Category: female vanities

While in Singapore, there is the Great Singapore Sale, in Italy, there is the summer sale. Typically, there will be a 30 – 50% discounts all around.

I was just surfing through Promod one fine day and seriously contemplating to buy some. The only thing that I feared was the infamous Italian Postal delivery being late and asking for more service charge on top of the taxes. My computer took more than 4 months to be delivered.

Imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw that there was a branch at a mall near us. And even more surprising is that Cart wanted us to go out for shopping! I found a pair of Enrico Coveri shoes that I liked and I rummaged through the Promod store for a couple of threads.

I love my new clothes!

Yikes, trying to blog about the wedding is more daunting than I thought it would be. So I wont blog about it for now. Instead I’ll blog about henna!

For a Malay wedding, it was a custom for the bride to have their hands and feet decorated with intricate henna drawings. Unfortunately, because of how tight Cart and my schedule was – with the registry of marriage interviews, the embassy, the ministry of of foreign affairs et all, I missed the appointment with the henna artist.

So prior to the solemnization, my mum decided to decorate my hand, herself.

She crushed fresh henna leaves into a paste and pressed it on the tips of my fingers and feet and commanded me not to move the entire night as I slept on the floor. This was so that the henna would last longer (and it did because my toe nails still have the henna mark now) as well as not stain the bed.

That was probably the most uncomfortable night that I’ve ever had in a long time. I think I was probably a little bit stoned the next day for my solemnization.

But in any case, the lady who did my henna came back to finish the decoration.

I did a livestreaming over on ustream but I think thats its better to have it sped up from 2 hours into 10 minutes!

Putting on Henna from rinaz on Vimeo.

Isn’t it pretty? What do you think?

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• I dont feel like cutting my fingernails

Singapore is usually 100% humid with a temperature of about 28 degrees Celsius all year round. Its like being in a sauna. While it is actually good for skin, keeping it youthful looking, the downside is that it tends to bring the oil gland factories working at an overload.

Thus Facial blotters are something that is very commonly used in Singapore. These are small plastic like films that you dab on your face to soak up oil. It’s amazing to see how much the little film extracts oil.

So when I was in Rome for the first time, I was amazed that I did not need to use a facial blotter due to the temperature and low humidity. It was only when my face started to get a little flaky was when I finally realised that it was actually getting dry!

As I’ve been using skincare for oily skin for since my teenage years, it was something very new to me to finally be buying moisturiser for my face. But buying skincare in another country, where you don’t know the language well, is very daunting.

For example, the first week when I was in Rome and running out of hair conditioner, I was extremely confused. What is “Conditioner” in Italian? It was only after a long while that I found out that I needed a bottle of “Balsamo“.

But eventually, with the limited amount of Italian that I know, I’m actually having fun decoding the packaging. This one says :

New refreshing formula
Hydrating day cream
24 hour hydration and protection for fresh skin
With lotus extract and vitamins – SPF 8
For normal and combination skin

And it got simpler after that, so much so that I feel more confident of getting other nice stuff 🙂

The Rosa body cream was my favourite.

I think that this is a great way of immersing in Italian language at the same time too. Now you know what “No more tears” in Italian is 🙂

Nowadays I am a little hesitant when needing to trim my fingernails.

This is because I will have only a couple of weeks left before the henna dye on my fingernails will be completely gone. And that will end virtually the only physical mark of my wedding.

This is what my hands look like freshly painted on the wedding dinner

Its a Malay custom to have the hands and feet decorated with henna for their wedding. This is to symbolise the couple’s upcoming wedding occasion.

And these are the palms

There are basically two types of henna that you could use, either fresh ones from crushed henna leaves or the one prepackaged from most Indian Shops.

When I had my hand and feet to be decorated with henna, it took about 30 minutes to be drawn for each limb and I had to concentrate to keep still the entire duration so that the henna doesn’t smudge.

Here is a video I’ve recorded via Ustream of the henna drawing.

But it was the waiting for the henna to dry part. It would usually take at least 2 hours for the henna to dry before you peel it off. The longer the person lets it dry, the more vibrant the colour.

And there I was on the couch, with my hands stretched out on the sofa arms, motionless like a dynasty empress. Unable to even change the channel on the tv, and all the while worrying about the wedding preparations that is going on the void deck.

I really liked my henna. Days after the wedding, it was fun to show them and do ala magician’s flourishes.

Now my nails look like this

It feels like I’m losing the wedding radiance

Even Cart said so!

Me : I’m losing my radiance, the air here is making my skin dry, I’ll probably age faster.

Cart : When have you been radiant?

Ok, we have our language differences … but still …

Sidenote : Ridz sent me a postcard all the way from Singapore! I love it! How thoughtful 🙂

As a member of Cozycot, I cant help but to notice that the regular announcements of events for the members to participate. These events range from health, to beauty to fitness.

I was curious to see how these events went, hence I clicked to RSVP one of the event – the grand opening of Anthony Hair Boutique. I thought that it would be interesting to see the various hair demonstrations.

