Crystal Clear Skin? Hmmm...

I've finally gotten some free time to get back to blogging!

After giving labor to my beautiful baby boy, Ammar Mikhail, I'm now back to the office and all geared up to resume my skin care quest!

2 months post-pregnancy maternity leave helped me to closely pay attention to skin-caring...Ya laa...with all the jerawat2 and pigmentations... it adds more to your depression feeling during confinement...

Around 3 months ago I purchased Lancome's latest serum - the Lancome Derm-Crystal serum...

 

Claiming that it helps to lighten and eventually diminish dark spots on the face, of course this makes me totally tuned! And also the fact that Ms Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), who is the ambassador of this product claims that it does wonders to her skin, made me even more convinced!

Of course I should've factored in the fact that she ALREADY has perfect skin, but for some reason, I'm always a sucker for this kinda marketing gimmick...ALWAYS!

So I pun belilah.....at RM350, its pretty steep for a 50ml bottle!

Sangat comel lah this girl...

FIRST IMPRESSION

The clear coloured liquid smells kinda perfumey...but I kinda like the smell actually...pretty nice...

And also its non-greasy...a great factor!

AFTER FINISH USING

Hmmm.... after 3 solid months of using, I seem to not see any difference...is it due to the fact that my unstable hormones counter-attacks the workings of the product?

VERDICT

 After finishing the product, can't see that it does anything to my skin. Spots are still as stubborn...hmmm...I'm so clueless....

SK II promo!

Hurry Hurry peps! SKII's having a promotion kt KLCC from 9-14 June!

 

 

Check out SK-II Parkson KLCC Concourse Promotion today!

SK-II Parkson KLCC Concourse Promotion is on with offers on skincare! So check out SK-II Parkson KLCC Concourse Promotion while the sale offer still lasts.

When: 9 June 2012 (Sat) - 14 June 2012 (Thu)

SK-II Parkson KLCC Concourse Promotion Highlights:

Meet & greet session with Lee Sinje, SK-II Global Brand Ambassador on 12th June 2012 from 3pm until 5pm.

Buy SK-II products worth RM2,500 and above to get 13-pc gift set worth RM1,250.

While stocks last!

You Follow Latest Trends... But Never Forget Old-Time Classics...

The skin care industry has become very diversed and advanced as technology continues to improve. Women with skin-obsession (i.e. for instance myself ehem ehem...) are always looking out for the latest in technology... let's recap the recent trends taking over Malaysia...

1) Whitening

ALWAYS sought after since our grandmother's time..that explains for the fact that laki zaman dahulu kala mencari women yang kulit "putih gebu, cerah berseri"...hence, the Fair and Lovely advert explains it all (the train-ticket girl meets the dude who's always rushing..but stops to stare at the girl's pretty, fair face....resulting to leaving his handphone to her....ahax!)

2) Pore refining

The hype starts to escalate when the advert for Estee Lauder's Idealist skin refinisher starts to make waves on Malaysian TV. Soon, every cosmetic company starts to introduce pore refining and minimising products, of every price. Little did we know that some of the products contains chemical compounds that actually SEEMS to make your pores APPEAR smaller, but in reality does not change anything...

3) Dark spot correcting

This is the latest trend. Many Malaysian women can't escape issues of dark spots, whether resulting from Acne, or Sun Exposure (pigmentation) or Age Spots.

In this case, I believe the skin care companies managed to identofy that the issue of skin clarity very much links with the appearance of dark spots and early pigmentations...thus they try to become as micro as possible and create products for these specific reasons....

Don't get me wrong...all these are for good reasons...

But then again, we should not ignore the former unsung heroes that have been in the market for years and years...and shall always remain no matter rain or shine....

1) Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex

Thousands of women love the overall effects it gives you. Although, many are mindful that the results this miracle worker gives can only be seen overtime...but it has proven to help protect and repair skin from the harmful environment conditions.....

Thus, in the long run...it makes you radiant and youthful

EXPERIENCE

I have personally used this for 4 months.... During when I was younger, it actually worked against me, resulting in small bumps across my face everytime I applied it...Thus, I stopped using it..

However, it proved to be a wonderful addition to my daily regime, eversince I got pregnant with my first child... (due in 2 months time... yeeha! :) ). When hormones and unavoidable morning sickness seriously deteriorated my skin condition (extreme dryness and flakiness, up to the point where my lips were bleeding), with non-stop acne plaguing in other areas, this was my lifesaver. After using the ANR, my skin condition remarkably improve. I no longer felt dry, and for the rest of my pregnancy, I never had a pimple (so far).

Girls....If you're looking for specific targeted products, this may not be for you. But if you're looking for an overall maintenance product that helps you to repair and retain the good state of your skin in the long run..then this works for you. Only that you need to be patient and remember...this isn't a race...its a marathon.....

Enough With The Whites...!

