MIGRATING TO ITALY : Post Malaysia International Shipping Service - The Story

Moving to another country? Getting your belongings to your new home is one of the most important matters that you need to to think and it is mostly will give you a headache. If you or your other half is working for a big corporation that will take care all the logistic matter then lucky you, but if you anything like us and have to do everything on your own time and expenses then I feel your pain but lucky you.. you here reading my experience and hopefully this post will give you an idea on deciding how & what to do next.

http://www.pos.com.my/pos/homepage.aspx

As we do not have any furniture that we want to have with us, nor any electrical appliances and bulky items (we decided to give it away to friends and sold a few), we eliminate all shipping options that required us to pay a container worth of space as a minimum rates. After days of calling and researching (with lots of cursing all the way) I finally decided to do all the packing by myself and go with the old trusty Post Malaysia. Actually I made the choice because of 3 reasons. numore 1 being we do not have much time to keep researching for the perfect shipping company within our budget, 2 being not wanting to pay whole container than we know we will no way have that much stuff to fill the container with and 3, as bad as I want to admit, 100% of the items that need to be ship to Italy is belong to me. yes all of it. I do not know how he manage to have only 1 medium box, 1 check in luggage and 1 hand carry.... after 5 years in KL, I mean common!!! how guys managed to do that is beyond my imagination.

After buried up to my neck with my belongings scattered all over the house, the day before we fly out I finally seal up all the boxes.. all together I had 8 boxes going back home to Sabah to my mum and cousin.. and 6 boxes going to Italy. It was a painful process.. very painful indeed.. I do not think I had to make difficult decision like that in a very long time.. pergghh!

We paid almost RM2,000 for the whole lot.. which is not cheap but way lesser than the rates of the other big relocation company quote us. We took all my precious to post office at jalan Tun Sambathan near Kl Sentral, they weight it, we paid and I walk out hoping for the safety of my shoes with a heavy heart.

Not after 6 weeks than news of them boxes actually arrived in Italy reach us.. but not by the delivery man ring the door bell but buy a letter from the Poste Italia to declare the value of the stuff in my boxes. The boxes arrived in batches.. or they just release it in batches, first 2 boxes, then 2, then another 2 big boxes. As the form in Italians, Mr. Man handle that part. and few days after sending them the copy of filled declaration form by email, my boxes arrived at our front door, cold and wet.. and definitely sad looking. Of all 6 boxes only 1 boxes arrived in almost perfect condition. most of them have been ripped apart and tape up again.

It goes by saying that I did lost some Items in my boxes.. a handbag,  and a few clothing items. but to think that most of them arrived, I am more than thankful. My advice is, yes post Malaysia can be reliable when shipping your boxes to EU, just prepare that you have to wait for them for more than a month or so and in case of shipping to Italy, prepare to fill up some value and tax declaration papers.

Hope this post give you few pointers and help in any way. Thank you for stopping by,


Ridi Spesso, Ama Molto..
   Sara A.

KIKO COSMETICS - Crystal Sheer Glossy Lipstick - Review & Lip Swatches

Ciao Bellezza,

Went to Kiko Store last week with promises that I will only picked up items that I want to gift to others for Christmas. I broke my promise of course. Out of curiosity I bought this lipstick by Kiko call Crystal Sheer Glossy Lipstick. The word sheer actually kinda threw me off a bit... as I don't know about you but my principal when it comes to lipstick, I want the color not just a sheer shine. If I am looking for a shine in lip products I will go for lipgloss not a lipstick.

Well, Another pleasant surprise by Kiko Cosmetics. Let's talk about the packaging first. Like usual the packaging is gorgeous, I love the shiny metallic finish of the cap and the tube. The cap have this metallic finish with a hint of pink... beautiful! It looks expensive and feel expensive. The lipstick itself engraved with 'Kiko' on it, and does not really have a distinctive scents to it which is a plus for me.I bought this lipstick in the shade No.404 / Caramel Beige.

