TEAL!!!

We decided to get our troupe costumes from Bella. She's expensive but she's good. So after some deliberation, I decided to choose teal! On the web, the colour is something like the picture below. The piece of bluey chiffon in between the black skirt.

I was happy with my choice because although I liked green, I couldn't find a shade of lycra green to my liking so I settled for something blue... I thought teal's really nice as its not so turquoise and not so cyan.

But when I finally received my parcel from Istanbul, my costume turned out so green!!! See below colour... the green (ok teal) is mine. The rest chose red, white and black. Primary colors that couldn't go wrong. Only mine is green!!!



Even when I stared at it for very long, it never changed colour to teal or blue!!! So I looked up the definition of teal: Teal, also called teal blue, is equal parts blue and green. Hmm, so it's 50% blue, 50% green??? But how come when I see it with my eyes, it's green and there's not a tinge of blue?? In real life, it is green through and through!

But when I took pictures, it looked more blue than green huh?? See below 2 pictures!!!

Can somebody tell me why is my costume GREENNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!! WHY WHEN TAKE PICTURE IT LOOKED BLUE AND ON THE WEB IT LOOKED BLUE BUT WHEN U SEE WITH NAKED EYES IT"S GREEN??? ROARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Did You Know that

1. ... it is not possible to sneeze with your eyes open.

2. ... an alternative term for estate planning is death rehearsal.

3. ... the maximum friends you can have in your Facebook account is 5,000. After 5,000, you cannot accept any more friend requests.

My style of dressing

Writing is a good way for me to relax. As is reading. And as is playing psp.

I can just blog about what I do, or what I think, or how certain events make me feel. But sometimes I find myself running out of stuff to write.

In my attempt to kick myself out of the rut, I decided to start posting random pictures of what I usually wear. So I need to constantly remember to take pictures of myself starting from now... Ceri, can help boh? Haha. Help to snap pictures for me, I meant.

This was taken one random Friday weeks ago...

Yellow top: 4ever 21

Grey tunic: Mango

Black Leggings: from KL

Black fishnet stockings: from Bangkok

Yellow heels: Charles & Keith

I bumped into somebody unexpected

During lunch, I heard the voice of this lady; her voice is oh so familiar but I just can't place my finger where did I know her from until....

"Do you work in Glen E??" I asked.
She didn't answer but asked:" How do I know you?"
"Remember the milo incident on my bed?" I answered.
I can see the realisation lighting up her face when she replied:" Ya ya ya! The drip... not the milo."
Then she grabbed my hand and said ernestly:" So how are you? Are you feeling well and good?"
She glanced at me carefully from head to toe.

She is the nurse who took care of me the morning after my surgery in Glen E.

How random it is to bump into her.
How unexpected that I could remember her voice although my eyes were drowsy-laden then.
How heart warming it is that she still felt so apologetic on accidentally toppling the drip thing onto my bed while I was asleep.
And how equally elated I am that she is genuine to learn of my well being.

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Was out the other night partying and we were ogling the bartop/pole dancers when baby Kayra suddenly said:" Oh my, that's so mechanical, no emotions at all when they dance... it's like zombies dancing!!!" and I burst out laughing.

What a phrase! Zombie dancing.

If we go to work without emotions, we are Zombie workers.
If we speak with our friends with very little feeling, we are zombie friends.
How many hours are you a zombie each day?

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I am a proud owner of this!

Even though I like pink, this would be an overdose!!!

I like purple tulips please. P.U.R.P.L.E.

Hiking and BB Cream

It was a beautiful morning and I was really happy despite having to wake up so early. I felt like I was back in primary school, eagerly anticipating the excursion that school had prepared!

Among the 6 of us, 2 are avid trekkers while the remaining 4 are embarking on their first serious hiking trip! Needless to say, I am one of the 4... Heh heh. My initial impression of "It's just going to be some leisure walk in the park" turned into breathless heaving of myself up the seemingly endless flight of uphill steps. I was rather proud that I managed the steps well, particularly when half of these steps require me to raise my leg at 90 degree bend. What I couldn't handle are the downhill tracks; yea I know I am weird: given a choice, I would want to climb up than to walk down a slope. Even I do not understand why I find it so difficult and scary to move down.

For first timers, it was indeed daunting to put us through such a challenging path. I think P has sweared off hiking from now onwards. I lifted the one and only below picture from LY's blog.


At some point of the path, it can mean that you are walking quite alone with only the sound of the forest as company. I wasn't very aware of animals or insects as I was rather busy trying to take some pictures... But everytime I stop and take a shot, I have to quickly run after the rest of them least I get left very far behind.




Next I am going to talk about my latest obsession: BB Cream. And what is BB Cream? Please read below excerpt from the internet.

