Dr Cilabo Acneless Gel

I got this during my trip to Japan in 2009 when it was in a lovely glass jar. The revamped version comes with a pump which is definitely more hygenic, but I do not know if the container still remains glass.


I got the Dr Cilabo trial pack during my trip, used the items while I was there, and found the pretty speckles so enticing, I forked out for the full-size jar. Although a white plastic spatula is provided, I prefer to scoop the product with my fingers. Not that it makes the job any easier, considering the texture is soft and mushy like jello and slides off very easily.


The main acne-prevention ingredient in this gel is salicylic acid. It also contains charcoal powder and sage to mattify, allantoin and aloe to soothe. Ceramide and soluble collagen plumps the skin, lemon peel oil and ivy extract tighten the skin and aids circulation, and chlorella vulgaris helps diminish dark circles and spider veins and boosts the production of elastin.

I would say the gel is unscented, but there is a slight hint of glue which disappears immediately as the gel is worked into the skin. The gel absorbs very well leaving the skin matt, but for oily complexions, the oil control power leaves much to be desired.

Lemongrass House Handmade Rose Absolute Shower Gel, Lavender Hydrating Body Cream, Lemongrass & Green Tea Body Scrub, and Blue Chamomile Room Spray

I'll start off with the two products I absolutely adore.

Rose Absolute Shower Gel. Prices are $9 for a 120ml bottle and $18 for a 260ml bottle, which is comparable to The Body Shop's shower creams. The bottle of Rose Absolute Shower Gel I have comes with a string-tied red paper top which somehow reminds me of the hats of samsui women.

Different scents have different colored tops, making up the colors of the rainbow. They look so cute all lined up in a row!

The shower gels foam pretty well which is a plus for me. Instead of water, it has lavender hydrosol as the base and contains aloe vera, glycerin and jojoba oil to moisturise the skin. The shower gel also contains green tea and sea kelp extract which are rich in vitamins and minerals, and aid in reducing inflammation. Because the absolute form of the rose is being used, it smells exactly like the real thing, deep and sensuous with a hint of sweetness.

Another thing that delighted me was finding that the opening had a stopper with a small hole. It makes dispensing the gel so much easier and mess-free.

If there is one thing that can top the shower gels, it's got to be the Lemongrass and Green Tea Body Scrub. What attracted me to this particular scrub were the little green tea bits in it. This smells more lemony than lemongrass in my opinion. It has the consistency of a lotion and spreads easily, and although it does not contain a foaming agent, it does not leave my skin feeling oily. Oily skin and oily bathroom floors are my pet peeves when it comes to non soap-based scrubs. The amount of jojoba beads in the scrub are enough to provide adequate exfoliation but it's gentler than the Body Shop's Grapefruit Body Scrub, which contains silica and which I also love by the way, and definitely less harsh than salt or sugar scrubs.

The interesting thing about the scrub however, is that it doubles up as a sort of body mask. Leaving it on your skin for 10 minutes before washing it off helps in detoxification. You can get about 5 uses out of the 150g tub and I just wanted to use it almost every single day, which meant that it lasted me slightly more than a week!

The Lavender Hydrating Body Cream is a warm, spicy lavender-scented lotion which has the consistency of a milk, but spreads thickly and takes a little time to completely rub in. The lavender scent fades quickly, leaving behind a faint lingering sweetness. Compared to The Body Shop's Divine Calm Sublime Body Lotion which has a much harsher and pungent scent and which I ended up trashing, I much prefer the scent of this.

The Lavender Hydrating Body Cream contains aloe vera juice instead of water as a base, and has shea and cocoa butters, and jojoba oil to moisturise the skin.


I hardly scent my room but I tried the popular Blue Chamomile Room Spray which supposedly eases anxiety and tension, calms and relaxes the mind and promotes peace. I'm not familiar with blue chamomile, but this has a fresh oceanic kind of scent.

Unfortunately, I am not a convert. The scent is intense when sprayed out of the bottle but with open windows, the scent does not linger for more than an hour, nor is it as long-lasting as using an oil burner or fragrance sticks. I like to have my room scented for at least the entire day without the need to constantly re-spray, and with open windows, the scent just needs something to settle on, like a hand towel! So that's how I'm using the sprays now, to scent my hand towels. Four to five spritzs and the scent lasts up to three days, which means that a bottle will last a rather long time.

