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The Hair Care I Love!

Today is a great day.

I will be talking about my daily hair care.

I actually am not a really high maintenance/fussy person in terms of my hair care/skincare. I use cheap drugstore products which I usually purchase when they are on sale.

Lets start with the background story. I don't have luscious hair like those TV hair models. I have fairly black (like most Asians do) hair which is prone to hair fall. In fact, I have severe case of hair fall. I have yet to have any bald spots, but I can collect my hair in a week and probably make a wig out of it. It is not too dry nor not too oily. I do not have any scalp issues.

So, moving on. I have been using these products for a few months now. I think I am nearing my hair products anniversary now. Other than the deep conditioner (the blue opened packet here), I have used this brand of hair care for a few months.

I have used Good Virtues Co shampoo, conditioner and hair serum. While I use the shampoo and conditioner regularly, I have to admit to being lazy and use the serum probably 4-5 times a week instead of after each hair cleansing.

This brand is not something spectacular, my hair does not become beautifully luscious nor the hair fall reduces but 4 things I truly can recommend:
1. The packaging is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. It's colourful and beautiful. I am a sucker for beautiful things.
2. The price is great. On sale in Watson, I can easily get it for half the shelf price.
3. The smell is HEAVENLY. I love the smell. My hair smells so yummy after each wash.
4. The shampoo and conditioner have this cooling effect on my scalp that I love every time I use them. It is probably menthol or some sort, but I love it. My scalp feels tingly and as if air conditioner is blowing on it.

Now, the star of the day. The deep conditioner.

It is recommended by my housemate a few weeks ago. She loves it and in view of it being on sale (as usual, my motivation is heavily relied on discounts and sales), I bought a few sachets from Guardian. I think the price point is RM15+ per sachet, but I got it for RM8.

Each sachet lasts for 3-4 wash, depending on your hair volume. The less hair you have (shorter and thinner hair), the longer this can last. This super awesome product is super easy to use, just slather it all over your hair after a wash with your regular shampoo and leave it for around 10 minutes. Then rinse. I use it once a week.

What I get is super beautiful luscious hair that: lasts for a few days. It smells super beautiful too (notice I use 'beautiful' multiple times here).

The downside of this product is:
1. It is expensive for 3-4 washings. Come on, it is RM15 per sachet, which is equal to ~RM4-5 per wash.
2. Its packaging. It is like our instant noodle sauce. It can easily spill or get contaminated or dry out in between use.

I have yet to find a product that is good for hair fall. I know our diet is an important factor for hair fall control, but I need a range of hair product that is good for my hair. For now, these 4 is doing okay for my hair. I still love the deep conditioner. It is super nice.

Bargain Hunting 101: Buy When It Is Cheap

Those who know me, know I am a shark at heart. A shark at bargain hunting (har-har, not funny, I know, I am  lame that way).

Anyway, I bought MOST of my stuff at bargain price, which means, they are usually sold at discounted price.

Yesterday, I went to a mall close to my home and bought 4 pairs of shoes, all at discounted price.

These are my new darlings:

Pretty gray velveteen sandals with gray bow and circular details on top

RM 19

Similar to ones on top, except it is in baby-blue

RM19

Baby pink velveteen sandals with pink bows

RM9

Shiny dark blue-purple sandals

RM19 

Original price for each pair of shoes is RM75. I am happy for these as I need shoes for work as my shoes are both spoiled (I've used both of them for 8 months, now it is time to say sayonara, thank you, next ones please ala Marie Kondo).

I would rather all my shoes to be RM9, alas, size is my limitation. My perfect fit for Vincci is size 8, but I compromised and got 2 in size 9.

For those who are new at bargain hunting and would like to dip their toes in it, Vincci is one of the perfect brand for bargain hunters. 

Every now and then, they would put their old stock at the side and sell the shoes for RM9 or RM19, I usually buy my shoes at those prices, since I am not really into new latest fashion trends. Lookout for those racks. They are usually snapped up really fast. I make it a habit to check the side racks for cheap stuff if I am in the mood for new shoes. I actually need these new shoes for work. All of them are less than RM100, and Vincci is actually a good local brand which items are in great condition and good quality. They usually last me at least 1 year, some even stretch up to 2-3 years. Great value considering I usually buy them at discounted price of RM9-19 per pair.

So, go and check your local Vincci/Padini stores!

My New Darling Find: Joyful Eye Shadow Palatte!

I am truly excited for this new palatte!

As everyone who knows me, I am a total newbie when it comes to skincare and makeup. This Chinese New Year brought a LOT of discounts and sales and as usual, it becomes my particular favourite time of the year.

I went to Watsons and bought a lot of my daily care products.

