The Organic Pharmacy Collagen Boost Mask: Review

At this point I am sure that you are abundantly aware that The Organic Pharmacy is one of my greatest skincare discoveries in many many years. This is such an amazing line that the more products that I try, the more I realize that one can have amazingly effective skincare without all of the chemicals. Their Collagen Boost Mask is one of my recent discoveries, and I have to say that it is a

Deal Alert: Burberry Lip Cover Soft Satin Lipstick Set: Nude Beige, Tea Rose & Dusty Rose, Oh My! Available at Nordstrom! Swatches!

Purchased by me. Affiliate link.
This gorgeous Burberry Lip Cover Soft Satin Lipstick Set just resurfaced on the Nordstrom website, and I popped one right into my cart until I realized that I already had this set!!! For my full review, click here.


Burberry Lip Cover Soft Satin Lipstick hydrates lips while providing full coverage and beautiful color. Light texture provides intense moisture

By Request: Tom Ford Beauty Lip Color Swatches in Indian Rose, Pink Dusk, Blush Nude, Nude Vanilla & Vanilla Suede!

When a lovely reader asked me to swatch Indian Rose, Pink Dusk, Blush Nude, Nude Vanilla & Vanilla Suede the next time I was near a Tom Ford counter I said of course! None of her local stores carry the line, and at $49.00 per lipstick she didn't want to just take a chance. Since we have very similar coloring, it is my hope that these swatches will be useful. My apologies for the two fuzzy

Spices Cafe | Harvest of the Sea

7th August 2013.
A buffet is one of the best ways to entertain a crowd with varying tastes. Our initial plan to go Traders Hotel for its 1-for-1 deal failed and we ended up at Spices Café at the Concorde Hotel (formerly the Le Meridien Hotel).

For dinner, they have a Harvest of the Sea Buffet. One of the star features of this buffet is the complimentary “200 gms” lobster for each diner which can be prepared in 3 ways: Thai BBQ, XO Sauce or Cheese. Pictured here is the Cheese Lobster which my younger brother thought it was too cheesy. Among the 3 however, cheese seemed to get more approvals.

And the other feature of the buffet is the free-flow crab which can be prepared in several ways. I only went for the Chili Crab and the Black Pepper Crab. Clearly, the buffet is a quantity rather than quality one.

While the crabs were free-flow, there was inconsistency in the freshness of the crabs. It is a pity because, both the Black Pepper Crab and Chili Crab gravy were not bad actually. Be prepared to get your hands dirty while eating those crabs. They provide washing bowls but we prefer heading to the toilet.

The buffet selection isn’t huge but enough to make a family happy. Here are some photos to show what was on offer during our visit.

The seafood selection comprises of oysters, scallops, prawns and mussels. The salmon sashimi was decent but the tuna sashimi was icy.

For appetizers, I enjoyed their Mussel with Salsa, Spicy Jellyfish Salad and Cold Poached Salmon.

Hot main dishes include Cuttlefish cooked in Gongbao Style, Tempura, Steamed Fish, Sea Cucumber with Broccoli, Grilled Chicken and a pretty decent Grilled Lamb as well as Lobster Bisque.

Special mention goes to the Herbal Prawns with its soothing and flavoursome soup. There is also a Pasta station where you can get pastas cooked a la minute. My mum had seconds to my surprise (she doesn’t eat pastas).

The desserts were rather pedestrian. Their Honeydew Jelly was not bad. The crème brulee was tasteless though and the Mango Delight was too sour.

All in all, this is the place to come if you really love eating crabs and prefer somewhere spacious. The only drinks available were coffee, tea (just tea, no milk tea etc.) and water. One thing I observed about Spices Café is that they clear the used plates rather quickly. Something, I really appreciate when going for buffets.

Spices Cafe
Concorde Hotel
100 Orchard Road
3/F Concorde Hotel Singapore

Monday to Thursday:
Adult: $48++ *Child: $20++
Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Eve of Public Holiday & Public Holiday:
Adult: $52++ *Child: $20++

DBS and UOB Cardholders can enjoy 3+1 offers at Spices Café for dinner, lunch or high-tea.

Shopping AND a Great Cause!

Every once in a while in the blogging world, you find a rare gem. I have been fortunate enough to have found several of these and Kristyn from Milk + Crown is definitely one of them. She is such an inspiration to women everywhere. She often writes encouraging notes on her blog and even highlights different women in her Wonderfully Made series about what they love about themselves and what confidence means (you can check out my post in this series tomorrow!). 

Well she's won my heart over again! This time it's because she's trying to raise money for clean water through the sales of her jewelry line. How awesome is that?! And I know you won't have a problem finding something to buy because this girl's jewelry is gorgeous! I am currently swooning over this one and this one. Ok...and this one too. Below Kristyn talks more about her cause, what she is trying to do, and how you can help her!

