Ameizing World Tour

There is no doubt that Amei is a diva and the pride of many chinese song enthusiasts. Her concert in Malaysia on 5th May blew her fans away with her performance and entertaining vocal acrobatics. I find that the way she sings her songs are relaxing and powerful at the same time. However, it is when you attempt to sing her songs that you can truly appreciate her gift of soaring effortlessly into high notes while maintaining a connected timbre throughout the entire song. It is this quality that encourage all aspiring singers to audition with her songs to impress the panel of judges.

Catch it again in Hong Kong

Fans who did not manage to make it to the concert this time can catch A-Mei again in Hong Kong. This is a great opportunity to get tickets to watch the biggest concert in this World Tour. And the best thing is, you can win these tickets. You and a plus-one will be flown all the way to Hong Kong, on an all expense paid trip to watch A-Mei live in concert.  

All you need to do is to download A-Mei Call Me Tones until 15th May. You can impress your friends with Amei’s ringtones and also stand a chance to see her in Hong Kong.

To download the Call Me Tones, all you need to do is dial *888*<Call Me Tones code># and press Call. And here are the songs you can download together with their codes.

RM1. 50/week for each song

Good luck and click here for more info.

Yesterday, Vinn and I dropped by the Burberry Beauty counter in KLCC Isetan for a review of their products. We came from GokuRaku Ramen in Mid Valley and were dying of thirst due to the amount of spices they used in the soup. Jazz invited us for this review and she had been waiting for some time already and had not had her lunch yet. Being good samaritans, we wanted to finish the review before quenching our thirst.

Burberry Spring/Summer Collection 2012

Inspired by the Burberry Prorsum Runway Collection, this British Summer collection celebrates warm shades in their color pallete. The whole collection is available in the counter at Isetan KLCC.

Fresh Glow : Luminous fluid base

You have got to try this product. It is smooth, light and luminous. What is luminous? There are actually small speckles of reflective pigments and a tiny application of this on your face will make your skin glow brighter. This is one of my favorite products in their line.

RM 165 retail.

If you are not a fan of liquid foundation you can try their compact foundation for RM 180.

Sheer Powder packaging

The powder is also light and gives a matt finish to your skin. To balance off the luminous base, you kinda have to use more of this. While the luminous foundation looks great indoors and for evening events, in outdoors it may give off a slightly oily look to your face. So do remember to use more of the powder if you will be having fun outdoors.

RM 185 retail.

Iconic lines of the Burberry check and architectural columns

What I love about their packaging is the magnetic closure for every product that is encased in metal. This minimizes the chances of you losing your covers and caps. Not only the cover is adorned in Burberry’s signature check details and cubic distortions, the powders and the lip stick are also shaped the same way. Very pretty.

Light Glow natural blush collection

Their moisturizing blush is heavily pigmented and glides on the skin easily. They also have a range of bronzers for your vacation needs.

Blushers go for RM 140 and Bronzers go for RM 158. 

Lip definer pencils

What I love about Burberry Beauty is their range of lip liners. Lip liners are a rare find nowadays, especially if you are looking for near-nude frosty colors. A frosty pink lip liner is my staple diet for  covering shadows on my lips. Some of the liners in the market are too sheer for my liking, some are too dry. Their lip definer pencils are opaque and comes in natural waxes and vegetable oils to improve firmness in the lips.

Goes for RM 75.

From left, Lip Mist, Lip Cover and Lip Glow

For the lips, they have 3 range of product. Lip Mist is a translucent application of color tinters. Lip covers are good in coverage and opaque in their color (a little dry for my liking). Lastly, they have lip glosses called Lip Glow that are real juicy.

Vinn testing her makeup

Our experiments started with their lip range. Here we go!

Vinn testing Lip Cover (above) and Lip Glow (bottom)

The Lip Cover is light in texture and feels very hydrated on the lips. However, it is not as long lasting as we thought it would be. One Auntie Anne’s lemonade is enough to smear it away. This calls for frequent checks in the mirror. RM 96 in retail.

The lip glow is light as well and just juicy enough to give a subtle plumping effect to the lips.

Using the same Lip Glow on different Lip Cover colors

The Lip Glow lacks in color tinting and the final color of your lips depend very much of the color of the lipstick beneath it. If you are looking for something moisturizing and light, this is the lip gloss for you. It is a little bit catered to a more mature audience as younger consumers usually seek mirror-reflective finishes with a liquid glossy effect. It goes for RM 89.

