Out & About: Popobe® Bola Bears by Domino’s

You must have heard about the fever that is catching on around lately, because the symptoms from having this fever are rather obvious. You can tell by the panda-like eye bags, the fatigue and also the constant chattering about balls, that your friends have most likely caught the fever bug. Haha!

 

I hope you got that joke, and I think most of you would have (perhaps, with your palm over your face too because I’m so lame). :D Well, there is some truth in that and to be honest, I may not have gotten the World Cup fever. Or at least that was what I thought until I saw the Popobe® Bola Bears by Domino’s. These bears are custom designed limited edition bears, with each bearing the signature colours of the three countries of the football match.

 

| Pedro, Juan & Eva |

 

By now, we are probably familiar with premiums (or some would call them toy collectibles) that you can get together with purchase of meals. But if I am not mistaken, this is the first time Domino’s introduced collectible items together with their “Bola Meal” deals. These bears are really adorable and you can adjust their arms and legs too.

 

 

These Popobe® Bola Bears by Domino’s may  be purchased as an add-on to “Bola Meal”  for just RM7.80 or any other pizza purchase for the add-on price of RM9.80. At less than RM10 for each of these bears, it is such a steal because these premiums collectible items are usually pricier. I’m already planning to collect them all. And if you’re worried the nearest Domino’s outlet may have ran out of it, worry not because you can actually track the bears online here by each respective outlets, Malaysia-wide; http://www.dominos.com.my/bolabear.aspx

 

 

If you don’t know what the “Bola Meal”(s) are they are actually two pizza deals whereby in Bola Meal 1, you get two regular pizzas and a 1.5 litre soft drink bottle for RM34.00 and in Bola Meal 2 there is the new BBQ Baked Meatballs and two regular pizzas for RM38.00. In the promotional picture above, I’m sure you noticed the ‘Bear-a-selfie’ Instagram Contest! And yes, there is a contest running for when you get your hands on the bears.

 

 

All you have to do is simply take a ‘selfie’ with your Popobe® Bola Bear and post it on Instagram with the hashtag #BolaBears, completing this slogan, “My #BolaBears and I ..”. Don’t forget to tag @DominosMy!

 

 

 

Ta-da! I have joined the contest, about a week ago because I am kiasu like that, yo! Haha, you wouldn’t be able to guess what the prize is. You get one year supply Xtra Large Pizza(s), which is equivalent to 12 pizzas in a year (every month eat one pizza! \^.^/ ) and one set of the Popobe® Bola Bear ! That’s the first prize by the way. The second prize winner get Large pizza(s) and the third one gets Regular sized ones. Once you get these bears, do show me your selfie! Would love to see them and if you haven’t followed me on Instagram yet, follow me now at @itscarmenhong!

 

Till next time,

xoxo 

Eat: “Feast on Ribs” by Chicago Rib House

I remember there was a period of time, sometime last year that I went into a mad-craving-for-ribs mode and I was searching up frantically for places that serves good ribs. I remember my search for ribs then was quite futile, and I did eventually gave up on finding my ribs. Haha, pun intended! So a couple of weeks back, I was invited to a party where ribs was the main highlight and there were mocktails for the night too!

It was a party held by Chicago Rib House to celebrate their new promotion which runs till 6 July 2014, so you still have a couple of weeks more to go and grab this promotion! For the “Feast on Ribs” promotion, you get to enjoy two full slabs of all-American pork ribs with a choice of two sides, for an amazing price of just RM79.90. The ribs are served with a selection of signature sauces to choose from - Original BBQ, Honey Garlic, Flaming Kansas City, Bourbon Sauce or Caramelized Plum. I had a taste of each and every one of the sauces above and frankly, I love the Flaming Kansas City.

 And to top up with the all-American spirit, Chicago Rib House has teamed up with the US Potato Board to create US Potato dishes to pair with the American-style ribs. The chefs  has whipped up three new potato side dishes – Macho Potatoes (baked potato), Brave Potatoes (cooked potatoes with tomato sauce) and Happy Spuds (potato salad). No surprise here on which was my favourite potato dishes, it had to be the Macho Potatoes.

| Macho Potatoes |

| Honey Garlic ribs |

On top of this promotion, guests who order the “Feast on Ribs” will get to participate in the “Vote Your Favourite Sauce” lucky draw. This draw provides guests a chance to win the top prize of a year’s free supply of pork ribs! Voting sheets will be given to all guests after their meal to vote for their favourite sauce paired with the ribs. Every order of a full rack is entitled to one vote. Voting ends on 7th July, and the restaurant will pick the winner for one year’s worth of free pork ribs (one full rack of pork ribs per month)! The first runner up will receive free ribs for 6 months and the remaining five lucky voters will get RM100 cash dining vouchers each.

