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Tuesday, July 5, 2022

LUMOS TEMPO Wireless Earbuds Review

Honestly, I have not tried any good quality wireless earbuds for a long time. The last pair of wireless earbuds which I have gotten at a very cheap price started to malfunction on one side within six months. The current one which I am using is a single wireless earbud and the design has a plastic loop over my ear which causes pain to the outer part of my ear after long wearing. When the kind folks from LUMOS Projector approached me to review their LUMOS TEMPO wireless earbuds, I couldn't be happier to try them out since they come with so many features.
 

Some of my favourite features of LUMOS TEMPO are:

Superior Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) & Ambient Mode
LUMOS TEMPO's ANC feature is able to cancel out up to 42db, whereas the industry average earbuds are able to cancel out up to 30db. I tried to toggle between ANC and ambient mode while I was driving. I could feel the drastic difference when I turned on ANC mode, the sound of the car engine and the air from the aircon vent was totally blocked out. This feature is going to be very useful when I need total concentration and not get myself distracted by outside noises during zoom meetings. 

At times when I need to be aware of the surrounding sounds yet to be able to enjoy listening to the music or watching k-dramas on my mobile phone, I can switch to ambient mode.



Longest Battery Life
LUMOS TEMPO packs a maximum of 30 hrs battery life (Fully charged casing is 23 hrs & earbuds is 7 hrs). Working mothers like myself can relate to lesser frustrating moments of dead earbuds and hassle of recharging needed.


High Defination (HD) 6-Mic Calling
LUMOS TEMPO is equipped with 6 mics vs the traditional 4 mics set up. This means my voice can be heard clearer & sharper during calls.


Overall, I love the design and the casing comes in light grey matte finishing. These wallet-friendly wireless earbuds (now on promotion at SGD$179) are a local brand and come with a one-year local warranty. If you are looking for good quality wireless earbuds which are comparable with other premium brands in the market, go and get them from LUMOS website. The company currently only ships in Singapore and Malaysia.

Disclaimer: I received 2 pairs of LUMOS TEMPO for the review purpose. No monetary is compensated, all opinions are my own.

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Sponsored Review: HoneyPeachSg Bakery

June is a special month since we have 2 June babies in the household, it is so apt to choose something sweet and simple for our mini celebration at home. I am totally enticed by HoneyPeachSg Bakery's range of cakes as I am browsing through their website. Their cakes are simply gorgeous and I am spoilt with so many choices.

Pink Berry Drip Cake
Flavour: Strawberry Short Cake

What impresses me is HoneyPeachSg Bakery produces cream cakes instead of fondant cakes and they have a wide range of flavours (double chocolate, cookie butter, strawberry shortcake, chocolate salted caramel, matcha white chocolate, vanilla raspberry, earl grey lavender, pure vanilla bean and lemon curd) for customers to choose from.

Not only does the cake look aesthetically pretty, it definitely passes my palate test as well. The cake is spongey and the sweetness is on point too.


The assorted gourmet cupcakes come in a box of twelve with two flavours to choose from. The cupcake is a hit with the kids because it is so convenient for them to grab one and eat it. The sweetness from the cream compliments well with the spongy cupcake.

Vanilla Raspberry Cupcake

Cookie Butter Cupcake

Currently, there is a special promo delivery fee at $9.90 and free delivery for order above $150. 


Disclaimer: We received HoneyPeachSg Bakery's cake and cupcakes for review purpose. No monetary was compensated, all opinions are my own.

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Lucca Vudor: Quality Shoes with Style

My preference for shoes has evolved over the years. From my obsession with high heels when I was younger (by enduring the pain and blisters caused by the shoes for sake of vanity) to mostly on sneakers, flats and low heels now due to my busy lifestyle. 

When the kind folks from Lucca Vudor approached me to do a review on their shoes. The first thing I did was browse through the website out of curiosity. What enticed me was their wide variety of shoe designs and Lucca Vudor claimed to be the world's most comfortable shoes.

So what makes Lucca Vudor shoes so different from other brands?

Source from website

  • Top-quality calfskin/lambskin for soft, breathable comfort
  • Extra room for those delicate toes - no painful cuts or rubs
  • Specially engineered cushion insoles for added support and lift
 
In addition, for local orders via their online platform:

Source from website

I went to one of their outlets located in Suntec City to collect the shoes. When I tried them on for the very first time, the shoes fitted me to a T. The front part is wide enough for my wide feet plus I have bunions issue as well. The soft insoles are so comfy to the soles of my feet as if I am walking on cotton candy. 


New Arrival Section

Colourful range of shoes in the store

Trying out the comfy shoes


I chose a pair of Symphony 631-45 in beige-Apricot colour to match most of my work and leisure clothes. The cutting and design of the shoes create a slender look for my wide feet. Most importantly, every step I take is so comfortable. There is no cut or blister on my feet at all.

