Alicia Tan

I am thankful that I generally have rather good skin (good genes thanks to mama and papa!) - generally no pimples or breakouts unless special 'occasions' hahahaa, such as ' girls' time of the month ' or when my friend, 'pimple' just so happen invites itself and say hello randomly -_-
But i have to admit, those special occasions are really rare, and I'm thankful for that :)

But hey, sometimes because of this advantage, I tend to take it for granted and neglect my skin...
And there comes the punishment of my negligence and ignorance :(
My skin would look dull and dry, super rough, sometimes flaky...
What makes it worse is the hot sunny weather that I live in, I start to get pigmentations, especially my skin is really thin..D:

Well, age is catching up...I know i know.. i'm still considered young...
but mama said prevention is better than cure, skin has to be taken care of since young, it's like an investment for a well maintained great looking skin in the future! lol dont laugh, i'm serious and its true!
No point having good skin if you don't take care of it, you will seriously regret in the future.
Hence, I start to discipline myself to use facial products daily, when I wake up and before I go to bed - 3 basics for now - cleanser, toner, moisturiser.

However, I still feel something is lacking, and my mum did advise me to go for facials. But the thing is I'm pretty skeptical when going for facials, especially beauticians that always hard sell me with their products that I clearly do not need, and some would act like doctors , saying I need this laser treatment and that treatment.. And sometimes when my eyes were closed and in the midst of the facial, they would again try to 'con' me and asked me if I want an upgrade of this and that -_-
Okay, I'm sure not all facial places are like that, but because of my experience, I would shun from these centres.

Not until I found my favourite facial centre, Biogenesis Clinic! :)
As the name says, it is not just a facial centre but a leading provider of advanced medical aesthetics center, offering anti-aging, advanced cosmetic dermatology and aesthetic skincare using clinical strength products and state of the art technologies delivered by in-house doctors. Well, it was really reassuring for me, especially when I got a consultation from their doctor before any treatment programmed :) Not to forget that the doctor and the other consultants are really friendly and helpful as well :)

They have a variety of high technology medical aesthetics treatments from hair, face, to body and anti-aging. I had the privilege to be treated with their special face treatments recently, such as their Intraceuticals Hyperbaric Oxygen Technology, used by celebrities like Madonna herself and dermatologists all over the world , which gave instant results (!) , but today, I will start by sharing my signature facial treatment at Biogenesis Clinic.

The signature facial treatments in Biogenesis Clinic use Phytomer, a brand from France which invented marine cosmetics using the best of sea ingredients to develop sensory-stimulating and highly effective products... And sure it does! I enjoyed the one hour facial treatment, super relaxing and soothing :)

They have different facial treatments depending on our skin types, but I first tried the 60-minutes Quenching Moisturizing Treatment for Dehydrated skin. My skin is towards the dry side, hence the tendency of being flaky and dry, instead of getting pimples or breakouts.

Let me take you step by step, my 60 minutes of pure relaxation :)

1) The therapist started by applying essential oil on my face, and then cleansing using cleansing milk , it has a silky texture that melts onto the skin to gently remove makeup and impurities.

2) Next, she applied Phytomer's Vegetal Exfoliant with Natural Enzymes, ideal for sensitive skin.

3) This 3rd step was one of my favourites! It was a pore heating mask applied on my face for blackheads, but it felt so good on my face. After seconds, it was kinda interesting where I felt heat on my face as well, super comfortable and relaxing :)

My face was then left to be relaxed for about 10 minutes, so comfortable that I wanted to just fall asleep haha.

4) Next procedure was the extraction, and then she applied a hydrating serum on my face after, which was super cooling, could feel like a breeze of radiance lighting up my skin.

5) I was also given a face and neck massage, while applying Phytomer's massage cream.

Tell you, the massage was goooooooddd. I thought of going for a massage that week, but well, I didn't need to no more. I had facial & massage 2-in-1 .

6) Final Step - The therapist put on a hydrating mask for me, and I got a final shoulder massage.

Facial at Biogenesis Clinic definitely completes my beauty regime!

Most definitely, it is mandatory to wash my face daily, but I realised how important it is to protect and preserve the youthfulness in our skin before we age, and hence, going for facial once a month became part of my beauty regime!

Thank you Biogenesis Clinic for giving me amazing service with great quality :)

Their signature facials by Phytomer is RM150 at first trial!

For more info on their facials and their many other services,

click HERE to view their website.

Like I mentioned above, I went for some of their other special face treatments, such as the

LED Microdermabrasion- The exfoliation process which buffs the skin and combined with LED light for some bactericidal, skin lightening and tightening effect. The results- a more refined, clearer, even toned skin.

