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My Scheming 5 Piece Special Edition

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Sponsored Review
[Please note that products have been tried for several weeks prior to the review and the review is honest and based solely on my personal opinions without the influence of the sponsors! ^^]

Hey lovelies, sorry for not introducing you girls to anything new for so long, and I will make it up to you all today by sharing with you a special edition of my favourite mask brand...

My Scheming!

Honestly, I have been using My Scheming's amazing masks since early this year (like since the start of January?) and I have to declare to everyone of you here that this mask does wonders to my skin! 

BUT...

Has it ever pained you that My Scheming masks comes in sets of 10 of the same masks, which means that for people with limited beauty funds like you and I have to spend hours contemplating which box of My Scheming mask we are going to indulge ourselves with?

Hence, My Scheming decided to solve this problem for us by coming up with a brilliant solution:

My Scheming 5 Piece Special Edition!

My Scheming Special 5 piece Edition
Can we take a brief moment to admire the intricate design of just the box? I personally do place quite some emphasis on the packaging as I feel that it reflects quite a bit on how much importance the manufacturer places on his buyers! Here are the goodies inside:

My Scheming Aloe Vera + Vitamin E Mask
My Scheming Bird's Nest Collagen Hydrating Mask
My Scheming Deep Cleansing Pore Minimizing Mask
My Scheming Milk Extract Brightening Mask
My Scheming Skin Clarifying Astringent Mask
All of these masks come together to help you solve your problems of having visible pores (Deep Cleansing and Skin Clarifying), wrinkles (Bird's Nest and Aloe Vera) and uneven skin tone (Milk extract and skin clarifying)!

Can I hear a WOW?

If you were to ask me which one of the above is my favourite, I would probably have to mull over it for a pretty long time and tell you that I pretty much love them all since they have done my skin much good!

I mean each of the masks has its own merits and plus points so it is pretty hard to decide on one favorite one to review on especially...but I shall make the hard decision!

I think one of my most favourite is Milk Extract Brightening Mask! I originally intended to pick Pore Minimizing Mask again, but I have reviewed that before and it would be kind of pointless to re-review it again, right? So I decided to review on my second favourite!


The Milk Extract Brightening Mask, like its name, aims to help those with uneven skin tone to brighten up and even their skin tone, thus giving the overall impression of a balanced and fair skin tone! I mean, can you imagine having a dull and pallid skin tone all the time? Having fair, clear and good is is definitely the foundation to being beautiful!

The Milk Extract Brightening Mask has a lovely, slightly milky scent that is nowhere near to strong or unwelcoming. Next to that, My Scheming Masks always provide 30 ml of essence instead of the more common 20ml and 25ml provided by most of the other mask brands. This essence-soaked mask will hydrate your skin well and enrich it with nutrients, thus improving your skin tone!

Like all other My Scheming masks, this one is also extremely comfortable to use and the mask-period was definitely a great enjoyment! For me, the mask fits very well and does not cause any itching, stinging or discomfort at all.

After removing the mask, I found my skin to be much much clearer, and a little too bright and white, and if you are facing the same problem, worry not! That moment of "too brightness" will not last for too long and your skin tone will return to a healthier and more normal shade of fairness in an hour or two! However, the suppleness in skin remains in the skin for a good day or two and my skin continued to look refreshed and clear for the rest of the day!

Personally, I think that in order to more or less retain the "clear and fresh" look provided by the mask, some skincare steps must be carried out after using the mask such that the nutrients absorbed won't just diffuse back to the surrounding air. I use toner and moisturizer about half an hour after using the mask such that I can retain the pleasant after-effects of using Milk Extract Brightening Masks!

Rating
No doubt I am extremely satisfied with this mask and this ENTIRE box of masks as a whole and I won't hesitate to give 5 out of 5 for Milk Extract Brightening Mask and 4.5/5 for the Special Edition Box as a whole!

I definitely will purchase Milk Extract Brightening Mask again once I have the time to go out and shop, and if the 5 piece Edition is present then, trust me that the first thing I would do is to stock up a good five box of them for me to enjoy them slowly through out the year!

Unfortunately for now, the 5 Piece Special Edition has drawn to a close just recently (27th March), but I do believe that due to the popular demand that it holds, the 5 Piece Special Edition would be back soon!

In the mean time, do head over to My Scheming's Facebook Page to like them and keep yourself updated on the frequent giveaway and sampling exercises that their Facebook organizes! You will be missing out on a lot of good things in life if you still haven't become a fan of their page!

Have you tried out the 5 Piece Special Edition yet?