I met the owner of the boutique and celebrity hairdresser, Anthony Tang and was impressed by his repertoire, his team has won the international hair dresser competition for 5 consecutive year.

But nothing beats seeing the master crafting his work in front of you. He did 5 hairstyles in 5 – 10 minutes each!

Grand Finale from rinaz on Vimeo.

I am duly floored.

—

Claudia informed me of a Majorlica makeover and I couldnt help but to say yes! I love makeovers 🙂

The makeover was held at Takashimaya. Unfortunately, when I reached Orchard, it was raining heavily. When I arrived, I was rather unglamorously soaked that Nadnut and Claudia looked a little shocked at my disposition.

But no matter.

I met Sisheido representative, Pamela, and under her meticulous care, did my makeover for me.

This is me before :

And this is after the makeover :

I think we look really really good. Nadnut looks sexeh vavavoom! Claudia looks extremely lovely. And I’ve never seen my eyes has ever looked that large before. A little scary, no? 😛

Sidenote : Congratulations to the Singapore team for winning the first Brand’s Blogger Mental Challenge 🙂

Sidenote 2 : Any ladies interested in participating in a makeup course for about $15 – $25? Only thing is, we need a minimum group of 10 to start.

I love makeovers. I love how with a dab of makeup and a bit of hairspray can transform a woman.

This is one of me done in 2004

This was during an Estee Lauder promotion. I think paid for a redeemable voucher for $30 where we could choose 4 looks for ourselves. I choose the dramatic makeover with emphasis on the eyes and lips. The makeup was really pretty, but it doesn’t really look like me.

This is one in 2005

I was given a “free makeover” from Coverlooks which turns out to be a floozy, as a photo costs $10 each. Regardless, I did like the softer, rich taitai look 😀

Today, I was at Vivocity for a complimentary makeover session with Nadnut courtesy of Samsung.

There we met the very talented ladies, Sarah and Joey who did our hair and make up for us.

Look at all those makeup on the table. I love it! I’d love to have THIS type of vanity table for my room. Its awesome! So many lights!

Sarah deftly dabbed shades of brown on my eyes, soft pink for my cheeks as well as light pink lipstick. I usually use red lipstick, but this look looks surprisingly beautiful.

I love my mod look! I wished that I had remembered to ask Sarah what shades she used so that I could at least try this look for myself 🙂

And then it was Nadnut’s turn! When she was being made up, my hands were itchy to play with the Make Up Store cosmetics. There were so many beautiful colours that made me feel so euphoric.

And this is our final look. My hair looked quite Victorian while Nadnut had vavavoom curls. I think that if they had provided lighting, the picture quality would be even better, but this was good too 🙂

Nice? You may now call me Datin Marina 😛

Woman’s Day Out is a yearly women-only aerobic-based sporting event organized by the Singapore sports Council.

Though I’ve always been keen on to participating, it is only this year that I finally had the confidence to attend this event. Moreover, this could possibly be the last time that I participate in something like this.

Registering for the event was easy enough. All I had to do was to surf the website, give my particulars choose the activity that I wanted and paid $28. I chose the Aerobics Challenge 1 which consisted of the CardioLatino, CardioBlitz and Kickboxing.

A week before the actual event, I collected the Official T shirt and the number tag.

That day was quite memorable to me as in the middle of my journey to Millenia Walk, the heavens decided to pour its blessings on me. Even with my raincoat on, I was soaking wet. My sneakers went squish throughout as I walked in the upper-end shopping centre.

Unfortunately for me, on the actual day, I was rushing off from home and I’ve completely forgotten to bring my number tag along with me. And thats when the mayhem started.

I reached Ngee Ann Civic Plaza at about 3 pm. I’ve already missed an hour, having attended the Talkback session earlier on. Thus I was a little flustered upon reaching the registration booth.

Me : Hi! I need help. I forgot to bring my number tag, can you help me?

Helpers : Sorry, we cant let you in unless you have proof

Me : Here is my identity card.

Helpers : Sorry, can’t help you. We don’t have a computer database with us. You should get online instead and show us your verification email.

Me : Wha? Ok fine.

At that point of time, I felt snubbed that they were so unwilling to help me. I was wearing the official t-shirt! Why would anyone be lying just for the sake for entering the arena!

Luckily for me, I was carrying the eee pc and I went inside the shopping centre to try to find a connection. It was such a waste of time! Even though there were supposed to be about 7 to 10 open wireless@sg connection, I could not connect to any of them!

I spent about 30 mins walking around different areas and still nothing. Even asking the information counter was fruitless when they told me that there were no internet cafe in the shopping centre.

I felt really frustrated and was really going out of my mind and felt so helpless that even as a grown woman, I began to cry out in public. The interesting thing was that no one even looked at me, which was a revelation as I thought we were the busybody type of society.

It was comforting to hear Mus and Vandalin‘s voice on the phone when I called them up. They helpfully snapped a picture of my email and mms’ed it to me.

Unfortunately, the mms never arrived. With only one hour left to go to my event, and not wanting to waste my time and effort getting here, and money paid for the event, I picked up the courage to march up the manager.

