June/July Skincare Faves!
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Announcements, Make-Up & Beauty
Whenever I get a breakout, I involve myself in a lil chemical warfare by slathering a thick layer of benzoyl peroxide on the affected areas but I believe my overzealous use of benzoyl peroxide over the years have led the pimples to develop a strong defense system against my favourite chemical. Damn. I needed to find something as potent as benzyl peroxide and fast because waking up to a bump infested face isn’t a good way to start a day. It was a hard search - how do you expect to find something more potent than a chemical that has ‘peroxide’ in its name for god’s sake? Well, people. I haz found it. The DDF Sulfur Therapeutic Mask works better than my 2% benzoyl peroxide pimple cream, might burn a hole in your pocket depending on the budget you’ve allotted for skincare but the good news: It won’t burn a hole in your face.
This mask has single-handedly cleared the hormonal breakouts I’ve been getting on my forehead and I’m honestly amazed. The DDF mask is similar to the cult favourite Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque except it’s pricier and the sulfur percentage is higher. The texture is a lot smoother too - I find the Queen Helene version to be so much thicker and a lil’ hard to apply. I like using this as an overnight treatment whenever I have a breakout everyday until my skin gets clear again and it’s been working so well! I wake up to nice, oil-free skin and blemishes are either gone or making plans to move back wherever they came from. Definitely HG material here.
The bad thing about being fair is that it’s incredibly easy to get post-pimple scarring. Whenever I get a zit, I try my best not to pop/touch it but when it goes away, it gives me a little ZIT #2104 WAS HERE BITCH tat on my face every. single. time. That just pisses the fork out of me. I leave you alone most of the time while battling the urge to shove you off my face, treat you with respect mainly fostered by fear and this is how you repay my hospitality?? Bitch plz.
I did some research on natural oils that would help get rid of the redness and apparently, rosehip oil is your best bet so here’s my new anti-redness treatment/night-time moisturizer: Trilogy Organic Rosehip Oil. I’ve been using this for a month now and the redness I get on my skin has been reduced slightly! It’s not a dramatic change but I think I’m getting there. Rosehip oil isn’t an overnight miracle and you need to be patient to see results but my skin condition has improved significantly since including this in my skincare routine, it’s more supple now so I’m just waiting for the day all the redness goes away.
You can use any rosehip oil from the health store but a lot of people seem to like the Trilogy version and since it’s readily available here (It’s from NZ), there was no reason not to check it out. The lovely minimal bottle it comes in is a nice bonus too + the cheap price tag- It’s $18 for a 20ml bottle. I know it’s not a lot but you only need 3 drops a night so it’s going to last forever.
I’ve tried a lot of sunscreens from drugstore brands to Dior but I count the Sekkisei Day Essence SPF 25 PA+ from Kose as my favourite. It doesn’t smell or feel like ordinary sunscreen and doesn’t leave the dreaded ghoulish white cast on your face. I hate that sticky feeling you get after applying sunscreen- you get none of that from the Day Essence. You only need about two pumps to cover your face and mmm the scent! Smells very “Sekkisei” lol, if you’re an avid fan like I am you’d prolly know what I’m talking about. It’s slightly floral and smells like ordinary moisturizer- it applies like one too which is one of the reasons why I love it so much. It glides on like a light emulsion on the skin and makes an excellent base for make-up!
I know this isn’t a skincare item but I’m so impressed by this gel liner that it would be horribly selfish of me not to share this with the world. I am IN LOVE with this gel liner. I don’t know why, it’s not like it doesn’t have flaws - no sir, it does. I’ve tried using this to line my lower lash line and it feathered away into a smudgy muddle after a couple of hours. However, it is absolute PERFECTION on the upper lash line. This is the best drugstore gel eyeliner for the quintessential cat eye. It’s a rich, glossy black and actually comes with a brush that isn’t rubbish! It’s comparable to MAC’s fluidline except it’s much cheaper (can’t remember how much I got it for, I think it was SGD$16?) and despite its inadequacy to stay put on my lower lash line (I prefer using my pencil eyeliners for my lower lash line anyway), I really like this little gem.
So that wraps up my skincare review post! School starts tomorrow and it’s probably going to be as stressful as the previous semester so I might not have time to blog as often. I hate talking about academic stuff on this blog because it’s dry, boring and extremely depressing but school will always be my top priority. It’s not easy being here and certainly not easy on my parents’ bank account either. I am constantly filled with guilt every time I check my school fees, God my mother can easily buy herself a Hermès bag with the kind of money we’re paying the university every semester.
