Chucked a sickie

Woke up feverish in a sweat in the dark of dawn and decided today was not to be a day of toil. Remembers hubby's cool palm on my forehead checking to make sure I wasn't running a temperature. Satisfied, he leaves me for work.

I get up and put on my yukata to make chicken ginseng and red date tonic in the pressure cooker. Delirious from the throat ache and the restless night. I drank, three large helpings of the soup when it was done and then slips back into my snuggle bed to drift back off to sleep at midday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Birthday food porn

This post is long overdue, but its been busy most weekends and weeknights since my birthday and I missed out on posting these.

Just a couple of collages of the birthday feasts I have had:

At Musashi with Mr.HEA before our show: The Sashimi Main plate, Spicy Soft Shell Crab, BBQ octopus and salmon and tuna rice onigiris, washed down with the Musashi Blue lychee mocktail.

At the Botanic Gardens restaurant with the pals, we shared three entrees and many bottles of wine. It's a stunning venue in the midst of the beautiful Botanic Gardens. We had the honey roast button mushrooms, black mussels in tomato, chorizo, olive and aioli, and the rabbit terrine. The last dish was my blue eye trevalla in kaffir lime beurre blanc main. Heart cloggin' goodness surely.



Eyeshadow review

Well, there hasn't been any eye-shadow shopping for me in a few years really. Not since 2006 when Shiseido launched their Maquillage range as I remember that must be the last time I bought eyeshadow. I do have asian eyes with inverted eyelids. A pan of eyeshadow goes a really long way with me as I don't get to use a lot of it each time. The above collection just shows all the freebies I have gotten since then which means I don't have an excuse to buy new eyeshadow for a long time.

 
The brands, clockwise from left:
1) Kit Cosmetics: In Deep, Made in Australia and I got this from a giveaway from a Priceline event sometime ago.
2) Calvin Klein: tempting glance intense eyeshadow in #126 fresh cut, Made in USA which I got as a free gift when I purchased my Chanel eye cream from Strawberry.net, but retails there for $14 per pot now.
3) the Balm: Holiday in Balm Springs, a lovely complete set to creating the perfect smokey eye which I got for Christmas a fair while ago. This set consists of the Overshadow in 'no money, no honey'($15 per pot), the Shady Lady eyeshadow in 'Shameless shana' ($16 per individual pallette) and a Pick-up Liner in 'casanova'($19) with a miniature shadow brush (The full sized one is $8). A very scandalous pallette to be sure!
4) B by Bloom Col.lecta Eyeshadow Duo: ayers rock, retailing at $9.95 per pot, which is the majority of the monthly subscription I paid for the Bellabox that I received this sample in which made the subscription well worth its cost.

A peek inside

 

Following the order from above:
1) In Deep is a silky deep purple that would be perfect for doing sultry smokey eyes and well perfect for a night out. Unfortunately it causes eye irritation for me and I have not been able to go past two applications to test this.
2) fresh cut is also really silky and light in application. So much so that you have to apply a lot of it to get a bit of the pristine green color onto your lid. Still, I like the colour as it gives a slight golden glow to your lid even if you cannot see the light green
3) The Shameless shana is a neutral brown, great for day wear smokey eye creations. I do wear this alot as you can see I have hit the pan for this one, which is a big achievement for me little almond eyes. I must gush over the Overshadow, I must. It is the best shimmering highlighter I use. And I do not stop at the arch of the brow, I spread it over my cheekbones, under my eyes, anywhere that needs a hint of glow as it is perfect for creating the dewy look in the day and to load on for a bit of shimmer in the evenings. Definitely a product I would buy once this runs out for me
4) The ayers rock is fun. Whilst the application isn't a creamy/silky texture, the colour pops and it lasts. I wore it in half and half yesterday at Taste of Sydney and I loved it. It suited the fun nature of the outing and was something different for me.



Without flash



With flash



 The colour spread was done from the bottom up: in deep, fresh cut, shameless shana, ayers rock duo.

Now, to commit to get through all these eyeshadows or to retire them when the next season of colours come along? Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Hand Cream reviews

I am not sure if I have ever confessed this before, but I am a true hoarder when it comes to beauty products. I collect and ask for samples unabashedly from all places. I always think these are great sizes for travelling, but the truth is, I never travel anywhere where I have the time to delve into a full routine and have sometime had less than 2 days notice before I need to hop onto a plane even to be able to rummage through my drawer for the samples I'd pack with me.

Anyways, I will try to stick to my resolution of not buying new products until I have gone through every single sample product that I carry in my stash and whilst I am at it, why not do some reviews?

I have been going through these two hand cream samples lately. The first is Guinot's Multi Action Vital Hand Care which is meant to be an invigorating and rejuvenating hand cream. The texture of this is really nice and does leave the hand quite aptly moisturised after application for a long period of time. I do tend to have dry hands and so really appreciate the light and easily absorbed texture of this hand cream that does the trick for replenishing lost vibrance in my much-abused hands. May I also mention that the scent of this is also really pleasant and that I thought it reminded me of how Clarins' products smelled.

This product s meant to reduce brown spots and improve the youthfulness of your hands. I didn't have enough of the sample to test if this was the long term effect indeed, but retailing at $52 for the full-sized bottle, I don't suppose I'd find out anytime soon.

A much more affordable alternative might be my next product review:

Sasy N Savy Rose and Lavender Hand Cream

 I got this one from Bellabox's February mailout and as someone who love hand creams (read can never survive without one nearby) this little sample has been slipped in place as soon as the Guinot sample was used up. The texture of the product is rich, which may be attributed to the macadamia oils it contains. I like the silky feeling it leaves after application, a bit like the texture of Crabtree & Evelyn's La source. However, the absorbtion rate is slow and my hands do feel dry again very very quickly with much typing and paper handling, which is what I have been doing a lot of lately at work.

At the price of $36 per 100 ml though, this one has more accessible anti-aging propensities than my other review and could be a good one to begin with. I also think the rose scent in this cream is subtle, more overpowered by the lavender, but I didn't mind the scent at all as it doesn't linger.

Necklace replica?

I was catching up on my Trash TV intake today whilst ironing two weeks worth of clothes...yes I have been very behind with the laundry...and what better inspiration than Desperate Housewives?

Doing a doubletake, there's this one scene that I had to playback, pause, print screen and pose this question to you all for:

Is the necklace that Vanessa Williams wears the same one as the one I picked up for my birthday? If so, is hers the splurge version and mine an el cheapo?

I had picked mine purely based on the colours and the fact that I needed a piece to brighten up my black outfit, but if I had accidentally picked up a replica of some grand design, I wish someone would fill me in otherwise I'd be none the wiser.