My first Bellabox :)

Have you heard of bellabox?

I only heard of it sometime last month although apparently, it has been around for quite a while.

What exactly is it?

Let's just say it is like buying a small present for yourself as a reward for all your hard work and as a perk-me-up :)

How bellabox works

Bellabox is specially for people who love / want to try new beauty products yet, at the same time, not sure if you want to splurge on something that you have never tried before. Bellabox sends you approximately five products each month and everything is hand-picked and definitely authentic.

Hmmm.... but how do they handpick the items when they don't know you at all? That is simply solved by the beauty profile page that you need to fill in upon signing up.

The good thing is that you can edit your profile along the way. We all know how sometimes the skin conditions can change drastically - pimple, eye bags , etc . So updating your info every now and then will actually help them in getting the right things for you.

I have read reviews online about bellabox and almost all have been positive ones. Most of the time they will send you travel size or sample-sized products (I would love to get miniature perfumes!), wrapped in pretty pink packaging, with the occasional regular-sized ones.They will also include vouchers that you can use to get your favourite items. If you decide that you like what they send you, you can purchase it at their site as well.

Here are some pictures of other people's Bellaboxes...

I was rather intrigued so I decided to pay bellabox.sg a visit.

How much does one need to pay?

There are different subscription plans that you can choose from. I chose the basic plan which costs me $19.95  per month, which I feel is reasonable. It is a plus point that I can cancel it anytime. That means that if  by any chance, I get sick of it or too broke to spare $20, I can just terminate my subscription - no commitment needed! On top of that , they will only deduct the amount from your card monthly , instead of the common prepaid plans which you cannot back out of :)

Of course if you are sure that you want / can commit, you may want to opt for the annual membership. Whatever payment made incurs rewards points which may be used to offset future purchases.

Anyway, I received my first Bellabox a while back. I was actually still at work when they sent the package. Because I was just impatient (and worried the next delivery will still clash with my working hours), I just told the courier guy to leave it at my door.  I needed to convince him that it was alright to do that.

So here's my Bellabox for the month of August!

Vouchers! Will definitely use that one by SaSa to get my BB cream.

A little disappointed that items didn't come in the usual pink packaging. Instead , they came in this (ugly) bag just because August is when the nation celebrates its birthday. Sigh,

L'oreal Youthcode, China Glaze nail polish, Dermalogica Cleanser, Enavose Priobotics Exfoliance Gommage & Elizabeth Arden Cleanser, toner and serum (samples)

I absolutely love this exfoliator from Enavose! Honestly, I have never heard of this brand before so it was a really pleasant surprise that it works so well! The texture is really smooth , unlike the typical exfoliator with mini beads, but when I rub it gently on the face, I can see all the dead skin coming off. My face felt really clean and smooth after that, and don't feel dry at all! I think I am going to purchase it!

I left a review on the official page because one can earn 5 rewards points for each review done. It gets better, doesn't it? 

The other one that I really like is the Dermalogica cleanser. The least favourite is the L'oreal Youth Code - don't think it works for me. 

I simply cannot wait for September's Bellabox. Come quick!

Online shoes shopping !

Ever since I got hold of my yellow MJ bag, I have been searching high and low for yellow shoes.

I wanted to get either a pair of flats or wedges for casual outings and another pair of heels for something more dressy/formal/suitable for work.

Since the trend on colour blocking is still going on, I had thought that I would have no problem finding such bright-coloured shoes.

I was SO WRONG! Nothing I saw was ever suitable. The yellow flats that I did find were more towards the dull shade of yellow - I wanted bright, bright, bright yellow! As for the heels, I did see a few but they were all mighty high , at least 4 inches to balance on.  That would be a piece of cake in my younger years... but sadly, I am getting older and can only tolerate a maximum of 3 inches of heels. The best definitely would be the fun-sized 2-inches kitten heels.

And thus, the online search began. I had no time to go to town and walk around to look for a yellow pair. Besides, my cousin recommended a few online websites that sell shoes AND are reliable. All the sites are based in the USA.

