Author: Hanna

A woman in her late 30s who used to blog about eczema and beauty products. These days, Hanna is mostly found offline; writing letters, sending cards and writes and writes in her journal(s).

LUSH All The Best ’22

December! My favourite month of the year is here again. 😄 With December comes my annual year-end / birthday treat of LUSH goodies…..

LUSH All The Best gift box. RM210

For this year’s gift to myself, I would really love to get some of LUSH Christmas products but I was torn between spending too much money on things I barely use (*cough* bubble bars & bath bombs*cough*) or buys stuffs I really, actually use. After some scrolling and sigh-ing; I believe All The Best gift set is the BEST for me!

Thankfully, this time I did the gift shopping at a LUSH physical store. Ahh… the joy and freedom of walking in a mall and stepping into our favourite store; seeing the actual products right in front of our eyes! The little things we took for granted before Covid messed up our lives the past two years, kan?

All The Best consist of 4 products; RUB RUB RUB, Dream Cream, Honey…soap & The Olive Branch shower gel

I LOVE how none of the four products in All The Best is bubble bar nor bath bomb! Please, I still have 2/3 of my Comforter bubble bar bought online in July, collecting dust. Instead what I have here in this pretty gift box is my favourite Honey…I Washed the Kids soap AND Dream Cream body lotion. I’m not really a fan of body scrub but RUB, RUB RUB is still okay. And lastly, I haven’t tried The Olive Branch shower gel so I’m definitely looking forward to try this shower gel right after I finish Honey…. Yum!

Of course, Happy Holiday guys! I hope you all have a lovely new year in 2023.

See you all next year. Bye 2022!

On By HannaIn bodyLeave a comment

ETUDE My Lash Serum

First thing first; this isn’t my first tube of ETUDE My Lash Serum. I remember trying it for the first time some time last year but I never got around to write a review on this product. After few months if I’m not mistaken; I stopped using it because I started to get itchy eyes, despite the visible result.

I guess I never learn.

Because hey, look what mama got back from her last week’s Watsons trip! At just RM23.80, I couldn’t resist bringing a tube home. I promise I’ll be even more careful this time around. Prior to swiping the serum on my eyelashes; I make sure that my entire face has been cleansed, especially the eye areas. More importantly; I should always, always remember to never touch my eyes after my lashes has been bathed in the serum. (Easier said than done, I know.)

Of course, just like how I treat any tube of mascara, I shall not continue using the same tube of My Lash Serum after three months. Thick lashes may be to die for, but I take mediocre lashes WITH functional pair of eyes any time of the day.

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LUSH Random Act of Kindness

Standing pretty

I love LUSH! D’uh I always do. But last September haul from their Malaysia online store makes me love them even more. ❤❤ I don’t really remember my reasons for shopping for LUSH that time; urm….I don’t remember any sales nor free shipping promo they were having at that time. Guess it’s one of those concious online haul I made from my beloved brand after months of lockdown & Covid scare in 2021.

My original order consists of 1x soap stack of Honey… & Karma wrapped beautifully in blue-and-orange Knot Wrap, a box of ROSE and a tube of Conga shower jelly. I’ve since finished using every of these products and yeahh of course I love, love “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” soap! Not so much love for Karma though I do love how both soaps were moisturizing.

Box full of LUSH goodness!

Remember I said earlier about how this order makes me love them even more? That’s coz they included not one but TWO free full-sized products as a Random Act of Kindess! Aww how sweet. I couldn’t really finish the Bubblegum lip scrub, boo-hoo my small lips. 🤪 But really, the size of my lips has nothing to do with Bubblegum. I just don’t use lip scrubs in general.

Similarly, the bottle of Eau Roma Water wasn’t successfully finished too. For a start, it’s a generous bottle of 250ml of regally rose-scented toner water. Secondly, the one they sent me as R.A.O.K got only several months before expiry date. In the end, I used this spray-mist water enough to come to a conclusion that this toner water can be drying to my skin and no, I’m still not a fan of rose-scented facial products.

