Little Piggy went to the market...and got these Chinese New Year 2019 Beauty Must-Haves for Good Luck & Fortune

Let the countdown begin, it's almost Chinese New Year! More specifically, the Year of the Pig. With pigs being the symbol of wealth and signs of fortune in Chinese culture, 2019 is going to be a super auspicious year for everyone. Hence, looking our very best, as well as paying a tribute to our pink piggy friends, is the least we can do to welcome all the fortune ahead of us...

Dreaming away with Sephora's "Beach Vibes" Shower Jelly & Shower Balm

I've been living in Singapore for more than 3 years now, and feel the fall weather hasn't been as extreme as it currently is: either scorching hot or raining cats and dogs. Remarkably, both types of weather make me long for the beach, as I find myself in need of either a serious cool down or warming up. If the weather or my busy schedule doesn't allow going to the beach, I go for a quick fix with Sephora's Beach Vibes Bath & Body range. One whiff of the addictive scent makes me instantly feel like I'm spending a lazy day on a beautiful tropical beach, laying on a stretcher while drinking from a coconut, with a pleasantly warming sun and refreshing sea breeze. Sounds tempting? Come dream away...

A read you won't regret: "Beauty Confidential" on DIY Skincare & Instant Home Spas

As devoted beauty junkie, my bookcase is filled with all the standard works on makeup and cosmetics. Like my monthly Vogue, most of these books are like bibles to me. Many, however, don't go any deeper than tips and tricks on creating the perfect smokey eye or finding the best brow shape for your face. Recently, I've been able to add a bit more depth to my library with Tomoka Y. Nguyen's book "Beauty Confidential". This book unveils the ugly truth about mass market personal care products and bursts with everything you need to know to care for your skin instead - in a wholesome and natural way, all by yourself. Great me-time read while chillaxing in your personal Home Spa, as well as a thoughtful gift for the upcoming holidays!

Must-have Beauty Products for Hot Mamas - PART 2

Part two of my absolute beauty lifesavers for moms that refuse to stop caring about how they look and feel because of momlife: "how to fake looking (and smelling) clean and well put together, as well as claiming that well-deserved me time". BAM!

Juliette has a Gun "Moscow Mule" - let's get this party started!

What does a hot but sophisticated party - be it in an urban jungle night club in Singapore, a waterfront restaurant in Cannes or a sky bar in Tokyo - smell like? Like Juliette has a Gun's newest perfume "Moscow Mule". Get ready to party!

Must-have Beauty Products for Hot Mamas (Literally & Figuratively speaking) - PART1

 

Technically, I'm still supposed to be on maternity leave. And I really should be, because gosh I am dead tired from all the broken nights and feel hotter than ever (literally, that is) due to a combination of hormones and constant baby lifting/carrying/cuddling/feeding. I do however feel an urge to share the beauty products that kept me sane the first weeks of being a mom, in order for other moms to survive. Call me vain or superficial, but when you look good and feel hot (this time figuratively speaking) you tend to feel much better - and a happy mommy equals a happy baby, right?

Out of the Office until Fall: busy being mommy to the most beautiful creature in the world!

Super Cool & Sophisticated Singaporean Brand: SIX Fine Fragrances

As I’m always on the look-out for cool products from Singapore to bring back home to Europe (done all the batik and Merlion stuff too many times..), I was particularly pleased to learn about SIX Fine Fragrances. To limit SIX’ fragrances to gifts for friends abroad doesn’t do justice, though; the products are exceptional and the brand oozes the sophistication of a world class artisanal designer fragrance brand. Which is why I immediately got a fragrance set for my husband. I didn’t have to force him in any way to wear the fragrances, as he fell in love with SIX Fragrances’ transient, mysterious and powerful scents just as quickly as I did.

A Super Lifesaver: Supergoop! Defense Refresh Setting Mist with SPF50

I consider renaming my blog “Setting Sprays in the Lush”, as writing about setting sprays as a holy grail to survive the hot and humid tropics looking good an put-together (instead of worn-out due to makeup melting) seems to be a constant on my blog. Until I decide to go for such a radical name change, I promise the setting sprays I will be reviewing are not just another one and will be worth it: today, it’s Supergoop!’s Defense Refresh Setting Mist with SPF50, the first setting spray or mist I‘ve come across with an SPF.

The perfect little souvenir from South East Asia - Innisfree Green Tea, Bamboo & Ginseng Face Masks

It's been a while as I've been incredibly busy with work, travelling and a combination of the two. As we speak, I am packing my bags to head to The Netherlands tonight, for both business and pleasure. The pleasure is seeing my friends and family again. After three years abroad, I still love to bring back something small for them from Asia (and they love it in return), but find myself increasingly out of inspiration what to bring. Luckily Innisfree has some awesome face masks with Asian ingredients that serve as the perfect little gift to bring back home!

Unruly Hair in the Tropics? Products that help you work WITH it instead of against it!

