It was only after I’ve started working when I started to gain weight. What with my new-found money, I suddenly could go and eat all the food that I’ve always craved. Mcdougals. Burger queen. Especially Long John Silvers. Mmmm … Gosh, their rice burrito was just heavenly. Why on earth did they take it off the menu?

Picture by Dainty Chef. Not the same thing, but close enough!

Anyway, coupled with stress and boredom (two very bad combination) the weight just kept going up. They say that falling in love makes you gain weight too. And after moving to Rome, my weight ballooned up to 63kg. But it still kept going up. Till about a year ago, quite number of people kept commenting that I’ve gained weight noticeably.

I paid no attention to them because, well, I tended to filter out hurtful comments and was in a sort of denial. Even when my trousers were getting tight, I kept thinking to myself .. “Gosh, did they shrink in the washing machine?”

I was pretty much like that till when this picture was taken :

This was when Daphne, Serene and Nick stayed over with us on their European vacation. Oh gosh. I looked so … FAT and so puffed up. What the heck happened?! And I can’t blame this on bad angles or a bad picture. Because there are loads of pictures like that!

But even if it was, I couldn’t deny the numbers on the weighing machine. I was almost reaching 68kg. And seeing that number, and the picture was what shook me up and made me decide to change.

But one thing about me is that I’ve never believed in diets or pills and quick fixes. One could preach to me all the benefits of pills to me, and I’d probably smile out of politeness but I won’t take them because I don’t want to get the yoyo effect, or that I’d gain all the weight back when I stop taking the pills.

First step was to go for regular jogs. I was inspired by my friend Claire, who started to go jogging and was already losing quite a bit of weight since then. It was an inspiration to me. But I didn’t want to disappoint myself, so I never went jogging for the intention of losing weight but for health and feeling better.

First I started with 2km runs. And then upped it up eventually to 5km. And I did lose weight. Very very slowly. Up to a point that it seemed that I didn’t lose any weight and thought that I hit a plateau.

It was only after the fasting month when my weight went down quite significantly. I know that it was probably not healthy, but I was determined not gain them all back.

Too sleepy to eat

By this time, my eating habits has changed quite drastically, because after a month of fasting, my appetite and cravings went down, so I continued to have small meals. And at the same time, I continued jogging and eventually I found out that I could jog for 10km non stop.

Woah! Such an achievement for me! I never thought that I could do long distance. Makes me motivated to aim for a half marathon! (But maybe in 2013. Baby steps)

To my glee, after months of monitoring, instead of the weight going back to before, it just went down. It was just so cool. And at the beginning of this year (after the crazy Xmas and New Year’s feast) I’ve gone down to my optimal BMI (according to wii-fit)

And now that a year has passed since that picture was taken, I’ve lost more than 10kg. That just boggles me. That I’ve been carrying 10kg extra all these while. Carrying groceries is already so tiring. How did I carry 10kg? At this point of time, I’m hovering between 55 and 56kg. And it seems to be staying that way, even when I’m not jogging regularly at the moment. Work takes up quite a chunk of my free time and the change of seasons is making my body feel … bleh :\

Truth be told, I don’t feel any different. But Cart tells me that my stamina has increased and I complain less when we go around walking. And as the seasons turn and I change from my winter clothes to my old spring-summer clothes, they turned out to be annoyingly big. Some of them are rather new! I feel no satisfaction of diminishing returns!

Some of my trousers could just be pulled straight off my butt if I don’t wear a belt with it. Even that sexeh jeans I have up there is starting to be loose. And my beautiful bras! I can’t wear them as I’m not a 36C cup anymore. Small boobs! Sadness!

But despite all that, I think I look better now. And I can’t get over the fact that I’m about the same weight when I was in my mid 20s.  But I hope I don’t lose any more. Any more, I think I’d be too skinny!

