This feels different.

You know how they say, "when you know, you know.”?

And you're always perplexed by that answer, 'cos in all honesty, it explains nothing. zilch. nada.

But I think I get it now.

This feels...stable. It's not that exciting adrenaline high that lasts for a hot minute. It's this calming, non-volatile bliss that continues on.

I thought that the adrenaline hit was the best part, but this...this feels effortless. Not the kind of excitement that hits you so high that you're bound to get knocked down seconds later. But the kind of reassuring sentiment that you know this one'll last. This feels...constant. Not high, just enough, but constant. Do you know how good it feels to constantly be in this state of bliss? Just constant calming happiness. I'll take this over any high that only lasts as fast as it comes any day. No matter how high is the rush.

It feels so good to finally be in a state where I'm not confused anymore. No second guessing, no trying to decipher everything. Just pure, reassuring happiness.

Potato.

I just watched a TED Talk, I think for the first time ever in my entire 25 years of life, and that probably says something about my state of mind right now. I just felt I need to hear a good advice like I never before.

In it, she said something along the line of "when dating, instead of focusing on whether the person likes you, focus on how they make you feel."

And in the comment section, there was this long & sweet story that someone shared and the bottom line is something like, "sometimes the person you want to marry is not the person you actually need to marry."

And seeing both statements, something clicks in my head.

You know, you were never my "perfect" marriage material. You didn't check even half the list. But it was okay.

People around me questioned my judgement, but I didn't give a damn.

It puzzled me why I wanted to be with you even when others told me otherwise. Moreover, we didn't actually have much in common or a lot of things to talk about, but I still loved you. Now I know why: it all boils down to how you made me feel.

I loved how you made feel. I was freaking addicted to it. 

I always have trust issues and it's probably rooted in my well-hidden insecurities. But when I was with you, I felt safe and secure like I don't have to worry about anything.

You made me beyond happy everyday, it was almost like a fairytale. Even until now, after everything's been said and done, when I unconsciously think of our happier moments, I think about how we used to say, "Happy?" and the other would smile, nod, and say "Happy." Straight out of romcom movies, isn't it?

It's always gonna be my fondest memory of us. You, smiling at me from ear to ear, your eyes pushed into a half-moon, with the bright stars from my night light passing your face in the dark, saying "Happy?"

I know I'm hard to deal with, but you knew how to calm me down, and I liked that. There's these million little things that you did that turned me into a puddle. Like how you listen, and actually listen, not just patronising, to every single thing that I said. You made me feel heard. I loved that. I still remember how warm and fuzzy you made me feel when I realized you still remember a single random and trivial thing I told you about the weeks before.

I loved how I used to often caught you just starring at me silently, it made my heart flutters. It was a bliss. Our first few months was a bliss like I never felt before.

In that sense, you weren't what I wanted, but you were exactly what I needed.

But I guess I didn't make you feel the same way I did, so you stopped. I'm sorry I did what I did and I said what I said.

Once you stopped, I felt all the insecurities, anger, indignation, and another truckload of negative emotions hit me all at once. It didn't feel good, so I ended it.

Now everything has become a memory. A sad memory with so many happy moments.

I'm okay with that, or at least I will be.

Back to the TED Talk, the bottom line of it was: "Your healthiest relationships will only be as healthy as your relationship with yourself."

As cheesy as that sounds, it holds true. When she said that she was always looking for someone to be with to make her feel whole, it struck me that I do too. Which is why as soon as I ended things, I was in search for a replacement. But relationship like that won' work. I need to be able to commit to myself before anyone else.

And that's what I'm gonna try to do.

"Life doesn’t give you what you asked for. Life gives you the people, places, and situations to develop what you asked for” also from the same TED Talk, and here is where it all come full circle.

Thank you for pushing me over the edge that I felt like I needed to watch a TED Talk I guess. I know it sounds sarcastic, but it's not. I'm actually thankful that I know what I know now.

Thank you for the happy moments.

------------

With this post and yesterday's post (both about different person), I feel like I'm on some step recovery journey lol deliberating my past relationships like this. But it's good though, right? Because "a mistake is not actually a failure, unless you don't learn from it and unless you don't grow". From the same TED Talk. Full circle, see?

I think I typed "TED Talk" here more than I've ever typed "TED Talk" in my entire life.

Hey Sam,

Happy Birthday.

