Super mini Inglot haul from KL

Thanks to my sis who went KL over the long weekend cum holiday, she managed to snag some Inglot Freedom system for me! Honestly, it is such a puny haul as my shopping list to her was a bit longer but she told me she was running out of cash, thus can only settle for this mini list.

Freedom System 3 eyeshadow palette with matte 351, shine 06, pearl 402

The pro and con about Inglot freedom system is the SUPER VAST variety of colours and finishes of eyeshadows and blushes. It would be be great to check it out in person but I had to rely on online swatches to make my decisions, which is quite challenging. So I turn to my favourite beauty bloggers, makeup blogette and joey's space to look at the swatches they had before making up my mind. You would be able to see the swatches of these 3 shadows in their blog links. As usual, the boring me went for neutrals again with the exception of shine 06 which is a dirty gold colour.

And I only just realised that it is more worth it to purchase the shine finish which comes in 3.5g when the pearl finish comes in only 2.7g, haha. But honestly, how much difference can 0.8g makes? -_-

The 3 eyeshadow palette cost RM22 and each eyeshadow cost RM28! Freaking expensive when online is only selling for USD4.50 if you are purchasing above 10 colours (of course, we have to factor in shipping cost though). But I guess unless you are flying to the States, KL Inglot at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall will be a good place to check out their stuffs in person.

My KL trip in December is more or less confirmed, pending the fixing of the dates. I soooooo CAN'T WAIT to check out Inglot then! Well, I shall end this post with a pic of my Inglot stash :)

Astro

Sorry for the lack of updates on this miserable blog...... I haven't been hauling much (hallelujah!!! lol) and I am still using some of the stuffs which I previously bought so do bear with me to use them for a while longer to give a better review. :)

On a separate note, remember the kitten we rescued last month? We have decided to named him Astro. He is growing well. Getting very active and love to play with Eden, Titus and Simba. His appetite is also monstrous, I can foresee that he will be a second Simba who will be damn greedy, haha. However, despite him growing well, he has a problem, he can't seem to shit regularly, which is bad.

Just like humans, cats have to poo everyday. However, for Astro, he poo only once every 2 days or so, which is pretty bad for a 6 weeks old kitten. This is especially considering that we have not fed him on a full proper diet with dry or wet food (now he is on 80% milk diet). The foster mum told us that she hope this is going to be a passing phase and eventually his system will be clear but from her look of it, she don't seem optimistic. This is especially after feeding him lactose (to make him poo / diarrhoae out all his shit) and all we get is just bits and pieces of poo here and there. She emphasized that if Astro grows up to be suffering from chronic constipation, it will badly affect his quality of life (needs to go to the clinic to 'pump' out his poo, surgery etc) and he will always be feeling bloated and uncomfortable since he cannot pass out the poo. This means, the last resort would be to put him down :(

We can only take 1 step at a time for him and see if his condition improves.......... But it's sad to see such a healthy growing kitten who has no issue with anything suffering from this problem.

Completed stuffs!!!

What did I say about me being a good girl? See what I have completed over these 2 months!!

From left to right: Paul & Joe Refreshing Skin Toner, Clinique Moisture Surge, Lancome Miracle EDP, Clarins Whitening Pure Aqua Lotion, Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser

I bought Paul & Joe Refreshing Skin Toner during one of the sale at Takashimaya some time back because my toner then (which I cannot remember) is running low and the cheapo streak in me thought it would be good to get it since it was on sale anyway.

I am not someone particular about toner because I was using it as it was part of the 3-step process that I had been following in my skincare regime. Essentially as long as I do not feel discomfort on my skin after wiping the toner over my face and not cause breakouts, it's a decent toner. Paul & Joe refreshing skin toner was light and as mentioned 'refreshing' and has a light citrusy fragrance. I'm not sure if I will purchase it again but based on the factors that I felt fresh after application and causes no breakouts, it is worth considering.

Clinique's Moisture Surge is no stranger in this blog and you can refer to this post for my review of it.

Lancome Miracle EDP is a popular fragrance among many ladies and I had always been re purchasing it after all these years. This fragrance is an absolute love of mine.

