Singapore’s annual premier fashion event, Audi Fashion Festival (AFF) returns for its 5th year bigger and bolder. Grandly celebrating its anniversary, the festival will be hosted from 15 to 19 May at the Marina Promenade, against the backdrop of the Singapore skyline. This year, the festival will be co-located with the Blueprint Tradeshow and Emporium, Asian Summit and Audi Star Creation at the waterfront and looks set to be more exhilarating and electrifying than ever before.

Themed ‘Crafting the Future’, this year’s festival will span a total of 5 days, featuring a mix of emerging and established top-class names from the international world of fashion and glamorous after-parties with headlining international acts, giving prominence to excellent artistry that will pave the way for the future.

The chosen theme for this year’s event, ‘Crafting the Future’ echoes the shared belief of all involved. [...], the designers presenting their creations at the shows are offering their vision for the future.

- Mr. Jeff Mannering, Managing Director of Audi Singapore

In the spirit of the theme, AFF has chosen Singapore’s two most iconic models to star in the campaign – Supermodel Sheila Sim who has been featured in campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Loewe, Tiffany & Co. and Shanghai Tang and up-and-coming star Vivien Ong who recently graced the cover of February’s ELLE Italia and walked the runway of Paris Fashion Week.

Shot by Singapore’s renowned fashion photographer, Joel Lim, the campaign photoshoot remained sleek and modern, focusing on craftsmanship as Sheila and Vivien are accessorised with intricate cuffs and collars from Indonesian label, Toton, aligning the festival’s stance on supporting Asian designers. The captivating make-up on both models are designed by make-up label, NARS, featuring an edgy & futuristic look, with strong eyes and bold colours being the focus. Both models’ identical asymmetrical chin-length bobs, created by Redken, lend the campaign image a futuristic edge.

Here is the complete line-up for Audi Fashion Festival 2013:

Zardozë Fall/Winter 2013 and Panthea 2013
Singapore-based independent fashion label, Zardozë, will debut their first-ever show at the festival with their Fall/Winter 2013 and Panthea 2013 collections. The show will close with a show-stopping, one-of-a-kind diamond dress. Made in an atelier in Paris, it features 130-carat of diamonds and is valued at over half a million dollars.

-

NEW GENERATION TALENT

Parco next NEXT Showcase
Parco next NEXT will feature its new batch of fashion design incubator project designers.

Audi Star Creation – 2012 Capsule Collection
Audi Star Creation 2012 Winners, Ko Youngji (South Korea), Roderic Wong (China) and Soravit Kaewkamon (Thailand) will be presenting their respective capsule collections.

Future Fashion Now (FFN)
Future Fashion Now (FFN) also returns this year for its second run featuring Asian designers including Ong Shunmugam.

***

The festival looks set to open with a bang and propel local fashion scene further into the international spotlight.

Tickets go on sale at SISTIC from April 2013 onwards.

Images credit: Audi Fashion Festival

Here’s the catch you’ve been waiting for!

I’m giving away 4 pairs of tickets to:

Audi Fashion Festival – Tsumori Chisato AW2013

Date: Friday, 17 May 2013

Time: 8PM

Venue: Tent @ Marina Promenade

This is to celebrate Samsung’s collaboration with Club 21 for the Club 21 phone app preloaded exclusively on the GALAXY S4 With LTE.

The Club 21 app is preloaded exclusively on the GALAXY S4 With LTE. Access style at your fingertips with the Club 21 app. Follow the latest trends of over 200 Club 21 brands, get alerted to promotions and locate boutiques near you. A secure login allows Club 21 Cardmembers to access full membership’s rewards and privileges on-the-go.

The GALAXY S4 With LTE introduces exciting features that are suitable for every fashionista:

• Dual Shot lets you take a photo with the front and rear cameras at the same time so that you can be amongst the models on the catwalk.
• Capture iconic fashion shows using Animated Photo which allows you to pick a part of the photo to move while others remain still.
• Rock on with Group Play, a feature that wirelessly streams music and photos so that you can bring your party anywhere, anytime.
• When you look away from your phone, Smart Pause instinctively stops whatever you’re watching, so you don’t miss a beat.