Which one is your favourite? :)

To This Day by Shane Koyczan

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Today I found the most inspirational poem ever, and I urge everyone of you to listen to it, the audio one with fantastic animation. I fell in love with this guy and his voice, and his courage to speak up, his courage to care.

Poem is taken from http://tothisdayproject.com/listen, please do take a moment to check it out and support!

The animation can be found here: http://www.upworthy.com/bullies-called-him-pork-chop-he-took-that-pain-with-him-and-then-cooked-it-into?g=3

It is a really amazing animation with a really flawless voice over, and I promise that you will not waste your 7minutes 37 seconds listening and watching it!

Like Shane Koyczan's page here: https://www.facebook.com/ShaneKoyczanPoetry?c=upworthy


To This Day by Shane Koyczan

To This Day
When I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
were the same thing
I thought they were both pork chops
and because my grandmother thought it was cute
and because they were my favourite
she let me keep doing it

not really a big deal

one day
before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees
I fell out of a tree
and bruised the right side of my body

I didn’t want to tell my grandmother about it
because I was afraid I’d get in trouble
for playing somewhere that I shouldn’t have been

a few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise
and I got sent to the principal’s office
from there I was sent to another small room
with a really nice lady
who asked me all kinds of questions
about my life at home

I saw no reason to lie
as far as I was concerned
life was pretty good
I told her “whenever I’m sad
my grandmother gives me karate chops”

this led to a full scale investigation
and I was removed from the house for three days
until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises

news of this silly little story quickly spread through the school
and I earned my first nickname

pork chop

to this day
I hate pork chops

I’m not the only kid
who grew up this way
surrounded by people who used to say
that rhyme about sticks and stones
as if broken bones
hurt more than the names we got called
and we got called them all
so we grew up believing no one
would ever fall in love with us
that we’d be lonely forever
that we’d never meet someone
to make us feel like the sun
was something they built for us
in their tool shed
so broken heart strings bled the blues
as we tried to empty ourselves
so we would feel nothing
don’t tell me that hurts less than a broken bone
that an ingrown life
is something surgeons can cut away
that there’s no way for it to metastasize

it does

she was eight years old
our first day of grade three
when she got called ugly
we both got moved to the back of the class
so we would stop get bombarded by spit balls
but the school halls were a battleground
where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day
we used to stay inside for recess
because outside was worse
outside we’d have to rehearse running away
or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there
in grade five they taped a sign to her desk
that read beware of dog

to this day
despite a loving husband
she doesn’t think she’s beautiful
because of a birthmark
that takes up a little less than half of her face
kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer
that someone tried to erase
but couldn’t quite get the job done
and they’ll never understand
that she’s raising two kids
whose definition of beauty
begins with the word mom
because they see her heart
before they see her skin
that she’s only ever always been amazing

he
was a broken branch
grafted onto a different family tree
adopted
but not because his parents opted for a different destiny
he was three when he became a mixed drink
of one part left alone
and two parts tragedy
started therapy in 8th grade
had a personality made up of tests and pills
lived like the uphills were mountains
and the downhills were cliffs
four fifths suicidal
a tidal wave of anti depressants
and an adolescence of being called popper
one part because of the pills
and ninety nine parts because of the cruelty
he tried to kill himself in grade ten
when a kid who still had his mom and dad
had the audacity to tell him “get over it” as if depression
is something that can be remedied
by any of the contents found in a first aid kit

to this day
he is a stick on TNT lit from both ends
could describe to you in detail the way the sky bends
in the moments before it’s about to fall
and despite an army of friends
who all call him an inspiration
he remains a conversation piece between people
who can’t understand
sometimes becoming drug free
has less to do with addiction
and more to do with sanity

we weren’t the only kids who grew up this way
to this day
kids are still being called names
the classics were
hey stupid
hey spaz
seems like each school has an arsenal of names
getting updated every year
and if a kid breaks in a school
and no one around chooses to hear
do they make a sound?
are they just the background noise
of a soundtrack stuck on repeat
when people say things like
kids can be cruel?
every school was a big top circus tent
and the pecking order went
from acrobats to lion tamers
from clowns to carnies
all of these were miles ahead of who we were
we were freaks
lobster claw boys and bearded ladies
oddities
juggling depression and loneliness playing solitaire spin the bottle
trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal
but at night
while the others slept
we kept walking the tightrope
it was practice
and yeah
some of us fell

but I want to tell them
that all of this shit
is just debris
leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought
we used to be
and if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself
get a better mirror
look a little closer
stare a little longer
because there’s something inside you
that made you keep trying
despite everyone who told you to quit
you built a cast around your broken heart
and signed it yourself
you signed it
“they were wrong”
because maybe you didn’t belong to a group or a click
maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything
maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth
to show and tell but never told
because how can you hold your ground
if everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it
you have to believe that they were wrong

they have to be wrong

why else would we still be here?
we grew up learning to cheer on the underdog
because we see ourselves in them
we stem from a root planted in the belief
that we are not what we were called we are not abandoned cars stalled out and sitting empty on a highway
and if in some way we are
don’t worry
we only got out to walk and get gas
we are graduating members from the class of
fuck off we made it
not the faded echoes of voices crying out
names will never hurt me

of course
they did

but our lives will only ever always
continue to be
a balancing act
that has less to do with pain
and more to do with beauty.

