What’s your choice?

There’s a plethora of makeup removers out there. In fact, far too many! I’m not sure how many other methods there are out there, but I’ve used the following:

1. Wipes
2. Oil
3. Gel
4. Water
5. Cream

Makeup Remover Wipes

Makeup remover wipes are handy for traveling light and convenient, and for those times where you’re so tired that you wish you could skip cleansing and head to bed immediately. However, my personal opinion is that they don’t clean as well as the normal liquid makeup removers, are not environmentally friendly, and can get a little rough on skin. They can also get quite costly if you use them daily. My favourite brand of makeup wipes would be Simple cos they cleanse well, and are fragrance & alcohol free. However, the texture of the wipes can be a little scratchy.

Cleansing oils

Using oils to cleanse face might sound scary to some, especially those with oily skin. However cleansing oils are actually good for deep cleansing and does not make skin any oilier than other methods. As long as you use it the right way. When I first used COs, I was young and didn’t know that they were to be used differently from facial cleansers. So I wet my face and hands and poured the CO onto my palm before massaging it onto my face. Then, the technology of COs was not that good yet, and so the CO emulsified in my hand immediately and I was left with a pimply face soon after because makeup wasn’t removed properly. Nowadays, however, some COs can be used with wet hands and face, and deep cleanse pores really well. My choice of CO? Fancl. I like the thick cushiony texture that feels like velvet on face, and it is fragrance & alcohol free.

Cleansing gel

I don’t have much experience with cleansing gels, having only used 2 brands to the best of my memory – Biotherm & Cleansing Express. However, I feel that they do not remove makeup as well as COs and they’re probably more suited for light makeup and sunscreen removal.

Cleansing water

Now, this is a new way to remove makeup, and the trend in makeup removing lately. Cleansing water, as the name suggests, is light as water, and feels like water on your skin. Mandom’s Cleansing Express took the local beauty blogging scene by storm as almost every beauty blog I frequent was raving about it, and soon I was converted as well. There is no burden on the skin as there’s minimal tugging and rubbing, and if you use good quality cotton pads, it will feel like you’re just applying toner. Since I bought my first bottle, I have gone through at least another 5 bottles of Cleansing Express thus far. I hardly do repeat purchases, and even if I do, not so frequently. Guess this shows how much I love CE!

Cleansing cream/lotion

Makeup remover cream is arguably one of the oldest methods of removing makeup. I remember the older generation using Pond’s cream to remove makeup. However, I think the thick texture of the cream may not be that suitable for those with oily skin as incorrect removal of the cream may actually lead to clogged pores and cause pimples. Also, the moisturizing layer left on skin after removal may be too much for oily skins to handle.

Now that I’ve given my little commentary on makeup removing methods, perhaps you could share with me what are your favourites and other methods of makeup removal that I have not heard of! Experiment is key, right?

Review: ONLYaesthetics Mario Badescu Signature Facial

Place Reviewed: ONLYaesthetics

Price: S$25 for 60 min facial (I bought a special deal voucher from StreetDeal.sg back in late Dec)

Available at: Holland Village, The Cathay

Services available: Facial, massage, body scrubs & wraps, hair removal treatments, slimming treatments, nail treatments

Review:
Before the treatment: I jumped at the chance to try the acclaimed Mario Badescu signature facial when I saw that StreetDeal was having a deal for only $25! More Christmas presents for myself eh? I also bought an extra voucher for my sister who wanted to try their hair removal. So I promptly made an appointment for 2 in January (I’m paranoid of forgetting that I had such vouchers and let them expire before I remember). The lady who took my call had a friendly disposition and it was easy to get an appointment as well (perhaps because I made the appt one month in advance)

I was a little less than pleased when I received a call from OA the day before and the lady insisted that my appt is at 2pm, when I clearly remembered that I made the appt for 1pm. Anyway, that aside, the entire treatment was enjoyable.

