Brow Resurrection + Eye Define (With Images)

Slept the whole day to stave off the fever and boy, do I feel ten times better than I did this morning. I'm on extended MC but I hope I don't get to use it. Pray that my fever doesn't come back tonight.

Time for something productive after sleeping so much. Was looking through some photos and found these meant for a blog archive sometime back. 

In August 2012, I went for the BR + ED package promo which set me back about $1.6k. To chart my journey, I also took photos on the day of my brow and eyeliner job. 

As I looked back on my new brows, I realised it was too dark initially but had faded to a nice natural gray after about 6 months or so. Around the same time, I decided I wanted bangs and had it for about a year before I grew out a side fringe. Alas! My brows had no chance to show itself off. 

2 years on, I could still get away without drawing my brows or putting on mascara thanks to BR + ED. 

 This was, I think, 1-3 months post BR and ED

Scrubbed face, sans makeup, natural light

Best look of my life

 Brows look harsher indoors

 Most current look circa December 2013

Brows are drawn in using brown pencil to soften the look

 Also taken in December 2013

This was taken after my submerged water baptism

No makeup and brows weren't drawn

 One of the first few bangs I spotted

Brows weren't drawn

Annie, my stylist, commented that my brows was too harsh

Most of the time my bangs look like this

Completely covered my brows

The photos below will chronicle my process with BR + ED. I thought the BR was more painful than ED. Some of my friends thought otherwise. When I went for my touch up 3 months later, it was the other way round. Till date, I can only say that I may or may not go back for BR but ED is something I'll probably consider doing again because I have very light looking lash line. 

 Before BR + ED

 Before BR + ED

 3 colours to choose from

I went for the darkest shade (top) because I wanted it to last longer and it matched my black hair then

Swatch from top-bottom: Black, Grey, Brown

 After BR + ED

 After BR + ED

Perfecto brows!

Weird sleeping habit

Roused from my sleep with sweat on my back. And so the coughing fit starts. It has been like this for the past few days. Never a good night's rest. The fever came back again when I was at work on Monday. It wouldn't have felt so bad if the medicine actually work.

Seen 3 doctors over the week and got new or re-prescription but still no progress. Wow. It must be one kind of resilient virus. 

Sick health aside. I'm going to KL for ASOT in March! It's been a long awaited trip. Still with the same group I went with to Melaka for Freedom years ago. Which was a blast. 

Should probably update that I just did Root Canal Treatment over CNY. Worst decision ever. I'd show you pictures but it's not a pretty sight. 

Never again. I can't warn my friends and family enough about this. Not worth the pain and trouble to end up with having a dead tooth in your mouth. Pain is probably the only thing you'll take away from the therapy and nothing else. 

It's expensive ($2000+), super troublesome (3 rounds of RCT plus 2 rounds of crowning), and you still need to care for it like you would your other teeth despite it being a dead tooth (meaning you can't feel pain). And you basically pray that you take such good care of it, it won't decay (yes it can) in the near future so that you don't have to PLUCK IT OUT. Yes, eventually. See how it's not worth the trouble?

Its already 6am. I should try going back to sleep. 

Sickies

Outrageously awake. Drugs coursing through my veins pumping me up at this hour. Having a really bad backflow.

Fever is coming on and off as it pleases. Parents just got home at this hour. Nice to have company for once. 

Shall refuel and feed on my meds.

Convalescing

First sick leave taken for the year. An achievement given that I literally bulldozed through January in a healthy state. Was looking at my average MCs taken last year and found that I took approximately 1 MC per month. Hmm. Very interesting.

Anyway, I'm down with tonsillitis and recovering from a fever caused by my throat inflammation. Haven't had fever for so long I forgot how it felt. Thankful for my buddy at work who is holding the fort while I'm resting. And really helpful to have Nick by my side when my body refuses to cooperate. 

Not one to be okay about falling sick. Most of the time I can be in denial until the diagnosis is made and I don't have a choice but to admit that I need to rest. 

I'm a little stubborn that way. 

