Sunday: On Achieving Dreams

Just a little over a month ago, I wrote about someone who told me "dreams are not thought out, they are found," but I neglected to include: "then you'll work so hard to achieve it and still never know if it'll ever come true."

That someone is my boyfriend, Joel Soh, an aspiring film director with humble beginnings but some of the biggest dreams you'll ever hear about. That neglected saying reflects the fear I think everyone has, about the future, about dreams, about not achieving it. Like me, Joel came to the US to study three years ago. He is now in his final semester at Emerson College, working on his thesis film Twice Two Makes Four. While this should be the center focus of this post, allow me a digression to tell you a little about him.

I never admitted this (out of embarrassment, I suppose), but after styling/modeling for a post in a Malaysian style blog, I had the fleeting thought of pursuing modeling as a career. I knew I wasn't tall enough for runway, but optimistically thought, why not beauty? Around the same time, or perhaps partly because of me, Joel became interested in editorial photography. We decided to muck about with some lighting at the school studio and see how it would turn out.

This is the first of our "editorial shoots"

Just from this picture you can see that my eye makeup is uneven, and that was the only part I was responsible for. Joel set up the lighting equipment, adjusted each lamp, brought his camera, and started shooting. When we were done, both of us cringed at the pictures. Me for my absolute lack of knowledge in how to pose and adjust my face, him for his lack of "attention to detail."

For our second shoot we wanted something drastic. He told me to channel Helena Bonham Carter and I happily pulled out my feathery Shu Uemura lashes. I really didn't know what I was doing with my makeup but to slather as much as possible on. He, on the other hand, already figured out which parts of me needed to be lit and how. 

He went on to work on a few other projects, experimenting with different lighting techniques at every turn. 

And he gets better with each subject. As for me, I decided I'm not cut out for modeling, and turned to another aspect of beauty I much prefer. I won't lie. It gets a little stressful being around him. But photography was never anything but a hobby, his true passion lies in film.

Joel always works in extremes. I've never met another person who consistently tests the limits of his capabilities like he does. Last summer, a friend approached him for help to shoot an avant-garde fashion video, thinking it could be done with $200 (uh, no). Instead of dismissing his friend, Joel enlisted me and another friend and we spent an entire month writing to and meeting anyone who might have the slightest chance of sponsoring us. That month of anxiety and no sleep paid off, and we managed to secure the $10,000 needed to get a professional studio, lighting, model, and postproduction equipment to complete the video.

But now he's gearing up for his biggest project yet, and the great thing about Joel is while he dreams big, he also does big things to get him closer to it. Photoshoot after photoshoot becomes more ambitious. Films grow bigger. For his second year film project, his crew consisted of six students. For his thesis, the last count was twenty-five, not including the professors and industry experts who signed on as advisors.

This post is getting long, and I feel like I haven't even begun to say anything. Since I can write everything about him, I don't really know how to narrow it down. I guess I'm trying to say that this is a man who has worked very hard to get to where he is, and will continue to work very hard to go to where he wants to be. But to get there he needs help from other people, and that's where you come in.

Twice Two Makes Four is a 15-20 minute short film that explores a couple's approach to facing the impending death of their cancer-stricken daughter. Joel and his crew aims to make the film look as professional as it can be, and for that their budget is higher than the typical student project's. Out of the projected $35,000, they've already secured $15,000, but the rest they can only hope to rely on the kindness of family, friends, acquaintances, strangers. Anyone who believes a dream is worthy of investment.

Please take a look at their Kickstarter page to find out more about the project. You can also follow their Facebook page for regular updates on the progress of the production. I hope you will consider pledging to the Twice Two Makes Four team. Whether $1 or $10 or $100, any contribution at all means a lot to bringing them one step closer to their goal. Thank you in advance for your kindness!


*Regular Messy Wands posting will resume tomorrow and I hope you're excited. This week I have super cute things to show you. Hint: there are cats involved. Have a happy Sunday, all!

Sunday Love: Have It Sweet

I used to be a huge Etsy junkie. I bought everything from clothing to jewelry to soap to hair wreaths till I reached the ends of my bank account and I finally told myself I had to stop checking the site or I would starve on the streets. Amazingly, I've been quite successful.

My only relapse was this past summer when I had a sudden candy craving, and I knew I had to get my fix from Have It Sweet. Have It Sweet was founded in 2008 by a couple who make all sorts of confections. They started out with caramels, but have since expanded their range to include marshmallows and nougats. They also feature seasonal items, like these Marshmallow Ghosts perfect for the upcoming Halloween.

Now, I would never say no to candy, but I don't like eating anything too sweet, so my all-time favorite Have It Sweet confection is their Belgian Dark Chocolate caramels. The dark chocolate neatly balances out the otherwise (in my opinion) too sweet caramel and swirls like a heavenly cloud in your mouth. Their classic is the Fleur De Sel caramels, which I do like too.

