There’s something odd about being 20 and looking across to the other side of the train carriage, only to find a thirteen year old who dresses like you do. So is she over dressing? Or am I dressing too young for my age?
不认老也不行！！！！
Time really flies.
The only consolation is that…
She has the body of a banana/apple and you probably have yours somewhere in between a pear and hourglass.
So here’s a poem for all ya oldies like me:
I want to do well so badly in life it’s ridiculous. But procrastination is my worst enemy as always. What’s more ridiculous is how I lack the discipline to get down to it.
Everyday feels like a Saturday to me. Especially this week. Its bad, because I will get a rude shock when I get back to school in two day’s time.
But I missed this. I missed Saturdays in LA especially.
This year flew by way too fast.
I still can’t believe how I made it to Hollywood, or how I got through the six months living on my own. I managed to get away from Singapore, which I vaguely recall, was driving me to the brink of asphyxiation. I remember how all my innate instincts were resonating with the same voice, telling me that it was time to go, even if it meant leaving Sam and my loved ones for a while. I remember the frustration when my visa got delayed, and how I couldn’t sleep for nights because I knew that if it didn’t work out fine in the end, I would probably be a very miserable grump up till now. But being away healed me in ways I never thought possible. I learnt how to tune out to things that I shouldn’t be concerned with, to truly be myself again…because nobody knew me there and I am truly myself when nobody is looking, which is, the reason why I love being by myself alot.
I worked at Myriad, which was in my opinion, the best place to be if you’re learning the ropes to the American film industry. I worked under a tough boss, and had good and bad days in the office. The good ones would see me joking with my colleagues and fighting over chocolate and starburst candies or making stupid, silly jokes about one another, and the bad ones saw me crying during the day cos I was missing it here too much. I know the times I could have gotten fired due to my careless blunders, but God is so gracious…His grace is all sufficient for me.
I met Maria, who is the most wonderful person to live with if you’re away from home for a while. I will always, always remember her kindness and graciousness to me..and how she took care of me throughout my stay there.
They say trips could make or break a relationship, but fortunately for Sam and I, the long distance didn’t manage to harm or threaten the balance of ours. In fact, though Melody and Hosanna thought that I was very nonchalant about the bouquet of tulips he bought me on the day he met me after three months, I was indeed, very touched. Except tulips weren’t my favourite…and I didn’t know how to react after not seeing him for so, so long. But the three weeks in LA with Sam has been by far the most magical moments of my life. And though he isn’t the kind of guy to buy me the right flowers, what matters was that he flew so many miles out just right after his last paper ended to see me. Me. Till today I marvel at why he has decided to come back and settle for me, because he could have just continued…walking and leaving. (and to add impact to my point, I am going to tell all of you who thought I was wrong about him: I have always stood firm that Sam has it in him to be the right kind of guy for me. Even if he did a lot that was wrong before. But this is what I did: I truly believed that he could be a good person. And I am happy to say that he hasn’t proven me wrong. And heres to all of you who thought I would look back to when I was 15 and think I was stupid or foolish – I never regretted waiting.) Its been six years now.
I travelled on my own to New York after the internship, lugging two 70 pound luggages to LAX. And trust me, getting through customs in America can be ultra scary. I don’t know how I did it really! I got to Charlotte for my transit flight to New York and realised that my flight was the last one they allowed out due to Hurricane Irene which was touching down that weekend. So I got to experience a true hurricane….and having to clear out a flooded basement at 7am in the morning. Speaking of New York, I remember vividly that one night I sat in prayer telling God my hopes and dreams and how New York is that one city in this world I have to be at before I turn 25. And I was…there.
When I came back, I got to meet up with Ted aka Josh Radnor from HIMYM as a Myriad representative at SIFF, and…it was just so strange to read up so much about someone and finally get to meet this someone in person. Julianna then came to Singapore from LA on a business trip, and I took her on a crazy one day tour.
I also got accepted to UniMelb and Monash….but still really want to study locally though. Life decisions sigh.
And then on Christmas I received a mail from the school’s corporate comms department, with a magazine that had me in it, which was kind of weird cos I always thought that people who appeared in such magazines are nerds(well I guess that kind of makes me one now).
Other than that, I picked up poetry writing thanks to book writing and publishing classes, and also managed to get real feedback on my work. I got to specialise in journalism too, which is…still pretty amazing.
Sometimes God is just so good, no wait, scratch that – God is ALWAYS good(even if I am not considered to be petite anymore cos I have grown proportionally to resemble the Caucasian size…or even if I put on too much weight due to my trip to the states). Everything that happened to me in 2011 was nothing short of amazing. One of the best years of my life.
