I just found out there is this thing called the Little Black Dress

...and I have at least 10 of them. 

What is it with women and little black dresses? 

I didn’t even know they are called Little Black Dresses or LBD until I googled it. It was apparently Coco Chanel who created the icon. 

Read about here in Smithsonian.com and this Wiki article. 

It is indeed women’s wardrobe staple and with my collection which I’ve purchased over the years, I can still wear them because they never get dated. 

How many Little Black Dresses do you have?

pearlie

Beauty Sickness is a disease we all have

The topic of beauty and plastic surgery came up in a sermon some weeks ago. And as I thought about it, I was surprised when I asked myself this question: what's wrong with it if it is required for your job, if you are a model or an actor or actress. Of course, it's not as simple as that. 

Which is why when I saw this book on sale in Kindle, I got a copy and started reading it today. It's a good book. 

Beauty Sick, How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women

by Renee Engeln. PhD

It does not talk about people where beauty is required for their profession, but it's about all of us--men included but especially for women--having this thing call beauty sickness. 

Beauty sickness is what happens when women's emotional energy gets so bound up with what they see in the mirror that it becomes harder for them to see other aspects of their lives. 

Beauty sickness is fed by a culture that focuses on women's appearance over anything else they might do or say or be. It's reinforced by the images we see and the words we use to describe ourselves and other women. 

Englen gave a TEDx Talk and if you don't want to read the book, the talk pretty much sums up her message. 

We all fall somewhere along the continuum of this sickness. None of us can extract ourselves out of it but we need to manage it and not let it take away too much of our cognitive resources or time or money which we can spend on other more useful stuff. 

I must say I have been quite involved in my effort to lose weight but I dare say that I am doing it healthily (except I should add in this thing call exercise which is not yet in the picture). 

But I did learn that our bodies is not for show but function. Our bodies are given by God and for us to care and nurture. Be kind to yourself, and don't objectify it and don't let others judge you. And most of all, don't put your voice into others to judge yourself. Other people have other problems of their own. 

pearlie

I don't use moisturizers

I used to follow a daily regime of cleansing, toning and moisturizing my face but I found it so troublesome that I stopped doing it for many years now. I can't remember what made me stop. I think it was something I read that our faces do not need all that. All it needs is a gentle cleanser. 

I nearly went back to it a few days ago when I was at the store. I was looking at some facial products and the sales personnel lined up a whole line of their products from cleansers to serums to toners to day creams and night creams. And oh, don't forget the eye cream and eye serum. 

I resisted. I had wanted to get an eye cream and so I just bought that. I have been using the Cetaphil facial cleanser and it is a good product. So I'm sticking to it. I did purchase a bottle of Hada Labo Hydrating Lotion before and I will make sure I use it again on a daily basis.

That should suffice. 

pearlie

Christians and Tattoos

Can I as a Christian get a tattoo? I've always been inconclusive about this and I never really bothered to do much thinking or research on it.

But it has been on my mind recently. I have my reasons for having one and with dragonflies being special to me, it would be nice to have one like this on my left upper arm.


Source: ArtWanted.com

And about whether a Christian can have tattoos, I found this article informative: Is it Biblical for Christians to Get Tattoos?

But I'm not ready to get one as yet. No...not yet.

pearlie

Book: Plucked, A History of Hair Removal

If there is one thing I love to do is to get a hair wash at the salon. I enjoy the gentle massage and getting a good scrub on my scalp. As I think about it, I realise that we all have a thing about our hair. And since I like reading about the science and history of stuff, I went searching for a book on hair.

I didn't find any other than this from a recent review in The Economist.


Plucked, A History of Hair Removal
by Rebecca M. Herzig

Well, not exactly what I am looking for, a book on hair rather than its removal. But I shall put it in my list of next reads.

pearlie

A Thousand Words #159

pearlie

What makes you loyal to a product?

You know how you hate it when you walk into a store and the sales personnel makes you feel like you don't deserve to use their products? That was how I felt I when I walked into a MAC store today when I had wanted to check out some compact powder.

I am very simple when it comes to cosmetics. To me, it is as long as it does what it is suppose to do and since I am not one who want to spend time touching up, it must last till the day is out.

I am running out of face powder and so I thought I'd try something I've not tried before.

First, I checked out Shu Uemera. The girls there were genuine and nice, even when I have not bought anything and was just looking.

Not so with the girl in MAC. I read people quite well and all I could sense from her is disdain. I am not going there again. Why when I am clearly not appreciated.

It's time I head back to the Shu Uemera girls.

pearlie

I always look like a ghost by day's end

I have never blogged about cosmetics before, ever. But this time I would. So if you'd rather not hear me ramble about such an inconsequential subject, you had better stop here.

I'm blogging about this because last week on Wednesday, my boss joked about her working me so hard that my eye makeup has all gotten smudged and running down from my lids. How awful must I have looked!

But the problem is I look like that by the end of everyday.

I've always had problems finding a good eyeliner that stays and not smudge by the afternoon. So while I was in the mall today, I thought I'd better do something about it by now and go find something that would work better.

And I thought I had better play smarter this time and do some googling, and not trust any sales personnel pushing their products. I found this article I thought might be useful: 10 Best Long-Wear Eyeliners.

With that, I "strategised my game plan": I will first visit SaSa, then Sephora and then when all fails, I'll settle for Bobbi Brown and end up spending a bomb there.

I strike out in SaSa. They did not have any of the 10 liners in the list.

Next stop, Sephora.

They did carry two of the recommended brands but not any of the recommended products. Then, they recommended me to Benefit's new product, Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner.



It is not in the list but I tried it on and I do like it and I bought one. So there, a sales personnel pushing their product and I fell into it, again.

I will find out this Monday if this eyeliner ends up running down my face.

pearlie

Post-script (13/07/14): I have used it for little more than a week now and I must say I am very pleased with it. I don't look like a panda in the evening anymore. The only drawback of the product is that it dries out at the tip after a couple of days of non-usage which means you need to run it clean after every use, which I find is rather wasteful, but there is no other way around it.