I haven’t had the chance to sit down properly to blog lately due to work commitments  but DON’T YOU LOVE OUR NEW LAYOUT?? I did spend some time (and a lot of money) at the Club 21 Bazaar 3 weeks ago and bagged a lot of bargains like this striped Gareth Pugh dress and Jason Wu bag. I also refreshed my hair colour at Hairloom and am officially a peacock now! I wish the camera could better capture how beautiful it is in real life. It was a gruelling 7 hours at the salon with my stylist Peter and his team working tirelessly on my hair.

Thank you all so much for visiting! We wanna know what you think of the new layout! Leave us a comment, tweet or Facebook!

Did some shopping recently (which explains why I am broke) and here are some of my favourite things.

From top left:

1. Silver Collar from COS
2. Ann Demeulemeester Karla Leather Wallet
3. iPhone 5S with EXOVAULT cover
4. Jason Wu Mini Miss Wu Bag

Happy 2014 everyone! The year just flew by and I didn’t even get a chance to say a proper goodbye. Looking back on the blog and Instagram, it seemed like 2013 was the year of awesome hair color and I really have to thank Hairloom for making my hair the highlight of my outfit.

Here’s to a beautiful 2014 and better things to come!

PS: Trying out videos for outfits! Let me know if you like them. Remember to add @minicloud and @propatriamori (Dawn) on Instagram!

Backlog time! I wish that blogging could be my day job but I have to eat and pay my bills. My hair is currently a gorgeous shade of blue but I suppose I shouldn’t confuse everyone with a current post and then go back to old pictures.

I absolutely love the AMEN Label necklace which I got from the Underground market flea. The chain braid was a tad heavy and I get neckaches easily so I modified the necklace myself and added the crucifix, a gift from Nicole.

The Alexander Wang Mackenzie shoes are a bitch and a half to wear. They look gorgeous but I can last only 2 hours tops. What do I do after 2 hours, you ask? I bring a change of shoes or chill out in a cafe while I let those aching feet recuperate before I subject them to more agony. No pain, no gain.

I had a hard time shopping for Chinese New Year clothes. On one hand, it was extremely difficult to pull myself away from work and head down to a shopping mall (let’s face it, who wants to buy gaudy red clothes?) and on the other hand, I didn’t want to commit myself to buying something online that might end up not fitting me. What then?

Fortunately for me, there was a “Try Before Buy” service from Whole9Yards. In a nutshell, you get to pick up to three garments from their site, have it shipped to you and send back the ones that you don’t like. The service is free of charge so you don’t have to head down to the post office to send the clothes back.

Here’s how it works:

Pick out three garments that you like and add them to your cart.

Instead of checking out, click on the “Try Before Buy” button and you will be redirected to a PayPal Login page.

Sign into your PayPal acc. The final amount will be put on hold by Whole9Yards and you have 5 calendar days to decide if you want to keep them.

Take the time to decide if you like the clothes or not. If you don’t, simply contact Ta-Q-bin to collect the clothes back and the amount will be refunded back to your PayPal account. In all honesty, I wish more online sites would provide this service, especially the more expensive ones (I’m looking at you Luisaviaroma/net-a-porter).

If you are still unsure of how it all works, check out the video from Whole9Yards below or check out their site for more information.

I went on a serious shopping spree on FeistHeist and the Doutzen blouse + Zahra shorts combination is one of my favourite right now. The Doutzen blouse looks extremely tame in the front but it definitely brings sexy back. In fact, I loved it so much I got it in red as well (gasp!).

This is me trying to catch up on blogging and yes, this is my current hair colour. In fact, this was taken right after Venetia and I walked out of Hairloom. Peter gave me a fresh new colour and covered up purple which was fading into an embarrassing copper-tone mess. I wish you could see how the resulting blue blends into the turquoise, sea green and yellow.

This post is also an experiment as the photos are all taken with the iPhone 5S. The camera is so amazing compared to my old iPhone 4S and I’m honestly wondering if it will replace my DLSR altogether. The post-processing was also completely done on the phone (except for the url at the bottom right, still haven’t figured out a way to do it properly on the phone) and I am really loving the filters from VSCO cam.

If you have the time, do check out my VSCO cam page as well: http://minicloud.vsco.co/

I’ve always been a fan of neoprene and the boyfriend was surprised when I mentioned that I just bought my first neoprene item from ARC the label. Speaking of neoprene, they had that in the bag strap of my new Aide de Camp Madison bag, I’ll be doing a proper review of this handy camera bag soon!

