Welcome to my beauty blog, and you will find a lot of beauty sharings here. As a shopaholic and a skincare maniac, I always like to try new things in market. And the most important thing is I just share what I had tried for at least a month to get most trustworthy testimonial. Besides, as a cosmetic analyst, I'll share with you more interesting facts behind these bottles and jars. Feel free to drop by here and I am looking forward to approaching you soon.
I bought Elysambre liquid eyeliner from lovelula.com, together with other Elysambre products. First, I tried the eyeliner. Since I am used to using liquid eyeliner to make up my eye, it is not difficult for me to use it.
However, the eyeliner cannot last long. It was such a great disappointment when the eyeline "melt" away after an hour (maybe less than that, I did not count). Compared with liquid eyeliner, I still prefer eyeliner gel, which is easier to use and longer lasting. I will end up having fine and smooth and attractive eyelines using it.
Ingredients Aqua (Water), Sorbitol, Glycerin, Acacia Senegal Gum, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citric Acid, Cellulose Gum, Benzyl Alcohol*, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate,* Polysorbate 20 [+/– may contain: MICA – CI 77891 (Titanium dioxide) – CI 77491 (Red iron oxide) – CI 77492 (Yellow iron oxide) – CI 77499 (Black iron oxide) – CI 77007 (Ultramarine) – CI 77266 (Carbon black)]
Some people are too lazy to use both face cream and eye cream. They simply apply face cream on the whole face, including the eye areas.
Face cream or moisturizer is formulated to be used on face, not eye areas. This is clearly stated on the packaging. Some may question why we cannot use face cream on the eye areas and what eye cream can do for us.
The skin of face is thin compared with other body parts, however, the skin of eye areas is five times thinner than face skin. Larger molecules in face moisturizer can cause oilseeds on eye areas. Owing to this fact, eye areas only allow penetration of smaller sized molecules in active ingredients, therefore a fine eye cream that allows fast absorption is essential.
You will always find that eye cream dries faster than face cream because the homogenizer used to make eye cream is different from that for face cream, which requires higher speed to achieve ideal viscosity, as well as absorption rate.
I bought this face serum after trying out the sample given by an Origins beauty advisor as I purchased the Origins whitening range, Light Years Ahead (Now they changed the name to Brighter by Nature).
Loaded with generous amount of hydrating ingredients such as squalane, glycerin, yeast extract, sucrose (sugar), mushroom extracts (reishi & cordycerps), sodium hyaluronate, algae extract and Saccharomyces lysate extract, this face serum is expected to help heal damaged skin. It is packed with calming chamomile flower water and lavender essential oil, and enhanced with moisturizing plant oils such as olive oil, meadowfoam oil & argan oil.
This serum is a light birch-color fluid with pleasant essential oil aroma. When I applied it on my skin after thorough cleansing and toning, my skin felt slightly greasy, unless I slept in an air conditioned room. After a few months of usage, my skin texture was hydrated. I can say that this face serum really works, the only bad thing is this serum is slightly greasy. I hope the formulation could be improved.
Some people are afraid of using sunblock as it may cause congestion and encourage more pimples to grow. However, any dermatologist would say that sunblock is a must in daily skincare routine, even if you have a tight budget. Acne prone skin should beware of UV rays as they can cause severe skin problems, as such a good sunblock is essential.
So, there are two factors to consider when we want to purchase a suitable sunblock: non comedogenic ingredients should be used and the sunblock should be light/oil-free.
Still, some people will experience the problem that pimples would grow aggressively after they apply the aforementioned sunblock. In this case, one should check their cosmetics (foundation)and cream based skin care products such as cleansing oil, moisturizer, nourishing mask, etc whether they contain comedogenic ingredients.
This light gel-type night moisturizer is fast absorbing, frankly speaking it's not moisturizing for dry skin, however for oily skin, this one definitely a wise choice. It contains wheatgerm oil, jojoba oil and squalane, it heals wounds amazingly fast. I just dotted a little bit of balancing night gel on open wounds (or pimple) at night, it healed so fast when i woke up the next day, it left a perfect well-connected skin tissue on face. It is recommended for acne prone skin.
Living Nature Balancing night gel had gone thru clinical independent tests by ABICH Laboratories, a renowned Italian biological analysis company, is scientifically proven the effectiveness in wound repairing (vascular regeneration activity) .
Peeling gel is quite common in market, from open shelf brands Ginvera marvel gel, Etude House Magic Bubble to luxury brands such as UGBang Ginseng Peeling Gel, etc. What this gel can do is it's claimed to exfoliate dead skin cell and safe to use every day. When u apply it on dry face, it will come out with many small bits as you massage your face, and do you believe these small bits are dead skin cell?Peeling Gel does contain polymers/cellulose to play as eraser, it just cleanses but not exfoliates dead skin cell away like what you imagine.
Let's do a simple experiment, you can simply squeeze some peeling gel and put it on a table surface, it can still produce a lot of small bits. So does your table contain dead skin cell?
So, don't be too confuse with the use of these products anymore.
Our skin produces dead skin cell every 28-day, no matter oily skin or dry skin. If your skin is dry, the dead skin cell forms more rapidly than any other skin type. After some time, this dead skin cell layer must be removed to prevent congestion and dull skin.
Usually, we exfoliate our face once or twice a week, especially before mask, for better absorption as well as making our skin look glow and radiant.
Scrub is the most common exfoliating product used by the people, it is actually kind of physical exfoliation. Convenient, fast and effective are scrub's advantages. However, acne prone skin with serious pimples is not advisable to use scrub for it will stimulate the growth of acne and cause severe inflammation, making skin look reddish and may enlarge acne scars.