One Chance

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One Chance

You only have one chance
to break me,
kill me,
make me,
tear me,
build me,
suffocate me,
love me,
deceive me,
win me.

I only trust once before I
hate you,
love you,
disregard you,
segregate you,
murder you,
ignore you,
forget you.

One chance.
Just one chance. 

Not Caring

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Not Caring
(Original Poem on Live & Dictate)

Sometimes you ask me how I am,
And I want to tell you the truth,
but then the words die on my tongue
when I realized that you didn't care anyway.

You asked me if I was all right, if I felt fine,
I wanted to tell you that I hurt and that I miss you
But I looked into your averted eyes,
and realized that you never cared anyway.

Sometimes I want to tell you
about the many things in my life that I want
You, to be part of.
But then I delete all the lines that I typed,
and each word that I wrote
because I know you were not interested anyway.

You ask me how was life for me now,
And I wanted to shout that I missed you,
And that I hurt without you in my life,
And that I am incomplete without you,
But those words never leave my throat,
For you asked but never listened,
Before walking away.

To Hurt

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To Hurt
[Impromptu poem, Original on Live & Dictate]

How was it possible for a broken,
shattered,
twisted,
battered heart to feel hurt?
As though it could be hurt any further.
As though it could be pained any more.

I tried not to base my thoughts on him.
I tried.
I knew at some point or another that it was not
love,
but an obsession that I became entombed within.
Yet that obsession breaks me.

To stalk every movement of his,
to compute every breath he took,
to watch him with half-crazed, deranged eyes
but yet to feel no love.
To feel as though he who belonged to me was trying to break

free.

I hurt.
Sometimes it feels that I hurt for the sake of hurting,
and he was only an excuse for me to
wallow in my own pain,
and pity.
Maybe I was just hurt by the world I live in.

Maybe, just maybe, I can't even trust myself.
Nor anyone else.

Broken.
I knew then I was broken
beyond repair.

Clearlab Contacts Review

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Some time ago, Clearlab Singapore had this contest going on on their Facebook Page for people to win two boxes of contact lens (of your choice). You didn't even have to do anything: all that was needed for you to be qualified for the contest was to like their page, and be their fan, and you will stand a chance of being picked.

I was lucky enough to be one of the winners and I didn't even know until like several weeks later when I scroll through their Facebook page again.

To cut the long story short, I chose black contact lens because I felt that that was the most normal and can therefore can be worn to school as I wish! Ahahaha.

Clearcolour Mystic (Black)

I remember when Clearlab told me that I had the privilege of choosing the contact colors I wanted, I was spoiled for choice because of the colors on their color chart were so pretty! I was sorely tempted to choose brown or grey instead of black because my pupils are black and I felt that it would be a refreshing change to wear something different for a while.

So after boring Chinny, Sluggy and Bryan silly with "Which colour should I pick?" on Whatsapp and Facebook Chat respectively, I finally decided on black even though Sluggy suggested brown and Bryan insisted on grey, because I was too chicken to wear those.

Wide range of colors to choose from

You see what I mean? There is such a long list of colors that I spent close to an hour going through all the colors before deciding on black. I can't really remember which black I pick, but I think that it won't really make much of a difference since my pupils are all black anyway.

Clearcolour, Mystic Black
I was given two boxes of contact lenses, one box with degree 4.5 (450) and one with degree 5.0 (500) for each of my eyes and each pair of contacts can be worn for one month! So I decided to invest a little bit and bought a large bottle of Renu Multipurpose Solution since, it is going to be like two month of contact wearing, and I don't think it is worth it to be cheapskate and risk getting eye infections.

Sorry about the blur picture, the lighting was not very good

So here is what I think of the contact lens:

Comfort
Most important thing to look out for when wearing contact lenses is really the comfort. You are going to put those little things in your eyes and if they are not comfortable, it can cause dry eyes, sore eyes and a lot of other complications.


