DIY: Mung Bean Yoghurt Mask

I don't remember if I've ever mentioned that since the beginning of this year, I've been having breakouts non-stop.  It's really bad honestly, for a person who barely has breakouts in the past few years.  I was wondering whether it was due to a change in my hormone or if it's just purely due to the hot weather.  I guess there is a possibility of both, along with the work stress that came my way (Oh my! so many reasons eh!).

Well, I didn't really want to pay a big fortune to go to facials due to a bad experience whereby my skin got even worse after spending thousands on facials thus I started scouting online for alternative!

I chanced upon an entry by Viva Woman on the use of Mung Bean and yoghurt as an anti-blemish mask.   This piques my attention and created the desire for me to experiment.  The thought of using natural day to day available kind of ingredients for beauty is quite an interesting thought, don't you think so?

So, roughly a month or so, I started hunting for Mung Bean here in the stores.  Okay, I know you can blend it on your own, but because Sesame from Viva Woman was able to find the powder form of it, I'd figured it won't be that hard right? Well, I was wrong! It's super hard to find it here.  The only type that I found was actually used by Indians to cook their special curries or ingredients.  I was hesitant to buy it at first because it the Mung Beans were roasted before it was grind.  But desperation calls as my skin gets much worse and I bought it!  


Well now, it's just very easy to do.  All I need to do is mix the powder and yoghurt together.  As for me, I prefer to have more yogurt in the mixture as it seems to be smoother on my skin. I tried mixing more of the mung bean powder and it seems quite harsh on my skin when I wash it off.  I don't actually have any measurement, just by instinct =p


How did it turn out?  Okay, the pimples did not disappear overnight, that's for sure.  What I realise was that the pimples seems to have calmed down a bit everytime I use the mask (every alternative days, when I am not lazy!).  That's good cause I don't want the pimples to go bursting on me, honestly.  After a couple of weeks of doing it, I realised that my freckles/pigments have also lighten! Woah! Now that's something that I didn't imagine would take place.


So all in all, this is a good try and me likey very much.  I just bought another tub of yoghurt so that I can make the mask =p

Waterproof and Smudge Proof, what's the difference?

Okay, I know this entry seems a bit ... well... off, but I was really wondering about the difference as I was shopping for mascara last week.  There weren't any SA around, so I couldn't actually ask for any definitive answers.  Thus, I turn to the ever-reliable Mr Google for help.

So, what's the difference between Waterproof and Smudge Proof mascara?

Honestly, I've yet to be able to find a proper definition for it.  However, after reading some of the comments and feedbacks on them, here’s what I gathered.

Water Proof Mascara as a mascara that does not come off when in contact with water.  It's apparently good to use if you are going swimming.  Smudge Proof mascara prevents smudging when you touch it or rub your eyes.

For water proof mascara, I’m not sure how many of us does wear makeup when we go swimming.  Well, I for one can't really swim, but if I do swim, I'd most likely make sure that I don't have any makeup on except sunblock.  Can you imagine coming up from the water feeling all great with yourself (ya know, looking pretty sexy in your swimsuit) and having people staring at you; and the next minute, horror to horror, you saw all those runnings on your face! Crazy definitely! Sorry, over-active imagination running while there…. But then again, with our crazy weather (it’s raining right now as I’m typing this entry, I betcha wanna make sure that you’re wearing waterproof mascara in order to avoid smudges whilst you’re out and doing errands or even a date, albeit the wet weather.  And oh so, those nice walks across the park (do you do that?? I wonder), you won’t want your mascara to start running there and then.  Have I encountered such situation?  Honestly, I’m pretty new when it comes to daily mascara wearing, so I’ve yet to really experience it.  Will let you know when it happens to me =D 

That aside, it seems that water proof mascara is also smudge proof and what not, the powerhouse of all mascaras.  Hence, you need the hotsy oily stuff to remove it!  

Smudge proof, now this is a tough one.  I was contemplating on this as I’m writing this as, smudge proof have a thing with me you see.  I wear contacts on most days and eye rubbing seems to not stay away from me on those days that are long and hard.  And because these days, I’ve taken on to wearing mascara, I have a tendency to TRY not to rub my eye in fear of smudging my mascara and risk looking more like a panda (well, long hard days seems to produce pandas for me =p).  Having read those comments and feedbacks, it seems that smudge proof have been sending mixed signals to people out there.  To some, it performs to its very best, but to others, it seems to be such a turn off.  Yet, it seems that it’s a lot easier to be removed as compared to waterproof mascaras. 

