SMOKE OUT
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Make-Up & Beauty
I was out meeting a couple of friends til late yesterday and I know I’ve not posted up an FOTD in the longest time so what better time to try a lil somethin’-somethin’ to welcome the new year? I set out to do the almost-impossible: I was going to do a look centred on that one eyeshadow I could never work with no matter how hard I tried.
I think everyone has at least one eyeshadow color in their collection that’s been neglected, left alone at the back to make room for all the HG stuff. It’s true what they say: Although it looks pretty in the pan… that doesn’t mean it’ll look pretty on you.
My victimized eyeshadow of the day? MAC’s lustre eyeshadow in Idol Eyes. This is a blue-toned pale lilac made stunning with some silver shimmer. I think this is one of MAC’s most unique colors and it’s gorgeous…just not on my eyes lol. Idol Eyes would look seemingly ethereal on a person with cool-toned skin but unfortunately for me, my skintone leans toward that of a banana so on me, Idol Eyes is like a hot mess of purple 70’s disco glitter only Cher would approve.
Enter my secret torture weapon to beat the heck out of Idol Eyes into submission:
My KRYOLAN Aquacolor face paint aka the best black eyeshadow base on this planet. I’ve been wanting to get MAC’s paintpot in Blackground for a long time but was always put off by the price and the fact that I probably won’t use it as often as I should. Ben Nye’s Lumiere and the KRYOLAN Aquacolor paints were next on my black cream base wishlist but that’s not available here so I was practically jumping with excitement when I discovered there was KRYOLAN cosmetics store just down the road from my hotel in Melbourne.
Professional and theatrical make-up heaven *_* My Aquacolor paint is one solid chunk of water-activated black pigment so all you need is a wet synthetic brush, swipe the brush on the paint a couple of times and you have a rich, dark and entirely matte black base for your eyeshadow. It’s cheap at $14, doesn’t crease and would probably last me forever.
From L to R: KRYOLAN Aquacolor paint in Black, Idol Eyes with Aquacolor paint as a base, Idol Eyes with no base. See how Idol Eyes turns from a wimpy shimmery lavender thing into this sexy deep icy blue-grey when it’s applied over the Aquacolor paint? Now THAT I can work with lol.
So I did a cool-toned smokey eye look with it and if you noticed, I purposely didn’t blend out the edges because I wanted to wing it out for a cat’s eye effect without having to use an eyeliner like I normally would - I like taking risks 8D If you don’t have fun and experiment with make-up, why bother right?
Face:
MAC Studio Fix foundation in NC25
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach
Cheeks:
La Femme Glow on Rouge in Nectar Peach
Eyes:
KRYOLAN Aquacolor in Black as a base
MAC eyeshadow in Idol Eyes
MAC eyeshadow in Flashtrack
MAC eyeshadow in Shroom as highlight
MUFE Aqua Eyes in 22L in the inner corners
Clinique Creamshaper in Egyptian as my eyeliner
MAC Browset in Girl Boy
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander NEO
Lips:
MAC lipstick in Mellow Mood
Anyway, ZOMG IT’S THE NEW YEAR! It’s so unreal how time passes by lightning fast! I think each year of our lives are like having a series of multiple blind dates, packaged mysteriously and labeled with a number.
2009 for me was a hot stud who was a comfort to have around…shit I barely got to know the guy and now I’m being forced to chuck him out of the door to make way for Mr 2010? What if 2010 turns out to be a douchebag whose sole purpose is to make my life miserable? That’s when you kick him where it hurts most (*koff*) and show him who’s boss, honey. Life can get very uncontrollable sometimes but remember to have faith in yourself and you’ll be fine!
Oh and before I forget, congratulations to Catherine on the launch of her new domain: Strawberry Mochi! The site is looking good, hun! Can’t wait to read your upcoming entries ;D
Tags: beauty: KRYOLAN, fotd: smokey, holiday: australia
There’s no escaping the food - Melbourne Part 2
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh, Misc
As you can tell from the title, this entry is mainly a jumble of food porn photos so I do not recommend reading this on an empty stomach. Run along now and get to the nearest source of food, your fridge, your momma’s stew, whatever you like. It’s nearly Christmas so there’s no need to watch the diet.
I figured I should start off this entry with fruits because it doesn’t clog up your arteries like all the other food stuff I’m about to show you baha. Don’t say I didn’t try to make this entry healthy.
We drove about half an hour away from the city to Baccus Marsh, a small town where you find vast fields of plantations, fruit farms and pretty lavender fields. We got to pick our own cherries and strawberries! You only pay after you finish filling up the plastic container they provide and it goes by weight so it’s very affordable. No funny entrance fees, yay!
Never in my life have I seen a cherry tree before! The cherries are pretty easy to pluck because they grow on low trees so the fruits are at your eye level. Fyi the “cherries” you get on ice cream sundaes are fake, I can’t remember what they’re made of but they should be banned. I hate their plastic sweetness. Give me the real deal anytime bb.
Strawberries! The ones we get in the supermarket here are usually not very sweet and more on the sourish side but oh my god, strawberries in Australia are DIVINEEEEEE. They are absolutely perfect, sweet with a bit of a tang.
LOOK MA! APRICOTS!
Muffins are EVERYWHERE. Apple muffins, chocolate, vanilla coconut (I hate coconut but this was gooood), banana, caramel, white chocolate raspberry (another winner!)…this is why my diet’s non-existent anymore.
HOLY FRICKIN’ OYSTERS! Granted they’re an acquired taste; some people like it grilled with a little sea salt, some people like it just like that, some people like it baked with a little mozzarella. I like mine raw with a lil lemon, nothing can ever beat that.
