Do It Yourself: Half-moon Nails

I know it's spring now (well, over here anyway) and I should be donning light, bright and fancy colours like pale blue (which is the "in" colour right now). But ever since I saw this tutorial on thebeautydepartment.com, I've been obssessed with trying to get my nails done that way. It's so cool you should try it too!

Follow the instructions and you should be able to "reproduce Lauren Conrad's nails"! I bought my transparent reinforcement stickers for about $6 from Officeworks, which works like a charm. As you can see, I haven't perfected the art yet. My hands are still unsteady when it comes to painting my nails in general. Going to need more practice!

I used a glittery gold from The Face Shop, which was given to me by a Korean friend, as the base. So don't ask me what the name of the nail polish is. It's in Korean. However, you should be able to find them in malls in Asia. Otherwise, there are plenty of other brands here in Australia that stock something similar. On top, I used Iris by Witchery. In the photo, it looks like navy but with the naked eye, it's a dark purple hue. My camera somehow picked it up as blue. It rhymes! Man, I sounded poetic! If you want other colour combination ideas. Check this out. And if you're feeling really glamorous and want to shake things up a bit, try this one, I dare you! Enjoy!

Coming up

Clinique vs. YSL
Who has the better mascara?

Grow It and Grow It Right!
Tips for growing and maintaining long hair.

Do It Yourself: Bookmarks

A couple of weeks ago, my dad handed me a few of his optical seminar freebies, this included a hand sanitiser (which I was happy to receive), a writing pad and a set of mini cardboard laminated pamphlets (I'm not sure if there exists a word to describe the thing). Anyway, my dad suggested that I use them as bookmarks. A dose of inspiration hit me. I decided that if I was going to use them as bookmarks, I might as well make them pretty ones!

Here's how I did it:

1. Remove the chain and separate them out. (Duh! Well, I just had to match the photo with a step)

2. Flip the "bookmark" over and use the end of another one to trace out it's "end shape". Do it just below the metal eye because you want to get rid of it.

3. With a pair of scissors, cut the "bookmark" following the line that you have just traced. This removes the metal eye and you're left with a rectangle "bookmark" that has rounded corners.

4. Select a card stock with the design/pattern/colour that you want on your "bookmark".

5. Flip your card stock over and lay your "bookmark" over it, faced down as well. Trace the shape of the "bookmark" onto the card stock. Tip: align the bookmark with the corner of the card stock so that there's less tracing and cutting to do.

6. Cut the shape out from the card stock.

7. Line the top side of your "bookmark" (the side with the advertising) with double-sided tape. You may use a glue stick but I find that they are not adhesive enough. They are many other types of glue that work as well. Align the cut-out and the "bookmark" at one end and then slowly smooth it down (just like how you would stick a protective film on your smart phone). It should fit perfectly... assuming that you did everything perfectly.

8. For me I didn't do it perfectly, so I had had to trim the edges a little afterwards. But that's no biggie. So voila! A pretty bookmark!

As you can see I made a few. I gave one to my mum and one to my dad. I did this a few days ago and yesterday, I made two more but I can't be bothered to take another picture and post it up here. After all, you get the picture already (excuse the lame pun). Enjoy!

Love Letters

Bet you thought this post is gonna be about letters that I've received from an admirer or a lover/paramour or a boyfriend/love interest or... you get the picture. If you're a food lover, perhaps you thought of those tasty rolls of chocolate wafers? Yum...

Anyway, this post is a continuation of my previous post. Remember I mentioned that I keep letters in my folder? Well, here are some pretty letters and postcards that I've received and would like to share with you.

Christina sent me this postcard when she was visiting Perth.
Looking at it just make me feel so loved!


My cousin and his wife sent me this when they were on holiday in Cambodia.
Pretty cool, huh?


A friend of mine sent me this postcard when she moved to SA.


Christina sent me this one when she was on holiday in Japan.
I'd love to go to Japan one of these days!


A friend from England brought me postcards when she visited.
I reckon it's pretty cool. I like it.


This is another one.
Please excuse my poor photography skills.


Sometime back, Myra, Christina, Jess and Megan wrote me a really funny letter.
They decorated the envelope. Isn't it beautiful?


Megan and I used to write each other letters.
She'd use these really cute Peanuts envelopes.

That's all I have for now!

Procrastination, Thou Art My Enemy

Last week, I found myself going through my five-year-old new clear folder. I use it to keep newpaper article, letters, print-out of lyrics (ah, those days when I did not own an iPod...) and artwork that I recived from friends as gifts. "Why?" you may ask. I was evading the grueling task that lay ahead of me ...... Studying.

As you can see, it was quite a mess! I collected a lot of items of sentimental value over the years. But I decided it was time to move on. I recycled the lyrics, the newspaper (goodbye Twilight and Cathy Kelly, I'm so over you!) and some wrapping paper that I saved from presents. Yes, I keep wrapping paper that I find really pretty. Everything else went back into the folder.

After an hour's worth of procrastination, my folder was in good order again. Time to study... Ahhhh!! Before I finish off this post, I would like to share with you two lovely pieces of artwork that my best friend, Nop, gave to me.



Simply gorgeous!

Makeup Diary's Birthday Giveaway!

Image source: http://www.makeupdiary.org/

I bet your eyes are bulging or on the verge of popping out of its sockets. The blogger of Makeup Diary, JC, is having this amazing giveaway to celebrate her 23rd birthday! So if you're up for scoring yourself $200 worth of Sephora goodies, head over to her blog and enter.

But WAIT!!!

Before you do that, I'd just like to say that it'd be nice if you actually took a few minutes to go through her blog. Don't just hit Follow because of the giveaway because it's a pretty great blog to read!

I really like JC's taste in makeup (and handbags if I may add!). From MAC to NARS, this Hawaiian lady is constantly on hauls* and documents it religiously, something which I am in awe and jealous of. Her swatches** are pretty helpful too. You get to see what the colour of the eyeshadow or lipstick looks like on skin. Well, it's helpful for me anyway because my skin tone is somewhat like JC's. To top it off, her posts are enjoyable to read. She's doesn't ramble on... like I do. She gets straight to the point and you feel like she's actually tell you about her day or what she has bought!

So, give her blog a read. She didn't just hit over 2000 followers for no good reason. You might find yourself listing her as one of your favourite beauty blogs!

Now, back to her giveaway. Don't forget to read the instructions carefully. You wouldn't want to mess it up and miss the opportunity of a Sephora shopping spree. You can't fool JC, she goes through all the entries and disqualifies those who don't follow the rules. Don't miss out! So, good luck!

* Haul - a mini shopping spree
** Swatch - have a quick look at or testing out the makeup product

Oh M Gee!

I've had this epiphany sometime back and it took me a while to carry it out and finish it off. I wanted to turn the word/phrase "OMG" into a picture.



What I did was put on some lipstick, took a few shots of myself, mouthing each letter. Then, I had to crop, resize and edit them on Picnik (as mentioned in my previous post). It's not perfect, I know. When I took a photo of "M", somehow I managed to capture more lighting. In other words, it was over-exposed. My teeth looks yellow in "G" because of the Effect I used on it to enhance my skin colour and red lips.

I think what I need is more practice. I'll post my next Photo Epiphany if and when I do have one!