I don't know if you'll ever read this, but I'm too cool for school to say all this directly to you, but I also need to pen this feeling down just so I can remember it in the future in case you annoy the fuck outta me, which you often do.

The short version of what I want to say is: Thank You.

Thank you so so much.

Thank you for being my sounding board even though we've parted ways almost 2 years ago.

Wow, 2 years. 

Sounds so long ago, but feels like it was just some moons ago. That's because you managed to make all that transition easier on me, you didn't just cold-heartedly leave me and cut me off, which you know full well that that is something I'd do. So thank you for not being someone like me. For not having ill-wish to torture me emotionally even after everything I had put you through. That takes a big, loving heart.

They say platonic friendship between exes is non-existent. But we've showed them up, right?

Okay, maybe not the first year, but now, now we're in a good place. If it's not fully platonic yet, at least it's mostly platonic.

When you date your best friend, you risk of losing them when the relationship's over. For someone as closed off as me, it's hard finding a best friend that I can trust enough to pour everything out. So thank you for still being my best friend.

You've showed me that our friendship means so much to us that even after the relationship's over, that friendship is just too precious to be thrown away with it. You didn't just write off 8 years of friendship, so now we're able to count it to 9.

To hell with anyone who says being close friends with your ex is not healthy or weird.

They don't know us, they don't what we had gone through together, because you know it wasn't all rainbow and sunshine, we'd been through thick and thin together. There is so much history there that they don't know. And it's not a history we wanna repeat, but it's always gonna be there.

They don't know what we went through just so we could save the friendship part of our crumbling relationship. We had to learn to navigate through the muddy path of being friends with someone you still deeply care for, but also kinda hate at the beginning cos we were both hurt. 

But we did it. We came out the other side having only love and care for each other, no hard feelings nor resentment. True, it's not a love that a relationship can be built up upon, but that's the point right? It's a much less volatile type of love, a platonic philia love, which better suits us 'cos let's be real, we were kinda toxic and destructive towards one another when it was the other way. So who are they to say that this friendship's not healthy? How dare they? Fuck them, right? Our relationship was not healthy, I'll give 'em that.

So, instead of dwelling into all that negativity, let's toast to our friendship that we've built and the years ahead of it. Thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for being a constant in my life when even someone who's supposed to be one, isn't.

You're a year older, I hope wiser too. And I hope you nothing but the best, you freaking deserve it. I hope you'll be as happy as a person possibly could. I hope she is a much much better partner than I ever was (ok fine, I admit, I was kinda the worst. You shut up) and I hope she's everything you deserve, 'cos you deserve a great one. I hope your work will go on smoothly and everything will fall into place 'cos I know you work hard and you deserve a good life. Importantly, I hope you'll always be healthy and get to enjoy this life to the fullest.

Happy Birthday :)

P.s. In case you do read this, don't tell me. Just act like you haven't and for the love of God, don't patronise me about it or I'll hit you over the head with a 20kg Bolt cat. kthxbye.

2020 and am still alive and well.

Woah, it’s been more than two years since the last time I blogged here and I kinda miss it. I miss posting the random thoughts and happening of the day that no one cares about. You know, like the content of old school blogging where it’s just ugly, low-resolution photos and diary-style stories.

I guess not a lot of people still does that nowadays, right? Cos that kind of content doesn’t get as much eyeballs anymore. But looking back at my old posts, I actually really cherish those kind of post the most ‘cause it’s like a memory photo book. And God knows I need it given my poor memories lately. Oh, and I also noticed that I had wider english vocabularies when I used to blog/do youtube videos. My english speaking was definitely better. Now even a simple english conversation might trip me wtf.

SO. For the sake of my declining english skill. And poor memories. I’m gonna start blogging randomly again for my own amusement. My last few posts before this had been ad/sponsored in some way, and that kinda slowly taking the fun out of blogging I guess. Not gonna pressure myself or make a target of how many post a month ‘cause based on past experience, that’s just gonna flop lol.

Can’t believe it took me THREE freaking paragraph to blog about blogging. Man, I had forgotten how much I’d ramble on and on and on when I blog nonsensical stuff like this.

Anyway, future me, if you’re reading this, this is you trying to save memories alive cause you’re so self-absorbed, you enjoy reading your own past posts about your boring daily life. You’re welcome, you self-centric you. Or me. Cheers. xo.

