Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Clinelle Pure Swiss Hydracalm ft Shima Anuar

Clinelle's Pure Swiss Hydracalm Range
First and foremost, i would like to thank Clinelle for having me to their journey to happy and hydrated skin with Shima Anuar last month. It was held at the Grey Sky Morning, definitely a lovely place for friends and family to catch up accompanied with a cup of tea. During the event, we basically had a casual chat with Shima Anuar, where she shared her thoughts on the Clinelle Pure Swiss Hydracalm range which i was actually eager to find out as the range features ONLY NATURAL Hyaluronic Acid to keep the skin hydrated up to 72 hours! Who even knew that synthetic hyaluronic acid existed?

We were served tea, and here are some fun facts on the type of teas
Being exposed to the environmental challenges from UV rays, air pollution, pro-long used of air conditioned and other damages, i believe that it is important to have a good hydration range of products that continuously cares and protects the layers of our skin. Now thanks to Clinelle, they have achieved another breakthrough by introducing the Pure Swiss Hydracalm range, formulated with powerful 3x Hydracalm action, that effectively restores skin health while providing long lasting hydration.

3X Hydracalm Action!
Did you know that Natural Hyaluronic Acid is derived from a plant called Cassia Augustifolia? It contains high molecular polysaccharides to attract and bind water making it the perfect alternative to provide intense hydration for the skin. Since Natural Hyaluronic Acid is botanical, it also means that its not harmful to the skin for long term use but instead restructures the skin barrier, forming a natural protective layer on the skin to prevent moisture loss.

Shima Anuar sharing some tips on her skin regime
Couldnt resist but to get a photo with her.
Clinelle has also appointed Shima Anuar, an uprising Malaysian artiste as its new brand ambassador. Gifted with a fresh, radiant and charming look, twenty-five years old Shima will be appearing in a range of Clinelle advertising campaigns. Since she was present during our little high tea session, she shared with us her personal experience of using Clinelle products. She emphasized that when shes constantly busy with shoots, hydrating her skin has been one of her important skin care regime. What better brand than to hydrate the skin with Clinelle's Pure Swiss Hydracalm range right? Hehe

Im already in love with the range as it contains Natural Hyaluronic acid
Clinelle's Pure Swiss Hydracalm features 3x hydracalm action by containing Natural Hyaluronic acid, Pure Swiss Thermal spring water and bio-calm complex formulation. Hyaluronic Acid helps to penetrate deeper into the skin to replenish and lock in moisture for 72 hours. Pure Swiss Thermal Spring Water on the other hand acts as a hydra booster that instantly hydrates and revitalize the skin with a control level of pH5.5 for optimum skin health. The Bio-calm complex formulation helps to calm, restore and strengthens the skins defense system. What is there not to love?

One of the must haves, the Clinelle Pure Swiss Thermal Spring Water
All Clinelle skincare products has commited to be dermatologically tested for its tolerance and has been proven to contain no paraben making it suitable for all skin types. Clinelle products are also formulated with 6 secrets to happy skin which excludes potential harmful ingredients such as artificial colouring, fragrances, lanolin, mineral oil, SD alcohol and comedogenic ingredients.Yay!

Got myself some products to try at home
The Pure Swiss Hydracalm range is formulated and manufactured in France with natural ingredients that delivers a new level of efficiency and safety. It is available at AEON Wellness/Supermarket, Caring, Guardian, Watsons and selected independent pharmacies nationwide. Be sure to visit their facebook page at www.facebook.com/Clinelle or their official website at www.clinelle.com to keep yourself updates with the latest news and events. Giving you a personal opinion, i actually love the Pure Swiss HydraCalm serum the most! Hehe. So do check it out in stores when you have the chance.

Till then,
Sara xx

Monday, December 26, 2016

Butterfly Project X At 19 Culinary Studio | Red Velvet Cupcakes


I’ve always enjoyed baking, and thanks to the Butterfly Project I was given a chance to bake with other bloggers at 19 Culinary Studio. You might have heard of  ‘At 19 Culinary Studio’ and its actually because the last time I talked about the culinary studio was when I was new with the butterfly project 2 years back. How time flies. And since im back again, im now a senior butterfly blogger welcoming the new butterflies into the community. HI BABY BUTTERFLIES!