Had a really bad dream (probably cos I'm sick) and was woken up by a coughing fit. And secretly relieved to see Nick already awake and glancing at me while patting the chest to comfort my coughiness. 

Came across this article on Facebook from ThoughtCatalog. Felt a strong emotion tug at my heart and knew I somehow had to archive this. 

How The People We Once Loved Become Strangers Again

FEB. 19, 2014 By BRIANNA WIEST

It’s interesting to think about how we make people who used to be everything into nothing again. How we learn to forget. How we force forgetting. What we put in place of them in the interim. The dynamics afterward always tell you more than what the relationship did — grief is a faster teacher than joy – but what does it mean when you cycle out to being strangers again? Because you never really stop knowing each other in that way. Maybe there’s no choice but to make them someone different in your mind, not the person who knew your daily anxieties and what you looked like naked and what made you cry and how much you loved them.

When our lives revolve around someone, they don’t just stop revolving around them even if all that’s left is the grief and pain that comes with their memory. Because you loved them, there will always be parts of them that linger. The memories that are impressed on the places you went and the things you said and the songs you listened to will remain. We all eventually find ourselves standing in the checkout line, hearing one of those songs come on and realizing that all of a sudden, we’re revolving around them again. And maybe we never stopped.

Do you ever really forget your lovers’ birthdays, or all your first times, intimate and not? Do your anniversaries ever become normal days of the year again? Are the things you did and promises you made ever really neutralized? Do they become void now that you’re broken up or do you decidedly ignore them because there’s simply no other choice? The mind tells you to go on, and forces your heart to follow suit I guess.

I want to believe that you either love someone, in some way, forever, or you never really loved them at all. That once two reactive chemicals cross both are changed. That the wounds we leave in people are sometimes too raw to risk falling back into them. I don’t want to believe that we write each other off because we simply don’t matter anymore. I know love isn’t expendable. I wonder, and maybe hope, if we ever just force it to be out of that necessity.

Maybe it’s just that we’re all at the centers of our own little universes, and sometimes they overlap with other people’s, and that small bit of intersection leaves some part of it changed; that’s where we grow together. The collision can wreck us, change us, shift us; sometimes we become eternally undetachable and connected and other times we decidedly move away because the change required to accept another person’s universe colliding with yours is a safety we don’t want to leave. Either way, it’s inevitable that your universe expands. That you’re left knowing that much more about love and what it can do, and the pain that only a hole in your heart can bring. Whether or not that hole will ever again include the person who made it that way, that’s for you to decide.

We all start as strangers. The choices we make in terms of love are usually ones that seem inevitable anyway. We find people irrationally compelling. We find souls made of the same stuff ours are. We find classmates and partners and neighbors and family friends and cousins and sisters and our lives intersect in a way that makes them feel like they couldn’t have ever been separate. And this is lovely. But the ease and access isn’t what we crave. It isn’t what I’m writing about right now. It isn’t what we revolve around after it’s gone. We are all just waiting for another universe to collide with ours, to change what we can’t ourselves. To fill us, to make us whole. It’s interesting how afterwards, we realize that the storm returns to calm, but the stars are always changed and we don’t choose whose collisions change us. We all start as strangers. But we forget that often, the only thing we do choose is who ends up a stranger too.

Freedom

I tried to look into the eyes of a man who wants his freedom. Someone who's protective of his space. How can we share a future together? Did I get it all wrong?

On a positive note, today marks the beginning of a brand new journey. Somewhere I wanna be for a while. Farewells are emotional but they're also necessary for future growth. I'll miss my co workers. They've been a great bunch of people to be around. Here's to a good break. 

Hairy update

It's getting a lil quiet over here ain't it? In case my memory fails me, I'll pen a little update for the sake of sanity.

Was looking through old photos before the era of Nick and thought "Hey look at that chick having fun and all, what a social life. She looked so carefree"

And fast forward a couple of years later I still thought she looked the same, only better. I must add that the albums have grown exponentially. All 60 of them. I counted. 

