[Inspiration] Far & Away You Are From Me

Incessant. Reminiscent. Futile.
Is it too much to ask, to have you close to me? To want you to stay...

The desert wind kicks up the sand of solitude, wanting me to wander into the wilderness, searching for that familiar voice, that echoes into the far distant horizon, that I so long to hear, so eager to keep, right inside my head.

Your soft hair, your little embrace, now seems too hard to forget, in this time when the sun blinds my mind, burns my longing... to see you once again.

I can run bare foot all day, looking for you, seeking for a trace of you, that have left cold.

Do you believe me, do you still believe me that I miss you this much?

You are the only one for me. I could almost smell you in the sweater that wrapped around me now. I can almost taste the shadow of sweetness you left behind, lingering on my lips, but slipped through my fingers which are now trembling...

 

Hope, hope is all I have for you, to come back to me, once again. Would you?

How could you give me hope, but left it crushing down so deep, so hard that I could almost go insane without you by my side? Why the wait, why the silence, why the craziness?

Perhaps this is what it has come to - you far away from me, me with the vast openness of not knowing what's next, not knowing if you ever even existed, or just a fragment of my foolish imagination.

Be gone, be far away, I will survive, I will walk on, this desert of hopelessness, in the land of hope, all by myself. We are but all alone, after all.

All visuals via Visual Optimism blog here.

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[Sneak Peek] Dior Nude Air Breezes Into Our World

Fresh was nothing remotely close to describing our state of affair of late as we felt like we were swept away by stormy weather of work and some level of traveling, rushing from one end to the other, with only short intervals for a breather. Fortunately, the surprise arrival of Dior's latest NUDE AIR series came at the right moment to remind us that it is indeed pleasant, to just pause for a moment, take life a little slower, to enjoy the scenery and take a deep long breath of fresh air, for life is what we made of after all, right?

Dashing aside, we do enjoy a somewhat hectic beat, yet will always be yearning for that quiet moment when we can sit down and reflect, take a good look and count the blessings we have been bestowed upon, here at LUMINNEJ.

The world of breezy lightness has arrived and we shall find time to savour each of these little treasures and come back to you with our experience of using them soon, all right?

Till that moment come, let's get back to more work, and some traveling ahead real soon! Hope you lovelies are enjoying your time, wherever you may be and thanks for coming into our world and brighten up our days *_^

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[Instagram] Life Has Its Tempo

We do believe that life has its own rhythm and everything unfolds in a way that it should be - at the right time, at the right place, which we have come to gradually learn to see life this way... oh well, at least, starting from this year onwards *_^ 

Of late, things have been getting onto a much faster pace, as our work kicks up a notch. Work here of course we mean our production work, shooting on ground. Juggling this work with blogging can be a challenge, but we are more than happy to take up this challenge.

On the beauty department, we are fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to try out new up-and-coming collections for Spring and Summer 2015 already and we feel grateful for having brands that support LUMINNEJ and love what we are doing here. Traveling within the states have also been a bit more frequent this past two months, though tiring, but always rewarding to see new things and accomplish different tasks. Of course, doing all these while taking time off to enjoy a cuppa as much chance as we can get *_^

We would love to take this opportunity to say a big thanks to all our blogger friends who have been dropping by to say hi and read our blog posts and leave comments. We may not have the time to reply all of the comments just yet, but we shall get to them, and hope to be able to catch up with you all on your respective blogs real soon! If you have not already followed us, do hop over to our instagram here to get connected with us there for the latest updates and see what we have been up to.

Just a quick note to say hello and we shall be back again real soon! Have a luminously beautiful week ahead, lovelies *_^

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M.A.C Spring/Summer 2015 Makeup Trend: Re:view

Tanned lids: A layering of brown from WBB Eye Shadow Palette applied over Cork Eye Shadow swept up to the eyebrow

After introducing one of the trends called Enlightened here the last time, let's take a look some other trends available. M.A.C introduced previously, fresh from their runway looks of Spring/Summer 2015 was the trend they called it RE:VIEW. It is all about "Pulling the classic apart". What could be more classic and essentially retrospective than black liner and mascara? Yet for SS15, lines and lashes shrug off nostalgia "and pull the classic apart. They are IT-girl, not princessy and glamorous." observes Terry Barber.

The new approach to liner deconstructs standard methods to intensify the eye, replacing the flicks and kohls of old with gestural strokes and aerodynamic wings that give a distinct openness to the gaze. The decisiveness of these confident jet sweeps feels extremely elegant. "A line in the socket or swept across the lid feels artistic now - like a painter feeling a line in quite an effortless and free way," says Val Garland. Think "out" and "up" with dynamic details that expand the eyes. 

"A Girl who wants a non-conformist makeup. It's summer and she's going to festivals. She finds some carbon or white chalk and just draws it on." Rudi Cremers. "Biker angels... jumbo 60s liner with a dirtier edge and chrome highlight." Terry Barber or "A sophisticated monochrome skin with a graphic eye statement." Alice Ghendrih. How about chopped liner, rectangular-shaped liner? Eyes become your toy to play with, to achieve this non-classic look.