2 different Lip Mist colors

I love their Lip Mist products. I dislike lip colors that are dry and have too much pigments in them. That is just my opinion though. I like to be able to use a bright red lip stick to stain my lips instead of giving me tako-lips. This does the job perfectly. It is light and something new that they just launched. However, they tend to glide around if you know what I mean.. Erm. A good analogy would be if you accidentally bite your lips, the color would be smeared due to the extra-light texture. I am not sure how much this costs though.

Makeover by the artist

The last thing to do is to get a makeover  by the in-house makeup artist.

Base for the eyes

First they use a base for my eyes. Ok now I am wondering why do I even bother writing that sentence.

Eyeshadow on the lids

Their eyeshadows are beautiful! Subtle subtle pearlescent effects. RM 105 each.

Foundation tested on half of my face

The left part of my face (facing you I mean) are coved with foundation. It is brighter and it glows(slightly).

Sheer powder for the face

The powder sets it in.

Eyebrows and eye liner

They currently do not have a eyebrow color range, which I do not mind cuz I have always used eyeshadows for my brows anyway. Gives me more control over what color to use depending on my hair color and the look I want to achieve.

Then they use the Eye Definer for the lining. The result is smooth and water-resistant. Goes for RM 78.

Mascara before and after

Their Effortless Mascara is quite a steal as it contains marine plant glycogen that accelerate fibre growths and strength in your lashes. As with all their other products, it is light and protective. You can see the difference the mascara gives on my lashes(left). My lashes weren’t curled in both photos. Goes for RM 108.

Lip Cover and Lip Glow for the lips

Jacky, the makeup artist continued the look with a Lip Cover and Lip Glow.

Light Glow for the cheeks

Eh I learnt a new trick that day. A slanted application of the blusher. I always have problems with blush application cuz my face is long and cheekless. This is a good trick.

Purchase above RM 380 to receive these gifts for free

OK, if you drop by the counter and splurge for more than RM 380. You get a Lip Cover and a Makeup Remover for free. the Makeup Remover is a steal. All you gotta do is apply on your face, massage around your eyes and on your lips. Then wipe it off. Real simple.

The promotion is valid til 6th of May.

Jacky the makeup artist and me

Btw, my braces is on! I had to liquify a weird distortion in my lips. T_T

Our samples for this review

Vinn and I got away with some samples to try. Looks cute and compact.

Herro!

I am a huge fan of Lee Hom and I have all of his albums in my iTunes. The good news is, he will be back in Malaysia for Music Man II : Live in Malaysia 2012. I love his ballads and lately, I have been addicted to 你不知道的事. Which is a good thing cuz there is an ongoing contest right now hosted by Celcom xPax.

Lee Hom Wang

This contest is all about Becoming Lee Hom. In style, talent or looks. Now that I think about it, there is a lot you can do, you can sing or rap. Play the piano or guitar, look good in shades or belt out a mean R&B song. Ok, maybe it is difficult to totally be him, cuz he is just so talented in everything.. but one of the facets, yea. possible.

Anyway, the prizes this time is sweet.

Lee Hom Bahamut Dragon Air Guitar

You can actually win this guitar!!! OMG the design is awesome!!!! I SO WANT!

Autographed Open Fire Greatest Hits Album

The next 5 runner ups will get an Autographed Open Fire Greatest Hits Album.

There are 3 ways to win the prizes. Listen carefully!

1. Upload video to xPax facebook page

Submit a video of you singing/impersonating/dancing/playing instruments or even lip syncing. You can parody him and you have to be creative to win!

2. Send xPax your voice recording

If you sound like Lee Hom, this is a great chance! Dial *22009 and sing to a Lee Hom song.

3. Send xPax an MMS

Think you look as good as him? Snap a photo of your best Lee Hom pose and send to 23131 to win.

Here is my attempt! Don’t laugh ler..

Sorry if it is not synced properly, I didn’t have After Effects when I was editing the video. Had to do it with iMovie. I am wondering if I just made the biggest mistake of my life by posting this T_T

For more information, click here.

Launch party beneath the stars

I do love a star studded night.. especially if there are shining LED lights embedded in the ceiling twinkling away the whole night. I am happy to be a few of the lucky campers who get to witness the first telco to launch the Prada phone.

