Wearing black to weddings.

My knowledge on traditions is pretty limited but I do know for sure that black and white are (or were) the colours banned on guests in weddings. Black is classified as a no-no by Chinese tradition because it's associated with bad luck, depression and sadness. White is also a no-no simply because the colour white belongs to the bride and the bride alone on her wedding day. Wearing white would be like upstaging the bride, which equals to disrespectful.

I attended two weddings of my childhood friends in the past one month. One trend I noticed was increasing was people wearing black to church ceremonies and dinners. I guess the modern mindset is taking over. As long as...
(1) they turn up for the wedding,
(2) look good and presentable
(3) there's angpow.

But wearing white to weddings is still a no go :)

I wore a dress I bought from Treats, Midvalley branch. It was grey. Nearly black. Haha. I still don't dare to venture to wearing black dress to wedding dinners, although the little black dress can never go wrong and makes one look very classy. But all black is quite boring leh. And for the fear of offending the parents and grandparents. Friends sure won't mind but their parents, you don't know.

But hey... There're so many other colours out there, why not wear them instead?

Discovery of BB Cream

Only just recently, I've incorporated BB cream into my morning skincare. After seeing so many threads in Lowyat Forum selling BB cream, my mischievous self did not allow me to sit quiet quiet and not go check it out.

Excuses... Yah, I know. I'm just saying that to make me feel better, can or not?

Anyway, BB cream actually stands for Blemish Balm and, as you can tell from the name, it's a cream. According to what I've read, you can use it as a foundation base before applying makeup, (2) conceal all your dark eye circles, ugly zits, big zits, small zits, blackheads, whiteheads pimple/acne scars, uneven skintones and improve complexion, and (3) it also has healing properties as a blemish balm and it lessens or get rid of zits.

So if you wake up in the morning and discover that you have a horrendous zit, what better option is there than BB cream? You can just apply it all over your face (by patting, not rubbing like moisturizer) AND conceal the ugly zit AND heal the zit. Better than applying the other blemish gels which have zit-healing properties but no zit-hiding properties. Better than risking the risk of worsening your skin condition by wearing foundation which has zit-concealing and skin-hazard properties.

Oh, while foundation cakes at the end of the day, BB cream doesn't. To read more about it, click here. Oh I love this product.

So far I've tested three different BB creams because there is no ultimate BB cream that will work wonders for everyone. You really need to try them to see which one suits your skin the best. Recommendation can only go so far. Seeing positive results is way better than just hearing this and hypothetical statements. Just like science :)


I admit that I was a bit skeptical to try out different products like this because I believe that you'll be murdering your skin for trying too many different things at a time. And I still stand by it. Different products contain different chemicals. Then if you're trying too many at once, too many chemicals would be involved and that'll be too harsh to your skin. That's just my belief lah. I don't know whether this is scientifically proven or not.

BRTC Perfect Recover Balm - Bought this from someone online for about RM90++ for 30 ml. This is a higher end product manufactured by a pharmaceutical company (and I think has medicinal properties) so it'd be a bit pricey. The coverage was pretty awesome and it gives me a warm undertone. The texture was pretty thick for my taste but it seemed to blend in well with my skin after a while. Am not too sure about its oil control though it specializes in oil control. Still have to blot once or twice a day.

Skin79 Super+ Pink BB - Got this in sample size, which can also double as a travel size. So far I love this one the most. The texture was more liquidified than BRTC Perfect Recover and easier to apply. The coverage was good in my case. Not as great as BRTC but will do. The oil control seems to be better, and it gives me a healthy glow. One bonus point about this one is that it also contains SPF 25 which BRTC Perfect Recover does not have (you'll have to buy the Perfect Protect for sunblock). With its slight pink tone, my skin looked very natural after application. I might just stick to this one.

Skin79 Super+ Gold BB - This one differs from Super+ Pink that it contains gold and caviar extracts which apparently sooths and moisturizes your skin. The coverage was more or less the same as the Super+ Pink and it also has SPF 25 which is awesome cuz I like to minimize the amount of stuff I subject my skin to daily. Because this is more suited for dry/combination skin, the oil control was practically non-existent. So this is a no go for me.

Honestly speaking, my complexion has improved quite a lot since I've started using BB cream. I find my skintone now to be more even and less weird when I look at myself in the mirror. It also gives a glow to my skin that looks healthy and less oily. I have oily/combination skin, so that's my main concern when I choose facial products. I don't wanna look like I have enough oil on my face to deep fry a Garoupa.

