Valen’s Vanity Square

Jeez, I forgot to make the most important announcement here - my online boutique is open for business!

Not going to say much here. Just hop over and take a look!

P/s: Although most of the clothes are sold out by now, rest assured we will be getting more new designs after CNY

Finally got hold of Beauty Confidential - The No Preaching, No Lies, Advice-You’ll-Actually-Use Guide to Looking Your Best I ordered in December.

Why I bought this book is pretty self-explanatory from the book title, right?

The author of this book is Nadine Haobsh, who is also the author of the infamous Jolie in NYC beauty blog. I haven’t really started reading the book, except for the introduction, and part of the chapter on eye make-up (hehe, this shows which part of a make-up process I like most). A quick flip through the content tells something about the book though.

First of all, the book is easy to read (unlike those thick how-to books), and is pretty much written from the author’s real life experience in beauty and skincare. It tells how Nadine’s working experience as a beauty editor for several years turned her into a beauty savvy author for both her blog and book. In her book, Nadine dispels some of the common beauty myths, and provides practical beauty tips on the how-to’s and which-to-buy’s - covering areas from hair, to eyes, to skin, to lips, to body, to manicure/pedicure, AND bikini line, hehe.

You will find a list of recommended products and product price guide in every chapter. Of course, not all products listed in the book are available in Malaysia, but it does help to keep in mind which skincare products or cosmetics are worth buying in case they hit the local stores.

No patience to read the book chapter by chapter? You don’t have to actually. If you are more eager to learn about eye make-up (like me), you can straight ahead turn to page 94, hehe. Want to know which are the best nail polish colors? Just go right to the last chapter on manicure/pedicure!

You can check out this book at local major bookstores, but I doubt there are more than 5 copies in each store! I ordered my online through Acmamall.

Well, I think I’d better wrap things up now coz I want to start reading the book!

One of the ‘luxuries’ I get to enjoy while traveling is I get to stay in hotels. And one of the reasons I love staying in hotels is my likings for the big, spacious bathrooms!

I have been using very small bathrooms in my previous apartment and the one I’m currently living in. Luckily, my new house, which is going to be ready few months down the road, has quite a spacious bathroom in the master bedroom and thus, the potential of installing a nice vanity set, hehe.

I haven’t decided whether I should go for a single or double vanity. The idea of having double vanity is because I don’t want to end up constantly nagging at hubby about him not cleaning up MY basin after use, haha! But of course single vanity set will be less expensive and save space.

Anyway, my dream vanity will be one with a big mirror and lots of usable space around the washbasin to put all my skincare stuffs, just like those in a hotel room. And preferably it comes with a marble top – easy to clean and durable. It would be fantastic if there are linen cabinets under the basin.

To search for the latest design of bathroom vanities, where else would be better than PremiereVanities.com?

PremiereVanities.com is the largest online vanity store that offers more than 150 different kinds of single bathroom vanities, double bathroom vanities and linen cabinets. You can browse through their catalog online to find your dream vanity style, be it traditional or contemporary. For me, I like the contemporary-style single and double vanity sets as shown below.

Single vanity

Double vanity

Don’t these bathroom vanities look cool?

Either one of these bathroom vanities can definitely dress up the most plain and boring bathroom, don’t you think? I’m sure my washing and brushing time will be so much more enjoyable and convenient if I could have one of these, hehe. May be I should just get hubby to look at the web site.

Finally we have our first Asian spokesperson for MAC cosmetics - Taiwan native pop singer A Mei!

Being a diva in the Mandarin pop music scene, A Mei has faithful fans all around the world, and has sold over 10 billion copies of albums. Although I’m not particularly crazy about her, she is one of the few singers that I truly admire for their strong vocal and charismatic voice.

And I must say that her songs are difficult to render. I dare not attempt to sing her songs in karaoke sessions. I figure I will only make a silly fool out of myself.

It’s great to see that MAC has come up with a limited edition A Mei series of eye and lip colors that reflect the bold, passionate and warm nature of her Puyuma origin.