I found these contact lenses to be very comfortable after I have placed them into my eyes and it feels like they are not there. I don't think they dry up my eyes too much and me who has seldom worn contacts, I felt that it was really quite good.

The lenses are really thin for monthly contacts, which is one of their marketing point, and that makes it even better because it feels like it is part of your cornea and not some horrible intrusive object stuck in your eyes.

I also do think that these contact lenses are relatively easy to wear once you get the hang of it, but the previous time I wore contacts, the lenses were not so thin so for me, it was easier to put them in. However once you get used to the slim contacts that Clearlab provides, there really isn't much of a problem putting them into your eyes!

Beauty
I love it.

It makes my eyes so much bigger than they actually are, and it gives this shine and more energetic look to my tired deadened eyes. Not only so, it is not entirely obvious when worn, so it gives a more natural look to it.

So here is a photo of myself with the contacts, and try not to be too judgmental or critical kay?


Yes I know, this is my profile picture on Facebook, more publicity for Clearlab! :)

Okay now I really do prefer contact lenses more than glasses and I shall busy myself with trying to find myself contact lens sponsors soon. I know, I am still trying it out because it is really quite costly to maintain contacts and also quite a bit of hassle, but if I decide to wear it, then I will buy myself. For now, I will just live off free contact lens~~

Keke, thanks for tuning in, catch you all soon! (:

Why I haven't been blogging recently

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Just in case any avid reader of mine (I wish haha) out there is wondering why I haven't been blogging so much recently, here is a relatively long update for you all to be updated on my sad miserable life.

Apart from the obvious torrent of homework that is coming in with relentless force and shocking velocity, there is something wrong with my immunity nowadays.

Like seriously wrong.

Last Monday I had intended to update this blog because we had half-day at school, which I exulted over, but in the end, what did I spend my half day doing?

Throwing up on and off for 4 hours in the bathroom, complete with stomach upset.

It was honestly the worst experience in my life.

I really did think I was going to die when I ran into the washroom for the fourth time in the few hours to stick my face into the unwelcoming toilet to puke my guts out. I got so morbid that lines of morbid poetry like, "If I die, let me die without pain. My life, it seems to be slipping away." were popping up in my head as the revolting smell invaded my senses. I had to sleep away the rest of my nausea and discomfort that day without completing any homework, and hereof, Mr Snowball bade me welcome cheerily.

I hate the snowball effect in school work.

Once it starts, it is like being trapped in this vortex of never ending work simply because of one's moment of ill health which served as an impediment to one's progress in the Pisa of homework. So I had to slough my guts out combating my work for the rest of the week.

Till yesterday. Yes Monday again. I am going to have something called Monophobia soon because of my sickness that occurs TWICE already, coincidentally both on Mondays.

After eating dinner at home, I went for a short nap. I woke up, feeling terrible in my tummy like there was some volcanic activity there, and panic mounted. I was afraid that history was going to repeat itself: the endless vomiting that will ruin the night and cause me to be unable to revise for Biology Quiz the following day, and the traumatizing thought of the snowball turning into a Snowman.

It would seem overly dramatic if I should say that "fear rose like bile to my throat as the blinding waves of panic gripped at my heart", but boy, it did happen. I placed my hand to my heart and felt its overly-powerful and too-fast pumping, as my stomach took another round on the roller coaster.

I was in tears as I went to my mom telling her that I feel like I was going to become the human Merlion again. My mom was so worried that she got extremely angry, asking me why I threw caution to the wind and drink cold drinks and ate the fried food at the DSTA reception. I felt miserable and ill and such a combination made me cried big blubbery tears as I think about screwing up Biology Lecture Test and stuff, and having to write a sonnet etc. I got scolded more, and half way through, I felt the gross combination rising to my throat so I ran to the toilet and BAM!

Good game.

Spent the rest of the night camping outside the toilet, trembling from I-don't-know-what and swooning from the nausea. Every little movement I made seem to trigger another round of vomiting. I sat outside the toilet, wondering to myself what was the purpose of life and all, and I started googling things on my handphone.

"What are the symptoms of stomach cancer?"
"What are the symptoms of stomach ulcer?"
"Does sleeping after eating make one throw up?"

My mom called my grandfather to ask what happened, and he suggested that I check for the symptoms of Helicobacter Pylori infection.

To my horror, almost all the symptoms matched:
  • Abdominal Pain
  • Bloating and Fullness
  • Dyspepsia or indigestion
  • feeling very hungry after 1-3 hours of meal
  • Mild nausea, relieved by vomiting
(Symptoms courtesy of The New York Times Health Guide)

I was really frightened then because the article said that mere infection won't cause this symptoms till there is an ULCER in the stomach CAUSED by the bacteria.

