Wood and Steel

Writing about cafes is always mainstream. But I’m running out of creativity so …

Wood and Steel is a 2-storey cafe located in TTDI among the many other cafes. But they sell more than just coffee. They sell furniture too. Their main courses are quite limited (mainly pastas and burgers). Food that can be prepared and served quick I supposed. They served cakes and other pastries.

Wood steel allows you to settle yourself on their furniture for sale. The furniture probably wouldn’t worth that much if you spill your spaghetti on them. Their have funky chairs, tables and black shelves. Most cafes have this idea that if the chairs are not comfortable, you won’t linger and chill there for too long with just one cup of coffee.

I’m not much of an artsy person. But they do have some hipster graffiti and a motorcycle frame hanging from their wall.

Wifi: Yes

Complaints: Most chairs are very uncomfortable

I’ll find out the address the next time I go there. Can’t seem to locate the address online. Apparently everyone just copy and paste from their facebook page or from other bloggers but the address is not even on their page.

Products for Sensitive Skin Do Not Have To Be Expensive

I have a history of eczema for more than 10 years. It have affect everything in my life. I never wear skirt in high school besides my uniform. I had long pants that were so baggy that I live comfortable in them despite the hot weather. It affects my self-esteem because I know I can never compete with those leggy model despite me being skinny thin. Everytime I put something on my skin, it itches. All the lotions, perfumes, butters and sunscreens and lip balms I use, I’m sensitive to it.

For my last 10 years, I applied steroid creams that are known to be vessel thinning on my skin religiously and suffer the side effects later. I get agitated easily because of the itch I suffer for no reason. I wasn’t until last year that I realised I was allergic to so many things including dustmite, cockroaches, latex, candida albicans and many more… I was constantly prescribed with dexamethosone supplemented with antibiotics to prevent skin infection due to the open wounds caused by the scratch. I totally relate myself to how Natalie Portman has to wear gloves to sleep to control the itch in the movie Black Swan. My dermatologist say I can forget about waxing my legs and manicures. My nails has to be cut short to stop me from hurting myself by scratching. Any hair removal creams can aggravate the condition. She even scolded me when she noticed I remove my leg hair. I still continue doing it because I thought since its a chronic condition, nothing can stop it anyway, might as well just do whatever I like.

The best part is you have to scratch your head on which product can and cannot be used on your sensitive skin. I’ve tried Eucerin, Cetaphil, Eubos, Sebamed and I only have one comment I got from my mum, “Your skin is so fucking expensive to maintain. ” People with sensitive skin should avoid using body shampoo with ingredients/formulae like sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate (SLS), a foaming agent found in detergents and also many many beauty products. If you have eczema too, never use anything from Lux, Biore, Dettol and Lifebuoy even though they claim is gentle/ mild for your skin.

Read this for more info on steroid creams and eczema

I’ve been using Eucerin for quite sometime now before I switched brands. This was before I realised some of Eucerin’s products like moisturizers and sunscreens are known to cause cancer in mice! I remember I once use a Eucerin facial moisturizer and next thing I know, an acne popped out!

But it had never occur to be that there were actually cheaper options for my skin. My dermatologist recommend using Oilatum soap bar. I’ve tried and it cleanses my skin just as gently as the others but without the hefty price tag. It only RM10 for a local pharmacy. I’ve finish using 3 bars already so far. But the most frustrating part is how am I going to bring along the soap during travelling. Soap bars are normally not recommended for sensitive skin due to its alkaline pH. However, Oilatum has special ingredients such as linoleic acid which moisture retenting, anti-inflammatory & acne reductive. Eczema skins are known to be more alkaline up to pH 7.5 because of its more active protease activity.

One more thing, if you ever go for body massage, make sure you bring you own suitable-for-sensitive-skin massage oil. I recommend Body Shop’s beautifying oil. Cheap oils are known to cause allergies on exposed areas.

I had an allergy skin patch test in KPJ Damansara this year. It cost about RM150 depending on the amount of suspected allergens tou wanna test on. Standard test includes common food allergens like eggs, fish, milk, nuts, chicken, shrimp…Principle of test is as below. Histamine is used as a positive control while saline is a negative control. The level of sensitivity is based on the diameter of the induration (swelling).

DIY Manicure – Comparison between Elianto, The Face Shop and Skin Food Colour Lacquer

According to nail care experts, its recommended that one should visit a nail professional every 2 weeks. To keep things simples, I always practised do-it-myself manisure. It was economical. Today, I will review and compares 3 different Korean brands of nail polish: Elianto, Skin Food and The Face Shop.

Common solid and soft Elianto colours cost about RM5 each bottle while the glitter and ‘crack’ ones can go up to 12 bucks. Upon first few application, its smooth and easy to apply. However, after a few strokes, it turns viscious and thickened easily. Probably due to the ingredients used, the lacquer tends to dry up very fast. For solid or nude colours, at least 3 layers are needed. The final result will often appeared very thick. However, they update their color range occasionally and you can spot new colours available constantly. The glitter ones are much user friendly, are more diluted and do not turn vicious despite many applications.

To dilute the nail polish, I sometimes add a bit of my nail polish remover into it, just a few drop will do. However, I once tried to add it into a nail polish of some pasar malam brand and the color changes totally, like ugh! I discarded it immediately.

