With Love, from Bag of Love [APRIL]

Hey, guys.

First of all, my apologies for the delay in my posts lately. My assignment deadlines and work commitments have been swarming in on me and sadly, my blog has to take the backseat momentarily. Hopefully, by June, the workload would have lessened. Until then, sorry and here, have a cookie! 

Without further ado, on to the review!

Courtesy of  the Butterfly Project, I was invited to be a part of Bag Of Love's Unzipping event at Delectable Treats by Su a few weeks ago and along with 50 other bloggers around Malaysia, was given the opportunity to review the April edition of Bag of Love. I decided to try my hand at a product shoot using natural lighting and shadows. Hope you like the photos.

For the April bag, Bag of Love went green and the bleach-free canvas bag was filled with products that are either natural, organic or contribute someway or another to the environment according to founder, Mimi Teh.  

Hotshots Coffee & Tea, Solaris Dutamas

Admittedly, finding this place was a challenge. It is like one of those elusive treasure islands that you see from a distance but when you try to navigate your way to it, all bearings are lost. But that is due to the confusing layout of Publika. HotShots Coffee and Tea is on the first floor of Solaris Dutamas, facing the main road and along the same row as Pappa Rich.

HotShots gives off the feeling of coming home to the smell of fresh brewed coffee as you walk into a well-furnished warm and inviting kitchen/dining room area with a black marble island table in the middle. While one side of the table made up the coffee brewing area, the other was a sunny homey space with high-chairs and sofa seating. There is also outdoor seating on the balcony walkway overlooking the busy road. This is the kind of place you could just sit and relax for hours either catching up with friends or just doing your work.

HiShop Welcome Box

I have been very stressed out lately due to pending assignments deadlines, my part-time gig as a PR consultant and a few blog posts that has been piling up.But I am going to tackle them one at a time. Starting with a review of HiShop's little welcome box of chocolates beauty stuff.

Thanks, HiShop

So, a few weeks ago, I was invited to become a HiShop (pronounced as Hai-shop) beauty ambassador and upon accepting the invitation, received a welcome beauty box from HiShop to review a few days later.

Bag Of Love Unzipped at Delectable Treats

In unexpected turn of events, I actually managed to get an invitation to Bag of Love's Unboxing-turned-Unzipping event after days of doubting my earlier blog post on the event was enough. There were so many creative bloggers out there that went the extra mile to recreate their own imaginary tea party.

It was easy to see why so many wanted to be a part of this event organised by the Butterfly Project and Bag of Love in collaboration with Delectable Treats, Paradigm Mall. Not only were we treated to an overdose of yummy sugary and savoury treats, we were the first few in Malaysia to unzip our very own April edition of Bag of Love.

Everything Yummy at The Red Beanbag

The Red Beanbag could very well be my new favourite place to eat at whenever I am in Publika. On three separate visits, I have been wow-ed, impressed and mouth-orgasmed to their yummy dishes, coffee and desserts. You can read about my first trip here.

My second visit was supposed to be for lunch with a friend but because we arrived before 12noon, we could only order from the Breakfast Menu (10am - 3pm) as the Lunch Menu starts from 12pm onwards. As we were starving, we went ahead and ordered even though it was only 20 minutes to noon.

Friend ordered the Specialty Baked Eggs (RM17.90) that comes with three slices of crusty bread. The eggs are baked and served in a baking dish along with a combination of lamb, beef and chicken bratwurst sausages, sundried tomatoes, potatoes and cheese. The dish was oozing with tomatoes and cheese that can be scooped up with the bread. Every helping we had of it had at least a piece of meat that was juicy although albeit salty. My friend was super pleased RBB had French unsalted butter upon request for the bread. There is a 15-20 minutes waiting time for this dish so it's not advisable to have this if you're starving. God knows why my friend ordered this....

Le Ann Maxima Spring/Summer 2013

Le Ann Maxima has brought a sense of a dreamy garden party to fashion with their Spring/Summer 2013 collection themed the Secret Garden. At the fashion showcase recently held at the Scott, Jaya One, bloggers, media and die-hard fans and supporters of the brand caught a preview of the gorgeous pieces of the Spring/Summer collection.

L.A.M fashion showcase at the Scott.

Known for their simplistic and versatile designs, Le Ann Maxima's latest collection highlights the soft and subtle colours of the pastel pallets with the lovely colours of sea foam green, lilac, salmon and lemon yellow. The ever classical tone of black, white and grey compliments and balances out the pastel pieces perfectly for a look that eludes a carefree spirit.

Iron Man 3 Movie Review

And off we go with Phase 2 of Marvel's film series!

Rightfully so, kicking off the series is Iron Man 3, starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Ben Kingsley as Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes and the Mandarin respectively.

Thanks to Groupon Malaysia, I was treated to the opening night of Iron Man 3 and was blown away by the storyline. And they say, superhero stories were becoming too predictable. Well, along came Iron Man 3.

TT Instantaneous Brightening Cooling Mask Review

Hi, guys!

Well, hasn't the Malaysian weather gone all wonky on us and has seem to have lost its ability to make up its mind. Pretty much like our country leaders right before General Elections. Anyway, back to the weather. One minute it's raining cats and dogs and the next, blazing hot with no cloud in sight. And when it's hot, it's really supernova hot. That's Malaysia for you. Lovely food, crazy weather.

But thanks to Timeless Truth Mask and Plus Size Kitten, I have just the thing to combat the blazing hot days in the form of TT Mask's Instantaneous Brightening Cooling Mask.

Courtey of TT Mask and Plus Size Kitten of the Butterfly Project.

Genting YNOT Graffiti Finale Event

Thanks to Resort World Genting and Nuffnang, I was given the opportunity to attend the finale of RWGenting's YNOT Graffiti Art event with about 30 other bloggers and their plus ones. After dropping off our luggage at First World hotel's lobby and collecting our blogger passes, we headed to the theme park.

Blogger pass = free access to theme park

Along the way, we saw the vibrant colourful graffiti art works, some complete and others still in progress with their artists still hard at work. Of course, we could not resist taking pictures of the art works and with them. Some of us even got to try our hand at graffiti spraying!


Colourful works of art

Noob at work.

YNot by RWGenting celebrates what was formerly viewed as illegal or part of the 'underground' scene such as graffiti art, BMX and hip hop dance. All of these elements were openly displayed and performed for everyone throughout the event. Emceeing and entertaining us at the event with their sarcastic and deadpanned humour were Dennis Yin and Chris Ooi of Elecoldxhot dance crew.

Fraser's Hill in Two Days

A recent visit to Fraser's Hill to hike Pine Tree Hill with my bootcamp friends became an overnight trip for me because it has been ages since I visited Fraser's Hill. That and I desperately wanted to escape the KL heat then.

Map of Fraser's.

I booked a studio apartment with Puncak Inn through Agoda a few days before the trip because it was super cheap at only RM120 a night for three people. Upon check-in, we were directed to Silver Park Apartments which was about a 3 minutes drive from the iconic Fraser's clock tower. Our top-floor apartment was there and although it could do with a fresh coat of paint and carpeting, the single room apartment was a comfortable home for a night.

Silver Park apartment.

We had hiked Pine Tree Hill and Twin Peaks prior to checking in and were in dire need for a good hot shower. You can read about the mentally-taxing hike here. Besides Pine Tree Hill, there are seven other trails around and about Fraser's that cater to various fitness levels. I plan to strike off those trails on my next visit.