The Merisik

So after I've preached the "Road to a Malay Wedding" lesson to my man.. (as if he wasn't a Malay, that he didn't know anything about our culture! haha) He asked me whether I wanted to get married straight - without getting engaged first, or whether I still want to get engaged even though I've had a bad experience last time. He knew how traumatized I was with everything that happened. So, he didn't really mind with any decision I make..

Well at first, I didn't want to get engaged again. I just wanted to get married with him and settle down as soon as possible and be his lawfully wedded wife. Cuz back then, I kinda hate hearing the word "bertunang" actually. Cuz it sounds..."unconfirmed", to me somehow. Probably because I never really got the chance to feel the sweetness of being engaged or being someone's fiancee or something like that. So I was afraid that I would hurt again... But after talking about it..and discuss a few things, his words has changed my mind a little bit. Haha - Pandai mengayat budak ni! LOL. He said to me, "Well honestly sayang, if you ask me, of course I want to have a proper planning and a proper Malay wedding with all those stages you explained to me. It'd be nice to have all that, especially when I'm marrying the girl of my dreams. It's a once-in-a-life-time thing, inshaallah. But then again, I know it's not fair for you and your family to do yet another engagement ceremony, especially when they have spent a lot last time. Like you said lah, in a Malay wedding,  the girl side would spend and do more than the guy side.. So I totally understand if you don't want to have another engagement.  But...... honestly sayang, I do want to call you my fiancee instead of "just my girlfriend". Cuz you knowww, fiancee sounds more special than the word "girlfriend", right? hehehe. Cuz you ARE special to me, sayang. I would love to introduce you as "My Fiancee" to my friends or people in general. And I definitely cannot wait to call you "my wife" pulak nanti. Yang tu laaaaagiii lah special. hehehe. But well, it's up to you. I'm fine with anything that would make you happy. We could just do the Merisik thing, and get married straight also I don't mind, just as long as we get married and halal for each other. Ok? And you should also know this: I would never hurt you, I love you very much and I want you to be happy...so whatever your decision is, I'm okay with it.."

Awwwwwwww.... I cried hearing that. He is such a sweetheart. Or should I say a sweet talker? haha

So long story short, last April the Merisik session happened. He had been telling me that he wanted to send his family to get to know my family for quite a few times already since February. So finally, the day has come. I remembered one night he called me up and said, "Okay sayang... like we have discussed before, I think I'm ready to send my family to go and visit yours. Let them get to know each other, before we proceed for the next level. So darling...can we set an exact date and time for the rombongan merisik to come to your house so I can discuss it with my family? Probably next weekend?"  --- After putting down the phone, I remembered I cried like a baby that night. I never thought I would feel that way. I know it was just a simple conversation, nothing to shed a tear about. But it felt sooooo different, I can't really explain... I didn't felt nervous. I didn't felt like I was unsure. I didn't felt like I was being forced.  I didn't felt like I didn't have any say in it. I didn't felt like running away. I didn't felt alone. I didn't felt weird. I didn't have a strange feelings. And I wasn't scared. Like I did last time. 

In fact, I was really really happy - So happy that I burst into tears! Only God knows how happy I am and how blessed I feel to have someone like him in my life. Thank you Allah. (Ni baru merisik punya perasaan. Dah kawen nanti, tak tahulah macam mana perasaan tu nanti! Heee)

Anyway, the first person that I told about this was Farhana. And she was happy too! Awwww... ^___^

Inshaallah. Amin.

So on the 7th of April 2013, at 3 pm, his family came to our house... There were 8 people from his side who came that day. It wasn't big...it was just an intimate session between the two families. But I was so excited nevertheless! :)

I wore my mint green Nurita Harith baju kurung with a lace skirt I bought the night before, at Pavilion.

