Countryside escape

Just before the holidays have started I found myself soaking up to sappy Christmas movies- generally one that involves the gorgeous Jude Law and a cute cottage, that made me thought of this time last year where I spent a few days with my family-friend in Lincolnshire. It was lovely making most of the countryside especially snuggling next to the warm fireplace gorging on toasted marshmallows whilst the adults were exchanging stories over glasses of vin. So I thought of doing it again this year and I chose to stay at a tiny hamlet in South Petherton of Somerset for a few nights.

Somerset is a hard place to encapsulate in mere words but in the end of the day I've agreed that as grim as the weather goes by here (especially at this time around), there is sunshine in the UK after all!

In England, by all its great virtue, is not so blessed with amazing weather and although the temptation of being in a beach ten times warmer than the monsoon outside is second to none - curling up in the sofa of an idyllic cottage, listening to the crackling sound of the log fire, roasted chicken in the oven- is unbeatable. 

A wintery mini-break is a wonderful excuse to leave one's cosy cocoon and explore an entirely new place through the glittering lens of the Christmas period. And truthfully, it couldn't have felt more perfectly wintery and wonderful.

Trapped in the little hamlet is a cute little gem called the Provender which is made for wintery afternoons spent on long conversations over their flowering tea and my beau's personal favourite-the sticky chocolate pudding.

And with that I wish you a very festive season (whatever you celebrate)!

New home + new treasures

For every renegade in the blogging world there is a debunk to  these classic behavioural stereotypes and I have every reasons to justify my absence hehe.. A classic testament to this is me working endlessly yearning to see the next ray of sunshine everyday since the start of term (Just check my twitter rants for the past few weeks for proof). My days are now occupied with an accumulation of cases and statute readings, assignments and society related work. Then there's the case of the mundane of having nothing to blog about. Which is partly true, because I haven't been going away nor have I bought anything new (not quite true) that is worth to blog about until my short trip to LDN last weekend.

Welcoming the crisp days of winter with new things (just because):

My kind of winter would see an abundance of colour and sparkles so this ASOS bag would be put into good measure.

Walking pretty with these pair of studded heels from Forever 21 which will hopefully work with most of my outfit

Ok after my Rome trip I was supposed to go into a frugal, necessities-only saving mode but this was too ambitious of me. Ever since I've lived under the same roof with with Amal R who is crazy for makeup, it's safe to say that I am slightly obsessed (but less crazy) with makeup as well.

And the wildly excessive list of new makeup I got since last month:

Naked 2 palette (£36),  Bobbi Brown shimmery brick (£32), NARS Desire blush (£21.50), NYX Black Label lipsticks in Chocolate and Princess (£4 each), NYX Burgundy gloss (£4), Sublime de Chanel mascara (£24), Smashbox baked stardust highlighter (£23), Benefit Brow Zing kit (£23.50) , YSL lip stain in No 6 (£23.50), YSL Palette City Drive Classy (£42.00), Revlon Black Cherry (£7.49), Revlon Lip butter in Juicy Papaya (£7.99), Maybelline matte mousse (£7.69) and Revlon Nearly Naked pressed powder (£7.99)

And more pictures from my LDN trip:

Until then!

love,

{Summer Diary} Italia

picture by Mu'izz Khalid

As a hopeless romantic hailing from Brunei, I am fairly certain that I have an affection for the summer heat. And when tossing coins in hope for love to return back are genetically coded in my DNAs I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my summer in Rome where the days are long; made for languid outdoor pursuits.

Rome is one of the busiest cities I've ever been to and although it is horribly overrun with noisy tourists and tacky souvenir stalls, the city still retains all of its Italian charm with cafes offering alfresco dining in every block and vespas running the streets. 

Me and my friends were lucky enough to have been accommodated in a cute house that looks like it is made for a movie set. I would definitely recommend House Trip for those who are looking for a comfortable stay for the holidays.

Prior to this little trip, I've acquired little knowledge of what to do in Italy. Although I know for one thing that a trip to Italy is not complete without tasting real gelato.

The Spanish Steps

St. Peter's Cathedral

Hope everyone had a great summer!

xx,

{LAPIN}

In my opinion, one of life greatest pleasures is having little things to look forward to; and in this instance it was having this beautifully handcrafted poem that I have ordered a month ago to be in the safe hands of my man. 

Lang Leav is a talented soul from Australia who tames the alphabets into creating such beauties like the poem above. For those of you who are interested in sending one to a friend, she handcrafts all of the poems to make them extra special and beautiful.

So much love on a Monday,

Eid outfits

First of I would like to say Eid Mubarak to my fellow Muslim bloggers and readers. It's the time of the month where we struggle to zip up our dresses and where we contemplate whether or not to bring every make up we own everywhere with us. And from what I've gathered from my instagram feed it looks like everyone is enjoying more than a good dose of kueh mors and beef rendang. So for this post I would like to share with you all what I've been wearing for the past few days of Eid:

For the 2nd day of Eid I finally pulled off my old prom blouse out of storage and paired it with a year old batik skirt. Since dark colours and Brunei's weather are hardly a good pairing, I've tossed a mustard shawl with blue lace details that works as the rose amongst the thorns for this outfit. 

I've been wearing this white Tous monogrammed bag on constant rotation with everything since the first day of Eid. Just like a certain Chanel flap bag, but for less than one fifth the price. 

I'm definitely packing away all the bold printed baju kurungs and swapping my burgundy lipstick for a light glow and pink cheeks, adding a pop of colour and pretending to be the girl in Sophia Coppola's perfume commercial.

Hope everyone is happy to be celebrating Eid once more with their loved ones because I am :-)

Style Profile {Carrie Bradshaw}

It's no secret that one of the reasons I have started this blog with my sister 4 years ago is due to being exposed to Sex and the City (RIP) and after watching a series of episodes almost religiously, I became a self proclaimed brigade of the many Carrie Bradshaw wannabes. When our favourite protagonist wore the beautiful Versace couture in Paris and having the notoriously emotionally unavailable, Mr Big telling her she was "the one" we knew that NYC is less about Manolo Blahniks and Manhattan than we hoped for when the series ended. 

9 years after that has passed, I've got a new batch of Carrie Bradshaw ensembles to pore over, The Carrie Diaries. And like many of us who grew up watching SATC and scoff at her destructive ways to approach her love life, we just can't seem to let her go no matter how irritating her character is. So in light of bringing up the subject of Carrie and my sartorial nosiness, I thought it seemed almost appropriate to take a peek at her behind-the-scenes closet before there was sex, courtesy of The Coveteur.

Put your shoes on and Carrie on,

First ootd video!

Quick hello! Just want to share with you guys what I wore for our weekly family dinner at Kaizen Waterfront last week. I've paired Kaka Amal's Zara leopard blazer with my blue Ralph Lauren button-down shirt and my good old boyfriend jeans from Topshop. Which reminds me that I might do a post on ways to pull off the boyfriend jeans.. hopefully.. one day!

On another note, I'm so excited to announce that we've made our first outfit video (well in this case 2 outfits in one)! So do check it out :) 

Stills from the video:

much love,