Well, my 2 cents worth of thought.  I think it’s really up to you which you would use, and whether the “brand” and “type” of mascara you are buying suits you or not.  I have oily lids and after 6 hours, my make up tends to smudge here and there.  But both waterproof and smudge proof mascara has been quite obedient and stays on my lids for at least more than 8 hours on daily occasions.  The only thing running was my eyeliner (that’s another story to tell).  I prefer smudge proof on occasions when I am feeling lazy and tired after work, but for waterproof, I like the idea that I don’t have to worry about the crazy weather when I go out for lunch =D

So, what’s your thoughts on these two little darlings?  Do share =D

Water proof mascara prevents it from coming off when in contact with water and smudge proof mascara prevents it from being smudged like when you touch it

Review: Life Code Review Part 1

It was truly a privilege to be selected by Miu Miu from Plus Size Kitten to join her to review on this new technology that's touched the shore of Malaysia.  It's really my first to join us activities, so do bear with me if I seem to have left out something ya.

Well, it was a slight rush for me that day as church ended a little late, but I managed to get myself there on time.  When I arrived, our host, Chris, has been such a darling and so welcoming in making sure that all of us are comfy and all.  She even serve us drinks! Talk about service =D  (sorry, sucker for good service!)

this greeted me as I arrived.  Was rather stunned by it.. haha

lovely lobby/ waiting area

Well now, once Plus Size Kitten arrived, Chris starting taking us around the whole place. Chris informed us that the whole building is owned by her boss and all the businesses in it is under him.  One of the place she showed us Asia Spa.  What greeted us was the lovely smell of spas! Oh, how I love that smell.  he took us to have a look at the spa area (oh yea, they are sharing the area with Asia Spa, lovely I tell ya).  There's the ginger tea at the spa's lounge area.  Cosy is the word to describe the place.  Check out some of the photos below:

this greets you when you enter Asia Spa

the lounging are after you've done your spa

cutesy stuff

lighting is much nicer when you are there. trust me, i wanted to lie down when i saw the massage bed... ooooo

After the round ups done by Chris to get our attention of the spa area (haha, we were all over the spa rooms! I think we so wanted to have a spa session by then), we were all ushered over to the designated area for what we are supposed to be trying out for.  What greeted us was this nice walkway....

please excuse the person in the picture and just focus on the walkway ok!

Ain't it grand?  It's such a welcoming feeling I tell you. At the end of the walkway (short one only la) we were directed to the ladies' area on the left (men's on the right).  

Well, to be honest, I felt that the changing room is a little small. There's 12 of us, and it's kinda cramp, considering that we are all to change and get ready to go into the sauna room.  It kinda took us all a while to be ready to go inside.  According to Chris, the sauna room can hold 12 people and each session takes about 1 hour (30 minutes in the sauna and the rest is for you to change before and after and to take a rest before you go off).  So if there are 12 persons on normal days, I guess the changing room may be a bit cramp?  Just a thought that hits me as I was getting ready to change.  But overall, the place is kept tidy and well, so it's cool in that sense. But then again, this is because we are going there in a big group, so let's just say you are going there and you somehow clashed with another 11 people, different people goes in at different time, so I doubt there's clashes.. oops, contradictory me =p

Okay, so we've all changed into our towels and in we go to the room.  Here's a view of it:

It looks like a normal sauna room, of course with a slight difference.  Chris, our host, came in along with us (she's fully dressed in her work cloth I tell ya! Salute her) with the room on full blast of heat just to explain to us what the room is about.  One thing that really caught my attention was the fact that we don't have to shower once we are done.  Beat that! We were all quite in disbelief when she said that.  I mean, come on! You go into a sauna room, with heat and all, and you sweat.  And then you say, no need to shower...  Well, apparently the sauna room emits some herbal thing that would help to burn the fats and the stones in the room is to lighten our skin.  That's the uniqueness of this sauna room, it is to whiten our skin.  Interesting eh?  Well, we were in there for about 30 minutes, trying to sweat more and chatting away.

These are tourmaline stones that covers a number of space in the room.  It's recommended for people to lean on it.  I did a search online and here's the benefits that I extracted from it:

Tourmaline helps you reduce levels of stress, anxiety and confusion. It calms your nerves, removes toxins from your bloodstream, reduces lower back pain, relieves migraines, helps with constipation, heals burns and reduces arthritic pain and swelling. Individual colors of tourmaline have additional healing properties

Essential Herbal Mist Quantum Therapy.  Check out the list of things that it's supposed to help =D

Guess what, although we sweat buckets (probably about there with all of our sweat combined!), we seriously don't smell sweaty nor feel dirty.  There weren't any sticky feeling on our skin at all.  We can literally change and walk off.  Woah, isn't that cool.  What a big difference from the normal sauna that we attend.  

Did I enjoy myself? Definitely! This is part 1 by the way.  Following this the intro of the make up essentials and techniques by Chris.  More to come!

My Skunk Brush turned BLACK

Am wondering if any of you have the same experience as me?  After 2nd time of washing my Etude House Dual Fibre Brush, I realised that my white bristles are turning black.  Look at the photos below!  I seriously dunno what to do.  Any advice? Sigh.....

See how black it is!

