My first love

Main Cover, Victorian Chapel pop-up

My first love has always and still is ... books! I've never failed to not walk into a book store if I can help it. Whether it is to just browse or to check if my favourite authors has released a new book or if any books on sale. While some find it hard to pass up buying shoes everytime they walk by a shoe store, I cannot walk out empty handed from a book / stationery store.
While I might think twice regarding books since the prices have gone up over the years and I can no longer afford to spend on them as I used to, notebooks and stationary is still somewhat affordable. That explain my growing collection of notebooks, erasers and funky pencils. Everytime I look at a notebook, it's practically begging me to write something on it and I HAVE to get it. As weird as it sounds. Even memo pads and blank pieces of paper lying around tempts me.

While browsing around in a book store this morning; I feel in love with it the first glance. The beautiful china blue lace print cover caught my attention. The Enchanted Doll House Wedding title made me pick it up with much curiosity and my love for it grew with every passing page. Apparently this is the 2nd book and I've missed out the 1st. But it about the marriage between Albert and Lucinda.

The book had pop-ups with 'Edwardian department stores' as well as Victorian churches and styles houses intrigued and delighted me.

Though the price made me cringe a little, it was a must-have for any book / paper doll house lover. I know that the pictures does no justice to how absolutely beautiful this book is. If you see it, flip through and be enjoy the beautiful and detailed art. A joy for all ages.

Look inside the blue cupboard and you'll see the toys from The Enchanted Doll's House. Their story continues in this book with a most romantic event - Lucinda and Albert's wedding.

Before you attend the dolls' wedding, the toys will take you on an adventure into Edwardian times. They need to buy some clothes and presents for the wedding and have decided to do some shopping in a miniature department store just like the great emporiums of the early 1900s. After that, they will visit other periods.

What's better than a combination of my two all time favourite. A shopping book? :P

P.S: I'm really sorry about the quality of the pictures. T.T

Left to right: Albert and Lucinda's wedding

Victorian Manor Doll' House
Right to left: closed, opened

A Regency Doll House, right: Close up

Pak Lah and his cronies screwed us again!

Got this in my email box today. Don't exactly know what to say but then again, what can I say?
It's nice to know that the government is that good in making a quick buck outta all of us. I really have no intention of landing myself in prison and charged with ISA. Thought the communist is long gone, the ISA is still happily around so considering that I'm no where near royalty or being as popular as Raja Petra. I'll keep my mouth shut.

But it doesn't hurt to post this up and educated the public right? So there you go, read it, pass it around, debate about it at your local mamak, write in your memos somewhere not to vote for the government in the next election, whatever.


> ECM Libra FInancial Group Berhad has a stake in Pos Malaysia Berhad (PMB) through it's acquisition of Avenue Capital Resources in 2006. That deal left a bitter taste in the mouths of those knowledgeable in the
> financial world as it was a clear case of insider's trading.
>
> Note that Khairy Jamaluddin was a Director of Investment in ECM Libra in
> 2004 before he tendered his resignation after this infamous debacle.
> However, Pak Lah's closest crony, Dato' Seri Kalimullah is currently the
> Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ECM Libra.
>
> Recently, PMB was given the job of giving out the cash rebates to replace of fuel subsidy. It is quite odd on why JPJ was not given this
> role but instead it was given to a postal service company. Instead of the more efficient and more relevant job function of the JPJ, these cash handouts responsibility were thrusted into the already mountainous variety of services PMB had to handle. The only defence that Pak Lah might see the
> appropriateness of this move is the many branches of post offices nationwide which the public can easily have access.
>
> But now, let's see how Pak Lah and his cronies get extra money out of this purportedly 'for the rakyat' act of selflessness.

> For every transaction, PMB will get 10 sen commission on every RM10 of that RM625 and RM150 (for cars and motorcycles respectively).
> That means, for every transaction, PMB will get RM6.25 for cars and RM1.50 for motorcycles in the form of transaction fees.
>
> There is about 11 million cars and 8 million motorcycles in this country at the moment. Let's do the math :
>
> RM6.25 x 11 millions = RM68.8 million (for cars)
>
> RM1.50 x 8 millions = RM12 million (for motorcycles)
>
> A cool total of RM81 million for the whole exercise per year. Even if we use pareto principle and apply the 80/20 ratio, RM65 million
> (80% out of RM82 million) would still fall in their hands. And this does not include the commission from RM200 subsidy to be given to each fishermen in the country!
>

> With RM117 million already paid out during the first day, I wonder how much PMB will collect by March 2009. This role was given to PMB
> and not JPJ because PMB is a public listed company (read: profit
> oriented) while JPJ is government owned entity (read : no cost to public).
>
> It's even funnier that those who own cars 2,000cc and above were told to
> claim their RM200 rebate from the JPJ, not PMB. Why is this? Well, there are not many people with cars above 2,000cc in Malaysia anyway.
> And JPJ do not impose any fees.
>
> This cunning way of trying to 'help' the poor while at the same time
> enriching one self is very much prevalent in Pak Lah's administration.
> What's worse, they are emptying the nation's coffers (from the Treasury) in the form of cash rebates and transfer a percentage of it into their own
> pockets (through fees paid into PMB and ultimately into ECM's bank
> accounts).
>
> And that my friends is how the poor get screwed to help the rich get even richer! (Orang kaya menjadi bertambah kaya kerana orang miskin).
>
> These poor people did not realize that they had helped finance Pak Lah's
> cronies indirectly
>
> Make the most of what you can do on your PC and the Web, just the way you want.

Just a quick note: I cannot stand KJ! I loathe him and I loathe the day he was born. Sounds extreme? I just don't have an ounce of respect for that idiot.
Despite his background in journalism and investment banking, and his university education at Oxford University and University College London in the UK, (perhaps he left his brains there, considering how rich he is, someone please convince him to courier his brains back to Malaysia) he just had to opened his BIG mouth and spew shit by claiming that the Chinese communities in Malaysia will take advantage of the Malays if UMNO is weak.