Sometimes I wonder if I was even meant to be here at all since I only chose to come here because my ass got rejected by my own local university twice. It’s not the usual sob story where girl graduates from poly with lacklustre results, gets rejected by her local university and decides to go abroad instead. No. This girl here graduated third in her cohort, received a damn medal from the school for it and STILL got rejected by her local university. It’s heartbreaking to work so hard for a damn good GPA only to be deemed unworthy by your own local university but well, I’m over it. There’s no point in remaining bitter about Singapore’s remarkable education system because I’m here now and I’m determined to do well. I scored straight As last semester by some bizarre stroke of luck and I’m hoping to repeat the same feat. My subjects this semester are slightly more daunting than the previous but I have nothing to say except: BRING IT.
Tags: beauty: maybelline, skincare: DDF, skincare: Kose, skincare: Trilogy
Subdued Winter
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty
Went to the city today to check out the European paintings exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria but I didn’t go in the end because I wasn’t feeling too well. Picasso and Monet will have to wait another day. I found out a couple of days ago that I wouldn’t be able to take Art History next year which is such a shame really because I love that subject (and not because my tutor happens to have one fine ass). It’s the only subject that bears the slightest resemblance to design- something I’m familiar with, having dabbled with it for the past 4 years. I’m kinda gutted about it but well, it’s not the end of the world so I’ll just stick to my random visits to the gallery for my art history fix (what a pity tho, my tutor was a total hunk and has a PhD in Art History which I find SO sexy).
I’ve been keeping my make-up really light the past month, I know make-up trends for fall and winter in the world of ~FASHIN~ often lean towards the intense but something about the dreary weather we’ve been having here just makes me want to rebel against the conventional sooty smokey eyes and dark lipstick. I love a good smokey eye but I love the warm brilliance of the sun more. Pink lips and soft hues of taupe & gold in the middle of a somber winter? I am so there.
Face:
MAC Studio Fix foundation in NC25
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC25
Cheeks:
Rock & Republic’s Contrived Pressed blush in Kinky
Eyes:
MAC paintpot in Rubenesque as a base
MAC eyeshadow in Woodwinked
MAC pigment in Blonde’s Gold
MAC eyeshadow in Shroom as highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Honey
Maybelline gel liner in Black
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander NEO
Lips:
Lancome L’absolu Rouge in Rose Rhapsodie
I’m loving the gold eyeliner in this one, I think it’s a nice bright change from the smudgy black lined eyes I tend to go for. Finally got to try out the Rock & Republic blush Cat sent me for my birthday and as I suspected, this baby has enough pigment to fill 5 MAC lipstick vials. I had to be very careful with this blush because it’s easy to OD on blush when you’re pale like me. I swiped my brush over the blush with the lightest pressure possible and it was enough to create a delicate flush of pink. I love the blush, Cat! Thank you so much <3
Btw, you only see one side of my face here because I have a pimple on the other cheek LOL. I know it's become socially acceptable to pretend that you have the body of a porn star with perfect skin but I just don't like the idea of retouching my photos to death. You can still see I have pores in my photos and my forehead has tiny marks - battle scars from previous hand to hand combat experiences with pimples (those bastards!).
I have a couple of beauty reviews coming up this week and in true tea noir style, they're going to be squashed together in one single entry lol. I'm also thinking of doing a photography/camera entry too because I've been getting so many questions pertaining to the camera I use for this blog etc - is there anything you would like to know about photography? If you're too shy to ask in the comments, ask on my formspring where your identity and soul remains safe from me. Even if you don’t have a photography related question, ask me anything anyway!
Tags: beauty: maybelline, beauty: rock & republic, fotd: neutral, lancome, MAC, make-up: urban decay
Gyoza! ぎょうざ！
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
A couple of days ago, I decided to brave the morning sunlight and make another batch of gyoza(s) with the leftover filling I had from my previous gyoza batch. It’s taken a month but I’ve managed to stay in my apartment for days at a time without getting into a boredom induced fit. It’s not that hard because once you’ve blown your money on 4 pairs of shoes in a span of 6 days, you don’t really have much of a choice, do you now?
The point is I’ve been cooped up in my room for most of the week, staying in bed as I befriend the stark, reclusive darkness of my room while watching movies on my macbook sans the greasy buttered popcorn. My cinematic adventures came to a standstill when my external HDD (hard disk drive, for you non-tech folk) choked on a deluxe movie hotdog (I think it was all the sauerkraut) and died. I think I must have died too because my life was in that external HDD- every single image I’d taken for tea noir was stored in there (and in HQ no less), my web design work, my portfolio, other bits of random shit - all equally precious to me.
