra pig because I had more time and wanted another animal. LOL.

Master Educator, Joe Chua, doing an acrylic nail demonstration

After we were all done with our penguins, Master Educator, Joe Chua, came in to do an acrylic nail demo. Acrylic nails are considered to be one of the most difficult to do and the nailist's technique can be easily seen from the end product due to the thickness and shaping. Moreover, Joe decided to do a French Tip, which is a classic but also very difficult as the 'smile' of the nail has to be perfect. To show his skill, Master Joe did not use a fake stick-on but a form fitting acrylic.

Sticking on the guide for the acrylic nail. Photo courtesy of PinkRoom

Master Joe explaining to us why acrylic nails aren't that popular

Acrylic nails last very long but they're the least popular among all the various types of nails because it requires a highly skilled nailist to be able to do perfect ones. Thus, the regular manicurist out there will not be able to shape the acrylic nails such that they look natural and may crack easily too.

The finished acrylic nail! Doesn't it look natural? It's the fastest manicure that I've ever gotten too!

Master Joe also mentioned that another reason why acrylic nails aren't popular is because other manicurists tend to overfile the nail before soaking it in acetone to remove. Once again, it is important to find a manicurist who has been trained properly. This is why The PinkRoom prides itself in being one of the few nail schools in Singapore to be able to give their students a proper diploma once they have finished their nail courses!

After the workshop, it was time to shop as The PinkRoom is now having a Clearance Sale!

To know more about The PinkRoom, you can visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PinkRoomNails.PRINA/ or visit their shop at:

10 Anson Road
#06-18 International Plaza

They open:

Mon-Fri:	11:30-21:30
Sat:	11:30-18:00