The best and most gentle exfoliation for acne prone skin is enzyme or fruit acid gel based chemical exfoliation, or exfoliating mask. Apply it on your face for 10-20 minutes after cleansing, let the enzyme/fruit acid soften dead skin cell, then remove it with warm water. Plus, fruit acid (AHA, BHA) will increase skin thickness by stimulating secretion of keratin, hyaluronic acid and collagen, it is especially suitable for thin/sensitive skin.
Here are the varieties of and differences between physical and chemical exfoliation methods.
1) Physical
Most abrasive, not suitable for inflamed skin, it irritates skin and worsens inflammation condition. Physical exfoliation is suitable for other skin types, as well as acne skin with whiteheads. If you utilize granular type of exfoliation incorrectly, it will cause pocked marks.
Milder, suitable for acne prone skin, not recommended to use the same type of exfoliation method twice in a time, excessive chemical exfoliation may cause dryness and sensitivity on skin. Available also in mask form.
I was introduced to Suncoat by a Chinese lady, the founder is her relatives. Therefore, to fulfill my curiosity, i browsed internet to look for Suncoat on that day. To be honest, initially i suspected whether it was pseudo-natural (so-called-natural-but-not-at-all products). Without phthalate, how could they make nail polish?
Phthalate has been proven by research studies to interfere with normal hormone balance, can cause severe birth defects and other health problems. Phthalate is a very effective and popular plasticizer that gives nail polish flexibility, and helps prevent polish from cracking. Phthalate is also a very low volatile chemical (meaning will not evaporate quickly). So after the polish is applied to nails, phthalate will stay on the nails with the polish, and can penetrate into our system, causing health problems such as gene mutation, reduce sperm count, carcinogenic.
I'm inspired by what founder concern about her seven-year old daughter back to 2001 when this little girl showed an interest in nail polish which contains toxic chemicals such as toluene, formaldehyde releasing ingredients, acetates, phthalate, alcohol etc. As a chemist, she knew how much potential damage these toxic chemicals could do to her. Since then she decided to develop water-based nail polish and this project was financially support by National Research Council of Canada.
I'd bought clear top nail polish just to make my nail look glossy, it does look natural. Since i seldom use conventional nail polish, I could hardly tell whether it lasts long. To me, it is worth to try because it is not really that expensive.
Yes, i admit that Lush products' names always funny, like Origins do. I'd bought this Lush signature product when i was at Australia, was attracted by their colorful interior retail stores at Gold Coast. Well, i do admit that it smells weird to me when i passed by for I just simply couldn't stand these artificial fragrances.
Look for this grey, grainy mud rolled like love-letter, i can hardly imagine how could this be the most hot-selling product in all Lush fresh handmade cosmetic stores. They have some other products like colourful mask pastes packed in plastic containers with funny label, handcrafted soap blocks. tennis-ball-size bath bombs, transparent shower jellies and etc.
Mix bean-size of this angels with water (so 1 bar could last long), spread on face, i can feel the almond granules exfoliate my skin. Lush claims that angels on bare skin could be used everyday, but I simply comment that it is just alright for dry skin, but not for oily skin in hot humid Malaysia weather as this cleanser contains no foam, oily skin require corporation of cleansing gel!
This specialty get type toner allured me to use for more than three years, the gelly appearance surprise me as it is different from normal water type toners in market, i found that it is fast-drying, the NZ flax gel contain act like aloe vera keep subtle of skin. After some applications, I've noticed that it is really hydrating and retain moistness of skin. Of course, now i apply it when i do mask for better performance. As it contains hydrating ingredients like glycerin, glucose, manuka honey, this hydrating toning gel definitely be the best toner in my own all-time favourite skincare list.
Very common that we cleanse our face before applying mask, ok, we also include scrub/exfoliate to remove dead skin cell for better absorption.
However, something you could do before mask to enhance their performances.
1) Deep cleansing Mask or clay mask
Apply some hydrating gel/aloe vera gel before deep cleansing mask to prevent dryness caused by it for clay will absorb oil and dirts, it is suitable especially for dry skin. Or you could also do hydrating mask right after deep cleansing mask to counter attack the complications caused.
2) Hydrating Sheet Mask Sheet masks are convenient to be used, if you massage hydrating gel/aloe vera gel/hydrating toner before apply sheet masks, it helps to enhance moistness and hydrating effect of the mask.
3) Nourishing Mask or Cream Mask Massage hydrating gel mask and/or serum for 5 minutes before nourishing mask, hydrating gel mask contributes water supply to skin before oil-supply nourishing mask, which can lock moisture on skin and make your skin look glowy and radiant.
Corporation of massage and some essential oil blend will be even better, especially nourishing mask.
And, night time is the best time to do mask for our skin is able to have better absorptivity and self-repairing properties for our body synthesize hormone at this moment. That's why night creams are always richer and more concentrated, and it is recommended to focus serum application at night time.
Some people (maybe you are one of them) think that it is too troublesome to apply sunscreen right after moisturizer, and feel it may cause stickiness and oily on skin. So, they prefer a moisturizer with SPF to just a day cream.
However, the difference between sunscreen and moisturizer is: they do contain sunscreening ingredients (titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, octyl cinnamate, PABA and etc) which are large size in molecules, to form a protection layer on skin. Whereas moisturizer do contains oil, aqua, active ingredients (like whitening agents) which are easily penetrate into epidermic layer.
If you apply moisturizer with SPF, your skin cannot automatically filter which 1 can be absorbed, which 1 should stay at outer layer. Plus, you can also notice that their SPF factor is not really high, usually SPF 15-25, therefore it is not advisable to have sunscreen-plus-moisturizer-in-a-bottle, unless you work indoor and want to have less moisturizing effect (which is not advisable, in long term your skin turn dry), then just go ahead.
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