A snapshot of Tsumori Chisato’s SS13 Collection

To win yourself a pair of tickets to the Audi Fashion Festival – Tsumori Chisato AW2013 fashion show, simply email (melissajaneho@gmail.com) me your name, email address and a screenshot to show that you’ve downloaded the Club21 app on yor mobile phone to qualify! Results will be announced on 16 May 2013 (Thursday, AM).

Good luck! <3

PROMO 1

Essensuals Bugis is celebrating their 3rd Anniversary and they’re having the above promotion! It is only for the entire month of May and these are the details:

PROMO MECHANICS:

• PROMO IS FROM 1^ST TO 31^ST MAY 2013.
• EVERY $80 SPENT IS ONE RAFFLE ENTRY.
• ALL ENTRIES MUST BE DROPPED INTO THE DROP BOX IN THE SALON.

WINNERS WILL BE SELECTED ON 2^ND June 2013 at Essensuals Bugis.

PROMO 2

• 50% OFF ALL HAIR TREATMENTS.
• VALID TILL 20TH MAY 2013.
• THIS PROMO CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS OR PROMOTIONS
• QUOTE “BLOGGER MELISSA JANE” FOR 10% OFF ALL SERVICES!

Essensuals Bugis Hairdressing

241-A Victoria Street

Bugis Village

S’pore 188030

Tel: No. 6333 0039

www.goessensuals.com

Follow on Instagram @essensualsbugis

On Facebook @essensualsbugis

Stepping out of house with the perfect hair, only to find your confidence waning by mid-day? With Singapore’s humid weather creating undesirable frizz and flyaway, having silky-smooth hair would seem almost unattainable. Achieving beautiful hair that lasts all day is just a step away with the New ASIENCE Leave-On Hair Treatment range.

Containing ASIENCE’s exclusive Beauty Essences (Lotus Flower, Camellia Oil, Pearl and Shell Ginger Leaf), the range provides intensive repair and moisturises hair from within. Enhanced with a hair ‘veiling’ ingredient, ASIENCE’s advanced Moisture-Lock Complex retains moisture to give long-lasting smoothness and manageability, so you can flaunt those silky tresses at any moment, everyday!

Complement your hair care regime with this luxurious Leave-on Treatment that pampers your hair like no other. The New ASIENCE Leave-On Hair Treatment range comes in three different formats – Oil, Milk and Water – to suit the preferences of every Asian woman.

ASIENCE Leave-On Treatment Oil (28ml) – For Severely Dry and Damaged Hair

Concentrated yet non-oily, it intensively repairs and retains moisture to keep hair glossy and healthy.

Close up of my hair strands in their original state, after 1-2 days of w/o shampooing. Observe that it’s relatively dry and looks pretty “lifeless” by itself. Little help was given to it for nourishment etc in the last 8 hours.

After application of the Treatment Oil (2 pumps) – hair looks softer, smoother and more manageable, does not “scatter” easily.

ASIENCE Leave-On Treatment Milk (100ml) – For dry and frizzy hair

Nourishing yet non-greasy, it instantly repairs and retains moisture to keep hair beautifully soft and healthy.

After application of the Treatment Milk – hair condition noticeably improved, hair looks healthy and has high shine! Illustration below to show how you achieve shiny hair (hair with few hollows) – fill these hollows with the new Moisture-Lock Complex!

ASIENCE Leave-On Treatment Water (200ml) – For Tangled and Untamed Hair

Light as water, it instantly repairs and retains moisture without weighing your hair down.

Final condition of hair after using all 3 products, in comparison with the first picture, you can see it’s a dramatic improvement in texture, shine and overall health. In just one usage! With silkier, smoother hair, it’s a real confidence boost to me especially when I’m going out and needing to style my hair to keep it as pristine as possible. Dry, coarse hair just makes me want to give up on the grooming altogether and tie it up in a bun to avoid the fuss. Is that a common sentiment?

Feel the smoothness and manageability of beautiful hair with the New ASIENCE Leave-On Hair Treatment range. Achieve confidence that lasts all day! Available in three formats – Treatment Oil / Milk / Water.

With its proper care and new nourishing Moisture-Lock ingredients to bring out the best in my hair, I LOVE ASIENCE! <3

New ASIENCE Leave-On Treatment range retails from $14.90 and is available from April’2013 at selected hypermarkets, supermarkets and pharmacies.

For more product information, please visit KAO’s website here.