How to Drink Collagen? | KINOHIMITSU

Last month I attended an event from Beauty Journal and Kinohimitsu, so today is another one of my blog post where I'll go on about one of my obsession, which is COLLAGEN.

source

I've talked at length all about collagen before, you can read about it here.

TL;DR? Here's the gist:

Collagen is a gelatin fiber that makes up to 30% of the proteins in the body. It's the building material to renew cells in all areas of the body including the hair, skin, nails, eyes, teeth, cartilage, bones, tendons, organs, arteries, blood vessels, hemoglobin, immune cells and the immune system. - the source. 

It's the thing that makes your skin smooth, "bouncy" and elastic. As you grow older, your skin starts to sag and wrinkles start to appear, that's because your body produces less and less collagen, insufficient to renew enough skin cells and maintain your youthful skin. 

By drinking a collagen supplement, you help your body compensating its lack of collagen reproduction.

I went into more detail about collagen supplement vs. natural collagen occurring in food in that post, so read the post anyway ok! 😆

When talking about collagen drink in Indonesia, KINOHIMITSU is probably one of the most prominent ones. I believe it's the first collagen drink brand that I know of.

But to my surprise, they also sell other beauty supplements too, which I'm gonna get into in a lil' bit because I want to start with their flagship products, which of course, is their COLLAGEN DRINK.

The concept of drinking collagen may be relatively new in Indonesia, however, you'd be surprised at how common and popular it is in Japan. It's so prevalent there that you can easily buy collagen drink at a convenience store (e.g. Lawsons, Family Mart, 7-11, etc). It's probably one of the reasons why those Japanese tend to age damn gracefully 😠 *envious glare*.

Being uncommon here, you might wonder, when should you start drinking collagen? There's no certain answer, as it depends on your lifestyle, but 20 is normally when your collagen production starts to decrease.

source

You'd notice how pillow mark from when you wake up disappears slower than before. THAT's because you don't have as much collagen to maintain ever-so-bouncy skin like when you're a baby and why you should start preserving all the collagen that you DO have.

There're 2 types of Kinohimitsu collagen drinks available in Indonesia:

1) Kinohimitsu J'PAN BEAUTY ~DRINK~ which contains 2500mg collagen
2) Kinohimitsu COLLAGEN DIAMOND 5300 which contains a WHOPPING 5300mg collagen!

Which one should you choose? Again, it all depends on your lifestyle but as a rule of thumb, people in their 20s to 30 may drink the one with 2500mg collagen, while people above 30 may drink the one with 5300mg collagen.

It's not a hard and fast rule, as your lifestyle (e.g. food intake, sleep pattern, daily make-up, etc) plays a huge part in your collagen damage and renewing capability.

But you can expect the following across both collagen drinks:

1) NO PRESERVATIVES & NO ADDITIVES
The collagen drink may last between 3-4 years (provided stored properly, unopened) with no preservatives thanks to UHT technology, a dark glass material (prevents sun damage), and thick bottle.

2) LESS SUGAR
Each bottle only contains 5g of sugar.

source

When is the best time to drink collagen? From my googling months back (I've been drinking collagen drink for about a year now), I read that it's best to take your collagen supplement when you wake up on an empty stomach, but a Kinohimitsu representative said that it's also good to take it right before you sleep as your body renews cells at night when you're sleeping.

If you're in your 30s, it's recommended to combine collagen drink with Vitamin C to add collagen back.

Another thing you can do to BOOST the effectiveness of drinking collagen is by doing DETOX before you start.

Kinohimitsu J'PAN D'T JUICE is one of many ways to do just that.

By detoxing your body, you help rid your body of toxin and other things that may hinder maximum absorption of collagen, thus making your collagen drink that much more effective, which is why it is recommended for you to do detox BEFORE you start drinking collagen drink.

If you're choosing to use Kinohimitsu detox drink to do that, you may drink it once a day before you sleep for about 6 days. After that, you can stop with the detox drink and continue with collagen drink.

Do the detox again 6 months later (about twice a year).

And last, but not least, in the Kinohimitsu line-up is the J'PAN U-B DRINK.

To put it crudely, it's a sunscreen that you drink 😅  It helps to protect you from the sun for about 9 hours after you drink it before you start your activity in the morning.

