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.

The Skin Chronicles: Facial Scrub - Artistry Polishing Scrub Review

For those of you who are not aware, Artistry is part of the Amway brand of products and they produce a range of skincare and make-up.

The only reason that I have tried this is that my mother had it lying in the bathroom for ages, and out of boredom I decides to try it. Serendipity.

This is by far one of the best scrubs I've tried. I love it. It's a little bit rougher than most, so if you have issues, and don't actually want to feel like you are, in fact, polishing your face, don't use it.

The scrub itself is this very dense gel that's not easily spread and sticks fabulously to your skin. It is packed with coarse blue scrubbing sands/particles which really get the job done.

Overall, after using it, your skin feels exfoliated, clean and tight. It's the best feeling ever. I'm giving it a 4/5, just because you need to provide incentive for improvement of some kind.

Quick guide:

Rating: 4/5
Cleans: Yes
Exfoliates: Yes
Tightens: Yes
Dries out skin: No

TNS Haul & Hippies

So, my exams are over and I am officially FREE! Best four-lettered word ever invented! Naturally, the end of exams calls for celebration. For frame of reference, celebration = shopping. Actually, everything = shopping. Fact.

In any event, as I was dead tired yesterday, due to the extremely innovative idea of my school to place all three of my papers on the same day, I wasn't in the mood to do much. I did, however, traipse around Ikano with my brother, where a sight I assumed was a hallucination brought about by lack of sleep greeted me. Hippies. Yes. "Real" hippies. Apparently, there are Earth day celebrations going on. Presumably, having a couple of hippies in a tent, doing handicrafts no less, inside a mall is an appropriate manner of celebration.

I kid you not:



That LSD-induced plethora of colour is the tent they were in.

Anyway, on to more exciting aspects of my life. Retail therapy. I initially went out today to get an eye primer. That didn’t work out for 3 reasons:
1) They don’t have Urban Decay in Malaysia
2) They don’t have Too Faced in Malaysia
3) They don’t even have L’Oreal De-Crease in Malaysia!

I appear to be doomed to creasing eye shadow. Oh well.

Anyway, due to my disappointment, I needed to elevate my spirits, so I decide to go buy something I had been eyeing for awhile.

Basically, upon prior research, I found out that the best ingredients for a toner include rosewater and glycerin. Naturally, I began searching high and low for a toner of this nature, but wasn’t able to find one for about a month. Yes! A month! I know!

So, long story short, I finally found it in The Natural Source (TNS), where they were having an offer. Spend RM 100 and get something for RM 1. Although the accountant in my head was reproaching me in very harsh language, the female in me won out. I’m sure you agree that it makes sense too. If you don’t, you are wrong. And this is MY blog, so go away.

Sidelining: Recently I read a couple of reviews of some of the products from TNS, and they were not good. Nevertheless, since I don’t trust other people’s opinions, I shall find out for myself.

Now then, walking out the door, I was laden with the following:



Yes, doesn’t it look lovely? The reason there are 2 toners is because another friend wanted one too. Let us inspect the items.

First up, the item that started it all. The Terra Firma Wild Desert Rose Water Gentle Facial Toner (RM 30):



It’s this pale pink liquid that resembles the MAC brush cleanser, which was quite disturbing, because I assumed it would smell similar. This is not the case. It actually has the very pleasant smell of roses…shocking isn’t it? Apparently this is supposed to “invigorate your face”. How exciting. The list of ingredients seems relatively harmless, although I’m not sure what a lot of it is.

Ingredients: Purified water (aqua), Cocamidopropyl, Betaine Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, Phospholipid PTC (cocamidopropyl pg-dimonium chloride phosphate), Benzyl alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Rose fragrance (parfum), Matricaria extract (chamomilla recutita), Simethicone, CI 14720, CI 42090

If I were a chemist, I’d be having a field day. Now, it says rose fragrance, which appears to be perfume, and I asked the salesperson, who said it was made from rose water, so I shall pretend I believe her for now. And since I’m assuming chamomilla means chamomile, I’m quite happy.

Next up is a facial scrub. I initially wanted their oatmeal scrub (because oatmeal is supposed to be good for blackheads) but I was informed that it was for aging skin (which I am happy to say the salesperson insisted I didn’t need, thereby appealing to my vanity). So I got the Daintree Naturopathic Skincare Tropical Sugar Can Antioxidant Facial Exfoliator (RM 65):



It says on the packaging that it can be used daily, but it is advisable to only exfoliate your skin a maximum of twice a week. Moderation is the key to everything, apparently. Anyway, this product has a pretty nice smell. Not exactly sugar cane, but sweet-ish nonetheless. The ingredients here are even more babbly than those in the toner.

Ingredients: Aqua (Purified water), Microcrystalline wax, Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS), Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Peg-7 glyceryl cocoate, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum, Saccharum officinarium (Sugar cane) extract, Xanthan gum, Methylchloroisothiazolinone (and) Methylisothiazolinone, Magnesium chloride, Magnesium nitrate, Tocopheryl acetate (Vitamin E), Ascorbyl palmitate, CI 19140 (Yellow 5), CI 42090 (Blue I).

Now, from the ingredients I did understand, this product should be pretty good because it has most of what you need to keep your face healthy. First there’s purified water. Who needs to drink it when you can put it on your face twice a week? Then there’s SLS which is good for acne, and glycerin which is good overall for something or the other. I believe it’s for lines or acne or something to that effect. Bottom line is that it’s good. And, Vitamin E is good for restoration. So really, this product should work. Should. We shall see.

Finally, we come to a debate-ably exciting purchase. The Camouflage Colour Skin Crayon in Plum (RM 24):



So, what exactly is a skin crayon? My first thought was to run around drawing on people as a child would. But no, I believe that might be considered assault. Further, it’s a deep red. Unless you are a lobster (in which case you shouldn’t be on the computer, but rather on my table with a side of butter), this colour will hardly “camouflage” you. Lies!

The true meaning of “skin crayon” appears to be that it is multi-purpose, i.e. lip liner, eyeliner, etc. And I have been looking for a red eyeliner for about 5 years now. Finally! Because I was so immensely excited, I didn’t realize how tiny this pencil is until I got home. It’s only about 10cm/3.7in long. That is TINY!

All that aside, in my excitement of finally finding a nice red eyeliner, I was determined to swatch mine. Upon touching my skin, this is what occurred:



Anti-climax. Annoyed. Fuming.

Perseverance is the key, so I tapped off the broken bit and this is what it looks like:



I like. Except for the size and breaking parts.

They had a lot of fantastic colours, but because of their sizes, I don’t recommend them.

On that note, I shall end off with this:

PLACEBO!!! Their new album will be released on the 8th of June. I am uncontrollably excited. So much so that I am practically vibrating in a fixed position. They have released their first single, titled after the album: Battle for the Sun. The sound of this track is very similar to what their Black Market Music album sounds like, which is awesome beyond words! Happy!!! PLACEBO!!! <3