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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A dinner of cod

A few days back my sister made some delicious dinner for us, and for once it didn't involve cream.


The first and most important component - cod fish. Fresh. Then bathed in butter until just cooked. Served on top of poached radishes, turnips and carrots with Hollandaise sauce. This was the best fish I've ever tasted.


Next, broccoli with melted cheese, served on a curved spoon (custom made by my sis). The cheese had a sharpness to it, which complimented the broccoli.


Boiled asparagus wrapped in bacon, and tied together with a thin string of leek. To be honest, this just tasted of bacon with crunchy bits of something inside.


Lastly, morrel with shallots and oyster mushrooms. I'll say this - my taste buds are numb to the flavor layers in food. I only taste the general flavor of things, and this was quite bland to my tongue, but the combination of the ingredients made it perfect.


That's it. Lovely, just-enough dinner.

February Haul

I usually don't shop or buy things for fun, but this month I got a few things that I've been wanting to get for quite some time.


Magnifying vanity mirror with stand. Black plastic. RM12.90 @ NuLycie Sdn. Bhd.
NuLycie is a wholesale emporium located at #17 Jalan Sultan, Kuala Lumpur, near Petaling Street. The three-floor unit provides lots of stuff - stickers, toys, keychains, car accessories, bags, clothes, etc. The twerp likes getting her stickers from NuLycie, and for the first time I browsed the upper floors. My main objectives were to find car accessories, but none of them fit my criteria, so I walked around some more and finally found a magnifying mirror.


It does not, by all means, magnify much, but compared to normal mirrors it does the job. The problem is, I always do my make-up facing my room window, without a table. So basically all my previous mirrors were hand-held or held by my knees if I needed both hands to work. However this is much better than a tiny speck of a mirror, or an entire full length mirror.


Black and chrome teardrop earrings. Wire and thread weave. RM10.
My mum was looking for a shop that sold rattan weave products, and found this one near a hotel. If I remember correctly it's on the same row as the Swiss-Inn Hotel, and is opposite another hotel. Inside were all kinds of cute craft items, and while my mum and dad were selecting batik photo frames, my sister and I were examining all the accessories - earrings, chokers, bracelets, etc.


Hair accessories. Pink plastic (clip); black and clear resin (hair ties). Price unknown @ Seri Petaling night market.
Seri Petaling actually has two night markets - at the petrol station beside Endah Parade, and another one that spans from The Store right into the parking lot behind Ye Look Restaurant, all around Yamaha Music. I needed a hair clip that was in shape, because the one I had had a few twisted "teeth" and kept pulling at my hair.


Where hair ties are concerned, my all-time favorite are the "telephone cords". They were pretty popular since two years ago, which caused quite a boom in my high school, and as the naive girl I was, I followed the "trend". Since then, any other hair tie didn't work, though the "telephone cords" tended to get pretty loose when I used it back then.


The Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner. For oily/combination skin. RM47 @ The Body Shop, Sunway Pyramid.
I've never really been very worried about toners, because my mum and a magazine article told me that most toners do basically the same thing. Some Youtube gurus say otherwise. Anyhow I've always included toner as a part of my skin regime, but I never payed much attention as to what toner I'm using.


I recently ran out of toner, and while passing by The Body Shop outlet at Sunway Pyramid I remembered that I had an RM60 voucher from a previous purchase of moisturizer and lots of eye gels. The salesgirl recommended that I top up my purchase to use up the RM60, but from what was left of the amount, I couldn't get anything else that I needed to I just passed.


This toner feels nice though - it smells nice, and it gives a very nice, tingly feeling to the skin. It only takes around two shakes onto a cotton pad for the entire face, with a bit left for the neck. So far I haven't seen much results yet, but I've noticed that my blackheads and oil seeds aren't "growing" anymore.


Hatsune Miku doll. 10" height. Complete with leek. Price unknown @ Ipoh Parade.
This isn't actually a haul item but my Valentine's present from BF. The price is around RM30+, somewhere around that price. It's slightly different than the original Miku (original has black sleeves and teal hair; this doll has grey sleeves and icy blue hair).


Everything is basically a mixture of synthetic material, cotton fabric and felt, filled with most probably polyester filling. The leek is part of her image, which is something a lot of people have been questioning me about. If you don't know who Hatsune Miku is, it's high time that you check her out. Even Michelle Phan has done a make-up tutorial of Miku.


Sunvisor CD Pocket. 30 x 14.5cm. With elastic bands for attachment and netting pocket for smaller items. RM5 @ Daiso, The Mines.
Since I got a car I wanted something to store my CDs in, and now I have it. This thing can store up to 12 CDs and is made of non-woven fabric.


The good thing about getting stuff from Daiso is that you know that everything is good quality. Food stuff, cosmetics, household items, you name it. The food stuff on the shelves are never expired, the cosmetic products are regularly restocked. To be honest, I only trust RM5 cosmetics from Daiso. Usually if you get them anywhere else at that price, it's some generic brand from China with unknown ingredients.


The downside to Daiso products is that there are some products which labels' are completely in Japanese. Although some of them have illustrations to guide you through the method of usage, sometimes they're not enough.