Please note this, you can not actually replace sunscreen with this drink. What it does is, helping and working together with the sunscreen to protect your skin BETTER, especially if you're not the type of person who diligently reapplies sunscreen every 2 hours like you should.

Yes, no matter how high the SPF, you should reapply sunscreen every 2 hours: SPF is irrelevant to how long does a sunscreen last. Read more about it here.

That's pretty much it. I hope it sheds some light on how to start drinking collagen correctly and why collagen supplement benefits us. Oh, and also to help you if you're confused as to why there're so many types of drink from KINOHIMITSU (I was confused too lol 'cos I thought they only have collagen drink, but Y SO MANY TYPES 😩).

At this point, I feel like I'm an evangelist for collagen drink 😂  LET'S GO SPREAD THE COLLAGEN LOVE WORLDWIDE AND AGE GRACEFULLY LIKE THE JAPANESE OK!! 💕

FTC Disclaimer: Advertorial. This entry is in collaboration with Beauty Journal and Kinohimitsu.

THE FIRST INDONESIAN ORGANIC CERTIFIED SKIN CARE!!!

HEALTH.

That's the current hype among youths. I mean, people always aspire to be healthy, obviously, but it's like that desires have been multiplied tenfold in recent years.

Smoothie bowl, acai, quinoa, almond milk, gluten-free diet, low-carb diet, vegan-anything, etc, you name it. The whole nine. BUT the most pronounced of all would probably be the desire to keep our consumption ORGANIC.

It's the first step people usually make when they intend to have a healthier lifestyle, keeping things organic. It's like the gateway drug to all those healthier substitutes (e.g. almond milk instead of cow milk, nutritional yeast instead of cheese, etc). 

If you've read my blog, you know I love my food. I love fried food, meat, and fat-and-carb-laden creamy pasta. I'd rather have to workout harder than give up my gluten, carbs, and fat. I do, however, try to eat healthier in another way, like adding vegetables to my meal AND buying organic ingredients when I can afford it.

I'm sure there are a lot of you who don't just stop at your food intake when it comes to keeping it organic but going as far as your make-up and skin care as well, especially for those of you who have sensitive skin.

Thus, in this post, I'm gonna introduce to you a local ORGANIC CERTIFIED SKIN CARE RANGE.

Yes, it's an actual CERTIFIED organic skin care. There are a lot of local brands that promote their products as "natural" and "organic", but SOLUSI is actually the FIRST Indonesian brand to have a certification of organic cosmetics from ECOCERT.

And rest assured, it's brought to you by a trusted veteran in Indonesia's beauty scene, Martha Tilaar.

Aren't you proud of the rapidly growing local beauty brands in Indonesia nowadays?

As for the time being, they offer an anti-aging skin care range that uses GREEN GRAPESEED OIL and LICORICE EXTRACT as the main ingredient.

Green grapeseed oil contains a powerful anti-oxidant that is 20x stronger than Vitamin E and 50x stronger than Vitamin C. It preserves collagen structure in your skin to keep it youthful and elastic. 

Licorice extract contains Glabridin and Licochalcone that acts as anti-irritant and anti-inflammatory.

I personally think that you should start your anti-aging skin care in your 20s, so this skincare range is not just targetted towards women in their 30s and 40s, but also young adults.

Moreover, if you're in your early 20s and just starting to get serious about your skincare, SOLUSI provides simple and rounded products that can get you started.

There are no million products that you have to consider, just the essentials that you NEED, which are Face Cleanser, Face Wash, Face Toner, Moisture Lotion, and Night Cream. Yup, just 5 (they're adding a scrub in the near future, so look out for that. I think the only thing missing from the current line-up imo is eye cream). Easy and simple. From there, you can easily add serum, mask, and other things if you want to because you already have the basic covered by SOLUSI.

It's also worth mentioning that their packagings are degradable and environmentally-friendly. AND AND I absolutely love their Face Toner and Face Cleanser bottles. They have a gorgeous jade sheen.

Now, I'm not the most health-conscious person out there, so I don't actually actively looking for a natural skincare, but if you are, you'd be happy to know that they contain no Paraben, no SLS, no Mineral Oil, and no Propylene Glycol. And because of this, they only last for about 6 months after you've opened them.

That's a wrap on this post, hope you guys find it informational if you're looking for an organic skincare range and looking to support a local brand.

