The past two weeks have been hectic for me so I’m sorry I MIAed on you guys. My baby brother got his O’s this month, proving that he is certainly much brighter than my 16-year-old self – especially in the Math department. He seeks a future in aviation so fingers crossed I might be able to travel for free in 10 years or so. CONGRATS LIL’ BRO, I’m so proud!

I had a gay friend, K, who flew in this week to meet his Singapore-based boyfriend and ladies, we have a problem. It took an expensive brunch (which my friend paid for *COUGH TAKE NOTE STRAIGHT MEN*) and a hilarious debate between the three of us and his other uh, rather conservative – that’s all I’m saying – friend about the “hazards” of having half naked A&F models gracing the Singapore store but I am convinced that all the nice guys are gay.

SIGH. I know I’m overgeneralizing here but honestly, I have never met a gay person I didn’t like. K has told me many stories about the assholes he’d dated but I’ve been lucky so far: all the gays I’ve befriended are warm, extremely well-mannered and so bloody nice. This is a serious epidemic ladies – there are plenty of amazing guys out there, they’re just not interested in us D8

My friend, Nad, tells me it takes a special kind of man to understand the modern Muslim woman – he has to have a wealth of knowledge of Islam, sufficient enough to guide his family, while being liberal in his views on religion, current affairs and just how much we want that clutch from Yves Saint Laurent. This man has to find some way to balance these sometimes conflicting ideals while tolerating my warped sense of humor. Does such a man exist? I’ve made some crass assumptions about men and I will continue believing in them until I cross paths with a guy who pisses me off because I was wrong, he’s right and in that moment of bewilderment, I will become the girl who traced the outlines of her lips and colored it with songs of his heartbeat – minus the dragon tattoos.

Oh yes on the A&F debate – obviously, I am all for some man candy while K’s said conservative friend (SHE’S NOT EVEN MY FRIEND JSYK) found the show of man flesh to be repulsive and “disrespectful to our society”. Bitch please, do you know how rare it is to find men in Singapore with abs (and hot faces LET’S BE REAL) of that calibre??

Photos were taken with my father’s Nikon 35mm f/2.0 lens I stole with no shred of remorse. Unfortunately, they stopped making this particular model some time ago but if you’re interested, Nikon makes a stellar 35mm f/1.4 lens I think. I’ve been wanting to check out Antoinette for a while now but don’t let the photos fool you – I never got to It was completely packed so my friends and I headed to TWG instead. TWG’s matcha raspberry cheesecake took my disappointment away, such an amazing cake!

p.s yes, this is one hell of a random entry. I’m talking about gay men in one paragraph and the ideal Muslim man in the next WHAT THE FORK. My best friend’s words of wisdom: “Every man has his own burden to bear”.

And this is why I’ve been MIA last week: I FOUND MY WALDORF-ASTORIA!! My roommate and I scored the most amazing apartment after a month of hunting and 3 rejected applications (sucks being a jobless student sometimes – the landlords can’t help but think you’re a financial liability). Here’s a sneak preview of our new digs! I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of the bedrooms to show because an empty room is an empty room lol. The building was completed a little over two months ago so we’re going to be one of the first few to move in. Our apartment’s on the 13th floor and omg look at that incredible view! I can’t wait to see what the city transforms into at night ;D My best friend’s like, “OMG WHEN CAN I MOVE IN BB?” Dream on, honey ;p

Apart from the view, I’m really all about my new kitchen. It’s been domestically pimped out to a level that would make Nigella proud. Restaurant-grade stainless steel finish (k I made that up), a gas stove, a dishwasher (!) and a huge ass oven (!!). OH and what do we have hiding in that corner thar – A REGULAR FRIDGE! I know it seems silly to get excited over kitchen appliances but try living in crap student lodging with a sad bar fridge for two years while fighting strange insect infestations, druggies shooting up in your laundry room and you’d be feverishly thrilled to be elsewhere. Of course, my new apartment isn’t just some place else – it’s home now.

I’ll be busy with the big move these two weeks so this blog is going to be a lil’ quiet. Don’t worry though, I still plan on launching Storm in a Teacup in a day or two Catch you all soon!