So during their discussions, I was upstairs sitting happily in my room while reading a Brides magazine (haha yess... Straight away read a wedding mag! Too excited. LOL ;p)

I asked my brother to go downstairs and take their photos while they were discussing...or maybe a video too so I can hear what they were talking about... haha. But he was just so lazy and said, "Don't be so semangat. It's only merisik la. Pfffft", and shut his door before I could answer him.

Hmmph. it's not jusssssst merisik okay? It's the "Road to MY wedding!" - the one thing I've been waiting for in my wholeeee life, I said to myself. hahaha. Dramatic much? ;p

So then I went downstairs to see what's going on with my own eyes, since my brother couldn't be bothered to help me out and rather play with his game than hearing some conversations about weddings. Pffft. Men! huhuu. So anyways, after we've exchanged our hantaran, which were some fruits, cake, chocs, etc.. it was time to eat!

Done discussing and exchanging the gifts... Now let's eat!

He used to call me his "risikan" instead of his girlfriend - I'm not even sure if there's such a word! hahah

Mom made her delicious Soto and some Malay kuih that Sunday

The theme was Batik. Everyone wore Batik except me, cuz I don't have any. Mom came up with this idea since all the other events/ceremonies that we will have after this regarding the wedding, we would all be wearing the traditional Baju Melayu/Baju Kurung

So these are the little gifts a.k.a hantaran..

From me to him: a bowl of Godiva chocs, some fruits and a Red Velvet cake that I purchased/ordered online (can't remember from which website now..haha)

From him to me: a classic tepak sirih, a band ring or "belah rotan" as the Malay called... and a basket of chocolates as well.

Farhana came that day! With her darling Yusuf!

(thanks for coming babe!)

I like this pic of us.. And she looked so pretty that day!

^__^

I can't decide whether I want a yellow gold or rose gold or white gold ring for this merisik ring (I love all gold by the way. So I want to have a variety of gold - Not just the white gold). So because my engagement and my wedding ring would be in white gold, and my promise ring is in rose gold...and my other ring that I got is in yellow gold, I have decided that my merisik ring would be in all three gold! So it'll complement any ring that I have now and in the future, when I wear any of the rings! haha. Hence, I chose the Trinity ring that consists of a yellow, rose and a white gold! - Happy!!

First step is done! I'm a risikan orang now. haha

Will continue with the second step soon! Stay tune! ;)

XOXO,
Shazzy.

The Steps

I think most (typical) men don't really know how a wedding would be like. What are the customs, the steps/stages or the traditions like... Especially when the Malays' wedding are quite steeped in age-old tradition with all the steps, rules, customs/traditions and what not. Well, like most men in Malaysia, or maybe in this world...my man is no exception. He is the typical, clueless man who doesn't really know anything about a wedding except for saying those 3 words, "Aku terima nikahnya...... blablabla", because apparently, that is the ultimate role on his part, when it comes to weddings, or so he thought.

-_____________-

Pffft. I didn't know about this until recently when we decided to get married. I mean I thought he'd have some tiny bit of ideas about a wedding (so my work would be easier?) since he is the last one in his family to get married - he got 2 elder brothers who already married, and a sister who is on her way to tie the knot as well, for God's sake? Hence, I really thought he would have some ideas installed in his head of what a wedding would be like, other than knowing only those lines! haha. But boy..I was wrong. My man have zero knowledge on weddings apparently...that has led us to some misunderstandings last time. (Already solved everything, by the way! Thank God! haha) Yes we fought few months back when we were just starting to plan to get married... However, the fight/argument that we had turn out to be SO funny now when I think about it! xD I really didn't know the man that I thought who were so "manly"...could turn out to be a "Groomzilla"??! Hahahah. Thaaat never occur to my wildest imagination! (Will get to that groomzilla part later. teehee. P/s: I love you baby! LOL ;p). He didn't even know what "Merisik" actually is! And I guess if it wasn't because of some of his friends who were already engaged last time, I think he wouldn't even know what "Bertunang" really is for! hehehe. Sabar je lah akuuuu...huhu.

