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Review

in Expat Life, KL Food

Foodie Adventures: Mono Coffee Opens at Publika

May 10, 2015

Mono Coffee, Publika, Cafe, Expat Dining, Foodie, Food, Cafe, Coffee, Coffee Place, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Solaris Dutamas, Diplomat's Wife, Recommendation, Laid Back Cafe, Cosans Coffee, Review, Opening, Launch

I love Publika and I notice that a lot of expats do too. I guess it’s because of the fine selection of restaurants, cafes, and shops in that mall. I often go there with the husband for tapas, actually. 😉

Recently, another cafe has opened in Publika to add to the place’s list of establishments. Mono Coffee is yet another place for people who want to hang out, enjoy a cuppa, and meet up with friends in the Solaris Dutamas area.

Mono Coffee, Publika, Cafe, Expat Dining, Foodie, Food, Cafe, Coffee, Coffee Place, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Solaris Dutamas, Diplomat's Wife, Recommendation, Laid Back Cafe, Cosans Coffee, Review, Opening, Launch

(RELATED POST: Foodie Adventures: JEQ in the House (Seksyen 17, Petaling Jaya))

But one thing that’s really nice about the place is the atmosphere. The lighting, the unfinished and slight industrial feel of the cafe also makes it quite relaxing.

The cafe was opened by the Brandker Group – the company behind one of Klang Valley’s most well known cafe chains: Cosans Coffee.

Mono Coffee, Publika, Cafe, Expat Dining, Foodie, Food, Cafe, Coffee, Coffee Place, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Solaris Dutamas, Diplomat's Wife, Recommendation, Laid Back Cafe, Cosans Coffee, Review, Opening, Launch

Mono Coffee, Publika, Cafe, Expat Dining, Foodie, Food, Cafe, Coffee, Coffee Place, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Solaris Dutamas, Diplomat's Wife, Recommendation, Laid Back Cafe, Cosans Coffee, Review, Opening, Launch, Where to eat in KL

You can say that Mono is Cosan’s hipster brother. With Mono specialising on serving artisan brews. It’s for coffee aficionados and those who actually appreciate the proper process of getting your beans into your cup.

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in Beauty & Fashion, Fashion, Fashion Tips

Beauty + Review: Horien Contact Lenses

April 25, 2015

As someone who’s been suffering from poor eyesight for 15 years, I’ve had lots of experience with different types of glasses and contact lenses. While I do love wearing my vintage-looking specs, most of the time, I opt for contact lenses when I go out due to the convenience it offers. No need to worry about glasses sliding down your nose or being careful with how you move around, right?

I’ve been wearing contact lenses for over a decade now and I can say I’ve tried most brands. Some remain my favourite up to this day while some brought great disappointment (and eye irritation too, in some cases).

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in Asia

Travel: The Arundina Guest House (Cameron Highlands)

April 20, 2015

Arundina, Guest House, Cameron Highlands, Travel, Malaysia, Where to Stay, Hotel, Backpacker, Cheap, Nice Hotel, Great Hotel, Diplomat’s Wife, Review

Last January, we went to Cameron Highlands for a quick weekend getaway. During our stay there, my mom booked us rooms in The Arundina which is a guest house in Tanah Rata.

Arundina, Guest House, Cameron Highlands, Travel, Malaysia, Where to Stay, Hotel, Backpacker, Cheap, Nice Hotel, Great Hotel, Diplomat’s Wife, Review

I loved our stay in this guest house as it really gave us that feeling of being in an actual home in the mountains. It’s a simple, no frills place and is quiet at night as they have a no-noise policy after 10pm which is a huge plus for me. I just cannot stand noise at night – heavy feet and closing doors counted.

Arundina, Guest House, Cameron Highlands, Travel, Malaysia, Where to Stay, Hotel, Backpacker, Cheap, Nice Hotel, Great Hotel, Diplomat’s Wife, Review

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The Balm, The Balm Cosmetics, Mary Lou Manizer, Highlighter, Beauty, Review, Beauty Blogger, Diplomat’s Wife, Makeup, Contour and Highlight, Pin Up Girl, Cute Packaging
in Beauty & Fashion

Beauty + Review: The Balm Cosmetics’ Mary Lou Manizer Highlighter

April 9, 2015

The Balm, The Balm Cosmetics, Mary Lou Manizer, Highlighter, Beauty, Review, Beauty Blogger, Diplomat’s Wife, Makeup, Contour and Highlight, Pin Up Girl, Cute Packaging

I often relate makeup milestones to Pringles and chocolate. The moment you start eating/doing it, it becomes quite hard to stop yourself.

