videos

My First Short Film

Posted on by Hanan.

I am back from the dead.

I like to think that having a website is a good idea for personal branding and a good place for me to share. But to be honest, I haven’t been updating this site ever since I started my full-time job. Plus, I have been taking a part time diploma on the side as well, hence, my packed schedule.

Fortunately for my readers (if there were any to begin with), my semester is coming to a close and my social life will basically evaporate into nothingness as my closest friends and boyfriend have fled the country to pursue their own things (jobs, studies, etc), leaving me behind in the dust.

Not quite as dramatic as it sounds, but basically, I shouldn’t have any excuse to not post on here anymore. Plus I truly want to resuscitate this old website back to life. I have a bunch of cool content that I want to write about and loads of ideas. Even though I write for a living, I don’t always get to write what I want. And word vomit is not really what clients want. So it’s great that I get to portray the unedited side of me here.

Raw, uncut and in its full glory.

Wow.

If that isn’t a major ‘that’s what she said’ moment, I don’t know what is.

So my first post, in a long time, is actually very special one. It’s close to my heart and I’m really proud of it, considering I had a tight deadline to achieve it. For my major project in school, I decided to make a short film that visually captures one of the poems I wrote. This is one of the poems in my self-published book (that is still available for order *shameless plug*), called ‘Girl’. It’s really special to me and I really hope you guys enjoy my short film on it.

I’m hoping to do more of these in future, with better equipment (fingers crossed) and better skills.

Click play below, sit back and enjoy!

Budget Buys: Best Zara Fragrances

Posted on by Hanan.

This was a random video that I shot and edited in one night after watching one of my favourite fragrance Youtuber, Redolessence’s video on a Zara perfume that I loved and no one talked about. Ever since I have joined the “fraghead” community and started deepening my interest in all things to do with scents, I started expanding my perfume collection. I love switching my scents depending on my mood, the weather and my outfits. But as you can probably imagine, fragrance collecting can be a financially demanding hobby. It certainly burns holes in my wallet, purchasing designer and niche fragrances that cost well over $100 a bottle.

Enter Zara and their underrated collection of scents that serve as dupes for the more expensive originals or just plain good scents for a low, low price. I became obsessed with their surprisingly good perfume collection and started owning more than a few bottles. I think people tend to scoff at their scents, thinking that they are nothing more than faint body splashes, to synthetic smelling “wannabe” perfumes. In a blind sniff test though, I dare say you would think that their scents are easily designer level at the very least. Plus, they have unique offerings like fragrances that use notes of tobacco, oud and even tonka bean.

The thing is, their collection is so huge (and often easily discontinued) that you might not know where to even start. As with most cheapie fragrance houses, it’s all hit-or-miss. So I tend to approach it like a treasure hunt. And I’m happy to report some gems I’ve found in the midst of it all!

Here are my top 5 Zara fragrances that I think you should check out currently. Of course, Zara is always pumping out new clothes and fragrances, almost on a daily basis (as with most fast fashion houses). So this list might change in the future, but all these scents are SO SO good. You should get your nose on them ASAP!

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Visual Diary #6 : Art Museum Adventures

Posted on by Hanan.

I’m back with another entry in my Visual Diary series. In this episode, Calvin and I visit art museums in Singapore. It gets quite mundane here in the tiny red dot, so we are constantly racking our brains on anything new or interesting to do.

This was a fun excursion, even though you guys can have a laugh at how unbelievably lame we are, struggling to be artsy and interpret contemporary art works.

It was a fun day overall, and I thought I would bring you guys with me.

Enjoy!

Visual Diary #5 : Trying to Turn Things Around

Posted on by Hanan.

I haven’t been able to post on here as much as I would like as I am working with Harper’s Bazaar Singapore for a few months on some things. So do pop by the site and look at some of my content there. They are pretty sweet, even if I do say so myself.

I have accumulated a major back log of vlog footage that I still need to find time to edit and get up. They are ones filmed towards the end of 2016 but I still want to get them up because some of them are really fun. It’s just a matter of trying to find time between work, myself and other projects.