Give Lucca Vudor shoes a try and you will understand what I am saying. You got to try it to believe it! Moreover, there is a discount available right now on their website.

Disclaimer: A pair of Lucca Vudor shoes was received for purpose of this review. No monetary was compensated, all opinions are my own.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Sponsored Review: CNY Goodies from Wang Lai Bakery

Chinese Lunar New Year is around the corner and time passes so fast that I hardly have time to go shopping for decoration and stock up on CNY goodies. Oh well, that is the reality life of a full-time working mother! This is the time whereby working mothers like us will resort to online shopping to get everything we need during our "free time". In addition, shopping online can avoid crowded areas since the spread of the Covid-19 & Omicron virus is not improving.

Recently, Wang Lai Bakery had sent us so many CNY goodies to try and now we have one more online option to stock up on CNY goodies. We were spoilt with so many choices and everyone in the family has their personal favourite goodies.    


About Wang Lai Bakery:
Wang Lai Bakery was established in 1968 located in Chinatown that specialises in traditional Chinese goodies. Their traditional recipe has been passed down for 4 generations in the family and extraordinary efforts have been taken to constantly tweak and improve the family recipes to be as close as possible to perfection. Using only premium quality ingredients and is mostly made from scratch. Everyone can enjoy premium and affordable Chinese New Year goodies.

My personal favourites are pineapple tarts, peanut cookies, prawn rolls, and chocolate and peanut butter love letters. My kids love their pandan love letter rolls and nutella tarts. We have been indulging ourselves with Wang Lai Bakery's goodies for the past 1 week. I guess my diet shall start after Chinese New Year...haha! 

You can opt for self-collection or delivery. Deliveries are free for orders above $100. 

Disclaimer: A sponsored review collaboration with Wang Lai Bakery. No monetary was compensated, all opinions are my own.

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Sponsored Review: The Durian Bakery

[Sponsored Review]

It is an open secret that I have a soft spot for durian. There are no four seasons in Singapore but we do have "durian season" every year. Although the durian season is over, I am glad that I can still get my durian cravings fixed from The Durian Bakery. Online ordering was easy peasy and swift. Within minutes, an online order was placed and scheduled to be delivered on a weekend late afternoon. 


The Durian Bakery offers different variations of durian cakes and I was spoilt with choices. In the end, I decided to order their signature cake based on my children's suggestion. If you are unsure which durian pastries to order, why not try out their Signature Pastries Taster Bundle. It's like killing two birds with one stone :)


Snowy D24 Durian Cream Puff comes in a box of 12 pieces. This is one of my favourite coz each puff tastes so light and fluffy. The Durian Bakery is quite generous with the durian filling, which consists of 95% D24 durian flesh, 5% cream and no sugar. With just one bite, the filling just oozed out from the puff.





Snowy D24 Durian Mochi comes in a box of 6 pieces. This is definitely my children's favourite because it tastes like ice cream after the mochi is thawed for a while from the freezer. Their mochis are soft and chewy coz all are handmade and 90% are D24 durian flesh.





Dark Choco Musang King Mousse comes in 1 piece. The perfect combination of dark chocolate with fresh musang king durian puree integrates the bitter & sweet flavour so well together.




Lastly, we tried the Signature Mao Shang Wang Durian Mille Crepe Cake. Each crepe skin (total 40 layers) is pan-fried by hand and the cake is made freshly daily upon order. There is a limited quantity for order daily.


The Durian Bakery is also listed as one of the best durian cakes by Best in Singapore, do check out here for the link. They use only fresh durians delivered from the Tiger Hill plantation in Pahang, Malaysia. Guess what? We can get our durian craving fix by choosing their 2 hours same-day express delivery service (with a surcharge of $15 delivery fee).


Disclaimer: A sponsored review collaboration with The Durian Bakery. No monetary was compensated, all opinions are my own.

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Family Travel to Osaka [2~8 December 2019]

I have been very quiet and neglected this blog space for almost a year. Last year was definitely a very busy year for me (due to work) since the start of the Covid-19. I have been wanting to blog about our 2019 Japan trip to Osaka but this post has been put on hold due to various reasons but now I really wanted to record it down for memory sake.
 
Looking back, we were considered quite lucky because we managed to bring the kids for an overseas trip before the dreadful Covid-19 started to spread in Singapore. Now, we don't even know when we can start to travel freely out of Singapore again. Anyways, this Osaka trip was quite impromptu because my mom wanted to sponsor air-tickets for us and we just need to cover the accommodation and other expenses. We decided to spend 6 days (our longest trip so far) and hope to give our kids more exposure about the culture and history of Osaka. Since hubby used to stay in Osaka for 2 years, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring them to see where their father has stayed before. It was a pity we did not have enough time to do that in the end.
 
YS was appointed to plan the trip's itinerary but we did not really follow through in the end because hubby decided to bring them to somewhere else. Also, it was my first attempt to book an Airbnb accommodation for the family but it turned out to be a disaster during our first night in Osaka. 

