[FOOD] + [OUTFIT]: Chez Dre South Melbourne

[FOOD]

Chez Dre

285-287 Coventry Street,

South Melbourne, VIC, 3205

Here's also the link to the cafe's menu.. 

Headed over to this little cafe for brunch after recommendations from friends to go there. It received a rather high rating on urbanspoon so yea, it couldn't be wrong.. 

Ordered my favourite....Peppermint Tea..LOL! I know like almost everyone goes to brunch for the coffees and friends who have gone back home all miss the Melbourne Coffee..I'm unfortunately not really a coffee person and can't ever for the life of me appreciate coffee.. haha. They all taste the same...BITTER! 

Sister ordered the Poached Eggs on Sourdough with extra sides of Mushrooms.

I can't really remember the name of this.. Mom ordered something with a side of mushrooms. lol! Pardon me for my lack of memory of what she ordered. Pictures tell a thousand words anyway right? haha!

As for me, I ordered the Duck Sandwich :D 

Overall, the ambience of the cafe was extremely beautiful. It was peaceful and felt really vintage. They had an outdoor area where you could sit and bask under the sun in all its glory. But being asians, we decided to just sit inside, under the shade, where not an ounce of skin was touched by the sun. LOL!! I can't stand being under the sun. It's sooooo hot! Moreover, I DO NOT LIKE being TANNED! Or should I say, I've NEVER been tanned. haha!

Food on the other hand, I loved my Duck Sandwich and it was really super tasty. Mom didn't like her bread though, said it was too soggy.. But I actually found it pretty good. lol! So I would say, to each its own? 

My mom did, however, enjoyed the coffee..So did my sister and my aunty.. 

Overall, I would recommend this place for good coffee and I read they're actually good for their cakes and desserts, all the sweet stuff that we didn't order =.= So yea, go to Chez Dre for good coffee and the ambience.

The laneway outside of the cafe was really beautiful too. I liked the brick walls and the cobbled stoned floors. haha and so I got my mom to be my photographer :D Training her into taking beautiful shots so I can have more Outfit posts.. since she's gonna be staying here till January.. haha! Might as well :D 

[OUTFIT]

Retro Pattern Printed Black Dress from Romwe

Brown Back Pack from Taiwan

Zipped Ankle Boots in Tan from Rubi

A change of hairstyle later, as we headed out for Korean BBQ for dinner :D
But that will have to wait as I am off to get ready for work today at LV and Hilton! 

For those who don't already know, I gotten the CASUAL SALES position at the LOUIS VUITTON Store on Collins Street, Melbourne. I am sooo thankful and grateful! I feel so much positive things are happening to me I can't even express how grateful I am :D

The year 2013 seems to be turning out great for me! Thank You Universe!


[to be continued...]

[BEAUTY]: Hair Removal

Ever felt conscious or insecure about the hairs on your body?

Or have hairy arms and legs that you just can't stand but feel too afraid to shave it?

There's always this myth about how the hair gets thicker, or how you'd actually grow out more hairs by shaving but that is absolutely NOT TRUE.

The amount of hairs you have on your arms or legs or any parts of your body, it's all down to the number of pores or hair follicles that you genetically possess.. Shaving does NOT miraculously cause your skin to grow more pores or stimulate more hair follicles to pop up under your skin.

The reason why people have come up with that thought or have chosen to believe that it's true is because of the way the hair follicles grow back after shaving. The reason why it seems thicker or fuller is because, when you shave, the hair follicles are cut bluntly across, leaving the tip of your hair follicle to be flat and hence when it grows out, it tends to feel thicker and fuller.

Hair follicles originally and naturally grow out with the tips being sharp and fine, you know like those we always see being portrayed in hair advertisements? And that's why it doesn't look as prominent as after it's been shaved off and grown back out.

Therefore, the solution to this if you do NOT want to shave, is to either wax or a less painful and less messy way, by using an EPILATOR.

I bought this waaaaay back when Target was having a sale and got it just for the fun of it. Used it once and never again because I just got lazy and my arms were always covered anyway by the amount of layers I'd have to wear over the winter periods to keep warm..

But, now, however, since it's getting much warmer and my arms and legs get to see more sunlight, I decided to use it again. haha! The pain I must admit it's rather painful but nothing you can't bear.

