This weekend marks the days before Chinese New Year, and the Teenage team is swept up in the busy preparations for the festivities! Whether it’s getting our outfits sorted (at the last minute), beautifying ourselves, or even watching a movie or two, there’s sure to be something to inspire your weekend activities!
Johanna Teo, Writer
WATCH: Long Long Time Ago
Local director Jack Neo is back with yet another Chinese New Year blockbuster, following his very successful Ah Boys To Men franchise. This time, Neo brings us back to the ’60s, showing us how life was like in the kampongs! It’ll be interesting to see how Singapore was back in those times, as well as watch Neo’s recreation of pivotal events in local history, like the huge flood back in 1969. The film centres around Zhao Di (Aileen Tan) and her family as they struggle through adversity, but we’ll also get glimpses of Singapore’s racial diversity through loads of hilarious scenes.
DO: DIY Manicure
Alright, I know it’s CNY and all that, but the whole ‘wear red’ thing isn’t something I practice. And this goes for my nails – I’ll go for this minimal stripe design that’ll complement almost anything I decide to wear. It’s very simple to do too! Simply apply a base coat and use a white nail art striper to draw the lines on. Tip: hold your brush still and rotate your nail from side to side instead of moving the brush around, to achieve pin-straight stripes. I’ll be using a matte top coat for a more subtle look. Alternatively, you could use the method in the above nail tutorial to achieve the look as well!
DO: Dye hair
My journey with coloured hair hasn’t always been an easy one. Honestly, I love having blue hair but it’s really a hassle at times to get it looking fabulous (my hair usually looks super ratchet. Oops). And because we all wanna look pretty for CNY, I’m heading to the salon this weekend to get it touched up! Here’s a tip for those who want coloured hair but are also on a budget (like me): I bleach my hair at the salon, but I’ll do touch ups at home by myself when the colour inevitably fades, and I buy my own hair dye (La Riche Directions is awesome), which you can get either online or at the malls pretty easily. We have tons more tips for having coloured/dyed hair, so let us know in the comment section below if you guys have any questions!
Chew Hui Ling, Writer
EAT: Yu Sheng
What’s Chinese New Year without tossing some mandatory Lo Hei? Usher in good fortune with Goodwood Park’s new Yu Sheng platters: the Crispy Salmon Skin Lo Hei ($118) is a glorious melange of fresh veggies such as sweet romaine hearts, yellow frisee and wil arugula, while the Fruity Lo Hei with Bacon and White Truffle Oil (from $78) is a delightful fruit salad of julienne slices of mango, rock melon, Japanese cucumber and strawberries.
Available at Min Jiang and Min Jiang at One-North.
WISH: [email protected] Virtual Sky Lantern
I’ve always loved the idea of lighting up the sky with lanterns that carry the wishes of people, which is a common ritual in Taiwan – which is why we couldn’t be happier about the fact that we can now have a chance to fill the sky with wishes too! From today onwards, head down to [email protected]’s Level 1 Atrium to create a wish on a virtual sky lantern (yeah it’s not the real thing, but better than nothing!) and watch it soar up to the digital sky on the giant LED screen. Better yet, you could even win a $20 voucher for your shopping pleasures at [email protected]!
DOWNLOAD: Apps for company
Because all of us need an app or two to tide us through the lengthy reunion gatherings. Johanna recommends apps each month in every issue, and some of my favourites games for killing time are Monument Valley, Star Wars: Uprising and Piano Tiles 2 (P/S: you can read more about ’em in our latest Feb issue!). These nifty apps will keep you entertained for hours on end – perfect for those who’re not so much of a people person. But if you still wanna keep your friends updated on your whereabouts, there’s Periscope that allows you to shoot live streams of your CNY shenanigans.
