Yet, another giveaway for you! This time is a Makeup Blender from Armanda Caruso. As on previous post I've told you that Utama Spice in collaboration with Armanda Caruso and Air Resort Swimwear invited me for a workshop and I got several Armando Caruso products.

I got a makeup blender, mask applicator, and a makeup brush cleaner. Armanda Caruso has so many good brushes and blender, I bought a few before and I love them because they are good quality and affordable.




For makeup blender, they have few different shapes like teardrop, diamond, mini teardrop and some other shapes. I got the black one. The Makeup Blender comes in a transparent plastic box. The shape of the makeup blender is kinda cute, it's like a pear shape. The blender itself is black and spongy just like other makeup blender.

It gets bigger when it's dampened and can be used after it gets bigger but don't forget to squeeze the excess water before using. The big size is half time bigger than its original and it really helps me applying foundation and making my skin looks dewy and flawless.

Unlike normal mask brush, this one is named mask applicator because it has silicon tip. I really wanted this kind of brush since a long time but I've never known that Armando Caruso has it. I'm so happy when they gave me this.





I ran out of my previous brush cleanser and finally got this one to try. It's a liquid soap for makeup brushes and puffs.

How to use:
1. Wet the hair bundle with warm water
2. Pour an appropriate amount of shampoo in palm of your hand
3. Wash the hair bundle with the shampoo carefully rubbing back and forth until it creates lather
4. Rinse the brush thoroughly with warm water, dry it with a clean cloth or tissue and shape the brush tip into its original shape
5. Lay the brush flat to dry
6. Check the brush to ensure it is dry. Gently rub the hair bundle to reshape the brush into its original shape

It's a mild scented transparent liquid soap in a plastic bottle. I kinda like the scent, it's calming and soft.

I tried to clean several makeup brushes with it. It works well with eye brushes and face brushes that's not too dirty but for foundation brush it's kinda hard to clean it properly. Using brush mat cleaner will help a lot! I've tried it and it works better if using brush mat.

Last month I was invited to a beautiful place in Carangsari, Petang, Badung. It was away from the hustle and bustle, enough to keep me sane from everyday busy life. It's the first event in 2018 so we're very excited to do it, celebrated New Year with them.

In the morning, we gathered at Utama Spice Sanur as our base camp. A travel car from Utama Spice picked us up and brought us to Carangsari, which is Air Resort Swimwear's designer's home. It was a really beautiful place, a bit further than Ubud but worth the time to go there.

We arrived around 9AM and soon we were treated for breakfast with lots of Balinese traditional jajan, croissant, fruits and many kinds of herbal drink which is so healthy yet delicious, my favorite is Ginger Rosella tea and Honey Chrysanthemum Tea. Utama Spice always treated us so well, I'm touched T_T.
After having full tummy in the morning, we started the workshop. Ria, the owner of Utama Spice and Dewi guided us along the workshop. We had 3 products that we'd made which is charcoal face mask, charcoal tooth powder and green tea honey body mist. It's so fun and everything that we'd make sounded so tempting.
*DIY Charcoal Face Mask

Ingredients:
- Clay 2 tbsp
- Bentonite 1 tsp
- Charcoal 1 tsp
- Rice Powder 1 tsp
- Essential Oil 2 drops
- Aloe Powder 1 tsp

Directions:
Mix all the powder ingredients in a clean jar, add essential oils, mix well

Benefits:
Absorb polutant (such as: heavy metals ion) effectively from skin

Review:
The face mask is so good. I have normal to dry skin so I don't use the mask and wait until it dries evenly because it can cause over drying to my skin, I wait like 10-15 minutes top and rinse it off. It makes my skin super smooth and brighter after using it. I believe it's from the rice powder too, the granules sweep away my dead skin cell and making it brighter. Essential oil in it making it so refreshing when using it.


*Tooth Powder

Ingredients:
- Clay 1 tbsp
- Calcium Carbonate 1 tbsp
- Bicarb Soda 1 ybsp
- Activated Charcoal 1 tsp
- Essential Oils 5 drops

Directions:
Mix all the powder ingredients in a clean jar, add essential oils, mix wel

Benefits:
Natural oral care, neutralize bad breath and good abrasive ability

Review:
The tooth powder can only be used about 2 times a week, if more than that it will be too abrasive for the teeth. I put lemon and peppermint into this to refresh my mouth after using it. I feel like it makes my teeth cleaner than usual and a bit brighter after using it for a month, not a big difference but I'm happy with it.


*Greentea Honey Body Mist

Ingredients:
- Alcohol 70% 30ml
- Greentea infusion 30ml
- Honey 1 drop
- Essential oils 1.5ml

Directions:
Mix alcohol with essential oils in a clean container, add green tea infusion little by little, add honey, mix well.