Incidentally (not really, I was totally my fault for testing this), I went to test their makeup products on sale. I was not planning to get any eye shadow palatte since I have good one for smokey eyes (my go-to look) and I rarely use it anyway. But alas, there is time and place for everything. I went to test this no-name brand eye shadow palatte and fell in love. After a LONG deliberation, I just bought it. It was on sale and it was only RM25.35 anyway.

Disclaimer: I am not sure what is the brand. It may be a dupe for some brand I do not know of. But you can get this at Watsons and I believe it is a Watsons brand (no mention about it specifically).

Let's get into the nitty-gritty of it!

Price

Price point is GREAT! It is affordable for 12 colours, 8 in which are shimmery shades. RM25.35 after 30% discount, I believe. I would say this goes into the drugstore brand category. As opposed to high-end brand.

Packaging

It is a simple black boxed package. Smallish but it looks beautiful nonetheless. The lettering on the external box is in gold and adds the beauty of the whole package. The small package is great for travelling.

Inside

As per picture above. The eye shadow palatte are all mini-sized, but it is sufficient for me since I do not wear eye shadow often enough before they become stale and unusable. The eye shadow applicator is not my favourite but you can always use your fingers or your own brush. The colours are beautiful and cheerful. Gold, red, brown, plum and bronze in various shimmery shades.

Item

Now the star of it all! The eye shadows themselves!

Okay, I just swatched the shimmery colours. There are 8 shimmery colours with the shade of red, pink, plum, bronze, gold and brown. The middle swatch are also suitable for highlights, I think, they are so light and shiny. One thing I have to confess, these are not super pigmented. I have to do multiple swatch for them to come out like this. But a few colours really stood out. The dark brown bronze shade at the end, that is THE QUEEN of the palette. One swatch and it is BEAUTIFUL. The red at the other end, it is THE KING (get it, KING and QUEEN). I love the plum colour too, next to the red shade, but it has one of the poorest pigmentation out of the bunch (as poor as the light gold one, third from the end of brown). The palette is not too powdery, so fallout is minimal (it still has some fallout though).

I'd recommend this for beginners like me, who are dabbling into makeup and not keen to dive into the high end stuff yet.

Ratings

3/5 - Great for beginners like me. Something cheap but great looking. Not too bulky for travelling. Colourful enough for the cheerful look.

An Introduction To Bargain Hunting

I am a bargain hunter. I feel the most satisfaction from bargains and sales. I bought MOST of my stuff on discounted price. So, I rarely buy latest fashion/products. And since I am also a creature of habit, I buy most of my products over and over again.

For an example, I have used my body wash since ages ago. Since high school days. That is YEARS. It is the same with my facial wash.

So, I tend to buy my personal products during sales in bulk. I'd buy my shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial wash, deodorant etc in bulk and at discounted price. Bulk as is usually more than 1. I would usually buy 2-3 the least at a time.

I get serious anxiety if I find my stock running to 1-2, so I tend to go into flurry of buying spree.

So, based on my annual accounting, I actually saved A LOT of money buying my essentials in bulk.

I'd advise the same for everyone. Buy your personal products during sales period in bulk, if you are a creature of habit like me, that is. I have saved more than hundreds of Ringgit this way. And on the plus side, I've never have the need to go into an emergency run for toothpaste or body wash whenever I ran out of them.

Maybe one day, I'd do a list of great bargain hunting places and webstores.

P/S: I don't know whether this advice is useful for those who use high end products eg SKII, Estee Lauder etc. Since I personally do not use these products *SHRUG*

Dobukki AKA Spicy Rice Cakes

Today both my Mama and Aunty asked the recipe for this dish when I posted it on Facebook. 

I have loved this snack ever since I tasted it. It is mildly spicy and a little bit sweet but delicious nonetheless.  

Yesterday, I was suddenly inspired to make it (aka 'forced' to make it by my housemate Fatin). And it is super duper easy~

