Hoozey’s Neighborhood

Saying goodbye to 2009 has never been easier, this year has been a real rollercoaster ride for me. With the husband away for such a long period, I had trouble coping with a lot of things and some of them were emotional.. Now that 2010 is approaching, I hope that it would be a better year..

Personal resolutions aside (after all its personal!).. Let's talk about beauty/skincare resolutions.

One.. I hope to be kind to my skin by giving it a little more TLC which means, it's time to stock up on masks!

Two.. I hope to wear sunscreen regularly. Yes, I am still struggling with sunscreen. Being sensitive to sunscreen sucks.. However, Dr. Wu's sunscreen has been kind to me.. Hopefully it would remain so.

Three.. Buy LESS of EVERYTHING. Sounds almost impossible.. But as Frond keeps reminding me, SHOP MY STASH!

Four.. Blog more often! Or rather be much more consistent in blogging.. And for goodness sake, learn swatching! Hahaha!

Five.. Drink more water! I think this is pretty self explanatory.

That's all folks.. Hope you all have a great New Year's Eve. I'm off to spend it at my parents place.. And hopefully I would be feeling better soon.. I've got a killer headache from my neighbour's drilling and lack of sleep.

I was meaning to post this last week but I got lazy and partly also because the new bathroom isn´t completed. It would have been completed just in time for Christmas but something just had to go wrong. The tile shop gave us floor tiles from 2 different production batches so they weren´t the same thickness. The shop and all the other branches were sold out so they had to order more from Italy. We´ll get them next week hopefully but I´m slightly worried they won´t be the same thickness as the ones we have on our floor now. Daniel, the guy that did absolutely everything traveled back to his home country Poland for the holidays but will be back 1st week of Jan to finish the rest. That means he´ll be back 2nd week of Jan. He´s really good with his hands and did a terrific job with the bathroom so far but he sucks big time when it comes to punctuality. We were warned before we hired him so we were prepared and didn´t get upset. The quality of his work makes up for his tardiness.

Here are pics of the bathroom before the remodeling. I´m quite embarrassed to show these pictures but even more shocked now after the transformation that I actually lived with it for 3 years. I mean, it was pink. And floral. How this style could actually be "in" in the ´70s is beyond me.

This was where all the MU application took place. Just a single light at the top of the mirror, not the best I know. Nor was there much natural light. 
A doorknob came loose, we super-glued it back on but it came off again. We just never bothered with it anymore.

Ahh...the shower cabinet that was a royal PITA when it came to cleaning. It shall NOT be missed. I didn´t dare show what was behind the doors. Chest of drawers was crap from Ikea. Broke apart like it was made of cardboard. Ok, I may have shoved one towel too many in the drawer but still! Middle drawer was broken so we only made use of top and bottom drawers. Was close to replacing it many times but we came to our senses and waited until we got new matching furniture for the whole bathroom.

Our old potty! Daniel took it apart and left it outside by our front door. So for a while we had a toilet outside our door, lol. Even our neighbour commented on our new décor. Well a lot of trash accumulated so we hired a container and got rid of all the crap and made our front yard look a bit more presentable. When we first moved in, I bought the bright pink rug with matching toilet brush (behind the trashcan) to brighten up the bathroom without clashing with the pink walls ;P .
In the middle photo, the brown spot you see under the window was a burn mark. Don´t know how it got there but it was there when we moved in. Same goes for the curtain. I searched and searched but was unable to find a suitable replacement. I know the easiest would be to buy cloth and sew my own curtains but I´m too lazy :/ The curtain is actually see-through, we have white wooden blinds behind. Third pic is a close up of the dreadful, awful, horrendous, ugly, hideous and not forgetting, cold floor. Boy I´m so glad I don´t have to step on it any longer.

And so began the transformation...

Daniel took apart everything including the old walls as they were not aligned and he put up new walls.

                     The corner where the toilet will be                                                    The vanity area

    



Next, he covered each wall with waterproof latex paddings, laid down my favourite part of the whole bathroom - heating cables "MMmmmMMMmm" and installed the toilet cistern.

Daniel did a terrific job with the tiles. The white tiles on the walls are actually subtly patterned with lines. Gives it a textured look.                       
    

voila. . . 