Types of road users

I've been driving for around a month already, but even before then I had already noticed a lot of different types of road users. Today I had a bad experience with an impatient, bad tempered bastard who didn't like me because I had slowed down to let another car pass.


LEARNERS
In Malaysia, learners drive around in Perodua Kancils and Vivas that are completely plastered with L stickers. You can't miss 'em, and it's best if you didn't honk at them or follow too close behind, especially on a slope.

Kancils are manual cars, and the learners who haven't completely grasped the "clutch position" will be likely to have a car that's rolling backwards with a roaring engine. Try not to make them panic, because they tend to. Why? The Kancil (and Viva) are extremely small cars, smaller than the Suzuki Swift. Driving that kind of car while large sedans rev past you is pretty intimidating.


"I JUST GOT MY LICENCE" TYPE 1 (PROBATIONAL DRIVERS)
These people drive slowly and steadily, and are pretty much indecisive. They might scare the living daylights out of you with learner-type driving skills. In essence, they're taking the Chinese verb "the road is like the mouth of a tiger" literally - it's extremely dangerous.

This type of driver is usually at the earlier stage of the "I just got my licence" period, which means that it's been a maximum of 2-3 months since they obtained their licence.


"I JUST GOT MY LICENCE" TYPE 2 (PROBATIONAL DRIVERS)
After that 2-3 month period of constant driving, these drivers have already had a general feel of the road and drives with more confidence and commits less mistakes than the Type 1 drivers.

However, occasional switch-ups (like a "dying engine" for manual car drivers like me) are to be expected.


REGULAR DRIVERS
They obey the rules, they drive steadily within the speed limit, they make use of signal lights, all those goody-two-shoes.


EXPERIENCED DRIVERS
These guys are a level above regular drivers - they speed, they drive like pros, but they know how to avoid accident-prone situations. Examples of these people? My dad. Jasmine's dad.


RECKLESS DRIVERS
I would say these guys just like the adrenaline rush that comes with speed. They drive like the wind, and will snake through the lanes to be ahead.


IMPATIENT DRIVERS
This is the type of driver that I encountered earlier today. I was letting another car pass while slowing down, and this driver (drives a 100Plus van) honks at me for not moving.


DOWNRIGHT ASSHOLES
I apologize for the language. Now combine reckless and impatient, and you will have the assholes. Again, with that driver I encountered today. I moved after I had let that car pass, but then that van had to drive up right beside me, almost touching my side mirror.

The assholes will curse and honk at you for driving slowly, then after they've overtaken you, they'll do something to scare you.


MOTORCYCLISTS
They weave through traffic without a thought, and expect you to avoid them. If you stop at a traffic light, you will have a giant cloud of motorcyclists right at the front, and they like to have their feet sticking out, so if you didn't gauge your distance from them properly you might just roll over their feet.


"MAT REMPIT"S
The "mat rempit" is a motorcyclist (usually a young one) who does stunts on their motorcycles on highways. They usually travel in gangs, and are a threat to life on the road. I've only encountered them once, and it was scary enough - we were driving down to Singapore, and suddenly an entire gang revved by. I was advised to not make eye contact and mind my own business.

Further down the road at a petrol station, I realized how many of them there were - almost 50 of them.


COMMERCIAL VEHICLES (MEDIUM)
Here I'm talking about the regular trucks and smaller sized lorries. Manual, and quite large, they will drive right up behind you and will drive on the middle and/or the overtaking lane. And they drive around 10-20km/h slower than the average car.


COMMERCIAL VEHICLES (LARGE)
They're basically the same as the medium one's, but if you're going uphill, be ready for a world of slow. And also the drivers tend to be smoking/drinking/talking on the phone/doing something else other than concentrating on driving, so they might swerve toward you every once in a while.


COMMERCIAL VEHICLES (LONG & SUPER TANKER BIG)
If you're a new driver, they will scare the living bejesus out of you. They're a combination of large CV and experienced drivers. Experienced as they are, they still scare the heck out of you. They're like 10 times bigger and heavier than you own car, with almost as many wheels, and they always give you that scary feeling that Final Destination 2 is gonna happen.


OLD DRIVERS
Whether the driver is old, or the car is old, or both. These people CRAWL. Literally. I think it would take them around half an hour to reach a place that takes only a 15 minute drive.


Forgive me if my recent posts are boring, I'm basically stuck at home with not much of a BF. I've too much time on my hands without enough things to do. Lalala~ Meanwhile, please enjoy this GIF of Nyan Cat.


Gym = No gym

Why the post title? Well, let me tell you a story.


Once upon a time, not too long ago, just yesterday, actually, there were two girls called Jasmine and Kellie, who both made a date to go to the Taylor's University gym for some presumably hardcore working out.


They arrived in the morning, and were quite impressed by the gym - the equipment looked professional, and there was a wide variety of them, each targeting different areas of the body. They worked out there for an hour, by which time Kellie was basically dying of her low stamina and overworking of her legs.


