[Inspiration] Painter Crush | Zaria Forman Making It Real

When an artist is on the quest to create something magnificent, it is not only the art work that speaks for themselves, but also through it, you will be touched, till that certain depth of your heart and empowers you to question the extended motives behind the art itself and what it intends to deliver. For this woman artist, Zaria Forman brings not only the landscapes of vast nature to vivid life, in 3D and photorealistic manner, but also at the same time, brings forward its global warming issues to great attention. That, is the power of art itself and the potential of it to be socially responsible, in a subconscious way. 

Her love for painting landscapes with pastel has a great deal to do with her early childhood times spent with her family traveling throughout several of the world's most remote landscapes (which were the subject of her mother's fine art photography, no wonder *_^), and of course, her formal training at Skidmore College further cemented her passion and affirmed her that this is what, exactly she is meant to be doing, in her life - painting.

M.A.C Presents The Autumn/Winter 2014 Makeup Trends: Part 1 - OFF COLOUR and STREAMLINED

We are absolutely loving the whole concept of M.A.C in its latest Autumn/Winter 2014 makeup trends - Beauty Is Individuality. It is indeed, when one believes in the power of makeup and how it can elicit a certain personality that you would like to evoke, based on your individuality. We will be sharing with you two of the four main trends revealed by the fabulous M.A.C Makeup Artiste, Romero Jennings, recently (previous blog post here and here) - Off Colour and Streamlined.

Beauty is individuality, for autumn/winter 2014, makeup has become something of a beautiful paradox. It is about artistry to achieve something that looks essentially un-cosmetic (thanks to ever more sophisticated and subtle makeup formulations and applications).

Masking and morphing feels irrelevant this season. A quiet alchemy of product and technique that nonchalantly amplifies what is unique in the face is the new stealth wealth of makeup "The new luxury is in individuality", confirms Gordon Espenit, M.A.C makeup artist from USA.

Away And Back

Traveling does two things to us. It leaves us refreshed knowing that we are out of our usual day-to-day mundane life, this can be from the repetitive work, rushing schedules, endless emails and connections to keep in touch with, to the expected chores. On the contrary, it leaves us wanting to come back, come back to where the heart really belong, no matter how your home is never that picture-perfect-spaces that grace the interior design magazines. Picture above from here.

This weekend trip away from home, not too far away, actually, for a family wedding did make a fun reunion and a birthday celebration the more meaningful, to embrace the "not-so-hectic-busy-life" sort of small town way of  living, momentarily, was a great escapade but nothing beats coming back HOME again! Perhaps home is where the heart is, after all *_^

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The Beautiful Scent of The Rain With My Burberry

Listening, listening, to each of your echoing call, each of your note, 

that is left beating, against the corner of my mind, the shadow of my happiness, 

to be, to be, that drop of rain, that lingers upon the wondering melody, 

the scent of roses, beneath the folds of pouring rain, 

you are more than just my first encounter, to the wanderlust, the world of scent, 

that only captures the imagination, of a woman who is looking, for that 

very note, that is who she feels she may be.

You are more than the scent, that captures the heart, that awakens the senses, 

that leaves a mark, to be yearn upon, 

again and again, 

you are that mystery gift, that breath of fresh air, 

that can only be called, my one and only
My Burberry

[Inspiration] Falling In Love With Fall Style

Most parts of the world is experiencing the season of falling leaves and a bit of the chilling cool weather already. Unlike here in Malaysia where we are, the days of late are filled with pockets of stormy weathers. It has been pouring, at times, very heavily that it sends chill down our spine. 

We are heading into our year-end monsoon season sooner that we had expected. 

The changing of season is telling us that one of our favourite festive celebrations is just somewhere around the corner - Christmas and snow, yay! Though we had only experienced real snow way back in February of 2005, at Berlin, Germany, it was more than enough to get us really excited. Perhaps, one day, we will experience snow, once again. 

Here are some of our favourite looks for this muted sort of a time of the year. It is time for warm sweaters, hot chocolate, chic long trench and coats and lovely easy breezy hair and makeup. Hope that fall has giving all much time to reflect upon the year so far, before you all head into the cold cold winter (not for us here, of course!)

Review: clé de peau BEAUTÉ Autumn/Winter 2014 Radiant Fluid Foundation and Vera Wang's Looks

Have you ever dreamt of having a radiant skin? Do you love to have a makeup look that is luminously beautiful, and you just look glowing? We absolutely adore such looks as we are one that likes our makeup look to not conceal way too much, but rather, enhance our look, and of course, makes us look just like ourselves, only BETTER! We believe the right foundation will help prepare such a canvas to achieve that look.

