lune

I've been on-and-off searching for a "special occasions" bag for a very long time, and I think I finally found entry #1:

Demaker Leve Clutch in croc black

It's a longwinded story of how I came across this:
Once upon a time, I was probably reading an article on Die Workwear and the post featured a Korean brand. I clicked through the product link, which went to a US based boutique called W Concept. They mainly stock Korean designers based on my browsing . But the best part is...a very reasonable free shipping threshold to Canada and the item price includes all taxes and duties. Why can't more shops do this??
So when it came to a few weekends ago when I wanted to search for bags, (spurred by Suggy's 2019 bag roundup, I am an easy influence), I went through every page of W Concept's bag listings and found this gem. It's still a little more expensive than what I'd like to pay (~$100, since the cost per wear will be abysmal), but the design has everything I'm looking for.

I still did my due diligence and looked through every page on Garmentory as well. It was quite a rewarding process actually:

• it confirmed that I have very narrow preferences for bags
• I narrowly did not buy the Clare V moyen Alice bag that was on sale, which has been my wishlist for a while
• also found the current most perfect tote too
• I appreciate the range of bag designs much more, I get why people are bag people now 😂
• yep I still like the Demaker bag the most, but this abalone shell box clutch also stole my heart albeit slightly less practical (but also versatile!!)

There was over 5000 bags on Garmentory, so naturally I found other brands that are in line with my aesthetics:

• OAD
• Audette (they choose the best colours, also more motivation to visit CDMX)
• Inne (why I didn't end up buying the Alice bag)

transfer

Some things I've made in the past weeks:

Steamed salmon in foil pouch with miso, onions and carrots. My mom really liked it and will be adding it to her repertoire. Obviously I feel quite proud of that.

Homestyle youcai stir fry, and steamed tofu with shiitake mushroom and corn meat sauce. This was a surprising hit with Jeff. I'm a fan as well since it has both plant and animal protein.

Thai red curry...sauce is from Maesri? I bought 2 different brands to compare but didn't note down which is which. I also don't taste much of a difference. But overall I quite like the taste and will likely make again for my lunch meal preps.

vector

I am very much amused by this arrangement, but also sad that this pot was the last of the tea stored in the persimmon jar. I got the tea from a family friend in China, which means the chances of acquiring more of it is next to zero. Will order some yunnan hongcha next time, although I'm also craving some rooibos. Rui told me about the rooibos lemonade she's having and that another warm-weather thing that I'm looking forward to.

fasteners

Ok I lied, this will be the last end-of-winter post, mostly because I hope to title any future posts as start-of-spring.

 textures, the crappy resolution from my phone camera almost adds to the charm

I admit to over-editing this, but it's a accurate representation of the hazy, pastel-y sunset

brick

One more winter is hopefully ending themed post:

The morning light has now changed in a way that there's direct reflection into my unit.

sequence

There's been 2 fragrances that I've been constantly reaching for during this late winter misery: Jo Malone's black cedarwood and Essential Parfum's orange x santal. Three if you count Amouage fate woman, but that's been a winter staple.

Orange x santal in particular is very suitable for my current mood where the splash of the orange lifts the winter blues and the woody dry down is comforting. Except this specific woody dry down leaves some to be desired, especially in comparison to Nishane's B-612. It seems...low resolution compared to the sandalwood in Nishane, less full and less present. Of course I'm not expecting the same sandalwood (or even real sandalwood at all) in the Essential Parfum as it's so affordable. But this does motivate me to try more of Atelier Cologne's citrus fragrances and layer the orange one over Nishane. Will be quite the expensive combo if I do love the effect 😅

Speaking of layering, I also enjoyed layering the Jo Malone with Sylvaine Delacourte's Oranzo for a similar contrasting effect. Maybe I'll spray one on each side of my neck as it's hard to detect the scent  once my hair & scarves absorb it all.

eyelet

Out of all clothing types, I am the most susceptible to wanting white summer dresses. Though strangely, I don't have any in my wardrobe right now, and that is a dangerous realization. 

Shopbop recently did a dress edit and I am watching these three:

I am glad that we are half way through February...

The Leopard

This is my second book report to Rui & Ben.

I had a hard time getting into this book, and only began to realize how good this is after the chapter taking place in Donnafugata. The pace of the book is slow, and there was a lot of characters' relationships to wrap your head around at the beginning. But I soon realized the slow pace, and large time skips between chapters, is actually really effective at telling the story.

My favourite quotations:

Donnafugata with its palace and its newly rich was only a mile or two away, but it seems a dim memory like those landscapes sometimes gloomed at the distant end of a railway tunnel; its troubles and splendours appeared even more insignificant than if they belonged to the past, for compared to this remote unchangeable landscape, they seemed part of the future, made not of stone and flesh but of the substance of some dream of things to come, extracts from a utopia thought up by a rustic Plato and apt to change at a whim into quite different firms or even found but to exist at all; deprived this of that charge of every which everything in the past continues to possess, they were a bother no longer.

