2011-09-14

Photo editing on the iPhone

I can't believe it. I'm blogging about the iPhone (or rather its apps). I'm a humbled hypocrite. :(

So. I've been taking photos with the iPhone and guess what? I like it. Why?

 
Photo taken with the iPhone

Because there are literally hundreds or maybe even thousands of photography apps available for you to enhance your photos!

Not only is it fun, you are saved the hassle of transferring them to your computer and you can even do the editing on the toilet bowl, then immediately post them onto twitter/facebook/tumblr etc to get the attention you crave. Oh and I forgot to mention there is a front facing camera so of course the photos look great! It's a fucking winning formula and I'm loving it!

With every *ahem* gorgeous photo I post, people keep asking me the apps I use to edit them, so here they are!

BTW, I am a photography app junkie. I buy and download most popular photography apps just to give them a try. However, I don't like some of the apps because...

1) They force me to open the camera app within their app and snap a photo to edit, instead of allowing me to edit a photo that's already snapped. This is fucking annoying. An example of this is camera360. Great filters, stupid interface. I want to snap 10 pictures, choose the best one, THEN edit. Not snap and immediately edit!

2) They crop my photo into a square, or are unable to edit on a landscape picture. To post on my blog's Photo of the Moment I need the landscape format. An example of this is instagram, which makes photos square.

So yup these apps are all not included in my list even though they may be great!



Here are my favourites!!
(Not including Pixlromatic, which should go under "Meh")

My all time favourite is Mei Tu Xiu Xiu (the red one for those who can't read chinese).

After trying many many filter-based apps, I find that MTXX is the still best for portraits. And it's also very easy to use! I love how you can even add bokeh to the pictures. You can also crop, put two photos into one frame, or blur the background, all within the app.

For heart shaped bokeh, iDarkroom (not pictured), is also awesomesauce.

Now for the important stuff - Liquify! As you all know I am a big fan of Liquify on photoshop - and guess what? You can do it on the iPhone too!!

My favourite is the one called "Makeover"


Of course, liquify on the iPhone cannot be as precise as on the computer, but I take whatever I can get and Makeover is pretty darn good.

First, as shown, you select where your eye and mouth corners are... Then...


TADAH! Photo on the left unedited.


You can edit your eyes, nose, mouth, mouth corners and face shape, all with Makeover!!

I love this app because you can edit so much based on how your move your fingers. For example, two fingers pinching makes the nose slimmer. Moving one finger moves your nose, be it left, right, up or down.

You can even rotate your eyes more droopy (which I like) or more slanted! Crazy, right?



Face Melter is just like Makeover, except this is purely pushing pixels around. I don't really like Face Melter because it is clumsy and when something is liquified beyond the frame, it adds extra black pixels to the photo. -_- Which is stupid.



Face Cam is another app just like Makeover:


It allows you to enhance photos by smoothening and lightening skin, which is great! You can also make your eyes bigger and face sharper with it, but Makeover is better for those purposes.

Princess Cam is my favourite purikura app!


You can add cute graphics, borders, sparkles etc, but my favourite is the "teak and ribbon" section!


Eyelashes, BOTTOM LASHES (IKR?), blush (I love this!), contacts... Too cute!


Not to mention bunny ears and ribbons... :D


Ok done with the introduction to my favourite apps - now to show you some transformation pictures!




Original


After Makeover


After Face Melter
Used on the wide cheekbones which makeover cannot edit.


After Face Cam, used for smoothening and brightening


Cutesy graphics added with the Marron app. 
Marron only works on vertical portrait pictures so I don't usually use it.


Mei Tu Xiu Xiu filter "复古" added. My favourite filter! And done! :D


One more example:


Original


After Makeover... 
LOL I feel like I'm lying to the world. 
Hey at least I'm coming clean now, right?


After Face Melter on cheekbones again...


Face cam to smoothen and brighten


MTXX filter


Graphics done with Princess Cam! Blush added too. :)

What do you guys think? :D


p/s: Will probably get some hate comments again saying I must be terribly insecure to go through all that trouble to post a photo of myself online. Don't be a fucking idiot. If I am insecure would I post the original photo up? I enjoy the editing process and it barely takes me 5 mins to do everything. I'm a pro afterall lol.

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2011-09-09

Marshmallow love ♥

Advertorial

Want to know the secret behind Japanese ladies' bouncy, porcelain skin?


I bet most of you already know that causing stress on your skin causes premature wrinkles!

Yet I never knew that Cleansing, which is one of the essential steps of skincare, causes the most stress of all!

The Japanese girls use patting motions instead of harsh wiping when they are toning, and during the application of moisturiser, they use their middle and fourth finger to pat the moisturiser in.

I've heard of these two tips before, but what they do for cleansing really surprised me:


Know what this is?

Me neither. It's a foaming net! This foaming net creates foam from normal facial wash. The end result is the fluffy foam that minimizes stress on the skin, and cleaner skin with the finer bubbles.

This extra step is of course really a hassle! As it is we girls are so busy with work and school... No thanks for having to use the silly foaming net!


And here's Biore Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash to the rescue!



Their magical formula creates instant quality foam with just one PUMP! Talk about easy!


Tadah!

  • The ideal foam is consistent...
  • It is dense and won't drip even when flipped upside down
  • Smooth and bouncy
  • With very small bubbles!