Lunch was as usual - Zhia's Kitchen, crispy chicken rice. They then met a lecturer at a bazaar, and asked him regarding the coming degree course. They were basically sent to the Exam Unit, where they got the information that the documents they needed for the coming registration was available by Friday.


They then went to the office and asked about the early bird discount, and they lady told them that to be entitled for the early bird discount, they would have to register and enroll by 25th of March. They stopped at Sunway Pyramid to meet up with Jasmine's mum at Sakae Sushi, where they had another round of lunch.


Then they went home, where Kellie got home to find her car pooped on by @#$%^& birds again. Upon arriving home, Kellie showered and found that her internet connection had once again failed her, and proceeded to doing word searches and ultimately falling asleep.


By the time she woke up it was dinner time, and what was available didn't seem very appetizing. However, it was the soup and the desserts that grabbed her attention - vegetable soup with chicken feet, and honeydew sago cream, and a potential serving of vanilla ice cream interlaced with delicious pralines.


She had her soup, ladling approximately a quarter of it back into the soup pot before touching it (as well as one of the chicken feet). She then had a large bowl of the honeydew cream dessert. To be honest, she offered to finish the "little bit" that was left in the bowl.


The End.


Well, not really. I have some more bulls**t to talk about. At lunch I stopped myself from ordering a huge-ass ice blended pearl drink (ended up with a very weird tasting honey milk with green tea). I regretted ordering rice, because we all know that rice is all carbs. Plus the rolled oats and the fried chicken, plus the Ajinomoto and pepper soup. Ugh.


At Sakae Sushi, we had, well, sushi, salmon fish head, chawan mushi, edamame, and lots of other stuff. By the time we left, we were both bloated (I had some rear gas issues later). Um, if no one got the issue here, sushi is mainly RICE. Rice = carbs. Again.


I almost never eat rice for dinner. And I didn't. The soup itself made me guilty. I don't know why, but it did, I think because of the collagen-rich chicken foot. Ever since I tried chicken feet when I was around 10, I liked it and ate it whenever I could. Now, chicken feet are rich in collagen, and the collagen comes in the form of a clear gelatinous substance under the skin of the chicken.


Usually, for chicken, whatever is directly under the skin and isn't flesh, it's fat. Maybe that's what got me guilty - the feeling of chowing down fat, when it really was just collagen.


Oh, god. Don't even mention the cream dessert. It's basically 50% honeydew chunks and puree, 40% dessert topping (a.k.a. CALORIE-PACKED CREAM) and 10% sago. The night before I had a ladle and a half, which was pretty satisfying already. Thank god that night's dinner wasn't something with cream again.


Being the glutton that I am, I already had two entire ladlefuls in my lacquered bowl, and I offered to just finish up the last ladleful. After chowing all of that down, I felt fatter than I was before gym. And I was the girl with the fattest thighs in the entire gym. I could just die of embarrassment already.


How the @#$%^& could I have let myself get to this weight again? Didn't I already promise myself that I'll never be a 60kg whopper again? I know, this weight is normal compared to the American super-sized people. This isn't really about the health thing, it's more of my personal image. I really don't want to be referred to as "the fat girl" for the rest of my life.


I rarely wear shorts when I go out, because I'm extremely self-conscious at the thin girls who point, laugh and shake their heads at my thunder thighs, while they saunter around with slim legs and sexy shorts. Even some of my friends wondered why I was so bloated all of a sudden.


Confidence is a girl's best asset, and it's something I don't have. I walk around everyday, imagining what every single person is thinking when they see me. "God, she looks fat." "Did you see her arms and her tummy? They're huge!"


My face doesn't help much - with uneven patches of redness spattered across and pores that look like the craters on the surface of the moon, I feel ugly. And it's not like I don't take care of my skin - I have a morning and night regimen, I don't use much products, but I've tried almost every possible product that had "reduces pore size", "pore minimizer", all that kind of stuff printed on them.


Heck, sometimes I even steal some of my mum's more expensive SK-II stuff. Nothing works. Every time I use the egg mask, I'll get matte skin for around two hours, then it's back to how it was before. It's even worse if I sweat.


I think my BF already partially resents me for my continuous complaints about my skin, my weight, and my appearance in general, when he's already said a million times that he'd stick with me even if I become a whale.


I should stop now.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Movie marathon

Sorry for the previous depressing post. Just got, well, depressed, slightly.


Anyway. My mum bought three DVDs a couple of weeks ago, and since we have been watching a couple of Hong Kong dramas then, we didn't watch them until just the past couple of days. The best type of movie? In an air conditioned room, with delicious, warm pizza and chicken wings (no wonder I'm fat).


The first movie, and the one that I liked the most, was the one and only Fast 5. Yes, I know, I'm slow. Never got round to watching that in the cinema, which I regretted because the effects would've been awesome.


Starring Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and two of my favorite muscle men in the movie industry - Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. Never in my life would I have thought that my fantasy of seeing them together in a movie (that didn't involve kids and tutus), not to mention an awesome one.


I love the way everything was so ... suspense-driven. Just enough comedy relief (by Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang) to accompany lots of action, suspense, crime and violence. I love movies like these, but I hate those depressing war movies that involve all the actors in camouflage suits.


