Yipee!

Bought my tickets to Melbourne. Can’t wait to see my family in October! M is coming with me too. Yay! In another words, it means no summer vacation for me.

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Me & Prague!

Woke up before 9am on a Sunday, is something very unusual for me. I spent the morning cutting fabrics for my first patchwork quilt project. I’m loving the new rotary cutter set! It makes fabric cutting so easy. Putting the blocks together is easier than I thought. I’m pretty with the result so far.

I baked some muffins a while ago. I can still smell vanilla in my kitchen. The last time I baked was before Christmas. I made some cupcakes last weekend and they turned out to be too sweet. I don’t usually follow the measurement in the recipe books because they’re always too sweet for my liking.

An update from my container garden, the sugar peas are growing so fast, so are the bak choy and okra. I sowed the seeds two weekends ago and now they’re getting bigger. I’m more excited about the bak choy. Baby bak choy in packs are available in Tesco but they’re really pricey.

People who have been knowing me for ages will not believe if I tell them what I’m doing on a weekend – gardening, sewing and baking! The Mandy they know was only good in shopping, spending money, partying… What has Europe done to me? 5 years ago today I was still in uni, if you told me plant a seed, I’d think you’re a boring person. I guess it comes with the age… Mandy, you’re getting older!

It’s been 3 years since I first moved to Prague. I remember it was a Wednesday, windy and brrrr.. cold like today. I started my first day in the company the next Monday. It’s been a wonderful 3 years though I could go on with what I hate about living here, like, paying high taxes! If I didn’t move here, I wouldn’t have the career I’ve always wanted. If it wasn’t because both V and I were so into our career and back in long distance relationship again, we wouldn’t have broken up after 6 years together. If it wasn’t for DXX, I wouldn’t have the chance to meet a wonderful person like M (I’m always against dating someone from work but M was a contractor, I could care less. Heh.) Yes, everything happens for a reason.

I’m A Sucker For Green…

I went through my collection of eye liners today and decided to put on Gosh Velvet Touch Eye Liner in Woody Green. I ended up playing with the eye shadows too. The result?

Base: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Gosh Velvet Touch Eye Liner in Woody Green
Lid: MAC Bio Green e/s
Crease: MAC Humid e/s
Outer V & Crease: MAC Bottle Green e/s
Highlight: MAC Brule e/s
Liner: Gosh Woody Green (should have used Urban Decay Stash)
Lash: Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara

It took me arund 5mins to finish the eye makeup. It was for fun. I was bored, can’t you tell?

Gosh Velvet Touch Eye Liners are really good for a drugstore brand. I saw them in Prague before but they’ve been discontinued here. I got mine when I was in Slovakia last year. I only have 3 colours and wish I could get colours. They’re waterproof and very long lasting. My favourite waterproof eye liners are Urban Decay 24/7. They’re my everyday eye liners since I don’t wear eye shadows to work.

Sexy Curves mascara is one of the best I have tried from Rimmel. It lengthens my lashes. I love the wand, it gives me beautiful curls. The downside of this mascara? It’s not waterproof. I wish Rimmel will come out with waterproof formula for Sexy Curves.

Majolica Majorca

I was introduced to Majolica Majorca by my little sister. I’ve been wanting to try their products since she has been telling me how good their mascara are. I didn’t get to check the products out when I was in KL earlier this year (spent 9 hours in the city before catching my next flight home) because I was too busy with other brands like MUFE, Benefit and MAC (MAC is 30% cheaper in Malaysia!).

My best buddy, Kev bought these for me when he was in KL. What I have here are RD255 and PK333. These blushes are very pigmented. RD255 is peachy pink with golden shimmer. I’ve read it’s a dupe for NARS Orgasm on My Women Stuff. The colours are very similar. PK333 is matte pink and I don’t have any colours in my collection that look like this one.

 

PK333 shows up a little on me but am not really a pink blush person. I prefer RD255, it looks peachy-pink on my skin. It can be my everyday blush in summer. I can’t wait to wear it… I’m taking part in My Women Stuff’s 1 Month 1 Blush 1 Eyeshadow. I started the challenge last week but only the blush part *lol* I always ask myself, ‘Should it be Deep Throat today or Stark Naked? Hmm… how about Nuance…’ The blush of the month is MAC Peachykeen which I just bought a few weeks ago.

Sigma SS188 & Other Brushes

I have read a lot of raves about Sigma Makeup brushes and would really like to try them since the quality is comparable with MAC brushes. The SS188 I have been waiting finally became available recently. My order arrived a few days ago and I finally got the chance to try the brush out. What can I say? I’m loving it!

The brush is very soft and desnse. It shed a few  It flares out and shed a few hair when I first washed it. I used it for applying NARS Deep Throat and was really pleased with the results! It picks up more colour than the other blush brushes I own.

It’s definitely worth the money I have paid. The brush is $14 and $5.60 for international shipping. It only took 4 days for my brush to arrive.

These are my brushes I use to apply blushes I have collected over the years. From left to right. Sephora Professional Angled Blush #40: This brush is dense but it isn’t soft enough for my liking. I use it when I’m in a hurry. Sigma SS188, need I say more? EcoTools blush brush: This one is soft and dense and does a great job. I like it but I prefer smaller brush because it is a little too big for me. Red Earth Blush Brush #2: This is one of the oldest brush in my collection! I bought it back in 2002 (ahh… those days in uni and Red Earth cosmetics). It’s very soft and is still one of my favourite brushes. The brush started to shed when I use/wash it. It’s old but I still love it, I carry it with me everyday in my makeup bag. MAC 187SE: I use this one for liquid foundation and blushes.

Here are some of my brushes. 80% of them are MAC.

Oh…

It’s already May, no, I mean, almost end of May. It’s been almost 6 months since the new year?!

I’ve been really busy at work. I’m so stressed. Sometimes I wish I could just quit. No, I can’t. I’ve bills to pay. The money is good. The economy is bad. Speaking of money and bad economy, my jaws dropped when I saw the amount of bonus I was getting together with my salary this month. I didn’t expect to get a lot of bonus this year since the economy is bad. Anyway, 35% of the money went to tax deduction, so I wasn’t that thrilled.

M and I bought ourselves a new telly a few weeks ago. A Philips, 42″ and Full HD. Not sure about the rest of the specs because I don’t know what they are! We’re both very happy with the purchase. You bet I spend my evening watching the telly and fall asleep…

I treated myself some MAC goodies. My original plan was to get a Cremestick Liner in Gingerroot. So, what do I have this time? The #165 brush!! I was just talking to my MA that I wished I have bought that brush and she said they had one in store! It was the last one *nods* and I was lucky. I don’t know why I didn’t check out the Cream Team. I was looking to buy another Lipglass today but my MA told me to try Cremesheen Glass but they only have Petite Indulgence in stock (it was the last one too). I really like the pink and it’s not sticky like the usual MAC Lipglass or Dazzleglass.  I grabbed another 2 Pro Pan refills in Brule and Wedge. I got Silverthorn eye shadow from the Rose Romance collection, I find it very unique and I’ve nothing like that in my collection. Peachykeen is a beautiful blush colour which I’ve been wanting to buy. I guess I’ll stay away from MAC store for a while.. The total damage to my Amex was 165€ but I think I deserved that. Well, I say that all the time!

Spring Allergies

I just came across this website a while ago and find it really useful. The birch pollen season peaked last week and will continue until next week. This explains why I couldn’t be on the balcony for less than 5mins without itchy eyes and I could feel my allergies is getting worse. I’ve had skin prick tests and blood tests last spring. As a result, I’m highly allergic to birch pollen followed by hazel pollen. I live near to a park full of birch trees. They’re very common here.

I went to take some wild cherry and wild plum blossoms last week, came home with really bad allergies. My eyes are watery and my nose is running now. I can’t wait till the blooming season is over. I hate this time of the year.

This photo was taken last week. The wild plum trees  in front of the building were flowering. They were really beautiful but the flowers stunk! There were lots of bees on the trees. I managed to find a ‘bees-free’ spot and took numerous pictures. Most of them were blurry because of my shaky hands. Hey, I’m afraid of the bees!!

This one was taken in the backyard. One of the ladies from our block takes care of the flowers here. I’m not sure if these ones stunk too because my nose was stuffed. Uhm, thanks to the allergies!

Why Me?

Spring is here, so are my allergies. I’ve started taking the pills prescribed by my allergist last year, they do help a bit. I stayed indoors most of the time on the long Easter weekend. The only places I’ve been to were the church and the supermarket.

Finally dragged myself to see a dermatologist yesterday. After the examination and digging into my health/allergies histories, products I’m using, etc., she advised me to stop using my current skin care products! My skin condition is in fact getting worse and I’ve no idea what goes wrong. My cheeks started to get itchy after I used the new Estee Lauder cleanser I bought last week. I’ve stopped using it and the itchiness is now gone. She recommended some skin care products I can get from the chemists including Avène, Bioderma and La Roche-Posay. I picked up Avène Hydrance Optimal Light and Micellar Lotion Cleanser and Make-up Remover and a La Roche-Posay Lipikar Surgras Body Wash. I also have some prescriptions for the itchiness, my occasional breakouts on my back (eww…) and 2 tubes of  Linola Fett cream. It’s dirt cheap, for about 1,50€ because it’s a prescription and the health insurance is covering the rest of it. I don’t need I need a doctor’s prescription to buy Linola Fett though. That thing smells funny but it keeps my skin moisturised.

I used to get breakouts occassionally before the time of the month but now I seem to be getting them more often. Believe it or not, I didn’t even get a single pimple in my adolescent years. I’m hoping my current skin condition will get better soon. Oh well…

I ♥ Greens

MAC latest collections, Sugarsweet and Colour Ready were out two days ago. I went to check them out after work yesterday and brought home Aquavert and a refill eyeshadow pan in Nylon. The rest of the LE items are meh for me. I love Aquavert. I love green eyeshadows in general. This one is so pretty. I already knew I was going to get it when I saw the promo pictures.

I finally had a chance to try it today. I used MAC Paint in Bare Canvas as the base, Nylon for highlights, Aquavert all over the lid, applied Verdigris on the outer lid and blended with Aquavert. Bottle Green for the outer v and on the crease. I like it! I haven’t used Verdigris in month and it looks like it’s drying up or something. I doubt I’ll get another cream eyeshadow.

It’s almost 1:30am and am listening to Hamish & Andy on B105. Maybe I should go to bed…

Bored @ Work

[15:19] Me: the latest MAC collections are here!
[15:20] M: what are the names now?
[15:21] M: stiff stick, wet lollie and juicy juggles?

That’s M being nasty.