Month: February 2017

The Ordinary Skincare

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Have you heard about The Ordinary? It seems everyone is talking about it lately, beauty bloggers, youtubers, fashion magazines, and so on.  The company is called The Abnormal Beauty Company, DECIEM.  The first time I learned about them was from Caroline Hirons’s blog. They have so many different brands, Hylamide, Niod, Chemistry Brand, White RX, and more. Although I don’t quite get the reason behind this. I do like most of their products I tried. I have been using Hylamide products for quite a while. The SubQ Anti-Age serum and the Booster Low-Molecular HA are my favourites. Apparently, The Ordinary is a new line of products from the same company. Out of curiosity, I purchased three different products from this brand to try out. Advanced Retinoid 2%, 30ml – AUD 12.90 (Adorebeauty.com.au) By now, we all know retinoid probably is the most effective anti-ageing skincare product. It helps to minimize fine lines or wrinkles, and improve skin elasticity. However, most of the products with retinoid ingredients can be quite expensive. This serum with 2% of retinoid is …

Guest Blog: Creating An Easy to Maintain Mini Herb Garden

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Hi guys, I hope you are having a wonderful day! Today, I am delighted to have my blogging friend, Karen from Nature Inspired Mom, to share her experience of growing a mini herb garden. Karen shares her passion for hiking, gardening and healthy living on her blog. If you haven’t seen her blog, please check it out here  Nature Inspired Mom. She takes you on her hiking adventure and shares a lot of wonderful photos. Her garden section is just amazing. She has a variety of beautiful succulents. I have learned a lot about gardening from her blog. If you like cooking, I am sure you would love to have your own herb garden. Fresh herbs give extra flavour to the dishes we cook. Certainly, they make the food taste better too. However, not everyone is good at growing herbs. Karen will tell us all about her favourite herbs and how to grow them. I am sure you will learn something from the post. I know I will. 🙂   Creating An Easy to Maintain Mini Herb Garden …

Sweet memory of Santorini

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Last week, I went to get a hair cut. As usual, I chatted away with my hairdresser. He told me he was planning their honeymoon to Europe this year. He has chosen Italy and Spain as their honeymoon destinations. So sweet and romantic! When he asked me where we had our honeymoon, I told him we went to few places in Europe. However, Santorini was my favourite. All the sweet memories flooded back. When I got home, I started looking at the photos from that trip. I never planned to do a post for that trip since it was years ago. However, Santorini is a beautiful destination, honeymoon or not. One thing is certain that you will never forget the breathtaking spectacular views once you have been to Santorini. The local told us many people cry when they see the sunset because it’s just so incredibly beautiful.     It was a hot summer, but we still happily spent hours on wandering around those little narrow alleys/streets on the island. Very often, we were surprised and awed by the unexpected beautiful sea view around …

Becca First Light Priming Filter | Review

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Hi guys, I hope you are having a lovely day! Have your tried the new primer from Becca? My primer was running low last month. So I thought it was time to get a new one. I came across the Becca First Light Priming Filter. Wow, look at the colour! This primer is described as a “skin-awakening primer that instantly erases the signs of a bad face day to leave the complexion fresh, awake and hydrated” by Becca. It comes in a frosted glass bottle with a pump. I love the packaging. Very chic! Don’t get intimidated by the colour. Violet/Purple can neutralise dullness and yellow colour in skin-tone,  and it has brightening effect. I used a violet colour loose powder from Anna Sui years ago. When I got this primer, I couldn’t help to try it out right away. I noticed an instant natural looking glow on my skin right after I applied it. It felt like I just had a great night sleep. The skin also looked very well hydrated. I have been using Mac …

Pearl Meatballs (Glutinous Rice meatballs) |Zhen Zhu Wan Zi

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The celebration of Chinese New Year was officially over last Saturday, which was the 15th day after the lunar New Year. As usual, we cooked a lot and ate a lot to celebrate the New Year. Apart from cooking, we attended the Year of The Rooster Concert in Brisbane to celebrate the occasion. It was a great concert with a combination of Chinese traditional music and western music. We especially loved the piece performed by the Pipa player. If you don’t know what Pipa is, it’s a four-stringed pear-shaped lute. The history of Pipa can be dated back over 2000 years. Back to today’s recipe, Pearl Meatballs has been a staple on my CNY Eve dinner menu. I make it every single year, and the love is still going strong. The combination of pork mince and glutinous rice is just perfect. It does need a little bit of time to prepare, but I think the results are definitely worth the effort. If you have less time, a food processor can always help. In this recipe, I added some water …

Digital break

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Over the weekend, I realised I need new glasses. I became a little bit shortsighted after I finished two years online course years ago. However, it has become worse since then. I have noticed I spend a lot of time on devices with screen every single day. I rely on them to organise my life, alarm and reminder on my phone, reading and writing notes on my iPad, writing and editing photos on my laptop. Don’t get me wrong. I am not anti-anything here. Technology is great. Life has become so convenient because of it. We can do an entire university degree without leaving the house. We can board a domestic flight by using our phones only. We can access news and information so quickly and easily through our phone and tablet. We can do so many things with these devices that we couldn’t before, tracking our steps, having a digital diary, online shopping, watching videos, drawing, and so many other things. However, my eyesight has become worse over the years. Spending so much time on looking at different screens …

Quick Pastry Finger Food

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Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all have a great start of the week. Today, I have a simple easy quick recipe to share with you. I love making this recipe because the biscuits are great as snacks or party food. You only need few minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to bake. It tastes great and goes well with cocktails, wine or just beer.  One sheet of puff pastry can make tons of it. If you cannot finish it, you can always store them in an airtight container for later. I make these savoury biscuits for myself very often. It’s my perfect afternoon snacks, light and crisp with heaps of sesame seeds and poppy seeds. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. xoxo INGREDIENTS Puff pastry – 1 sheet Paprika Poppy seeds Black sesame seeds White sesame seeds Salt Egg – for egg wash INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 180°C. Let the puff pastry sit at room temperature until it softens a bit. Use a sharp knife to cut the pastry to the size …

Best of January | Favourites

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Hey everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful week! I can’t believe January is officially over. It’s a little bit crazy, I think. We have been so busy celebrating New Year and then Chinese New Year. Normally, there is a gap between the two. However, Chinese New Year was in Jan this year. We actually are still celebrating it, a lot of cooking and a lot of yummy food. January was a really hot month here in Brisbane. We spent a lot of time on the beach. Most of the days I didn’t really wear full face makeup. Just cc cream with some concealer, a little bit of blush and lip gloss to brighten my face. I was all about the natural, no makeup makeup look. Here are few things I have been loving for the month: Beauty Too Faced Love Blush – I Will Always Love you I got this one recently from Mecca store. I was looking for something light and natural that I can use everyday for the summer. This blush …