It’s the perfect murder actually - the best way to kill someone is to commit tech murder. Get rid of a person’s computer and all forms of back-up he/she may possibly have and watch in glee as they quietly drown in their own desolate pool of tears. And maybe I shouldn’t have typed this slightly morbid paragraph, I don’t want the possibility of fueling a tech murder rage lol.
Disclaimer: I won’t be held responsible for any tech murders happening from this moment on kthxbai.
Afraid your computer would crash? It used to be so simple: Get an external HDD, back up everything and sleep comfortably at night knowing your files are safe from any impending virus attack. Of course, if you had a Mac in the first place, the possibility of getting hit by a virus is close to a zero so why not just save yourself a 2-3 years of misery with an unattractive Windows comp and get something snazzy off Apple.com? 8D Sadly we now live in an age where we need to get a BACK-UP FOR OUR BACK-UP; getting one external HDD just doesn’t cut it anymore, you gotta have at least two ._.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Steve Jobs and Apple Inc- yeahhhh dassright dassright bb, I’m just one of those regular Mac snobs Windows lovers are accustomed to hate. Don’t worry tho, even if you are a Windows user, I don’t choose my friends based on their preferred operating systems lol (look at Nadz, she’s a Windows fan and she’s still alive lol) so I’d love you just the same - pinky promise! ;D
OKAY BACK TO THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS ENTRY: Yes! Gyoza! They look difficult to make but don’t be deceived by their fancy crimped edges: if a klutz like Nadz can make them - you can too! (LOL I’m sorry cousin, I know I’m name-dropping you excessively in this entry but know that I love you bbcakes <3) They're extremely versatile too, you can fill them up with almost everything you want (provided the combo tastes good, don't be daft and start thinking of chocolate, prawn and beetroot gyozas please) I've been making gyoza for two years now and they make such a good + cheap meal if you make a lot and freeze them all.
I’ve got a little prawn, minced chicken and cabbage thing going on thar.
This recipe makes about 60+ gyozas
Ingredients
250g minced chicken meat
300g prawns, chopped into pieces
5-6 cabbage leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons of minced garlic and ginger (I use a pre-bottled minced garlic and ginger mix I found at the Asian supermarket)
Soy sauce (don’t have any real measurements, I guess most of the time lol..maybe 5 tablespoons?)
Sesame oil (again, no real measurements. Use about 1 tablespoon? If you love sesame oil like me, use more!)
2 packets Gyoza skins
1. Make the gyoza filling! In a large bowl, combine minced meat, cabbage, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Mix them together with your hands.
That’s right, get in touch with nature - USE YOUR HANDS. Mix them until the ingredients seem to stick with each other and won’t fall apart.
2. Spoon about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of your gyoza skin and moisten the edges of the gyoza skin with some water.
3. Start crimping, honey. Now this is the stumbling block for a lot of people because it’s pretty much the hardest part about making gyoza but it gets really easy once you get the hang of it.
I’m not going to go into the minute details pertaining to crimping the gyoza because there’s an excellent step by step picture tutorial here that’s guaranteed to make you a GYOZA CRIMPIN’ MASTER in no time.
I’m not a purist so I cheat and use any round, white chinese dumpling skin I can get my hands on - They’re the same thing. I like making gyozas on my chopping board, it’s the only flat surface I have available. The white atomic clouds you see aren’t a rare form of mould - it’s plain flour. I like freezing my gyoza after I’m done making them and the flour prevents them from sticking to the board once they’re frozen.
Remember less is more. Be a scrooge, you have to be economical with the filling of each gyoza or crimping is going to be a bitch.
My little gyoza minions ready to be frozen/cooked!
In the pan! You sorta fry the bottoms first til they’re crisp and then you dump about 1/3 cup of water in to steam the tops. More details on the cooking technique here.
What do you do when they’re all cooked? Make some dipping sauce, of course!
Fancy Gyoza Dipping Sauce!
50ml soy sauce or enough to fill a small dipping bowl (ooh real measurements now)
1 teaspoon rice vinegar or white vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
some chopped spring onionsMix well and happy dipping!
Enjoy! If you have any questions, ask away in the comments!