Despite its name, it is not sheer at all. The lipstick is super creamy, with good pigmentation and leave a hint of glossy finish on the lips. If you have dry lips like mine.. this is gorgeous. I have quite naturally pigmented lips, with the upper lips is a tad bit darker than the bottom lips, and this lipstick balance the color out in only 1 application. I am very very impressed happy with it. 

Indoor Photo. No flash. No Editing

Shade 404 remind me of Bobbi Browns type of nude lip color.. It is this classy nude brown that do not wash you out. If you are around my skintone which is around NC40 in M.A.C coloring this is no fail choice.. and if you have lighter skintone, this shade will look excellent on you too. 

Outdoor photo with natural sunlight. No flash. No Editing

I highly recommend this lipstick range by Kiko if you looking for that creamy lipstick that at same time give a hint of glossiness. It look amazing on chapped lips. I am for sure will picked up more colors soon. Hoping that Kiko Cosmetics will do some crazy sale for this coming Christmas.  

Product Rating : 8/10
Price: €6.90
Where To Buy:   Kiko Cosmetics Milano

Interested in Kiko Cosmtics products but couldn't get your hands on them where you live? We at DesiderioBySara is offering shopper service with a minimum flat rate service fee. check out our Shopper & Forwarding Service page for info or email us at desideriobysara@gmail.com 

Thank you for stopping by, 

Life, Love, Laughter
  Sara A.

KIKO COSMETICS Color Fever Eyeshadow Palette No.101 Bordeaux - The Review

Ciao Belleza,

Do we all love eyeshadow palettes. Yes! We love it so much the cosmetic company keep making 'em and we kept on buying 'em even though we all know that there is no way in this lifetime that we manage to used up all the eyshadows that we already stash in our collection. But that is not important. what is important that right now we talk about this particular eyeshadow palette (quad is more suitable word in my opinion). It is one of the Color Fever Eyeshadow Palette No:101 Bordeaux by Kiko Cosmetics Milano.

To be honest I have hard time choosing on which palette to get. There is 4 palettes available in this range. I decided on 2 of them, trying so hard to ignore the taupe and bronze tone palettes, But I am making it my mission to get the other 2 palettes as soon as I can because these eyeshadows are amazing!

Highly pigmented, luxuries in texture, blend like a dream and in such gorgeous shades. If you are a fan of shimmering shadows, you have to get your talons on these. I have no fall out problems when using them.. the quality is amazing and for the price tag on them, it is a steal. It came in a sleek black matt compact that come with a mirror.. I know for sure by the time I wrote this Kiko Cosmetics in slowly changing the packaging of their permanent products to a shiny square gun metal compact. 

This eyeshadow in my opinion perform way better than their infinity eyeshadows, and remind me of Chanel and Kanebo eyeshodows which cost way higher, and I can't help to noticed the similarity of this palette and Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow quad in Vintage Vamp. If you are looking for burgundy, reddish eyeshodows to add to your collection, this is the palette to get.

 
Product Rating: 9/10
Price: €12.90
Where to buy: www.kikocosmetics.com

I used the palette to create this look for the Halloween

 Interested in Kiko Cosmtics products but couldn't get your hands on them where you live? We at DesiderioBySara is offering shopper service with a minimum flat rate service fee. check out our Shopper & Forwarding Service page for info or email us at desideriobysara@gmail.com 


Thank you for stopping by,

  Life. Love. Laughter
   Sara A.

Online Shopping Review - Asia-Market.it - Asian online groceries shopping in Italy

Ciao Tutti,

It's DECEMBER! the month that full of anticipation.. at least for me. OK, before I start babbling what so great about Dec, let's take a rest from makeup and all things related to beauty and this time let us talk about FOOD! Well staple Asian cooking ingredients to be exact.  

No Asian kitchen will be complete without any type of soy sauce, oyster sauce.. etc.. As I was running out most of my regular sauces, and Mr. Man not keen to drive all the way to Piazza Victoria any time soon, I decided to try ordering online form this website that I knew about since 8 months ago. 

My precioussss!!  

