Ageing is a universal fear of women around the world, and it's easy to understand why. As we age, the collagen level depletes and our faces start to look less healthy and supple. Many skincare products claim to increase collagen levels but they are usually controversial because scientifically, collagen molecules are too big to be absorbed through the skin.

I was pretty pleased when Hao Yi Kang sent me their Lao Xie Zhen Premium Beetroot Essence, which uses 100% natural ingredients to promote collagen production, metabolism, aid digestion and enrich blood. This, in turn, helps with anti-ageing, maintains the tightness of your cells and strengthen your body's connective tissues.




If you haven't heard, Lao Xie Zhen is a well-known brand with 80 years of history in Taiwan and has established itself as a favourable and trustworthy brand among consumers. In fact, Vivian Hsu is their international brand ambassador!

Lao Xie Zhen Premium Beetroot Essence comes in super convenient sachets to be drank in multiple ways: directly, warmed or chilled.

Lao Xie Zhen Premium Beetroot Essence is prepared with a unique extraction method, undergoing five hours of constant 80°C temperature. Lao Xie Zhen made sure that the drink is 100% natural and made of 100% plant extract so it's vegetarian-friendly as well!



Lao Xie Zhen Premium Beetroot Essence is rich in premium plant polyphenols (providing anti-oxidant properties). It's also rich in vitamin A, B12, C, minerals and dietary fibre. Admittedly, there was a strong herbal taste to the drink, but I supposed that's how you know there's no artificial flavouring added.


One box of 15 packs costs $75, but Hao Yi Kang is running a special promotion — a five box bundle only costs $359 (U.P. $375). You can purchase Lao Xie Zhen Premium Beetroot Essence on https://haoyikang.sg/ today!

Eucerin sent me their newly released Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm some time back and I finally got to try it! First of all, most of you should know that I deal with severely dry and sensitive skin so my skin breaks out in rashes pretty often.


Check out how thick the consistency of Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm is. Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm is god-sent because it's multipurpose — other than healing dry and cracked skin, Eucerin Aquaphor can be used for minor burns, prevent skin chafing etc. There are so many uses for this product that I can never finish listing them so I'll share some of the more common uses.


A while back I actually scalded myself eating a hot chocolate pie (* ￣ー￣) Yeah, I know, it's the kind of thing that will only happen to me... I went home and immediately applied Eucerin Aquaphor to calm my skin down. It got significantly better and there was no more redness thereafter!


No filters here. My troublesome skin has also been red and itchy all over because it was too dry TT__TT I've been applying all sorts of lotion in attempt to help my skin but not even lotions meant for dry skin helped. Thankfully, Eucerin Aquaphor calmed my skin down enough that I wasn't scratching it every minute.


Another no filter photo of the condition of my skin now, after using Eucerin Aquaphor for about a month. The redness has gone down and my skin does not look as angry as before.



Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm's ingredients are gentle enough that you can use it on babies too. All in all, it is a product that I highly recommend. Psst, even Hollywood celebrities are using this product — just do a quick Google search!


Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm also comes in a small travel size of 7ml, which I've been bringing around whether I'm in Singapore or travelling.

You can purchase Eucerin Aquaphor Soothing Skin Balm exclusively at Watsons. It's $16.90 for the 110ml and $7.90 for two 7ml tubs.

I can't believe just how many people around me haven't learned the art of budget travel, despite my constant naggings. I don't wanna brag but my three weeks trip in Europe, including air tickets and accomdation, was cheaper than my friend's one week trip in Japan.

My friends always ask me, how do you travel so often? How did you get your plane tickets so cheap? How did you fly for free? How do you save money while travelling? Where's the best place to change money? How to redeem or earn miles?

Honestly, it's not that difficult. Maybe it requires one to two extra steps, but the savings are so worth it! I'm gonna share a few tips today because, why not? They are perfectly legal ways and it's always great to see my friends getting excited over redeeming miles or scoring cheaper tickets.

