Beauty Tips： Massage

Some ask “Why can't I see the difference when everybody says this product works marvelously?” Besides congestion of dead skin cell, the root cause may lie in the procedures. Be patient when you apply skincare, tap and massage lightly and slowly for every single item. If you simply spread them on your face, the effectiveness will definitely go below expectation. As much, massage will help skincare with active ingredients penetrate into the epidermic of skin and perform their duties; meaning to say massage can enhance the overall performance of the skincare.


However, different types of skincare require different way of massage techniques.
1) Emulsion. Warm emulsion in your palms to activate it before application for better absorption. Lotion and moisturizer have thicker texture, you have to massage every part of your face from the centre to upper and lower parts in circular motion, the oil will ease the motion and I usually massage until it is fully absorbed. If it is still greasy and sticky, simply spray some water and continue massaging.

2) Essence/Serum: light fluid or gel is fast-absorbable, over massaging will harm epidermic and may cause collagen to break, thus form wrinkle. To avoid this, pump a small bit of serum and spread it evenly on the face and massage lightly.


3) Eye cream/eye gel: skin of eye area is the most vulnerable part of the face, it is five times thinner than other parts of the face, and therefore applying eye cream on the eye areas must be done gently and lightly with fingertips.


Massage is useful for all skin types, except for inflamed and acne prone skin. Massage will stimulate it and cause tingling sensation on the skin.

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Beauty tips：Application of Skincare after Cleansing

Toner, serum, essence, ampoule, moisturizer, sunscreen, foundation and so many more, you may confuse the sequence of these items. Which one should be used first for better results?


Follow these golden rules:
1) water first, then oil;
2) small molecules come first, big molecules come after

So, let’s start off by talking about water based small molecules, usually ampoule (the only product I could think of is Dr Hauschka rhythmic conditioner or Intensive serum), then followed by water based big molecules, toner; after that followed by oil based small molecules, serum/essence, at last should be oil based big molecules, moisturizer/lotion.

In the morning, we will still wish to apply some protective sunscreen and foundation, after applying all this functional skincare, you should end the routine with mega-size molecules sunscreen as protective layer to protect our skin from UV rays and also minerals from cosmetic, before any make up.

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Day cream vs Night cream

Cleanser, toner, serum can be used throughout whole day, why are they day cream and night cream?

Of course you could stick to a moisturizer that could be used during day and night time. The reason why product formulation specialists separate day cream and night cream is because they serve different roles.

Day creams are usually lightweight in texture, highly spreadable and fast absorb-able. It acts as a protective layer to lock moisture from toner or hydrating gel, nourish skin lightly, contributing light and non-greasy feeling to let us apply sunscreen, foundation or etc afterwards. Hot and humid weather will trigger more sebum secretion on face; day cream can keep our face as refreshed as possible the whole day. If you feel comfortable with matte look, just look for certain moisturizer containing oil absorbing mineral-based fillers such as Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate; another alternative is dust some loosing powder after sunscreen or mix some loose powder with sunscreen.

Night cream acts as a mechanic to repair damaged skin tissue caused by free radicals, it is thicker and heavier compared with day cream. Our skin can absorb more oil to moisturize skin during night time, some hormone-triggering plant extracts and essential oils (such as rose, geranium, jasmine) function at the same time.

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Review of UVA & UVB

Let’s continue with SPF topic, the sun emits ultraviolet radiation in the UVA, UVB and UVC bands.

UVA: wavelength 320-400 nm, causes pigmentation, uneven skintone. Although less likely than UVB to cause sunburn, UVA penetrates the skin more deeply, and is considered the chief culprit behind wrinkling, leathering, and other aspects of “photoaging”.

UVB: wavelength 290-320 nm. More potent than UVA in producing sunburn, these rays are considered the main cause of basal and squamous cell carcinomas as well as a significant cause of melanoma.

UVC: absorbed by the ozone layer and does not reach the earth.

So, how are you going to see which sunscreen products block both UVA and UVB?

With label of SPF, it symbolizes with the blockage of UVB to skin; whereas for UVA, you could look for PA + to +++. Other than that, please check their ingredient lists.

UVA blocker: Mesoryl SX (L’oreal), Mesoryl XL, benzophenones, Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide

UVB blocker: Mesoryl XL, octyl methoxycinnamate, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, octyl dimethyl PABA, octylcrylen (2-ethylhexy;-2-cyano-3,3-diphenlyacrylate), Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide

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Product Comment： Living Nature Firming Flax Serum

This serum formerly known as firming flax cream. I've used firming flax serum for more than three years. This new formulation has a pleasant aroma, and even more absorb-able than old formulation.

Formulated with hydrating ingredients such as honey, glucose, NZ flax gel, it works as an excellent hydra booster. Therefore, this serum can smooth fine lines and calm dehydration-caused redness. I was satisfied with its fast result, you can feel the difference after a few days application, expected a glower and more radiant appearance.

Its old formulation had shown high ability of hyaluronic acid synthesis on cultured human skin fibroblast at Italy ABICH biochemical lab. I am not sure whether the new formulation remains as good or has a better result, but based on my own experience, few drops of it everyday hydrates my skin even better than origins weil's megamushroom face serum. Definitely it will continue to be my top favourite serum list, this serum succeeds to achieve what it promises .

Highly recommended as part of your daily facial ritual for dehydrated, dry and mature skin.

Ingredients INCI: Aqua (water), Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil**, Cetearyl olivate (from olive oil), Sorbitan olivate (from olive oil), Vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, Caprylic/Capric triglyceride (from coconuts), Glucose (plant sugar), Mel (manuka honey), Phormium tenax leaf juice (NZ flax gel), Sclerotium gum, Calendula officinalis extract, Euphrasia officinalis (eye bright) extract, Parfum (natural fragrance)*, Daucus carota (carrot) extract, Hypericum perforatum (st.john’s wort) oil, Rosa canina (rosehip) fruit oil**, Triticum vulgare (wheat) germ oil, Oenothera biennis (evening primrose) oil, Glucose oxidase (from milk), Lactoperoxidase (from milk), Tocopherol (vitamin E), Citronellol*, Limonene*, Linalool* * From natural essential oils ** Certified organic

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Sunscreening： Physical & Chemical

In sunscreen formulation, there are always two categories of sunscreen ingredients, they are physical sunscreen ingredients and chemical sunscreen ingredients, which work in different mechanism to protect us from sun-tan.

Physical sunscreen compounds reflect UV lights to decrease penetration of UV rays into and reduce the harm of sunburn to our skin as much as possible.

example: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide

Whereas, chemical sunscreen compounds absorb UV rays and convert UV rays tino non harmful compounds to skin. Application should be made 30 minutes before going out.

example: octyl methoxycinnamate, Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, PABA, Avobenzone/Parsol 1789 (Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane), Mesoryl SX (Terephthalylidene Dicamphor Sulfonic Acid), Mesoryl XL (Drometrizole Trisiloxane)

For most sunscreens available in the market, they utilize both physical and chemical sunscreen compounds. However, for organic brands, they just utilize nothing but physical sunscreen compounds for both titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are natural source minerals. Owing to the fact that they are only mineral sunscreen compounds, you will find that the SPF is low, unless you add on some chemicals to boost their UV　protection ability. If anatural sunscreen is high in SPF, for example Lavera SPF 40，the texture is not light at all and sticky and whitish upon application.