Beauty Talk – Shampoo on the go

Was super stoked when I received these babies because dry shampoo is a must-have in my bag ever since I started using the Sheer+Invisible range from COLAB™. I start my day really early sometimes and having to spend at least 1 hour blow-drying and styling my hair is such a hassle. Thank goodness for dry shampoos, they save me on days when I don’t have time to wash my hair (oops!).

COLAB™ Sheer+Invisible range

The Sheer+Invisible range from COLAB™ provides a runway-ready formula that absorbs oil and refreshes roots with a residue-free, lightweight finish. I have personally tried other dry shampoos before, and some of them leave a white powdery finish on my hair, which makes my hair look like its gone through a powder bath, but COLAB™ doesn’t. This range comes in 4 signature fashion fragrances and the NEW YORK one is my favourite!

Other than busy, early mornings (which I try to avoid not washing my hair), the best time to use the dry shampoo is post-workout. Especially when my days are long and I don’t have the luxury of time to wash and blow-dry my hair in the gym toilets, I’d say, dry shampoos come in super handy! It’s easy to use and light enough for me to put in my daily gym bag. I make sure I have one can with me all the time.

Application

Shake the can well; hold the can about 20cm away from hair and spray on the roots. Massage through if you like, and style your hair as usual. My hair is always up in a ponytail or bun most days of the week and throughout the day so its really easy!

Find out more about the Sheer+Invisible range from COLAB™ on their website here! The COLAB™ dry shampoo range can be found in Watsons and on their online store here! They come in two sizes and prices ranges from $6.50 - $14.90.

Go get yours and we can all have clean, fresh and odour-free hair all day long! :D

Lifestyle Talk - My dream weekend car

Jason and I have been fortunate enough to own a car since 2010 but functionality has always been right at the top of the list. Jason owns a sports and fitness company, Team Axis Pte Ltd, so a good boot space always come into good use to transport equipment.

When Volkswagen contacted me for a weekend drive, I was really hoping to get a ride where I have never tried before, something out of our list of cars to own. And here’s the car we got for the weekend, the amazing Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet!!

The Specs 

The Look

With the large amount of car models in Singapore, not many models can leave a deep impression. But that is totally untrue with the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. Since its debut in 1985, the Golf Cabriolet has proven to be a successful and trendy model.

1985 Volkswagen Cabriolet

31 years on, the Golf Cabriolet remains current and just as appealing with a touch of advanced technology. At the front of the car, onlookers will be drawn to the distinctive LED headlights. I love the design flow of the LED headlights and the front grilles, giving it a very simple but sporty feel. 

From the side, the big alloy sports rims exclaims that there is only one way to drive this car….FAST!!!

And once the top comes down, the level of fun is really up to your imagination!

The Cabin

Jason has changed 3 cars over the period of 6 years and the cabin has always been black. But not for the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. This car is decked with sporty red leather seats, creating a really vibrant cabin experience.

Apart from the nice and clean cabin design, it is very spacious as well. This car has no problem fetching passengers at the back.

The Ride

Jason is currently driving the 2016 BMW X1 and so the ride experience has been relatively high. The cabin is also very spacious due to the high head room. But nothing beats a car that has its top down! The feeling is out of this world, okay at least out of Singapore! Those roads that we drive up and down on a daily basis now becomes a breath of fresh air. I was able to hear, feel and smell the surroundings and this feeling is extraordinary.

According to Jason, the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet is a really easy car to drive and I could feel it. Within minutes, Jason started to drive the car faster and tackling corners with joy. I could also see a constant smile on his face, the usual expression when he’s having a lot of fun! :) Almost like a boy in a candy store. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

As for me, I really like the design of the car seat. It keeps me snuggly in place through the fast corners and really makes me feel safe. I also love to hear how the 1.4 DSG Turbo engine sounds at higher RPM. The punchy engine gives the ride lots of character and we simply love it.

Thank you Volkswagen! 

