OOTD: Pastel x Floral x Lace

Sooooo..

I've been thinking of doing a fashion lookbook for my OOTDs for a while..

Because I love to share and hope to give some inspiration *fingers crossed*

Mainly because I just love to dress up (:

And I so happen to have a friend who loves shooting OOTDs for me..

So, I will try to post as frequent as possible for this and hope you'll like it! ❤

ps: None of the items are sponsored by any parties

Here's to the first OOTD post!

Of  pastel colors, lace and floral designs ❤

A soft flowy lace pastel floral dress is a perfect touch for a girlish yet adorable look. Instead of pairing with plain colored shoes, be bold and have a mix of colors. I've paired mint colored ballet flats with cute white bows to add to the whole "cute" look. For accessories, go simple as you want to keep the dress as the outstanding one ;)

Dress: Phat Culture

Belt: Vincci
Shoes: Bought in Taiwan

So sorry that not many photos were taken for this :(

Will do better ones in the upcoming posts!

Till then,

Much loves, xoxo.

Oral Hygiene?

Hair? Set! Face? Beautiful! Clothes? Stunningly dressed! Shoes? Perfect match!
Have you forgotten something?

When was the last you check your breath before heading for a date?

A BAD BREATH could really scare your dream date away!

Do you know that:

1. Exposure to acidic foods like lemons, causes tooth decay
2. Cavities are more likely between teeth
3. Gaps in teeth encourage cavities
4. Chips and cracks in teeth lead to decay
5. Eating healthy snacks such as celery, carrots, or apples help clear away food loosely trapped in-between teeth
6. Brushing, flossing, and rinsing is the best way to prevent cavities!

Cavities can be everywhere if you do not take care of your teeth properly and it'll lead to other dental problems such as tooth decay, bleeding gums, and oral infections. Most of the time, cavities are built up by not brushing your teeth regularly or properly.

Recently, SYSTEMA came out with a new toothbrush, SYSTEMA SPIRAL 0.02mm.
It is twisted by 2 colored hexagon shaped filaments - enabling its 6 sharp sides to scrape away plaque on tooth surface more effectively that removes 40% more plaque without brushing hard. The 0.02mm slim bristles tip penetrate deeper to remove more plaque along the hard to reach gum lines which is awesome as you can brush all the bacteria away!

I personally felt that it's a good product as the bristle are really soft that you don't have to brush hard. Plus brushing your teeth with full force would only cause you teeth erosion :( So, keep your teeth happy and breath fresh by taking good care of your oral health. Smile away as you don't know who might be melted by you! ;)

Much loves, xoxo.

*sponsored post

Kuta, Bali

Known as the busiest area of Bali, full with parties, alcohols and crazy nights..

It's just 20minutes away from my hotel and yet I didn't have the time to go till the very last day.

As time was very limited, we didn't get to do much except walking around looking for some souvenirs, take a short walk on the beach and finding for a place to eat.

Of course, you have to visit the Hard Rock Cafe there as a tourist right :D

Bought a super cute charm from there ❤

See the detailing on this tiny cutie? (:

Went to one of the malls there, Beachwalk Bali. Closest and easiest to access for us at that moment, no time no time. Didn't take any photo but here's one from the Internet (:

Not bad, quite a number of branded stores and also makan places but not much bargains can be found if you are looking for cheap shopping. Only managed to buy a pair of flip-flops from Roxy sadly.

Then, makan makan!

REALLY LOVE this place a lot! 

The environment was cozy, staffs were friendly and attentive plus the food was AWESOME!

They'll welcome you with wet towels to refresh yourself, really good for the weather in Bali.

The complimentary bread, yummy! Love the front sliced ones, really soft and fluffy. Middle ones were a little dense and the round ones are hard. Seems like they have arranged them according to level of hardness, LOL. But anyhow, they are yummy! The dip was yums too!

Lasagna, 70000 IDR and Garlic Spaghetti, 50000 IDR

We ordered two items from their lunch deal, the Lasagna Bolognese and Garlic Spaghetti.

Even though it's lunch deals, they never fail to impress me. Just look at the portion and presentation of the food. Efforts are thrown in, unlike some restaurants here which serve "cincai" cooked meals for the sake of serving the customers. Tasted even better, the bolognese has a generous amount of minced meat and the layers of pasta were cooked perfectly. The spaghetti was awesome as well, tasted so good even though it was simple! Definitely worth every penny paid!

