Vacation Beauty Essentials

Whenever I am packing for a trip, it usually takes me 20 minutes to pack my clothes and then an hour or more to pack my toiletries and makeup bags. I usually try to bring only skincare and fragrance samples on trips, with the theory being that I would use them up on the trip and have space for new buys. In reality, I somehow always end up packing three times what I actually use!

Here's what I brought for my current two week trip to Hawaii and Tokyo. The product that I used the most regularly is actually not pictured here, and that's Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock SPF50 which kept my skin burn-free without any greasiness during the week in Hawaii. At the end of the day, I would then slather on Kiehls Creme de Corps to keep my skin hydrated and soft. I don't quite like the scent of Creme de Corps but it does a fantastic job of moisturising without leaving any residue on my skin.

Tsubaki Head Spa CM

The Tsubaki website has been updated with the new gold "Head Spa" line. Check out the new TV CMs here!

Hawaii Shopping Haul

Here's my collective beauty shopping loot from Hawaii's Sephora, Neiman Marcus, Long's Drugs, Target, DFS Galleria, MAC and Walmart stores. I got the two Paul & Joe makeup pouches at the DFS Galleria while at Sephora, I got a Korres Prep, Prime Perfect set, Bliss Triple Oxygen + C Energizing Cream, Fresh Strawberry Flowers fragrance and Sugar Lemon soap and OPI for Sephora Metro Chic nail polish. At MAC, I got an eyeshadow and two lipsticks from the Liberty collection.

As it has been 2.5 years since I last stepped into a Sephora (US) store, the experience was overwhelming in terms of the sheer number of brands available. The Sephora store at Ala Moana Shopping Centre had just started to stock the new Sephora-exclusive Tokidoki line with only the eyeshadow palettes, lipstain markers and eyeliners available. Unfortunately, the travel accessories were not yet available or I would probably have hauled them too. I only picked up the Cromatico Eyeshadow Palette in Diamante as the eyeshadows looked quite average, to be honest.

The transparent plastic cube packaging is also a bit too bulky for my liking and the lid is not easy to open.

Each palette comes with a charm accessory in the bottom compartment. Question is what should one do with the bottom compartment after removing the charm?! Just across from the Sephora store at Ala Moana is a store called Animation Addict, which carried the Tokidoki line of T-shirts, hoodies and other accessories.

NARS Purple Rain nail polish.

Snagged this Fresh set which seemed quite worthwhile at US$28 as the Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment usually retails at US$22.50 by itself.

The new Philosophy makeup line was also out so I picked up the Color of Grace Amazing Grace Shimmering Face Powder.


I was curious to try out Revlon's new Photo Ready foundation and Lancome's Oscillation, both of which get pretty mixed reviews on MakeupAlley and the beauty blogosphere. Philosophy's Supernatural Superbeautiful also found its way into my basket as a paraben-free sheer foundation.

The Physicians' Formula Shimmer Strips caught my eye as they looked like a knock-off of Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Brick Eye Palettes. These cost only about US$10 each and come in about a dozen variations.

At Walmart, I picked up some of the Hard Candy nail polishes, mascaras and eyeliner. While the line is nicely affordable, the display was picked over quite badly and many of the products looked somewhat cheap. The lipsticks are not even sealed properly.

At Neiman Marcus, I got the Chantecaille Les Dauphins and Bengali palettes.


Over at Juicy Couture, I found this roll-up flexi keyboard just too cute to resist!

Hawaii Vacation Pics

Here are some pics from our past week's stay in Oahu, Hawaii! We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort which was right next to the beach and also within walking distance of the Ala Moana Shopping Centre :-) The weather was fantastic, with just the barest of drizzles on some days and gorgeous sunshine throughout the week that we were there.

Ocean view from our room balcony.

The hotel grounds.


View from the Diamond Head peak, which was a good 45 minute hike up.

Spectacularly long rainbow that we saw on one of our drives :-) We rented a car for three days and drove all around the island, stopping at the various beaches, scenic spots and malls.


Saw the largest surfer-worthy waves along the North Shore although the most beautiful beach was Kailua Beach along the Windward Coast.



I'll do a separate post on my shopping haul :-)

Anna Sui Haul

My first haul of this trip at Narita Airport's dutyfree! I got the Anna Sui eyelash curler (700yen), foundation case (800yen) and nail file (1400yen) as they were much cheaper than the prices in Singapore.

I don't recall seeing this nail file at the counters in Singapore so it may not be available there.


The curler works out to be only S$11, compared to S$19 in Singapore. Pretty good deal!

Starbucks Sakura

Stopped by the Starbucks in Narita Airport Terminal 1 to try out their sakura menu :-) We ordered the Sakura Frappucino, steam bun and macaroon.

The steam bun was light, fluffy and not too sweet.

The Sakura Frappucino tasted more like bland strawberry milk to me! It came with shavings of pink chocolate on top. Cute!

Saving this to eat later. Even the wrapper is so pretty!

Also saw all the new Japanese mags with freebies galore at the newsstand but resisted getting any of them as I don't want to lug them on my trip. Here's a brief list of the mags I saw and their respective freebies:
Spring - Agnes B. stripe tote

CanCam - Marc by Marc Jacobs heart print tote

Voce - John Masters Organics haircare samples and cloth sachet

Biteki - Ipsa two foundation samples and three primer samples

Vivi - Rich pouch

Wedding Gowns

Am blogging this at the Starbucks in Narita Airport while waiting for my flight to Honolulu :-) Discovered that I actually had some shots on my digicam so here are some photos of the wedding gown and evening gown that I wore on last Sunday.

Both had fairly long trains which were a bit troublesome because people kept stepping on them inadvertently, especially during the dinner banquet when we went around the tables to take photos with each table. But the flowing trains, especially the wedding gown which cascades down in frills, looked lovely in the photos so I didn't mind at all. My sister-in-law was less lucky when she got married last year and her train ripped after a friend stepped on it!

The two gowns are different from those that I wore for the pre-wedding photo shoot as I decided that the ones that I had picked for the pre-wedding photo shoot weren't really my dream gowns. Fortunately, the bridal studio was willing to let me select another two gowns in early March, which were then altered to fit me.

The back of the wedding gown.

The bridal studio only provided very simple ribbon corsages for the bridesmaids so I decided to order small bouquets of hydrangeas with baby's breath and forget-me-nots for my four bridesmaids who were wearing purple dresses.

I got these from the Japanese florist, Shiki, at Level B1 of Takashimaya for only S$23 each :-) Hydrangeas don't last very long though and some started to wilt by nightfall.



The "angpao" (red packet) box provided by Intercontinental Hotel where we held our wedding dinner.

Pre-Wedding Photos

Thank you to everyone who left a comment earlier for the well wishes! The actual wedding day was Sunday 21 March and it went very smoothly with lots of laughter and joy all around, thanks to the help of several good friends.

I won't be able to post photos of the wedding day until a couple of weeks later but since some of you have asked, here are a few more shots from my pre-wedding photo shoot in December 2009. In Singapore, most couples do their photo shoot a few months before the wedding so that the photos can be displayed for the guests to see on the actual wedding day. The shoot usually includes both studio and outdoor shots, done within the same day. The shot below was taken near Hort Park.

These were taken in a tiny back alley behind the bridal studio which is along River Valley Road.