I've done 5-6 orders with them throughout the years, and more often than not need some sort of customization to my order. Beth (one of the founders) usually responds to my message within a day and has never turned down any of my requests. When I get the box, the candy would be neatly and securely wrapped, with a handwritten note of thanks and generous samples included. 

So if you're in the mood for candy, I urge you to give Have It Sweet a try. Be prepared to feel a little bad (or really good?), because chances are you will gobble up everything you ordered before anyone else even found out you had a package.

Update: I just found out that Have It Sweet has a blog and they are currently offering free shipping! I would love to order enough to feed a large army if only I wouldn't be out of the country in less than two weeks (I'm holding on to my last three pieces of caramels as I type this. Oh no). You lucky ones should enjoy in my stead!

Also, for product updates and general happiness, follow @HaveItSweet on Twitter.

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I have a fantastic week planned for Messy Wands! Here's a sneak peek:

Sunday Love: Glasses

After a particularly harrowing weekend (how many of you melted into the sidewalk yesterday?), I am really glad for today since the heat, ladies and gentlemen, has finally broke.

It has been a little over three weeks since I began my blog, but o gods of cliches, it feels just like yesterday that I posted my first cheeky post here. I hope you're having as much fun reading as I am writing!

Today I'd like to thank whoever brought geek chic back to the masses. When I was young, I envied my friends who sported glasses. They looked cool, smart, and I thought, what a way to change how your face looked! I didn't go out of my way to necessitate my needing one, but it happened when I was 18, and I have been rueful about it since. 

Here's why: My father made a song about me when I was a teeny toddler, it went, "your eyes are tiny, your nose is flat, your mouth is huge." (Let me disclaim this by saying it's his way of teasing me, but it did take a lot of years to recover from that self-esteem crush. I still love my dad.) After a long time growing up, my eyes are no longer tiny, and having a huge mouth/thick lips isn't undesirable at this day of age. But my nose is still flat. I have very limited choice when it comes to glasses. I've tried a zillion types of frames with no luck. My greatest love comes in the form of thick plastic frames, but with my bridge-less nose? Forget it! My current ones slide down my oil-slicked nose every two seconds and leave two welts when I push it higher up, but are touted as the only style that would fit me.

The funny thing is even my eyeballs are flatter than average, which means I have a hard time getting contact lenses to fit on them since the plastic would swim around my eyes. 

I've heard plenty of girls complain about not being able to put on eye makeup when they're wearing glasses. Some say their eyelashes hit the lenses (lucky girls), some like my sister just don't see the point.

I say we of the vision-impaired should have fun with it! Glasses help mask imperfections, and give us liberty on how much eye makeup we can pile on (and still look appropriate) during the daytime. Since looking all sexy librarian is cool again, we might as well milk it.

Edit: I forgot to include this earlier. Ulta is offering 20% off your entire online purchase with code 12047. The sale ends Saturday. Have fun!

Sunday Love

Central Park, June 26

I thought I'd take this Sunday to give thanks to everyone for the amazing support I've received since first posting on Messy Wands. Throughout the week I've been overwhelmed by the many kind comments from readers and links from the bloggers I've been reading and admiring for so long. To say I am blown out of my mind is an understatement. Without further ado, my gratitude goes to:

• Perilously Pale who's my first tweeter, first follower and first person ever to put me on a blog roll! (you took all the firsts xo) 
• Hopelessly Devoted To Makeup for placing me on her blog roll and retweeting my posts, as well as always accompanying me on my 3 a.m. nights.
• Karla Sugar for featuring my first ever post on her Facebook page and blog roundup of the week, and  letting me carry her AstroTurf for her in exchange for a place to stay if I ever visit Dallas.
• Getting Cheeky for so many kind words and featuring Messy Wands on her blog, as well as tweeting about it!
• Cafe Makeup for including me in her Fall 2011 Collections list, an amazing resource for those curious to know what will be arriving at counters in the next couple of months (and start saving for it).
• The Beauty Look Book for linking me this past weekend as one of her fav reads of the week (I fainted!).
• Pink Sith for including Messy Wands in her link love and retweeting my posts.
• @metierbeaute for retweeting and featuring my posts on the Le Metier de Beaute Facebook page.
• @glowyjoeybunny for retweeting my posts and being an all round sweetheart.

I also thank you, dear readers, for every kind word you've said about me (and every bad word you withheld from saying to me). I burst into ridiculous grins throughout the day when I read a new comment, so much so that I have to keep my eyes on the ground when I'm walking on the road in case the person walking towards me freaks out and go "dude, why's this random girl baring all her teeth at me?!"

Now, let's go thank our makeup brushes by giving them a good massage! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.