I found my old moleskine while cleaning out my drawers a couple of days ago. I can’t remember who or what started it but in 2008, Dejiki and I were religiously documenting our lives in our moleskines. We’d spend our lunch hour writing in the cafe at work while sharing a brownie and when we were done, we’d switch moleskines and laugh over the stupid things we’d written. “Omg this is so bitchy,” was what Aaron told me this week when I showed him some of my favourite pages from the book so for your sake, I’ve blurred out my writing so nobody gets hurt ;p

The main reason why I was so adamant in pouring my soul in this moleskine is also an unlikely one: I got dumped, wanted my ex-boyfriend back for reasons I don’t want to remember and you know that stereotype about designers being extremely dramatic? It’s true. I was determined to get my ex-boyfriend back so I found the solution in a beautifully-bound $25 notebook and the plan was to write about how much I missed, loved, cherished him (so it appears I actually had a heart in 2008? *gasp*) and I would pass it to him a month after – more precisely, the night before I was due to leave for a holiday in Hong Kong during which I hinted that since it was typhoon season, I might not come back alive. God, I would have made such a great actress in a Malay soap opera.

Of course, the theatrics didn’t stop there. I had these big, bold headings in my moleskine and sketched here and there to make it the most awesome, incredible, stunning etc diary I could possess. Designer stereotype of having a personalised moleskine with sketches? Check. After a while, writing in that book became a daily ritual; it was a form of catharsis for me and it helped me understand why my ex wasn’t the right person for me, why I had failed as a girlfriend and why it’s completely justifiable to spend $500 on a wallet. The sad thing is I’ve completely stopped doing any form of writing in my current moleskine, apart from scribbles about essay deadlines and lecture notes. So this summer holiday, I’m aching to bring back my dotted sketches and unrestrained writing in a brand new moleskine! What say you, Dejiki? Coffee, cake and quiet writing again? :3

ps: My moleskine project didn’t work in the end. It takes a lot more than a notebook to repair a broken relationship but looking back, I wouldn’t have done it any differently. He took up a large space in my heart for the bulk of my teenage years and I loved him. But to be frank, if your man isn’t a designer, an artist, or a writer, there is a chance he can’t tell the difference between an expensive notebook and a $2 one. Shit. I have such high expectations :/

pps: I am LOVING all the guesses on what you guys think Storm in a Teacup is! No one’s got it right yet but oh wow you have given me so many ideas on other entries I can work on for this blog Anyway, Storm in a Teacup will be unveiled in the middle of next week so look out for it! x

I don’t talk about my religion much on this blog and you wouldn’t find my version of the ‘trial and tribulations of a hijab wearer’ that you find often discussed on hijab style blogs. I don’t know, it’s not that I’m uncomfortable writing about Islam but seeing as how the Internet dangerously allows words to be misunderstood, the complex inner-workings of my religion seem to be better discussed with friends, rather than with 99.9% of the world’s population who don’t know me in person. Besides, who made me the expert on Islam right? There are so many things I don’t have a complete grasp of, some things I’ve struggled to understand and well, I have my vices.

I have a good Muslim/bad Muslim complex; I tend to oscillate between these two modes on an average day. Of course, when I talk about being a ‘bad’ Muslim, I don’t mean that I’ve tried to rob a bank or eaten 10 skewers of pork – it’s those little things: losing my patience or swearing like a sailor when someone or something pisses me off. Of course, I try to control my vices whenever I can but sometimes, things just don’t go as planned.

Like yesterday, for example.

I had a coffee date with super beauty blogger, Roseanne, and I was running a little late so I decided there was no time for fancy schmancy dresses and grabbed a basic top from my closet. Since I started wearing the turban as my hijab, I’ve been using turtlenecks to cover up any exposed skin from the neck down. Two of them were in the wash and one of them I ruined with a hot iron just last weekend, so the turtleneck I was supposed to wear was the only one I had left. It was a wee bit wrinkly so I figured I’ll iron the damn thing. I’ve already ruined one before so there’s no way I can ruin another right? I burned a hole the size of a golf ball in the middle of the fabric right where my left breast was supposed to be. I NEVER SEEM TO LEARN DAMN IT. Or maybe I need a new iron :/

And so I was faced with a dilemma: I could either choose to expose my neck or my left breast to the world LOL – of course I picked the lesser of two evils and went with a boat neck striped tee.

