Category: female vanities

I was in a Swatch shop some time back and noticed the “Lady Collection“.

I really fancied it! I liked that it was made of plastic, since my skin is allergic to impure metals. And it looked really stylish how you could double wrap it like a bracelet. Arm party! I could layer it with some of my bracelets.

I remember that it was close to 50 euro, so I gave myself a sort of buffer time to decide if I really wanted it or if it was just on a whim. I wouldn’t want to get something on impulse and then not use in the end.

But then I was walking at a bancarella in Eur Fermi and I found one! So pretty! There were heaps of other colours, but I was so stoked that I found one in green. (my favourite colour)

Ok, so, it’s not the genuine stuff and Cart snarkily commented that it might not last long. But for now, who cares. For the price of one Swatch watch, I could buy another 8 of these back to back when it breaks 

By the way, I’m completely happy to wear knockoffs. It’s even better for us consumers! But I don’t support it when a manufacturer pretends to be something they are not. Like imitation Chanel bags or Tiffany Bracelets which claims to be genuine but is not.

But if Swatch wants to send me one for me to do a side by side comparison, *ahem* I’d be glad to

Update Jan 2013 : Just found out that the Pussy Cat Lip and Cheek Tint has been renamed as Cherub’s Blush Lip and Cheek Tint. It should still be the same thing.

I’m really into the natural look. The no-makeup makeup look. Which could be a misnomer, since one still needs make-up to look like they are not using make-up.

Which is why ever since I’ve known about it, I’ve always wanted the Benetint Cheek and lipstain as it is supposed to give you the natural healthy fresh look. I’ve watched plentiful of youtube and blog reviews about it. And swatching it on my hand while on my trip to Sephora, it looks so beautiful.

By the way, did you know that Gu Hye-sun, the Korean actress in Boys over flowers was known to have used it while shooting the series.

The only thing that bugged me was that it was really expensive. At 32.50 euro, the price really scared me off. That’s like one week worth of groceries for me. A girl needs to eat, after all.

Luckily for me, I found out that there was a very close dupe in the form of Mememe Cherub’s Blush Cheek and Lip Tint. It’s a UK brand, which as far as I know, isn’t sold in Italy.

Which is why I bothered Claire to buy one for me while she was on her honeymoon to UK.

I’ve been using it for about a month now. It started off being completely full. It’s kind of scary that I’ve used up quite a significant amount already. But that shows how much I love this thing.

Each bottle costs about 5 pounds each and comes in a volume of 12 ml. The container seems to be made of glass, so I reckon you’d have to be careful when you bring it out on a trip.

Inside, it contains a deep cherry red liquid and it comes with an odd looking applicator which looks like a nail polish brush.

But I reckon that it works just fine you could control the amount that you want to put on.

The colour, by the way, is just gorgeous! Reminds me of roses and cherries which looks beautiful and natural even on darker skin. I love it. Look at what just two dots did on my hand.

In using it for about a month, I haven’t had any adverse reactions to it, but it’s useful to check the ingredients.

Putting it on is super easy. For me, I like to draw crosses across my cheeks and dab it in the apples of the cheeks. Or you could just put multiple dots or multiple strokes. But regardless, you’d have to be quick and do it before it dries up though, and it does dries up pretty quickly! Or you’d end up with an odd looking stain.

The formula smells like roses by the way. Which reminds me so much of the drink, Rose Syrup.

By the way, when it calls itself a cheek stain, it really does mean stain!

My finger tends to stay this colour even after washing it with soap and water and remains that way for a couple of hours. But it’s not such a big deal.

Anyway here I am, looking quite naked with just foundation on.

And here I am with the cheek and lip-tint. It’s very subtle but in less than 30 seconds, it made my face look more fresh. Wonderful!

You could use it on the lips too. I really love the colour, but I need to put some lip balm beforehand as the formula feels very drying on the lips. While it smells like roses, it has a strange, but not unbearable taste. Which is why I normally avoid it on my lips.

And here are a couple more pictures of me, just because I’m having a good hair day today.

I’m using just 5 products on my face by the way :

• Olaz Total Effects Touch of Foundation in Dark
• Lucy Minerals Brow Powder
• Essence Maximum Definition mascara
• Mememe Cherub’s Blush Lip and Cheek Tint
• Essence XXXL Shine Lipgloss in True Love

Super simple! Super easy! I love it and will probably keep this routine for a bit. 5 minutes and I’m pretty much done! 🙂

Sidenote : At this point of time, Mememe has come out with Boho Balm, which is another version of cheek and lipstain. So purrdy!

Growing up, I’ve always been skinny. Family members would always call me a crane, bamboo stick … Because when I was in school, I could never gain more than 50kg.  That’s really thin for someone who’s 1.61m.

