Hachimitsu Ichiban Cake Snack from Daiso

The mini sponge cakes with honey from Daiso tastes like kuey balu, except that it's softer, smoother, and coated with fine sugar. Two halves of a pancake sandwiched together makes for a delightful light snack in the afternoons.

Maquillage Brilliant Glitter Makeup Collection X'mas 2009

Another item I got at the Shiseido sale was the Maquillage Brilliant Glitter Makeup Collection X'mas 2009. The set consists of four items, a 6-color lip palette, a purple glitter mascara, an eyeshadow duo, and a pack of oil blotters.

The Maquillage Glossy Rouge P is a palette of six lip colors totalling 4.2g, and a lip brush. The palette was surprisingly slim and much smaller than I expected, and the amount of lipstick it contained a wee bit little, but again, perfect for me.

The animal print is a reflection of the clothes I was wearing, the actual color of the cover is a plain black.

Six peachy salmony lip colors.

The second item in the set is the Full Vision Mascara Brilliant Glitter in #66 jewel violet, 6g.

The third item in the set is the Dual Diamond Eyes BR230, 2g. It comes in a round screw-top container with a pull-out compartment which stores the sponge-tip applicator.

The last item is a pack of 45 sheets of the Paper Powder Day Protector. It contains kaolin to absorb oil, vitamin E to nourish, and titanium dioxide for sun protection.

ZA 10ct Eyeshadow Duo in 101 Blue

I got myself a couple of items from the recent Shiseido sale, and one of it is the ZA 10ct Eyeshadow Duo 101. I decided to get it as I was attracted to the denim-like color of the darker shade.

It's a rather tiny palette containing 1.5g of eyeshadow and a sponge applicator. The eyeshadow itself has the added benefit of vitamin E.

I did not expect this eyesahdow to be any good though. I thought it would be chalky/matte/non-lasting but I was wrong! Upon swatching, it was a pleasant surprise to find that it had a slight shimmer to it. Not heavily pigmented, it is versatile enough to be applied as a light wash of color or built up to a more intense hue. And the best thing about it is that it is pretty resistant to rubbing once set. As for the color, I found it more turqoise than denim but I ain't complaining.

Bobbi Brown, Elizabeth Arden, Stila, CK from Strawberrynet!

Seeing that it's been a long time since I last made an overseas purchase, and that the offers on strawberrynet were too good to pass up, I got myself three little items. The other two arrived as GWPs :)

Elizabeth Arden's Sunflowers Hydrating Cream Cleanser for the Body 200ml. I have a bottle of the perfume and it's a warm sunny floral which never fails to make me happy.

Elizabeth Arden High Shine Lip Gloss Duos. These are only 2ml per color but I hardly, if ever, use up any of the products I get. Therefore, the amount is just perfect :)

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick Compact in Rose 10.3g. This was less than $30 but comes unboxed and without the brush. Most likely it's a tester but I'm not complaining.

The free gift for first time customers was either the Stila Eyeshadow Duo or the Calvin Klein Tempting Glance Intense Eyeshadow. I got this a while back and I don't remember. The other was given to you if you spent above US$25. Given a choice of colors, I got myself the Stila eyeshadow in Promenade and the Calvin Klein eyeshadow in Olive Twist.

Stila Eyeshadow Duo in Promenade.

Calvin Klein Intense Eyeshadow in Olive Twist.

Strawberry and Almond Crunch Cereal from Marks and Spencer

The Strawberry and Almond Crunch cereal from Marks and Spencer contains rolled oat clusters with 6% sliced almonds, 2% duhydrated strawberries and rice puffs. I admit I bought this solely because the deep red strawberry slices attracted me. The cereal is a little dry, which is normal, but not so hard that chewing causes the gums to ache. The almond slices are fresh and the dehydrated strawberries are more sour than sweet. I wish it had more strawberries in it though.

Nutritional Information

A peek into the bag.


Then into the bottle it goes.

Snacks from Muji - Cranberry Roll, Banana Chips, Honeyed Corn Snack

The Roasted Tea and Cranberry Roll Cake is from Muji and a little expensive, but which item from Muji isn't? I can taste the tea in the cake, but there were only a few cranberries in the cream which I could barely taste. It's pretty nice though. If it were cheaper I'd definitely stock up.

The banana chips were a disappointment. They were hard, too thick for my liking, and tasted a little plasticky.

I loved the corn snack with honey though. The texture is more like huge rice puffs than the popcorn you get at cinemas. Sweeter than expected with an annoying tendency for kernels to occasionally get stuck in your teeth.

Universal Studios, Singapore

So the boy finally took a day off work in order spend some time with me at Universal Studios Singapore. We were not aware that our friend had a 30% discount off the admission fee, and ended up paying the full $66 per person.

Was it worth the ticket price? If you're talking about the rides, I'd say no. Then again, this is coming from someone who demanded to be let off the rather kiddish Canopy Flyer ride at the last minute. This is also the same person who had been to Universal Studios Osaka and Disneyland Disneysea Tokyo.

If you're talking about spending time with someone you love, well, how can you put a price to that?