Lifestyle Talk – EBC Storage

My family moved out from Simei to my bro’s place in 2011 and I realized I had a major issue with our moving because we had too many things. :P This year is going to be a big move for J and I because we have items from his parents’ place, my bro’s place as well as many new furniture and appliances. We both knew we needed some form of storage, especially for the new items.

Our partnership with EBC Storage started last year but because our home key collection date was delayed so we could procrastinate a little before things get really busy this year. We started purchasing our appliances as soon as we collected our keys and with the existing belongings at my bro’s place right now, the storage space at EBC really came in handy, before we start hoarding my room and the storeroom at my bro’s place.

EBC Self Storage

EBC Self Storage is located at EBC Lifestyle Hub (which I will be elaborating later) and the building originally offered warehouse solutions since the 1980s and now has evolved to offer a range of storage and office solutions. The growing needs of self-serviced storage resulted in the establishment of EBC Storage. It offers standard, air-conditioned, wine storage and unique items storage. EBC Storage is the place to go for self serviced storage (especially for e-commerce businesses such as fashion blog shops and young entrepreneurs that are working from home).

Well this works really well for J because of the ample storage space that is air-conditioned. They also offer services such as transport and pick and pack.

EBC also provided us with sturdy boxes that we could pre-pack our items from individual homes in, really saves the trouble of having to look for empty boxes.

Moved some of the bigger boxes to EBC the other day. The smaller boxes are still waiting to be filled to the brim before we move.

The storage space is really spacious! This is a space of about 35sqft.We also moved some of the kitchen appliances into the storage and had fun at the walkway while waiting for the super friendly lady at the EBC reception counter to loan us a lock (which we forgotten to prepare: P). Thankful that it’s air-conditioned!

EBC Lifestyle Hub

EBC also extends office facilities for entrepreneurs and budding start-ups. E-commerce businesses will find it perfect to kick start their business by leasing a say, one pax office space instead of standard warehousing lease. Lease can start as short as 6 months and office comes equipped with workstations. Utilities are also included in the rental! Rental starts from $399!* (You can find out more by enquiring with them!). It acts as a one-stop solution for businesses when everything is house in one.

EBC Sky Garden & Club House

EBC Sky Garden & Club House, located on the 5th floor of the building, is perfect for formal and informal events. One may book the space for birthday parties, baby showers, product launches or company dinner. The restaurant is located at the same place. This means food is served hot & quick when you hold events here. Venue space + catering starts from as low as $6-$8 per pax. Terms and conditions apply.

We got a drink, settled some work, and spent some quality time before we left the lifestyle hub.

As an EBC Hubber (when you become a tenant at EBC), you will also get access to various privileges and one of the many privileges are the fitness classes that EBC organizes at the Sky Garden for tenants. No excuse for you to skip a workout! :P

Shuttle bus services to AMK MRT Station are now available in the mornings and evenings. For more information, feel free to check out their website here!

EBC Lifestyle Hub Pte Ltd

50 Tagore Lane, Entrepreneur Centre #05-04

Singapore (787494)

Tel: 6511 2929

Email: enquiry@ebclifestylehub.com

Travel & Lifestyle Talk - Davao with Cebu Pacific Air Part 2

Back with part 2 of my Davao trip which I’ll be covering Day 3 and you may check out Day 2 over at Jason’s blog (jasonjuliuslim.blogspot.sg)!

Day 3

Well.. if you have been following me in my IG and Dayre, you would have noticed that I injured my foot on Day 2 so J stayed back on the third day to accompany me since I couldn’t join the rest of the group in Crocodile Park and Wild Water Adventure. That didn’t dampen our moods at all!

We headed down for breakfast early that morning and had a long chat with the Regional Director of the Philippine Department of Tourism (everyone calls him ‘RD’) as well as the Hotel Manager of Seda Abreeza Hotel. RD then offered to bring us out for lunch! So we headed down to the gym for a quick workout before meeting RD at the lobby.

