he loves me. he loves me not

I was on the way back from work on Friday when it hit me. This is how it is and this is how it will always be. Flowers are meant to make women happy. Seriously. You might be telling yourself right now, "I'm not the flower-kind-of girl" or "I don't need flowers to make me happy. My boyfriend never gets me flowers and I'm totally fine with that". I used to tell myself that all the time too. I am not the kind of girl who demands flowers. Heck, sometimes I even think that flowers are a waste of money. You spend so much on them, they make you happy for now and after a week, they whitter and die. You either hang them to dry or chuck them into your bin and throw them out the next day. I'd rather get a gift that will last me months.

If you see a guy with flowers back home in Malaysia, you'd stare at him, thinking that he's so cheesy, getting his girlfriend flowers for their special date or something (and obviously if you're a guy, wonder where his balls went). At the same time, you'd feel jealous, because somewhere in the world, a girl is going to be very very happy when she see him and the flowers. She's sure to say "The flowers are beautiful, thanks, but you didn't have to get me flowers, you know that right?". They always say that BUT they ALWAYS want the flowers.
TRUST ME.

Over the past week, on the way back from work, I've seen so many men (I'd like to call them men because they're such gentlemen) with flowers. I've only received flowers (I'm counting right now) five times in my life (i think) and each time, they've made me really happy. The smell of the flowers when I walk in the front door makes the day so much better. So every time I see a guy with flowers, it brings a smile to my face, knowing that whether he's doing it because he screwed up before, or just because he wants to get her flowers, he's going to make someone else smile too.

Things that have been making me smile? Lately? Shopping. And I haven't even been buying clothes, just make-up and other stuff. There was a 20% discount at Pulse Pharmacy a few weeks ago because of the end of financial year and that specific Pulse near my office sold the L'Occitane range. I took advantage of it and just bought stuff.
Here's what I got:

Since the weather is so dry here, my heels have gone from bad to worse. I don't wear shoes much (closed shoes with socks I mean) and that makes my heels crack terribly. Now that I've gone back to dancing and ballet, I need to make sure that my heels are not dry as cracked heels hurt, making it harder to dance. I use this after my shower, when the hot water has soften the skin on my heels. I exfoliate in a circular motion and rinse off after. I put my Body Shop foot lotion to lock in the moisture immediately after showering and wear socks to keep it in. I've seen an improvement and I'm not saying that the L'Occitane product works like magic. It's the whole process; exfoliating, scrubbing and remembering to put the lotion right after.
Ee introduced me to this product last year. When she came to visit me in Melbourne, she gave me a bar and told me to try it. She said it clears pimples on the back. After I tried it, I fell in love with it. It feels so gentle and it does help the pimples. You can see the difference within days. However, since I have very very dry skin and I'm in Melbourne, I try not to use this soap everyday. I also have to put a lot of body lotion after showering.

I also got myself hand cream. I do a lot of housework here. Sad ain't it? I have to cook and at times, do the dishes. I wash my hands in warm water during winter and they dry up so easily. I think a good hand cream is really important. You don't want to have ugly, dry looking skin at such a young age, do you? Invest in a hand cream that's good. Trust me.

If that's not enough stuff, I also got more Dermalogica products for my face. I started using dermalogica a year ago. They're all fragrance free and I have to say, they're quite the stuff! Ever since I came to Melbourne, the weather has not been good to my face. I have better complexion back home but when I'm here, I get red blemishes. Dermalogica helped me clear the blemishes and improve my skin. It's still not perfect and I get the pimples and blemishes back at times, but it's been better than the others that I've tried.

Here's what I bought last week from ZIPT on Collins Street,Melbourne.
Now that I'm working full time, I use makeup on a daily basis. Obviously after a long day, removing the make-up off your face is very important. You don't want to go to sleep with makeup still clogging your pores and destroying your skin. Most cleansers now work as both a makeup remover and a cleanser. I don't believe in that. I don't think that washing your face with your cleanser twice will get rid of all the product you put on your face in the morning plus the dust and dirt that comes together on it during the day. I've always believed in using a good makeup remover and after I finished my previous Clinique 'Take The Day Off Cleansing Milk", I decided to buy the Dermalogica Precleanse. I've tried samples of it before and it works wonders in removing makeup. It's a lightweight Olive and Apricot Kernel-based cleansing oil and you only need 3-4 drops for your entire face. On a dry face, massage it over the face and eyes to dissolve the surface oil and dirt. After that, wet your fingertips and continue to massage your face. The oil will turn into a milky white emulsion and you can also see the colour of your makeup come off with it. Rinse with warm water after and follow with your cleanser.
This is a daily microfoliant. It's a Rice-based enzyme powder that can be used daily, as stated. However, after previous experience, I've never used exfoliants on a daily basis. I think our face needs a rest and we can't put too much pressure on it. The skin layers on my face are very thin and because of that I'm supposed to very gentle. Using only a little bit and a few drops of water, it becomes a creamy paste and you can massage it onto your face and rinse off later.

It is only the 10th of July and I've been spending so much money on face, body and makeup. I really need to start saving more and spending less, but sometimes, beauty buys are a MUST for girls. I've also been inspired by Yvonne's blog, Belle Demoiselle. I met her in Melbourne three years back and she and a friend set up this beauty blog to write about things that make girls happy, makeup, skincare and everything beautiful. Honestly, reading about makeup and beauty buys make you want to go to your nearest departmental store to check out the product.

Till the next one,
Stay beautiful and buy a bunch of flowers for your room!