Black Box is the first free unisex lifestyle bi-monthly sampling box in Singapore, and it aims to encourage responsible sampling and introduce them by sending you the latest or tried and tested products by the Black Box Team for your sampling too!

Besides sampling products, Black Box introduces lifestyle brands too via Black Box Vouchers for your enjoyment of shopping, wellness and dining discounts! The pouch that carries the vouchers always has a different design in every Black Box Edition so eventually it becomes a “collectible”!

Black Box gives you an all-rounded sampling opportunity, with products of various categories!

First BlackBox (inaugural, February edition):

1. Nature Valley 100% natural crunchy granola bars, Oats ‘ n Honey (16g of whole grain) – Real honey combined with rolled oats to produce a sweet, wholesome snack

Ash enjoying the granola bar

2. Dr Jart+ Premium Blemish Base (limited edition) SPF 45/ PA+++ Whitening Anti-Wrinkle 15ml

3. Dr Jart+ V7 VitaLaser Skin Perfecting Revitalizer – high performance whitening treatment, seven vitamin complexs, skin liquid crystalline system

4. Dettol natural nourishing body wash (with natural olive and almond)

5. Darlie Expert White toothpaste

6. L’Oreal Paris Total Repair 5: Deep Repairing Mask – Combat the 5 signs of damaged hair: breakage, dryness, dullness, coarseness, split-ends

7. L’Oreal Men Expert Pure & Matte Charcoal Black Scrub – With 2000 beads per use, the black scrub dives deeply into pores and unclogs them one by one to remove oil, dirt & other forms of impurities & dead cells from both surface & deep from pores. It helps to reduce blackheads and other imperfections caused by blocked pores with impurities.

Say HI to poster boy!

8. Estetica (est.lab) sunshield spf 50 – advanced UVA & UVB protection with new breakthrough SmartVector UV technology (new improved formula)
9. L’Oreal Youth Code pre-essence – boosts skin care effectiveness – use before serum, moisturizer or facial mask for better results

10. Kinohimitsu Drinks (69 Men, 69 Women and Bodyslen)

Black Box February Vouchers

Federbrau, BottomSlim, Apple Skin Care, 7-11, Bioskin, AbsTrimMen, Stretchxout by Bioskin, Sanrio, the spa artisan, Zalora

***

April Black Box

Product Samples

1. L’Oreal Revitalift L.A.S.E.R. X3 Renewing Anti-Aging Serum

2. L’Oreal Revitalift L.A.S.E.R. X3 Renewing Anti-Aging Cream

3. Zappy Baby Wipes

4. Vanish Pink Powder Sachet

5. Belif The True Cream – Aqua Bomb

6. Belif First Aid 360 Eye Care Mask

7. Belif Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist

8. Belif UV Protector Daily Sunscreen Gel

9. Nature Valley Oats ‘n Honey

10. L’Oreal Paris Base Magique

11. ettusais Skin Version Up SUPER

12. Nivea for Men Multi Effect 8 Oil Control Cooling Volcanic Mud Foam

13. Bioflora Collabee

14. NESCAFE CAFE MENU Cappuccino, NESCAFE CAFE MENU Mocha, NESCAFE CAFE MENU Hazelnut Latte

15. Darlie Expert White

16. Darlie Double Action Enamel Protect (Strong Mint)

April Vouchers: Zalora, Qoo10, 7-11, Body Contours, The Ark, Revive Wellness, Sold.sg, Orion Crystal Jewellery

***

Behind the Scenes/ Activation Event at Raffles Place

Simply sign up at www.blackbox.sg to receive your very own FREE Black Box with at least 4 deluxe samples in the next edition of Black Box (June)! Also, “like” Black Box on Facebook and hear about the latest giveaways and promotions!

I’ve been dreading making this video since the day I know we, as bloggers of this Hitachi HadaCRiE Cool campaign, are supposed to beg, borrow and steal one. Yeah yeah this is my first self-made video EVER – at least in my blog. I’ve been filmed a couple of times for interviews or at events but a tutorial or demonstration with built-in public speaking skills – nah. Thinking about it gets me nervous. I’ll rehearse in my mind how I’m going to present myself, just very briefly. But I never expected for Murphy’s Law to set in as I finally sat down to film with my boyfriend Ash.

