A Rosy Cozy Feeling

A rosy cozy feeling - from rose tea, that is! A cup of tea is always something I enjoy no matter where I am in the world :) My housemate gave me some roses to put in hot water on a rainy day or for just before bedtime. I'm not usually a fan of teas which smell of flowers, especially roses in general. I feel as though I'm drinking old ladies' perfume. The smell of "rose teas" is usually too overpowering for me (although some people might like it, a pungent smell of flowers is not my cup of tea - pun intended! lol).

Rose Tea in my fav blue mug

But putting in just a few rose buds like these is another matter altogether, for you can control the "strength" of the aroma. When I use only a bit, the aroma is present, but ever so gently - kind of hard to explain. There's a finesse that results from restraint. Hmmmmmm ~

A rainy day and some updates of this past week

Last night was really warm, to the point where I had to turn on my mini fan (placed right next to my computer as I'm writing this lol). Which is probably why it rained so much today in Melb. Since I'm home regardless, I thought it was actually quite nice. I'm sure this would be entirely different if I were out without an umbrella though hehe

Valentine's day wasn't all that valentine-like, since it was enrollment day. It was still nice to meet some new people and make some friends :) My housemate and I went to Boxhill afterwards, which was another Asian part of town where we ended up getting Asian groceries. It was a good bonding time for us, as we talked and I found that we were more similar than I had anticipated. I know she's not reading this, but I'd still make a mental note to thank her again soon.

I had taken a photo as a Valentine's card and sent it to my bf via email/fb and he loved it! ^__^ Yay!! Receiving his email on Valentine's night with sweet words made me smile. It was so heart-warming that he thought of me. Looking forward to having our own Valentine's day when I visit him in Japan this July <3
kyaaaaaaaaaaa
Love u

First few days in Melbourne

Salmon Avocado Roll >__<

So... I'm finally in Melbourne, Australia!!! Crazy how time flew by.. My dad left a few hours ago and I'm still feeling a bit down because of that, but it's getting progressively better. We came here a few days ago and he really was a leader - my room is now a complete survival unit hahaha. He was so well-prepared with everything so it just all came together. And he called me before the plane took off, saying how he say a key-chain that he thought I'd like and bought it for me. So thoughtful. :) Miss you Daddy!

Anyway - I'm going to be blogging more because it will be like a way of recording my life here in Melbourne. It'll soon be a whirlwind of days, new experiences, people and stories, so I want to look back and see how my life changed over time.

My first snack in Melbourne the other day - with a cup of coffee in hand, whilst sitting and talking with my dad on the balcony right outside my bedroom - Salmon Avocado Roll!


I went to Melbourne city yesterday and it was actually pretty fun! My new housemate took me and my dad for a little lunch in China town, and a tour around some places in the city.

Daddy looking at the city :)

Lunch @ Chinatown in Melb - Braised Pork Belly with Rice

A view of the Yarra River - so beautiful~

I'm liking the weather in Melbourne so far! Sunny and breezy :) It's starting to look like rain as I'm writing this, and the weather forecast says rain for tomorrow though :( I guess we'll see!

Soap & Glory: Body Butters!

I am a huge, HUGE fan of Soap & Glory. Their products are amazing, as they deliver what they promised - soft, lovely, healthy skin.

I'll be comparing two types of body butters from the line today - first up is the "Butter Up" Deluxe Body Smoothing Cream.

Butter Up Deluxe Body Smoothing Cream

Even though the package claims that it's a cream, the texture is very much like a body butter and is rather thick. The texture for both products in this post are so similar that I thought one picture should suffice (see below)

Smooth and thick - very moisturising :)

 This product is extremely moisturizing, which is why it's great during the winter time. I have very dry skin, so I use it before bed a lot of the time. The only thing which is a serious turn-off is the smell! :( Usually, almost all products from Soap & Glory smell AMAZING. But for some reason, this one smells different, and I can't quite describe it, but it's pungent - and not in a good way. I put it on and my sister actually said "Yuck, that cream doesn't smell good at all" T___T

So I found the perfect remedy - using this on my feet instead! It works perfectly fine, softening the skin on my feet (which are seriously dry), whilst being far enough from my nose that I'm not bothered by it :)

Next up is my favorite of all body butters I've tried - ever! It's my Holy Grail Body butter called  "The Righteous Butter" <3
First awesomeness - It's pink!!! Plus, it smells DIVINE...