One of the most exciting new makeup items that came with the recent launch of clé de peau BEAUTÉ Autumn/Winter 2014 collection (event blog post here) is this Japanese brand's latest technology of liquid foundation - Radiant Fluid Foundation. We love liquid foundation (compared to compact and two-way cake) as we love the fluidity of it. This one from clé de peau BEAUTÉ is very  dreamy, we feel!

In fact, it was used by Lucia Pieroni, Creative Director and official Colour Creator of clé de peau BEAUTÉ and her team, to create barely-there-makeup looks for the models to Vera Wang's Fall 2014 Ready-To-Wear runway show previously. Let's explore how the foundation was being used, shall we ? And what we think of it?

KLFW2014: The Signature of Sandra Azwan

This is our last installment of a series of blog post on the recent Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week 2014 and this post is SO fashionably late *_^ Sorry about this but guess better late than never, right? Sandra dear Sandra, where shall we begin?

We knew Sandra way back in 2007 when he was a graduating fashion student back then, joining the Mifa8 Fashion Forward competition that year, a competition as well as a fashion TV reality show which we produced and directed (PATJENN FILM, my full time work!) and Sandra was one of the top8 finalists! What we remembered most about him has always been his sketches and drawings of his designs. Very SANDRA! That was how we knew Sandra. Perhaps that was also one of the reasons why we got ourselves a front-row seat invitation, specially arranged by this young designer friend of ours (whom we love him so much for! Seriously). Watching fashion show up-close makes a world of difference, really. 

Sandra has always been a fashion designer who is willing to push the limits and we have always remembered him being this very fashion forward sort of a designer. He was extremely confident about his design work and will always be proud of them, no matter what others may think (even the judges included). We love for a fact that he found his VOICE in the world of fashion, during that very early stage of his fashion work, which can be easily drowned out by so much influences out there. His style is apparent, even till today, his latest showcase at the recent KL Fashion Week is no exception. We could not have been more happier for him, truly. 

[Review] NARS Audacious Lipstick and Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner

It's dangerous, really really dangerous when you have fallen in love, 

with something so strong, yet audaciously beautiful. It's love at first sight, perhaps? 

It came to us, at just the right time. How gorgeous can it get, when you have a chance to pick up the most latest lipstick from such an iconic makeup brand, during its 20th anniversary celebration party! Yes, NARS turned 20 recently.

In fact, this is our very first NARS lipstick. We initially wanted to go for the shade Grace (a slightly orange red tone), but after much discussion with the friendly Alan at the Nars Pavilion boutique, we decided to go all out - Charlotte No 9457 that is! (since we don't have this shade yet) It is a deep champaign burgundy red worn by the renowned Hollywood actress herself, Charlotte Rampling (who happens to be the face of Nars latest AUDACIOUS lipstick campaign *_^). We also got ourselves NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner Via De' Martelli 8066 (a dark brown mocha shade).

[Sneak Peek] The Scent of Absolute Beauty That Is My Burberry

This Friday has been a truly magical one (all thanks to our Style Crush). Having known this British brand since last year, live streaming and featuring their runway shows and events (like this one here and here), it is a brand that is really close to our hearts, for that matter, yet it somehow feel "so near yet so far" as we have never once attended a Burberry event... not until this recent Friday back, of course (all thanks to the lovely team of Burberry Malaysia as well for the special invite!)

A grand concourse set-up at Suria KLCC invited us upon our arrival, and we were instantly greeted by the friendly Burberry team. This is an exciting period as following the official launch of My Burberry in early September, Burberry's most ambitious endeavour to create a completely surprising grand floral fragrance, a series of promotions is happening from 9th to 15th October here. One can also enjoy complimentary makeover and manicure sessions with purchases.

If you are a lover of fragrances and beautiful makeup products, time to act fast. Let's have a quick peek and see what's installed for you lovelies. 

[Star Gazing] Shin Se Kyung In Black And White for Elle Korea

Our very first impression of this young lady was way back in 2006 when she first star alongside the charming Korean heart throb Hyun Bin in the korean movie, A Millionaire's First Love... or is it? BUT hey no! On second glance, we could be SO wrong! Which our dear blogger friend, Rowena has kindly pointed out to us in her comment below, she is NOT Lee Yeon-Hee whom we initially thought she was, but mistaken her for SHIN SE KYUNG! Thanks my dear friend for pointing this out to us *_^ We have made such a big mistake. Our sincere apologies. (digging a hole to hide ourselves and secretly wishing that Shin is not reading our blog post now! Yucks)

[Instagram] So Much To Be Grateful For

It's been quite a while since our last LUMI's own instagram sharing. We love IG, that's for sure. Looking back at the past few months (oh well, at least the most recent two), it has been truly wonderful. They are months full of surprises and happy occasions - a surprise short but fruitful getaway trip to Seremban, a working trip to Bali, a wedding and so much more! 