Beauty knows no pain! 

Remember that phrase whenever you're doing something to make yourself look better, the pain will INSTANTLY decrease by alot. haha.

So, the way an epilator works, its sort of like having hundres of tweezers plucking out the hair follicles right from the roots! At the same time! So it's not cutting or shaving it bluntly flat across the top of the hair, but it actually holds and grabs onto your hair follicles and removes it from the root! So you'd get a clean, smooth finish and longer, lasting results.

And because it is pulled out from the roots, the hair would grow back out as it would have naturally, with the tips being sharp and fine, instead of growing out blunt. Here's a before and after shot..

WARNING: I have really hairy arms.. T_T

Clean, smooth arms :D

If you are used to plucking your eyebrows or moustache (yes I do pluck my moustache, no shame there) or threading, I'm pretty sure you can stand the pain level of using the epilator. For newbies, just test out small areas first to assess the level of pain you can stand. If it is too much to bear for you, then just opt for waxing or shaving.

FYI!!! Epilators are produced for different functions. The one that I have which is the Braun Silk Epil 1 can only be used on the arms, legs, body and NOT on the underarms or your bikini line.. There are other models out there that specialise in that area. So PLEASE read your user's manual carefully and make sure the epilator is ONLY USED on the areas that it is specified for..

So, how do you remove unwanted hair? Do you just leave them be or have other methods of removing hair? Let me know :)

[BEAUTY]: Nose Enhancers

For many many many years of my life, ever since I started caring about how I look and feeling conscious of my nose I've always wanted a nose job! Although I started to try to dress up at the end of my high school years, (see my "TRANSFORMATION" entry) before leaving for Melbourne (so I'd say roughly around the age of 16 going on 17), I was never really conscious of my nose.. till I got more exposed to beauty and fashion. And you know the drift, what and how do you define beauty? 

Huge eyes, Straight small noses, Small lips, Sharp V-face shapes, Thin Long legs, Perfect bust size, Tiny Waistline. 

Basically everything I didn't have.. I may come off as really confident about how I look but inside, I'm actually the most insecure and low self-esteemed person ever! That's why I never, for the life of me, will I ever head out without make up on, or my colored contact lens on.

...But I can post pictures up because.. heck why not? lol through the lens you can always angle yourself to look waaay better than how you actually look in real life.. so yes, here are photos of me makeup-less that I find pretty decent-looking..
(haha I lie. I actually really think I look okay in these photos thats why I even dare to post them up.. lol!)

Bulbous nose or what?! sooo huge!

I know people will start saying like embrace your beauty or God made you the way you are, but fuck that.. I'm not happy with my bulbous nose or my beady small eyes so I try my best in whatever way to enhance them features. lol! Bodywise, well I can't really do much about growing taller,  so maybe just go on a diet and lose some weight.. Boob-size, well.. haha I'd probably opt for a boob job down the road, who knows? lol! or I could just wear tonnes of padding inside my bra? haha but I'm ok with my size, thought not proud of it, but for now I can still live with it and it doesn't really bother me that much..

So, huge eyes and straight small nose is basically the easiest thing for me to achieve or strive to make it appear so.. For huge looking eyes? Wear coloured contact lenses.. BOOM! Instant huge-dolly-looking eyes. Add to that, eyeliner, mascara, and abit of eyeshadow would do the trick.

Straight Small Noses? Well, I use contouring powder to contour my nose. To change the shape of my nose.. Making it appear slimmer and taller, unlike the round bulbous shape that I inherited from my father :( It looks good and okay on him but definitely not the best shape to have for a girl..

Contouring, to a certain extent it helps, but its not permanent or gives a very defined shape... so the solution? other than deciding to go under the knife and making a life changing decision... I decided to go and get NOSE ENHANCERS from NoseSecret.com

Their promise is that you'd get instant results.. "Nose Correction without Surgey"

I saw the famous YouTube Guru Michelle Phan using this in her Zombie Barbie Tutorial and I thought "HOLY SHIT I NEED TO GET THESE!!" and I did. LOL! I googled search for it and found the website where they sell and ship internationally. I haven't received them yet cuz I just bought them today but am SOOOO EXCITED to receive them.. Hopefully it will give me the enhancement I need in my nose.. lol! If it works then OMG!! But if it doesn't then, oh well, I'll stick to contour powders then...for now.. heehee^^

I'm definitely pro plastic surgery, not against it at all.. If you're not happy with the way you look and KNOW that plastic surgery can help you and that you've understood all the consequences then by all means go for it! I know if I could I would.. But I'm too scared to go under the knife or how society will look at me to consider it now.. So, this is my solution to a better looking nose.. haha!