After an seemingly everlasting rain season, the weather is finally getting better in Singapore -meaning less time indoors and more time outdoors! I've been living and looking like a hermit during the heavy downpours, so it's time to dig up tweezers and a brush and face the mirror again. Not minding my hair for weeks as I barely went out anyway, not even for groceries, made me more or less forget about the eternal unruly mess on top of my head - the enemy that every Caucasian female in the tropics seems battle daily. What to do again? Work with it, not against it, is my hair-mantra in Singapore. Crucial products: Redken's Windblown 05 Dry Finishing Spray and OUAI's Wave Spray.

Last-Minute Gifting Stress? Quickly head to Sephora for these Gift Sets for every budget

For me, counting down till X-Mas means gifting stress. Each year I promise myself to start hunting for the perfect X-Mas gifts in time, and each year I fail - again. The solution? Just head to Sephora as they have the perfect gift set for your mother, sister, friends, inlaws etc. They're seriously cool sets, not the average perfume plus travel size body lotion but glittery eyeliner sets and perfect eye makeup kits. And for each and every budget. Oh and tackle the gifts for your SO, father, brother etc. right away too. What are you waiting for?! 

Burlesque Star & Women's Activist Sukki Singapora Launches Lipstick Range

I personally wasn't aware of the fact that lovely but conservative Singapore has its own burlesque star, but the Little Red Dot keeps surprising me each time again. She goes by the name of Sukki Singapora, a name that wouldn't be out of place in James Bond movie, co-starring Kissy Suzuki, Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore, and launched a lipstick collection recently.

Light weight Body Lotions for a non-sticky life in the Tropics

A common first world problem of living in the muggy tropics: body lotions that leave a sticky feeling after application. Why? Because we already feel perpetually hot, sweaty and sticky!!! Given the fact that the tropical heath makes us shower more often, stripping our skin from essential oils, simply scrapping body lotion from our beauty routine isn't the smartest option. Luckily there are some light weight body lotions available that do the trick, giving our skin what it needs without a trace of stickiness.

Level up your Look in the Mushroom Kingdom with Shu Uemura's Holiday 2017 Mario Bros. Collection

This week I came across what must be THE coolest makeup collection ever in Isetan on Scotts: Shu Uemura's Holiday 2017 Mario Bros Collection. 1-Up!

The Coolest Kid in the Tropics is Tarte's Eco-Glam "Rainforest of the Sea" 4-in-1 Setting Mist

If you read my blog more often, you’d probably know that a product I absolutely cannot live without in the tropics, is a makeup setting spray. Recently, on a Friday night in Singapore’s Clubstreet, where you’re typically more busy sweating than partying, someone (that obviously does not read my blog) asked me how it was possible that my makeup always remained so flawless on nights like these. Setting spray, baby! Although I have quite a vast collection of these products at home to bulletproof my makeup, this week I just couldn’t leave Sephora without getting myself Tarte’s "Rainforest of the Sea" 4-in-1 Setting Mist. Because of the 4-in-1 feature that I’m curious about, but maybe even more because everything about Tarte and the Rainforest of the Ocean collection is just too cool. 

Challenging Stereotypes of Beauty: Singapore will host its first International Plus Size Beauty Pageant!

Cheer with me: for the first time ever, Singapore will host a plus size beauty pageant. Do I care about beauty pageants? Not really. But I do care about challenging stereotypes of beauty, whether it be Western or typical Asian stereotypes. While in the West the discussion on dispelling beauty standards is trending and plus size models emerge, Asia is still coming around to acknowledging the need for body positivity. Plus-sized women in Singapore often face cutting remarks, even from the people closest to them. Luckily, Fiona Tan proves that Asians don’t have to be slim and petite to be considered beautiful…

Hair Loss in Singapore: Vitamin Shower Heads, Anti-Pollution Shampoo & Supplements

The other day, one of my friends turned to me with the question what to do about hair loss, as she experienced her hair had increasingly been getting thinner over the past few weeks. Mysterious hair loss in the tropics, happening to otherwise healthy women, is a classic “oh, didn’t you know?!”-story among expat women in Singapore. Rumor has it, that this has to do with the water. But does it?

What Dry Shampoo to bring to Mount Everest (or any other place for that matter)

As you’ve probably noticed, I travel a lot. Like really a lot. Short trips and long trips. Remote and around the corner. From lavish, uber-luxurious Pacific island getaways to Spartan nights in traditional Japanese Ryokans. Unless you travel with a full-time sherpa, different kind of trips naturally require different approaches of packing and sometimes tough choices need to be made in terms of what to bring - and what not (mehh). One product I  never compromise on, is dry shampoo. This lifesaver always comes in handy, whether you find yourself in need of a Quick Fix in The Ritz or a Thorough Touch up in a showerless Mongolian yurt you've been staying in for days. But which one to bring?

Jeunesse Product Presentation & My Husband as a Home Lab Guinea Pig (ssst don't tell!)

I was invited to a product presentation hosted by Jeunesse in the Fairmont Hotel, because now available in Singapore: AM PM Essentials, dietary supplements designed for your well-being -maintaining strong nails and healthy hair among the benefits- and Be the Envy Perfecting BB Mist Foundation, for a professional airbrushed look in seconds.