The website address is www.asia-market,it and they carry almost any ingredients from sauces, to spices, grains, instant noodles and even the infamous Thai beer, Chang beer. No matter which kind of Asian dishes you have in mind, you sure will find the ingredients you need in this website. The website is based in Italy and it is in Italian, but even if you do not read Italian the website is quite easy to understand. The items is categorizes by types and countries. 

I've placed my order on Sunday, by Tuesday morning my box arrived and they use GLS courier service. I have no complain on their delivery service. It is excellent. All the sauces that came in glass bottle all packed nicely with almost 2 meters of bubble wrap wrapped around each bottles.. As an Asian, to see a plain ol' soy sauce bottle being treated this way made me laugh so hard... Ahhh.. The life of living abroad, full of surprises.  

There is of course receipt included in the box and a free wooden chopstick.. Yayy! better than nothing. All and all I highly recommend this website. The price tags is fair and the shipping is fast. as for the shipping fee it is depend on the weight of your order. They shipping rate begin with €4.90 and above.

Store Rating : 8.5 /10

Till next time, hope you have a lovely day ahead, thank you for stopping by.


Life. Love. Laughter
    Sara A.

KIKO COSMETICS MILANO 3D Lifting Cream - The Review

Ciao Bellezza,

In this post let's talk about moisturizer shall we..? As I ran out of my regular skincare item, I was looking at affordable and easily available moisturizer, I was reluctant to part with my SKII products but it is almost impossible to get my hand on them in Italy not to mentioned this brand cost more and more each year.. sigh..

As I love my Khiel's Ultra moisturizer face cream and been my life saver in winter months, I want to try around new products and if possible cheaper price tag. As I am addicted to Kiko Cosmetics and have not tried any of their skincare.. I started looking around their website and the review on them seems to be promising.

I decided on the 3D Lifting Cream (photo above) to replace my Khiel's as my daytime moisturizer. Why I chose that cream in particular? well, when you in your 30's believe me you will start looking deeply into keywords such as 'anti-aging, lifting, tightening... 'you got my rhyme?

Packaging: 1st impression of course the packaging. like usual Kiko never disappoint with their packaging. 3D Lifting Cream came in 50ml heavy thick plastic almost glass like jar, with a beautiful metallic chrome fuchsia lid. It is also came with the typical inner plastic stopper/cover. 

Products: The creme is off white in color with somehow thick consistency, but not too thick, a little products goes a long way. It have a faint scent to it. I am bad in describing scents but it is the regular scents that you will find in most skincare products, I wont say it is overwhelming in any means. The creme spread easily and absorb into the skin within a minute after putting it on to my face.

Conclusion: It is a pleasant product to use. Does it really do any lifting? sorry to say I do not see any significant changes or lifting effect take place, however keep in mind that I have not finish a jar of this creme. Would I repurchases? yes & no. To use as daily moisturizer with or without makeup? Yes. It is hydrating enough. To use because of the significant lifting as Kiko claimed, No.

This moisturizer is retail at €15.90 / 50ml

Hope you have a great day ahead. Thanks for stopping by.

Life. Love. Laughter
    Sara A.

Halloween 2015 - Simple & Easy Feline Look

Ciao Tutti,

I know this kind of late post, but I would like to share with you 2 of the look I created while I was ( too be honest bored) in the mood to play around with my makeup stash. As it was a week before the Halloween I decided I should create something in conjunction of the coming holiday and post it in my Instagram.

The 1st look I did as a super simple super easy kitty cat makeup look. this look just need your regular base on with bit tweaking on the highlighting. What I mean by tweaking is instead using my regular concealer colour, I used lighter concealer to highlight areas that I want it to look raised to achieved more of a feline face shape, for example beneath the eyes, and the whole upper lips area.

The main star of this look is the Kiko Cosmetics gel eyeliner & Rimmel Scandalous jumbo eyeshadows pencil. This look is very versatile and in my opinion can be based on any feline look you have in mind. add some bright inner corner highlights and some uneven orange and black dots all over and it will turn this to a leopard makeup.   

To get the maximum impact, bright coloured contacts is a must. I just don't have a pair available with me at the time. 

and of course lots of selfies before wash it all off. 