Dobukki

Serving: 2-3 persons

Ingredients

• Rice cakes - A handful (you can put as much and as little as you want, I put about 2/3 of the frozen package or around 200g worth into mine today). I am too lazy to make it from scratch, I bought it frozen from a local specialty store in Batu Pahat. You can actually find this at a lot of supermarket these days, especially those with an isle dedicated especially for Korean food. If not, you can actually make it. It is quite easy, it is just a litttle bit time consuming if you want something fast. I bought mine for RM12 for 300g.
• Gochujang (spicy hot pepper paste) - 2/3 cup. Again this amount is quite versatile, if you want more sauce (like me), then put a bit more. To be honest, this sauce is not spicy. At all. It is mild in flavour. Again, this is widely available in our local supermarkets. I found mine at the same shop in Batu Pahat, but again, I also saw this in Aeon, Giant etc.
• Chilli powder - 2 tablespoons. This is mild to medium heat. I love spicy food, so usually I add more. Adjust according to your preference. More chilli power = spicier your dobukki will be,
• Anchovy stock - Actually, it is a kelp/anchovy stock, but I forgot to get kelp, thus I just use anchovies to make my stock. This is super important coz if you just add gochujang into boiling water, well, it is less tasty as using a base stock. You can substitute with any stock such as chicken, beef or vegetable stock. Koreans love their fish-based stock in a lot of their dishes and I love it too.
• Sugar - 1/2 tablespoon. I tried to not put sugar in any of my dishes, especially savory dishes, but the gochujang make the sauce taste a bit bitter without sugar, so I add a bit of sugar. You can substitute sugar with corn syrup. Maple syrup or honey have distinctive taste, so if you add those, beware that it can alter the taste of this dish.
• Spring onion - 2-3 stalks. The base with whitish part, you can chop it and put into the sauce while the leafy green can be used as garnish. 
• Fish cakes - I LOVE LOVE fish cakes. I put as many rice cakes as my fish cakes, that is how I love my fish cakes. For this part of the ingredient, you can substitute with basically anything, chicken/fish balls, sausages, any meat tbh. Fish cakes absorb the flavour of the sauce more, so I love to put fish cakes into mine.
• Water - 4 cups

Anchovy/Kelp Stock

1. Boil water with 10 anchovies and a small strip of dried kelp (around 5-10cm) for around 10 minutes, you can opt out the kelp if it is not available in hand (like how I did it today hahahaha)
2. Remove the anchovies and kelp from the stock

Instruction

1. Add rice cakes, gochujang, chilli powder, sugar into your boiling anchovy stock
2. Then add your spring onion and fish cakes once the sauce is boiling
3. Once the sauce thickens (it will coat the back of your spoon), you can switch off the gas and voila! It is all ready! 
4. Garnish your dobukki with spring onion. Or seaweed. Your poison of choice tbh

Bonus: Since I love the sauce, I usually make more, so you can add instant noodles (or ramyeon) or rice and mix them all up once all other ingredients (the fish and rice cakes) are finished. If you want more, you can also add cheese. Any cheese, sliced sandwich cheese or gourmet cheese.

Serve hot! It is yummilicious hot and spicy!

Best Friend

If there is one person I love on this earth other than my loved ones (my family, that goes without saying), it is Joyce.

She is my best friend. I may not grown up with her, I may not know her long enough (but I've known her for more than 10 years, about 1/3 of my life, all of it in adulthood) and has loved her as long.

I met her in Auckland from a peer-to-peer programme both of us volunteered for. It was, if possible, love at first sight. We just clicked. She is so grounded and practical. While I was more whimsical and emotional. But we fit. Sometimes, we don't need to be similar to just love each other.

She became my family away from my much-loved family. We were both each others' sidekick. We lunched, we brunched, we dined, we gossed, we karaoked out of our lungs and lives. We did weird things. We talked about random things. We watched weird stuff. We went to concerts (sorry I am SO not into movies, so we missed that). 

Her home was where her beautiful cats and family welcomed me. 

When she got married, I was her bridesmaid. I am truly honored to be beside her on her big day. I get to know Alex (well, that mysterious catfish is OUT THERE I AM SURE, or was it EELS?).

I met a lot more people from Joyce. She is that person who knows everyone and she is friends with everyone. 

There are too many stories to tell. Good and bad, she went through a lot with me in my last 4 years in Auckland and we kept in touch since the wedding last year.

She is having a hard time now. That is her story to tell.

I miss her and I wish her the best and all of my prayers. There is always more love around.

Love you and miss you.

Stay healthy and happy, both you and Alex.

Thinking of you.

I am not there physically but my thoughts are always with you. 

THERE WILL BE GOOD DAYS AHEAD. ALWAYS.

Food For Thought....

I don't get this.

Why the sudden hate towards Malaysian public schools? Why the sudden harsh criticisms and downgrading opinions towards our own education system?

Yes, there are a lot that we lack and can be improved upon. But, seriously, you look down on our own public education so much, do you forget that YOU are a product of public education?

You got your own education from, yes, surprise, surprise, our very own public primary to high school. 

You look down on it so much, claiming private schools are MUCH better, but hey, you get where YOU are from public schools, no?

Let me tell you a story.

I, myself, and my youngest sister, our attendance for our high school probably amount to half of it. If we are being optimistic. Most of the time, both of us DO NOT go to school. Not to 'lepak lepak' or jadi 'bohsia', mind you, we just don't like to go to school. BUT. Both of us scored all perfect As in our SPM. We were usually placed in top 3 in our school. WE DO NOT GO FOR 109734902 TUITION or whatnot. Since we do not bother to go to school, why do we even WANT to go for tuition? This is not to boast. This is a perfect example that YOU can be whomever you want to be, as long as you are willing to learn, PUBLIC or PRIVATE schools notwithstanding. You can learn where ever you want to be IF you want to.