Atmosphere: When I arrived at the place, I had to change into their ‘slippers’ (white crocs!) and make my way upstairs to where the outfit was located. I was met at the reception area and asked to fill up a form with my particulars and any areas of concern. After which, I was brought to a room and changed into their robe. The room was clean and white, but it felt a little claustrophic – there was barely enough space for anything else, except the treatment bed, a small chair to put your belongings and 2 trays of products. It was narrow and had a high ceiling. There was piped in music but I think the rooms were soundproof for I couldn’t hear anything when the door was closed. But when the therapist had to go out of the room to change the water or prepare my treatment, I thought that the music was very loud when she opened the door. And worst off, they had Chinese New Year songs (sans lyrics) playing… for an upmarket place like OA, CNY songs felt very out of place.

Products used: The therapist was a lady of few words throughout the treatment, which I appreciated. Thus some of the products used for the treatment are my own guesswork (clearly stated in my review). I know some of the products used for the treatment because I’m a fan of MB products and can recognise the scent or that the therapist told me what was she applying on my skin.

Treatment review:My treatment started with a cleanser to remove my tinted sunscreen, followed by Silver Powder. I’m not sure what cleanser was used but it might be either Cream Soap or Makeup Remover Soap - whichever it was, it stinks pretty badly. So the Silver Powder was left on my face for some time (not exactly sure how long was it cos I dozed off, VERY QUICKLY! ), then the therapist came in to remove the silver powder and started to extract blackheads off my nose.

Silver Powder

After extraction, she used Alpha-Grapefruit Cleansing Lotion-soaked cotton pads to give my face a rinse and to tighten the pores. A facial and shoulder massage followed. Oh, the facial massage was GOOD. I love it when the therapist focused on my eyes because I feel that a good eye massage always makes my eyes look brighter and less tired! I found myself drifting to lala land again.

After the massage, she used facial tissue to wipe off the massage oil from my face and the Seaweed Cleansing Soap for double cleansing. It was now time for the facial mask, which sadly I had no inkling what was used. All I know was that she applied a layer of serum or gel of some sorts, then some tissue paper around my hairline and chin, and a gauze mask around my nose and mouth. She then applied a cold mask on top of the gauze. The mask didn’t smell familar so it wasn’t the strawberry mask (smells like strawberries), or healing mask or whitening mask (smells of grapes) or azulene calming mask.

When the mask was removed, she applied presumably some moisturizer and sunscreen on my skin and my skin was bouncy smooth! “Doink doink!” The clogged pore that I had on my left cheek was noticeably flatter and my sister commented that my skin looks very clean and had a glow. I didn’t have the opportunity to look at myself in the mirror until I got home later (funnily enough, there were no mirrors to be seen in OA). I was surprised when I saw that my skin really had a glow to it (in a good way) – now I know what people mean by radiant!

As usual, I was brought to a room after the treatment and had a ‘special talk’ where I was offered special deals. The usual price of $58 per facial treatment is affordable and I would gladly pay for a maintanence facial. I was pleased with the treatment, but the location was a little inconvenient since there was no direct train nor bus that I can take from my home to go to Holland Village.

Rating: 4/5 (They need to work on their locations… it’s too far from the north-west! And please include free eyebrow trimming!!)

Would I go back again: Yes!

I got this fantastic deal from Streetdeal.sg. Join them to receive such deals like I did!

DIY: Olive oil hair treatment

I was bored at home on an off day, so I decided to give my hair a treat. It has been a little dry lately, especially at the ends, so I wanted to do a hot oil hair treatment. It was really simple, but could get a little messy rinsing out. This is what I did:

• Just pour out some olive oil (I used EVOO as that was what I had at home) into a small cup.
• Apply the oil to your dry hair (oil and water do not mix, so it wouldn’t make sense to apply oil to damp hair – my sis had oil dripping all over herself cos her hair was wet).
• The oil should ‘cling’ onto your dry hair without dripping all over, creating a mess.
• When you think you have applied the oil evenly to your hair (concentrate more on the ends!!), wrap up in a shower cap.
• It would be good to use a disposable one as it is quite a hassle to wash the oil off your favourite shower cap – don’t ask how I know.
• Leave the oil on for at least an hour for it to work its magic.
• Rinse out the oil and shampoo your hair, concentrating on your scalp in case the oil remains on your scalp and makes your hair limp and greasy. I shampooed thrice, just to be on the safe side.

Results:

• My hair was soft and smooth after drying naturally, especially the ends.
• My hair felt thicker and had more volume.

Side notes:

• I didn’t use a conditioner after shampoo cos I wanted to see if the oil treatment made a difference.