We took a red eye flight from Singapore and transited at Manila before we reached Kansai airport near noon time. We decided to take the train to the station located nearby our accommodation to dump our luggages in order to spend some time to venture within the city.
 
Big boy was tasked to buy train tickets for the very first time.

Weather was cool and great.

1st stop - Pokemon Center (5 min walk from JR Osaka Station)

We made our first pit stop here since the littlest was a big fan of Pokemon. He managed to buy some merchandise and gotten himself some rare trading cards.

Happy boy at his favourite place!

We went to Dotonbori to take pictures with the iconic Glico man on the billboard.
 
Our first dinner in Osaka (sushi & sashimi).

Enjoyed Japan's ice-cream in the cold weather.

Street food in Osaka.

We decided to go back to our Airbnb accommodation to rest for the night. However, we were quite shocked with the accommodation's condition (pictures can be quite deceiving on the website). In the end, we were scrambling for last minute hotel booking in the middle of the night and managed to check in at a nearby hotel with better facilities. Let's just say, that will probably be my last attempt to try booking any accommodation via Airbnb.

The next day, we brought the kids to the happiest place in Osaka. Its one of the "must go" places in our itinerary, Universal Studio Osaka. Luckily we bought our tickets will Klook App beforehand. We spent the entire day at this magical place and still felt energetic, I guess the cooling weather did help a lot.
 Great weather to start our day at USJ.


Harry Porter

We tried their warm butter beer and it was too sweet to our liking.

That very night, hubby decided to bring all of us to venture into Hiroshima the next day although it was not part of the itinerary. We woke up pretty early and bought a two way Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Hiroshima. It was our first experience and we were so impressed with the cleanliness and the design of their seating arrangement (because we were able to turn front to back and vice versa). We bought Japanese bento and drinks to eat on our way back to Osaka.



The littlest enjoyed a nice nap on the train.

Yes, Japan sells very nice and fancy bentos.

Hiroshima was not on our itinerary initially but last minute changes can be fun and adventurous. Hubby wanted the kids to learn more about the history so we decided to make an impromptu day trip to this historic city. We spent half day visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to see those exhibits left behind by victims during the A-bomb disaster which happened on August 6, 1945.

Many children died during the atomic bombing so the Children's Peace Monument was built to commemorate these victims.
 
We walked past a memorial monument.

 
The remains of the building which was partially destroyed by the atomic bomb is still around today. 

We decided to spend the rest of the day at Miyajima Island, a small island in Hiroshima Bay. Miyajima Island is known the "shrine island" and it is famous for its floating torii gate.  However, our anticipation turned into disappointment when we saw the torii gate was covered up for renovation works. 
 

We took a ferry to get to Miyajima ferry pier.  

There are deers on the island so don't be alarmed if these cuties approached you for food. 


 
We could not resist to stop and try some of their fresh oysters. 

Enjoyed our scenic walk on this island. 

 

We also spent a day exploring the beautiful city of Kyoto and went to visit more shrines and temples.

 

How could we not take pictures with their iconic torii gates?


We did not spend too long at the shrine as we decided to venture a few other places on the same day.

The kids wrote their wishes on wooden sticks.


We tried some yummy street food from those booths set up outside the shrine.

 
This place gave me a sense of serenity just like our previous visit (when we were just a newly wed couple) which was more than 10 years ago. 
Entrance ticket

Enjoying the majestic view of the Golden Pavilion.

We ended the day by taking a slow walk along the famous stretch of shops leading up to Kiyomizu-dera (part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site). The sky started to turn dark and we made our last dash to the temple before the closing time.

These shops were selling interesting souvenirs and local snacks.

Night view of the entrance.

Night view of three storey pagoda.

Osaka Castle is also known as Osaka-jo, it is one of the largest castles in Japan. The castle consists of 8 floors and everyone can enjoy a panoramic view on the observation deck.

Mandatory group shot on the bridge.

We saw a few boats which went around the castle.

Self-entertainment by playing with dried leaves.

First time seeing an owl pet sitting comfortably inside the pram.


YQ trying to climb the great wall of Osaka Castle...lol.

YS was trying to measure how big each stone was.

Appreciating the beautiful scenery of Osaka.

Majestic view of Osaka Castle.

We ended the night to do some last minute shopping. Yes...my kids bought a few K-pop albums in Japan coz its cheaper (according to them).


Spiderman "roaming" around in Osaka.

On our last day in Osaka, we brought the kids to learn about the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. The earthquake that caused the destruction to the port of Kobe was partially preserved for public viewing and educational purpose.

The destruction caused by the earthquake and many lives were killed and injured.



Factory outlets at Mitsui Outlet Park.
 
We did some retail therapy and had a nice dinner over there.
 
Overall, it was an enjoyable trip although the itinerary was a kind of rush on some days but it was worth it. The children got to experience a different culture and learnt so much about the history. We hope to come back to Japan again when the traveling ban is lifted.