Now.

I do understand parents concern nowadays.

They want their children to mix with the 'right people' aka the rich and well, rich. To build relationships early on. Then to get that frou frou education from private institutions that they can boast of. Some aim for their children to study overseas, thus this is their way to fast-track their offsprings' education. That is totally FINE. It is your RIGHT. Your MONEY. Your CHILDREN.

What is not right is putting down our very own fine education system (which can be tweaked but that is another story for another day). Each private and public school has its own pluses and minuses. Just understand that while it is great your children now can enjoy great environment for their early education, our education is fine to educate almost 90% of our Malaysian population.

If our own education system produce YOU and YOUR PARENTS to be who we are right now, then it is not as bad, eh?

Unless you did not turn up into 'orang', bak kata orang Melayu.

TL;DR

Make-Up

I started to use makeup when I was in university.

Light years ago.

That is when I met Dora and Yaya, who convinced me that makeup is for everyone.

To be honest, half of my life, I have this subconscious fear that makeup will make me look like a clown. Add into the mix an overwhelming anxiety and belief that makeup is only for the pretty and fair. I live in a society that has this unspoken belief that being fair and thin = beauty. 

Every society has its standard of beauty. Mine is no exception and I am finally at peace with that.

I will never be fair, I am born with my skin and it is God's greatest gift and it is my parents inheritance for me. My skin is good enough for me to live with (well, other than its frequent breakouts lately, discolourations and minor imperfections, but hey, I am also fine with those).

I started to dab with use of makeup with encouragements from Dora and Yaya, shoutouts to my lovely friends! It started with cheap drugstore brands, and little things like eyeshadows. My makeup repertoire gradually expands and now I am using foundation, lipstick, eyeliner and mascara daily.

At this point in my life, I am fine with my makeup achievement. I may never look like a pictorial model with flawless skin and beautiful made up face, but I am happy whenever I go out and go to work. I may be too lazy to put on primer, face mist, bake my face, eyeshadow (yes, I have a great palette, but I kept that for special occasions, I don't use it daily) and tonnes of other steps of makeup care.

I already started on my skin care routine of facial wash (all thanks to my trusted Neutrogena Deep Clean cleanser that has been a loyal friend since I was 14 years old, and to a new friend, Banila Co Clean It Zero which cleanses and hydrates my face in 1 magical step), toner (I don't remember what brand, but it is a Korean drugstore brand), face serum, face cream and my newfound love of weekly facemask.

I am excited to share my skin care routine, it is not Korean 10-step skin care, but, for a person who is prior to this, not bothered to even put any cream on my face, it is a huge step of change for me.

Beauty is skin deep and it is on the eyes of the beholder.

I stand by this beliefs.

That said, there is nothing wrong with self-pampering. This is my version of self pampering. And I am enjoying every moment of this.

Watch out for future reviews. I may not ever be a beauty blogger, but I love to share my opinions on my newfound loves.

6 Months

Yes. My 6th month anniversary in a new part of my job.

I have officially 'graduated' about 6 months ago. Not that I remember the exact time nor date.

But give and take a few days and hours, I am into my 6th months anniversary.

To say that I've become someone new, that is overreaching.

To say that I've become wiser, I highly doubt it.

To say that I've become more competent, that is a laugh.

But I know I have learned more. I have met more people, I am still bad-tempered and impatient. I am still too lazy to read and learn more.

But when I receive a text message from a fellow junior colleague that goes like this one fine evening out of sudden:

Good morning XXX (that is moi), yesterday was my last day in YYY (my department). Just wanted to thank you for everything in YYY, I've learned a lot from you especially in procedures.

Really enjoyed my time working with you and assisting procedures 😁 Hope to see you again soon! Will miss doing referrals for you 😆

And please get well soon and always take good care of yourself ya

And I don't even think I am that nice. But I remember her as someone I trusted implicitly. Someone who listens to what I want and delivers well. Someone whose summary is almost similar to mine back in the days when I was in the same position as her. I will miss her and wish her all the best. I am sure she will be great in her profession.

AND

I still keep on saying that I want to do locum and do nothing about it other than saying it. Out loud. Then promptly forgot.

When Mas told me yesterday that she got paid a hefty amount, almost as much as our basic pay, I almost fainted (of course, in my mind only), and went into a frenzy of 'wanting to do locum'.

Alas, here I am, 1 day later. Writing my thoughts that no one is interested to read.

Anyway, happy 6th month anniversary Harley! Stay fabulous as you are!