Valen’s Vanity Square

More than 2 months ago I blogged about L’Oreal Paris Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Makeup, SPF19 sunscreen. Finally it’s here in Malaysia!

A couple of days ago I saw it in Guardian pharmacy (or Watson?) in Gurney Plaza, but not in the smaller outlets. Its price is around RM65.90 (or RM56.90? Man, I’m getting really forgetful these days). They are 4 or 5 shades to choose from.

Although I’m quite tempted to buy one to try, I don’t think I will buy it now coz I just bought a compact powder from Elianto recently. Furthermore, I would like to read some local reviews about this product first before I try.

If you have been always keen to try mineral make-up, then you probably should check it out at the major Guardian or Watson outlets one of these days.

There won’t be a spacious front yard in our new house. That’s a pity because it would be really nice to set up table and chairs outside the house, where we could enjoy our breakfast or afternoon tea during the weekends.

Who knows, may be next time when we are rich enough to be able to move into a semi-detached house (possible, hehe), I would place a set of teak furniture in my garden. It will make an excellent corner to entertain family and close friends.

The furnitures can be as simple as this:

Or more comfortable and ‘tropical’ with striking red cushions like this:

Love these teak furnitures, but they just have to wait…

Well, to be optimistic, although we don’t have a nice garden outside the house, there is an indoor courtyard where we can build a mini ‘contemporary-style’ waterfall and put some water plants in it. That will still be very cool, huh?

I have not been back to hometown for more than a month. The last time I went back, my new house was almost complete. I suppose by now the construction is finished, and all we need to do is to wait for the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CF). I hope we will get the CF soon, so that we could give the house a proper interior ‘makeover’ as soon as possible.

This time, I will pay more attention to small details, like choosing faucets with nice designs for the sinks in the kitchen and bathrooms.

I like faucets with chrome finish. And instead one of those that needs to turn the knob, I will go for one that uses lever handle that you can push it up, down, left or right, so that even when my hands are greasy, I can easily push the handle with my elbow (I just hate the feeling of touching the faucet with oily hands).

Some nice faucets I saw online…

For the bathroom

American Standard “Hampton”

This one comes with porcelain lever handles, very classic looking.

Kohler “Devonshire”

I like this simple yet sleek design.

For the kitchen

Delta Faucet “Waterfall”

This even comes with a soap dispenser and a side spray!

Danze “Parma”

When the wok or pot is too big or heavy to be turned around, having a ‘movable’ spout makes dish washing so much easier.

When I said wish list, it’s a list of objects of desire that I know I’ll never have the chance to own them in my life, coz they are simply too big a price to pay for. That’s why it’s also a list of things I wished they could come from someone else as a birthday present, Valentine’s day present, wedding anniversary present… whatever. As long as it is free, hehe.

I figure I should jot them down in the blog so that I will never forget the things that I’ve once desired, be it a fashion or gadget item. I won’t necessarily have to own them though.

So, the first on my list is a bag from Bottega Veneta. I always like their intricately braided leather totes, such as the one below. Its inside looks spacious too, good for people like me who love stuff the bag with lots of things.

Bottega Veneta Triangle Intrecciato Bag

• Brown triangle shaped intrecciato leather tote with threaded drawstring detail.
• Braided handles at the top threaded through brass eyelets, a detachable long strap, fully lined and has internal pockets.

For this one, I know I can get something similar, but non-leather, at affordable price in shopping malls (the real one costs more than 2,000 USD!). May be that would help partially fulfil this wish list of mine. Hahaha!

I’m not much of a hat collector. I have a couple of sport caps and a cloche hat (I call mine a fisherman’s hat :P) that looks almost like the one below, except that it is not from Helen Kaminski, of course.

Quinn from Helen Kaminski

My hats serve a functional purpose – that is to protect my head and hair, acting as a sun shade when I’m out walking under the hot sun. For some, hats are used to hide the lack of hair, hehe.

Actually, hat is the most noticeable fashion item anyone can wear. Matching the right hat with the outfit, you immediately grab attention. I personally always take more than two glances at gals who wear a smart looking cap (like those shown below), coupled with a pair of good jeans AND BOOTS. I think they just look totally handsome.

Cotton Mod Cap; Aperture by Goorin Brothers

Grifter by Goorin Brothers; Cotton Army Cadet Cap by Kangol

This is the style I really like!

Marcie by Christine A Moore

Of course, choosing a hat is not as easy as choosing a dull-colored grill cover for your charbroil grill, haha! You need to think about the style you want to portray, to which outfits it would match, the color, the prints… so many things to take into consideration! At the end of the day, you want to cover you head with a piece that makes you feel confident about the way you look and stand out charmingly amongst the rest (wearing a hat can somehow makes you look taller, too).

All hats are from HatsintheBelfry.

Most women today work and travel the road to financial security on their own. With financial independence, women are able to take care of themselves, and sometimes of their family members too.

Insurance is part of financial planning. Women must make sure they are adequately protected by at least a life insurance, which actually helps to save for retirement or fund your children’s education or other long-term goals.

In case you die, you’ll leave with a peace of mind knowing that the cash provided to your family from the insurance will help pay for funeral costs and expenses at the time of death, as well as mortgage and ongoing household expenses.

How much coverage you need depends on your lifestyle and several other factors. Consult your insurance advisor to work out a figure for you. Then get more than one life insurance quote for comparison.

Also, don’t forget to ask if a critical illness policy can be included into the life insurance. With critical illness policy coverage, a lump sum of money would be paid in the event of either diagnosis of one of the specific critical illnesses or death. That will help lift off some monetary burden due to long-term medical treatment expenses.