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. I loved them all.

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 63 kg. 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. I looked so FAT and so puffed up in this picture. What happened? And I can’t blame this on bad angles or a bad picture. Because there were loads of pictures like that.

I couldn’t deny the numbers on the weighing machine. I was almost reaching 68 kg. 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. 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 2 km 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 10 km 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 10 kg. That just boggles me. That I’ve been carrying 10kg extra all these while. Carrying regular amount of 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.

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 any-more.

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 as when I was in my mid 20s.  But I hope I don’t lose any more. Any more, and I think I’d be too skinny!

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

And a side by side :

I’ve unleashed the bling monster in me recently. My eyes would dilate when I go next to an accessories shop and when I spot something I like, my IQ goes down and I’ll point and squeal out “Oooh! Shiny!”

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!

I was running out of my regular BB cream, but I didn’t really really think that I’d see anything like this here in Rome (High-end stores like Sephora doesn’t count because it’s kind of pricey for the regular consumer) Even though it’s been out for many years in Asia, BB creams are a relatively new thing in Europe.

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!

I was in a Kiko store 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
• 05 – dark.

I’m kind of surprised that I had to choose the darkest shade, 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 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 does not help for the larger blemishes though, as you could see from the zit on my upper-lip.

The price is 8.90 euro, which for 30 ml 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, and considering that I have combination skin, I’m happy that it lasted throughout the entire day for me. 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 and can be blotted off.

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

There are days when I am not in the mood to put on a lot of mekap on my face. But no matter what, I tend to always put a bit of bb cream and fill up my eyebrows which are sadly, quite sparse.

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.

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 cost me $7 USD (not including shipping) which in my opinion seems quite pricey on its own. Which is why I think it would be more economical to get things from Lucy Minerals as a kit.

It comes with its own plastic sifter and a clear sticker on top of it. 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. 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, the brow powder is 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!

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 doesn’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!

And while it may look complicated, it was 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!

All these bright colours makes me feel happy. 

When you’re chubby, it’s nice when you’ve lost some weight.

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.

Is that song from Right said Fred in your head yet? Anyway, this was my old pair of jeans.

Or pants, whatever you may call it. It’s so baggy, something what MC Hammer would wear. You definitely cannot touch this!

So unflattering. And to think that this pair of pants is just about under a year old.I thought that it would be a good idea to buy tslip on jeans at the time. But after a few washes, it just grew larger and larger.

It’s a H&M pants by the way and it’s unfortunate that the quality wasn’t so good. Nevertheless, I’m still keeping them. After all, it’ll be useful to have in case of what may happen in the future.

And with that, Cart and I were at Visa Diffusione Moda – a sort of outlet shop in Rome which is near the Piramide Metro. Cart gotfor himself a couple of pairs of trousers and was pleasantly surprised to see a number of pants that fit him cost under 20 euro each and I searched for suitable jeans.

I found a super sale segment for jeans at just 5 euro each. Unfortunately for me, I found out that all the sizes were much too big for me when I gave them a try.

Nevertheless, I looked around and the clerk helpfully pulled out a pair of jeans for me. I shuddered at the price, it had a 60% sale from 215 euro. At 86 euro, it was still quite expensive. Nevertheless I tried it on anyway and thought that I really looked good in them.

This is a brand called C’N’C Costume National. It is supposed to be a branded Italian label. Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of this brand before. Nevertheless, my posterior looks good in them.

I saw another pair of pants in the discount segment and went ahead to give them a try. This is from Max Mara. I liked it as it made me look slim.

The design is a little non-traditional with the shape of the pockets, the removal of the belt notches and piping at the back.

But it looked really good on me. It’s not that easy to find pants that fit me well and I was sorely tempted. This time round though, I’m not sure how it could justify the 62 euro price tag.

Especially with the tags cut off.

I’ve always assumed that cut tags from brands means that it is a rejected item. I looked all around it, looking for flaws but I didn’t find any.

Perplexed, I asked the clerk and she answered that the store buys items in bulk and it came like that. This was to prevent people from taking advantage from making money by asking for refunds in the original shop.

Nevertheless, I decided to get it in the end, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out the price was the original price and we had a 60% discount on this one. So we ended paying slightly less than 25 euro for this!

I really love my new jeans. They are a bit long, and the hems needed some adjustments but they should be easily adjusted. An in no time, I’m gonna strut like Tony Manero in Saturday night fever in my new jeans.

Before I end this post, I’m going to put in another narcissistic picture. This Sandro Ferrone top was on sale in Visa and my eyes were just attracted to the bold, sexeh  colour. It was only 10 euro!

I like dressing up in smart-office clothes. Too bad I’m not working in an office.