The most laughable of his stupidity was when he wanted to rebrand Mat Rempits as Mat Cermerlang. I suppose considering that KJ probably has police escorts everywhere he goes, he doesn't get heckled by the Mat Rempits on the street like us normal people. We are all aware that it's the Mat Rempits that causes us trouble on the street. There are countless of News papers articles of Mat Rempits smashing windows and robbing and raping female drivers are common and this idiot wants them to be the Eyes and Ears for the Malaysian Police Force? What was he thinking, oh wait, was he even thinking? Does KJ even have eyes to read the papers and ears to hear the complaints. Damn, the idiot needs a brain. A working one that is.

"Mat Rempit" is a derogatory term used to refer to Malay youths involved in illegal racing with the aim of winning drugs, prostitutes and/or cash using (illegally) modified motorcycles. Some analysts believe that UMNO Youth was trying to cash in on the large numbers of "Mat Rempits" in Malaysia as preparation for the upcoming elections. The suggestion by Khairy that "Mat Rempits" should become the "Eyes and Ears" for the Malaysian Police Force has sparked anger among former victims of "Mat Rempits", who previously had their vehicles smashed by "Mat Rempits" - wikipedia

Mr KJ suffers from foot in the mouth syndrome, over-ambition, ruthlessness in getting what he wants, lack of respect for other races. He needs to get off his high horse, grow a brain (if it's not too late) and learn to respect others (something that apparently wasn't taught in the university he attended or was he fast asleep or fooling around in class)

NYX reviews

According to the 'stamp' the shipping only cost them US$13+, gimme back my remaining money T.T - as if!

Wow, time sure flies, it's already been close to two weeks since I said that I would do a NYX cosmetic review. Note in mind that no one paid me to write this and I'm not trying to selling anything here. There are merely my views and you're free to disagree with me.

For most of the people out there in in the big A, NYX cosmetics is really nothing new. But to us Malaysians it's still something somewhat new and people are still buying to try it out and see what's the craze all about.

NYX Cosmetics was named after the ancient Greek goddess who ruled the night just like many of its fans out there who rule the night life in this hip and modern techno-savvy world! NYX Cosmetics was founded in 1999 by a young entrepreneur name Toni Ko. Toni Ko desired to create and share a line of cosmetics that provided quality products at an affordable price. - CherryCulture.com

A month of so back, I placed another online order, this time in ever popular CherryCulture.com. The shipping approximately took about 12 days to arrive and cost about US$19.95 (for everything weighting less 2lbs = 0.9kg) that which was a big killer! It would have been so worth it if I actually stayed in America since there's a buy US$40 above and get free shipping. This is the highest I've ever paid for any shipping. But still, I didn't wanted to join a spree organized by other girls online because seeing the amount I wanted, it wouldn't not have been worth it to join them. I tend to get a little confused when I see all the calculations for an items (US$item x 3.3 x 0.80 x blah + blah shipping = price of item)

It's not that I wanted alot but there was a few stuffs that Elisa wanted as well and gifts for my mom amd sis added to the bulk.

On with the reviews:

NYX White Jumbo eye pencil in Milk, this was the one items that pretty much started the whole NYX craze for me and Elisa. We drool at the sight of this for weeks before I placed the order, all because this was out of stock. If there was something me and Elisa loved, it was white matte eyeliners. Okay, I lied. it's not really an eyeliner, it's actually a pencil eye shadow. But I used it as a eyeliner or a base for my other shadows. It glides on so smooth like an absolute dream. It doesn't smell all too funny and is white white white! Beautiful! *hops about happily*
Considering that it glides and slides on like a dream, I do worry that it smudges as well, so I do suggest maybe using an eye base before using Milk, unless you're using Milk as a base of course. I'm pretty sure that the girls reading this blog ain't no make up novice so I doubt I have to explain much.

NYX black Jumbo eye pencil in Black Bean. If there's one item that I must have in my make up bag, it would be a black eyeliner. Why is that so? Because I was one of the mono-lidders. I have no crease whatsoever on my eyelids. NONE! How do I describe my eyes to anyone is simple. Imagine an almond slightly tilted ( don't think ala Lucy Liu style) and ta-daaa! Oh I forgot to mention, my eyes are very small. I get teased about it since young about how small my eyes are and yadda yadda. But just a reminder to our 'creased' readers, mono-lids don't come in just one type. There are many type of mono lids out there. There are some that is a little 'heavier' on the top and there are ones that like mine which is 'not that heavy'. If that even makes any sense.

I've seen countless of 'make-up artist' who cringe at the sight of my eyes because they can't handle it. And truthfully, till now, I've never came across anyone who can 'beautify' my eyes just yet. So eyeliners are much needed by me to create depth and bring out my eyes without having to shout, 'Hey look, I have eyes!'

Some pictures just don't behave!

Left to right, NYX eyeliner in white, NYX Black Bean, NYX Milk

NYX White pencil eyeliner in white. I'm gleeful. Why am I gleeful? Because I no longer have to deal with the frustration of my other white eyeliner. Reason I got this was because not only is matte white eyeliners hard to find but I got pissed with my Face Shops's automatic white eyeliner. Cost me RM19+ for less than 3 cm and breaks easily! I cannot stress on the word short and soft enough in this case! The FaceShop's pencil was not smooth enough for me and pulls at my eyes.

NYX pearl mania in white, nude, pearl, mink, purple, fanta, oro, lime and baby blue. *ahem* Kindly ignore the post about me needing just five colours; I mean, if I'm going to order something all the way from half the world away, I should try to get everything right? Anyway they were cheap so I got my excuse. Just FYI, I didn't get every colour cause I knew I didn't need that many. See, sanity intact! I got a good head on my shoulder *cough cough*

It was always said that the NYX pigments were nearly as good as M.A.C's pigments. The NYX ones where either good subs or dupes of them and seeing how oh so shimmery they are, I say YES! Then again, what can I say, I only got one jar of M.A.C pigment in Vanilla and the rest is in sample jars but I love both. Just not the price of the M.A.C ones. Not to mention, M.A.C Gurney don't sell pigments and Vanilla, in Malaysia, is as hard to get as getting me to do the Chicken dance for ya. Not impossible but don't hold your breath. Been searching high on low on ALL M.A.C counters in KL to no avail. In the end, Douglas, my good old Singaporean friend bought it for me as a gift when I visited him a few weeks earlier In Singapore. Cost a freaking RM6 extra over there.

I do admit that that is not all I bought but the other stuffs has already been distributed and this is my remaining share

I also got the NYX Tinted lip spa in Vintage. Love love love! It leave a minty sensation on our lips after application. The colour is natural to my lip colour and looks fantastic after I applied a coat of gloss over it. Whee!

