Cleaning Up... My Face ^^

Long time ago I wrote about how I finally hooked-up with make-up. And to be honest, I'm even more improved in applying my own make-up compared by then hohoho Lots of youtube tutorial and  practice even when I didn't actually need to go out with make-up, I did LOL And I felt a bit self-conscious going out without eyeliner bwahahaha who would've thought, eh? :p

But as much as I used to think that wearing make-up is a such a hassle, there's another thing that I felt is more bothersome -- cleaning up the make up from my face! I used to do it the old way: milk cleanser (twice) - cleansing foam - toner. When I was too tired after returning home from a party, many times I spilled the cleanser and woke up the next morning with dirty beauty cotton on my shelf. Then I looked into the mirror and saw that there was still leftover mascara or eyeliner. Sooo annoying!

Then I was introduced with Etude House Pore & BB Deep Cleansing Foam (such a long name ^^). It saved a lot of time for me until I realized it didn't erase the eye make-up and mascara well. In the end, I still had to use Etude House Lip & Eye Make-up Remover and Etude House Mascara Remover. Not only I had to do more, I also had to spend more on them as well! Not to mention that my skin became dry and I had to add another gentler foam cleanser after all of that :(

The most irritating part was when traveling, I just had to waste space in my luggage for those stuff! So inconvenient, especially when I wanted to travel light. I tried several make-up remover tissue, but none actually cleaned up really well.

But browsing beauty blogs brought me to this amazing cleanser: The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil (yes, another super long name)!

 

I was a bit skeptical when I read some good reviews on it. I wasn't familiar with cleansing oil and to be honest I always thought cleansing oil would be very, well -- oily. But then I went ahead and purchased one, straight from Korea from here for $10.50 / 150 ml bottle. Once it arrived after 2 weeks of waiting, I just couldn't wait to get home and try it out. I didn't regret it. One pump, and it took out all of my eye make-up & bb-cream off! No mascara nor eyeliner residue.

I didn't need to rub my eyelids hard to get rid of the mascara & eyeliner. Just brush on it gently and it'd washed off. The directions on the bottle says no need to use another cleansing foam after this, just wash with warm water and wipe gently with towel. My face didn't feel oily at all, felt smooth instead. I tried using another cleansing foam right after, but apparently it also wiped out the moisturizing effect of the oil.

I was so satisfied with it but then I thought there may be better cleansing oil out there? :) Browsing again... and I decided to try out other brands, and I ordered 2 more.

I used and really liked Skinfood Black Sugar Scrub Foam, so why not try the Black Sugar Cleansing Oil? It cost the same from the same vendor for a 170 ml bottle. I really liked the smell on first pump. Just like the scrub foam, there's sweet smell from the oil, not too strong but it's a bit disturbing while cleaning my face hahaha Result? Just okay for me. Felt a bit dry on my skin, took a bit of effort to wipe the eye make-up, but overall it cleaned well.Oh, this one required another Cleansing Foam after using. Another small effort but still acceptable for me.

And the last that I tried out was Sulwhasoo Gentle Cleansing Oil. It's the most expensive of all 3, cost me $11.50 for a 50 ml bottle.

 

The reason I chose this product was because Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Line did wonders to my skin!  Problem was, it's too expensive for me so I only tried out the trial kit. Still, it's still a high scale brand in Korea, so I thought it would do wonder as well in cleaning up my make-up. I was wrong. The smell was nice, not too oily but it didn't erase mascara & eyeliner well :( I had to add more oil and took a long time gently rubbing on my eyelids to completely wipe them off! But at least it also moisturized my face well and it came in a small bottle, I still could use it for traveling. Maybe next time I should try its Deep Cleansing Oil instead. Hm... will have to finish off the other 2 bottles first LOL

So that's my experience with make-up cleaners. I'd still go with The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Light Oil  when the bottles run out. But maybe there's still a better one out there? Hahaha

Online Shopping: My Kind of Shopping

Yes, I'm into online shopping. All my close friends know that I practically buy anything online for the past 4 years, long before online shops started to trend in Indonesia. From cosmetics, cakes, clothing, shoes, books, music, CDs, electronics, even underwear, I purchase online.

My first online shopping experience was here around 7 years ago. I bought some books and CDs. Imported books were quite expensive at that time and not all books that I wanted to read were available in Indonesia. So I tried to purchase online and found out that the shipping fee was not so bad compared to purchasing the book at a bookstore here. Then I found another place to buy books, sometimes with free shipping, and I kept shopping until I had my Kindle 2 years ago and I ran out of space to keep my books, then I started purchasing e-books.

