17.04.16 | Updates and approaching A2 !

Hiii!

How have you been? Its already mid- April, and the year has just gone by so quickly! I hope you're at peace with wherever you are in life, and that your first quarter of 2016 was good :)

I've been okayyy (in case you were wondering hahahahah). Just finished trials and stuff, which means A2 is literally around the corner *gasp* How well I do will determine where I go to do my degree, where I live for the next few years, my career path, my lifestyle, my whatever else I need to be worrying about as a 20 year old so yeah....

no pressure right?

Except pressure, lol. But oh wells, part and parcel of life and all that.

My days have been pretty, routine like. I go to classes on weekdays. Teachers have pretty much stopped teaching new things, and we just go to class, do our own work and then ciao, which is pretty pointless to me ? I'd be doing the same amount of work if I was at home or in my room but now with the added time and energy of walking alll the way to the academic block, sheeeessssshhhh. I like being in KY a lot, but their compulsory attendance system gets me frustrated so much, and I don't have the guts to skip either! Its so ughhhh *insert Mira stomping ground in frustration emoji* 

Okay rant aside, my days have been pretty mundane; I go to class, I revise, I watch parks & rec. I go home every weekend now because I do just as much studying if I were to stay in college + I get to spend time with family and friends so thats nice. Also, recently my grandfather passed away, and my Wan needs extra love now. I've come to terms with his passing, I miss him a lot because he was such an active grandfather figure but it got really bad for him in the end, so I'm sort of relieved the suffering ended. I want to write about him, and my other late atuk that passed last year. Writing helps me, sometimes I just have a lot to say but I can't say it, and I don't know. I grew up with all 4 grandparents and now I only have grandmothers left so its been a new (albeit necessary) experience for me.
While we're at it, Al- Fatihah  to both my atuks, I hope they both are in better places now.

So what else can I tell you? I try to go to Hot yoga once a week. It makes me sweat like a dumpling but it makes me feel so good! I'll write a post about it soon.

But not too soon. Basically just wanted to tell anyone who checks in on this page that I'll be taking a little hiatus from blogging until my exams are over. I know, I've not been so ever present anyway, but I just wanted to tell you people. If you want to find me you can look up my instagram (@ilmiramurni)  and thats pretty much the only thing I'll be updating until end of May.

Before I sign off, I just wanna extend my sincerest apologies for anything that I've done that may have caused you distress/anger/frustration. I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me for my shortcomings (and irregular posting despite always saying I wanna blog more hehe). If there are anyyy unresolved issues, I hope we can talk it out ? My email is ilmiramurni@yahoo.com if there really is anything. And thank you, for taking you time to read my random ramblings. And if you have space and time in your doa's and prayers for me, I'd be forever grateful!!!!

I wish you luck in whatever you are going to pursue in this next month or so, and anyone taking A2, lets not do so good do the graph will go down bit ????? please????? hahahaha jokes, good luck to A2 people especially! Just a little bit more guys.

See you around End of May, till then, tata!

Love,
Mirr

March Favourites

Hey guys!

I know its been agesss since I've last posted here, and I'm so sorry! With A2 and trials and just life happening, I could never find the time. But that aside, I've put together  list of things for this months favourites, though, I've been loving some things on here since January. First-3-months-of-the-year favourites maybe ? In any case, its my first favourites post so let's just cut to the chase. I have quite a few items so bear with me.

 1.  Herbalism, LUSH

Now, I kind of have bad skin. Not the worst, but I do always have the odd bump and a few pimples on my skin and I have a lot of problems with scarring. Never really have had clear clear skin (and starting to accept that maybe I never will?) I used to have major major oily skin problems, but its went down a little now, so just your average amount of oil. But anyway, I heard Lush was good so I went on into the store while I was in New Zealand and told the sales assistant all this, and she recommended Herbalism to me. I didn't watch any reviews prior to coming into Lush so I really just bought whatever it is she told me lol, but I was very very pleased with my purchase. Herbalism is a facial cleanser. I've used it all up so I can't show you, but its a green paste, and smells kind of like bread and herbs. Its not a foaming cleanser like I'm normally used to, and you're supposed to pinch a little off, work it into a paste with water and then pretty much just massage it in like a normal cleanser. 

