Encounter with a Chinese hairstylist

Today I went to a hair salon in Batu Pahat. All the hairstylist were Chinese guys. The boss was over 40 and fluent in English. Since I haven't cut my hair for 2 months, it grew a bit too long. So I told them, I want my hair about 2cm long or about 2 fingers long. I said it in English and the guy nodded. To be sure, I asked my girlfriend to tell him in Chinese, he listened and nodded as well.

The guy looked like a korean boy band singer, totally metro, the front part of his hair covered his left eye. When he began to cut, I already had a bad feeling. They way he cut my hair, I've never seen something like that! He put a pin in my hair and cut underneath, like 20 times. My inner self already shook his head... But I kept smiling and hoped that he will finally cut my hair 2/3rds shorter. But I was wrong. He cut such tiny portions of my hair, so I asked my friend, please tell him in Chinese that I want my hair much shorter. She told him and he replied: Don't worry, it will be much shorter. Well... He cut about 30min already, I boiled inside... But... he just didn't cut as short as I want. So after 30min cutting off snippets of my hair, I decided to smile and say: It's ok. While I thought that's it, he put some gel on top, which is fine to me. But to my big surprise, he made me a fauxhawk! I was like WTF? But as pissed I was, I just smiled and said: Nice! I had a feeling he will put a cherry on top of the cake.

Well, one more thing happened. As I was paying, the boss told my girlfriend in Chinese, that unlike other Western people, whom he cut the hair, my hair was very clean. How judgmental and prejudiced! It supposed to be a compliment, or what? It sounded racist to me. What if I replied to him: Your hair salon is surprisingly fragrant and all of your hairstylists are clean as well unlike other Chinese. Would that be a compliment? I'm sure it wouldn't be.

So, as soon as I came out of this horrible place, I flattened my fauxhawk and said to my girlfriend: This was crazy! Now I have to go elsewhere and fix my hair again.

[My MALAYSIA page][My BATU PAHAT page]

Lippmann Collection Spring 2009

Lippmann Collection's new colors for spring, inspired by high-end designers and fashion photographers.



Purple Rain, designed for Zac Posen's spring collection at New York Fashion Week. A light, delicate metallic lilac/violet shade. This seems like a polish that would show strong brushstrokes, but they're really not bad at all. It looks very "stripey" when you apply it, but once it's fully dried, the brushstrokes are only barely there. Really nice shade, very spring-like. I wonder if this would work well with Konad...?


PYT: Pretty Young Thing. A soft pinky coral JELLY!! I love this! I almost want to call this peach, it seems too interesting to just call it pink, and too light to call it coral. You guys know that this is not my type of color at all, but I'm in love with this one. It's very sheer, but once you get to three coats (this picture is three coats) it has that squishy-shiny-translucent jelly finish. Awesome. The color is really flattering, surprisingly. Usually pinks make my hands look dirty, this one just looks fresh and pretty. And squishy.


The formula on these is perfect. I can't find anything wrong with it. It's smooth, it dries very quickly, it's not runny or gooey despite the three-free formulation. When your polish costs $15, your formula better be perfect, and Lippmann Collection doesn't disappoint.

Overall, very pretty, very springy, very feminine. Not my typical choice for polish, but they're just so pretty I can't not like them! Someone take my temperature.... I must be sick...

My grandpa's funeral

Today was my grandpa's funeral. I couldn't attend, since I'm in Malaysia. He's ash now. May he rest in peace and may the memory of him be kept alive for a long time. I'll try my best. Will be quite unusual to return home and see that everything's changed. But we must face the unavoidable.

Good luck, grandpa. I hope you have finally found the peace you sought all your life.

Nino

天坛大佛和我

The Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau island in Hong Kong is an impressive 34m tall bronze statue on top of a hill. In Wikipedia they say: »The Tian Tan Buddha appears serene and dignified. His right hand is raised, representing the removal of affliction. His left hand rests on his lap in a gesture of giving dhana. The Buddha faces north, which is unique among the great Buddha statues, as all others face south.«
But what struck me most about this, is the sheer greatness which is seen, it's impressive in size, but it's so humble at the same time. It feels as if you find your inner peace when you are below the Buddha, he gives you confidence that things will eventually be alright. That the disharmony of the bustle and hustle of Hong Kong, or any other chaotic megacity in that sense, will be again restored in harmony between the nature and the mind, between the momentary and eternal.

[Sources: Photo by MKL and Wikipedia]

OPI South Beach Collection Spring/Summer 2009

OPI South Beach Collection - Spring/Summer 2009. Release date is February 4th.

Pics first, opinions second :)


Bronzed To Perfection. A warm reddish-bronze with awesome flaky shimmer. Very strange shade choice for spring, but I'm digging it. The shimmer in it is what makes it stand out to me- instead of tiny, round particles it has itty-bitty little irregular shaped shimmer.


Clubbing Til Sunrise. Shimmery, orangey gold. Reminds me of maybe a cross between OPI 18k Ginza Gold and OPI Live From NY... It's OPI!



