I realised today that a lot of people, including the ones close to me, have been mispronouncing tea noir since its existence on the interwebz. I let it slide and don’t correct the mistake (I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable), praying somewhere along the journey to enlightenment, my friends discover the beauty of film noir and realise they’ve been saying my blog name wrong. I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon lol so today, when a friend called me to ask about a recipe on tea noy-yer, I decided it was time to get serious and do an improper pronunciation guide. I say improper because noir is French and my French is merde at best ;p
Never mind that I recorded this in the wee morning and that I’ll probably sound like an incoherent goat with a cold – if this means everyone starts pronouncing tea noir the “right” way then I’ll take my chances. I was slightly tempted to make this into a video post but OMG I CANNOT. I was already finding it strange recording my own voice so a video is out of the question. Someday, maybe.
ilyana speaks!
So fess up! Who’s been mispronouncing tea noir? ;p
p.s let me know if the audio doesn’t work/play! And yes I’m fully aware that photo I put up has nothing to do with the entry, it was supposed to be in my ELLE collections entry but it got carelessly left behind whoops.
So today I checked my site stats for the first time in say, 10 days, and someone actually googled “what happened to tea noir” to get here LOL. I then realized that if someone willingly spent 2 seconds of his/her time to google about my current state of being, a) I have amazing readers and b) it’s a sign I should start blogging again.
Concerned reader whoever you are, thank you and don’t worry I’m still breathing! I’ve just been through a rather intense month in school! I was supposed to blog during my Easter break but that didn’t work out because my essay deadline got extended a couple more days so I took my time with that submission. Plus, I had friends from Singapore and Sydney visiting and well, you know how it is with me and playing tour guide.
Some exciting news: The blog got featured in Singapore’s Malay paper, Berita Harian, last Friday!! I really wanted to put this up on Friday itself but I didn’t have time D: Thank you Nur for writing this amazing article, I’m very grateful you chose tea noir amongst the many other great blogs to feature! It’s great that my fellow muslim sisters are taking to the internet to write about their views on fashion and beauty! I know tea noir isn’t strictly a “hijab-oriented” blog since I write about everything I find remotely interesting, not necessarily about my religion or the hijab, but I feel privileged to be clustered together with these other hijab-wearing muslim bloggers. Our content may vary but we have one thing in common: we’re a niche. And a pretty awesome one at that!
Excerpt from the article VERY loosely translated by me:
Singapore isn’t left out with the muslimah blogging trend either. Even though we do not have a group of dedicated muslimahs blogging about fashion such as “Scarflets”, you can still find a few Singapore-based fashion and beauty writers on the Internet. One of them is Ilyana Idros, who blogs at Tea Noir (REPRESENT!).
Apart from discussing issues pertaining to fashion and beauty, she also takes beautiful photos and occasionally shares Western and Mediterranean recipes.
You can read the rest of the article in Malay here. Sorry ah I only got B3 for my Malay ‘O’ Levels. I seriously admire Malay journalists, I don’t know how they’re able to write long articles in the language but RESPECT!! Thank you so much Nur and congrats on your blog feature too ;D
And so the secret’s out! The blog I desperately tried to hide from my family (apart from my dad and selected cousins) has been trolled excessively by my mom and all my other aunts last I heard. I wanted to keep the article a secret from my mom and repeatedly told my father to hide the papers from her but my cousin called me that same evening and revealed to me her whole family knew about it. I must have mentally said “Oh shit!” a thousand times lol so yeah I told my mom shortly afterwards because obviously, if someone was going to tell her, it had to be me.
Mom didn’t react as badly as I thought she would shockingly – she was mostly distracted by the Royal Wedding during our phone call ROFL THANK YOU KATE AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL MCQUEEN. She’s proud of me, I guess. I’m just thankful I didn’t list the prices of most of the stuff I’ve bought or I’ll be getting a serious talk about my finances HAHA! Hi Mom! No, I haven’t bought anymore shoes I swear! The shoes you see on this blog were bought during a time of emotional turmoil and I needed them to fill an empty void in my soul. Plus, they were on sale! ;p Hope you’re having a nice time shopping in KL, miss and love you! <3 <3
Now that my 5 seconds of fame are up, I have photos of my ELLE Collections magazine to share with you guys! They release it every season as a recap of the major fashion collections and srsly, I would buy this magazine just for its stunning layouts! I like that the magazine isn't just about the clothes, you get to see a compilation of all the invites each designer sends out, what the front row is wearing, how to make Prada banana earrings (I'm not kidding) and great written pieces on what went on backstage.
