Irisa Cosmetics October Launch Party 2018

Hey loves! So I attended Irisa cosmetics private launch party over this weekend at BlackBox Publika and here’s the BTS of the brand itself. A Malaysian based cosmetic line created by young make-up enthusiasts, Irisa & Iman! 2 sisters, 1 brand and an amazing revolution in the Malaysian make-up industry.

Here’s the best part, their entire lipstick collection are vegan, paraben free, suitable for sensitive skin and all Asian skin types! It’s great to see cosmetic brands like this stepping up their game in making versatile yet glamorous products. The lipstick range ( Solo, Stigma, Valerie, Moonlight, Dead roses) are all highly pigmented and long lasting which is what most girls look out for when finding the perfect lipstick. Do check them out and support your local brands!!

-ashwiini-

Cratze Art Review

Calling all art lovers & enthusiasts from Klang Valley cause this one’s specially for you. If yall haven’t heard of Cratze.Art before, might wanna check out on their Instagram or Facebook page! Here’s a little behind the scenes of what goes on…

It’s a urban style art studio where they organize art jamming sessions or private events for clients. It’s the best art therapy you can find right here at Nova Saujana. They recently moved their studio from Publika to Subang but still keeping their signature paint splash wall… If you were never really into art in the first place, you might just even start buying acrylic paints after coming to Cratze.Art because it’s really therapeutic.

Every Thursdays & Saturdays are their ‘learn to paint’ sessions where you’ll be given a subject to paint onto your own canvas. Check out for their October sessions aka Halloween special!! More deets on their Instagram page to see what you’ll be painting about. If you’re a fan of Van Gogh’s might wanna check out 18^th October special!!

Huge thanks to Joan (one of the artist) for inviting me to try out their art jamming session & bringing home my first ever canvas painting… whatta accomplishment! So, here’s what went down…  

                           

 -have a great week-

-ashwiini-

Monthly Shoots

Hey hoomans, been collaborating lately with a few local photographers doing various shoots of different themes. Haven’t done photoshoots in awhile but feels good to be back at it again.

Photoshoot #1 by: briansivasamboophotography

 

 

Photoshoot #2 by:  whitewall.KL

 

        

Photoshoot #3 by:  therbfcollection

Photoshoot #4 by: photosofyou.jpg

              

-Have a great week ahead-

-ashwiini-

         Is it Really Worth the Entertainment?

On my recent adventure to Thailand, I discovered something new yet absolutely disturbing… after finding out the truth behind the scenes. Being an animal lover myself, I didn’t know how commercialized safaris actually run the place until my boyfriend showed me a video about it. I was dumb founded by the fact that I was literally paying to see animals in captivity being abused.

By the time I found out about all this, we made all the payments and it was too late to back out from safari tour. But when we got there, it was an eye opener from the very beginning. Before I continue, the place we went to is called ‘Island Safari’ in Phuket. (You could check it out on tripadvisor and you’ll be shocked to see all those reviews.)

Elephant Trekking is one of the most famous tourist attractions especially in Thailand and other Asian countries as well. What I found out was how they torture these elephants when they were little infants during ‘phajaan’ also known as ‘the crush’ that consist of several stages. It’s a traditional Asian way of breaking the elephant’s spirit and making them submissive towards humans.

Throughout the phajaan, these elephants are kept in small cages while being tied down and the trainers would beat and pierce them using sharp objects like bull hooks. The elephant crushing usually lasts up to few weeks and it changes the elephants completely, instilling fear in them. Elephants in commercialized animal safaris, circus, riding, tricks, parades or even temple work all go through some form of Phajaan.

Of course, we don’t we see it actually happening in front of us. But if you’ve watched a video on phajaan or something similar, you will notice those little sharp objects that the workers use on these precious animals while doing tricks or during trekking. Beatings can continue regularly throughout the elephants' life to remind them of their place. Some of these abused animals eventually snap from the strain of relentless torture, with 5% of captive elephants killing people!

