Easy Jersey Dress Look

02 August 2017

Wearing a dress is probably the easiest way to dress up during the summer months. One garment and done. If it’s really really really hot, you don’t even have to bother with a jacket although bigger chance I probably would still bring one just in case. That’s just the kind of person I am.

And jersey is just an easy material, not too thick so I don’t feel suffocated inside. I am not one to wear a sleeveless dress (or tops) but when the sun is basically on top of my head 1) I don’t want to risk having a t-shirt tan and 2) It’s just bloody hot! I kind of have no option.

The easiest and comfiest and the most me way of dressing this is by wearing sneakers as footwear of choice. I tried with my Isabel Marant Etoile Dicker boots once but it’s just not right. I’m not giving up just yet though! There must be a way to wear the two together.

By the way, I just recently re-discovered LOVE.FEAT.ZACARI by Kendrick Lamar feat Zacari (duh). And it’s so good!!! Also Selfish by Future and Rihanna?! I’m on the mellow vibe lately. Maybe because the rain has been visiting us more often than the past few weeks. Despite being mellow, I still can appreciate the music video of LOYALTY.FEAT.RIHANNA by Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna. That is so siiick! Kung Fu Kenny is on FIRE! Ok I’m off topic now. Time to head out.

What do you guys listen to lately?

How I Plan to Save Money for My Wedding

26 July 2017

Image is from Pinterest

Breaking news: Deo and I are getting married! The trip to Indonesia that we took a few weeks ago was to discuss him and I getting married with my parents. Probably not the most cost effective thing to do but we both glad we took the trip and talked to them in person. And now come the half fun half stressful part of the wedding. Planning it.

If it were up to us, Deo and I would have been married by now without any ceremonies. We would have gone to the city hall and paid €200 and be done with it. Not too romantic I know, but that would have happened if I disregard my mother’s request. We might still throw a mini hey we’re married now party but nothing like a wedding reception at all. But I love my mom to bits and I would want her to have what she wants. So we’re doing the whole shebang in March 2018 in Indonesia.

The things I will mention below might confuse you because Indonesians do wedding quite differently than the west. On average, people invite about 1000 people to their weddings (at least the weddings I attend to and my friends do). You might ask “do you even know 1000 people???”. And I would have answered no, and they probably would to. But in Indonesia, the people who got invited to a wedding is not just close family or the bride and groom’s friends. Both parents’ friends are also invited. Also the extended of their extended families. It’s seen as a ‘gift’ to your parents to throw a party before you leave their house.

And since what I want is a complete opposite to what the norm is in Indonesia. My mother and I agreed to meet in the middle. Which means, I can save some money from not planning a regular Indonesian wedding. And here are some ways I plan to save money for my wedding.

1. Doing it at home

Our wedding will be held at home in Indonesia. My family has done this several times in the past. It’s not the same house, but we got this. My mom’s second wedding as well as my aunt’s wedding were held at our old family house. And I remembered both being more cozy and close as opposed to the weddings I have been to in the past. We do have to rent a tent (a nice event worthy tent) and some chairs. But it’s nothing compared to the bills we have to pay if we were to book a ballroom or some sort.

2. Limited invitations

When my Indonesian friend got married, she sent out 600 invitations (resulting in roughly 1200 guests). She also invited her closest friends through Facebook additionally as well as her immediate family. Which means there were more than 1200 people came to her wedding reception. So when I said limited invitations that means I expect to have up to 100 people in my wedding including my family. It’s still a lot for me, but my parents would like to invite their closest friends so the number of guest can get closer to 100.

3. Spotify is my DJ

I’m in love love love with Spotify. I’ve been trying to start to curate my own playlists for my wedding. There’s no need to hire a band since my home in Indonesia is not that big. I would much prefer for people to just chat around with a soft music in the background. This way I’m paying only €7.50 for my DJ.

4. Home cooked meals

Like I have mentioned earlier, my mom’s second and my aunt’s wedding were held at my family home. And for my aunt’s wedding, my other aunt cooked almost all of the meals that were served during the reception. At least most or maybe all of the main dishes. And my aunt who cooks is quite possibly the best cook in the whole world. So I believe we can save some moolah for this wedding when it comes to food without compromising quality.

5. No liquors/alcoholic beverage

Liquors are expensive. And since this wedding will be a muslim wedding, we won’t be serving any liquor/alcoholic beverage. If none of my coworkers decide to come to this reception, I think not one person will even realize the lack of alcohol in this wedding.

6. No engagement ring

Since the wedding is still many moons to come, people have been nagging me to get an engagement ring. But I stood my ground to not wanting to have one. Because firstly it’s really not a necessity in my book and secondly I despise the thought of Deo having to spend thousands of euros just for a ring that will be replaced come March. Because I plan to wear my wedding band and my wedding band only. I’m not that into jewellery thus there’s really no reason to spend a ludicrous amount of money on a ring. Shoes? We can talk about it…

There are also other articles that I can save money from such as having my ‘dress’ (I won’t be wearing a dress per se, it’s something traditional-ish) tailor made by my mom’s go to lady. As well as getting our wedding bands made in Indonesia for a fraction of the price from getting them in Europe. I will be updating this space when I can share more detail about what I do end up saving as well as splurging (I’m drooling over a pair of Manolo’s at this minute).

Summer Beauty Favorites

24 July 2017

It’s been a hot minute since the last time I posted a beauty favorites post. Or maybe it’s just been a hot minute since I post about anything at all. But I have made a deal to myself to blog more religiously and improve the quality of my content. I hope you guys stick around with me for more contents in the future!