Stellar huh? Grab a copy if you can, it is exquisite! Thank you so much for sticking around despite my absences guys, I’d really like to blog and comment as often as I can but school will always, always remain my top priority. It’s terrible but I have no life outside university. Depression aside, hello to my new readers (and my extended family) who found this blog through the Berita Harian!! Don’t be shy and say hi! Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on twitter so you don’t miss out on any updates! See you all soon x
You cannot believe how hard it was to pick 10 favourites…so I cheated and picked 12.
I had such a fun time reading everyone’s entries, I appreciate the effort guys THANK YOU SO MUCH! Also, I left replies to every single entry in the giveaway, please check them out if you’ve taken part :3
I’ll be on a short hiatus – I need to spend my last remaining days in Singapore with friends and family. See you all soon!
I like the eccentric as much as I like the pretty. It’s reflected in the clothes I pick and the friends I have. And the kookiest one I know has a bad habit of buying me a hoard of kitschy paraphernalia whenever she travels to the coolest part of Asia, Japan (my very biased opinion, obviously). Yumi‘s half-Japanese so she visits her motherland once a year. Uh huh, I know right. Most people only venture into Tokyo in their sleep (me included!) and she gets to go there every year.
Still, I can’t whine about it too much since she always gets me a giant goody bag filled with amazing things. Remember last year’s? I have no idea why she spoils me so much. I listed down the pros she might have with me as a friend in my head and apart from “enjoys eating monstrous amounts of pizza and pastries” and “can converse on a wide range of topics from the worsening economy to fat cats”, there is quite little I can offer LOL *shrugs* KEEP ON GIVING, YUMI! <3
See what I mean?? How can you not get excited when taking a peek into this treasureland?
The tote bag that came with the magazine she gave me! Perfect for my grocery shopping :3
This cute skincare trial pack she got for me! It comes with a foaming cleanser for the day and a thick gel for removing make-up at night. I’ve not used the cleanser yet (I am a cleanser junkie and have about 4 more bottles of different cleansers to go through, see below) but the make-up remover gel is great! You spread it on your face and it slowly warms up when you massage it into the skin. Mmm magic thermal heating properties, kinky. And with a name like MARSHMALLOW ORANGE, nobody will dare deny its awesomeness. Yep, it does smell of oranges too :3
Natural Blush by Cezanne, which I believe is a common drugstore find in Japan? This is Shade 01 and is reminiscent of my NARS Angelika blush except it’s warmer and matte. It does have a slight shimmer to it in the pan but the shimmer vanishes once you apply it onto the skin. I wasn’t expecting a lot from this blush because I’m going to say, without an ounce of shame, that I wasn’t too keen on the packaging. There’s nothing wrong with it but once you’ve been exposed to the remarkable packaging design skillz of the Japanese, you kinda expect more than a simple acrylic case. Aah but in this case, simple is good. The blush is beautifully pigmented and in the words of Edith Piaf: Non, je ne regrette rien!
My first product from Japanese drugstore beauty and skincare mogul, SANA! The packaging is so cute omfg, I cannot. Girly ‘kawaii kore!!‘ squeals aside, this concealer is bananas. Like, literally. It is the shade of the palest banana HAHA WTF o_O; The craziest thing is, it fricking works. Admittedly, the coverage isn’t as good as my MAC Studio Finish concealer but it’s got a nice light consistency which the Studio Finish concealer is sorely lacking in. You don’t ever need to worry about putting too much either. Point is, if your undereye circles aren’t as abhorrent as mine, I would definitely recommend the SANA concealer!
THE OBAA-CHAN (grandmother) OF ALL FOAM-DISPENSED CLEANSERS: Softymo’s Airy Whip. I’ve wanted to try this for years! It’s not open yet – I’m saving it for winter. Super huge photo to make up for my lack of review lol.
And the dubiously named Pink-G Body Lotion LOL, oh Japan how you tickle me. Yumi sent me a sexy photo of her posing with this bottle the same day she bought it, yelling with unrestrained enthusiasm about how she found something that screamed ‘me’. It’s got slivers of silver foil trapped in a beautifully rose-scented aqueous gel that transforms into water when coming into contact with your skin . I’ve used it a couple of times and the silver foil actually melts away, leaving behind the barest hint of shimmer. THIS IS THE SHIT RAIT HERE PEOPLE.
Peach-scented hand cream! I know it doesn’t look like your typical tube of hand cream. And get this, the hand cream is dispensed in FOAM. I don’t know what it is with the Japanese and turning everything into foam but GO FORTH AND SOLDIER ON, JAPAN! /o/ It’s like a wild foam party treat for my hands, minus the gyrating bodies and scantily-dressed women, LOVE THIS.