Other than that, I manage to get the NYX Round lip colour in Femme and Tea Rose for Ian's mom and my mom. Let me warn you first about the lip colours is that if you're going to buy the lipstick, DON'T judge it by the website. It took me hours and hours of research to find these two colours acceptable and fitting for my mom. I searches through all of blogs for swatches then to YouTube to double confirm! Imagine what a pain in the ass it was because the colours either don't look alike because of the lighting or something. Most the colours I initially wanted were all out of stock, so the next time you want to buy and lots of colours are available, 'sapu all'. Seriously, they are cheap enough anyway.

Lovely Complex aka Love Com

© 2006 Love*Com Film Partners. All rights reserved.
From the movie

From the anime, "Oh my, what an ebil grin on Otani!"
Click on the images for bigger pics, also the pic don't belong to me

It's three something in the morning and due to too much caffeine in my blood system, my eyes are wide awake and bulging (edit: I actually typed budging, Muahahaha!!) from the sockets.. almost but anyway was surfing about YouTube when I remembered about a movie that I was dying to watch for some time now. I search and voila, someone actually uploaded the entire movie, in 12 parts all together. Whee! Lucky lucky!

Been searching high and low for this movie at every anime store in Penang and KL and I was unable to find it. Always ended up with the person giving me a weird stare. I'm not entirely sure why but I'm guessing that they probably think it has something to do with love and a computer since the name is Love Com. Anyway if you love the movie, refrain from throwing anything at me, if you haven't watch the movie and is interested, DON'T read my review as it'll contain spoilers.

What it's all about;

Initially released as a shojo romantic comedy manga (2001-2006) by Aya Nakahara, it has been adapted as a live-action movie released in 2006 as well as a 24 episode television anime series in 2007.

Lovely Complex is a love story between a boy and a girl. The girl, Risa Koizumi, is 172 cm (5'7") tall—much taller than the average Japanese girl, ironically, her name means 'little spring'. The boy, Atsushi Otani, is 156 cm (5'1 and a half") —way below the height of the average Japanese boy (his name roughly translate to, "big valley") and is a pun on his diminutive stature. Because of this, they are called the "All Hanshin Kyojin" after a popular comedy duo that has a similar height difference.

During summer school, a very tall student (from another class) shows up and Risa immediately falls for him, as she has had bad luck with boys in the past because she is tall. There is a girl that Atsushi likes as well, so Risa and Atsushi decide to put aside their differences and help each other get their love interests. But as they get to know each other better, Risa's feelings for Atsushi begin to blossom, and her love life gets complicated from there. - wikipedia

I enjoyed the manga very much and it has remained one of my very favourites. I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone. The manga was one of the few that left me laughing like a nutcase alone in my room much to the horror of my parents.

The anime was alright, not as good as the manga but definitely not that bad as well. It pretty much stick to the original storyline with a little tweaking from here and there but nothing too important was cut away.

On with Love Com!

Top to bottom: Teppei Koike, Ema Fuijisawa

I love the main character, Teppei Koike, you'll probably remember him from Water Boys 2, another good Japanese drama. His acting isn't that bad but a little over exaggerated as well. But the female protagonist played by Ema Fujisawa was pretty bad along with the rest of the cast. I'm not being bias but her over exaggerated moved and facial expression sometimes left me wondering if she was a little spastic. Not to be rude to anyone but at some point it certainly look like it.

The actors, who were in their early twenties, played their characters not as the teenagers they were supposed to be but as children. Otani for instance, the male character, wore a pink cap askew, long shirts and gestured like an adult impersonating a small child. That was passably ridiculous. The female lead, Ema Fujisawa, wasn't particularly impressive either, she made a lot of useless, silly faces, stupid motions, giving the same impression as Otani, that of a small child in an adult's body. - comments from IMDb

Watching her and her girlfriend, Nobuko Ishihara and Chiharu Tanaka played by Nami Tamaki and Risa Kudo respectively the above quote really comes shinning through. The person couldn't have said it better. In both anime and manga Chiharu came off as a person who's really sweet, shy and naive. Someone you really can't hate but in the movie she gave me the impression of someone trying too hard to be sweet, shy and naive. Go figure.

Since I've seen both the manga and anime, I noted that the insults has been kept to a minimum in the movie and they actually move a little too fast in the movie. Maybe it's the lack of time but because it was so fast paced, it didn't make the viewers see things better from Risa's point of view and understand why was it that she fell for Otani.

During the movie, there's a guy speaking in English with an accent so thick that I strain my ears to understand what he is even saying. Imagine someone who can't speak English speak English with a thick accent and you'll get the picture.. =_=;;

Thankfully, the acting does get better towards the end. There are probably some laugh out moment but overall, I'm happy that I finally get to watch the movie but it was a huge huge disappointment for me.

Watch it if you're bored and if you have not read or seen the manga and anime. I know of some girls that loves the movie so who knows. Besides the acting, the cast is drool worthy. It might become one of your favourite with the simple and heartwarming story about a giant and a shrimp.

P.S: Sticks and stones WILL break my bones so refrain from throwing them at me..

More on MIOR

I've added more of my thoughts on the MIOR soaps. Do take a look if you're interested!

27 June 2008, further add-ons!

je t'aime, ma chérie~! CoastalScents reviews

Top to bottom: Pink Kabuki, Pink Duo Fiber Powder Stippling

I love you, my darlings

I said I would do a CoastalScents' brush review and so I will. I ordered my brushes online on the 10th of May 2008 after seeing the reviews from Pursebuzz and EnKore. Since it would be my first ever buying online with a credit card thingie, I was a little nervous. I got myself the Pink Duo Fiber Powder Stippling brush and the Pink Kabuki brushes for Elisa, myself and also as my sister's birthday present . I wanted to get more but I kept having this fear that it was going to get lost or something so I ordered a little just to see if it actually arrives. Paranoid I know.

10 days later the package arrived much to my relief and happiness. Was worried that the Malaysian Customs going to hold it for some funky reasons and delay everything but thankfully, it was sent to me without unwanted incidents.

