LA and Ed Sheeran - June

It just occurred to me that I never blogged about LA and Ed Sheeran in June. Well, I am here to do just that. I guess I'll just let the photos do the talking.

In San Francisco, we had a little treat called, "CREAM" which really stands for cookies rule everything around me. It's essentially a pick your own cookie and ice cream flavour to create your own combination of quirky flavours that actually go really well together. I'd definitely go back.

It started off from San Francisco, we started driving to Santa Ynez and stopping at Monterey Bay for an hour for lunch.

Monterey Bay, everybodeeehhhh. This tree though, was a really great place for a family photo shoot. 

After being on the road for hours, we stopped by this really cute Danish town called Solvang which was 15 minutes away from our hotel in Santa Ynez. That night we had McDonald's for dinner and watched Jurassic World for a midnight movie. Our hotel was right next to this tiny cinema which was so cool.

The next morning, we drove and stopped by in Santa Barbara for a bit before we hit the road again for Los Angeles, the city of angels. 

That evening itself, we hit the pier of Santa Monica. I would say it is one of my favourite places I have ever been to. The amount of people there could really reduce a little, if I were to be honest. I don't do well with crowds. But for Santa Monica, I'd do it all over again. 

The next day, was Hollywood. Did not enjoy Hollywood. But I'm glad to say I've been there and done that.

In Beverly Hills we had the most amazing green tea crepe with nutella and vanilla ice cream. Holy moley. It was amazing. 

Before the brother and I got on a plane back to San Francisco, we headed to this place got Urth Cafe for brunch. BOY WAS IT AMAZING.

We went back to Santa Monica beach for a little picnic before we were sent to LAX to part ways.

En route : San Francisco!

The next morning, we were stuck in a very bad traffic jam on the way to Berkeley to see Ed Sheeran. In terms of city, I prefer San Francisco than LA. 

It was lovely to have Rixton open for us at Berkeley, I appreciate artists who can perform as well as they are on record. Ed Sheeran was needless to say, the best I've ever heard. I have no words. 

And that was LA and Ed Sheeran in June.

Flowers : The Birthday Edition

Ready to buy me a macro lens yet? :P 

The Sephora Haul - Birthday Edition

You really hardly ever see me in Sephora. But when I do, I don't really go out with a bang either. This is more of a splurge, as it was my birthday month. And when you shop at Sephora during your birthday month you get a free something. Which might totally be a marketing strategy, buy hey, it works. To be fair I only bought two things and the whole package came with seven things.

Paco Rabanne Million Dollar Eau De Toilette.

Viktor&Rolf Flowerbomb Eau De Parfum.

 Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh.

Nars lip pencils in Cruella and Rikugien.

CLINIQUE Acne Solutions BB Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 40.

Benefit's How To Look The Best At Everything kit in Light.

Sephora's purifying and mattifying mud mask.

The birthday gift was the two Nars lip pencils in Cruella, which is the red one and had a matte finish and Rikugien which is the more nudey shade that had a tiny bit of shimmer in it with a satin finish. I'd have to say though, the shade Rikugien was very similar to the Estee Lauder's Secret Kiss Shimmer Lipstick. They were both really similar with a tinee tiny difference of the undertones. Cruella, as the name suggests was a very Cruella deville shade. To me, it reminded me of the colour that Snow White had on her lips. It wasn't really dusty, but it felt more of a slightly muted red. 

When I first opened it, I must admit that I thought it was a twist-able lip pencils like the Revlon Colorstay lip stain/balms/stick things. But after reading reviews online, it is the ones that you have to sharpen. Remember to put them in the fridge before you sharpen them so you lose less product (or so they say.)

The Paco Rabanne Million Dollar Eau De Toilette has the top notes of grapefruit, mint and blood orange combined with the heart notes of rose, cinnamon and blond leather and the base notes of white woods, amber and patchouli. The website actually claims for it to be fragrance for men, but to be honest it smells like a very sweet, night out smell. Which I actually adore.  

 Viktor&Rolf Flowerbomb Eau De Parfum, this scent is what I associate with "ang mo lang smell". Having lived outside of the US for almost all my life, there's always this smell that every ang mo lady has when they come to visit. I kid you not, my mum agrees with me on this. So this to me is very a very fruity but heavy sophisticated night out smell, yet again. 

And the one that I was most excited for, the Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh. If you know me, you'd know that I love rose scents, or mostly flower scents and I pretty much used to smell like rose most of the time. As the name suggests, this does smell very fresh. If you've used the Not Your Mother's Clean & Fresh dry shampoo, it smells like that with a bit more of a sweetness to it. But to me, it reminds me of cucumbers and mint and flowers. 

All in all, my favorite would have to be the Paco Rabanne one :)

Now if you know me, you'd know that foundation and I do not have a mutual understanding. 

I really really hate the whole disgusting sticky feeling that a foundation has. Even the texture, gives me creeps. And with an acne filled face, I don't enjoy putting things over it to cover it up because it makes me feel like I'm poking the sleeping bear and awaiting a major breakout. So anyways, I saw this kit on the website and I thought it was pretty interesting because it all came in sample sizes? So I didn't feel like it would be a big deal if I didn't like it. I could use it all up really fast. One of the few things that intrigued me was the fact that the Hello Oxygen Wow Foundation was very lightweight. I did a little research before buying it and the foundation was almost a watery-sunscreen texture that settled on the skin really well. I actually was really surprised because I forgot I had it on when I put it on. I'm not the biggest fan on the cream concealer, but the whole kit works. I understand the hype behind the pore-fessional, it was definitely better than the Cover FX mattifying one.  I'd give it a thumbs up. And the packaging is so adorable. 

