Happy Chinese New Year - Year of Goat 2015

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. I have been busy with attending event like #blogmeetsg and also doing spring cleaning for this Chinese New Year. Have you decided on what you are supposed to wear for tomorrow ? I have more or less decided on what to wear already.

Let me show you what I  am going to wear tomorrow

I am off to my reunion dinner at my grandma's house. So wishing you guys out there a happy lunar new year .

May the Lord bless you all out there with good health and prosperity!

 

Give away ~~a skin analysis

Have you done a check on your skin condition before?

Skin, being the largest organ throughout our entire body can be neglected by us. No doubt for ladies, we might tend to ply on tons of skin care. There is also tendency that our skin where our skin might be dehydrated.

Today I was being blessed with  two tickets by my friend on doing a deep skin analysis which can help to see on the skin's evenness and also the size of the pores. It is called the visia scan analysis. I am planning to do it on either on the 6th or 7th of February 2015 as I am keen to know how to protect my skin further.  There are limited slots for it on each day.  I will be giving away one ticket away for my readers who would like to participate in this with me.

Here's some of the images that I found with the courtesy from pleinvanity.com

 

 
Seems that the scan is pretty comprehensive. I shall see my results on the day when I do my analysis.

I wonder how my results would be like when I do the analysis.

To participate in this free giveaway,please do share my facebook page Secretbeauty with others and like my page with your email address in the comments. The winner would be notified by 5th of February 2015 by 8pm .

 

Beauty Website that I stumbled upon

In the search for a good hair stylist for cutting curly hair, I stumbled upon this website called Wellnessly.com. It works on the concept like hungrygowhere.com just that it has got some points system on going where you could use it to offset your booking fee at the certain salons or spas that you are going to.

I guess the most beneficial thing from this website is the honest reviews from people who really go and try it on personal experience. It is really not based on bloggers' reviews or whatsoever. Even though I am a blogger, I would really only blog on what I experience personally.

There's something that I would like to share on for Chinese New Year. As you all know usually Chinese new year period hair salons would usually increased price. From Wellnessly.com, here are 9 hair salons that do not have the surcharge on CNY period.

                                          99% Hair Studio

                                          Chapter 2 at marina square

                                          Hairloom( shaw towers)

                                                                                             
                                                        
                                           Headlines Hairdressing(china square central) 

                                          J's Hair Salon

                                          Koinonia Salon (Pacific Plaza)

                                          Monsoon Hair House (Velocity @Novena Square)

                                          Salon Vim

                                          Zinc Salon

 You might want to consider using my referral link to get yourself  to visit the website.  Here's the link : http://www.wellnessly.com/r/3uKyVVj3 . Hope this helps for those who are not celebrating Chinese new year this year.

Daily blessing - Comparing myself to a patient who needs dialysis

Today I visited my grandmother 'cos she is always busy on the weekends. So today is her routined dialysis day. As I accompanied her while she is doing her dialysis, I just realized that that it is taxing to be on a dialysis.

The thought of going dialysis is really scary after seeing my grandmother on the dialysis. Throughout the dialysis session, she was feeling cold. Got to keep her warm by rubbing her hands. It also helps me to set my goal further to reduce weight 'cos I know I have no one to rely on when I am old.

Here's the image of a dialysis machine

 

Many at times, we youngsters are neglecting our own health due to the fast food trend and unhealthy eating habits. However, how many times are we considering our health in our old age. It is essential to take good care of our health from a young age rather than we are being plagued with the three highs, which are high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high visceral fat content.

I would like to encourage more people who are looking for weight loss buddy in the east to email me at akimoto_emi05@yahoo.com.sg so that we could help and spur each other in weight loss program.

 

Free Qoo10 cash voucher to be won

I have just gotten an email from one of the mailing list that I subscribe for business use. It states that there are qoo10 cash vouchers worth between $100 - $500 to be won. There is no requirement needed just submit your email address in and you get to stand a chance to win the cash vouchers.

