iherb recommendations

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

when I have nothing better to do, I like google, "iHerb haul" to see what others purchase on iHerb.  It helps me discover new items that I probably wouldn't look for on iHerb.  Having made numerous purchases on iHerb, here's a list of items that I have either repurchased of highly recommend.  

• Stacy's Pita Chips, Cinnamon Sugar Flavoured - If you read my posts, you'll know that I am obsessed with cinnamon sugar.  This product is available in Singapore, but only at certain supermarkets, so I perfer to order it from iHerb.  

• Annie's Homegrown, Bunny Grahams, Chocolate - I've repurchased this countless times and still love it.  This is kiddo's favourite treat too. 

• Harney & Son's Green Tea with Thai Flavours - I love this tea... it's pretty strong for a green tea with a pleasant coconut and lemongrass scent.  

• Harney & Son's Earl Grey Supreme - My all time favourite Earl Grey tea.  One sachet is good for a pot of two cups coz it is pretty strong. 

• Nutiva, Organic Chia Seed - My daily does of omega 3 and fibre comes from these teeny weeny seeds, I eat them with my oatmeal in a jar for breakfast every morning. 

• Simply Organic, Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract - I purchase baking supplies from iHerb too.  So when I run out, I'll order online instead of trying to look for this in stores.

• E.L.F. Cosmetics, Studio, Powder Brush - I've 2 of these brushes.  It's a cheap product that really works.  I use it with powder in a pan, loose powder and even mineral powder. 

• E.L.F. Cosmetics, Luscious Liquid Lipstick, Raspberry - This wears like a lipgloss and it gives a nice colour to my lips.  Doesn't wear off as quickly as I thought it would. 

• Real Techniques, Expert Face brush - What can I say about Real Techniques' brushes?  Go get them!  I've the blush brush, stipple brush and this face expert brush... the bristles are soft and they work fabulously! 

• EcoTools, Retractable Kabuki Brush - You don't find many retractable brushes that are good quality.  This brush is dense and soft and really comes in handy when travelling or if you carry a makeup pouch around with you all the time. 

• Just a Leaf Glass Tea Cup - Well, I love this simple, see through glass cup with a lid.  I don't use the infuser portion of it much coz I prefer my tea in bags.  It's really cheap at $2.95USD for first time purchase.  

• Deep Steep, Body Wash, Honeydew & Spearmint - Smells great! In fact my friends are recommending the body oil as well as the foaming hand wash from this brand.  So i'll definitely be venturing into the other products as well. 

• Badger Company, Damascus Rose, Antioxidant Face Oil - I love love love this face oil and since I use it daily for my night time routine, I use it up quite quickly.  Read my Damascus Rose, Antioxidant face oil review here. 

Talk to you ladies soon!!!! And I hope you'll enjoy yourself shopping on iHerb! 

Products that I will not repurchase from iHerb

Hello, friends of Hazelnutt House :) 

I thought i'll share some of the products that I've bought on iHerb that didn't work for me.  I'm in no way slamming these products, just wanna let you know why it didn't work on me and why I won't be repurchasing them.  For your consideration in case you've your eyes on these products that you can purchase form iHerb.

1. Giovanni Cool Mint Lemonade Scrub - I gushed about this body scrub initially coz it smelled soOOooo good...lemoney and minty, a combination which I adore. The minty effect is powerful, I must say.  Your skin will be tingling for a long time during and after use. However, it left an uncomfortably oily film on my skin after washing off.  So I thought i'll just wash the film off with an extra coat of body wash, but the film seems to cling on for dear life.  Despite the heavenly scent, I think it is far too much trouble and discomfort to use.

2. Sibu Beauty Age Defying Eye Cream - This eye cream contains sea buckthorn which is a good anti-aging ingredient however, sea buckthorn has a less than pleasant smell.  I know coz I've tried sea buckthorn supplements and they smelled really bad, at least for the brand that I've tried.  This cream smells too, though not as badly as the supplement.  It doesn't seem to sink in readily into my skin and when it does dry it leaves a matte layer which I can't appreciate since I am looking for a hydrating/moisturizing eye cream.  Who would have thought that an age-defying cream wouldn't be moisturising.

3. Herbatint Rosemary Herbal Oil - I've used this hair oil several times, usually heating it up a little before I slather it all over my hair and scalp for a deep treatment.  It smells great!  And the surprising thing about this oil is that after washing off, it doesn't leave an oily feeling on my hair!  I supposed lots of people will appreciate this factor, right? Yeah, I appreciate that but it doesn't seem to do much for my hair.  A deep conditioning mask will do a better job.  I will continue to use it till I run out but I don't think I will repurchase it. 