Back to my external HDD, in a fit of moral panic I texted my dad and he said it might just be a problem with the casing/enclosure of the HDD so I went to get a new one for my still breathing HDD and it’s fixed now YAY! Sorry you had to read such a long rant (this could possibly be my longest entry yet lol) Have a good weekend, everyone! <3
Tags: nosh: japanese food, recipes
What I spent my birthday money on.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Shoe Porn
When I was still working as a web designer, I was using my office as a safehouse for all my shoes but when I quit to serve a 3 year stint at a slave house i.e university, I had to move the shoes back into my house and my mom made me swear not to buy another pair of shoes. Well I tried, mother. I tried hard for 5 months, ignoring shoe sales and got drunk on vanilla coke. Honestly it wasn’t difficult because all the shoes that piqued my interest busted my sad student allowance and everything else that was affordable wasn’t up to my standards - I’m talking about Rubi shoes here.
I HATEEEE RUBI SHOES. Their flats have the most unflattering cut I have ever seen on a $20 pair of shoes and they’re everywhere. I blame it on Rubi’s scheming habit of producing a single design in every color, finish and pattern known to man. It gets a bit blinding when you see a wall filled with flats made in multiple hues so I’m not surprised nobody seems to notice that Rubi flats were clearly inspired by bedroom slippers (I mean how else can you explain the icky cut?) Before anyone labels me a brand whore, I’ll have you know all my flats don’t go beyond the $30 mark (Nadz can attest to that, she goes shoe shopping with me all the time) It’s possible to get a pair of nice flats for under $30 but Rubi is not the place; it’s a haven for money making vultures who have little or no regard for shoe design.
Cold Hard Evidence 1: My new glitter flats from Australian label Zu! I noticed that a lot of flats here are incredibly expensive - a basic pair of flats can set you back $80. That’s just crazy, no way in heck am I going to spend that much on something I’d probably throw out in a year. Finally after a 5 month search for cheap but nice flats, I found these on sale at an outlet store for $30 - they were marked down from $70 (WTF $70!).
Cold Hard Evidence 2: Forest green flats from Zu! $20 and the last pair in my size WHUTTT UPPP! This goes to show you’d eventually find something you like if you go digging around long enough lol.
Tony Bianco is another Australian shoe label known for it’s high street fash shoes. They’re expensive though, a pair of shoes from my man Tony here can cost up to $300. But since I want to be as cheap ass as I can get with pretty shoes, the shoes were a no go for me until I found a Tony Bianco outlet store near my apartment WHOO! +1 for the shoe whores of the world! Can you believe I only discovered this store 5 months after I moved to Melbourne?…I need to get out more.
I got really excited in the store and picked out 3 pairs of heels I liked but I couldn’t make up my mind so I posted all of them on twitter and asked for everyone’s opinion (That was fun guys, I should do that more often lol) So that’s when I scored my fake Ron Ron Louboutins for $60! It’s a bit hard to capture its color in photos but it’s a stunning shimmery deep blue. It’s 4.5 inches tall with a 0.5 inch platform at the front.
I swear I only wanted to get one pair of heels. My mind was focused and my conscience was clear: I was going to get out of the store with ONE pair of shoes and I did. However unbeknownst to me, the shoe whore that lay dormant in me for months was slowly waking; I couldn’t stop thinking about another pair of heels and it was making my head hurt. Aaron came back home from his holiday the next day, checked my tweets and tore me apart on msn for not buying them erk. I consider myself very lucky to have 2 male BFFs who can be brutally honest with me and tell me straight in the face that I screwed up somewhere lol.
So say hello to my pretend JIL SANDERS! Urgh I think I love this slightly more than my fake Louboutins lol. I love the slighty narrowed chunky heel and it’s black which is always classsyyy.
Before I end this entry, allow me to humor you with my photography skillz and share 2 shots I took yesterday. It’s winter now so most of the trees in my area are standing silent and undisturbed in their nakedness. This particular tree I saw yesterday still had some flowers blooming which is a rare sight. I have no idea what tree this is and my momma didn’t send me here to study botany so let’s just call it a blossom tree ;D
Aah, my favourite shot! I took it just before dusk which explains the lovely warm tint you see at the top.
I have exactly 2 weeks left before a new semester starts holy crap. That’s a little unsettling but I can’t wait to get started on my new subjects. The faster this semester goes by, the faster I can fly back home! The holidays have been quite uneventful so far- I made gyozas last night because we had some leftover cabbage wilting slowly in our veggie basket and I was bored. I wanted to take photos but it was too dark to take any decent shots. Gyozas are really easy to make though: chopped up cabbage, minced chicken, prawns, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, a splash of soy and you’re on your way to goodness. I feel like making another batch to freeze just before school starts (yay for quickie lunches!) so I’ll put up the recipe sometime! ;D
Tags: shoes: flats, shoes: heels
Alexander McQueen Resort 2011
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion
Perhaps the only Resort 2011 collection worth your time (and mine). I think Sarah Burton is doing a fantastic job at McQueen - it’s not easy taking over where he left off but she’s done it. That last dress is stunning, beautiful and left me wanting to see more. I hope to dream of this dress tonight, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to see it in person but it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy McQueen’s label is in the hands of someone capable and talented (too bad this doesn’t apply to Chloé, someone needs to fire Gibbon STAT.)
