2009 – The Year That Was

Oh what a year 2009 has been. Let’s wrap mine up, shall we?

The Year of Beauty
- I’ve never in my life used so much sunscreen, but in summer 2009, I went through two full-sized tubes in two months. Sunscreen for the body is now a staple in my skincare routine.

- Lost interest in makeup for a while, got it back, slipped through my fingers once more. Sigh.

- Bought a lot less drugstore makeup and splurged on higher end ones like Chanel and Dior. Would you believe me if I said that those minimal pieces gave me a longer and more satisfying “high”?

- The dark circles under my eyes have reduced significantly, and are almost gone. A minimal amount of concealer (even YSL’s Touche Eclat) can finally cover them up completely, when they couldn’t before. After moving here, I’m finally getting more sleep and a lot less stress.

- Had my hair straightened for a whopping AU$250. I have never spent that much on one go on my skin before, let alone my hair. It was completely worth it though, as the salon people did a fantastic job on my hair. SUI Hair Salon in the city – highly recommended.

- Did something I thought I swore I would never do – had my eyebrows embroidered. I have such thick brows that the idea wasn’t even worth contemplating in the beginning. What I thought would simply be a trip to the beautician to have my eyebrows groomed (the usual snip and tweeze) had me coming out of the salon with perfectly embroidered eyebrows. It lasted for a year and I haven’t used an eyebrow pencil on them since. What a breeze it was to maintain. I just had mine re-done, and even though I look rather terrifying now (they’re really dark and, er, pointy), it should settle down and fade nicely after a month. I hope.

- Went for my first facial in Melbourne. It was certainly different from what I’m used to (I used to frequent Kanebo’s International Salon in Penang, Malaysia for my facials). Perhaps it was just the beautician who slipped up that time, but I preferred the meticulousness and attention I was used to. 2010 will be the year I find the ONE.

- My hair grew the longest. As my hair is layered, one can’t tell that it’s that long, but from the back, it was only 3 inches from my waist. Instead of having it cut at my usual el-cheapo salon, I decided to splurge a little and went to an *ahem* upclass *ahem* salon at Queensbay Mall instead. Ahem

- After years of seeing my mother using SKII and wondering what that smelly water was all about, I decided to give the facial treatment essence a go. Cost me a whopping RM418 for a 215ml bottle, but the results were oh-so-worth-it.

The Year of Bags

I’ve always been known to have a lot of bags. Although they were mostly cheap, fashionable bags, I’ve never regretted buying any of them. In 2009, I’ve decided to cut my one-bag-a-month shopping routine, and saved up for good, classic leather bags. I only bought three all year (okay, that extra Rootote doesn’t count ), a Louenhide weave tote, an Oroton alpine hobo and a Rebecca Minkoff tote. And I LOVE them.

The Year of Geekery

This is something that not everyone knows – I love designing websites, and do it on the side. No, I’ve never had proper training for it, but I picked up the basics and moved on to more ever since I started blogging 4 years ago.

I designed blog templates for some friends, and added those to my design portfolio. If you’re interested in having your blog redesigned for free (limited time only though, till I build up my portfolio), just let me know.

The Year of Finally Doing It

After almost two years of contemplating, planning, letting it go, back on the job hunt, picking it up once more (basically a whole lot of serious thinking), I finally started up a small business in selling my custom and hand-made jewellery online. It was such a challenging move and I had to do everything on my own. It was a great learning experience indeed, and even though it has only been a couple of months, I’ve never looked back. I have such visions for it, upon its expansion to what it could be in a year or two. I can’t wait.

Holiday of the Year

Bangkok with Bee was absolutely fantastic. We ate, we spa-ed and we shopped. Oh my, did we SHOP. I haven’t had that much girly fun in yonks, and I’m so glad I did the trip with her. Tried out a fish spa for the first time too. What an incredibly tickling experience that was. Bee has all the photos. In the 30-minute session, I probably squealed and squirmed about 25 minutes of them. Photos of the trip and crazy-ass haul to come when I’m back in Melbourne (lots of photos to sort out)

And that concludes my 2009. It’s been one heck of a year, and it drew to an end splendidly. I hit the big 3-0 in 2010, and you know what? I say, BRING IT ON! I can’t be more excited as to what 2010 will bring.

Have a great new year, my lovelies. May 2010 bring you joy, hope and good things. And great hair and skin!

Birkensport, Anyone?

