A 5 year eyeliner journey

The low-down on (almost) all the eyeliners I've tried before reaching the perfect smudge-free liner for my single eyelids.

Before we begin, some background to help you understand why finding THE eyeliner that works took so long. I have the best combination of factors for eyeliner to smudge:

1. Single eyelids or what some call monolids. The problem here is that single eyelids are hooded which means that the place where you draw your eyeliner will rub against another piece of skin each time you blink. This gives your lids more opportunity to rub on the eyeliner.
2. I have slightly oily lids. Thank goodness they are not super oily. 
3. I live in a very humid country!

So yay! everything you need for your eyeliner to almost never stay on through the day. For years I've hunted high and low and tried everything everyone online says 'WILL NOT COME OFF'. I tried pencil, gel and liquid. At one point I gave up and only used dark brown eyeshadow to line my eyes and even that wouldn't stay on all day. 

I will start off with the eyeliners that have changed my life then tell you about all the other ones to avoid trying.

1. Marc Jacobs Magic Marc'er 

Marc Jacobs Magic Marc'er, available at Sephora outlets

This one is THE BEST liner ever. With an eye primer it will not move AT ALL and will last from morning 8am till I'm done with work and dinners at 11pm. It's also extremely easy to use if you have a fear of liquid liners and is black as black can be. Really lovely!

The only thing I don't like about it is the price and the fact that it dries up in about 4-5 months. I guess good things come at a price and it may also have dried up so quickly because I loved it so much I used it every single day. 

Would I buy this again? AH BO DEN (Singlish for 'OF COURSE with a million exclamation marks')! I just use it sparingly so I won't burn a hole in my pocket :) 

2. Stila Stay All Day liquid liner and Smudge Stick Waterproof eyeliner

Stila Stay All Day liquid liner and Smudge Stick Waterproof eye liner,
available at Sephora outlets and online on Zalora.sg

I don't know what took me so long to discover these. Perhaps I felt that asian brands would fit asian climate better or something. These are seriously almost as amazing and cost less and can be used for longer. I use the liquid liner to line my eyes and the pencil one to fill in the gaps on the lash line. Both stay really long with eye primer. And not to mention the number of colours these things come in!

3. NARS Smudge Proof Shadow Base

I used to wonder if eye primers were a myth cos I tried 2 variations of the widely raved about Urban Decay primer potion and both didn't work. I must say that I haven't tried a ton of primers but I happened to chance upon an online review by someone who also found the Urban Decay primer pointless and was raving about the NARS one. Now NARS is pretty expensive so I recommend saving up some credit card points and converting them to vouchers to try this one out. I don't think you'll be disappointed though! 

NARS Smudge Proof Shadow Base vs Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion,
NARS is available at TANGS Orchard and Robinsons @ Heeren, Urban Decay is available at Sephora

Things I tried that didn't work

A lot of these are supposed to be the top waterproof/smudge proof liners in the market. 

I'm going to try to remember them all...

1. MAC Fluid Line
2. MAC Penultimate eyeliner
3. Bobbi Brown Long-wear eye pencil (supposedly the same formula as the gel pot)
4. YSL Effet Faux Cils Creme D'Eyeliner
5. K-Palette liquid liner
6. Clio liquid liner
7. Eyeko Skinny Liquid eyeliner
8. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on eye pencil
9. Wet N Wild Mega Eyes Creme Eyeliner

I think there's more but these are all I can remember from the last 5 years :) If you wanna ask about any eyeliner in particular just leave a comment and I'll try my best to get back. 

If you're still in the hunt for THE eyeliner. Hang in there! You will get there somehow! hahahha 

4 Steps to managing your time better!

Being Singaporean almost always = being BUSY.

We are always so busy and everything/everyone always demands our time. I always hear people wishing for more time for God/family/work/rest, and recently I've seen lots of people struggling to manage their time.

So.. I thought I'd share how I've recently learnt to manage my time and schedule :) The same thing doesn't work for everyone, but so far the people I've shared this with seem to find it very helpful, so maybe this might help you!

Step 1: List out all the things that are important for you to make time for in order of importance.

Don't worry! I know it's hard deciding which ones are more important than others, but just use a-garation (Singlish for 'guesstimation') because we'll try to find time for it all. The difference is in how much time we give to each priority.

Step 2: Come up with a rough schedule of your 'free' time. Fill it in with things that are kinda routine.

e.g. daily devotional, basketball with colleagues, Sunday family dinner.

I split mine up by morning, afternoon and evening because you probably don't have free time locked down to the minute anyway.

It doesn't need to be perfect! In fact I scribble it out and change it every now and then to find the optimum way to organise my time.

Step 3: Fill in fixed times to do stuff. 

e.g. Monday evening is always for chores, Thurs evening always for basketball.