I must admit that the entire process of ordering - shipping was extremely fast and took less than two days to approve everything and for it to be sent out. The best part about it was the shipping price. I'm seriously not kidding. It didn't turn out to be a killer that I expected and it wasn't even as expensive as CherryCulture's shipping. Nicee~

If you're nervous about the shipping price + the cost of the brush = a killer. Rest assured. It's actually cheaper to get them from CoastalScents than to buy it over here. Shocked? I did my calculations and homework before buying unless you're planning to get those Kabuki brushes from little known retailers as I've seen on online forums.

Don't get me wrong but I seriously have no problems getting cheaper brushes online if I actually get to test them out first. I had the 'chance' to experience getting ripped off by a girl whom was selling brushes online. Truthfully, I bought it because I liked the girl, she was sweet, nice and helpful and promised me that they were soft.

Close to one week and close to RM80 later, the brushes arrived. I nearly cried. The blush and powder brush is as good as my toilet bowl cleaner brush whateveryoucallit. It was 'pokey' and hard and shedded like no tomorrow. I was speechless, she told me they were soft! Soft compared to what?!? A metal bar?

I tried washing it with baby shampoo and conditioned it with a hair conditioner to no avail. It seriously shed over 100 hairs every wash. The girl was nice enough to offer to take the two 'pokey' blush and powder brush back and refund me a fraction of the money, but considering the money I later had to fork out to ship them, I gritted my teeth and kept the two brushes. I was in desperate need of a blush brush anyway since my old one spoilt and I've already in a way used them. And if you're wondering, yes I'm still using it and cringing every time I put my blusher on.

So ladies, if you're planning to get your brushes online, do it after you read the reviews. Either that, get it from the stores where you can feel them.

On with the review;

Pink Kabuki

CoastalScents has about three different Kabuki brushes not counting the synthetic ones. They are the Basic Essential Kabuki made with natural sable hairs, the Italian Badger Kabuki brush made from seamless black nickle ferrule and the Pink Kabuki which is made from goat and sable hair blend.

Being a girly-girl, the metallic pink handle was tempting for me but the price tempted me even more. I have absolutely no regrets getting this brush, the bristles are so soft, it hardly sheds and no nasty smells and it was cheap to boot! If you ever decide to order anything from CS, don't forget to get the Kabuki brush too!

Pink Duo Fiber Powder Stippling

I've been eying a stippling brush ever since I found out the wonders of what a Stippling brush can do. Been online and searching through forums for them but to no avail so when I saw some videos from EnKore and saw the pink brushes before my eyes, the whole choir of 'Hallelujah' sang in my head.

The initial Stippling brush that I wanted which was the Silver Duo Fiber Stippling brush has tons of great reviews BUT it's discontinued. So I chose the Pink one to match my Pink Kabuki that I ordered. Stippling brushes are usually used for liquid foundations to give an even and airbrushed look but for this particular brush, it's really not that soft, in fact, I find it a little 'pokey'. Not as bad as the blush brush I mentioned above, thank God. Also the brush has to be washed throughly, it bleeds. Not as how human bleeds but the dye used turns the entire lather of shampoo into grey! So it's extremely important that we wash it first before using. I noticed that it also it still bleeds and turns the entire lather grey after the third wash weeks later and it sheds more compared to the Kabuki. But other than that, it was good.

Another good Stippling brush is the one from M.A.C but be prepared for the price tag!

But other than that, I do NOT regret any of my purchases and will be more than happy to buy brushes from them again! Love the speed of the service and more than happy with the price!

MIOR's Moor Facial Bar *updated 30/10*

*Kindly note that, this will be constantly updated. Do check back frequently for further developments

If you've read Elisa's blog and the comments, you would have known that we recently bought a MIOR Facial soap. If you haven't, head over and read about her MIOR vs Eumora review.

The soap cost us a staggering RM259 which we divided into three. We were initially skeptical of the whole it's-so-wonderful-and-seems-too-good-to-be-true, but we decided to go ahead and get it and try.

This is purely my opinion and no one (in the right mind) paid me to advertise them on my blog so rest assured. I do suggest waiting for Elisa's review if you want a more detailed review.

I regret that there is no picture of my quarter soap as I've cut myself a smaller piece out of the quarter and gave the bigger half to my mom. One of the reasons I bought the soap despite of the price was because I was told that it helps with hair growth. Now before you start thinking that I was thinking of growing a mustache, know that it the soap actually helps reduce hair shedding. My mom has been facing this problem for quite some time and no matter what shampoo she uses, her hair has been dropping constantly to the point I think she's given up hope.

Anyway on the first three days after using the soap, I noticed that my face were a little itchy and I grew a few pimples both on my forehead and cheek. As usual, I blame the extremely hot weather. When I found out that both Kern and Elisa was experiencing the same effect, we knew it was the soap. The pimples that grew, were small bumps and not really the volcano type that some might be thinking.

After three days, the pimples slowly disappear and I do notice changes on my face. For one, less blackheads on the nose and two irritating spot of pigmentation is less noticeable now.

I've always had the impression that pigmentation on the skin only occurs to mid-twenties to early thirties woman. I now know that I am dead wrong. Thanks to today's pollution, broken ozone layers, free radicals, global warming, George Bush Jr, Abdullah Badawi, Thomas Edison and whomever and whatever else I can blame on, people are getting skin pigmentation at a much earlier age.

Moral of story: As one knows, prevention is better than cure. Use sunblock and take care of your skin. Seriously, I know too many girls who splurge on bags and cosmetics and forgetting about the importance of taking care of your skin.

I digress two paragraphs, my apologies. Getting back to the MIOR topic, if you do come across it, I do suggest that you buy a sample size and try it out yourself. Buy from a reputable seller and for one last thing. I hate to say this but there's imitation everything nowadays, seriously, we have imitation bags, shoes, watches, perfumes, cosmetics, BB creams, contact lenses so do be careful when buying. It's only a matter of time before they start faking it. And you don't wanna pay that much for something fake that's going to be on your skin!

EDIT: I've been using the MIOR since Tuesday, 17 June 2008 and so far I can vouch that the soap works good on skin pigmentation and making the pores smaller. The pimples has stopped after about three days. But i did notice that my skin/lips/hands on anywhere that comes in contact with the soap somewhat became a lot drier. So when you're washing your face with it, becareful to avoid the lips if you can. Remember to apply moisturizers after the soap.

