Tribute to Aleesha - a brave woman who fought for her gender rights!

           Everyone wants to feel a sense of validation by their peers, family and society as a whole. No one wants to feel marginalised, particularly being someone who is a minority member in society.
          

          Alas, Aleesha application to change her name from  Mohd Ashraf Hafiz Abdul Aziz to Aleesha Farhana was rejected by Kuala Terengganu High Court. I feel proud of Aleesha for being a trailblazer in paving the way for many transgendered citizens in Malaysia to come forward to make a difference in fighting for their claim of identity ownership. Her untimely death saddens many , but her legacy in fighting for one's right to gain freedom from a biased regime will help others who suffer the same plight. 

         Who wants to be born different from heterosexuals ? Aleesha didn't choose to be a woman by choice. I learned that going through such sex change operation is the most excruciating ordeal. Who wants to have their private parts chopped off for nothing???? I have also learned from my transgendered friends that consuming hormonal pills to be a woman hurts physical but that gives them a sense of true identity.

         

         In writing this entry, I hope that many of us heterosexuals will view transgendered as one of us. In fact, they have far more interesting life journeys than many heterosexuals having gone through rough patches being marginalised by society and religious fundamentalists. To me, she was a beauty :) And what she has done to her transgendered community is inspiring and beautiful.

       R. I. P Aleesha ~ May your legacy lives on ~

Mascara and eyeliner free look

I have always believed in going against the grains of makeup rules at the same time maintaining intrinsic beauty aesthetics without looking totally out of place.

For this assignment, I have opted to go mascara and eyeliner free on this gorgeous model, Ramziya.

It was a daring move trying to not follow the conventional and everyday must-have steps in using mascara and eyeliner.

To make her delicate and feminine features stand out, I defined her eyebrow strongly with Empro Slimcut HD dual ended eyebrow pencil. I curled her eyelashes with Shu Uemura eyelash curler so studio and camera lights will shine through her beautiful eyes and left her lashes bare without any hint of mascara.

For a natural finishing on her skin, I used MAC studio sculpt foundation in NC25 with MAC Skinfinish in Light as a naturally flawless finishing.

As for blusher, I used NARS best selling multiple in Orgasm to render a natural glow on her cheeks without overpowering other features.

To create her crimson lip, I mixed MAC matte lipstick in Diva and NARS pure matte lipstick in Versuvio while applying a mixture of Smashbox High Shine Reflection lip gloss with NARS lipgloss in Moon Fleet.

I hope you enjoy this look as much as I enjoyed creating it :) let me know what you think:)

How do you celebrate your beauty?

First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading my very first entry for Striving Beauty.

I am a dinosaur to begin with when it comes to technology, so please bear with my cyber hiccups as I am waddling my ways in making the visual layouts presentable and engaging to you.

I caught the makeup and beauty bug about 6 years ago when swashing cosmetics at makeup stores was the antidote of life's mundanity. As I felt fascinated by how it could transform a physical appearance, those eye candy hues, numerous chemically engineered textures on top of attractive packaging held me at visual HELLO :) Even a handsome guy with George Clooney's sexy wink can't compete with such visual impact !

The reason I would love to run this blog is to share my knowledge, skills, ideas , thinkabilities, techniques and information concearning beauty and makeup.

I knew nothing about these stuff before the bug bit me! :) As I discover something in my everyday life's journey, I would love to share them with you besides discussing any interesting or thought provoking issues that may interest or baffle you.

For my very first entry, I would like to hear from you about how far will you go to beautify your physical appearance?

:) Are you the girl who cannot live without your compact powder to touch up on the go?

:) Are you the girl whose attractive collections of handbags, accessories and footwear define your sartorial appearance?

:) Do you see yourself getting breast augmentation, a rhinoplasty (nose job), leg extension surgery, botox to feel empowering from within?:)

Whatever your perceptions of beauty may be, may happiness and health bless you.

Growing up, I have always thought of getting a breast reduction surgery when shopping for lingerie has always been a frustrating trip while those bras sizes looked so mumsy and granny looking. Thanks to XIXILI lingerie house, I have found attractive looking patterns and great customisation service which comes with a price tag that could exchange for Air Asia budget flight fares.

Nonetheless, they are worth investing for the long run because as we age, every fibre of our physical being doesn't defy gravity. My jugs still try to run beneath my armpits as I lie down trying to inhale enough anti-gravity air to make them straddle up like coconut-shell-implants. Besides, I often wonder if I could have giraffee legs therefore I don't have to chop off the dangling ends of my pants that actually help the cleaners to sweep the floor =P

When I learned that everyone has a sense of self-consciousness about how they look like and vying to have something that others have, throughout the years of embracing whatever physical flaws I had, I am not worried about whether those monster zits would scare the guy I admire away. If he can't handle my wobbly bits and monster zits, then this crush had better be crushed by my makeup case :P

I came to learn that the flaws are there for a reason. I used to dislike my prominent bone structure. My dentist told me I am blessed with wide jawline that won't hurt like hell if he had to extract my wisdom teeth. Since then, I embraced that without having to feel the ritual need to contour it.

Wherever you are and whoever you are striving to be, let's take a moment to celebrate our physical shortcomings.

:) I celebrate my chubby-chipmunk cheeks when I smile!

:) I celebrate my curves that make certain male populations label me as 'fat'.

:) I celebrate my post-acne scars with the help of effective skincare and occasional illusions of concealing. Else, I let them show since they need to breathe at times ;)

:) I celebrate my protruding bone structures.

:) I celebrate my fair skin that showcases my mosquito-bites-scars :/

:) I celebrated my height by forgoing wearing pretty heels that kill.

:) I celebrated getting rid of baggy clothes that I thought would hide my wobbly bits without realising I was mini jumbo elephant in the room =D

:) I celebrate looking smashing with smokey eyes makeup!

:) I celebrated looking unexpectedly different with bold red lips once!

:) I celebrate how fortunate women of our generation who get to consume endless choices of makeup and beauty products in the market.

People, do share 10 things you embrace about yourself ! :)

Have a lovely day and let's CELEBRATE =)

If you are a guy, I would like you to celebrate with us and share your thoughts too :)

Cheers ;)