BB Cream (also known as Blemish Balm) was first used by Korea stars after they receive facial treatments. It has healing properties and also protects their skin from the harmful sun and environment. Dr Jart+ and Skin79 are among the most popular brands among Korea stars. Dr Jart+ is developed by dermatologists and its ingredients have been scientifically certified for effectiveness and stability. Skin79 is developed using natural plant extracts and is an ISO9001 certified company. BB creams have numerous skincare properties combined in just 1 product - UV protection, anti-wrinkle, wrinkle improvement, whitening, moisturising, skin regeneration, and oil control. In addition, they can also conceal pigmentations/discolorations like acne marks, freckles, and dark eye circles. They provide wonderful coverage without clogging pores and greatly simplifies our tedious makeup process. With prolonged usage, BB cream can even improve our skin texture.

How to use: After skincare, spread appropriate amount on face. There is no need to apply sun block, makeup base or foundation. However if you need additional sun protection, apply sun block before. Please kindly note that you will need a makeup remover to remove BB cream completely at the end of the day.

Even the show 女人我最大 raves about Shills BB Cream!!! I have specially blow up the picture of the "before application and after application" to illustrate its wonders!!!



You may wonder what's hiking got to do with BB cream and why do I talk about two seemingly unrelated topics in one post? The answer is simple! I went and bought myself Shills BB Cream!!





And my mission was to test it out during this hiking trip!!! I applied a layer on my face at home so by the time this picture is taken, it's one hour later. I applied only one layer because although two layers will provide better coverage but it'll make me look un-naturally fair.


This picture is taken about one hour into the hiking journey... to be precise, it's just after climbing that flight of endless torturous steps.


Last picture is taken after we completed the trekking trail.



My verdict: BB Cream did tahan all the sweat from hiking but in order to look natural, I only apply one layer so I would say the coverage is medium. Can cover my light freckles and slight pigmentation but my eye circles and old scars are still faintly visible.

Conclusion: I am pretty happy even though it's not perfect coverage as the convenience is a huge plus which outweighs the minus.

The Quest continues...

Refer to my post about a year ago.... http://costesamour.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-psp.html

Back then, I was already hooked onto Patapon.... And now I have Patapon 2!!!!!!!!

Ta ta la la la!!!!!!!

Advertorial

This is my first time posting up an advertorial.

Introducing PinkleBelle Closet, a shopping blog started by one of my good girlfriend. Please click on this link to access the online store http://www.pinklebelle.blogspot.com/

All the clothes are simple basics that you can accessorize to glam up. Of course if you go shopping on your own, you will be able to pick up some of these at very afforabable prices as well. But I have reached the age whereby most times I don't put aside a slot to go shopping. I prefer to just grab something if I happen to past by a store or just to shop online!!! I bought some of PinkBelle stuff and will modestly model them here.

Blue Dress - The striking colour means I only have to accessorize with necklace, belt, kitten heels and lots of attitude! I have wore a purple bustier top over the dress too.


Stripey yellow top - This is a bustier top that can be worn as a halter neck as well. It's nice with jeans, leggings or shorts and I even wear it at home on its own like a pyjama!!


Printed Kimono Top (Cotton) - The base is a very dark navy colour; can be worn off shoulder. Here, I pair it with leggings for casual friday office wear. However, the most important reason for me getting this is that it doubles as a cover up for my dancing gigs and classes. I just loop the top easily over my head to reveal my glamour costume underneath.


Hurry!!! Don't wait any more!!! Click to shop!!! It's hassle free as she operates locally or I can pick them up on your behalf. (Ok, I must stress that I don't earn commission)

Or you can buy some of the stuff and stock up now to give me as presents during X'mas and my birthday. Haha! Just don't buy me those that I have bought and paraded here.

The Business of Buying Experience instead of Presents

I didn't know such a service exists! There's this company in Malaysia that specialises in creating experiences for people as a gift. Instead of you having to think of what to buy for your loved ones or friends, they do the thinking for you. Like creating the experience for you to be a model for one day, or in this one that I saw while blog surfing, the boyfriend gave his girlfriend a surprise by 'buying' 2 hours of the shoe boutique time so that she can be given the royal treatment, the shop to herself, champagne, balloons... WAO!!! For once, I wish that he's also my boyfriend.

Read what the boyfriend blog about here and read what the girlfriend felt here.

All you girls must be dropping your jaws and thinking:" Is this guy for real?"... like what I did when I read their blogs. Haha.

