Jan'16 Favourites

January 2016 Favourites

 

Just like that with a blink of an eye (specifically the left - because I have a slight twitch there..) January 2016 be dones. What have you done? I've mostly been working and eating a lot of cup noodles and not sleeping the best. Looking forward to February though, plenty of CNY plans and travelling and heading back to my homeland. 

Today, we have what I deem my favourite products of Jan'16. These are the items I have specifically been using every day for the past 31 days. Except maybe the Almond Drops because I only acquired it halfway through the month but I've been crazy about it. 

Lemme get down to it- everyone knows this one. Urban Decay's Naked Palette. The first of the entire beautiful Naked range. I can never get enough of this palette. It can bring me from day to night just. like. that. I can never *ever* get sick of this palette. Also, Buck be my favourite brow colour especially when I have lighter hair. 

The Balm's Meet Matte(e) Nude was gifted to me for Christmas a year ago and it's another winner. Matt Singh, Matt Garcia and Matt Wood are my go-to colours always with this palette. It works perfectly with Urban Decay's Naked. Also everything is Matte so it's perfect. 

The newest addition to my hair routine is this little bottle of Bajaj Almond Oil. It's deemed as a "non-sticky hair oil" with Vitamin E.. and it really is, non-sticky. I use it and my hair absorbs it. It LOVES it. I've been reading up on this oil in the e-world and apparently, you can use it on your face/body too! So I've been using it on my undereye (it's meant to be great for dark circles) and I really like it. I've also tried it as an overnight oil therapy thang for my hair (slept in a shower cap and all)  and woke up to crazy soft hair. I LOVE IT.  

ZA Perfect Fit Concealer is simple and long-lasting. I don't have much to say about  it but out of all my concealers (I have a fair few..) I've been reaching for this one this entire month. It's light and has perfect coverage. I don't look like I haven't slept the entire night with it on. It's great. I'm using Colour 01 for my NC25 skin. 

Lastly, the *ONLY* blusher I've been using since the end of Dec'15. Nars Deep Throat. It's a coral with a hint of pink and a golden shimmer-sheen which allows it to work as a mild highlighter as well? It's super long lasting as are all Nars blushes - they make my favourite blushers seriously. One of my dreams is to own every single pan of Nars blush there is in the world but that'll take a while considering I only have 4 at the moment. *big dreams*  

Also, included in my list but not in my pictures is obviously - MAC Velvet Teddy. Read about it here. I cannot put into words just how much I've been appreciating this lipstick. I've already used up half a bullet and worrying about backups. I feel like I need a whole drawer of it. Totally not excessive.. 

xx,

Amelia

Day and Night Routine - 1Q'16

Day Routine

 L-R Clockwise direction: Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner, Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, Biore UV Perfect Face milk and Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream

Night Routine

 L-R Clockwise direction: Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner, Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate, Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado, Namu Snail White and Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask

For as long as I could remember, my mom has always stressed how important our skin is to us. 12 years old Amelia and all that adolescent acne/whiteheads/icky stuff coming up on my forehead. Thankfully, that didn't last too long, about a year into that.. the lady working at my mom's facial place made a face at my forehead and I did my first extraction, cried a little and was given some cream that was meant to help. It did help. It helped a lot. I am so thankful for that lady. 

I started off simple, with Nivea, Simple, .. Neutrogena, found out my skin didn't work with Salicylic acid so OXY was a big no-no for my skin. L'Oreal skin care too for that matter.  All trial and error. My first proper 3 step system was Clinique and oh how I love that brand. Looked forward to every Christmas when they would come out with the extra large bottle of toner. 

Anyway, fast forward to 13 years later on and a lot of moisturizers and toners and sunscreen later... my skin has now moved on from oily-combination to sensitive-combination skin. Much to my heart's dismay I can no longer use Clinique's toners or else I'll have dry flaky skin for days.

So here's what I'm using now that I feel has been working for me for the past few months. 

Day Routine

I start off with the Kiehl's Calendula Herbal Extract Toner which smells amazing, feels like I'm using chamomile tea all over my face. It's refreshing and so good for my sensitive skin. Followed by Clinique's  Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel which is my all time favourite moisturizer.. but as you can see this one's finishing so it'll be replaced with Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream. I end my day routine with a sunblock of some kind. The one I'm currently using which is Biore UV Perfect Face milk  which I feel is great at mattifying and perfect as a makeup base. I usually have my makeup on for about 12-14 hours a day and by the end of the day it's still decent-ish looking! 

