NARS x Steven Klein Despair Blusher Palette

Now, I was really anxious about the NARS x Steven Klein collection. On my last trip to KLCC I did enquire but was told that it will only be available in November. Bummer. Yes, I gave birth the next day. I was however, fortunate that Adam was willing to get me what I wanted. I chose the despair blusher palette because I have a limited array of blusher in my collection, when compared to my eyeshadow collection. Plus, since I can't be there personally to look at the collection, I decided to limit my purchase to only one item. 

What also attracted me to the collection is the packaging. I am a HUGE sucker for packaging. What's interesting is that the graphic on the box is transferred to the palette box itself too. Love it. 

The palette has 4 colors, Nico (permanent color), Savage, Esoteric and Ferocious, and comes with a traveled-size kabuki brush. The brush seems a bit hard, however I haven't gotten a chance to really use the brush with the product itself. I might change my mind once I've tried putting the blushers on with it. 

Nico (beige), Savage (coral pink), Esoteric (tangerine), Ferocious (plum)

Swatched! (From left: Nico, Savage, Esoteric & Ferocious)

When swatched, I feel like I would be using Esoteric and Ferocious (i like plum blushers although I need to be careful so that I don't look like I have bruises) more than the others. Perhaps if I were to go for a more Kawaii look, Savage would work pretty well. Nico would work well as a highlighter for me. Not that fair for it to work as a blusher on me, IMO. All colors are pigmented, hence the palette would definitely go a long way. Im eyeing on the individual eyeshadows, Stud (pewter bronze) and Never Too late (olive with gold shimmer) next if they are still available when I finish my confinement period. 

I can't wait to try them out, really. I guess I'll have to wait for my doctor's appointment next week. When in confinement, even the trip to the doctor seems exciting, really. 

The day Isaac Johnston came into our life

I wanted to blog about my experience as soon as I could but I decided to wait until this very day because Isaac was supposed to be due today. He came 3 weeks earlier than his due date, on the 18th of October 2015. So Isaac, this entry is for you

I remember getting some contractions on that very day. Nothing I couldn't handle. Trust me, if you are used to getting menstrual pain, you can handle early contractions. I was up at 4 am as usual and was sending some work related emails. Went to the toilet and I was bleeding. I had some spotting a couple of days before and it stopped. Asked my mom whether I should head to the hospital as the contraction gets more constant. With the combination of contraction and bleeding, my mom said lets go. I woke Adam up, and told him not to panic, but I need to go to the hospital. We had breakfast, and took our time to get ready. In my mind, it better not be a false alarm as the bill would be fantastic, at the same time, was I ready to give birth?

As soon as we arrived, I was hooked to the CTG machine to check on the contraction and the baby's heart rate. My gynae was away but she said just to monitor and keep her informed. Everything was fine, there was some mild contraction and I was 1 cm dilated only. I told Adam we can go home then since it would take days or weeks for me to be more dilated. Unfortunately my blood pressure results weren't too good. It seems that it hiked up to an alarming level and I was given some medicine to lower it, but somehow it didn't work. 

While being hooked to the CTG machine 

My gynae came in to see me around 2 pm. She was worried about my blood pressure and started saying that with the increased pain in labor, my blood pressure would be higher as well (by then I was 3cm dilated). She suggested to take epidural. I hesitated of course. She then explained that I could go into seizure looking at how high my blood pressure was. But she was kind enough to let me think about it and discuss with Adam. Not long after, she came in to the room again and told me that the baby's heart rate wasn't good as well. She then decided that a c-section had to be done. This was decided at 3 pm and she told me that by 3:30 they will wheel me into the OT and baby will be out by 3:45. I have to admit, all the information was a bit too much at that time! 

Getting ready to be wheeled into the OT. Adam tied my hair :)

Was I scared? YES, of course. I've never been admitted to a hospital before, let alone go through an operation. But, I told myself this has to be done, for Isaac's sake. As they prepped me for the operation, I wanted to call my mom to tell her the current situation but I knew I would cry. I told Adam, you tell her. I needed to keep calm.

Being wheeled into the OT was really scary. I cried when I saw my MIL. I told her I was scared. As they wheeled me I requested to sit. It somehow feels scarier when I was lying down. My gynae was calming me down with some doa all the way to the OT. In the OT, everything was done quickly. Everyone was smiling and accommodating ( I was irritated because everyone was so happy while I felt like shitting my pants!). I was given an anaesthetic on my back and was prepped through what will go on. Once I couldn't feel anything, the doctors started working on opening me up. I could feel people touching me but that was it. True to my gynae's word, 15 minutes later, I heard her giving salam and then the loudest cry came into the room. She showed me a pair of skinny, white legs and told me its a boy. Someone proceeded to bring Isaac to me and I remember saying alhamdulillah while crying over and over again. The first thing I noticed when I saw Isaac was how blonde his eyebrows are. 