June 27 : I've reduced my usage to only once a day. It has become too drying for my skin. Decided to put on 'hold' my quest to lighten my pigmentation because my skin has become a little too dry that sometimes it itches because of the dryness. I suggest that people who buy the soap use it twice everyday for the first one week and then just once a day the following weeks to come. Remember to moisturize the skin after washing! Just so that people don't misunderstand, this is a good soap, it's not 'bad' or anything but it's just drying that's all. It does help with pores and pigmentations but it also dries up the skin so use at your discretion.

July 06 : Besides reducing my usage to just once a day. I only use the Mior soap for about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes previously. While Kern is currently still using the soap, I have discontinued mine. I find it a little puzzling as Kern has dry skin but finds the soap suitable for her despite me and Elisa finding it too drying for our combo skins. Kern's skin has been looking pretty good lately but mine has deteriorated. It's to the extend of almost peeling but then again, do note that my skin tends to peel easily as it's very thin. I will resume using my soap again after my skin recovers from the dryness in quest to lighten my pimple scars and pigmentation. For those who bought and tried out the soap, do tell us how it went!

July 16 : To be truthful, I have stopped using MIOR all together for about a week or so. Everytime I use it, I get small 'bumps' on my face and I can no longer stand it. I know MIOR is suppose to detoxify the skin and therefore has a possibility of making our skin break out a little but I break out all over my face and I'm frankly a little pissed. I can't entirely blame MIOR as I know it suits Kern and lots of people out there but for me, it ain't working. It really does wonders in tightening pores and my pores is way smaller than before I started, not to mention my pigmentation has lighten considerably but I cannot stand the never ending break outs on my face. I'm tired of using it then stopping so that my face can heal and then using it and the stopping and repeats as above.
In my opinion, MIOR would be great for people with a serious acne problem when the skin is over producing oil, or if you're luckily like Kern that it fits her already flawless face. You be the judge.

August 08: Just before my period, my face exploded with diamond mines. At my wits end, I used Mior again. And it works, it reduced the size of my pimples and within just 2 days, there were visible improvement on my face! So in conclusion, like I've already mentioned, Mior works great for those who have a bad acne/pimple case. if you have already flawless skin, don't 'itchy hands' and use it. If you have a pimple of two, just rub the Mior soap on those spots

October 30: Skin was acting up again recently and I used Mior to control the annoying bumps happily growing on my face. Mior is somewhat not that drying for my skin anymore. But pimples are still growing despite using Mior. Also if anyone's using Mior out there, please AVOID THE LIPS AREA AND LIPS!
All my 24 years of life, I've took good care of my lips by applying lip balms and so forth and it have always always been soft and had only very fine fine lines but since I started using Mior, (I tried to avoid the lips area but sometimes it drips and back when I first started, I accidently used it all over face) my lips have been dried and wrinkled! It's like all my years of taking care of my lips have been washed away. I'm very upset regarding this and if I could warn anyone regarding this, I would. So please do avoid the lips/lips area when washing.

*Update Update
Click on the link to read the newest Mior post

Oh I forgot to give a special shout out to DreamFusion @ Jay, a special friend from Gaiaonline.com

Sorry about troubling you lately but thank you and your girlfriend for helping me find the bag! Much love and kisses to the both of you.

P.S : Can I have her name please? >.<

Rainbows on my eyelids

Never claimed to be neat anyway...

Above are the junk that I've accumulated through the years (note that I did not say all, as I actually have more under the drawers), I do admit that there are some stuffs that I bought and just never used, it's not that I enjoy wasting money but I bought it at the spur of the moment thinking that needed it and never did actually.

I'll be truthful and admit that in truth, despite owning eye shadows in tons of colours, the colours that I can actually pull off is not more than five. Not counting black and white as they are colours everyone needs no matter what and the colour that suits my skin tone best is probably blue, green and grey and probably pastle pink.

One thing I've always thought was important was knowing which coloured eyeshadow suited us. It's bloody nice to own every single shade of colour known to man but the fact remains and that only a handful of colours suits us.

The only reason I'm bring this up is because I've seen lots of girls using a shade or a colour that doesn't flatter them. It ends up making them look... a little odd. It sometimes ends up highlighting the wrong stuffs such as their puffy eyes or dark circle, pimple scars or bringing out the yellowness of their skin just to name a few.

Here are some of the colours that doesn't suit me:

The colours that I cannot pull off is yellow/ gold because it brings out the yellowness of my skin and makes me look as if I have jaundice. Not flattering.

Purple, I love purple clothings because it looks great on me but purple eyeshadow also brings out the yellowness of my skin and gives me the perfect illusion of puffy black eyes. I don't look good in any shades of purple and avoid this colour no matter what.

Pink, the only pink I can pull off is pastel pink, the ones that has only a tiny hint of pink. Pink is absolutely perfect on me, that is if I ever wanted puffy eyes. It gives me the 'I've-been-crying for-five-hours' look.

Brown is only a so-so colour on me and requires alot of work to make it look good on me.

*I'm a MAC NC15

I cannot stress enough on how important it is to understand and to know what colours suits and what doesn't work for us. That way, not only do we save lots of money on not getting the wrong shades but we can also avoid the colours that will just put us down.

One thing to take into account is also the hair colour. Take Elisa for example, now that her hair colour has returned to the original black, pinkish blusher now suits her better than her usual orange/beige blushers.

She might love blue and green but she knows very well that those colours doesn't suit her, instead the warmer tones such as gold, orange and browns flatters her skin.

It's good to be adventurous and try out bold striking colours that we saw on advertisement that looks oh so good on the model. But keep in mind unless you're going to use the colour often, to buy and then use it a couple of times before it becomes oh so passe is a waste of money unless the colour is fantastic and you must have it or you'll wither and die. Try buying new lipsticks if you think you need a revamp.

Instead, save up and splurge on skincare XD, consider your skincare investments for the future. The correct ones that is. Make up is nothing more than a temporary fix.

P.s: These views are only suggestion, kindly do not throw stones nor sticks at me if you see me walking in the mall just because you disagree.

Make Up Fever

Pic 1 - Left to right: Red Earth's Secret Potion in Thriller Park, Stila Illuminating Finishing Powder in Bronze, Testimo's Eye base

Pic 2 - Left to right: Russian Navy, Top Coat, Sweet Memories.