I remember back when I was in college. I never shaded my brows. I just let them be as they had this normal, natural shape. But once I got around to using a brow pencil, a spoolie brush, and some brow gel, the rest was history. Damn, that 1950s eye brow arch. I just gotta have it on all the time! In fact, I can never go out or be seen by actual human beings without my brows on fleek (as one of my favourite Youtubers would say).

Back then, I wasn’t into concealer as well since I’ve always had skin that’s on the clearer side. But after I saw a makeup artist use concealer under my eyes and to put some shade on some areas of my face which looked perfectly fine before, I knew I was never going to live without concealer anymore. It’s like, you never know something wrong is going on until someone else actually points it out! However, this drives my husband nuts when I tell him I have to cover up some stuff on my face and he’s always like – ‘What are you talking about? There’s nothing there!’

But alas, my eyes have become very critical even to the minutest of details. And here I go again, going off point. What was I supposed to talk about? Ah, highlighter. Like my brow and concealer story, I was also late to the party when it comes to contouring and highlighting. In fact, there was a time when I would contour my face and totally forego the highlighter. YES. UGH. Weird times.

But then, Benefit Cosmetics popped my highlighter cherry by giving me a sample of Watt’s Up as a gift with purchase (GWP) and it totally changed my life! I’m exaggerating. But it did drastically change my makeup routine!

I’ve been pretty loyal to Watt’s Up and cream highlighters but with all the peer pressure (and by peer, I mean Youtube beauty vloggers) I’ve been getting, I decided to try out The Balm’s Mary Lou Manizer. Everyone’s talking about it so I might as see what the fuss is all about.

The first time I picked it up in Sasa, my first thought was: ‘Damn, this packaging is seriously cute!’ I love vintage fashion and I love pin-up girls so The Balm totally got their packaging right in my opinion. 😉

The Balm, The Balm Cosmetics, Mary Lou Manizer, Highlighter, Beauty, Review, Beauty Blogger, Diplomat’s Wife, Makeup, Contour and Highlight, Pin Up Girl, Cute Packaging

The compact is round and quite big but it fits perfectly on one’s hand. It’s packed with 8.5 grams of the product so it will practically last you forever.

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in Beauty & Fashion, Makeup

Beauty + Review: Happy Skin Cosmetics’ Shut Up and Kiss Me Moisturising Lippie in Honeymoon Glow

March 27, 2015

Happy Skin, Cosmetics, Happy Skin Cosmetics, Honeymoon Glow, Lipstick, Moisturising Lippie, Pink, My Lips But Better, Makeup, Good For The Skin,

That title’s quite a mouthful isn’t it? So here’s the review (finally!) of my current go to lippie that everyone has been asking me about!

It’s the Shut Up and Kiss Me Moisturising Lippie in the shade Honeymoon Glow from Happy Skin Cosmetics and I’ve been getting so much love for it that I’ve been wearing it almost everyday. And that’s quite a feat because I do tend to switch up my lip colour all the time to give my lipstick babies equal love and attention.

Happy Skin has been available in Manila for quite some time now so I’m actually late to the party. And, man. Was I missing out.

I got my lippie during my trip to Manila a few weeks back. I wanted to try out a new lippie and since people keep raving out this brand, I thought that I should give it a try and see if it will impress me.

Oh, it did.

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It’s such a friendly colour that it goes with almost any outfit and it’s also my new ‘my lips but better’ shade. It’s a bit darker than Nouvelle Vogue in person but it actually looks more natural.

Happy Skin’s lippies are loaded with Shea butter and collagen, making sure your lips are hydrated throughout the day. And while it’s got the moisturising properties of a balm, it’s also packing up some serious colour. I wasn’t disappointed the first time I swiped it on to my lips – it glided smoothly and left an opaque, evened-out hue.