Fresh from the oven. Eyes wide open

They took a while to sew me up and I was getting sleepy. I even asked how much longer it would take and what were they doing. It wasn't me, it was the medicine. I also noticed I was slurring. It was really hard to even understand what I was saying. Once I was wheeled out of the OT I was put in another room for observation. I was shaking uncontrollably but lucky I did some reading and some women do shake when they go into labor. So I knew it was normal. 

I was greeted by my family, and my in laws when they wheeled me into my room. I was so relieved to see my mom. I thought I would never see her again. I honestly couldn't remember any of the conversation I had with anyone who came to see me as I was heavily sedated. I didn't even really look at Isaac until the next day. I was always falling asleep! 

I may look like my daddy but I sleep like my mommy

We're thankful Isaac is healthy despite being 3 weeks earlier. We're thankful we made the decision to do the c-section because apparently his umbilical cord was already around his neck hence why his heartbeat wasn't stable. We're glad you are here with us now. When we are old, you change our diapers, okay? 

Isaac Johnston
18th October 2015
2.33kg
3:46 pm
47cm

Wow long blog post. Let's hope I go through this post again before deciding to have another baby. 

Dressing the bump

Getting into my clothes when I am pregnant has always been one of my main concern. Thankfully there are many many online references now and Adam has been my fashion consultant in case what I plan to buy is too short or rather inappropriate for a pregnant lady

23 weeks now, I have no problem on deciding what to wear except the fact that I can't fit into my working pants anymore this week (this was written then. I DO have a problem now at 35 weeks). I can't even zip up a tiny bit and at one point one of my pant's zipper broke just as soon as I got to Uni. I have however resorted to dresses and leggings as a much safer choice for my growing belly. I've compiled what I've worn so far and I even have a hashtag for it on instagram! It is really fun dressing the bump. I think of it as a precious accessory. I can't wait to have you here, BabyIJ. We'll have fun dressing up ! Lets see how my bump AND face has grown throughout 35 weeks

4 weeks. BabyIJ F1 experience. Now don't you go saying we have never brought you to F1

13 weeks. Announced our little gift from God 

16 weeks 

21 weeks 

23 weeks

24 weeks 

24 weeks 

26 weeks 

28 weeks

34 weeks - no neck mommy has emerged!

34 weeks- waddling mommy. Thank god for maternity jeans

35 weeks. Baby shower for BabyIJ and mommy

I don't know how far am I from giving birth but I surely can't wait to see babyIJ ... and my WAIST!

NARS eyeshadow duo in Kalahari

I love Nars BUT because I don't want to go to Pavilion just because, hence my Nars collection is pretty small and all of them were brought in by my in laws whenever they come back from the States. So, I was pretty excited when I spotted Nars in KLCC recently. Made up my mind that I would want to buy something. ANYTHING! 

After feasting my eyes on what was offered, I decided to get some eyeshadow. I told the SA I needed something more neutral; something that I can use on an everyday basis. He suggested the Kalahari duo eyeshadow and started putting them on me. Of course I bought them straight away. They look pretty wearable everyday for sure. 

I managed to wear them today for my baby shower. Also used my new EcoTools Eye Enhancing Duo set which were so easy to use because they came with a manual! How awesome is that. 

Amazing color 

Dual ended brush

Easy to follow instructions (I achieved my look today using the instructions)

Love the look I created today for our usual weekend outing (please ignore the messy background. Yeah room is back to being chaotic with the new dressing table) .

Face: BB cream by The Face Shop; Clinique Chubby Stick Sculpting Contour

Brows : MAC brow pencil in Brunette; Pro Longwear Brow set in Toasted Blonde

Blusher: NARS Violet Atom

Highlighter: Benefit Watt's Up

Lips: Lip Pencil in Etcetera ; MAC Sheen Supreme lipstick

See Adam? I do wear everything that I have. 

Anything from NARS that is a must to have? I do want to try their foundation next! Lets just hope Adam would bring me to KLCC just one more time before I pop. 

Squeeky Clean

If you know me, you would know I don't have just ONE cleanser. If you don't know me, yes I love buying cleanser. Due to my curiosity, I have tried quite a number of cleanser but there are only a couple of cleansers that I do repurchase and when I repurchase, it would only mean that it truly works for me 

Number 1 in my list is the Josie Maran Oil Cleanser. Love the smell and it does its task. There's a few bad reviews on this product but I find it good as it it doesn't strip off all of the natural moisture off my face and I know this because my skin feels supple after using it instead of the usual dry effect of any other cleanser. Plus, it is 100% made with organ oil. Good stuff for sure. 