Watermelon Crush and Kuta Beach, 84000 IDR each

My love, Watermelon Crush! It's a MUST HAVE on a hot sunny day! Super refreshing and tasted so yummy! They mixed the juice and alcohol well so you can slurp on it easily, it's 100% juice btw. You can eat the chunks of watermelon in it and also there's mint leaves. The whole combo was plain awesome. Kuta Beach was good too with a mini sugarcane to stir your contents and it was refreshing as well.

Bailey's Suffle, 60000 IDR

Our dessert of that day, Bailey's Suffle. Equally awesome as well. Top part was crispy and the insides were creamy, together with the coffee, it was perfecto!

Every thing here tasted so good and service was excellent so it's definitely HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Do drop by for a meal here if you are in Bali, bet you will never regret it ;)

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

So, this is the end of my Bali trip.

Will be posting on France very soon, hope you enjoyed reading!

❤

Much loves, xoxo.

Bali: Ubud / Uluwatu Temple (Part 2)

Bonjour! I'm back from France and am already missing the place badly. Probably because of all the fun I had there with the awesome people I've met and known throughout the whole trip. The weather there was awesome too as we were there during their spring turning into summer season.

A sneak peek into Paris ❤

Before I go on story about France, let's close the chapter for Bali first :D Too many posts, too little time..

So, back to the previous post.. We went for the Kecak dance at Uluwatu Temple. This one is recommended to go around the evening, show time's at 6pm if not mistaken and you'll get to watch the whole performance with the sunset as your backdrop ❤
But make sure you arrive earlier to purchase the ticket as it is always full house, you don't want to travel so far only to watch nothing.

We got there around 5 something and have little time to explore around the area after purchasing the ticket. If you are wearing short length garments, they'll pass you a sarong for you to cover up before entering the temple, applies to both guys and girls. Also, don't wear shiny objects, hang your camera around the neck or bring any food in hand because there are many wild monkeys around and they're pretty notorious. Our driver told us that there's once a man got bitten at the shoulder because he got too close while trying to take a photo of the baby monkey and mama monkey got angry.

The sarong's purple in color! ❤

The crowd of audience was massive, some had to sit on the aisle.

The sun was scorching hot too. Was turning into a BBQ sausage even before the performance starts.

Show's about to start anytime soon, the beautiful mini "bonfire".

There's no musical instrument for this performance, only the voices of 50 men, a combo of traditional dance with acapella. 

I personally enjoyed this performance so much more compared to the Barong Dance although we were burning under the sun. The performers seem to perform more sincerely and there was a little humor in it, you can see that they are trying to get audience's interaction and that was good.

Ended the day with a simple dinner at a cafe down at the beach side of Seminyak Beach.

The Sand Beach cafe

Pork Chop, 85000 IDR

Not many photos were taken because was already tired, I just want to enjoy my food (:

After that, we went to a nearby beach club and restaurant for a drink. Pretty cool place, but quite empty tho.

COCOON Beach Club & Restaurant

Creme Brulee Trio, 65000 IDR
From left: Pandan leaf & lemongrass, Black Sesame Seed and Custard Apple

We ordered a Margarita (110000 IDR) and Cocoon Royale (120000 IDR) which is their signature and also best seller. Won't say they're unique but it was pretty good, I prefer the Cocoon Royale (chambord, cointreau, mixed berries, shaken hard set in a martini glass, topped with sparkling), definitely a girl's drink. As for this trio (creme brulee), they're awesome! The fragrance's there and it's not too sweet, definitely recommended as a dessert if you are there ❤

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I shall end this post right here, will do a short one on Kuta in the next! (:

Much loves, xoxo.

Bali: Ubud / Uluwatu Temple (Part 1)

So sorry for being MIA for such a long time. Finally I'm done with my thesis! Fuhhhh!~ Long rough and sleepless days.. And for those who don't have to go through this to get your degree cert, thank your lucky stars because this ain't fun unless you love doing all these. It's so time consuming and energy draining..

Anyhow, let's get back to my trip to Bali! Haven't done posting about it yet! :D

So, day 3 in Bali, we went around Ubud area and the Uluwatu Temple. Was supposed to visit the temple on the 2nd day but could not make it on time so we postponed to the 3rd day.