1) Redeem miles

I hold three credit cards from UOB, DBS and Amex. Due to privacy concerns, I'm not going to go into details on which one I own but you can easily do a Google search on which ones are the best for your income level. The trick though, is to watch out for promotions!

For example, Amex is holding a 4 miles per $1 spend at Scoot promotion — which rarely ever happens because you usually don't earn much from taking budget airlines. I love my Amex card because their promotions are easily accessible via their app.


Amex also has a referral program in which you and your friend can get 5000 miles each upon spending $50 in the first three months. Only $50 for 5000 miles?! That's dirt cheap. You can easily hit $50 doing grocery shopping! For your information, a one-way economy flight on Singapore Airlines to Malaysia, Indonesia or Brunei is only 7500 miles.

If you're thinking of signing up, you can use my referral link so we can both earn 5000 miles each ;)

• www.amex.sg/refer/yitsipSf9F?CPID=999999551

2) Cashback

While I'm not a fan of cashback credit cards, because I firmly believe in the miles game, I'm not about to miss out any sort of cashback I can get. Shopback is a platform I frequently use while booking my travel accommodations or tickets.

I got a whooping $25 back with my recent booking on Booking.com by using Shopback! The best part is that there's no catch. You login, choose the vendor you're interested in, book your items and you get your cashback. It's as simple as that so I was really surprised when some of my friends told me they hadn't heard of Shopback.

It's free to sign up so you might as well try it out yourself. If you sign up with my link, we can earn $5 each!

• https://www.shopback.sg/referred-signup-bonus?raf=cZgWdc

3) Join travel-centric Singapore Telegram channels

@sgAirfarePromos and @milelionroars are two Telegram channels that I never mute. I previously got my two way tickets to Taipei for only $180 on Jetstar! I get nothing out of sharing this — except more competition with me for cheaper air tickets but good things must share, right?

4) Exchange your money online

Forget The Arcade money changers because things are going online. YouTrip is a service that acts like a debit card: you top up some money inside your YouTrip account and change that to the currency of your choice. Their exchange rates are extremely favourable — comparable to what you see on Google. And the best part? There's no transaction fee.


I was initially skeptical of them, until I learned that YouTrip is collaboration between EZ-Link, Mastercard, You Tech.

If you're thinking of signing up, my referral link gives us both $10 in our e-wallet.

• https://youtrip.app.link/YI%20TSING82853

And there you have it! My tips and tricks on how I travel on a budget. Hope they help :) I'll update this post if I think of more tips along the way!

I think most Singaporeans would have heard of The Feather Blade by now. If you haven't The Feather Blade is running a pop up steakhouse in Singapore's very own Chinatown. What makes The Feather Blade extremely popular with Singaporeans is that it was set up by an ex-employee of the famed Flat Iron Steak in London.

Since I missed Flat Iron Steak in London, I decided to drop by The Feather Blade with my boyfriend to review their steak.


I was initially a little confused when I reached the address Google Maps pointed me to, but later realised that The Feather Blade's pop-up store is actually inside Zui Hong Lou. The Feather Blade is easily identified by their posters screaming STEAKS that are plastered around the shop. The queue, which I failed to capture, is towards the right of this photo.

We reached at 7:20pm and joined the queue for a while before a friendly employee took down our numbers and told us we can go talk a walk around Chinatown before returning at 8:30pm. I like this system a lot because it means we don't have to wait in Singapore's intolerable heat!

We wandered off a bit about 8:20pm and The Feather Blade called us at approximately 8:20pm.

The Feather Blade menu

The Feather Blade steak menu

We initially ordered two sets of steaks (both medium) together with two sides (potato and mushroom) and one sauce (Horseradish Cream). However,  the mushroom was just sold out so we settled with just one side.


Similar to Flat Iron Steak in London, The Feather Blade serves free salted popcorn and water. The dishes were served pretty quickly after we place our orders. Don't have much photos because we were busy enjoying our steaks but the verdict from both of us was that steaks from The Feather Blade were worth the hype.

