W misses Sephora.

It’s been pretty much a whole year since I last shopped at Sephora.  Well.. I’ll be honest, I did cave sometime in July and bought a couple of KVD lip liners (in my defence, one was for my sister in law as a little present after she’d given birth) and Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask.
Apart from that, the last time I REALLY shopped for make up was in December of last year. I’ve been good.. for the most part.

So anyway!
Yesterday I went to Sephora with a mission!
One was to claim my birthday present.
The other was to spend my accumulated points!

They have Kat Von D’s Beauty Addiction Set for 500 points in their Rewards Boutique and I figured that THIS is what I should use my points for.
The set comes in a small faux leather pouch with red lining. Inside are two eyeliners; her Ink Liner in Trooper and Tattoo Liner in Mad Max Brown.
There are also two of her lip products; her Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Vampira and Studded Kiss Lipstick in Cathedral. All in mini size — perfect for on the go!

I’ve always liked her liners and liquid lipstick (and I have yet to own Vampira, yay!) but I’ve never tried her lipstick, so I’m excited! I don’t have any good reason to put on make up at the moment though so I’ll be trying these out as soon as I find an excuse.

By the way, to redeem the points you will have to make a purchase of any amount and that’s where the Soap & Glory hand sanitiser comes in (RM16).
I could’ve just bought one of Sephora’s sheet mask for RM10 but having a small child, I have more use for a hand sanitiser than a sheet mask!

This year’s birthday present from Sephora is by Tarte. They are minis of their Amazonian blush in Paaarty and Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint in Birthday Suit, both are exclusive shades for this Sephora gift set.

Can’t help but wonder if I’ll be getting a present from Sephora next year since I’d been spending so little this year! hahahha! I am most likely to be downgraded to their White Card.
Oh well.. priorities change. I now have a membership with Mothercare.. who would've thought?

The “bonus” item that I got yesterday came from a friend, who got me the Lid Lingerie eyeshadow palette by NYX for my birthday! The palette has six matte neutral shades. I’ve never tried any eyeshadow from the brand but this particular palette has great reviews, I’m looking forward to try this one out!

Basically I’m just excited over my haul!
So excited that I decided to take a pause from writing about being a mother. HAHAHAHA!
You know how it goes.. when an entry gets too long, I tend to skip over them. That continuation after I delivered Nugget is coming, I promise!

Update -- December 22nd 2017
Put on some make up before I head into the office yesterday; LOVED the Tarte blush (of course) and lip paint (my kind of nude!). Also loved the brown Tattoo Liner, no surprise there and the third shade on the top row of the eyeshadow palette blended real well on my crease.

Hello, 32.

And hi, reality. hahahaha!

Well, I've always talked about my grey hair anyway and I do embrace them. Makes me a whole lot like Rogue of X-Men. Unfortunately my job does not agree with the "old and wise" look so I always have to colour them in every few months.

Not my favourite thing to do since all those hair colouring products stink.

Gets really boring when you've done them since you're 25 -- and yes, that's how young I was when I first noticed the grey hairs.

Anyway, I've been really quiet this month, haven't I? My ideas just never made it to the blog unfortunately. Like always, ideas on this and that but time always gets the better of me.

My birthday came and went and I've got nothing to report.

As always I expected more, but at the same time there really is nothing to expect. It's always like that. I keep hoping for something magical to happen, maybe. But what magic is there when it's just one more day, one more year of your life?

Yes, yes, I am blessed and grateful for another day, but really.. I just can't seem to shake off the bad funk that I always feel around this time of year. It's sad and sickening at the same time. I am constantly in this loop that I can't get out of.

So hey!

I bought some stuff to cheer me up. hahaha! Let's call this my birthday haul. Stuff that I truly bought in the excuse of my birthday.

First I made a purchase in Sephora (naturally), and I was happy to see that they carried the holiday limited edition set from Kat Von D! As you may know (if you happen to stumble upon my Instagram, I suppose) I LOVE her Everlasting Liquid Lipstick! I already have eight of them and when I saw this set online, I knew.. I MUST have it!

Perhaps I'll write a specific post on them one day. heh! Don't hold your breath though.

Then I saw a cute lil' onesie by La Senza, and though I've always been apprehensive about bodysuits before -- how does one get out of it when they need to tinkle? -- and against my better judgement, I decided to get it anyway.

Just so you know.. onesie.. bodysuits.. whatever you decide to call it -- if you ever think of getting it, I hope you have the bladders of steel! Because let me tell you, it IS a pain to get out of one everytime you need to pee! hahahaha. But you can't deny, they are stinkin' cute on.