Kiko Milano Cosmetics - Cosmic Starlets Holiday collection 2015 - Part 1

Ciao Tutti,

The season is finally here. Yes, I do meant the cold and most important of all the time where ALL cosmetics company came out with their Christmas / Holiday editions. In this post I am sharing with you some photos and lil thoughts what I have about some of the products that I have been tested, at the time I am writing this post, I have not bought most of the items myself but the advantages of living in Italy, I do have access to dozens of Kiko Cosmetics store, literally 5km or less next to the other.  So I went swatch galore multiple times. We all need to wait for budget to buy stuff.. sigh.. well most of us do.

The first thought was, this is a HUGE collection. Bigger than their holiday collection for last year. And since became hooked with Kiko 5 years ago, I never seen them came out with fragrance candles! YIPPIIEEE!!! There is everything that you can ask for in this collection. The packaging is super beautiful and perfect to get as a gift for Christmas. I love the bright reds, silvers theme. 

As this is a huge collection, I am doing posting of photos in several part. In this particular post I am sharing photos of lip product / sets that have been released with Cosmic Starlets Holiday Collection 2015.

Twin Star Nail Lacquer & Lipstick Set

Gorgeous lipstick packaging in shiny silver, with matching nail lacquer from their gel effect nail lacquer line. The lipstick is super creamy, highly pigmented what you see on the lipstick bullet is what you will get on your lips kinda situation, and it is comfortable on my dry lips. It came in 4 different shades of set and it is retail at €10.90 each.

Temptress Lip Set 

The same lipstick that included in the set above is available in this set as well but instead of nail lacquer this set came with a matching lipliner. The lip liner is twisted up and as most lip liner by Kiko, it is super pigmented and long lasting. I had swatches stayed on my hand even after washing dishes. This set retail at €10.90 each.

Innocent Desire Lipgloss Set

The set consist of 3 lip glosses. This is not a new products release. Only repacked for this particular edition. It is the same of their Creamy Lip gloss stick that is available in the permanent range. I personally wont mind this as I love the lip gloss stick an the shade no.101 is one of my favorite lip item. It is stunning to be use on top of any lipstick. It change the colour of the lipstick slightly while adding bit of shine. It is not sticky, and have this very pleasant cocoa scent.

As the single lip gloss is retail at €6.90 and this set is retail at €15.90 it is really value for money and it came on the most cutest pouch with snap button for closure.

Ok bellinni.. empty stomach are calling me, I will do more posting on this collection and will write review in depth on the items that I decided to buy. 

  

Interested in Kiko Cosmtics products but couldn't get your hands on them where you live? We at DesiderioBySara is offering shopper service with a minimum flat rate service fee. check out our Shopper & Forwarding Service page for info or email us at desideriobysara@gmail.com 

Life.Love.Laugh
   Sara A.

FashionFace By Sara

Ciao Tutti,

I've decided to add a new section in my humble blog to showcast the result of me playing with things i love the most... MAKEUP. I have many lost works that I do not have copy of the photos. but the one that I do have I will be posting it in here form now on, also in me Instagram, come follow me if you like. My Instagram is Saraesta. 

As Halloween is just around the corner, I decided to post this work I have done a while ago. Hope you find some inspiration for the Halloween. 

The Lips is gradient lip color result of black eyeliner on the outer aged and dark red lipcolour on the rest of the lips. 

Live, Love, Laughter

  Sara A.

KIKO COSMETICS MILANO Gossamer Emotion Creamy Lipsticks - The Review

Ciao Tutti,

Ohhh boy so many reviews so little time. Kiko Cosmetics is bringing out new products release like there is no tomorrow without lacking what they do best which is amazing packaging and great quality for such affordable price tags, Seriously though Kiko packaging is the bomb!

Thanks to our clients from South East Asia I have enough reason to visit the store more than twice this week, and of course while picking up clients items I also do not want to be left behind. I picked up 2 lipsticks and with that purchase I got 1 Creamy Comfort lipliner for free. This lipliner is also new release with the Gossamer Emotion Creamy lipsticks line. This is another thing why I love Kiko Cosmetics, they also have some kind of promotions going on and rewards they customers quite regularly.