I’m still a new consumer of The Face Shop. At discounted price, their nail varnish can be as low as RM4.80. After trying, I realised the quality wasn’t bad at all. In fact, its more durable then Elianto and it doesn’t thickened easily. Even their solid colours looks more appealing and has a natural shiny coat even without using top coat. The downside is, for me there’s no much choice available. I would however, strongly recommend the base coat to be used as a base for French manicure because it has a slightly tinted pink sheen which makes your nails looks healthier instead of yellow.

I rated the quality of Skin Food nail polish on a 8.5 out of 10. Despite the poor colour choice available and its less affordability (approximately RM 13-15. For a nail polish collector who currently has about 20 shades, its considered a bit pricey), I tend to collect less of their colours. Because they don’t renewed their colour range, the choice availabe 5 years ago is still the same until today. No new colours added. However, the varnish quality was very good! Its a bit on the diluted side. So solid colours are easy to apply and two applications will be enough. Their colours are mostly in glitter form which I’m not a big fan. Their colours do not chip easily.

I prefer the chic look that solid colours provided, like hot pink. I rarely used colours that are less girly like blue, green or black. But I tend to also go for soft creamy colours. Glitters are more suitable for events only. However, glitters of soft colours can also jazzed up an everyday look especially at work. Out of these 3 brands, The Face Shop works best for me because its both affordable and of good quality.

Nailed It – The Manicure Experience

I have my fair share of manicure and pedicure experience since 3 years ago. I normally visit The Nail Parlour in KLCC which uses Jessica products. The Nail Parlour is available in other places all over Klang Valley mainly in shopping complexes. I dislike their service. Its in the middle of a tourist spot and the nail salon manager choose to hire manicurist who doesn’t even speak English, they certainly look like foreign labour to me. They appeared to be experienced. But they finish the process way too fast for you to even enjoy the whole experience. Its like they can’t wait to get rid of you because they were too busy chatting with each other. The retail display was fairly contemporary using hot pink as the main colour but it was small and packed with few privacy for each customers. Basically by sitting there, you can hear everyone’s conversation. From my pespective, its way too pricey for the bad service. And you don’t get the personalized luxurious feel even though its not a weekend. One basic manicure session cost RM40.

The last time I had a french pedicure, during the drying process, I accidentally ruined the polish. When I ask the manicurist to redo it for me, she gave me the black face! And she just applied one layer of white tip on top of it. Making it look even thicker. She did not even put in the slightest bit of effort. There’s one time, she did not even remove my old polish properly and straight away apply a new layer on top. WTF!

I had a much more pleasant experience at Nails Jewel in Aman Suria, Damansara. They even gave me a free first trial. They use OPI products and others. They serve you ginger tea while you wait. I felt that they attended to my needs meticulously, I’ve been having my manicure there ever since. Its has a much cozier ambiance. It offers occasional discount during festival, mother’s day … I once had a pedi mani session there for RM70 total. On normal rates, it cost 70 bucks for only a basic mani. It also provides body massage service on the upper floor.

However, there are certain reminders for you before you consider visiting your nearest nail salon. Your nails and the foot tubs are reservoir of bacteria and fungus can be infectious and transmitted via nail cutting, shaping or trimming instruments. These instruments are suppose to be sterilized before using on each customer and how would you know if they have sterilize before using on you? You just don’t and there’s no way to find out. Because nail salon are not known to reject any customers. Besides even if they do sterilize their equipments, not every instruments can be disinfected effectively. Tools like the nail buffers, pumice stone and toe separators should be replaced after use to prevent bacteria transmission. So its recommended that you bring your own to the salon.

Besides, they tend to dilute and swap bottles by replacing cheap nail polish to expensive nail polish bottles. They also tend to dilute old nail polish with nail remover, making the polish chipped easily. The nail polish remover bottle that claims to contain vitamins, fruit extracts with moisturizing effects might just be some cheap acetone from pasar malam. :O

Semester Breaks

Hey guys, I’ve been thinking how should I spent my one-month holiday on a budget, which means I can’t go anywhere. I took me 5 days to finish this miniature doll house. Isn’t it cute? It cost me only RM26 from Century Book Store in Ipoh Parade. They sell other China made Pakitoy designs too. My friend bought it in KL and it cost her RM29. Since I’m a nerd, I’ve choose one which reminds me of my study. But they say according to Feng Shui, placing your bed next to your study will make you lazy. Everything was soooo small, that even my tiny fingers can’t maneuver things around, I had to use a tweezer to help me.

See that plant on the shelf on top of the bed? Every single leaf was cut one by one and paste onto a green wire. It was actually my first time sewing so the pillows look a bit retarded. But the square red one was done by my mum. 😉 I was wondering if the shelf will fall and hit anybody sleeping on the bed. Btw, the black telephone was suppose to have a dialer but I lost it. 😦 The lamp was supposed to lit up when connected to a wire.

Overall, all the materials were given, you just have to paste them together and woila! It comes in packets with a few sections. You’re suppose to finish one section after another. It provides a guidebook in English and Mandarin with a list of the materials that are suppose to be present in the package. You are expected to have basic knowledge in sewing, attaching wires and carpentary. You have to sand the wood materials before gluing them together. Glue and sand paper will be provided. Its like jigsaw puzzle in 3D!

The toughest part is getting the glue to stick. Because the glue is specially given to stick wood materials. It sticks well but it takes some time to harden. In order to make it stick you sometimes have to make hold the items together for 5 to 10 minutes to wait for the glue to dry. The best part is it comes with a transparent shield that portects the entire thing from dust exposure. This is how it look like from another angle with the shield!