Overall, I’m still so glad for these two RAOK products they sent me. And yes y’all…I’m also thankful for my lips too, regardless of what size they are. 🙏

I said I’m not into rose-scented beauty products, not the actual flower. 🌹
On By HannaIn beauty, bodyLeave a comment

|Review|NARS Orgasm blusher

NARS Orgasm blusher

I know, I know. I’m at least a decade late in the Orgasm game haha. I remember how everyone raved about this blusher on blogsphere back in 2009-ish, back when NARS stores weren’t even available in Malaysia. Now we got a NARS boutique right next to Urban Decay (I think) in Suria KLCC. What a lot of difference a decade brings.

£20.83 when I bought it online from Cult Beauty, Sep ’20.

This is my first time using this blusher extensively and I have no idea if this one I have shares the same formulation or quality with previous Orgasms, so I cannot compare. But do I like this Orgasm? I love it. ❤ I’d say this maintains its reputation as the most complementing blusher shade for many skintones. I like how I ‘glow’ with Orgasm on. Love it! ❤

Will I repurchase? Well I won’t say I won’t, especially if NARS keeps the same quality for this OG Orgasm. Plus these days shopping for NARS or any other makeup brands locally is accessible; in stores or online. 😘

Meanwhile, while Orgasm is all fun, flirty & flattering I still play with cheap & equally fun blushers once in a while; like this Blush Box Glowing + Multicolour from Catrice. ☝️While the blusher isn’t as nicely shimmered & glowing as NARS Orgasm, the cool geometrical pad of product was the very reason I grabbed this baby during the guradian Buy1Free1 makeup haul.

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Good day to you too, ’22.

Hello everyone!

February morning mist

How’s the year 2022 has been treating you all? Good, I hope? I really do, though. Especially after everything we all have been through collectively since the new decade started over two years ago.

Personally, 2022 has been treating me rather well, thankfully. No quarantine in Covid dorms, no months of lockdown, no more shortness of breath nor pounding chest (from anxiety, not from Covid) and most certainly NO MORE hours of Google Meet conferences/meetings/classes. Phew!

Before I end today’s short blogpost, here’s wishing everyone currently reading this; Stay safe, stay healthy. May this year bring you kindness, tranquility and love. I wish everyone a good year in 2022.

-Hanna-

On By HannaIn random thingamabobLeave a comment

Catrice KOHL Kajal eyeliners

Who doesn’t love the classic pencil eyeliners? They’re beginner friendly, low maintenance & gives satisfying result. These are from the drugstore B1F1 haul I did last year. Normal price is rm12.90, available at guardians but they’re usually on sale.

I’m well aware of my oily and sweaty eyelids especially when out in the year-round Malaysian tropical heat, so I always have my lids prepped with eye primer prior to applying any of these pencils. 270 Welcome to the Jungle aka the green one is my personal fave! 💖 Dark green usually complements my skintone well and this one is no exception.

While I appreciate their effort in minimal packaging, I believe they should do something with the product design. Take a look at where the product’s info, like shade name and code; they’re printed at the top end of the pencil. So as we use and sharpen it we’ll also get rid of those info. Maybe this isn’t a big deal but well, just an observation from me. 😉

swatches
(shade 270 Welcome To The Jungle is my fave!)

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Blooms in this bleak pandemic

Celebrating a decade of marriage! 🌹 Excuse the messy extension. 😆

Oh my, what a mess we’re all in now. It’s mid-July 2021 yet we’re all still deep in this pandemic. This blog was initially created with the intention of sharing about my personal experience with beauty products & (at that time) discussing eczema with fellow bloggers. It was early 2016, the time when it was still possible for me to go on my daily life with minimal dependency on computers. So it makes sense then that on my free time, I would ‘escape’ to this blogsphere and write away….

Fast forward to now, this global health crisis forces us to stay home for months. (and months, and months later…) Whether I like it or loathe it, my current life depends way too much on devices; WFH for hours on my laptop, checking the phone for yet more work updates, food delivery rider whereabouts, keeping in touch with my family, buying essentials aaaaand so on…it makes coming back to the laptop to blog seems like a chore. Plus I’ve recently been actively journaling in my Gratitute Journal so sharing my personal thoughts and opinions online becomes redundant. And may I also say, irrelavant? Since I’m turning more & more private as I get older.