It’s sad that you can only find dips here in upperclass supermarkets and they’re not made fresh at all. Dips over there are made with care, from secret family recipes passed down from generation to generation so each store has a different set of dips for you to choose from.
Time for a water break! Finally got my hands on a bottle of vitaminwater…it was nothing special to be honest but I have been in love with the bottle and label design since forever, sorry I’m a designer - I can’t help but be drawn to good packaging and pretty things.
Cotton candy ice cream! so yummy and it makes me happy just looking at the swirl of purple and pink.
HOLY FRICKIN’ PIZZA! Soft, fluffy dough with copious amounts of my favourite toppings: salami, fresh mushrooms (holy crap they even used fresh mushrooms! not the canned shit we get here!), olives and a combination of mozzarella + edam cheese. This large pizza was only $8 EIGHT DOLLARS GUYS, where can u buy a decent large-sized pizza in Singapore for $8?!
Fish n chips which was $6. Look at the size of that fish. Would you rather have a mcdonald’s burger meal for $6 or an insanely huge and fresh battered white fish fillet cooked the minute you order? Ok so they’re both not exactly healthy but whatever, I’d take the latter.
One last flower power image to go before I end this entry :3 Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as the last one! The food in Melbourne is amazing although I have yet to try out the Asian cuisine over there ‘cept for a few sushi rolls ;P I think I’m going to have a really hard time maintaining my weight when I eventually move down under, erk.
Anyway, Christmas is just 2 days away now! What are your plans for Christmas? I’ll be traveling out of the country again, this time to the capital of Malaysia which is just a 3-4 hour drive away to visit my aunt and do a little bit of eating + shopping! I don’t celebrate Christmas but I am feeling the holiday cheer ;D I would like to wish everyone a merry christmas, spend time with your family and have a good time opening those presents!
Tags: holiday: australia, life, nosh: western food
Melbourne, where I got hit on by a fishmonger - Part 1
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Misc
How has everyone been? I’m finally back from Melbourne! I enjoyed every minute of it (except my 5 hour transit in Perth, that was a KILLER), I like how everyone’s so relaxed despite the bustling atmosphere and the food, OH MY GOD THE FOOD. Don’t get me started - I think I must have gained 2 kilos because everything tasted awesome. I felt a bit like thirsty traveler stumbling upon an oasis in the desert. I won’t be rambling any further because this entry is about to get extremely image-heavy so I much rather have your loading time be saved for the images I took instead.
We arrived in Melbourne in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel and left immediately to do some grocery shopping at the infamous Queen Victoria Market which is one of my favourite places on earth. I’ve been to Melbourne when I was 8 and I’ve had the best childhood memories of eating yummy jam doughnuts and playing with the pets on sale at the market. Lovely times.
I love mah fish as you can tell. It’s really fresh and I love how most of the white fish are prepared as boneless fillets, that’s just super convenient. The fish is really cheap too and if you get there just before the market closes, most of the fish have bargain prices. Oh and I got hit on by a fishmonger LOL! I was taking photos of some of them at work and one of them came up to me, introduced himself and gave me his email hahaha, cute.
ZOMG DOUGHNUTS FROM MY CHILDHOOD, THEY STILL EXIST!
Yessss strawberry jam-filled sugar-coated goodness to go. I think we must have bought like 8 bags of doughnuts the entire trip. See what I mean? It’s no wonder I gained weight lol, oh but it was worth it.
Flowers at the market, just a kaleidoscope of pretty.
This is for all my girlfriends, I wish I could give each of you one of these roses here - they smelt heavenly. Roses will forever be my fave flower, take note boys 8D
THE BEST KEBAB EVER. If you happen to be in Melbourne, have a kebab at Alasya in Brunswick because it is just gastronomic heaven for me. I am extremely picky with my kebabs, I like them to be as authentic as I can get them to be and Alasya serves some real mean foot-long monster kebab rolls which took me literally hours to finish. They make their own oven-fired bread in-house, the meat is perfectly seasoned and I’m one happy camper.
I like how the roads in Melbourne have a special lane for cyclists! Spotted this dude in Brunswick.
Cafes are a big deal there, I’ve seen one on almost every street. This particular one had a nice rustic feel to it, love love.
This is probably one of the few shots of me lol. We were at the sunday craft market by St Kilda’s beach and it was freezing cold. I was practically living in that shawl the entire time lol. I had very minimal make-up on the entire trip and some of you wanted to see what the Shu Uemura lipstick I got looked like on my lips so there you have it, ladies. It’s the perfect nude, really.
The craft market were filled with artists, jewelry makers selling their wares. Everyone was really friendly and didn’t hesitate to give you a free item or a discount if you like their stuff.
Colourful handmade soaps! Each soap had a different scent and they were made with natural ingredients which are good for the skin. I think I must have bought like 6 soaps? Can’t wait to try them out.
Chadstone Mall, this mall is HUGE. I almost kissed the floor when I saw CHANEL. There were some great designer deals here with Christian Louboutin heels going at $400 from their usual $1800 price tag and nah, I didn’t get any because the heels on sale were, forgive me Mr Louboutin, not so hot.
I wish I had time to check out the little little local designer and vintage stores in the city, oh well I’ll have all the time in the world when I move there next year. So that’s part 1 of my melbourne trip! Part 2 will be up soon. I’m going back to reality aka work tomorrow and I suspect things will get busy for me. I have so many blog posts to catch up to, my google reader unread posts count is at an incredible 1,200 so I’ll try to read and comment on everyone’s entries tonight and tomorrow.
Tags: holiday: australia, life
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