The key is to know how to use it. I always warm the oil with my palm and then proceed to smooth the oil over my dry face. Next, I wet my skin and massage the cleanser in. It will automatically emulsify into a some kind of creamy milk. Final step, rinse and done! 

Number 2 is the Angels on Bare Skin by Lush. I'm pretty sure it is my 3rd jar (I bought 2 jars and 1 jar was given to me as my birthday gift this year. YIPEE!) and I make sure I don't run out of it. We don't have lush here but there's a lot of IG accounts that do preorders regularly. 

The Angels on Bare Skin cleanser is very different from the Josie Maran cleansing oil. Its more clay like. I mainly love it due to its mild exfoliation. I can't scrub often due to my dry and sensitive skin, hence this was naturally a good choice. Totally gave me that everyday glow. Judging from the 3rd jar purchase, I know for sure I won't stop purchasing this product (looking forward to buy my 4th jar in HK!) . 

To be frank, Angels on Bare Skin is not the only product that I love from Lush. I will share my favourite toner and moisturiser from Lush in future entry. Yes, I agree. Lush should really open a store here! 

The shopping bug bit me

I've been really shopping lately. Despite saying from the beginning I would probably not need a fancy rocker, I wanted a fancy rocker late last month. So yes, the shopping bug bit me. Hard. 

As you know all baby related gadgets are pretty expensive and I've got my heart set on two products which are the Cocoonababy and a fancy rocker. Of course the most popular brand for a fancy rocker to date would be the Nunaleaf. However, a fancy rocker would cost almost 1k and the Cocoonababy which I have surveyed many many times would cost almost 1k as well. Now, I couldn't possibly get both with the current retail price. 

I can't remember how exactly I joined to the preloved baby goods page on fb but I did and I started browsing. Now, there are a whole lot of baby things! I regularly browse the page to see what else that I might need for BabyIJ. To my surprise, someone wants to let go of her Cocoonababy for merely RM300 with an extra cover! I said merely RM300 because of its actually price of course. After discussing on the date of purchase and such, me and Adam went to see the seller to inspect on the item. Adam agrees to purchase to satisfy my 'needs' and of course because the price is right for an item that is difficult for the baby to use once he starts turning. 

Not the real item photo but mine also comes complete with the packaging and manual 

The second item I purchased was a rocker. No, I did not get the nunaleaf. The Nunaleaf apparently operates manually and you have to swing it every 3 minutes. Then again the  main selling point for Nunaleaf is that it can be used up to 60kg. There are people selling off their Nunaleaf BUT the price hasn't gone down a lot. The last time I checked the preloved price for a Nunaleaf is still about RM950. Decided to purchase the Joie Serina 2 in 1 due to it being able to become separate rocker which is easier for us to bring the baby downstairs whenever we want to, and the price is within our budget (and how can you resist that baby..) 

We recently picked this up over the weekend and was very satisfied with it. True to the seller's description 9.5/10 (it really looks brand new) and everything works as how it is supposed to work. I can't really give a review until the baby is out to know whether it works in putting the baby to sleep or keeping him occupied but I'll surely do a review on these items in the near future. 

All in all, I'm glad I saved a lot of money buying preloved things. One person's junk is another person's treasure, no? 

3rd Anniversary trip (part 1) - The stop at Kulacakes

Can't believe it has been 3 years with Adam. To be honest, I wasn't sure when he said he wanted to get married at the age of merely 25. I was probably still having fun at that age and he said he wanted to settle down at that age! What I didn't know is that married couple can still have fun too. Even more fun, actually.

Anyway, after much discussion, we decided to try another YTL hotel for our anniversary having doing so for our 1st anniversary at Majestic Hotel KL (this was equally amazing, btw). We chose Tanjung Jara Resort due to its location; the beach and also we haven't gone to Terengganu for the longest time. Since Adam currently owns a gopro, we were certain that there will be more photos of us this trip (some photos were taken with our Olympus Pen epl-7 which is amazing as well)

We started the day with breakfast at Darus, and off we were to Terengganu. I wanted to drop by Kuantan for the famous mango cheesecakes by Kulacakes and we arrived Kuantan about 1 and just in time for it to open. Perfect timing, I must say. 

I was probably not a fan in general of mango cheesecake but it didn't hit the spot for me. I would still prefer Jaslyn Cakes in comparison to Kulacakes. Adam took the peanut butter cake and was also disappointed with the consistency of the cake. He however said that the brownies were good and I LOVE their pandan cooler. It was very refreshing. I would definitely come back for this. 

All in all it was a good break from sitting in the car and we loved taking photos in the compound of Kulacakes. We continued our journey to Tanjung Jara Resort after taking numerous photos of course. Please take note if you need a toilet break, please do so before going on the highway. THERE IS NO TOILET STOP along the highway. Quite challenging for this mommy-to-be, really. 

