OOTD: Printed floral T-back top

I watched a lot of videos over the past few 'summer' months on youtube and I noticed that there are sooooo many fashion videos being put up by these popular youtubers! Needless to say I became inspired by them too! I just love all these ideas that they have to put together an outfit and also videos on how to transition an outfit from day to night time.

Recently I went out shopping with Jessie and I managed to pick up this really cute floral printed top from iTop! I noticed that they brought in a lot of clothing that you can't find elsewhere in Brunei and they're from many sorts of brands like forever21, H&M, GAP and Charlotte Russe. After that successful trip, it's definitely one of my go-to stores for fashion items now!

I got the top for B$25.90

This is actually the first time I tried taking whole body self-shots please bear with me but I think they came out alright lol

The fabric of the top is soo soft you have no idea! It has these red flowers with blue background it just reminds me of a summer holiday in Hawaii or something! Not that I've ever been to Hawaii but you know what I mean. I don't know if this is strange but I feel happier somehow whenever I wore this out lol

 The T-back drops down really low but looks great when paired with a tube or a camisole.

 

  I usually use a cardigan over my sleeveless tops on campus!

I'd really recommend you guys go check out iTop the next time you visit The Mall especially for you plus size girls out there. Some of the clothing items even has up to an XXXL size! I'm a UK size 18 and I know how hard it is to find a good fashionable top here in Brunei.

My thoughts on Incubation + food shots

I'm back at the hostel again today and I'm currently at the resource room blogging 'like nobody's business' as Kenny would say it. So, what's new with you guys? I noticed that someone had installed telephone line cables in our dorm rooms. Let's just hope we'll be able to connect to the world in the comfort of our own rooms soon!

If you don't already know, I'm in my third year of study in UBD and I took Incubation as my Discovery Year activity because apparently we are not allowed to take up any courses this semester for whatever reason. At first I really had no idea what Incubation is all about but I chose that instead of COP (Community Outreach Programme) because I honestly don't know how to talk with people and help them in the way COP wants us to. So in the end, there's basically no any other activity that I can choose from apart from Incubation.

What we're doing this semester for Incubation is, in a word, interesting. Since we are only in the middle of the semester right now I can only tell you guys what we've been up to so far. Each of us had to come up with an original business idea and present it to the class and construct a business plan for it. The bunch of us had also attended a few talks and activities organized by iCentre. I think Incubation is perfect for those students who are really keen on being an entrepreneur one day. Starting your own business and the sorts, if you know what I mean. If you have no plans on being your own boss and plans to someday work for some major organization for the rest of your life (There's nothing wrong with that!) then you might as well take up COP. 

 Anyhow, even though I am only halfway through Incubation, I have learnt a lot from the activities we participated especially those from iCentre. The mentors from the bootcamp and the people who gave us talks are ridiculously good at what they are doing and are really insightful. It's interesting just watching them talk and speak their mind. I don't know if I am inspired enough by them to actually consider opening up a business someday but for now I know for sure that I want to graduate first and foremost before I plunge into anything else. And that's enough for me! For now. 

 I guess that's all I have to say about Incubation in UBD. To compensate with the heavy writing in this blog post, here are some shots taken during a lunch session with the fam at Charcoal!

Sharon, Mom, me and Shala

Shala and Stephen

 Sharon and baby Jazelle!

Complementary chips

 Onion rings

 Not impressed with the prices of these drinks.

Lamb chop

Don't know what is this but it's good!

 Linguine Carbonara with Spicy Mussels

 

Some pizza. lol

Etude House Tear Drop Liner

Earlier this year SNSD came out with their single 'Twinkle' and I can't help but notice the girl's makeup, as usual. My favorite of the girls is the lead vocalist, Taeyeon. They were wearing this really sparkly eye makeup with distracted me throughout the whole music video and when I was done watching all I could think of was "Damn, I need a glitter liner!" lol 

Taeyeon in the music video 'Twinkle'

So after a while I realized in some of the scenes they are actually wearing  round glitter plates on their lower lashline as well as on their lids! It's no wonder their eyes 'sparkle' so much when they move about on the dance floor. But I was set on getting a glitter liner anyway because I don't wanna bother with gluing them glitter plates one by one on my eyes. I have time, but not that much time.

Tiffany in the music video 'Twinkle'

In the end I found Etude House's Tear Drop Liner and decided to go for the silver one instead of the gold. I can't remember how much I paid for this but I guess it's about B$13.