Let me know, what would you do to enhance your beauty? Plastic surgery? or Other gimmicks that promise to deliver results? (like me. lol!)


last paper on Monday but I feel like I'm already on my holidays =.= 
procrastination is a serious disease :( 

[OUTFIT]: Black on White

Black and White Color-Block Long-Sleeved Jumper

- ROMWE

(unfortunately they no longer stock this)

Gun Metal Collar White Blouse 

- MDSCollections

(not pictured)

Paired with:

Leigh Black Jeans

- TopShop

Combat Boots

- Big W

(lol! do NOT look down on BigW's stuff. they're actually really good! this pair of boots lasted me a good whole 18months now. haha. absolutely love it!)

Wore this outfit to my exam. Who says you should look like how you feel? I felt like shit and dead tired with extremely zombie coloured dark circles..but that doesn't mean that you HAVE to look like it. I find it just as a basic human courtesy to make yourself look presentable, you know? To show that you atleast care a liittle bit about how you are presenting yourself. I'm not saying you should ALWAYS dress up to the nines or go all out in dressing up if you're the kind that just prefers laidback styles. But at least don't come out looking like a zombie or a homeless hobo..both girls and guys included..  Just easy steps like, combing your hair, washing your face before coming out, if your hair is in a mess, tie it up in a bun or a pony tail.. For guys, just comb your hair.. the comb was invented for a reason, so make it fulfil its purpose!! I'm not saying that I am a fashionista or that I look good always but I DO TRY! haha and if I still don't look good then I'll just accept it towards my genes. haha! But yeah, TRY!! TRY!! TRY!! 

So, with that rant out and clear off my chest....

If you've read my entry on my Chocolate Strawberries hair color post, this is the color it has now faded to. I absolutely love it!! It's more of a cherry red and pink now with purple undertones. haha! Absolutely loving the outcome.. what do you think?

FYI: This is about a WEEK AFTER so it's been through a couple of washes and I do tend to wash my hair TWICE a day.. atleast minimum ONCE a day..

Under natural lighting

with flash you can see the purplish-pink undertones :D

 [MAKE of the day]

Kept my makeup to the minimum.. Just lined my waterline with Maybeline's Waterproof 24hr Gel Liner and applied some peachy shadow and mascara. Quite similar to the video I made on YouTube about my Daily Eye Makeup Routine but just minus a few other steps..

For the face, I kept it simple with just applying on a sunscreen lotion and my Pink Powder Water to keep my face matte looking and applied a pink blusher. I absolutely LOVE the Pink Powder Water and have given a brief review of it here in my Skincare Regime (Morning) post, so go check that out if you havent :)

And only used concealer under my eyes and around my nose to cover up any redness.

Mom will be arriving this Sunday, bringing up goodies and my RING LIGHT!! :D Excitedddd!! Hopefully once I'm finished with my exams I could film more videos and take more pictures (of myself) more professionally! haha.. I know I mentioned before that I made my own RingLight but that was an epic fail. HAHA! So... just decided to get one from Singapore's Funan IT Mall. It was pretty cheap too I think around SGD$50-$70 I think.. I'm sure that's not the cheapest out there but it was good enough for me :D

Thank you for reading!

Goodnight Beautifuls!

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Thanks to everyone who's given me support and encouragement with my YouTube channel and Twitter and my Instagram followers. Thank you all so much! I know I'm still at the beginning of my professional blogging career, but I'm getting there.. slowly and steadily.. I will continue to keep improving and to bring more exciting content to you guys soon! So please be patient and stay with me.. Be a part of my journey as I will be, to being a part of yours too. 

 Let us grow and mature together.

Love you all from the bottom of my heart!

T H A N K Y O U !

[HAIR]: Chocolate Strawberries?

