Tag: beauty

Product Review: Crystal Tomato

Hello there, beautifuls! 😍

Many of you might already know The Crystal Tomato – it’s heavily marketed to be a miracle beauty product somewhat… By promising some really awesome benefits for your precious skin. 😌

crystal tomato review, beauty, supplement, review
Image Source
  • Natural Sunscreen
    Absolute dream to have when you’re living in tropical Singapore with the unforgiving Sun. Whenever I head out during lunch hour, I can almost hear my skin cells crying in pain.
  • Brighten, Lighten and Whiten Complexion 
    Okay, one of my major wants in a beauty product.
  • Reduces Dark Acne Scars, Freckles, Dark Underarms and Age Spots
  • Antioxidant Effect and Anti-Inflammatory 

I read so many great reviews online about the product on how it practically changed their lives… So I figured, “Okay, must try.”

Even though it’s bloody costly – at about S$170-$190 for a month’s supply! 💸😱

Now Crystal Tomato isn’t readily available – it’s not one of those things you can just head down to a generic drug store and pop into your basket. No, this one needs you to head down to a specific list of authorised sellers.

And I even bought a 3-month supply – because that’s apparently how long it would take for the skin to rejuvenate and really show results!

I puked blood and went to pluck some grass to eat for dinner when I saw my credit card bill that month.

So anyway, yes I know you just want to know, “DID IT WORK??”

😬 We’re getting there.

First month – skin actually got darker! I figured it was part of the purging process?

Second month – skin was clearing up a tad… and the tone went back to my usual colour.

Third month – “Huh? Got difference meh?” was what a friend of mine said. I purposely wanted to meet her because she’s always the one friend who loves to comment on any changes aesthetic-wise.

If I lose weight, she will comment. If I gain weight, she will imply it’s time to cut back. If my skin looks bad, she’ll ask if I’m on my period. If my skin looks radiant, she will ask for my secret or if I’m pregnant.

Yes, THAT kind of friend.

And when I met her, I was almost expecting a, “WOW!! YOUR SKIN!!!” And then a background of fresh sakura leaves will fall around me as I radiate and giggle in delight. 😌 #mecrazy

But when she didn’t say anything for a couple of hours, I just had to ask her if she noticed anything different about my skin. And her reply was, as above, “Huh? Got difference meh?”

😩 😩 😩

To be honest, I didn’t notice any significant change myself and was almost envious of those girls who apparently experienced a whole galaxy of change!

Albeit there were some little benefits here and there – like how it’s an oral sunscreen. And I have 4 cats, so there are mornings when I wake up with a new scratch somewhere. I noticed they healed faster when I took Crystal Tomato. ✌🏻

However all this doesn’t warrant me parking aside about S$200 for it!!! 🙅🏻

Must say I was massively disappointed… I’ve tried other beauty supplements that were worlds cheaper and gave better and more obvious results.

So not topping up my stash of Crystal Tomatoes. My bank account won’t stand for it – my skin won’t vouch for it.

XOXO, G. 

September’s Quickie Review Collection!

Hello, beautiful world!

Lately I’ve started posting up on my Instagram these little Quick Reviews that are basically bite-sized beauty reviews of products that I’ve used/been using lately! ✌🏻

So here are the stuff I featured in September! ❤️

#1 Kiehl’s Clarity-Activating Toner

I crazy love this product!

It’s really quite amazing. I can vouch that my skin’s clarity was indeed activated with this toner, and it doesn’t feel dry too quickly.

Y’know there are some toners that start to feel a little tight about 5 seconds after you pat them onto your face? Well, this one isn’t one of them! Amazing. 👍🏻

Rating: 💋 💋 💋 💋 (out of 5 kisses)

Read up about the product on Kiehl’s site here.
Kiehl’s doesn’t have an online store in Singapore, but you can check out their list of outlets here!

#2 Milky Foot Intense Exfoliating Foot Pad

Usually I get Baby Foot, but it was sold out – so I bought this as an alternative! And now I’m so glad that Baby Foot was sold out; otherwise I wouldn’t have discovered this baby! 😬

It’s not only relatively cheaper, you only have to wear it for 60 minutes instead of 120 with Baby Foot. And the effects come on sooner as well! It has all the pros here!

Rating: 💋 💋 💋 💋 💋 (out of 5 kisses)

You can get it from Watson’s or Guardian!

