Author: Elisia

The Not So Hidden Gem of Singapore

We’re talking luxurious, beautiful designs and creations that Singaporeans, including myself, have gone crazy over. If you know me, you know colourful and beautiful things make me so excited. A Better Florist hit the right spot with me, because it’s the best florist in Singapore when it comes to crafting inspiringly vibrant and gorgeous bouquets. This team combines the impossible and designs bouquets with every creative bone in their body, and it shines through the bouquets they make.

Every hand bouquet I have ever ordered from them was unbelievably fresh, and it lasted longer than any bouquet from any other flower delivery Singapore has that I’ve tried. I’ve tried many, but A Better Florist just raised the bar and took it to a whole new level. Even the flowers I don’t normally go for looked amazing. They are able to find a creative way to make it look so gorgeous and attractive that you can’t resist it. Just take one quick at their social media and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

For the longest time, I was looking for a place that would cater to me, as a busy mom, a person who still wants to take the time to surprise their loved ones with special gifts, not something you would just grab on the go, without giving it a second thought. With the best florist in Singapore, I am able to stay at home, and ask for custom gifts for my friends and family. I can browse through fruit baskets for Chinese New Year, pick out hampers for Mother’s Day or birthdays, or even treat my eyes and soul with gorgeous wedding flower stands, which I don’t even need, but they’re there and they’re ridiculously gorgeous.

Everything you need is in one place, and I love the convenience and speed of the whole process. If I wanted balloons with my fruit basket they can take care of that. If I wanted to deliver a get well soon hamper to someone who’s recovering in the hospital, they can do that for me as well. If I wanted the most luxurious baby shower gift personalised for my best friend, they can do that too! And I don’t even have to go outside. I just jump onto their website, and their lovely delivery will take care of the rest. They really do have the best flower delivery in Singapore. Although ordering online isn’t a new concept, they definitely did bring something new by offering to make same-day deliveries within just 90 minutes. That kind of express delivery usually comes with a price, but not with these guys. It’s their mission to be there for you, when no flower delivery Singapore has, is. And I love that they have given so much thought to every single part of the entire process, because it does make a huge difference.

All of their flowers are pretty affordable, from the funeral flowers to huge arrangements for your home or for gifts. Compared to other florists, the standards are much higher, so the prices aren’t dirt cheap either, but it’s worth it.

I did some additional research, and recently I found out that A Better Florist expanded. Besides expanding in Singapore, they now have shops in Hong Kong and Dubai, and offer a Dubai flower delivery as well as a Hong Kong flower delivery, and I have no doubt that if you’re looking for the best flower delivery in Hong Kong, A Better Florist won’t disappoint you. Jump on the Internet, and you’ll see plenty of reviews that list them as the best florist in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and the best florist in Hong Kong.

You’ll fall in love with their flower designs just as I did, I’m sure of that. And if you love showering your loved ones with beautiful gifts you’ll also love A Better Florist. My advice is to visit their website and start off with one of their bouquets.

Moony/Mamy Poko Airfit Tape Diapers

Every mummy has their favourite diaper brand for their child — the diaper brand that fits their child well, holds pee and poo well, and doesn’t cause diaper rash easily.

Lucky for me, Emilee doesn’t have too sensitive skin and can take almost any diaper brand. However, that doesn’t mean I buy the cheapest brand in the market. I still have my favourite. Emilee started out with Huggies Ultra simply because she was very small as a newborn (she was only 2.1kg at birth despite being a full-term baby) and newborn size diapers were too big for her. Huggies Ultra had smaller than newborn sized diapers called Just Born size and they were readily available at CK. No luck with NTUC. When she slowly moved up to S size, I started to notice that her diaper would bunch up in front, sometimes causing leaks. That’s when I started looking for another diaper brand.

I read online from other mummies that Japanese diaper brands were good for absorbency so I started trying Mamy Poko Extra Dry. Mamy Poko diapers were relatively cheap and good for Emilee. Then, I heard from mummies that Moony was pretty good albeit a little on the pricey side. My itchy fingers went to get a packet of that just to try and from there, I was sold. Both Mamy Poko and Moony are from the same Unicharm company so you could say that Moony is the premium cousin of Mamy Poko Extra Dry. While I’ll say that both brands are pretty equal in absorbency rate, Moony diapers are a lot softer in texture and not as stiff as Mamy Poko Extra Dry diapers.