4. MyChelle Dermaceuticals, Creamy Pumpkin Cleanser - I wouldn't say that this is a bad cleanser coz I think it works well as a cream cleasner.  However, it just did not fit into my cleansing regime.  I usually remove my makeup with makeup remover or cleansing oil and then I double cleanse with a foaming cleanser.  I can't use this cleanser as my first step to removing makeup, coz it doesn't do that well and I can't use it to double cleanse since it does leave a creamy film on my skin.  So I usually use this only on rare days when I do not have makeup on.   

5. Go Raw, Organic Super Cookies in Chai Masala - Hmmm... I was excited about this brand of chips, it looks more like chips than cookies to me.  There are lots of good reviews for this product and I was eager to try.  I don't like the taste, the ginger is too strong IMO and the chips were dry and gritty... tasted like doggie food, if I have to give it an apt description. 

6. Go Raw, Organic Super Chips, Pumpkin - This tasted better than the Chai Masala cookies, but sadly, I still associate it with doggie food... :( I realised it's made from pumpkin seeds instead of the fleshy sweet orange fruit that I thought I was getting.  

7. Stash Tea Company, Moroccan Mint Tea - Big mistake... somehow this tea tasted big on liquorice... and I for one dislike liquorice.  I don't see liquorice as an ingredient, so something in there tastes like liquorice. 

8. J.R. Liggett's Old Fashioned Bar Shampoo, Tea Tree and Hemp Oil - I really wanted to like this product after reading reviews on how it cleaned and cleared up oily scalp on some people.  I did read that it may not work with either hard or soft water, I can't remember which but I am sure Singapore's water doesn't go well with this bar shampoo coz having been warned by some reviewers, the exact thing happened to my hair as I was trying to wash it out.  It lathered well and I was happy till it was time to rinse.  My hair seemed to have turned into a waxy mess during the rising stage, the water seemed to have turned the lather hard or something and to rescue the situation, I had to use my regular shampoo to wash this shampoo off.  So it really depends on the type of water that runs in your tape when trying this product out. 

Badger Damascus Rose Antioxidant Face Oil

Hi hi friends of Hazelnutt House :) 

I haven't done a product review in a long long time... I used to do reviews more often on hazelnutt.onsugar.com.  but on this new Hazelnutt House, I do more of craft entries. 

I have been using this Badger Damascus Rose Antioxidant Face Oil for a couple of months and I Love LOVE LOVE IT!  So, I thought it deserves a good mention here on my blog. 

As you can see here, I am almost through with this 29.5ml bottle. (29.5ml?! strange capacity, huh?)

Here's just a quick overview of my skin. 

I have combination skin which tends to get oily around my T-zone.  I am in my mid 30's and I have noticed that my skin is drier than before but still oily on the surface.

This oil has a rich amber colour and has a semi-thick consistency.   It smells great with its mix of rose, lavender and chamomile oils.

Currently, for my night time skincare routine, I have been using one spa water and one pump of this oil.  First, I mist my face with Vichy Spa Water to allow more slip as I rub the oil into my skin.  It takes awhile for the oil to be absorbed, but when the oil is eventually absorbed into my skin, my face didn't look or feel greasy.  There is still traces of shine, but it didn't feel like an oil slick.  Unlike the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate which seemed to sit on my face and didn't do anything different for my skin.  I followed the 'pressing' in method that the Kiehl's staff recommended but it just didn't work for me.  

With this Badger face oil, it absorbs well and I wake up to soft 'plump' skin.   The drier areas e.g. my cheekbones don't feel that dry and tight anymore.  I can't say that the difference is life changing or remarkably obvious but it is something that I noticed after having used this oil for about two months.  Despite the high concentrations of pure oils in this product, I feel that my skin feels less oily and more hydrated with use.   I guess my skin has learned not to overproduce sebum since the face oil helps my skin to achieve a balanced state.

I got this Badger face oil from iHerb @ $12.59USD which definitely didn't burn a hole in my pocket :) 

Talk to you ladies soon!

iherb haul

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

there's always a good reason to shop online yeah?... As I was tossing and turning in bed one night, unable to fall asleep, I decided to do some shopping on iHerb. 

About a week later, my loot arrived.

Here's what I got: 

• EcoTools Full Volume Styler brush - I love this brush and instead of having a paddle brush to brush out my hair and a separate round brush for blow drying, I use this huge round brush. 

• EcoTools Retractable Kabuki brush - LOVE LOVE LOVE this brush!  It's fab for touching up on the go.  I retract this and cover it up with the cap and leave this at work or take it along with me when I travel.  The first time I bought this brush was probably five years ago.  It was in the silver packaging.  I am still using it, just thought I should get another.. just because....

• Edamama in Slightly Salted and Spicy Wasabi - The salted version tastes better... somehow the wasabi powder manage to land on the sides of my lips and mouth area and I could feel the heat which was rather uncomfortable. 

