Styling & Makeup Workshop - with Giveaway!

I read a recent blog post from a young-ish (and very famour) local female blogger expecting her first child. Like me, she is well into her third trimester, and has to deal with not just tummy the size of a basketball, but also pretty snide comments about how mummies should not be too concerned about their looks.

Erm, I don't know the kind of crowd she hangs out with, but my sympathies goes out to her. Cos as a third-time Mummy myself, I can state for a certainty - that a happy ME makes for a happy Mummy. And things that make ME happy include looking good, having pretty clothes or accessories or putting on nice make-up. I am not saying I agree with all her choices, but to be made to feel that guilty about wanting to look presentable is not cool at all!

Well, as you might be aware, I am a part of a group of Singapore Mom Bloggers, and this group turns ONE this month! It's amazing that this is only the first year, cos in the past 12 months, I've gotten to know so many wonderful mummy bloggers, it provides both companionship (knowing that there are so many others walking the same path as I do) as well as perspective (seeing how other alternative paths turn out for others as well).

As part of SMB's first year birthday bash, I was invited to a special Styling Workshop with some of my other mom blogger friends. It was like attending a high school gathering, without the usual drama. We laughed, we chatted, we posed and we spent the evening in a most delightful manner.

Our trainer for the evening, Florinda of Style Essence, was funny and engaging!

And she gave us some practical examples on what sort of clothes fit which body shapes. Of course in my current state, my shape is more Watermelon than anything else, but still, it was pretty interesting. We learnt which colours suit us more (I suit cool colours, which is good since the majority of my wardrobe is a nice shade of ... black).

The hands-on part (and highlight of the 90-minute workshop) was when Flo gave us a chance to try out Mary Kay's range of skincare products. It was their age-defying range (important as most of us were past 30 years old!), and she taught us some pretty useful tips on how cleansing our face.

I sat with Madeline (far left, blogs at MadPsychMum) and Jiahui (centre, blogs at Mum's The Word) and this was how we looked like coming into the Workshop - all more than a tad tired after a long day at work! Haha!

Our totally unglam shot, with our fringes pinned back and faces clean of any make-up.

All the blogger mummies in this right out of Halloween shot - testing out the face mask (which is one of the products I adore!) I've been to some facial spas, and especially when trying out a new method or product, the spa therapist will sometimes do half of my face first, so that I can see the difference. Well, the same thing here, except that we were the ones to work the magic of the product ourselves. Some of the mummies present has pretty noticeable differences - one has a visible lightening of her skin tone and another even had better defined cheekbones. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Well, after all these unglamourous poses, we went into the final (and most entertaining) part of the evening - makeover time!

It was like becoming 18 all over again, and learning how to dabble with eyeshadow colours, contouring, using eyelash curlers and blushers and the like. I liked that each participant had her own set of brushes and mascara wand (which was cleaned after each use), as I am always a little anal about using "common" brushes.

Here's how we look, all MADE-over! I loved it, and didn't think I would carry off a red lipstick this well, since I hardly use such strong colours for my lips. (Of course my hair tips so need touching up, and I can hardly wait till baby comes out so that I can make a long overdue visit to my hair stylist!)

All of us glama-mamas!

Workshop Giveaway!
Style Essence has generously agreed to sponsor THREE readers to attend the same Workshop as I did. Each Workshop is worth S$150, and so it is a great chance for you to know more about your body shape, suitable colours as well as go for a makeover!

To enter, simply leave a blog comment (with your name & email address)!

The giveaway will last for two weeks, and the 3 winners will be randomly drawn and announced on Monday, 15 April 2013. All the best to all! I know you will have a blast, as I did!

Conditions: Giveaway open to those residing in Singapore only; and Style Essence will be the one to contact you on the details of the workshop.



(Additional photo credits: Adeline & Rachel)

Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this Workshop conducted by Style Essence as part of Singapore Mom Bloggers' first birthday bash, and received no compensation. All opinions stated are entirely my own.

Tweet

Review: The new Philips AVENT Natural bottles

As a first-time mummy, I remember a couple of years back, I had to make many buying decisions. Pram – all-terrain, lightweight or sturdy? Cot or playpen? Disposable diapers or cloth diapers? Baby sling or carrier, ergonomic or not? And not to mention the myriad of brands to choose from for all kinds of items like bath gels and diaper creams and even pacifiers!

