Global Keratin straightening

I haven't blogged for a while as I was being lazy and preparing for my trip overseas. I'm sure i will buy even more products overseas!!!
Anyway the latest craze is "global keratin straightening". For those who doesn't know it is just like japanese ion straightening except it doesn't damage the hair. Too good to be true? I thought so too.
I have tried japanese straightening many times and each time i ended up with much shorter hair as they had to cut off the damaged ends.

I did mine at Hype Hair Design at Forrest Hill Auckland. It took about 2-3 hours. Not long at all compared to the japanese straightening i did back in March for 5 hours!!!

These are the steps.
1. Wash your hair with purifying shampoo
2. Cover your hair with global keratin
3. Blow dry it
4. Straighten it

Thats it!!! How come it works?! Not sure....apparently it coats the hair with keratin and makes it heavier? And hence straight?!?!

It costed me 350 but i had to buy shampoo and conditioner so total is whooooping NZD430!!!

I had to refrain from washing hair for 2 days! When i first washed it, i was scared it will go all frizzy again. But.....the results were great!! My hair is soft, smoother and straighter. I only spend like 5 minutes blow drying it now compared to 20 minutes.

highly recommended but expensive :(

Sana whitening essence (soy range)

I found a little treasure at www.sasa.com. It's sana arbutin whitening essence. It's only NZD20.00 i think.
Anyway, I've got sunburnt from summer (all those outdoor activities). Out of sadness, i ordered this since it has good reviews on sasa.com and its cheap.

After few weeks of using, my face is fairer. If you know me, you can check my fb pictures and it is fairer than before. I've also had reduced break outs. Even if i get breakouts, it seems to have reduce the scarring rate????
Am i exaggerating? Try it because its only nzd20.00! Im now trying the sana soy cleanser and arbutin lotion.
Will update after few weeks of using. So far i think i prefer the iope whitening cleanser ...but we'll see.

Link to sasa (order here)

Update 10/07/2010 - I have been using this for the last few months and I am on my 4th tube. highly recommended :)

SASA.com TCM Mask - A++!!!

I stumbled across this mask while i was shopping on sasa.com. I notice that these masks sure have a lot of good reviews. It's a peel off mask and TCM stands for traditional chinese medicine.
You notice the strong smell when applied to the face. It's thick sticky white goo.
I left it on for about 20 mins and peel off. Its easy to ppeel off and wont pull on skin.

Man!! after i peeled the mask off, my skin looks whiter and smoother!!
The next day, my scars have faded!! Do try it. It's only USD1.00 from sasa.com and it's normally out of stock. I bought a whole heap of mask from TCM brand. Will review them shortly

Ginvera Marvel Gel review

I must say i like this product!!! I bought it at Girls Day out for $5 (small size 50g). It's green, gel like texture. When you rub it on your face , you massage for a few minutes and little white granules start to form. It makes me think i am rubbing the dirt away. Apparently, these are dead skin.

After that, you rinse off and you get silky smooth soft skin!!!

It's pretty good i must say. Compared to a similar product i have used - Beloved whitening exfoliating gel, i must say i like this one better. THey are the same texture, same effect but i feel this one cleans better? Beloved is more expensive though - about NZD50-60 if i remember correctly.

Best place to get Ginvera is probably ebay or you can get it at http://www.skincarebrands.co.nz/ and for beloved, you can get it at http://www.bgo.com.tw/ (if you read chinese) or http://www.one2fit.com/

L'occitane brightening serum

L'occitane had a VIP 20% off that day. so I bought this finally. I have been wanting to review this but havent had the chance because it cost quite a bit!!! Retailed for NZD98.00 i got it for about 70ish which is ok.

I am loving this at the moment. I love the smell, the texture (gel-like). I didn't like the immortelle oil because i don't like putting oil on my face. The precious cream was good for night cream too. Few years ago, i bought the sunscreen spf40 (due to high spf) but i suspect it causes clogged pore so i havent been using it.

This one does not clog pore and it seems to even out my skintone and slowly brightening it. Its not a dramatic effect but i am sure i am getting there!!! Do try it if you see it on sale or you can get it at strawberrynet.com for around NZD75

Rocketfuel for the hair

So i have been using this for few weeks now. I must say it is pretty good. Not so much about repairing cos my hair is still very badly damaged - due to everyday iron use (i am on the quest to find a new iron as my new shine therapy Remington iron seems to be useless now).

Anyway, this is good because it seems to make my hair grow faster. I had to get it trimed 2x since i used it because it was just growing thicker and thicker. I cant really comment on the repair hair side of things because i still notice my hair is damaged. But overall, i dont think ill buy it again because at NZD70, it's quite expensive!!! But since it grows my hair faster, ill give it a 3stars :)

Yonka

So, in the quest to find the world's best cleanser to clean my skin. Many many times i notice that cleanser doesn't really clean my skin that well. Like they don't even dig deep down into my pore and i have to squeeze my pore all the time to get rid of the yukky gunk (*and squeeze my boyfriend's nose though he complains that it is the most painful thing ever)

Anyway, after searching high and low, i noice that Yon-ka cleansing gel (blue colour) has very high reviews at both makeupalley.com and essentialdayspa.com .

For the first time, after i wash my face, my make up are all washed off. There are no traces of black panda eyes after a shower!!! I am truly converted. I also notice that my pores are smaller and less visible. But it's only been two days. I'll update after a month :)

I also bought Mask 103 to go with it. It also has high reviews. It is a deep cleansing mask. And supposed to suck the dirt out of your pores and give it a good cleanse. I tried it once yesterday and I must say it's pretty good. My face feels clean but not tight after the mask.