It's still so black from the side view.  Aih....

Do share with me if you know what I could do with it.  Else I'll need to bin it =(  

Halfway Thru the Month & My Purchases are increasing!

I usually pace myself with my purchases, but this month, it's on an overhaul! They aren't that exhorbitant, but still! Woah, I'm going nuts with shopping eh.. and it's only half a month passed, there's another half to go. I seriously need to go slow =.=

Review: Argan Nutrixer Mask Sheet by Nature Republic

This is actually a long overdue entry!  I've mentioned before that Nature Republic was giving out free masks as part of the launching.  It went on for a while, I guess they were trying to pass those masks out for people to sample it as a few later when I went over to the shop with a few colleagues to make purchases, they were still giving out those masks.  However, it's only if you purchase something in return.

For those who aren't familiar with Nature Republic; it is similar to Etude House and The Face Shop.  Nature Republic is also originated from Korea.  This is what they have to share about themselves:

"Nature Republic", based on Mother Nature's law, is a new cosmetic brand, created by combining both state-of-the-art technology as well as natural substances of the utmost quality.  It includes such substances as various medicinal plants, flowers and seawater from around the world, and natural prescriptions from ancient times.

I've actually used one of the free masks months ago and intended to blog about it, but I guess I failed in that account eh.  Totally forgot about it until today.  Well, since I used it again, I decided to quickly do a review on it.  Like Etude House and The Face Shop, they used an artist as their ambassador.  However, here's the gung ho part.  They did not use just anybody, but Rain!  For those of you who do not know, Rain is a famous and now an International Artist from Korea.  He has recently penetrated the US market (for Asian, I guess that's good achievement) and is one of the hottest selling Korean artist around.  Here's a picture of the masks (check it out, Rain's face on each of these masks ok)

Rain aside (well, not literally raining eh); so how did the mask fare?

Fitting: Well now, I have to say that it does not fit well with my face.  It's not so much of the width but the length of it.  It does not cover the full of my forehead, but as for chin downwards, it's so long that it can cover a quarter of my face =.= That's quite an odd feeling, considering that I was pulling the mask to make it fit my face.  Kinda dislike that fact.

Hydration level: Of the mask of course.  Well, it's rather "juicy" I would say.  Even after 20 minutes to 30 minutes or so, the mask is still kinda wet and I actually went and rub in all over my arms as well as my legs.  Beat that.  Haha... it's good I presume.  Oh, upon opening the mask, rest assured, it didn't drip all over the place.  Nonetheless, a slight run over the plastic bag which holds the mask does produce probably half a teaspoon of the "juice".  Quite well.

Stickiness: The mask's a little sticky, as in, when you touch it, you feel that the stickiness is on your fingers.  I was a little irritated by it because I was having to adjust the mask and I kept needing to rub my fingers around to get it to dry.  Overall, once it's on and if you don't move it as much as I did (I think it took me like3 to 5 minutes to get the mask to settle on my face), it'll fair well.  After the mask session, I did find my nose area and my forehead being slightly sticky still, whereas the cheek's area pretty well hydrated and not as sticky.  Probably because of my combination skin (T-zone oily, cheeks area dry).

Brightening: Okay, to be honest, I don't what's the benefit of this mask.  Nonetheless, I find my face looking brighter and fresher.  I can even feel my skin having a bit of the "do-ing, do-ing" feeling to it.  I'm quite beat recently and looking rather dull, so this mask does help to brighten my complexion.  The colour's quite even and I look refreshed.  Good plus point to it.

Overall: It's a good mask; however; although this is not a re-buy item, I may still not re-purchase it even if it is because I dislike the mis-fit of the mask.

New Template

If you frequent my blog, I'm sure you would noticed that I've changed the layout.  I'm still trying to find one that would suit me and reflect my personality, so do bear with me if you find that the pages keeps changing.

Do holler and feedback if you think you like certain designs and want me to maintain it eh =p

Freshkon Color Fusion: Warm Hazel

I have an admission to make, I'm currently addicted to colour lens! Whee!  There was a promotion last time whereby you get to buy 3 pairs of FreshKon Colors Fushion for RM120.  My friend and I decided to share and grab them =D  I ended up with Warm Hazel.

So how did it fair?  I think I shocked myself when I saw my own eyes in the mirror! Woah!  It's super sharp and the colour is more gold than hazel.  Someone actually commented that I look like one of those dancers in the MV Thriller =.="  No idea if that's good, or bad, but it was some attention grabbing that I had for that one month I was wearing it =p

In terms of comfort wise, I don't have much of an issue with it.  It's a monthly disposable lens, so it does work as a monthly disposable lens.  Water content is okay, so I don't have much discomfort unless I wear it for more than 12 hours straight for a few days.  In terms of buy, I guess, for colour lens it's an okay buy.  You definitely cannot compare it with the normal monthly disposable lens =D