The bottle is another huge decision to make, and with so many brands in the market, I had no clue where to start, really. So thankfully for an informal support group of other mummies in my workplace, I was introduced to the various brands out there, and eventually settled on Philips AVENT for Jay.

Bottles bought. But unfortunately Jay had other plans. And in the Nursery where I placed him from three months old, he was resistant to the bottle teat, and took a long, long time to finish his feed each and every time, screaming and flinching every other moment. I was relieved when he finally learnt how to sip from a straw before he turned one, and that was how we fed him any form of liquids!

Xav was a much easier baby, in the bottle aspect.

In fact, even Daddy could easily feed Xav up (a feat he wasn’t up to for Jay)

When Philips AVENT launched its brand new Natural range of bottles, they were kind enough to send over a few bottles for Xav to test out as well!

Comparing the old and the new.

As you can see, there are some pretty big changes with the shape of the bottle. The more ergonomic shape makes it easier to grip, and aesthetically more pleasing on the eye to boot!

 The shape of the bottle teat has also seen some major change – and I personally like that the length of the teat has been reduced, as I’ve always felt it’s been a little too long for a small newborn. It also fits better into the bottle, reducing leakage.

The old design comes with the adaptor ring, which goes around the neck of the bottle before screwing on the cap. And sometimes in my sleep-deprived hazy nights (and some days), I’d forget to put on the rings and pooof! Out spills the milk! Well, I am happy to report that the new Natural bottles have since done away with the additional ring, making them easier to put together. As any Mummy having to feed the kids at 3 a.m. in the morning will attest to, 3 seconds saved is 3 seconds more to sleep. Simply precious.

Unless the old range, which comes in 3 different sizes (4, 9 and 11 ounces), the new Natural bottle comes in only 2 sizes (4 and 9 ounces). Which suits me fine since Xav doesn’t drink more than 9 ounces at a single feed. The bottle teats continue to come in 4 different feeding flows.

Preparing for my third kid also means I have yet another few months of breast milk expressing, and bottle feeds ahead *gulp!* So I am happy to have the chance to fully test out the new bottles on her!

Disclaimer: This advertorial post is a part of a series of conversations between Philip AVENT Singapore and SANses. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Tweet

Introducing the all-new Natural

The all-new Natural Range from Philips AVENT, I mean.

I have used the Philips AVENT range of bottles for both Jay and Xav, and so I was happy to receive an invite to witness their “baby shower” – to celebrate the launch of their brand new Natural range. Held at a chic and cosy location, the “stars” of the evening obviously took centre-stage.

This is Philip Avent’s first major redesign in 29 years. Can you imagine? Well, if the adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” holds true, it must mean that the old design has certainly held up to the test of time, but makes this new launch that much more exciting! There are two main products in this line – the Philips Avent Natural Feeding Bottle (which comes in 2 different sizes, 125ml and 260ml) and the Comfort breast pump which comes in manual and electric (single and double). After hearing the presentation, I am looking forward to seeing how Xavier and baby girl takes to the new ergonomic bottles. The cute bottles sure have Mummy’s vote!

We also enjoyed some yummy fare to round up the evening.

But for me, it was the chance to get together with some of my favourite Mummy bloggers that made this evening a pretty much perfect one!

Here’s a group shot, courtesy of Summer’s handy hubby. ;)

Plenty of mummies along with their cute babes (and some hubbies in tow!)

And some of the funniest, most insightful blogger mummies in Singapore – Regina, Madeline, Evelyn, Adora & Rachel! I read their blogs on an almost-daily basis, and it’s kinda like seeing their kids grow up before my own eyes as well.

All in all, it was a Thursday evening well-spent. Thanks once again to the good people at Philips AVENT for the invite… and for the most thoughtful doorgift.

Meet Avery, Xav’s newest bear-y friend!

Disclaimer: This advertorial post is a part of a series of conversations between Philip AVENT Singapore and SANses. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Technorati Tags: Philips,Avent,bottle,feeding,baby

Tweet

Splish-splash fun!

My sis in law managed to snag her company bungalow for the weekend, and so we decided to throw a family barbeque as well as a combined birthday party for the two boys. Now, the cakes – you’ve seen those gorgeous ones.

