H&M's rebellious younger sister, Monki has finally opened its doors to Malaysian shoppers on the 30th April 2014. Upon arrival, guests were greeted with huge gold balloons spelling out the brand name and a plethora of exciting prints on casual clothing. One cannot deny that Monki is for the girls who does not live by the rules and adventurous, and I, of course went on a little shopping frenzy at the launch. How do you resist animal printed socks, seriously?

This Swedish-based brand in the latest addition to Kuala Lumpur's list of finest high street stores and it is currently located in Nu Sentral shopping mall, just opposite KL Sentral station. Do pay them a visit this weekend as fellow blogger, DJ Jane Chuck will be spinning great tunes for the shoppers. Plus, there will be a manicure and hair chalking service for those who just wants to try them out. Trust me, once you've been Monkified, you might not turn back.

I wore Monki's floral tee dress from the Wallflowers collection

Since opening its first outlet in Malaysia, Dome Cafe has grown to a total of 20 outlets - serving comfort food and fine coffees to Malaysians over the years. This year also marks the first time Dome Cafe Malaysia and The Melium Group getting involved in a Corporate Social Responsibility Project by promoting a greener lifestyle, contributing towards maintaining and preserving the planet for future sustainability. Dome Cafe Malaysia and The Melium Group is encouraging you to go green and spread awareness about the importance of going eco-friendly and changing your lifestyle toward achieving this goal. 

Smaller steps are the best way to lead towards a greener lifestyle by reducing wastes, reuse and recycle products. At Dome outlets, they support the green effort by using biodegradable waste bags, segregated to wet and dry ones. Their takeaway cup sleeves are made from recycled paper and they are currently reducing the usage of print materials to enhance sustainable practices to promote a more eco-friendly lifestyle. 

As part of their commitment to this, Dome Malaysia has created a handy shopping bag made from high-quality jute fabric (100% biodegradable). You can get this for FREE when you spend RM200 and above in a single receipt at any DOME outlet or purchase them at only RM20.

There are so many ways an individual can follow to reduce their carbon footprint on a daily basis - car pooling, recycle materials like paper and plastic, turn off electricity switch when not in use, reduce printing on paper, and use shopping bags instead of plastic bags when shopping. However, here are a few creative up-cycling and DIY things you can try from old everyday materials to save cost and wastage:

1. Toilet paper roll to store USB cables

Collect a few empty toilet rolls, tape them together to fit inside a shoe box and fill them up with your usb or important cables so you won't lose them again! Just remember to put them back in storage when you're done using them.

Source

2. DIY water sprinkler or watering cans

Use a normal water bottles and poke holes at the bottom to create an easy DIY water sprinkler for your garden.

Source

Upcycle milk/juice bottles by poking holes on the cap and use it as watering cans for plants.

Source

3. Recycle old belts into shelf hangers, bicycle bottle holders, curtain ties and more

Source

4. Turn your liquor/ glass bottles into soap, shampoo or lotion dispenser

I've seen this while traveling where the house owner turned old Vodka bottles into soap/ shampoo dispensers but putting a pump cover (you can buy this at home DIY stores) on top. Pretty nifty trick to reuse old glass bottles. If you don't drink, even those soda, juice concentrate bottles works just the same.

5. Turn tool boxes, egg cartons into mini gardens.

Upcycle any containers into a mini herb garden at your own home. It works even if you live in an apartment. Plus, it's a great activity with your children and get them to start young.

source

 source

If you want to get your hands on Kate Somerville here in Malaysia, visit your nearest Sephora outlet to find out more. 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SephoraMalaysia

Instagram - http://instagram.com/sephoramy

I have personally tried both in the past week. The first thing I liked about these products are the heavenly fruity smell. The sizes are great to pack them into my travel kit and their packaging are definitely fuss-free. I have yet to use it for 21 days continuously as it's very difficult for me to keep to a specific skin regimen depending on my daily activities but based on a few applications, my skin feels smoother, slighter brighter, definitely cleaner and the tone is clearer. It helps that I'm also taking vitamin C orally but I loved the fresh feeling that the 2 in 1 exfoliating scrub mask gives without making the skin dry and taut. The Oxy-Vitamin Treatment Serum is great to act as an intensive mineral cocktail to repair my skin while I sleep. The mask scrub's granules are very fine and it is gentle to the skin without leaving my skin feeling raw.