Well, if Moony is a premium diaper brand, there’s also Merries right? Having used a packet of Merries when Emilee was a newborn, I’ll say that Moony and Merries are good for the larger and wider cutting but I feel that Moony seems to be able to hold more pee for a slightly longer period of time compared to Merries.

Front and back of Moony/Mamy Poko Airfit tape diapers.

For the longest time, Moony was not available in Singapore stores and could only be bought online who brought in the supply from Japan. However, Singapore stores started stocking their shelves with it fairly recently. Moony is marketed in Singapore as Mamy Poko Airfit. A packet of the diapers cost around $26 no matter the size.

Like most diaper brands, Moony diapers come with a wetness indicator. When dry, the double lines are yellow. When wet, the lines turn blue. The diapers are long enough and come with gathers at the back to prevent backflow pee leakage. The gathers are soft and stretchy so they do not leave any marks on baby’s skin.

Back gathers of the diaper.

What I like most about the diaper is the wider cutting and soft breathable material. The gathers at the leg prevent leakage from the side. Again, the side gathers are soft and stretchy, which do not leave angry red marks on baby’s thighs.

Do not be fooled by the thin appearance of the diaper. For Emilee, it holds pee well anywhere from 3-5 hours.

Soft breathable material of the diaper.

Moony tape diapers come in sizes from Newborn to L. It was only when I started using this brand that I found out that Moony also carried smaller than newborn sized diapers. Would try to get that if my next kid is small sized too, though it seems harder to find. Newborn size is for up to 5kg babies. Smaller than newborn size is for up to 3kg babies.

Did I mention that diapers come with a cute Winnie the Pooh print? There are 6 designs in total with 2 designs in each packet. There were 10 designs to “collect” previously and I must say I was crazy over it. I would open each packet with much excitement. Yes, cheap thrill for me. Lol.

This entry is purely based on my opinion. My advice is to get various samples of diapers to try and find the diaper brand that suits both you and your baby.

[Cross posted entry on MUMMY TO BABY]

Snapkis Premium Baby Travel Wipes

I received a pack of Snapkis Premium Baby Travel Wipes in the November 2015 Babies 1st Birthday Bash goodie bag. Meant to do this review way back but never got round to it.

I was a little undecided about the size of the packet at first. It’s bigger than the usual pocket packs of wet wipes, but I was sold while packing Emilee’s diaper clutch. You’ll soon see why…

The Snapkis wet wipes packet fit perfectly into the diaper clutch!

Being the kiasu mum I am, Emilee’s diaper clutch is packed to the max with essentials (e.g. diapers, set of clothing, changing mat, bib, roll of plastic bags, wet wipes, packet of dry tissues, small towel) making it rather fat. While the usual pocket pack of wet wipes is small and handy, the thickness makes it hard to fit in an overflowing diaper clutch. Not Snapkis. The packet contains 20 pieces of wet wipes, similar to most pocket-sized wet wipes, but the packet is flat. It fits perfectly! (I’m using the free diaper clutch by Similac.)

Each sheet is of good size, wetness and thickness.

Each sheet is 180mm x 200mm in size and about 5mm in thickness. The wipes are alcohol and paraben free, perfectly safe for baby’s skin. They also come in a honeycomb embossed design which is soft in texture.

Six key features of Snapkis wet wipes:

  1. Aloe vera extract
  2. Camellia Japonica flower extract
  3. Argan oil
  4. Portulaca Oleracea extract
  5. 6-level purified water system
  6. 70gsm premium embossed fabric
Emilee approves of it!

You can find the Snapkis wet wipes at Mothercare or Kiddy Palace. A packet of 20 wipes is sold at $2.90.

PS: Photos were taken some time ago. I have since changed my diaper clutch to Ju.Ju.Be’s Be Quick. The packet of wipes still fits perfectly.

[Cross posted entry on MUMMY TO BABY]

Miss Spa Facial Sheet Mask

I have joined the Try and Review tester panel for some time now and have been trying to get picked to test some products. I got lucky this time and was picked to try the Miss Spa facial sheet mask.

I got the hydrating mask which was perfect as my skin is often too dry that it overproduces facial oil to compensate.

As stated on the packet, the mask is free of paraben, fragrance and artificial dye. Hmmmm…good to note for those with sensitive skin. Even if you don’t have sensitive skin, I wouldn’t want to use something loaded with chemicals.

I literally LOL-ed at the instructions. “Unfold mask and remove paper backing. Don’t be scared — it will look lovely on you.” They have a good sense of humour.