#3 Time’s Up Facial Mask – When Pores Show Up

Bought these Time’s Up facial masks because they have adorable lines written on them. Like this one! “When Pores Show Up”.

Personally find this absolutely cute!! Hehehe. And the product itself isn’t too bad either!

One of the huge important factors of any facial mask is that the sheet quality has to be great – and this one has a good sheet quality! The serum is quite good as well. It’s quite thick & rich, so be sure to pat it down nicely after you’re done!

It’s quite okay in price too.

Overall it’s like every other good facial mask out in the market.

Don’t seem to find it readily available on online stores in Singapore… but got my stash from Watson’s! So if you’d like, you can try to check them out. But you’ll probably need to head down to the larger stores like in Takashimaya or Nex. 😉

Rating: 💋 💋 💋 (out of 5 kisses)

Hope you found these helpful and enjoyed them! 😘 Till next time!

XOXO, G. 💋

April Skin Magic Stone Facial Cleansers!

April Skin is probably one of the most popular Korean cosmetic brands around – at least in Singapore. 😉 They carry a super wide range of products which answer to pretty much all your beauty wants/needs!

And even though they don’t have a physical shop in Singapore, we Singaporeans are saved by the grace of April Skin’s own site, or other sites like Althea or Hermo. ❤️

Well, one of the products April Skin is most proud of is their
Magic Stone Facial Cleanser!

Images Credit: http://en.aprilskin.com/
Images Credit: http://en.aprilskin.com/

I’ve been using it for about 2-3 months now and I absolutely love it!!
*squeals!*

The only thing I don’t like is how I need to cater to its storage – because when you buy it, it just comes along with a cardboard box (like you see in the image) and you definitely cannot store your soap bar in there.

And because it’s for the face! Cannot anyhow just put it on a dish, OUT IN THE OPEN!!! 😱 😱 The atrocity!!

So I actually went out to get those soap casings for travelling. Me so smart. 😬 But the problem is, being a soap bar… It sticks onto the casing. Which gets really annoying and sometimes it’s just not-so-convenient to even get some lather going.

However, don’t just get a closed case alone! It was a mistake I did… 😞

Get those casings with a sponge. I tried it on other soap bars and it really works well! This way, the entire soap bar doesn’t stick onto the casing. And it holds your soap nicely together.

My personal favourite is the one from Muji!
Cannot seem to find it on the Singapore online store though – but bought mine at the ION branch retail store.

Image Credit: http://www.muji.eu/
Image Credit: http://www.muji.eu/

Love walking around Muji anyway – even without a designated purpose. I love just browsing and finding something I might need in future, or someone else might need… Or I like and can buy…

Okay, I digress.

*ahem*

Now here’s something SUPER IMPORTANT to note:

I highly recommend that you purchase both soap bars.

Why?
The black one is for the morning, the marble one is for the evening.

They work differently y’see. The morning one is like a great perk-me-up and is moisturising! While the marble one is very cleansing; especially useful when you sweat a lot or wear makeup.

If you don’t want to commit to 2 soap bars, you can go ahead with just the black one first. Just don’t go solely with the marble one! A lot of people don’t read the differences between the two – and the marble one is advertised; so this girl I know bought only the marble one and used it both day & night.

Her face very quickly started flaking and drying up!!! 😱 She swore against the Magic Stone Cleanser after. However she eventually realised it was her mistake – because the marble one has deep-cleansing properties which therefore make it quite drying.

So using it as your only cleanser is a strict no-no!

But some girls I know use just the black one – and it works fine. I personally use both, and am crazy in love with the combination!

My skin doesn’t feel pulled, my pores have shrunk (yay!) and overall my complexion seems to have improved as well.
😁✌🏻😁✌🏻😁✌🏻

Each one will cost you about S$20? Depending on which site you go to and whatever discounts there are. So I spent about S$35, I think, on the both of them…

And 2-3 months later, I’m just about halfway through. So it’s actually a really economical buy too!!

Remember – taking care of your skin is wayyyyy more important than covering up your flaws.

Because when you take good care of your skin, your flaws slowly fade away and eventually you might not need anymore covering up! Just maybe the basic sunblock. ☀️ And covering up only lasts you 12 hours tops – while skin well-taken care of lasts you a lifetime. 😉

Thanks for reading! 😘 Till next time!

XOXO,
G.

 

#AltheaTurns1 and you’re invited to the party!