 

So really what are you waiting for, hurry on to One Utama or Gurney Plaza now to grab the promotion and feast on those ribs!

// Chicago Rib House // 

Lot F346, First Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre03-7727 3210
Open daily from 11am – 11pm

170-G-43, Gurney PlazaTel: 04-2290 763
Open daily from 11am – 11pm

Thought I will end the post with a picture of myself with some of the pretty bloggers that night! With me, from left to right is Emily, Susu and Jessica.

Till next time,

xoxo

Eat: Moussandra Mediterranean and Tapas, Solaris Dutamas

I have mentioned more than once how much I loved Publika (or more accurately Solaris Dutamas area) for the abundance of good food located over there. The best part of it is you don’t really even need to be trying too hard to look for one. This time around I’m back in Solaris at one of the oldest Mediterranean and tapas restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. It’s called Moussandra (Mediterranean and tapas restaurant). I have tried many different cuisines before but I never tried those of the Greek, Spanish and Italian cuisine where Moussandra serves tapas and dishes from these cuisines.

Berenjenas Picantes ; Pan-fried eggplant with Chili & Tomato | RM12

Gambas Al Ajillo ; Garlic Prawns in Olive Oil | RM20

Datiles Con Bacon ; Beef Bacon wrapped Dates stuffed with Almond | RM15

Hummus Bi Tahini ; Chickpea Dip with Pita Bread | RM10

Terrina De Pollo ; Chicken Liver Pâté with Baguette | RM17

All together we sampled these five tapas, and it is probably no surprise which my favourite one was. The Gambas Al Ajillo (Garlic Prawns in Olive Oil) won my heart over because it was prawns, so succulent with the rich aroma of garlic. I do realise it is also one of least adventurous one, with the palate being somewhat similar to the local Asian flavour; garlic and prawns.

The other tapas which left an impression was the Terrina De Pollo (Chicken Liver Pâté with Baguette). I have only ever heard of pâté from watching movies and I never had the chance to try them till now. Here in Moussandra, the pâté is made from chopped chicken liver. I can literally hear some of you going, “Uhh, really?”. Yes! It is so. I expected it to smell rather strong but was surprised that there wasn’t any. It was almost odourless. The way to eat the pâté is by spreading it over the baguette. I did just that and I felt as though my tongue was immediately engulfed with a strong aftertaste of liver. If you never liked liver, you will most definitely dislike this. On the contrary, I was told that there were some customers who never liked liver, found this dish rather nice.

On a first look, I thought the Datiles Con Bacon (Beef Bacon wrapped Dates stuffed with Almond) was similar to the Grilled “Bacon” Wrapped Snails that I had in Acme Bar & Coffee, The Troika. But instead in the first bite I was welcomed by a sweet savoury taste of dates and almond, together with a hint of beef bacon. I would say the sweetness of the dates did sometimes overpowered the bacon.

Moussaka | RM43 (Chicken), RM47 (Lamb)

Close up on the Moussaka | RM43 (Chicken), RM47 (Lamb)

Pizza Primavera | RM 28 

Paella Valenciana | RM45

Much like the tapas served earlier, I have never tried these few mains before elsewhere so I have to tell you that it is a new experience eating these unique cuisines. You have to excuse me because I also don’t happen to have any ideas on how these should taste like. So what I’ll be sharing will be what I personally tasted and felt.

For the Moussaka, it came with an option of chicken or lamb in which they were minced and cooked together in layers of eggplant, potatoes, white sauce and cheese! As cheesy as it looks, the cheese used for the dish was just the right amount for me. I can imagine why this was the crowd favourite in Moussandra, it’s a comfort food on its own! As for the Pizza Primavera, it is a (extremely) thin crust pizza topped with more eggplants(!), slices of red peppers, spinach and mozzarella. While I never had been a fan of an almost vegetarian (they had bits of anchovies which I didn’t taste of), this didn’t convert me. Never been a fan of so much veggies on my pizza, but kudos to the chef for perfecting the pizza’s crust! It was crunchy even after 15 minutes.