OPI Nail Laquer HL B04 Glow Up Already!

I fell in love with the color of OPI's nail polish Glow Up Already from the Burlesque collection the minute I saw it! A mellow greenish-gold color with flecks of red and grass green which is so pretty yet subtle enough for everyday wear.


Two generous coats are enough to achieve the opacity of the color in the bottle, which I feel looks kind of olive.



However, formulated without formaldehyde and toulene, it is probably the reason why the staying power is rather poor. Without a base coat and/or top coat, the polish started to flake off at the tips after a day. Removing glitter polish is also a pain in the ass as it clings to your nail for dear life. If only it'd last a week or more, then going through the trouble would have been worth it.

Pompeii: Life in a Roman Town 79CE

Another museum-visiting weekend for us and this time, it's to the exhibition, Pompeii: Life in a Roman Town 79CE. Here are some pictures of the aftermath of the eruption and the life of the people, for those of you who missed it.

Queueing to get in at the last hour.


The first sight that greeted us was rather grim. Although there were many visitors that day, standing there looking at the cast of the bodies of the victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, you could somehow feel the silence and emptiness that must have engulfed the town right after.

Here we have the cast of a shackled man, which most probably would have been either a slave or a criminal who was left behind when others fled the town.


Even animals were not spared the volcano's wrath when they were left behind by their fleeing owners. This dog had been chained to a post and managed to climb up the lapilli that filled the house till it eventually ran out of rope, suffocated and died.


A test tube containing a sample of the ash, collected over six days, from the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.


The remaining portion of a fresco, possibly of Victoria, the Roman goddess of Victory, from the house of Marcus Fabius Rufus.


A bronze fountain head featuring a satyr, found in the unique unisex Suburban Baths which were built close to the walls of Pompeii and which boasted a heated swimming pool.


A bronze container, possibly to store the oil used in conjunction with pumice to clean bodies, before the invention of soap.


Garden statues were commonly found in the homes of the people. Hunting scenes were especially popular. This statue of a hound attacking a wild boar served to provide commoners vicarious participation of the excitement and thrill of a sport accesible only to the wealthiest, and was used as a means to garner social and political support.


The statue of a hound mauling a bird was equally popular. Besides being decorative, it served as a conversational piece for the owners of the house and their guests, as they recall the excitement of the hunts staged at Pompeii's amphitheatre.


A beautiful marble herm with intricate floral carvings that once stood as a pair in a garden courtyard, features the two faces of the god Bacchus - one youthful, the other mature. It's intention was to show the passing of time and the renewal of life.



A marble statue of Venus that once stood in the grand villa of Poppaea near Pompeii. According to mythology, the Roman goddess of love sprang from the foam of the sea, and as Pompeii depended on the sea for its prosperity, it adopted her as its divine protector.


And all grandness aside, what caught my attention was this humble comb. It looks exactly like the comb my grandmother used!

Sentosa Flower Festival 2011 via the Boardwalk

Yesterday being the last day of the Flower Festival at Sentosa, the boy and I decided to jaunter down the Boardwalk (again!). Entry to Sentosa via the Boardwalk costs only a dollar, as compared to taking the train from Vivocity which costs $3.


I took the opportunity to play with the new camera app on my iphone, so here are some lovely nightviews I captured as we made our way into Sentosa.




I wanted to go into the Candilicious store to get some candy, but ended up not getting any as we were in a hurry to catch the mechanical crane show at 9pm. We ended up not catching that either, because the show was delayed due to techinacal difficulies, and we did not want to miss the Flower Festival.


Valentine's Day tomorrow. Chocolate roses anyone? Speaking of Valentine's day, give a girl roses and she'll tell you it's a waste of money. Give her chocolates and she'll complain she'd get fat. Don't give her anything and it's even worse. Thank god I'm not a guy. lol.


Another shot of the Hello Kitty lolli. I couldn't resist. It's just too cute.


And these are marshmallows which didn't look very edible. I thought they were magnets!


The theme of the Flower Festival had everything to do with the Year of the Rabbit. There were many photo points.

