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
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
I’m 21
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
I turned 21 two weeks ago on the 27th of June. This is prolly going to be very cliche of me to say this but it was indeed the best birthday I’ve ever had. I was stowed away in a car in the wee hours of that saturday morning and was driven to the cinema where we caught the new transformers movie. I had lunch at Barcelos Grilled Chicken where my closest cousins surprised me with a cake, a giant balloon and a lovely card!
Nadz gave me a bagful of presents which I struggled to carry because it was just so damn heavy! In it was the best DIY card I’ve seen in years, The Body Shop spa goodies, some vouchers from my favourite book store and a pressed powder compact from Majolica Majorca.
I had another mini post-birthday party at my house with 3 good friends; I cooked up 60 takoyaki balls in the sweltering heat and we drank green tea while snacking on chilled macaroons. Twas good, really good.
I’m sure a lot of you have been wondering where on earth have I disappeared to? I’m really tired of saying this but my day job has been stealing me away, not only from blogging but a lot of other things as well. I had to work over the weekend just last week, spending 10 hours at the airport doing up a presentation for the following monday!
I don’t have time for myself anymore and lately I haven’t been able to take good care of myself even; my skin has gotten so bad from work-related stress and you won’t believe how much I’ve been bingeing on food! Sucks, I know but things are kinda slowing down over at the workplace (which is why I’m blogging now) so let’s hope I can get everything in control again.
Tags: birthdays, bodycare: The Body Shop, life
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