1) heels.com

    Limited variety but almost everything on the site is really, really pretty.

    Here are some of my favourites.

 

But as you can see, all the shoes come with almost impractical heels. How does one even walk in that? Maybe it is manageable if I wear it to a dinner function whereby I can just sit down and not walk. I was out of the site within minutes.

2) endless.com

Ooooohhh...... I like this site! Many different designs of all colours that you can possibly imagine.  

The only downside is that some of the shoes are not shipped outside of the USA so you need to read the fine prints on each photo. It was just my bad luck that the ones I picked out are only shipped within USA. Of course, I could use my Vpost US address for this transaction but again , as if it was fated, I could not find any yellow heels that were of manageable height there.

But I still have some favourites there that I will consider in future, in case I decide to go for sky-high heels again. Let me show you!

Ok, the list seems endless! But seriously, aren't they so pretty? I can almost drool at the thought of owning all of them :P

The seemingly-endless search for a pair of yellow heels finally paid off when I saw this pair of pumps on zappos.com . I have been looking for this Aldo pair in Singapore since I last saw it online but I did not manage to locate it at all! I was pretty sad and was ready to give up... but hey, luck was obviously on my side.

I found the pair.

My cousin was the one who did the ordering for me...thank u , my dear!

And yesterday, the mail man knocked on the door and presented me with the long-awaited (ok, not that long) pair! Yeah!

TADAH!!!!! I like!!!!!

Well, the colour is slightly brighter than I'd like. But no sweat, I am sure it will be gorgeous when being paired up with my sunshine bag!

And I thought that would spell the end of the shoes shopping. Alas, I stumbled upon a pair of pink suede pumps on asos.com... and ...well, you guessed it alright! I clicked to purchase! I am still waiting for it. I hope the shoes reach me in time for Raya.

I would say shopping for shoes online is rather interesting - all you have to do are to click, view and add to cart. But worry not! I will still contribute to the local shoes industry. Nothing beats trying out and prancing around in heels while checking own feet out in the mirrors :)








  

Back for 10 mins!

I hereby plead guilty for ignoring my blog and for not even bothering to think about what to blog. 

It has been such an arduous term 3, this year's being one of the toughest with my added workload. Not that I am not enjoying my work. On a sadistic note, I am enjoying what I have been doing but it has been really tiring and draining that I have almost zero energy left by the time it's time for dinner.

It doesn't help that it is the holy month of Ramadhan whereby I should be levelling up my number of deeds. It saddens me to think that we have already passed the mid-month mark of the fasting month yet, I do not feel that I have done enough. Time passes by too quickly that it scares me.

The recent week has been pretty crazy. I have no idea what made the school management decide on this arrangement but we had the EL paper for 'N' Level prelims, common tests for Sec 1 -3 and mock exams for Sec 4E/5NA all on the same day! It was never like this ...it used to be a lil more spread out so that teachers do not get overwhelmed by the huge loads of markings to be done -  all at one go.

I have not been spared , of course.... so this is where I spent the whole of this weekend at...

My messy table

I know, you can hardly see the top of my table . This is just the one at home, mind you ..I have yet to show you my cubicle in the staff room. As you can see, I am doing my marking while surfing the Net as well. I have to do that if I want to get my markings done.

I use the laptop as a motivation. Mark five scripts, go to one website/check facebook/ read a blog for about 5 - 10 minutes. After that , back to the markings ...and I try to increase the number of scripts for each interval. That is the only way to keep me from falling asleep.

I have just finished one pile of 'N' Level essays. I wish it stops there but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

In that bag, there are 2 stacks of Mock Exam papers to be marked and in that folder, are the class testimonials that I have to edit by tonight. Everything else has been left in school because I did not want to be unrealistic by bringing everything back .

Even now, I very much doubt that I can finish whatever I brought home . So much for trying to be realistic!

Sheesh.

Alright , my ten minutes is up. Back to work with my best friends for the weekend!

:P

Buddies for the moment :P

FIESTARI 2012 - their first!

Yeps, you guessed it right.