Celcom's CMO gives a speech

Basked in blue tinted lights, the night has Celcom written all over it as gorgeous models in blue paraded the phone the entire night. The phone’s user interface is a pleasant minimal black and white. It has taste and is in a different class on its own.

Chilling with the girls at the event

3iling and Cindy were some of the bloggers that attended this event. KY was my plus one for the night and this proved to be a change of luck when we are invited to enter a small contest.

May the best pose wins!

Each one of us gets to pose with the models and the phone, of course. The judges will then pick 2 best poses and the winners will be awarded with the LG Prada phone worth RM 2299. KY was asking me to do an egyptian pose claiming that it would be a sure win, I for one thought that would be inappropriate in my dress and did not go with it.

Celcom launched the phone in style

The 4.3 inch NOVA High Brightness Display phone is launched together with a full access to PRADA phone accessories such as the branded cradle, ear set and pouches. Boasting of a 1.0 GHz Dual Core Processor, the phone promises both high speed performance and internet surfing as well.

Priced from RM 1518, available at Celcom

The phone’s signature design features PRADA’s Saffiano pattern for the back casing. The pattern looks like a tight grid with some slight loops for discontinuity, this is actually kinda good as it increases the grip you get when you hold the phone.

Slimmest fashion smartphone

Not only it is fashionably designed, it is also small enough to fit in your smallest clutches and as thin as 8.5mm. It has no button on the home screen making the design cleaner and more room space for the display.

The most stylish Android phone so far

While the actual phone does not have the PRADA logo in the front screen, the logo is embossed in the Saffiano back casing. Eventhough the phone comes with a capacity of only 8gb, you can upgrade the capacity with your very own SD card making room for more apps, music and movies. Plus, you get to record and playback videos at 1080p in 30 fps.

KY wins a LG Prada

The night turned out to be eventful as KY won one of the phones with his egyptian pose. -_- I wish I had listened to him. That lucky b******

KY's prize for the night

If you think the phone is pretty, take a look at the earphones. It is so chic and stylo milo. I lost my earphones recently and KY gave me the PRADA earphones. Thats my lucky win for the night!

You must be wondering how does this concerns you.. hehe.. this is your chance to get your hands on a brand new Prada waller or bag. Celcom is giving away the following prizes for the best video blog on why Celcom and Prada are the perfect match!

1. Grand Prize of RM 2500 voucher + Prada Phone
2. 2nd prize of RM 1500 voucher + Prada Phone
3. 3rd prize of RM 1000 voucher

Once you have made your video, make sure you submit the blog URL or youtube link to Nuffnang by 17th March 2012.

// Part 1
// Part 2 

Today is so tiring for me.. Just started Paintlust work again and this time we are working on location at Dulux. I managed to find some time between brush strokes to make a call to Amir from Vatos Airbrush Studio. I asked about the equipment and the courses fee and was flabbergasted to find out that the full course is RM 3500 for 10-14 days of studying. That is about RM 250 for 2 hours a day. T_T

I can understand why it is priced that way. I mean once he departs all the knowledge to his students, he is basically creating competitors for himself and it is a fair price to pay for knowledge like that. I found out that the airbrush alone is RM 1000 ++ without the compressor. Wow. This project seems so desolate and lost now.

However, I am lucky and grateful for he sms back with a few more affordable choices. Yay!

RM 500 for a 2 days course
RM 800 for a 3 days course
RM 1500 for an advance 5 days class
RM 3500 for full course

The numbers are abit off arithmetically but who cares! I can afford a 2 days course which covers the basic of automotive airbrushing. I don’t really need the techniques for airbrushing cuz for that… Google is my friend. The important stuff I need to know is the kind of paint I need to use, how to do the finishing, equipment handling and safety regulations. The paint is toxic and it scares the hell out of me. I am terrified of mortality ever since my dad passed away.

Anyway, on Saturday I head to Amir’s crib in Klang for the lesson.

Greeted with art on cars

There were 2 cars in WIP stage right in this corner lot house. I feel so excited already seeing the art. >_<

Airbrush techniques 101

Amir taught me how to disassemble and assemble the airbrush, explained to me all the tools and paint I would need for my car job and also where I could find the stuff I need to buy. I am growing to respect this guy more and more, it is very inspiring to meet an artist so humble and willing to share his pool of knowledge. He did told me he wanted to continue going to courses hosted by artists that inspired him, Dru Blair is one of them. And it struck me that, once you are immersed in your profession for a long time, sometimes ego gets to you and you feel like you know it all you know what I mean… this is a reminder that I ought to seek for creative knowledge more and really nurture the artist in me.

