Post trip musings.

"I just think that every time you love someone, even in the smallest way, you give them a bit of yourself. But we are finite beings and if you give too much away, you will have nothing left. Then, you will never be able to love again the way you can, now. And the idea of that is just so sad to me, to not feel anything. 

So, to keep from running empty, I try to snatch back the pieces of myself that I had let you hold on to. 'It's mine, give it back. I was just letting you borrow it for a while but I want it back now because I need it. It's not for you.'" 

Three countries in a month, and I think I have had enough of living out of a suitcase for a while.

And as I stared at the crystal clear waters in Krabi, things suddenly worked themselves out. I realized you were never coming back, and people were always going to be selfish, no matter what glorified excuses they managed to spew out. And so the only way out was to make myself whole again, to fill myself up with all the goodness I could ever offer.

Post CNY

The only people for me are the mad ones, 

the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, 

desirous of everything at the same time, 

the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, 

but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.  

Hello sweet tarts, post CNY gloom is still hanging over us, boo. :(

So here's a picture of people we love, doing things we love (like steamboating).

Till the next, xoxo.

Why things are the way they are

This is going to ruffle more than a few feathers, and most probably bad for public image, but there are things I really need to say and question.

Does everyone think all that blogshop owners do is "purchase" nice clothes and place them online for sale (and watch the money roll in)? I got the impression during lunch with a group of friends, people I knew but didn't know, if you get what I mean. And from my turn at managing emails this week, it seems like some have that impression as well. That I had nothing better to do except bum around and go for manicures. Or that we were worthless individuals who couldn't score better jobs in respectable roles.

And well, after 2 years of doing this full time, my answer is an emphatic no.

Of course if you were to ask me if I would have preferred going back to my audit life, I would have told you no, but it wasn't the difficulty level involved in audit work. It was the stupendous display of bootlicking techniques plus politics I had enough of. The crunch work, I could more than deal with. After all, it was a set skill you hone day in and out; eventually you learn it well enough to do it in your sleep. I wasn't a good auditor, passable, yes, but not passionate enough (like some of my more talented peers) to push for vast improvements in the clients' systems. And I am not the sort of person who is alright with doing things I am not good at.

So I said goodbye, and decided I wanted to 卖衣服, lol. That's in my parents' words. They didn't understand why a graduate would want to deal with work like this. They still don't. They come from an era where getting a good education meant you could score a cushy job in an air conditioned office, and eventually rise high enough to manage (and boss) a lot of people around. And your remuneration would be comfortable enough for 2 long haul flights to exotic locations annually.

I did consider heading back to school, or moving on to another sector in the finance industry, but hey, you are only young once so might as well try things you know you won't have the guts to try when you are older. Or maybe I was just convincing myself I was not suited to work in an office environment, lol.

If you ask me if I miss anything about my old life, I would tell you no. Well, maybe the money yes, because it was good, (I could buy all the shoes I wanted, with a few branded bags thrown in) but the lifestyle, no. Money came at a price. I was sleeping barely 4 hours a day, with managers and subordinates alike, having no respect for personal time (hello work emails at 4am, and good luck if you don't reply them by 7am). I had perpetual dull skin and an unhealthy body that bailed on me every other week.

And if you ask me now if it is any better doing this, I wouldn't really know what to say. Because I am still sleeping less than I should, but I know if I sleep in, I will not get murdered by Yingdan the way my ex-bosses would have murdered me. I am still rushing deadlines every other week, but if I can't finish something, I can just not. The only person who will blame me is myself. I've got my health back, I have time to eat meals with my family, and I feel smug about doing a manicure at 3pm in the day, just because I can.

My life is a whirlwind of launches and stocktakes. I no longer wear make up and heels to work. Denim shorts are my staple now along with havianas. Being a blogshop owner is not a glamourous affair. My dad is appalled with the way I abuse the car. I stuff it to the brim with stocks and dirty his leather seats with the stock bags. It's an over glorified delivery van. I carry large recycle bags worth of stocks while running through Citylink, trying to make it to the KissJane store for restocks before the sales ladies close for the day. I no longer need to go to the gym, because moving stocks twice a week is more work than you think it is (and this is also the reason why LP hires males).

There are days when I question myself if this is what I want.
Days when I man the shop (when the sales staff is on leave) and walk-in customers deem me to be 卖衣服的小妹 and my ego gets bruised. Because like it or not, I admittedly am one (even for that few short hours), and if I honestly felt that way, then wasn't I insulting the gazillion number of women doing sales jobs, including the very lovely person I hire myself at the store? Or was I just subscribing to the stereotype that uni graduates should be doing something more than this? And all the women who walked in, who treated me condescendingly, most probably thought the same way: that the sales person at the shop was most likely not highly educated and thus could be subjected to tactless words and soft bullying. (On a side note, I used to be CS officers' worst nightmare: I would take the effort to write long sarcastic complaint letters when I felt the service did not equate to the monies I paid. Now it's more like me to write long letters of praise when I get good service. Because yes, these people really need the kind words when they deserve it.)