Here's a snapshot of how the email look like when I got it

 

 

So if you are a frequent qoo10 shopper like me, it will serve u well . To join in the contest, please go to http://independencefreegifts.com. Contest ends on February 19 at 11.59pm.

 

 

 



 

Maintenance for curly hair

I have always been bogged down by my natural curly hair that can look like perm hair. It is only since last year I started to embrace my curly hair.

 First thing to know about curly hair is that it is frizzy and that it requires high maintenance. Like for me, the thing I hate about apply a lot of the hair cream on my hair 'cos I have oily hair scalp. Too much of the hair cream will make me have lots of dandruff.

So here's what I usually do

1. Change my shampoo range between clarifying and balancing range when I go swimming, moisturizing on the next day. Further to that, I also will do hair treatment mask for my hair the next day.

2.Using a comb to detangle my locks

3. I don't towel dry my hair neither do I blow dry it.

4.I will use a water based hair spray or anti frizz serum before I go out.

5. Come back home  I just wash the hair with water to remove the dust accumulate.

6. Blow dry with a fan in order to sleep faster.

On weekly treatment, I will use my hair treatment mask for my hair

Here's the range of products I use

Balancing shampoo

                                                              Moisturizing shampoo

Clarifying Shampoo 

On Off Fever week for me and a general update for the week.

This week is quite tiring for me cos I had been having on off fever since last fri and yet I still go to work. So that is why I haven been posting on my blog. I just managed to be able to finalize the details of my upcoming skin care workshop for pre valentine's day and Chinese new year. The first workshop will be on 31.1.15 which is 2 weeks down the road. Title of my workshop would be how to get a smoother skin before valentine's day and v lined face for Chinese new year.

Fast forward for events that happened through out the week , I was shopping online and manage to get myself a coat for my upcoming trip to seoul. I am now waiting for its arrival at my door step.

I thought this might be good for to wear as in the layerings with the clothes when I am in Seoul.
So what do you think of my fashion sense? This is what a plus size gal like me would choose.
Shall update you guys on the material when it arrives at my door step.



 

Monday Blessing

Feeling so good that I dun have to work on a Monday. However, I really have a good rest as I was sick since last Friday. Having on the good rest was really necessary as I need to fight off the virus.

I was sort of able to refocus my heart and mind after the rest.

Fitness Matters -Standing Abs Exercise

I am hoping to stay committed to this exercise regime  ..so let's meet up if you are keen to motivate each other. Going through my weight loss with an app called Noom coach.
I  shall review my weight loss after 3 months.


 

Learn how to make your own diy souffle foundation this sat from 1 -3pm.

There are many types of makeup foundations in the market. The various types are  liquid, cream , tinted moisturizer, oil based, sheer, powder, mousse ,shimmer, waterproof, stick and mineral .

Souffle foundation is considered to be under the mousse like kind foundation. In this kind of foundation, it is literary liquid make up with air being whipped in the foundation. It is suitable for all skin types . Even oily skin can use it as it can offer a perfect matte finish and weightless feel.

In this workshop on learning how to make the diy soufflé foundation, you get to learn on your own skin type and also customized your soufflé foundation according to your skin type with anti aging. This workshop requires you to bring your own foundation, sunblock and some other special ingredients. Else you might want to take up my special package.

For more information about this workshop, please email me at akimoto_emi05@yahoo.com.sg.

Daily Life Rants- lost of concession card

I am so sad that I lost my concession card for travel as I have paid $120 for it .This is only beginning of the month . Hope that I could get it back tomorrow morning back in my office.

 

One of my favourite books for personal development

 

This book helped me a lot when I used to attend lots of meetings to discuss projects. Hope this book can also be of some help for those who needs to attend meetings frequently.

PILATES: 10 MINUTE WORKOUT

This is something I would like to try out to make my new year resolution for fitness aspect. I shall try it for 3 months and tell you guys out that how I feel about it then.