Here 's photo point one.


Photo point two for lovey-dovey couples.


And no thank you. Apparently it's easy to fuck rabbits up. Remember the scary rabbit at the River Hongbao? Well, this one looks like it's delivering. Somehow I feel offended.


Some random photos.




I thought that this year's festival paled in comparison to the one held two years ago. Most of the displays were just pots of the same type of plants placed together and just unspectacular. We were especially looking forward to reading our fortunes but there weren't any this year. 30 minutes was more than enough for a quick lookaround and at 9.55pm, five minutes before the Flower Festival ended, we took the train back to Vivocity to catch the movie Black Swan, which I thought was really well-scripted, and a pleasant end to a weekend night.

After Hours @ Universal Studios Singapore

After bugging the boy about wanting to go to Universal Studios for some time, he finally agreed to a preview of sorts, what they call After Hours. Parking was terribly expensive, but as we drove directly to the resort, we did not have to pay the entry fee to Sentosa Island itself. Although parking is $6 per entry after 7pm, tickets to After Hours are limited and you'd probably want to shop around outside the Studios for a bit, so you'd end up paying another $6 per hour before 7pm.


After spending some time searching for a parking lot, we went up the escalator which brought us to the area outside the Studios.


The first thing we saw was the familiar blue globe, but it wasn't spinning as we remembered it should have been.


The ticket booth starts selling After Hours tickets at 6.30pm, but a queue had already formed by 6pm.



I wanted to go to the Hersheys store to get some Reese's, but as we were early, we could take our time to explore and fool around with the candy.




To stave off hunger while we waited in line for the tickets, we got ourselves the peanut butter pumpkin milk chocolate.


A little further away was the Candylicious store. I was attracted to it by the huge colorful lollipop swirls hanging on the tree outside the shop.




My favourite shelf with Hello Kitty galore!


Sweet birthday candles.


Soft lolli >0<
Right after the entrance was Hollywood. You'll also get to see a little bit of Madagascar and New York, but the rest of the park will be barricaded.



Although the admission price included a 15% discount for meals at several restaurants like KT's Grill and Hollywood China Bistro, these places were too expensive for a rushed dinner, and so we opted for a quick snack at the rather interesting Loui's Pizza and Pasta.




We shared a HUGE slice of pepperoni pizza. It's almost as big as the plate it's on! They do have three other different flavours - Hawaiian, Margherita and Chicken Tandoori, and if you're game, you can order an entire pizza as well, though I highly doubt that two hungry people would manage to polish off the gigantic thing in one sitting.




After exploring the rest of Hollywood and the souvenoir shops, we had our dinner at Mel's Drive-in, which is a typical fast food restaurant. Probably the cheapest place to dine at in Hollywood.





The highlight of the night was the Lake Hollywood Spectacular show at 9.30pm. By 9pm however, a crowd had already gathered to get a good position by the lake. As we waited for the fireworks to light up the sky, we were enchanted by the view of the lighted castle across the lake. In the dark, the changing colors were breathtakingly beautiful, and admiring it with a loved one made it all the more memorable.






And so ended the night, but not without more food! I was dying to try the caramel and cheese popcorn at Garret's and was just in time to grab a bag before it closed for the night.


It states 'gone in 60 seconds' on the bag, but I took 3 days to finish it all up, since the boy hated it. The cheese flavour was intense and it was pretty powdery and salty. The caramel on the other hand, was extremely sweet and tasted a little burnt, but melted in my mouth. Neither taste i liked immediately, but I got addicted to nibbling on it slowly over a couple of lunch-free afternoons.




Our eating adventures did not stop at the popcorn. We went to take a look at the casino, saw Toast Box on the way, and decided to have supper! Well, that's a different story, but if you happen to think that Universal Studios Singapore is not worth the ticket price, and you have nothing to do on a Friday or Saturday night, you can always indulge in a mini fantasy for just $5.

Hollywood After Hours

When: Friday and Saturday, 7pm-10pm (not available on certain days)
Lake Hollywood Spectacular: 9.30pm
Admission: $5 per person

*I've just learnt that Hollywood After Hours has been temporarily suspended with effect from 1 February 2011. You may check their website for news on the resumption.