Conga-Line Coral. Shimmery reddish coral. I like the shimmery finish, but I can't say I really like the shade. It's too in-between for me. I need something that stands out.



Done Out In Deco. Pale lilac that leans a little bit blue. I love this one. Very spring-appropriate, another "Easter Egg" type shade. It's a lot lighter than I had expected it to be, and it is somewhere in between lilac and periwinkle.


Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot! Bright pink creme. I know that a lot of people will really love this color, but it's just not for me. First of all, I hate the name- it instantly brings to mind that incredibly irritating song that drives me insane. Second, this could easily be mistaken for a dozen different OPI polishes... Elephantastic Pink comes to mind first. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the color itself, it is a very pretty hot pink. It's just that it feels done to death.



Miami Beet. Rich beet-purple creme. Whoa, this one was a surprise! it looked really uninteresting on the promotional shot, but I love this on the nail. Just goes to show me that I can't always judge my favorites based on the promo pics. This is a little more of a vibrant purple in real life, my camera couldn't pick up the richness of this shade.


OPI On Collins Ave. Very bright orange-red. Maybe more orange than red. This is a really cool color- for some reason it reminds me of shrimp. OPI Cajun Shrimp maybe? I want to do a pedicure in this color. I've really been drawn to near-neon orange-reds lately.


Overexposed In South Beach. Shimmery purple. My favorite out of the collection! Again, looks nothing like I thought it would from seeing the promotional pictures. It's saturated and shimmery and reminds me a lot of OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not.


Paint My Moji-Toes Red. Muted red creme. Very muted, actually. So much so that it looks almost mauve in the bottle. I know that the use of the word "mojito" in the name is just so they can make a toes pun, but I really think that this should have been green. Mojito says green to me! Again, this color will probably be really popular with the average salon client, but I can't see a whole lot of nail junkies being excited about another red polish.


Party In My Cabana. Bright pink creme. Wait, didn't I just see this color? Zzzzz, booooring. Okay, I'm being harsh. Again, nothing wrong with the color, but it's been done to death.


Sand In My Suit. Shimmery, sandy nude. This really does remind me of sand. This is not my type of color at ALL, but I have to admit, I actually like it. At first I thought it was ugly, but then I put it on and it really grew on me. I like the silvery shimmer.



Suzi & The Lifeguard. Shimmery light pink. The shimmer in this baby-pink shade is very fine, almost to the point of being a frost. Very cute, very sweet. It reminds me of seashells.


I have very mixed feelings about this collection. Nothing in this collection really excites me. On one hand, it's all very work-appropriate, conservative and feminine and will most likely be a well-loved collection by a lot of women. On the other hand, it's too safe and there's really not a unique shade in the whole collection.

I do really like a few of the shades- Overexposed In South Beach, Miami Beet, Bronzed To Perfection, Done Out In Deco, OPI On Collins Ave. Wait... that's almost half the collection, isn't it? Okay, I like half the collection. That's reasonable. I was just hoping to really love the entire thing, like I have with so many OPI collections in the past.

I will admit that I know absolutely nothing about South Beach. The only thing that comes to mind when I think of South Beach is the South Beach Diet. I can picture the cover of the book, a metallic shade of green and aqua. Sparkling sea water. And that's what I think is missing from the collection. Water! South Beach is still a beach, and beaches have water, right? This collection could have used a seafoam green, an ocean blue, even a turquoise or a mother-of-pearl seashell shade. When I think of beaches, I think of fun, lively colors- swimsuits, sparkling water, beach balls, tropical drinks, sunshine. The OPI South Beach seems like a sleepy, vacant beach next to a retirement home. The colors look weathered and washed out, like they need a new coat of paint.

I know, I'm probably in the minority here, but I feel like this collection is missing something.

That being said, I'll move on to application issues. There are none. These polishes apply amazingly well, they're silky smooth and most shades only need two coats for complete opacity. Even with one coat, these colors aren't streaky or uneven at all. OPI must have really been working on their three-free formula, because this is a huge improvement! No running, no globbing, no overly thick polish. Just perfect. Dreamy, even.

That's my take on it. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. It's just okay. I wish they would have been a little more 'risky' in the color choices, or at least had a little more variety within the collection. Red, red, pink, pink, pink, nude, brown, purple. Maybe OPI has something really super-exciting planned for us in upcoming seasons. What do you think?

Marissa Miller Bikini Slip

Victoria's Secret model Marissa Miller has been enjoying her stay in the Caribbean and has been playing in the ocean daily. Unfortunately the paparazzi are there to catch a quick nipple slip as the model comes up out of the water.

The 44th President of the United States

So, there he is. The new president with the new first lady. The inauguration is over, people are relieved that W is history now. He won't call the shots anymore. New pragmatism, new progressive approach - that's what we need now. The world needs America as a role model, not as a world bully. Please, mr. President, make this world a bit of a better place. We'll see what will change in 4 years. Good luck!

[Photo: HuffPost]