Nothing else can be said about the other Resort collections srsly. I don’t know why Anna Wintour is pushing for Resort collections this year, it just takes time away from the designers when they really should be focusing on their main collections. Who the hell buys Resort anyway? Miu Miu + Prada were terrible and Celine- Phoebe Philo honey, can you please leave the color blocking to Marni and Dries Van Noten? God.
photo credit: style.com
Tags: fashion: Alexander McQueen, fashion: Resort
Birthday gifts from Catherine~
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty
I received a birthday parcel from Cat about 3 weeks prior to my birthday and while opening the parcel (you gotta give it to the American postal service for their extremely durable boxes), I accidentally hacked off 0.5cm of skin from my left thumb with a knife I normally reserve for the delicate procedure of turning salmon into thin wispy slices of sashimi i.e. there is no room for blatant stupidity when using this knife. I didn’t feel any pain thankfully but oh the blood - My thumb was bleeding on/off for the next couple of days. The wound’s healed but it’s left a slight reddish ‘blood mark’ which serves as a constant reminder of my fail moment. *cough* Anyway, back to the parcel lol - I ignored my bleeding thumb for a good minute (I mean no one’s going to die from a teeny wound right?) because in my line of vision was a huge ass black box which looked familiar so I dug it out and-
This is Rock & Republic’s Contrived Pressed blush! Cat did a haul a couple of months/weeks (you gotta help me here, my sense of time has been warped since school started) and I was just amazed at the packaging - so stunning. Cat, you shouldn’t have!
Oh my god, I’m going to repeat myself here: what. a. STUNNER. I am whipping this baby out every chance I get LOL, it makes me feel special just by its presence in my make-up collection.
The shade Cat got me is called Kinky lol- no bdsm sex jokes plz, people. Let’s try to keep this PG-13 lmao. It’s a very bright doll pink, I suppose it’s to be worn with a light hand. I actually read reviews of this and everyone seems to agree it’s a nice cool toned pink flush that’s very flattering to the skin. It kinda reminds me of a matte version of my NARS Angelika blush. I don’t know if you can tell but this blush is HUGE, it’s almost the size of a compact powder?
She got me some nail polishes as well! They’re colors I don’t tend to go for which is good because I should stay away from my usual vampy reds, purples and blues! L to R: Sinful Colors in Let’s Talk, China Glaze in Strawberry Fields (I wanted this since FOREVERRR thanks hun!), Sinful Colors in Nail Junkie. Let’s Talk is a bold chrome-like purple, Strawberry Fields is one sweet pink nail polish with gold shimmer and Nail Junkie is just nothing short of INSANE green hued glitter in a clear base - perfect for layering over other colors!
L to R: OPI’s Go on Green (beautiful light duochrome blue/green) and Sally Hansen’s Grape Going! (purple/blue duochrome - this is sooo pretty!)
So I can finally reveal the nail polishes I had on the other day yay! L to R: China Glaze Stella + Sinful Colors Nail Junkie (just so we’re clear, this means I brushed on Stella first, waited for it to dry and then applied Nail Junkie), Sally Hansen’s Grape Going + Sinful Colors Nail Junkie (isn’t Grape Going just beautiful?), Sinful Colors in Let’s Talk + Sinful Colors Nail Junkie, OPI Russian Navy + OPI Go On Green + Sinful Colors Nail Junkie (who knew Russian Navy would turn into a beautiful emerald green with this combo?) Yes a lot of sparkling went down that day. Sry Edward Cullen, you gotta wait in line - my nails are sparkling first boy.
I actually painted my nails with Strawberry Fields today, I don’t have a camera photo to show you but I did post an iphone photo on twitter so check it out here!
And knowing how much I love Shu Uemura’s cleansing oil, she gave me two mini bottles which will have a special place in my holiday toiletries kit.