Then it occurred to me after I left my house that I could have covered up my neck with a shawl -____- Bad muslim moment omfg. Ah well, we all have our moments. And how’s that for some religious controversy? ;p

Anyway, I’M BACK! I meant to blog sooner but I’ve been down with the flu for the past two weeks, the most serious case of flu I’ve ever had to be quite honest. I threw up a lot, especially when I ate meat, and it got really annoying to the point where I told all my friends I was pregnant with Jared Leto’s vegan baby LOL.

Well, it’s good to be on holiday again – the couple of weeks have been horrendous because of all the essays I had to write while suffering from said flu and a fever that never seemed to go away. I was drugged up every 4 hours on Panadol and all the magic pills my mother supplied me with before I moved here – here’s hoping all my essays don’t turn out to be incoherent rubbish! ;p

Just the other day when I was checking my site activity, one determined reader googled “tea noir uses what camera” and combed my entire blog archive just to find the answer. I hope you did find the answer, anonymous reader, because I’m flattered. It’s a question I get asked very often and to make it easier for everyone else, I’m going to share with you this blog’s biggest open secret.

I use the Nikon D90 and SONY NEX-3 interchangeably. Both of them are excellent cameras in their field but I can’t tell you why I picked these over the many other camera models on the market though. I simply didn’t have any choice in the matter! These cameras were purchased by my dad to supplement his photography hobby until I stole them from him; one after the other 8D The Nikon D90 is not the most expensive DSLR but it’s still pricey so if you’re on a budget but want a DSLR at any rate, I would recommend any of Nikon’s cheaper models or one of Panasonic Lumix’s prosumer cameras.

My first ‘proper’ camera was a prosumer Panasonic Lumix which I LOVED before I defected to Nikon. I can’t remember the model number of my Lumix but I think it’s probably discontinued since I was using it during my days as a design student (i.e. eons ago). If you’re new to photography, I would recommend a Lumix actually. I got to try out Ana’s Lumix G2 (seen here) which I believe is a fairly new model and I was impressed. I have also successfully converted Nadz into a Lumix fan and you can see her Lumix at work in her recent blog entries.

Now, to the Sony NEX-3. Try fitting a Nikon D90 into a Chanel and you’d only be successful in pissing your mother off. Sorry mom, I’ll never try that again k. This camera is a godsend. It isn’t cumbersome, fits into every bag and clutch I own and functions more than just a regular point and shoot. Of course, it’s no DSLR – but it comes close. The Sony NEX series is often compared to the Olympus PEN cameras and while I have praise for the PEN’s camera’s design, I find that the grain you get on images from the NEX cameras are finer than the PEN.

And here’s the stuff nobody wants to hear: buying a DSLR or any of the cameras I’ve listed above will not automatically make you a better photographer. If you’ve purchased any of my recommended cameras and become frustrated by how your photos turn out, don’t be disheartened and most importantly, please don’t send me hate mail lol.

Photography is clearly more than just the camera you use. Getting my photos to look as good as they are right now took a lot of hard work, experimentation and time. I don’t have an innate talent for photography as you might think but I am fortunate to have undergone a very painful and rigorous curriculum during my time as a design student so aesthetic sensibilities have become second nature to me. Photography is 50% the camera, 40% the photographer, and 10% Photoshop – don’t give up and keep at it!

All images belong to the Digital Photography Review.

Also, before you ask – I’ve never used a Canon DSLR and know virtually nothing about them except for the fact they’re regularly compared with the Nikon cameras.

I’ve had a couple of health-related scares this week but more on that next time! Thing is, when you’ve been contemplating (ridiculously, I must add) whether you really are on the verge of dying, the last thing you’d want to do is to blog about something happy and beautiful, you know the sort of things people have come to associate tea noir with. It’s not easy for me to pretend everything is as it should have been but I will try to be less sombre about it. To keep my mind off things and in lieu of a normal blog entry, I present tea noir‘s first Ask Me Anything session!