I have been experimenting with makeup a lot lately, ever since I discovered Sephora at Ion a month before I left for LA. And it’s crazy how much I read up on all these products that I am interested in; Melody sometimes (secretly) thinks I am a walking makeup encyclopedia. So here’s my humble little makeup collection…And let’s start with:
Face
I use Laura Mercier for my face, because I have incredibly annoying sensitive AND oily skin (deadly combination). Before that I tried using other foundations but they all failed me because I always breakout after that…and it took me a couple of facials coupled with a lot of pain (facials HURT LIKE CRAZY) to clear all of them. So I didn’t use foundation for a while until I discovered Laura Mercier. I usually apply my oil controlling serums (THREE LOL) from my dermatologist before I put on the primer, and what I love about LM is that all their products are OIL-FREE and they live up to their claim. And then it’s the liquid foundation… I think I am using sunny beige and it blends really well with my skintone. After that, I highlight the dark areas on my face with YSL’s Touche Eclat (No. 8) and then I powder with LM’s translucent powder to set the makeup. They don’t sell LM in Sephora Singapore, so I had to get it at True Colours Takashimaya….at a crazy 83 SGD for each. It only sells for 40 USD here!
I use Sigma brushes for applications, which are a relatively inexpensive and good replacement for Mac brushes which are too pricey for a poor farmer girl like me to afford. Moreover, my entire brush kit cost less than 100 USD for 12 professional brushes – and it’s PINK.
Eyes
I was introduced to NYX by Liz, who told me that a lot of makeup artists use it because it’s really cheap and really good. And true enough, one swipe of their eyeshadow is enough to last me through my day – sometimes even without an eye primer. I looked all over the place for the “All I Ever Wanted” Collection which features 72 colours and finally found a huge stack of them in Urban Outfitters – all of that for only 28 USD.
And of course let’s not forget about the hyped up palette of the year haha the NAKED palette. I got mine from Sephora Singapore and it was the last batch of the year that they were bringing in…at an exhorbitant price of 73 SGD by the way (Why do makeup always cost ridiculously expensive in Sg?!) I like how all these wearable colours are in ONE place. Each swipe loads your brush up velvety and shimmery. I am not a smokey eyeshadow kinda girl so my favourite colours are the nudes. The only weakness of this is that the more shimmery ones fall out…after a while. So I always put the eyeshadow on first then put my foundation to cover the fallouts.
Of course to go along with all those gorgeous eyeshadows, you need a good eye primer. I really like UD’s eyeshadow primer potion because it helps brings out the colour of the eyeshadow and it helps prevents fallout.
I feel like I have to talk about these two liners because Stila is my favourite brand for liners and it’s a pity its underrated all the time. (Maybe not because Stila at Tangs ALWAYS has their liners SOLD OUT and that’s the ONLY place I can get Stila liners from and at 50 SGD…while from Sephora US it goes for only 20 USD) The Stay All Day liquid liner really lives up to its name because I can go out with it at 7am in the morning and come home at midnight and no matter how much I RUB my eyes, its STAYS THERE and never smudges! Even WITHOUT AN EYE PRIMER. I use the Stila Kajal Eyeliner in Topaz to line my waterline…and when you do that, you want a smooth application or else you will end up poking your eye, and this is….so smooth. It GLIDES. My friends would disagree though because they are major fans of Dolly Wink eyeliner for its precision. They used to have Dolly Wink in Watsons…but now they don’t anymore I think.
By now you can already tell I am a bit of an Urban Decay fan. Haha. I didn’t get Zero (matte black) because I already have the Stila in jet black, so I got Oil Slick, which leans towards a bit of grey and has glitter in it. A favourite for glamoring up the eyes.
Sadly the Lancome Hypnose doesn’t work for my extremely thin lashes because they usually can’t hold up the weight even after I curl them, so they start drooping and poking my eyes. I got the Majorlica Majorca one from Hosanna as a gift, and I quite like them actually. I do want to try the Lancome Oscillation Intensity ones though. And for now, I really want the UD Revolution Eyelash Curler because it has no hinges and I can curl my lashes in sections because my eyes are terribly long!
Cheeks
NARS is definitely my #1 choice. I love the colour Orgasm, for a more natural yet rosy look…and Desire is a sweet alternative. They don’t have NARS in Sephora Singapore as well so I will have to stock up before I go back home!
Lips
I use various colours for lips…and I usually prefer lipsticks than lip gloss because its less sticky and my hair doesn’t get caught in it all the time. I like nude colours as well as rosy colours..Sometimes I use the Relvon matte nude one to decolourise my lips before putting on another colour. The YSL one is almost a Fuchsia pink which goes very well with the NARS Desire blush. And my everyday lip colour will be Rose Veil from the L’absolu Nu collection. :)
So this is my humble makeup stash..I do have more though but I figured these are the ones that I use more regularly than others haha.