Pardon the quality of this video but I tried my very best to produce it by the deadline! Hopefully, I had articulated well enough the key functions, purposes and benefits of the Ion Cleanser device.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Kindly note that before using the HadaCRiE Cool, your face should be fairly free of oil/dirt/makeup after your regular facial cleansing. The device should be used on a clean face for it to work its magic with the massaging and vibration techniques. Always stroke it in an upward motion for the toner or serum/moisturizer to penetrate deeply into your pores.

As you can see in the video demonstration, I’m in a perfectly “natural state” as well, without a trace of makeup. In fact my lines are delivered totally unscripted, and in one take, out of sheer “unforeseen and desperate” circumstances. So they’re very much – a true testimony. You’ll find out in awhile why this video done last minute, in fact, with my iPhone 4S. Initially I had taken a 13 minute video with my Olympus Pen [EP3] and even arranged for a special “guest star” to try the product. OH WELL. On a slightly side note, I do intend to purchase a ring light to enhance the quality of my future videos by having better lighting on my face, so that it’s also possible to demonstrate tutorials on other skin care and makeup products. It’ll be fun and interesting for everyone so if you have any suggestions or tips on video making or editing, please drop me a note! Thanks in advance, lovelies, will really appreciate that! <3

So let me explain the drama alright – because the video recordings taken with my Pen come in AVCHD formats, they’re incompatible with my current Macbook OSX, so there’s the long and tiring process of transferring, converting and loading of the files between computers and hard disks just to get the .mov format. Then comes the problem of having them churned out with mismatched audio, and an irritating “wondershare.com” logo right in the middle of the video throughout. We decided that just won’t work, and iPhone seems like the best way to re-make it at this juncture, so we took the video in a single take, went through the painstaking trouble of retrieving the clip (long story), and finally planting it into iMovie for simple edits.

I’ve also filmed Ash with the HadaCRiE Cool, and I’ll upload it (his testimony) in this space as soon as I can get the files out. He also enjoyed using the device – it pretty much provides a memorable customer experience – even for guys!

Final Verdict: The Hitachi HadaCRiE Cool is an enhanced version of its predecessor, the HadaCRiE, with the additional function of the “Cool-Aesthetic”. Of all the 4 functions of the device, I find the “Cleansing” and “Moisturize” most useful as I could really feel that my face becomes extra refreshed and cleansed, as I do it in front of a mirror and watch how my skin brightens up after the process. Pores also appear smaller and cleaner. In particular, I find the massaging motion a pleasure; moreover it brings out extra benefits like improved blood circulation and promotes faster and more effective absorption of your preferred skin care/toner into your skin.

This is not to say that you’ll WILL expect miraculous results of your skin’s condition after using the HadaCRiE Cool. I would say to manage your expectations because then again not everyone’s skin react/adapt to the same products similarly. I recommend to use this device for a period of time (2-3 weeks) before you may notice a more dramatic improvement. In any case, 18 minutes is all you need to complete the 4 steps, but of course you may skip steps according to your preference and schedule. I’m certain most of us will not skip the Cool Aesthetic mode though, because the icy-cool sensation on the face is AMAZING! It really is a feel-good innovative product

Want to have it for yourself right now?

Retail Price of the Hitachi HadaCRiE Cool: S$499

Outlets: Gain City Marina Square & Changi City Point and Parisilk 46 East Coast Road #01-01 East Gate.

Thank you OMY.SG for the great opportunity to be in this campaign, and the patience you’ve had during the course of this project. Apologies for the slight delay in the video submission! I’m making a trip this weekend to the IT Mall to upgrade my laptop, hard disk and all, and to ensure that my camera outputs are compatible, so no more dramas and hassle in future, hopefully!

Thank you Hitachi for having me as part of the new HadaCRiE Cool campaign, hope my honest reviews are useful. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself testing and using this product for my daily cleansing and skin pampering, and I look forward to more quality, trending and innovative beauty products from you that constantly strives to enhance our busy lifestyles and improving our quality of life.

Just a quick announcement: Hitachi is participating in the Lianhe Wanbao 30th Anniversary Health & Beauty Event @ Marina Bay Sands on 4th and 5th May. Above appended is the event ad with more details. It’ll be at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center, so do drop by and check the HadaCRiE series out if you intend to make a purchase

Finally, for my dear readers – VOTE & WIN!

Vote for me now and stand a chance to win a Hitachi FaceCRiE and an Electric Eyelash Curler worth $260!

Have fun and God Bless!