Here’s the thing that I was anticipating… my very own wax seal! Yes, it’s frivolous. Yes, it’s a bit on the dramatic side. And yes, it’s quite useless.

But it’s fun!

Yes, I love stationery. There, I admit it! :P

The ‘A’ is just a font I found on dafont.com, printed it out, and brought it to one of the stamp makers at Jalan Wayang. I had it made for RM30. Which is considered pretty cheap. I heard they make one for USD200 in the U.S. Then again, this isn’t handcarved or anything special.

The sealing wax is a bit of a problem for me. It’s not easy to find stationery shops that sell sealing wax, and the one I found sells Pelikan sealing wax… very traditional, run of the mill, lousy stuff. It blackens very easily. Check out the marbled effect it has:

It’s not supposed to be like that. If you google How to use wax seal you’ll come up with a lot of different ways, with different kinds of waxes. I’m thinking of getting a flexible sealing wax online, the kind that won’t break so it will be more mail-friendly.

I used a standard kitchen stove lighter, and it does take some skills to get it right. It’s definitely not as easy as it looks! Too close to the flame and the whole thing blackens.

And here’s something I dug out of my very, very, very old stuff: a dymo label maker!!

I swear, this thing is old. I bought it when I was 12. Still remember where I got it too. The amazing thing is this thing still works! Just load up the label and away it goes. No battery needed.

The disappointing thing is after all these years, Dymo just came out with a new one with special characters. Some models out there now doesn’t have special characters, but they do have spaces. Mine doesn’t.

Both of these new ‘toys’ give a vintage look to whatever I do. And they make correspondence that much more special.

Still remember snail mail? When was the last time you send one, and received one from someone other than the telephone/bank/electricity company?

Edit: The pill makes me wonky, to say the least. It’s 5am and I just woke up from the most disturbed sleep ever. My dreams were so vivid and nonstop… and I felt like I was trapped between sleep and half-awake state.

The weather has been incredibly unforgiving the past few days - and I’ve succumbed to it. I knew something was wrong when I slept in till 4pm. Then, I woke up to a bad headache. And the headache persisted till now. Panadol only provided temporary relief… most of the time my head feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton wool and I feel like I’m on auto-pilot. And only a few hours ago, the first signs of flu showed up. I sneezed, my nose clogged up and I began sniffing.

Ugh. I hate flus. I can’t sleep properly at night because of it and if I take Jee’s super powerful flu pills I’ll be out in a jiffy. And the pills have nasty groggy side effects too.

On the lighter side of things, I’m awaiting something new to play with this Friday - and I can’t wait for it to come! Friday can’t come quickly enough. I’ll probably post on either Friday or Saturday.

Here’s something to keep you amused… it sure amused me. :)

That ninja cat’s big round eyes full of mischief just reminds me of Zoe. :)

I had been biting my nails since I was 6 (or less). This habit carried into adulthood and can be crippling, especially since nails are used daily without us even knowing about it. I couldn’t even open a can of Coke without seeking a spoon. Peeling double sided tapes could take a while. Peeling a price tag could end up being a messy (and sticky) affair. And above all, they were butt ugly.

What is the point of taking good care of oneself - spending ages in front of the mirror primping and war painting when the hands themselves are an atrocious sight?

Don’t get me wrong. I tried so many things to stop - when I was little, my mom would even, as a last resort, tape around my fingers for a week! When the tape finally came off, my skin was all wrinkly and pruny. When I first fell in love with Jee, I didn’t have time to bite my nails so I was surprised when one day, out of the blue I examined my nails and there they were! Longer than I have ever had them! Of course it was short-lived and one exciting movie later, my nails were back to ragged mess.

3 weeks ago I decided enough was enough. I think vanity got the better of me… well, that and I just watched this YouTube video of xteeener to learn how to improve my makeup skills and she has one video of her doing a french manicure with black tips. And boy, were they gorgeous!

I know my nails break and peel really easily (all that nail biting!) so I looked for nail strengtheners. On makeupalley.com, the one with a lot of positive reviews is Nailtiques Formula 2. Unfortunately it’s not available here and ebay can be tricky, since U.S. Postal doesn’t really allow nail polishes. So I hit Nail Me Good in RH Plaza (yes, it’s the one Kenny Sia made fun of a while back) and it turns out, the owner is the sister of my friend in high school, Adrienne! Her sister Fiona is from Green Road too. What a small world. :) So, I hit there to look for nail strengtheners and Fiona recommended OPI Nail Envy. I got the Original formula and started taking photos of my nails to keep track of their progress.

And now, onto the photos! Sorry for such a lengthy introduction, I have to talk about history first. ;D

OPI Nail Envy Original Formula - RM130 (Nail Me Good). There’s also a matte version for guys or those who don’t want shininess.

Day 1

OMG!! Can you see how short they were?! I tell you, the longest nail on average was about 0.7cm. Yes, that’s less than a 1cm!

Week 1

Refraining myself to not bite the first few days wasn’t very hard. In retrospect, it was kinda breezy because my will to grow them out was still strong, and Nail Envy has a distinctive nail polish smell. That serves as a jarring reminder NOT TO BITE NAILS!

Week 2

Ah, they were longer! I couldn’t stop stroking and playing with them at this point. Normally, all the playing and usage would cause it to break already. But Nail Envy kept them freakishly strong. I couldn’t even bend them.

Week 2 Painted

Couldn’t resist giving myself a little treat by painting them with Maybelline Salon Secret in Bordeaux Red. They no longer look weird and ugly short.

Week 3

Tadah!! That’s how my nails look like today. They’re incredibly strong, and I haven’t had a nail break since Day 1. So I’ll say OPI Nail Envy is a resounding success!!

During these 3 weeks, I’ve been pushing the cuticles back with either my nail or an orange stick. Probably this encourages growth? And if you decide to try OPI Nail Envy, do keep to their instructions - two coats the first time, one coat every other day, and begin all over again in one week.

Now I can open my own can of Coke. :)