On with the review, the lipstick case is beautiful.. the cap came of with a click of the button on top of it which embossed with Kiko logo. the whole case have luxuries feel to it. the lipstick is standard of 3g each with embossed logo on the lipstick itself . one thing though, always remember to push the cap till there is a 'click' sound, or it will became lose.

The lipliner itself is super pigmented, super creamy, and have this slight cocoa /chocolate smells to it which I kinda love. it wear super comfortable on my dry lips, I have around 5 hours of wearing before it start to fade away. 

Here is the twist, the hero of this release in my opinion have to be the Creamy Comfort Lipliner! OMG!! this lipliner surpass every lipliner I ever tried so far. It is AMAZING. Such creamy texture so soft yet not crumbly, true to color, packed with pigments, and it lasted for hours and hours.. way long lasting than her lipstick sister itself. As and added bonus smells like cocoa too! I had swatches these on my hand and it did not budge after washing my dirty dishes. I swear I will buy every color of these lipliners. GO BUY IT! 

Interested in Kiko Cosmtics products but couldn't get your hands on them where you live? We at DesiderioBySara is offering shopper service with a minimum flat rate service fee. check out our Shopper & Forwarding Service page for info or email us at desideriobysara@gmail.com 

Where To Buy : http://www.kikocosmetics.com/

Rating : 9/10 Retail Prices:
Gossamer Creamy Emotion Lipstick : EUR8.90
Creamy Comfort Lipliner : EUR4.90 * GO BUY IT!


Till next time, bacetti

  Sara A.

STILA - EYES ARE THE WINDOW PALETTE

Ciao Tutti,

Another cosmetics company came out with eyeshadow palettes?! Yes, please. We all know that we will never have enough of  eyeshadow palette, whether it is neutral or bright colors, We always find a reason t get another palette, does this thought seems familiar ' ohh wow.. neutral palette, I like it, but I have dozens of neutral palette already.. oh wait.. that single shadow color, I do not have that color! Ok I'm getting it.' It does sound familiar right, because we all guilty in that area.

As you can see in the photo above Stila's Eyes Are The Windows palette came in 4 palette appropriately named Mind, Body, Soul & Spirit. These palette is released on Aug 2014 (yes I am bit late on posting these, but these babies is hard to get in Italy and I only got it last month). There is 12 eyeshadow colors in every palette with combination of  matte and shimmer finished.. It is hard to chose between the palettes as all of them is gorgeous and screaming pick me! And did I mentioned the packaging is beautiful!

My favorite of all is the 'Soul' palette.. It is the perfect palette to go travelling with, You can create almost any makeup look with this palette alone.

2nd favorite palette is the 'Mind' palette. Another neutral palette with a twist. the burn orange color in the palette is a reason alone to get this palette in your collection.

3rd place is the 'Spirit' palette. As someone with tan olive skintone, this palette is a bit to light for me. Neither the less, this palette will be amazing for lighter skintone. It is packed with crease and beautiful transition color. I Particularly can't take my eyes on the burnish red eyeshadow on top row. 

And last certainly not least.. The 'Body' palette. this pallet is 4th in my favorite list only because personally I do not wear that much of a darker shades eye makeup anymore. This palette is amazing to create dark smokey eyes. With enough transition and crease shades and packed with at least 6 gorgeous shades, this palette is smokey eyes fan must have.

So the big question, which one to get? it's all up to individual preference and 'needs'. Sorry can't help you in this matter.

Where to get : At Stila website , Your nearest Sephora, and for you in Italy and other part of Europe that your local Sephora do not carry Stila you can get Stila products at BeautyBay.com

Till the next one...

Sara. A

Faces & Places - Bracciano Lake Lazio, Italy

Ciao Tutti,

As the winter is slowly passing by and I can defiantly looking forward to Spring (or Primavera in Italian), it was a sunny day and we decided to take a short drive to a place outside Rome city center. Located only 32km outside (takes around 40-60 mins drive depends on traffic) Rome in the Lazio region. Lago Di Bracciano as the Italians call it is one of the major lakes in Italy. The lake is surrounded by 3 towns which are Bracciano, Anguillara Sabazia & Trevignano Romano

View of the small town from the lake

I am proud of this photo!