Biore Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash also contains collagen and is moisturizing.


The ultra fine foam is made up of bubbles that are even smaller than pores!

Of course, smaller bubbles means better and more thorough cleaning.

Let's put Biore Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash to the test!

Can it create the ideal foam?



Doesn't drip and is super dense!


Fluffy and bouncy!









Special non-drip formula!

Makes your skin feel so clean and refreshed :D


And here's my verdict after use:

I've only tried one other brand of foaming facial wash before and I hated it. The foam that came out of the bottle is not dense at all (big bubbles) and dissolved into a wimpy weak solution after I put it on my face. So when I received my Marshmallow Whip, I expected it to be the same but I was very pleasantly surprised!

After rubbing on the foam for a bit, instead of dissolving into a water-like substance the foam became a thick, creamy... eh... cream! It spreads very well and feels super nice when you are doing a gentle rubbing motion! Go and try!

The end result was super clean skin!



I love it that Biore has refill packs! Save the Earth and save money!

To good skin!

I am angry that I only know at age 27 that using normal facial wash causes stress on skin! Why didn't anyone tell me before?! :[

Bored? Wanna play a game?

You can go to Marshmallow.com.sg to give Biore Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash's new facebook game a try!

It is really fun and you get to win some awesome prizes so why not? :D

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2011-09-06

Going PINK ♥

Sorry for the lack of blog entries lately. I'm ashamed to say I've been busy playing Sims Social on facebook wtf. -_-

Anyway so for those of you who don't know yet... I've dyed my hair pink!! ♡

Guess I was just bored of being blonde for so long, and if you already have blonde hair you might as well dye it a crazy colour because bleaching is a prerequisite for crazy colours anyway! At least once in a lifetime, right?

For the longest time I was just procrastinating because I loved my blonde locks so much. But Mike has a thing for girls with pink hair and I saw even Katy Perry dyed her hair pink (it's more of a violet now) and I just thought I'd do it too!

Made a video of the whole process!







Watch! :D

And here are some more pictures:



Dyeing process...

Super neon pink!

End result:



This was taken for an upcoming advertorial... 
The pink has faded to a more subtle bubblegum shade now. 
Hope it fades to baby pink! :D



Camera caught me by surprise!



Pic taken at the salon.

What do you guys think?

BLONDE OR PINK? :D

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2011-08-24

Harajuku street style

Advertorial

Today's post will be full of pictures!! :D

And I love the topic because it is about Japanese fashion, which I ADORE!! ♥♥

In recent years I've found my fashion calling and Japanese trends have affected the way I dress and style... My favourite of all the Japanese brands is Liz Lisa of course...


Me in a Liz Lisa shop - heaven!

The Japanese are crazy about their styles. If you ever go to Tokyo you'd understand how much time and effort they put into dolling themselves up. From immaculate hair to nails to shoes to headgear... They all look effortlessly stylish! Not an inch of sloppiness.

And one of these fashion forward places in Tokyo is the famous Harajuku!


Taken when I was in Harajuku

Ok fine the people in this photo are not that stylish but it was 40 degrees out and still the Japanese do their layering thing! Madness.

Not to lose out, Cheesie and I also did our best to blend in:


Enjoying a harajuku crepe. :D


But the sad thing is, most of these awesome Japanese labels are only available in Japan, not Singapore.

WRONG!!

Tangs is bringing Harajuku to Singapore!!

Harajuku Street Style Pop-up Store is gonna be launching on our sunny island, bringing not one but FIFTEEN most fashion forward Japanese brands to Singapore! :D Excited!

And I get to play dress up! Qiuqiu, Cheesie, Typical ben and I were invited to pick from a range of clothes those we like for a photoshoot! Cheesie came over to my place for the photo-taking so here are my pictures (some with her).

Style 1:


Floaty ruffled floral blue top with ruffled high waisted shorts. Very comfortable!




My favourite part of the outfit is the BOOTS... 
Thigh high suede boots with a ribbon at the back... 
Wedged for maximum comfort. OMG I love them!


Pic stolen from Cheesie's blog. She is wearing my socks and shoes lol


Cheesie is in what she calls an Otona style, meaning adult. The look is usually preppy and vintage-looking, if I'm not wrong.




Style 2:




Autumn tube outfit that can be worn as a dress or as a skirt (if you are tall enough - I am not). 
Love the wedges! :)


With Cheesie working an eclectic style




Hope you like these pictures!!

If you want the clothes, be sure to make a trip down to Tangs Orchard!

Mark these dates down:

Level 3 at Playlab: 1st Oct'11 - 2nd Jan'12
Level 4: 1st Oct'11 - 30 Oct'11


Want to WIN stuff instead??


NO PROBLEM!!

Be a fan of the Harajuku Street Style facebook page HERE.

You will soon see they have two contests for you to join (not on the page yet - like the page to be the first to be updated! *kiasu*). One of them is a style-naming contest and the other is a fashionista contest!

Attractive prizes will be given out...

CITIZEN: http://www.citizen.com.sg/
Dr. Ci:Lab: http://www.ci-labo.com.sg/
JCB: http://www.jcbcard.com/


These are the sponsors!! Cool right?!

So remember to go like the page!

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