I firmly believe that we shall have no excuse to look pretty. So hear me, ladies and busy ladies, I share with you my one minute make up!

Unfortunately, if you are expecting a make-up routine or a super duper multitasking make-up product or a magic, friends this is not about it. This is about how I try to make myself look “put together” when I’m in a rush. Here it is.

I would wear my most complementing sunnies (yes! My shades) and my perfect lipstick and I can head out to see the world. That’s about it. Wear your most beautiful and favorite accessory and put a little color on your lips. Now you don’t have any excuse to make yourself beautiful. After all, it’s not going to be too difficult because you are already beautiful to begin with. Remember, beauty is subjective and beauty begins when you start to appreciate yourself.

I once post this quote from Coco Channel near my door

 “I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”

It reminds me to make sure that I look and feel good when I leave the house. I no longer hang this on the door. I keep this in my heart. But it’s not out of politeness that I fix myself. It’s not for destiny or for other people. It’s for me. I make myself beautiful for me. I like this bible verse Matthew 22:39 that says, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Funny how it is unnoticeable but it says to love yourself so you can love others.

Moms, wives and ladies, don’t forget to love yourself so you can fully love the people around you. Don’t forget to be beautiful so you can make everyone around you beautiful too. Don’t forget to be happy so everyone around you will be happy. Women, don’t forget. 

Happy New Week! For this week, we are talking about Beauty! Ladies, moms, wives life may be so busy but it’s not an excuse to look “losyang” or look wasted. Maybe you are a stay at home lady and thought nobody will see me or care how I look? Let me tell you, there is someone who will see you and that is yourself! If you don’t like the person you see in front of the mirror, you may not know it but it has an effect on how much you are motivated to live life to the fullest. You may have a lot in your hands but I believe when you just try to incorporate a short beauty routine everyday it will make a difference. So this week’s post is dedicated to Basic Beauty. With all the resources available now, it’s quite overwhelming. We don’t know what to buy, what to use what and so my goal is to help you make it simpler for you. Let’s get started.

To begin, let’s talk about Basic Make Up Tools. Here’s my list

FOUNDATION APPLICATOR

There are different types of foundation applicator and this depends on what type of foundation you use. Different texture needs different tools. So first, check which foundation you want to use and then choose the tools. For fluid foundation, like Revlon Color Stay foundation (this one is my favorite) you need a wedge sponge or a beauty blender. It’s best to wet the sponge before you use it but if you don’t have time, feel free to use it as is. For creamier foundation, example is Revlon Photoready foundation, foundation brush is the best to use for that airbrushed effect. This definitely gives the most flawless effect in my opinion but it takes time to blend it well. For powder foundation or for mineral make up, use a powder brush. I prefer synthetic (not only for animal cruelty issues) but it picks up the right amount of powder and makes application easy breezy. I know most powder foundation comes with a sponge, but this sponge makes foundation looks cakey; the powder brush gave a more natural finished. Most beauty guru will say that your fingers is the best foundation application. While it is true, it requires practice to learn that and I don’t recommend that because it takes more time to do that.

BLUSH ON BRUSH

This is for blush on in powder form. Please do not choose base on what your favorite beauty blogger used or which is the cutest of them all. What to consider is the size. There are different sizes; some are smaller than the others and some are just too huge. Choose a blush on brush that covers your cheek area. If you have smaller face, you may need a smaller blush on and if you have bigger face, please choose one that is appropriate to your cheekbones and that will make application easy. A big blush on brush covers my full cheeks with colors, while smaller ones (normally the travel size ones) take a little more time to build up in color so please, choose the right blush on brush size (tongue-twister anyone?).

EYESHADOW APPLICATOR

I know most eye shadow pallet comes with a sponge eye shadow brush but they are not useful. I still recommend having an eye shadow brush, the flat one for better application. This will pick up right amount of product and will make smooth application to eye area. Again, choose one that is suitable for your eye size. For small Asian eyes, you need to choose smaller eye shadow brush and for round eyes, you can choose the bigger ones. Test it before buying it by placing it near your eyes.

BLENDING BRUSH

This is a dome shaped eye shadow brush and normally used to apply shadow on the crease. this is important in eye shadow application. If I am to choose between flat eye shadow and a blending brush, I will choose a blending brush. Anyway, through practice you can learn to apply eye shadow with your fingertips but it is difficult to blend eye shadow without the blending brush.