So I thank you for your patience.

Here’s one that I patched together and got up. It’s a relatively chill day where I had an honest chat about unemployment. I was going through a rough time then as I was being rejected left and right for reasons unknown to me. I thought I would vocalise my train of thoughts then.

I also included my morning skincare routine, because putting on my face every morning is one of life’s simple joys. In this entry, you can see me try to turn a bad day around but I do apologise if it’s rather low energy. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this one!

More to come, I promise.

 

Meanwhile, you can check out some of my new content down below:
HOW TO PULL OFF THESE 4 AMAZING GOLDEN GLOBES 2017 MAKEUP LOOKS

THE INSANE BEAUTY FADS THAT ARE SWEEPING THE INTERNET NOW

Visual Diary #4 : Saying Goodbye

Posted on by Hanan.

Here’s a rather emotional diary entry.

In this instalment, I say bon voyage to my best friend, Diyanah. She moved to Japan to start a new chapter in her life. I couldn’t be happier for her, though in the video, it really doesn’t seem that way. I promise you I am happy for her. It was a bittersweet moment as we have always been childhood friends and I couldn’t imagine not having her around.

It’s a more personal post for me. But I wanted to stay true to my diary format and be real.

It wasn’t the video that I had imagined in my mind. However, I did my best to put together something as it’s a pretty big moment for me.

 

Hopefully you guys enjoy it!

Visual Diary #3

Posted on by Hanan.

Another instalment to my video diary series! In this episode, I chat about some of my bad Carousell experiences and a photoshoot that you can read about here.

I really enjoy making these videos and I plan to continue making a few more. My editing style has not been very consistent because I am still experimenting. Once I try a few more things, I’ll probably standardise them a bit.

Anyways, come chill with me.

Hope y’all enjoy this one!

On Speaking Up

Posted on by Hanan.

The whole world has gone berserk it seems in 2016. What my friend, Sofi, said really struck a chord in me. She said that 2016 is the year where everyone showed their true colours. Everyone has been pretty politically correct till now. As millennials, we consume so much data and content that often we feel very opinionated about things. For some reason, in the Asian community especially, opinions aren’t exactly welcomed. My parents have taught me that you shouldn’t speak unless spoken to, and that you shouldn’t offer your opinions unless they are asked.

Well, sock that theory.

I have never believed in keeping your mouth shut at signs of cruelty and injustice. We speak up and speak our minds, otherwise they will never be heard. Spreading senseless hate is one thing but speaking up against an injustice or a bully is another. Freedom of speech is sorely restrained in Singapore in terms of controversial topics, which is a shame. However, we are still allowed to voice out opinions so long as they are not formed under bigotry or divisive intent.

This video was a spontaneous one that my younger sister and I decided to make at 1am one night after I came across an advice article from a local teen magazine, “Teenage”. The article, since then, has gone viral and people were outraged at the closed minded response that this advice columnist has written in reply to a rape victim. After which she submitted an official (non) apology.

The video turned into a massive rant because we were shocked at the lack of sympathy and her use of language towards the girl writing in. If you are in the mood to watch a giant, incoherent rant, you may do so here.

We decided to throw in our two cents as we read and react to both the article and apology. What I want achieve here is to show the people in Singapore that we are a generation that do not condone victim shaming. We are a generation that celebrate the values of equality and spit on acts of sexual violence, be it towards a woman or a man. We are the generation that don’t shy away from taboo topics and talk openly about gay marriage, mental illness, poverty and politics.

Most of all, we are the generation that believes in the right of an individual to make their own choices and not be judged for being who they are. It’s time for the old world to step aside with their outdated values and elitist morals.

 

Welcome to the 21st century. Please take a seat.

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Visual Diary #2

Posted on by Hanan.

Here’s the second visual diary entry. This time, it’s just a regular week consisting of my random thoughts, a job interview and a party that me and my friends went to.

I’ve been playing with a more vlog style edit, with me talking to you guys. Let me know if that works? Because my initial plans were just to make videos to music. But I thought a change of pace would be good.

Enjoy!