Last but not least is the Paella Valenciana, (my first paella everryybody!). I have heard so much about paella, I was rather excited to try this when it arrived. There is nothing more scrumptious than having most of my favourite food all in a pan! There were squid, clams, fish, prawns, mussel, chicken, chicken sausage and vegetables all over the pan. The rice was more starchy but oh-so-flavourful. It was cooked with saffron, something that again was my first time having it. Yums!

Vanilla Creme Brulee | RM8 (small) , RM12 (big)

Helado Del Ron Y De La Pasa ; Homemade Rum & Raisin Ice Cream | RM12

We ended the dinner feast for the night with an oh-so-delicious Vanilla Creme Brulee ; smooth custard with a coating of a hard top of cooked sugar over it. Yums! And then we also had the Helado Del Ron Y De La Pasa (Homemade Rum & Raisin Ice Cream), where all you need is a tiny scoop of the ice cream and *bam* delicious smooth ice cream with notable rum taste hits you! There is then plenty of raisins in the ice cream too, providing different texture as you savour the dessert.

Overall, I loved the dining experience at Moussandra! It was unique and definitely tickled my taste buds in the Greek, Spanish and Italian cuisine. I may not be able to visit any one of those countries just yet, but being able to taste their local food right here in my home country is one of the reasons why I love my country even more. Or my city to be exact, Kuala Lumpur!

* * * * * * * * * *

&. Thanks to HungryGoWhere Malaysia and Moussandra for having me. +

This food tasting session was organised by HungryGoWhere Malaysia – Discover, Eat, Share today!

Review: Enchanteur Paris Body Lotions

If you know me, then you’ll know that I am not those who have the time to put on body lotion. Frankly, I keep my daily beauty regime as simple as I can. But don’t get me wrong, I love to look pretty and playing with make up. It is just that I find it troublesome that I have to put so many other stuff on myself just to look pretty. Isn’t there a simpler way to look good?

You probably get where this is heading to, but no, I’m not reviewing a new revolutionary all-in-one beauty product where you can look pretty with no effort. I’m actually going to review Enchanteur Paris Body Lotions, in fact I have all four bottles of their latest body lotions. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m really not those kind who put on lotion. But this time around, I decided to try if the lotions this time was any different from the previous one I had.

As you can see from the picture, the designs of the bottles are similar except for All-In-One Whitening where the colour of the bottle is orange. Other than that all the bottles are the same with 150ml in each of them. The bottle was designed in the typical “open and squeeze”  type which in my honest opinion made it a little tricky because sometimes I squeeze a little more. When that happens, I end up with far too much lotion for myself. =.=

That aside, let me go into short review of how I found each of the bottle. Let me start off with Light & Fresh. I never quite believed what the label says, I’m sceptical like that. So when I saw that it was supposed to be Light & Fresh, I was like “yeahhhh”. Except when I tried it, I was literally like “woww”. There is a very refreshing smell, and the smell lingers on the skin after you put it. It is sort of having perfume on. I read the label and then I realised that the lotion was based on the Mon Amie scent, which was perfume by Enchanteur Paris. This lotion has UV protection against harmful sun rays and it contains licorice concentrate that prevents the formation of dark pigment.

Next up is Firm & Repair, which helps to improve skin elasticity. For this, the lotion contains ingredients like micro collagen that firms up body tissues, keeping skin firm, supple and youthful looking. It also contains Swiss Edelweiss protects skin against free radicals and works actively to repair damaged skin overnight. For this purpose, I would then recommend that this lotion to be used before you sleep. :) I heard before that when we sleep, the skin repair itself so what better way to help that process than with a product which smell ridiculously good. This lotion has the Adore scent.

And now, we have the Triple Whitening. This product has 3 main whitening ingredients – Vitamin B3, Sakura & Licorice Concentrates which helps to whiten and even out the skin tone. If you’re always out in the sun, this would be perfect for you to help get fairer skin. The vitamin B3 helps stop the aggregation of melanin to prevent pigmentation which when you grow older will affect you, I know this because my mom talks about it all the time. Just like the rest, this lotion smells amazing and it is the scent of Belle Armour.