I don't have problem with acne but I do have pimple scars... sigh. My pimples (when it comes) seem to be blooming at my chin area for some mysterious reason. Once upon a time it was at the forehead. Then it was my temple. Now it's traveled downwards to my chin. Maybe I should STOP TOUCHING MY FACE!

Oops, went off topic. So yeah, after applying BB cream, I find my scars hidden and out of sight PLUS my scars even became lighter and are healing more rapidly after using it for 2 weeks. God bless the person who invented this! The inventor is one smarty pants. I know I sound very commercial-like. Sorry, but it's really works! Good things must be shared right?

Did I deserve it?

4239687289357 things you gave me to do while you were away, I got two mixed up.

I'm sorry that I got them mixed up.

I'm sorry that I didn't execute all the 4239687289357 things you asked me to do perfectly.

I'm sorry that I am not a perfect daughter as you wished me to be.

I'm sorry that I screwed them up.

But do I deserve to be called stupid just because I forgot 2 things?'

Do I deserve to be reminded that I forgot those 2 things and be called stupid again and again?

I'm sorry I burst out angrily at you the last time I heard "stupid" from your mouth.

But I couldn't take it anymore.

Why couldn't it be "Aiyah.. why are you so forgetful?" or just "Ask you to do few simple things also can't get it right"? Just like that.

Of all things you could have called me, it was "stupid" instead?

Why did I have to be called stupid?

I wanna know coz it hurts, 妈. It really does.

Ramblings of a former tomboy

When I was in primary school up till junior high, I was (or always thought of myself as) a tomboy.

Had short hair. Don't like to wear skirts. Don't like pink. Not bothered with appearance. Not bothered with taking care of my face, skin, etc. Don't like playing with barbie dolls, although I had one which I snipped her hair short because I hated the long blonde superficial hair she had. Sadistic, ain't I?

Preferred playing legos and computers (I grew up in the early 90s' where girls do not play computer). Scraping my knees and my hands was my second nature until my mom got so sick and pissed with me coming home from school so frequently with cuts, wounds and bruises. Most of which I had no idea where they came from. But I liked stuff animals. And I hardly play rough with others. I guess those were the only indication of any girliness at that age.

I also had this superficial mentality that I would never want to dress up, or need to depend on any skincare products to have a good skin. Kids! Sigh. Haha. Oh well, nobody knew what was in my mind at that time though. Except for maybe my 姐姐. I hated the hassles of all those things. I still hate hassles now. But it's more towards hassles caused by things which are unnecessary, insignificant, not worth your concern, and small little things.

Looking at myself now and comparing with me back then, I think it's really a laugh. Now I have long hair, refuse to cut it short EVER again. Still a clutz, but not as clumsy as I was before. Loves to go shopping and window shopping. Looking at pretty clothes and shoes, and trying them on. I don't hate wearing skirts anymore. But still prefer jeans, shorts and pants to skirts. I'll wear skirts and dresses to wedding ceremonies and dinners lah. It would be so rude and disrespectful if I were to wear jeans to a formal occasion.

I STILL love sports. Haha. I may not be good at a lot of sports but... That hasn't changed.

Anyway, now I go through the daily skincare routine. For the sake of taking care of my skin's health. With all kinds of harmful things and chemicals roaming around invisibly and floating mysteriously in the air we breathe in, I think this has totally become a necessity. I pretty much agree with the saying that there is no ugly girls, just lazy ones. Can't recall to whom these words of wisdom belonged to, but what she said is so true.

I do thank God for my parents who gave me good complexion... although I'm not quite sure which one of them. My guess is my mom. But I have pink undertone (not yellow) which is definitely inherited from my dad. Maybe a good combination of both? Wah seh, perasannya aku.

Hey, for those of you saying that I'm lucky because I "never" had an acne problem, I'd like to say that you are so wrong. Perhaps it's not wrong for me to say that I was blessed that I never had much pimple breakouts since my teenage years. However, if I was not wrong (and I'm pretty sure I'm not), I had my fair share of breakouts when I was 10-12 years old, which was around the time when the dreadful auntie paid her first visit to me and my hormones started going crazy.

You know, at that age, nobody knew what pimples were. Even when my sister told me that I had pimples, I was fazed... apa benda tu? So by the time I entered junior high, my pimple problems were greatly diminished while most others started theirs. So by the time people started noticing pimples, the annoying little zits had already gone.

I really hated everytime people kept indirectly implying that I was going to have skin havoc in college since I had none in high school. A teacher actually said this out loud during class. She taught me History in Secondary Two. Don't know if it was out of jealousy or out of envy. Or trying to make the others feel better by pronouncing hell on others. Why is it that one can't make others feel better with some method that does NOT disparage or offend others? So nice to feel good by comparing with others ha? So childish.