Simple... Is Good Right?

So this is pretty much my everyday look - very little on the eyes. Decent liner and mascara showing and, of course, a nice colored cheeks w/ a cute lip color.

Some of you will probably think this look is boring - and it is. But it is so awesome for school. I'm averaging 10 mins for my make up in the morning - which is so nice!

This is the time when I had the worst skin EVER! And honestly I still have pretty bad skin now too... I don't really know what I'm doing wrong but oh well. But in this pic, I had gotten a zit right in the middle of my NOSE! Yeah, the highest plane of my face, fate decided to stick a gross old cystic zit right in the middle!








On my lips, I have one of my favorites: WnW's Megalast lipstick in Rosebud!

A Mini Review:

ELF Zit Zapper
Ingredients: ACTIVE INGREDIENT: Salicylic Acid 1%

OTHER INGREDIENTS: Water, Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) Distillate, Alcohol, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Polyacrylamide, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Laureth-7, Cinnamomum Camphora (Camphor) Bark Oil


Sorry for the picture, I couldn't get a good one or find a better one so... whatever!!!

Like I mentioned above, I have pretty terrible skin now and I'm not sure what it causing it but I did purchase this little thing, hoping that it would help me out.

Now, this is not an overnight miracle work... but I find that if I use this on those annoying, painful, gross, cystic acne, it actually works really well! I think it takes the 'Zapper' three days to fully get rid of it and that is awesome. I don't know about you guys but my cystic acne tends to stay put for a week... even more. Thus, having it gone and done with in three days (usually three days!), I am happy!! Like that zit on my nose, it disappeared in 3 days... no trace or anything!

Applicator is like a roller... which is good so that you don't have to deal with messy liquid but sometimes the roller gets stuck!

Now, as for the tinier ones... I don't know why but it doesn't really help with that. Maybe somebody can explain to me...

But anyways, this thing works for me. I wish it was a miracle worker and just make it all go away. Alas, this item, being only $1, is good enough for now.

OH BTW - it smells a little weird. I think it's because of the camphor in this thing. I know b/c we synthesized camphor in lab and the smell was horrible. Don't worry, it's not gonna suffocate you or make you gag or whatever. You will just notice it for a bit and then it goes away.

Moisturizer, Anyone?

So I ran out of my Ponds Cold Cream moisturizer and I decided that I need to try something new.

So I decided that I should do reviews on the 2 moisturizers that I have tried out and tell you which one I rather preferred.

Let me just say that for a long time, I just used one moisturizer for morning and night but I hear that SPF isn't good for night time so I decided to search for something that would allow me to wake up and my skin feeling refreshed and renewed!


Ponds Dry Skin Cream
I'm sure you guys all have seen this somewhere in the drugstore. I first picked this up during the cold months of winter (January) and needed something to calm my dry skin. After looking at MUA reviews and looking at the prices, I thought it would be best to start out with this. This cost me around $5 and lasted me for more than a year!

This definitely is hydrating! OH YES, I love that during the winter, this was the thing that allow me to have nice and smooth skin. Mind you, I still had to use a morning moisturizer but it really helped. Also, after washing my face at night, my face would get that dry feeling too so this really helped with that. Also, a little goes a long way. I never need to use a lot and yet it works great anyways. HOWEVER, using this moisturizer during the summer was a BIG MISTAKE! Right now, I don't have an oily T-zone like I did last summer... and I think it might be because I stopped using Ponds. This moisturizer added shine to my face and I thought to myself - can't use this during the summer! But I kept using it because I just wanted it to be done. So I would say that it leaves an oily residue when I used it in the summer.

I mean, I think this is a really good moisturizer to start out with. I also used this to get rid of my eye makeup and it works really well. Plus, using this around the eyes isn't so bad because of the extra moisture. This has mineral oil, which can clog pores and make faces oily. I didn't notice my pores being clogged or anything and I didn't break out from this but I did notice the oiliness - for sure. So I only recommend this to you - and it would work pretty well too - if you have insanely dry skin and need some inexpensive relief. If you have oily skin... I would stay far far away.


Merlot's Night Cream

So this next one I got because I saw a few youtube vids about it and thought - WHY NOT? I like the idea that they have a sample size available for purchase and so I picked that one up. Now I don't really see this being sold anywhere else besides CVS so that might a problem.