Last but not least, this is the All-in-One Whitening. Of all the four products, I loved this the most. :) It probably have to do with the scent of this, it smells surprisingly similar to Belle Armour of Triple Whitening. But this one smells less sweet and almost like a milder version. And guess what, if you are a fan of Victoria’s Secret’s perfume; Angel Gold, this smells really similar to that. The notes in the perfume used for both may be different though. Haha. Anyways, back to the lotion, I loved this the best mostly because there SPF24++ Sun Protection against harmful UVA & UVB sun rays. This mean I can just put this and leave the house without putting on additional sunscreen.

Overall, I am loving these four lotions although they smell so amazing that I am using it as a perfume. If you’re wondering, yes the smell lingers after hours long, just like a perfume! Sometimes, I catch myself sniffing my hands. I’ll probably go check the perfumes out now. And as for you, you really might want to check these lotion out!

Till next time,

xoxo

Eat: Royal Gourmet in Premiere Hotel, Klang

Now, it never occurred to me that I would be in Klang one day and not be eating the ever so famous authentic Bak Kut Teh from Klang itself. Instead, this time around I was in Première Hotel to sample some of the speciality dishes created by Executive Sous Chef Johnson. Frankly speaking, I had no inkling what was on the menu that night, but the chef will dish out his special dishes which he came up with. We were not even given a list of the dishes, so basically we were up for a surprise.

| Double Boiled Black Chicken Soup with Chinese Herbs |

We kicked things off with a nutritious soup which seems to be laden with many ingredients I couldn’t identify. :P I took one look at the soup, and the next thing I did was to fish around the soup (I know my parents thought me not to play with my food, but I swear I was just trying to find a better angle). Later I found out that the soup was known as Double Boiled Black Chicken Soup with Chinese Herbs.

| Double Boiled Black Chicken Soup with Chinese Herbs |

As the name suggest, the soup was double boiled in clay pot for hours long before served. The main ingredient of the soup would a mushroom look-a-like called Fresh Black Tiger Palm. It is as pictured above and is actually fungus mushroom. The soup also contains scallops and an abalone! And that’s just my favourite from the soup.

| Steamed Sea Grouper in Village Style |

The next dish served was steamed fish (one of my favourite type of meat!) and I was half-expecting the usual soy sauce steamed type. So, when this arrived I was surprised. The fish was pretty much buried underneath ‘treasures’ , or should I say even more nutritious ingredients. It was loaded with shiitake mushroom, bean curd stick, black fungus, red dates and vegetarian glass noodle. I didn’t know this was how village style fish was cooked. While more is always good, I still prefer my fish to be cooked in a simple manner. This was good nevertheless, fish was superbly fresh, cooked in a simple broth-like sauce.

| Stir Fried Baby French Bean with Top Shell |

Remember when I said earlier that at the beginning of the dinner, we had no idea what was on the menu? Well, when this arrived we knew it was stir fried French beans but what we didn’t know was the orangey bits of meat. We were thinking maybe cuttlefish, but doesn’t quite look like that. Then Chef Johnson, told us it was actually snails! 0.0 More accurately, it was top shell snails which if you haven’t tried before, is darn awesome. It was chewy and mhmm, so good. This was cooked with baby French beans  from Cameron Highlands, so it’s crunchy and fresh too. The combination with the top shell snails work wonders.

| Steamed Minced Chicken with Salted Fish |

The steamed minced dish was something my mom cooks for me at home, and a dish that I came to love albeit it being a rather simple one. To have this served in restaurant, was different, especially in a Chinese restaurant of a hotel. But Chef Johnson’s take on the simple dish was amazing. First, he used chicken which was minced till it’s tender but not mushy instead of pork. I really couldn’t tell the difference because texture wise it was similar to the pork ones. And, he used my all-time favourite food to spruce up the dish, eggs! It is such a genius idea.

| Baked Lamb Rack with Chef Special Sauce |

We were then served with an awesome platter of huge chunky lamb racks (did I just one too many adjectives in a sentence?), which looks glorious. According to Chef Johnson, it is an original recipe that he had came up with whereby the method used to prepare the racks was unique. He used Chinese and Western ingredients which includes Chef's special sauce, garlic and shallots. The lamb was marinated for 2 hours and was then oven baked and topped with savoury sauce of ginger, shallots, garlic and fermented bean paste. And in the end, we have a perfectly roasted lamb racks infused with Chef's special sauce and a hint of fermented bean paste. I may not be a fan of these two, but it was definitely a unique combination.

| Double Boiled Snow Fungus and Red Dates|

We ended the dinner with a hot dessert, this looks seemingly similar to the ones we usually had at the end of the Chinese wedding dinner. I can’t seem to recall what they were called at the moment. But this was different because it was definitely sweeter, with the note of sweetness coming from the dates and the jelly like stuff. When asked what the jelly was, it was actually wild snow lotus. It is very likely something from the wild snow lotus plant. (The chef was explaining in Chinese and I’m a certified banana, so this was the best I can do.)

