Valen’s Vanity Square

Oh my god, it’s so late! I better get going, as I intend to do some clothes shopping later (since hubby has to work overtime today).

Feels like ages since I last shopped for clothes. But the problem with me is, even I shop three days a week, I may still end up with zero blouse or dress in my shopping bag. You see, it is difficult to for me to find THE right dress or blouse, coz I hardly fall in love with clothes at first sight, haha!

Sometimes, I don’t even know what I want, hehe. Just go with the flow - and the mood!

For me, choosing one out of the many Marcus scrubs would be much easier and faster than choosing clothes from the racks in Isetan or MetroJaya, hehe.

Actually the problem does not limit to just clothes, it’s the same with shoes! I don’t have the energy and patience to try on every shoes that I see on the rack. I normally would just walk past the shoe racks, do a quick browse. If there is one, I will put on to ‘feel’ the shoes. Not comfortable? Fine, bye bye shoes. Let’s move on.

I can walk into Vincci and come out in less than 5 minutes because none of the shoes catch my eyes.

But I do hope I will be in better luck today, so that I can spot some nice clothes, try on and feel good about them, and then make them mine.

The ‘feel’ of Christmas has started attacking every shopping mall! I love it!

And this also means a great time for cosmetics and skincare brands to start promoting their special Christmas gift sets, just like the one I bought from Clarins yesterday - a full-size bottle of Double Serum Generation 6 that comes together with travel size tubes of extra firming day cream, night cream and neck cream.

I started to use Clarins’ Shaping Facial Lift Lipo-Drain Serum and Extra Firming Tightening Lift Botanical Serum earlier this year, and I quite like these products. Although I didn’t see drastic effects, but once I stopped using them, then I could see the the difference they had made.

Oh, and I also like their UV Plus High Protection Day screen with SPF 40 (tinted version). Although it has a relatively high SPF, it is light, not greasy, and easy to apply. It’s slightly tinted, so may not be able to provide a good coverage and even out the skin tone effectively on its own, especially if you have blemishes and marks on the face. But it does give my now less problematic skin a healthy glow when I use it without putting on compact powder.

I wonder if I will eventually end up using cosmetics from Clarins as well. Haha! Although I’m not looking at how to make eyelashes grow with their mascara, I reckon I will some day try out their foundations and blushers and lip glosses.

I think I will wait till next year, coz I have just spent too much on their products recently!

It’s getting harder to find time to sit down and read, even just magazines, for a stretch of several hours without interruption or distraction.

And when I did have one hour to spend on ONE lifestyle magazine last weekend, only I realised that there have been so many new skincare and beauty products launched in the market - and I have missed all of them! Duh!

I mean, if I were to buy them all, I need several steel drums to deliver them back home.

You see, I have not been seriously shopping for beauty items these days; my shopping goal has been mainly to replenish finished products. Have not got the enthusiasm to test new products, gosh, I don;t even know what’s hot at the cosmetic counters now!

Just recently I was at Singapore’s Changi International Airport, in one of the duty-free shops. Whoa! I was bewildered by the choices of products available, especially keen to get one of those travelling make-up kit. But at the end, I bought a bottle of fragrance instead - Signature from Coach, since I had been eying on it for some time. And that’s the only ‘expensive’ stuff I bought in the recent months!

As for those make-up kits and cute bottles of O.P.I. colours, hmmm, I shall get them during my future trips to Singapore.

What a tired day! Physically, that is. Mentally, I felt so much relaxed after the de-stress shopping session, haha!

Well, this time I didn’t buy me clothes or handbags or shoes, but books! Yeah, I’ve overfed my material desires already, it’s time to start nurture the good side of my soul and my intellectual mind, hehe.

I did quickly browse through the ladies department, but nothing special caught my eye. Interestingly, the section with the most people shopping in seemed to be the children section. It’s the sales season again, so many parents are taking this opportunity to get all the necessities for their children. From clothes to toys and bottles and prams.

I hope all moms will not forget about themselves, coz moms need to look good to! It’s important for moms to keep up to date with the latest fashion trends, what’s in and what’s out, and even jewelry fashion trends for moms.

Moms don’t have to stop looking good once they have kids. They have contributed so much to the family and children, so they surely deserve a wardrobe of decent looking attire, trendy handbags, favorite shoes, chic jewelry, etc. Right?

It’s Friday night and I’m so exhausted after a week’s work. It’s really a horrible Friday for me, as I had to complete some work and could only leave the office at around 7 pm. Hubby called me a few times and I had to cut him short and quickly get back to work.

I’m just so glad that tomorrow’s Saturday and I can stay in bed till much later!

So far, I am helping my Singapore counterpart to manage her work. MY part of the work has not really started yet. But soon, next month, I will be caught into unstoppable work tornadoes, just like her, if not worse. If I’m already working till 7 now, I can’t imagine how office hours will be like for me in the coming months!