Take care,
xo



FTC Disclaimer: Advertorial. This entry is in collaboration with Beauty Journal and SOLUSI skincare.

[DOVE] Go Fresh & Deep Nourishing Body Wash | REVIEW

What is the most important aspect of a body wash for you guys?

For me, first and foremost, it's THE SCENT. If the scent intrigued me, I'd most probably buy the body wash to try.

Moisturization and other benefits come in second for me. I'm just superficial that way 😅

HOWEVER, I do have quite dry skin (especially legs) from staying in an air-conned room all day and laziness to put on body lotion, so if the body wash is moisturizing too, it's even better.

Today, I'm gonna do a thorough review of Dove body wash that promises both MOISTURIZATION and WONDERFUL SCENT.

a gratuitous vain photo appears lol

I first chanced upon this series of Dove body wash when I was in Singapore (it wasn't yet released in Indonesia) and I loved the cucumber one and contemplated to lug back a huge bottle of it, alas, my luggage was already full to the brim. It wasn't the only time by the way, I attempted again a couple years after that, but my luggage was full of food and heavy-ass condiments.

There are 4 scents available in Indonesia currently. I wish they'd release the other scents in the near future!

Here's an overview of Dove body wash:

• Retails for IDR20,000-IDR45,000 depending on where you get them and the size

• Available in 200ml and 400ml bottle (like mine in photos) and 550ml pump

• Refill pouch in 400ml is available

• Promises deep moisturization

  |PACKAGING|  

The packaging is just like any other body wash, I suppose. It's quite sturdy and I think won't accidentally spill all over because the cap is pretty tight. What I'm happy with though, is that a pump version of the bottle is available cos that's what I prefer for everyday home use. I just don't want to bother lifting the bottle up every time I use it in order to open the cap lol. I know, I know, #FirstWorldProblem much?

  |CONSISTENCY|  

The Go Fresh range has a translucent thinner texture and the deeply nourishing one is an opaque milky white with a thicker consistency.

  |SCENT|  

Like I said above, I love love the cucumber scent. It's oh-so-fresh and clean-smelling. The cucumber scent when I use it is not as strong as when I smell it in the bottle though. If you prefer a sweeter, warmer scent, go fo the deeply nourishing one.

The scent's power is STRONG! I got dog's slobber all over my hand and I can still smell the body wash through. The wonderful scent lingers for about 5 hours after I showered, which is not bad.

  |MOISTURIZER|  

It's definitely more moisturizing than regular body wash, but not to the point where you can skip body lotion. I do love the fact that it moisturizes my skin well without leaving that annoying sticky film that moisturizing soap usually does. It leaves my skin soft after I shower, none of those "dried out" feelings. Oh, and the deep nourishing is much more moisturizing (duh!) than the Go Fresh range, so if you have dry skin I really recommend you go with that one.

  |WHERE TO GET|  

Major grocery stores and convenience stores should already be carrying them now 😊 

  |OVERALL|  

I do think that this is a good solid body wash that I can see myself repurchasing in the future (especially if they launch new scents).

As a matter of fact, I actually HAVE repurchased them to take the photos in this post because I left mine in Tangerang and I'm in Jogja right now. I was confident enough that I'll love the body wash, so I just bought all three in here instead of lugging 3 bottles of body wash from Tangerang to Jogja. The scent lingers for a good 5 hours, but I do wish the scents are stronger (not the staying power, but the actual scent).

The deep nourishing one is indeed very moisturizing, but you still need to apply body lotion imo (the skin on my legs is very dry to begin with, like white patches dry), while the Go Fresh one is a bit more moisturizing than regular body wash.

Hope you find this review helpful! 😄

Till next time,

take care xo

FTC Disclaimer: this post is a collaboration with Beauty Journal and Dove as a part of Sociolla Blogger Network. All opinion remains my own and this post is not vetted.

HALLOWEEN STAYCATION PT.1

I don't usually write an event report unless I'm obligated to (I prefer to do a product review) because I find it boring (not the event, just the process of writing it).

BUT THIS EVENT WAS SUCH A HOOT, I immediately sorted out the photos after the event was done (right at the hotel's lobby while waiting for Sam), which is totally unheard of for me as I usually do this week(s) after, and edited all the photos sometime later. It's a Halloween Staycation with Emina!