Well, what to do. I'm marrying a super-straight, practical man, who never really bother about weddings like I do! He always say this to me, "......the most important thing is God made me found you, and I love you very much. I don't care about weddings. I care about you and our marriage/future". (Awwww! I love you too, darling. But I know you're just coating your words with sugar and caramel, to cover your unmachoness for not knowing anything about a wedding, right? haha. So yeah, I still want a nice dress for my wedding! ;p)

Anyway...I love watching The Notebook kind of movies, while he fancies a movie that has something to do with Batman or Spiderman or Superman or even Cicakman or maybe..Transformers or whatever movies that involved guns, blood, and some wrestlings. - So yeah, like most men on this planet, he didn't give a damn about what color matches with what...or what theme would be perfect for a certain event..or what's the difference between peonies and ranunculus flowers or whatever it is that has to do with weddings! Plus, he only have 2 or 3 of his close friends who just got married...and men being men, they don't really talk about weddings among them. They'd be like "Oh, that's so gayyyy". And the only thing that would pop in their mind to talk with each other regarding a "wedding", would be about the first night. Pffffffffftttt. And later, the ones who would be stressing out lebih-lebih to explain each and every details of the event to them then, would be us girls!  (Read: me) Sigh. Men are so........ ignorant, huh? Heeesh.

Hmmm.... Or maybe, it's us, the girls who are so perfectionist, that we, (or should I blame the older generations?) needed to create and have all the customs and traditions and steps for a wedding, when it could be really really simple with that 3 words to sign the contract? haha. More or less laa. But don't you think, it's us who made the wedding jobs to be tedious with all that dresses/gowns, veil or no veil, tiara or no tiara, 100 different kinds of flowers, door gifts, cards, videographers, photographers, photo booths, flower girls, 3-tier cakes, 6-tier cakes, 18-tier cakes, wall drapes, white carpet, red carpet, western menu, eastern menu, kampung menu, and the list goes on and on! LOL :p (Remember that part in SATC The Movie, when Mr. Big got really stressed out when Carrie has planned a lot for their wedding when he just want a simple one?! Yes, guys are typically like that. It's the girls who likes to complicate things, I suppose! haha. - Sorry guys, can't help it laaa...it's in our genes! We just love doing things that would menyusahkan diri sendiri! And we don't even know why! hahaha ;p )

So anyways, I explained to him...what are the steps in our Malay weddings, and why this and that. I remembered, he bombarded me with lotsa questions more than a 5 year old kid would! hehe. Comel, but annoying! hahahah

"So...what's the difference between Merisik and Bertunang?" 

"How long should we get engaged? Is there a specific timeline that is set by the traditions or something?"  

"What's the real meaning behind Merisik? Why do we need to do it?" 

"So if I propose to you, do we still need to do the Majlis Bertunang?"  

"What's the difference between a Reception, Bertandang and Bersanding lah?"  

"Is there any separate Majlis for the Bertunang or Akad, like for girl side and guy side thing.. just like the reception?"  

"Do I need to bring anything to the Merisik thingy?"  

"How many events all together? Who would bear the cost?"  

"How many rings should I prepare for you?"  

"How many Hantaran?"  

"What's a sirih for lah??"  

"And what's the difference between Mas Kahwin and Wang Hantaran? To whom I should give it? You or your parents? Does it really have to be in a money form? Can I just give you my heart and my love?" - Rrrightttt. -____-'

And a wholeeeeeeee lot more questions!! haha. Comel pun ye, annoying pon ye jugak. Banyak sangat tak tahu! LOL. Oh God, somebody really needs to write a book called, "The Malay Weddings For Dummies" to explain eveeerrryyyy bit of weddings to these type of guys! hahaha. So I explained to him, from A to Z. And now, I'm sharing it with you guys. So listen up you clueless guys out there! :)