An "At 19 Culinary Studio" tradition of giving a sheet of the recipe
ITS CREAM CHEESE FROSTING GAIS? W(@^&#*@#$JK *Drools*
So with my return At 19 Culinary Studio with the Butterfly Project, this time we’re baking Red Velvet Cupcakes! I’ve always wanted to bake Red Velvet cupcakes, and trust me, I tried goggling for the ingredients and it wasn’t that easy to pick a recipe as all the recipe’s varies. And what better way than to bake Red Velvet Cupcakes with supervisions by the professional’s, without failed attempts? 

Suraya, explaining to the bloggers on the ingredients
Good things are always better when shared, so here’s what we did that day! Each of us were grouped into a table of 5 and each of us were given a recipe sheet while the ingredients were all nicely prepared on the table, ready to be used. I noticed that this has to be an ‘At 19 Culinary Studio’ practice, and Im absolutely loving how convenient that everything has been prepared for us!

RECIPE FOR RED VELVET CUPCAKES!

Now for the fun part! You might be wondering what you’ll need in order to make Red Velvet Cupcakes? Here’s the ingredient list of what you’ll need to make 18 cupcakes:

Caster Sugar – 330g
Large Eggs – 3
Butter – 115g
Vanilla essence – 1tsp
All Purpose flour – 320g
Cider Vinegar – 1 tbs
Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Milk – 185g
Salt – 1 tsp
Red Food Colouring – 2 tbsp
Cocoa Powder – 32g

Lining the paper cases
Just look at all that COCOA being sifted.
Once you have everything you need, you can now let the baking begin! (1) First of all, you need to preheat the oven to 175 celcius and line the 18 cupcake tins with paper cases.  (2) Next in a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, food colouring and a quarter of boiling water, then set them aside to cool.

Cream Butter and shortening in the mixer
(3) With a mixer, add in the cream butter and shortening on high speed until smooth. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir some milk, vanilla, flour and salt
Next, (4) stir some milk and vanilla into your cocoa mixture. (5) In another bowl, sift together flour and salt. With the mixer on low, add flour mixture alternating with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. It would be great if you had an assistance to help you out on this.

Leave to bake for about 20 minutes
In a small bowl,  (6) mix together vinegar and baking soda until baking soda dissolves. Its normal that the mixture will fizz, so don’t panic when that happens. Add the mixture to the batter and mix it well. (7) Once your mixture is evenly mixed, spoon batter into cupcake cases until ¾ full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before proceeding to the next stage.  

RECIPE FOR CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Whats a cupcake without frostings right? While waiting for the cupcakes to cool, why not make some frosting for your cupcakes? It wouldn’t take you more that 10 minute, and I will assure you that these frostings would compliment your red velvet cupcakes really well! Listed below would be the ingredients that you would need to make cream cheese frosting:

Cream Cheese – 75g
Butter – 75g
Icing sugar – 50g
Vanilla essence – ½ tsp
Lemon Juice – 1 tsp

Butter, because it looks so vintage
This was actually pretty fun to do
And once you have everything you need, you are ready to prepare your frostings. (1) First, get a paddle and beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. (2) Next,add sifted icing sugar gradually, followed by the vanilla essence and lemon juice. Beat until well incorporated, and youre done! (3) Just to make sure that your frosting are kept in good shape, cover with damp cloth until ready to use. The recipe given above is good enough to frost 10 cupcakes.

Time to play with marzipan!
The outcome by the butterflies
The experience ‘At 19 Culinary Studio’ was extremely fun and its even better when you have new butterflies members coming over. The activity was a great way to break the ice as the baking operations required teamwork. So if you’re looking for a fun activity to get closer with anyone in mind, why not consider heading over to ‘At 19 Culinary Studio’ while you build relationships while learning how to prepare something new? I’d call it a win-win situation.

Mandatory group shot!

Meet my sister from another mother, Dash
OH, and not to forget to share some of my experiences, I met a new butterfly member, Dashindra, and I’ve been getting comments from the other bloggers that she looks almost like me. I cant deny the fact that her smile does remind me of mine, and wait till you see her personality! (Its like we almost instantly click!). Teehee. She’s actually a really sweet happy go lucky person, and I do look forward to meeting her in person more often.

And here are my final creations!