Althea is this crazy amazing website that sells just about all your favourite Korean beauty products!

I’m in love with Althea because they bring whatever I want from Korea that isn’t available in Singapore – right to my doorstep! And it’s always nicely packed up in a stellar-looking box. 📦 😉

On top of that, the stuff you find on Althea are all super reasonably priced with free shipping! Most sites actually charge you (albeit minimal), but nothing beats FREE!!!

However if you ask me what is the ONE THING I love most about Althea, it would be that I can be 100% assured that I get the real deal.

I cannot begin to tell you how important this is to me. I wanted to try out this facial wash and bought it from another site, which sold it pretty cheap… And when I got it, I noticed some dodgy signs. Like the font and some minor details, which were already red flags! But I used the product anyway (idiot is me) and then suffered a minor breakout on my face.

So I went down the store in Singapore to do a comparison of the packaging and realised… I BOUGHT A FAKE!!! Honestly, if I bought a fake bag or whatever – I won’t be that upset. I can probably just demand a refund. But when it comes to stuff that you apply on your face… They won’t be able to ‘refund’ your face! Seriously cannot be too careful. 😫

Okay, I digressed.

But basically this is why I think Althea is simply awesome!

Aaaaaaand this sweet site just turned a full ONE-YEAR-OLD!
🎈🎈🎈

0716_BdayPromo_mainbanner_MY

And when Althea celebrates, boy do they celebrate. Tonnes of amazing promotions and discounts!!! It’s impossible to not want to shop right now.

0716_BdayPromo_fbContest_MY

Here are some of their super awesome birthday promotions:
(ends 31st July 2016)

#1 Get your purchases in their pretty Limited Edition Birthday Gift Box + DIY Party Kit
I find this pretty cool on its own, but it honestly pales in comparison to the rest!

#2 First 1,500 Shoppers get Free Goodies!
Okay luh… Not my favourite part yet. Because I always take my own sweet time picking out stuff, I’m never one of the first 1,500 or even 5,000 shoppers.

#3 Pick out 3 Bestsellers and get 100% Rebate!!!
This one is pretty good because that essentially makes your product free!!! The rebate will be credited to your account.

#4 Win prizes total worth up to KRW10,000,000 to be won with the #AltheaTurns1 Instagram Content!!!
(ends 15 August 2016)
Omgomgomg!!! Can win a tonne of awesome prizes like Macbook Air, Galaxy S6 Edge, iPhone 6S… but deep down in my vain heart (that is probably wearing April Skin BB cushion and 3CE blusher with Laneige lipstick), I wish for the iPad Air 2, Canon EOS M10 Selfie Camera or even Althea credits will be nice! 😁
Plusssss, 15 August is super near my own birthday. So I’m going to wish I get something! *fingers crossed*

Muahaha!

Okay – I need to stop gushing over a website. It’s a tad embarrassing. 😳

I’ll end this post with this Instagram post of mine!

Happy 1st Birthday, Althea! Keep being amazing ❤

XOXO, G. 

Liese Blaune Creamy Foam Color Review

I put it to the test – does it really cover the greys?

Many people already know – I have genetic pre-mature wisdom. AKA, I started growing white hair way too young. So I go for very regular hair dye appointments, but it can get quite troublesome sometimes to commit a couple of hours every month.

And I don’t really want to trouble anyone at home to manually do the colouring for me… 😔

So imagine my elation when I saw this advertisement!

The Liese bubble dye isn’t new in the market; I’ll admit they’re relatively easy to use and the colour comes out quite decently. But they don’t cover my whites at all.

So popped by my nearest Watsons and bought 2 boxes! (S$19.90 each)
I use 2 boxes because I have chest-length hair; 1 box is typically enough for shoulder-length hair.
And this range naturally comes in only darker shades! 🙂

Okay, so the real question everyone is asking here is… “Does it really cover the greys?”

Liese Blaune Creamy Foam Color Review

I didn’t take photos of my roots – but trust me, it was quite bad already. I was about 2 weeks late for my hair touchup, so my ‘wisdom’ was crazy obvious. 😩

Did the usual of mixing the provided formulas and rubbing the foam all over my crown!

Actually 1 box was quite sufficient for me this time, because the texture was a lot thicker than usual. I barely went through half of the 2nd box and my hair simply couldn’t hold anymore foam.

The stinging smell is still around, so make sure that wherever you use this has decent ventilation.