Some ideas? Like a lash section applied to the centre of the eye rather than the corner, to give a doe-eyed effect like above. Lashes were well-curled, 3 Lash custom cut and placed through the centre of the upper lashes. Haute & Naughty Lash layered over 3 Lash and followed with an application through the centre of the lower lashes. Viola! There you have it, an eye that will mesmerized anyone who set eyes upon them, don't you think so?

[Inspiration | Musing] Fly With The Sun In My Eyes

The sun in my eyes, the wind underneath my legs, the water on my skin, I am feeling alive, on this beautiful day. It is my life, and I am about to fly away to create my own best memories. It is about time...

Sun, light, shadow, cast away it was the night before, and now you have emerged, ever so warmly to greet me. Should I grab a piece of you? Like trying to snatch a stolen kiss from a lover, out of a sudden, not giving my love even a second of a chance to shy away from my passionate request? Perhaps I should go ahead then...

I am going to fly away, far far away, to create my own memories... with this music in my ears and a fresh look to face the world.

All visuals via Studded Hearts here, here and here.

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[Faces] The Creative Mastermind Behind CLANHOUSE: Part 2

We had an interesting face to face conversation with Cheah Wei Chun, the Creative Director behind design house, CLANHOUSE not too long ago. He is also the person who has been responsible for creating some of the most fascinating covers and fashion editorials for GLAM Malaysia. Dramatic study journey abroad, first design work back in Singapore and much more here we chat about, our conversation continued on a somewhat more serious note from here onwards, nonetheless, poignant and necessary, we felt.

Why Asian themes and fashion stories through GLAM?
I have been consciously using either a Malaysian model or exploring the Asian theme because I felt it is something that we Asians can easily relate to. It's like I am using Chanel to make it look like Saloma (not the other way round). I feel there are so many things that are left unexplored within the Asian themes. The West has a rich visual library or imagery built up so many years back in fashion, but sadly, no visual library of Malaysian fashion here, which is problematic, I feel.

What makes a fashion editorial great?
First of all you need to have originality, without that, your inspiration suffers, and your work will be too. The very basic that one needs to achieve in making a great fashion editorial is that it has to look interesting and aspirational. It's like playing the scales. That is the very basic you need to master if you were to play the piano. Same goes to fashion editorial. It is that look that draws the readers in. Fashion editorial plays with your fantasies and imagination.

[Inspiration] That Space Called The Bedroom

Of all the spaces in our home, perhaps we spend fairly a big chunk of our time in this space called bedroom. It is a space of privacy, a space of intimacy, a space of inspiration and so much more. As Ilse Crawford puts in aptly in her book, "Home is where the heart is?"...

"Here you are less visible. A sort of home within a home, bed is a sanctuary, a place to immerse yourself in your DNA, to wrap yourself in your own smell and that of your dearest, to centre yourself, to feel protected until you are ready to face the world again. (And more people than you might imagine have found bed their most creative space: among them, Matisse, Hemingway, Colette.) If that doesn't work, just add a hot-water bottle."

We truly treasure our sleep and the bed is our ultimate friend, honestly *_^ Never have we felt so ourselves and the most relaxed when we hit that soft fluffy bed of ours at the end of each day, knowing that we shall wake up the next morning, feeling energized and recharged with the foolish zest to conquer the world (or at least, that's what we let ourselves to think!)

A good night sleep is absolutely crucial, especially for our emotional well-being, above all, we feel. Bedroom provides that kind of space for us to be ourselves, to be who we wish to be and most often than not, these days, we use our bedroom for more than just sleeping alone. That bed becomes a multi-functional piece of furniture at home.

[Inspiration] Photographer Crush | Mara Lazaridou From Greece

Once in a while, we chanced upon beauty that truly captures our heart and attention and this photographer we discovered very accidentally through instagram just very recently is enough for us to be instantly smitten by  her feed. That itself brought us to her online platform here where we fell in love with more of her fashion photography work.

Like most of her photography work (especially on instagram), we have minimal details about Mara Lazaridou, except for the facts that she is an intagram lover (much like us *_^), a fashion photographer and a mommy (stated in her IG profile), but she did mention in a short interview that her photography style is a fusion of fun, minimal and romantic images. These reflect more so in her instagram updates. From her official website, we found them to be slightly different.

Mara also revealed that since she discovered instagram and mobile photography, it allows her to have more freedom to explore and be more creative and look at photography in a new light *_^

We absolutely love her play of light and shadow and noticed that her fashion photography work always make the female character/model looks pretty sensual and polished, almost sophisticated with beautiful styling of makeup and hair. Some of the locales are to die for with that exotic and Mediterranean vibe to them.

[Review] M.A.C Viva Glam x Miley Cyrus Lipstick and Lipglass

What's more rewarding than having fun with your lip products and knowing that you are contributing to making this world a better place for those who are affected with AIDS at the same time? Yes. M.A.C has teamed up with the edgy (some may think she has turned too wild and expressive *_^) Miley Cyrus and came up with their latest addition to the Viva Glam series, after working with the likes of RuPaul, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. The result? Miley Cyrus Lipstick and Lipglass.