Tried to spend a little more time on my makeup today and attempted a gradient eye makeup with NARS Khao San Road eyeliner, Outremer eyeshadow and Pandora eyeshadow duo. Is anyone actually interested in a tutorial for this?

My nails are also a lot fancier than usual although I couldn’t find time to go to a manicurist before Chinese New Year. The designs might look complicated but they are actually transparent nail wraps from NCLA. I’ve tried plenty of nail wraps before and they usually end up with bubbles on the side but the NCLA is just the right thickness and the foil stretches and adheres to different nail shapes. The transparent nail wraps are available on Zalora and I would love to get my hands on the more designs.

Admittedly, I’ve been really obsessed with cracked print and marble print ever since Alexander Wang dished out his first collection for Balenciaga and who can resist this gorgeous print from Australian brand, Cameo the Label? I would have bought every single cracked print item in this collection if I could afford it but since I can’t, I had to pick just one and this top would go with the rest of my wardrobe pretty well. 

As you might have noticed, I’ve really been trying to get back into the momentum of blogging regularly. It’s been a hectic the few months; priorities and commitments aside, blogging is still something that I really enjoy and hope that everyone visiting our humble little blog enjoyed our posts too.

Keep those comments coming cause we missed chatting with you too.

Got a marble obsession like I do? Check out these marble-printed items that are not as cold and hard as they look.

1. Safe House White Marble Duvet : At US$350 a pop, this bedsheet+duvet set better feel like I’m lying down on the manly chest of Michelangelo’s David when I head to bed at night.
2. Designlykke’s DIY Marble-Print MacBook Air: When it comes to fuelling the obsession with marble print, Henriette knows what to do with marble-print stickers. Looks like I’ll be hunting for some over the weekend!
3. Charles & Keith Marble Print Loafers (S$49.90): Bloggers in Singapore have been spotted with the hottest shoes from Charles & Keith. This marble-print loafers would go swimmingly with my cracked-print top from Cameo the Label.
4. Case Scenerio ELEMENTS iPhone cover in White Marble (€25.08) : While the EXOvault iPhone case is still my go-to camera case, I guess I can make the exception for the marble-print iPhone cover from Case Scenerio.

I might try my hand at the DIY once I get my hands on some marble-print wall stickers. Stay tuned for it.

It seems like I have taken a mighty long hiatus! I wish I had some proper excuse – like school, or a wasting sickness – but in truth I have just been gone skiing. After a week in Val Thorens and another in Val d’Isere, I am rounding this season off with a third and final (!!!) week in Flaine. There have been talks about a short trip up to Ben Nevis in Scotland, but I’d have to assemble all my gear before then for that to happen. I’m pretty fed up with rentals. Right now the only things I am short of are skis and bindings, but (unfortunately) I have also picked up snowboarding. I would have to decide between purchasing skis or bindings for my shiny new snowboard if I want my bank account to maintain a semblance of respectability (actually, it’s already too late for that).

Rest of the weekends have been interspersed with visits from various people and also a trip to Sweden. We (although by we, I mean my long-suffering partner since I can’t drive) drove down to an Acne outlet where I managed to find some cute stuff! I’m pretty sick of winter already, although this Zara jacket makes up for it somewhat. And my Skovgaard pumps actually managed to worm its way out of literal storage, so hurray for warmer weather!

Time really flies when you are having fun. It’s been a year since I started colouring my hair regularly at Hairloom and I have to say that my hair has never been this colourful nor good-looking! You can give a pair of twins the same clothes but what determines the style really comes down to a great hairstyle and a fabulous pair of shoes.

Let’s recap and celebrate my year of rainbow-coloured hair!

My first hair colouring with Hairloom and I showed them a picture of the pink that I wanted and they delivered! There are many types of pink and this was really the exact shade that I asked for. I could not be happier!

I was inspired by a friend’s mint green phone cover and pink phone. They looked like a great combination and I showed my hairstylist some pictures and they delivered again. The colour combination looked  like Paddle Pop ice-cream (a childhood favourite!) and a waiter said the same thing about it and I was quite happy that someone got it! Hands down, my favourite hair colour ever!

Went a little brighter cause I really liked Lady Gaga’s teal hair! At this point, Hairloom’s hairstylists impressed me so much that I was basically hands-off with the colours and just left my hair in their hands.

At this point, my roots were showing and I wanted to darken it to let my scalp take a break from all that bleaching. Peter (my stylist) decided to dye it black with a contrast of bright blue underneath and surprise, surprise; I went to watch Pacific Rim with my boyfriend and he shot me a look when Mako Mori appeared. In case anyone’s wondering, bitch stole my look.