And so I unfolded the mask and put it on my face. The mask wasn’t too thick or too wet which was good. I’ve used some masks which come with a tad too much serum that I have to squeeze out before applying the mask on my face else it’ll be dripping everywhere. The mask is not super perfumed so that’s good.

Overall, I’ll say it’s a good product. It did keep my face hydrated through the night.

Padeve Herbal Sanitary Pad

This one is for the ladies. There’s a new type of sanitary pad in town and it’s got a refreshing herbal fragrance. It’s the Padeve Herbal Sanitary Pad. Padeve was nice to offer samples on Instagram (@padevesg) so I requested for it.

There were two sanitary pads in the packet: a regular ultra-thin pad and a liner.

As you can see, the pads come enclosed in the usual plastic sheet. Nothing different from other brands. However, upon unwrapping the pad, a herbal smell wafted out. The smell is not at all unpleasant. It’s more like herbal tea. I like to use scented liners so this is a plus point for me. No more strange odours.

The liner itself has a smooth cottony surface so no itchy scratchy down under. It’s also a lot wider than the brand of liner I usually use. Plus point for me.

I believe Padeve can only be bought on their website at the moment. Haven’t seen them on the shelves in the supermarket or pharmacy. Padeve sanitary pads come in four variants: All Night, Ultra Day, Ultra Night and Ultra Liners.

[SR] BeautyKeeper

I’m back from the long hiatus! Have been busy being a mama to my cutie girl. During this time, I had to reject quite a few review requests as I was breastfeeding. It hasn’t been easy trying to juggle my own leisure time and looking after a kid (even though I have help from my in-laws), but I’m determined to get back into the pace of things. I’ve already got quite a few things lined up that I want to share with you guys.

So, here’s the first review from my long hiatus…it’s from the good people of BeautyKeeper and The Sample Store!  BeautyKeeper is a platform that originates from Taiwan and brings to you, all the trendy and fashionable Taiwanese skincare, make up and beauty supplements. They offer premium products and not cheap, low quality stuff to fulfill all your skincare needs.

I’ll be introducing two products which you can purchase from BeautyKeeper. First up is the YOHO Power Probiotics Collagen which gives you the power of youth and enhances the effectiveness of collagen. It has a blend of 12 different natural phenol (acai berry, cranberry, mangosteen, pomegranate, wolfberry, strawberry, chilean fruit wine, blackberries, grapes, raspberry, blueberry and cherry) to give you radiant skin and French-made elastin to bring the firmness to your skin.

YOHO Power Probiotics Collagen gives you the:

  1. Power of Youth — to look beautiful even without make up
  2. Power of Collagen — helps your make up to last longer
  3. Power of Mobility and Flexibility — keeps you energetic and strong
  4. Power of Berries — gives you the radiant look
  5. Power of Firm and Elastic Skin — so that you’ll always be photogenic

Each box comes with 20 sachets. According to the instructions, you can take 2 sachets per day for general well-being or 4 sachets per day for intensive care. You can either consume the powder just like that or mix it with food/water. It smell and tastes very strongly of berries so I had no problem consuming it directly.

The next product is Vitalab Perfecting Revitalizing Elixir which refines the tone and texture of the skin, and rapidly reduces the appearance of fine lines. Due to the needs of post-cosmedermatology care in recent years, Vitalab was established to serve clients with extremely sensitive skin. Thus, its products are safe, effective and hypoallergenic.

I use it as a moisturiser. The cream is light and not too oily. It has a nice rose fragrance which is not too strong and overpowering. Just 1,5 to 2 pumps (2 small mounds) is enough cream to cover my whole face.

I’m the kind who needs to use beauty products for a longer period of time before I can see results thus I wasn’t anticipating much. However, when I went for my facial session this month, my facial therapist said I looked fairer and my skin was in a much better condition than last month, I was pretty surprised because I hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary except used both products for about 2 weeks or so. I had even gone swimming the day before my facial and thought I would be darker! I’m not making all this up; it really is a true story!

[SR] Essential CC Oil and Night Care Milk

This is quite an overdued post as I’ve been rather busy with the last few weeks of my pregnancy. It is probably also my last entry before I pop and I expect it to be some time before I will have time again to do reviews.

I’ve always been using Essential’s leave in serum/milk since it first appeared on the shelf. After the first update, the pink and orange bottles became a day and night use serum/milk. I continued using the orange bottle (night milk) because the formulation was closer to the previous version. Essential has improved the formulation again and I was invited to try the new products. Thanks Essential and The Sample Store!