Now for the entertainment… The hubs wanted to get a bouncy castle for the boys to play.

This … took me a while to get around to. I love my kids. And they love their bouncies. But it seemed a tad… too much for such a small-scale party. Including Jay and Xav, there’d be a grand total of 5 kids only (and one of my sister’s kids is in Sec 1, hardly bouncy-castle-age)!

But since this probably doubled up as the hubs’ last family gathering, I convinced myself to go check out some toy rental places.

I stumbled across Singapore Toy Club, and was blown away by the huge (and I mean HUGE) array of toys available for rental – including bouncy castles! It’s like being a kid in a candy store, as I browsed through the different bouncy castles available. There were even some bouncy castles that could be set up in a HDB flat!

Given the venue of our BBQ (a bungalow with a front garden area), I decided to go for this Wet & Wild WATER bouncy castle.

I literally could not get a shot of the bouncy before my two excited boys “attacked” this!

Apart from a slide, there were even two water cannons to “fire” away with.

Even Xav quickly got in on the action! So as Daddy and the aunties busied themselves in setting up the barbeque fire in the background, Mummy was busy getting soaked by the two boys by the slide.

But the look on their faces? PRICELESS!

Given the three-year age gap between the boys, it isn’t often that a single toy (or DVD or anything for that matter) can bring equal pleasure to both of them, so this water slide was definitely a winner in my books. The two of them had such a blast sliding, shooting, squealing with joy… Even when the rest of the family came, they were also amused by the excitement by the playground!

    When Jay’s cousin reached later, he too was psyched to go on the slide, so after the kids had their full we allowed the two of them another 30 minutes on the slide!

One slide. Three happy boys. The ingredients for any successful family gathering.

While this wasn’t my idea in the first place (my hubs is obviously the more far-sighted between us haha…), this was such a hit I am seriously considering renting bouncy castles in the future!

Many thanks to the SG Toy Club for sponsoring the rental for my two boys – I had a good experience with both the pre- and post-rental with them. My email query was very promptly replied to the same day, and the slide was delivered and set up in such quick time, with the delivery man calling me 15 minutes beforehand to give me a more accurate time of arrival, and also arrived promptly to pack up the slide after that.

Yes – this is a bit too photo-heavy for my usual Talkative Thursday post – but ah well… I just have a huge load of blogging backlog to clear (hopefully before Chinese New Year arrives!).

Come link away if you have a Talkative Thursday post up! :)

<a href="http://www.sanses.com/search/label/Talkative%20Thursdays"><img border="0" alt="SANses.com's Talkative Thursdays" src="http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg202/tzaiyi/TalkativeThursdays.jpg">

Tweet

A Wow-ed Birthday Party

Jay turned five, and after a few years of a relatively low-key celebrations in his pre-school and so the hubs and I had discussed at length, and thought that this would be a good age for him to have a “full-fledged” party with his schoolmates and friends.

The key to a good party? Is to get good people to run it. Haha… And I had some awesome help!

The venue: WowART Studios. The mayhem? 15 five-year-olds, and a multitude of canvases.

Yes! An ART party! We settled on using WowART for his birthday party, after thinking through options such as indoor playgrounds (but he wasn’t keen), and outdoor BBQs (shot down by Mummy), but the clincher was Jay himself – who is a huge fan of doing art!

Working with WowART was a breeze, and they had a variety of art classes for me to choose for the kids. I decided to leave the final decision to them, the experts, and only requested that it was canvas work.

The kids were first introduced to photos of fishes, where the teachers pointed out the lines and spots that made up the fishes, and the canvases were all lined up, each touching the other. I was wondering why there was no spacing in between each canvas – till the teachers got Jay to start on the masterpiece.

Guided by a teacher, Jay started painting a loooooong black wavy line across all the canvases!

Some of the parents were peeking in from outside the classroom, and like me, were pretty impressed by this cool idea.

  Full of focus, this one.

A few of his classmates also went around to draw more lines across the canvases.

And finally, each kid had a chance to work on his or her own canvas!

 

It was a mess of paints and a whole lot of conversation going on between the young budding artists, patiently guided by the art teachers.

All in all, it was a fun, fun, fun party!

More on the yummy food, cakes and the party packs in the coming days!

All photos courtesy of the talented Daniel Poh – and thankful for him and his awesome looking gear, that took these gorgeous photos and more (700+ to be exact!).