My fave place for underwear shopping is of course none other than this place. Again, the shipping fee is not as expensive you thought it would be. Well, depends on stuff that you buy also. I always buy stuff from the SALE section LOL much cheaper price, same models with the non-sale items, difference was just the pattern and the season. Sometimes I buy 2 leggings with the same size, same color, same model (Hey, it's only $12 each! And it's 100% cotton!). Even after the shipping fee to Jakarta, it costs me the same amount of money of nice other brands available in Jakarta, if not less. To be honest, I chose to buy them for reasonable reasons: sizing & material. It's a pain for me to shop for underwear in Jakarta! Even if they do have my size, I usually hate the material or the style! So why not spend a bit more for a much better one? And since they're unavailable in stores here, their online store is the best choice for me.

How about clothing & shoes? Am I not worry whether the size would fit me or not? No, because I only purchase the same brands for some stuff and I know exactly what size for which model suits me. For clothing I limit myself to jeans and t-shirts for online shopping. And surprisingly, most of the time the size chart on the web is pretty accurate so even if I purchase a new brand for the first time, it would still fit me. So far I have no complain. Early this year I bought a brand of shoes that I never purchased before, I just followed the size guide before I made the purchase and apparently it fit me perfectly. No complain, really.

And last but not least, cosmetics shopping!! This is where I purchase all my Korean cosmetics!! LOL Yes, some brands have the official store here in Jakarta, but the price is like 3-4 times the original! I understand shipping cost, I understand tax, but 3-4 times the original price is just ridiculous! Not to mention that a lot of time one product can be gone from the rack for a few months, "waiting for shipment from Korea", and I had to use another brand or another product, so annoying. A lot of the nice products are also unavailable in the official store here, so this place is where I run to to get what I need. Since I don't only shop for myself there, as well as for my friends who won't bother shopping online themselves (you know who you are!), instead of being a recommended seller, I'm a recommended buyer there ROFL I buy regularly from several buyers and the price is only like $1 - $2 more expensive than the originals, free shipping and lots of samples! Woohoo! ^^ Spending someone else's money feels great hahaha

Oh, by the way, this place is also where I purchase everything else. From audio cables, earphones, plush toys, batteries, basically anything that can be shipped to Jakarta :p

In the end, it comes down to time saving and money saving for me.

First: I don't have to spend time on traffic and finding a parking spot. Which lately has become such a pain.

Second: I spend money only for what I need. If I go to the mall, it's impossible for me to avoid a cup of coffee or snacking :) Not to mention parking fee which has gone up since early this year.

Third: I can get the most suitable product for me that's not available in this country. Online reviews are important, make sure to read before you buy them ;)

Four: I can send gifts for people I love abroad without spending a lot of money on postage / expedition. A reasonable shipping fee is acceptable enough.

Do I shop online locally? Yes, I do :)

I bought my mobile phone here because of a good discount upon release.

I bought my Skullcandy Hesh Paul Frank Headphones here, cause it's even cheaper than this place.

Those two places are mostly where I shop locally other than cake stores LOL They provide great customer service and I can always track my stuff and make sure they arrive safely and in good condition.

This doesn't mean that I never go out to the mall to shop anymore. Especially when this brand has its end of year sale ROFL Well, I still shop there even with regular prices since the cutting really fits me. I rarely has to do any fitting, especially for pants. Just find my size and pay hahaha

So yeah, I guess I'll still be doing online shopping for a long time... unless we have no more traffic anymore, my size available everywhere and the stores sell my stuff with reasonable prices. Which is... still in a long time :) Until then... don't die on me oh internet connection! Especially not when they're verifying my payment!

When I Have To Choose

Lately, I kept bumping into tough choices.

What I want and what I need.

What I need and what they need.

What's good for me and what's good for them.

And lately I've been thinking a lot about being selfish.

Perhaps this time I should pick my needs over theirs.

Perhaps this time it's them who should accept my decision instead of the other way around.

Perhaps this time I shouldn't care too much and just go ahead with my decision.

But every single time I just don't have the heart to be selfish or maybe I'm just afraid of the consequences. Or... maybe I'm just being a hypocrite and wants to look good in front of others.

I'm getting tired of this.

Can someone just decide and choose for me??? LOL

I Remember You

So a few weeks ago I had big dinner to celebrate Big Boss' birthday. Dinner was held in a restaurant located in an office building where I used to work until 7 years ago.

The office was based there for 7 years also, and moved from the 17th floor, to the 6th floor then eventually to the 2nd floor of the Annex building after the company slimmed down to only me and the boss. If other building used a Security Company for the guards, this building managed their own securities and guards; so during those 7 years I worked there I knew almost everyone from front to back. Sometimes they asked for a cup of coffee which I gladly provided them, cause then whenever I have to worked overtime until as late as 11pm, the guards would take turn in checking up on me and of course to find me a taxi to get home :)

Since the company moved out, I dropped by the building just twice or thrice, and occasionally found a familiar faces in the front desk / concierge or the parking lot. But that night, I was in for a big surprise.