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my baking experience with the butterfly project X ‘At 19 Culinary Studio’. Also, if you would want to plan a birthday party, or a reunion that out of the usual’s, why not do something like we did and I can assure you that you’ll be creating more meaningful memories together. For more information on ‘At 19 Culinary Studio’ head on over to their FB page at www.facebook.com/at19culinarystudio. Do leave me a comment below if you managed to try out the recipe yourself, as I would love to know your thoughts on it. xx

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Unboxing CubeCrate; December 2016 Box

Unboxing CubeCrate December 2016 Box
Received this CubeCrate Box just in time for Christmas, and honestly speaking, I was actually looking forward to the parcel! Being a Christmas season, I'm pretty sure that CubeCrate will have tons of surprises to celebrate the gifting season. So if you're here with me in discovering what's in my December box, scroll away as I unbox my December 2016 box!

Upon unboxing, here are some the things that i see
Brands featured in this months box
Here are some sneak peaks on what's inside. And really it looks like its almost full! If you've been following me on my unboxing post, you would notice that its pretty much of a habit to me to check out the list of the brands of this months box first before going through whats inside. So in this month's box, we have 7 featured brands namely, Oishi Green Tea, J&E Botanicals, Stick With Me, Taratats, Beyond Beauty, Fraîche Designer Delectables, and Candle Nuts.

Oh lookie, a little gift from Cubecrate! THANK YOU!
Upon unboxing the box, I think it's pretty obvious that there's a really cute calendar in it to welcome twenty seventeen by CubeCrate, thanks to @moodoodles. Way too pretty, giving me the excitement to start my year fresh with this handle calendar. (Thanks, CubeCrate ) I also got a cute Christmas ornament attached too, and boy it was like the center piece to my Christmas tree for 2016.

One of my favourite bottled drinks at the moment
First up in my box would be the Oishi Green Tea in honey lemon flavor. I'm loving the fact that I get to enjoy a drink while I'm writing this blog post right now and let me hand it to ya, it super refreshing! It's actually green tea with honey lemon and even on regular days, I would grab this for myself from a 7Eleven store nearby my place. Mmmhmm.

Room & Body Spray in Christmas Spirit
Next in my box would be the J&E Botanicals aromatherapy room and body spray in Christmas Spirit in 10ml. Checked out their site, and I'm actually surprised that the full-size Christmas Spirit (60ml) is only priced at RM20! Got this in a very Christmassy scent which kind of smelled like gingerbread actually, but when I referred to their site, its actually a blend of warm, sweet & Spicy scents of orange, cinnamon, and spruce. Mmmm. Perfect for the christmas season! One thing I respect about J&E Botanicals, is that their products are handcrafted and born out of the belief for a better and natural lifestyle, sans toxic and synthetic chemicals.

Look, i got myself a candy cane from Stickwitme
Highquality, once sticked considered permanent
Oh, lookie here! I received something from StickWitMe  I think I received one of their products during Halloween and I'm loving how long lasting it sticks with me (literally). LOL. But yes, it's not your usual sticker cause its made out of PU leather, making it the perfect sticker to stick almost anywhere! Since my phone needed a little makeover to suit the season, I decided to stick my candy cane form StickWitMe on my phone cover. Don't you think it adds the perfect touch to my phone? MAJOR LOVE!  Looks like I won't need to worry about buying a new cover. Hehe

Taratats anyone?
Decided to cut a piece
And viola, is it a ring? A sticker? No! It's a temporary tattoo!
I also received something from Taratats, and they actually feature modern temporary tattoo making it the perfect accessory for almost any occasion. In my case, I decided to cut it out and apply a string of the temporary tattoo onto my middle finger, making it look like an illusion that im wearing a ring. Pretty cool ey? I also managed to show this to my sister, and she hasn't taken her eyes off it as she's begging me to let her use some of the star temporary tattoos's on Christmas day.

Oh lookie, something from Beyond Beauty
Hmm, this may be a tough decision
But honestly, this might be my favorite item of all! I got myself a Beyond Beauty voucher to reimburse for a beauty treatment. With this voucher, I can either pick to go for an Alpha Skin Hydrating Facial (worth RM200), RF Fat Erase treatment (worth RM480) or for a Relaxing Swedish Massage (worth RM200). UGH, much needed treatment before i end my year really. THANK YOU CUBECRATE FOR THE TREAT! I might have thought twice if I knew that I had to pay RM200 for a facial treatment, but with your voucher, looks like all expenses for my facial is on you. YAY!