Finally I get a breather from all the exam stress. Finished 3papers, two of them back-to-back yesterday and today. And last paper on Monday! So...decided that I should take a chill pill and relax for tonight and have an early sleep. Have been sleeping roughly 5am every day just revising and studying. And obviously nobody's attention span can be THAAT productive, I too fall victim to the ever rising and prevailing sickness known as procrastination.. da dummzz.. enlightening.. no? haha

So anyway, as the title suggests. This is gonna be an entry on how I achieved my latest hair color. In my previous blog entry where I mentioned on my hair "project". The "project" I had in mind was actually waay more severe or crazy than what I ended up finally doing. Basically cause I still had to bear in mind that I'd be working in Hilton, so obviously no crazy-colored-hairstyles allowed unfortunately :(

For those that follow me on my Instagram @michellechengg or by just looking at my widget on the side, you've probably already seen my new hair color. But it's all blurry and noisy and full of filters that the color isn't presented to how it really is irl (and also just cuz I've taken a whole bunch of photos and taken up so much of my time I'm NOT gonna let it go to waste eventhough you've already seen my hair color. so sux to be you :D)

Moving on. These are the items that I used:

Where to get these products I've already mentioned them before in a previous post where

I actually went BLONDE!

The two John Frieda Conditioners were the extras I had from all the previous boxes of hairdyes I've used in the past few months i think. FYI, It's ONE FULL and ONE HALF.

Once you have your items, tools, mixture all ready, ensure you have on your disposable gloves, to protect yourself from getting stains all over your hands. And more importantly a PROTECTING CAPE! to avoid staining your clothes from the dye. I recommend wearing any old shirt that you don't mind getting a few stains on.


STEP 1:

• Squeeze out a small amount of the Vendetta Red into the mixing bowl

• Squeeze out TWICE that amount of Pink Moon into the mixing bowl. 

• And mix! 

STEP 2:

• You'd get a really dark red mixture, and because I wanted mine to be of a brighter pink, I added more of the Pink Moon to get the color that I want. 

• Just keep adding and mixing and repeating that process until you get the ideal color that you desire. 

• For me, that's all the amount I squeezed into the mixing bowl. 

STEP 3:

• Finally, squeeze in the whole bottle of the conditioner. 

• In my case, I added in ONE AND A HALF bottles of conditioner.

• Judge by the size of your own conditioner bottles, mine was 10ml each. (i.e: i added in 15ml of conditioner)

• MIX WELL!

And, Tadah! You'd get a color somewhat like that.

STEP 4:

• GO crazy and slop this all over the part of your hair that you want to dye.

• I separated my hair into two sections: Top and Bottom

• and dyed ONLY the bottom part of my hair..

I have reaallly such fine fair!! T_T

WAITING TIME: 45MINS~60MINS MAX! 

Wash and shampoo as usual and revel in your new gorgeously bright-coloured hair :D

BEFORE:

had bleached,blonde hair for the bottom half of my hair.

Unfortunately, the difference or contrast between the two was not all that obvious, so I ended up looking like as IF I didn't have enough hairdye to dye the whole of my head =.= but in fact it was on PURPOSE!! T_T..

AFTER:

(after my first wash)

Doesn't it look like chocolate strawberries?? I don't know I just keep thinking of that flavour whenever I look at my hair.. LOL! Although I must warn you that the COLOR DOES FADE QUICKLY so don't expect this to be like your permanent hair color.

Here are a few tips you could bear in mind before making up your mind on what color you're achieving for, be it brighter, darker or more toned down?

TIP#1: FOR MORE PASTEL TONES, SQUEEZE IN MORE OF THE CONDITIONER/TONER

TIP#2: FOR LONGER LASTING COLOR, USE A SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER RANGE SPECIFICALLY FOR COLOUR-TREATED HAIR. (I.E: SHAMPOO FOR COLOURED HAIR). 

TIP#3: BEAR IN MIND THAT THE COLOR FADES, SO SQUEEZE IN A BIT MORE COLOR TO YOUR MIX, TO GET YOUR DESIRED HAIR COLOR AFTER THE FIRST FEW WASHES (does that make sense? lol!)

• so let's say for example, you are out to achieve a light pink color, squeeze in more PINK MOON into the mixture. 

• although your first wash, your hair color would turn out REAALY bright pink.