First we got the Adat Merisik, which is the "getting to know you better" stage. The Adat Merisik is actually a ‘seeking ceremony’ or ‘spying custom’. This traditional Malay system is crucial for arranging marriages. When a man is finally ready to settle down with the girl of his dreams (or in some cases his parents will find a suitable potential bride for him), his family will carry out the responsibility of seeking out information about that particular woman. During this stage, one or more representatives from the man’s family will pay a visit to the woman’s family. The merisik is not considered a formal proposal yet, and there may or may not be further arrangement of marriage. It all depends on both sides of the family. For me, the Adat Merisik is more like to familiarize and get to know who/what/which/how is the family of both sides, and gain the relationship/friendship between them.

Then comes the Majlis Bertunang, a.k.a The Engagement between the two lovebirds. This is where we consider it as a formal proposal - When a marriage plan is being agreed by both parties, an engagement date will be set. The engagement custom is usually held at the bride’s home. But these days, a lot of people have started to host it outside. The Majlis Bertunang/Engagement is being done as a symbol that the future groom and bride have already been reserved, and will get married soon, God-willing.

Then the next step would be the Majlis Akad Nikah, where the real and actual wedding day would be held. Akad nikah is usually conducted at a mosque or at the bride's home although these days, a lot of brides have chosen to do it at a hotel or banquet hall or something. Akad Nikah is the moment when the wedding is being legalized in a religious manner, while bersanding is a family celebration, after the akad nikah. So during the event, the groom will sign the marriage contract and provide his bride with a Mas Kahwin/Mahar (some kind of a payment in the form of money, gold or any other thing as requested by the bride).

Then would be the Bersanding ceremony, where the wedded couple would celebrate their wedding day with their guests. - Bersanding can be celebrated in a traditional way or modern way. After bersanding at the bride's side, then there'll be a Majlis Bertandang at the groom side pulak. To make it simple, both event  (Bersanding at bride side/ Bertandang at groom side) are simply called "the reception" in english! hehee


So after explaining something like the above loooong story, I said to him... "So if you count all the events/ceremonies that I just mentioned, there are 5 stages all together, or in our case..it'll be a little bit more. And guess what? The first 4 stages of the ceremonies, which is the Merisik, Bertunang, Akad Nikah and Bersanding, would all be covered by the girl's family normally. The guy only gonna bear the cost for his Majlis Bertandang, which is the last step. As for the other 4 majlis, you and your family, would only come as a "guest", not as a host. So because the girl's side is going to pick up the cheque more for the caterer, for the venue, for the dress, for the photographers, etc etc , thus you gonna have to be such a sweetie and let me have it my way! hahaha. Oh, and you definitely should love me more and moreeeeee for the rest of your life...and also, you gonna let me have my dress, and this shoes, and my this, and my that! hahaha. Okayyy, darlin?? ;p"

He replied, "Ok sweetie. You can have that shoes, just as long as you don't ask me to plan our wedding. I still don't know anything after what you explained. Cuz it's kinda hard to process in my head right now with all the weird rules and regulations and whatnot. I just wanna get married to you so I can concentrate on my work more after this. Can you continue later? I gotta go now, my work is more important than our wedding. Cuz if I don't do my work, I can't get married with the love of my life now.. alright? Let me know what have you planned for us later, ok honey? And show me your shoes. I wanna see and try to understand what's so special that you can't sleep thinking about it last night. Ok, bye sayang"

-_____________-

MEN.

Penat explain panjang lebar...they don't really listen, do they, when it comes to flowers, cards, handbags, shoes, dresses, cakes, pelamin, hantaran, etc?? Fineeeeee. "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus", huh? I will try to accept that during this whole wedding preparations, and redha that men don't really give a damn about weddings, and that I have to do this alone and on my own, and trust my own opinions. Oh, sad. Okthanksbye.





XOXO,
Girly girl who is in love with her straight, clueless, but sweetie man.