My verdict: while the treatment made my hair soft and bouncy, effects of the hair treatment only lasted 3 washes. I wash my hair daily, so that’s only 3 days before my hair was back to normal. Don’t think I will go through the hassle of doing it again for such results… I think my Shiseido Aquair treatment pack is more convenient and gives me same results, without the mess.

Gmarket Korea – my shopping friend

Being a 宅女, I stay home most days, so Internet is my best friend. I read about Baviphat on Kimoko’s blog and wanted to try it. Initially, I thought of asking Bee to help me when she went back to KL for the weekend, but the prices were quite expensive compared to Korea, so I decided to buy from Gmarket instead.

The products are quite interesting, but sadly there isn’t much information about the brand and products online (the official website is in Korean).

I ordered the following from Baviphat:

You can read the Applemint product review here

I also bought a pair of heels from Chloee by storyshoe: (shoes bite a little, so get a size up)

Tips for shopping at Gmarket Korea:

1. Be sure to check the estimated weight. Sometimes, the unit cost per item is cheap but the shipping weight can add a lot of extra cost to the final payable amount. If there are a number of sellers selling the same item, I usually do a mock checkout to see the actual final amount payable. I have found some items to be cheaper (final amount payable) though the unit cost is higher, due to the lower shipping weight.
   
2. If you have cash in your Gmarket account, use it if your new order amount does not exceed the amount of cash you have. You won’t be able to withdraw this money back to your local account anyway, so it’s better to use it up before you forget about this amount. Sometimes, I purposely make split my orders if the sellers offer free shipping (for eg if I only have W12,000 left in my account, I’ll make 2 orders – W10,000, and W15,000 for the balance order).
   

Still <3ing B.Liv's Off with those Heads

I have been lazy lately and only used the bare minimum on my face (eye cream, moisturizer and sunscreen for day, eye cream and moisturizer only for night) and my skin really did suffer… my nose was screaming for help from the blackhead attack last night! So I endured the pain and used the metal extractor to get those nasties out… and ‘guai guai’ went back to using Off with those Heads.

It’s definitely a much better, easier and painless way to get rid of blackheads. =D

Ragged cuticles no more!

I’m quite particular about my cuticles but yet I dare not use the clippers with ease. I’m always afraid of drawing blood. I usually leave it to the professionals but work and laziness take over at times, and I end up having really ugly and dry nails. Today, I’m going to share with you my little secret on how I get rid of dry cuticles!

You might have seen these in the arsenal of nail professionals.

They all look a bit daunting, don’t they? And besides, you’ll need to have some basic skills and a bit of time to remove your cuticles using these.

Here’s my trick:

Yes. I really only use one product, and that’s Ginvera Marvel Gel. You can use other similar products as well – Bio Essence, Follow Me, Cure, and/or other variants of Ginvera Marvel Gel. Basically, they all work about the same.

Step 1: Remove nail polish before anything else. I cannot stress how important it is. I’ve seen people filing their nails and shaping them even before the polish has been removed.
I transfer my polish remover to a bottle like this for easy usage. No more spills and evaporation, and it saves so much more remover! I got the bottle from Sasa for only ~$4! I suppose you can use such bottles for your toners as well if you wish.

Step 2: Shape nails, if they require shaping.

Step 3: Make sure hands are dry and place a blob of the gel directly on your nails. Gently massage the gel into your nails and see dirt and dead skin cells being removed from your nail beds and cuticles.

Step 4: Rinse your hands clean and admire your neat cuticles!

PS: This method can also be used for your toes! Try it and let me know how it goes for you! =)

Haircessive

My work laptop has just gone kaput so lucky for you readers, I’ve got some time on my hands to keep blogging today.

My skin is kinda a wreck (thank you hormones… how I love you so… NOT!) and I’ve been growing sideways, but the only thing left that I really like about myself is my hair and my eyelashes! Hehehe… how not very humble of me. LOL

Anyway, I’ve seen some ladies with really bad hair, some of my colleagues too. So here’s how to treat your hair right, and with care!