We were discussing lipbalm on msn a couple of months ago and Cat mentioned that she uses a green tea lipbalm she got off from Etsy so she sent me one to try! I am a sucker for green tea so imma be biased and say THIS LIPBALM IS AWESOME! This is Soapalaya’s Green Tea Lip Butter - it’s got a faint matcha scent, is moisturizing and I like using this as my night lipbalm (I use another lipbalm with spf in the day)
My birthday card! Isn’t it pretty? The ribbons have tiny beads in them, I love details like these (I’m such a girl lol).
Thank you so much Cat! Despite having to bleed for the damn parcel, I love everything! ;p I can’t wait to send you yours so I hope you find a new apartment soon :3 It’s been great knowing you too and yay I’m glad you’re back from Greece so we can talk again (looking forward to the holiday entries btw) CONGRATS ON YOUR GRADUATION! It’s my turn to stay up writing essays and reports lol. Talk soon ♥ ♥ ♥
Tags: beauty: rock & republic, beauty: shu uemura, birthdays, nails: China Glaze, nails: OPI, nails: Sally Hansen, nails: Sinful Colors
22, omg where has my life gone?
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Fashion, Food & Nosh, Make-Up & Beauty, Misc
I turned 22 on Sunday, another year older and perhaps none the wiser. It still hasn’t hit me that I’m an adult now, maybe that’s for the better lol. Turning 22 is scarier than turning 21 because all my fears are suddenly amplified by the passing of another year. I realised today most people reading this blog don’t actually know who I am save for my name (Ilyana is actually my middle name), my age, my incessant need for shoes/make-up and that I now live in Melbourne. So since this is my birthday entry and birthdays signify something personal to most people, I shall now reveal a couple of things about me that most of you prolly won’t know. It’s a list of “OMG EPIC FAIL” moments and hopefully you’d find this quite comical as I did when I wrote this for my creative writing module’s non-fiction piece.
Shit that has happened to me:
1. Going to the bathroom when I was 10 and forgetting the lock.
2. I’m at the doctor’s, he tells me to strip and I realise I have my bunny undies on.
3. After dropping several hints on what I want for my birthday (this beautiful bag I saw in some store), my boyfriend gives me a bag. A laptop bag. We are no longer together.
4. My mother phoning my aunts, grandma and her best friend to announce I just got my first period and therefore I am “normal”.
5. My grandmother passed away and my grandfather dies 5 days later - let’s not go there.
6. A friend gives me chocolates from Japan and hide it at the back of the fridge only to find it gone the next day. Ammar, if you’re reading this - I know it was you.
7. I spent the last couple of years thinking my bff’s blog (Aaron’s old blog lol) was named silks on nets. It was strange and a little poetic but still strange tho I never asked him about it. I found out recently (at my own expense) it was actually silk sonnets.
Excellent milestones aren’t they? Also, if you’ve got a question to ask - ask me on my formspring! I promise I’ll be kind XD
22 and my skin has never looked worse sigh. I’m sorry you had to see this but well, everyone has pores. You just have to accept that. I hate all the break-outs I’ve been having thanks to school. Skin, can you please act your age?! Stop being a hormonal teenager, god - GET IT TOGETHER ALREADY. Eyeliner: Maybelline’s gel liner, Lipstick: NYX lipstick in B52, Blush: MAC highlight powder in Mellow Rave.
I went out with Nad for a pre-birthday brunch at The Quarter (I could actually get used to this starve-in-the-morning-eat-at-noon thing) and that vanilla milkshake you see me having is probably one of the best I’ve had. I was looking at last year’s birthday entry and I was wearing yellow in it as well lol - I love mustard yellow, it’s such a beautiful color. This mustard yellow trench is from MANGO and it is my ABSOLUTE favourite. Best investment EVER. The color of the trench looks more accurate in the first photo than this one - this one’s been tainted by the fervent use of yellow lighting in cafes.
My mexican omelette! It’s got roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, spinach and goat’s cheese with toasted rye bread. YUM.
This is Nad! We were schoolmates back in primary school and we never saw each other again for close to a decade until I moved to Melbourne. She goes to the same uni as I do…except she’s graduating in a couple of weeks, lucky duck. NAD WHO’S GOING TO BUY ME PRESENTS NOW THAT YOU’RE MOVING BACK TO SINGAPORE?!
Nad had french toast soaked in maple syrup and cinnamon sugar with bananas on top :3
And as promised, beauty stuff! I’ve been obsessing over Lancome’s L’absolu Rouge lipstick in Voile De Rose when it first appeared on Temptalia and let me tell you, finding this lipstick was not easy. It’s a US-exclusive which is ridiculous - how the governments of this earth expect to work towards world peace when we, as women, don’t get equal access to make-up collections is beyond me.