Places we visited:

1. Barong Dance

2. Batik making factory, silver accessories' making and wood carvings

3. Bu Oka 

4. Coffee and tea plantation (Luwak coffee!)

5. Painters' gallery

6. Uluwatu

7. A restaurant and bar in Seminyak

Balinese people start their day by preparing an offering to the Gods in return for safety and good luck. You can see many of these on the streets, usually right in front of the entrance. BE CAREFUL NOT TO STEP ON THEM. It's fresh flowers with a small amount of money and they prepare a new one every single day.

So, to have an insight on their culture, we went for their cultural dance performances.

First one, the Barong Dance! (:

Traditional musical instruments were played for the song and all of them are dressed too.

We were each given a copy of the script so that we can follow the story since they were all speaking in their own local language.

The Barong and his monkey friend.

I really love how colorful and elaborated their costumes looked.

You can read about the story here.

It was a soso experience as we can see that some of the actors are not fully committed in their act, probably too bored of repeating the same thing everyday. But the end part where the men were said to be in the trans state while trying to pierce themselves with the keris, it will get you wondering for a bit as the keris used do looked a little sharp.

The Rangda, the evil one. So hairy and bushy.

After the show ended, they took out the Barong costume and display it so that the audience can take a photo with it. The crowd went crazy, everyone was so excited.

Then we went around Ubud for the arts and crafts, that's what they are famous for. Things you can find; Batik, silver crafts, paintings, wood and stone carvings. I would say that the arts and crafts there are rather similar to what we have here (Malaysia) so we end up leaving the factories and stores empty handed. LOL

The traditional way of weaving a piece of Batik cloth.

When we arrived at the painters' gallery, they welcomed us with smiles and friendliness. Then one of them brought us around the huge gallery to view the paintings available for sale. Some of them are rather magnificent! Pricey of course, no doubt. After walking around for about 10 minutes and not even halfway through the gallery, he asked which piece would we like to purchase. I'm just a student, not a millionaire, so which piece do you expect me to purchase when all of them cost thousands or at least few hundreds (in ringgit)?

Once he knew we do not have the intention to make any purchase, we were chase out at once. He told us, "Okay, you can leave now." and immediately escort us out. No more lingering around the gallery, straight to your car, open the door for you and one cold "thank you". That was so rude and it was my first and only bad experience in Bali as the rest of them that we met throughout our trip were so friendly and nice.

ONE OF THE MUST EAT IN BALI?

Babi Guling Bu Oka!

This dish is pretty common around Bali as most of them are Hindu and pork is everywhere. The famous one is Bu Oka. Pretty interesting dish and I really like the crispy piece. Wouldn't say it's a definite must-eat but you should try if you have the chance (:

Then comes the interesting one..

LUWAK COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!~

Apparently there's only two coffee plantations in Bali, hmm..

Btw, do you know how Luwak Coffee is made?

As folklore has it, civet coffee, or kopi luwak in Indonesian, was discovered by plantation workers in colonized Indonesia. Forbidden from consuming coffee beans picked from the plants, they picked up, cleaned and then roasted the beans excreted by wild Asian palm civets that entered the plantations to eat the ripest coffee cherries. The civets’ digestive systems gave kopi luwak a uniquely rich aroma and smooth, rounded flavor. 

So basically, they picked up their dungs and then clean them piece by piece. The coffee beans are then roasted for an hour or 2 till the aroma is released. After, they will smash the beans using the traditional way of stone made pestle and mortar and sift the product to get your coffee powder. Add some hot water and you'll have your Luwak Coffee (:

He made us a cup of Luwak Coffee (you'll have to pay for this) and a cup of Balinese coffee to compare the differences between the two. Luwak Coffee has a smooth and rich aroma and is a little sweeter compared to the Balinese coffee which is more bitter and has a heavy texture (not sure if that's the right word, LOL) and both are tasted without adding sugar.

Other than the infamous Luwak Coffee, they even have a wide range of coffee and tea for you to taste and it's all for FREEEEEEE!~

Luwak Coffee

I really like their Mangosteen tea, very unique and fragnant. It's not literally tea leaves; they actually took the mangosteen fruit's skin and grind into powder form. Add some warm water and it's ready to serve.