Chill chill...I'm not being racist here...But I have finally come to my senses, to no longer jump into the whitening bandwagon...and I must point out that if you have noticed, the hype has died down too....

Like I have already mentioned in my previous post, there's so many definitions of whitening...it can be to lighten the overall face, to target uneven places, or to correct dark spots.

Of which had me interested in the first place...

So dah alang-alang I'm going to experiment, I might as well go for the range of which I believe should be reliable enough to actually produce results.

BTW, this was like...7 months ago (approximately)

So off I went to Estee Lauder counter in KLCC to try the Cyberwhite Ex Range

To provide a brief description:-

Estee Lauder has upgraded their previous brightening range to bring the Cyber White EX with three highly targeted, breakthrough technologies, to help correct and prevent three different types of spots responsible for clouding your complexion: stubborn age spots, small surface spots and those barely visible spots just below the skin's surface

HA HA...Convinced? I was salivating! Who doesn't want chrystal clear, fair skin?

Upon advise from the SA, here were the items that I have bought...

1) Cyberwhite Ex Brightening Milky Lotion

APPLICATION

Used as a day moisturiser, to be worn after using the essence...Feels non-greasy...however, dries up within 5 minutes...skin tends to feel less hydrated...don't know why.

Thus, it feels kinda dry when I use foundation over it.

2) Cyberwhite Ex Brightening Essence

FUNCTION & APPLICATION

This is pretty much the heart of the skin care range. The essence is supposed to be doing the magic for you. Worn under the moisturiser, after using toner, it feels light and non-greasy too...

3) Cyberwhite Brightening Ex Rich Moisture Creme

FUNCTION & APPLICATION

This is to be worn at night, after using toner and the brightening essence. Feels cool and light....but I cannot really tahan the smell...It's pretty heavily scented.

The consistency lebih kurang macam ni lah...

4) Estee Lauder Cyberwhite Ex Illuminating Mask

FUNCTION & APPLICATION:-

Meant to help in deep cleansing, this mask is to improve overall skin evenness, clarity and radiance, and features a unique complex of powerful ingredients to target Small Surface Spots. It helps clarify pores, dissolve visible melanin build-up and reveal smooth, radiant skin. 

What I like about it is the fact that you don't have to use a lot of it, which is pretty jimat... huhu...

So after finished using these items after say.....7 months:-

OBSERVATION

Dark spots: Less visible, but still there

Uneven skin tone: Improved....I wouldn't say I'm fairer but it helps in the sense that my skin looked slightly even...more comfortable to go out barefaced when I'm so lazy...

Skin clarity: Erm...honestly, I'm not sure what 'clarity' means.....but I don't see much of a glow or anything....

CONCLUSION

I believe, perhaps if I used this range for a very long time (say 2-3 years), I might notice a bigger change I guess...

However, I'm not that patient, and given the time taken to include all these in my regime, plus, I'm not that satisfied with the results I expect given the amount spent.

So yeah...whitening...ta ta.....

-Jue-

Naturally Australian...Giving You A G'day, Mate! - Aesop Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste

It was a lovely Saturday morning last 2 weeks ago, and it prompt me to do one of those "rare" bathroom cleanups....cleanups would mean that I was actually getting rid of those products of which had been "quietly" lying around or hidden away from prying eyes, due to its lack of efficiency or any other relevant reasons.

Then I found this:-

Aesop's Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste


Hmm...made me wonder why I had this stashed away....

Oh yes I remembered, bought this scrub since Aesop was having a promotion last 2 months.... I guess due to my previously wicked morning sickness, I couldn't stand the smell of this product. The smell of Rosehips made me somewhat rather quesy! That's what made me stopped using it...

But then again...Since I'm official alright now, I thought the smell now turned to be ok...( I'm not exactly a Rosehip still, but I could still take it...)

So after 2 weeks, I've been dilligently using this again for this previous 2 weeks

ISSUE:-
Since pregnancy started in September, I have been constantly plagued by small acne which turns into bumpy dark, brown marks after the acne dries. Hubby tries to comfort me by saying its all Hormones....but me being me, I do believe we can't just let it rip us off.

So I started to use this as a measure to perhaps lessen this...Since this is all natural, its much safer to be used during pregnancy, compared to those AHA/BHA Peels which I'm not sure of the effects onto my baby....

RESULTS:-





The paste has really fine granules. Once I've washed my face with it, skin feels slightly softer, possibly due to the Rosehip oil content. However, once I've wiped my face using a towel, skin feels slightly dry, especially around the eyes (For some reason I'm not sure)

After 2 weeks of using, skin feels softer and smoother, but I haven't seen it done anything for the acne marks.

Overall, its a good, gentle scrub that's safe to be used on a regular basis, but I don't think it treats anything in specific.

Don't Mousse Around...Or Thy Shall Not Be Rewarded!

As a woman, I'm pretty sure you always do run into situations where you ALWAYS plan on buying something that you have been researching AND eyeing on for quite some time...and YET, you end up straying and buying something that you haven't read about before and don't even think of buying in the first place!

