Post holiday...

It is now officially 3 weeks since I've been back in Sydney. I had so much fun on my holiday but it was just way too short! The 2 & 1/2 weeks that I was overseas just flew by and before I knew it, it was already time to come home.

I had such an amazing time shopping in Malaysia...everything was just so cheap. They really put our Australian retail to shame! I paid a visit to popular malls such as KLCC Suria, Mid Valley, Pavillion, Lot10, and Sungei Wang. My favourite was definitely Pavillion, and if you go there you must check out their food court. It's huge!

An important tip for overseas shoppers is to register for a tourist discount card. I'm not sure about the other centres but Pavillion and Mid Valley definitely offer this scheme. With this card you'll receive a 10% discount at all their shops - so what's already cheap becomes even cheaper!

Here are some of the goodies that I brought back with me :)

Maxi dress from Nowzone Mall, Vietnam 

Leopard print maxi dress from Nowzone Mall, Vietnam

Makeup - MAC, Etude House, Lioele & Urban Decay

Skincare - SK-II & Laneige 

Shoes - Charles & Keith, Vincci, Forever 21 & Vietnam

Charles & Keith wallet

Forever 21 lace top

This is how I've put together the Forever 21 lace top

& Vincci shoes to go out yesterday. It was teamed with

pants from Dotti, Sportsgirl belt and Prada Saffiano Lux Tote

Sunny weekend

This weekend Sydney was blessed with rays of sunshine, with the temperature reaching high 20s, and 30 in some areas. So it was perfect weather to be getting my tan on! After months of hibernation in gloomy Sydney weather, I was glad to finally have the chance to hit the beach to try get much needed colour on my pasty winter skin.

The popular beaches here in Sydney such as Bondi, Manly and Cogee are often too packed and really difficult to find parking. Which is why my 'to go beach' is Narrabeen, located in northern Sydney. It's secluded, less packed with people and parking is never an issue. Highly recommended!

Pretty photo that I took at Narrabeen yesterday

So what else have I been up to since my last post? Here are some pics to sum up my purchases over the last month :)

MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack & 266 Small Angle Brush

This product does wonders in keeping the liner on all day, even with my Asian monolids!

House of Harlow Black Resin Necklace from ebay

Polka dots top from yesstyle

As you can see my purchases have been quite limited due to my self-imposed shopping restriction before my trip, which I will be leaving for in just 4 days :)

                                                                                                                                     

Labour Day Long Weekend

I'm enjoying the extra day off from work today! As we don't have many public holidays here in Australia, I get extremely excited when each one rolls around. What a great way to spend a Monday - sleeping in, eating yum-cha with mum, and then rolling around in bed for the rest of the day watching Korean series. If only it could be like this every Monday...

I also managed to do quite a bit of shopping this weekend, although I'm not supposed to be buying more clothes since I'm going overseas next month. I'll be travelling back to Vietnam for my grandmother's 90th birthday, and mum & I are going to squeeze in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 4 days for some shopping. So really...I shouldn't be shopping at all until then! haha

But my justification is that I had a really tough week at work, especially Friday - we had presentation skills training at work and that really drained all my energy. Had to reward myself by popping out to the shops after work..and retail therapy is such an effective stress reliever!

Just want to share my new purchases :)

Temt black skirt

Temt blue skirt - love the colour!

Dotti salmon high-waist pants. Wasn't sure about the black tying

 thing when I saw it but it actually looks really cute on. 

Wish lace top - isn't it so pretty? I love it so much! Bought this from

 Myer and they had 30% off Wish clothing over the weekend.

SES cropped blazer in beige

Necklace from Colette Accessories

                                                        Blouses from yesstyle website - in white & beige

And my beloved handbag in which I finally got last Friday!

(will share some more pics in my next post)

Laneige Water Bank Cream

I have been loyal to the Korean skincare brand Laneige for almost 2 years now. This is probably the longest I've stayed with a skincare brand and I think it's because I've finally found something that really suits my skin. I use their cleanser, skin refiner, emulsion and moisturiser (for my night care routine). It might sound like a lot of steps but I'm so used to doing it now that it doesn't take long at all.

I think it's so important to find a brand that works for you because I can see how it has transformed my skin. Laneige is light in texture but provides enough moisture to help the skin achieve elasticity and glow. I really love it and would highly recommend this brand!

Unfortunately, we don't have Laneige shops in Australia and although there are some Korean cosmetics shops that stock this brand here, they just don't carry the complete range. But it's ok because they are available online through sasa or strawberrynet. I prefer strawberrynet because they offer free shipping, regardless of the amount spent. They also offer a wide variety of brands across skincare, cosmetics, haircare & fragrance (for both women & men). Happy shopping! :)

    I just bought the Water Bank Moisture Cream on strawberrynet!

Right here waiting...

It's now exactly one week til I finally get to meet my baby aka Chanel Timeless Classic, who is making her way to Australia from Europe :) I've been trying so hard to control my excitement but as each day passes it's getting harder to stop smiling to myself everytime I think about her.

My obsession with this bag began when it was constantly spotted in the arms of my favourite Hills alumni Lauren Conrad on her show. I've known about the bag prior to The Hills, but everytime I saw it on LC I knew that it was something I'm going to work towards owning in this lifetime.

Around 2 months ago my partner in crime Amelia & I decided that it was time to make our Chanel dream a reality. We went to check it out at the Chanel store in Sydney Westfield to get a price quote and I think we almost had a heart attack. The size that we both wanted, the Jumbo, was quoted $5,080!  Yes, crazy isn't it? And what's also bizzare is that the price was increased in May by 6%, so had we decided to buy it earlier we would have saved ourselves $300 (which isn't a lot but when you're already spending so much money, every dollar counts haha). Anyhow, with a quote of $5K we had to go away to re-assess the situation.

Luckily, I was having a smart-thinking day and asked the boyfriend to ask his friend who was soon leaving for a holiday in Europe with his girlfriend, to buy the bags for me over there. Designer labels are so much cheaper there, plus they also offer VAT returns for tourists. I called the Chanel store in Italy and they wouldn't give the exact quote over the phone but said it's around €3,000 (which worked out to be approx $4K AUD) and that their VAT return is 14%!

And you know what, they are such a sweet couple! They were more than happy to buy the bags for us even though I know it's going to take up some of their time and not to mention their luggage space. I hope they're having a great time over in Europe right now and I'm looking forward to their return next weekend.

So after many years of dreaming and obsessing, Amelia & I are going to be proud owners of a Chanel Timeless Classic lambskin bag in gold...very soon :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Hello blog!

After many years of following others' blogs I have decided to join the blogging world with the launch of From Lizzy With Love. Why I didn't join sooner? It's probably due to my fear that this whole blogging thing is going to involve too much technical computer stuff. However, with some convincing from my colleagues at work today I have decided to go ahead with it. And I have to say...so far so good (fingers crossed)!!

I'm going to use this space to share with everyone the things that I get up to, the shopping adventures that I embark on and the endless wishlists that I often find myself obsessing over. I hope you guys will enjoy reading my blog and if you happen to like it please subscribe and start spreading the love :)

                                                                                                                                    xxx
                                                                                                                      From Lizzy with love