Renee of Beauty Fool‘s just had a similar session on her blog and convinced me to do the same! To kick things off and at Renee’s request, I’m going to answer the same set of questions I asked her

1) If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

Such a hard one! I’m almost regretting asking Renee the same question. Uh, I would really love, love, love to meet Sofia Coppola who directed Lost in Translation and a string of other movies I am obsessed with. Plus she designed the LV Coppola bag, the only LV bag I’d ever be interested in (sadly it costs as much as a Chanel Jumbo caviar ._.)

2) What’s your favourite food/and what do you eat daily?

I love Japanese food and while one would expect me to say “I can so eat Japanese food everyday!”, I’ve tried that and really, it’s a great idea in theory but eating sushi for 4 consecutive days isn’t an experience I’d be keen on repeating. I like cooking and being away from home, also er forces me to cook whether I want to or not haha!

Lately, I’ve been trying to increase my vegetable intake and I’m kinda in a Chinese Broccoli mood this week so it’s been stir-fries all the way! I’ve gotten some flak for hating on the humble sweet potato in this particular entry but I’m proud to say I LOVE THEM NOW! A friend taught me how to make oven-baked sweet potato fries and it tastes better than your average pack of fries! YUM! I honestly could go on forever about food but..I’ll stop here.

3) Is there anything on tea noir you think that needs improving or wish you could add?

My blog right now has a bit of everything which I feel is its greatest asset and also its flaw. The blog first started out as a 100% beauty site but now it’s sort of a mishmash of things: my style, my life, my take on certain issues etc and I probably have lost a couple of readers since the blog’s transition from a beauty site to a “lifestyle” blog but I’m okay with that (I say lifestyle because it’s the only word I can think of right now 8D). I believe as long as I maintain my style of writing and photography, people would still be interested in what I have to say, even if it isn’t always beauty-related.

I wish I had more time to write and especially now that school’s started, it’s going to be ridiculously hard for me to keep up with everything. I think my blogging style is partly to blame lol, you guys know how crazy long my entries are. I talked to my best friend the other day and asked him if I should post more often but write shorter entries…that could be the solution. What do you guys think? Would you prefer shorter entries posted at regular intervals as opposed to my once-a-week long ass entries?

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Have you got something personal, beauty-related, style-related or maybe, something completely random to ask me? Post a comment with your question and I’ll try my best to answer them!

God these photos are so overdue. After our Great Ocean Road adventure and my roomie’s health scare, Naz and I went for a day tour of the Dandenong mountains and took a ride on a steam train to properly celebrate my birthday. I thought 23 would be a good age to be a real adult and devise plans to squelch self-indulgence but uh, it’s not really working out lol.

Case in point: a steam train ride?? I know what you’re thinking but let’s put it this way – it’s an unrestrained throwback to my kiddy memories of Thomas & Friends and the fantasy lit series that has me fixated (which really is a nice word for mildly obsessive ;p) for about a decade now: Harry Potter. But surely not even the Hogwarts Express would permit its passengers to casually sit on the window’s edge and stretch their legs out? JK Rowling probably knows there’s still a high risk of mutilating your limbs despite being in a magical world and she cleverly writes about chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties to distract us from the (im)possibility that a ride on the Hogwarts Express is the equivalent of taking a train ride to Chinatown. Except fancier.

Disclaimer: That was a joke. There is no way in Pottermore that taking the Hogwarts Express would be as drab as taking the train to Chinatown.

Anywho, my legs are still intact and dangling them off the ledge isn’t as dangerous as you might think. The only awful thing that happened was my legs felt like heavy rocks after 20 minutes of exposing them to the winter air. Anyone spot something out of the ordinary in my photos? I’m actually wearing sneakers LOL, you have to know it is extremely, extremely rare to find me in my high cuts since I’m a flats/heels kinda girl. But, going back to the theme of mementos, sneakers were what I always wore when I was in high school. Ah, the simple days of having just a pair of black sneakers and having nothing in your mp3 player except Avril Lavigne.