Night Routine

I use the same toner as the day, which is great because this Kiehl's toner is great at removing all the excess dirt that I hadn't been able to wash off with my cleansing oil (I switch between Shu Uemera Porefinist Anti-Shine Fresh Cleansing Oil and Biore Cleansing Oil). I follow with Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate which I had tried multiple samples off before splurging and getting the full sized version. This stuff's amazing! I wake up to glowing and smooth skin and I *love* it, don't think I could live without it anymore. My night moisturizer is Namu Snail White which I always stock up on when I'm in Thailand. You can buy it here in Malaysia but it'll cost a good RM60 more. I finish off with an eye cream (Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado - super value for money. Tons of product. I don't know when I'll ever finish using it) and because I am prone to dry lips and I love lipstick too much to not do something about it, Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask  comes to the rescue.

I also do a paper mask (that I keep in the fridge) whenever I can - about 2 to 3 time a week. So nice to come home after a tiring day and popping a cold mask to the face. Sometimes  I fall asleep which isn't the best thing to do - but it happens. 

Also, another thing that I'm a big advocate of is to *ALWAYS* take off your makeup at the end of the night/day/before you sleep. Always always always. Even when I'm home at 4am and still drunk af, I'll always take off my makeup. It's really important. Like I can't even stress how blinkin' important it is.

If you have any recommendations for sensitive-combination skin.. let me know! I'm always up for trying new products - mostly because I get bored so easily and I just like buying things. Heh. 

xx,

Amelia.

MAC Velvet Teddy

As most of you would know, or might not know. I am a makeup fiend. Like, I actually *love* makeup. I love lipsticks and blushers and mascaras (although in that field I only love one brand of mascara) and bronzers and have I mentioned lipsticks? I freaking love lipsticks. I could do my everyday makeup with a pinky-nude lip and that'll be normal and then I changed it up with some red lipstick and bam! Suddenly people think I've changed my entire look when really, all I did was switch up the lipsticks. 

They're my favourite makeup item.. the lipstick.Which will explain why I have too many at home, I've never actually counted how many but I know it's enough for my friends to have an intervention and long story short, I've been on a lipstick ban for the past 2 years. I'll come clean though, yes, I buy the occasional drugstore/korean brand lipsticks but they don't compare with MAC. Never. I've actually not bought a MAC lipstick for about 2 years now. 

So imagine my sheer delight when Su Wan came by with my Christmas present last week. It's a colour I've been coveting for the longest time but have had to put it on hold until I've finished at least 1 of my lipsticks (no, I still have not finished even one of my lipsticks). So, thank you Su Wan! You're always telling me to have self-control and to not fall into the deep end of my obsession so I was really surprised! 

Here it is, in all it's glory... 

MAC Velvet Teddy

 Y'all know being Asian, it's sometimes hard to find like the perfect nude that won't make us look sick or anemic? This one is perfect. it's not too dark so it doesn't look too brown and it's not too pale so it doesn't make us look sickly.

And there's something about MAC's matte formula too. It's never drying (at least for me) and it always lasts for a substantial amount of time on the lips even with drinking and eating. So that's something I love about it. 

Here are some unfiltered pictures of myself with them on my lips. If you see one of these pictures up on Instagram sometime soon please know that I filter all my Instagram photos to the fullest so that is *why* they won't look like me. Hell, even my momma couldn't recognize me when I showed her one of my Instagram photos. 

 See what I mean, about it not making me look like I'm about to pass out? I AM IN LOVE WITH IT.

I can finally cross off Velvet Teddy from my "Lipsticks to get from MAC" list. (Yes, the list is about 2 years old. Ever since I started the ban). 

Also, I realized I have never done a post on my most prized possessions in my lipstick collection yet (mostly cause I was so damn lazy last year and had no motivation to blog) so I will get to doing that sometime soon!

xx,
Amelia

FY2015

One of the deciding factors that made this blog happen again was the fact that I've been doing a yearly recap of the things I have done/accomplished etc, you know what I'm on about.. for the past 10 years ish and I was a little sad that I didn't have a platform anymore to kind of just list it all out.

So here it goes! What went downnnnn in Two Thousand and Fifteen.

• The most obvious thing. Stopped blogging at Bytes-Infinitum and moved on to this pretty little place. 