When I was at ‘Island Safari’, I could easily notice how the elephants had torn or holes on the ears or head area. During the elephant show, I had a vivid sight of elephants being pierced with a small, long, thin sharp object. The elephants were physically being controlled by the humans and fear was all they knew.

Based on what I’ve seen at Island Safari, it was purely an Asian crowd. They were clearly oblivious to the unawareness of the animal abuse.

There, we also saw a monkey show that was devastating, you could obviously see how the monkeys were afraid of the workers and they would beat the monkeys if they didn’t listen to commands. Worst of all, they would ask the monkeys to beg for money at the end of show!

While I am still doing more research on this, I found that there are still places which keep elephants safe without any form of abuse, Elephant Sanctuaries that don’t provide elephant trekking or show experience a better life. There, they are treated with love and care and are much more ethical. 

You would be able to bath the elephants instead, which from what I’ve heard, it’s truly an amazing feeling! Sanctuaries like these don’t keep the animals on chains or tied down. Elephant Valley Thailand, Boon Lott’sElephant Sanctuary or Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary are the places you should go instead.

Please do some research first before going on tours like this and supporting commercialized safaris would only give them more reasons to continue hurting these gentle giants. As I am still learning more about this form of animal abuse that is happening widely, I feel it’s important to share it with everyone if you haven’t heard about this yourself. As much as I hate myself for going there, I feel like now I could do something to help spread awareness.

Find out more about protecting elephants or other animals in the entertainment industry here!

I would like to dedicate this article to all the animals in captivity that are being exploited physically and emotionally.

-ashwiini-

Volunteering at Juara Turtle Project

Heyyy everyone! If you know me well enough, then you'd probably already know that i enjoy being around animals more than with MOST humans, no offense but its true. Ever since few years back, i felt the need to do something different, to make a change in the conservation world. So, after months and months of searching through many wildlife volunteer opportunities I finally got the guts to do it.

Most volunteer programs offered in South Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka are rather expensive yet the experience would be priceless guaranteed! Most of them are non-profitable organizations which often require loads of funds which partially come from the volunteer’s pocket. It would really be a dream come true if i could participate in one of those efforts one day.   

From the title itself you'd already figured out which species we're trying to save. Yes, this is a Malaysia based organization located in the heart of Kg. Juara, Tioman. If you do plan to volunteer here, which i hope YOU DO, everyone on the island knows about Juara Turtle Project (JTP). From Tekek ferry station, you'd need to take one of their local taxis aka jeeps to reach JTP which roughly takes about 30 mins.

Accommodations are like any other dorms you'd find in an environment like this. Each room had about 2 bunk beds and 2 bathrooms, expect to have few extra friends in the room occasionally, if you know what i mean. There's also plenty of hammock around JTP to take naps in, its really relaxing without a doubt. Most volunteers that come here are usually Europeans so you'd definitely be making new friends from all over the world.  

One thing that got me going each day was the view we had. Unlike at home where i wouldn't want to get out of bed, i was excited to wake up every morning just to see the sunrise, i mean how often do you get clear skies, front passes to a beautiful ocean and a sky full of stars at night.

Everyday there's a board meeting where everyone gathers around to decide who does what on the next day. Daily chores include keeping the main area clean, ready for visitors, beach patrols and boat patrols. The rest of the day you'd have time for yourself & it's free and easy. For new volunteers that arrive at JTP, an orientation talk would be given as you would soon give similar talks to visitors, explaining about JTP's efforts in conservation.

Here's one of the most interesting parts throughout the program. Boat patrols where you get to go to different islands nearby JTP itself to search for turtle tracks. As it is turtle nesting season right now, female turtles come out to lay their eggs.

Fun fact about turtle eggs, the sex of the baby turtles aren't determined yet as it is affected by the surrounding temperatures. So, if its nested in a shady cool temperature, then it'll be mostly male turtles produced and if it's warm, it would be mostly female turtles. Kg. Juara is a turtle conservation area, so people here don't eat turtle meat or its eggs. Mostly. But there are people who indulge in them and each turtle egg would cost around RM5.