DHC‘s famous lip cream. It’s still unopened, sorry. Again, I’m saving this for winter. I’ve heard plenty of good things about this though, Yumi loves the lip cream as well! I’m going to be so prepared for winter this year; I’ve got different cleansers, lipbalm and slight deviation here, the warmest thermal fleece jacket from UNIQLO <3 WINTER, I WILL OWN YOU.
These product reviews would not have been possible without the extreme generosity of Yumi, THANK YOU MY LOVE <3 <3 I will see you back in Melbourne where we will feast on feta cheese and pumpkin pizza.
ALSO, TEA NOIR’S EPIC GIVEAWAY IS ENDING IN 2 DAYS!! The entries I’ve been getting are such a delight to read, thank you so much for taking part guys! It’s going to be so hard to choose my top faves *_* Please join in the fun, if you haven’t ;D Click here to take part in the giveaway and then you can truly say Non, je ne regrette rien! 8D
UPDATE: Deadline extended to midnight at the request of my friends!
Tomorrow marks tea noir’s 2nd year of existence in the world wide web and to celebrate two years of frivolous fun, I have a giveaway for all of you. Some of you discovered my blog by accident but many have been reading my stories since the beginning. I now have about 110 subscribers to date, which I think is just INCREDIBLE. I’m only a rambling idiot with too many shoes, guys! Surely, I can’t be that interesting (considering there are probably millions of blogs with better content out there)?
Well, 110 people seem to think so. I’m stunned but so very grateful. I know I haven’t been updating as regularly as I should have the last year due to school so I thank you for your patience and again, thank you for reading.
I’ve been toying with the idea of hosting a giveaway for a couple of months now and it was hard coming up with something substantial, something that would appeal to everyone. I had no clue what to do for a giveaway but I knew what I didn’t want: One of those increasingly popular giveaways where you simply submit your name and winners would be picked randomly. I don’t think that’s fun at all and ironically, while it is done with the intentions of giving everyone an equal chance of winning, I think it’s a wee bit unfair to leave everything to fate. Because fate is never fair. Still, the winner of this giveaway will be picked at random as well, but with a catch!
Photography is a central part of this blog so it is no surprise that my giveaway will involve something along those lines. Don’t worry, I’m not expecting anyone to whip out their cameras to take photos and impress me with their skillz lol. It’s all very easy.
To take part in this giveaway:
1) Tell me a little about yourself (your name, your interests, how much you love your mom, anything at all!)
2) Copy & paste a link to a photo you’ve come across recently. It doesn’t have to be taken by you. It can be from flickr, a fashion blog you love reading or even Google Images lol. Let me know why you think the photo is special? Is there a story behind it? There has to be a reason why you picked it, oui?
Leave your name, email address and your blog/website url (if any). 10 of my favourite entries will be chosen and the names of the 10 finalists will be entered in a draw in which a winner will be chosen at random.
Just an example of how easy this is:
Freja Beha is one of my favourite models and while she is often shot before and after the shows, I love this photo especially. A private moment: unguarded for a second, eyes lowered, tiny slits in her tee – I don’t even think she was aware she was being captured on camera.
And the winner shall receive the following prizes:
A tube of CoverGirl Aqua CG Smoothers, previously reviewed here.
The popular Lioele Silky Highlighter BB Touch! You can use this as a make-up base or even a foundation if you’re fair enough and if you have a darker skin tone, this makes an amazing highlighter for your face. It kinda reminds me of the Dior Skinflash ;D
And my favourite mask of the month! Baviphat’s Mango Magic Brightening Oxygen Mask. Ginger tabby may be included but terms and conditions apply. I bought this mask when I was in KL, tried it out for a night and was enamored enough to buy another one the next day just for this giveaway. YOU GUYS BETTER APPRECIATE K LOL.
This giveaway is open to everyone worldwide, including my dear friends who have absolutely NO EXCUSE not to enter (THAT’S RIGHT, BITCHES – Nadzirah, my lovely friend from Melbourne Uni, that includes you) One entry per person please and submissions will end on Sunday, 13 February 2011, 11:59PM Singapore time. The winner will be announced shortly after that. Please leave a valid email address, you don’t want your prizes to be given away to someone else!
