ONE WOMAN, dressed in leopard-print lingerie, straddles a chair.
Another, clad in a red thong and bra, is perched on a toilet bowl.
Both are among some 50 aspiring models and bloggers vying for the Best Modeling Blog at this year's Singapore Blog Awards, which is into its second year.
With their suggestive pictures and provocative poses, these bloggers have turned up the heat in the competition organised by Chinese news-and-entertainment web portal omy.
The Best Modeling Blog category is newly created this year due to the 'overwhelming response' last year and the 'trend of bloggers who like to share their modeling photos', MsLee Kuan Fung, 40, omy's associate editor told The New Paper on Sunday.
We speak to four of the nominated bloggers and find out what makes them sizzle.
Nomination and registration for the Blogging Awards close today . Voting will start today and end in July. Results will be announced in August.
For details, visit http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/.
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THE JAPANESE DOLL
Naomi Liu, 24, freelance model.
Blog: www.naomiliu.blogspot.com
SHE'S sitting on a toilet bowl, looking suggestively at the camera, clad in nothing more than a red thong and bra.
That's the first picture you see when you visit Naomi Liu's blog.
Under her profile, where there is another picture of her in white lace lingerie, she issues a stern warning to visitors: 'Respect my blog, bcos its not urs love me,hate me,u decide. (sic) watever u say doesn't matter i have an attitude but who cares (sic).'
But the 1.65m-tall, doe-eyed model, who has been featured in Playeur and FHM, is anything but fiery in person.
'People have called me 'bitch' and 'slut',' MissLiu said.
'But it's like that. I'm not angry with those who call me names. I think I'm just someone who does not flare up easily.'
Her blog, which attracts 10,000 hits daily, even has a counter so she can find out how many of her visitors are her 'haters'.
Almost 20 per cent, she revealed. But she keeps on blogging because of the encouragement she gets from her fans and friends, she added.
'I thought of quitting blogging when the negative comments first came. But my friends and relatives said that if I stopped, I'd only seem as though I was really a slut,' she said.
'So, to prove that I'm not doing anything wrong, I'll continue blogging. It's not as if I'm putting up nude or topless pictures of myself.'
When she gets flamed by netizens, she laughs it off with fellow blogger and best friend, Gui Xuesha.
Miss Liu said that putting up sexy pictures of herself on her blog has also invited advances from men. Miss Liu claims that some people downloaded her pictures and used them to set up fake Facebook and Friendster accounts.
'For now, I'll just try to ignore those websites and e-mails from strangers, and have a good laugh!' she said.
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THE CHILLI PADI
Miss Chanel Poh, 19, freelance model and part-time waitress. Blog: http://www.c-hanel.blogspot.com/
MESS with this blogger and you risk incurring the wrath of her friends.
Miss Poh, who often posts pictures of her lingerie shoots on her blog, claimed that many netizens have posted links to her blog on forums like sammyboy.com.
'Sometimes, on these forums, people will criticise me saying I'm ugly, or that I'm buay hiao bai (shameless in Hokkien). But my friends will fight for me,' she said.
Whenever there are negative comments on her blog or in forums, her friends - comprising largely of fellow models - will respond to the comments and defend her.
She said: 'I started this blog for friends to catch up with what's going on in my life.'
She said she hates being judged by people who don't know her. 'But I've learnt how to ignore them and just delete their comments,' she said.
Men have also offered her money for sex, she claimed. But she is unfazed.
Said Miss Poh, who has been a model for more than a year: 'I'm already used to it. I normally just act blur and don't reply to their e-mails.'
But she has previously been conned into giving out her number. Men have e-mailed her and pretended to be from modelling agencies so they could get her handphone number, she claimed.
'They called and asked me to chat with them. Then I realised they weren't really from a modelling agency.'
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THE MODEL AGENT
Zoe Raymond, 20, marketing student at Singapore Institute of Management
Blog: http://www.bbabyprincess.blogspot.com/
SHE'S not just a pretty face.
This enterprising young woman, who started modelling three years ago, is now also an agent for up to 50 aspiring models.
For the past year, she has been managing the girls' portfolios and introducing modelling jobs to them. She gets a sweet 20 per cent cut of their earnings.
It started when her blog got popular more than a year ago, and young women e-mailed her for advice and help to get into the modelling industry.
But it has not always been smooth sailing for the 1.63m-tall beauty, who weighs 44kg.
When she first started posting her pictures online, she said she received comments from people who said she had 'super fat thighs', mocked her uneven teeth, and wondered how she got picked for modelling jobs.
Every day, as many as 10 men send her friend requests on Facebook with 'lousy pickup lines'.
She also came across a website which used her picture for a chatline, she added. But she has learnt to ignore these messages and has contacted the site's webmaster to remove her picture.
Despite the unwanted attention, she does not feel the need to be more careful about what she puts up on her blog - which gets 900 hits a day.
'I don't have to be more careful because people know who I am, and they know that I do not offer such services,' she explained.
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THE CROSS-DRESSER
Luqman Nurhaqim Idham, 20, third- year student at Republic Polytechnic
Blog: http://mtm.carbonmade.com/
PART-time model Luqman Nurhaqim - or Luke as he prefers to be called - dons short skirts and stockings for his photoshoots.
He wants to make a 'statement about androgyny' through his blog.
He has been blogging for about a year, and posts pictures of himself cross-dressing on his blog, Making The Model: Luke Idham.
The small-built student with shoulder-length hair and a full pout said: 'I like expressing myself by dressing up, I think I'm the Agyness Deyn of Singapore.'
Deyn is an English supermodel famous for her androgynous look.
But Luke, who said he has modelled for salon chain Toni & Guy, was quick to clarify: 'I'm not a transsexual. But girls I've liked have rejected me because I look so feminine.'
He was nominated for the Blog Awards by a friend.
He said: 'I know I'm inviting people to comment on my life and my dressing by having a blog, and even taking part in this competition.'
But his blog 'draws more support than flak', he said.
'Many people have told me that they like my work, and I've even got some job offers through my blog.
'It's like I'm walking on a runway every day. Even if they whisper and point at me behind my back, I'll just treat it as though they are envious of me.'
This article was first published in The New Paper