I was like, please let me die.

I slept early because I was still feeling ill, and early this morning my mom took me to Gleneagles ("Your health is more important than a mere Biology Lecture Test!") for a specialist diagnosis. The doctor initially felt that it could be food poisoning, which I sort of agree with, but then I wondered if it could be Helicobacter Pylori infection, and he was like, "Well, it is possible too."

After some basic check-ups, he probably think that HP infection chances are high, so he suggested...

ENDOSCOPY OR  BLOOD TEST


Trust me, I almost fell out of my chair when I heard endoscopy, so I picked blood test without hesitation. True, to a certain extent I was afraid of the needle and the pain and of course nothing scares me (and weirdly, intrigues me) more than seeing my own blood drawn for the test, but blood test is NOTHING, nothing I say, compared to having a hose shoved down your throat. I say that such invasion of my GI tract would induce another round of gagging.

The doctor felt that endoscopy was the best way to determine the presence of HP bacteria, but then he agreed that since I am relatively young (like not 20 yet), so chances of cancer and ulcer are lower. Not to mention that an endoscopy would cost at least S$1000. I balked at the sum of money.

He sort of called up the nurse who was all nice and friendly and gave me a star-shaped squishy to clench on for the blood-drawing, but I was still scared and I was literally gasping for breath. My mom thought I was going to hyperventilate from all my gasping. The needle was quite large (compared to the one used last time when I was a kid, but memories of mine tend to deceive) and about a "test-tubeful" of blood was taken from me for several blood tests. The place where the needle raped my arm at still feels rather sore, and I refuse to remove the plaster because I know my blood doesn't clot very well, so I think I would leave it there for a day or two till it gets filthy. :D

I am such a wimp with pain.
Basically, if something is really wrong with me, the doctor will call and I have to go down again on Friday morning for another round of check-up, and eventually be prescribed with this terrible-sounding medicine that will kill all the HP bacteria in my tummy. The drug is probably evil, said to cause rashes and all, so I am praying hard that I am okay, and that I wouldn't have to take it.

Murphy's Law? Hopefully whatever that can go wrong won't go wrong this time. Just this once.

Pray for me, gosh. I am sincerely frightened.

Tied Down

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Tied Down

Shackle my arms and legs then tie me down,
Throw me into the sea and watch me drown.
Crush me breathless against the cold hard ground,
Silently daring me to make a sound.

The child, she suffocates.
There is no way for her to retaliate.
In the end it is a game of trade
and you have used her as a bait.

Pull me up and hack me down,
Bring me up and let me drown.
I lie in my own blood upon the ground.
The pain is intense but I utter no sound.

[Original Poem on Live & Dictate]

**Hmm, my first time trying to make a poem rhyme as a warm-up practice for my sonnet writing (yeah school assignments confines you in every way possible) and I don't really think that I like rhyming that much because it limits the way I express myself, and I just can't think of that many rhyming words, which is pretty sad. I guess this would be one of the only poems I ever write to make it rhyme, somewhat on purpose.

On the other hand, doesn't the first and third stanza sound like something that will come out of a Linkin Park song? ^_^

Ode to Ending Loves

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Ode to Ends

As sea turn into rivers, and rivers back into trickles,
We reach the beginning of the end.
The stream; we watch it dry
like the silent words unspoken between you and I.

As inches turn into feet, and feet turn into miles,
I ponder when the last meter would end.
I have a time bomb in my hand.
Ticking, it is ticking away the time we have left.

So, I pray, let it end.
Let this painful, torturous, tedious, energy-sapping
relationship end.
Would I hurt? Would I cry? No-
Would you hurt; and would you cry?

We can't turn back the time, or let it rewind.
If we could, I say, if we could,
I think I would rather not have known you,
to spare you, and maybe myself too, of all these pains.

[Original Poem on Live & Dictate]

Begin With An End

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[Original Poem on Live and Dictate, partially planned]

Begin with an end

I begin this journey with the end in mind,
At the end, I don’t turn back.
It ends, so it ends.
Everything should have an end.

I would not despair,
I would not tear, at that forlorn junction
where we
part.

I won’t hold on to the memories we shared.
Reminders? Sometimes I get reminded,
and it pains me to remember.
But I will forget.

I watch you turn and walk away, without ever
looking back.
Watched for another second, then I left.
Too.
I don’t hurt.
It is not in my nature to regret.

So forth, let us walk down this path,
bathed in sunshine and joy
to the end of the sidewalk
where we let go of each other’s hands.
Come, let’s go, I’m prepared.

Black Box Feb-Mar Edition

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Black Box February- March Edition





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