You can also add in 'rules' like 'every alt Wed evening is cell group time', 'the other alt Wed is for Reading' or 'every first Sat morning of the month is for swimming with Mum'. 

It sounds confusing, but once you get to it, it's actually really simple and easy to do! 

Some tips for doing this:

1. Draw the frame in pen first, then pencil your stuff in till you're happy with it.
2. Be reasonable with yourself and activities. Also schedule in time to be alone and to rest.

Step 4: STICK TO THE PLAN, but not too much!

I've come to realise (through one of those 'things I wish I knew at 20-something' articles) that good habits make life balanced and great. So stick to the plan you've set out for yourself, but when you find that another good habit is more natural, re-work the plan to suit that habit. It makes life easier on yourself.

I also allow myself flexibility to move things around from week-to-week. Like if a friend wants to meet on Wednesday instead of the Fridays I've set aside, I just swap Wednesday's activity with Friday's for that week.

So there! Simple tips for managing time better. If you've questions, just comment or msg me and I'll try my best to answer :)

Hope this helps!

What if Your blessings come through raindrops?

Happy Horse Year Everybody!

In the midst of all the festivities, I was aptly reminded by a couple of Facebook posts (strangely enough!) to think about the things we wish for/each other during this period.

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for our family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your might handy to ease our suffering

Recently I've been praying that last line a lot, asking God to relieve me of my 'suffering'. I know it's nothing compared to what other people around the world go through. But my injection experiences have been getting worse - more pain, more side effects, more nausea. I know part of this is psychological, but I really can't help it. I dread every Tuesday that I have to jab myself, and after I'm done I lie in bed in pain (the medication stings after) and yearn for the day I get my new body in heaven. (Typing all this out right now is already making me nauseated :/)

Hearing this song again last night, it spoke miles to me. While I wish that all of this could be taken away from me right now, I know the pain reminds me that this is not my home, and helps me cling to Jesus. Through all this I  can do my best to associate myself with Christ's sufferings and to have faith that the day will come when there will be no pain, no suffering for those who hang on.

I still feel like throwing up, and I still fear that Tuesday is coming soon, but I will hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful (Heb 10:23).

If you're going through something tough right now, I hope this encourages you :)

I also did a cover of the song.. just because :) Pardon all the coughs, I had too many new year goodies :/
Here's the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc I really love it!

Wrapping up 2013

Let's just say that 2013 was not the best of years, a lot happened for people close to me and a lot happened for me as well. But I am thankful for the many lessons this year as taught me.

1. Don't take your health and energy for granted.

We're young so we often think we're invincible. But we're not. Sometimes when I hear my friends talk about all their grand plans for their lives, I wish I could tell them to think about the other things in life that really are more important. I'm glad I got the opportunity to think my life through this year, and I hope I don't forget this painful lesson :/

2. Family (and bf :D), is so so so important

They can be annoying, but they will always be there. To have a family who loves and cares for me is one of God's greatest blessings so treat them well and spend time with them.

3. Prayer and rest are also very important for God's work to take place. 

I'm a fan of activity and of 'doing' so this illness has really been forcing me to rest. In many ways it is a blessing in disguise and I actually feel so much of God's grace and mercy to me through my illness. Not just the love that's been shown me because I'm sick, but also for the ways I'm being forced to grow as a person as a result of the illness. Like having no choice but to rest and to trust God still has good plans :)

4. Reading is very beneficial... and I don't hate it all that much

1 new year's resolution I kept in 2013 was to READ! I am so proud of myself *beams* And yes, it has been very beneficial for personal growth!

5. Friends, they come and go, and that path to walk with Christ, is indeed narrow.

I value relationships a lot and try my best to preserve them. But this year I've learnt to let go after I think I've tried enough. A lot of the time I feel more worry to see my close friends slowly drifting away from God than sadness to see us drift apart. It's true what they say, that life (not even just money, ambition and love) can slowly cause you to stray. And it's the slow ones that I worry more about and feel totally helpless with because they themselves don't realise it. I wish I could say, 'Wake up! and return to your Maker and Redeemer, if not soon you're gonna find that everything else around you is meaningless'.

6. People are lonely.

I've realised that in an overpacked city like ours, more and more people are lonely. Maybe it's social media that makes us feel this way? The 'someone else is more happening or has got it more together than I do' feeling. It's not even the emo people that feel this way, but regular sociable, outgoing people. I've yet to figure what I can do about this though, but I hope to bring some cheer to whoever I think could need it :)

Ok, enough of the sombre mood!

2013's thanksgivings!

1. For & - without whom I cannot imagine how I would've gotten through the Still's episode. I am beyond thankful to God for sending me a strong, godly man who pushed aside his fears and comforted me daily with God's promises. And still calls me pretty (hehe :D) - with the extra weight from my steroids, scars and all :)

2. For my super supportive family! and esp my personal nurse/sister who is so amazing that the bowl of instant mee she made me was my most liked photo on instagram in 2013.