Happy New Year 2015

 

I prepared this salad to celebrate the new year just like the Chinese new year. During Chinese new year, there must be a dish where there is fish so that one will be prosperous. So for me , this salad consist of smoked salmon and all the salad mix makes me feel happy as it really symbolize that this is the year of jubilee as what my senior pastor has preached last night.

 

So meanwhile, let me wish you guys out there

 

Hope to see you guys visiting my blog more often.

Recipe of Lumpia Shanghai

Due to my cell group's Xmas party which all of us are to do pot bless, I decided to do one fuss free and easy recipe which is called Lumpia Shanghai.

Lumpia Shanghai is a Filipino dish which is equivalent to the Chinese dish, Ngoh Hiang. Ngoh Hiang is deep fried beancurd skin roll with meat whereas Lumpia Shanghai is deep fried spring roll with meat inside.

I first tried this dish about eight years back when a friend introduced it to me. The crunchy bite of the Lumpia Shanghai which I thought might appeal to kids.

Recipe of Lumpia Shanghai

Ingredients

·         1 packet of spring roll skin under this brand tee yih jia

·         900g of chicken thigh meat

·         half a dessert spoon of garlic powder

·         half a teaspoon of salt

·         2 dessert spoons of light soya sauce

·         1 egg

·         a dash of pepper

·         1 dessert spoon of finely chopped yellow onion

·         1 small carrot which is grated

·         2 and a half teaspoons of corn flour

 

Method

1. Clean up the chicken meat if there is any trace of blood.

2.Mince the chicken meat using chopper, else the crunchy bite won't be there

3. Crack the egg and take a bit of egg white out so as to seal off the spring roll

4. Mix salt, carrot, onion, garlic powder, light, corn flour, pepper and egg together with the the minced chicken meat

5. Leave it inside the fridge overnight

6. Wrap the marinate in the spring roll skin

7. Deep fry it till golden brown .

8. Serve it with thai sweet chilli sauce

 

 

                                                      

Review of Nuskin clay pack mask

This mask, clay pack  has got to be one of my favourite mask when i have my monthly breakout due to pms. I will usually apply a thin layer of it every night  and wash it off the next morning. I will  apply on those acne to reduce the reddishness  daily until the redness goes off .

So for anyone of you out there who is suffering breakout during pms, you might want to check out this mask.

Benefits of clay pack

Deep-cleanses the face and creates a clearer, more refined appearance

Imparts a smoother, softer feel to the skin

Leaves skin feeling soft, luxuriously supple and never dried out

Aids in your skin's natural exfoliation process by removing dead skin cells, leaving skin with a refreshed, thoroughly cleansed feeling

100% Fragrance Free

Safety-Allergy-Dermatologist Tested

If you need any discount to get this mask , do let me know. I can help you to get it at a cheaper price.

Hoyu cielo hair colour

Recently, I was given an opportunity to do a review of CIELO Cream Hair Colour by Hoyu.  I was given a choice of 3 colours to choose from. I chose the colour 5p as it is not on the extreme red.

The hair dye came at the right time 'cos I was planning to touch up my roots. I had a lot of strands of white hair popping up during my exams. However, before dying of hair I would always want to do hair treatment so that my hair would not be so dry. This time round, I decided to skip this step as there is a conditioner provided within the hair dye kit.

How to use Cielo? It is as easy as 1,2,3. 

 

What I like about this is that the pre-packed colour mixture is stored inside a unique bottle dispenser. Most importantly, the pre-packed colour mixture which is unused can be kept inside the bottle.

                                                 Picture of what is inside the box


As for my coverage over my grey hairs, it was good. My friend who is also like me having lots of grey hair said that the multiple applications for the touch up is rather pretty helpful when the grey strands of hair start to pop up as it is easy to use.

Currently, there is a promotion at the leading pharmacies and supermarkets which is two for $28.00 where the usual price of one is at $17.90.