• Traveled! One of my most favorite things to do ever and if I had unlimited money and no responsibilities at all,  I would be traveling all day err'day but unfortunately, life isn't like that but I'm thankful I've been able to visit the following places in 2015: Manila, Puerto Princesa, Tioman, Melbourne, Bangkok (twice!), Chiang Mai, Langkawi (finally), Jakarta and Singapore. As well as went back home to Brunei several times too! Can't live without seeing my parents and my Scamp & Peps so I gots to make those trips home every couple of months. Which reminds me that I am actually due for a trip home. Need to organise that asap.

•  Started teaching kids. I always thought that I didn't have patience for children or that maybe I just didn't like them all that much. However, having taught several classes now.. with kids aged 5 - 7, I realise you know what? I really should give myself more credit. I have more patience than I thought I did. *happy* I teach English btw and it's the hardest thing ever. 

•  Moved in to a place that I can call my own and I am *loving* it. 

• Got myself a pair of wrist tattoos! Since I was in my early teens I've always wanted wrist tattoos. There was always something stopping me from getting them but I went ahead and got them this year. I got "Love is patient. Love is kind." and it's my favourite. I look at them everyday and I don't think I could ever get sick of looking at them. It's also a reminder sort of for me? To always be kind and to always be patient and whilst it doesn't always work, I'm trying!

•  Actually not spent a lot of money on make-up this year. I didn't even fall into the holiday trap when all them beautiful palettes were being thrown out. I stood my ground and didn't even buy one palette. It's hard and it's taking a lot of self control but I'm proud of myself. The money goes to better things like paying bills and eating.

•  Made a couple of really good friends that I am so thankful for. Also, reminded always that some people are just not worth all the effort especially when it's not reciprocated. 

• Would you believe me if I said that I've improved my mandarin a fair bit this year? Because, I have! I can actually gossip (to a certain extent) in complete mandarin and even order in a shop properly. Mad happy. My hopes for 2016 is to improve even more and just widen my vocabulary and that people are willing to want to speak to me in Mandarin more.

•  Went to DWP in Jakarta in Nov'15 and it was a really surreal experience. 8 hours of non-stop dancing and just screaming and throwing our hands in the air was really fun albeit we felt like we were the little mermaid walking for the first time with daggers in our feet afterwards. Felt like it was worth it though. Really REALLY enjoyed it. Glad for midnight decisions. 

•  Joined a treasure hunt organised by work that took us from KL all the way to Johor so that was really fun and took a lot of brain power. 

•  Started calligraphy writing and now it's one of my favourite past time to release stress. Very proud of how far I've come with this so there's that. 

• My Macbook Pro died on me and has not been revived ever since. Well to be fair, she's been in the hospital for the past 2 months and so far no good news. Can I just say I had 5 years of memories in that laptop and it really kills me. Also, my hard disk that has memories dating back to when I was using my Sony Ericson in my secondary school years has also malfunctioned so I have actually no memories that I can look back to at the moment and that KILLS me. 

Basically, a lot happened in 2015 even though it wasn't anything huge or life changing I feel like it's been a pretty decent year. Lots and lots of terrible days but I've had some really good times too and I am so SO grateful for people I can call my friends who have made the good times in 2015 happen.

I was also unfortunate to meet the worst guy ever but in a way, I am lucky because now I am really really sure about what I want and don't want in any guy that I ever date. I lost a lot of self-respect at that moment and it was something that I regretted wholeheartedly but hey, you get over it. I take it as a lesson to not ever lower my standards and that some people are just dickheads and can't be helped (mostly because they don't want to be helped..) but seriously though, where do these people even come from? No respect for women and just the worst. I am so glad that saga is not something that's ongoing right now and fingers crossed that will never ever happen again.

Moving on to 2016, I'm ready for some changes in my life. I'll be turning 25! So that's halfway to my 30-s which is really quite exciting! I've got some plans to carry out this year but I won't list them down even though it would make me accountable but a bit shy lah. Like what everyone says though, New year, New me! New in a sense.. upgraded.. better? My brains...

ALSO, I intended for this post to be super picture laden but unfortunately, I am typing this on my Thinkpad from work and I have no friggin idea how to transfer pictures from my iPhone to this computer. So..

Soz.

I'll update the post or do another one when I figure it out because I want to have pictures on this blog cause it's so nice to look back and ahhhhh.

I miss my Macbook Pro A LOT. I don't even know how to put it in words.

To everyone who's read this entire post, thank you! Have a happy jolly 2016 filled with luck and love and good health and happiness. May we all be happy in 2016.

BTW BECKY, I WILL BE UPDATING REGULARLY. INTERNET, WITNESS ME!

xx

Amelia.