5 Must-haves for a day at the beach // ITSTHESHIP 2015

So excited to be boarding the coolest party cruise again in a couple of weeks! Last year's experience was amazeballzzzzzz and hopefully this year would be even better! 

Just so you know... ITSTHESHIP is Asia’s largest and foremost festival at sea. It is a blend of a vacation and a music festival in a 5-star luxury environment. Not to mention performances from international and regional headlining acts (so excited for Carnage OMG). ITSTHESHIP 2014 was last year’s “Most Talked About Event”, voted by you guys on Juice Magazine and the second instalment is finally going to be hosted onboard Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner of The Seas this November. If you still don't know, ITSTHESHIP will depart on 20th Nov, make a stop at tropical Langkawi (omg the clear blue waters) and arrive back in Singapore on the 23rd for 4D3N!

I’m always overpacking for trips because I’m super indecisive. This time round, I’m determined to pack light and bring only the essentials. After much contemplation I finally came up with 5 must bring items for ITSTHESHIP 2015.

1.     BEACH WEAR

Similar to a beach party, ITSTHESHIP is best enjoyed in your favourite bikini/beach wear. Say goodbye to tight fitting clubbing dresses, comfy is the way to go!

Recommended stores: Nastygal, Boohoo, Surfstitch, Saboskirt, Seafolly, Topshop/Cotton on/H&M.

2.     TEMPORARY TATTOOS

No commitments, just pure glitz and glamour. Get creative and apply these temporary flash tattoos with your friends. It also doubles up as hassle free accessories! You can get them on Flashtat!

3.     MAKE UP

Since you are going to be outdoors most of the time, it would be great to apply light waterproof make up! This will help you stay dolled up all day and you wont even have to be afraid to jump into the pool! Most of these items could be found at any Sephora outlet.

4.     COVER UP

The evening breeze on board is a little chilly so don't forget to bring you cutest cover up to keep yourself warm!

H&M, Topshop, Zara, Nastygal, Saboskirt are some places you can get these boho-style coverups!

5.     WATERPROOF PHONE CASE

Selfies in the pool? No problem! Just bring a waterproof case! It even fits some cash and a few cards! Change up you phone case to bling up the look!

Haven't gotten one myself, but I found it on Qoo10!

So that's pretty much all! I hope this post helped you with deciding what to pack for ITSTHESHIP 2015. Even if you're not attending, I hope it helps you prep for a day at the beach or a sunny getaway!

You can purchase your tickets (here) if you’ve yet to!

I can’t wait and I’ll see you party people onboard!

I'm not good enough // Ninthstore

Hey lovelies! I'm so sorry I've neglected this space for awhile, it's been about 2 months since my last update and I'm truly ashamed. I've been going through a really rough time with my personal life, but don't worry everything's okay and I'm still working things out.

So there's something I'd like to share with you guys today...

I feel like I'm not good enough. Does anyone out there feel me?

In contrary to popular belief, I'm actually not as confident as what many of you perceive. I get emails and msgs on all different platforms nearly every day from girls (and even guys), seeking advice on how to be confident but I guess it's easier said than done.

I'm sorry I'm not your perfect role model and I'm sorry if whatever I said or am about to say is gonna ruin that perfect image you have of me, but I'm only human and I'm really just an ordinary girl.

Many of my friends who know me personally would know that I'm extremely self conscious and sensitive, any casual remark my friend makes about me stays, for instance "You're really irritating" and unless that person ends off with "I'm just kidding, I swear" I'll keep thinking about it and I won't stop.

I feel horrible when I get stares in public. When I see a group of people looking in my direction and talking, I automatically assume the worst and I just wanna go home and hide in my own corner. 

I constantly seek reasons to doubt myself. I feel like I'm not worthy, I feel like I'm not good enough for anyone and often times, I feel like a bad investment to everyone -  Like why would anyone wanna be my friend? Why would anyone wanna date me?

I feel like a liability and I always feel like everyone around me secretly hates me. I'm afraid of being judged and I'm very weary of everything I do or say... I feel like I can never be myself because what if who I really am scares people away?

I'm not someone who's able to let go of things easily and small little things can have a pretty big impact on me. I feel the need to please everyone just because I'm afraid that no one will like me if I don't.

That's not all; whenever something good happens to me, I'll find all ways to sabotage the situation because I feel like I don't deserve it, I'm always pushing people away. 

I basically don't see much value in myself and the biggest problem is that I'm really insecure and I tend to seek validation from others. I need recognition, appreciation and encouragement. I need constant reminders from people I love that I'm good enough.

I don't know how to solve this and no matter how many compliments I receive, I'd choose to believe in that one bad comment.

I haven't been writing because I feel like everything I write isn't good enough and shouldn't be published. I feel like there's nothing to love about myself and there's no reason why people should love me.

I'm so brutally cynical towards everyone and everything like good things shouldn't happen in my life.

I hate how I feel like my own worth and value has to be determined by someone else and I can't help it.