Okay, so I do have quite a bit to say about this. First off, it is made from natural grape seed which is great because that has antioxidants and it has avocado oil in this which I think is great for hydration and has Vit E (please correct me if I'm wrong). So by looking at that, it seems pretty great so far.

Texture is interesting... it isn't creamy like the Ponds. It is between a cream and a gel... so that's kinda cool. Fairly easy to smooth across the face and doesn't leave an oily residue. It soaks into the skin quickly and you feel kinda a cool sensation once applied.

BIG DOWNFALL is that once it soaks into the skin, my skin sorta feels dry again. So what I'm saying is that I feel like I didn't even put any moisturizer on my skin once it is all absorbed. STRANGE huh? Also, I feel like I need to use WAY more to get a decent hydrated feel - very different from PONDS. That is the downfall of this product - if you use a sufficient amount, you will get a good amount of moisture in your skin. But that amount my mean a lot of product which means you will go through this pretty fast. This sample size is 0.5 fl oz and it lasted me 2.5 months (plus my sister was using it too) so that is kinda a bummer.

BUT I think this is a great moisturizer for the summer when it is hot and you don't want anything to add shine to your face! One thing that the product claims is that it promotes better skin tone - and I think I can see a bit of a difference! And that is really neat. Besides the usual monthly break outs, I think I have really enjoyed my skin tone and the clarity of my skin. I don't know if I can give this moisturizer all the credits but for a while, this product was the only thing that changed in my skin care routine.

Perhaps since the formula is so light and easy to absorbed, my skin can breathe better and pores are not being clogged and such. Because of this, I feel like I will repurchase this (even get the bigger size which is $14). I'd recommend this to anyone really - but if you're skin is always dry, it might take more product for you to feel satisfied. But if you have oily skin, this will work so well for you since it won't add to your oily skin at all.

I hope this wasn't too wordy or anything for you guys.

Do let me know if you have tried any of these products before...

Or better yet, let me know which moisturizer I should get for the upcoming cold season!

Not So Great Review

Even though I am pretty tan myself, at one point, I thought about trying out a sunless tanner. The story is that I had skin issues on my legs - it was pretty bad - so I had to use different topical creams to help heal my legs. As a result, my legs don't really have an even skin tone... and I wanted to kinda even it out. Plus, I didn't wear a lot of shorts/skirts/dress because well... my skin was healing. I didn't want the entire world to see them. Pretty sure this was a genetic thing (my mom said she had it when she was younger too) and triggered by major stress in my Junior year of high school.

So, let me just get to this product:


Jergens Natural Glow - Medium

It is a gradual tanner and it says that it will give you a tan within one week! Yes, so you would apply this as much as you want and the frequency of your application is proportional to the rate of your tan. WOW - that was a lot of science talk there... got that out of my system. So for me, I wanted quick results (ha ha, I can really impatient sometimes), I would apply this after the shower and before school. I would say this did give me a tan after a week of doing so and it wasn't a bad tan either.

I've seen tans that are ORANGE and thankfully this wasn't that bad. However, on my skin, I do detect a tint of orange... which I don't really appreciate. But it wasn't so noticeable for other people - it was only just me since I do observe my legs a lot during that time.

I mean, I think as far as a tanner go - this is pretty decent. I would definitely recommend this to you...

NOW - I stopped using it when I decided that I can't really even out my skin tone with this and thus, YES you guessed it, the gradual fading began! It's not that bad but it is kinda gross... sometimes. I do notice part of my legs would have PATCHES of the tanner fading. So it'll be my leg and then some parts will be lighter just because the tanner is being rubbed off....

So... BE CAREFUL with this!!! Although - disclaimer - this was my first time using a sunless tanner so I might've made some beginners mistake or something.

I use this now just as a moisturizer. I do detect a bit of shimmer (nothing crazy... but there are particles in here) in this so it is kinda nice to put this on if I do decide to show off my legs. I don't use this everyday but I have sorta been using it again and perhaps that might be why my legs are sorta tan. So I think I recommend using it really gradually - not twice a day like me... and you'll have a really nice and natural look.