That twist at the end was beautiful. After the visual credits, there's a small cut acted by Dwayne Johnson and Eva Mendes. She tells him about a motor heist in Colorado (I think), but it doesn't involve Toretto (Diesel), however upon further reading, the heist involved Letty, Toretto's dead girlfriend. Just in case the audience didn't it, Mendes' script involved asking Johnson, "Do you believe in ghosts?"


An ending like this always guarantees another movie, who stars Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel (according to IMDB). We'll have to wait until next year for the movie then. It better not disappoint.


Puss in Boots had me expecting something, I dunno, something like Shrek? This movie was basically Humpty Dumpty, Jack & Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk all in one. Though the movie does give some insight to the life of Puss before meeting Shrek, I find this movie mediocre, though cute at some parts.


Whether this was a low budget animation or they just couldn't find enough staff I don't know, but the entire story felt a tad bit crude. The thing I liked? Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and the way Antonio Banderas voiced Puss. I think the thing that made me dislike the entire movie was Humpty Alexander Dumpty. He just had this really deceitful, can't-be-trusted face, and seemed like a very annoyingly insecure character.


I don't know more than half of the people who acted in this movie, but The Three Musketeers was awesome. The only guys I can recognize? Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom and the guy who acted as Percy Jackson in the Percy Jackson movie.


Just another Musketeer movie which is set in France, it gives another perspective to the three Musketeers (Athos, Porthos and Aramis) and their little apprentice (D'Artagnan). In contrast to what I had seen in The Man in the Iron Mask (Leonardo DiCaprio, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu & Jeremy Irons), the four Musketeers seemed completely different.


Athos in Mask was a heartbroken father whose son died in an attempt of the King to possess his lover. In Musketeers he was merely a drunk who seemed to have lost faith in everything. Aramis was a religious, guilty, yet extremely intelligent person, in contrast to the rather care-free (but still religious), agile fighter in Musketeer. Porthos was a bloody womanizer and a complete drunk with kidney stones and a desire to end his life in Mask, but in Musketeers he was merely a wealthy man who fights with brute strength.


After they were made the King's Musketeers (again), along came an attempt of creating a scandal between Queen Anne and Buckingham of England (Orlando Bloom), which was headed by the Cardinal of France, assisted by Milady (Milla Jovovich).


Strange, though. The movie made me feel that the entire movie rotated around a diamond necklace, that was gifted to Queen Anne by King Louis for an anniversary. Milady had stolen them, planning to place them in Buckingham's possession so that they could prove the scandal that was previously depicted in some false love letters.


The movie seemed a tad bit confusing for me, especially after reading the synopsis on IMDB, but then again, I love action movies, with adventure and style. Can't say so for the wardrobe, though. Milady, Buckingham and King Louis constantly looked as if they were dressing for a costume party. I hated Milady's collars, and also King Louis' various hats and outfits.

Verdict

Whatever the reason is, I'm not allowed to go see L'Arc~en~Ciel on their 20th Anniversary World Tour in Singapore.


Dad said it was the lack of an adult, which probably means that I'm still that naive girl who can't look after herself. I'll admit - I can't recognize routes easily. I'm nervous when it comes to communicating to strangers.


They keep telling me that I'll get my freedom once I learn how to take care of myself. I'll ask you this question: when have you given me the chance? Everywhere I go I have to have a chaperone, you never let me wander the world and discover it's dangers by myself. Experience? I have none, and that's thanks to you.


I know that your intentions are good - you want to protect me from the harms of the world. Everyday in newspapers, the internet, even in movies, people get murdered, robbed, hurt. But the thing is, the more you protect me, the more likely I'm gonna get hurt.


Take this guy for example - mentally challenged. I suspect he's been overprotected by family, and now he's grown up around my age, maybe even older, but he has the utter maturity level of an 11-year-old child. I don't want to grow up to the ripe old age of 25, only to realize I'm still a high school girl inside - not knowing anything, unable to cope with changing environments.


I understand. It's 400 kilometers away, with a boy that you don't really know, with no specific plan and especially vulnerable. The furthest that I've gone without chaperones is just an hour's drive away, but that was with a group of seven people. This is completely different.


I think other than the fact that I would be in danger if I went alone, you're also afraid that he might take advantage of me, that I won't say 'no' if he asks for it, just so that he will stay with me. The thing is, he isn't that kind of guy.


This is the first time I've ever heard a Japanese band, one that I'm actually interested in, coming so close to Malaysia. You have to understand, they'll never come here because of the stupid-ass government. Singapore is the closest they can get, and this may be the first and last time I'll be able to see them in real life.


For the past 6 years I've been ogling these bands on a computer monitor. Who knows? Touchwood, they might disband, or something bad happens, or they just decide to not come here again. It's literally the chance of a lifetime.


You were the one who told me to live my life to the fullest before getting weighed down with marriage and career. Yet I can't dye my hair with those DIY box dyes that you get at pharmacies. I can't make a mess out of myself without you making a huge fuss out of it. It makes me feel so left out from the world, where other girls get to go out whenever, wherever they want to, go to beauty salons to be pampered. Me? I do DIY, and I still don't earn enough bonus points to allow me ONE lifetime-opportunity concert.


