Wednesday 13 June 2012

Korres - Beauty products

Korres' values are about using natural Greek herbs to make up at least 80% of their beauty products. Basically stressing the fact that they are trying to use less of artificial, chemicals that can be harmful to our bodies. You can learn more about their research and motives for their all natural products here.

Before S.T. left the company, she worked with Korres on a marketing tie-up, which resulted in Korres giving us a ton of complimentary samples and cash vouchers for our staff. Awesome!


The samples includes a White Tea Facial Cleanser, Thyme Honey Mask, Showergel Basil Lemon, and Shampoo Aloe and Soapwort.

I've tried the samples and was in all honesty not very impressed with the products.

The White Tea Facial Cleanser was really nothing special, it wasn't drying as the product promises, but it didn't really leave my skin spectacularly soft either. To be honest, it did not lather so well, and at the end I felt like it did not clean as much as it should. So I used more of it, then it felt cleaner. But I washed my face again right after with my Simple facial cleanser. I felt it wasn't spectacular but did its job moderately, and felt my Simple Facial cleanser was actually better.

The Showergel Basil Lemon was also quite average. The smell was nice, and it did lather better than the face cleanser, but overall my skin wasn't buzzing with excitement. I think I felt softer and smoother after the first time I tried my Netrogena Rainbath..

The Shampoo Aloe and Soapwort was actually a disappointment. It did not leave my hair silky and soft at all.. it wasn't drying either, but it just felt like it did the basic minimum of cleaning with some lingering smells of freshness. To be honest my hair is shinier, softer and silkier using my Dove Intense Repair shampoo.

The Thyme Honey Mask was good. I tried it on my arm, it felt more like a moisturiser than a mask. It's supposed to be applied thickly all over the face and left on for like 10-15 mins than rinse - I think - but I wiped mine off and it feels like the softness retained better. Skin did feel softer and moisturised, just that the smell can be quite off putting to those sensitive to weird smells.



All their "soapy" products claim to be "Formulated with vegetable-derived soap substitutes—deeply cleanses and refreshes without dehydrating the skin." And products also claims to be Paraben free - Paraben is a common chemical used as preservatives in beauty products, it became a controversial product when it was found that paraben is present in breast cancer tumors. So I guess for that fact alone, it is quite a good factor to be a Korres convert - but just to note that it is not proven that Paraben is a cause for cancer - not link has ever been found.


I may not be tooting Korres effectiveness in its beauty outcome, but I will give them credit for pulling off the all natural products with their not-horrid results. I guess I had high expectations, considering that they do charge alot of money for their products, with facial creams at $90 over - I thought they would blow me away at their results. But I guess being limited with their all natural ingredients it is rather hard to pull off miracles. After all beauty these days do not come naturally...


I may not have found their showergels and shampoos much to toot about.. but I do have to say their Multi-Vitamin compact powder is really making me contemplate converting from Chanel forever!


 It is apparently loaded with Vitamin C and E, so good for skin, and it has this new skin mimetic ingredient which [I guess] mimics your complexion to have a more natural coverage. It's for oily skin as it is mattifying - I have a problematic T-Zone so I feel this helps! And actually I'm in love with how light-weight it is and how natural it looks! Of course it has no Paraben and artificial dyes or fragrances - so it treats your skin well.

I have not found a compact powder that can compete with Chanel's which are always flawless, but this one can be quite a competitor as it has all its goodness as a factor. Of course Chanel's Natural matte powders or their Lumiere collection is flawless - it literally feels like silk on the skin and so light but full natural coverage. Well... for the price of Korres MVpowder which is $61, it feels more worth it to buy Chanel's refills which are at $60. I got Korres this time round as I had the cash vouchers. So in all fairness, if I did have to purchase a full priced one, I will still go back to Chanel.

Hope this helps you make your decision on Korres!

Cheers,
E.L.

L'Entrecote Singapore

On a recent meet-up with a couple of dear friends, we decided on treating ourselves to dine in L'entrecote.. For those of you unfamiliar with its background, originally a French Bistro based in Paris, it has set out to take the world with restaurants popping around the globe's famous cities like New York, London and here in Singapore as well!



It's famed for it's hearty 2 servings of steak with their secret sauce and a free flow of fries! This is their only main course, so the only choices you need to make are your appetisers and desserts.

L'Entrecote Singapore is beautifully located in one the several old peranakan buildings and amongst the pre-war Shophouses in Duxton Road. With it's European interiors and impeccable service, the entire experience was lovely!

The high glass ceiling of the restaurant [right above our table!] and lightbulbs in whisks lighting adds a whimsical touch.

We picked a couple of appetisers to share... or rather my friends shared the Escargots and I shared the Duck Foie Gras Terrine.

What was the most loveliest touch [in my opinion] was the welcome complimentary drink! I didn't exactly catch what it was - I think it was Vodka something... Although they did charge us an extortionate $9++ for still water.... always feel the charge for water in any place is an arrogant and obnoxious business tactic... but felt like it could be forgiven considering the $29++ for their perfectly  cooked medium rare steaks in large portions with free flow of fries were worth the total expenses.


All in all a wonderful restaurant, good food great service wonderful friends... Check them out!


Cheers,
E.L.

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Saying Farewell

I guess it's official, and we should announce it here now... S.T. has left our company [as in our real-life job... not this blog] to embark on a new adventure! She's relocating with her boyfriend! To China! YAY for her!!!

Personally I'm so happy for her, I totally support this huge change because life is too short to hesitate at grand opportunities... And as much as she's whining about how she will not enjoy China, I truly hope she will learn to see how lucky she is!

So not only did S.T. left the company, we've been having big changes in manpower as more colleagues left as well... Including my wonderful Intern-then-became-part-timer-because-she-was-so-awesome colleague... Sam! She finally graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts [I went there too, and was her senior! How cool is that??] and got a full a time job at the Esplanade. She was a great help to us all at the company, and I've watched her grow and learn and totally know that she will rock at her new job!

Of course, this was a cause for a congratulatory celebration! And what other way can I do it but to send them off with a few hand-made goodness...



Farwell Card with hand-embroidered Bookmark with Sam's initials, hung a pretty ballerina charm onto it for the dancer in her...



I also made a her one of my Roman Leaves cuff bracelet - she was admiring it the last time I wore it.

 For S.T. I also made a hand embroidered bookmark with leaf charm hanging off it...



I also made her a pair of dangly earrings with a drawing of Cat Silhouettes! She's been asking for me to draw her a pair since forever and I finally made it! I ran out of those glossy resin-like stuff so I actually used scotch tape here as mod-podge kept bleeding my drawing [I had to redo it a million times because of mod-podge! So not trusting that silly stuff again!]

But of course scotch tape did not last long, water still managed to seep through, thankfully S.T. had resin to lay over it before any horrid damage was done!

The Cat silhouettes were all personally hand drawn, not a stencil, so if you look closely both of them look slightly different!


 Writing my goodbye messages... it was definitely a tear-jerking moment...


 Here are some packaging ideas, used a white paper bag, with paper doileys and silver ribbons... looks gorgeously romantic without the effort!


For our day of farewell, we went out to the ArtScience Museum to catch the Harry Potter and Warhol exhibit, and had an indulgent dessert at Max Brenner's after dinner... Maybe we'll fill you in on it in another post..

For S.T. fans out there, not to worry! She may be in a different part of the world from me now, but she will still be writing in now and then with updates on her new life over in China! That's the beauty of the internet!

[Let's just hope blogger isn't banned in China or something... hmmmm.... ]

 And I will be missing their companionship at work... Truly blessed to have met and made such wonderful friendships...

Cheers,
E.L.