They even served us their homemade liquor, one is black rice wine and the other tasted something like Vodka but Balinese version. The black rice wine was very sweet and the other one was pretty strong.

Homemade chocolate; normal chocolate, orange chocolate and dark chocolate.

Tasted pretty normal, nothing out of the ordinary so we didn't buy any.

We left with some mangosteen tea and Luwak Coffee as souvenirs.

Mangosteen tea, sugar-free (100g): 100,000 IDR
Luwak Coffee (5 satchels): 175,000 IDR

If you are planning to visit Bali, do remember to bring along a MOSQUITO REPELLENT! The mosquitoes there are very voracious. We came back with lots of mosquitoes' bites :( 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I'll end this post here and continue with the Kecak dance in another post.

So stay tuned! (:

Till then,

Much loves, xoxo.

Seminyak / Around Bali

Oh mineeee.. My new sem started and I don't even have some time to breathe..

And to add on, my dissertation's submission is on the 28th. I'm going down real bad this time.

Skip all that, I'm going to continue with my blog post about my chillax getaway in Bali to get some mental relaxation. So, on the first day, we touched down at about 1.30pm and by the time we done everything and get a cab, it was already 2 plus. We reached the hotel at about 3pm and finally settle down at about 3.30pm. Oh, you can read all about our awesome stay in The Haven Bali here.

So, we didn't go anywhere on the first day as both of us were tired from the lack of sleep and long flight. We chilled around the hotel area, visit the boutiques and ate in one of the restaurants. It was a pretty long stretch of road and we didn't manage to walk until the end but we made it quite far. This time, I've brought back receipts from places we've eaten and visited so that you all can have an idea of the cost.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Where was our first meal in Bali?

(Took us an hour to walk around and decide)

Mannekepis Bistro

Yay! Managed to get him for the first photo while we were there.

This was served with their version of dinner rolls and butter. It's the bomb! Really soft and fluffy with a unique taste. And they served it warm, love it!

Meal for him; one of their signatures, "Kill the Pig" 

This was a really nice dish, definitely RECOMMENDED if you are dining there. He opt for a medium well and it was perfect. The meat was nicely marinated and cooked, goes really well with the sauce and the mashed potato was just equally awesome. It also came with balls of boiled vegetable, I think it was broccoli and they were nice too! Everything on the plate was awesome!

Meal for her; recommended by the staff, "Vlaamse Stovers"

This is beef stewed with dark beer (something like Guinness stout) and I would say it was good. The beer really sipped into the meat, therefore very rich taste and the meat was very soft. Overall a good dish but wouldn't say it's a must have because you might get bored after having half of it.

They even have a live band performance which was really good and enjoyable. They very friendly and interact with the crowd too! (: Can even ask for a song dedication.

Total bill for 2 mains, 1 fruit juice, 2 bottles of beer and includes tax and services = 323,400 IDR

After the meal, we decided to walk around and look for a tour agent to plan for our next day's trip. We found one which we rented a car for a whole day for 500,000 IDR. Apparently it's pretty pricey if compared to the normal ones but we customized our tour and we were visiting many places. Ended the night with our refreshing complimentary drink from the hotel as many of the shops closed at 9pm.

DAY 2

Places to visit today?

1. Mengwi temple

2. Tanah Lot

3. Nusa Dua / Tanjung Benua

4. Dreamland / Pandawa Beach

5. Sunset dinner at Jimbaran

Let's start the day with a selfie and this was initiated by him! So proud that he finally embraces the selfie culture :') Drama much me. Let's go!

First stop, Mengwi temple, the Balinese royal temple. Because our driver didn't have the tour guide's license, we have to explore by ourselves. No stories or legends begin told, we just go and absorb the scenery, syiok sendiri taking photos like so called pros. But I do enjoy moments like this even though I prefer to have gain some knowledge about this place.

The puppet that looked like a lion on the left is called a "Barong".

A man repairing and polishing the statues there to maintain them.

In Bali, you can spot many statues around the island that are clothed.

Parking fee is paid by our driver since it was included in the rent while there's no definite entrance fee but you will need to give a small sum as donation to the temple.