While everyone goes out to have fun, I stay at home, in front of my laptop logged on to Facebook, read everyone's statuses, posts, and pictures about all the fun they had without me.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Vanity review

I've got loads of stuff in my make-up stash, and now it's time to get rid of those items that are no longer usable. Make-up products are like food: they have an expiry date, but most of us try to use it as long as possible for economic purposes. I'm one of those.


With a difference, however. Many of my first make-up items were given to me by relatives.


#1
BOBBI BROWN LONGWEAR GEL EYELINER IN SEPIA INK

Reason: Formula has completely dried out.


#2
BIOTHERM WHITE DETOX BIO-A[2] WHITENING PEN IMMEDIATE SPOT CORRECTOR

Reason: It's supposed to be a concealer, but it blends out either cakey or into nothing. The tone doesn't match any patch of my skin, either.


#3
OPERA VOLUME CONTROL MASCARA

Reason: Formula completely dried out. Any formula that can be applied is clumpy.


#4
MAYBELLINE VOLUM' EXPRESS HYPERCURL CAT EYES WATERPROOF MASCARA IN FELINE BLACK

Reason: Formula is extremely clumpy, and drying up.


#5
REVLON DOUBLE TWIST MASCARA IN BLACKEST BLACK

Reason: Formula resembles more of congealed glue than mascara.


#6
THE FACE SHOP SHIMMER LINER PENCIL IN WHITE

Reason: Product hasn't finished, but the product in it's plastic capsule is stuck and I have no idea how to get it out. I tried whacking the whole thing on the edge of the table a few times and it's visible that there's more product down there, but this liner has been with me for around two years and it's almost never been used.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Make-up day~

I think I've mentioned this twice, and this will be the third time - I have a friend that needs smokey eyes and/or false lashes. She came over today and we had some fun.


I felt like a bloody make-up teacher (but obviously I just made some fun out of myself), displaying all my vanity possessions on the small low table in my AV room on the carpet, with the air conditioner on and with refreshments and snacks laid out. Yes. I often overreact and get overexcited.


Anyway, we started the day with some movies, namely Shrek Forever After. Grandma had some fried rice cooking, so halfway through we devoured two plates each of that scrumptious fried rice. Somewhere near the end of the movie we started the adventure.


She has three eye shadow pots from Harajuku Lovers (a line created by Gwen Stefani) - a silver, a dusty purplish blue and a dark grey, which I find is a very good combination for smokey eyes.


I'll say this - Jasmine is the kind of girl who looks best without make-up. She is naturally pretty, with good skin and large eyes. And she also has long curly hair, and is pretty slim, too. Where friendship is concerned, I don't think I would ever find a better friend.


Anyway, I whipped out my 120 palette and found the nearest, if not exactly, the three same colors as she had and did a standard smokey make-up on my right eye, at the same time she did as I did, and I tried my best to explain all that I've learned from various make-up blogs and videos, but I kinda partially failed.


The look came out pretty sexy. I added some false lashes to the mix, and I finally know how to apply false lashes without getting lash glue all over my eye and hands and ruining all my shadow - use tweezers. And less glue really is better than throwing on a gianormous chunk of it.


I love the overall look, but the false lash spine could get some more work - no matter how I traced my liquid liner over the top of the lash spine, it still looked kinda filmy, and that's not the deep, intense, matte finish I was looking for. However, the entire look itself looked better with some false lashes. Best to use some simple, but defined lashes, not too much volume. It adds some elegance to the dramatic eye shadow, but doesn't overpower the entire look.

Before and after.

I kinda touched up a bit here and there after I've applied the false lashes to balance out everything. Should I do a piccie tutorial? Here's what I used for the looks, in order of application (I should make a chart of the 120 palette for you guys soon):

  1. [base] shu uemura Creme Eyeshadow in Beige
  2. [highlight] shade #5 from 120 palette
  3. [base color] shade #32 from 120 palette
  4. [outer corner] shade #9 from 120 palette
  5. [eyeliner] Silkygirl Double Intense Gel Liner in Pure Black
  6. [mascara] MaxFactor False Lash Effect in Black
  7. [eyebrow] The Face Shop Automatic Eyebrow Pencil in Black
  8. [false lashes] Daiso Make up-Make up Accessory No. 50
  9. [liquid liner] Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black
  10. [under-eye concealer] The Body Shop Oil Free Balancing Foundation in 05

I love how the look came out uber dreamy, mysterious, sexy yet captivating and hypnotizing.

Played around with Picnik's Eye Color function.

We were watching Final Fantasy VII Advent Children by now. To be honest, there are two reasons why her make-up looked weird: one, I really, really, really seldom see her in make-up; two, as I said before, she's the prettier-without-make-up kinda of girl.


Before she left, we finished up the last of the FF movie, and though a tad awkward, I find her company sort of comforting.


On a more dim note, the guy I talked about that we met at the badminton center? Yeah. He's been pestering mainly me with text messages saying 'I love you'.


