After Cheryl and I successfully hauled our dumbasses back to our hostel to get our printed tickets (why is it that such a progressive city like London insists on a physical ticket when we can easily show the QR code is beyond my understanding), we headed towards the Tower of London, which was about a 30-minute walk away.



Europe's extensive history never fails to amaze me, keeping in mind that I'm looking at this as a Singaporean whose country only has a century or two of history (and that's stretching it — we were taught predominantly only about the events leading to our independence and the policies implemented after). It blows my mind that European history traces back to millenniums back.



We regrettably, but unsurprisingly, didn't have enough time in Tower of London because we seriously underestimated the tremendous area Tower of London conquered so we had to skip some structures and towers since we were running out of time.

If I were to travel to London again, I'd definitely go back and allocated three hours (or even more) for it. I would also recommend getting the guidebook if you want to truly understand the importance of Tower of London to English history.

I was blown away by the Korean lash lift at BrowMeister recently. A lot of my friends have done eyelash extensions or eyelash perms but I was never tempted to until I had to attend an event recently. I never knew how a simple lash lift could make me look so much more awake but now I'm sold!

My lashes before the lash lift

I personally have pretty short and sparse lashes so I was honestly a bit apprehensive that the lash lift can show a difference.

Another photo of my lashes before lash lifting

The whole proceedure at BrowMeister was painless — and this is coming from someone with extreme low pain tolerance. My eyes are hyper-sensitive after LASIK but even so, the entire lash lifting felt only intrusive. It also helped that Kim Min, the beautician, was very gentle. She checked with me from time to time and kept reminding me to let her know if I felt uncomfortable.

I later checked with my friends who also did lash lifting before and they told me some horror stories about their eyelids being inflamed at some of the salons they went to, and theirs even more expensive than the price BrowMeister is offering)! I'm glad mine was just slightly uncomfortable and I even almost fell asleep.


Placing the before and after side by side really amazes me because I never expected such a huge difference.


BrowMeister is a home salon opened just this year by Kim Min, a Korean who  relocated to Singapore more than a decade ago. Not only is her English fluent, she even speaks fluent Singlish(!!!), so you don't have to worry about communication issues.

I love that Kim Min found the perfect balance between chatting with me and giving me some time to rest. Some of the beauty salons I've been to have chatty beauticians who never stopped complaining or hard-selling. On the other hand, I had a nice chat with Kim Min regarding relationships, the relations between the two Koreas etc.

She also shared that recently left her high-paying job to pursue her passion in beauty and got her certification in Gangnam, Korea so y'all can be sure that you're getting the full Korean experience with a certified Korean therapist who uses professional products and equipments strictly from Korea.


I still can't believe that these are my natural lashes! I don't even have to put mascara on a daily basis anymore.


I was extra vain the whole week and whipped out my blue mascara, which has been tucked away for quite some time. It's difficult to capture the colours with my phone's front camera but you can definitely see a difference.


I didn't even have to apply eyeliner anymore since my eyelashes create an eyeliner effect, especially if I use black mascara. I'll super recommend trying lash lift in Singapore at least once if you're still toying with the idea because you can really see the difference.

BrowMeister (Instagram)

Address: 562 Upper East Coast Road
Contact: 90212357 or minimin82 on KakaoTalk

Promo for first time customer

• Barbie doll lash lift (the one I did)
$68 → $60

• Barbie doll lash lift with tint
$78 → $70

• Barbie doll lash lift package
5 times → $290
5 times with tint → $330

• 6D eye brows embroidery
$488 → $388

• Touch Up (valid for 3 month)
$200

• 6D eyebrows embroidery + 1 time touch up (valid for 3 month)
$688 → $550

• Natural Eyeliners
$488 → $388

Follow @brow_meister on Instagram to enjoy additional 10% discount from the listed rates (*Lash lift is not included*)
Note: Although this post was sponsored, I was under no obligations to say it's good if it's not so everything written here is based on my personal experience.

It was 2015 — the age of photographs; before the rise of Snapchat and Instagram Stories, before short videos were popularised. Like how I never thought I'd ever lose you, the thought of recording my life down in videos never crossed my mind. When you left, so did the traces of you.