Overall, the culinary experience here in Royal Gourmet had me surprised for more than a couple dishes. I would say in all, the dishes were of a odd combination but if you see them individually, they were rather unique and amazing. According to the General Manager of the restaurant, they were considering into making in to MIGF this year. Here’s to seeing them in MIGF this year! :)

Out & About: Astro on the Go’s Campus Roadshows

Having entered the working life a couple of years ago, I always find myself wishing I was back being a student. There are just so many perks of being a student ; all you technically need to do is pass your exams and there is almost nothing else to worry about. Besides that obvious reason, there is another perk in being a student. Restaurants, retails companies and brands are always dishing out fantastic offers to students!

I remember back when I was back in Sunway University, the Energy Hub (Cafeteria area) was often brimming with activities and not to mention, tonnes of freebies! We had food and drinks to sample before, charity bazaars over there, models search contests and even a live photo shoot session before.

And guess what now? A little birdy just told me that Astro is currently running Astro on the Go roadshow at various campuses around Kuala Lumpur area! Oh, being a university student is such a bliss! You get to attend all these fun roadshows. :)

The roadshows have been going on at a few other campuses earlier and you may have seen them in yours already. But fret not, if you missed those earlier ones as there are other roadshows at the following locations which you can still attend!

• KBU - 6th June 2014, Friday
• SEGi University Kota Damansara  - 9 June 2014, Monday
• Multimedia University (Cyberjaya) - 10 June 2014, Tuesday
• HELP University - 11 June 2014, Wednesday
• Sunway University - 12 June 2014, Thursday

So, I heard that there are cool freebies, goodie bags and fantastic gifts that would be given out at the roadshows! Remember I said, everyone just love giving students these perks? So as students, take advantage of these opportunities I tell you… because you really won’t get much chance once you start working. T.T

Besides that, you also stand a chance to win a free 1-month access to premium content on Astro on the Go (AOTG)! There will a free premium merchandise for each sign-ups on a first come first serve basis, so you may want to be the few early birds there. Like most roadshows, there will exciting games and a chance to test out the AOTG programme before you subscribe for it.

If you’re wondering what Astro on the Go is, basically you can now watch Astro from your devices; phones, tablets and laptops too! I realised that it was launched for a while already and yet nobody bothered telling me about this. I can watch my favourite shows from my phone! Just how awhsum is that. :D

I haven’t had the chance to have a trial run of the app on my phone yet, because I’m planning to drop by the roadshows to learn more about AOTG. There will be handsome boys and pretty girls there to help answer any of your queries too, so I would have my questions answered over there too. :) So, seriously …what are you doing still reading this post? Shouldn’t you be on your way to the roadshows now?

I know I am, here’s a picture of my super excited face. Tee hee!

PS – I would be going to the Sunway University campus roadshow, so if you wanted to come see and have fun exploring the app together come see me on the 12th of June!

Fashion: Looks I love, the jackets edition!

So, here’s the thing. If you haven’t met me before and you’ve just been reading my blog, you would think that I’m probably only ever is interested in food. Which is completely true. But then again, there is something else that I absolutely passionate about (besides, photography) and it is fashion. Surprise much?I do realise I don’t talk much about fashion here but I’ve been working on a project on fashion and looks. I’m hoping to publish that series soon!

Anyway, I thought it’ll be nice to be blog a little more about fashion. Before this blog become mainly food, I used to post inspirations or looks that I absolutely love over here. Since it’s been a while that I posted those, I thought I would take a break from blogging about food and talk about some looks I love; jackets in particular!

If you ever needed inspiration on what to wear and how to wear anything, www.lookbook.nu is the place to be. There’s always Pinterest and a lot more other websites, but I still love LOOKBOOK the best.