Coincidentally, I’m also wearing the first trench coat I ever bought (in honor of my 18th birthday too actually) and I guess you could say this was the one coat that started my DISREGARD SINGAPORE’S BLOODY WEATHER AND BUY TRENCHES phase. It’s from Sisley and was at that time, the most expensive thing in my wardrobe lol. The only reason I could afford it was because my cousin had an employee discount card, whoo hoo connections!

If you’re visiting Melbourne and would like to pretend there is some danger of having your limbs torn off, check out the Puffing Billy steam train It’s not the Hogwarts Express but it is almost as cool.

Also some real life news: I am definitely moving out of my apartment after my lease ends this year. I know I’ve said previously I’ve gotten used to its flaws bla bla etc but oh. my. god. you wouldn’t believe what happened to me last Sunday night when the roomie and I were collecting our clothes from the laundry room. We pushed the door open and there was a druggie in the room shooting up drugs in his arm WHAT THE FLYING FORK. He started shouting and gesturing wildly when he saw us – I did what any sane person would do: RUN. So yeah, having a druggie doing drugs in my seemingly safe laundry room is the last straw. It’s time to start finding a new home.

Ramadhan
The ninth month of the Muslim year.

Perseverance triumphs the callous sun
that bruises thirst
in throats pained by sea’s amnesia.
Poised empathy:
“It was written down upon you
as it was upon those before you.”
You shall not eat nor drink in the day.

We have our first meal balancing on threads
of after dark and before dawn.
But it is true dusk that awakens the hollow’s pulse.
The mosque clambers to prepare for Iftar
where the people, penniless or rich, feast together.
Honor the poor:
Pick the flesh off a Medjool date,
and dine on porridge.
We are equals.

Again, we rise to wed hunger with faith,
charting the bones of humility
for thirty nights, in thriving modesty
breaking the stasis with rapture’s Eid.

- For my late grandmother.

Poetry Final Collection of 10 poems, 22.04.2011

Man, I’ve waited for a long time to publish this ;p Patience is not one of my greatest strengths but imma try this holy month to be less of a chocolate cake abuser and more of a warm cup of milk + a Medjool date sort of girl.

But who am I kidding? I’ve already got next week’s dinners planned out in my moleskine: Beef lasagne topped with the ultra french bechamel sauce, creamy artichoke and shrimp linguine when Yumi hangs out at my apartment next week (WB SOCIAL LIFE!), honey braised chicken – just to name a few. Of course while I still plan on indulging in my habitual greedy affair with food, I will try to get rid of some bad habits and maybe birth some good ones. In any case, I’m thrilled Ramadhan is here again. This is the best time to do some soul cleansing and grey area detoxin’ (if you get my drift). Ramadhan Mubarak to all my Muslim readers!

My cousin, Naz, and I get along really well but when it boils down to recreational activities, we are polar opposites. Despite her sweet and gentle posterior, I can imagine she signs up for every adventure camp her school offers because whenever I check my Facebook news feed, she’s either trekking in some jungle in Vietnam, surfing in Bali or climbing a mountain. As for me, I like to have my feet firmly on the ground, preferably on the light marble tiles you find in malls. And the only mountain I’m willing to climb is the harrowing flight of stairs up to Zara.

So when Naz came over for a holiday in Melbourne, I knew I had to grapple with my aversion towards the great outdoors (or outback, rather lol). Perhaps it was my knowledge of the city or my easy going nature – I still don’t know what possessed my cousin to entrust me with creating an itinerary for her holiday. Itineraries are serious business. I had to find the delicate balance between the great adventures Naz preferred *shudder* and my own brand of physical recreation: SHOPPING!

And that’s how we ended up on a full day tour of the Great Ocean Road. No messy diving suits to put on, no skiing gear and just miles of beautiful scenery. My kinda shiz. It’s a winding 3 hour drive from the main city to the actual stretch of cliffs and ocean. I thought I would be prepared for the meandering ride after childhood holidays in both Cameron and Genting Highlands but dude, I had the most intense headache along the way. Thankfully, there were plenty of stops for us to get down, stretch our legs and take in the sights or breakfast would’ve ended up on my lap srsly.

