M.A.S.K it Yourself

Noop, nothing close to Halloween costume yet, it's facial masks that I'm talking about. Before getting into that facial mask topic, as a blogger, especially someone who's constantly booming you with skincare and makeup info, I think I have this inevitable responsibility to clear up some doubts that you have about makeup. Seriously.

I'm not sure whether you heard about this before, but many have said this right to my face: Don't ever put makeup on your face, it'll harm your skin. Well, I've been putting makeup on my skin since I was 21 and my skin is finer than ever. I think this misconception about makeup should be deleted from your hard disk, you know, time to upgrade your knowledge. Ok, you shouldn't put a whole lot of makeup when you're too young, this is solidly true because your skin are young and supple, that's your biggest asset, don't rush into the whole makeup venture too soon.

If you thought makeup will ruin your good skin, then you're so wrong. It wasn't makeup that causes you bad skin, it's your ignorant about good skincare & makeup products as well as your laziness. Of course, many critical factors like genetic problems, eating habits and lifestyle kick in too, but you just can't point your finger at makeup because one thing leads to another.

** mmm... the strawberries taste so good! Yup, I'm eating while typing...

Anyway, one of my secrets of staying young and fresh is heavily rely on facial mask. I use it at least once a week, that's why I stock up a lot... Like a lot...


These are just 1/10 of all the masks I own, I bought a box for each of the masks you see here, you do the math k.

I'm not showing off, I just want to send you a message that you don't need super expensive mask at all, you need a good mask instead, and good mask isn't always expensive, like all those above, they are very very very affordable except the SK-II one (I'm a bargain hunter, yup, I'm showing off this time, for real).

In order to provide concrete evidences, I'm going to risk my readership for showing you my non-makeup and unphotoshopped pictures that I just took 2 hours ago. Since all of the piccies are non-retouched, do tolerate the uneven lighting effect.


As you noticed, my dark circles do bother me a little, but I ain't perfect and I'm super please with my skin condition ;)


People often ask me how to minimize large pores, I really have no idea because I have tiny pores, it's something that runs in my genes. My mum doesn't have any visible pores until she was 45 something, so I still can take that for granted for 30 more years (Don't envy yet, I was born with squarish face and super tan skin, k. Fair enough).


My Beauty Diary Masks are indeed a very good investment to kick off your beauty routine.


And SK-II facial mask is super effective too! I'm gonna use this later tonight ;)


You've seen enough, they are all mine! Now go and grab yours!!!

Always remember, beautiful healthy looking skin does not come easily, so work harder!!! That's all for tonight, gonna off for bubble bath now ;)

Let's stay pretty and young together ❤❤



Love you for loving your skin,
Bev

10 Products That I Opt to Try

Summer is almost over and Fall will begin on September 22. When the seasons are changing, it's the right time to reinvest on your beauty products, yup, at least 2 times in a year; a set for summer & spring and another set for fall & winter. Why? Because your skin has different needs during different weather, just like the way you need suitable clothes for winter and summer.

You know right, I just got back from NY and I still can feel the slack in my bones. In other words, I'm still in holiday mood, hehe o(^_^)o

So today, I'm just going to do a short, brief and crisp update and then continue to watch the three Hong Kong drama series that I'm super into recently: Sister Princess (公主駕到), Some Day (天天天晴) & Growing Through Life (摘星之旅).

Ok, here's the list of the 10 products that I wanted to try out so bad. I haven't officially own them yet, but I do have some small samples for some of those products that you're going to see N.O.W...


L'Oreal Go 360° Clean. I just can't resist its pink and creative packaging.


Clarisonic Skincare Brush. Read good reviews and I've tried out the brush in the mall. Somehow I felt the brush is kinda harsh to me that time... Hmm... Maybe it'll work well with cleanser together. I don't mind to give it a proper try.

Giorgio Armani Mineral Cleansing Milk. Got this sample, love its mild and light formula that leaves my skin super soft. I don't drink milk, but cleansing milk... Count me in ;)


SK-II Facial Treatment Essence. Yes or No? I've read tons of extreme reviews online, from my friends and relatives, what do you think?


Chanel Lotion Doueur Gentle Hydrating Toner. Maybe this one? It promises to deliver velvety-smooth and radiant effects. Hmm... sounds good right?