The staycation was held at Yello Hotel, and luckily, it's walking distance from where Sam works! So he drove me from home to his office, then I only needed to drive like hundreds of meters from his office to the hotel. Yay. I hate driving in Jakarta with a passion.

I arrived pretty early, so I snapped some photos of the pretty decor. The theme was "TROPICAL".

That's real fruits! I actually poked it cos I thought they were fake 😅

EMINA "Soul Mattes". Haha pun. Have you ever realized that a bunch of Emina products' name are puns?😂

Anyway, the soul mattes, I've filmed a video of them and I actually like the fact that they're not waxy and dry like other matte lipsticks. They don't cling as much to dry patches of your lips either!

The hotel.

It's freaking adorable, please! It's one of those artsy, hipster-ish boutique hotels. The vibe is very casual and youthful, precisely the kind of hotel you'd have a staycation with your friends in.

There's lounge area where I spent 5 hours the next day at while waiting for Sam to finish work. So happy there's this area, or else I'd have to spend money on some random cafe (this hotel is in the same building with a small mall) and I'm too cheap for that. #forevercheapskate

X-box Kinect for guests to play with!

I think I took this photo because if that unique bicycle seat chair. Hipster enough for you?

And this one is me attempting an artsy shot 😂...and to show you there's foosball table.

We had lunch after the others had arrived, which is a buffet by Yello. I've mentioned my love for buffet multiple times in this blog, so yes, I was in bliss taking and gorging down all the food on the buffet line.

And I have to say, whilst the buffet is simple (just like other boutique hotels), the foods were really tasty.

That curried chicken was sooo delicious! The fish with, I think it was dabu-dabu sambal or rica-rica, was really good too.

I like their customized plate and bowl, so adorable. If I could bring 'em home, I would.

random photo I took of the buffet.😅

The cakes! which were meh haha. Go for their hot food instead ok!

This is what I meant by artsy hipster boutique hotel! There are sooo many murals you can practically do a whole week of OOTD with different background each time 😂. Perfect for Instagram-loving millennials, no?

There are full-length windows surrounding the area too, so may your vain photos always be LIT! Hey, it's a pun! See why I love Emina products' name now?

After lunch, our first activity was making our own lipstick!! And we could mix it with whatever color we want.

The pigment. There were red, nude, brown, pink, purple, etc.

And here's a vain photo of me with my concoction. There are only 2 vain photos of me in this post, I promise.

My lipstick!! I just anyhow threw in whatever color in front of me and ended up with a very boring red color 😞

Melt the pigment on this hot stove.

AND LOOK! I MADE A PLETHORA OF GIFs OF THE PROCESS! (okay, it's only 3 GIFs, but "plethora" seems infinitely more exciting)

 Woooo, self-spinning beaker.

Pour the hot hot mixture into a mold

AND LIFT!!

AND VOILA! My boring red lipstick emerged!! But so satisfyingly perfectly molded, right? 😜

Mine is the middle swatch. I wish I did a warm nude lipstick, which is equally boring I admit, but I'd wear it more often at least.

After this, we had a bit of chit-chat about the Soul Matte lipstick and off we go to our room. I'm bunking with Chaca. Met her during this staycation and she's sooo nice, love her. And that's her effort btw in making the lipstick swatches to be the shape of hearts.

See, there's even a mural on the wall of the room!! And the room is predominantly white and grey, purrfect for Instagram-dweller favorite theme, right? Minimalist, clean and barren. 

Ok, ok, I poked fun at all these IG stereotypes, but I actually also like the minimalist and clean theme 😆

Here's the other and the last vain photo of me! See, I kept my promise. Only 2 gratuitous photos.

The goodies Emina team left us on our bed. We were so spoiled. 💓

Thankyou Emina and Beauty Journal for having me on this Halloween Staycation! Stay tuned for the part 2 of this Staycation ok, that's the Halloween part! I'll blog very soon cos I'm feeling diligent.

MIZZU SHORT MOVIE!!! | Beauty Journal X MIZZU

Quick blog update!

Went to a MIZZU event a couple weeks ago to preview their short movie. Local brands are really creative nowadays, love it.

I'm sure y'all (from Indonesia) familiar with Mizzu. Their eyeliner pen was such an instant and HUGE HUGE hit back when it first launched.