My first attempt at airbrush

Handling the airbrush is not easy, keeping your hand steady is no easy task. One of the most difficult thing in this process to me is the balance between the pressure on the finger button and the distance between the airbrush and the canvas. I still can’t get the airbrush to respond to how I want it to yet and it can be a little frustrating at times. I think I need at least a month’s practice just to be able to tame the airbrush.

Airbrush master at work

Ok I have an updated list of things to buy after this session. Boy I am glad I held out in buying those items. Phew.

1. Pinstriping Masters Techniques,Tricks,and Special F/X for Laying Down the Line USD 37
2. CarMix paint from Mercury Paints, local automotive brand
3. Intercoat to lock the artwork
4. Normal thinner, 2k thinner & turpentine
5. Sword striping brushes from Mack, Amir told me bout buying pin striping brushes from Sarawak but I still have 2 brushes stashed in my US address.. so I am gonna take this opportunity to get some striping swords from US while I am at it.
6. Matte clear coat
7. Automotive masking tape
8. Airbrush and compressor RM 735

A short demo by Amir

At the end of the day, Amir presented to me a painting done during his demonstration. It is very captivating to watch an artist at work, unless it is Vinn cuz I see her work every damn day. Lol. Ever since I returned to art, I feel so so so much happier and joyful

Now that this is taken care off, I can spend my time working on the car design. Finally!

Anyway, if you need airbrush art done on cars check out Amir’s works at Facebook. I would definitely recommend him as well if you are looking for airbrush classes in Malaysia.

// Part 1

OMG I just checked my spam folder and found a lot of emails from hazelong.com’s enquiry form!!! T_T So sorry everyone. If I didn’t reply you can email me at hazelong@gmx.com immediately and I will reply asap!

My adrenaline has yet to slow down.. still so very excited about this. In the beginning of every art project, I would always seek for more and more information and knowledge. The learning part of the journey is the most enjoyable one, I feel at ease only when I am constantly doing something interesting.

Doesn’t this look amazing?

So this post will be about information that I have gathered so far.

Pinstriping Masters Techniques, Tricks & Special FX for laying down the lines

Things to buy soon :
Note that this may not be the cheapest, I am not a fan of searching high and low for the cheapest price. I like to get things fast and on the spot without much delay in making decisions.

• Pinstriping Masters Techniques,Tricks,and Special F/X for Laying Down the Line USD 37
• Kafka pin striping brushes in 3 sizes from 0 – 3  USD 37.41
• Normal 1 shot reducer
• 1 shot 5 primary color set
• Vinyl Primer
• Hardener
• Graphiguard

1 Shot paint, reducer & clears

I have emailed Tom’s Stickers and is very pleased with their prompt response regarding the car wrap enquiries. They have a branch in Shah Alam which would be quite convenient for me to go to.

1. Color limitations of the printing : no limit
2. Duration of the car wrap application : 2-5 days ( depends on the design)
3. Resolution & file format of the design : high res is preferable, ai, psd,eps
4. Template for the design if any : only send out design once payment receive (I was asked to go to their show room to discuss with the designer there first)
5. Price for glossy car wrap print and application : around RM3k

Creative decisions are the hardest to make. I can’t even decide on the background color.. which will basically be the main color of my car. Deciding on the illustration is even worse. All I know is I want a girl in there, a beast of some sorts and some abstract illustrations (hopefully lines so I can do it with pinstriping)

I do have some inspiration so far though..Here are they in bits and pieces.

Split in two colors with a bleed from the lower half right over the windows.

Something to enhance the curves of the car..

Chip Foose design

This is probably how I will split the tones in my car, but different flow and the white parts will be illustrated of course.

On further thinking, spending 3k on car wrap and another 1k plus on pin striping is bit ridiculous for me as that is half the price of a motorbike that I wanted to buy for so long. Buying an airbrush set with the pin striping is more affordable. I found an artist in Shah Alam that sells airbrush kits, does automotive airbrushing and gives classes. What more could I ask for? Time to contact the guy and see how it goes.

Whale car

Something fun I found

 

 

It’s been some time since I have gotten my car. Ever since it has reached my hands, I wanted to do a whole lot of pimping to it to make it look prettier. I couldn’t find the time or money to do it though.