Yeap! In short, this LED Light Therapy helps to stimulate collagen, improve skin texture and tone, and combats signs of aging to name a few.

I will explain more to you on the whole process on my next beauty post! :)

Or, you could go to their website http://biogenesis.com.my/ for more info!

BioGenesis Clinic

Unit A-0-1 & A-1-1 Plaza Damas Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,Sri Hartamas 50480, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
+603-6201 7091

Hello friends, here I am again with a new travel post - Hong Kong & Macau :)

Everyone has multiple feedbacks about these regions, but I absolutely loved my stay here.

Some complain about the extreme hustle and bustle, shitty weather and rude people, but maybe it was my luck, weather was perrrrrfect during my stay, plus my love for their food, the narrow streets and surprising findings of unexpected cute stalls on the streets and back alleys that reminded me of Europe :)

10 days in Hong Kong, and I enjoyed every bit of it, travelling with my bestie, meeting Hong Kongers and some celebrities as well, haha.

Well, let me get started from day 1!

Passport to Hong Kong, do not know what would be expected, but whole lot of excitement in me . I always love travelling, the wanderlust in me :)

Reached Hong Kong almost 10pm, got into our comfy small hotel room, looks pretty alright, isn't it?

Well, good enough for me! Got half priced or more from Agoda, we stayed in this boutique called Butterfly in Hollywood in Sheung Wan, Central Hong Kong.

Honestly, our main goal in Hong Kong is to hunt for food. The best part is my bestie and I share the same passion for food, and I was all ready to gain more than a few pounds. @.@

Diet is off my list when travelling, and that went just the way just like I expected hahaha...

Checked in at about 11pm, first thing we did was to ask the hotel personnel where we could find some good food, and there we went, just probably two rows away from our hotel.

So there we were (got the pictures above from the internet), just like how I imagined , or what I always see from Hong Kong dramas haha, cantonese food , authentic 'Char Chan Teng' style ,with old stools and tables, benches shown above.

We ordered their famous congee, I chose it to be accompanied with salted egg & century egg plus shredded pork, and their wan tan noodles.

I always wondered, how good can a congee be??

And then I was enlightened, the smooth, thick, yet gooey texture was the highlight in the porridge. Never had this perfect texture of porridge anywhere before!

Do not know how to describe literally in words, but it is such a simple, simple dish, yet it was so delicious. I believe the breezy cold weather made it tasted better, but I honestly enjoyed every spoonful. Not forgetting to mention the taste of the porridge that tasted like it was cooked / boiled with love, I could taste the sweetness of the broth, nothing artificial.

And yes, my first classic wan tan noodles in Hong Kong.

It wasn't spectacular, but there is something about Hong Kong's wan tan noodle's texture which is better than Malaysia's, anytime, just the right crunch.

And again, I love the broth of the wan tan noodles in Hong Kong, the right sweetness of their soup that doesn't taste artificial like the ones locally. Tastes genuine (if that makes sense to you haha) , sweetness from the pork/ chicken bones used to boil the soup. (I think? )

So that was a good touch down in HK for me, gave me a good night sleep haha, all ready for more findings the next day!

Next day, food hunting began!

My hong kong friend recommended me to this place that serves macaroni in tomato base soup which is one of the locals' favourites, called Sing Hueng Yuen.

If you never knew, like I never did, one of Hong Kong people's local food is macaroni in soup. Well, i always thought macaroni = Italian pasta , never knew it was their regular meal in HK.

They always have it topped with either luncheon meat, sausage, beef slices and etc...

Good thing about staying in Sheung Wan, this place is just probably, 8 minutes walk from our hotel?

When we reached, Xiao Tung actually said her HK friend brought her here before during her previous trip to HK, and she didn't really fancy it. Oh well, I still wanted to try it anyway hehe.

That's how it looks like, classic 'tai pai dong' style, packed with people, sharing seats with strangers. I chose beef slices and egg as my toppings and surprisingly, i liked it ! haha. Well, it does taste a lil artificial actually, atad like canned tomato, but much, much better.

Not to my friend's liking, she said the tomato soup could be better, well, I do agree to some extend, but it was definitely made with fresh tomatoes, you could see huge chunks of fresh tomatoes and the broth was enjoyable to me :) , and I would come back to have it again haha!

And of course, I did order their infamous 'lai cha' (milk tea) and crispy toast buns, which are really popular in Sing Heung Yuen as well.

The picture above is the famous beef noodles, Kau Kee, which is right opposite the macaroni in tomato based soup stall. Seriously, Hong Kongers love to queue up, they are crazy. Well, the picture above says it all.