Also note that JTP does not keep live turtles, they would like the process of turtle conservation to be as natural as possible. Once, we've found a turtle nest, we would collect the eggs carefully, return back to JTP and nest them again in the nesting area, safe from turtle egg sellers. After about 6-8 weeks of nesting, it's time to check the hatch!

These baby turtles below unfortunately did not survive through the process.

If you would like to sponsor a nest, you could find out more here! It cost RM600 per nest but you could share one nest with 3 people, so that would only be RM200 per person. Once the nest you've sponsored has hatch, you'd get pictures of your contribution to help save these baby turtles.

On Wednesdays, JTP organizes beach clean ups at Juara's beach and other beaches around the island. These were just one of the thousands of rubbish collected from just one beach near Juara. It's crazy to see the amount of trash we have contributed and after monsoon seasons it gets worse! Flip flops, styrofoam, plastic wrappers, fishing nets and a whole lot of oil spillage.

JTP has many fury felines to keep you company besides the mosquitoes, spiders and other insects. All the cats have been neutered as there was an over-flood of cat population on the island. They usually just laze around and are quite the cuddlers.

This was such an amazing trip to be finally able to contribute to the wildlife in Malaysia. 5 days in JTP passed by quickly and i'd recommend staying there for atleast 1 week. Definitely more to come in the future & only time will tell where it shall take me.

Thats all for now

-ashwiini-

Adventure to Nha Trang, Vietnam                        

Hey y'all! So this month I traveled within Southeast Asia itself, a country neighboring Cambodia and Thailand… Vietnam!! 

I was actually never really fond of travelling to all the countries in Asia but these past few months I’ve changed my mind. After checking out what’s there to offer in Asia, it’s been all heart eyes for them especially Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam!

               

It was our first time in Vietnam so we decided to travel to a new found city, Nha Trang. Unlike the popular cities like Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, there isn’t really much to do here besides the beach and authentic local delicacies. It was exactly what I needed…to relax and venturing out in a new city.

From Cam Ranh Airport, it was about a 40 minutes drive to our first hotel. Further from the hustle and bustle of the nha trang busy streets but with an amazing view from our room itself.

 

 

The next day we decided to stay in the busy city itself to venture more into what nha trang was all about. The best part of nha trang is how close the beach and the hotels are. The 6 km wide beach gives so many hotels options for you to choose from.All of our hotels had sea view which was an absolute bonus!

There's also a few great clubs at hotel rooftops which is also by the Tran Phu beach side. The entrance fee is much cheaper compared to in most countries plus how often do you get a view this like?

1000 dong is actually their smallest note but you cant really buy anything with that hahaha.

Dam market is a famous tourist attraction spot to buy local food and street shopping. I totally polished my bargaining skills there because they hike up the prices knowing that you're not local. The 'bargain and walk away' trick works 90% of the time and you should always speak politely with them. Just like Malaysians, they 'EH' alot even to tourists which to us might sound harsh but it's completely normal there.

 

I was so blessed to play with so many cute local doggos roaming the streets. Most of dem vietnam dogs are so small compared to the ones we have back home.

                                                                                                                                                                 

Vietnam is famous for their coffees and the wide spread of dried food. Bare in mind that they even eat snakes, crocodiles, seahorse. The past few days felt like I've eating grass so much because their food is mostly filled with raw greens and lemongrass. Much like a cow's diet hahaha. One of my favorite part was the PASSIONFRUIT. It was sooo good!

I loved being at the beach, it was so fulfilling to watch the sunrise and sunset. Each of our hotels checked that box without a doubt. Could never get bored of it! It's a different vibe for every sunset in every city I've visited so far!

For our final night here, we stayed at Legend Sea, which was the closest to the airport but still in the heart of the city. It was so easy moving from hotel to hotel and getting around as we could grab or uber which was much cheaper than the local taxis. We did a little sight seeing too visiting the Hindu-based pagodas and it was beautiful!

Thats all for now! Definitely will be visiting Vietnam again!

-ashwiini-