Dance therapy

It's been a year since I last blogged. Unlike when I was younger, I now feel uncomfortable sharing about my life in the cyber space. In fact I also removed my profile pic. Shall come up with another one at a later date! Times now are different where your every move is scrutinized by the public. It somehow reminded me of Jesus where how His every move during a dinner was watched closely by the Pharisees. 

Anyway, back to the topic of dance therapy. 2014 was a year I went through one of the toughest times in my whole life. Many transitions and challenges in almost every aspect of my life. I became depressed and turned suicidal. It was also during this period of time that I have never felt more alone. Friends I thought would be there for me claimed tt they would support me but never check in on me except once or twice. After the pity party, I decided to just do sth about it rather than wait for ppl to validate my self worth. I threw myself into dance and boy, was I glad I did that. I thoroughly enjoy the sometimes punishing sessions. My teacher pushes us to achieve more than what we think we could. :)

As I'm rebuilding my life, there are a few life lessons that I took home with. One, relationships, whether romantic or not, do not last. I used to go all sentimental n sad when I lost a friendship. Now I have learned not to attach too much value in it. Just enjoy it while it lasts. If it doesn't last, no point crying over spilt milk. Move on! Two, independence is much needed in a woman. Wen your frens are in a different phase and have no time to check in on you, what do you do? Mop over it? No, just move on. Though they won't be your close frens anymore but nevertheless thank them for being part of your life at one time. Three, be grateful to those who helped u at your lowest point. They are a Godsend. Four, never give up on what you have for anyone. What you are and have defines you. 

So that concludes what I have learnt for the past year. It was a bittersweet experience but I'm sure what I went through has a purpose. To the readers, dun give up and keep on maintaining a sunshine attitude towards the adversities. You will get through just like me! :)

Makeup

I attended a makeup class recently and the makeup artist said something that left a deep impression on me.

'Think of your face as a blank canvas. Makeup exists to beautify the canvas."

Indeed, I have never thought of makeup as an art until her words. It excited me and spurred me to put on makeup more often because I have always liked aesthetic things. It also allows me to be creative and decide what colour I can choose. Just yesterday, I chose a dark purple eye shadow for a friend's wedding and it turned out nice! Am very happy about it!

Here is a collection of my makeup set. It is not the entire set but these are the common ones I usually use. I got my collection mainly from Mac and Ecotools and I am very satisfied with them. Will look into other brands when I expand my collection.

My makeup set

Shall leave you guys with a quote that resonates deep in my heart.

"女人可以不漂亮, 但一定要美丽"

A time to dance

I quitted dance after some unpleasant experiences that left me feeling dejected and disillusioned. I do not wish to go into specifics but suffice to say, I bear part of the responsibility for what had happened. I tot I should just take a break but the itch of getting up and dance hit me after a few weeks. I wasn't sure that I should continue to dance so soon. After all, I needed to nurse the 'heartbreak' that followed. Was praying about it and was reminded of this verse.

I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Isaiah 22:22, NIV)

It was clearly a door that God closed with regards to the troupe so who was I to open it? So I decided to start anew elsewhere and signed up for a foundation class to relearn my basics. The first lesson proved harder that I thought. The hurt, disappointment and reluctance were rushing to me and I missed my previous teacher and the troupe. In the midst of feeling those emotions, there was one beautiful thing that stood out starkly. My love for dance. I felt as if I was back in those days when I was happy and grateful to be given a chance to dance. It didn't matter whether I danced poorly or whether I could perform. The most important thing is I'm finally fulfilling my dream of dancing. As the weeks progress on, the passion for dance was stoked again. And I am slowly going back to why I picked up dance in the first place. May I never lose my dreamy, starry eyed innocence about dance as I work towards my goals.

