Alicia Keys

Growing up, I had one particular artist I've always admired.

Alicia Keys.

I was in Form 5, preparing for SPM, I think. That was the period when I went on a full crazy discman and walkman mode - while studying, my ears would be blasted off with various artists' albums to accompany me, and Alicia Keys was one of the few. At that time, I was open to all kinds of genres - I had Linkin Park, Britney Spears, Maroon 5, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Blue, T.A.T.U (I KNOW!) and all other-worldly artists' CDs and cassettes.

Think boarding school would do that to you. Discman and walkman, they're our life essentials at the hostel, OK?

So. Finished SPM, upgraded to MP3 player (a gift by my sister - it's actually a hand-me-down -_-) and got into AAJ, UM to further my studies. Entered a language school, and the MP3 player era started. One can never survive a kanji test without a full on 5-hours kanji memorizing session the night before, I learned. And the MP3 player was there to accompany me.

Among the (limited) songs in my playlist, was Alicia Keys' If I Ain't Got You and Fallin'.

new makeup haul

Truth is, I've been holding off buying makeup for a while now. I was comfortable with my Clinique foundation and MAC lipsticks, and my skin has been behaving better than before (and by that I mean no rare big acne spots appearing on my face T.T) that I've been saving up for other things. 

(Realized I could save a lot of money if I stayed away from Sephora haha.)

Until one day. I was walking around inside Sephora on a lunch hour on Friday (it's right there in the mall, would be rude not to visit), and noticed that there was a Benefit salesgirl who was free - usually she had her hands busy with a loadful of customers wanting to try the products, but somehow that day she wasn't. Benefit just came out with this shine-free face powder, and being a faithful user of their Porefessional primer for years, I wanted to try it on. 

For years, I've never really been a fan of face powder. Given my super oily combination skin, I found no face powder could hide that fact, much less help me conceal the shiny-ness.

And this shine-vanishing pro powder claims to help do just that. Of course I was intrigued!

New article on Zalora : Making Cheese French toast

I was in a cheese French toast phase last few weekends. Don't know why I kept craving for it; but it's just so hard to find at restaurants and I was too lazy to ask around.

So one Saturday morning, I just thought I'd make it my way. Recalled how I've seen in some recipe videos the chef put the cheese slice in the middle of the bread (he cut the bread'd thickness in half, so this is where the cheese slices go in) so I tried to make it accordingly.

And..it works! XD It's too simple I can't even haha.

Finally fulfilled my cheese French toast that day. Made my husband and Rayyan ate them too. (hubs says he's not into cheese French toast shortly after T.T)

But I swear it's good. Published the recipe on Zalora - read below.

started reading again

It's been a while since I last spent some time...reading.

I used to be really into books. During meals, instead of the smartphone like our generation nowadays, it used to be me, food and book back then. My mom still remembers how it was like and keeps reminding me about it T.T

In Japan, it was hard to spend time on leisure books as my engineering degree needed more attention. So before coming back to Malaysia for good, I sold off some of my books I knew I didn't need anymore. Started working, got married, got knocked up, gave birth to an adorable baby boy - I managed to start over my book collection again in between, but it was hardly a match against what the collection used to be.

But then I realized, it's a matter of quality, over quantity. I know time is so precious nowadays so I can't afford to read nonsense anymore - if I really want to read, it's gotta be worthwhile.

Hence the recent purchase of two books - Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, and My Name Is Hasmah, a biography book of the former first lady of Malaysia.

WIWT : hunting Pokemon

If you're wondering why I rarely post WIWT anymore, it's because I no longer have time or energy for it T.T Reached home from work, fetched Rayyan, got home and dragged a 10 kilogram baby upstairs - not really WIWT-worthy of shots when you're already drenched in sweat.

Or if I could do it pun, Rayyan WILL be on it - expect him to be all over Mommy after a long day at the nursery. Sobs. 

So, when my husband willingly took shots of me during weekends, it's categorized as WIWT yeah?

Top from FV basics, striped culottes from Mastuli Khalid, Grape Smoothie satin silk dUCkscarves, and nude platform mules by Nelissa Hilman.