When I started using this, I noticed I broke out much less often, and a lot of my usual redness was gone. Its quite gritty in texture, so I guess it must have had a sort of exfoliating effect, cause my skin looked less dull and more glow-y too. And I got so many compliments! 2 people purchased Herbalism online after I told them I was using it. My skin just got so so much better. It did everything the sales person told me it would, prevent breakouts, clear up redness, help with oil and grease, and it didn't sting to use like harsh cleansers or make my skin feel super dry after washing. I'm definitely repurchasing this. The only thing is, since all Lush products are made fresh, it is best used immediately. If you're not used to Lush, then you have to take note of the expiry date on the side on the pot, and stick to it. Two days before the expiry date my product started smelling bad, and I was breaking out a little around that time but I don't know if thats was because I was at the break out part of my menstrual cycle, or because of the product. I threw it out, but there was only a day's use left anyway. I daresay this is the best facial cleanser I've used, so if you have mildly oily problematic skin, I'd highly recommend this product to you. My 100g pot lasted me over 2 months, and if you are interested, you can visit lushxmalaysia on instagram (they're a reseller!)

2. Olay Regenerist revitalising hydration cream with SPF 15

 Next on my list is a moisturiser. Growing up, I never moisturised. I had oily skin and I was one of those ' Why would I add more oil on my oil?!?!?!' kind of people. But eventually I got out of those dark days (lol) and learned that oily skin is a negative feedback reaction cause your skin is not hydrated enough and all that. It made sense, but I never ever found a moisturiser that worked for me. Everything felt really greasy and to me, it made my acne scarring more prominent. I discovered Olay's Regenerist line because I'm in a boarding college, and I hate transporting my own stuff back and forth so I steal my moms skin care products all the time. She was using the whole Regenerist line, because it actually is an anti-aging line (lol, I'm 20 trying to anti age myself to 4) but it really worked for me! Like the whole line works for me, but I finally grew up and bought my very own pot of cream, and it was this day one with SPF. I love moisturisers with SPF, so I love this. The formula is non-greasy, even though it is your usual creamy- cream as you can see from the picture above. It didn't clog my pores and felt very lightweight, and did its job at keeping my skin hydrated. My cheeks even felt supple! Also, it smells reeallllyyyy good, and I've noticed helps with my makeup application. Just makes it smoother, ya know.

You can get the whole Regenerist line from pretty much any pharmacy. It's reasonably priced, if I'm not mistaken, its around RM 50 and I've had mine for over a month and there's still plenty left, like more than half kind of plenty, so its good value for money too. Apparently all the women on my moms side grew up using Oil of Olay, and they all have really smooth, fair skin (don't know where I got my breakout genes from tbh..) so I believe in Olay as a brand. Try out their stuff guys!

3. The Body Shop : Olive Beautifying Oil

This next item I got from my close friend AJ ( visit her blog here guys!) Soon after I started believing in moisturising, I tried my hand in using oils before bedtime. I tried Josie Maran's pure Argan Oil, and although argan oil does a lot for AJ, it didn't really do much for me. But anyway, AJ had a bottle of this olive oil she purchased which she found out she was allergic to, and handed it to me. I use it as my night moisturiser, and again, this one smells good, like delicious. For an oil, its very lightweight. I can go out and get food and not look like an oil slick, because it absorbs very well. When I wake up, I've noticed, my skin looks the absolute best, and I don't know if its the oil working (I don't use any night serums or anything) or just the way my skin works, but this oil does great stuff. Sometimes when my hair is dry I'll run this through my hair too. It claims to  ' Moisturise, smooth and illuminate'  which might be stretching it a little, but I'd second it. It makes me glow, which is a good thing in my books.