Me : How could you just push me away? Why can’t you guys make and effort to help me! I am wearing the official t-shirt! What other proof do you need!

Manager : I’m sorry, but this is a paid event. We cannot anyhow let people in.

The manager and I were both extremely pissed at this point of time. And then I remembered that I scribbled my confirmation number in my trusty manual PDA.

Manager : A confirmation number! You should have told me that earlier!

Finally she took my IC, gave me a new number tag and I was just in time to participate in the last hour of kickboxing. Which was good as I has so much anger inside that I kicked! I punched! I jabbed with all my might.

But the terrible experience prior notwithstanding, it was a very good workout as it was the most intensive workout that I had ever had. Even more challenging than any of the cardio that I’ve attended. I’m not sure if I would be able to survive the complete 3 hours!

But was such a thrill for me to see so many rosy cheeks around me. You should have been there. These ladies were truly glowing – its difficult for even the best cosmetics to recreate this.

Look at that! That’s gorgeous!

All in all, despite the drama earlier, I did enjoy myself. I dare say that it was one of the best workouts that I’ve ever had and though I’m feeling a little bit of an ache, its a good ache and I’d love to attend more events such as these.

Moreover, look at the fabulous goodie bag that I got after the event!

Here are just some of my swags as I pretty much already consumed all the food related stuff in there. I love my new bag. And looks like I don’t need to buy a new water-bottle! And there’s even mekap! Woohoo!

I survied the Amore Woman’s Day Out! And now I will collapse and die.

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I got for myself the 88 eye-shadow palette some months back from a livejournal spree. I was really fascinated by the multitude of colours. And after using it for some while now, I love it heaps!

What I love about the 88 eye-shadow palette is that you can experiment with different looks without worrying about wasting your make-up. At about $26 per palette it is even more affordable than the 2-4 colour eye-shadows being sold in regular stores.

My problem with many eye-shadows is that many of them aren’t vivid enough on my eyes. But personally, I think that the quality of the 88 palette eye-shadow is just as good and perhaps even better than the ones in regular stores in the sense that the colour pay-off is surprisingly excellent.

Take a look at this!

Nice?  I love it as it’s bright and cheery! I did not even add in any eye-shadow primer to it.

Though I’m not as good at eye makeup as most of the ladies in Cozycot or the makeup guru’s out there, I really think that this looks nice.

Let me show you how

I chose these three colours as circled in the picture.

Step 1

With the darkest colour, the turquoise, glide it through at the base of the eyelids.

Step 2

Make a surprised face like this!

Then take the lime green colour and sweep it over the curves of your eyeball. This will naturally blend with the top of the turquoise.

Step 3

Finally add the beige as a highlighter, below the eyebrow which acts as a guide. Gently blend the meeting colours so as to not have harsh lines.

And then add eye-liner and mascara if you want to and you’re done!

Simple right? Even a make-up dummy like me can do it. If rinaz can mekap, so can you!

Updated August 2009: Now that I’ve used the palette for several months now, and use it more regularly, I think that

• The colour tends to crease after some hours
• I notice that I tend to use only certain colours
• I need to swatch the colours on my own skin – what you see isn’t always what you get

Thus, I would recommend it more for people who are just starting out with eye-shadows.

I was a completely well adjusted young adult till recently I’ve gone completely bonkers!

It all started innocently with Wishbone was recommending some cosmetics samples from Pure Luxe. I did some research on it, there were many good comments about it – especially this Rainbow Eyeshadow Tutorial, which impressed me.

I picked up the courage to order just a few items online. And this was what came in the mailbox some while after :

Later on, Sylvia posted about some links about free minerals sample kits which intrigued me. I ordered a sample kit from Everyday Minerals.

After using it for a while, I found out that I enjoyed using them – my skin took it well and I liked how natural it looked on me. And before I knew it, I started to click on the purchase button. And look at what came to me some weeks later.

Goodness!

And on top of that, I’ve also discovered LiveJournal sprees! I recently  got fascinated by this very colourful 88 Eye-shadow Palette and decided to get one for myself.

The day I got the palette, even though I was not skilled at eye make up, I had a blast of a time trying out different eye looks. It was so exciting to me. I felt like a little girl given with a lot of colours to play with!

And for some reason, I was itching to try something new. I decided that I wanted a neutral palette this time. However, the one at Coastal Scents were a tad too expensive when I calculated the dollar conversion as well as the shipping charges.

It was only when I stumbled upon a seller from ebay. Based in Hong Kong, she was said to be the manufacturer of the palette. So I’m getting it direct!

This is my new 28 neutral eye-shadow palette. Isn’t this absolutely gorgeous? I love playing with all of my new colours! It’s so much fun!

At this point of time, some of my loves would be Pureluxe’s Nymph Blush as well as the Nymph-o-mania lip colour for its healthy, natural, yet sexeh shade 🙂

Unfortunately now, I have so much mekap now that my side table could hardly contain all of them that its spilling to the floor! Definitely no more cosmetics for me for now.

At least not until my next obsession.