This year summer is different than all the summers I have had in the past (I moved to a country with four seasons in 2011 so before that I didn’t really have summer). This year we have had so many hot days. Way more than 2016 as far as I can remember. In The Netherlands they always say that we only have about 2 weeks of ‘nice’ (nice is subjective, in here, it means warm) weather a year. But oh boy 2017 is the year of long Summer. I had to panic buy lots and lots of sleeveless tops, denim cutoffs, and linen everything. Which I returned about 95% of them because I came to realize that I hate summer dressing. But summer beauty is different. You get to be heavy handed with your bronzer and your face looks healthier than any other season. That’s how I feel anyway.

Speaking of being heavy handed with bronzer, the one that I have been using non stop is my NARS Laguna bronzer. I can’t say I have tried a lot of bronzers out there but Laguna takes the cake for me. The tone of the bronzer just emits warmth to my face with the slight shimmer in it. NARS Laguna on me don’t look too noticeable upon first application so I can build it up to my liking. Which is my preference when it comes to cheek products actually. I don’t need them to be too pigmented as long as they are buildable.

Waterproof mascara is arguably the most important thing that I stock up to prepare before summer. This year, I purchased Fairy Drops Scandal Queen waterproof mascara off of ASOS as my waterproof mascara of choice. Initially, I was slightly underwhelmed by the performance of this mascara. I am a lover of thick full lashes so I really like to wiggle the wand on the roots of my lashes to give them super full coat. Unfortunately this mascara didn’t deliver when I first used it. But once it’s opened for a little while, I can achieve my lash dream with this mascara. And the formula holds the curl until you have time to take it off. And you need a powerful waterproof eye makeup remover to do so. My favorite is this one.

For a good lip moisturizer that has spf in it, I have been using By Terry Baume de Rose lip balm. You might think I’m nuts for spending around €40 on a pot of lip balm, but I’d like to slip in a small bit of luxury in my day to day life sometime. And this one just do the trick. I’m so happy that this lip balm has spf 15 built in so I can avoid getting burn lips. Funny story, I didn’t know I was capable of getting burned (this was stupid I know) and so ignorant of the pain it brings until my holiday in Thailand that I missed a spot on my shoulder. After that I have made a promise to myself to better overdose on the sunscreen than getting burned.

When I was in Marrakesh in June, I purchased myself a small bottle of argan oil infused with gardenia in it. And so far my favorite way of using the oil is as an oil perfume. My mom used to buy the small pot of oil perfumes from The Body Shop when I was young, so using an oil perfume now makes me feel slightly nostalgic. The gardenia scent in it just so soft and feminine yet so memorable. The way I apply it usually by rubbing a small dot onto both my hands and my neck. Moisturizing + smelling good at the same time. Unfortunately I can’t tell you where to get this anywhere other than Marrakesh. Even then I don’t remember where exactly I bought it (somewhere in the beginning of anti atlas mountain). But you probably can try a perfume by Aerin.

And you might wonder, where is the favorite sunscreen, Ellya??? Oh well, I was just using up my Rituals one and I kind of hate it now that it’s so hot. It’s a bit too oily for the summer time. I do like the one I just bought from La Roche Posay but don’t feel comfortable saying it’s a favorite since I have had it in my possession for about a week. It’s this one if you’re curious.

So now that I have spilled all my favorites for the summer months, can I say that I can’t wait for fall to come?

Shoe Collection: Sneakers

12 July 2017

Adidas Stan Smith

Pro tip: buy kids version instead of adult version to save some bucks. Although the lapel of the shoes are different. The ones for kids are cushioned whilst the ones for adults are leather. Whichever you prefer, Adidas Stan Smith is a great sneakers to have. I am not saying any of my shoes are must haves for anybody out there because every person is different. But I would repurchase whenever this pair dies on me.

Converse All Stars

If there’s a holy grail sneakers for me, this pair is the one. Either low top or high top, or both?! My very first pair of Converse All Star were when I was in kindergarten and I don’t think I have been without ever since. I remember when I used to actually play basketball in them with blistery feet. Ah good times…

Converse Pro Mid

On the same day these shoes arrived, my coworker accidentally spilled sweet liquor on one shoe. And you know… these shoes are suede… So there’s still ugly mark on one shoe that surprisingly only I can see.

Superga Cotu

One pair of sneakers that I wished I didn’t have. I bought it during my holiday because it was cheaper than in The Netherlands. I coveted the shoes about three years ago. Now I know why I put off buying them for so long. The tongue area of the shoes are not long enough or tall enough to wear normal socks. I have to wear no show socks with them or else I’d just look weird. Also unfortunately, the cushion of the shoes are not that comfortable. I find the bottom of my feet hurting a lot after a long period of time wearing them. But I’d keep them for now if I can somehow make it work.

Now that I think of it, I actually still have two other pairs of sneakers. Lol. What a fail. So the rest of the collection will be using images I have found on my Instagram account.

Puma

I have zero clue what’s the shoes called. Deo bought them for me for my placeholder birthday gift before the actual birthday gift in 2015. I don’t wear them often because 1) they’re suede and 2) they’re a gift. So I don’t want to ruin them with accidental liquor spills.

Nike Pegasus

Excuse the weird photo of choice. I miss that Mulberry Bayswater very much. I don’t really know whether or not I’m experiencing a seller regret since I know it’s a good decision to not have a luxury bag that doesn’t suit my lifestyle but god damn that bag is beautiful. Ok back to the shoes. I purchased this pair to replace my old exercise shoes. So I don’t really wear them out and about that often. More when I go to the gym (which is not that often) or when I play football (around once a week). Very good cushioning!