OOTD : Shopping in London

Whilst packing clothes for London, I was told that the weather was gorgeous and even tank tops were OK-ed. Hence, the clothes I brought with me were very limited, with only two jackets (neither were warm enough), a few tops (all in black, white or grey) and jeggings through and through. Luckily, just before heading on the plane I decided to wear my Topshop ankle boots (because I was simply in a hurry and couldn't figure out what shoes to wear), so those added a bit more warmth to my feet. 

This is pretty much what I've been wearing my entire stay in London, full on monochrome with just a hint of color on my feet. Boring, but practical. 

My Maje jacket was stored in the store room for a long time because Hong Kong was too hot for it. Now that I've been forced to wear it more, the more I fell in love with all over again. It's beautiful tailored silhouette and soft leather sleeves just add some casual luxury to a simple outfit. The shoes... well, need I say more? The extra color and velvet material gives it an extra 'oomph' and catches most of the attention, yet being mega comfortable at the same time despite its platform height. 

Crop Turtleneck Top (hidden) - K-StyleMe (Exact)

Jacket - Maje (Past Season)

Grey Jeggings - Zipia

Scarf - Chanel

Boots - Topshop (Similar)

Bag - Céline Micro

How will you write your story?

Life is just a very long book full of different chapters. Don't let the past chapters haunt you, don't let the future chapters daunt you. Some books have sad endings, some books are too short - just be thankful that you still have a chance to write your story. 
I have always tried to avoid the past. Failed friendships, failed makeup and hair, failed employment... I never attempted at looking back because it scared me. I feared the people who hurt me, and most of all I feared failure in general.  Today I plucked up the courage to look back at those familiar faces and I realized that they no longer haunt me. Despite the fact that I have no urge at all to make things work again with those people, I learned about forgiveness - and oh, does it feel good!  I then look at my life now - the things I've accomplished, the people who stand by me, new friends.. It's more than enough and I am so blessed. Not going to lie, I work my ass off for it too, but when you're so passionate about something other people call 'work', it just seems like a hobby that pays the bills.  I hope that you too, can also let go of the past that you may fear, and the future that may is unknown and scary. You have the power to decide on what the future brings - don't waste your days and embrace life as it is. There may be bad days, but there are also so many wondrous things out there in the world for you to see :)  Life's too short and beautiful to worry about who's going to stab your back. You can't always look keep looking behind you. So why not take your step forward and enjoy the view?

Yesterday, my grandpa had to be admitted into hospital again. I spent 6 hours in the ER waiting with him as the hospital was full. With watery eyes, I posted a photo on instagram, all about my grandpa. I was then surprised to see my account was flooded with love - the beautiful comments, get well wishes and encouragement that you guys send me is so immensely powerful.  I would like to thank every single person who watches and enjoys my videos, every single subscriber, every single comment. You mean a lot more to me than you can imagine.
Lots of love Bethni

BAD SKIN FIX

My skin has been acting up recently - could be do to hormones, lack of sleep and overfilling stress. I had to go through my skincare routine and figure out the main essentials I needed for a bit of down time for my skin, making sure that I'm not overdoing my skincare routine. As the saying goes, less is more. 

Biologique Recherche Lotion P50 | LUSH Grease Lightning | Aesop Parsley Seed Cleansing Masque

CLARIFYING

The first problem to be tackled were zits. This might sound strange and even slightly arrogant, but I have not had proper full on zits in YEARS. That might seem like an overstatement, but it is true. My method of tackling zits are to use an acidic toner to exfoliate, a natural and gentle spot treatment and a good clarifying mask. This trio has never let me down. 

Laneige Sensitive Balancing Emulsion | Chantecaille Flower Harmonizing Cream

SOOTHING

The second problem was sensitive patches on the sides of my face, leading to my constant itching (I tried resisting), and as a result, ugly scars. 

I get straight to the problem by dabbing some Laneige Balancing Emulsion (for sensitive skin) on the areas that are irritated, and I use Chantecaille as a day and night lotion. It's on the pricey side, but there is no dupe - it is an amazing gel-like cream that will help soothe and hydrate the skin, and also has anti-inflammatory powers.

La Roche Posay Serozinc | Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream | Indeed Labs Hydraluron

HYDRATING

My trusty hydrating trio consists of Serozinc that helps layer the skin with moisture, the Eight Hour Cream which is great for tackling small flaky areas, and last but not least Hydraluron, the best drugstore hydrating serum ever. 

Tony Moly Intense Care Snail Hydro-Gel Mask

MASK-ER-AID
Nothing like a gel-mask to pamper yourself and restore the moisture in your skin. I don't see a huge effect of using snail concentrate (although apparently, it has been confirmed that these snail masks contain as little as 2% snail concentrate and the rest - pure water), but my skin always feels smoother and just a bit more plump with moisture after use.  Do you have any holy grail skincare fixes for bad skin days? Let me know in the comments!

TURNING 25

Various flavored butter to complement the bread basket

The delicious bread basket

Truffle linguine

If I see 'lobster' on the menu, that's my choice of main course, without a doubt.

It has been a LONG time since I spent my birthday in Hong Kong, so I decided I wanted to spend it simply with my family. I chose the restaurant Petrus as I'd heard of many great reviews on OpenRice so we all dressed up and had an amazing fine dining experience. I was particularly impressed with the bread basket and the butter selections - I have to say that even though it's already been a week, I'm still reminiscing that soft buttery dough of the bread and the perfectly salted seaweed butter. Everything else was lovely including the service, the wine and of course, the company. 

I'm wearing:

Top - K-StyleMe

Blazer - La Cream (old)

Trousers - Korea

Boots - ACNE

Clutch - Saint Laurent Paris

Necklace - Zipia

I spent the last few hours of my actual birthday chilling with Elizabeth (practically my new YouTube BFF) at Al Pasha in K-11. This has been my all-time favorite spot to chill because the food and drink selection. I also just love the whole ambience but it does get noisy when they have their scheduled belly dancing performances. We ended up getting the Strawberry-Milk shisha (my all-time favorite), a Rosebud tea and an Apple tea. The rose tea was pretty much tasteless, but the apple tea is now definitely going to be 'my drink' starting now. It's very sweet and is just perfect to relax the throat after shisha. We also got a little hungry and ordered chicken kebabs (again, one of my favorite dishes). 

All in all, I had a great birthday! I hope you guys enjoyed this lifestyle-y post! I'll be doing more of these soon (but my life is really not that interesting... Anyway, I'll try.)