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.