Yet anyways, I like to dedicate this blogpost to all the blooms and the babies I’ve been blessed enough to have got during this bleak time of our lives. Some were bought fresh from the neighbourhood supermarket, some fresh from local florists online. Either way, I am genuinely thankful for all of these pretty flowers for turning our little home a little prettier & more cosy. 😊

with free KOSE serum samples
18(+1, thank you Happy Bunch!) red roses bouquet for our anniversary in May.
my post-Covid recovery petite bunch
Belated birthday flowers from mom. 🥰
On my birthday last year, just right before finding out we got Covid. Bittersweet.

If you’re still here reading this, I wish you a safe, sane and healthy days ahead. May better things happen to the Earth & humanity, soon. 🙏

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Happy Hopscotch’s ‘When Life Throws You Lemon…’box

The last time I reviewed a Happy Hopscotch’s subscription box, I didn’t do much justice to it. So here it is; my second box subscribed from them. Keep on reading to find out more. 👇

FREE personalised message card. In this case, a birthday card. 🎂

Back in April last year, HH offered me a discount code for future subscription. But with 2020 being 2020, I kept the offer way until late November when my birthday was around the corner. I chose the Signature 4-box Plan (NP: rm360) and shamelessly tipped them that my birthday’s gonna be in early December.

Well my shameless-ness paid off! Because not only the box arrived with a Happy Birthday card, they were also sweet enough to include an extra item as an early birthday present for me. Aww thank you so much guys! 😊

A two-sided pink scarf with pom-pom trimmings, thoughtfully wrapped in white tissue paper & tied with string, with the handwritten ‘Happy Birthday’ note.
‘When Life Throws You Lemon…’ 🍋is the theme for HH’s Joy in a Box for the final quarter of 2020.

Now let’s dig in the box; apart from the free birthday present & message card, this dusty pink box contains 6 items;

1. GO BASIX Flourless Pancake Mix in Almond Original (105g)

2. Projek sembang-sembang notepad&envelope AND pink ‘Everything is gonna be okay’ bookmark

3. Hello Pfft handmade face mask

4. Yellow lemon squishy

5. Colourful pastel stationery kit

6. 3x mini Wicket Candles.

I had fun with this box. I’m looking forward to the next Joy in a Box which gonna come out in late January. I wonder what the theme will be…..😉

On By HannaIn random thingamabob, reviewLeave a comment

Yes December went by just.like.that.

Goodbye 2020!

Mostly because of the fact that I got COVID. There I said it.

While I’m thankful for a good start in my birthday month, things went down south real quick. I remember spending the first week of December celebrating quietly both my daugther’s & my birthdays.

Then nightmares started from the 2nd week; first with being down with mild fever for a few days and ended 2020 with welcoming the new year from our room window on the 4th floor of the Covid-19 quarantine centre. Phew!

Simply put, it is all a humbling experience which I honestly am not fond of remembering over and over again. Even though I believe I do come back stronger and my experience could help others who are dealing with similar situations. 🙏

Now that I’ve put this out there, I will get back to posting ‘normal’ stuffs this blog has been used to, real soon.

Stay safe & COVID free everyone!

On By HannaIn healthLeave a comment

|Review| Rimmel WONDER’FULL mascara with argan oil

What is this blog if it doesn’t feature mascaras? Plus I’m not gonna move on straight to December without at least a single post in November, a month that happens to be handful for me. So here goes; the first and only mascara review for 2020.

Let’s talk about the obvious; I don’t like its bulky packaging. For a 11ml of black ink, I’m pretty sure the product can be housed in a smaller tube. We all know how much a big + bulky product could take so much space. However I like the shape; it reminds me of a ribbon so it’s comfortable to hold and provides easy application.

I didn’t realise it’s waterproof when I bought this from a drugstore during CMCO. The (smaller) word WATERPROOF is right there on top of the even-bigger WONDER’FULL font, right smack on the tube itself so this is honestly my fault for not examining the product more carefully prior to buying.

The formula on the other hand is rather decent but all in all, this is certainly a lockdown buy which I have no intention to repurchase in the future.

When the mascara happens to match my PJ pants!

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