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Hi Lost in Travels readers! I'm Kristyn and I blog over at Milk + Crown where I enjoy sharing my short stories and bits of my daily life and style. I also run a jewelry shop by the same name--which is why I'm here to talk to you today!

When I opened my jewelry shop this summer, I knew I didn't just want to create beautiful, simple jewelry for women. I love design but I wanted to make an impact on a cause that was dear to my heart at the same time. After hearing about The Mocha Club's Purpose Project, I decided to take a leap of faith.

The Purpose Project is all about reaching a goal for a good cause--in the span of a month. Here's how it works: for every piece of jewelry purchased from Milk + Crown in the month of August, $10 will be donated toward The Mocha Club's Clean Water Project, which builds wells in Sudan, Kenya, and Malawi so children can have access to clean water. It takes $300 to provide water for 10 orphans--which means I need to sell 30 necklaces in 30 days. 

With your help, everyone wins. Not only will you enjoy getting a lovely package in the mail, you will be helping orphans gain access to water--a necessity we so often take for granted in our daily lives. While you enjoy a beautiful gift, a child overseas will enjoy an even greater one.And every time you look at your necklace, you will be reminded of the impact it has made on someone's life. 

There are other ways you can help out too! Tweet, Instagram or Facebook about my project, using the hashtag, #30in30jewelry and the corresponding photo to spread the word. Tell family, friends, coworkers, even future brides! And please, pray for me. If I reach my goal, I will push myself to create and add 10 new pieces of jewelry to the collection by September 1st--something I have wanted to do but was afraid to. 

Thanks so much friends, for supporting my shop and the cause on my heart! I hope you take the time today to check out my jewelry :) You can find my project profile on The Mocha Club website here. And, take 15% off any purchase in August when you use the code 'MARVELOUSCARA' at checkout!

**This is not a sponsored post. I just love this girl, her jewelry, and her cause. 

Daily Blog #50: Sunday Funday 8/11/13 Winner!

Hello Reader,
        Wow, there are a lot of OSX and Timemachine loving DFIR people out there! I received a lot of submissions and they are all very good. I had to read over and compare the submissions but one was a clear standout. Congratulations to Sarah Edwards (@iamevltwin) who brought an answer so well written it had be in a PDF to include the figures she referenced!

Here was the Challenge:
This week on the forensic lunch we have been talking about OSX and timemachine forensics. So let's have a OSX/Timemachine Challenge!

You have been given a timemachine drive that had multiple systems backing up to it over the network. After imaging it you need to determine what has been done, answer the following questions:

1. What are the different types of backups you could find on a timemachine drive
2. How can you distinguish which hosts backup you are looking at
3. How would you extract a single backup for a specific date
4. What is the difference between a timemachine backup and a .mobilebackup

Here is Sarah's winning answer, 
Pdf link to read offline here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lnlz9r6eerxlmhy/SundayFunday_TimeMachine.pdf

So it would appear as the bar as been raised this week! Sarah let me know if which prize you prefer, you earned it.

Aftelier Perfumes Rose Face Elixir with Sandalwood and Frankincense: This is No Ordinary Rose! A Deliriously Happy Review

Press Sample



Aftelier Perfumes does not simply make luxurious handcrafted perfumes, Face Elixirs, Hair and Body Oils, candles, teas, and Chef's Essences and Sprays- instead Mandy Aftel creates the highest quality artisanal works of art that you can wear, smell, eat, and drink. She is a true artist, and everything that she makes are masterpieces of the highest order. Be forewarned, once you

Monday Bits and Bobs

Happy Monday- I hope that all of you had a lovely weekend. As the weekend came to an end there were a few things on my mind that I wanted to share.

I wanted to let you know that Lola's Secret Beauty Blog was named one of the Top 20 Beauty Blogs of 2013. I am very honored to be included on this list! The press release was announced here.

I think perhaps there is something inherently wrong with

Lola's Secret Beauty Blog Makes the Coveted Top 20 Beauty Blogs of 2013!

I wanted to let you know that Lola's Secret Beauty Blog was named one of Top 20 Beauty Blogs of 2013. I was very honored to be included on this list! The press release was announced here.

This is how I was described,

With an art history background, Lola Seicento gives skincare and makeup tips and reviews to make beauty a true artform.



I am unbelievably flattered, honored and humbled!