Besides writing, I may also have to deal with document management and other daily office administrative tasks, as well as establish network with the medical professionals. Well, one word says it all - STRESS!

Perhaps I should practice what this girl said in a body shampoo radio commercial - everyday is about rushing to work, rushing for deadline, rushing to finish lunch, rushing home after work, rush, rush, rush… but at the end of the day, I am satisfied because I enjoy my time with XXXX (a brand of body shampoo), and XXX understands me the best.

So, may be I should adjust my mindset… stress yesterday, stress today, and even more stress to come week after week, but at the end of the day, I find relief because I have Crabtree and Evelyn’s lemon-scented body scrub, its foot scrub that reminds me of refreshing air from the ocean, and lavendar-scented body lotion to soothe my body and ease my soul before I go to bed, yada yada yada…. Haha!

Speaking of Crabtree & Evelyn, there’s now a promotion going on in its outlet in MidValley Mega Mall - buy up to RM280, discount RM100; buy up to RM480, discount RM220! If you like C&E’s products, don’t miss this opportunity! I just spent over 200 plus yesterday. And I received a FREE kitty cat cosmetic pouch and a gift pack that contains travel-size lavender bath & shower gel, lavender body lotion, rosewater bath& shower gel and rosewater body lotion. It’s an awesome deal!!

Suddenly I remembered that there is one very important thing that I have to buy this month (since paycheck is already out) - a water heater! for my bathroom.

And I promised I will be the one who fork out the money for the purchase and installation. That means, less money for me to do shopping this month… :{

Then, I also remembered about the plan to replace curtains with shutters (blinds) for the glass doors. Was thinking of something like plantation shutters, also known as California shutters. But have not checked out the price yet.

I like the classic look of shutters. And in the long run, they are actually more economical than curtains. These days curtains are not cheap, and you need a few sets to change. And I hate changing curtains!

Yes, one may have to wipe the shutters often, but at least you don’t have to remove the whole thing to do that.

Oh man, this means that I have some serious budget planning to do before I can start my shopping spree this weekend.

Felt backache and muscle sores when I woke up in the middle of the night. And that was due to too much of walking during shopping. Haha!

Shopping for CNY will ‘officially’ end today. Yesterday was my last round of shopping; from today onwards it will be spring cleaning time!

I have gotten all the things on my to-buy list, except for a pair of shoes. It’s okay, I’m fine by wearing old heels, as long as they go with what I wear. I did buy something that was not on my long shopping list, hehe.

A black night lingerie with matching undies.

Oh well, it’s not some super sexy lingerie. The sales girl in the shop actually recommended me an all see-through sexy lingerie. If I were looking for a wedding lingerie, I might consider that. But I no longer need that today, since I have been married for 10 years.

(Actually, if everything can be seen with the lingerie on, I might as well not put anything on. Haha!)

Weekend. Time to de-stress. And the way to do it is to shop! Chinese New Year is less than a month to go, have to get myself some new clothes, of course!

Visited few of my favourite boutiques, got some tops but they are not entirely meant for CNY. Want to get a simple dress that has soft, light colours like pink, peach, orange and the likes, and may be with floral prints. Not going for bright red although that’s the typical colour of CNY.

But sometimes it’s not easy to get what you said you want. Went round and round the whole shopping mall, I just couldn’t find the right dress. Call me fussy or whatever. But I realised that evening dresses seemed to be in every boutique.

I remember I was looking for an evening dress few months ago but had to finally settled for something not what I initially hoped to get. But now, all of them seem to be just what I needed last year!

Well, it’s okay. I will continue with my ‘mission’ next weekend. There’s still a lot more to shop!

Went to One Utama shopping mall during the weekend and saw a gift redemption booth outside Papa Rich restaurant. That reminded me about the sale promotional gifts the shopping mall is giving out.

I want to get a desktop calendar, where there is a box for each date so that I can jot down my assignment deadlines and appointments. To redeem this calendar, one has to spend RM150 in one single receipt, in any retail outlet in the shopping mall.

That’s not difficult, as hubby had bought 4 shirts and spent more than RM200. Happily, I went to the redemption booth and told the girl sitting behind the counter what I want.

She said, “Oh, we have finished giving out the calendars, but we still have the red teddy bear. Spend RM1000 in one single receipt and you will be entitled to redeem the bear.”

What? No more calendar? Why on earth do I want to spend RM1000 to get a teddy bear?

All I want is a calendar. Why didn’t they print more calendars? Why didn’t they offer a couple more types of gifts that can be redeemed at lower expenses?

Jeez, luckily I didn’t go on a shopping spree that day, except to buy a bottle of drinking water and a cup of latte. Haha!