And to end this post, this is a nice picture of me :

And a side by side :

p.s. When I was still living with my parents, my dear mum used to throw away MY clothes that she deemed that was too bursting for me to wear them. I’m gonna rub this on her face the next time I see her :p

But it’s really unevitable when you’re walking down central Termini (right in the area of the train station) and there are loads of affordable and pretty accessories.

Remember my butterfly charm bracelet? I had loads of nice comments about it when I wore it out. I think this was less than 15 euro, but it looks so much more expensive than that.

Leopard bow ring! It’s just a cheap little plastic ring, but it’s so eccentric and cute and it makes me feel so happy.

This bracelet below reminds me a little bit of a Tiffany bracelet. But it looks so much more exquisite and costs probably 500 times cheaper.

Yellow rose plastic ring! So vibrant and I don’t even need to water it … hehehe … I’ve been looking for this for a while! I think I’m subconsciously influenced by Kandee Johnson.

The flower below doubles as a brooch as well as a hair clip. Small flower hair clips seem to be a fashion nowadays in Rome. It would cost about 10 euro in a regular shop, but in Termini you could get it for only 3. The green pearl necklace I got from Porta Portese Sunday Flea market for the same price.

Angry bird necklace which I got more for laughs cause Cart is mad about this dumb game. I could always channel Naomi Campbell and throw it at him …

Zebra! I love animal pendants and I like to take him out for trot every now and then.

These are only two euro! So pretty! They are a little heavy though, these mini chandeliers.

And finally … this was attraction at first sight for me … Imagine cherries hanging on your ears … So cute!

Phew! I think I’m a little calmer for now, with the acessories craze. It should pass just like my mekap craze. But then again, at the back of my mind at this point of time, I’m wondering if I should try to be on a look out for a mustache necklace though, those are so funny!

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are two brands of BB creams that are out for sale in Rome recently. One by Garnier and one by Kiko cosmetics. And here is the Kiko one … Tada!

Anyway, me and my friend Claire were in Kiko a couple of months ago, and we saw a new display showing their new BB creams. It comes in 5 different shades ranging from 01 – light, 02 – natural, 03 – rose, 04 – medium and 05 – dark.  I’m kind of surprised that I’m dark, considering that there are duskier ladies out there.

Nevertheless, I’m happy that there are a wider range of shades here as normally, loads of foundations and tinted creams sold in Rome are way too light for me.

What’s interesting about this BB cream is that, it starts off as light, almost white in colour. But don’t let that worry you, as when you rub it in the skin, it blends right in. In fact, for me, it blends in so well that it looks like I’m not using anything at all.

It looks super natural, and at the same time, gives a light coverage. It can’t help for the larger blemishes though, as you could see from the zit which happily decided to say hello, above my lip. Le sigh!

The price is 8.90 euro, which for 30ml seems reasonable. I’ve been using it for about two months and the tube still feels quite full. The BB cream comes with a SPF 15, which seems low compared to regular BB creams, but at the same time, it’s great because it doesn’t render the skin an ashy colour which is the issue with anything with a high spf.

So far, I haven’t had any adverse reactions to it, which is great. And I’m happy that it lasts throughout the entire day. This is me, sneaking in a picture at the end of work …

Still looking great! But it does feel little bit oily towards the end of the day, but it isn’t that really big of a deal. However, it’s winter at the moment, and probably might have a different effect in a warmer country.

To end, I really like this BB cream. It’s very light, and blends very well. Will definitely repurchase when my current tube ends :-)

I’ve been using various things like eye-liner pencils and eye-shadows, which does work. But because of it’s intensity, sometimes gives me a sort of Groucho Marx look if I’m not careful.

Anyway, I’ve been using Lucy Minerals foundations for a while and I’m really happy about the quality. Not too long ago, they were having a free shipping promotion and I took advantage of that and decided to top up my foundation stock.

When it arrived, one of my gifts was the Neutral brow powder!

It comes in a 7 gram jar which would have costed me $7 USD on it’s on (not including shipping)  which in my opinion seems quite pricey on it’s own. Which is why I think it would be more economical to get as part of a kit.