Left to right: OPI Sweet Memories, Testimo's eye base, Red Earth's secret potion, Stila's bronzer

Being female, we have this sporadic or not so sporadic urges to buy tons of make up. We don't know why we do it, we just do it.

Just like mood swings, it comes and goes and sometimes it stays. It's just like males who continuously update their computers/cars/handphones/girlfriends whenever they have the money or time to do it.

So it just happens to be that "time" of the year for me to go crazy. So anyway, Elisa was clearing her make up dresser when she decided to sell of some of the items she kept. Now one thing I've always knew about Elisa is that she's like a hamster. She hoards and then hoards a little more.

Since she was selling them off pretty cheap, I decided to grab a few items from her. Unfortunately, she has a phobia about selling her items off to close friends for some extremely strange reasons. So it took a lot of begging, threats and a lot of sweet talk to get those items from her. One week of whinnying to pry them off her hands.

My reviews on the items:

In the end, I got her brand new, never opened Red Earth's Secret Potion in Thriller Park. Woo-Hoo! It's an illuminating fluid containing superfine, pearly reflecting particles which I mix with my foundation or BB cream for a nice shimmer over my face. Don't think Disco ball or light bulb cause the shimmer is just perfect. One thing about me is that I've never liked a totally matte foundation. I like them to be dewy without being overly dewy to the extent of looking oily. The BB cream I'm currently using gives off a matte finish so mixing this with the BB cream gives off a nice dewy effect which I love.

The Stila Illuminating Finishing Powder in Bronze was actually bought from a seller online. Before you start screaming eww in my face, note that I've swiped the entire thing with alcohol to kill of any bacteria that was probably partying on in *ahem* Anyway it was too bloody cheap to say NO to...

The colour turned out really bronze on my skin and pretty dark, no matter, I'll try to work this into a workable blusher or something. The shimmer on the bronze is oh so pretty~

As for the Testimo's eye base, actually I'm not entirely sure what it is, it could be a green eyeshadow but creamy enough to be an eye base as well. But one thing is for sure, the colour is fantastic and the one small bottle is enough to probably last me a lifetime. I wish the camera caught just how vivid this colour really is, it's green with gold shimmer on it. If you're a lover of green, this is a must get colour. It's so beautiful!

Edit: It's pretty waterproof too. Stayed even after I washed my hands and I had to scrubbed it to get it off!

Rude MUAs at M.A.C

Some new M.A.C stuffs I recently got both online and from counters.
Left to right: M.A.C blush in Fleurry, Shadestick in Sharkskin, Fluidline in Blue Peep, Vanilla Pigment, Beauty Powder in Softdew

I was reading through Elisa's blog and came across her post about rude make up artist over at M.A.C. I had a lot of say about them just as well but sometimes I'm a little hesitant considering that Penang is pretty small and words does get around.

Out of all my entire M.A.C collection and still adding, only less than three items are bought at M.A.C Gurney Plaza. Why is this you might ask, considering that Gurney Plaza is less than six minutes drive from my house. Easy, because the people is rude rude rude.

Out of the entire staff at M.A.C Gurney Plaza, there's only two MUA that I feel is friendly. The rest either has no knowledge of what the hell they are even selling or is too busy primping them self to even bother with you. If you walk in not looking like a million bucks, be prepared to wave your hands around just to ask for assistance and be prepared for a lot of eye rollings.

There is even a time when I went there and there was two MUAs on duty, one of them was serving a customer while the other just sat inside the store (the door was opened) and refused to even served me. I doubt it was her break time.

She was probably in there counting her pubic hair, 10 hair tie a knot. 10 hair tie a knot or something.

Most of my M.A.C stuffs are bought in either M.A.C counters in MidValley or Pavillion, KL and once in Singapore. And 80% of the time, the girls/ guys are rude. I don't particularly understand why, they just are.

So one of the things I do is, I surf the net and youtube to find out the products I'm interested in so that I don't ask them too much question and incur their eye-rollings then I drag a friend, who usually is the unlucky Elisa to accompany me to the counter for emotional support. So I don't freak out and run out.

Isn't it strange not to be able to walk up to your favourite counter and just browse around and test the colours out and instead having to do tons of research online so that you don't make a fool out of yourself in front of the oh-so-high-and-mighty MUAs. I've never had a problem walking up to a cosmetic counter and buying anything I like and to test out their products but the girls/guys in M.A.C just gives us a head to toe scan to even see if we're worth being served and make us feel like as if we're totally a waste of their precious time despite the fact that we're there to spend money.

I've been using make up for quite some time now, close to 10 years to be exact and it's one of my loves. I've been through trials and errors and I'm definitely not a noob. I may say that I'm a novice/amateur but NEVER a noob.

During the Fafi launch, I bought the Iridescent powder in Verve-Acious because it looked good on me and Elisa (being the unlucky person who had to accompany me) loved the colour on me. I didn't get Belightful because I didn't need another highlighter. When me sister went to buy the M.A.C a day later and when the MUA found out I bought Verve-Acious she laughed at me. Laughed and said that only Indians usually bought that colour. Imagine my embarrassment.

I've worked for beauty counter such as Ettusais before and I have never ever laughed at a customer for any reasons. Even if something sounds outrageous, I'll always remember that it's fine as long as it looks good and the customer is happy with it.

I stood there stunned and upset having a MUA treat me like a total noob and went home to try the colour on again. Although it's supposed to be a bronzer, the colour is sheer, I used it as a blusher and it looks fine.

Nowadays, I do not approach M.A.C unless the new collection I've been eying is finally on sale and even then, I do TONS of research, get the items and literally run out. I do not linger around to test other items. I'm so nervous to even approach M.A.C that I get sweaty palms before I even go in. *sigh*

I heard MUAs working in M.A.C needs a Beauty Cert. to even work there, Beauty Cert is one thing, but they forgot to screen their staffs for manners and etiquettes. Sad. Or maybe they got hired just for that!

And like Elisa mentioned in her blog;

"they failed to remember they're only 'Sales Assistant'. I don't care if you prefer to call yourself as a Make Up Artist. But hell, I could be a makeup artist myself and you don't see me being high and mighty."

