Some hair TLC with Kerastase Masque Age Recharge

I have been super busy with work and other projects and it shows on my skin and hair condition. My fine straight Asian hair was soft and easily manageable, but because I have oily scalp I've always washed my hair on a daily basis without using conditioner afterward. In the past it was never a problem because I always try to make time for monthly hair spa session either at a salon or at home. But my last hair treatment was during my last holiday in April. From then, it's been work work and work.... So my hair strands are dry and brittle with tons of fall out all through the day, while my scalp is still oily. It desperately needs some tender loving care.

So last week I make the time to stop by my regular hair salon to purchase a hair mask. After the salon lady scanned my hair and scalp, she recommended Kerastase hair mask called Masque Age Recharge. To be honest, I only bought it is because she told me that I can apply this at night, go to bed and then wash it in the morning. I thought it saves me time since I don't have to waste 15-30 minutes waiting for the mask to soak in. I purchased my mask for IDR 480k (roughly equivalent to $48), cheaper than the price on Kerastase website but still more expensive than those sold in Ebay or Amazon. Pricey, but my hair and I were desperate.

Project Dongengan: Introducing Dongengan and Indonesia's traditional cloth

My sister and I have been busy with my not-so-little project outside work of creating a small clothing line made from traditional material sourced in Indonesia. It started as my sister's project of developing a fashion line and she asked me to join her because there are just too many things to do. Since I've always loved wearing things from her clothing line, I didn't hesitate to lend a hand.

The brand name is Dongengan, derived from the word "Dongeng" which in Indonesian means Fable. Currently, we only do custom order since we only have 1 or 2 of each materials, making it rather difficult to premade the clothes since people could love the materials but not the outfit.

Most of the materials we use in our line consist of batik, hand woven material with ikat mofit and hand embroidered material called songket. Each of the region in Indonesia has developed their own patterns and methods of dying the cloth and threads. It's just totally mind blowing to see the craftsmanship of each of the cloth and realizing the number of hours spent for creating a piece of cloth. Unfortunately, the rise of traditional materials to fame has been abused by textile manufacturer into creating batik and weaving patterns that are printed on cotton or silk. Since it's an automated process done by machine, the cost is much cheaper and this hurts the craft

I feel truly blessed to be involved in this project and hopefully through this project we can help to preserve our heritage of traditional materials.

To end this post, I will show you some of our creations. I will also provide updates on our projects and creations from time to time. Hope you fall in love with the beautiful materials as I do... :)

Songket Bali dress - made from hand woven material

Glowing pink cheek with Tom Ford Beauty Cheek Color in Wicked

My fascination with Tom Ford product started with its lipstick, but I am a blush collector by nature. So when I found a new love for a brand I would always try its blushes. Tom Ford Wicked Beauty Cheek Color in Wicked was not the first blush I purchased, but it is one of my favorite.

I purchased mine from a spree service and it takes forever to be delivered. Just look at how worn the box is. At the time the picture was taken, I've had it for almost 2 weeks.

Tried & Tested: Banana Bread Recipe

I have decided to share about my cooking adventure with you all. It's an adventure not because the difficulties of the recipe, but because I rarely bake. We've moved to our new house a little bit over a year ago and I just found out last night that I've lost my mixer during the move. That's how rare the occasion is.. the simplest bread recipe done once in year.

Anyway, the nephew drop of a huge bunch of bananas on Monday evening and by Tuesday evening they have ripened. I'd hate to throw away food, so I decided to froze a bunch of bananas to be used for smoothies. Then I thought I'll use the rest in banana bread. All I have to do was purchase a tub of sour cream, mix everything into one, and bake the bread mixture.

The result was a light and moist banana bread (or cake... I can't decide).

See the recipe after the jump :)

Traincase favorite - NARS Crazed blush

I thought I would do one post each week dedicated for a few of my beauty staples that I have been using over the years. None of the products covered in this categories are new purchases. They are just some items that tend to reach for because I know they will work, not because they're new and I'd like to try them on. Please keep in mind that what works for me does not necessarily works on others.. so try them for yourself and hopefully you'll find something that works for you.

The first product that comes into mind is one of my favorite blush, NARS Crazed. We don't have NARS cosmetics in Indonesia, so I was looking up blush swatches online for NARS Matahari vs NARS Desire when I came across pictures and swatches of NARS Crazed. I always have a soft spot for all thing raspberry colored. So I forgot about NARS Matahari and NARS Desire for a while (just for a while though) and googled for NARS Crazed. I was pretty gutted when I found out it was discontinued!