It's not easy running your own business. You are the brains and the labour all rolled into one. We pay the rent on our office, hire our own staff, and mop the floor every week as well (ok, Yingdan, not me).  I was just telling Yingdan the other day, that our new year resolution would be to stop having to do unglam things. Like her lugging a gazillion parcels to meetups, only to have some disappear on her last minute because they simply forgot. And she has to lug everything back again after waiting fruitlessly for them to turn up. It's rude irresponsible behaviour, there's no other explanation for this.

And the most ridiculous thing both of us did in the early days? When the factory mixed up the color of the buttons on a backorder, and two of us sat in her living room removing and sewing three buttons on each piece of item. I can still remember the color of the item and buttons now.

Of course I know we are in the service industry, and we try, we honestly do. But I am not good at shutting off. Or not taking things personally. I get affected every time I deal with rude people who think it is ok to say mean things because they are behind an email address. It doesn't matter whether I offer solution A to Z, it is considered bad customer service as long as these people do not get their way. I then get threats to report us to the authorities plus smearing our brand name on public domains. I get upset when competitors do something that is so wrong, I don't even know why anyone can do that. And yes, after 2 years of this, I am still like this.

Some days I tell myself it's ok, things will be better. I feel a lot safer with my camera and photoshop. And it's a wonder how I've managed in this industry, because customer service is not my forte. I thank god there's Yingdan to save my sorry ass and that we complement each other; LilyPirates would have never worked out otherwise. Some days I wonder what I am doing with my life. There's no easy route to success I know, but is this road less-travelled the one for me?

I don't honestly know the main point of my extremely random blog entry, it's just a mishmash of thoughts that have been floating through my head the entire week, about the choices I've made, and how people see them. And so till I figure out what I really want, life goes on.

Pampered by L'Oreal Professional + Kimage Prestige

So a while ago we were sulky people at LilyPirates because of various personal/business reasons.
The number of times two of us went "OMG FML" in the past month, we totally lost count. :(

But you know what they say, what goes down must come up, and boy was I jiggly excited when we received an invitation to try out the new Mythic Oil Treatment Ritual! It was like candy for the crying child, hahaha. #happypills (My "The Secret" ritual must be working!)

The kind folks at L'Oreal Professional had the LP team head down for a session at Kimage Prestige. I first heard about the Mythic Oil range from a good friend, who told me she has tried umpteen hair styling products but her hair would usually become limp at the end of the day. She chanced upon the Mythic Oil and now swears by it. A bit kua zhang, but I was sincerely mad excited to try the treatment. Afterall, if the oil could do miracles, then what more the treatment right!

Truth be told, I was mildly embarrassed over the state of my hair before the session, because I am the laziest person alive when it comes to maintenance and my sad hair is usually a raging mess if I didn't blow dry the mop before stepping out of the house. :x I've had regular treatments since Dec last year to salvage my hair, but urps, I think I undo the goodness with my laziness every single time.

Dismal state of my dry brittle hair:

Rach also did a hair show previously, and the color session left her hair really brittle and dry. Happy kids waiting for their candy!

We were first given a hair analysis by the stylist and recommended treatments suited for our conditions. I was diagnosed with a slightly oily scalp and dry hair, so they recommended me the Mythic Absolute Treatment (there are three treatments in all, targeting various problems you might face). The treatment was aimed at purifying and detoxing (very important!) my scalp and improve the health of my locks.

Side story, you know how some hair stylists look at your hair and go tsk tsk and make you want to dig a hole and hide? No such nonsense at Kimage. All our stylists were mad friendly, and we really felt at home with the lovely treatment! Rachel kept saying it was so surreal because she insisted her stylist looked like Key (of Shinee fame) and it's like a K-pop star serving her. -_-'

And off we go! They first did a scalp treatment complete with a head massage (mad shiok please!) before applying the various made-to-measure concentrates for our hair. The goodness is sealed in with the machine to achieve healthy bouncy locks!

My miracle potion mix! Hehe!

Tadah!!! Happy Shiny People with Happy Shiny Hair!