The gym is small but equipped enough for us since we are so used to working out when we travel. 

Lunch at Balik Bukid

RD brought us to this restaurant called Balik Bukid, which means back to the farm. Everything that they serve are all organic, either from the farm or right outside the restaurant where they grow some simpler herbs and spices.

The other sides of the walls adjacent to the main entrance were filled with empty bottles and cement. According to RD, these are way sturdier that concrete walls and its also really pretty to allow natural sunlight into the restaurant during the day. J and I love this!

The whole restaurant is filled with bamboo, especially the roof and it cools the temperature of the restaurant down that its scorching hot on the street yet it feels like there is air-conditioning when we stepped into the restaurant.

These are some of my favourite dishes that we ordered. Everything is homemade and very yummy! We had homemade bread, home grown fresh vegetables that are sent to the restaurant every single morning, homemade and naturally coloured blue rice and homemade vanilla icecream! Yummms!

All thanks to this lovely couple who painstakingly started this restaurant, and RD, whom very kindly took time off to bring us here for lunch! :D

After lunch, RD brought us to the biggest church, San Pedro Cathedral in Davao. We said a little prayer at the side as there was a wedding matrimony going on there and left the church after purchasing a little souvenir just outside the church.

We headed back to the mall to grab some local snacks before heading to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.

Dinner at The White House Fusion Cuisine and Wine Lounge

We met up with the rest after their return from the water sports and headed for dinner with the PDOT team and the food there was superb and not too pricey to start with!

These are Uni shooters and TBH, it was my first try at uni and though I cant really appreciate the taste, the concept is really cute!

These are some of my favourites! Fish and chips, (I cant remember the name of the roll), duck confit and J’s very very huge portion of pork katsu. We ate and laughed too much that night! :P

The last item on the itinerary was the most relaxing of all.. we headed for a massage at Pressure points spa. I don’t even need to elaborate, we all slept well that night I’m sure! :D

Day 4

We started Day 4 slightly later and headed straight to the Aldevinco Shopping center to shop for local souvenirs and some of which we had given away! Check out @nuffnangsg at Dayre to check out what we gave away!☺

I truly enjoyed myself this trip albeit that injury I had on my foot and I’m so thankful for the PDOT team and everyone involved in this trip to make this trip so memorable! Thank you Nuffnang, Cebu Pacific Air, PDOT, the fellow influencers and bloggers for making this possible and I’m looking forward to the next trip! :D

Cebu Pacific Air flies from Singapore to Davao City at an affordable rate and air fares start as low as SGD182. Go ahead and make your booking here or call +65 315-80808!!

Health Talk - All about sports injuries and common orthopedic issues

As a fitness enthusiast, I feel strongly about topics relating to health, body and fitness in general, so when Chris proposed me for this Orthopedic talk by OrthoSports Clinic, I accepted it immediately. I’ve had many friends and clients who have had orthopedic surgery and so many horror stories about the various injuries because of ligament and tendon tears. Coincidentally, I was recovering from my tendon repair surgery and so I attended the talk with some burning questions in mind hoping to get some answers.

OrthoSports Clinic

OrthoSports Clinic is situated at Mount Elizabeth Novena and offers specialized services for patients with sports and non-sports related orthopedic issues. A recognized clinic in Singapore, the orthopedic specialists and surgeons work with individuals who suffer from knee and shoulder problems as well as sports injuries. They work very closely with a team of physiotherapists too, to assure the best possible rehabilitation regimes. In cases where surgeries are needed, they perform them via arthroscopic (keyhole) or the minimal invasive surgery.

OrthoSports Talk

The talk was given by the 3 surgeons from the clinic and they covered 3 main topics, sports injuries, osteoporosis, and foot issues (heel spurs, bunions and flat feet).