This time around, I am going to make it happen! I am going to give myself 3 months to do it and I am going to record the whole process here.

So here is my car, a white Satria Neo CPS. White cuz I am a female and it is a must for me to to state the color. :p

My ride

Anyway the car is stock with no modifications, just a few strut bars here and there which I have added on earlier last year. The car has been repainted with a Polyutherane paint in white to replace the old paint. PU paint cuz it is more resistant to scratches and chips, and also it doesn’t yellow with age.

So that essentially means if I were to do any work on the car, the paint I use have to be as good as the existing PU paint or it wouldn’t be worth it.

Pinstriped car

Yee Hou showed me a video (below) on pin striping and it was so awesome cool! Pinstriping is basically drawing lines on the vehicle to enhance the flow of the car’s curves and design.

HBTV: Depth of Speed – Andy the Pinstriper from HBTV on Vimeo.

While pinstriping is great and all, I feel like I wanna do some illustrations and paintings on the car as well. Airbrush is out of the hand as it would be costly that’s number one, number two I would have to learn from scratch and that takes months, I would also need a huge sanitized garage space for this job. So that is out of the question, I searched high and low for people painting on the car with brushes and turned up with no inspiring examples.

In the end, I feel that a car wrap with my digitally painted design would be most appropriate for the occasion. The car wrap is in vinyl(I think) and after it is back from the shop, I would pin stripe the bungkus-ed car.

Car Skinz GTR wrap

I am still unsure at this stage if this would work. After much research, I would be using the usual utherane paint for the pinstriping which is suitable for metals and steel like vehicles. However, the car would be wrapped in vinyl and the paint might not bind to the surface. However I have read somewhere that the paint is very versatile and binds to everything that is solid.

After a few more searches, I was happy to confirm that the enamel can bind to vinyl. Phew.

My schedule would be something like this :

March – Design, Research, Gather materials and tools
April – Send for car wrap
May – Paint the car

Sounds good so far. A few more things to do though, I need to contact Tom’s Sticker to ask about the price, templates and printing quality of the car wrap.

And I need to purchase a pin striping book, tools and the paints in US and ship them back here. Not sure if shipping liquid back is allowed. Gotta check that too. Tons of things to do, so little time.

Until next time then. So excited!!! T’is gonna be fun!

Late night sketch

Late night sketch in Corel Painter. 2 hours. Click for full view.

I am part of a small team of artists who does wall murals as our main job, paintings and making miniatures while juggling between live art performances and events on the sidelines. Our current published work can be found at paintlust.net

After just one year of launching our company, we are now at an expansion stage! Woohoo! In stark contrast to most design/art companies out there, our work life is very chilled with realistic deadlines for our projects. That means, no midnight oils and dark eye circles!

We are looking for young female artists to join our team on a full time basis. Send us your resume and portfolio if you are interested!

Here is our requirements :-
1. Initiative and fun loving
2. Thirst and hunger for art creation of every form
3. Able to get to locations for jobs and events
4. Friendly and willing to learn
5. Committed for full time and at least 2 years
6. Learning period of 2 months probation
7. Willing to manage projects single handedly if need be

Benefits of joining our team :-
1. Probation salary of RM 1800 to start off and first increment to minimum RM 2000
2. 3 increments in salary for the first year
3. Awesome learning experience in traditional and digital art
4. Close knit ‘gossip girl’ social environment
5. Normal working hours except for events on nights
6. Work from home in between jobs

Email swootcreative@gmail.com if you are interested. Help us by forwarding this blip around!

I’ve been really busy since christmas.. my god.. can’t catch a breath. It is hard to explore my own art when Paintlust is swamped with jobs.. Here is what we have done so far..

Kid's room wall mural for Slywie

We did a fun wall mural lately.. after our barrage of event and miniature art jobs, we were happy to be doing massive art again. The empty spaces you see in the mural are actually spaces for the kid’s photo to be displayed in time to come.

Martell Spoons painting

Before christmas, we painted 300 appetizer spoons for Martell’s event as door gifts. Batik themes and painted both front and back.

Dave's Deli sketch in wood panel

This is another quickie that we did last year. Lol, it is not actually glowing.. just effects from the lighting.. This piece is for Dave’s Deli restaurant in Subang Parade.

Ang Pow designs for Pernod Ricard

Finally, we wrapped 2011 with a set of 5 Ang Pow designs for Pernod Ricard. What a great year it’s been for Paintlust!