NARS Kuala Lumpur Duo Eyeshadow

I don't wear a lot of makeup but I am a huge fan of Nars. They make the best lipstick and last summer I discovered some of their amazing eyeshadows.

This lovely duo debuts January 15, 2010 for the Spring 2010 collection. I'm choosing to highlight this to pay homage to my native city. The colour combo here is excellent -- gold infused taupe rose and purple -- very suitable for golden skins and dark-eyed beauties. I can already tell I'll like this a lot more after I try it in-store.

Retails for $32 at Nars and Sephora.

Not Mean To Be

There it was. Last one on the rack. Size XS. At my local Target store. The ribcage dress. For the uninitiated: Rodarte for Target ribcage print sequined black dress.

That was probably the only good thing that has come out of years of Target's collaborations with major designers. Most of these projects I would deem major failures -- decent design, pathetic materialisation / fabrication, and inconsistent sizing. Yes, I'm talking to you Anna Sui and your dubious Gossip Girl collection. And you too, Carlos Falchi -- those bags were ugly.

But I said "was". I guess I was so caught up with keeping in my recession guidelines that I did not grab this when it came out before Christmas. When I saw it today, I knew I had to have it. It looked even better than its already spectacular self in the promotional ads that floated around in Fall 2009.

Well I could zip the dress up but it was way too snug to step out in public. Major regrets. Now I have it on my mind all the time. Original retail $49.99. It is available on eBay for an average of $79.99.

le sigh

Moral of the story: you know what is the moral of the story.

Ho ho ho !

Yes, this is a belated greeting. I've been away at Mr. O's and we didn't do much except eat, watch lots of movies, and sleep. It's always refreshing to skip checking e-mail for a few days.

Of course, Christmas was wonderful and quiet. The planet revolved around our laziness because we didn't hear about that terrorist attack until the day after, on the 26th! And then we couldn't stop talking about it, since it was pretty much in our neighbourhood. One of the things I enjoy about living here is being within 20 miles of the airport. Now I'm just a little apprehensive to get on a plane, any plane! The F***er almost blew up our airport; and it's an awesome airport, thank you very much.

No thanks to this, in the words of Brian Williams on today's Barack broadcast, "incompetent terrorist" I have to worry about a terrorist attack all the time now, including the flight to and from Schipol, which I have travelled often.
Mr. O and his cousins had particularly strong words about this incident since it so closely relates to their family and friends. It only takes one guy to screw it up for everyone else.

Moving on to better things, guess what Mr. O bought me for Christmas.

The semester is done!

I'm so pleased to announce that I have completed my first semester of the MBA programme. It has been an extremely productive and successful semester, thanks in large part to the fact that I have had two excellent professors. I am merely making the mistake of attending courses with the two best professors in the College of Business a little too early, as the road ahead is thoroughly paved with instruction by some of the type of characters we give "First Class Asshole" awards to.

That's right, I said it! Some of these PhDs have reputations that precede them, and I'm not talking about fragrant rose bushes.

In the mean time, check out that awesome, mounted certificate I received at the end of class today. I don't even have my Bachelor's degree framed; perhaps rightly so, especially since I have learned more in this one course, instructed by the wisest man of the moment, than I have in my entire undergraduate programme.

Graduate school is wonderful. Thank you.

Mac Factor Shuts Down

The rumours had swirled for almost a year now. Max Factor will no longer be sold in the U.S. after the current stock is sold out. Please consider this the worst decision Procter & Gamble Beauty Care has made in the last decade. My, and most Max Factor users', biggest gripe is the impossible replacement of the Volume Couture mascara -- pound for pound the best mascara in the commercial market today.

P&G's peace offering, if you can find them, are $2 discount coupons for Max Factor users to buy a CoverGirl "replacement" product. I've tried their much touted supposedly-Diorshow-comparable LashBlast mascara and it's absolute rubbish, not trash rubbish but rubbish nonetheless.

Hopefully P&G will come to their senses and bring Max Factor back, as L'Oreal has now (this week) brought back the once banned Ellnet hairspray. In the mean time, Max Factor users will have to scour the Internet or the European Union for any remaining stock beyond 2009. Good luck, ladies.

Thanksgiving Haul

In keeping with my personal recession, I had decided to do no shopping this Thanksgiving weekend and merely enjoy some good food and good company.

Alas, my friends are shoppers and as such, I helped the miserably ailing Michigan economy (highest unemployment in the nation, four years in a row, ya'll!) by purchasing some justifiable goods that I had been eyeing for a while anyway.


Of course, I don't have to explain why I bought O.P.I nail polish, especially when they were buy one get one free. I'm not a regular polish junkie but these are the best (suck it, Essie!). I am also not a fan of the current matte polish trend -- it really ages the hand. The suede formulation looks more doable and I'll report back here again if I start painting and it turns out otherwise.


I also lucked out with the gleaming stainless steel additions from Cuisinart since some friends were eyeing a skillet from a generously priced seven-piece set. These pots now join my beloved heirloom-quality WMF jumbo saucepan. I'm still waiting for a good chef's knife to go on sale; hopefully the wait won't be long.


However, the best deals this weekend could be found at Old Navy. I'm not a frequent visitor there since I've experienced repeated quality issues. Yet their discounts were extremely generous, even more so than what is offered on their website and I want to recommend their solid coloured tights to anybody whom cares for tights. Yes, they are well-made and at 50% off, the price is unbelievable. Buy them now, because they were flying off the racks in the store! Available in many colours; I bought purple and will be hunting for more. For everyone else, get one of the colour block scarves from the men's department -- they are awesome, even in acrylic.

General (Shoe) Business I

Did you ever know that you cannot store anything on your balcony even if you pay rent for it? Talk about a waste of square footage. The building instructor vehemently stressed on the need for emptiness on the space -- how Zen of her.

This has forced me to rethink the organisation of my footwear collection, more accurately; the need for proper organisation of my footwear collection. Seeing that I'm on a "shopping ban", I have decided to pay more attention to the current stash of shoes, particularly to the conditioning aspect.

I, for one, find it rude when we subject our shoes to snow, sand, and salt and expect them to continue looking good after the vigorous beating. Good-looking, well-aged leathers require some love.

See for yourself the exhibit of shoes below, in cowhide and snakeskin for the footwear, and lambskin for the owl wristlet (my impulse buy from Marc on Bleecker, back in July).

I don't remember when I started getting religious about leather conditioning but it was probably when I started buying some French and Italian bags and I immediately became serious about "protecting my investment" -- a somewhat lovelorn idea.

The only thing I will say about leather conditioning is that it is time-consuming but worth it. Like all great outcomes, this kind of loving takes time; at least 24 hours but I do 48 hours if I can spare it. I use the museum curator stuff from Pecard, which I recommend to all of you (including your soon-to-be-very soft-hands).