This is a deluxe sample version of the Clinique acne solutions BB cream. It had the same texture as the Hello Oxygen Wow foundation, which was another big plus. They both do have a very light coverage, which I guess is great so you don't look like your out on the red carpet everyday. Even with these two in my collect, I still don't really enjoy foundation that much. But I'll try to make them work. 

Having never used a mud mask before, (I've only ever used the peel off and the clay ones) I think this was pretty great. It didn't have a bad smell and it wasn't that bad to wash off. And it is a bigger tub than what you see in the picture. It's almost palm sized and the mud is a gray-cement looking blob of thing. 

I'm pretty satisfied with what I got this time round, Stay tuned for next year's round because birthdays are the only time I walk into Sephora. 

:) 

Zoe

The Work Table - Where It All Begins

Are you one of those who has a messy work space, or a totally clean one? 

Mine depends on what exactly I'm working on. If it's art that requires mostly painting, I like more space and things to be out of my way so I can place my paint and my jar of brushes and my big canvas in the middle. 

If I were writing, I honestly don't care, as long as my hands have the space to glide over the pages of the notebook effortlessly without having to knock over things on the way. 

If I were working on school work with a lot of paper rustling situation going on, I'll lay everything on my bed right next to me to have a more organized space. Most of the time though, everything will be messy while I work and I'll enjoy cleaning everything up afterwards. Which is kind of odd because I don't think anyone likes cleaning up after their own mess. To me, it's pretty therapeutic. So when I start cleaning, it usually means that something is going on. 

Here are some pictures of my current table and work space setup. 

 

I have noticed that it's regardless what room I am put into, I will always always always have things put up on the wall. Bouquet of flowers, too always have a place in my room. Pictures are an essential and little ornamental snowball figurine things are too pretty to pass off and sit in boxes. I used old spaghetti sauce glass jars to put my coloured pens in one while I put all the sharp things like my scissors and penknives in the other. On my table, you will always find some sort of book/notebook and a lot of sharpies and black pens. When you see them, you'll know it's Zoe's territory. 

PS. If you love me, please buy me a macro lens :(

Thanks for reading! Baii!

- Zoe

When You Say You Can't, But Other's Say You Can

I don't know what's the gist behind the whole "when in doubt who do you believe" thing. Because we spend so much of our time tearing ourselves apart to the point when somebody compliments you, you automatically just know they're lying. I hate how my mind is so clouded by the fact that I don't know what I am capable of anymore. So just a few hours ago, I got asked to do something that never in a million years would I have ever ever ever say yes to. But in the spur of the moment, my stupid gut decided to convince me that I would be able to pull it off. 

So, here I am sitting here, typing this 4 hours later, shitting myself for saying yes. Then it got me thinking. How do you know when it's time to believe in what other's say about you, and when is it time to shut it off because your opinion is the one that matters most? Truthfully, I know my gut tells me that I can't do this. But everyone else is saying that I can. So who do you defy? The people who knows you and sees you from a different perspective than you do, or do you believe in you, the person who has only seen herself from one point of view.

It's really one of those moments when I know, I truthfully know that I cannot do it. I wasn't born to do it and I certainly don't have the talent to do it. I'm now stuck, responsible of a responsibility that I'm not equip to take. What do I do?  

How To : Deal With Difficult People

Disclaimer : I'm not a perfect person, but I try to see things from a different perspective. I don't often take my own advice and I'm not implying them on you, but I think it might be helpful to each of us. 

We often have difficult people in our lives. I, obviously have them too. A week or so ago, my mum was listening to a sermon that went along the lines of "you have difficult people in your lives because God knows you need them more than they need you." In simpler context, it really just means that you need them in your life. Why? Here's my first point.

1.Take Difficult People As They Are. 

Instead of trying your hardest to have them change to your expectations, why don't we change instead? People are the way that they are. We have absolutely no right to insist that they change for the better. People do their own changing at their own time and at their own pace. And even though they spend thy're whole lives being difficult is not any of our responsibilities to make them a better person. BUT, the responsibilities that we have is to make ourselves a better person. Now, I'm not saying I don't get annoyed and get angry, I definitely do. But sometimes, I guess we just got to understand people from their perspective even though their perspective is the most ridiculous thing you've heard throughout your entire life. 

2. Give Them The Respect Even Though You Think They Don't Deserve It.

When we start thinking that we deserve more respect than we deserve sometimes might really mean we think we are superior and above everyone else. I believe we all in some point of our lives feel like we deserve a little bit more respect than we are given. But have we ever thought of giving someone else the respect even though they don't deserve it? I guess in a way, this is one of the "perks" of growing up and trying to see things from a more mature perspective. It's hard, but if you don't do it, who would? 

3. Do All Things With Love. 

I have to admit, all of this is hard. Trying to be the bigger person through it all is a big pain in the bum. But, why do anything at all, if you don't do things with love? Frankly, it all just goes to waste if you don't do all things with love. It wouldn't be genuine, it wouldn't be honest. I know it's super duper hard. Nothing ever comes easy. But if you just try, most of the times you find yourself being a happier person despite how much you loathe that difficult person in your life. There's a certain triumph to the fact that you took the step to be the bigger person. 

4. Pray.

Hohohohoho. We can never do anything alone. This might be the most important and the one that requires most emphasis. Strength doesn't come from us it comes from God. And I'm not the most holy person in the world. But I know how important it is and how it's something that everyone needs. Being nice on the first day is easy. Smiling to your difficult person is easy. But maintaining it and keeping it as genuine as possible is hard. We all need a little prayer in everything we do. And mostly, in terms of having the patience and strength to deal with difficult people the right way deserves a whole lot more prayer. Be humble and admit that most of the times, you can never do anything alone. 

Like I said, I'm not the most perfect person in the world. But I'm trying to be a better one. 

Have a great day ahead!

Zoe