It's been a week after the session, and our hair is definitely less brittle and alot more manageable! Yingdan had relatively healthy hair before the session, but now it's positively glowing with the continued use of the shampoo! #truestory

I am a firm believer in getting regular treatments for your tresses due to the large amounts of pollution and hair products we put our hair through daily and the Mythic Oil treatment ranks high in all my experiences, :) Definitely something I will go back and pay to do again, so that's saying something!

Huge thanks to the Kimage team (http://www.facebook.com/KimageGroup) & L'Oreal Professional (http://www.facebook.com/lorealprofessionnelsingapore) for the pampering session, we felt really loved! Omg can you see how our hair was so shiny after the treatment, it was reflecting light, lolol.

And here's a special giveaway for our lovely customers to spread the love!

L'Oreal Professional has kindly sponsored us 4 sets of the magical Mythic Oil Shampoo and Conditioner to be given away to lucky LP fangirls! Also, we will be giving away vouchers with every purchase from C126 so you can enjoy the same princess treatment at a fantastic price!

Simply hop over to our facebook page (http://facebook.com/lilypirates) to find out how to win them, :D

Ending with a picture of Yingdan in the ZARA inspired piece in dusty pink! ❤ 

Over and out, this is a good start to blogging more frequently! XOXO!

Call me maybe

The song now comes with images in my head, hahaha.



I am partial to the hunky French and cheeky Americans, hehe.

The army boy

Happy moments at work: candids from the latest shoot.

(I could type a whole chunk on how terribly sorry we are so inactive when it comes to blogging, but urps, I am just gonna work on posting more than once a month for now ok. :x )

Long lost friends who haven't seen each other since the army robbed us of an extremely capable bao ka liao minion. Facts we learnt: washing machines are under utilized on tekong / Febreeze works spectacularly well on smelly army uniforms.

Finale photos before Tiongster went off home (for a much needed session with the washing machine):

❤❤❤❤❤

And! Coming up next week, a tailored blazer we came up with that marries the puff sleeves of the Classically Cool Blazer with the lovely stretchy material of the Mermaid's Treasure Blazer (oh man that was such a mouthful):

A long day ago

Finally snuck in some time for a short post, phew.
It's been a crazy house around here of late, I don't actually know where all the time flew to! :x
Anyhow, the team headed out for an outdoor shoot lately (say yay to lookbooks!) and boy what a trip it was! I dragged them out to the wild outdoors this time round, hehe. Truth be told, I actually wanted to do it in another (more human friendly) location, but too much red tape meant the idea just had to be pushed back. :( Which also explains why I was wearing a full length black maxi to an outdoor shoot. Not so smart I know.

One of the locations for the shoot & why I think my models all secretly hate me sometimes:

What we had to cross to get in, it's essentially a pond with one log on it. End of story.

Me that day: It's ok, you don't have to do it. *pause* We will just find another spot that is easier to access.

Hehe they usually obliged and then resemble a rabbit on the run during the shoot, lolol. I think Xuan has a fear of unknown slimy objects in the tall grass. :x We made the minion boy stomp forward to scare off all would be predators first, haha. I was too busy acting pro photog to be scared, but zomg I have the worst sense of balance ever. Everyone was my life saver the entire day, from Tiongster to Xuan who had to grab me before I fell into deep drains.

Happy campers who couldn't wait to get out of yet another ulu area!

Side note: I just deleted all measurement questions from Formspring, so if you had a pressing issue to ask me and I haven't gotten back to you, please do ask again ok. :( It's virtually impossible to sieve through everything! :O

Hokays, back to work on the lookbook! :)

I am beginning to sound like a broken tape recorder every other post, with my "sorry for not blogging for so long" intros.

But yes. I am 3 days post op (jaw surgery, another story for another day), and wallowing in self pity now that my brain is not as fogged up as before. :x And because I decided editing photos was a better way to keep myself distracted (besides doing accounts and things that require me to step out of the house), I promise to back with more sneaks in a while, hehe. <3

How was your week?

Hokay. So blogger updated their interface and I am a little overwhelmed by the complete overhaul. Sad reason excuse to put off the blogging. Ahem.

My week in pictures, if you don't follow me (I can't believe they paid $1b for Instagram, I wonder how the 13 employees are happy campers about the sale.):

Marmalade pantry makes the world a better place.

Words of truth etched. 

Weekly efforts to take time off work and breathe.

24-hour NTUC saves the day night when there is nothing else to do before a midnight movie. 

I got a random call today, an unknown number that I felt compelled to answer. (And if you know me, I hardly pick up unknown numbers because most of them are annoying telemarketers.) It was someone that I grew up with, and grew apart from, because of reasons outside of my control. I was strangely touched by the effort to reconnect but the present-day me had grown so different, it was impossible for me to turn back time and pretend everything was A-okay once more.