3. For Twinniex, the two ah peks and Bel who help me walk with God, share the same burdens as I do and remind me that the path of light is narrow but worth it.

4. For everyone who visited me in hospital and prayed for me. For &'s family and Church community too, who supported him and prayed for us through our tough time.

5. For amazing and understanding colleagues and boss.

6. For new experiences in Australia, hall memories relived in Bali and good time spent with &'s family in Hong Kong!

7. For healing! Slowly but surely getting there :)

I hope that in years to come when I look back on 2013, that I will still remember and have my heart still be filled with thankfulness.

Australia 2013 - Sydney, Melbourne in Winter

I've been meaning to post this for ages! but we all know that I kinda fell sick for a very long time right after the trip and then just never got down to this.

Being a lot closer to nature was just awesomeeee.. and taking a road trip was prob the best idea for the trip! I didn't quite enjoy the city bits as much as the outskirts of Melbourne, but you know you just gotta go see what the cities are like.

First stop - Sydney.

Of course the first thing we did (as Singaporeans always do) was to EAT. I made sure to get a good list from friends who've lived in Sydney so that I could taste all the good food in Sydney. Check out the line outside the bakery... it's not just us Singaporeans who to love to queue for food man!
Sorry that I can't judge the coffee because I'm not much of a coffee drinker! But the pastries (esp the savoury ones!) were amazing!

Bourke Street Bakery

We also checked out a couple of flea markets. We only had two days so we headed for the most convenient one for our plans. Shopping wasn't fantastic (I think it was cos it was winter), but boy was the food gooooooood! There were just random stalls of diff types of food - mexican, spanish and more that I couldn't identify :/ but man the food was good O_O. So we got us some food and sat down and chilled with everyone else. Gotta love that they have good live music at all these fleas too!

Glebe Market

Live music at the Aussie flea markets

SYDNEY FISH MARKET!!! A must must must must visit for the freshest oysters you will ever eat in your life! This was so awesome that I craved oysters through the Melbourne part of the trip but sadly could never find anything to match up after our visit to the fish market :/

Food was too good so we didn't have time to take a proper shot. And & is looking very sian cos a seagull stole his calamari!

Of course, we also did the usual tourist stuff.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

You could say we were there at the right/wrong time because Vivid Sydney was happening. The tourist areas were insanely crowded, like you could barely move kinda crowded. But the atmosphere was amazing - lots of cool light displays and street performers and people dancing.

Vivid Sydney, look at that crowd!

Great Ocean Road :) 

This to me, was the real highlight of the trip! We had lots of good chats in the car - for me, mostly about the cows, sheep, horses and 1 huge kangaroo that I saw and for Jiayan.. I can't even remember what she was talking about hahahaha. And as usual the guys were quiet. 

We had to start driving very early in the morning because we didn't want to be driving in the dark (it was very dark!) so we made sure to load the car with groceries to feed us along the way (Milo pudding and cheesesticks!!!). We also stopped a tiny bit too much to take photos at every scenic spot.. until we realised we might not make it to our destination before it got dark haha. 

Along GOR :) 

Aireys Inlet/Split Point Lighthouse

Tea at a quaint little cafe at Aireys Inlet

My psuedo Nat Geo shot! 

Wah lau.. check out the blues.

We stayed the night at Apollo Bay where I had my first bbq in winter! It was a really fun experience although I had to bear with bbq smell in my winter clothes after.

Winter bbq! :)

Next day we continued the drive to Port Campbell. Too bad it was a gloomy day so the 12 Apostles were not as beautiful. I actually think that the Loch Ard Gorge is much more amazing. And it helped that we met a little bird hunting for food. Was amazing to watch it!

Loch Ard Gorge-ous!

Birdy hunting for lunch

Then we had a lazy Singaporean dinner with Indo Mie and ham and eggs! :)

Everyone was upset cos they were so hungry but I wanted to take shot (everyone but Jiayan, hers is fake angry one).

Dandenong & Marysville

After Great Ocean Rd we took the long drive inland to the other side of Melbourne. We rushed to take Puffing Billy, a still running steam train, up the Dandenong Ranges. It was erm... way too cold with nothing much to see, but how often do you get to take a steam train with a captain that really looks like that???

Puffing Billy's conductor

Puffing Billy at Belgrave

Then we drove to Marysville/Lakeside Mountain because I wanted to ski so badly. Too bad there was only fake ice kachang snow for us to go tobbogganing on :/ Still fun nonetheless! 

It was at Marysville that we had the most amazing western country dinner though O_O If, for some reason, you ever go to Marysville, please please please eat at Marysville Patisserie. Everything there was just SO GOOD. And shucks no photo, again, too busy eating.