I feel pathetic. Sigh.

---

Anyway enough of my sob story!! Would like to end this post off by sharing with you guys a little about my recent fav online local store, Ninthstore!! So I've been working with them for awhile now and I think you guys should totally check them out. Their apparels are extremely comfortable and I particularly love their style, not to mention how inexpensive/affordable their stuff are.

Head over to Ninthstore now and make your first purchase to receive 10% off! And specially for you guys, checkout with "Naomineo" for 20% off!! xoxo

Website: http://www.ninthstore.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NinthStore

Twitter : www.twitter.com/NinthStore

Instagram : NinthStore

Getting rid of pimples!!!

Thought I'd give you guys an update on my latest skincare routine since the last time I did one was nearly a decade ago haha.

I'm not so much of a health-freak so I don't eat my greens regularly nor take the extra effort to hydrate myself with 7 glasses of water a day - Hence, this is why I'd rather spend more money on products and popping acne prevention pills (which I don't anymore and I'll explain why later).

Before I begin, I just wanna make it clear that I definitely don't have perfectly flawless skin but I'm still working towards it - So this post is mainly to share with you how my daily regime is. I can't guarantee that it may work for everyone but this works best for me. :D

---

To start off with, I guess the most important thing is getting to know what type of skin do you have - Oily? Dry? Combination?

You wouldn't wanna find products that add more grease to the oily skin you already have and neither do you want to find products that over-strip your skin as they'd suck all the natural oils and minerals from your skin.

I've combination skin and it's slightly trickier because I've to find products that caters to both.

I mentioned this once or twice before, but just to refresh your memory I used to have terrible acnes when I was around 13-15. It started subsiding by the time I turned 16. Those years were terrible because I remember having to cover my affected areas with my hair or just spamming products (that didn't work) so that I don't have to feel insecure when I'm in school.

I was one of the minority that had bad breakouts at that time and boys in my school would make fun of me. Also, I could hardly meet new people without fearing that they might judge.

Finally, after pleading my mom for months, she decided to bring me to the dermatologist and I finally saw a significant change in my skin condition after surviving on isotretinoin (you can read more about it on a random website I found here) for years.

Of course, the I decreased the dosage as I got older and I hardly take them now because we all know that it's never good to depend on such oral pills for too long - After all they pretty much mess with your hormones and I heard that over consumption might cause problems with conceiving in future. 

WHICH became a huge problem for me when I completely stopped taking them early last year - Breakouts came back not long after I stopped consuming them and I didn't know what to do.

I've always been very skeptical (or lazy) about skincare products because of my sensitive skin and I was also afraid to return to my younger days - So as much as I could, I would avoid using anything besides face wash.

Then came the day I was introduced to IDS Skincare - Anyway before I continue, please note that this isn't a paid ad, I wasn't paid a single cent to write this and I'm sharing it only because I've seen genuine results. 

I met up with Dr Tan early last year and Chester (as some of you might have already known from my Instagram) who took the time and patience to understand my issues and prescribed me with products to overcome them. Over the past 1.5 years, I must admit that I haven't been using these products religiously because I get lazy after a couple of days, but I would start panicking every time a part of my face turns into a slice pepperoni pizza. IT'S CRAZY.

I don't know if any of you could relate to my behaviour, but I'm the kind who wants beautiful skin but is just too lazy to stick to a proper regime and I'd get complacent every time I see slight results. Which is also why I kinda never run out of products. LOL.

Anyway, it wasn't until this year when I started to put in a little more effort into having a better complexion because of how often I appear on screen (like in videos and stuff).

The following are some of the products I've been using since the beginning.

(Find out more about each product by clicking on the photos.)

The real problem started after I came back from Melbourne about 2 weeks ago - My skin changed drastically and it was either due to the climate change or because of my sugar intake, but I was so worried!

Sorry I don't have a clearer photo on how bad my skin was cos it was literally me freaking out when I was out half way, so I sent this to Chester to check it out before he arranged for an appointment with Dr Tan on my behalf and I was prescribed two new products to use as seen below.

I've added in those two and used them with the rest of the products every day and night for about a week now and here are the results!

Even with the bad quality, I'm pretty sure anyone could see the difference and after this, I'm probably gonna stick with this for as long as I could because it works!!!

If you've always thought I've perfect skin, YOU'RE SO WRONGGGGG. Lighting and filters can be a huge ass liar behind that photo.

Once my pimples are cleared, I'll perhaps work on maintaining my skin and getting other products that could clear up my old acne scars - And till then I'll do an updated post if I see further improvements! As for now, I hope I helped answer some of your burning questions on my skincare routine.

Do leave a comment below if you've any other questions and I'll try my best to help in whichever ways I could! <3

**Note that different products are prescribed to their individuals according to their skin issues, so what works for me might not work for you, it'll be best if you could book an appointment at +65 6568 3555 to have the doctor review your skin first or visit IDS Skincare to find out more!