I went out to meet friends for mid week drinks. I reached home at almost 4am, had the sudden urge to do laundry and did a face mask as well. When I have late nights out, sometimes, I'm lazy and wash my face with .... soap. Yes, I do that at times. When I have more time, or when I am not that sloshed, I usually remove my make up with make up remover wipes before using facial wash. These wipes help me remove some of the waterproof mascara and other stuff so it cuts down on my cleansing. It's my lazy skin care routine short cut.

When I really have time on my hands, I like to remove my make up with cleansing oils. My favorite? Shu Uemura. To the uninitiated, to cleanse with something that is oil based may sound illogical, especially if you have oily skin. But hey, soap is also made of oils.

I used to have combination skin. As I grew older, my skin turned dry and yet I was using lots of products meant for oily skin. Now I have dry skin and yet my nose still produces oil that can turn oil blotters translucent.

It's now 5.30am and I'm off to bed.

Goodnight world :)

Chanel Particuliere

Since debuting on Chanel's runways, their Particulière nail polish sent the masses flocking to their counters to get their hands on a bottle. Chanel's nail polishes are not exactly cheap so what are the available dupes out there? I googled it and nail enthusiasts have not found an exact dupe yet, but close contenders include Essie's Mink Muffs, OPI Over the Taupe and You Don't Know Jacques!, Urban Outfitters Grey 2.

To splurge or not to splurge, that is the question.

Eye Candy Food

Some awesome food pictures. There should be shops that sell these here!

My oh my!

I love rainy Sundays

I made cupcakes with my brother today. It rained a lot today. Rainy days somehow freaks my maltese out. It's weird that a dog gets upset by rain. She's already 11 years old. Shouldn't she be used to rain by now. And if there is thunder or lightning, she freaks out even more. She will run and hide, or whine. If she is in the hall, she will use her little paws and knock persistently on our doors till someone opens the door to let her in, even if it is like 3am in the morning. She's like out little weather forecast. If suddenly she starts to seem anxious, 99% of the time, it will rain soon.

The view from my kitchen. I love the greenery.

Cupcakes out of the oven, topped with butter cream frosting. Sin in a cup.

A day at the animal shelter

Went to an animal shelter last Sunday with Zann. There are so many dogs and cats who call the animal shelter home. Most of the animals there are really friendly despite their circumstances. They always greet you with wagging tails and friendly dispositions. They're grateful for treats given to them. Hope sooner or later, they get to go to a home they can call their own.

My Beauty Diary - Mixed Berry Mask

Manufacturer's description:

My Beauty Dairy Mixed Berry Mask delivers the following benefits:

• Brightening and firming
  Mixed Berry Extract drawn out from blue berry, raspberry, cowberry and mulberry in an exceptional beauty agent that dresses skin up with vitality and charm. It protects skin from environmental aggression, correcting problems like uneven complexion, dullness and sagging. After use, skin becomes firm, bright and translucent.

• Purifying and refining
  Extracts of Comfrey and Green Tea enable synergy benefit to soften cuticles. After use, skin is refined, radiant and velvety smooth.

  For all skin types, especially skin suffers from uneven complexion, sagging or roughness.
  
  How to use:
  Put the mask on cleansed and toned face. Leave on for 20-30 minutes and peel off. Gently massage the remaining serum for better absorption. No rinsing is necessary. Follow with usual skin care products.
  
  Suitable for all skin types.

Bargain alert! I saw on the Straits Times that Watson's is having a sale for My Beauty Diary Masks. The usual retail price is $20.90 and it's on sale at $14.90. $6 off per box!

My 2 cents:

I was in Taipei in October last year, slightly before My Beauty Diary masks were retailing in Singapore. I lugged back many boxes of masks from this brand. The description on the packaging itself is in Chinese. I had read online that there are fake masks from My Beauty Diary in the market. Anyway, I got mine from pharmacies in Taipei so I guess it's as authentic as it gets.

Once the packaging is opened, you can smell the berry smell almost instantly. It reminds me of strawberry yogurt drinks. My skin has been pretty dehydrated. Probably it's also because I don't really consume much water. Bad habit, I know. The worst thing is I don't fancy plain water. And thus my skin suffers.

The smell is not that noticeable once the mask is on the face. The size of the mask fits my face pretty well. I have used some masks before that were really odd shaped, some even were like really big and my face is not that small even. The mask feels comfortable on my face and it's pretty soothing.

After taking it off, I can feel my skin is more hydrated. It feels soft! Mission to hydrate skin accomplished!

One ingredient I was not familiar with in the product description was Comfrey.

