Mia's Review: Gelish Manicure at Home Nails Salon [Sponsored]

If you follow me on IG (@mianne86), you probably know that I've gotten my first ever gelish manicure from Home Nails very recently. 

Located conveniently near Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station (sharing the same space with Poise Hair Studio), Home Nails Salon started out as a home-based nail salon in 2008 and gradually worked its way up to a retail nail salon in town!

The owner obtained her certifications from Korea, specialising in nail designs and the other nail therapists obtained their certifications from reputable academies, the likes of APT Professional Team.

Home Nails has been voted the Top 10 Best Nail Salons in Singapore by Honeycombers in 2013, and has also been lauded by Her World magazine in 2014 as one of the must visit salon. Recently, Home Nails' nail art has also been featured in the June 2015 issue of Timeout magazine for the Fashion Week Singapore. 

Some of Home Nails' popular services are gel extension, 3D nail arts, gelish nails and bridal nails. 

And since Home Nails is sharing the space with Poise Hair Studio (you got to enter Poise first and Home Nails will be to your left), you can arrange to do your nails while having your hair done!

So while having my hair dyed, I got my cuticles cut (without soaking, as getting nails wet before applying gelish will promote fungus growth thus Home Nails strongly advocates that. Such professionalism!), nails trimmed and a gelish manicure with pretty nail art designs done by the very talented therapist. I'm still very amazed at how she can do such delicate works on my nails while having such ridiculously long nail extensions herself. Her nails are so long, she even used it as a palette to hold the gel polishes while she did the nail art designs on my nails.
MAJOR RESPECT. 

And here's what I got on my nails after the talented therapist, Bella, is done with them. I've never thought that I will ever get such pretty nails that wouldn't chip on me like, immediately after leaving the nail salon. HAHAHA! 

It's been more than a week now and my nails still look exactly like day 1, no chips at all. There's also countless compliments from my colleagues and questions on how much I spent on these nails. It was sponsored by Home Nails but I took a peep at their price list and they're pretty reasonable. Home Nails has no qualms in showing their pricing online.

Check out: http://homenails.com.sg/services

The 4 huge jewels that was placed on my forefingers and ring fingers didn't give me any issue during hair-washing either (I was a little bit worried that it might constantly get caught in my hair).

Home Nails' therapists really go the extra mile to make sure every single detail is perfectly done. The colour layers were topped up until full opacity achieved; glitters reapplied until the intended look achieved, and at one point the therapist even had to painstakingly pick out the bigger pieces of glitter from the polish to dab on my nails; jewels carefully chosen to make sure the overall look is not compromised. And by the end of the manicure, instead of just applying a top coat, the therapist actually layered on a thick coat of curing gel (or whatever it's proper technical name is), file and buff it to smooth out the edges, and then finally finish the manicure with a layer of top coat to give it a beautiful shine. 

Showcasing some of Home Nails' therapists' brilliant nail creations.

 Fashion Nails

 Cute Nails.

 Cartoon Nails.

 Bridal Nails.

3D/Crystal Nails.

Home Nails Salon is located at The Nomu, 20 Handy Road #01-01. 

For more information, visit their website HERE

Sign up for Home Nails' mailing list below and 3 lucky winners will get to win $100 Home Nails voucher each! Remember to select "Mia" under the options! :)

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Till then,

Mia Foo

Mia's Review: Clear SK Hydrabright Lazer Facial [Sponsored]

Previously, I've blogged about ClearSK's Aqua Acne Clear Renewal Facial and this time round, I've returned to ClearSK at Novena Medical Centre to try out their Hydrabright Lazer Facial treament!

Meant to be a comfortable and pampering skin whitening treatment, the Hydrabright Lazer Facial first started off with the cosmetic lazer treatment, which uses LHE (Light and Heat Energy) to keep the skin supple and rejuvenated. The LHE also helps to brighten the skin tone and lighten pigmented skin conditions, such as acne marks and mild pigments. 

Resembling something like IPL, the handheld machine emits a very bright light (my eyes were covered by a layer of cloth but I could still see bright flashes with my eyes closed) when held against my skin and I could feel heat, which varies from mild to a little too hot for comfort (but still bearable) at different parts of my face. There's also a burning smell as the heat burns off my facial hair, which is normal. 

And after the LHE session, we moved on to a Japanese technology of Iontophoresis to break down pigments without damaging the skin. 

Light ultrasonic waves are first passed over the skin for gentle exfoliation before ascorbic and other antioxidants are applied onto the skin and a gentle current passed using an electrode creates an electrical gradient to propel the pure ascorbyl phosphate solution into the pores. It does sound a little painful to pass electricity through our skin, but it's actually pretty painless, just a dull numbing/vibrating sensation as the equipment slides around my face. 

After that, a light ultrasonic infusion of Vitamin C moisturiser was applied before a layer of facial masque was applied on for 15 minutes to lock in all the active ingredients. 

 Before.....

And after...