Hello..

I'm sorry for not updating this page. I wasn't that busy. Well...just a little bit. Going out and about for the wedding preps. But other than that, I'm not that busy that I can't update my blog. Just a little tired and I'm just...... not really in the mood to blog most of the time. I don't know why, lately I'm always not in the mood. I'm not sure whether this is because of the side effect of the medicines I took or what la. Sighh... But I heard the drugs I took may cause depression. OMG. I hope this doesn't apply to me. Cause I only took it for a few weeks... Hmm.. Or maybe this is just one of those mid-life crisis moment  or what la..haha ;p

Anyways, I promised you guys I will update on the engagement story after Raya right? So right now I'm selecting the photos..and I will upload them here soon! Please bear with me yeah! hehe :)

As of now, the wedding preparation is 70% done, I think? Just gotta select the dress maker/designers, the make up artist, the henna artist, the door gifts, the invitation cards.. and hurm, what else? Ah, I can't really think right now. But I think I've covered most of it already. Just some little details je lagi..

Oh yeah. Kursus Kahwin tak pergi lagi. haha. Baru teringat! Gotta put this in my list as well. Ok lah, I wanna sleep. So sleepy, I spent all day in the traffic jams. God, I hate KL's traffic :(

Talk soon!


XOXO,
Shazzy.

I'm really happy..

This entry is specially for acne sufferer like me

I'm not really one of those girls who always have a perfect looking, flawless skin. I do have my good skin days and bad skin days. However, my skin has never really been at its worst, until recently...thanks to my imbalance hormones! >_<

Just after I told you guys that I had almost 100% score for the skin test that I did with SK II last time, I developed kinda severe acne on my face! I don't know what happened. Maybe I was just really, really stressed out for the wedding.. (yes, say hello to this Bridezilla! :p) or maybe they've been there, underneath the skin actually, and something triggered them to come out, all at the same time! - I don't know whether it was the Clarisonic brush that I used like I told you guys last time...or what! But the acne just came out all of a sudden! Sekali keluar banyak-banyak pulak tu! My worst case everrrrrrrr! I never had this kind of pimple before! It's just SO weird...and ugly...and sad. However I do think that this is more like a "disease" or hormonal acne or something. Cuz it's not like my usual once-a-month-PMS case...Sigh. Hormonal acne is a whole new beast, I tell you! :(

My pimples were so bad and my period was irregular too. My hormones were unstable I suppose. In just one month time, my face become from that clear, acne-free skin...to really bad severe acne on my face! :( It was SO bad that I always locked myself up in the room, not wanting to go out and face people! I had to cancel events, cancel going here and there, cancel appointments, cancel doing what I'm supposed to do, etc. Just because I just want to avoid seeing people. I even tried to avoid seeing my own family! Always locked myself up in my room! Yes...it was thaaaaat bad! I was always moody and sad. To be honest, I was so depressed.

Seriously, I had a reaallllly hard time dealing with it. What's more when no one is giving you hope, and all you hear is negative words from them. Thank God my darling didn't mind with it.. But still, can you imagine, coming down to eat your dinner or sahur, and hearing your family talk about your acne, look at them and made you feel bad about yourself for having acne? Every time you sit in front of them with a bare face, just makes it even harder when their eyes can't stop looking at your acne when they're talking to you... And then the stress of going out to meet your friends or even strangers pulak, and they came up to you and said, "what happened/is wrong with your face?" Sighhh... 