It's like a slippery slope. We all try to live each day happier/better than the previous one, till we hit a rut and take ten steps backwards in our quest. We sulk/whine/bawl about it for a moment or two, then get up and have another go at it. This is life, and cliche as it sounds, really way too short to be anything but happy.

And so yes, this is what happens when I finally find time to blog in the death of the night: yet another out of the blue pensive post.

Beaming with happiness over the goodies that just landed.
If you are as enthralled as we are with LV this season, then be prepared to fall in love, soon. <3

Getting blurry eyed from all the invoicing, so I snuck off to go through the photos from today's lookbook shoot. Pretty Eexuan interpreted in instagram photos, hehe. I know they are ridiculously blur, but urps I snapped them with my phone off the laptop screen.

And this oldie is on replay, how can anyone not love 五月天：



It's amazing how the entire audience sings along at every single concert for this song. Okayssss back to invoicing! ❤

CNY Team Dinner!

And so we did it again. :( Disappeared for another month. :O I would have totally forgotten to blog, if not for the *ahem* gentle reminders I get randomly on formspring. Haha I am truly apologetic we are so erratic. Anywayyyy I thought I would blog about the LP team dinner we had for CNY! So two of us were driving our team (and ourselves) nuts with the festive period sales spike, and we were so glad everyone pulled their weight.

Treated everyone to a well deserved 收工酒 (or is this 开工酒? :x) at Long Beach Main Branch, and boyyyy was it fantastic! I am salivating now just thinking about the food, :( We stuffed ourselves silly, and I think it was the happiest money two of us spent for LP in a long while, hahaha.

Oh food, glorious food. We ordered chilli crab, pepper crab, bamboo clams, prawns, steamed fish, and a whole lot of other things that I got too tired to take photos of, hahaha. See! LP got good staff benefits ok! Despite you all having to survive my death stares and Yingdan's scoldings, hehe.

The kiddos of the team, models+packers. Now you know who packs your items!

(Yes, we hire male packers because there's too much manual labour to be done and I don't see how I can ask another female to do all that lugging when I fail miserably at it myself, :x)

Andddd epic photo of the day, my overly hyper partner who bounced up and down wanting a couple shot. Muahahahaha.

Okayyyy here's a better one, my 小鸟依人 partner and her macho boy (I don't know why uncle jem looks so puffed up!):

Andddd the greedy boyfriend of mine, who cut short his business trip/chiong-ed to the restaurant straight after landing just so he can claim his rightful share of the meal. Turns out he was the first to reach, hahaha. Hokayyyy you know I love you all the same. ❤ 

Full attendance!

I am really really really really reallyyyyyy thankful we have such a close team, especially when we work on tight deadlines most of the time. May 2012 be a fabulous year for us all! ❤

Side note: Looking through our list of inventory gives me a rush every time, I really love all the upcoming designs! Think polka dotted frocks, flirty summer dresses, printed swishy maxis and solid polo dresses! And just because I am keeping on top of things, here's a sneak at our upcoming design next week:

Prettayyyyy right! Marc Jacobs inspired, complete with a full out splash of florals that's extremely gorgeous in real life! It's the season of florals, so you know you have to own this one!

Okayyyy I took an hour to blog this + pictures, mad tired! Back to my photoshopping, over and out! ❤

Bring it on, 2012

Because I am all happy and smug after a 1.5h massage (and remaining zen even though I saw the ex's car in the same carpark), it's time to start ticking things off the to-do list.
And yes, first up, decrease the number of drafts in our blog folder, lol. (Oh my lord, I am actually blogging about the start of 2012. :x )

The plan to countdown in Bali fell through because the boy and I were so chillax and slack about things, and by the time we actually got down to doing the booking, there was no more tickets. D:

So we pretended that 2012 wasn't here yet and celebrated things one week late. Haha, I was so lazy over there (going with the whole vibe of the vacay), I only took a grand total of 2 photos. Urps, yes, I didn't even take photos of the villa, but the place was nothing short of gorgeous. You just got to take my word on it. Haha. Stayed at Ubud because I am terrified of the crowds over at Kuta/Seminyak.

Photo #1: Too gorgeous to be missed sunset at Jimbaran Bay, my grainy photo does it no justice

Photo #2: Evidence we actually went on a trip, pardon the wind swept hair

And oh, the cutest surf shop ever, all pink and fluff (ok fine, 3 photos in total):

So yes, there you have it: Bali, the land of nua-ness and eternal zen (plus supreme commercialization).
Came home a much happier and peaceful person (despite being bombed with a speeding ticket, $150 and 6 points = surefire way to get under my skin).
Ok end of sharing session, I hope your countdowns were all fabulously wonderful!
Recharged for the year (even though we are on March already!!), so 2012, bring it on! ♥

Hello to you

Woah. So we are horrible bloggers, we know. :( It's been a cool 1 month since we posted anything here, urps. Anywayyy some of you ladies were asking for a short introduction to the collection, so I am on it! Trying to fit in posts on our daily happenings is next to impossible though, but we will try, :( (I just had this conversation with Yingdan last night over dinner, lol.)

