: : : Cute Little Glen : : :

21 Jan 2010

What is the best thing being your own boss? You could club at any day of the week, especially weekday or even Sunday without having this thought in your head... "aw.... tomorrow have to go to work ! can't even stay late... " or "How am I suppose to wake up for work tomorrow?? geez ~ "

MyBoy told me few days ago, "You gonna makeup pretty pretty.. and I'm gonna bring you out and show you to the world" ... when he is tipsy.... so it kinda makes it a cute sight to see and listen to. :P He did brought me out, for clubbing at Sanctuary, The Curve.

It's been quite a while since we went clubbing together, mostly he went out to chill without me, and I will always be eager to hear what kinda funny or interesting story he has after that, even if it involves girls...I'm still very interested to know.. hahaha. So today, going out clubbing with him, I was hoping it could be fun.

It did turned out fun, and I got myself a cute little Glen.

We were there quite early, 11.30pm, but was surprised that the area infront the DJ's stage was quite packed, so we were at some corners behind, still good. Well, we were being ourselves, just drinking our wine, chilling, wasn't really dancing probably because the music doesn't really makes me wanna dance.

After a while, 2 girls came over to our table, they were talking to MyBoy, after that which I got to know that they met previously and the girls spotted him so just thought drop by to say Hi. Later on, they invited us over to their tables and that's when the fun began.

That table, had bottles of Glenmorangie, I think.... 4 - 5, of which about 4 were still unopened. Apparently, they were friends with this 1 dude, whom is quite rich and spoiled brad I suppose. MyBoy told me before that he would just suddenly breaking glasses in the club, or bottles of liquor, for fun ! While we were at that table, they ordered a few rounds of Fire Lamborghini, I took 2 sips. I couldn't really taste the alcohol, but I suppose it was quite high in percentage, coz after that.. I was pretty high.

Well, I'm still able to behave myself. While the girls were chatting MyBoy up, the guys were busy getting their hands on me. While I was just dancing with this A guy, his friend, B came over and pulled me away to dance with him... hugging me and stuff... and so... I just 'layan' (er.... in english.. I suppose means... simply entertain him? :P ). Mr. B is pretty high already... after a while he went somewhere... and then Mr. A back in the picture, and chatting me up, dancing, and hands all over.

On their table, they have 4 boxes, each contained 4 mini bottles of Glenmorangie, I ask Mr. A, what was that for? He doesn't know, it was so cute I wanted to open it and drink ! lol.......... In the end, I grabbed 1 of it.... in time before MyBoy said is time to leave...

That's my cute little prize, Glen. :P

: : : New Toy : : :

My 1st entry for 2010 ! I haven't being blogging a lot lately. Must be getting lazy to write ! haha.... or... nothing really exciting to write... or I don't get as excited to write what ever happens around me as I did when I started  blogging 5 years ago !

Anyway....my makeup business has been doing great for the start of 2010 ! All weekends have been booked for jobs and trials. I am happy with it. Gotta get more !

I will be getting new student for my makeup workshop next month ! Will be taught at my spanking new studio in Bandar Sungai Long ! Now, gotta tie up all the loose ends ~ the final touch for the shop.

Went to "Ho Ching Yuen" yesterday to grab some stuff at an awesome price ! Ho Ching Yuen is actually a place of haven for all fashion related stuff, this is where all wholesalers located ! From clothes, to shoes, to blings & accessories, to mannequin & shop fittings ! It is located near Pudu Jail, just behind the Fire Station along that road, I think is Jalan Hang Tuah. *I'm bad at remembering KL road names !

What did I get?

I was thinking about what stuff to hang my bridal gowns with, the portable bridal stand (with wheels so you can push it around) or a proper wall hanger that you see in fashion outlet. I saw 1 wall hanger, which is actually used for drying clothes in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 2 8ft bars at RM260, plus installation it would be around RM390.

The bridal stand at Pacific Artificial Model Trading Sdn Bhd in Ho Ching Yuen price at RM185 for 1, I need at least 2, so is RM370. However, after more browsing, I saw they also selling wall fixtures too, with brackets, steel bars etc. So I opted for that option. The wall fixtures for gown hanging only cost RM76 for 2 8ft bars, 6 brackets to hold the bar and 2 railings to hold the brackets on the wall !

Gown hanging problem, settled ! Now, mannequin to display a gown at the photography studio downstair (to create some awareness for passer-by, so that they know there's a place for gown rental / purchase ! ) I always thought mannequin would be quite expensive, from what my parents told me and Derrick, can cost up to 1k. However, after browsing through the collections at Pacific, I was amazed at how cheap it can go !