The mask retails at RM198 (40ml) and the serum at RM228 (20ml) which are a little steep in the current market, but it did help my skin in a very short period. It's not a miracle product, nothing is, but I would definitely would like to see the results of a continuous usage myself. If you're looking for a simple and effective solution to your urban exposed skin, you should give this a try. 

SOTHYS MALAYSIA Website | Facebook

SOTHYS Raspberry Lychee Oxygenating Vitamin home care and facial treatment is available at all SOTHYS Flagship Salons and Premium Salons nationwide. 

Malaysia's been having a box subscription fever recently that there's an influx of boxes going around. I was first introduced with the subscription box concept via Birchbox from USA (I love Birchbox Men as well) and wondered if it would ever be a big hit in Malaysia and true enough, it did. People love getting surprised, and with great samples or full-sized products you cannot go wrong. 

Beauty boxes aside, Jerine Lay, a fellow blogger then introduced me to the Fashion Box concept - pay a monthly subscription, pick a theme, and wait for the box filled with fashion goods delivered to you. Fashion Culture Box charges RM58 per box and you choose your desired theme (they change every month) and receive goods related to it. Last month, I picked a Beach theme and received complete set of accessories to use for my next beach getaway - necklace, earrings, bangle, and scarf. The box was very well packaged and curated, with additional surprises such as the nail stickers and moisturising gel for some fun under the sun. 

They have currently closed subscription for April's box (yes I'm a little late to announce this, but that doesn't mean you can't subscribe to their newsletter by signing up, no?) but do check out their website for fashion curated content on the FCzine, or shop their past products here. 

If you're not into these, why not get them for someone you love as it makes a great gift box? They're also having promotions if you decide to get all three boxes instead of one here. 

So I've finally got my first ever Clarisonic cleansing brush. Trust me, when I had it in my hands, charging the first 24 hours were pure torture. I was too excited to bring it into the shower, use it and feel like those girls in the skincare commercial, all pure and fresh. Of course, it didn't happen that way. The first time felt a little odd, and I was expecting circular movement of the brush in order to feel 'cleansed' like a baby being baptised. 

I think that's the mindset that most of us would have, especially when all the traditional cleansing brushes works in such way. I was fortunate to have found the light of truth at the Clarisonic launch event, where Clarisonic works in an oscillation movement (I'm glad I was a pure science student at one point so I didn't look that clueless after all) so that it would not tug and pull your skin - this eventually leads to the formation of wrinkles in long-term.

Invented by the very same people that invented the electronic toothbrush, Clarisonic cleansing device have been changing the way people clean their skin for years. 

This oscillation motions supposedly function to loosen the dirt off the skin - instead of digging through your pores and forces the sebum or dirt out, it gently massages the skin around the pore until it is removed. I was skeptic about the one-minute cleansing regime, and the OCD in me kicked in to do double cleansing but through time I realised that one minute is all it takes in the shower to cleanse the face (yes, you can bring it into the shower). If your skin faces irritation after using this device, ask yourself if you've been using too much. You might want to minimise the cleansing routine to once a day before bedtime and apply serum after as it increases absorption of products.

I can't tell you how Clarisonic has changed my cleansing routine, it's pricey but worth the investment as it'll last for years. Washing with just your hands does not cut it anymore, I'm an addict and probably won't need rehab for this one. Even my husband and brother-in-law swears by it, they each have one unit for themselves. My husband used to have large pores with severe white and blackheads but once he started using this, it has reduced by 70%. Now it's just those stubborn ones that needs extraction. Okay, before I start sounding like a lady in a testimonial video, I should stop and let the product speak for itself. It's good, its easy, and I even carry it whenever I travel and maybe, if you have extra cash please skip those expensive "magic" cream and invest in this one first. It'll help your other products to work better when you have clearer, cleaner skin. 

Check out this video I found of the different experiments done using a typical over-the-counter cleanser versus a Clarisonic, its the closest I could find to the demo that I was shown at the launch.

My only word of advice when travelling with this, don't use it in the shared shower of a hostel, it sounds like a vibrator or you'll get weird looks from other girls when you get out of the cubicle haha


And if you have purchased your first unit of Clarisonic, check out this video to help you get started:

Clarisonic is available at Biotherm counter Pavilion and Sephora outlets throughout Malaysia.