Okay, one last photo of the famous mural in Kulacakes. Love the mural. Its so cute! 

26 weeks

Our detailed scan that was done on my 22nd week was probably the most confusing scan of all. The doctor was checking on the important organs and was telling us a lot of technical things shown on the ultrasound. All in all, babyIJ was growing well except that his heart chambers can't be seen clearly due to him moving all the time during the scan. Of course I was very worried but when we came in for our 26th week check up, the doctor confirmed everything was okay just that I got to know I gained 3.8 kg over raya. Darn those raya food and me assuming I won't gain much (yeah right) 

I was also given a tetanus shot that day itself. I did tell my nurse I need at least a month's notice for every shot given throughout my pregnancy. Sigh. It was painful and it stayed being painful for days after! Nope, not exaggerating. I'll be given another tetanus shot again when I reach my 30+ weeks because this is my first pregnancy. 

The things I do for you, BabyIJ 

So, my next check up would involve a glucose test (29 weeks). I am unsure whether it is a must to do a glucose test in DEMC or could it be because my dad has diabetes which automatically means that I would probably have it as well. The glucose test wasn't too bad. It was sweet but I honestly think people were exaggerating on it. The only thing that I was afraid on that day was drawing blood twice!

Anyway, here's our baby at 26 weeks. Looks like he has full luscious lips like me and .... my nose! I should look at Adam more instead of myself in the mirror in the remaining months. 

The Hunt for Baby Cot

Following our room revamping process, we went hunting for a cot for BabyIJ. Now, I don't know whether my little man would want to sleep separately, but we would want him to sleep in his own cot. Its a matter of preference of course. There is nothing wrong if you prefer your baby to sleep in your bed. Besides, in our case, he will be sleeping in the same room, just separated by the cot. I hope I won't be the one who would go all soft and bring him to bed with us. Adam, you need to toughen up too!

Our first stop was mothercare in KLCC. Took us a while to find it since we were not familiar with the whole kids/mothers department placement in KLCC (this will soon change). I admit I have been eyeing on stokke sleepi because of its interchangeable ability, can be used up to 10 years AND the mini size is just too cute! Apparently it is shaped like a nest to give an environment of the womb to the newborn. 

Can you see me beam?

Alas, the price was a bit too high for us. We also found another brand that is similar to Stokke in terms of function, but in a much smaller size. The Farska is also interchangeable. When looked up online, it seems like its a more popular choice for the Japanese. This is of course not a surprise as the Japanese are known for their choices for compact living which is also what we would want for the room

It is more flimsy than the Stokke Sleepi though. The price is within our budget but we decided to wait since this is only the first time we've looked through some baby cot options.

We finally bought our baby cot last weekend and we decided to buy the Gelite Grace 4-in-1 baby cot which is exactly like the Stokke Sleepi but cheaper by 1k. Currently on promotion price of course from the original price which was 4.3k. Best thing about it is that the price includes all bedding accessories and bumper, complete with the mosquito net. Worth checking them out at the baby loft at Publika. 

Also, our room is 80% ready. My nesting mode can finally calm down. Oh wait, i need a new dressing table *grins*

*excuse the wires. Adam was supposed to figure out how to mount it under the shelving unit. 

Nesting mode

My nesting mode started a few weeks back but was escalated when I hit 24 weeks. We started with a trip to IKEA right after raya since Adam was on his long raya leave. Main point is to get an idea on how the room would look like. Since we are staying with Adam's parents until our apartment is ready, BabyIJ would be sharing our bedroom which is totally fine with us. 

Now, the problem is that the room that we're staying now used to be Adam's when he was still single. The condition? Lets just say that posters from his teen years with a row of dinosaurs are still there. Now with BabyIJ on the way, we decided it is time to wave goodbye to Adam's bicycle/skate posters. I have no idea why I didn't bother about it before but thanks to the baby, we are finally upgrading our room (Mommy owes you one, BabyIJ)

The trip to IKEA was a success as we get many ideas and it made us both excited to start right away. But first, to paint the room. 

What color should it be? Started off with inspiration photos from Pinterest ( you have to love the Internet for this!) At first we decided to make the tv wall a darker shade to give it a cinema like feel to the room but it would make the room smaller. 

I did tell Adam right away that I wanted yellow for the room following my yellow raya craze. Yeap, still not over it. Yellow and grey is such a good combination, no? 

Im also a fan of soft lilac. So calming.. 

After going through our choices, we decided to go with a soft buttery yellow and lilac. Felt pretty nervous about the combination but I can't wait to share how the room will look like complete with the new deco and all. One of the deco that would be a part of BabyIJ corner are these adorable cloud stickers from Ohmayesa. 

Draco approves the colour, I approve Adam's paintwork. Good job!