I don't wanna be so bad, but since I'm going to hell in every religion anyway, I'll have to say that this dude has the maturity of a 10-year-old. Hello? You don't even know me. So you know my name and my phone number. So what? You don't know my hobbies, you don't know my interests, you don't know what my skills are. You've met me once, and I'm flattered that you find my friend and I pretty enough for your undivided attention. However, you should save your money and effort and just tick off, please. I could've been a friend, but now I don't want to have anything to do with you.

REVIEW = Silkygirl Double Intense Waterproof Gel Eyeliner

Silkygirl is a brand of cosmetics distributed under Alliance Cosmetic Group, which also distributes products from Revlon, Avene, Elancyl, Takalon, Cutex and various Silky ranges. Silkygirl is available mainly in South East Asia, and is available at most pharmacies in Malaysia, as well as a few stand-alone boutiques.


Silkygirl could be described as a good quality, reliable, yet economic choice of cosmetics. Needless to say, this line of cosmetics is targeted towards the younger population, who, in general, has a lower source of income and lower budgets. It would also be an ideal brand to purchase if one is just learning the art of make-up.


I previously purchased a brown 4-pan palette for my BF. Yes, you heard that right, for my BF. Because one fateful day we were going out and I happened to be applying my make-up when he arrived at my place. I just played around with some brown shadow to define his eyes and he said he liked it, so I included a brown palette in his birthday box~


The gel liner that I purchased was in shade 01 Pure Black, and I bought it at a promotional price of RM16.90. The original price written on the bottom of the box was RM25.90. The price might have increased or decreased according to market demands and other business factors.



Pros:

  • super intense color
  • comes with a detachable brush (good quality)
  • pot cap doubles up as an extension for detachable brush
  • small pot enough that you would probably finish using it before it dries out
  • can create both pencil liner and liquid liner finishes
  • extremely long lasting and durable (I rubbed my teary eyes with this gel liner on once, no smudge in sight)
  • easy to apply
  • non-clumpy
  • texture just creamy enough
  • compact and convenient (touch ups without bringing an extra brush)

Cons:
  • dries a little too fast for additional blending or distribution of product
  • brush can get stiff from old liner residue if not cleaned properly
  • "snap" storage of brush may become loose after a number of uses

That's all I can deduce from the product for now. I've been using it for over a week now, for both experimental and event purposes. This gave me practically flawless lines, not achievable even with my old Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen.


Gel liners would be a great substitute for both pencil and gel liners because:
  • more product will produce a crisp, sleek line that comes with a liquid liner
  • slightly less will give you the slightly smudgy effect of a pencil liner
  • much more long lasting than both

However, caution should be practiced when using gel liners: once they dry on your skin, they won't budge so easily. Therefore, application requires a very steady hand. An oil-based or a strong water-based remover would be required to remove all the product. I use the Daiso Charcoal Cleansing Cream, which is a water-based cream, but I need at least three rounds of removing to get every single bit off.


Conclusion:

Definitely value for money, and easily available. Great bargain for make-up beginners, or those who wish to spend less money on cosmetics. Saves even more money when used in place of liquid and/or pencil liner.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

My recent adventures

Let's start with Monday. I just had an urge, so to speak, to go out for a drive, and since my BF was having afternoon classes I decided to take the opportunity as a "one stone two birds" chance.


The next day (Tuesday), I took a drive to Seri Kembangan/Serdang to meet up with Jasmine for a game of badminton. I got lost, needless to say, but thank god she found me. We first went to 3K, where a very surly, sleepy-looking staff attended to us. The courts were all booked until 1pm, and we were there at around 11am.


Jasmine asked around and got us to the "new" badminton court in Serdang. She parked, I asked for one court for an hour from a pretty good-looking, but slightly mentally challenged guy. We started playing, talking quite loudly about my BF and some other various things.


Once in a while Jasmine would spot the admin watching from the entrance of the large, echo-inducing sports center (which has huge Fleet and Li Ning banners). Halfway through the game, the admin came in requesting both our names and phone numbers. Naturally, we thought it was part of the procedure for registration or whatnot, so wrote down our numbers on a small piece of paper.


I regretted doing that. A while later, he came back with another small piece of paper:


Jasmine and I sorta freaked out and a couple more games later we left the place after changing into some fresh clothes. I seriously wonder how Jasmine drives in Serdang (duh, she lives there) - it was like Happy Garden to me: every street looked the same.


Anyway, Jasmine was driving, and we happened to go through a school area, and at that time it was just after school, where parents and guardians all crowd the streets, double- and triple-parking, not batting an eye to the congestion they're creating.


We were almost out of that area, when suddenly a giant construction trailer came in. We freaked out. We couldn't move, and there was just enough space for the trailer and perhaps another large motorcycle, and that was it. We were wedged between a regular sedan, and risking being squished by the large trailer. Thank god we made it out.


We went to The Mines for lunch. This place was like our current-day Mid Valley Megamall many years ago - my family would come here every fortnight or so to shop around. It's been I think a decade since I last set foot in this mall, and there I was, with Jasmine.