SPOOLIE

This looks like the mascara wand and is normally mistaken as an extra mascara wand. Ladies, this spoolie is used for eyebrow application. this will comb and shape your eyebrow.

ANGLED BRUSH

Angled brush is use for eyeliner application and for eye brow application as well. Choose ones that has a soft bristles. Since we use it in near the waterline, a soft bristle will less likely to hurt your eyes.

EYELASH CURLER

Last but not the least, an eye lash curler. This also came in different sizes and shape so choose one that will fit your eye shape. What works for others may not work for you. Shu eumura eye lash curler works best for most eye types except for people with small eyes. For  small eyes, choose Shiseido eye lash curler. I know this are expensive ones, this is for illustrative purposes only as to the shape of the curler, so feel free to look for other brands with the same eye lash curler shape.

That’s all in my list. For concealer application, the best is your fingertips, for lipstick, no tools needed use it straight from the tube. This tools works for me whether I’m doing a simple day make up or something for a special occasion. Just like the usual, feel free to comment below. 

For today’s post, we will be sharing about an organizing problem that is difficult to deal with, the sentimental items. What are sentimental items? This could be a gift from someone special, a house decoration, love letters, photos or any other things that has a memory or feelings attached to it. This is difficult to deal with because as mentioned, this has an emotional value. Definitely, there is a way to organized sentimental items so let’s get started.

Sure all houses have this and this one is an unnoticed clutter culprit. After all, how can one paper bill makes a room clutter, it barely occupies space. But if you keep getting them every month, wait until you see it piled up in your house. So today’s post is dedicated solely to paper clutter. Let me share to you our paper system.

In my previous post I share two tips to keep your home organized. In this post, I will expound further on the storage system. I made a lot of mistakes in this area but I'd learned from it so I want to share with you the lesson learned. Check out the do’s and don’ts of storage below:

I’ve been in to the journey of organizing my home. If you read my previous post,  you would know that I’ve read and I apply in my life the Konmari method. This has been a great help to me. We moved from a studio type apartment to a three bedroom town house. It was a huge change and definitely a huge chore. Surprisingly, my home is more organized now  than ever. Even though our home gets bigger, since I know how to organize, it doesn’t take up so much time to clean and keep it neat. I recommend that you read Marie Kondo’s book but if you want a short cut or a shorter reading, then go ahead finish this blog post as I share with you the tips on how to organize your home.

KEEP ONLY THINGS THAT YOU NEED

Before we moved, I had the chance to purge our stuffs. I go through everything (literally all things) and was able to remove the unnecessary things in our life. One thing that makes home unorganized is having too many things that we don’t actually use or like. It doesn’t make sense to keep a coffee maker that you never use, only accumulating dusts in your kitchen; not to mention that it consumes storage space. Take an inventory of your stuffs and get rid of those things that are not useful. 

By getting rid, I don’t mean throwing it away. You can either donate it or sell it if it's working. Don’t get trap in to thinking “what if I need it in the future” because chances are, if you haven’t use it for quite a while you will not need it. Now with less stuff, it is easier to organize your home. 

If you are surrounded with things that add value to you or that you need, you are more likely to organize it and take care of it. I once own a lot of random accessories, most are gifted to me. I always tell myself that I will organize it but every time I see the container full, just by looking at it, I get tired already. The result, I don’t wear any of the accessories because I don’t have time to sort through the tangled mess. Finally, I set aside a time to organize and I realize that most of it I don’t like. So I sort through it and keep only the items I like. Then I put those into a jewelry box. Now, I am using my accessories more often because it’s accessible and it now limited to things I like to wear.

FIND A HOME (STORAGE SPACE) FOR EVERYTHING

Find a home for everything space. With fewer clothes, I’m sure  your clothes will fit in your closet. Your make up, onto the makeup drawer or a make up pouch, accessories to something like a jewelry box, gadgets into a drawer or gadget box. The point here is to have a designated space to all your stuff. 

If you know where to keep your things, you are more likely to return it into its place when you’re done using it. You don’t need to buy fancy storage system to do this. What you have in your home probably will be enough. So maximize your home storage first before you think of buying a new one. Have a system or a routine on how you would put things back to it's storage every day.