I have a mannequin from my big brother (he used to be in fashion industry ages ago), however, it has no arms ! I couldn't get only the arms at Pacific as it wasn't bought from them, and mannequin has many different sizes so it might not fit. So, I have to now figure out how to make my mannequin not look weird without arms when I display my gowns at my own studio ! I bought a simple yet nice mannequin at Pacific for RM185 ! I'm pretty happy with it and love it ! hahahaha....This would be used at Futagoza Studio.

Other than that, I also picked up some hangers for the gown, RM1.90 for a wooden hanger ! CHEAP ! Wanted to get the gown cover, however, it has to be custom order of minimum 300 pieces at RM20/pc ! *faint. have to pass ~ Then I picked up some jewelry display unit for necklaces too !

So, total damages for Mannequin, hangers (10pcs), jewelry display (3 unit), wall fixtures (10 items) was RM336 !

Well, before I move the mannequin over to the shop, I had some fun playing with it !

My new toy displaying my wedding gown ! After 4 months of hiding nicely in its cover, now take it out for shooting... haha.. next to it is me, wearing it during pre-wedding photo shoot.

Here, displaying the wedding dress I ordered online from China

Here I am, wearing it for a fun shooting.

Here, displaying my evening dress I wore during my wedding. This is also the dress I made for my makeup competition ! haha....

This is me in the evening dress during my wedding... Didn't take much photo of me in this dress from the front :P

: : : Shopping Spree : : :

Last Friday I wanted to drop by Ikea to return an item, but holly shit ! I couldn't even get into the car park ! A lot of cars were lining up to get into the car park ! Oh well ~ what to do, it was Hari Haji + School Holidays + Mega Sale, so I should have anticipated the insane amount of people flocking to the malls.

In the end, I went to 1 Utama. I can't really recall what I need to buy from there now, but I needed to get something. So what did I bought?

As I passed by Estee Lauder's counter, I was so tempted to buy their Blockbuster collection ! I just love these things ! hahaha.. I love to collect those luxury looking cosmetic bag/case, limited edition brushes, many colours in 1 case eyeshadows, blushers, lipstick etc etc. Plus, it is cheaper in this kinda all-in-one palette thing or package. I am thinking either to get the blockbuster collection (need to buy RM260/240 worth of products and entitled to buy that collection at RM260/240, which worth over 1000), or the lipgloss collection with a gold pouch or another eyeshadow palette collection with blusher brush + lipstick + lipgloss + nail colour + mascara + eyeliner pencil + a nice evening clutch !

This is the Blockbuster collection... it also comes with a nice mirror !! oh oh ~ and also Look-book telling you how to get that look ! If let say I were to buy the eyeshadow (single colour at maybe RM60) alone, the 15 eyeshadows in this collection already cost RM900 !! Makeup stuff overseas is so darn cheap ! It only cost $55 with any fragrance purchase!

The lipgloss collection....

Not only that ! I also caught my eyes on Bobbi Browns's Chrome palette ! With 10 eyeshadows, 4 lip colours and 2 brushes in a compact case, RM350 +. A bit pricey though. Bobbi's special palette is always on the pricey side. Example, 4 eyehadows pricing around RM180, while M.A.C's 6 eyeshadow palette in nice nice casing cost around the same ! I like M.A.C's special palette because of the casing and also their funky colour, while Bobbi's more for their very wearable colours, which most people will like.

Oh well ~ I ended up buying a few necklaces and a tiara for my business, at special rates ! Gotta go grab more of this costume jewelry sets, probably at this shop in Giant near my place at 50% off ! I also bought myself a smaller size concealer brush from Makeup Forever, pretty handy, good to use and cheap too (for branded).

Other than that I also spent big bucks over at Shu Uemura, which after that  I am entitled to go for their makeover + A4 portrait shots promotion and also a 7pcs skincare set.

So, how did their makeup artist at Shu Ueumra road show faired? Unique way of dolling me up (for my MUA), putting eyemakeup 1st then only the face foundation, which according to my MUA (Makeup Artist) is that she need not worry about all the mess she's gonna make while doing my eyes ( which mostly is the eyeshadow powder falling down on your cheeks/under your eyes, well I have seen FORD Model's MUA Johnny Lavoy did that too ). Which also equals to alot of removing the mess with remover and rubbing... not so good I guess... for Johnny Lavoy, he uses something special, like a under eye mask thingy to stick it under the girls eyes while doing eye makeup, and then peel it off when he's done and proceed with the foundation.