Source: http://lookbook.nu/look/5353828-Don-T-Despair

I have always wanted a denim jacket and I have yet to find the perfect one. I love how effortless it is that she (Lua P) rocks the whole look. Thing is without the jacket it would actually love rather simple right? After seeing this, I have to put denim jacket on my clothing items I need. (Read: Need, not want)

Source: http://lookbook.nu/look/2243303-Vintage-Jacket-Dress-You-Really-Got-Me

Okay, I’m sold. Denim jackets are the best ever to pair up with shorts or with cute lacey dresses. So, anyone knows where I can get them from? :D Okay, denim jackets aside, because you may thinking just how ridiculous it absolutely is to wear it in this weather. Alternatively, there is always an option to deck out in a light weight jacket or outerwear. Like chiffon, are my absolutely favourite material. It’s sheer with a subtle hint of sexy.

Source: http://lookbook.nu/look/4842039-Merrin-Gussy-Cross-Necklace-Ianywear-Light-Blue

Source: http://lookbook.nu/look/6265727-Missguided-Romper-Roses-And-Lace

And if chiffon really isn’t your style, you could always try knit. Especially those slouchy, oh-so-comfy knit style. There are the light weight ones, which is more suitable to be worn outdoors and there are also those thicker ones to wear to classes. Classrooms are always brrr… freeezing.

Source: http://lookbook.nu/look/5841259-Bcbg-Faux-Leather-Jacket-Love-Nail-Tree-Heart

We cannot have a post on jackets and not talk about the ever so versatile leather jackets, which I have yet to find one as well. Speaking of which, I think I know where I may just find it. Recently, I was browsing online and I visited Zalora Malaysia website and my, it took me just 5 minutes to fall in love with one of the gorgeous cut out dresses. Too bad they ran out of my size, I would love to have that dress. I am pretty sure I’ll be able to find some pretty awesome jacket there too! Let’s see if they have leather jacket, yums!

Okay, I won’t be rambling on any further and I hope you enjoyed this rather short post on the “Looks I love, the jacket edition” . Since you’re so nice as to read this post, I’ll let you in a secret. I have always secretly wanted to do looks like the bloggers above have done and post my OOTD. But somehow, I don’t have anyone to help me. It gets to me because as someone who takes pictures, I know exactly what I want from a picture. Of course, it isn’t possible for me to shoot myself like the pictures above. Not until I upgrade my camera to one with wi-fi control. So, I secretly hope I end up dating a photographer who can help me shoot my OOTD. Shameless much, I know.

Anyways, I’ll end this post with a self-portrait picture that I took under my #Project52 last year, with grey high slit dress paired with a jacket from Zara. It is hardly close to a fashion looks, I was dressed rather simply for the picture.

Till next time,

xoxo

Review: Mary Kay CC Cream + Giveaway!

I remember a time when the BB cream which is short for Beauty Balm was all the rage, because it was somewhat like a light foundation which can do many things from giving the face a flawless finish, to reducing pore size, healing breakouts, controlling oil and correcting uneven skin tone. Those are just some the many benefits of the BB cream.

And now, with the introduction of the CC cream which stands for Colour Correcting cream, it has all the similar benefits just like the BB cream. Think of it as a more refined BB cream, after much research work has been on the BB cream. I have only tried a CC cream once and I did quite like it. And now, I have been given the opportunity to review the Mary Kay CC Cream Sunscreen SPF 15.

If you haven’t heard of Mary Kay before, it is probably because it isn’t one of those beauty products which are sold over the counter. Basically, you’ll need to get in touch with Mary Kay beauty consultants to purchase these products. :) You can locate a beauty consultant here; http://www.marykay.com.my/beautyConsultantLocator.aspx.

Before I move on, let me briefly explain about the Mary Kay CC Cream Sunscreen SPF 15. As the name suggests, it contains sunscreen along with the CC cream. However, it only has SPF15 which is actually more suited to be worn just indoors. Besides that there are 8 benefits of the CC cream and they are;

1. Protects
2. Brightens
3. Corrects with lightweight coverage
4. Minimizes redness
5. Conceals
6. Hydrates
7. Reduces visible signs of aging
8. Defends

Now, I won’t be able to tell you for sure whether I experienced all 8 benefits but I can tell you what I felt after using the product and how the product is like for my skin. For your information, I have an combination skin with a oily T-zone. Anyway, enough of my ramblings, let’s head on over to my review on Mary Kay CC Cream Sunscreen SPF 15.