Lights on both sides of the mirror give much better light for MU application. Downside is I see all the faults meaning I take a longer time getting ready trying to fix and cover every damn spot.
We are going to install another light in the ceiling. A high cabinet in the same style and colour as the vanity will be mounted on the wall in the corner where the silver vase is. It´s not mounted on yet because the cabinet will jut out and cover part of the window. Daniel suggested we change to a smaller window and get more wall space. It´s more work of course but I think it will look much better, we were intending to replace the window anyways since the current one is punctured. Also we´re thinking of a frosted window so we don´t have to think about curtains :P

                New potty minus some tiles.

I love the shower. It´s a bit high for me but I can get used to it, close my eyes and imagine rain is falling on my head. What´s missing are more tiles on the floor and the glass doors. Those will be mounted on after the floor tiles are completed.



Almost complete yet still a lot of patching up here and there and of course window to be changed. Changing to a smaller window means changing of wooden boards on outer wall too. I´m wondering how Daniel is going to do that when there is about 2 feet of snow outside, not to mention we´re expecting very very cold days ahead of us. I won´t be surprised if we have to wait till spring to get the window done.

to be continued . . .

I finally gotten around trying my Fyrinnae eyeshadows.. They've been lying around for a really long time (think: a month at the very least). I've been telling Frond that I really need to get my Fyrinnae samples swatched but I'm a real procrastinator.

I can't begin to describe how in love I am with the eyeshadows.. So vibrant! So pigmented! It's really LOVE at first application. The photo is taken roughly 6 hours after application..

Items used to create this look..
- MAC paintpot in Painterly
- Fryinnae Arcane Magic e/s in Avian Shapeshifter
- Fryinnae Arcane Magic e/s in Feline Familiars
- MAC e/s in All that Glitters
- MAC e/s in Unbasic White
- MAC technakohl liner in Graphblack

My mum's friend complimented my look.. She said it was better than one of my other looks. I'm looking forward to create more looks with my small teeny haul. I highly recommend those who are crazy about pigments to try this! There's really no turning back..

p.s. And yes, I've not tried the Pixie Epoxy (which was the main item in my small haul). LOL!

Once again, its the time of the year to do a blog spring cleaning.. I'll be deleting most of my posts and photos. Hopefully I would be blogging much more frequently in 2010.. So till I'm done with spring cleaning! Tata for now! =)

Didn’t feel very colorful today… so here’s what I came up with…

No base 
NYX JEP in Yoghurt – all over lid 
TSS Beyond Skin Deep – patted on lid and blended upwards all the way to the brow. 
MM’s liquid eyeliner in 995 (I think… its the greyish/silverish black) – tried for a slightly winged look 
MM’s gorgeous lash mascara 
Maybelline’s Volum’ Express Turbo Boost mascara in black 
Inuovi’s brow pencil in I dunno what color. *lol*

I had forgotten how totally goregous Beyond Skin Deep is. It gives a lovely subtle glow to my eyes that is really so pretty. Am pretty sure I’ve got a spare sample baggie of this color cos I love love love it. Now to rummage through my stash again. For asians, I can’t emphasize how much I love this color! Sadly it was an LE… so I doubt its available any more. Still no harm checking with Heather from TheSheSpace:P

These pics were taken at 11.37pm and the m/u was applied at 4pm so… eyes are slightly oily. Apologies. Forgot to take pics as I was rushing out the door.

End of Year Sale.  Everything 20% off (all prices have already been reduced).  Will be relisting them until they are all gone.

Enjoy. :)

I know I've been quiet... with school holidays here... life is just so full. Not just 3 kids at home but 4... more personalities to juggle and defintiely more housework!

Well alrighty then!

Last year my team leader came up with the idea to bake a pepperkake (gingerbread) house and share with everybody in our department. I don´t know how it all actually started but I challenged her to make it in the shape of Malaysia´s famous Petronas Twin Towers. This talk first started summer of last year so I had many months of taunting her about it and insisted it to be in 3D. Come December and one day she appeared at work carrying the much anticipated Pepperkake Twin Towers! Despite it not being in 3D, I must admit that she did a pretty good job. She was so proud of herself and was practically gloating. Of course I didn´t admit to her face that I thought it was good, lol. She then challenged me to bake this year´s pepperkake house and she picked Hamar Vikingskipet (The Hamar Viking ship), which is a stadium in her home town, Hamar. I had the whole year to prepare myself for this and I really didn´t know how I was going to accomplish this until the very moment I was going to bake it. Dough was easy-peasy - Ikea sells readymade pepperkake dough which is actually quite good, just a tad too sweet for my liking though. I thought I did a pretty decent job with the shape however it melted in the oven :/ My husband said it looked like several things - a whale, a giant turd, a garden snail...anything but what it actually is supposed to look like, LOL.  (All I wish for Christmas is a new husband who is more supportive!) I personally think it looks like a peanut. What do you think?