Another toner which I completed is a sample size of Clarins Whitening Pure Aqua Lotion. The only peeve I had was the fragrance. For someone who likes fragrance in skincare, this is abit too strong for me. Other than that, it would definitely be a toner I would repurchase.

Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser is my love. I have raved about this baby in this post and I have no doubt about repurchasing this again. (In fact, I already did in the recent Metro sale).

So have you completed any stuffs lately??

My first Gelish experience

I am not someone who does manicure or pedicure often, especially manicure. Somehow, the polishes just does not last well on my fingers (max 3 days and chipping will occur), and this could be due to me doing housework or whatever, I am not sure. I do like going for pedicure as my feet just feels so much cleaner after the pedicure session with all the dead skin and cuticles removed.

I have friends who have been doing gel nails for the longest time and raving about how lasting it is (3 weeks - 1 month) and the shine and gloss is always there! As I went for a session of pedicure at this shop at Holland V (I used to patronise them about once a month), I enquired if they do Gelish as well. They do and I felt it wasn't as cheap as those promotion we always see at $48 or $68 but $80! And it is not inclusive of manicure which is what I would like to get it done given the amount of gross cuticles on my fingers. But I still caved in and thought just give it a try, at least I tried and if I do not like it, just pay $30 for a soak off 3 weeks later.

The whole process of removing my cuticles, shaping and eventually waiting for the gel to set is damn FAST! After applying the gel polish on my fingers and shining the UV light on them for a mere 2-5 mins, it is done! WHAT?????? I kept asking the manicurist if it is really done as I usually had to wait for my polishes to dry for at least 10 - 15 mins! She asked me to touch it for myself and it is dry, not soft and firm like it is REALLY dry. I really like what I am seeing......

The next test would be after removing it, how does my nails look like as I have also heard friends telling me their nails got brittle after doing gel nails, so we shall see. :)

Why I hate calling customer service

I am not sure how many of you feels the same way as I do but I hate hate hate hate to call customer service hotline, especially when it comes to IT issue. The ultimate challenge is always how they can resolve an IT issue over the line, which is absolute crap and I also know the eventual answer is 'Sorry Mdm, but I would need to send our technical guy down to take a look and the earliest date we have in our calender now is 2 weeks later.'

Ok, other than the fact that I know the eventual answer, the whole process of logging a case in their system is super irritating........ Don't believe me???? Check this out. It is sooooooo true!

Working from home

Ever since I joined the current company, I have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home when required and till now I still like it. This is especially true if I have a super early conference call or a late night call the night before.

Then I stumbled upon this cute comic which I find it so funny and true. For you guys who had the flexibility of working from home, do check out this comic and tell me your view. :)

Il Volo - 'O Sole Mio

I heard the name of this group for a while but never got to googling for their music and when I googled, this was the first music video that pop out. I don't know what the song means but it definitely lifted my spirit after a week of shitty work.



I did a search on this group and these guys are young! Piero Barone (17 years old, the one wth glasses), Ignazio Boschetto (16 years old, the plump one), and Gianluca Ginoble (16, hub says he looks like Ricky Martin, lol). I personally like Piero Barone, the glasses scored some points there, haha.

Brush Guard

Even since I start using and experimenting more with makeup, I realised the importance of having good makeup tools and protecting them. From web surfing, I stumbled upon this wonderful item called 'Brush Guard' that can help to keep and protect your brushes, at the same time maintaining their shape and protecting the bristles.

It is available online at their site and they ship internationally for USD3.00 (up to 5 packs), which is pretty ok, given the low USD now.

I purchased the Variety Pack which comes with guards for 1 shadow / liner brush, 2 blush brush, 2 foundation brush and 1 kabuki / powder brush. The guards look pretty small when I took it out from the pack but it is stretchable and not too soft so that it is able to protect the bristles and maintain its shape. I placed it over my brushes and they look like this now!

I seriously think Brush Guard is a very good cheap investment to get to protect your brushes (especially if you are one who invest in GOOD brushes from MAC and Shu Uemura). Before I stumbled upon Brush Guard, I do notice that some of my brushes (from BareMinerals and Sephora) and opening up more, perhaps because there isn't something that can hold the bristles when I am not using them and they are sitting in a cup brush holder.