Ok, I know those people who asked meant well, and worried about me. But imagine the stress I had to handle and to deal with! - The pain from having the acne is one story, the pain of looking at yourself in the mirror with that ugly bumps and redness is another story... And the pain of hearing people talk about it as if YOU DON'T KNOW IT ALREADY...is yet another story!!! T__T

I now understand the feelings of those acne sufferers. I'm with you darlings.. :(

God...I hate pimples. I feel so insecure. I understand deeply for whoever has had pimple problems..and really hate those people who thinks that making fun of it is funny. Because it's not. It really is not! Hmm..I guess, this is a test that God gave me..to remind me to always be thankful and take a good care of His creations and to not always be proud of what I have or anything like it...because actually everything you own in this world belongs to Him, not you. He only lends you his wealth or beauty or health or whatever. And He can take it back anytime He wants. So I guess this test was more like a reminder for me, I think? Although I don't think I was proud last time. I was more like.........happy, I think? But oh well.. whatever. Things has happened now. But after two months, I'm quite surprised that I wasn't as depressed as I used to be. Probably cuz I kinda get used to my face being inflamed already. Heck, it has been 2 months that I live like this! Or probably because I have accepted this test that God gave me with an open heart, and have accepted my flaws...and have agreed that God can take anything within a few seconds. Saya terima. Saya redha dengan ujian ini.  =/ (So okayyy God....I have understand it and learnt my lesson...errr...so can you heal me up already? heheh :p)

I have gone to the clinic by the way...to get help. It has been about two months that I'm on medication. As of now, my skin hasn't really recovered fully. But it's getting there, inshaallah. It's better than 2 weeks ago. I don't have that many bumps like I did, a month ago. Just maybe 2 or 3 more bumps to cure. But....I do have acne marks on the skin which is yet to heal in time. The doctor said, my acne is the kind that's quite hard to cure compare to the other types of acne. - By saying hard, she meant it'll take longer time to heal. Sigh... Because my acne is inside the skin. It doesn't wanna come out, and it doesn't wanna go and disappear either. It just stays there. So the doctor gave me some medicines for the acne to come out. As of now I'm at the stage where I need to heal my acne marks that I have on my skin.. I have quite some red marks on my cheeks... (Sorry, I won't show my naked face, before and after picture. Because like I said, it hasn't cleared yet. Maybe when I get back my normal skin again (inshaallah), I'll do the post in detail! So if you wanna know exactly how I treat my acne problem, please pray for a fast recovery for me! hehe)

My pimples were kind of like this one! Scary, no? :(

[image: googled]

...and now it's sort of like this picture. The healing stage..where there's some red marks on the skin

So anyways, like all the dermatologists/skin doctors in the world, I was forbidden from wearing any make up while I'm on the treatment. Except for mineral make up, as I was told by my very own skin specialist. Of course I knew that. I knew make up is not really good for the skin. I don't even like depending on make up too, actually. But since we're living in the world where some people would judge you based on how you look, sometimes you need those extra help to cover your imperfections! Not because you wanna be fake or be/look like someone else or anything like that. But because you just wanna look and feel good about yourself, so you can have a little confidence and be happy with life. Especially for people that is not perfect like me..

So with this Raya festive, you'll meet a lot of people during open house events - friends, family, relatives, etc, and I'm sure many of us imperfect ladies, wanna look perfect or almost perfect if we can, in front of those people, right? - Cuz like it or not, people tend to judge based on your look. They would look at you and sneer if you don't look like they do or if you have something that is not quite right according to their eyes. So how else can you hide your imperfect face, other than wearing make up..right? (Plastic surgery is another story la, ok? hehe)

Anyway, the picture below is my recent Raya picture. You see those red spots on my cheeks? This is after 2 months of treatment from my doctor...the acne bumps isn't really showing up here, thanks to the antibiotics and steroids pills I took. But I do still have some red marks/acne marks that is quite hard to cover even with my make up! - Will share my meds and topical products for my acne in another post.

Look, it is still visible even after I have covered them with my full coverage foundation + powder! Some of you might say that it doesn't look that bad like how I explained/told you earlier in this post. But bear in mind, I wore thick powder in here...and this is after 2 months of treatment, and my cheeks are actually burning red without the make up on! :(

And I gotta say, I put quite a lot of powder there to cover them...but they still show up! So imagine if I don't have any make up on to cover them?! Imagine how red my face actually is! 