By looking at our instagram pictures, you would notice that we love colours and our life is surrounded by colours. Yellow seems to be dominating our world, of course, avocado is an occasional luxury and cherry tomato pineapple mixed juice still remains as one of our favourite power boost blends that is so refreshingly energizing and delicious! 

Our surprise trip to Seremban gotten us a short weekend stay at the Grand Lexus Hotel with our own private pool and guess what? I packed everything EXCEPT my swimsuit, even though I was told beforehand by hubby. Gosh! How could I resist a swim? (more of a dip actually) Swimming naked the very first time in my life (in the middle of the night, phew!) was most definitely a scary affair yet some what liberating! (which I shall never do again, am pretty sure of that *_^) That was a great learning weekend where scriptwriting was concerned. Bali trip was an awesome working trip that we could not have asked for more (our previous blog post here). 

September most definitely is a month of wedding bells, especially for us Chinese as we believe it is a really auspicious and good month to get hitched *_^ That included my little brother who was finally married, on that beautiful weekend. I am truly absolutely happy for him! We had so much fun as a family and I am grateful for that, having a great family that is always there for me, personally - be it for my full time production work, or even LUMINNEJ for that matter (especially my supportive hubby and my ever-loving-me sons of two).

Of course, LUMINNEJ would not have come this far, without the continuous support we received from the beauty and fashion brands! We say a HUGE thanks to them, as well as our readers here, our followers on IG, and the rest of the social media platforms. The friendships forged is extremely precious for us and make our LUMI world so much more exciting, adventurous and meaningful. Having the dharma in our life makes it even more so grounded.

We look forward to share more beauty and luminosity of life with you, lovelies. May your days be filled with so much love and gratitude, as full as how we are feeling at LUMINNEJ! Spread your love for LUMI via these platforms below. We shall see you there!

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A Soiree To Discover The Art of Enamel by Jaeger-LeCoultre

Take a stroll around, flip through the pages, have a peek, bath yourself in the breath of light fresh orchid scent mingled in the beautiful Tuesday afternoon air, that was what we told ourselves, as we shall take a quiet walk back in time, in a period when the art of exquisite detailing work was painfully mastered through years of practice, where patience is indeed, very much a prized virtue.

Splendidly embodying the love of detail that has always characterized Jaeger-LeCoultre, that art of miniature enamel painting highlights the absolute beauty of the horological feats accomplished by the Manufacture. We of course, were privileged indeed, to be invited to marvel at the masterful pieces brought in specially for the occasion, all thanks to Jaeger-LeCoultre Malaysia!

[Inspiration] Año Cero: Cameron Russell By Alexi Lubomirski For Vogue Mexico October 2014

We love a strong powerful and somewhat interestingly creative enough editorial. There is something very engaging about having strong power-dressing-kind-of-a-woman type of visuals that we find absolutely thrilling! We can see ourselves in some of these pieces, in fact, like the first few featured here *_^

Although beauty is more than skin deep but when one dresses aptly that reflects ones own taste and style, it does make a person feel more confident and empowered. It does make a whole lot of difference, don't you think?

model | cameron russell (lions)

photographer | alexi lubomirski (managementartists)

stylist | sarah gore-reeves (bridge)

hair | ben skervin (magnet)

make-up | tyron machhausen (bridge)

We love this editorial, it looks sleek with a touch of glamour and sophistication and every bit a woman. Hope you will like it too! Be sure to check out that stunning sequin piece coming up next *_^

[Instagram] Lumi's Feature 2: Patisserie Boutique

Food is most definitely the journey of love! It is simply magical if one knows how to create good and lovely food with love, even more so if you are great with baking. We love bakery and desserts, no doubt about it. Therefore, we are sharing with you our love for the art of pastry, bakery, desserts, pasta and all things delicious through one of our favourite food Instagram feeds - Patisserie Boutique. (Previous feature here, if you would like to check out)

Based in the granite nostalgic town of Ipoh, Malaysia, Patisserie Boutique opens up to a whole new world of discoveries, mainly French inspired cuisine, this eatery covers breakfast, brunch and tea breaks, food ranging from pastas to pastries, freshly baked and prepared everyday! Just look at these IG pictures, how can one not fall in love with them? It's a perfect place to relax, unwind with great company anytime of the day, don't you think?