Philosophy 'hope in a jar' for all skin types. Redeemed this as a reward at Sephora. I've tried it yet but I'm super positive that its beta glucan-a powerful antioxidant is going to make my skin baby smooth. Wooo Hooo~~


Yves Saint Laurent 'Touche Éclat' Radiant Touch. Tried it at Sephora and I quickly fall in love with it. Victoria Beckham is using this too! I'm gonna get this after finishing my Amazing Concealer.

Shu Uemura 'Nobara' Cream Cover Stick Foundation. It can be used as a concealer too! I want to T.R.Y~~


Jill Stuart Pressed Powder. Never get a chance to even look at this physically, it's only available in Asia, only in Japan, Hong Kong & Taiwan if not mistaken T_________T


Jill Stuart Quad Powder Blush. And this one too T__________T

Ok, I spill out a lot. Now it's your turn! Have you ever tried any of those products before? A must-buy or just a waste of our hard earned money? Thoughts, anyone?



Love you,
Bev

I ❤ Leisure Wear

** Itemization **
Shades, F21
Scarf, H&M
Bangle, F21
Top, Uniqlo
Legging, Uniqlo
Slipper, Havaianas

I guess this will be the last post for this week. I know, I know, don't be too sad. My schedule is all packed, final week for this term and I'll have 2000 words due tonight. On top of that, I'll fly to New York again this week ❤❤

Come follow me on Twitter and Facebook if you want to get timely messages from me during my trip to NY. I promise I'll bring more updates and excitements to you guys soon!

See you soon, New York *\(^_^)/*



Regards,
Bev

Rebel

While packing for Boulder, I noticed that I had tons of magazines quietly stacking on my bookshelves, on my dressing table and even in the bathroom. Vogue, Elle, Seventeen, Nylon, Vivi and Popteen, tons of them. Due to the expensive moving cost, I packed them into 6 medium boxes and trashed them into a 3-ft tall recycle bin before I moved to Boudler.

Of course, I kept some of my fave magazines and have brought them here. But I've tossed approximately 90% of all of them. Heartache, not because of the magazine itself but the great amount of this enormous expenses which are unnecessary. Out of the 90%, there are around 20% of them are unpacked, I didn't even get a chance to run my fingers through them.

This has made me feel quite nostalgic. I remembered I did the same thing too 3 years ago before moving to the States reunion with Chean. Instead of throwing them away, I gave some to my sis, my cousins and my friends, and then I donated the rest of them (about 100 copies of Cleo, Vivi, Popteen & etc) to my favorite hair salon; the lady boss even gave me a free hair treatment that day.

Now the history seems repeated itself and I finally came to realize that I've been sick of the way people constantly telling me what to wear, and most importantly, the feeling of inferiority instilled in every page that keeps hunting me. I need to be skinner, I need to be fairer, I need to buy this to make myself looks better, ohh, maybe try this and maybe do that. While searching for a way out to express myself through fashion, I think I've lost myself far before I achieved that.

From the moment I left all those magazine in Portland, I told myself I want to wear things that will make me feel like myself again and will make me enjoy wearing them.





Well, that doesn't mean that I will stop buying magazines. Fashion magazine is still the state of the art, but instead of trapping yourself into that fashion businesses & contributing profit margin to the publishers, perhaps you need to step back and take a look at yourself, do you want all these for yourself, for real? Or you just want it for the sake of the trends? I mean, floral jumpsuit and jeggings are not for everyone.



So, R.E.B.E.L and challenge the status quo you fashionista!



Be yourself,
Bev

Bubbly Champagne - Another Makeup Tutorial

I'm not sure whether this happened to you before, but I experienced it once. It was 6 years ago, and I still remember I was working for RTM (yep, Radio Televisyen M'sia) as an assistant producer that time, but only for internship of course. I drove back and forth from Damansara to Seremban (my hometown) every weekend, you know, packing, unpacking and packing again. So on an unfortunate Sunday, I thought I had packed all my stuffs and loaded them in my car. After the ridiculous two and a half hours drive, I safely reached my Damansara home and started unpacking all my belongings. Then BOOM! There's a thunder sound knocked right into my head then it slowly transformed to tears and seeped through my eyes, I left my makeup/skincare purse at home, in Seremban.