My MUA did an ok job for my eyebrows, which I need to inform her to draw closer to my nose so that it will make my eyes look closer, as I am naturally born with eyes that is a bit far apart, if not she could do something with the eyeliner, in chinese, we called it 'pull angle'... haha... which means extend the eyeliner further at inner corners. Hm..... I think other than myself and my makeup teacher knows what to do with my eyes to make them dazzling, I haven't come across any other MUA who can do that. Of course I only realise this after I learnt the art myself, otherwise, I would think what they did is nice :P I now know what is best. My eyes are my best features.

Overall, my MUA faired good. The photo below was her work... hair is by a hairstylist.

This is the ONLY decent photo I can get out of around 10 pics that the photographer took ! I don't know if the photographer was really interested to take nice photos or he just can't seem to spot the best angle of his client's features or the posture that he instructed me to pose were just bad, I think I could pose better on my own and look good in the photos ! I think this session was already over and done with in 5-10 minutes ! O_o"

Compared these photos to those that I took before at Estee Lauder's portrait road show, Estee Lauder's photography service was way better, there I could choose a lot more nice photos and I even want to have them in CD to keep. For this Shu Uemura's, I didn't even bother to do so.

Ok... portrait aside, now purchasing experience at Shu Uemura. I was dissapointed. I thought I wanted to try out their acclaimded Nobara stick foundation, therefore I had the sales advisor servicing me to help me choose the shades. You see, 1 thing which is not good about Shu Uemura's Malaysia website is...

No. 1 - it was always so outdated ! Now is already Dec 2009, and their 'What's New' stop at May'09 !

No.2 - their Nobara cream foundation already been changed into stick form, and the website still featuring the old packaging !

No. 3 - the way the foundation shades are arranged is odd. ok.. from right to left, it starts with lightest shade to darker shade and then suddenly continue with another lightest shade to the darker shade.  For those who are noob, they will think, what is this??? For me, I suppose they have shades for yellow undertone skin and pink understone skin, hence the way the shades are arranged, but still, I couldn't figure out which shade is for yellow undertone and which is for pink undertone, because there's no description about the shade's coding at all !

So, because of No.3 above, I couldn't equip myself with enough information about their foundation's shade before I head to the counter and choose the shade myself, therefore I need the help of their advisor. That's how it lead to my disappointed purchase experience. The advisor recommended me the wrong shade ! It looked fine when she tested on my hand, but it turn out too pale on my face.

Ok, so maybe I was on a bit of the wrong, since I know best how to test the foundation shade over the counter, but then, imagine I'm a total noob, what she did was wrong. She should have tested it some where near my jawline, to see if the colour different from my neck. Worst still, she recommended the wrong shade !

Since I only found the shade doesn't match me after I used it the next day, I can't return it now, I drop them a complaint over their website ! I couldn't find the contact us link in the website, so I thought I just drop the complaint at the US's site, after that only I found out that I can do that ONLY after I logged in as a member ! So does that means, non member can't drop feedback at the site? >_< Anyway, I shoot the same complaint via the Malaysia' site !

So now........ I shall wait and see how long will they take to respond to that, since they are so slow on the website.

As for the Nobara stick foundation? I can only used it as a eyebase or mix it with my usual liquid foundation or with a darker shade foundation for my customer -_-"

What I have learnt? I should have just brought my trusted L'oreal Perfect Match shade G2 foundation along and match it with the new foundation I'm gonna buy.

 : : : Lines of Thoughts : : :

At the moment, I have a lot to think about.

1st.... hairdo for my bridal clients....... this Saturday, next Friday, and next next Sunday. Total hairdo I need to come up with..... er.... about 10 *faint...... 

I'm not really that good in hairdo since I didn't take up the course.. so I'm really trying hard to figure out how to do as shown in pictures I found or they have emailed me... but thank god there is YouTube where I can learn a thing or two.... Other than that... hair accessory ! Need to think what to go with which hairstyle... and need to go buy it if I don't have.......

2nd..... Renovation for my upcoming studio ! If money weren't a problem... I don't think I would need to think that much..... but anyway.... I have already went out a few rounds to get quotations for stuff like ligthings... curtains... sofa.. table... etc.

I found a downlight from a lighting shop in Damansara Uptown, it cost me RM46 for the casing, RM22 for the bulbs of GE brand (this is after discount....)... installation price, not known yet as the guy said we can nego with the technician. So total cost for this casing + bulbs from this shop cost me RM707 (after discount). However, now I have found an alternative to my lightings problem.... pendant light from Ikea ! It cost only RM26.90 for the lamp, and RM39.90 for 2 bulbs (an estimation since this bulbs is for lights with dimmer function, but I suppose normal bulbs would be cheaper). Total lighting cost from Ikea would be RM535.... a RM172 cheaper ! I have seen this pendant light at the signage office I went to... it looked nice...