One of my many pairs of shoes from Bangkok. Check out my Birkenstock, er, I mean, BirkenSPORT

Merry Christmas from Beautyholics Anonymous

I’m so glad that I was able to spend the Christmas holidays with my loved ones. Even though I’ve been stuffed to the core with food and would need to hit the gym HARD and completely detox when I’m back in Melbourne, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So here’s wishing you a very blessed Christmas and happy holidays to all. Stay safe, and have a wonderful time with yours too

In The Land of Good Food, Old Friends And High Humidity

Greetings from Malaysia! If you’ve wondered where the heck it was that I had disappeared to, well, there’s your answer. I’m back in the land of good food, incredibly humid weather and, might I say, pretty awesome shopping (considering the exchange rate of Australian dollars to Ringgit )

Here’s an update of what I’ve been up to of late:
- Attended my dear friend’s wedding at E&O Hotel in Penang. Great wedding, and the bride was stunning. The wedding gown she wore was absolutely gorgeous (she brought it back with her from the US)!

- Ate a lot and sweated buckets. I swear to God, my Dove anti-perspirant is completely useless here. It’s embarrassing how I keep my arms akimbo most of the time just to make sure I do not end up with pit stains on my clothes. It’s times like these that I (almost) wish I had Botox on my pits just to stop the sweat from coming out for my trips to South East Asia.

- Met up with old friends.

- Was treated to a spa session by my girlfriend. The three of us had what I would call the most vigorous back massage I’ve ever had in my life. Apparently it was a detox programme, and the salon people used a hard-bristled brush to attack the skin. I now have massive bruises (a foot wide) which spreads from the bottom of my neck to the lower back. I kid you not. Amazingly enough, they don’t hurt at all.

- Had a fantastic day out with my Mum. She treated me to a facial at Kanebo, which I haven’t had in a year. I rarely go for facials in Melbourne, so this really is a treat.

- Went to the dentist and had my first teeth-cleaning in, er, years. Thankfully, I had no cavities or problems; all I needed was a good cleaning. I wonder if I was the first patient the dentist had who had the earphones and iPod on the entire dental session, just to drown out the godawful metal-grating sounds?

- Karaoked my lungs out. Had such a great time with my friends singing songs our parents would normally choose. Really, new songs these days are incredibly difficult to sing to!

- Surprisingly enough, I really controlled my shopping this time. I only bought the essentials which I wrote down in my shopping list. There weren’t any impulse purchases. In fact, the ONLY piece of makeup I bought for myself was Maybelline’s Angelfit blush (which is good, by the way. Will do a review on it soon). I’ve decided that since I’ve got too much makeup already anyway, this time, I would save that money and spent it on good skincare items. And spent it I did.

- Spent a bomb on SKII products. And all I bought was the Facial Treatment Essence and face masks (to share with Geekchic). Figured the biggest bottle I could get on the essence was cheaper per ml. My mum gave me a small bottle to try out a few days prior to purchase. I actually felt my skin getting softer from that smelly, SMELLY water. Yeah go figure

That’s it for now. The reason I’m holding out on the shopping is because I’ll be heading to Bangkok with Beetrice in a couple of days. BANGKOK BABY! The two of us went to Bangkok three years ago, and we had such a blast. There’s just one rule to the trip – absolutely NO sightseeing, shopping only. You can imagine how we really went to town with that

So excited!

Manicare Artiste Makeup Brush Roll

From my previous post, I had a few comments from readers asking me where I bought the makeup brush roll from.

It’s a Manicare Artiste makeup brush roll which I purchased from Priceline. I’m afraid I can’t recall how much it cost, but I reckon it’s somewhere between AU$15-AU$25. I’ll update when I can confirm the price. It costs AU$14.95.

The brush roll is a makeup brush case which I use for traveling (it does not come with brushes). It has a leatherette cover with an elastic band to hook onto a metal button. Most of the brushes below are from the Manicare Artiste range, and are the ones I’ll be bringing with me on my trip.

Manicare Artiste concealer brush #1
Manicare Artiste small shadow brush #30
NYX eyeshadow brush
Manicare Artiste sponge tip shadow #37 (great for using a dark shadow as an eyeliner)
Manicare Artiste stippling brush #17
The Face Shop lip brush
Bloom eyeliner brush
MAC blending brush #217

I did not have high expectations for their makeup brushes when I purchased them, but so far, I’ve been quite impressed with the ones I have. The brushes are affordable; most of them are less than AU$20.