Though the improvement are not drastic, you can still see that the overall texture of my skin has improved just with 1 treatment (especially at the area below my eyes and right above my cheekbones) and my skin also got brighter. 

And once again, showing off my geeky spectables to sign off....

For more information on ClearSK Medi-Aesthetics and their services, visit their website at www.clearsk.com

Till then,

Mia Foo

Mia's Food Trail Review: Chicken Up

After my review of Penang Culture, here's another restaurant which I've really enjoyed the food while on my Century Square Food Trail.

Chicken Up!

I kind of like how they decor up the place. It's cute (those chicken feet!) yet paired up with pretty rustic looking furniture.

I've previously visited with T and tried out one of their KFC, kimchi fries and watermelon soju, all of which are really good but I felt was a little too pricey. Our bill for 2 (just those 2 dishes with the smaller serving of watermelon soju) came up to $80 plus $90? 

 Bulgogi Fries - $18

Comparing this to the kimchi fries, plus being a kimchi-fan, I'll definitely prefer the kimchi fries. The bulgogi ones are definitely a little too jerlat and 'meaty' for me. Fries itself is already a pretty heavy and oily taste, so drenching it generously with creamy mayonaise and tossed in bits of meat really isn't what I'll love to indulge in. 

I'll go for the kimchi fries anytime, sorry bulgogi. 

Toppoki with Seafood and Cheese - $20

And yes, that's quick a bit of shredded cheese on top when the pot is served. Just make sure to give it a good mix in.... 

And viola, cheesy seafood toppoki!

Unlike the 'traditional' topokki that has thicker gravy with a sweeter aftertaste (those sold locally in SG), Chicken Up does theirs more soupy, spicy without the off sweetness in the aftertaste, and added in tons of seafood, korean vermicelli, and topped up the goodness with grated cheese.

The teok (rice cakes) were chewy without taking down your jaw, and is well infused with the spicy flavour of the gravy, unlike some restaurants that probably doesn't cook the rice cakes long enough with the gravy, resulting in white and bland rice cakes. 

The pot looks small, but this dish sure packs enough to feed 2 or maybe even 3 tummies. 

A funny surprise when I tried the dish was when I bit into the mussel and heard something cracked. Initially I thought the mussel shell broke and I chewed on bits of it but it turned out....

The mussel 'ate' a miniature crab and haven't had time to digest it yet.

Watermelon Bingsu - $18

$18 might seem a little pricey for some watermelon balls, shaved ice, red beans and a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting on half a watermelon. However, in terms of visual appeal, quantity and quality, $18 didn't feel that much overpriced either.
In addition, those shaved ice were made from freezing milk and not just plain water, making it much more creamy and flavourful than expected.

Macaron Ice Cream - $6 each

I was totally eyeing them when I visited the first time with T but ended up with no stomach spaces for even a bite of this after having the kimchi fries, KFC and watermelon soju. 

And well, it's really just a food trend and pretty instagram-worthy dessert. 

As seen, the macaron shells, perhaps affected by the coldness and dampness of the ice cream, were hard and overly moist and chewy in the centre. Not the best kind of macaron shell you'll want to bite into. The shells were also just flat sweet with no special flavours to them, which made me want to just chuck the shells and just eat the ice cream on their own.

Another $6 for one? I think I'll prefer finding another 2 girlfriends and sharing another bingsu instead, thank you.

Chicken Up is located at Century Square #01-44/47
For more information, visit their website HERE

Till then,
Mia Foo

Beyond Beauty Slimming: Ionto & Hot Blanket

Yay, more slimming treatments! I was really glad to be able to work with Beyond Beauty this time round for a 3-months slimming programme targeting my thunder thighs. 

Needless to say, I chose to visit their outlet conveniently located at Tampines Junction every Sunday morning. 

Their treatment room is fully equipped with not just a hot bed (and blanket) and wash basin, but also a shower room with shower gel and shampoo for you to wash up after your treatment.

Here goes my 1st treatment during week 1.

After changing out of my clothes and into their white paper undies (semi-transparent, noooo!) and shower cap, the very friendly and professional staff first helped me take down my weight and body measurement before starting off with a sea salt body scrub mean for detoxification of my body and then wrapping up my thighs in cling wrap and sending me into the hot blanket for further detoxification of the body. The heat helps promote blood circulation which helps to enhance natural lymphatic flow and also helps with water retention problems. 

And if you have no idea what's a hot blanket...

This is basically what a hot blanket looks like and I've laid like so, wrapped up like a cocoon and sweated it out like a horse. The staff first left me steaming inside for the first 15 minutes before coming in to check on me every other 5 minutes to make sure that I do not get cooked giddy from the heat or over-sweating. 

The uncomfortable feeling of having large sea-salt grains on your body and sweating buckets under a hot blanket aside, I actually found it pretty funny that I actually resembled a pig getting marinated (with the salt) and then getting roasted. HAHAHA! I could really feel those large sea-salt scrubbing beads dissolving into my sweat, no joke!