Moving on next, Tanah Lot! Here, you'll need to pay an entrance fee of Rp 30,000 per person which includes an insurance. This is one of the temples you must visit while you are in Bali. According to legend, there are sea snakes guarding the temple when the tide is high to avoid trespassers intruding it and the locals only enter the temple when there's prayers. The tide was high when we were there, therefore the temple looked as though it's floating in the sea. Rough waves as well, tourists were advised not to get too close to the edge of cliffs while taking photos.

Look at the waves..

A closer view of the amazing temple

Don't you just love the serenity of this place? I know I do ❤

The other temple which was connected to the land

And a typical touristy pose at the entrance.

Then, we went to Nusa Dua beach which is also known as Tanjung Benua. Most people would go there for water-sport activities and apparently that's the only place you can do that as most of the beaches in Bali has strong waves which is good for surfing. No photos were taken as the beach was pretty normal, something like our Pangkor Island's beach where there's water motor vehicles everywhere. Many activities were available but most of them are similar to what we have here so we only did two. One was named the "Flying Fish" where you will lie on a flat rectangular inflatable and it'll be pulled by a speed boat. At certain speed, it'll fly in the air and you'll be standing somewhere mid air, probably 3 meters above the sea. Pretty fun experience and you'll get to enjoy the scenery for a bit before it lands. 

Next, diving! This is my first ever experience diving in the sea as most of the time I only go for snorkeling and once sea-walking on the sea bed of Pattaya in Thailand. Before we went into the water, we were brief on some procedures and hand signals to communicate underwater. You'll find it pretty easy if you are a frequent snorkeler as the way of breathing is the same. They even provide photo and video shooting of your whole journey underwater but of course with a fee. I wanted only photos as I doubt I will watch the video but they say it's a package so we skipped that. Overall it was a really fun and memorable experience although the water wasn't as clear as expected and it was only for a short 30 minutes. They've built some stations underwater for you to hold on to and feed the fishes while exploring the corals. The guide even managed to get a quick hold of a Clown fish (Nemo) in his hands and passed it to me, such a cute moment. Of course we returned the fish to it's home afterwards.

Next pit stop, Dreamland / Pandawa Beach. It was said to be the most beautiful beach in Bali. We can only enter a certain area as the nicer side was bought by some hotel company as their private property. Even so, there's an entrance fee to pay and it was included in the rent. There were 5 giant statues located in the cliff on the left side while on the way down. Didn't manage to get a photo of them.

The place was really beautiful and we initially planned to get a dip there but the sand was really rough and there were many small stones around the area and green moss too! So we just have a stroll around the beach, have a quick meal, washed up and changed for our sunset dinner at Jimbaran Beach since we only have around half an hour there.

His awkwardly bent fingers, hahaa!

The beautiful scenery there ❤

Our driver took us to this restaurant named the New Matahari Cafe to have our sunset dinner on the beach of Jimbaran. Thank God we managed to rush and reach there just in time for the sunset or else it would be a waste.

A shot with the sun before it sets down into darkness

They even have this group of performers going around table by table to perform a song for the crowd. I can't really remember though the song that they sang for us. End of it, just a tip for them will do.

Triple sex as part of the ingredients for Bali Beach???

Drink for her, "Jungle Juice" (left) as the recommended one and the most popular drink while a "Bali Paradise" for him. The alcohol level in both were pretty strong but nicely covered with the other ingredients in it.

The complimentary starter, a vegetable soup. Quite nice and sweet but I didn't like it as there was coriander in it.

This comes free too, a bucket of rice and water spinach. The vegetable was very flavorful, thumbs up!

Their seafood are all alive ones to assure the freshness of it and it's calculated by the weight. We ordered a squid for calamari and a white snapper to be grilled. The calamari was a disappointment as the taste was rather bland while the grilled fish was AWESOME! I like how it was marinated and cooked perfectly. You can even taste a very nice smoked flavor and the meat wasn't dry at all. Definitely RECOMMENDED! 

Free performance throughout the dinner

And a selfie after the candlelight dinner.

Total bill for the night?

1 squid, 1 snapper, 2 cocktails and service tax = 676,000 IDR

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

And that's all for this post, hope you enjoyed reading!

Psst psst, next one there's something to do with the famous Luwak Coffee!

Stay tune for more!

Much loves, xoxo.