4. Safi Shayla; Smooth & Manageable Shampoo

 I don't have a picture of this one sorry, but its because its another one of my stealing-from-my-mother finds. Guyssss, omg this product, spend all your money on it seriously!!!!! Its SOOO good. It markets itself as 'Syampu wanita bertudung' but damn it works. It smells good, and the smell transfers to your hair. I can whip my hair a little a my boyfriend smiles extra big and he doesn't know it, but ITS THE SHAMPOO. One day, I used it before attending a birthday lunch, and I didn't blow-dry my hair or anything because who has the time for that but 3 people asked if I went to the saloon before hand. My mom gets the pink bottle for shampoo, which is the smooth and manageable one, and the purple one for conditioner. It hydrates, it tames flyaway hairs, it is the best shampoo ever lah. I love this, I will bring a suitcase of this to the UK when and if (insyaAllah) I go because I don't want to live without it. So impressed with Safi for this product, and its super cheap? So go go, go get yourself a bottle, your hair will thank you.

4. Coconut Lime Candle, Typo

I picked up my dad's love for scents early on, so I have a candle corner in my room hehe. But my most recent find is this candle from Typo (of all places!!!). I found it tucked away and discounted to 20 ringgit, so I kind of bought it because it was so cheap for a candle. But I fell in love with the smell! I didn't use to be a big coconut kind of girl but this candle changed that for me. Now I have coconut toppings on everything, I have coconut oil in my hair as we speak, and my favourite candle is this coconut lime one. I normally settle for Lavender and more, spicy herby almost christmas-y scents, so coconut is way out there for me. Im really sad because I have a feeling this isn't in permanent production for Typo, I mean, they aren't known for their candles, but I hope I find another one tucked away when I finish this one. I have to admit, the scent got much weaker the more I used it, but still enough to smell, you know? Will look for more coconut candles, hate the ones from Bath & Body works, so if you know any, please let me know!

5. Baby Powder reed diffuser

My house is littered with reed diffusers. My dad always gets them. He had a dinner recently, and gave away these diffusers as gift bags, and they were from some unknown brand (apparently he got them from some home tech store in mitsui?) but I love it! I used to scoff at reed diffusers, but I have one on all the time in my room now. And this one smells of BABY POWDER. Oh my, baby powder! So fresh so clean so adorable. I find scents like these really work in rooms where I have to be more productive, and its got me sprinkling Baby Johnsons on my pillow to intensify the smell when I sleep you know. I loveeee babies, and now my whole room smells of baby powder (and uh, coconut) and I am a happy happy happy girl.

6. Chia seeds

The last one on my list is a food one. I've gotten into adding chia seeds into my drinks, my oatmeal, my anything I can really. They're pockets of omega-3, and you can leave them into water to soak. They're one of those super foods that are supposed to reduce the likeliness of heart related diseases and a bunch of other things. They give off a slightttttly nutty taste, but its hardly noticeable. But anyway, they look like biji selasih once they've soaked up water, but I googled, their two different things. They have a lot of protein, veryyy good for hydration, so if you're like me and have trouble drinking your 8 cups a day, these would help! I like them because well, they sort of make me less hungry, if Im hungry but its not lunch or dinner yet I add this to some water and my hunger goes away a little. I've also noticed my scarring is reducing, and I did read that it helps with your skin, so I guess it could be an effect. It also gives a nice crunch you know. I got my jar from MBG, and I take about 1-3 tablespoons worth when I feel like it. Got pretty much my whole family on it now, so heres to healthy living!

So thats all for this post. I'm in the middle of my trials exams, and have approximately a month left of A levels! Time is moving so so so fast. I really do hope to write more, but I can promise you, once I got my exams out of the way, I should have so much more time to write. Also, I'll be going to the UK to do my degree soon InsyaAllah and my oh my does time fly. AND IM TURNING 20 SOON TOO?!?! okay like a month and more away but its huge. My life is taking me by storm guys, and I hope to share it all occasionally with all of you. Thanks for tuning in.

Love,

Mirr