And the sights? Unlike anything I’ve seen before. We got to climb down a cliff and walk around the beach too. I’m not gonna lie – as I heard that telltale crunch when my shoe soles made contact with the wet sand, I grimaced. Hard.

I hate dirtying my shoes omg, I AM SUCH A GIRL SRSLY. I’ll let the pictures do the rest:

Towards the end of the tour, they drove us to this stunning place called the Loch Something (I wasn’t paying attention rofl, I was busy cleaning my shoes by doing a lil moonwalk on the gravel). The sun was setting behind the cliffs and for once, everyone stopped snapping photos and just stood with their significant others, savouring the sunset whilst locking hands with each other. That moment was magic. But sorely lacking in the love department and not wanting to feel out of place, I did the most ridiculous thing: I watched the sunset whilst holding onto a feather I found HAHAHA WTF. TRUE INNER ZEN, PEOPLE! Anyway, I think that’s the last time I’ll ever try romancing with a feather…

p.s my giveaway is ending tomorrow, please join if you haven’t! And if you have, thank you for submitting your entries! I love reading all your feedback on what you’d like to see on tea noir, it is certainly time for some change!

OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OHHHH *FLICKS HIJAB*

I try to make it a point to buy something special whenever I’ve accomplished something academically. This Yves Saint Laurent Arty Ring in Lapis is payback for my daily grind of red bulls, readings and slathering pimple cream on my face for the past 1.5 years. I know there has been a huge influx of fashion bloggers who own the Arty Ring (some even call this “THE blogger ring”) but I don’t care for the alleged negative connotations behind owning it. I have been waiting to purchase this beauty for an entire year now – 6 months to decide that this ring was everything I wanted (at that time anyway) and another 6 months to wait for the ring to be restocked in my size. There is not a single YSL boutique in Melbourne, can you believe it? Scandalous. I bought this the day I arrived in Singapore while meeting my cousins for dinner and I think I must have made them shell shocked when I handed over my credit card to the SA at YSL, they probably thought I was joking LOL SRY GIRLS! x

Also, some drama: If you discount the takoyaki party I held for my close friends when I turned 21, my birthdays are usually simple affairs. This year’s, however, was a little unconventional. At the stroke of midnight on the 27th of June, my cousins and I were singing “GO SHORTY IT’S YO BIRTHDAY, WE’RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT’S YO BIRTHDAY” and IT’S A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT, WE’RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DUMB TO DOOOOO” as loud as our chocolate chip cookie-filled mouths could manage before falling asleep without actually marrying anyone (confused? click on the link lol).

Two hours later, my roommate (read: she’s also my cousin) woke me up, red-faced and breathing heavily while telling me that she was having trouble breathing due to her asthma. The worst bit of all: she had just run out of medication. I think my mind must have went on hyperdrive then. All of us sprang out of bed; my other cousin ran to my roommate’s room and grabbed all her important documents while I called for an ambulance. I’m actually pretty darn amazed I remembered which number to call in my frazzled state because the emergency numbers in Australia and Singapore are completely different. My other cousin ran down to wait for the ambulance and I stayed with my roommate, pretending that I had everything under control but in actuality, I was so close to breaking down in tears myself.

The paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital where she was rushed to the emergency ward for treatment. We slept in the waiting room in the weirdest positions – you gotta hand it to us for finding ways to sleep on those uncomfortable plastic chairs lol. At 5am, the doctors finally called us in to see my roomie and thankfully, there was nothing critically wrong with her body. My roomie got discharged in the evening that same day too, thank god. This was not how I imagined my 23rd birthday would be like but all that drama aside, I helped to save someone’s life which is probably going to score me some super karma points. Plus, I get to tick “Get a ride in an ambulance with a hot paramedic reminiscent of a young Prince William” off my bucket list too XD OH YES I DID LULZ

I’m heading to Malaysia over the weekend to meet Aaron again and do a little shopping, can you believe it’s been half a year since our first meeting? Our sense of time is so warped sometimes. GIVEAWAY ENTRY COMING UP NEXT and it is much more exciting in terms of prizes than my last one, you don’t want to miss it! See you guys soon x