Lunch was pretty interesting. Jasmine wanted to eat at Shihlin, which is a franchise that essentially sells fried chicken chops. Shihlin chicken chop is a popular Taiwanese snack, which is a battered chicken fillet that is deep fried until golden brown. The first time I ate it was, needless to say, at Taiwan Dami.

Happy Lunchbox @ Shihlin Taiwan Street Food. RM9 (a la carte). RM10.50 for set including a drink.

Jasmine and I both ordered the Happy Lunchbox, which consists of rice, a generous amount of chicken (original or spicy), and some deliciously cold, smooth tofu and century egg bits. Compared with Dami, Shihlin is definitely more generous in terms of meat, in reference to the chicken to batter ratio. And I'm happy to say that I find that this particular meal was worth my money.


We then had some Chatime (I mistaken one of the staff for my stalker ex, which gave me a real fright), and wandered around until I saw Sasa. I'm still looking for the PedEgg Professional, by the way. I first checked to see if they had Gucci Envy (perfume), which I really like, but only have the sample vial.


While Jasmine looked for some false lash glue, I checked out the prices for some Liese products. We then headed randomly to Daiso. I found that this branch, though rather empty, better than the branches at Sungei Wang Plaza and Sunway Pyramid. I found some of the things that I needed, but only purchased one - a sunvisor CD slot-pocket.


Passing by Sasa again I remembered that my shu uemura Creme Eyeshadow was already drying up (it's flaky and chunky), and I remembered that Sasa sold Canmake products. Surely enough, the Canmake Eyeshadow Base that is used by sasakiasahi (manwomanfilm) was on the tester shelf, but the actual product itself was nowhere to be seen.


After some more walking, we started back to her house, and OMG Brownie was so skinny. It was like letting Dukie's fur grow to it's optimum length, then shaving him completely. We watched a bit of Hello Baby (SNSD's and MBLAQ's), then went up to her room for a little make-up talk.


I was given a walk-through on how to get home, in case I got lost again. It was quite easy to get out actually. And the reason I got lost in the first place is because I turned somewhere I wasn't supposed to (story on that later). Reached home in one piece, and after installing my CD pocket and inspecting some bumper damage done by an invisible item, I scratched my side mirror slightly.

My darling Proton Satria Neo 1.6M. My other love~

Lord, kill me. I love this car. Contrary to what I have thought, a manual is really easy to drive, and since my car is a 1.6, it's really powerful and acceleration is like heaven (feels like a character in Fast & Furious or Need For Speed). But then I seem to be doing so much damage to it that I feel thoroughly guilty. Here comes the motherload: THIS CAR IS MY BABY.


Anyway onto how I got lost. Jasmine has driven me to her house before, and I thought that it would be easy-peasy given that I've double checked the route via Google Maps. After the round-about at the Palace of the Golden Horses, I was supposed to drive until I found a small lane, leading from the Bukit Jalil Highway into the industrial area of Serdang.


Instead of going through that small lane, I took the "highway", which is quite new from the looks of it, and ended up somewhere familiar, yet I didn't know how to get out. Half an hour past our pre-determined meeting time, Jasmine called up. She found me and drove me to her house.


The route she took was the place I was spinning around a couple of times before - a bunch of industrial-looking car workshops. My Nokia GPS directed me to go down a road by going over a half-meter tall curb when I was driving around, then Jasmine just led me through the entrance to that road - a height-limit road, which I saw cars coming out, but not going in, so I wrongly assumed that it was a one-way street.


This morning I woke up around noon, with my grandma telling me that there was a packet of beehoon for my lunch. However I had another destination - campus. I'm not having classes, I'm just going there to retrieve what's mine.


Just last night while checking my finals results, I say an announcement on the Taylor's portal saying that the 1Malaysia book vouchers are available for distribution again. Drove via a rather empty Bukit Jalil Highway onto the LDP all the way to campus just for those RM200 book vouchers and a Maxis reload of RM10, and for that reload I had to sacrifice RM5.90 on a cup of Chatime for the twerp (initially I just went to Chatime to check whether Brian was there since he said on Facebook that he was working there).



I lost two entire night's worth of sleep for my finals, and all that discomfort and fatigue paid off. Not the perfect straight As, but it's much better than I anticipated. Even for those subjects that I didn't understand a word I was reading, I passed, and quite nicely as well. I expected the entire thing to be covered in Cs, but there was no C in sight - Bs and As were the ones that dominated my results, and I'm really thankful for that.

Glamorous Smokey Eyes

This tutorial is dedicated to Jasmine, who kinda gave me the impromptu, spur-of-the-moment urge to put together a smokey eye tutorial. Many people may find that the amount of product I use is way too much, but these are the techniques that I use to achieve the look that I want. The entire look was done in under half an hour (hooray!), so forgive me if the pics are a little fuzzy.