T____T

(Whoever invented make up is a genius! God bless you. hehehehe)

For some, wearing make up might mean that you're being fake as you're not exposing the real you...or worse, some narrow minded people would think that wearing make up means you're an attention seeker and calling them vain and give them names or whatsoever it is that they try to put you down, when really..it's just a resentful cover for their own ineptitude and lack of action to make themselves look better. Pffft - Maybe yes, if it's too much. And yes I have to agree, that there are some women who wear makeup which also happen to be vain and attention-seeking, but that's a really different story altogether.  I'm talking about those women who complain about how they look, but yet do nothing about it! And worse, trying to put others down who look good, just to make themselves feel better. Sigh.... What is wrong with the world laa.. huhu. Anyhow, I just don't see anything wrong with wearing make up, if you just wanna have a little confidence by enhancing the way you look!

Like for me, in this case...wearing make up is like my shield, my savior and my protector.. from those cruel people who judged me based on my flaws.. I never really appreciate make up until I got this test from God. I know it's bad for the skin but...I really can't help it. I need to hide them whenever I meet anyone. Yesss...anyone! Even mom, or dad..or even Mr. Fiance - although they already seen the real bumps and redness.. haha. And although my fiance actually didn't mind at all and always say that he loves me for who I am, not because of my look or anything - But I still didn't believe him as I think he just wanna make me feel good about myself (cuz he's a darling like that), and I'm a worrier who worries about anything and everything. haha. - So I just didn't feel comfortable to let myself out there...to anyyyy one especially to the ones I love/who knows me. The feelings of looking into your beloved eyes, and knowing that they say things like "..your face has changed a lot. Poor you" in their thoughts and in their mind, is a bit melancholy and depressing for me. So yes, wearing make up is the answer for me when I'm going out to meet people! Otherwise, just stay at home/your room and slap on some colored acne cream that would stay on the skin (I don't like the absorbed kind!), so the mom won't be so worried and nag at me when looking at my horrible inflamed skin! 

Oh gosh..I have typed quite long already regarding my acne story. Hee..I just realized this! ;p Now I want to share with you; the acne sufferers, who want to look good and gain back your confidence..even if it's just temporary! Yes, there is still hope..although it's not a permanent solution, but this is how I do to hide my imperfections! - Hey...at least there's a way to minimize our misery, right?! hehe. I know as we're in the midst of healing our skin, we're not supposed to do this often. So what I'm about to share with you now is for you to do it on emergency days. OK? But for those who is not really an acne sufferer/undergoing treatment like me, but has some little imperfections that you wanna correct, this trick would do just fine for you! Be it freckles, redness, moles, dark circles, etc!

Remember those days when we were in art class in school, our teacher used to teach us what are the primary colors and which color to mix with what color to get a certain color? Remember those days? Now...try to apply that on your red face! - Green is made up of two primary colors; blue and yellow. While red and blue mixed together gives you purple. Yellow added to purple gives you BROWN - or light brown/beige in this case when you mix a green concealer with a beige/yellow concealer, which is the kind of tone you're looking for when you're concealing your redness on your skin!

Corrective color palette basically follow the simple rule of ‘neutralizing’ an opposite color on the skin and then hiding it to match the respective skin tone just as in a Color Wheel where we learn last time in school...to get to where the color opposite to a particular shade that neutralizes it! These concealers usually come in various colors ranging from the natural skin tone color to colors like green and purple.

A color like yellow/beige helps to tone down and even out the skin tone. However, it does not ‘hide’ anything specifically which is why we need other colors to do the hiding work! Like purple or green for example!

So apart from the natural skin tone color concealers, the colors available in the cosmetics market are: White, Beige, Yellow, Orange, Mint Green, Light Green, Lavender Purple, Mauve, Light Blue, Pink and Light Peach. My personal favourite to do the hiding work would be the green and the purple one!