Yarra Valley stopover

On our way back to Melbourne, we stopped at Beechworth Bakery for breakfast (yummsss!) and Innocent Bystander for wine tasting. I'm also not much of a wine connoisseur so I can't say much, but I do know that the pink moscato sorbet is to die for! So fluffy and not too sweet - just wonderful! :) 

To-die-for pink moscato sorbet at Innocent Bystander

The rest of the trip back in Melbourne was less memorable compared to the countryside :) But I think it's just me cos I tend not to enjoy city holidays as much. 

Till next time beautiful Australia! :) Oh and let me leave you with some tips below!

Tips for saving money when travelling Sydney, Melbourne in Winter

Because someone commented that she's only gonna make trips to places that I've been to so she can latch onto all my saving money tips.. here's a couple of things you might wanna know!

1. Try renting a car from Apex Rentals - we wanted to go with the usual trusty brandnames, but a friend introduced us to Apex and we had a great experience and saved almost $400 in car rental expenses! Only thing is that you can only pick up and return your car near the airport, so plan for this properly, and check out parking rates near your accommodation to make sure you don't end up spending the savings on parking.

2. Watch out for coupons on Hotels.com - we got really decent and inexpensive accommodation along Great Ocean Rd. One of our places was newly renovated and was so nice and awesome. We also managed to get a couple of coupon codes off Hotels.com Facebook page so that we could save save save! The other thing you can do is to cross-check reviews on TripAdvisor.com to make sure that the places you're getting are as decent as they seem to be.

3. Check out if you can take the public ferry instead of the train, because it's free!

4. So this one isn't really for saving money, but use the TripAdvisor City Guides mobile app to move around on your own. This app works without internet connection and helps point you (it literally points with an arrow) to your destination. It also comes with free walking tours!

Before I go, I must say that the photos here (the awesome ones at least) were taken by Andrew and Dennis :) not me haha.

Dusty Trophies

Was spending time cleaning out the dust above my cupboard today where I display some photo frames and trophies and found myself thinking about dumping the old trophies because they're just gonna get dusty again. Then it dawned on me that at one point in my life I was working hard day in day out to get those trophies, and now, because of dust, I wanted to throw them out.

Many people ask me if I feel upset about the whole Still's disease episode because it seems to have stopped me in my tracks. We young people often think we're invincible and wanna do everything and travel to every country etc. I usually find myself saying that it's not made me upset because life is pretty normal, and in one way or two, I'm thankful that all this happened (not that I'd want it to happen again). But still I find myself recently struggling with thoughts of how this may set me back in my career and often find myself in a dilemma when deciding whether to rest or to 'chiong' work.

How apt a reminder, that my striving and worrying now may reap me a trophy that will not matter or last. The word is in my head, 'my identity does not lie in my work or career'. Now to get it to my heart.

Oh, and if you're wondering, I didn't throw the trophies away. Thought they might come in handy as a reminder again some day :)

Living with Still's

So it's been about a month since I've returned back to my normal life. And life really has been pretty normal most days, just with some inconveniences here and there that I'm still taking time to adjust to.

I hate to sound like a whiner, but it's a struggle when you wake up with a different problem everyday. One day you can't use your left hand, and one day your right. I'm also learning to deal with the side effects of steroids and trying to control my hunger pangs :/ And understand that I'm not getting dumber because it's just the drowsy antihistamines that are making my brain work slower.

The toughest thing to adjust to so far though, is really forcing myself to REST. To stop optimising time on my schedule and squeezing things in, to make myself leave outings early and to STOP working overtime. and oh yes... learning not to expand so much energy when I'm with people! (ok this I have tried and seriously cannot do at all, because people energize me! and also because I can't express myself properly if I don't make huge gestures when I speak.) Usually after I leave a group of people I feel like the life has been sucked out of me and I just need to take a nap hah :) But this is going to make it so much easier to achieve my 2013 new year's resolution to stop rushing, walk slower and take time to enjoy.

To be honest, I really don't like dealing with all this (duh). But I am thankful for & and my family who make things so much easier, and for a group of good friends who are praying for me every step of the way. I'm also reminded to 'give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus' (1 Thess 5:18). It is amazing how my face is left almost completely free of scars when other areas on my body are still stained or covered in rashes, how I always get a seat in the bus when my wrists are too painful to hold the bus rails, and how the one time my wrist hurt so bad that I couldn't even type it only happened the day after I submitted something urgent at work :)

Doc says I should be alright after 3 months and onto a 'maintenance' mode. I hope so! and I really hope I get rid of these steroids asap so I can eat raw food and not wear my mask around anymore. Was watching Ah Boys to Men that day and saw this part of the movie:

Then on the bus a few days later I suddenly realised that I was dressed exactly like that! (minus the hoodie) Everyone on the bus must think I'm weird, but at least they'll never recognise me! HEH :D