Xiao Tung tried this place before and she loved the beef noodles, so obviously I have to try it lol.

We came here during our last day and ordered Beef Brisket with Broth with ee fu noodles.

The broth is very different from the ones that I've tried in KL and Ipoh which taste more beefy, and the broth is slightly thicker, but I really really like this one in Hong Kong as well!

I love the sweetness of the broth that tasted so genuine (not from MSG whatsoever ) , and the beef briskets were so delicious and tender. Lip Smacking good! I also loved the milk tea here as well, super creamy and smooth, although it was atad sweet.

They also serve Curry Beef Brisket/Tendon Noodles, but we played safe lol.

But then we regretted when we saw our neighbours ordering the curry version and it looked so good @.@

And so... we ta-pau-ed !! NO REGRETS!

Anyway it was our last day already, we should just YOLO, never know when i would be back again right?

That's the picture of the curry beef below and yums SO GOOD SO GOOD! No wonder everyone was ordering that lol.

Okay moving on, one thing I love about Hong Kong are the street structures, staircases, narrow dainty shops :) I love discovering back alleys and shops in HK and Macau as well!

Next stop, MONG KOK!

So many have been talking about the one-star Michelin dim sum restaurant Tim Ho Wan, but both my sister and friend said it sucked lol, and i obviously believe in their taste buds so I passed on that haha.

I came to Foo Lum Dim Sum at Nathan Road, Mong Kok, recommended by my sister that was so disappointed with Tim Ho Wan, and just walked into this one, & to her surprise, it was really good.

So now time for my verdict :D

Every Dim Sum place that I go to, Siu Mai (Pork Dumplings) and Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) are mandatory. And in Foo Lum, they both tasted fantaaaaastic! No disappointments, ahhh!

Honestly, I do not know why people go to Ipoh to have dim sum, sadly, they are not good at all! I love Ipoh, i mean i'm born and bred in Ipoh, there so much good food in Ipoh, but not Dim sum!

The best dim sum that I've ever had is in UK, and now this one in HK is keeping up the standards.

One dim sum I really miss is Beef minced balls that i ALWAYS have in UK, but can't find them in Malaysia. Here, I found it in Hong Kong and was so delighted :D

Noms. Honestly the beef minced balls I had in UK was better but this was good enough. *cravingssatisfied*

Like I mentioned, the shrimp dumplings were SO GOOD, fresh tasty prawns and the pastry that wraps the shrimps were soft, dainty, and nice!

The fried yam dumplings on the other hand was just alright, not the best I've had.

The highlight was probably the steamed radish cake ( Lo Bak Gou ).

Probably the best I've ever had, super fragrant radish, I could munch on pieces of the radish as well, nicely pan-fried till fragrant.

The best thing was, the bill was approx. HKD 80! Means we spent less than RM20 each for dim sum?!

Super cheap for Malaysian standards, and totally worth it !!

So good that a selfie was required :D

Honestly... I was so full by then... but I just had to YOLO and move on.. hahaha..

Walked around the streets of Mongkok and had their signature curry fish balls, siu mai and so on

When I say YOLO, I literally meant YOLO.

Because.. we didn't stop there -_-

My sister recommended me this "tai pai dong" (hawker) in Mongkok that she walked in as well, called 榮園麵家 .

Well, I found it on foursquare too right HERE so you could check it out :)

We ordered one bowl of fish ball hor fun noodles soup and a separate beef briskets.

Both were good! yums. the beef briskets were tasty and tender.

And to my sister, this place serves the best fish balls she has ever tasted hahaha!

After so many good food encounters here, I'm starting to love Hong Kong even more!

Since this is a Hong Kong food post, I will move on to one of my favourite places to have dessert in Hong Kong - Australia Dairy Company!

Always packed with people, never try to make the waiters angry and agitated lol, find a seat, and try to order fast asap- basically, be efficient lol.

Despite all that, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the steamed egg white pudding with milk.

So good that I went there twice!

They have the yellow custard pudding as well, but I prefer the milk one hands down!

So wobbly, so smooth, and I uber love the taste of the fresh milk in it . Perfect perfect perfect <3

Not forgetting, their scrambled eggs and fresh milk were really good too! Scrambled eggs were fluffy and nice hehehe.

Alright, I can never get enough of good food, but I guess this post is overload with food already. I guess I shall stop now and continue my Hong Kong & Macau trip on my next HK Post!

Will write more on places I sightsee, people I met, and even my experience cooking for HK friends!

Sneak peeks :-