Tweet

Happy kids, happy families

Someone once asked the Hubs (who is obviously the wiser of us two) if it was tough juggling two kids, with another on the way. He sagely replied that bringing them up was the easy bit – cos all it takes is a day-by-day spending of time on them. With two young children, I guess our parenting style is one where we simply try to spend as much time with them as possible, and in doing so, to create special memories for the kids. Here’s some of our tips for a rocking good time bonding with your kids!

#1: Physical activity

I am SO not a physical activity sort of person (though obviously I am in need of some). But with two VERY active boys, engaging in a physical activity with them is both fun, and expends some of their energy (translating to a good afternoon nap for all of us).

On a lark, I signed up both the kids for a Sprint Run at the beginning of the year, and it was our first very mini run as a family. Till today, the boys will bring out the medals they received – and they surprisingly remembered when and why they got the medals!

My kids also enjoy indoor playgrounds a great deal, and this year, we brought them on numerous occasions to The Polliwogs, Amazonia and Kids Amaze, and outdoor wet playgrounds like the one at 112 Katong, Marina Barrage and Port of Lost Wonder at Sentosa – just to name a few!

 #2: Feasting together

Now that Xav is fully on solids, it also means of more “adventures” for us as a family – food wise! This year, thanks to Jay’s childcare which did a whole project on pizza-making, Jay now enjoys a mean pizza (where he once disliked dough and breads in general). Eating with kids generally means the hubs and I will be busy stuffing one small mouth after another, while attempting to clean up after them, and grabbing massive spoonfuls ourselves in between. Which explains why we simply choose to eat out at restaurants where we know they will enjoy. Currently, the restaurants of our choice include Crystal Jade Kitchen (my kids adore the Roasted Duck Noodle soup and crispy white bait!) and any ramen store (yippee!). Yes, they are still rather “Chinese” in their food choices!

Sharing a meal also means time for us to listen to the kids, as they regale us with the latest tales from school or from their imagination. Of course, Jay being the older of the two and the more eloquent one is often the main person speaking, but Xav is quickly catching up. Given the hubs’ naturally more reticent nature, it is pretty safe to conclude the boys have caught their chatty nature from me. Haha!

#3: A common interest

Growing up, I was never keen on dinosaurs or superheroes – both of which happens to be my sons’ favourite topics! So I find myself quickly acquainted with the Argentinosauruses and Tyrannosaurus Rexes which rock my kids’ world. We bought the entire 20-volume collection of Dinosaur Train (a cartoon which introduces a different dinosaur species every episode), as well a very extensive collection of the interactive talking toys.

So many of my friends have wow-ed at their collection, and are even more wow-ed when they realize the cost. Haha! Well, I guess for us, these are pretty educational toys, and we try to encourage their interest the best we know how.

I was thrilled when Marina Square brought in the Dinosaur Train musical as part of their Christmas – and the kids were totally entertained by the songs, singing and bobbing along to the tunes!

Xavier is a huge Disney Junior fan, and we didn’t miss him out. We went for the Disney Live show as a family, and he was happy to see his beloved Mickey, Minnie and other Disney heroes up close and personal!

  #4: Our bedtime routine

I am a firm believer of routines and traditions, especially when it comes to the kids! With two kids, it was easier at first to put them to bed separately. But once Xav was almost a year old, we (or I should say it was at my insistence) to put them to bed together. At first, it was TOUGH – as they took turns to keep each other up, and bedtime became a long, arduous affair which can last up to 90 minutes!

Now, it is a little easier, and I enjoy our simple bedtime routines of first taking turns to pray, with Jay often “volunteering” to pray on behalf of his little brother – with a cutesy babyish voice to boot! We then take turns to say goodnight to every single person and inanimate object in the room – and then all the kids need to do is to actually fall asleep for the night!

#5: Off-line mode

For the hubs and myself, often work follows us home, and calls, SMSes, emails and other message bombard our smartphones – so it is a concerted effort to be as “off-line” as possible during the short hours we have with the boys! We don’t always manage it – but at the very least, we try our best!

What other tips do you have for family bonding?

This post was brought to you by Lifebuoy Singapore, who also incidentally gave us the tickets to the Disney Live show! Thanks once again, Lifebuoy!

Tweet