** Oh and my legs have gotten a lot better. It still has scars and discoloration but after my ordeal, I don't really care. As long as they are healthy I am happy. And I have gained back my confidence in showing my legs in public again. I mean, I went to Hawaii for goodness sakes! I had to wear a bathing suit.

Now, here is the really really really weird thing about this lotion. THE SMELL - okay here's the story:

So I'd put this on every night before I go to bed for a few weeks during couple of summers ago. One night, I was too lazy to put it on and I got in bed and I thought... what am I missing??? Oh the lotion! I actually think the smell is really nice and comforting... a great smell before bed. WEIRD huh....

So yeah, I don't know if this was a good review or not. I would really recommend you to try this out if you are curious - not too bad $7-9. You do get results and I don't think they're horrible results either.

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Do you have any summer must-haves that you recommend for me??

Wipe it! Wipe it good.

I really want to do a review with this product because I bought it for my trip and I have been using it a lot to remove my make up.

A major PRO for this product is the ability to sit down at your computer or your TV or anywhere and removing your make up. Sometimes, I hate that I waste my time in the bathroom removing my make up - especially mascara and other hard to remove things. Like last night, I was watching TV and I just had this wipe and it was pretty awesome. I like that it isn't messy - you don't deal with liquids. I think it is pretty awesome for a trip if you are afraid of carrying your make up remover. It doesn't irritate my eyes which is nice.

As far as removing the make up - it takes a few swipes to get rid of mascara! I get annoyed that it doesn't get rid of it faster since it isn't a waterproof mascara. It leaves some sort of residue - not so bad that you'd be GROSSED OUT and you can probably wash it off (I do). I don't think the residue it leaves is that bad compared to the Clean and Clear Eye Make Up Remover stuff. Thing is, I wish I bought another type of make up wipers because this doesn't really clean the face. I wish that this could remove make up and all the dirt and oil on the skin. No, this only works on make up... and so I have to do the extra step of using a cleanser or something. That is kinda disappointing since I'm hoping this would just CLEAN my entire face!

Overall - I like the product... but I probably won't buy it again. I think I shall search for that make up wipe that eventually will clean my face for me too. This was a fairly inexpensive product - $7-$8. And you get 25 towelettes!

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Okay so I have been kinda suffering from some weird type of depression... I think it has to do w/ hormones and periods - PMS. But it is one of the reasons for my lack of updates just because I haven't felt interested in writing one at all lately. I don't think my symptoms are severe enough though that I should really be worried about it. I looked up some stuff online - don't worry it is MedlinePlus which is pretty accurate and it is what my PSIO class recommended us to use for our research - and the symptoms they put up are way worse than what I experience. Plus I don't think I feel so bad that I need to be prescribe depression medicine. So I'm sorry for the lack of activity on my part. I just haven't felt enough motivation I guess.

All the females out there, what do you think? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Yes, I would buy it again

When a make up review site asks if "I'd repurchase" a certain item - I always put YES if I really like it. Truth is, I probably won't because I'm always out searching for the next best thing. However, these are the things that I feel like it would definitely repurchase or have already repurchased multiple times.

1) DOVE Soap - My dermatologist have recommended this to me when I had a skin problem and I love it. Really keeps my body hydrated and I feel good using it. Some soap are just bad and it gets all gross looking (especially if you use a bar soap which I do b/c it is cheaper ;p) but DOVE doesn't. I've switched up the scent a bit but I do wish they'd make more scents - like coconut or mango scent or something. I've been getting into those fruity scents lately.

2) Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Cleanser - This stuff WORKS ON ME!! Guess what my mother said the other day to me: Wow, you're on your period and your face is still really clear. Must be all the healthy food I've been making you. And I shook my head and burst her bubble - no mom, it is the cheapo $6 cleanser that I bought from the drugstore (she doesn't believe in drugstore make up... she's always using Lancome and Shisiedo). So HAH! I made my sister use it and it works on her. I recommended it to our family friend's daughter and she says it's working. Read my review for more of my thoughts. I'm running out of this and YES I WILL REPURCHASE!