As we finished dinner around 10pm, we had to go out of the restaurant and re-entered the building to take the elevator to the parking lot. I was laughing with the other guys and said goodbye when someone suddenly grabbed my hand and shouted: "It's been a long time since I saw you!!"

My friend was surprised but I was even more surprised cause it was actually one of the guard that I knew many years ago; holding my hand with a grin on his face! I couldn't hold my laughter and told him back: "Pak (Sir), it's been a long time indeed!! How did you even still recognize me?"

Then another guard came running to us with the same grin on his face and held my other hand, saying: "I knew it was you when you came in! You haven't changed at all!" Mind you, I changed a lot in my opinion! LOL So there I was, standing in the lobby with 2 old security guards holding my hands as if I was their long lost daughter!

We chatted for awhile, they asked me where I work now and stuff... Then I told them that it's late already and I really had to go home. One of them asked me: "You're going to the parking lot? Does it mean that you're driving your own car now?" I just nodded and he beamed: "I'm happy for you that you drive now!! You used to take the ojek (motorcycle taxi) or a taxi back then, but now you're driving your own car, I'm so proud of you!"

In that moment, I felt so touched with their attention and cares. There were some leftover deserts from the dinner that the boss asked me to pack, so I left those for them and told them "to enjoy it during their breaks in the night shift." They took me to the elevator, waited for it to arrive and waved at me until the door was closed.

I was still smiling and thinking about what just happened a few minutes ago. When I gave my parking ticket on the way out of the building, apparently there's another security guard inside the box with the parking person. He made a double take at me and smiled: "It's you! What brought you here? Long time no see!" I was in for another surprise! But it only took a minute or so to pay the parking fee and out of the building, so I shouted at him before I drove by: "I'm sorry I couldn't talk you for long, but I wish you take care of yourself. Goodnight!" He waved at me and yelled loudly: "Bye bye!!"

During the drive from the building to home I couldn't stop smiling and laughing by myself. I really felt grateful that those old men still remember me well even after 7 years. I was also happy to see that they are well, and I felt humble that someone like me was still remembered by them. They must've seen hundreds of people coming in and out of the building everyday and 7 years wasn't a short period, but somehow they didn't forget me.

The other guys who were waiting for their cars and saw what happened asked me later on, who were they. I told them they're the building's security guards and kind of remembered me from where I worked there. They raised their eyebrows: "They still remember you? What did you do back then?" I shrugged and just said: "Don't ask me, I have no idea, it still surprised me."

Whatever I did that made them remember me that way, I still couldn't forget the way they smiled at me and the warmth of their hands holding mine as if to welcome me back there.

Thank you for remembering me, Pak. I won't forget you too and I wish you stay healthy and safe at work. Next time I drop by, I hope to be able to say more to you.

I will remember you all, just like you have remembered me.

Missing You

Is it possible to miss someone that you only knew for a few days??

On my holiday to South Korea 2 year ago, I stayed at an apartment that belonged to a kind-hearted Uncle. He really cared about us, more than a host should and so did his family. Even though his wife didn't speak English, she still came down to check up on us and what we might run out in the fridge. When we said that we liked Kimchi, she sent some of her own home-made to us downstairs (the family lived in the 5th Floor while we stayed at the 1st).

On our last day in Seoul, we woke him up at 5am to take us to the bus station to take the shuttle to the airport. Somehow I became teary eyed and we hugged for a long time until the bus driver honked me to quickly get in so the bus can leave :) It was in October.

In December I sent him a framed picture of us together which we took at the apartment and somehow someway he found me in Kakao Talk and we started to communicate regularly. 

He sent me pictures of his hometown on Seollal, I sent him a picture of me being trapped in Jakarta's traffic jam. 

When I told him I was a little bit sick, he sent me a short prayer.

When I dyed my hair red and asked me how did I look? He told me I was pretty like a K-pop Idol :)

Somehow this morning I felt kind of missed him and sent him a "Hi, how are you?" He replied with: "I miss you so much." And suddenly I felt like crying. 

I told him I missed him and Seoul as well, he told me that he had plans to come to Jakarta and will call me.

I told him that I'm getting a new job and won't be able to go on vacation for a while. He sent me a picture of him and his wife by the beautiful sea and told me that if I ever return to Seoul he will take me to another holiday with his family.

I told him that now I really really really miss him. And he showed me of that framed picture of ours, hanging proudly in his living room wall along with his son's graduation picture.

So know I now that it's possible to miss someone that I only knew for a few days. Badly.

It's not how long you know someone to show that you care, it's in the heart. And I can't wait for another chance too see him and his family again. Hopefully soon.

I love you Uncle Sang Woo and hope to see you soon, be it in Jakarta or in Seoul v(^w^)v