It comes with it’s own plastic sifter and a clear sticker on top of it. But I haven’t peeled it off so far because I’d rather pop the sifter out and dip my brow brush in the jar.

Like so.

Tap off the access because if there’s too much on the brush, it tends to lead to a fallout on your cheeks or under eyes which can get annoying. And with the brush, softly press the colour on parts of the eyebrow that you want filled in.

Don’t let the colour fool you though. At first glance, I wondered how could this brown powder fit the colour of my eyebrow? It doesn’t seem to match!

But incredibly it does and manages to look natural too. With the same shade, I think that it will work for wonderfully for brunettes to black haired ravens like me!

Like the foundation, it’s quite long lasting and stays put all day for regular wear. Just don’t go swimming with it and expect miracles, of course.

I quite love it. No more half eyebrows.

Sidenote : I think the colder weather is doing my skin a lot of good. No pimples! It’s killing my nails though, they get so fragile and break so easily!

Anyway, I thought that I’d just do a quick blog post.

I don’t exactly know when my interest for nail art started, but some months back, I saw a set of nail art tools being sold in a shop for about 3 euro. Impulsively, I got one for myself even though I’m actually quite bad at art.

Nevertheless, I had fun trying out different designs. Many of them were inspired from youtube and also looking through google images.

This one was from trying out the angry birds tutorial from Cutepolish.

I still need to do a lot of practice for a better looking bird, but this was a lot of fun!

And this is a design I tried to do for my friend Claire.

Cupcakes! It’s her obsession! I tried this tutorial out. Claire’s nails are quite small though, so she has 10 really teeny-tiny cupcakes!

This was done on a bored day. First I painted it blue. Then I got bored and I tried to paint clouds. And then I got bored and put sprinkles on the tips.

In the end, it looks kind of like a sort of ice cream isn’t it? This design was inspired by this tutorial, although she does it way better than I do!

This one is one of my favourite. Leopard nails! Rawr!

And while it may look complicated, it’s surprisingly easy!

And then I felt the need to wear red … so it’s strawberry nails! It looks so messy though, I was so impatient that I didn’t let the polish dry and smudged the tips.

I didn’t see a tutorial online for this exact nail, but it’s super easy! Being patient is the difficult part!

And now I’m currently wearing this … Such cheerful colours!

Watermelon! Om nom nom nom!

All these bright colours make me feel happy. 

As we are approaching winter with the temperatures dropping, my ears are starting to feel frosty whenever a breeze approaches. I was regretting for not getting the cute strawberry earmuffs while I was in Cameron Highlands. But it so happened that Claire and I were walking around bancarelle and I spotted tube scarves or various colours being sold for 3 euro each. They looked pretty much nondescript, but I was intrigued and got one for myself, just to cover my ears at least.

Indeed, after wearing it for couple of hours, it did kept my ears and my neck quite warm. And with a simple pull, it can transform into different styles! Let me show you in this quick video below.

I never thought that I would like it so much.

But one not so nice thing about it is when your wedding ring gets all loose. So loose that it starts to slide off your finger as you ride the scooter, while you wrestle to keep it on while focusing on the road, for example.

I used to have the same issue with the engagement ring, and I had it tightened at the jewellers with the use of a tiny piece of metal.

The thing is, my skin doesn’t take well to non-pure metals and the combination of water and perspiration aggravates the allergy even more. So I had to be very careful.

Anyway, one of the more skin-friendly technique that my ex-colleague taught me was to use a regular thread and wrap it all around the ring to make it more snug. It takes ages to do though, just this bit took me close to an hour as I had to do a dead knot at each turn so that the thread doesn’t move about too much.

And on some days, even with the thread around it, it’s still quite loose. But at least it doesn’t fly across the room as you shake your hands dry after washing them.

I suppose another solution is to just wear the two rings together. Like this.

Looks and feel very awkward though.