Black Sheep Cafe | A Re-Visit

10th August 2013
Posted by Xin Li and Mu Yao. Photographs by Mu Yao.
Just about a couple of weeks after the visit to Black Sheep Café, I was back again to try some of the new items on menu and their lunch set menu which cost 26 – 29.50 SGD depending on whether you are getting 2 or 3 courses. Both comes with tea or coffee from Puro (:

Before I move on to the new items, I just got to order the Cheeky Pork on Sauteed Greens and Pear with Orange Glaze (28.50 SGD). It was good, the pork itself was very tender and the wrapped around the tender flesh is a crispy (but rather fatty) pork skin. Together with the orange glaze, it was really good.

Mu Yao:
Had nothing to say other than the fact that I'm a sucker for savoury and sweet things mixed together. The sweetness of the orange glaze was saccharine enough to balance the rich savoury taste of the pork, which is brilliant.

The set lunch menu was too heavy on the palate in my opinion, both starters, the Goat Cheese Salad and the Mushroom Soup (originally asparagus but it ran out so it was changed to mushroom) were rather quite heavy in terms of flavour and texture.

Mu Yao:
I loved the Goat Cheese Salad as a starter because I am quite a sucker for cheeses. The rich, heady creaminess of the goat cheese arrested me with a slight smokiness, complemented wonderfully with the tart tomatoes and the mesclun salad. The walnuts were a lovely touch as well, sealing in all that dairy creamy goodness with a smoky nutty taste and texture.

For the choice of mains, you could opt for the Duck Confit Crepe, a cream-based pasta or the beef fillet which are again heavy dishes in my opinion. All of my friends had the Duck Confit Crepe which proved to be underwhelming in the sense that the dish doesn’t do justice to the actual duck confit that Chef Ratha serves, the duck here was not as tender and while the mushroom cream sauce was pretty good, the dish gets monotonous towards the end. The addition of relish and cherry tomatoes helps to compensate for that but more variation in textures could have helped.

Mu Yao:
What I really appreciated was the sweet and spicy cherry tomato/pepper relish by the side, which broke the monotonous creaminess of the sauce. It was very uniform, and got a bit sick of it after eating everything, and I would have appreciated more flavours enticing my mouth. It was pretty underwhelming, and the heavy sauce sort of drowned out the actual taste of the duck itself. While it wasn't dry, it was slightly sinewy as well. I definitely recommend his mains, which I think, are much better.

In the original lunch set menu, the dessert was supposed to be a Crème Brulee, another heavy dessert. Thankfully we were able to request for a change to a Pear Crumble beforehand because one of my friends was a fan of his crumble dessert the last time we had a celebration at Black Sheep Café. Thankfully the desserts left a good overall impression, my friends enjoyed their Pear Crumble with Rum and Raisin Ice Cream a lot.

Mu Yao:
This dessert was a hit because of the slightly over-ripe pears inside that made the difference — a creamy sweetness and tenderness that melted into the rest of the crumble so well. I appreciated the wonderful fruits and that provided nice flavour contrasts, which are always a good thing.

For me, I had the Chocolate Boudini (9.50 SGD). Both Mu Yao and I think it is supposed to be “boudin” which means “pudding”. This dessert is probably Chef Ratha’s re-worked Flourless Chocolate Tart. It is like a lava cake embedded with grilled bananas and berries, topped off with a scoop of quality rum and raisin ice cream. I enjoyed it a lot. The fruits really help to balance the rich chocolate content in the dessert. Chef Ratha is still working to improve on this chocolate gem.

Overall, Black Sheep Café is still settling into its new haven at Thomson V, while the ambiance has been great and the food was pretty delicious, there are still things to iron out such as the set lunch menu which Chef Ratha is aware of . As of now, he is working to roll out a new set lunch menu in the near future.

Black Sheep Café
Thomson V, Basement 1
11 Sin Ming Road
Singapore 575629

Bistro @ Changi | Through Mu Yao's Lens

29th July 2013. 

Posted by Xin Li. Photographs by Mu Yao

A few days ago, I posted about Bistro@Changi. Mu Yao and another friend were with me too and here's Mu Yao's perspective!

Mushroom soup. Yum.

Satay! Not too bad, quite like this.

 Lamb. Was the best dish of the day.

A wonderful dinner at Bistro@Changi.

Bistro@Changi

260 Nicoll Drive

Changi Beach Carpark 1

Singapore 498991

Operating Hours

Mon - Thurs             12pm - 11pm

Fri, Sat                   12pm - 1am

Sun                       10am - 11pm

How to Get There:

Bus Services : - 89, 19, 9

Alight at Changi Beach CP 2 Bus Stop.