Ok, the collection. Don't be deceived by the simplicity of the upcoming design, Yingdan and I placed quite a bit of thought into its construction and manufacturing process. We re-looked our previous designs, and realized it's been a while since we did something clean and simple, and well, basically elegant.

So we started with a clean slate of what we really liked: a simple shirt dress with a circle skirt, and added on details that we wanted. In came the puff sleeves, and the ruffled collar, we took out the buttons to keep the front clean (you will find hidden press studs on the top portion). The most troubling part of the dress was the belt: we didn't want the usual sash, but something a little more unique and substantial, so we made the factories do up the pretty bow belt you see, :) So spiffy pleased with the final result, because it's really something close to our hearts. It's the sort of dress that you will keep wearing over and over again, simply because the material is so lightweight (and well suited for our weather), and the design flatters your femininity immensely. Classic feminine shades of Cream, Forest, Peach and Lilac this time round, :)

We spied this pair of adorable polka dotted blouses we just had to bring in! The mesh insert sides are the type of details that make us grin, so we hope you fancy them as much as we do! Great for work, or just a simple family day out!

And of course, what's a collection without some prints? :) Here's a pretty watercolor frock fashioned out of mesh cotton, and with a tutu underlay hem to boot!

This one here took our breath away the moment we laid eyes on it, because it was so prettily dainty and sweet. The pleats are extremely well done, and flatters the figure immensely.

And even though CNY is over, we still hope for some reason to wear one of our favoritest shades, wine red. :) We love how it contrasts beautifully with the champagne cream and gives the dress a tinge of sensuality.

Rounding up the preview with the last item, a simple classic button frock in my favoritest shade of midnight blue. <3

I am now torn between editing the photos from our LP team dinner, or poring over the photos for the coming month's lookbook, :x So much to do, so little time. Yingdan and I went through our plans for the year and got so exhausted just thinking about them, lol.

Hokayyy, I am off to reply FS questions and prepare for tonight's launch (which is in 50 mins)!! Toodles!

I know we haven't been blogging pre launch posts for AGES, so here's one for the last pre-CNY post. :) If you've taken a peek at our preview on FB, you should have seen the pretty pleated frock that's coming up!
It sounds pretty unbelievable but this item took us one whole year to manufacture, haha. I know we seem to have alot of "take one year" to manufacture piece, but this really took the cake.

So the story goes, Yingdan spied this gorgeous piece in a small niche boutique and she fell head over heels in love with the pleated body and swirly hem she decided we had to manufacture it. The factories got very sulky with us, because we urps insisted on alot of things, like making an inner satin slip of the same shade, and the ridiculously copious amounts of fabric required for one dress. Hahaha they couldn't believe someone actually wanted to manufacture a dress that needed so much cloth. Throw in the fact that the fabric had to be hot pressed into pleats, and you can see where the factories' disbelief was coming from. Anyhow, we finally nudged the factories to do the piece, and we are so glad it could make it for our CNY launches, :) This is one piece that makes us feel really feminine with its pleats and swirls!

Andddd you should know our stand on cheongsams by now: classic cut with feminine details ftw, haha. The last of our cheongsam series and we are really pleased with the color+details. The sequined front version is great if you are looking for a pop of color and craving something that allows you to stand out from the crowd:

The 3D floral motif front version is a personal favourite, because the shades all blend together so harmoniously, you can't help but be wowed.

We also brought back a previous crowd pleaser: the Merry Mary Dress now available in Red for the festive period, :)

A happy cobalt blue dress with a pleated front and mesh embroidery hem details is bound to set the mood for happy days:

And a couple of must have blouses for the year, you really can't go wrong with sweet florals or embroidery:

On a totally random note, someone asked me how I come up with the names of the items for each collection. Hahaha it's usually the first thing that pops into my mind when I see the item, or I see the phrase somewhere and it just clicks when I spy an apparel befitting of the name. Like how the previous floral piece was called Pretty Woman because I don't usually don florals but this one made me feel like how Julia Roberts must have felt when she first put on those gorgeous clothes in the show, haha. Very lady, very feminine and different.

Alright! Launch in a couple of minutes, can't wait! *rubs hands in glee*