It’s also got a bit of shine to it so there’s no need for a gloss. But don’t worry, the shine is of slightest tinge, making your lips look dewy and healthy – not greasy. 😉

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I normally don’t wear lipsticks without putting some lip balm on first but with the Shut Up and Kiss Me lippies, I don’t have to worry about some tugging during application or whether my lips will dry up and start to chap throughout the day.

Oh, and the best part about Happy Skin is that it’s a Filipino brand! Yes, Filipino! I admit that I was a bit confused with the ‘Made in Taiwan’ label on the lippie’s box but looking through the Happy Skin website, I’ve confirmed that it is the brainchild of two Filipina women – former brand developer for Unilever’s personal care products Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez and model/beauty columnist Rissa Mananquil-Trillo.

Happy Skin, Cosmetics, Happy Skin Cosmetics, Honeymoon Glow, Lipstick, Moisturising Lippie, Pink, My Lips But Better, Makeup, Good For The Skin,

These two ladies wanted cosmetics that are generally good (rather than damaging) to the skin and from that necessity, Happy Skin was brought to life. They’ve got a whole range of cosmetics – from BB creams to eyeliners, eyeshadows, and blush compacts. But from what I hear from my friends in Manila, the Shut Up and Kiss Me lippies are the ones making huge waves. 😉

And isn’t the packaging just too cute? I’m such a sucker for cute packaging.

Anyhoo, here are the photos of me wearing under various lighting situations:

Happy Skin, Cosmetics, Happy Skin Cosmetics, Honeymoon Glow, Lipstick, Moisturising Lippie, Pink, My Lips But Better, Makeup, Good For The Skin,

Indoor lighting (warm +cool mix). Say hi to Sophie the bear on the background! 😉

Happy Skin, Cosmetics, Happy Skin Cosmetics, Honeymoon Glow, Lipstick, Moisturising Lippie, Pink, My Lips But Better, Makeup, Good For The Skin,

Natural light (bright sunlight)

Happy Skin, Cosmetics, Happy Skin Cosmetics, Honeymoon Glow, Lipstick, Moisturising Lippie, Pink, My Lips But Better, Makeup, Good For The Skin,

Natural light (bright sunlight)

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in Beauty & Fashion

Beauty + Review: MAC x Toledo Collection Sin Lipstick

March 12, 2015

MAC, MAC Cosmetics, Sin, Lipstick, Ruben Toledo, Isabel Toledo, Toledo, Toledo Collection, Dark, Bold, Red

As I recently posted on Instagram, I was actually looking forward to getting a lipstick from the Cinderella Collection but was rather turned off about how the colours washed me out. I guess I’m just too pale for them and I need my lipsticks to have a bit of opacity and not just shimmer all over.

It was a good thing that MAC Cosmetics’ Toledo Collection was also out and so I had another collection to turn to for this season (the Bao Bao Wan collection is also out, by the way but I wasn’t in the mood for colours that were that bright).

The Toledo collection is inspired by Isabel and Ruben Toledo – arguably one of the most prolific couples in the art world and in fashion too. Their creations are known to be… err.. what’s the term? I don’t think there’s actually one word to describe their works but let’s go with eccentric-chic. Bold colours, vintage cuts with a modern twist for clothes, exaggerated lines for illustrated faces. It’s quirky yet with such an air of sophistication that only this couple can pull off.

So it’s no wonder that when MAC announced that they will have a collection inspired by this couple, bold reds and a parade of colours suddenly appeared in my brain. And I was right. The collection does not disappoint with the variety of colours available – especially for the eyeshadows. But of course, I was there for lipsticks that day. 😉

I was leaning towards getting Oxblood – a peachy-nude colour. I don’t really have enough nudes in my collection and I have a tonne of reds. But then I realised that I miss Sin – a shade that I used to wear back in college when I was totally into anything gothic.

MAC, MAC Cosmetics, Sin, Lipstick, Ruben Toledo, Isabel Toledo, Toledo, Toledo Collection, Dark, Bold, Red

I ended up getting that one as I found the other reds to similar to ones that I already own. Sin is a permanent colour so yes, I was basically buying this for packaging – which is gorgeous by the way. On the brighter side of things, I won’t get my heart broken once I finish a limited edition lipstick and MAC is no longer re-releasing it. Hello, Maleficent Collection’s True Love’s Kiss. (I know what limited editions do to me but I still buy certain colours. Call it a bad romance of sorts.)