Snackables anyone?
Apparently a sister project by Fraîche Designer Delectables
Oh look, I even got myself a snack from Fraîche Designer Delectables Granola! The Snackables are actually a new sister project by Fraîche Designer Delectables that features a wide range of guilt-free snacks & desserts. So if you're interested in checking them out, you can head on over to their Instagram for more snackable at Snackablesfdd. And here in my box features one of their Granola in Christmas Fruitcake which is a combination of walnuts, pumpkin seeds, apricots and all spices which are 100% natural & homemade. Got a few bites of it, and let me tell you that these snacks are pretty filling.

CandleNuts by Nadia
My room now smells like pink lemonande!
Last but not least would be a candle from Candle Nuts by Nadia. Received a sample size item from my last month's box, and now I'm super stoked that I received a full-size candle in pink lemonade from Candle Nuts by Nadia. These candles by "Nadia" are apparently the first hand poured candle in Malaysia that uses palm wax making it a kind of its own. The full-size candle can burn up to 40-45 hours and its priced at RM25.90.

All these and its only RM35 for a box!
So, I guess that about it for my unboxing review of Cubecrate's December 2016 box. As a conclusion, I personally feel like it's Christmas already with this box of wonders being in my room right now. I got myself a facial treat, a candle that makes my room smells like pink lemonade, a drink and snacks, and more! These are literally worth more than what I paid for a box I would say. So if you like to receive one of these boxes for yourself, head on over to www.cubecrate.com.my and subscribe! Do it pronto as I wouldn't want you to miss out on amazing themed goodies from CubeCrate.

Unboxing CubeCrate; November 2016 Box

Unboxing November's CubeCrate
I cant believe that its November already! How time flies when youre enjoying yourself by being surrounded by love ones. Its even better when you know that CubeCrate sends you a mystery box each month. *hint's you to start subscribing* LOL. Well, im not kidding when i say that CubeCrate has given me joy over the past few months. Especially during some rough months, receiving a gift from yourself does bring a smile to your face. So lets see what CubeCrate's November box has to offer. Scroll away!

Oishi in Lychee!
I think i might have received a bottle of Oishi Green Tea, but this time its another flavour! Again, im not too fond to trying new flavours, cause i might be a little bias to my usual flavours, so this is kind of a great opportunity to try new flavours thanks to CubeCrate. Honestly, i doubt that any of Oishi Green Tea are not yummy, so its safe to say that the drink would taste delicious and refreshing (tested and proven). Hehe. Check out their Facebook for more deets at https://www.facebook.com/OishiMalaysia.

Oh look, a Poise voucher!
Next i found a voucher code from Posie! Posie is an online fashion store founded in August 2016 by four individuals who love clothes in the style of pastel and florals. Being a new brand n the industry in Malaysia, i have to admit that this gives me a great opportunity to check them out and support them out by making my first purchase with this 10% off voucher. Tehee. I managed to spare some time to check out their website, and i might be in love with some of their designs. There goes my money gais!Do check out their website at www.facebook.com/poisestyle for more peeks on what they have to offer.

Got myself some Old Skool Granola too!
Just look at how yummy they are
As im writing this post right now, im actually enjoying something from Alys The bakerland. I got myself some old skool granola which contains a mix of almonds, cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds and raisins. It claims to be made out of organic ingredients , free from preservatives, flavourings and refine sugar, which means i can enjoy these snacks without feeling guilty. YAY! These handmade treats are great to be enjoyed with salad, fruits or even cornflakes in case youre wondering how i like to enjoy mine. ;) You can check their facebook out at https://www.facebook.com/alysthebakerland.

And i got myself some candle nuts too!
Smells amazing btw gais
Last but not least would be an item i got from Candlenuts. Its actually my first time hearing about Candlenuts and despite getting a sample sized candle, i have to say that the scent from something so small can really fill up a room of wonderful scents. So i wouldnt judge a candle by its size as these are the first handpoured candle in malaysia that uses palm wax as a wax source, to create a luxury fragrance at a lower cost. Why not check them out at http://pokemall.com/candlenutsbynadia if youre eager to see what they have to offer within their collection.

And look, i've got a cute notebook. 
And thats my November box
And thats about it. I also received a tiny notebook from CubeCrate which may come in handy when i need to write things down when im out. Thanks CubeCrate! If you love getting random content and products each month, why not head on over to http://cubecrate.com.my for more information on how you can subscribe to their CubeCrate boxes. Teehee. Do leave me a comment below if you have any other further questions as i would love to share my thoughts with you too. xx