So I made it my mission to find it, purchase it, swap it, steal it, and basically I'd do almost about anything to get my paws on it. I spent months scouring ebay, amazon, MUA, and anything else I can think of to find it. After a couple of months, I saw a used NARS Crazed being sold online. This time, lady luck is on my side, since the seller lives in Indonesia and even in the same city as I am. The blush was worn for a couple of times before she decided to sell it, because it was too pigmented for her fair complexion. I was over the moon!

LOTD - NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Lodhi

I have always have a soft spot for chubby lip pencil, whether it's a $3 drugstore brand or a $30 luxury brand. I love them because applying lip color from a lip pencil feels much easier for me. First, the pencil shape let me hold it firmly, which gives me more control during application. Second, the tip of the pencil is round and pointed, improving my accuracy when applying compared to when using a standard lipstick. So, whenever I heard of a new chubby lip pencil, I will try them as long as I can get my hand on them.

Right now I'm loving NARS Satin Lip Pencil ($25), mainly because of its intense pigmentation and formulation. My lips tend to be dry and opaque lip color tend to emphasize the dryness. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried NARS Satin Lip Pencil. There is not tugging on lips. The color goes on smoothly and it goes opaque in one stroke. The color is INTENSE.

LOTD - Burberry Lip Cover Soft Satin Lipstick in Bright Plum

I was not much of a lipstick girl. In the past, I probably only had 4 or 5 lipsticks that I wore for more formal occasions. But most days I used to dedicate my time to decorate my eyes (which I sometimes believe as my best feature) and just slapped on any lip gloss that I happen to find in my bag or my work desk. I never like how dry my lips feels after applying lipstick and how some lipsticks are heavily scented (everyone said it's vanilla scent... but for me they always smell like yucky old cosmetics). Lipstick tends to accentuate all my cracks and flakes of my lips (regardless of their finish). I also don't like how it wear off unevenly. When work gets busy, reapplying lipstick becomes priority #111 because I would need to stop working, grab a mirror and reapply my lipstick. The bottom line is I don't like it. 

Strangely two years ago, I decided to jump on the luxury brand band wagon. It started with a Chanel lipstick that I bought in Singapore duty free. The coverage was great, quite moisturizing and it wear off evenly making reapplication much easier. From then on, the rest is history. I just love wearing bright lipstick and how having bright lips seems to dress up.

My latest love is Burberry Lip Cover Soft Satin Lipstick (rrp $30). Okay.. to be honest, I purchased my first Burberry lipstick because of its packaging. All the beauty blogger was raving about its sleek gunmetal casing with magnetic closure. So I bought one just to have a try at the casing. Surprise surprise when I actually love the texture, pigmentation, and how moisturizing it is.

This week's polish - Deborah Lippman's Accross the Universe

Sometimes I wish I have the time to change my nail polish every other day. Unfortunately, I'm not the most patient person and applying nail polish can be quite frustrating for me since I almost ALWAYS smudge or bump my polish... sometimes even before I put the bottle down. It happens because I'm always running around... doing a dozen things at once. So most of the time, I just don't bother with polish. But from time to time, there are always colors that I just fall madly in love with and willing to spend hours sitting down doing nothing to make sure the polish is completely dry before going back to "stealth mode" and continue my day.

This week I'm rocking Deborah Lippman's Across the Universe ($19 from beauty.com). It's described as blazing blue and metallic green glam in sheerest navy (glitter). I stared long and hard at my fingers but couldn't find the "metallic green glam". Oh well, I love it enough to wear it to work almost for the whole week (though it's not really a work appropriate color... not for my office anyway).

Back from another hiatus...

Ok, somehow going on hiatus has become a habit of mine. I am juggling so many roles in life that whenever things get super busy, I need to drop some balls roles to continue juggling. I have been developing a small fashion house with my sister where she is in charge of the ready wear collection and production as a whole, while I am developing the traditional line. It has been a fun yet challenging year since sourcing and transforming traditional Indonesian materials are not as easy as it seems. But I'm proud to take part in promoting Indonesian materials locally as well as internationally (through various online media).

I will share some pictures of my treasured findings and design through this blog. Hopefully these images can inspire you or simply brighten your days :)

*Please note that most images are captured using my iPhone or android since I do not always have my DSLR with me*