Anyhow, I did have this idea some time ago. But more like for my loved ones and not as some kind of thing that I can make money out from. Tired and exhausted of thinking of what gifts to give, I sometimes buy 'experiences' for people I care about. Like a massage for my mum during one of the Mother's Day celebration, a foot reflex for a boyfriend, a concert ticket for a good friend's birthday. Mini 'experiences' I call them. If I can one fine day make the experience more elaborate, then maybe I can earn money from it. Cool huh?

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Was at Klee (pronounced as "Clay") with Pearl. What makes this place unique is that they are not just in the regular kind of bar business but they focus on making drinking a good experience!

(Picture courtesy of Business Times Jun 2008)


They have no menu so when we pulled ourselves up at the counter, the bartender started to ask what type of drinks we usually have and are we in the mood for something sweet? less sweet? tangy?... from there, he narrowed down to what kind of fruits we fancy before whipping up a cocktail.

The result is something very personalised, both in terms of drinks as well as service. Their selling point is their use of fresh ingredients; the bartender concoct everything right in front of you. So I am very impressed by the quality of input; it's as if you are having juicy fruits mixed with alcohol. Who says drinking cannot be healthy? Haha. Klee also pride themselves on making you feel at home by engaging in friendly conversation.

So the next time that you feel bored with your usual drinking holes, give Klee a try!

Update on Workshops: Amar Gamal

I am so going to rave about Amar Gamal! She is a co-founder of her own dance company, Bellyqueen; together with Kaeshi Chai. Both are such super talented dancers with superb techniques and interesting style.

(from left to right: Kaeshi, Amar) Picture taken from www.bellyqueen.com

And both perform for Bellydance Superstars. If you may recall, I simply adore Bellydance Superstars. I hope to learn from all my favourite dancers in time to come. So far, I have only attended Jillina and Amar's workshops.

These are my favourite Bellydance Superstars (minus Ansuya, add in Sharon Kihara). It's not that Ansuya is not good... In fact she is fabulous, just that I prefer Sharon.
(from left to right: Amar (in orange), Ansuya (in purple), Jillina (in blue), Kaeshi(in black) and Sonia(in maroon)) Picture taken from morning tv show.

P.S. When you look at the above picture, all of them are so beautiful but you know what I realised?? Their heads are real tiny!!! But they still looked so proportionate! Don't believe? Check out the below close-up shot that we took with her during the workshop. So tiny face, sigh... why are our faces so oily and huge and two-dimensional?

Check out Amar's video!!!

So you can imagine how excited I was about seeing her in real person! She looks so elegant and regale on Youtube that I was so surprised that she is only slightly taller than me. Her stage presence is so huge that I have always imagined a lanky Latin beauty and not someone who can be termed as a petite exotic Cuban enigma. Her figure's fabulous... very slim yet toned, beautifully arched back, bombshell hair, perky butts, superb control and poise.

Arrh, and she walks like a goddess. She was demostrating how to dance with Wings of Isis and the minute she started her goddess walk, we were blown away!!! All of us went like:" Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh................." Like any minute you can just bow down to her like a servant to a queen... her walk was so royal, superior and kingly.

All her workshops were enjoyable; she emphasized a lot on getting the correct feel and posture for the different combos taught during the class and downplayed on actual steps although her choreographies are intensely interesting!

The minus point was that she did not have a very good pace of teaching such that towards the end, we were rushing through the last 20 sec of choreo and all of us were very hazy about the actual techniques involved in the last 20 sec. In this aspect, Jillina is much more experienced.

At the end of the three days, I am more in love with her than before... Sigh!!! I wonder when she's coming back again.

Ownership

It dawned on me that the recent conversation I had with someone was of the past. We talked about people we knew, about what was fun, about what we did... in the past. How much fun about what we did with people we knew in.the.past. Or of the future. What we want to do in the future. And so I think a lot of us are going through life either reliving our past or planning our future. Not a lot of us are living in the present. Like I am happy to be chatting with you NOW; this very minute, this very present moment.

And if all of us are living in our present, we should all realise that despite the houses we stay in, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear; we own nothing. Really. Because all these may pass by very fleetingly, and become something of the past. Essentially, no matter how tightly we cling on, it was for nothing.

The workings of the economy and of age actually meant I am in a stage whereby I personally knew people who got badly hit in their careers. That all of a sudden, money's not so much a matter of importance but of survival. That in the past when one was doing very well, lapping up all the luxuries in life, immensing oneself in merry making, the drinking, the partying, the branded goods shamelessly displayed on every inch of the skin and generally feeling like a millionaire. It's so easy to neglect friends/ family who genuinely cared and wave them away as if they're the worst nags.

But when something like now that strikes a lot of people down like pinballs down the bowling alley, the friends/ family that you took for granted will always be the ones that lift you up and support you through these dark hours. Would you then forget them once again when all is good in the future, when you once again feel like you own the world?