Etude House Tear Drop Liner

Etude House Tear Drop Liner

I was really impressed with this range of liners from Etude House because they are thick and shimmery! Before this I've only tried Maybelline's and Silkygirl's (which sucks) so I wasn't expecting much but after swatching it in the store I knew I just had to get it!

Etude House Tear Drop Liner swatched

The problem with the Tear Drop Liner is that it takes a long time to dry due to the thick consistency and it's also a bitch to remove!! I use makeup remover wipes and they just ended up getting all over my face and hands. Unfortunately I have yet to find a clean way to get rid of them by the end of the day when I'm removing my makeup. Also, when using this try not to get it too close to your eyes because I once got too close and well, let's just say I walked around with glittery eye balls that day. Not fun.

The applicator comes with a thin brush which picks up a lot of the product

Apart from that, I think it's great if you wanna bring some focus to your eyes and make 'em pop. It's great for parties and night-time use when you're going out because this product is just glamorous that way. Here's my take on a makeup look using the Tear Drop Liner:

It may not be as eye-catching as the round glitter plates SNSD used for their music video but this saves you a lot of time from gluing the glitters on and being the efficient *coughlazycough* girl I am I like doing things the quicker way!

10 Products I would repurchase

So I've noticed this tag going around which is getting quite popular on youtube and it's the '10 Products I would repurchase' tag. I thought it might be fun for me to do this as well! I feel like a kid again going through my makeup drawers and picking out the 10 products. But it's also hard to just pick 10 because there are quite a few other products that I know I would repurchase too. 

Also, if you notice I didn't include any eye shadows and that's because I normally prefer to buy palettes rather than a single eye shadow so if I were to repurchase an eye shadow I'd have to buy the whole palette. Guess I shall share with you guys my top eye shadows in another blog post some other time! 

    

Laneige Makeup Primer - Sebum Control

The first product is this primer which I love and use all the time! I believe I've had this for more than a year now and there's still a good amount of it left in this tube! It's totally worth it even though it might be a bit pricey compared to Revlon's or L'oreal's primer. I prefer this over the drugstore ones because this makes my skin feels smoother. And it smells really good too!

Read more about Laneige's makeup primer here!

 Revlon ColorStay foundation in Early Tan

I've tried a handful of foundations and in the end I found that I always go back to this. I think it's because this has a low SPF in it and I tend to take pictures after applying makeup for whatever reason so I chose this to avoid looking white in photos. This is also probably the longest lasting foundation I own.

Read more about the Revlon ColorStay foundation here!

 Skin79 Sun Protect Beblesh Pact SPF30

I use this to set my foundation most of the times and it's a decent product. I prefer this over the MAC Studio Fix because this is less thick and doesn't cake up if you apply it generously. I never use the powder puff it comes with, normally I just use a kabuki brush and buff it into my skin. I am kinda weird with powders, I don't like it being too thick but I want it to give me a smooth finish.

 Revlon Grow Luscious Lash Liner in Onyx

This is probably my favorite black eyeliner! It works similar to the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil but cost so much cheaper. There's really nothing else I can say about this except that I love it lol

 Maybelline Volum' Express Cat Eyes Mascara

I have gone through several tubes of this mascara and I know I am going to repurchase this again once it's gone. I am not exactly blessed with thick luscious lashes so this helps a lot in giving the illusion of having thicker lashes! Again, I've tried a few other mascaras but lo and behold this is the one I always go back to.

 Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

I have to say I had a really hard time choosing the lip products! There are so many others which I love but in the end I chose the Revlon Lip Butters simply because they are affordable, moisturizing, creamy and pigmented! What more can you ask for in a lip product? The cute packaging helps too, of course!

Read more about the Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters here!

Etude House Easy Brow Pencil

This I love because it's easy to use and easy to travel with. The only thing is I have to sharpen it every once in a while but I don't really mind doing that. It's also quite cheap, I think I paid about B$6.90 for this! Don't have much to say about this except that it's an essential in my daily makeup routine. I can't go out without my brows, you know. haha

Read more about the Etude House Easy Brow Pencil here!

 Revlon ColorStay Liquid Liner

This is one of the first makeup products I purchase when I started getting really into makeup! It's a true black unlike many of those marker pen liners which are easy to use but comes out looking grey-ish and transparent-ish. This one's perfect and I don't think I will even bother looking for other liquid liners out there. Maybe next time when I am overseas but certainly not in Brunei.