Something that struck me was how different I looked with long hair. Sure I may look slightly more feminine but something was lacking. I feel I didn't look as pretty. I wished I have better quality hair but that's not to say I don't appreciate my natural wave and roughness. It hold certain styles very well. What I'm trying to say is that, long hair isn't for me. Period. I don't know if I'm going to regret saying this but I don't think I'm ever going to keep long hair. 

Until then, I'll just keep experimenting while I still can. 

Life is good when you know what you want. 

An old photo of me with rapunzel like hair.

Oldies are besties

I grew up having a lot of friends. At any one point, I could count at least 5 people I can reach at any time and I knew in my heart of hearts that a distressed phone call is all it takes to connect.

As I grew older, I value the friendships even more. Friendships I've forged since young. I've also grown into this person I've come to love because of who they've become in my life - a fan, a supporter, a shoulder to cry on, tough love, motherly love and most importantly, just being my best friend. They've never judged me for what I've done and still love me for who I am.

Simply put, I wouldn't be this confident and secure without their love and friendship. Thank God for these great people in my life.

Life happens

Life has taught me so much. I'm in a good place today thanks to a hard lesson of yesteryear.

Some things have changed and I'm no longer the silly and trusting girl I used to be. Good things are finally happening to me, like love. Everybody knows it can hurt, but at least get hurt trying.

A very good buddy of mine recently pointed out I'm in a happy place mentally and emotionally, and I shouldn't forget that. I wanted to hug him because he was right, I just hadn't realised it.

I have so much to look forward to. No matter what happens in future, I would have loved bravely once more with all my heart and soul.

Love and peace to all.

Grinning recipe

It's one of those things that cure Monday gloom. May I present to you Grin Affair's desserts.

I bought two lil jars of happiness today and thought I'd share it with my friends.

Two flavours: Honey Lavender with blueberries (top) and Lychee Mousse with Passionfruit baked in sea salt and sprinkled with pistachio (bottom).

Just hearing how the name sounds thrill me.

Both are equally good with a slightly greedy nod towards the latter because I'm a huge lychee fan. Any lychee byproducts, must be good stuff.

I'm gonna try and get my paws on the dark chocolate one next.

Grin Affair is located at 3 Everton Park, #01-77, Tel: 82827375

JKT and Kitchenette's Crepes

Was in Jakarta with Manda, Thomas and Nick sometime back. Missed the crepes. Wish I can go back for seconds.

Le Bistrot post Disney On Ice

Sometime ago pre Taiwan, I was given two complimentary tics by my boss to Disney on Ice at the indoor stadium. Nick was game enough to come along. The show was rather whimsical for adults but what was I expecting anyway.

My highlight of the evening was the food. We decided to try out Le Bistrot again after my last birthday dinner surprise two years ago. We didn't reserve in advance but managed to secure a table in less time than we thought.

Our appetizer of grilled Hokkaido scallops came served in a salt baked onion, with corn veloute and roasted pine nuts. We polished it off in no time.

After our delicious appetizer, we couldn't wait for the main dish to arrive.

We were knackered and famish, a lethal combo. But we didn't get on each other's nerves which was probably a good thing. We started goofing and capturing our grumpy hungry faces.

Our steak frites came accompanied with mesclun salad. We decided to share the main, a 400g grain fed Australian black angus striploin. It was slightly marbled but full on taste and juicily tender.

We almost hyperventilated over dessert as we tucked into their signature molten dark chocolate (comes with steamed milk in the porcelain teapot) with rum (shot glass smack in the middle), creamy chocolate ice cream profiterole and chocolate and macha macarons. A grand dame of a Grand Chocolat Chaud du Bistrot is what makes the dessert such a fine finisher.

A happy tummy is a happy bunny.

Le Bistrot is located at 2 Stadium Walk, Kallang Indoor Stadium. Tel 6447 0018

My Birthday: The Coastal Settlement with besties

The girls surprised me by suggesting to go to TCS for my birthday. It was on my to-go list and when the girls said they're bringing me to a place in Changi but couldn't reveal until we were there, I almost immediately guessed out loud, "Is it Costal Settlement?"

I got pretty accessories for the girls from my Taiwan trip. Scroll to see the last two pictures.

Alright! Shall let the pictures delight and tantalise you :)