“Sleep, my dear Chevalley, sleep, that is what Sicilians want, and they will always hate anyone who tried to wake them, even in order to bring them the most wonderful of gifts; [...] All Sicilian expression, even the most violent, is really wish-fulfillment: our sensuality is a hankering for oblivion, our shooting and knifing a hankering for death, our laziness, our spiced and drugged sherbets, a hankering for voluptuous immobility, that is, for death again; our meditative sure is that of a void wanting to scrutinize the enigmas of nirvana.  

The two young people looked at the picture with complete lack of interest. [...] For both them death was purely an intellectual concept [...]. Death, oh yes, it existed of course, but it was something that happened to others. The thought occurred to Don Fabrizio that it was ignorance of this supreme consolation that made the young feel sorrow much more sharply than the old; the latter are nearer the safety exit.

The truth no longer existed. Precarious fact, though, had been replaced by irrefutable pain.

Reading this also made me realize how much I read while being affected by other books that I love and significant life experiences.

roll

I've been impressed with Facebook's targeted ads lately, found a few Canadian jewelry brands that I dig, and this gem of a pant that's made in Toronto (and a price to match..)!!

Cotton bloomers by Uncle Studio

You don't even know how hard I've tried to find a pair of high waisted pant that is pleated! Not sure why flat front pants makes up like 95% of the options, and of the remaining 5% pleated pants, 99% of that is a cropped length. Now this being a relatively small brand, the sizing is not ideal for me. Most of their sizes have a 30.5" inseam, which is 4 whole inches longer than I need. I expect I'll need to have it shorter by at least an inch even for a decently aggressive cuff. The relaxed fit (at least on the model) is great too, tho I would like a wee bit more taper in the legs.

I've shown the pant in white, because it's the most illustrative image of the cut. But what I really want is this in green. Once again this is because of Simon of Permanent Style, and also another outfit image that I've previously pinned:

The color combo of slightly desaturated green pants with cream, white, and grey is perfection. The above pants don't actually match the two inspo images (which are closer to a classic relaxed chino), but that's beside the point.

for me not you

2 / 2:

Knockin’ on my door ( oh I should probably open it )

February is looking to be absolutely packed in terms of work, which means new songs to play on repeat one.

1 / 2:

sheen

So I’ve been thinking of getting back into makeup. This is motivated by a few Chinese beauty youtubers that I found recently. Actually I found Vivikatt a while ago and am always excited to watch her videos. Qiuqiu is more recent and holy she is the goddess of brows and eyeshadow. Nannan is the most recent and I very much enjoy the cheesy intros of her videos. But most importantly of all, their explanations of makeup techniques, and also criteria to evaluate products (especially base makeup) is so insanely detailed. It’s actually an educational experience watching them. I also find all of their personalities to be quite refreshing and easy to watch.

I haven’t binged too many of their videos, and have thought a lot about how I want to re-approach makeup. It’s both satisfying for me to arrange fundamentally aesthetic experiences into frameworks, but also kinda frustrating because make-up is highly hands on, for both figuring out what products are suitable and also to improve application techniques. But I’ve been avoiding going to malls to minimize my risks of contacting the coronavirus, so let me ramble on.
(I also thought too much about how to structure this post, but eventually gave up and the points below are rather independent and in no particular order)

Base makeup: cushions will continue to be my daily base since it’s so quick and convenient, so is it worthwhile to get a proper foundation? I feel it’s largely unnecessary and can always get samples from Sephora for when I feel the need arises. Using foundation will also entail getting the appropriate tools, such as brushes or sponges.

Outer eye: I really don’t know what to do with my outer eye. My upper eyelid overhangs my lower eyelid quite a lot...lengthwise? And the overhand is quite puffy too. I typically do a straight or upwards wing, which I think works well. But I feel it limits what I can do with on my lower lash line, any lining or colors look odd.

Contour: I’ve decided that this will be my first focus since my jaw is the part of my face that I’m least satisfied with. Will start small with the nyx taupe blush and a brush that I already owe. But there was a lot of analysis paralysis that preceded this. Like do I use a cream or powder product (aka more time blending per application or more time washing brushes), what is a good shade (cool and pale skintones are not the majority), do I commit to a high end product that has pretty much a consensus of praise (kevin aucoin’s powder), do I just use a darker foundation (with its own myriad of product choices)...

Blush: I put on some blush that I already own for CNY and realized that hey I really like how that looks. So after contouring I’ll tackle blush. Not sure if I want a matte (Burberry blush or Clinique cheek pop) or a shimmer (Hourglass ambient light blush).

Eyeliner: after using liquid liners for so long, I feel that perhaps a gel liner is the better format. Even my trusty k-palette will smudge and transfer on my hooded lids if unprimed, and it takes forever to apply a thick enough wing (I don’t even do a full line as before) with the tiny brush.