3) Burt Bee's Lip Balm - I got introduced to this because I ran out of my previous lip balm (Carmex) and my roommate decided to let me use hers and I was like... YES! I love this stuff! It doesn't feel 'runny' like other chapsticks do. It is firm and stays put! Love the minty taste (helps your bad breath sometimes too xD). It gives me great moisture and helps heals my lips. I also get that tingly feeling which makes me think it's working. I wish that it has SPF and that it would cost a little less. Other than that - I've repurchased this before and I'm thinking of doing it again. Maybe even the shimmer ones :) Oh yes - my wild side.

4) Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss - I find that it is kinda pointless for me to wear lip products during a school day or work or whatever because I don't really do touch ups and my lip stuff just disappears anyway. But when I do find the time to reapply my lip product, I'd always reach for this lip gloss. I added this on here because I just wanted an actual make up product that I love - and these are definitely my favorite lip glosses! My lips can be sensitive and if the product isn't right, it'll feel weird and I get a strange feeling on my lips. This doesn't do that at all nor is it goopy and thick. No, this is a great lip gloss! I love it. I know I'll repurchase and I'm already thinking of getting more colors :)

La la la... and skin care

What am I doing right now??? I'm drinking my homemade boba tea!! YES, I can make them at home now. Yay!

So, I want to talk about my old skin care routine that I had during the school year. I had change all of my stuff now that it is summer time but this is how I used to take care of my skin and it worked quite well for me.



So, I started using the Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser since November 08 to May of 09. Yes, I've squeezed the life out of that baby:


PROS:
- It is soft and creamy
- Doesn't dry out your skin
- Gets rid of eye make up (mostly eye shadows) pretty well
(Face make up, well I can't really tell)
- Great for sensitive areas like your eyes

CONS:
- It doesn't have the quality where you feel like it's gotten to your pores

Overall: 3/5
This is a nice and basic product. I read somewhere that you should wash your face every time before you go to bed. If you are looking for just a simple to thing to clean your face (you're not looking for acne or pore treatment) then this is a good product to use. During the winter, my pores are not noticeable and this works well for me then. However, I prefer my cleanser to feel like it is working and cleaning - not just basic soap so I give it a 3/5. Hope that made sense ;p

Now let's talk about the Neutrogena Acne Stress Control. I used this in from Feb 09 to now and I really like it. I don't know what happened but around December I started to get nasty break outs and some that wouldn't go away! I decided I need some help because letting my body fight against acne on its own wasn't working. SO, I bought this, hoping and wishing that it would work... I'll get to that later. Now, there is 2% Salicylic Acid in this so it's kinda like a medication. Also, the bottle talks about how this can cause more sun burn and stuff. Note that this is a cleanser - not the scrub. It comes in both. I chose the cleanser because I feel like scrubs is like a once a week thing but cleanser, you can use more. Being a medication, I always feel like it is necessary not to use the harsh stuff so often.

Anyways!::
PROS:
- Nice smell
- Helps keep my acne in control during stressful times and hormonal times
**When you feel a pimple or blemishes coming on, starting using it until symptoms go away
***Lather it on your face and leave it there for 2 minutes - soaks in the medicine

CONS:
- Dries out the face
- NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE ACNE PRONE
- NOT USE TO GET RID OF ACNE THAT ARE ALREADY THERE

OVERALL: 4/5
For me, it works GREAT! For my sister too actually. She started getting some blemishes and she used it and new ones have not come up and the old ones started to heal. Sadly, it doesn't work for everyone - at least it will not work if you have really bad acne and that's why I took a point off. Although the product does what it says - acne stress control. Yeah, it does help me. A lot :D!

Finally, I also use the Neutrogena Pore Refining Toner. My mom bought this a long time ago and I only use it now and then.

PROS:
- Has salicylic acid
- It cleans pores well - like I would use it w/ a cotton ball and look at it later and there's dirt all over that thing!

CONS:
- Doesn't really reduce pores
- Has alcohol in it so it really dries out the skin

OVERALL: 3/5
There's some good stuff about it but it isn't really necessary. It cleans pores but it doesn't help w/ acne, it doesn't help with oil/shine, it doesn't help w/ anything else. That is why I feel like there must be better toners out there. I use it sometimes, but I always forget.

Well, I hope this helps...
Thanks for reading, Toodles~