Introducing Essential’s new CC Oil and Night Care Milk! I’m quite sure you’ve heard of how heat styling, perming and dyeing your hair too much can damage it, but I’m not sure if you’re aware that there are external environmental factors and some everyday habits that can affect your hair’s health as well. That’s where Essential’s CC Oil and Night Care Milk come in to help protect your hair from these nasty factors.

The Five Hair Stresses:

  1. Blow-drying — This process removes moisture from both inside and outside of the hair leaving it dry, brittle and susceptible to further damage.
  2. Combing — Combing through wet hair causes damage to hair follicles as they are in their most fragile state. Friction from combing through dry hair can form hair knots and make hair prone to breakage.
  3. Split Ends — Fraying of hair shaft particularly at the ends which are the oldest and driest parts.
  4. Hair Breakage — Daily actions such as tying your hair into a tight ponytail or twirling your hair round your finger can exert excessive stress on your hair, resulting in breakage.
  5. Dryness — Hair cuticles that are weakened from excessive exposure to sun, wind or even air conditioning can cause dryness.

Essential’s CC (Cuticle Care) Oil is meant to protect your hair from these five stresses. It shares the same ‘multi-functional’ concept of BB or CC cream in cosmetic products. What the CC Oil does is to form a protective layer around each hair strand, leaving you with less tangly and more manageable hair.

Use the CC Oil on towel-dried or damp hair. Spread it evenly in your hair, concentrating on the mid-length to the tips. There is no need to rinse the oil off.

There’s also another factor which can harm your hair that you might be unaware of. Every night while you sleep, your hair rubs against your pillow. The friction can cause damage to your hair. You know how sometimes you wake up with your hair all frizzy, looking like a lion’s mane? Pillow friction causes misaligned cuticles which creates that frizz. While washing your hair can get rid of that ‘big hair’, why go through the hassle every morning when you can have more beauty sleep?

That’s where Essential’s Night Care Milk comes in. It is formulated to protect your hair against pillow friction by forming a protective coat around each hair strand and preventing misaligned cuticles when your hair rubs against the pillow.

Use the Night Care Milk on towel-dried or damp hair, or before blow-drying. It can also be used on dry hair. Spread and apply the milk evenly onto your hair, concentrating on the mid-length to the tips. There is no need to rinse the product off. For better results, do make sure that your hair is completely dry before going to sleep.

Both products come with Cuticle Care Protection that leaves hair smooth and tangle free all day. They also contain hair supplement oil which is similar to your hair’s natural oil.

I’ve always had great faith in Essential’s leave-in products. Wasn’t disappointed this time as well. Because I couldn’t go rebond my hair while pregnant, I’ve been relying a lot on leave-in products to ‘cure’ my dry and frizzy ends. I found the CC Oil a little too light but definitely didn’t leave an oily, clumpy feel after usage. Much preferred the Night Care Milk which is rich yet non-greasy. Definitely saw a difference in the morning.

Both products are retailing at $11.90.

Remember I mentioned the five hair stresses earlier? Essential has created five characters to represent the hair stresses…

There’s Badass Breakage Stress, Brazen Blow-drying Stress, Despicable Dryness Stress, Spiteful Split Ends Stress and Cruel Combing Stress.

Essential even created a Facebook game featuring the five stress brothers, the Pesky Pillow King and Mane Hero. Play the game and stand to win attractive prizes!

KaBloom+

One year on and The Sample Store is back to hold another event. This time, it was to launch their mobile app.

If you’re familiar with Scan Delight by Singapore Post, basically The Sample Store’s mobile app just takes over that app. The good thing is now you can check out and redeem all those samples you want on your phone when on the go.

Screenshots of The Sample Store mobile app.

The launch of the mobile app was held on 5 September 2015 at TripleOne Somerset, Maker’s Market. Thought the venue was much better than the previous choice. The space itself may not have been bigger but the layout was more open, providing more breathing room to navigate round the booths.

The event itself was on a slightly smaller scale with less brands taking part. The more notable brands were Cathy Doll, My Beauty Diary, Za and Ma Cherie. Some booths were offering services such as eye brow trimming, makeovers and hair styling. Pretty cool stuff going on. There were also discounts specially for bloggers for certain items.

Cathy Doll’s booth.
My Beauty Diary’s booth.
Za’s booth. Free makeovers were available at their booth.
I loved the pinkness of Ma Cherie’s booth. Here are the items for sale.

Hair styling at the Ma Cherie booth.
There was even a cute photo spot at the Ma Cherie booth.