 The atmosphere surrounding this lake is perfect for spending your afternoon is tranquility and quite is what you after. There is not much shops and restaurants around and mostly in winter they close for business. If you looking for crowded place on Sunday this is definitely not the place, For me personally every time I came here I just walk around the edge of the lake enjoying ice-cream in a cone while watching ducks and swans swimming gracefully while praying that out of the hundreds seagulls flying above me not one of them decide to poop on me, so far so good. 

  

I love walking around the small old town and as I was walking, a house caught my attention on how she decor the outside front wall of the house. I am making an assumption that whoever did the decor is a female because it is really feminine.. but yet I might be wrong. I made a note to myself that I will make the same decor when we get our own place which I am hoping very soon... and oh.. did I mentioned cats?! Cats everywhere..

How Cute! Future DIY projects indeed. The small pot hanging on the wall is planted with different herbs and every pot have a cute signage written what herbs planted in it. 

If you like taking photo be sure to bring good gadgets for photo taking because this lake can give you a postcard worth of sunset :) Even with my lack skill of photography I manage to get beautiful photos with using only my mobile phone.

Birds eye view of the town

You can find out more about the origin and fact of Lago Di Bracciano here -  Wikipedia

How to get there - Google Maps

And here is 1 more photo I took that day... It is the photo of my father-in-law with the family dog Lily.

Until next time, take care and drive safe. 

Sara A.

KIKO COSMETICS MILANO Super Colour Mascara - The Review

Ciao Make-Up enthusiasts,

I am loving Kiko Cosmetics for more than 3 years now. Now I am living in Italy, I can breath easy as I have no longer need to wait for our annual holiday to Europe or have to beg for a friend that going to Europe to get me my dose of Kiko products. Kiko Cosmetics is available trough out Europe and some part of America but sadly not in Asia yet. Kiko website promotions, sales and overall products availability is varied among countries. As I am base in Italy, my reference on the products item will be mainly based on Kiko Cometics Italy website, and the other main reason is I am paying in EUR for items that I bought. Ok on with the review. 

Photo Source : Web press release

This Super Colour Mascara comes in 7 shades..  I only have 1 of the shade in 05 Plum, I chose this colour mainly because I have brown iris and plumy colours are good to make brown eyes pop. The product description including vibrant colours and volume effect mascara. As an Asian the word 'volume' makes me want to try any mascara I can get a hold off, and if I can only chose only 1 makeup item to bring with me, mascara will be the one.. so I consider myself a mascara addict and perfectionist. 

The wand is a standard size and type of mascara wand. Tried and sad to say even though it is on sale right now, I probably won't be getting any of the other colours available except to give it to someone else.. For me personaly it is an OK mascara but nothing that makes me excited over it. Tried it for a week and at maximum applied 3 coats of  the mascara before deciding it is not for me. Let me tell you why..

The voluminous effect only visible after 3 coats, even then it is nothing magic.. my good ol' L'oreal mascara can give me the same effect in 1 coat. The colour (or at least the one that I have) is barely visible and when it dried it turns into dark brown which is almost look black on my dark lashes. Gone are the plumish colour that made me bought it in the first place. 

In my humble opinion this mascara might work for you if you have a thick, long  and light lashes in the first place. or if you just want to play around and add coloured mascara that you will never use in your collection like a real makeup addict :)

I love Kiko Cosmetics but for me personally I will give this mascara a pass.. (or should I say not buying it anymore. Hope this help.. till the next one, take care and be safe..

Interested in Kiko Cosmtics products but couldn't get your hands on them where you live? We at DesiderioBySara is offering shopper service with a minimum flat rate service fee. check out our Shopper & Forwarding Service page for info or email us at desideriobysara@gmail.com 

Where To Buy : http://www.kikocosmetics.com/

Price : EUR5.90 on sale now for EUR3.90 - Kiko Cosmetics mascara sale - click here

Sara A.