I know I am ONE of those unfortunate ones... Sigh...

Started off on a fine daywhere I planned to re-stock my delicious and ultimately amazing Kiehl's Surface Brightening Exfoliator since the one I have at home has finished, thus I quickly made my way to KLCC that evening. In addition, I haven't done my eyebrows for quite some time, eversince I got pregnant and the morning sickness really got the better off me (Blearch...) So I had been mourning in despair and basically hindered my quest for Beauty Products. Now that my morning sickness had waned off, its time to continue my conquest. Woohoo!

In a way, being pregnant had been a wonderful experience since it gave me the opportunity to explore on what's OK and what's not for preggers.... FYI, I stopped using those amazing peels that I have been using to clear up acne and spots since AHAs and BHAs aren't friendly to us preggers.... Sigh....

So coming back to my KLCC escapade, before I walked to Kiehl's, I made a quick stop at Shu Uemura to do my eyebrows...Better start grooming again!

Whilst the salesgirl was plucking my eyebrows, she introduced me to a new product launched by Shu Uemura ....which is the UV Under Base Mousse....





Personally, I'm not a fan of mousse based products (Mousse cleansers, mousse foundation, mousse whatever) as I find them slightly wasting.... But the girl insisted that I tried since I had some "pregancy spots" developing on my face and needed to be "covered" by something that has UV protection as well..

Fineeeeeeeee... I gave in...

APPLICATION:-

When you squeeze the mousse, you actually get quite a substantial amount on your fingers.....its quite hard to control the amount. When she put it on my skin, it felt easy. However, when I tried it myself, it was a little messy to work with.

Feeling wise, I didn't exactly fancy it, it felt kinda dry on my skin....must wear loads of moisturiser before using this since its quite drying.

Costs RM 115. And I bought it.

Reason?

1) Pushy salesperson..(she even wanted me to spend RM600 for some crappy gift sets...)

2) I get my eyebrows FREE OF CHARGE. (Eyebrow service cost: RM25)

3) Probably I was too happy that I was feeling well thus, I pretty much felt like I wanted to spend....

I didn't leave feeling angry, but I didn't feel satisfied either. Why did I buy it? I guess probably cuz it comes up to around RM90, which is cheaper than my favourite makeup base Lancome UV Base Pro (heavenly velevety and smooth!) by about RM20....

So did I buy my Kiehl's scrub after that? Of course I didn't.... I felt kinda ripped off, thus dampens my mood to go further shopping....

Italian Skincare, Anyone?

It's been a while since I've posted a decent post. Really2 sorry..been running into a few health complexities of which did not enable me to be fit enough to continue on my skin care hunting spree...Sigh...
What is it? Ahahha...I bet you could guess it really soon when you read in between the lines in my post today....

We've heard and seen of many beauty products successfully launched by the French (L'Occitane), the British (Estee Lauder) and the Americans (REN, Clinique) to name a few.... what about the Italians?

The way they work their magic hands onto skin and body products had been proven to be successful through my discovery of Italian's little Beauty Garden Boutique, hidden in the midst of Bangsar Shopping Centre.....

Introducing... L'Erbolario......





Me, mum and my brothers were originally on a search for some really nice perfumes....of which we initially thought of taking a peek at the Annick Goutal Boutique...until we came to this lovely place....

Greeted by really love fragrances of fresh flowers and essential oils, I was immediately in love with everything they had to offer....

From Body Care such as lotions, body creams, to skin care for all skin types, and also as specific as care for pregnant women, post-pregnancy body and also baby's essential needs!

What's wonderful is that everything is made from all natural ingredients and essential oils, making you feel totally pampered....





Some of the products they offer

   What I initially wanted to look for was a body cream, since I simply can't stand the smell of the cream that I currently possess....so wanted to look for something nice....But then, the SA introduced to me something that's even better...of which caught my attention immediately:-

1)
L'Erbolario Stretch Mark Prevention and Firming Cream
This cream  is the ideal treatment for preventing loss of tone and thickening and for helping prevent the formation of stretch marks. Also, in addition to the extraordinary firmness guaranteed by the optimum moisturising helps the skin to become softer and more velvety.



2)

L'Erbolario Body Exfoliant Cream
Useful to cleanse, exfoliate and soften the skin on the entire body. Extremely fine micro-granules obtained from Almond shells  to remove all dead cells and impurities from the skin’s surface.

So I bought these two items, in hoping that I shall be able to control the formation of stretchmarks once I have given birth later...HOPEFULLY!

The other items of which are in my wishlist right now:-

1)

L'Erbolario's  Children's Care Range....

Beautifully organic, all-natural hair and body care range for babies...shall keep this in my mind until the due day! :D

- Bath Foam
- Shampoo
- Protective Cream

Conclusion:-

All I can say is go to the boutique once you're in BSC...you won't regret it...It's such a heavenly place to visit......