There were a couple of freebies given out at some of the booths. All you had to do was follow their Instagram account and/or like their Facebook page.

There was good food and a photo booth at the venue as well. But this mummy was alone and wasn’t feeling up to it for a photo, so I skipped that. I didn’t skip the food though. It looked too yummy to resist! (Forgot to take pictures of the food!)

And of course, not forgetting the awesome goodie box that was given out to all attendees.

Not as extensive as the previous event’s goodie bag, but I’m not complaining!

SilkyGirl Lipcolor Balms

I’m not one who uses lip stick that much, but recently I’ve been feeling that my lips lack colour and look a bit naked when the rest of my face is made up. Unfortunately, most of my lip sticks have to be thrown out due to being kept for too long. No worries though, that means I can go shopping for new ones!

I’ve also recently noticed that lip crayons are kind of cool and the in-thing in the lipstick department these days. But before I could get my hands on the ones from Etude House, they are gone and discontinued. That’s when I discovered that SilkyGirl has them!

There are two lines of lip crayons (or lipcolor balms as SilkyGirl calls them): Moisture Boost and Matte Fever. Moisture Boost is a slightly older line while Matte Fever is new. As the names suggest, Moisture Boost features a more balmy and wet look while Matte Fever is well…matte.

According to SilkyGirl, Moisture Boost is “formulated with Vitamins A, C and E to ensure that your lips stay supple.” Matte Fever is “enriched with Calendula Flower Oil, White Mulberry Extract and Vitamin E to soften and soothe your lips.”

What do they look like? They look exactly like fat crayons. I feel the long barrel is easier to hold than the traditional lip stick barrel. The pointed tip like a crayon/pencil also makes it easier to apply on the colour especially when you’re tackling the edges and corners of your lips.

04 Rose for Moisture Boost. 01 Vogue for Matte Fever.

I’ve a rather tanned complexion so light pinks don’t go well with my skin tone. I’m also quite cautious about reds as I’ve never tried anything too striking and the last I want to look like is a clown. So I chose more rosy subdued pinks for both lipcolor balms.

Here are the available colours for both lipcolor balms:

Moisture Boost colour chart
Matte Fever colour chart

So how do they look like when applied?

The shades look quite similar when applied on my hand. Matte Fever 01 Vogue does look a slight tinge redder. And of course, the most obvious difference is that Moisture Boost has a more wet, slick and shiny look.

How about when applied to the lips?

My naked lips.
With Moisture Boost 04 Rose.
With Matte Fever 01 Vogue.

My verdict:
If you’re looking for more striking lip colours, go with Matte Fever. The slick, wet look for Moisture Boost kind of made the lip colour more subtle. I guess I would use Moisture Boost on a normal basis when I just want to put on some light make up, and Matte Fever for night functions or when I just feel like dressing up more. I really do like how Matte Fever turned out on my lips though. I’ve never used such a striking colour before, so this is something new and it turned out pretty well!

A Rant on Receiving Soon-to-Expire Products

I love receiving freebies/samples and don’t mind testing out new products in exchange for my honest reviews. I don’t quite remember where I signed up to receive samples of Gly Derm Stretch Mark Cream but was thrilled when they arrived in my mailbox.

Instead of the usual small sample packets, I received two full tubes! Wow, that was pretty generous of the sponsors or so I thought. That was until I opened the package and flipped the boxes over.

To be fair, I really don’t quite remember the exact date I received the samples except it was either late July or early August (around the time I went for my babymoon). But really, who the hell sends samples that expire in slightly more than a month?! If they were small packets that can be used up in a few days, I would have perfectly accepted them. These are full tubes, mind you. I cannot possibly finish two full tubes in a month! Even as a regular user of stretch mark cream (I use it daily since I got pregnant), the feat is impossible. The whole situation made it look like the marketing company was trying to get rid of old stock more than they seriously wanted people to test the products.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall the name of the company that sent me the samples as I had thrown the envelope away. Only remembered that the company name starts with ‘T’ and is located in Telok Ayer. But no worries, with my awesome internet stalking sleuthing skills, I managed to find it. Tickled Media.

I just sent them an email stating my disappointment in the matter. I hope they give me a satisfactory reply. I’m not looking for compensation, but really that they think before they send out samples to people. I’ve been writing reviews for The Sample Store and have not faced such issues before. While I’m not some famous blogger, I’m not a newbie reviewer either, so I feel this is something I should speak up about.

[Cross posted entry on MUMMY TO BABY]