Current Wardrobe And How I (Sort Of) Get Into Minimalism

This is the current state of my wardrobe.  I still cannot let go of some rarely worn item
I did try.  And still trying after around 4 years.

The first time I get to know about minimalism is through this book my sister borrowed me, 零雜物：讓生活輕盈，讓心更自由 from Phyllis, a Taiwanese author.

At that time, I read it and felt that it is quite incredible that the author can actually live with so little things in her. Her house looks like a show unit!  And did I start decluttering after I read it? 

The answer is NO.  Because I thought that I can never be like her. It is impossible for me.  I know myself as a person who is unable to throw things away.  And I have a tendency to keep stuff that others wanted to throw.  I guess I have the potential to be a hoarder.  Oppps...

So, why the sudden change?  In 2016, I was getting married.  And will be moving to my husband's hosue which is already furnished.  I could just bring my clothes and some other essentials and move in.  But I have a shit ton of stuff because my apartment was not furnished, so we have some big furnitures. So I started to donate, gift, go through my belongings.

I still don't think I am a minimalist.  But I am surely better than how I was before (A mini horder?).  At that time I probably threw away a lot of things a bit too fast.  Did think to myself, why did you threw xxx away sometimes?  However, truth be told I would probably still not have a use to any of the things I threw away.

And below is the wardrobe of my husband.

I sometimes envy most men.  They are (mostly) quite simple.  I did asked him a few times which clothes to keep or send for donation, so that his wardrobe can be well maintained.  I still thinks he has too many casual tops tho :P

Decluttering Our Shoe Rack

Decluttered some shoes after one of it was broken. Noticed that I kept quite a few pairs that is not in good condition for ”just in case” situation.

Its time to move on and say good bye to the shoes that are disintegrating.

I do still have some shoes that I couldn’t part with that was given to me and rarely worn. I think maybe its not the right time yet. Will go through again in another time.

For now, quite happy with the outcome for a two person household.

OrganiCup VS Super Jennie Cup (Menstrual Cup Review)

Bought Super Jennie about 2 years ago; and recently bought OrganiCup.

Super Jennie: Small: 1.08 0Z (31.99 ml)

OrganiCup : Size A (25 ml)

My experience with Super Jennie is :

• A soft cup
• Good capacity 
• It leaks (but I have more to say on that at the end)

And my thoughts on OrganiCup :

• The surface is not as smooth as Super Jennie
• Slightly not as soft as Super Jennie
• It leaks too

I bought OrganiCup thinking that maybe it will solve the leakage problem.  But it does not.

After having 2 cups, I finally discovered that I should give the stem a slight "pull" once it is inserted and it seems to do the trick. (still leaks sometimes, but a lot less)

Finally lesson learned after 2 years.  Learning curve is steep for me. Oh well...

K-Palette Lasting 3Way Eyebrow Pencil [04 Grayish Brown]

I'm an Asian girl with black hair who has sparse brows.  My old eyebrow pencil is finishing, so I was looking for a new replacement.

The one that I was using is KISS ME Heavy Rotation Fiber Double Eyebrow, one side is the retractable flat wide pencil and the other side is the powder with fiber.  I don't remember which color did I choose, but it should be the darker one.  Although it is the darker color, the more I look at it, the weirder it is on my black hair.  So, instead of repurchasing, I wanted to find one with a better color to suit my hair. The pencil texture is actually quite decent, it is not too hard and not too creamy.  It is just a pity that they don't have grayish brown.

Kiss Me Heavy Rotation

I almost went to buy Maybelline Fashion Brow Palette in Grey.  But then I saw the K-Palette Lasting 3 Way Eyebrow Pencil at Guardian.  The Maybelline Brow Palette has the grey colour I wanted but in terms of convenience, it needs a brush to draw (although it comes with a small brush, but I feel it is better to use your own brush for easier application). And for K-Palette, I can just draw with the pencil.  This is a win for me from the aspect of the color (Grayish Brown), well suited for black hair, and also it has a spoolie!  3 in 1 design similar to the other Japanese brand Excel which we cannot get in Malaysia. 

Maybelline Fashion Brow Palette also reminded me of my first eyebrow product which is Kate Designing Eyebrow 3D.  It is slower to get the brow shape that I needed.

K-Palette Lasting 3Way Eyebrow Pencil

Greyish Brown is just nice for me

It is roughly 1.8-2.0cm long

COMPARISON

Side to side comparison: K-Palette has skinny tip; Kiss Me Heavy Rotation has wider tip

Heavy Rotation color is more reddish

I bought mine at 50% off from Guardian. They have discounts from time to time. There is also another option that I would want to try which is from Innisfree. Seems to be quite affordable.

Kiss Me Heavy Rotation Fiber Double Eyebrow
Where to buy: Watson
Price: RM 47.07

K-Palette Lasting 3Way Eyebrow Pencil
Where to buy: Guardian
Price: RM 56.5

My experience with USGoBuy forwarder service

It started when my sister and I wanted to buy some stuff from Glossier.  However they do not ship to Malaysia.

I searched online to try to find which parcel forwarders are reliable.  Whenever I thought I found one that seems like a good deal, I would later find bad reviews on the forwarder.  In the end, I concluded that there are always unfortunate events that could have happened.  The best I can do is just to find one that has the least negative reviews compared to others.  

There are also other criteria to concern when choosing the service.  For example, if you are a frequent shopper, some of the forwarders offer lower price shipping fees with yearly or monthly service charge.  But if you are the type that only buy once in a blue moon, this will not be worth it for you.