My final purchase was a flashy one. Been wanting to get a new perfume for months now. Been wanting a Dyptique perfume since probably last year even! I guess they're probably just as expensive as Jo Malone but I somehow feel like Jo Malone is a tad more achievable. hahahaha! (They're just as expensive, really.)

I went into the store in Pavilion not really knowing what to get but the sales associates were really helpful. Having Encem there was great too because it's just easier to decide on a scent with him around. After all, he's going to be smelling it of off me so we might as well get a scent that the both of us could love.

Loving my purchases so far. Not enough to get me out of my funk, but I'm pretty happy with my buys.

Year-end is fast approaching and I do intend to have a couple more entries before we enter the new year. So let's hope that happens and not become yet another idea that didn't materialise.

Hope you're having a good December, I'll speak to you again soon.

JPO Haul!

You know my love for bargains..
And perhaps you know my love for outlets too.. heh!

It's been a while since I've been to any factory outlets. I have not stepped foot in Citygate (Hong Kong) for God knows how long. I missed out on Rinku (Osaka) earlier this year because I was unwell. Can't remember when I last went to Watertown (Perth) and since Rebecca Minkoff left Shisui (Narita), I just didn't feel like paying the ¥700 bus fare to get there.
I did have a look around in Mitsui (Sepang) in January but there wasn't anything much to get then.

So when I'm rostered for a day off in JHB, all I could think of was Johor Premium Outlet!
And the hotel we're staying offers free shuttle to and fro the outlet so, hooray!

Apparently the last time I was there was May of 2014! A lot has changed. The place seemed a lot livelier and there were a lot more interesting brands on offer!

My first purchase was from Kate Spade New York. I'd been coveting the Zodiac Pendant Necklace since I first saw it sometime last year, but I really couldn't justify the price. So as all of the Kate Spade accessories that I own, I only get them on sales. It was luck really, that they had my sign!
It was originally RM230, but after 60% discount I paid RM92!

Then I went into The Cosmetic Company Store where I got the Origins Superstar Minis which was a 2014 gift set. I am quite critical when buying beauty products to be honest. I mean, I am well prepared to wait for the gift sets coming up in the next few weeks but I love Origins. And I love minis. Plus products manufactured two years ago didn't seem TOO bad, in my head. I mean, they are unopened! But that's where I set my limit; no more than two years.
Anyway, I paid RM116 for the set. I'll probably chuck some of these minis into my emergency toiletries kit.

I also got a Bobbi Brown Long-wear Cream Shadow Stick in the shade Greige from the same store. I think it's RM110-ish(?) from a Bobbi Brown store, and CCS sells them for RM88.
Pretty good, I think. You know how I owe my lazy days to cream eyeshadow sticks!

I also went to the Levi's, GAP and La Senza outlets, but I really don't need anymore denim and I'm all stocked in the lingerie department all thanks to the Independence Day Sales almost two months ago.

So next I headed to the Bath & Body Works outlet. They mostly had their normal priced items, but a few off-season scents that were half-priced!
Which was PERFECT and annoying at the same time.
Side story; last month I ran out of my favourite wallflower scent, Watermelon Lemonade. So I purchased some other scents for the rooms in my home. Last week Bath & Body Works had a sale where you get "RM50 off with RM150 purchase, RM100 off with RM250 purchase." Knowing that I'll probably only see my favourite scent next summer (B&BW changes their scent range according to the seasons, in case you didn't know) I decided to stock up on the scents I like now.

Since the B&BW outlet in JPO has off-season scents, guess what they have at 50% off..
Watermelon Lemonade wallflower refills!
Of course I got a few of them.
Of course I got some other things that were half-priced as well; Leaves in the Scentportables refills and Concentrated Room Spray.

Just as I thought I was done and was heading to Coffee Bean to wait for my shuttle back to the hotel, I saw the Cosmetics & Designer Fragrance store.

Said I wasn't going to repurchase Giorgio Armani Si perfume. (Well, technically.. I didn't.) Then I saw it in deodorant spray (n.p. RM233.20 - crazy!) on display. On its right was Si shower gel (n.p. RM169.60), while on its left was the body cream (n.p. RM349.80 - nuts!).
I caved like I never caved before, I was such a sucker! hahahaha
My actual total was RM335 but I got an extra 10% off so I paid RM301.50 for all three items, which was cool!

That was a total splurge so I feel kinda bad for that one. At the same time, I'm also SO excited to start using them! My armpits are going to smell oh-SO-good! HAHAHAHA

All in all I had an awesome shopping trip in JPO! Clearly I was feeling spendy, but I think I made pretty awesome purchases there!

Not looking forward to work tomorrow though. Wake up call is at 0400!