In total i paid NZD70 for both. I bought them from ebay and the cleanser was 8ml x 10 mini bottles which is handy cos i can take them to the gym etc. The mask is full size. I think that's pretty cheap! Essentialdayspa.com is expensive. I think if you want to give it a try, buy it on ebay.

I am now using Yonka (or Yon-ka) in conjunction with L'occitane brightening serum (which i bought that day when L'occitane has 20% off *shame*) . I know i know i am a skincare junkie.

*I stopped using skinactives as i am not sure if they are doing anything. I will re-use them after i review Yon-ka and L'occitane. I don't really like the texture of skinactives serum. They look murky and precipitated. *sigh*

Reviews to come:

L'occitane brightening serum

Ginvera Marvel Gel/Hydrating cream/Eye Gel (YES...i bought more stuff at girls day out...*Double shame* )

Eyelash serum #2

I decided to do a follow up post on eyelash serum. I have realized that the serum that ACTUALLY helped my lashes to grow (besides lumigan) is Skinactives.com brow and lash serum

I used this diligently for about few months and my eyelash is probably 2x longer?

Ill post a picture of my lashes soon. This is really cheap too. Get it from http://www.skinactives.com/ for USD9.50.

Update:

RapidLash did not do anything for me. I nearly finished the whole bottle and nothing happened to my lash. Also i tried Zino lash serum and it doesnt work either. Don't waste your money

Juice beauty reviews

I find that my skin loves natural/organic skincare. I found Juice beauty at a local pharmacy and thought ill buy a kit to try out. Here are my three favourites:





Green Apple SPF 15 Moisturizer
This claims to brighten your skin and protect it. It has anti-aging ingredients like DMAE and co-enzyme Q10, Vit A, Vit C and natural glycolic from raw cane sugar

• I love the texture. It's thick cream but not oily at all. It's kinda like apple paste cream. I am not sure if it brightens my complexion but my skin do feel better after i use it. I think it evens out my skintone. I didn't have any break outs after using it. I'll update after a month. I still haven't found my Holy grail sunscreen.
  

Green apple peel
This claims to improve skin tone and texture with hydroxy acid complex

• This has gel like texture. When i first put it on my face, there's a slight stinging sensation which comes from the acid. After i wash it off, my skin do feel smoother. What i like bout this is that it seems to clear my pores (until it gets clogged up again next day) lol
• Note that this product has high review from makeupalley.com
• I think the cheapest is at strawberrynet for NZD51.00 (more discount if you buy more)
• I will highly recommend it for a weekly organic peel. If you don't mind non-organic, perhaps try cheaper option Laneige strawberry peeling gel or Beloved whitening exfoliating gel (reviews to come)

Blemish clearing serum
Claims to reduce blemishes, dark spots and age spots. Contains apple,lemon, raw sugar

• I like this as a "preventive" approach to pimples. I use it after i cleanse my skin (kinda like how i used to use benzoyl peroxide but i read that BP causes dark scars)
• I had a pimple on my forehead that day (non-erupted) and i slathered on a good amount of serum on it. The next day, it was gone.
• So, i think i like it but it still has not got rid of clogged pores on my chin (which i'm on a quest to find the perfect product to do this)
• I find that my whiteheads/blackheads seem to come out easier after i use the Juice beauty range. However, pore size is still the same.
• I will definitely keep using this as a natural way to prevent pimples if you don't like to use benzoyl peroxide. Compared to Aesop camomile mask, i think this is a better alternative to combat pimple. Aesop mask leaves dark scar on my skin when i leave it on for too long (the sales said i can leave it on as a treatment overnight -_-)

Overall, ill probably rate juice beauty a 3.5 out of 5. It didn't do WONDERS to my face but didn't do harm too. I think i like the blemish serum out of all 3. I think it is a bit expensive but since it's organic, it's understandable. It didn't do too much to my pore size (though maybe it's still early )

23/11/09 UPDATE****

I've stopped using this day and night because i noticed that freckles became more noticable. Maybe the acid is too strong for me or the sunscreen was not strong enough? Anyway, i'm not too happy about the freckles and it looked like i had lots of blackhead on my nose. So i stopped using this. :(

Reviews to come

- Yonka cleansing gel and mask

- SANA whitening serum

- Aesop range

Eyelash serum

I was on a quest to find the best eyelash serum. I sourced all the forums and tried to find the most cost-effective way to make it work. I have miserable short eyelash. They are probably 4mm long.

Basically, a proven way to grow your eyelash is to use lumigan - applied like an eyeliner. I used this for few weeks. Lumigan is a drug to treat glaucoma. There are concerns about its safety but as long as you don't get it into your eyes, it's fine. There are dermatologists that prescribe this to grow your eyelash.

After using this, i did get noticable growth. I did find my eyelids were slightly red. But otherthan that, i probably increased my length 80%! The annoying thing is after the eyelashes drops off, the new ones that grow are not as long. So i have to start all over again. You can't get this without prescription unless you buy it from online chemist (not sure how trustworthy they are)

Next, i found this little gem in Malaysia - SASA outlet (http://www.sasa.com/).

This is kjinco eyelash growth serum (http://www.kjinco.com/). It costed about NZD40. You can buy them online or by contacting kjinco. I used this and noticed my eyelash has grown 50%. I found this to be slower compared to lumigan.

I have found another lash serum to try. It is new and it's called rapidlash. I've only been on this for 2 days so i will update after a few weeks with pictures.