A Mei: 3 Neutral Eyes

Three shades of eye shadow - Vanilla, Mulch and Brown Down - in a black compact featuring the traditional needlework pattern of A Mei’s Puyuma native, embroidered onto a plaque insert.

A Mei: 3 Bold Eyes

Three shades of eye shadow - Venus, Fresh Water and Carbon - in a black compact featuring the traditional needlework pattern of A Mei’s Puyuma native, embroidered onto a plaque insert.

A Mei Lipstick & Lipglass

Left: A Mei Lipstick - comes in two colors: Siss and Ruby Woo
Right: A Mei Lipglass - comes in two colors: She’s a Star and Love Rules

I personally like the Bold Eyes eye shadow combination. However, personality wise, I’m not bold enough to wear that and out of my house.

Images and product info from: www.maccosmetics.com

I’ve attended a very short 2-session personal make-up class recently. So, it’s time to share with you what I’ve learnt!

Since it’s not a professional make-up course, of course I didn’t expect them to teach advanced make-up techniques over just several hours. The basic make-up steps are sufficient for me to handle both day and evening make-up. Besides that, they also taught about proper cleansing steps and facial massage steps. Cool huh?

I can’t probably share everything in one post here. May be for today I’ll just list out some steps related to foundation application so that you could prepare a nice canvas before colors are painted on it, haha!

Applying foundation

1. After your face is properly cleansed, toned and moisturized, first apply a make-up base before applying your foundation. This is to help smoothen the texture of the skin, correct uneven skin tone and enhance the durability of foundation.

2. Use a damped foundation sponge applicator for easier application, even coverage and a more natural look.

3. There are three colors of make-up base: beige (or natural), purple and green.

For people with the best skin around, i.e. even skin tone, no marks, no blemishes, bright complexion, go for beige make-up base.

For those with dull complexion, use purple make-up base as it helps to brighten up the face.

And Ladies, if you are like me who have light acne marks or if certain parts of the face is slightly inflamed, the green make-up base is able to help reduce the obviousness of those reddish spots. Just swiftly apply the make-up base across unaffected areas, while dab more make-up base, lightly, on the affected areas.

4. For day make-up, apply a liquid foundation. For evening make-up and a more long-lasting coverage, top it up with a stick foundation.

5. Make sure the foundation is well blended. Don’t forget to check your jaw line and hairline, too.

6. If you have any obvious marks that you want to cover up, then use the corrector kit or concealer now. The corrector kit I saw comes in three colors - beige, purple and green. Purple can be apply (only a very small amount needed) across the forehead, on the bridge of the nose and on the chin for highlighting/brightening effect, while green is for toning down the redness of the skin, i.e. dab on the blemish.

7. Lastly, apply loose powder to set the foundation. If you can still feel that your face is sticky (due to the foundation), that means you are not putting enough loose powder yet.

8. Excess loose powder can be brushed off with a soft brush.

Next, the eyes. But I will share about that in the coming posts. So, better watch out!

Knowing that Taiwan is a great place to shop for skincare items, I asked my sister who went to Taipei last month to get me some facial masks.

The budget I gave her was a miserly RM50, hehe, and she brought back 17 masks totaled at RM41. So on average they cost RM2.40 each (prices ranged from RM1.70 to RM6.60).

Facial masks bought back from Taiwan. They are all sheet mask except for one which is an yogurt mask. Oooh, I have never tried putting yogurt on my face!

Most of them are exclusively made for Watson (Rose, Cucumber, Chamomile, Aloe extract, Pearl extract and Lavender). I did spot the Chamomile one in our local Watson stores recently, but I didn’t check on the price. From the price list my sister jotted down, most of the Watson masks cost less than RM2 in Taiwan. That is cheap, right?

I like facial masks like these; I use them two times a week to mainly boost up my skin hydration. And while I am traveling, I will always have one or more of them in my bag, depending on the number of days I’m away from home. They are so convenient to be stuck into any part of the luggage and between the clothes, without adding on significantly to the bag’s weight.

Looks like I have a sufficient supply of mask to last me for about 2 months. I wonder if my sis will be going to Taiwan again soon….