 
BEFORE BAKING

BAKED AND PRETTY-FIED

THE ACTUAL THING

Ok, so here’s another total rant… stop reading here if you don’t wanna hear all about it and scroll down about a page to read about more fun stuff… two hauls!!!

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I am soooo praying that this is just a STAGE in my eldest’s development. Been dealing with so many issue this past couple of weeks. Ranging from lying to stealing (well, according to him borrowing… but who borrows $100??) and now…

He spent the nite at my MIL’s. I went to bed forgetting to switch off my ringer on my handphone (this is my old set cos my new set won’t take photos and I had to send it in for servicing which is a whole ‘nother rant! *grrrrrrr*)

Woke up from a deep sound sleep by a very loud ringing phone. Picked up the call and was greeted by silence… lots of silence. Even with my repeated hullos… there was no reply… and then the call got disconnected. Given the number reflected by my caller id… the suspect list was really short… couldn’t be my MIL or my FIL… so only person left in the house… my son.

The call triggered one of the worst headaches I’ve had since getting preggy way back in 2001. It wasn’t an ache… but a throbbing pain echoing in my head. The kind that makes you wanna bang your head against something. So got up and popped in two panadols (paracetamol) and tried to go back to sleep.

Woke up late with the pain still there… mumbled some nonsense to my hubby over the phone (yeah, I know… same house and I can’t get my butt off my bed to go talk to him in person) and he coaxed me to go eat something so that he could give me a stronger painkiller afterwards. After breakfast, in went Ponstan, an antiacid and a muscle relaxant. All of which combined to make the pain more of a fuzzy interference in my head.

The meds have lasted quite a while and the pain hasn’t really returned… it more of a nagging ache now. Much easier to handle… just that I’m sensitive to sharp sounds. Sends an echo bouncing round my head. Sigh…

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Anyways… on to more fun stuff… checked my mailbox…

*drum roll*

My package from LT was there… nice and fat… and so was my recent SN order. (no pics… cos no phone => no camera *sobs*)

*cartwheels around the room*

I <3 <3 getting packages in the mail!!!

opened LT’s first and here’s what she sent me (for pics, check out her post here -

• SN perfecting powder (yippeeee I’m all out)
• Revlon azure mist palette (been eyeing this in the stores but couldn’t bring myself to pay the price)
• LA Splash liquid eyeliner in Blue Whale
• EDM blush sample in Walkie Talkie
• Body Shop blue and pink/peach e/s
• Jessie’s Girl e/s in skywalker (can’t wait to try this one out!)
• Ulta e/s in Truffle and Zephyr
• Juice organics light tint moisturizer – sample size (ideal for my quick trip to Malacca coming soon)

Its been a while since I’ve gotten excited over m/u but getting my hands stuff I’ve been drooling over and itching to try… well, put it this way… pretty good chance I’ll be going out with my face done tomorrow. :D

Then I opened my second (smaller package).

*wanders off on a tangent*

You know how there are some companies that just give you such good service that you can’t stop buying from them? Well, I gotta say SilkNaturals is one of my all time fav m/u companies. Their customer service totally rocks! even when I had problems with shipping going awol, they made it up to me.

ok… so I placed an order to restock on perfecting powder, date bait, foundation (ebony, white and tried a packet of the new glow) and their new zinc powder. The way it works is that they give one free ‘surprise’ e/s and then with every $30 you get a e/s of your choice FOC.

well, I don’t like SN’s e/s… doesn’t suit my need for color *grin* but I DO like their lippies… so I added a note to my order asking if I could please change my free e/s to a lippie instead.

Surprise surprise… they not only sent my the freebie lippie I requested for but an extra one for good measure… and… I still got a free e/s thrown in.

The color I asked for was Fashionista… a nude wine shimmer vegan lipstick and I got Mirage (Ultra Nude Vegan Lip Gloss) as my extra. I have to say I wouldn’t have order Mirage on my own… but I can’t wait to see what it looks like on my lips and how it’d blend with other shades to make something special :)

So… the day started out bad and ended on a pretty upbeat note. Gotta stay thankful even on bad days, don’t you think?

stay cool everyone and Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it.