And after a grueling 25 minutes, I was freed from the hot blanket and sent into the showers before moving on to part two of my treatment for the day.

Ionto (Electro-Therapy)

ElectroSlim is a customized slimming session using electrodes to treat your specific problem. This treatment has been proven to be extremely effective for firming and smoothing the musculature and connecting tissue, and as a measure to counteract cellulite. Furthermore, good results are achieved in the reduction of fatty tissue as well as activation of the micro-circulation and lymph flow.

Ionto are good for problems such as:

1. Disturbances of the metabolism

2. Weight reduction problems

3. Slack connecting tissue

4. Slack musculature

5. Cellulite

6. Panniculosus adiposus (not caused by illness)

7. Water collecting in the connecting tissue

I had 4 pads stuck on my thighs, which sends these jolts of electricity into my muscle tissues for 20 minutes straight and viola, first treatment which took me roughly about 1 hour is done! 

And after the 1 hour, I've lost about 0.6kg of weight and a total of 1.3cm reduction off my hip and thighs. 

And now to my 2nd treatment during week 2, the sea-salt scrub was taken off the treatment list and I went straight into the Ionto on a higher scale (that gave me a numb-shocking after feeling for a good few minutes) for the same 20 minutes before getting a full body wrap and lying under the hot blanket for 30 minutes! I perspired so much, my sweat trickled out from in between the cling wrap layers as I shifted my body around due to the restlessness. 

No measurements were taken after the treatment so I didn't know how many cm I've lost, but that's another 0.6kg lost after the hour's of treatment with my initial weight of the day being 0.2kg lighter than last week's. YAY!

So follow me as I continue with the remaining 3 months of my slimming journey with Beyond Beauty and for more information on Beyond Beauty's slimming, facial and spa services, do check out their website HERE

Till then,

Mia Foo

Mia's Food Trail Review: Penang Culture

Previously in my Century Square Food Trail post, I've mentioned that I'll be doing individual review posts on the restaurants I've visited and here's the first one coming up!

Located at level 4, beside Kenny Roger's, Penang Culture has been operating in Century Square for a while till date and I'm rather embarrassed to say that as a Tampinesian, I didn't notice them until I went on the food trail!
The restaurant is simple, with a slightly vintage feel to it (you can see it in the floor tiles) and is big and spacious like how a family restaurant will be.

And with that. let's get on with the food!

 Penang Lor Bak - $7.95

Well, I was expecting a pot of braised pork, and was surprised when it turned out as ngor hiang! Crispy on the outside with savoury and flavourful minced chicken meat inside, the lack of pork didn't effect its taste at all. Pairing up with a good dip of chili, this is just the dish to go for if you're not a fan of the distinctive 'pork smell' like me.

 Bronze BBQ Platter - $18.90

I'll find the satay, albeit flavourful, is a little too tough and dry (I took the mutton) and the squid a little too rubbery.
The disappointment of being slightly overcooked aside, the taste still packs a punch. The sambal, though not exceptionally spicy, is still strong enough to give a comfortable spiciness as you chew, with a slight hint of sweetness in the aftertaste.

 Penang Assam Laksa - $7.95

I'm not a fan of assam laksa at all, for I don't appreciate the sourness of the dish. But I love the extremely chewy (QQ) noodle that resembles the mouse tail noodles, which apparently is a characteristic of the dish. 

I so want to fish out the noodles and dunk them in the prawn mee soup! HAHA!

Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee - $8.95

Once again, I was expecting something close to our popular local delights, Hokkien Prawn Mee, but was surprised to see a bowl of prawn rice noodle soup.
Needless to say, the kway tiao (rice noodle) was soft and smooth, and the broth flavourful with the sweetness of the prawn heads and chicken bones that were used to boil it. With a quick mix in of the chili paste, this yummy bowl of prawn mee is complete!

Black Pepper Mantis Prawn - $10.95

After munching down a few pieces of it, I still couldn't really tell that they're mantis prawn. But who really cares when the taste is absolutely heavenly? The battered, fried pieces of the mantis prawns were then tossed in a savoury black pepper sauce that is so delicious! This will totally go well with a bowl of rice, I'll tell you.

Premium Crab Meat & Salted Egg Fried Kway Tiao - $14.99

As mentioned in my food trail post, this is my favourite dish at Penang Culture for the day. Those crispy fried bits you see covering all over the kway tiao are actually fried salted egg bits, which added to much texture and flavour to the savoury, soft and slightly chewy fried kway tiao that's tossed in generous serving of seafood. 

Coconut Milkshake - $6.95

I'm not a fan of coconut, but this drink is still pretty okay for me. It's more towards the refreshing taste of a coconut water than the heavy creamy texture of milkshakes in general. 

Rambutan Juice - $4.95

This is like a less acutely sweet version of the rambutan cocktail blended up with ice and served to you as it is. A really good choice, even if you're not really a big fan of rambutans. 

Penang Culture is located at Century Square, #04-11/12

For more information, visit their website HERE