How am I going to work tomorrow? I had nothing with me, not even a powder foundation or a basic cleanser. And how am I going to survive until Friday? That was a huge meltdown. Thank god it was only 9p.m., I still have an hour to run to ATM, cashed out RM200 and purchased those necessities. Because it was so rush (also because there wasn't any nice blog like BS last time that gives useful makeup/skincare advice), I ended up spending the RM200 on some random makeup products that I barely use. I thought I should get something extraordinary, something that I never owned before, including couple of hideous eyeshadows. I loathed them when my colleagues told me I looked very "different" throughout the whole week (in an unpleasant sense of course), and completely abandoned them after I got my makeup purse back that Friday night.

So lesson learned. Even if it's an emergency, always opt for the safest choice. It will safe your life, trust me.


And the safest choice for eyeshadow always goes to warm and champagne colors. Get one like this and it will last you forever, plus good for travel too.


Apply the champagne eyeshadow thoroughly over the crease of each eyelid.


And over the brow bones as well. This will highlight your eyes naturally and make them pop.


Dust the warm color over the outer corner of your eyes. Then blend it with the champagne eyeshadow.


Use a liquid eyeliner and line your eyes as close to the upper lashes as possible. Avoid inner corner.


Naturally gorgeous (I mean the combination of the warm and champagne colors).


The eyeshadows gleam and sparkle your eyes when you blink. *wink*


A beautiful look which is so easy to achieve.

So next time, if you have an makeup 911 like I did, fix it with the very basic colors instead of unlocking your adventure spirit on that critical moment because anxiety doesn't usually produce rational decision. I wish someone could tell me this sooner, A.R.G.H! I want my money back T__________T

Ok lah, at least now I learned and I can have bubbly champagne makeup everyday (if I want). Isn't this perfect for all kinds of activities? From school to work to dating.

Remember to tell me how you like it.



Cheers with real Champagne,
Bev

Daily Use Products

Ever wondered what products are sitting on my bathroom rack and my dressing table recently? Request granted, I'm here to reveal some of my daily use products! I purposely picked those products that are extremely accessible and super affordable, you can easily buy them at local shopping mall, drug store or convenience store ;)


(left) Summer's Eve foaming Bath for sensitive skin
(right) Suave lavender & wild cherry blossom body wash

I think I have more than 5 different body shower gels, hehe. Thinking about using different scents and aromas everyday makes me S.M.I.L.E. I love bathing, called me Shizuka ❤❤


(top) Redken fresh curls shampoo
(bottom) Asience essence water

Redken is one of the famous professional hair care brands, its products' quality is unquestionable. Love this shampoo because it gives me splendid natural curls whenever I need that ;)

You know right, I dye my hair pretty often, thus I really can't live without hair essence. Asience essence water always surprises me as it instantly tames and softens the ridiculous frizz within a few sprays. Thumbs up! Try Uwajimaya if you want to grab that.


(top) Contact Lens Solution
(bottom) Visine-A eye drops

This Opti-free solution is strongly recommended by my optometrist when I did a eye health exam last September. It does help retain moisture on my contact lenses and makes my eyes feel more comfortable compares to other products.

Visine-A eye drops help temporary relieve itchy, red allergy eyes. I'm allergic to pollen and dirt, will definitely bring it along when I travel to a new places, you never know when you need it ;)


(top) L'Occitane Rose Velvet Hand Cream
(middle) Onyx Professional Nail Polish Remover
(bottom) Amway Glister toothpaste

L'Occitane hand cream is a must-have! Apply it before you go to bed and wake up with soft and smooth hands! It worth the price!

I've tons of nail polish removers but I love Onyx the most because its specially designed pump dispenses the polish remover easily and quickly! If you don't like the strong strawberry scent, you can always refill it with other nail removers. A good buy :D

My one-year supply (or more than one year) of Amway Glister toothpaste, Hehe... Crazy right? But I tell you, once you've tried that, you'll never switch back to any other household brands. Most of the toothpaste choices that are selling in a typical drugstore aisle will give you that weird "powdery" texture. You probably won't notice that all these while, but you can definitely tell the difference once you've tried the Glister toothpaste. I'm not exaggerating at all, that's why I did bulk purchasing. I think you can only get this through Amway distributors or on Amway's website.

Daily use products are as important as the foods you consume everyday; therefore, getting great quality products is the very basic step for a healthy beautiful life.