For future reference, my product lists for tutorials will be as follows:
*product type* [the exact product that I used]

You could switch up the general shadow colors, eye liner colors and lip colors as you wish to suit your desire. You will need (in order of application):

  • eye shadow base [shu uemura Creme Eyeshadow in Beige]
  • 3- or 4-pan palette [Daiso Layered Palette in Green]
  • pencil liner [Elianto Stay-On Eyeliner in Black]
  • gel liner [Silkygirl Double Intense Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Pure Black]
  • mascara [MaxFactor False Lash Effect in Black]
  • false lashes & lash glue [generic brand demi lashes & 1000Hours Clear Lash Glue]
  • liquid liner [Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackest Black]
  • brow product [The Face Shop Automatic Eyebrow Pencil in Black]
  • under-eye concealer [The Body Shop Oil Free Balancing Foundation in 05]
  • foundation [Maybelline Clear Smooth Aqua Gel Foundation in Natural]
  • powder [Pigeon Compact Baby Powder in Beige]
  • contour/blush [Bobbi Brown blusher in Blushed]

This list is actually quite short. I expected it to be a little longer. Anyway, a small palette is best for simple looks, because all the colors are respectively complimenting. For smokey eyes, choose a palette with light, medium, and dark tones (there are palette which are completely light and medium). The lightest tone acts as a highlight, the medium tone(s) act as the color base, and the darkest color acts as definition and intensity.


Remember, the more dark color you pile on, the darker and more intense that your smokey eye will be. To balance out everything apply a bit of the (two) darker colors on the outer half of the lower lashline (demo later), and always apply black eyeliner on the top lashline at least. And remember to always conceal dark circles as best you can.


I'll just get on to the tutorial before any more interest is lost. Forgive the chipped nail polish and the bad photography (used a different camera than usual and still trying to get used to it) and the different lighting (I did this in the evening), but I tried my best to catch the essence of each step.



1.
Start with a moisturized face. Apply eye shadow base for that extra color intensity + lasting.



2.
Using (1) color in the palette, take a large flat brush and sweep it across your brow bone to highlight the area.



3.
(2) color goes onto the inner 2/3 of the lid with a medium flat brush.



4.
The (3) color goes onto the outer half of the lid, layering on the (2) color, and blended upward and outward with the cleaned brush. Apply some also on the outer half of the lower lashline.



5.
Get a fluffy shadow brush, and take the (4) color. Blend this into the outer corner, concentrating the color near the lashline, then slowly blend up, out and into the crease. For monolids, the crease would be where your brow bone is, so that it will be visible. What I did was just gently poke my loaded brush onto my socket for the crease. Also apply some on the outer half of the lower lashline.

This is one of the ways to line your upper waterline - gently pull the upper lid, and run the pencil along the waterline.


6.
Take your pencil liner and line the upper and lower waterline (the pinkish skin that lies just at your eyeball), and tightline (run the pencil just along the roots of the lashes).


7.
Line your eyes with the gel liner, extending the line straight out just slightly. Touch up with the pencil liner if there is any skin peeking through the eyeliner.


8.
Fill in the sparse areas in your brows and darken them slightly. Take a stiff brush/spoolie and comb your brow hairs nicely. If you have clear brow gel, it's time to take it out.


9.
Curl your lashes and apply mascara on the upper and lower lashes. To avoid excessive clumps, twist the mascara wand at the root of your lashes to give more volume, then only apply as normal.


10.
Apply false lashes. Take your lashes, bend them a little, check for fit, trim if necessary, then apply a thin strip of glue on the spine of the lashes, adding an extra blob on the front and back ends. Wait around 20 seconds for the glue to become tacky, and looking down into a table mirror, stick them as close to the lashes as possible, but not on the lashes.


11.
Take your black liquid liner and line just slightly above and on the spine of the false lashes to help it blend into your eyeliner. To make it blend even more, try curling your real lashes with your false lashes.


12.
Conceal your dark circles. Doing concealer and foundation after doing the eyes makes the entire look less messy. Blend away with a foundation brush, your fingers or a damp sponge.


13.
Apply foundation evenly, blending well to ensure no streaks. Make sure to apply some at the corner of your nose, the corners of your mouth and down the neck. Set with powder.

Notice how I have a "hollow" in my cheek and how the cheekbone is more emphasized?

14.
Make a fish face and with a smallish face brush (tap off excess product), brush your contour product from the ear down toward the mouth. Make sure not to apply any product near the mouth. Run some of the product down the sides of your nose starting from your brow for some light nose contouring.




Your smokey eyes are now complete.


Sexy.
Mysterious.
Captivating.
Hypnotizing.

Closer-up of the complete eye make-up.

The key to smokey eyes? BLENDING. If your shadows look like patches of paint thrown on the canvas by a three-year-old, take a clean brush (or your clean fingers) and gently go over the harsh edges until the shadow seems to be melting into your skin. Each color should transition smoothly, with no harsh lines.


By the way, you can substitute some of the stuff that I used, or just omit it altogether. I personally don't use blush, so I use the contour for some color. If you want you can have the dark color lighter than I applied, or all in all don't have such intense eyeliner.


Smokey eyes are, in my opinion, the most universally flattering eye make-up, and is the easiest once you get the concept and the hang of it.


That's it. I would appreciate some comments - hopefully positive, but constructive criticism is also accepted. No haters, please. And please keep in mind that this is my own developed way of doing my smokey eyes. I'm not Michelle Phan or a professional or a Youtube guru. I make these partly so that I can share another different technique, and also for fun.