I have been super busy. Term 3 is always a mad rush because there are the mock exams, prelims, oral exams on top of all other school activities and everyday lesson preparations and markings.

I have been trying to fight the impending flu because I just could not afford to miss lessons.

But I finally succumbed to the flu bug :( . The continuous sneezing, coughing and feeling feverish are enough to make me unable to go to work. Oh well....so might as well blog, right?

Last Saturday, the girls took part in FIESTARI - a Malay dance competition organised by Cheng San CC. When I was still teaching in my previous school, we did enter the same competition twice and both times reaffirmed my view that standard of competition is very high. The current group is relatively new and we are not really a Malay dance group (more like ethnic fusion) but I thought the girls could do with more exposure.

It is always good to learn from others who are better than us, isn't it?

So there went the whole of Saturday! I really salute the girls for having so much energy - they had to attend Sports Carnival as early as 7:30 am , rushed to school to make up etc and finally down to competition venue for stage blocking and any last minute preparations. We only reached school again at 11pm! It is amazing how youths do not seem to feel tired. It is either the adrenaline rush or the food they eat! haha....

Some photos while waiting for their turn..

I managed to watch some of the other schools' performances and I was really impressed by NTU and East Spring Sec. However, almost every group that performed was good that I was just hoping and praying the girls would not falter.

We did not bring any supporters (with the sports carnival on the same day, I was sure the rest would be dead tired!) so it was quite cute that there were cheers for the girls during and after their performance. Looks like the audience was entertained!

The following photos were taken by one of the instructors on that day , Rizal. The official photos will only be out next week.

Nanyang Polytechnic took the championship (they were perfect in almost every aspect), followed by Republic Polytechnic and finally, East Spring Secondary School. I wished NTU had been in top 3... I really like their item :)

We didn't win anything but it was really a good experience for the girls to see how fantastic others were. 

Overall, I think the event was very well-organised , unlike the 'typical' Malay events/activities I have attended before.. hehe... My only issue is that I strongly feel there should be separate categories for secondary schools and tertiary institutions. Having more years of experience in the dance arena has a huge impact on profiency of skills and level of stage presence and confidence.

Otherwise, good job, organisers!

First Purchase from Haney Bags

                                                              

Do you recognise the pretty lady in the picture above?

She is Haney Hadad, an ex-MTV VJ turned Suria actress. She has not been active in the local scene ever since her move to Australia after marriage. Well, she still does appear once in a while in magazine shoots but that's about it.

However, I just recently discovered her line of bags - Haney Bags.

I was just surfing around when I got directed to her Facebook page. Apparently, she has been in this bag business for at least a couple of years in Australia but only launched it in Singapore last year. All the bags are made from genuine leather and are priced approximately between $180 - $350 ...that's rather reasonably priced.

Her bags are pretty stylish - modern and clean cut but what I like most is the variety of colours! I am a sucker for bags of cute, candy colours so I spent quite a while surfing through.

Of course, me being me, got attracted to a tangerine-coloured bag and quickly placed an order.

Oh, she is in Australia still but ships her bags to Sg :)

I still get excited whenever a parcel reaches me!

The outer bag .. dust bag is also provided in white. 

Yeah , my cute little bag!

Ok, here is a better photo of the bag. Love the pop of colour!

I am on a bag-control phase at the moment. I have not been utilising all my bags, especially my Burberry Speedy n Marc Jacobs bag...  plus one or two Coach and KS ...ok , get the idea?) and two of my Kate Spade bags need to be sent for cleaning ASAP. I basically rotate between three bags for school and nothing else. So no more purchasing bags until........ I'll leave it at that at the moment.

But there is no harm surfing around, right? I saw this gorgeous TED BAKER clutch that I WAS considering getting  for Hari Raya this year. BUT it is sold out now... I don't know whether to cry or be thankful...

The Internet connection has been pretty sucky at the moment so that explains the lack of updates. I hope it will be better soon!

Meanwhile, I am going to try to enjoy this weekend because next weekend will be a terribly busy one for me.

Happy Weekend , y'all!