Now go organize your shopping list! Happy Shopping, pretty ladies ❤❤



Hugs,
Bev

✿ Happy 9th Anniversary ✿

It's such a looooong haul but thank god, Chean & I have survived the famous 7 year itch and we even took a year to re-evaluate our relationship, and now it is time to celebrate this long-anticipated 9th anniversary celebration ❤❤


Kicked off our day with latte & cappuccino. Ohh... the distasteful croissant (missing Porltand).


Took a walk around the neighborhood...


Getting retail therapy at Denver Cherry Creek shopping mall. Pretty regret for not purchasing that Juicy Couture dress, sigh, the zip is broken.


Korean cuisine for dinner, Y.U.M~~ (wanted to do BBQ but all the BBQ tables were fully booked T_______T, we'll be back for sure!)


I know this is what you want to see...

As I tweeted on that day, "my 9th anniversary celebration is the lamest yet the simplest and the happiest one because I can't think of any thing to buy anymore."

I'm serious, I wandered around the mall and ended up buying nothing. The Burberry and D&G fragrances above are not really my anniversary pressies, Chean got those for me in Portland last month just to make me S.M.I.L.E. See, if I really wanna get something now, I don't have to wait until any special events. My life is complete and I can die now :p

Mignon McLaughlin once said, "a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." How can you not falling in love (over and over) again with a man who love you more than himself?

Love you always, Chean.
Happy 9th Anniversary ❤❤



Muaksssss,
Bev

Butterfly-Inspired Makeup

It's been ages since I last did a makeup tutorial on BS, ideas dried up and I must admit, writing a makeup tutorial required more works than any other topic.

First, you need to take a bunch of decent pictures that could demonstrate the whole process; it's a lot easier if you have someone to help you on that, otherwise you need to keep the same pose for as long as you can until you get the right picture at just the right angle. Then comes the most difficult part: photo editing. Believe it or not, I'm not really a big fans of Adobe Photoshop but I can't live without it ironically. Well, it's one of my social responsibilities to serve my readers better and to avoid you from throwing up in front of computer screen (but I only prefer minimal adjustments on my photos, I swear).

Anyway, the statement I made above enough to sugarcoat my lame excuses for the lack of makeup tutorial lately, lol. Ok lah, back to the serious topic...


this makeup tutorial is inspired by this beautiful butterfly I grabbed from the web while working on the previous metamorphosis blog post.


These are the basic tools you need to create the dramatic makeup effects:
1) Legere BB Cream
2) Maybelline Finishing Powder
3) Maybelline The Colossal Mascara
4) Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer
5) Revlon Nude Lipstick
6) SPF 45 lip moisturizer
7) Falsie
8) Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick


And Coastal Scents 88 color palette.

Apply BB cream as foundation and finish up with loose powder. Remember to prime your eyes before applying eyeshadow, this makes blending your eyeshadows much easier and helps it last longer.


Step 1:
Dust on sea blue or sapphire blue eyeshadow with a shading brush, thoroughly cover the crease of each eyelid, avoid inner corner and outer corner.

Step 2:
Dip a lighter blue color, sweep it across inner corner and lightly blend in with the sea blue eyeshadow.


Step 3:
Put on the black eyeshadow, apply it on the outer corner and bring the black color back to the crease in order to frame and define your eyes like butterfly wings.

Steo 4:
Dark brown eyeshadow work great as eyeliners. Line your eyes as close to the upper lashes as possible but avoid inner corner.


Step 5:
Falsies time, apply on upper lashes only! Then, brush mascara on bottom lashes.

Step 6:
Remember to tap off any excess blush/bronzer powder before applying it on your cheeks. You can easily find the apple of your cheek by smiling and looking into the mirror. Lastly, finish your look with nude lipstick.






Taa Daa~~ You're all set!!!

Hope this dramatic and subtle look will turn you into a beautiful "butterfly" in the nighttime! Now spread your wing and S.H.I.N.E ❤❤



Love ya,
Bev

Cucur Pisang (Banana Balls)

I love everything with banana from M'sia authentic street food goreng pisang (fried banana) to Starbucks banana loaf, I never get enough of them ❤❤ But I'm lucky enough to find this super easy Banana Balls recipe from PynnLee through Somewhere in S'pore to satisfy my banana cravings.

You just need to try the recipe! It's a lot easier than you think!!! Now I can bring this delightful M'sia street food to the U.S., Y.A.Y~~



Happy Cooking,
Bev