Criteria to consider of choosing a forwarder:

• Membership Fee
• Repackaging Service Charges
• Holding Fee
• Holding Period
• Consolidation of packages
• Insurance
• Import Duty and Taxes

From what I know, if your purchases are more than RM 500 (including shipping fee), you might have to pay for the import tax in Malaysia when the parcel go through the customs.  I read it is based on your luck to be taxed or not.  I have not tried to purchase anything that is more than that amount yet. So I cannot tell if this is entirely true or not.

I ended up choosing USGoBuy.  They have ShipForMe and BuyForMe services.  I choose the ShipForMe service, as I am able to use my own credit card to pay.  For the BuyForMe service, it is useful when the site does not accept overseas credit card.  The other reason is there is no sales tax in USGoBuy Oregon warehouse.

How does it works? (ShipForMe)

1. Register and get your US address
2. Place order from the website using the US address
3. Add packages info in "My Packages" such as Vendor, Order No, Tracking No, Item List, Price, Quantity
4. When packages arrived, go to "Arrived Packages"
5. Key in your mailing address, and they will show a few courier services available with the price list, select one
6. Pay for the forward cost
7. And they will ship your package out after you have paid

My package took around 6 days (Wed-Mon) from Oregon to reach Malaysia using DHL.  Not too bad.  This is the second cheapest option.  The cheapest option is using USPS First Class.  For your reference, the box itself is 11 inc x 9 inc x 3 inc, weight 2 lbs. For DHL, it cost $43.52 and for USPS First Class it is $24.84. I choose DHL because, there is no tracking for USPS after the parcel leave US customs.  It is a bit expensive but I do not want to risk package lost.  Below is what I copied from the website regarding USPS First Class.

• USPS First-Class Mail 

First-Class Mail is the least expensive, most immediate option for mailing packages of 4 lbs. or less(cannot exceed $400 in value). Although First-Class Mail may be the least expensive option, it is not a guaranteed service. Delivery by a specific date at a specific time is not available. Please note that for some packages sent via USPS First-class, there won't be any tracking information once it goes through U.S. customs. You may need to check your packages in a local post office once it is ready for delivery.

Encounter problem
And also there is one problem that I encounter when filling up my Malaysia mailing address.  The length of the "Address" is only 32 characters.  I could not fit my address of 2 lines.  I found a way to it in the end.  I filled the second line of the address in the "City" instead, it worked.

After going through all these, I think it is easier just to buy from a local re-seller if you are only buying one or two items and do not want the hassle to worry about the shipping.  The hardest part I feel is to estimate the cost of shipping, as you usually do not know what is the box size the seller ship the goods in.  I estimated the size of the box and the weight to be less than what it actually is.  My advice is to estimate it higher.

If you are interested to buy online from the US, perhaps you can try USGoBuy (This is an invitation link, I will get coupon in return if you use my link to register and use their services) as my first experience with them is positive.

Derma E, Natural Mineral Sunscreen Review

I am in search for a sunscreen that does not contains alcohol, non-greasy, no white cast, you get the drill.  I used to not use sunscreen at all, I tried, but most of the formulations are not that comfortable on the skin.

How I religiously applied sunscreen everyday started from my journey of finding ways to get rid of my blackhead and whiteheads.  It leads me to Wayne Goss youtube video, and the introduction of BHA to my routine.  When I first started to use Paula's Choice SKIN PERFECTING 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, I forced myself to use sunscreen everyday.  And then I found the much raved Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence sunscreen.  It really did changed how I feel about sunscreen in the past.  I like the non-greasy and light weight feel of it.

After that I have read more about skincare and their ingredients.  And learned that some of the alcohol in skincare is not that good for our skin.  So even that I like the Biore sunscreen texture, I wanted to look for some other option that is alcohol free yet still comfortable.  

So I tried this Derma E Sunscreen.  What I experienced is, after it has dried down, and my hands are still rubbing against my skin, there are white flakes coming off.  I am still not sure if it is due to the reaction of the sunscreen combining with my other skincare and makeup or is it just the sunscreen itself.

What I have tried: 

Lotion + Moisturizing + Sunscreen + CC cream =  flakes
Lotion + Serum + Sunscreen = flakes
Lotion + Moisturizer + Sunscreen = flakes (sometimes it doesn't? I'm confused)

Lotion = HADA LABO, Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Lotion
Moisturizer = Simple, Hydrating Light Moisturizer
Serum = Antipodes, Worship Serum
CC Cream = Freshel, Skincare CC cream

It is just weird, really.  The one other thing that I haven't tried is just using the sunscreen alone.  Maybe that would work.  But, I do usually use skincare before sunscreen :\  Would I buy it again? Maybe not cause of the flaking.  It's a pity, as the texture is quite okay.

Where to get it? 

Price: RM62.3 (may vary depends on the exchange rate)
I got mine online from iherb.  And if you want to try it, you can use my code to get 5% discounts and in return, I do get 5% rewards credit.
iherb Rewards Code: JZH115
Or you can use this link

* Fyi, I just noticed that Guardian Malaysia carries Derma E products, but no sunscreen though

Update

Hello all! I'm still alive! I do still draw, but very little now.  Me and my hubby posted some drawings in another blog, PoopTart Stories for the past few years.  Mostly hand drawn nowadays, because my desktop died last year and I do not have any personal desktop since. That's all for now~ Cheers

Hey

Feelings

When you least expected, that feeling starts to haunt you again.

Chic

Monster

Turn me into a monster

Holding On

So, I've painted.

Practice

Good Night