Do give this a try if you are looking for something to protect your brushes! :)

brotzeit @ Vivocity

With a bunch of closer colleagues in office, we organised a monthly HAPPY HOUR get together whereby we will meet for some some drinks and food. So far we had a few of such get together and it was absolutely fun! We bitch about work, talk about holidays and crap about anything. Definitely a stress reliever!

This month, we got together at brotzeit at Vivocity and I have to say, getting a table at this place is absolute madness on a Friday. Some time back, we tried making a table reservation 1 week in advance and they told us the place is fully booked! Being the kiasu us, we thought since we already had a date for the next happy hour session, perhaps let's just book 1 month in advance and thank goodness, we got a table this time round.

What is interesting about brotzeit is their beers. I am not a beer person and thus not an expert. There is this bitter taste about beer that makes me dislike it but brotzeit was able to cater to people like me who don't really like the bitter taste of beer by mixing it with mango juice, banana juice, coke or sprite! I had their beer mixed with sprite (I think it was called the 'cyclist' as it is a popular drink in Germany whereby people have it after sports, given the low alcohol content), and it was refreshing.

Next up, we had to order food for a bunch of hungry people who just went through hell and back at work! Given we had about 6 people who are eating, we ordered their meat platter that comes with their signature pork knuckle, different type of sausages, deep fried veal and 2 sides (which we opt for their yummy potato wedges and white cabbage).

It was really meat overload but we love the sausages and pork knuckle. Fried veal was a bit too dry for our liking though.

As we sat and chat and bitch about things, we managed to catch the fireworks from Sentosa that goes off at 930am and it was nice........ Nice scenery, nice food and beer and most importantly wonderful people....... What more can I ask for?

Belated hauls posting

My blog has been really boring lately with not much updates and all thus I decided to post a belated haul postings with some of the buys that I made few months back.

Courtesy of 2 of my good pals, I managed to snag Laura Mercier from Taipei and Crabtree & Evelyn stuffs (my pal had some discount for her birthday month). I got the popular oil free foundation primer and tinted moisturiser from Laura Mercier as these 2 products are highly raved in the beauty blogsphere. Have yet to break into it thus no comments from me so far. Will post my comments about it once I started using them.

I love nice scented stuffs, especially from Crabtree & Evelyn and L'Occitane and I have been a fan of their body products for a while. Used to not need to get anything from them because I also received their stuffs as Xmas presents from friends! I love lavender and anything with lavender goes for me so I decided to purchase their Lavender dusting powder as well as Lavender bar soaps. Love them!

Next up is Metro Sale! I never usually head down to Metro during their sale as I have friends who can help me get stuffs or I have no stuffs that I need to get. This time round, it was a rare occasion whereby I have Clarins stuffs that I need to get and I was actually available to head down after work.

What I love about getting Clarins stuffs from Metro is that because I am a Metro Card holder, I get to have direct 10% discount off Clarin's products on normal times and when it comes to Metro sales, it's an attractive 20% direct discount! Lucky for me, Clarins works well on me so it is what I called 'Killing 2 birds with 1 stone', hahahaha.

During the Metro sale, I got my favourite cleanser, Gentle Foaming Cleanser for normal to combination skin, Toning lotion (for combination to oily skin) and White Plus HP Whitening Moisture Day Emulsion.

I have tried Toning lotion years ago so I do not think it should be any problems for me. But the whitening day emulsion is a new try for me since it is new. However, I tested the texture on my hand and it felt ok so I thought why not give it a try, especially when there is 20%? Cheapo me........ BC also got some stuffs from Clarins Men range seeing the 20% discount! Haha.

Another reason why I love Clarins? They are super generous with their samples, which I think is a superb strategy. Most ladies are concerned about committing to a product which might end up not suitable to their skin type. With a sample, not only are they able to try, if it's good, you have a new customer, why not? Check out the samples I have from Clarins over 2 visits from them previously! (Did not managed to get any samples during the Metro sale because it was really crowded!)

