Men in Music: Chris Daughtry (Daughtry)

Ah, Chris Daughtry. Yes, of the self-titled band, Daughtry:



One of the few bands on the radio worth listening to. They are a bloody fantastic band no less.

His only downfall? He was an American Idol contestant. Yes, I hate that show. But a few relatively decent musicians have come out of it, i.e., Kelly Clarkson and David Cook. I basically hate the rest with a passion.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

Chris Daughtry is one talented bugger. He looks a bit like Vin Diesel, which is really shame, cos I can't stand the air-headed manner of the latter. But it's fine, because it is completely redeemed by his voice. He carries a tune in the perfect tone of voice. It's not too deep, not too nasal and not too high. It's the perfect blend of the trio. I do love his voice.

Beyond the voice however, is music naturally. Not only is the music catchy and on the perfect level of soft rock (so much so that they give Nickelback a right royal run for their money), but the lyrics are fantastic. In the last year or so, the hits the band has churned out have been beyond decent. "Crash", "Feels Like Tonight", "It's Not Over", "Over You", "What About Now", and their latest, "No Surprise" (which has been on replay for the last 2 hours). Absolutely fantastic music.

And of course, let's not forget that Chris Daughtry sang on the track "The Past" by Sevendust, which is another terrific track.



Overall, Daughtry are pretty damn kickass, and aptly named, because Chris Daughtry is the only member that really stands out anyway. They're on their second album, and let's hope that there's a long career ahead where they don't sell out.

Rant & Review

Yes. This is something I have a serious peeve with. It seems that everyone is constantly on my case about my shopping habits. While I will admit they are mildly (perhaps an understatement) overboard, I honestly feel it isn't warranted. The question always posed to me is, "Do you really NEED more make-up/shoes/books/bags/sunglasses/[insert other random objects that I tend to purchase here]?"

Now, in all honestly, there is no "need" whatsoever in the lives of anyone around me. Nobody earns money to live at the bare minimum. If they did, they'd all be living in some hole in some random corner of the country living off staple food. Once you have scrapped all the non-necessities, a.k.a., luxuries, then you may preach.



If we look at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, our first need is physiological. Nowhere does it say that we need to breathe the cleanest air possible, eat the richest foods available, drink the purest water, have the best sex, sleep on the most luxurious mattress, etc. But everyone does these things. Nobody who can afford it, no matter how miserly, would live below their means.

So, yes, I do love shopping, and I do go overboard with it. But where is the harm. As an addictive activity, it still remains far safer than substance abuse and gambling; and as a therapeutic one, it is cheaper and less long-winded than therapy. I am materialistic and enjoy being surrounded by nice things. Deal with it.

Anyway, updates of a less whiny nature will be coming up soon. I fell of the Skincare wagon this week because school started, but it shall most likely resume in the near future.

In other colourful news, I have taken to traumatizing my nails with colour:

My right hand:



My left hand:



My toes:



Everyone is disgusted with my nails. How unadventurous of them. Losers. Muaahaha. Anyway, I don't care. I love the yellow.

In other news, my faulty decision-making has once again reared its ugly head. Recently, I went to Body Shop and made one of the worst mistakes I have ever made. I went against my nose's decision.

I bought this stuff:



While it all looks deceptively lovely and decadent, in its midst hides the most heinous of products. You wouldn't guess by looking it at. Let us examine the suspects:

1) Moringa Body Scrub
2) Pomegrenade Body Butter
3) Moringa Shower Gel
4) Lip Balm

Now, I initially went to Body Shop for 2 reasons. First, in search of the flat-top kabuki brush (which my pocket is grateful wasn't available), and the Moringa Body Butter. This should give you a clue as to what the hell is wrong with the purchase I made. And finally, the lip balm, which is RM 26, RM 23 of which goes to an AIDS charity. It's a nice smelling, and pretty good product. So I would suggest you go get one in an attempt at karma-spending.