 NYX powder blush

The blusher in the picture above is called Mocha and this is one of the blushers that I reach for the most even though I barely made a dent in it! Looks brand new in the shot actually haha Anyways I think Mocha is great for every day use and I like that it's a slightly muted peachy color which I always tend to go for. Somehow pinks are not my favorite color for blushers because they look quite unnatural on my tanned skin-tone.

Read more about the NYX powder blush in Mocha here!

MAC MSF in Soft and Gentle

I tried not to go for makeup products that is unavailable locally because it would be difficult for me to repurchase these products if they are inaccessible! But I knew I had to make an exception here because there is simply no other products like this that I can purchase locally in Brunei! The MAC MSF in Soft and Gentle is a beautiful highlighter and I use it to highlight my cheekbones. You can also use it on the cupid's bow or on the bridge of the nose for that extra glow.

Read more about the MAC MSF in Soft and Gentle here!

So there you go, the 10 products I would repurchase! Feel free to do this tag if it tickles your fancy!

The EaC Accelerator Boot Camp experience!

So for the past two days many of us incubatees from UBD have been chosen to participate in the EaC Accelerator Boot Camp by iCentre. I didn't know what to expect at first because I haven't heard of such boot camp before but I knew soon enough that we were the first batch to ever take part in it! In Brunei at least, from what I heard. 

Basically, all of the participants were required to pitch in their ideas and we voted for the ones we think is the best. Once everything is sorted out we ended up with 7 teams and 7 grand ideas! Each team moved forward with their idea and started on constructing the business plan.

Day 1

 Shyang Li and Kanniga

 Nana and me

 All of our ideas were written on the sticky notes!

 Using the launch pad provided as a guide for our business plan

The mentors putting their two cents in

Me and my team mates decided to proceed with the idea of a marriage boot camp, Phoenix Getaway. Kanniga came up with this idea during one of our sessions back in UBD and she found out that about 1 in 5 marriages ended in divorce locally in 2010! In the US the ratio is 1:2 so basically 50% of marriages ends in divorce. That data is certainly an eye-opener eh?

Sorting out what goes into where

 Delwin Keasberry from Projek Brunei

Wanted to take a picture of Kristav Childress, one of the judges in the boot camp but he walked off the centre of my screen just when I took the shot!

The first day passed by quickly and by the end of the day we have a facebook page set up and people were already starting to like it! It wasn't easy though, I posted, shared, tweeted and even text messaged my friends to like the page! Once we had our dinner me and my friends left the ILIA building and continued working on our executive summary at the female hostel till late at night. It took a lot out of us and I couldn't sleep after that, which doesn't help at all since day 2 was only a few hours away lol 

Day 2

For the second day the boot camp was held at iCentre. The morning started off with a presentation by the mentors giving some tips and tricks for an effective... well, presentation. After that Hiro Tien gave us a talk on how he founded Social Deal! Apparently he was still halfway through getting his degree when he decided to jump into the business. I think it's pretty impressive what he did because there wasn't any business like Social Deal before in Brunei so the risk is certainly there. Personally I don't think I would be able to do what he did even if I have a business idea because I like to have something to fall back on. If let's say my business didn't go very well, I'd still have my degree and then I could move on to the next thing right away, you know what I mean?

Hiro Tien from Social Deal

 Finally completed our launch pad!

 Preparing our presentation slides

Chee Ta introducing Bajutik, an online baju kurung shop where you design your own baju kurung.

Zul introducing iPark, a parking app which can be used to identify available parking spaces in specific areas.

Gary introducing DirectMe, a mobile app giving people suggestions on where to hang out next or where to eat for lunch.

Panel of judges! Our incubation supervisor Adna was one of the judges that evening.

In the end, our team won second place! Bajutik won first place and DirectMe won third. At first I wasn't sure if we are going to win because the ideas being put forward by the other teams are really brilliant and I think by then that there is a chance for any of these 7 teams to win! I have to say though I think Kanniga is an excellent presenter! The debating skills from her secondary school years has definitely helped in putting us in that second spot as 1st runner up.

The team behind Phoenix Getaway!

Overall I enjoyed the boot camp and I think it's worth every effort! I mean, even if you don't win or anything if doesn't really matter because you'll still walk out a winner. I've learned so much from the talks given by the mentors as well as the guest speakers. Every time a mentor walks up to our desk and gave us really good advice I feel like it's a Eureka! moment. They have years of experience and you can tell they know what they are doing and they are darn good at it! It makes me think of how much I have yet to learn. Well, guess I'd better start now!