For  more info, please go to http://www.hoyu.com.sg/123-cielo/

Trinity Christian Centre - Christmas Presentation 2014 - The Light Of Ch...

Christmas is a season of giving. This season of giving has been commercialized so much that the true meaning of Christmas has long being gone. The true spirit of Christmas not only denotes the birth of Christ yet also a time of worship onto Jesus Christ, the King.



To me, it is a precious moment which I could celebrate with Jesus Christ. Some thing simple and quiet time alone with my family this christmas. Planning to cook a special meal 'cos this is the first christmas that my grandma is celebrating as a true believer of Christ.



This is a season of giving .. For this Christmas, I am hosting a giveway in a goodie bag which has mysterious gifts within the goodie bag. I shan't tell what is in the goodie bag. Awaiting for the lucky winner to post it on the instagram or facebook.



 Before I forget, I would like to invite all to come my church for the 120 children choir to celebrate this xmas...



To join the giveaway, the first step is to like and share my facebook page secret beauty.

Second step is to say what is the most important thing you want to do with your family during this xmas.



The results of the give way will be on my facebook page on the 20th Dec 2014.



Hope you guys have fun out there this xmas!



Merry xmas ~~~~~~~~~~

About 1 day getaway

Remember that some time back I wrote about getting  a short break...Ended up I just went to Jb just for a short makan session.

This short trip was like practically queuing for food. First, it was to eat the fish head curry that was recommended by my friend, Pillay. This fish head curry restaurant was like having constant queues that will allow people to wait at least half an hour and above. I waited for 1.5 hrs whereas my friend went to get some errands done.

Photo courtesy from Hannahchia.blogspot.com

Photo courtesy from Hannahchia.blogspot.com

 

This is the medium size fish head curry

 

Seriously, I find that the fish head curry is so-so only. Not really very fantastic as compared to my mom's cooking . However, a notable fact was the introduction of the tau kee into the fish head curry which was nice. I dun really fancy the curry which has got coconut milk. My rating for this dish is 2.5 out of 5.

 

After lunch, I went to city square mall for shopping. There are so much changes in jb.  I did my pedicure and manicure at the nail studio. However, there is really a lot of difference in the service between Singapore nail studios and Malaysia one. One major difference is in the applying of the top coat.They don't apply two layers of top coat as per Singapore nail studios. The manicure was done in a mess. However, the pedicure was done nicely.

 

 It was really a short good getaway for my mind as I was kinda stressed up due to getting of my exam results on 18th December. So do stay tuned for my Xmas giveway soon!

 

 

Work stress -how do you deal with it ?

It is seen everywhere that everyone is stressed up either at work, school or even at home. So how do you deal with it ?

Talking about the topic of stress sometimes shudders us. However, stress in fact can be view as positive or negative depending on how you view it.  Stress management can be done at organizational level or individual level.

For a start, what kind of stress management activities does your organization organize to help you de-stress? Ponder a while....

Stress management at organizational level could be role analysis, quality circles, organizational mirror technique, stress audit, employee, assistance program and job and task redesign,

What is role analysis all about ? It is clarify the type of role that the individual is working on. At the end of the day , it is not more than the common job description that we see on advertisements for job.

Organizational mirror technique works a little like 360 degree feedback. You would see that the conflict of various work groups are being discussed between the various workgroups. Each workgroup would send a representative to discuss about the problematic inter-workgroup issues in a fishbowl. End product would be both group to sit down and discuss about the reforms.

Quality circles program is a specific type of participative management. It got a group of workers gather to brainstorm and give back into managerial decision making. This is put in place to enhance product quality and reduce cycle time, but it has the added effect of allowing workers to exert some control over their jobs.  According to demands-control theory, stressors cause less strain when workers have more control over the way they do their job.

These are the main three techniques which I felt could help an organization to reduce stress in the organization. Perhaps you might want to try it out with your team.

Hope that helps!