I've met lots of Make Up Artist and I've never seen anyone as arrogant as the ones in M.A.C. Thing is, they are Sales Assistant as well meaning they are there to make a sale. Yet they somehow manage to turn people off with their arrogance. I'm impressed, M.A.C really know how to pick the "right" people for the job.

Mad about Pearl

Besides Kevyn Aucoin, (R.I.P, you'll be missed) Google the guy up if you're wondering who the hell he is, Eve Pearl is my favourite make up artist. You can check out her tutorials on Youtube and prepared to be amazed by the magic she performs. Mind you, it's a different kind of magic, don't think David Coperfield kind. >.>;; She doesn't make people disappear, she just makes your wrinkles, freckles, acne scars disappear.

In case you have not even heard of that name, here's a quick 101 on the super lady. She's a 5 times Emmy award winning celebrity make up artist and the author of Plastic Surgery without the surgery. Her celebrity clients is longer than my usual roll of toilet paper and best of all, the make up tips she gives is gooooood.

I'm in love with her products, her products are usually infused with nutrients and vitamins that will not damage our skin. It's a little odd, even for me to speak of someone this passionately but I really do love her whole concept of make up that not only makes us feel good, look good but is also good for us. The only thing I don't like; the price tag. I'm not entirely surprised of the price tag considering the ingredients and all but still... *whines*

I'm still not all sure where to even get her products beside her website (www.evepearl.com) so since I don't know, that gives me enough time to save up and hopefully get the Dual Foundation & Blush Trio with CosmeNutrients or the Eve Pearl Concealer Trio till the day I find out. But anyway, here are the tips that I found interesting and might be helpful to everyone out there.

EVE PEARL HOME REMEDIES

• Eye drops will remove redness not only from your eyes but also from red blemishes. Freeze a drop in a spoon, place frozen over blemish and hold, it will shrink swelling. (Good to calm down an erupting volcano without doing the headless chicken dance)
  
  
• Neosporin can help remove and heal acne overnight. (I know a certain someone will be happy to hear this, if she could only figure out what the hell is Neosporin. XD)
  
  
• Toothpaste (white paste) will help heal acne breakouts. (Oh la la, I wonder if Kodomo Lion's Kids toothpaste helps too)
  
  
• Clay masks will draw out the black heads that tend to gather around the nose, by dehydrating the top layer of skin. (Good bye picit-picit)
  
  
• Fingers: Your most trusted tool. Can apply everything with them. (So, you don't have an excuse when you forget your kit). Concealer- the heat in your fingers will help melt a thick concealer into place (especially under the eyes). Can blend cream blushes. Apply lip balm or gloss on lips. Don't forget to clean your hands when going from one application/color to another. (Good for cleaning the inside of your nose too, ahh fingers, gotta love 'em~)
  
  

• Dab a Q-tip into Jell-O cherry flavored powder and apply to lips. Let sit for five minutes and lick it off. Will give your lips a natural red coat. (Bye-bye the need to buy Benetint, hellooo Jell-Oooooo..)
  

Foundation (From eve's website)

When applying foundation, you can choose a slightly lighter shade than your skin – especially if you have oily skin. The oil in the skin actually turns the foundation darker over time, as it oxidizes. The end goal when applying makeup to the face is to make the color tone of the face match your neck.

Take extra note of the End Goal because me and Elisa has notice this unending trend when girls either;

1. Get the WRONG coloured foundation and ends up with an extremely two-toned face and neck. One of the reasons we hate it when we see someone doing that is because it actually makes it look as if the person actually applied on a pan cake thick make up, whether she is or isn't. Other than that, it's a little odd and shall we say striking?

This is one of the reasons why some guys has a tendency to accuse us girls of using ICI/Dulux/WeatherShield paints as make up. Hey, don't drag the rest of us innocent bystanders down just because you wanna look freaky. But then again, think of how much money we can actually save if we actually did use ICI paints are make up. Hmm~

2. Applies make up to her face beautifully and forgets to add a little to her neck. If you gotten the correct shade of foundation that matches your skin colour to a T, good for you, if the colour is 'close', do remember to apply some to your neck as well so it doesn't look like you have a mask on.

BLUSH

The purpose of blush is to give a healthy glow and help in creating dimension of contours for the face. Using the light and dark shades properly is the key to creating the dimension.

I'm not trying to insult everyone out there but just wanted to point that out too cause, we've been noticing to many youngsters using too much blusher. Remember: Healthy Glow not Koko the Clown and definitely NOT Baboon's Ass!

Baboon called, he wants his ass back!

Remember Ashley says: Healthy Glow is the way to go~

Reviews coming soon

Not much of an update but I'll be doing reviews on CoastalScents' Pink Kabuki and the Pink Duo Fiber Powder Stippling brush and also NYX items as well soon.

Edit: Decided to do a short review on a pretty well known item that seem to have taken the market by storm. The BB (short for Blemish Balm) cream. There are plenty of brands of BB creams but only a few available in Malaysia. You can go online to find other brands of BB cream such as Missha, BTRC, Skin79 just to name a few but I decided to do one on Skin Food because it's easily available to everyone and it's very affordable compared to the rest.

Do note that you ought to be careful when buying online because there are fake BB cream around. God knows what they'll do to your face. If it's too cheap to be true, it probably is. Buy from a reputable seller.

Skin Food Aloe Sun BB Cream, SPF 20 PA+

I know that there will be some that disagree with my reviews about this product but considering that all our skin colour/ type and such is different, I strongly suggest that if you're planning to buy it, do test it out at the counter and make sure you try both colours to see which suits you better.

Weight - 50g

Coverage - sheer, it actually makes our face oily if used too much (confirmed, when you apply too much BB cream, it makes our face oily.)

Colour - There are only two colours available and the SA insisted that I take the #1. I'm not entirely sure whether to say that the #1 even suited me. It has more pink than yellow undertone, and although I'm considered fair, my type of fair is obviously different from the type of fair in Korea or Japan as I'm more yellow toned rather than pink. But I'm happy to say that after the colour oxidize, it'll blend in with the rest of the face. Somewhat.

Do not be shocked on discovering that the BB cream colour does not look anything like your foundation colour. They tend to be more chocolatety-brown than beige in colour.
#2 is the more popular colour among malaysians, it's more natural. But i can't say much since I did not try on the #2 colour at all.
*additional info: I'm a MAC NC15

Scent - Lots of other reviewers mentioned that it was lightly scented but to me, the smell is indeed quite strong. My bf liked the smell, it reminds him of candies while Elisa absolutely loathe the smell of it. She mentions that it reminds her of the purple coloured LUX soap but then again she doesn't like sweet scents.