Regular hair colour didn’t last long. I had about a month or so of black hair and decided it was getting boring and begged Peter to give me something colourful. Both Venetia and I ended up having purple hair and I must say, I really love warm-tone colours!

Once again, I left it to Peter to decide on the colour and emerged looking like a bird of paradise! I was unsure of the yellow when it went on but after washing off the dye, it merged into a gorgeous blend of blue, green, turquoise and yellow even though there was only blue and yellow dye on my hair. SORCERY, I SAY!

If you are looking to have your hair done, I am a living example of how your look can be transformed with the right colour and haircut! In case I haven’t mentioned it, some of the stylists are also trained in the Vidal Sassoon Academy and there’s a a special promotion from now until 31st March.

#Getsassooned by one of the Vidal Sassoon-trained stylists and the celebratory package is only $340 for long hair and includes a haircut and up to two hair colours. Find out more at :http://hairloom.sg/getsassooned/ now!

I’ve been lusting after Henrietta’s marble-print MacBook Pro ever since I saw it on her Instagram. Of course, white marble is not really our style so I decided to make a black version of her now-famous MacBook Pro.

Here’s what you need:
● Marble-print wallpaper stickers. I got mine here. (If you are unsure of how to purchase from Taobao, please read our tutorial here!)
● A MacBook Pro (or any other laptop really)
● Lint-free cloth
● Sharp craft knife (or as Lego movie puts it “blade of exact zero”)
● Hair dryer [not pictured]

Before you begin, it’s important to give the surface that you are working on a good clean to prevent dust from creating bumps. Use wet wipes to clean off any dirt and oil and dry it with the lint free cloth before starting on this project.

Start by peeling off the wallpaper sticker from its back and adhering it to a corner of your MacBook Pro. Use the lint-free cloth to work your way out. Your goal is to stick the wallpaper sticker and prevent any air bubbles. The wallpaper sticker is pretty strong so you can always peel it off and work on that area again. However, doing this repeatedly may introduce dust and dirt and they are much harder to remove. Slow and steady wins the race.

After you are done with covering the entire top of the MacBook Pro, use a hairdryer to heat up the corners while slowly pulling it downwards so that you are able to cover the curved edge without creating folds. The heat from the hairdryer will melt and warp the wallpaper stickers so that they fit snugly around the edges. Do the same for all four corners.

Use the craft knife to cut along the edge of the screen. Go around the entire laptop carefully. Remember that this is not a race and quality work takes time!

After you are done slicing through the edges, the laptop should open nicely. Open it slightly to allow the Apple logo to light up so that you can use the craft knife to cut away the wallpaper sticker that is covering the logo.

Et voila! Your very own marble-print Macbook Pro is now ready!

Please feel free to share this tutorial but remember to credit us! We would love to hear suggestions from you as well so do leave us a comment below!

I’ve been searching for the perfect statement bag for a while now and between quality, design and price tag, it always seems that I have to give up one or the other until I chanced upon Sophie Hulme bags while looking through street style photographs.

Gorgeous hardware ✓
Sturdy leather ✓
Less than two grand ✓

(randomly, Getty now allows you to embed images free!)

I’m currently obsessed with the large leather tote and bowling bag even though I bagged the soft envelope clutch recently (more on that soon).

Here comes the best bit. If you’re not iffy about it not being black, there’s a discount for some of their items here!

Which one is your favourite? 

Dead grass… dead grass everywhere! Singapore’s been experiencing a horrid dry spell that petrifies frogs (true story) and causes human beings to spontaneously combust (not true but likely to happen) and it’s been hard to dress up in this weather especially when the only colour in your wardrobe is black.

When that happens, chiffon and skirts are your best friends. Throw in some sunglasses and sunscreen for good measure.

Ever since I got my tiny Jason Wu Mini Miss Wu bag, I’ve been travelling light but sometimes you just need to bring along an iPad mini which doesn’t fit into a tiny bag. The Sophie Hulme Envelope Clutch is roomy compared to the Mini Miss Wu and can even fit my Fujifilm X100 camera. The best bit is its versatility; I can carry it as a clutch during dinners or attach the shoulder strap to wear as a cross-body bag during the day. 