Review: [OST] Original Pure Vitamin C20 Serum

I have been always been an advocate of the basic 4-step skincare regimen which is:

1. Remove
2. Cleanse
3. Moisturize
4. Apply

This regimen is getting increasingly important especially since I am in my late twenties now. I definitely do not want to leave my skin to chance. Recently, I decided to add one more product to my skincare regimen. As you know, after using the same products for so many years, your existing products will not work as effectively as the first time you started using them. Thus, introducing a new product will give your skin a much needed boost; just like how introducing a new activity will add spice to a mundane relationship. ;)

After doing extensive research via the web, I decided to give [OST] Original Pure Vitamin C20 Serum a try. The main reason was to lighten the scars on my face left by the pimples which popped up with a vengeance a few months back. L As this is also suitable for sensitive skin users so this suits me perfectly. I ordered the serum through Qoo.com and it was delivered to me within a few days. Ooooo.. So quick! The package looks so posh. I like the look instantly. Keke.. 

 



 The package

 

 The bottle inside the package

 

Anyway, I started using the serum right away after my cleansing regimen. It comes with a dropper so its hygienic. J I applied a few drops on the back of my hand and tapped it lightly into my skin for it to be absorbed.

There have been reviews on how one will experience a prickly sensation upon applying the serum but I personally did not experience any sensation except for my forehead which gets very itchy so I lay off on applying the serum on my forehead. One thing to note, you will have to apply it fairly quickly on your skin as the serum will get gooey after a while. Keep the bottle in the fridge after using as the vitamin C oxidizes when exposed to the air for long.

Within a week, I could feel the differences! It stabilizes my skin such that I have minimal outbreak. Even if there is a pimple, it tends to stay small and dies off after a day. It feels as if I’m back to my younger days where my pimples just stay small and dies off after a day. The scars on my face have faded a lot as well after a few weeks and I could see my skin has become more radiant even though I have not exfoliate for weeks! I’m really happy with the product. It is not everyday I could find a product which suits me. Can’t wait to see how my skin will turn out overtime!

Introduction

Finally started a blog on fashion and dance and I’m getting pretty excited about it! Hopefully this craze will not be a temporary one! This blog was started purely to document my foray into fashion and dance, thus explaining the title of my blog. I played around with the combination of the words, 'fashion' and 'dance'; and the name, Fashdanstic, was born.

Let me give you an introduction about myself. My name is Wanlin and I’m currently working in the Finance industry. My interest lies in fashion and dance. Since young, I have always been interested in fashion partly because of my mum. She was a seamstress for a period of time and would always make matching clothes for my sister and me. I remembered vividly that she made a pair of cheongsams for my sister and me. And of course, we were too young to appreciate then. Only remembered this vividly because it was the first cheongsam that I had ever worn. Haha! As I grow older, my love for clothes began to take root. In my college days, I would skip my meals just to buy that piece of top/bottom. I couldn't imagine my life without it. Every time I went out, I had to be seen in a different outfit. I just did not wish to be caught dead in wearing the same piece of top. The amount of clothes just grew exponentially that I had to change my wardrobe frequently to accommodate them. *Blush*

 

Since I like fashion, you would have thought that I would go into fashion studies right? Well no.. I did not even think about going into that. Due to my parents’ expectations, I went through the ‘A’ Levels route and scrapped through to land myself a place in a local uni and then following the ‘normal’ route of getting a job into the financial industry. I did like the dynamism of the financial industry. Everything was just glamorous and not forgetting the high pay that could clear my study debts and yet be able to provide me with a comfortable life of shopping and dining. After a few years into the industry and with all the debts cleared, the restlessness began to kick in and I began asking myself what I really would love to do. That is when I began exploring the world of fashion by going for a short course on Apparel Design and currently tailoring classes. In the midst of these, I still have my doubts on switching my career. After all, the financial industry is still a good industry to work in. I was then introduced to a blog of a lady in US who switched her career despite having no prior knowledge in the job she is interested in. And viola! It got me feeling excited and more convicted of my direction in life. You can check out her blog at this link. http://www.karenx.com/

 

Her blog also detailed how she managed to learn dance in a year. :) It has always been my dream to dance. I have always been fascinated by the grace and elegance of ballerinas and wish that I can have their attributes. So at the age of 26 with no prior background, I took a step of faith and picked up Ballet and have not looked back since. The 2 years of learning have been lessons of humility, determination and grit. In a world where only the best survive, it is the same with dance but more so with a sinister nature. I almost gave up on dance until I'm reminded of why I took this step of faith in the first place. It goes the same in life so don't give up when the going gets tough, peeps! There will be a breakthrough around the corner! ;)