While I can’t say I’ve tried SK-II’s Facial Essence, I’m halfway through a bottle of the line’s Facial Treatment Clear Lotion and I like it enough as a toner to put it on top of my beauty round-up list for 2010. It’s got SK-II’s secret Pitera shiz and the added benefits of AHAs to help exfoliate the skin! It doesn’t have alcohol on the ingredient list (as far as I can remember, I threw the box away months ago) which makes it really gentle on skin. My face has been a wreck lately for reasons beyond my control. Yes. Hormonal acne is not something to be trifled with because even your peroxide of choice wouldn’t stop it. Grit your teeth, apply massive amounts of concealer and try to be as gentle as possible when treating the affected areas. This toner does its job.
After I ran out of LUSH’s Angel’s on Bare Skin, I wanted something even more gentler because winter was just sucking out all the moisture from my skin. Dermalogica’s Daily Microfoliant is SOOO GOOD. It comes out as a fine powder when you pour it out of the tube (no Kate Moss cocaine jokes please!). It gets activated by a few droplets of water and you end up with this slightly foamy paste. I know it’s a little weird to be scrubbing your face with something that doesn’t feel the slightest bit abrasive but it does work!
The powder’s got some rice-based enzymes in it, as well as salicylic acid which masquerades as over-the-counter acne medication most of the time but it also happens to be a great chemical exfoliator. Don’t be put off by the inclusion of salicylic acid though, the Daily Microfoliant is so gentle you can use it everyday. YouTube reviewer Lollipop26 believes the Daily Microfoliant worked so much better for her than her Clarisonic, check it out 
I’m trying to fade the red spots I get from old zits as well and the Face Shop’s Post-Acne Nighttime Eraser is a nice product for that. I’m not sure if it’s working or not because I’ve only had this for about 1.5 months now and while my marks are still there, the redness has gone down a bit. It smells really soothing too, I would slap it on even if it doesn’t work LOL. I’ll update you guys on this product when I finish the tube…eventually.
My first Bobbi Brown palette from the extremely generous Catherine! She actually bought the same palette and when I expressed my amazement at its colours, she sent me one for Christmas! I had no idea she was sending me something major so I had a “OH MY GOD SHE DID NOTTTTTTT” moment when I tore the wrapping open lol THANK YOU CAT <33333 Totally digging the slick black packaging too, that crest is hot!
Bobbi Brown Day to Night Warm Eye Palette from L to R: Ivory, Oat, Espresso, Burnt Sugar, Velvet Bronze, Black Plum. I’m particularly in love with the Burnt Sugar shade, it’s a beautiful metallic gold-brown! Cat’s written a fantastic review on this palette, complete with swatches so I shan’t go into too much detail – read what she has to say ;D
I noticed I have a lot more natural-looking FOTDs this year than in the past when I used to be more experimental with colours lol, perhaps I really have grown up omg. Sadly, my skin doesn’t want to get out of its awkward teen stage *stabs* Anyway, this dark brown FOTD has flashes of gold in it for instead of layering the colour on a neutral coloured base, I used my Kryolan Aqua Pearlshade in Gold to create a subtle duochrome effect whoo.
Face:
MAC Studio Fix foundation in NC25
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC25
Cheeks:
La Femme Glow On Nectar Peach Blush
Eyes:
Kryolan Aqua Pearlshade in Gold as a base
Bobbi Brown eyeshadow in Burnt Sugar
MAC eyeshadow in Amber Lights
MAC eyeshadow in Shroom as highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Honey
MAC Pearlglide eyeliner in Wolf
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander NEO
Lips:
Good old Nivea lipbalm!
I like the eyeliner in this look as well, dark grey and gold make a beautiful pairing ;D
Announcement: tea noir will be on a short break this week, I’ll be heading to Malaysia tomorrow to meet my BFF Aaron for the first time! I hope everything goes well and I’ll be back soon to tell you what happens when two fierce bitches meet LOL I’M PRAYING THE WORLD DOESN’T IMPLODE ON US! x
Also, it’s nearly 3am now I don’t have time to read my entry again so forgive me if I have any typos/grammar issues in this baby! Thanks guys, see you soon.
tea noir is back with a new layout, along with some other new additions to the site! The new layout is simply killing it with plenty of colour, bigger images and omg, we have an official logo now WHOO.
Look at all that color! It’s like a unicorn vomited all over it or something, that is some fierce shiz. So much hard work went into this revamp – the background you’re looking at? That took up four hours of my time. I AM SO RUSTY OMG, I used to be so efficient at this ;__; The process of redesigning tea noir has made me miss design so much but it also reminded me of the reasons why I left to study again LOL. Still, it’s a wonderful, almost powerful feeling to be visually in control of everything and I’m thankful I don’t have to pay some geek $3000 to revamp this site.
