I'm loving Decanting!

This is a new love of mine which I discovered.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was struggling with big heavy glass bottles for my face lotion and I dread it even more as the product went down even more as it means more tilting!  Ergh...  Don't get me wrong, I like the glass bottles, but it does freak me out, knowing that I'm such a clumsy person.  Hence, off I went to Daiso (I totally love this place, don't you?) to find something that would suit my needs.


What I ended at home was two vacuum pumps bottles of 15ml and 30ml each, and a couple of atomizers (one in roller form and one in spray).  The two vacuum pumps bottles are in plastic so I don't have to worry about breaking it if they happen to fall on the floor.  Also, I love that it's frosty see through and it's plain in design.  I've seen some in MagicBoo but I don't really fancy them as they are clear see through with those metal type caps (I feel a little funny with metal scraping sound, so I try to avoid them as much as possible).  The design is space saving too, with it being lean and tall.

The main reason I chose these vacuum pumps is because the bottle itself is design to push all the liquid that's inside the bottle up so that there won't be wastage.  It does get annoying when you kept pumping those containers with a tube inside and it doesn't work.  I do feel that there are times that I ended up wasting quite a bit because the tube just doesn't suck the lotion or the gel up.  So with this, I don't actually have to worry about that.  Another plus point with this container, is that it can be easily washed and reuse!

What I did was I decanted my moisturisers from Etude House into the 2 vacuum pumps (30ml to contain my Etude House Aloe Soothing Lotion - 30ml) and the 15ml to contain my AC Clinic Daily Gel Lotion, which I will blog about later).  The reason for this is because I tend to use the Soothing Lotion more often.

As for the atomizers, I bought two by accident actually.  I was thinking which to get but I was decidedly rushing and ended up putting away the wrong product (which I don't remember what it was now, so I guess it's not really a need product... hehe).  I only found out about the error when I got home.  Nonetheless, it didn't go to waste because I decanted my miniature perfumes into these two atomizers!  Woo hoo.... I tend not to get the regular size perfumes because I don't use it often (or that I tend to forget that I want to put perfume cause I'm always waking up late and rushing off in the morning, or I remembered whilst I was putting make up and then totally forget about it once my done, sigh).  However, with miniature perfumes, I find their covers so hard to remove at most times, plus you have to keep tilting the bottles (you see a familiar dislike of mine here?) to get more of the products out.  With these atomizers, I don't have to worry about it.  I decanted the perfume that I use most often, which is Moschino Toujours Glamour Eau De Toilette into the roller atomizer and my DKNY Apple into the spray.  These atomizers are small in size, about 7ml each, so it is just the right size for my miniature perfumes.  Due to it's size, it's easily portable.  I would sometimes just pack them into my handbag and bring it along with me, applying it when I do remember to.

I truly like Daiso products.  They are well designed and I don't have to worry much about spillage of any sort.

By the way, if you do have containers or jars which are of a good size and easy to use, you can always wash them and decant your face creams over.  I decanted my face creams into the Himalaya Herbals Nourishing Skin Cream tub as well as the 10g tub of Arsainte Eco-Therapy Extreme Moisture Essential Cream.  Both these tubs are wider in terms of diameter, so it's a little shorter in height, making it easier for me to reach in.   wAlso, because the bottom of the tubs are curvy, I don't have to dig in to scrape all the creams out of them.  All I had to do is to follow the ergonomics of the tubs and the creams will come off easily.  Love them!  So, do think about reusing any containers which makes it easy for you to reach for the product.  Buy them only if you have to okay?

Have you have products which are still sitting on your drawers although you quite like them or love them because their containers are just, oh so unfriendly?  You should try to decant them.  I betcha gonna finish using them in a jiff.  Have fun!

Macadamia Oil for Skincare

When I was in Australia back in October 2013, my aunt was telling me about using macadamia oil as moisturiser.  She shared that a friend told her that most of the luxurious skincare uses macadamia oil as part of their ingredients and there's loads of benefits to it.  Intrigued, I decided to buy a bottle home.  I found one at Woolworths at their cooking oil aisle.  Yeap, you heard me right, cooking oil aisle.

A quick check reveals the following that caught my attention:

Palmitoleic acid:  Macadamia contains one of the highest sources of palmitoleic fatty acids.
This is vital for delaying skin and cell aging, ensuring that our skin stays supple.  But as we age, As we age, it decreases and our skin will age rapidly with the loss of it.