Anyway childish rants aside, last month I decided I had enough of this country-exclusive bullshit and checked out the local Lancome counter to see if there were any dupes of Voile De Rose. I was swatching every pink lipstick that had similar tones on my hand and comparing each swatch with an image of Temptalia’s Voile De Rose swatch that I saved on my iphone (See I’m so obsessed it’s almost obscene). 10 minutes in and I found my baby! This is Lancome’s L’absolu Rouge Gold Lipstick SPF 15 in 354 Rose Rhapsodie. It’s a very very close match - I won’t be surprised if it really is Voile De Rose packaged under a different name. Rose Rhapsodie is a soft shade of pink, so pretty *_*
Finally got my Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle from my mom when my family visited me last month! My first CHANEL lipstick whoo! Mademoiselle is the shade Vanessa Paradis is wearing in the ads and it’s a deep rose with beige undertones. I’m going to wear this today so I hope the formula doesn’t disappoint me.
Swatches for you! L to R: Rose Rhapsodie, Mademoiselle. Sorry Rose Rhapsodie looks like a blur of pink city lights, I thought I had a good shot of both swatches (it was my only shot) but when I got home and checked the images on my computer, it turned out to be er, otherwise. Ah well. Also, please take note Rose Rhapsodie looks darker in this shot than it actually is.
The love of my life, Nadz, called me in the wee hours of the morning - I won’t lie lol, I was up at midnight waiting for her call and I waited for over an hour before she finally did.
Me: “Bitch, you’re late.”
Nadz: “Huh, what time is it over there?”
Me: “1 am”
Nadz: “OH SHIT.”
HAHAHAHAHA FAIL NADZ FAIL. I miss you <333333
The parents called me the next morning.
Parents + brothers in the background: "HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYY!!!"
Me: "Aww thanks guys!"
Dad: "We're going to Carousel later in your honour."
Me: "SIAPA PUNYE BIRTHDAY NI?!?!" (That's malay for "I'm sorry but whose birthday is this?!?!")
Shucks, I miss my family so much. After getting me my dream miu miu bag, you guys would think that my parents would stop with the STUDY HARD! GET GOOD GRADES! blackmail.
Well.
I don’t know how to say this but.
Clearly, they’ve taken it up a notch.
MY ALMOST CHANEL IS NO MORE! Chanel Classic Jumbo Flap in Black Caviar with gold hardware, I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU ALL MY LIFE. The catch is I have to share the bag with my mother - not that it bothers me, I’d take my chances even if I’m forced to share the bag with an orangutan LOL. Ahh this is crazy, I’m over the moon!
Thank you for all your birthday wishes on fb/twitter! I loved reading each one <33333333333
chanel photos credit: my dad’s cellphone, chanel.com
Tags: beauty: CHANEL, birthdays, fashion: CHANEL, lancome, nosh: western food
Pâtisserie Monday
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
I know everyone’s expecting a beauty entry from me and I do have new stuff to share but I haven’t had time to photograph them yet because my roomie’s mom is here for a week so we’ve both been playing glorified tour guides paid for our trade in what a poor university student considers gold: free meals and the occasional ice cream. We dropped by Brunetti’s yesterday so I’m going to be civil and share some of my old shots of the place plus new ones of the desserts we had - yeah, you can think of this as a ‘filler’ entry of sorts lol. You guys prolly realised from my previous Brunetti’s entry that I am completely inept at remembering cake names so I’m going to stop pretending I know Italian and stick to typing what I can remember about each cake ;p
Biscotti on display!
The interior of the main store at Lygon St which is strategically built 15 mins away from my campus. It’s also a strategic way to get fat if you’re not careful.
Yummy. (And just so we’re clear, I’m not talking about the cakes/interior design of the place meheh)
Nothing warms the bitter heart like a cup of hot chocolate.
Raspberry vanilla cake thing which tasted like it was meant to be ice cream in a former life but someone thought it would be fascinating to translate that into a cake; in simpler terms: IT WAS HELLA GOOD.
Crap I don’t even remember what was in this cake. Can I go by aesthetics alone and guess what’s inside the cake? A triple layer of chocolate, coffee and er more chocolate (??) mousse topped with cream + hazelnuts. God, I fail at life. Don’t judge me, just look at the damn picture and marvel at how awesome it must have tasted mmkay.
The Royale cake (hey hey I finally remembered something!) Hazelnut, chocolate praline and this amazing crumbly wafer-like base = easily my fave chocolate cake.