The Righteous Butter

  I wouldn't recommend it for use during the summer in the day time, but then again it depends on your skin type. I smooth this on before bed and wake up to super soft skin. I even touch my arms in the morning for fun because they're so soft after the product sinks into the skin (as wrong as that may sound lol) >__< If you smooth it on right after a shower while your skin is still moist, your skin will absorb more of it and faster, thus it will be more effective.

Just can't get enough of this: My HG Body Butter!

They're a bit pricey compared to other brands in Thailand, and you can only get them from Boots, but there are constant sales like Buy 1 Get 1 Free or Buy one get the other for 50% off (which is when I stock up on these), so overall, I think you're getting more than your money's worth.

Overall score: "Butter Up" Deluxe Body Smoothing Cream = 8.5/10
                      "The Righteous Butter" = 10/10 (++ HG Product & Must-have)

NYX Round Lipgloss

I've had these three glosses for a long time now and have always procrastinated (as usual) writing a blog post about them :P But I'm finally getting around to blogging more, now that I've finished work and am in the process of preparing and packing for Australia!

Sorry for the fuzziness - my hand was shaking while taking photos from my iPhone lol

Here they are :)

The three glosses that I have from the Round Lip Gloss range are: Ballerina Pink, Peach and Whipped.

The colors shown in the picture above in the tubes are pretty true to color in real life, actually.

Here are the swatches:

Ballerina Pink (Right) is a medium pink with a pearly sheen/small shimmers
Peach (Middle) is a coral color with a red undertone with lots of glitter
Whipped is a nude pink beige color with a pearly sheen/small shimmers

The color pay-off is actually quite nice! 2 layers were swatched on my wrist. The glosses felt pretty sticky when first applied on my lips, but after using my fingertip to just blend the color out a bit and leaving it to set for about 30 seconds, I was a happy camper ^__^

The only downside - which I really don't like, is the smell. It literally smells like "Lemon Sunlight" - the dish-washing detergent. Yuck :(  It gets better after a while - or alternatively I just got used to it a bit more, so it was bearable. Still off-putting overall though.

Overall Score: 7/10

Stunning Headpieces by Jenny Packham

Photo courtesy of www.projectwedding.com & www.jennypackham.com

These headpieces are absolutely stunning - especially the one on the right! Packham wows once again - swoon!! <3

Eat of the Day - well, last weekend: Coco ichiban Curry house!

Last weekend (the weekend before Christmas), I went to Central Chaengwattana in BKK with my sister and a childhood friend of mine, and we decided to eat at the Coco Ichibanya Curry House :) It's been so long - probably a little over a year, since I've eaten here. So you can imagine my excitement hehe

It's a curry house where you can design what you want to eat, usually based on curry and rice. The cool thing is you can choose the amount of rice, the spiciness of the curry, and the toppings that go on top. For some dishes though - such as the ones with Omu (creamy fluffy omelette) - you can't change the amnts of rice or spiciness of the curry sauce. Which I don't really understand why. [if you can do it for everything else, why not these one? I get it if it's Hayashi rice or stew. But aren't you still using the same curry base as the regular dishes?]

Here's what I ordered: Chicken Karage (deep fried chicken chunks in a batter - think Chicken Popcorn, but bigger chunks) Curry with Omu!

Yummyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! Loved it. For the first 20 mins. Then, as it cooled down, it just tasted bland, so you'd need helpers, such as Japanese pickles. They add a bit of crunch and help re-freshen your palate. I forgot to take pics of the pickles, as well as the extra cheese topping my sister had ordered. The first bite was divine. Other than that, the portion was HUGE, so there was no way I could have finished it :( Such a waste. If only they had a small or a lady-size plate and the regular plate, I would be very happy!

Overall 8.5/10