Curtain wire and curtains I will be getting from Ikea so is the coffee table, mirror, cupboards and carpet/rug ... hm... it looks like my whole shop's furnishing are from Ikea.. haha... but... really thank god there is Ikea... everything under 1 roof.. with reasonable price on certain items.. otherwise.. I will need to run here and there just to gather all these items.. as some furniture shop might not have things I need..

I have also found out the pricing for a signboard... surprisingly not as expensive as I have thought, for a lightbox signboard....

Even though I am starting up my shop with a relatively low budget.... but I still want it to look simple & class.

Need to gather more cash.. to make all this possible !

After reno part...... comes the marketing ! Promos ! argh ~

Also.. I'm thinking what to wear and makeup for clubbing this Saturday after my makeup job... as the wedding dinner is just right opposite Zouk, Hotel Maya ! I will be staying for the job until 9.20-10pm as the client needs me to do a 2nd hairdo for the night.... so after that I could just cross over to Zouk and.. Partay ~ hahaa.... IF the clubbing my husband's friend is asking us to go is on... :P

This photo explains my situation now ! haha.. is a funny test shot I did at Futagoza few weeks back ~

     : : : Goodbye, Ah Ma : : :

5th November 2009, 12.06pm, Ah Ma (grandma) has boarded her bus, bus to nirvana.

A week before, Ah Ma has been struck by stroke 3 times. The 1st 2 times when the stroke hit, Ah Ma didn't had any serious injury caused by the stroke, she is still ok, able to walk and eat and talk etc, and she didn't felt that she has been hit by a stroke and luckily enough my Godmom (aunt) is a nurse, so she knew what to do when the stroke 1st hit and took care of Ah Ma. The 3rd stroke came and left Ah Ma in a coma, where she was unable to move any part of her body, speak, or even open her eyes. She was still able to hear what we were talking and responded to our question by a very weak blink on her eyes.

Ah Ma has made her wish clear that what ever happens to her, never to send her to hospital (she doesn't like going there), just let her be and let nature takes its course and that she wants everyone back in Ipoh when she is about to go. Ah Ma don't want herself to be suffering as she has seen a lot of old people suffer in the old folks home in KL where my Godmom works 2weeks a month. Ah Ma don't want to trouble us and do not want to go to old folks home too that's why she wish that nature will takes its course when her time is up and don't send her to hospital to save her.

All of us went back 2 weekends ago to see her when she was in a coma. Last weekend, we went back for her funeral. There was no crying. Is not that we were heartless, we were relief that Ah Ma need not suffer anymore and that her wish to be in Nirvana has came true. The day Ah Ma passed away, is the birthday of the Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin), the day where Goddess of Mercy goes back to heaven, Ah Ma chose this day to follow Goddess of Mercy to heaven. We have previously prayed and asked Guan Yin whether she accepts Ah Ma, Guan Yin replied yes (there's a way for this to be done in Buddhism, but I'm not going to explain it here), and asked when will Guan Yin come and pick Ah Ma up, no answer for this. So, we guessed, Guan Yin came and pick up Ah Ma on her birthday.

After the cremation at Sam Poh Cave, Ipoh on Saturday, we went back the next morning, to collect the bones to be place into an urn and place at a place to place all this urn in Sam Poh Cave. After the helper sifted away the ashes and left those bones that is left behind from the cremation, we all picked up a pair of chopstick provided and start picking 'gold' (if you don't like the sound of 'bones' , we refer it as 'gold' :P ). As Ah Ma had osteoporosis, therefore we could really see that effects on the bones, those honeycomb structure. If Ah Ma has consumed medicine before her death, the bone marrow part will had a tint of colour, otherwise it will be pure white. Sounds like a CSI episode going on uh ~ All this bones picked were place into the urn. Teeth left behind will not be placed in, as chinese believe, if you place it in, Ah Ma will take away your wealth and food.. haha

Long before Ah Ma had pass away, she informed my mom and Godmom that, she will pay for all the expenses we used to travel to Ipoh to visit her and send her off to heaven. My Ah Ma, so kind ! I really wish she has found her peace in heaven.

With Ah Ma's passing, all of us came to Ipoh to see her one last time, and it was like a family reunion. We all talked and laugh, of course there was some teary eyed moments in between. I believe Ah Ma would want us to be happy and not too sad with her passing as she is able to join Ah Gong (grandpa) and her sisters in heaven now, and enjoy playing her mahjong.

Ah Ma... looking so happy... she said she waited very long for this tea since morning 5am +

Ah Ma's smiley face ...

Bye bye Ah Ma ~