To me, I'm fine with the scent of it although it can be a bit too strong for me during the initial application. A mild scent lingers on after a while. Of course everyone's individual sense of smell is different what I might like isn't what you might like at all.

Overall - You either hate it or love it. I'm fine with it. I didn't buy it for anything else than to see if it will improve skin like how some girls claim. Also, while some claim for it to be the best oil control BB cream, this does not apply to all as I found it very oily, and it wasn't only me who think so. I'm still not sure if it's because I 'applied' too much but I'll find out in a few days. Word of caution, it has been known to make some skin break out though I have not personally gone through it.

After much dilly-dallying..

and coming up with 101 excuses of not having my own blog, with excuses ranging from I'll be locked away under ISA for my views on the Malaysian political scene to I'm don't know how to register for a blog, I finally ran out of excuses.

So here it is. My first post here was actually meant for my GaiaOnline journal and as a test update but I've decided to just leave it there. I'm definitely not the most interesting person around but I'll try to update this blog as a place of reviews for make up, skin care and other girly stuffs.

Anyway, Khy Lynn, Elisa and I were chatting on skype tonight and after a while we came across the word moe. (/mo'e/, pronounced "mo-eh") I do remember hearing moe before in some anime but I didn't particularly remembered it's meaning thus we ended up speculating that it was:

a. the sound of two hot guys make out with each other
b. MOE = Ministry of Education

Obviously, it was plain as sight those wasn't the answer.
Khy Lynn wasn't able to find it on the dictionary so I, loudly proclaiming that I would be able to find it, found it and it say this;

Moe-moe means very moe. Moe does not always mean 'cute'. A little cat is kawaii, not moe. But a cosplayed cat can be said to be moe. Looking young is necessary to be moe, but age is not the absolute criterion. - wikipedia

Uhh ookay. At least I didn't promise to translate it or something.

To make things simpler, is a japanese slang word originally referring to fetish for or love for characters in video games or anime and manga. The term has come to be used as a general term for a hobby, enthusiasm, or fetish (non-sexual). For instance, tetsudou-moe, "train moe", is simply a passionate interest in trains. - wikipedia

Uh ookay, if you say so..

Someone has been trying to log into my account

.. and it's bloody annoying. I received 6 mails from GaiaOnline since the 25th May till the 29th May 2008 and again today, 2nd June 2008 stating that my account has been blocked since someone supposedly entered my password wrong 5 times. What an idiot. I'm more annoyed than anything but I'm not all too worried about my stuffs in my account namely because if I report it as my account being hacked, it's still traceable. Everything we do is traceable. Where the items go to, to whom, whether sold off to stores to sent as present and best of all, the IP address of the person who logged in.

I've talked to Elisa regarding this problem as I remembered she faced this problem earlier last month. I'm not pointing fingers but we did come to a conclusion that the person who is doing all this is most likely an idiot.

I'm not even sure why someone would want to hack into my account. I'm not even rich! I don't down minis, panda, bun buns or whatever.

Either the person is :
a. too free
b. too dumb.
c. a big fat noob
d. all of the above.

And considering that I just voted d. all of the above, I do know that the person would most likely try even harder to get in. Human behavior makes them a little more predictable. Hee hee.

That being said, on a happier note, I finally completed a personal quest of my own. For years now I've always wanted 'branded' bag such an a Burberry, LV, Gucci or something. Call it a waste of money considering that a bag is a bag. But the human side of me with the ever probing of Envy, Lust, Greed, I've always wanted them anyway. One, just one will suffice!

It's probably not such a big deal if I was living in the US or the UK since we don't have to count the conversion and if I was earning US dollars instead of the ever deflating Malaysian Ringgit. (Hell, if I was working in the US, I'll be able to hang myself from the straps of all the branded bags I would have owned!) *ahem* so I digress but anyway after much surfing online looking around. I finally chose a brand: Coach. A low end high end brand. Problem was there was no one I could count on to buy and ship to me. Why do I need someone to ship to me? Plainly because it was so much cheaper to buy from the US.

Example: The bag I was eying, the new Hamptons signature Zebra print bag was selling for a mere US$158 = RM521.40 but was happily being sold for RM800 in the Malaysian Coach stores. Even if I was to count the shipping it would still be cheaper.
Malaysian taxes = Asses!
p.s : But anyway, it turns out that that model was never sent over here and was unavailable.

So anyway, after not talking to Elisa for over a week since I left for Singapore for a holiday, Elisa mentioned the Make Up For Ever concealer that she wanted. She's been mentioning the concealer for OVER a year now and I wasn't able to get it for her since I hardly go over to KLCC.

So I got Ian to fetch me to KLCC is a bloody pain in the ass as it's quite far from where Ian lives and the place is forever congested with the insane amount of cars and people. Not to mention KLCC is a place I usually avoid if I can since the place actually makes me feel poor with all the high end retail shops. And the parking there is usually charged every half an hour after the initial first hour. *gulp*

So we went over to get the concealer and saw that Coach was having a sale. Up to 30% but I really didn't see anything I liked. And since I've only seen the bags on the internet I've never actually seen the actual size of it and gee, was I shocked. I don't wanna pay RM800 (US$242.424242...) for a bag that makes me look like Godzilla! I'm not a petite person by all means, by carrying around a bag that small it will literally look like Godzilla with a miniature handbag. It's so small, so small that my tissue box back home would seem gigantic next to it! NOOOOO!

I'm never into small bags, I like practical bags where I can dump my cosmetics, hand sanitizers, purse, a coin purse, two handphones, a writing pad, a pen and so forth.

So we went out empty handed and since Burberry was just opposite of Coach, we decided to take a look (Ian's idea not mine) and to cut everything super short. He bought me a Classic Haymarket Tote.

I do get comments from friends that Burberry was usually for the *ahem* 'older' crowd but it doesn't particularly bother me much. I know a few people would definitely snigger and say that I bought an 'aunty' bag but truth be told. I love the bag! Ah hey, on the bright side, at least I can still use it 20 years from now. XD

And there you have it, my Haymarket Tote