Wikipedia's page states: "The herb contains allantoin, a cell proliferant that speeds up the natural replacement of body cells. Comfrey was used to treat a wide variety of ailments ranging from bronchial problems, broken bones, sprains, arthritis, gastric and varicose ulcers, severe burns, acne and other skin conditions."

Here's a picture of Comfrey. Pretty, ain't it?


I love sheet masks. They're pretty convenient. No need to wash off. Just take off and throw! There is usually excess essence in the packaging and I use whatever is left on my legs, hands or neck. One thing I like about My Beauty Diary's masks are that they don't really dry out fast. You can leave it on your face for over the recommended timing and it will still feel moist.

Wanna know how much I love mask sheets?

This is part of my "collection" of how many mask sheets I have. It's my cheap thrill :)

Lazy Sunday Afternoons with Hot Cakes and my Cat

This morning, I woke up and ordered McDonald's Hot Cakes. Been craving for them all week. One thing that I hate about it is, their maple syrup is not really maple syrup. I discovered this one day while having Hot Cakes one morning with Ben, my brother. Ben is a big fan of maple syrup. When I read the ingredient list, I told him that it is actually corn syrup with maple flavoring, he went "WHAT?!". Oh yeah, it's not real maple syrup. Seeing corn syrup on the ingredient list made me think about the movie Food Inc. CORN CORN CORN! Corn everywhere!

I'm meeting Zann to go to the dog shelter later. After that I'm meeting Joanne to go to Ikea. Need to pick up cups. Yes, cups. Somehow over time, we've been breaking cups by dropping them, kicking them.... you get the gist. Klutz anonymous anyone?

Cats sure do sleep a lot. Mine like to sleep perched on top of the fridge.

Alice in Wonderland in 3D

After waiting for like the longest time, I caught Alice in Wonderland today at The Cathay. As usual, Tim Burton brings us lush visual treats. It wasn't a really spectacular movie, nor was it bad. I watched it in 3D. Are 3D ticket prices going up? I remember paying $10 last year for Monsters Vs. Aliens. If I watched the non 3D version today, I would have only needed to pay $6 using the UOB promotion. $11 well spent on 3D for this movie. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite childhood stories, so I shelled out the money!

Skinfood Black Raspberry Products

The crazy hot weather has me looking into my skin care stash to see what I can use. My skin has been feeling dry. Decided to open 2 products from Skinfood. Got the descriptions from their website.

Black Raspberry Saeng-Gi Pack

Rich with black raspberry, which strengthens the positive elements in the body, and jayangboeumdan and cheongyeondan extracted from 12 medical herbs, this pack provides hydration and maintains nutrients. This nutrition providing mask contains silicone elastomer, a NMF(natural moisturizing factor) to provide an immediate moisture, and gold flakes to facilitate blood flow, providing noticeably moisturized, vitalized and clear skin.

Black Raspberry Saeng-Gi Ampoule

Anti-oxidant black raspberry extract and jayangboeumdan and cheongyeondan extracted from 12 medical herbs correct the skin balance and make your skin shiny and vitalized. This enriched and high nutrient ample, which keeps sensitive skin (caused by UV ray, pollution and stress) healthy, adheres well right after application, rapidly absorbing water and oil into your skin and forming film to inhibit the evaporation of moisture.

The pack retails for SGD51 and the ampoule retails for SGD58.80. It has this herbal medicinal smell that somehow, I kind of like. I'm going to use the ampoule before the mask as I was told this enhances the effect of the mask. The mask pack contains gold flakes. Hasn't the price of gold skyrocketed lately? Is gold effective in skin care?

Research has revealed that gold not only has anti-bacterial properties, but actually helps to transport oxygen molecules directly into the skin, influencing cellular functions and providing a new energy level. This helps to revitalize and rejuvenate the skin.

The youth of the skin is dependent on the efficiency of the cell-renewal process, which is hamp e red by many factors. The build-up of toxins and wastes in the system, along with exposure to ultraviolet radiation and chemical air pollutants, slows down the regeneration of new regeneration of new cells.

It also hastens the aging process by causing oxidation damage to the collagen fibres, the supporting tissue of the skin and by undermining the skin's normal functions. Pure gold actually helps to reverse oxidation damage, making the skin more firm, resilient and youthful.

Gold also helps stimulate lymphatic drainage and blood circulation, thus facilitating the removal of toxins and wastes and purifying the skin. All these actions help to improve the skin's normal functions, particularly that of regeneration of healthy new cells.

I've just applied a generous layer of the ampoule on my face. It feels sticky, ugh. I'm off to go put the mask pack now. The weekend is here. TGIF!

新年快乐

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

祝所有人在新的一年，如虎添翼，虎年大发，虎虎生威。