This is how the product looks like and as you can see it comes in one size of 29ml. The CC cream I have here is in the shade of "very light". Earlier in the post, I mentioned that CC cream was also known as Colour Correcting cream, but in this case the CC cream Mary Kay actually stands for Complexion Corrector cream. When I first unboxed the product, I thought it was another “squeeze” type which was what most my BB creams were. Personally, I am not too fond of those.

But to my surprise, it is actually “pump-like” dispenser type which was completely a surprise! I love this dispensing type because I think these are neater and more hygiene compared the earlier “squeeze” type. The best part is that with a pump, it’s easier to control the amount of product. Almost with the “squeeze” type, I always end up with too much product on hand.

I don’t think you need a caption to let you know which was the picture before I had the cream on and the one after, with the cream. From the picture on the left, you can see how my cheeks and forehead is kind of flushed. But with the CC cream over it, my skin appears toned and flawless too. At first, I thought the cream didn’t provide enough coverage for me. But after application, I can see that it provided me with sufficient coverage although not as thick as what a foundation does.

But a foundation has a different purpose, this CC cream is more of a light weight one and my skin can still breathe with this product on. It almost feels like I don’t have any product on, and personally that is how I like my beauty products to be like. Which explains why I only use water-based products which absorbs quickly. I had the product on for about 6 hours throughout dinner and till I’m back home, and my skin was still flawless with minimal oil on my T-zone area. This could be because the product have enough moisture for me, because one thing for sure I didn’t feel like it was drying on my skin.

I used a total of three pumps of the product to achieve the look as pictured. Although the cream is best applied using fingertips, but I found it difficult to evenly apply the cream. Hence, I used the stippling brush as pictured to apply. I think the reason why it was difficult to apply was because before application of the CC cream, I had applied a primer on my face. The primer may not have been suitable to use together with the CC cream.

Overall, I liked the CC cream and how it looks like on my skin. This would definitely be my go-to product when I’m planning to head out with a au naturel look. More often than not, I find putting on foundation suffocates my skin when I leave it on my face for hours long. So, I would recommend this product if you want to achieve flawless yet natural look. And if you’re like me, you don’t know whether to put sunscreen before or after foundation, you can save yourself the hassle of figuring that out and just use one that already has sunscreen like this Mary Kay CC Cream Sunscreen SPF 15.

And that’s all for my review on the product! If you’re still reading, guess what? I have a lovely surprise waiting for you. The awesome peeps at Mary Kay have given some fantastic product to give them to my readers to try some of Mary Kay’s products! With me here, I have the Jelly Lip Gloss and the Baked Eye Trio eye shadow. I wish I could keep one set for myself, but then again, I love my readers and I would love for you to try the products out!

So, how do you win these two goodies from Mary Kay? Super easy peasy, all you need to do is leave a comment (with your email) below on why you want to win the lip gloss and the baked trio eye shadow! :)

But to increase your chances, you can tweet about the giveaway and share this post on Facebook (do set it to public and leave the link in the comment below!). Please tag me on Twitter if you do tweet, so that I get notifications. Remember to leave your email, so that I can get in touch with you as I’ll be posting the prizes to you.

Also, you get brownie points if you follow my blog, Twitter or Instagram. (@itscarmenhong)

Rules:

• The deadline for this giveaway is 16th June 2014, 10PM. 
• I will pick the lucky reader and announce the winner here in this post, the next day ; 17th June 2014. 
• You have to reply my email within 24 hours, or the prizes will be released to the next reader.
• Winner will be picked based on creative, funny, witty comments, so go crazy! Show me your enthusiasm. :p

* * * * * * * * * *

By the way, Mary Kay is currently having the Dream Beautiful Model Search Contest www.marykaydbc.com.my, whereby ladies will stand a chance to be the Face of Mary Kay Asia Pacific. For all the girls/ladies out there who have only ever dreamt of becoming a cover model, here's a chance to realise that dream. :) 

And here are the steps to join the Dream Beautiful Model Search Contest, super easy! Read more here; http://www.marykaydbc.com.my/view/entry.html And on top of joining the contest, you'll get a free make over too. I am planning to join the contest too, (who doesn't want to be a cover girl?), let me just get in contact with my beauty consultant first! Tee hee!

Till next time,

xoxo