Sports Injuries

Dr Ang Kian Chuan covered sports injuries and highlighted some of the common injuries suffered during accidents while doing a particular sports or extreme sports. I’ve had clients who have had surgery done prior to training with me and so I know the importance of muscles strengthening work around the injured area to aid in recovery post surgery. What a lot of people don’t know is exactly this. Strengthening the muscles around the injured areas is very crucial to prevent subsequent problems on the same injured area. Of course, you need to only be able to do muscle-strengthening exercises once you regain your range of motion and always check with your doctors and physiotherapists.

Osteoporosis

Dr David Paul Bell covered the topic of Osteoporosis, which I was pretty concerned about. Generally, women begin an expedited process of bone degeneration from the age of 50 onwards. However in recent years, we also noticed men facing bone issues as early as women do. Calcium is a mineral that is best consumed and absorbed during the building years. Vitamin D also contributes to the health and strength of our bones.

So I asked Dr David Bell if its too late to be stocking my body with Calcium and Vitamin D now that I’m moving into my 30s. He mentioned that though it may be too late to push that age of bone degeneration to a later age, it can definitely postpone the effects of it. So if you are below the age of 29 and are reading this, please have balanced diet especially with more calcium and Vitamin D! :P 


Heel spurs, Flatfeet & Bunions

Dr Tan Ken Jin covered another pressing issue in Singapore and showed us some examples of how these conditions look like. These issues do not only occur with the old, Dr Tan shared some of his younger patients who are as young as 12 years old and they can be treated with minimal scars! Feel free to contact the clinic if you happen to know of somebody who is suffering from these problems. 

Heel Spurs

A heel spur is a pointed bony outgrowth of the bone of the heel (the calcaneus bone). They are attributed to chronic local inflammation at the insertion of soft-tissue tendons or fascia in the area. Heel spurs can be located at the back of the heel or under the heel, beneath the sole of the foot. Heel spurs at the back of the heel are frequently associated with inflammation of the Achilles tendon (tendinitis) and cause tenderness and pain at the back of the heel made worse while pushing off the ball of the foot.

I was pretty interested in this because I’ve heard of heel spurs related to plantar fasciitis, which has occurred to me before and reoccurred since I started wearing the air boot during the recovery of my injury. Proper massaging of the fascia, stretching of the calf muscles and icing my Achilles tendon (since I’ve been suspected of tendonitis on the right Achilles tendon) when I feel the ache have elevated the discomfort tremendously.

Flatfeet

If you think you have flatfeet or flatfoot, it is when the arches on the inside of your foot is flattened, allowing the entire sole of your foot to touch the floor when you stand up. A common and usually painless condition, flatfeet can occur when the arches don't develop during childhood. In other cases, flatfeet develop after an injury or from the simple wear-and-tear stresses of age.

Flatfeet can sometimes contribute to problems in your ankles and knees because the condition can alter the alignment of your legs. The weight shift causes excessive pronation of your foot and often leads to more serious problems as the person ages with weight gain.

Bunions

Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com (Dr Neal Blitz)

Bunions are bony bumps that develop at the joint of the big toe. They may be painless or aching, slightly unsightly or increasingly deforming. Bunions widen feet and narrow shoe choices, dooming people to a lifetime of sensible flats with roomy toe boxes. For some people, bunions are no bother, but for others, bunions hamper mobility, reduce activity and affect their quality of life.

We ended the session with food and refreshments kindly catered by the clinic and I’m glad to be able to learn so much from it!

from left to right: Dr David Bell, Dr Ang and Dr Tan

I hope I covered a good summary of some of the orthopedic issues that what you think you or your friends and family are facing. Feel free to find out more on OrthoSports’ fb page (https://www.facebook.com/orthosports.sg/?fref=ts) or their website (http://www.orthosports.com.sg/).

OrthoSports Novena

38 Irrawaddy Road

#10-41

Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre

Singapore 329563 

Tel: 6734 8168

OrthoSports Connexion

1 Farrer Park Station Road

#15-17 Connexion 

Singapore 217562 

Tel: 6435 0015