So let's put things into perspective. The smell of the Moringa body butter is absolutely heavenly. It is quite possibly one of the nicest things I have ever smelled, and I fully intend to purchase it to make up for the present situation I am in. Why, then, do I not have it but a bunch of other stuff, you may ask. Well, they were having an offer. RM 85 for a set of shower gel, scrub and body butter. Which is a pretty decent deal. But for some reason, they only had 3 types of body butter available, and the moringa shower gel and scrub were heavenly smelling, so I was lulled into picking the least vile of the three body butters available. It was a terrible mistake. If I could go back in time, I would throw the tub of body butter at past-me's head.

It is the most horrible smelling product I own at present. Body Shop should be closed down for trying to kill our olfactory nerves. Let me put it this way, after returning from wherever it was I went, I took the body butter out of its packaging, telling myself that it couldn't possibly be as bad as I recalled from the store. I was wrong. Opening the tub was the worst mistake I made before today. So, what did I do? I hid it in my bottom drawer, where I stash all the back-ups and unopened items. This was on Friday.

For some reason, unbeknown to myself at present, I seem not to have any faith in past-me's decision-making abilities, and am doomed to repeat her mistakes. So, after taking a shower today, I figured that I might try the body butter out. I assumed, of course, that upon putting it on, it would absorb into my skin and the smell would diffuse somewhat.

I hate myself sometimes.

I have been sitting here for half an hour with a progressively worsening headache from the smell. It's hard to describe. But it has this medicated, processed, fake-pomegrenade smell to it. It is completely horrible. Not only that. It's also sticky and heavy on the skin. I have never hated a product the way I hate this one. It has no good qualities, other than the packaging. It might have turned me off pomegrenades too. What an evil invention. Good god.

Men in Music: Shaun Morgan (Seether)

I have decided to pay tribute to one of my greatest loves in life: Music, as well as the messengers of the medium. And more frequently than not, it's the men. Why? I am a voice whore. It's beyond my control. So, I figured, why not start off with a band which I am obsessed with in ways indescribable?



This here, is a band I can safely say, is one of my favourites. There is simply no way of describing how amazing they are, but I will try in any event.

Now, I know a lot of you will be going "Who is Seether?". To make your life simpler, I'm sure you know Amy Lee, a.k.a. singer of Evanescence. She did the duet "Broken" with Seether. No, it is NOT her song. She just benefited from their talent by dating their lead singer. Cow.

To put things into perspective, this is the only band I have found that actually sounds better on some tracks live than they do on the album. And their lyrics. Unbeatable.

So, who is the genius behind Seether? Shaun Morgan:



This is one talented bugger. Where to start? Okay, the obvious. His voice. <3 <3 <3

It is one of my favourite voices ever!!! EVER!!! Why? It's deep and warm and exquisitely lovely. I would marry that voice if it were possible. I'm not kidding. He has the amazing ability to pull off both hardcore goring as well as the softer form of crooning. It's not a completely versatile voice, but he does a brilliant job of extracting its best qualities for the kind of music he writes. And yes, he does write his own lyrics and music, because he is not some boyband pussy boy.

Beyond the voice, this is one exceptionally intelligent man. I am not being biased here. If you watch his interviews and listen to him talk, this is a point that won't escape you. Not only that, but just listen to his lyrics! You simply cannot write such profound lyrics if you are anything short of above average intelligence.

If you haven't already checked them out, beyond the song "Broken", I strongly suggest that you do so immediately. Their music ranges from pretty mellow to pretty heavy, so really, there is no excuse for not liking them. If you don't, don't tell me, because I will beat you.

Basically, this is the man I would like to marry. If I see him, ever, he is in grave danger of being kidnapped.