Our adventure started with the boy doing the unthinkable and taking the MRT to Vivocity, and from there (level 3) we took the Sentosa Express ($3) to Resort World. Saved us $26 in parking fees.

First impression - it was hot! As in the horrible, please-God-let-it-snow Singapore weather. It kind of reminded me of the hour-or-two-long queues at Disneyland, Tokyo, only this time the queues were almost non-existent. Whoohoo!

Battlestar Galactica Cylon, the star attraction of the resort, stole the boy away from me the moment we stepped foot into Sci-Fi City. His mind and heart were already with the red and blue menance, even as he absent-mindedly pushed his camera into my hands and half-ran through the entrance to get on the ride, leaving me standing alone outside.

Looking at the number of negative (thrilling) sounding words on the warning sign, it made me glad the boy had the sense not to ask me to join him for the ride. Goes upside down 5 times? That's a precursor to a heart attack @_@.

The boy, on the other hand, was adventurous enough to get on the more exhilarating blue track, where he was suspended for the entire minute ride that included several intense corkscrews and a cobra roll.

When he got off, he was in good shape, but did mention that he was getting old and felt a little dizzy and wasn't game for Battlestar Galactica, HUMAN. Lol.

Shrek 4-D Adventure was my second favourite attraction. We went to see it twice, not only because it was a really fun, bumpy, ticklish, and wet adventure, it was also a welcome respite from the heat. Beats resting our feet in one of the not-so-cheap restaurants hands down.

The queueing area. Look how empty it is!

Random pictures and photos on the walls.

Returning our ogre vision glasses after the 15-minute show.

I skipped theJurasic Park Rapids Adventure due to the drop at the end while the boy didn't want to get himself wet, which is possible even with a raincoat on. I have to mention that there isn't a need to bring your own disposable raincoat, as the ones sold on site are very reasonably priced at under $2, unlike the ones in Japan which would have cost us $6 each.

The only ride I had been wanting to take was the Revenge of the Mummy. Somehow, I was under the impression that it was similar to the Indiana Jones ride which had only 1 short and not very steep drop in the dark, and which I had throughly enjoyed! It turned out that the visuals and effects paled in comparison, and the focus was more on the roller-coastering. There is more than 1 drop on the Revenge of the Mummy, and not only were they longer, they were steeper too! FML. Thank God I couldn't see anything in the complete darkness or I would have freaked out. If you're drop-intolerant, I'd still suggest you go for this. Although the ride is bumpy, it isn't rough in any way.

The Accelerator on the other hand is a terribly boring spinning teacup ride with hardly a person in sight. Skip!

The WaterWorld show, with its death-defying stunts, is another attraction where you can take a break, rest your feet, and get a few laughs.


Note that the benches are color coded and categorised into three not-so-distinct zones - the dry zone, the splash zone, and the soak zone. We decided to be a little more daring and planted our butts onto a green bench. Ten minutes later, the water play started and boy! was I thankful that I wasn't in the soak zone. If you're lucky (unlucky) enough, you get thoroughly drenched by being hosed with water guns and/or pails of water.

Getting the buckets of water ready for audience wetting!

Adventurous and illiterate people getting hosed down.

Storytelling time.

Lights, Camera, Action! hosted by Steven Spielberg is a short in the moment experience of a storm creating a massive wreck, features a ship and a plane, and gets you singed and wet as you stand behind the rails as a helpless observer. It was a cheap thrill, but I secretly enjoyed having the plane almost crashing down on me. How often does that happen without you getting hurt?

Shopping time! I considered getting this Betty Boop shot glass trio, then decided that I would probably never make use of, nor have the desire to constantly wipe dust off them.

I like poufy squeezable bags!

Dream of stardom with these Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.

Delude yourself by bringing a few of these home.

Entertained by performances! We were having a slice of Margherita at Louie's Pizza when I was enticed by the enthusiastic performance put up by these b-boys just outside the restaurant.


Members of the audience were randomly chosen to dance with the group and this filipino guy below was extremely sporting, demonstarting moves of his own and getting teased by the boys.


He was made to hold this pose for like forever.. lol.


A song and dance routine outside Mel's Diner.


Another sporting lady doing the cha cha cha.


We were excited to finally be able to take photos with the mascots. Unlike those prejudiced and unfriendly creatures at Disneyland Tokyo who think that adults should not dream of candy houses and cats with no mouth, the ones at Universal Studios Singapore were very welcoming. Everybody in the queue got their chance.

Having taken all the rides we wanted to and having nothing else to do, we went to watch the Universal Monsters in a rock and roll musical at the Pantages Hollywood Theatre. I expected it to be kiddy entertainment but I think I fell in love with Frankenstein! The other characters were equally energetic and engaging but somehow the green man had a hold on me. Another good rest stop where the boy actually managed to fall asleep amid the electrifying performance. Lol.

And so our day at Universal Studios Singapore ended, without the fireworks show which takes place only on weekends! Bummer. It was a good thing we managed to catch it during After Hours. You can reasonably expect to cover all the rides and shows (minus the ones for kids) in a day, without long queues, and I'd say it's still worth at least a single visit.