Just for your info:

• White: Used with Beige to cover up heavy under eye dark circles. 
• Beige: Used to conceal slight shadows and brighten up the complexion and under eye area. Used with White to conceal heavy under eye dark circles and around the nose area to conceal slight shadows. 
• Yellow and Orange: Neutralizes redness and brown discoloration. Used to conceal red blemishes, bruises and tone down any redness on the face near the nose, lip area, cheeks etc and on brown spots. Orange helps to neutralize the blue toned under eye dark circles and purple bruises. 
• Mint/Light Green: Neutralizes redness as well. If the redness is too dark, mint/light green is used with/without yellow to neutralize it. Works the same as the Yellow concealer except only on darker red spots and scars. 
• Lavender Purple: Used to neutralize yellow-colored bruises or imperfections, yellow under eye or cheek area due to an illness/flu etc on bronze-olive skin tones. 
• Mauve: Used to cover up dark/black spots and visible veins on the face. 
• Light Blue: Used to neutralize orange spots, tan lines/spots, age spots and freckles. 
• Pink: Used to conceal dark gray shadows just below puffy under eye dark circle area and and shadows around the nose. 
• Light Peach: Used to brighten up olive skin tones and balance out slight color discolorations. Can be used for slight coverage of blue veins.

So for this Raya...I hide my redness and inflamed skin with some mineral make up. My doctor said, if I really have to wear make up while under her treatment, she suggested me to wear a mineral make up at least. And so I did!

So this is what I used. All mineral-base make up..
I didn't have the colored concealer palette like I showed you above though. But I do have a green colored make up base from Vacci, a Korean brand make up. The best part of this green colored liquid is that it's easy to blend with the skin. It's not really a "concealer" actually, but rather a make up base! So the texture is really nice and dewy, unlike the normal concealer palette where it is quite dry. And oh, Vacci is a mineral make up brand too! I bet my doctor would approve this brand as well! hehehe
(I didn't use their foundation because their foundation that I have with me is a little too fair for my skin..that I can only apply a bit on my face, otherwise I'll look like a ghost! - I need to apply a thick amount of liquid to hide my imperfections, remember? hehe. Plus, I needed a beige/yellowy tone to cover the redness too)

So anyways..just letting you know that mineral make up generally contains less chemical-based ingredients such as parabens, binders, artificial oils, talc, preservatives, synthetic dyes and fragrances, which can help eliminate some of the skin problems. That was why my doctor said it's okay to wear mineral make up if I really need to wear one. Another major benefit of wearing a mineral make up is that it generally does not clog the pores, allowing the skin to "breathe" naturally. As such, it is less likely to aggravate an acne condition or cause flare-ups! - Which is great for people like me who is undergoing a treatment, no? hehee

So how do I wear it?

I pumped my beige foundation and my green liquid make up base side by side onto my hand...and I mix them up!

I like to put my concealer on my hand first rather than applying it straight to my face...so I can figure out how much liquid I actually need on my face, so I won't overdo it.

Mix until you get your perfect color that can hide your redness!

Just like working with a normal concealer, after applying the corrective concealer on the spots, set it with powder..

Check whether you have blend the color well or if you need to add more..

Here's a before and after I used the normal beige concealer (left) 

And after I have mixed the beige color with green liquid (right)

The redness appearance is reduced a bit! ;)

Awesome product!!

Now..get yourself the three major colors you need to have on your make up table. You never know when you might need it! You can purchase it here!

NOTE: Under eye dark circles come under blue, purple and brownish tones.. therefore they are neutralized by yellow or beige.


Hope this helps you ladies out there who are struggling with concealing those tough under eye dark circles and red blemish/scar marks.

Happy concealing girls! And happy visiting to your relatives house this weekend! Selamat Hari Raya! ;)



XOXO,
Shazzy.