Lipstick: I feel accomplished in realizing that berry shades are not something I really enjoy wearing, and so can slim my wardrobe down further. Currently my ideal line up is:

• Warm tone red, buildable opacity 
• Darker red, matte 
• Brighter pink, sheer and watery 
• Dried rose, satin 
• Darker brown, satin 

totem

The lesson learned is that art galleries are difficult to photograph at night, and that my XT10 is pretty unusable above ISO1600. Also to avoid the Wednesday night free admission time to visit Infinity Mirrors.

Sylvaine Delacourte Orange Blossom collection

I'm much more excited by the theme of this third collection compared to musk and vanilla. Magnitudes more excited.
tl;dr: it's good, but it seems like the base notes of all 3 collections is either creamy or musky, both of which is not my cup of tea :(

Sylvaine Delacourte Ozkan
Hmm, a very medicinal opening. Not the hanbang type that I usually like, this one is slightly off-putting due to the…camphor? liquorice? It is growing on me tho. However, I don’t detect much of orange blossom, or at least as a distinct note. Even after looking at the official list of notes, I can’t say I can pick out any of them distinctly, so perhaps its a pro that this scent is so well blended. I do notice the leather starting to appear about an hour in. Few more hours later, the prominent note to me is the Tonka bean. Very creamy, slightly sweet and powdery. The leather never became strong, which is a relief for me. Interestingly, I can still clearly smell the medicinal accord if I put my nose right next to it, after more than 12 hours later. Overall not a scent I'd wear.

Sylvaine Delacourte Oscarine
Yay a petit grain opening! The orange blossom is prominent too. There is a richness that follows the opening, and stays for most of the fragrance. But it turns out I’m wrong, there is no petit grain, but rather basil and pine needles. I can’t say that I can identify those notes even with the knowledge that they’re there. There is also raspberry and blackcurrant, which I also don’t get despite other reviews referring to this as a fruity floral. I do get a nutty accord for some odd reason, actually this smells strongly like a nougat now. The rest of the fragrance stays in the creamy territory. Overall, there's facets of this scent that I like, but I can't say that I enjoy this too much as a whole.

Sylvaine Delacourte Osiris
This is slightly biased as I know what the notes are suppose to be for this fragrance, hence I do smell a hint of the sesame right at the opening. It’s an interesting combination, the opening is mostly green and fresh, but not entirely so as there’s an underlying creaminess. For some reason I must be blind to the fruits in this collection, as I don’t get the clementine at all. After an hour or so, the creaminess becomes the prominent accord although the green accord is still clearly noticeable. The creaminess is very vanilla-y, rather than the sesame I was hoping for. The green accord does fade after a while, and what’s left is the orange blossom (now I realize it was always here, but not distinct until after the green fades) and the vanilla notes. The fragrance doesn’t change afterwards. Overall it’s pleasant and I see myself using up the sample, but not purchasing a full bottle.

Sylvaine Delacourte Olyssia
Ok I swear I smell petit grain in every one of these fragrances opening, and I better be right this time. That or this is neroli on top of orange blossom. The opening is green and floral, very pleasant. The floral quickly dominants, and it is a subtly honeyed floral. Extremely pleasant. This fragrance stays this way for about 3 hours, but that’s about it for its longevity. Overall I can see myself using up the sample, but not buying a full bottle.

In comparison to L’artisan Parfumeur’s historic d’orange, which is one of the iconic orange blossom fragrances, the opening of that is purely floral, then some warmth and then some green notes come in. There’s also some spice note that I haven’t previously noticed, kinda like star anise which also has a woody quality. Interestingly, this transitions completely to the impression of the orange tree’s branch, with minimal flowers right after the opening. The scent again changes to a soapy floral, I don’t recall this fragrance changing so much and so completely the first time I tried it. Upon reading my first impression, it could not be any more different 😅 I called it linear ha. After few hours, this is now back to orange blossom being the main note.

Sylvaine Delacourte Oranzo
Yay another petit grain opening! This fragrance actually stays predominating green even when the orange blossom comes in. This more so matches my first impression of L’artisan Parfumeur’s history d’orange. In the heart of the fragrance, I get the faintest hint of a green pepper note, like a bitter crisp and very slightly spicy, perhaps this is what the description meant by icy haha. It’s faint enough that it doesn’t bother me. Upon reading some reviews, the green pepper seem to be from the resin. This is the most wearable and attractive to me fragrance out of the orange blossom collection. Will have to consider this vs Thomas Kosmala no 1. tonic blanc as my go-to for hot and humid days.

I also discovered, quite accidentally (this scent lingered on my bath robe to the next day), that this layers well with Jo Malone's black cedar wood and juniper. In fact, the two together smells a lot like L'artisan Parfumeur's dzhongka, in particular the incense accord! Will have to purposely layer the two again and confirm, but if this is indeed not a fluke, then I like these 2 scents a heck lot more.