3 years years since I’ve moved away from Singapore and it just flew by. I’m so deeply settled here and I don’t even know if I view Singapore as home anymore. But enough of that… We thought it would be kind of a bittersweet thing to shoot at the locations we love going to in London. I’ve visited London a couple of times prior to moving here, but I have never visited Brick Lane during those stays. It just wasn’t something that would pop up on a tourist’s radars, although it is steadily gaining popularity. There are two main draws to Brick Lane – an endless array of curry houses (all award winning, if the signs in their windows are anything to go by), and the vintage shops and vegan coffee houses that are the spillover from Shoreditch.

I can’t gush enough about this jacket. It’s one of the items that never fails to be complimented upon and it is just so soft and comfortable.

Photography didn’t seem to start out as a hobby for women. Most equipment were made to be utilitarian and without any fancy colours or design. Over the years, camera equipment have gotten more and more accessible and many have taken it up as a hobby – including the ladies. Camera bags haven’t changed much though; they’re mostly made of durable nylon or canvas and it was tough finding a camera bag that didn’t look like you were going for a backpacking trip.

I started out with just a DSLR and one lens but as my collection grew, I needed a bag that could protect my camera equipment but still matched my outfit. I tried looking for fashionable camera bags but the closest thing I found was the Porter X Nikon collaboration. I went a very long time without a camera bag, making do with whatever pouches I could stuff into my regular bag.

That was before Aide de Camp bags came along! They only launched their label last year and owner/designer Michele faced the same problem that I did; there just wasn’t any stylish camera bags around for the ladies. I got myself the Madison, a large Boston bag that packs a lot more than it looks. At its maximum capacity, the Madison bag fits my DSLR, 3 separate lenses, an external flash AND my 11″ MacBook Air.

The bags are made with waterproof nylon, gold-plated hardware and leather handles and trimmings. There are so many compartments to organise knick-knacks like extra memory cards, batteries or even lipsticks. The camera padding box has adjustable dividers so it fits my lenses snugly and it’s also removable so you can use the bag on its own.

I brought it out last Saturday for work, to which my intern exclaimed:”This is a camera bag?!”

I could tell that lot of thought was put into designing Aide de Camp’s bags. The shoulder strap is made partly of neoprene so it is extremely comfortable when you carry heavy equipment around. There are studs at the bottom of the bag so that the fabric never comes into contact with the ground if you decide to put it on the floor. There are pockets with magnetic closures at the side of the bag that you can put items you need quick access to – like a lip balm or lens cap.

They have a few designs, catering to different cameras and personalities. Find the one you like at Aide de Camp‘s website or if you would like to see the bags in person, they have it at my favorite camera store (John 3:16 Funan DigitaLife Mall  #04-27). Aide de Camp is always looking to improve their bags so if you are interested in photography and have some input on the designs, you can always give them your feedback.

Check out their video for the Madison bag!

Decided to go blue again and I loved how Peter picked a lovely indigo blue and mixed in some cobalt blue as well. I don’t have much hair to work with but I’m amazed at how my hair looks different every time I step out of Hairloom.

I haven’t shopped at Topshop in a while and I dropped by to pick up some clothes for a shoot and couldn’t resist grabbing some for myself too. The leather shift dress is so easy to coordinate; I can wear it with my highest heels or my engineer boots and it doesn’t look out of place. It can get a tad uncomfortable to wear if you are out in the sun though.

Spring has always brought mixed feelings for me. It’s great to see the sunshine after months of short days, but it also signals the end of the school year and the start of the (somewhat tedious) summer! It must be my Singaporean upbringing chiming in here, but I much prefer winter to intolerable heat… at least in Singapore, you have the option of escaping from the heat with air conditioning!

Everyone has already escaped to exotic places for their vacations, but it looks like my spring break is going to be deeply involved with the library until I have churned out my dissertation. I can’t wait to start planning for my graduation trip, though! I have absolutely no idea where I should go – any suggestions?

I have been pretty good with (not) shopping lately, but I couldn’t not peek at what Zara had for sale. And I am glad I did, or I would have missed out on this dress! It’s a couple sizes too big for me but it’s wearable with a camisole underneath it. I think it would make for a brilliant festival outfit once the summer festivals roll by – so far we are planning on attending Sonisphere and Lovebox!

Can you tell that I shop at Zara sometimes..?

I don’t think I’ve ever taken photos of my work outfit…until now. That’s only because I have a talented intern to abuse while she’s still around (hello Leona!) but photos aside, it’s been a real pleasure working with a passionate and driven young girl like her so please check out her blog and YouTube channel.

I’m in love with these detachable collars. They go under my tops and dresses, giving them an instantly preppy look without making it unbearably hot.

Photo credits to Leona