FRUIT TART. There, that was easy.
The mini profiterole. It’s called a ‘mini’ because they actually sell a version that’s taller than a pair of Louboutins. Mini choux pastry coated in a dark chocolate, filled with a light vanilla bean-infused cream and stacked on a mound of more cream!
The inner workings of an amazing profiterole; just sublime!
Tags: nosh: desserts
Stop bluffin’ with my muffin.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Make-Up & Beauty
I’ve never been big on brunch - Why eat once when you can eat twice lol? I love my food too much to mash two meals together but there are times when blood sacrifices have to be made for the greater good so when a friend you’ve not seen for a long time asks you out for brunch at a place she thinks you’d love, banish the thought of grilling some sausages for breakfast from your head and mentally prepare yourself for the hunger pangs you’re most likely to get at 8am in the morning. Most people have it good - they sleep in and wake up in the late mornings/afternoon. I can’t do that, sadly. I’ve always been an early riser and while it does have its advantages (I am almost always on time for school), having no breakfast renders me a fruitcake with a little extra time on her hands….and that’s not a good idea, people. The last time I had some extra ‘me’ time, I racked up a $200 online shopping spree bill which didn’t go down well with the parents ~_~
Anywho, Shikin invited me out for brunch at MART, a quaint little breakfast place in an old refurbished tram station. They’re famous for their poached/scrambled eggs on toast and triple stack pancakes with vanilla mascarpone, berry compote and almond flakes! The food was so good, I actually went there again for brunch today with Yumi!
I have no idea what sort of soup this woman was eating but it looked yum! Shot taken by Yumi.
Okay, okay no more stalker-ish photos of people eating, I swear. Nice sneakers tho.
My hand blown glass ring dad bought for me from an art stall in St Kilda’s. It’s obnoxiously huge, has this crazy hippy psychedelic vibe to it and I frickin’ love it. I had a purple-blue-green manicure going on thar…remember what I said about having a little too much time on my hands lol? Shot taken by Yumi.
Yumi went all bright with her nails as opposed to my someone-threw-up-sparkly-vomit-on-my-nails nonsense.
What she ordered: Scrambled free range eggs on toasted rye bread with chives, wilted spinach salad, mushrooms on the side and parmesan flakes. Yumi shared some with me and I think I’ll be ordering this the next time I pop by!
What I had: Poached free range eggs on toasted rye bread with spinach, crème fraîche, slices of smoked salmon and topped with a cucumber, onion + capers salad. SO. FORKING. GOOD.
Obligatory close-up shot! To be honest, I kinda hate this shot. Nothing’s wrong with it but it’s just not so hot. (Yes I’m being anal here) I was starving so I shoved whatever I knew about photo composition into the temporary recycle bin and thought of nothing but poached eggs.
YAY きらきら☆ぴかぴか (kira kira pika pika) SPARKLY NAILS! Fine, I’ll admit looking at them gives me little bubbles of happiness. The real story behind them: Well apart from being bored this morning, I thought it would be fun to try out some of the nail polishes Cat sent me for my birthday! I’m not going to reveal what the shades are until I blog about what Cat sent me so stay tuned lol. Oh you don’t see my thumb here because I accidentally hacked some skin off with a knife when I opened the parcel so it looks naaasty. My birthday’s in 10 days and it’s feels so strange celebrating it away from home. Ah well, it’s no biggie. The cakes here are better anyway lulz.
K do me a favour guys: my bff Aaron’s flying over to Singapore for some shopping and since the only shopping area worth mentioning i.e. Orchard Road got hit by a flood yesterday, please pray to the gods of FASHIN that his shopping trip goes smoothly. Think about the amount of whining and ranting I’d have to listen to if he doesn’t get what he wants omg, I don’t think my ears would be able to take it! HAHAHA JK BB, have a wonderful trip! I wish I could be there to show you my hood (HAHA) but it’s alright, I’ll see you in December <3333~
Tags: birthdays, nails, nosh: western food
Some time in April.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
My trip to the Melbourne Museum in April, it’s absurd how overdue these photos are. Anyway, I’M BACK! FOR REAL THIS TIME. Exams are over, essays have been submitted and my kidneys no longer feel pressured from the crazy amounts of coffee I’ve consumed the past month. It’s all good, guys - for the next two months I mean. A new semester begins in late July but let’s not dwell on depressing thoughts lol. I’m still starved of sleep so I’m going to cut this entry short, expect a beauty entry soon! Take care everyone xx
Tags: life: Australia, melbourne
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