Weekend Project - Leather Cardholder Craft

If you feel that appearances better, then trust me what you use to hold your professional name-cards matter as well. It is somewhat an indicator of your status and maybe corporate status. Start the Year of the Monkey looking smart, shall we?

Of course, not everyone you meet in the corporate is superficial, although in some careers, some may be more than the rest. But we shouldn't go into listing should we?

For me, my ideal namecard holder is bespoke. Lol, preferably personalised because I want to be able to identify at a glance. Given the klutz I am, I will probably take wrong holder home at major networking event. Oops~~ Hehe.

Colour-theme wise, I used prefer bright colours. But sometimes people condemn me as flighty and impulsive because personal taste. And so, for corporate reasons, I would suggest the safer autumn colours or black. Sometimes, if you attend fairs etc, they would give out card holders and some are pretty well designed. But usually the quality sucks and would flake :( Indeed, nothing in life is free.

For any of you looking for a good cardholder, last minute V-Day gift...probably too last minute, you might be interested in the Weekend Project. They do sell other leather crafts as well, so you might like to check them out. Their 2 most popular items are the Flexi and the Overlap. I am actually using the Overlap.

If you don't like overly complicated stuff, this is good because the design is simple. It can store many namecards and it is easy to retrieve them. Hand-made, the stitches are well done so no worries about bursting card-holders. And of course, you can also emboss your initals like I did. All products come in a lovely pouch which could be used to store other things. Teehee~~

To let you all know a little on the hard work behind the making of leather craft, Weekend Project has kindly shared with us on the behind the scenes!!!

Here you see the pieces are being cut to the required size. Depending on the product that being crafted, most of them require an initial finishing of edges that are hard to access after assembly, ensuring that all the edges are well finished

For those who pick embossing, the initials are actually embossed before assembly! This is to achieve a uniform depth as it can be laid flat on its back. During assembly, parts are glued together and holes are punched using a diamond chisel. They produce diamond shaped holes that guides and complements the stitching. 

All products are saddle-stitched for strength (This cannot be achieved by machines!) Edges are sanded, bevelled, burnished and finished lightly with wax for durability. And tada~ your leather craft is born.

We hope this post is interesting for you guys! Do tell us if you want to have more of behind of the scenes of our local budding artisans!

Nailgasm: Little Ondine Review

Nail Junkies alert, I have 好货要介绍 (good stuff to intro)! If you know me personally, you will know how much I actually love to have painted nails, but how sucky I am in painting my nails. Lol! Such irony!

As you may know, many of our traditional nail products produce a really bad smell, which is harmful to the body. They also contain dangerous toxins, which are unsuitable for pregnant ladies and children. But, yea, sometimes I think I accidentally swallow them when I eat with my hand. Ooops.

My biggest grouse would probably be that the nail polish more often than not are difficult to remove. Still need to invest in a remover sian :( And for a novice like me (still a amatuer after so many years!), it is very difficult to obtain a simple and beautiful look without a professional manicurist.

I came across this brand - Little Ondine and was really eager to test them out because...you don't need a nail polish remover to remove this! Awesome or what. Think about the potential cost-saving. Not only that, you don't need to put on a protective bottom coat because it is chemical-free, you don't have to worry about the yellow stains when you remove the nail polish! :)

So, I tested out the Peek-a-Boo (Dark Navy Blue seems to be my latest favourite colour :P) because of its shimmery texture which I think will be easy to control and also the Morning Glory. I just get a kick from uncommon colours! Wanted to try out Overnight but it was near OOS. Otherwise, I could have tried out patterns.

As CNY was around the corner, I had to keep cleaning up the house. Boo, so I delayed the review, didn't want to ruin the nails. So check out my CNY colours, Whee! Now I am ready for CNY. For Peek-a-Boo, it is kind of obvious the first coat is rather light in shade. I used a total of 3 coats to have the dark navy blue coat. :)

This is to date the simplest nail polish to use, simply because it dries decently fast. I can continuously oscillate between my 2 hands. And when it comes to removing and badly done botch, it is clean and efficient.

I used cotton buds and cotton swaps. Generally you can use that the texture is like a piece of those removal face-mask when you gently scrap it off the side. At times, when I find the nail polish unsatisfactory, I just tear off the whole coat. YES, IT IS THAT EASY! And it is very clean too, not much residue left behind. Hurray!

This is probably the best characteristics of this product. However, do note that because there is no top coat, the polish is very vulnerable. It is also very hard to do slight amendments, because it is quite sticky so if you try to peel a side of it off, the whole piece could come off. Not that it happens too many times, 1/10 nails only. Haha

Morning Glory for me is harder to handle because it is more viscous in texture. I am always not so good with the solid colours as compared to the shimmers because any mistake is so obvious. :( Comparatively, the coat seems thicker, so I only used 2 to get my desired shade (Mum's nails by the way!) But of course, usually shimmery colours are more sheer in nature. The coulour is just darn cool yea! Mum was head over heels in love.

Personally, I think Little Ondine is really easy to use for newbies or people with not much talent. Even I can create a manicured effect :P Perhaps my only grouse is that, compared to the traditional nail polishes, the tip chips easily. And when it chips, like a face mask, it rolls ups. So it is more difficult to "save" it.

And yes, you can do nail stickers too! I proudly endorse the Little Ondine!!!

Review: Avalon Organics Shampoo and Conditioner

Do you wanna have ghostly healthy hair like me? Lol. Before Chinese New Year, still can use slightly inauspicious words like "ghost" etc.

Now that my hair is healthy and straight, I intend to keep it that way :P I am still not that "on" about organic haircare, but my Mum is crazy about it, intending to keep the family "crown" free from parabens. Sigh, but parabens are what keep the hair silky smooth, you know. But definitely, I would prefer cancer-free over a luscious mane anytime.

I got to give organic haircare a go. And the brand I tested was Avalon Organics. In terms of packaging, Avalon Organics has this sleek, stylish look (environmentally friendly too) which will make you so proud showcasing it in your bathroom.For me, most organic shampoo usually leave my hair pretty dry so I would need to spam a whole lot of conditioner after.

One of the best sellers is Avalon Organics Lavender Nourishing Series which I gamely tried out. Personally, I feel that that this shampoo doesn't foam much, and that causes some problem because I would be spamming a lot of shampoo on my head. Plus, the liquid is rather watery, so a huge amount of the shampoo flow out quickly from the bottle in a single light press. :( But I can totally understand why this is a best-seller. The lavender scent is very relaxing and lingers mildly on your head after a wash. Very good for the insomniac. 

And tada, presenting the best organic shampoo ever - the Avalon Organics Biotin B-Complex Therapy Thickening Series. This series really does curb hair loss. Usually, when I am even shampooing my hair, a handful of strains have already conveniently met their demise. But when I was using this shampoo, my hair happily stuck on my head.

Depending on individual's preferences, I personally enjoy a more woody scent. So this is now my favourite series! Yeah! For those who are interested in other organic beauty products, you may visit Smoochiezz. Another product I really like from them is the Konjac Sponge. Happened to buy one during their road show and it is awesome!!! P.S. it survives longer when you freeze it (yea i freeze everything!) :P

Do comment or share if you know of any other organic brands that will put my new favourite to the test. :)