Sin is quite popular when it comes to being included in certain collections. Aside from the Toledo collection, it was also recently included in MAC’s Rocky Horror Picture Show Collection launched last year.

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in Beauty & Fashion, Skincare

Beauty + Review: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

February 23, 2015

First Aid Beauty, Ultra Repair Cream, Moisturiser, Sephora, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Beauty Another quick review! 🙂 By now you probably know how much moisturiser means to my daily life. If you didn’t know it yet prior to reading that sentence – well, now you do. I confess my love for good moisturisers time and time again. I never get tired of trying out new stuff, raving about or hating on it afterwards then going through the cycle again. That’s just how it is. 😀 So for this entry, I’m going to rave about First Aid Beauty’s Ultra Repair Cream. After going through my Ziaja Natural Argan Oil Protective Face Cream, I knew that my next moisturiser would have really big shoes to fill. That’s how much I loved that stuff. (It’s not available in KL so there’s no chance of repurchasing it ASAP) First Aid Beauty, Ultra Repair Cream, Moisturiser, Sephora, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Beauty I did my research on which brands of moisturisers other girls are going gaga for and I decided to try out First Aid Beauty after seeing so many good reviews about it online. So far, it’s been one of my best purchases. Continue reading

in Beauty & Fashion

Beauty + Review: Sephora Blush Me Twice Duo Versatile No 2

February 21, 2015

Sephora, Blush Me Twice, Duo Versatile No 2, Review, Beauty Blogger

Here’s a really quick review on my current favourite blush/bronze duo. I’ve been using this for months and I’ve already been hitting pan on this baby.

I bought Sephora’s Blush Me Twice months ago, thinking that it was going to be something that’s worth my money having these two must-haves for a price that’s only a wee bit higher than if I were getting a full-sized blush from the same brand.

The shades that this compact comes with are brown and apricot.

Brown is a dark-tanned coloured powder that has a matte finish while Apricot is peachy-pink with a slight sheen from the fine golden glitter in the powder.

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in Beauty & Fashion, Skincare

Beauty + Review: Ziaja Natural Argan Oil Protective Face Cream

December 3, 2014
Ziaja, Moisturiser, Argan Oil, Facial Cream, Protective, Skin Care

My new favourite moisturiser – which I’m about to finish off! 🙂

While I am head over heels in love with makeup, I’ve got to admit that I’m more obsessed over skincare. I can wax poetic all day about how having clear, healthy skin is the key ingredient to looking good. No matter how much makeup you put on, at the end of the day, if your skin isn’t properly taken care of, it will show. Unless you use some magic called Photoshop or slap a filter on a selfie.

Great skin has a lot to do with genetics and I thank all the saints for letting me come from bloodlines that don’t have any skin problems. I’m pretty sure both my mom and my dad, as well as my grandparents on both sides, never had a tough acne problem. Come to think of it, the best example would have to be my grandma (dad’s side) who just turned 95.

Carolyn Ramoran, Carol Ramoran, Carolyn Malasig, Carolyn Ramoran Hamilton, Carol Hamilton, Carolyn Hamilton, Greta Hamilton

My grandma when she was younger. I think this was in the early 40s. Isn’t she a beauty? 😉

Carolyn Ramoran, Carol Ramoran, Carol Malasig, Carolyn Hamilton, Carol Ramoran Hamilton, Greta Hamilton

And this is her just a couple of weeks ago during her 95th birthday. Look at her skin! It’s too beautiful for a 95 year old! And I’m not just saying this cos she’s my grandma who swears by how much I resembled her when she was young. 😉

But my grandma, who already had great skin to begin with, didn’t keep her skin healthy just by letting it be. She nurtured it and kept it hydrated. According to my dad, she has always (and still is) been religious in applying her creams and moisturisers. I started taking care of my skin quite seriously at age 23 and now that I’m 25, I can honestly say that I’m gonna be making my grandma proud. 😉 Moisturiser has also become my religion and I intend to stay devoted till I die.

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