Anyway, because I'm not really a beauty junkie and quite often late to the party when it comes to cosmetics and beauty trends, I actually thought Mizzu specialized in kick-ass eyeliner pen only (and liquid lippies, their liquid lippies were quite a hit too), where in fact they have actually launched a plethora of other makeup products!! Mascara, eyeshadow, remover...

See? See? Blush on, eyeliner pencil, eyebrow products, lip liner...

Their latest product is GLAM ROCK foundation!

Not quite sure if it's launched already or not. I'm not even sure if it's like powder foundation, cushion, or what...I'm so bad at this wtf 😅

In my defense, the event was focused on the short movie, so the glam rock was only mentioned in passing by the actress who wore it in the movie. She said something along the line of how it lasts for a long time and that she only needed to touch up once or twice in a whole day of filming. Something like that. *defensive*

There were 3 activities during the event, but I was horribly late (Kemang traffic is no joke 😑 and it was raining cats and dogs) so I kinda skipped the first one and went ahead to take some food haha.

Quiche and Mini sandwich from NOMZ Jakarta

I tried being a diligent blogger and took some photos of the surrounding while my team (I just randomly joined Yuri's team) finished the first task haha *useless teammate I was*

and I spotted something interesting. Will we make some kind of lippie concoction?? 😍

After the first activity, we got a preview of the Short Movie, titled "COMPLETE"!

All cozy on the bean bag chairs while the emcee introduce the movie

Okay, this GIF not much of a preview, but the story is, there's this popular "influencer" (I hate this word, barf) who always refuses to attend events and sends back products all the time, so she's been known as arrogant and bitchy. Then, a company wants to use her, and just so happen one of the employees was the influencer's schoolmate. Thus, the journey begins in uncovering as to why this influencer is arrogant af.

Haha how's my summarising skill?

The actors. Yup, they use actual actors, not random people who'll deliver cringe-level acting.

I'm gonna be honest here, I'm not much of a nationalist when it comes to the entertainment industry in Indonesia (entertainment= movies, tv series, & music). 

I find most are cringe-worthy and too drama-laden and I'm not a fan of most of the humor used. As for music, I like some of oldie music (Sheila on 7, Chrisye, Rossa, Ebiet), but not so much the newer ones (maybe I'm just getting old lah 'cos I also don't like a lot of the current edm-heavy, clubby-vibe western music - no, I'm not trying to be hipster ok, I'm just saying I'm old). 

I do love to support local brands like Mizzu though! And there are some local movies and series that I liked when I was younger! And I love Indonesia of course (I feel like I have to add this in case people accuse me of not loving my country and its crafts)!!!

That being said, after I've watched the movie preview, it's not as cringy as I expected. The storyline is kinda interesting. I can see that a lot of work goes into the movie, it's not just some random clips put together to promote Mizzu products (they say Mizzu only appears for a split second near the end). The movie actually has a story to tell and lessons in the media life to give. 

The soundtrack is an original by The Voice winner (forgot his name, Billy something) and I think people in general will like it. So, yeah, go ahead and give it a watch when it's released on MIZZU youtube channel. 💕

Moving on to the second activity...

YUP! We're actually going to make our own liquid lipstick~

This is the color that we have to recreate.

Pic from @giselavi

And our team actually WON this challenge!! I don't have any photo of us tho :( I brought my DSLR with me, but stupidly I forgot to bring the CF memory card wtf. All the photos, except the ones from Gisela, were taken with my phone.

Another round of food 😍 also from NOMZ.

I freaking love their unique churros. You know how churros are usually crispy outside doughy inside? These ones are CRUNCHY through and through. It has this caramelized sugar texture. LOVE IT! Pairs really well with the bitter chocolate sauce and sour strawberries. I downed 3 cups of these and when I went to get more, they're gone already 😩.

The third and final activity is a make-up estafet (relay race)~

Pic from @giselavi

This is the only photo I have of the race. Putting this up cos I look PRO with my itty bitty makeup sponge lol. We didn't win this race though.

And that wraps up the MIZZU X Beauty Journal event!

oh, oh, by the way, the event was held at COMO Park and there is a dog park in it!!! So exciting! It's free too, you can just bring you pup there and have a good time. Let me know if you know any dog-friendly place/park/beach around Jakarta and Tangerang area :)

Ok toodles

xo take care



FTC Disclaimer: This is a sponsored blogpost in collaboration with Mizzu and Beauty Journal as a part of Sociolla Blogger Network.