Benefits:
Aromatherapy body mist with moisturizing effect.

Review:
Green tea and honey are my favorite combination, they are yummy and good for the skin. At first I thought it will be sticky if there's honey in it, but if it's in small amount it helps moisten our skin. I put lemon, lavender and mint, it smells sooooo good and fresh. I really love it, I love to use it on hot days just to refresh my skin.
Armando Caruso gave this awesome silicone mask applicator which's a perfect match for the DIY charcoal mask. I really love it because it's easier to use than normal mask brush, leaving no residue to the applicator and very easy to clean by just rinsing it off using cold water. Beside that, they also gave me brush cleanser to use and I was super happy because I ran out of mine.



Another DIY with Kasey from Air Resort Swimwear which was so cute, we made DIY bunting flag using scrap  or leftover fabric. It's super easy and turned out beautiful, it's fun and can be useful for party or any decorative things. Fabric waste always be a problem too and this way we can recycle it to a better and useful thing.

We had a tea/coffee break in between doing the DIY workshop and there were more fruits, OMG so many food and fruits to chose for. I was so refreshed and loved all the feast. And after the DIY, of course we had lunch, guess what, it was a full set of Balinese lunch along with doughnut dessert too. Everything was just so so yummy.. I had sambal matah, betutu chicken, lawar, and others. Not to mention the dessert, the doughnut was really good too.

And in the end, after finishing all the workshop and eating, we ended with taking photos together with everyone, it's finally a wrapped and since the sky got darker and darker so we had to go back before it's raining too hard. A long way back home but everyone was so happy. Thank you Utama Spice, Armando Caruso and Air Resort Swimwear.

It's been a while since I write a hotel review, don't worry, I hope I can write more not only about traveling but also hotel review. Back with Bali holiday, few months ago I had a chance to go to this beautiful resort in Ubud and spent a day there.

Surrounded by trees, Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud is located near the Jl. Sueta Highway is 5 kilometers from the Ubud Monkey Forest and 2 kilometers from exhibits at the Puri Lukisan Museum. I kinda love the location, it's a quiet area but still close to the city, best to have your own accommodation here because it's quiet dark at night.

Streamlined rooms with wood floors have free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs, along with desks, sitting areas and balconies or terraces with seating. There's a laid-back restaurant with a terrace, and a coffee shop. Additional amenities include a fitness center and a spa, in addition to an outdoor pool, and a sundeck with sunloungers and a bar.

I arrived there earlier than I expected around 7.45 am, it's a Balinese holiday, Galungan that day so the traffic was super smooth. Spent my time taking pictures and strolled around, I love the atmosphere, so serene and I feel so relaxed. Look at the pool, they have 2 pools, one is on the top over the stairs (deeper one) and one is at the bottom (for kids).

Bread section at Breakfast Buffet

I really love the toaster because I can put anything there beside normal bread slice like croissant and even banana fritter, my favorite! It makes everything taste better.

Pastry and Cakes Area

I'm not really a fan of eating cake and pastry early in the morning as my breakfast. But it still has a good variety.

Main food area

It has a lot of choices for breakfast and delicious too. Variety from Asian to Western, I can find many food that I like here. 

Salad area

The salad is good, they have mix salad so no need to mix yourself if you want to have a standard good taste. The vegetables are fresh and many choices with a few selections of sauce. 

Drink area

Juice, milk, cereal, infused water is normal that you can find at every place but the fresh juice is yummy and fresh (some hotels only give bottled juice). They have jamu too, it's healthy but tasted too strong for me, lol.

After having a full tummy after breakfast, then it's time to walk around, favorite part of going to the hotel is room tour! They have 5 room types starting with deluxe, deluxe green view, deluxe pool view, deluxe executive and suite. I got a chance to see the deluxe pool view and deluxe executive.

The room is big enough and feel so homey, all the dark wood color makes it look more elegant without loosing the tropical touch.




All the wooden furniture matches the theme as well. It's not a built-in type, all are loose furniture which makes it feel like home.

The room is well decorated with tropical vibe with wood flooring, dark wood furniture. The best thing is the bathroom! Even though it's Deluxe type and the bathroom isn't that big but hey, they have bathtub, what a pleasure...! It's the best feeling to relax inside the bubble on holiday.

One of the best thing is to have a huge room and this room type can give you that just right. The interior with all the wood carving is filled with Bali vibe, traditional meets modern. As Indonesian, we usually see this as an ancient kind of place, but for tourists they love it, especially in Ubud.



The dressing room area with wash basin and built in cupboard on the other side.




The bathtub facing greenery is an awesome place to be in. Beside the bathtub, there's a shower place. It's a quiet large bathroom and I always love big bathroom.

Yummy Lunch at Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud