So they said that Victoria Beckham is using Dermalogica products too. I wouldn’t be surprised as its range of skincare products are awesome. I’ve been wanting to try their products for quite some time already because of the reviews I’ve heard of their products and the way my dad has been encouraging me to give it a go since my teen days. So I finally did and yes, I noticed major changes to my skin and it’s so awesome

I have sensitive dry combination skin and it’s really annoying as choosing the right skincare product is vital or else I’d suffer a horrible spell of horrid skin condition. When I was in high school, I thought my skin was the oily type and resorted to skincare for oily skin until I graduated high school but the pimples kept popping and my skin was even more oily. In short, wrong choice bad skin. But of course I didn’t know the cause of the increased oiliness and continued using skincare for oily skin until one day where I had to buy a tub of moisturiser for dry and sensitive skin as my usual tub was out of stock. I was so darn worried that my skin would be worse but still continued using it as I was desperate for moisturiser and no one in my house uses anything more than a facial wash. To my surprise, my skin was glowing and it looked much less oily after I used it. Then it got me thinking that maybe all these while my skin wasn’t the oily type and I’ve been depriving it of its much needed moisture hence the horrible pimples.

From that day on, I’ve been using moisturisers for dry skin BUT my skin wasn’t as best as I felt it should be until I visited Leonard Drake during my fortnightly back spa and the therapist recommended that I use Dermalogica Active Moist. It’s supposed to be great for combination skin as our skin are dry in certain areas and oily in the other so this moisturiser is supposed to moisturise at the right place and at the right level. I was of course skeptical at first but got conned into trying it coz I’m such a sucker for skincare and cosmetics that I’ve not tried before.

It works. It works. You have no idea how happy I was that my skin stayed smooth and completely not shiny for more than 3 hours. Its so awesome and my skin felt so soft while the texture of my skin improved. How do I know this? It was my usual shampoo girl who told me that my skin look so radiant compared to the first time she saw me. LOL. In fact, pimples don’t pop out anymore unless it’s almost the time of the month and it doesn’t pop out more than 1 pimple (maybe it’s also because I’ve grown out of the hormonal rage stage?)

But of course, with a price like that, I’m tempted to try other products from leading brands to see if they too give the same effect. If not? I will be a complete Dermalogica convert. I still have a long way to go despite using it day and night since a few months ago as the moisturiser comes in a 100ml tube and you don’t need a lot to moisturise your whole face and neck. If you do indeed decide to try this product up but don’t want to get pushed around by the therapist (which they hardly do), you can pretend that you know what you want or that you’re buying for someone else. From my experience, they don’t normally push you to buy anything other than what you want but they would recommend suitable products only IF you ask them a question and sometimes their latest products. Even if you walk in as a newbie, they would help analyse your skin and recommend whatever suitable for you and it is up to you to purchase it or not. Of course, they would promote to you their latest packages to complement your skincare and all if you do purchase a product from them but so far from my experience, once you say you’re not interested, they won’t repeat it again. My best excuse and it always work (if you look the part) is, “I’m a student ler...my parents paying for me so I don’t think I can spend so much”

Price : It should be between RM177 – RM180+ (100ml) as I bought it at a member rate and I forgot how much it was exactly
Location : Leonard Drake centers or counters (Subang Parade, MidValley, KLCC, One Utama and etc)

My name is Macbat. I am almost 9 months old and I’m a white Macbook-13.3 inch powered by 1.83 Ghz Intel Core Duo and a 512mb RAM with 60GB HDD. My poor mummy is planning on maybe blackmailing fatty to upgrade the RAM for her this birthday. I know she would prefer me to be pink because she almost used up her rebate on a pink casing from Machines when fatty went to buy his new iPod nano. Thanks goodness she didn’t because that would be an insult to my white self.

**********

I got Macbat 9 months ago and it was more out of desire than desperation with 3 person sharing the desktop at home. Though it can run on Windows, I ended up using Mac OS and have never looked back since. Everything has been going fine so far as I only use it for the basic of all basics – net logging, word processing, a wee bit of picture processing here and there and Skyping so the specs were fine for my daily use. However, I find myself wanting more out of Macbat. The poor baby almost suffered possible discomfort when I wanted to get a pink casing for it. I made the right decision not to because it looks good the way it is. Nevertheless, I will get its RAM upgraded.

What I love about it is that its so convenient once you get the hang of it. I was a bit skeptical at first because I thought that it might not always be compatible with Microsoft run desktops when I run my presentations and documents but my skepticism was easily replaced with confidence. There is so much to do with Macbat and I’m so grateful that I bought her instead of the HP Pavilion series.

**********

I know I can be a nuisance to mummy sometimes because I can’t clean after my own pad and I get scratchmarks easily but I’m glad that she makes an effort to use baby wipes on my weekly so I would look as good as new. I saw her tear one day when I suffered my first scratch but realised that the couldn’t careless attitude finally settled itself in her perfectionist self because I now have so many light scratchmarks all over even though it’s only visible when you tilt your head a certain angle under the light. I also know I am reliable because I lasted 3 hours+ (I think) without sleep one day and that so far I haven’t suffered any lethal health problems that would put mummy to worry.

**********

The only thing that made me wanna sepak people is that a few months after I bought my Mac, Machines ran a promo that was giving away an iPod Nano (2nd gen) instead of the measly iPod Shuffle and at the price I was paying, the new batch comes with minimum 2.0 Ghz and the brand new Leopard OS (for purchases after Oct 1). Ok, I admit…I would find no use for a Nano and I very much prefer my Shuffle because it came in metallic pink and it’s small enough to be carried around without getting scratched easily but…b..but the Nano came in pink too and 2.0 Ghz makes a difference ok! I’m still searching for the perfect pink protector and carry bag for Macbat and is itching for nice gadgets that I can add on to my Mac.

To sum it all, I love Macbat and I will kill anyone who tries to Macnap her.

Price : RM4,199 onwards (Macbook) RM7,499 onwards (Macbook Pro) with 0% 12 months EzPayment (Maybank, HSBC, UOB, Direct Access, CIMB, Alliance and Public Bank)

Location : Machines @ MidValley, Suria KLCC and Sunway Pyramid (new wing)

I purchased my first Shu Uemura product when I was 19 I think and it was of course their brilliant eyelash curler. I’ve even recommended it to my mom and my sister (I actually bought it for them) and I guess, that was about it…my only Shu Uemura product. Along the years, I’ve heard a lot about their eyelashes and eyebrow pencils but never got to trying them out partly because I’m not much of a fake eyelash user and I was still waiting to finish the never-finishing eyebrow pencil I bought from Silkygirl. All these while, I thought that the eyebrow pencil I had was good enough for me because not only was it cheap (RM9.90), it was also long lasting and waterproof (somehow…unless you rub it off) BUT I tend to get uneven brows because of the shape of its tip. It’s not easy to be consistent when you’re filling your brows free-hand so once I’m done, I normally get a snapshot of my brows to make sure that they’re balanced. What a nuisance.

In between the years, I eventually got my second Shu Uemura product, a metallic purple eyeshadow. Loved it to bits but later realised that I don’t normally wear eyeshadow out unless I’m hitting the club, going for dinner or a party. Nevertheless, the pigment of the eyeshadow is awesome. A moderate swipe will get your colors living the night away. Just recently, I went to Pavillion for a spree. I told myself, “It’s time to try their false lashes and eyebrow pencil” but lo and behold, while I was happily checking out the stuffs I was about to pay for, the credit card machine was out. Best was, I never liked carrying too much cash so there goes my happy loot for the day. Of course, I ended up getting them at 1U later that day

The eyebrow pencil is unexpectedly convenient. Thanks to its specially shaped tip, I no longer have to worry about uneven brows. Not only did I save my camera battery but also the time taken to create my balanced and shapely brows. It’s been a month since I started using it and it looks like this pencil will last me a lifetime. Not only does it not go blunt fast, I can actually send it back to the counter for free sharpening. I don’t think I’d sharpen it myself since it’d prolly take a few months before it needs to be sharpened looking at its blunt-rate and I doubt I would be able to recreate the shape of its tip.

Their false lashes on the other hand was…lets just say it requires a lot of effort if you’re a virgin lash user. Instead of using an applicator, I used my Manicare tweezer for easy application. I don’t know how long it took me to put on my lashes but it was definitely faster than using your bare fingers. Here’s what I normally do before I put on my falsies :

- Do what you’d normally do on your eyes (Eyeshadow, Eyeliner, Curler, Mascara)
- Apply glue to the falsies and give it a few seconds or hoos (blow) for the glue to turn a lil more sticky
- Look down as how you would normally do when you put mascara and use your tweezer to hold the lash and apply it the closest you can to your lash line. Remember to trim your falsies to suit the size of your eyes before application. You could ask the SA to trim them for you or if you’re naturally talented, you can trim it yourself using cuticle cutters
- Press it a lil to make sure your lashes are attached properly. If you see a lil glue stain, you could use a cotton bud to remove it or just touch-up with a black liner
- Swipe a lil mascara so your eyes won’t look like it has two tier lashes

And you’re done. Some people might feel a lil uncomfortable wearing false lashes but don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Sometimes if you feel a lil pokey pokey at your lids, it might be because the lashes are a lil bit long in width so just trim it and repeat the steps. Here’s how my Black V Shu Uemura lashes look like before touching up :

Don’t mind my juling eyes. It becomes like that everytime the lense is too near. Anyway, the bf could tell that I was wearing falsies because in his words, “Your eyes look bigger and it’s more prominent now”. I don’t see myself wearing falsies often…maybe on special occasions or when I have the extra time for it because it’s not like my natural lashes are super short and stubborn and being too dependent on the extras will bury your natural beauty feature.

Price : Eyelash Curler (RM55) Eyebrow pencil (RM55) Eyelashes (RM45) Eyelash Glue (RM28)

I was at 1U with my youngest sister who was searching for Heart ; an Indonesian film, which she eventually downloaded over YouTube to watch (crazy!) as the shop ran out of stock. During our search for Heart, I ended up buying Cinta Pertama featuring Bunga Citra Lestari and two gorgeous guys (to my standards). I didn’t want to read the synopsis for fear that I might end up predicting the ending or not watch it if it has a tragic ending but less than 10 minutes into the movie, I snatched the DVD cover from my sister and read the full synopsis.

After watching it, I would say that the movie could’ve been better. But that’s because I’m an idealist when it comes to romance movies. The plot is so simple and innocent but yet, it managed to capture those moments that you would normally go through during you first love or at least what you imagined your first love would be like. I only wished that there were more interaction between the characters. Imagine, I was sitting down at the couch for about 1 hour 30 minutes and when it ended, I went “What? Finish? Not enoughhh”. I guess it’s mostly because there was a balance in appearance time for its main characters. I just wished that they would’ve featured more of Bunga and Ben Joshua *melts*

I wonder where they shot the movie because most of the scenes didn’t look like it was shot in South Jakarta. Anyhow, Bunga also released an album entitled “Cinta Pertama” with a few songs that was featured in this movie. I eventually managed to download some of her songs after being disappointed by iTunes as they didn’t support Malaysian purchase requests. I don’t think she’s gorgeously beautiful but she has her sweet appeal and she’s a 1987! I feel so old, really And with a voice like that, she might just become the next Krisdayanti.

So if you’re bored and alone on a drizzly day, give this movie a watch coz I did and not once but twice because I’m a sucker for romantic movies.

Price : RM19.90 (at Speedy) or f.o.c if you’re my friend coz I can lend you my copy

They finally kickstarted the game and she was practically drooling over Reyes while I was just watching the game and NOT the guys, mind you. But then…his squirrel-tail mullet caught my eyes, “Check that out..like that skunk character in one of the cartoons”. And then that was it. I started watching him grow from a young inexperienced player who was often the victim of countless physical intimidation to a player who has finally earned more than a few yellow cards here and there. He wasn’t really all super awesome at that point of time but like the professor, I too knew he would turn out fabulous when the time was right and he did.

[7th Heaven at Emirates Stadium : Ballack's Cousin, Walcott & Cesc]

Only 20 years old but he has already scored himself more wrinkle lines than goals this season. This is Cesc, my grown-up playmaker, my favourite footballer. I was tempted to iron on his number on my jersey but “Fabregas” wouldn’t fit and “Cesc” would be odd and having just his number there would not only make my jersey even more odd but people might think that I bought it from PS Boutique when in fact, it was flown from across the globe because Malaysian retailers only carry famous team jerseys for girls like Liverpool, Chelsea and MU. Pfft…now I wanna see how they sell off their Chelsea stocks.

Price : Unavailable until year 2014 unless notified

**Technical stuffs are best left to these group of contributors

It is best to fix an appointment with your stripperellas as they would normally have their services placed back to back since it only takes around 15 minutes tops to beautify your nether region. What normally happens once you step into Strip is :

- They’d ask you what waxing services you’re looking for (Brazilian, Bikini, etc.) if you didn’t already tell them over the phone
- They’d ask you if you wanna go to the ladies’ (or men’s) before they start
- You’d be asked to strip your bottom off
- They’d normally use hard wax for your visible hair and soft wax for tiny and hard to remove hair. The thing about soft wax is that, some people might be a wee bit sensitive to it as it strips not only your baby hair but also dead skin cells. So if you have sensitive skin, make sure to apply any form of after-wax cream diligently to soothe your skin from possible over-redness.

And you’re done. I have a very high pain threshold so Brazilian wax was no problem for me but for you girls who are sensitive to pain, you might not wanna be over-adventurous and opt for a Brazilian. Instead, you could go for a Bikini wax for a start. But if you insist, screaming is ok at the waxing salon *smiles*.

On my first time there, I bought a cream specially for my girl to prevent ingrown hair and keep it soft and supple. The cream comes in a mini tub but it’ll last you quite awhile. In terms of hair growth, on average, most girls would go back to the salon around 6-8 weeks (around 1/2 an inch of regrowth) after their last strip but it depends solely on your individual hair growth rate. For me, I would normally go back for maintenance every 6 weeks.

The stripperellas are really professional and accommodating to ensure maximum comfort while you’re there and I guess, also to make sure that you don’t suffer any form of waxing phobia after your first time.

I really like Brazilian waxes mostly because it promotes hygiene while some would say better you-know-what. So do give it a go with your girlfriends or even your boyfriend (boyzilian wax)

Service : RM88 onwards (mine was RM114.50 because I used a special wax)
Product : RM98 (X-ed Out by Strip) and RM198 (Sothy’s cream)

Location :
No.28 First Floor, Jalan Telawi 5, Bangsar (o3-22836094)
*It is at the same row as McDonald’s and parking can be a nuisance
**They also provide manicure and pedicure services and other waxing services for men and women
***For more info, do visit (http://www.strip.com.sg)

You girls could also check out the waxing services by Glitters Salon in 1U or their Bangsar branch (not sure if its at BSC or Bangsar Village)

I thought it’d be great to start off with a post on the latest fad since I’m like hopelessly addicted to it but not addicted enough to call myself a facebookholic yet. The first time I heard of it was months ago when Claire and Joe emailed me the invitation to join this “thing”. I obviously ignored it as I didn’t have much time to spare for what I called “nonsense” at the point of time.

It was really confusing at first but once you get the hang of it, you’d be able to even convince your other half to take part in this crazy time wasting activity (which I did). I thought I finally grew out of my addiction of Facebook UNTIL I found Scrabulous and got hopeless stuck to it ever since.

The good : It’s definitely more interactive and a fun way for you and your friends to keep in touch as opposed to Friendster *boring*
The bad : It keeps you glued to your laptop, strain your eyes, procrastinate before you get your next job done