Hauling & Stuff

So, I went out the other day, and I wouldn't be me if I didn't buy more stuff. It is highly disappointing that I bought make-up, because I was exploring the whole vegan/anti-animal cruelty aspect, and found out that it's all a lie. For those of you who are all la-di-da about it, you might want to think again. And just so you know, M.A.C. and Body Shop are not completely cruelty-free as they claim. I am not a vegetarian, but even I can see that the way they treat these animals isn't worth any amount of vanity. So, I will readily admit that I am in fact a hypocrite. How shameful.

Anyway, I went to 1 Utama, and ended up buying a ton of stuff:



Yeah, I went to Stila again. I can't help it. The good news is, even the woman found it necessary to tell me that they won't have anything new coming in. The bad news is that I will still find something to buy.

Overall, this is the make-up I bought:



It's a combination of stuff from Stila and Watson's.

On the top right is Rimmel's Lasting Finish Mineral Foundation in 200 (RM 28.90) which I have heard fantastic reviews about, and upon trying out on my hand, loved. So I shall review it once I try it out.

Next to it, is a bottle of Bloop Nail Polish (RM 7.90). For some reason, there isn't a colour name, but it's a very light lavender colour which I found very pretty. This is how it looks on me:



It's pretty decent for the price, and true to its claim, it dries very quickly. It was dry enough for me to do regular stuff with within 5 minutes, which is awesome. However, the downside is that the colour is pretty sheer. As you can see, even in the picture, it's not totally opaque. And that's three coats of colour. But I'm not complaining all that much. And since I am damn fail at applying nail polish, the application for ruined in 2 minutes flat. Oh well.

The three pencils are Stila Kajal Eye Liner in Smoky Quarts (RM 30), Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in 002 Hazel (RM 22) and Maybelline Eye Studio Eyeliner in Brown (RM 16.90).

These are the swatches:



There is the vague possibility that the eyebrow pencil might be a little to light for me, but I got so excited about it that I didn't check. Let's hope not.

As for Stila's Kajal Liners, they are absolutely fantastic. I bought it in blue previously since they didn't have the black one, and I absolutely love it. It goes on very smoothly, and is extremely creamy and therefore easily blend-able if required, and doesn't smudge or fade as much as you would think.

Similarly, these Maybelline liners are amazing! They're limited edition, and so, so creamy and smooth. I bought one in green when I saw it in Guardian on a whim, and I absolutely loved it, so I picked up the brown because they were out of black, which I fully intend to get ASAP. They are pretty much comparable to Stila's Kajal liners, so I'm happy.

And finally, the Stila Bronzing Powder (RM 20):



How on earth could I resist?! For those of you who don't know, I love bronzers! They are like miracle products which reshape whatever you want. As Dmitri James said, they behave like plastic surgery tools, and he is right. Best invention ever! And such nice packaging. Just admit your jealous and don't bitch at me for buying it!

I also got a couple of random things. I needed a little make-up pouch thingy for carrying my random crap around, so I went in search of one:



The top one was from Miss T (RM 12), a store which I have avoided like the plague because it is distinctly pink. However, I was dragged there with promises of hidden treasure with the person I was with, and it worked out surprisingly well. It's the perfect size and shape for the contents I intend to haul about. And it looks good too. So, I thought I was sorted till I went to Watson's and found the 2nd pouch. It's a little trippy, and it was about RM 13, and comes with a handphone pouch, so I figured why not? You always need a backup of everything.

And then I got a couple of random items from Watson's:



The Rose Water Facial Masks (RM 24.90 + RM 1 for a 2nd box) are awesome!!! I bought one when I went through my rose water face products search, and loved it, so when I found out they were on sale, is it really a shocker that I got it? The bottle is kid's shampoo, for my make-up brushes. Yes, they are my children. I need more of them! I shall adopt a few more soon. Muahahaha!

The Skin Chronicles: Cleanser: Nivea Visage Oxygen Power Reviving Cleansing Gel (Normal/Combination Skin)

For this week, I'm trying out this product for my skincare routine. Twice a day and all that jazz. Apparently oxygen should be powerful enough to combat all my skincare woes, so woop-de-do. I shall update you on the results at the end of the week.