• Annie's Bunny Grahams, Chocolate flavour - Kiddo's and my favourite! Not too sweet, just right with a tad bitter chocolate taste.  Repurchased this countless times.
• Stacy's Pita Chips, Cinnamon Sugar flavour - LOVE LOVE LOVE... everyone in my family loves this, even Kimmie The Dog.  Repurchased this countless times too!

• Go Raw Super Chips, Pumpkin flavour
• Go Raw Masala Chai Super Cookies... nice texture, but I don't fancy the taste... won't repurchase this again, but I may try the other flavours.

• Stash Tea in Morrocan Mint and Breakfast in Paris - I'll recommend Breakfast in Paris.  It is a lovely light subtle taste of bergamot, this black tea is neither tart nor bitter.  Steer clear from the Morrocan Mint tea though coz it tastes like it contains liquorice.  I bought it coz it contains peppermint and spearmint.  I thought it will be a good combination along with green tea to detox BUT... somehow it tastes of liquorice... eeks!

• Alba Cotanica Hawaiian Shampoo & Conditioner in Mango
• Dickinson's Witch Hazel toner.  OMG!  I didn't know that this toner smells soOOooo bad! I really doubt i'll use it again... will probably use it to wash something... say, the sink? 

• Some E.L.F. lip products

• Nutiva Chia Seeds - repurchased countless times, coz I eat it with oats every morning.  Kimmie The Dog eats it too, so I have to repurchase this quite often.

• Auromere Need soap - purchased this for Kim, coz neem soap is supposedly good for her sensitive skin.  

Here's a code that I'm sharing with you ladies.  Use it to get some dollars off your first purchase. 

Talk to you soon!

DIY trinket dish

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",)

Now, just what did I do with this stack of dishes from Daiso?

Along with this baggie of wooden cylinders ... which I spray painted gold...

I hot glued the wooden blocks together before adhering it onto a plate. When the glue had dried, I glued a little cup on top.

Mission accomplished!  

Here's one for Kiddo...

                           

and here's mine... 

Talk to you ladies soon!!! 

Check back for more craft ideas (",) 

Gatecrashing ideas for Chinese wedding

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Last year when a friend of mine got married, she invited me to be her one of her bridesmaids and my daughter as the flower girl.  Click here, if you wanna take a look at Kiddo's flower girl makeover.   

So, one of my duty as the bridesmaid was to design a menu of exciting dishes for the groom as well as the groomsmen.  The bridesmaids scour the internet for ideas and we finally came up with these four pretty original dishes.  

In the Chinese culture, the groom and his buddies have to eat their way through four (sometimes more) dishes before the groom gets to meet the bride.  

The bridesmaids have to create the dishes with these four elements in mind - sour, sweet, bitter and spicy. 

For the sour dish, we filled plastic champange flutes with apple cider which is truly and awfully sour when you drink it neat.  For the toppers, we made a skewers using rolled up sour candies and lemon slices. 

The sweet dish was simply Lotte Choco Pie  dunked in condensed milk and double dunked in colourful sprinklers. 

For the bitter dish, we coated a marshmellow with 99% Lindt cacao (available in major supermarkets).  The chocolate bar was first melted slowly in a microwave.  To amp up the bitterness of the dish, we tossed in some fresh cranberries that are bitter and tart.   

Lastly, for the spicy dish, we served the men with fried bean curd filled with chilli padi laced with a generous amount of wasabi.  

   

Thank you for reading, hope this entry comes in handy when you're planning a gate crashing menu for someone's wedding.

(",)

Robot craft for kids

Hello friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Kiddo and I embarked on a robot sculpture project using boxes that I have been collecting.  Yup, I have a corner in the craft room where I keep empty boxes coz you'll never know when they will come in handy for craft projects.  

First we placed the head, neck, body and legs together to see if the body parts go well together.  

Next I covered each individual box with silver vinyl.  My dad found a huge ream of silver vinyl discarded outside a warehouse and he carted it home for me.  It's a huge industrial sized ream and he has been bugging me to use it.  So now I have!  After covering each box in silver, Kiddo and I added hot glue and stuck everything together. 

We decided on how we wanna design the face and body of the robot using random bibs and bobs that we have and Kiddo put together a name for her girl robot... she also insisted on adding eyelashes to make it look like a girl.

Kiddo made a marshmallow stick for MXJO using the packaging peanuts that I kept.  We also used the same foam peanuts for the arms of MXJO. 

Here's a rundown of the items that we used other than the boxes and silver vinyl:

• plastic fork and spoon for antennae 
• plastic bricks and goggly eyes for eyes
• jumbo paper clips for ears
• cardstock for mouth and name tag
• magnetic clock on body
• green glitter foam for button panel
• pom poms for buttons
• packaging foam peanuts for arms

Oh yes, I untwisted the jumbo paperclips and pushed the foam peanuts through for the arms. 

Yups, that's all for today (",) 

MXJO checking out!