Last but not least, I finally got my hands on Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy after my previous posting here! Chanel does not have direct 20% discount since their stuffs are price controlled but we get the 20% off in terms of rebate voucher. So I get to offset this 20% against my Clarins purchases (which already has direct 20% off, yeah!)

The Little One........

After the rescue of the little kitten from the car-park last week, he has been fostered by a 'nanny' (a nurse vet at the vet clinic) on weekends and we will bring him back on Saturday before he is sent back to his nanny on Sun evening. From the way I see, he is a very active boy, the only issue now is that he is still very small and young thus extra care and attention is needed. However, when he whines..... man..... he SURE CAN WHINE! Loud and clear!

So here are some pics of the little guy!

 

Above pics taken on 30 Jul

This week, when I went to pick up the little one, he has grown slightly bigger and stronger!

I'm so happy to see the little kitten so well and thanks is not enough for the vet nurse who agreed to help me take care of him on weekdays. Yes, I paid her but she could have declined but her kind-hearted-ness is all it took to help this kitten. This is why I said that animal lovers in general are super nice people!

Understanding your cologne

After getting my first Jo Malone last week, I started getting curious with their fragrances and was seeing their products online. I saw the terms "top notes", "heart notes" and "base notes". Sounds like some musically stuffs to me which I have completely no idea what they are trying to say.

So I decided to do a Google of it and thanks to NMdaily, I finally understand this fragrance language.

According to the site:-
Top notes: The first impression of a fragrance, which generally last for half an hour.

Heart notes: The scent of a fragrance that emerges just prior to when the top notes dissipate in approximately four to five hours.

Base note: The longest lasting note, which appears close to the departure of the middle notes. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a fragrance. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a scent.

After reading this, I finally understands why my perfume doesn't smells the same after a few hours, it's due to the different notes. Of course, our body chemistry plays a part as well.

My monthly date at Hatched

Having our breakfast at Hatched on a weekend as became a monthly affair for me and BC. Without fail, once a month, I will suggest for us to have breakfast at Hatched and it will always be full of anticpation as I really like their food!

This month, I am determined to try something new from the menu. I had tried Hitch Me Up (shared with BC) and El Chorizo (which I did not enjoyed the spiciness of the chorizo sausages), and I definitely want to try another dish from the menu with scrambled eggs! Have I mentioned that I love scrambled eggs and Hatched's scrambled eggs are HEAVENLY.......... soft and watery with the right consistency, damn I am drooling just thinking about it...........

BC ordered Usual Suspects (again!) and I opted for Papillote, which is highly recommended. It's smoked salmon folded over scrambled eggs and served over toast, coupled with sauteed potatoes and baked tomato. It is yummy............. I am definitely trying this again!

My super nice Papillote

On a random note, their salt and pepper shakers are really nice!

I have been raving about Hatched to my friends and strongly recommending this place because it is nice and cozy. Location is not quite accessible but then the food is super good, you guys really have to give it a try!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Finale, finally!)

The Harry Potter saga in my opinion has really been over-stretched. To the extent when I was reading the final book, I felt the storyline was getting a little bit over done and the ending sloppy. This is the reason why I have not been bugging BC to watch the finale of the saga, it was just not exciting anymore and was more of a commercial gimmick because some one signed a contract to write 7 books.

However, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed this movie. In fact, the director captured a few scenes very well. So well that I was very touched by it and I know the lady sitting in front of me was also super touched because she was crying buckets and blowing her nose! I know there have been a lot of mixed comments about this show but I am definitely in the 'I ENJOY IT' camp.

Honestly, the last scene of the movie was crap because it was supposed to be 19 years later where they are all adults, married with kids. The only guy who really looked like a father was Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and his pals all look so wrong because they only looked a few years older than their supposedly children. This scene could seriously be done better with actors or actresses of the real age.

I am someone who prefer to read the book first before watching the movie. Some told me I will lost the true anticipation of watching a show by reading the book before watching the show but to me, it made me understand the show better as I know why certain things happens (because the details were in the book but not shown in the show).

This show might not be a must watch but for those who have been watching Harry Potter, it would make sense to watch it and end this sage, don't you think? :)