5 Japanese Fashion Trends You Wouldn't Expect-The Nectar Collective

We're baaaack! Unfortunately. Why does it always seem like vacation is just one day too short? I can't complain though, we had an amazing time exploring Cambodia and getting some much needed R&R, a rarity for us. So while I recoup...and catch up on the laundry and cleaning...I have a good blogging friend of mine, Melyssa filling in for me. Have you met Melyssa yet? If not I strongly advice you go check out her page (as soon as you read her post below of course). This girl is like a ball of sunshine and is quickly spreading joy through the inter-webs through her posts about positivity and DIY projects that can't help but put a smile on your face. She also has a pretty awesome link up and is my partner in crime for the Snail Mail Collective (which the pairings are now closed but you can always sign up next month!). But enough of what I think, let's get on with the main even! Below Melyssa shares some...unique fashion trends of Japan.

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Hey everyone! My name is Melyssa and I blog over at The Nectar Collective. I'm a California girl currently living and growing in Tokyo, Japan with my dog, Monja. I blog about all sorts of things, but generally stick to travel and positivity. I'd love for you to join me! Now that I've lived in Japan for a couple years, I've caught onto a lot of the fashion trends and traditions that pervade this little country. I also think Japanese city-dwellers generally have impeccable style and sometimes I find myself in Harajuku observing how much more swag everyone has than me. However, there are some other fashion trends in Japan that you might not have expected or known about. Today, I'm sharing five of those lesser known Japanese styles so that if you ever come to Tokyo, you'll fit in like a native (I'm still working on that one).

1. Scrunchies

via

I'm pretty sure if I ever rocked a scrunchy in California, someone would utter the words, where'd you get that? The 90s?  Unfortunately in the States, scrunchies are still associated with Lisa Frank and teeny boppers (the Huffington Post even wrote an article when Hillary Clinton wore one), but in Japan, if your ponytail doesn't have a scrunchy, then you might as well just not wear clothes because girl, you're already naked. Scrunchies are everywhere and people typically buy big, fluffy ones to match their outfits. When one of my students graduated from my school last year, she even gave me a homemade scrunchy as a parting gift. I haven't really bought them yet, but trust me, the temptation for a big teeny bopper head is real, folks.

2. Skin color tights

via

In the States, I can't imagine one occasion where people would opt for nude, or skin color tights. But in Japan, oftentimes if people show their legs (with skirts, shorts, etc), they will wear nude tights. I'm not sure whether this is to make their legs look more even toned or because Japan is a pretty conservative society. Probably both. But sometimes when I wear skirts to work, I feel kind of skanky if I'm not at least wearing some beige tights. The struggle is real.

3. Heels

via

Women in Japan tend to be on the shorter side, maybe 5'2" or 5'3" in general. However, just like the rest of the world, being a little taller is usually favored. This means that pretty much every Japanese woman wears heels. All.of.them. I see people rockin' six-inch pumps on their way to work like it's no big deal. It's also nearly impossible to find pure flats (i.e. shoes without a small heel or wedge). And shoes are generally small. The biggest size you can find for women's shoes is about an 8.5 or a 9 in US sizes. I'm 5'9" and wear a size 10 so basically I'm a gigantor in Japan! This both means that I don't wear heels because I already tower over everyone and that I can't find shoes here because they're all too small. Shoes and I are still trying to mend our broken friendship. I'll let you know how it goes.

4. School uniforms

via

You know that stereotype about the "sexy schoolgirl"? It's kind of real. Every Japanese school, public or not, requires its students to wear a uniform to school. (Sidenote: these uniforms cost hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars). But Japanese kids take it a step further. I see them wear their school uniforms all.the.time. It's like their skin. Lots of schools, like the one I teach at, have kind of maternal uniforms with knee-length skirts and hi-cut blouses. But you'll still find plenty of schools with uniforms that look more suitable for a sorority party than a classroom. You'll also see school uniforms all over the place in general, since students and even adults often wear them on weekends or buy clothes that resemble uniforms because that sexy schoolgirl stereotype lives in Tokyo, too (don't believe me? Here's proof).

5. No tattoos

Yakuza had full-body tattoos like this. via

In California, I feel like everyone has a tattoo. Because of this, they're generally accepted, at least among our peers. But in Japan? Well, tattoos are still associated with the Yakuza, which is basically Japan's mafia. Because of that, no one really has tattoos and they are not looked at in a positive light. Some establishments, like onsens (public baths), might even turn you away if your skin is tattooed. Of course, there are still the rebels who do have tattoos (though usually small and easily hidden), but this is still pretty rare. Basically, that sunflower you always wanted to tattoo on your forehead may not fly in the land of the rising sun.

Thank you so much for having me, Chelsea!! If you want to learn more about my adventures in Japan or want to figure out how to infuse your life with positivity, then come say hello on my blog, The Nectar Collective! I'd love to meet you. :)

Now, tell me, what did you think about these Japanese fashion trends? Are there are trends in YOUR country that aren't popular in other parts of the world? Let's chat in the comments!