The steak was juicy and flavourful — my boyfriend even said it's the best he ever had and this boy is a gastronome. The potato is so soft that it melted in my mouth but to be honest I won't pay $7 for it. I didn't fancy the horseradish cream but that's because I'm a picky eater. My boyfriend found it a good compliment to the steaks.

I thought The Feather Blade was a little expensive compared to Flat Iron Steak ($21 vs £10, which is ~$18) but I guess the markup is inevitable. My boyfriend, on the other hand, finds the pricing resonable for such good steaks.

The Feather Blade pop-up store runs from 2 March to 21 April 2019.

(This post is not sponsored and we paid for our meals.)

-

The Feather Blade

Address

90 Club St, 069458 (inside Zui Hong Lou)

Nearest MRT

Chinatown Station, Exit A

Opening Hours

5:30pm to 1am on Saturdays and Sundays

(Scroll to the end for promo code!) I hope y'all remember my review of SleepWiz's Luxiere Silk Eye Mask. I still sleep with SleepWiz's eye mask every night, even when I'm travelling. It's safe to say that SleepWiz's eye mask has earned itself a permanent spot on my packing list.

I was naturally excited when SleepWiz offered to send me their latest innovative sleep solution, the ErgoLush™ Gel-infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper. The gel-infused memory foam mattress topper that is the first of its kind in Singapore as it does not retain heat like traditional memory foam.

Y'allshould be familar to Althea by now, considering how many times it has appeared on my blog. Althea just launched new products again recently, including their first celebrity collaboration.


Althea Stay Fresh Body Sparkling Mist is a collaboration with Indonesian movie star and singer, Titi Kamal. Althea Stay Fresh Body Sparkling Mist is a fruity and floral body mist with orange, peach and rose scents.

I like the body mist a lot because it smells really refreshing, but I think it works better in colder countries. I realised the scent longevity is better and sillage is heavier when I stay in air-conditioned place. Althea Stay Fresh Body Sparkling Mist quickly goes away when I stay outdoors in humid climate like Singapore's.


I was running out of make up cleansers and Althea Pore Purifying came at just the right time! It washes away makeup, dirt, and oil from inside of your pores to mantain healthy pH level of 5.5-6.5 of the skin.

There are two ways of using Althea Pore Purifying.

To remove makeup:

1. Pour an adequate amount of Althea Pore Purifying onto the palm of your hand.
2. Massage Althea Pore Purifying all over your skin in circular motions to remove dirt and makeup.
3. Rinse off the residue with water. 
4. Use a second cleanser to double cleanse

To cleanse the skin:

1.  Dampen your skin and apply an adequate amount of Althea Pore Purifying onto the palm of your hand.
2. Gently massage Althea Pore Purifying all over your skin in circular motions for 5-10 seconds before rinsing it off with water.

Get Althea Stay Fresh Body Sparkling Mist here, and Althea Pore Purifying here.

No longer feelin' 22

It seemed like it wasn't too long ago when I was bobbing along to Taylor Swift's 22 with my earphones plugged in, oblivious to the world. I was almost 17 when Taylor Swift released the song 22 — the prime age of blind optimism. It was safe to say that I had everything going for me. My teenage years were every bit what I wanted it to be; even if I carry some regrets, everything I did was what I yearned for, at that point.

Adulthood, on the other hand, has been less than kind. The twists and turns sent me crashing every time. Now, almost into my mid-twenties, I'm beginning to realise that there are some battles you'll never win.  I tried to plan ahead, to predict my life a few years down the road, but as I have learned, things hardly go according to plan.

I mean, if I stopped being so hard on myself, I did pretty okay as a 22-year-old. I stepped (more like forced myself) out of my comfort zone and dabbled in sectors I previously never explored. Enjoyed most, hated some, gained new experiences and made new connections along the way.

I guess I still need to keep reminding myself that I'm really doing fine. I'm okay. I need to take things one step at a time. There's still a long way ahead.