Washing:

1. If you use styling products during the day, it is important to wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo at least once a week, more so if you have an oily scalp. Imagine all that gunk build up over the week. You’re going to end up with limp roots by the 3rd day.
2. Use your fingertips to gently massage the scalp while shampooing. It helps blood circulation and promote healthy hair growth.
3. If you live in a tropical, humid climate, wash your hair daily. No one appreciates the smell of an oily scalp. I like to use The Original Source’s mint shampoo. Feels really cool and clean on the scalp.

Conditioning:

1. Even if you have normal hair, use a light conditioner after rinsing out the shampoo. It helps soften your hair and protect it from the harsh UV rays during the day. It also helps prevent split ends.
2. For dry hair, you can use intensive treatment masks as a daily conditioner. Your hair will absorb the goodness and thank you for it.

Styling:

1. Do not ever use hair curling tongs or straighteners on damp hair. Your hair will be fried! Always use such devices on dry hair. You may wish to apply a leave-in conditioner or heat protectant to protect your hair as well.
2. Let your hair rest in between chemical processes. I have a colleague who did a re-perm few days after her first perm because she wasn’t satisfied with the initial result. Now her hair is super dry, wiry and damaged, even though it has been more than 6 months.

My top picks for:

Shampoo: Klorane (for prevention of hairloss), L’Oreal Professional Vitamino Colour (for fresh coloured hair)

Conditioner: Dove Shine Therapy conditioner

Intensive treatment: Shiseido Aquair Hair Pack

Leave-in: Kerastase Oleo Relax Serum

Food and your skin

Are you a believer of “your skin reflects your lifestyle”? You know how some girls party a lot, drink a lot and smoke a lot, and it all shows on their skin! Some may have nice complexions, but they look very dull… I think the partying causes that.

Or some girls break out after consuming too much chocolate, or insufficient fibre, or nuts, or dairy products (*sheepishly raises my hand on all counts, except for the nuts*)…

I love my dairy products but I have a dairy product allergy that causes me to break out in rashes and big cystic acne on my cheeks (where it scars most easily!). So I try my best to space out my dairy intake (sometimes, I sneak a mouthful or 2 of yogurt, or some milk) so my allergy flareup wouldn’t be that bad.

Sometimes when I feel that my skin is too congested, especially around the chin, I try to take more fruits and vegetables. But if that fails, I chew on a dairy-free acidophilus tablet to aid the digestive system. After a few days, I clear my internal system and my skin looks better!

Hmmm… yogurt

so here i am, sitting in front of the laptop, with a homemade yogurt & bentonite clay mask. feels cool and soothing.

the bentonite clay helps to draw out impurities while the yogurt tightens pores exfoliates gently and moisturizes skin all at the same time.

Debatable beauty issues

I just came back from a 2 day workshop on the cosmetics regulations for ASEAN countries and it was truly interesting. While the main purpose of the workshop was to enable marketers or people in charge of importing or selling the cosmetic some knowledge on how the new ASEAN Cosmetic Directive affect business and what should be done to comply with the new directive, some very interesting questions came up during the many Q&A sessions.

One question was on parabens. One of the speakers, a very experienced man in the cosmetics industry around the world, said that there are no conclusive studies or materials to show that parabens are bad for health (breast-cancer causing). In fact, he was saying that if it was up to him, he would rather go for a product with parabens as he will be sure that the product is not contaminated with bacteria, than a product with ‘natural preservatives’ where there are no studies showing that they’re stable and can prohibit the growth of bacteria in the product. Come to think of it, that’s quite right, isn’t it?

Also, placenta. Obviously human placenta is not approved as an ingredient in cosmetics (I think worldwide). Sheep placenta is approved provided that they do not contain hormones. But if placenta does not contain hormones, then it’s basically just proteins, lipids and fats (among other whathaveyous). If that is the case, why use sheep placenta in the first place? *personal opinion: it’s quite yucky to see such ingredients on your face too!!* And there is no such thing as BOTANICAL PLACENTA! Plants cannot give birth thus no placenta. Don’t be taken in by such claims!

I thought the above 2 discussed issues were quite insightful though it has no effect on me because I’m not adverse to parabens in my cosmetics and I don’t use placenta products at all. But I do try to avoid denatured alcohol and added fragrance in whatever I use because I have a sensitive nose and I don’t think denatured alcohol does anything good for the skin. How about you? What are your thoughts on such issues?