I’ve kept certain elements from tea noir’s old layout: the textured background and dreamy imagery. I think they are tea noir’s trademarks and represent my design style (and most of my design school friends would prolly sigh and say “GOD THIS SITE IS SO ILYANA” 8D) so they’re here to stay forever.
I have a new links section up and I’ve rewritten my introduction page (which was so horribly childish wtf and outdated). That was actually the most difficult part of this relaunch: how do I write about myself and the reasons why I created tea noir without sounding like a total ass? Yeahhh. Serious stuff. Well, I hope you like it and find it as amusing as I did ;p
ALSO:
tea noir is officially on FaceBook! YEAHHHHHH. It’s been two years since the launch of this blog and I felt it deserved a page on FB. I just want to say this: I don’t have fans, I have friends. Don’t be shy and come say hi! 
Ripped off from my FB info page: I’d like to think of this facebook page as an extension of the blog and not just a mere tool for me to post new entry updates. The net is brimming with beautiful things and I intend to share them with you!
WORD.
Check out the contact page while you’re at it yeah? I can haz spanky new email kthx. CommentLuv has also been activated when you comment on the site :3
k I really should catch up on my social life now, I hope you guys like what I’ve done with t-n. See you all soon!
Special thanks: my two best friends who, fortunately for me, are full-fledged designers as well. Aaron who said to me: “That looks so generic” when I showed him the first draft of this layout (I felt like someone just hit me in the gut and it made me work even harder) and Dejiki/LK for always letting me badger him for the back-end stuff, I LOVE YOU GUYS SFM.
I’ll be relaunching the site with a new layout and shiz in a couple of days guys. I actually have been working on it the past couple of days but I just realized 5 minutes ago I didn’t make any form of announcement to explain my absence so for those who care: BRB. It’s the new year so imma have to take it up a notch and revamp everything! Happy New Year guys, take care x
OH. MY. GOD. The incredulous has happened, Carine Roitfeld has resigned from her post as editor of French Vogue!
In a surprise move, Carine Roitfeld said Friday she will step down as editor in chief of French Vogue at the end of January.
“It’s 10 years that I’m editor of the magazine,” Ms. Roitfeld, one of the most influential editors in the fashion business, said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s time to do something different.”
She informed Jonathan Newhouse, the chief executive of Conde Nast International, that she wished to pursue other projects. – NYTimes
I cry. I have lost track of the many seasons I spent lusting for her Alaïa shoes and stalking her super hot Vogue Paris team (mmm Melanie Huynh) Will those days be numbered now that she’s gone? I’m secretly hoping she hooks up with Tom Ford again like back in the day when he ruled Gucci (No, not in THAT way – everyone knows Ford swings for the other team)
It actually makes sense? Ford is back with a new womenswear collection and Roitfeld recently made him guest editor of the December 2010 issue of Vogue Paris so I won’t be surprised if those two are collaborating on something big. Well, whatever it is – good luck Carine and holy crap, good luck Vogue Paris. I don’t know how you guys are going to find someone as achingly talented but I’m sure you will try!
Today also happens to be my bff LK’s birthday!! Happy birthday, darling! Wishing you all the best for your exam results tho seriously, we both know you don’t need the luck because you’re crazy smart. I still find it incredible that we’ve been such good friends for so long – 8 years and counting! You are brilliant and I often strive to work harder because I’m so inspired by the way you work. Lunch next week, ne? <3 <3 <3
Also a mini announcement: I’ll be leaving for a short family vacation to Malaysia for the next couple of days so I’ll only be updating late next week when I get back ;D Take care, everyone!
No, no nothing’s happened to me. I was supposed to write a couple of entries the past week but that didn’t work out lol. I had my final exam and packing to do, blah. All of you are familiar with my vast make-up collection so you should have a rough idea how hard it was for me to pick and choose what eyeshadows/blushes/lipsticks to bring with me >D Anywho, they’re all wrapped up lovingly in bubblewrap like little baubles from the antique store and ready to be shipped home.
Singapore Airlines cancelled my original flight due to the A380 plane scare and booked me in another flight leaving in a couple of hours today. They’re giving me and my roomie $300 each to spend in Duty-free so HELLO THAR CHRISTIAN DIOR, CHANEL AND MAC~~ Great timing too because I’m broke ass.
k I have to switch off my internets now. See you soon guys and PLEASE PRAY ALL THE ENGINES ON MY 747 REMAIN INTACT KTHX! <3