• wash your hair a few more days and the color will wash out and become a really pretty shade of light pink :) trust me! It's happened to my hair MANY TIMES! 

Hope you found this post informational and helpful :) Do comment below if you have any questions at all :D I've integrated the new NuffnangX conversation box so, if my previous comments have disappeared, then that's probably why. Haven't followed my blog on NuffnangX yet? What you waiting for! Go and click that NUFFNANGX BOX ON MY SIDE BAR AND FOLLOW ME! :D (thank youuu *with puppied eyes* picture that)

ALSO!! If you haven't checked out any of my YouTube videos, do check them out and comment/like/share them to your friends if my video has helped or shed some light on the basics of styling. I would very much appreciate your help :D 

For my Make-Up videos and Hair Tutorials, head on over to my YouTube Channel and click that SUBSCRIBE button :)

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND LOVE!

*kisses*!

Goodnight Beautifuls :)

[LIFESTYLE]: Rainbow Karaoke Night

Officially finished my first paper for this semester. Marketing Management! I think I did fairly well :D I could answer the questions and hopefully my writing is readable and I manage to get down as much points as needed to score my H1!!

Taking a break before tackling two more papers next week and so here I am updating my blog. Watched newly re-elected President Barack Obama's speech LIVE! just now and OMG! I was sooo excited I don't even know why.. I just loved how he delivered his Thank You speech with such confidence and power in his voice. It's no wonder he won again :D Serving his 2nd term. Amazing stuff! "Four more years." 

It's been exactly a week since another 2 of my good friends left Melbourne :( Although they did say they were coming back, but it wasn't definite! One by one, my friends are slowly leaving me. Now I wish I had just stuck with my Architecture undergrad degree and go find work instead of pursuing this Masters in Marketing. But on the other hand, I'm absolutely having an amazing time with my course and loving every bit of it and this is what I can actually see myself doing down the road, long-term!

So anyways, here's just a couple of snaps of the group before Yinn and Ashley flew back home to Malaysia :( Miss them already..

Headed over to Rainbow Karaoke to have like our final Karaoke session before they flew off, and also to hand our belated birthday present to Kelly :D

Gorgeous Kelly!

Tory Burch bangle and earrings :D 

YINN and I

I love blurry pics, haha cuz I look better in all the bluriness glory :D 

Miss this little ball of fire. HAHAHA! her hot-headedness (in a really cute & hilarious way),

her rants, her complaints and her won't-take-your-crap attitude, all that adds to her charm and 

exceptionally bubbly and adorable personality. haha please come back to Melbourne!! 

Randy and HuaYu

(the remaining guys in our group..lolz! & Jayson too, but he's too busy trying to

take over the world to come out. LOLZ! I keed, I keed :D)

Ashley!!

The first friend I made in Trinity, and friends till now :D

haha gawd I love this girl from all her bimboness (it runs in our entire circle of friends),

to her fiesty strong character, and straight down to her gorgeous LONG LEGS!!!

IMY :( 

Yinn is too chio, so thank god for me it's all blurred! hahaha :D

hahaha what I always and really am, HUNGRY!

lolz :D

Pushing all these emo-moments aside, I'm working on a new "project" on my hair. LOLZ! I've decided to go back to my dip-dyed trend! wahahahaha! I will do a post on my history of hair color next. I'm known amongst my friends as a notorious hair-color-changing freak, with my color changing to as many as 2times in 3days. LOLZ! The amount of damage my hair has taken, and still surviving till now is a wonder and surprise to all my friends, and even to me :D But i'm super grateful my hair isn't like dying and falling off, it's still relatively healthy and still growing long! The only reason why I dyed my hair back to being normal-colored is because of the of job interviews that I was attending for and obviously to look professional, I couldn't keep my hair color :( And I miss it sooo much! 

Anyways, stay tuned to find out what my hair color will be next :D

And as always, once more I'd like to thank everyone who has watched and subscribed to my YouTube channel and videos! I'm truly grateful and thankful for all the support I've received and suggestions thrown at me for new upcoming videos :D I'm just blown away and loving every minute of this attention I'm getting. Be it full of love, or laughter or critically judging my videos, I'm still grateful and loving it :) Thank you so much! 

Till next time, 

Goodnight Beautifuls!