Now I'm left with photographs and impersonations of you made from our memories. I've already forgotten how smelly your farts were, how frustrated I was with your long showers, your gentle and comforting touch as I sobbed my heart out. Soon, I will forget your quivering voice thick with Malaysian accent. Then your quiet love. Eventually, maybe, even you.

I miss you grandpa. Guess I always will.

Berlin is such a historically profound city that it both awes and terrifies me. Cheryl and I went on a free walking tour and it was mindblowing to see the juxtaposition of Berlin's most known landmarks — the SS Headquarters (Topography of Terror) and Berlin Cathedral were in such close proximity that you could be discussing war horrors or torturing a prisoner before sauntering over to pray to be a better person.




Adjacent to Berlin Cathedral is Lustgarten (literally, Pleasure Garden — see how close German is to English?). The unassuming park saw numerous rallies and protests during the years of Weimar Republic. Later, under Nazi Germany, Hitler held rallies attended by up to a million people in Lustgarten.

Stedelijk Museum was everything I enjoyed, all in one museum — modern art, contemporary art, photography, typography and graphic design. I don't think I can ever fully put into words how impactful Stedelijk Museum museum was. I had always held a steadfast belief that I was not artistically-inclined. After all, my grades proved so — Art was the only subject that ruined my perfect streak of straight A's — and who was I to question the educational system?

But strolling through Stedelijk Museum made me realise that art is subjective. Art is not the grades that I let define me for the past decade. Art is not blindly following a painting and the strokes my teacher showed us. Art is not the punishment my teacher subjected me to because I couldn't follow her instructions. And most of all, unlike Singapore's education system, art is about failing. In fact, art embraces failures.

How many household names out there have failed countless times before creating their masterpiece? How many artists passed away before their names were known to the world? And how many continued painting till their deathbeds despite never producing a known work.

All my life, I associated art with paintings, colourings, drawings — all of which I was atrocious at. But Stedelijk Museum showed me that art is more than that, and that I've been creating works of art without even realising it. Photography is art, typography is art, graphic design is art. Even if you find it impossible to comprehend, contemporary art and modern art is art. You don't have to like it, you just need to respect it.

It sounds silly that I'm raving about how big a difference an art museum made in my life, but Stedelijk Museum allowed me, a girl who never believed in her artistic sense despite having been a designer for distinguished companies, to fall in love with art over again.

I'll let some of my favourite photos do the talking but Stedelijk Museum is literally my favourite art museum in the world right now, and well worth every bit of that €10 ticket I was initially reluctant to splurge on.

P.S. You can get tickets to Stedelijk Museum at €10 as long as you're a student anywhere in the world.

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Address

Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

Opening hours

Saturdays to Thursdays: 10am to 6pm
Fridays: 10am to 10pm

Price

Adults above 18: €18,50
Students: €10
Below 18: Free

The irony that the sign was made by the prisoners and placed outside concentration camps, as if to taunt them. This phrase seems to have some sort of strange truth wrapped around it. Over-exhaustion is fatal yet, unfortunately and tragically, death is really their only chance at freedom.


When you look closely though, you might notice that the B in Arbeit is upside down — a gesture of silent resilience, an oxymoronic sign of oppressed assertion, a defiant “fuck you” to to the Nazis.


I couldn't stop thinking about it for days to come. How many teenagers of our generation can honestly say that they know about WW2? Sure, we know the basic facts, but do we understand the cruelty that happened in the concentration camps? The pain and humiliation suffered by the generations before us, their will to survive and how they fought for freedom.

Holocaust deniers worry me to no end. Aren't the pictures and videos enough to prove that these atrocious truly happened? None of those trialled after the war ever denied that the holocaust happened — their defence were that they weren't aware, they were following orders etc.

Please. Remember these lessons. If we don't learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.





Wrote the above about Auschwitz in 2015, and finally visited the historical site in 2018.

Unfortunately, after three years, my German remains abysmal at best due to the lack of practice, highly contributed by my everlasting need to procrastinate. Nun ja.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

Address

Więźniów Oświęcimia 20, 32-603 Oświęcim, Poland

Opening Hours

8am to 3pm
(Best to book the earliest timing as there will be less people and tour groups)

Tickets

Free for all. Tickets to be booked online.