Squalene: Rich sources of squalene
Squalene is a naturally occusing antioxidant that's present in our human skin surface lipids.

(info extracted across a few websites: Naturally Curly, Naked Chemist, Mark's Daily 

Of course, there are many more benefits that's listed and you can do further research on them.

Here's what's listed at the back of the bottle:

During that time, I was having some issue with dry cheeks.  It tends to be drier and they get flaky often, so I'd thought that this might help me to deal with it.  From the initial use, I found that:

• not oily nor sticky.  It goes onto my skin easy enough and it doesn't leave any oily residue.  It feels supple and yet, it's your skin (if you know what I mean)
• No overpowering smell.  Macadamia nut has a smell.  All nuts do.  But when I apply this onto my skin, the smell doesn't really stay.  it was a soft smell that goes off probably 5 seconds later.  
• Doesn't cause my skin to feel oily overnight.  I used it at night, and I found that as the night goes on (even before I sleep), it doesn't make my skin feel oily.  Instead, the next morning, my skin feels replenished and it was looking rather natural, without any flakes.

I also tried it on my lips with the balance of the oil on my fingers and when the morning comes, I found that my lips were no longer dry and it feels nice.  The skin on lips were not peeling either when morning comes.  It actually felt more comfortable than applying lip balm for the oiliness disappear once it gets absorbed.

I've been using it a few nights a week and my skin never develop any oil seeds (which sometimes happen with some of the cream based moisturiser that I used).  Instead, I find my skin getting better in terms of moisture level and it doesn't flake as much.

After using it for a few months, I find that I actually look fresher the next morning after use even when it's nights where I don't sleep well.  I find that it gave me the result similar to Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate (MRC) in terms of fresh looking and glow on my skin.  And with a moisturised skin, I find my foundation staying better on my skin and doesn't slide of as easily.

I'm already thinking of asking my friend to get me another bottle of macadamia oil when she comes over.

(purchased at AUD3.99 at Woolworths, 250ml).

Inexpensive exfoliator: Face Towels

It's been a while since I've truly blog.  My blogging mojo is still off, but hopefully things will get back in a swing in a bit.

My skin hasn't been all that good since earlier this year, and it does annoy the heck out of me.   The cheeks area were flaky and yet, pimples still occasionally pop out around my t-zone and  lower chin area.  I was at a loss to what to do.  

I came across Paris B's entry on the use of face towel and it reminded me of the time I was using face towel back in the heyday (think primary and high school times).  I didn't put much mind to it though.  Nonetheless, a couple of weeks ago, I was just telling  my aunt that my skin was getting crankier of late and she suggested to use face towel as well.  I guess no harm giving it a try right?   So off I went to dig through my cupboard to look for those few face towels that I knew were lying around somewhere.

(Pictures from Indiamart)

Well, it's been a week since I started using it and I could already see a difference.  It's not miraculous, but I could see that my skin is much clearer and it isn't as flaky.  I also notice that the blackheads on my nose area were reduced too.  I find that overall, there's this clarity to my skin and it doesn't look as dull too.  I believe that the gentle exfoliation through the use of face towels allowed my skin to better absorb my serums and moisturisers and thus, giving the face what it needs to be better.  What a change a simple routine could do to one's face!  I'm impressed and I guess, age long method does work wonders.  

How to use?

At the start, I used the face towel to gently wipe my face twice a day (morning and evening during shower times).   During the evening shower, I would place more emphasis around my nose and the side of my mouth to try to exfoliate the blackheads (it works).  As my cheeks were flaky, I would also wipe it, but upwards, so that I don't pull my skin down.

After a few days, I've now moved on to pat my face with the face towel during the morning and do the wiping motion in the evening.  Don't be harsh when you're doing the wiping motion.  Just lightly wipe all over your face one time (don't go back and wipe the same spot a few times) and then rinse it and wipe to dry the second time.

Frequency of change

I don't have a lot of face towels at home (trying to remedy it) so what I do is to use the towels for two days and wash it.  What I do is to really rinse it well after use and hang it near the window so that it can air dry and sun dry for the next use.  I don't recommend using it for more than 2 days.  Then again, this is me and maybe you have other ways (or maybe like Paris B, change on a daily basis?)

I'd recommend you to give it a try =D  It does save you from buying and trying out the variety of exfoliators out there (though, it's no harm using it alongside towel, maybe once a week)