After 20 minutes, washed out the mountain of foam and…

I’m impressed!!!

My roots were very nicely covered! *claps* Which really intrigued me because when it’s a bubble dye, the colour tends to be more transparent and therefore ineffective at covering up whites/greys.

Liese Blaune Creamy Foam Color Review

My sole qualm was I didn’t get every part of my hair – which is no fault of the product. I’m just not too flexible I guess… Need to go back to yoga. Then I can reach anywhere!!! Muahaha.

Don’t know if you can see from this picture; there are some parts which are still a tinge of the golden brown I had previously.

Liese Blaune Creamy Foam Color Review

But still very happy with the product!

Liese Blaune Creamy Foam Color Review

So, does it really cover the greys?

Yup! It worked for me 🙂

I’m so glad that this product worked! I’ll still head to the salon now and then to get treatment done. Hair dying is super damaging and treatment is an absolutely must!

But this means that whenever I’m too busy or a little strapped for cash, I have this as a great alternative! 😍

Thank you, Kao!

Untitled1

XOXO, G. 

Product Review: Sephora Color Reveal Lip Balm

For the longest time I never knew how some girls pulled off their lipstick shades so flawlessly… Like, they just look gorgeous. Whilst most of the time I just look like I got bitten by a poisonous snake… *sobs!*

While doing my regular browsing in Sephora, I spotted this little one here.

In a super unassuming design, it looks like just about any other lip product. But what really caught my eye was when it said that it adjusts to your unique pH to give you a customised shade of pink!

I just looked at my friend and went, “Legit not?”

But I knew I was bagging it home anyway – simply had to try!

It’s basically lip balm (chapstick) with a light shade of pink to it.

So here are my photographed results!

So I was honestly quite skeptical about it… but pleasantly surprised! 😀

The shade is natural & healthy-looking. My lips still look dry.. but to be fair, they’ve been peeling like crazy during the haze. So this is already not bad. Heh. Plus I love how there’s no strong ‘balmy’ smell!

This baby is awesome for normal daywear and ladies, don’t ever underestimate how your lips look. With the right shade, your kissers can really change how your face looks. 😉

Crazy love this product. Thanks, Sephora! Muah! ❤

XOXO, G. 

3 Beauty Must-Haves for the Haze

This nasty haze is bad for quite a number of things… General health, country relations…

My lungs have so far lodged a few hundred complaints and threatened to quit a couple dozen times. My throat and eyes aren’t too happy about the situation either… :/

But the one organ that is evidently showing its unhappiness is the largest one of all – the skin. Thanks to this sickeningly horrible air, pimples sprouted out in areas unvisited since puberty.

And to make matters even dandier, my lips joined in the party as well. Drying up, bleeding…

So I decided, I needed to take action! My usual skincare routine is obviously not enough to combat this hazy period. I added these babies to my regime for about 2 weeks now and they’ve worked amazingly!

Good stuff – so, must share. 😉

#1 – La Roche-Posay, Thermal Spring Water

Price: S$39.90 

It can be a tad pricey – but it can last a pretty long time and really works wonders.

Here’s how I use this – after I’m done washing my face and cleaning it with a clean tissue, I will spray this product lightly over and gently tap. Then I start my usual moisturiser etc…

This helps to soothe any kind of irritation in the skin, especially good for sensitive-skin peeps!

It also acts as a first layer of moisturiser before your usual one. This gives you double moisturising without being too heavy, which is great! 😉

#2 – eos Lip Balm

Price: approx. S$12.90

Must be applied every few hours! I apply before I leave the house and after meals. 🙂

Y’see, the skin on your lips are really thin. So you need to be extra careful! And if the skin breaks and starts bleeding in this weather, it becomes super easy to get cold sore.

If anything at all, I don’t recommend too much lipstick at this time – unless your product is really moisturising. Moisture is IMPORTANT!

Of course, don’t forget to drink loads of water.

#3 – Sunplay Skin Aqua UV Watery Essence

Price: S$17.20

Yes, it’s a HUGE plus because it’s watery. The texture is light, easy to apply and adds on to the moisturising.

I really love how there’s no strong sunblock smell too! ❤

But the important thing here is the extra sunblock! Y’see, I already use BB Cream – which by itself has about SPF 30++. And although that’s enough on a normal day, it’s not enough in this weather.

You might say there’s no real Sun… Too much haze! The Sun is perpetually blocked.

True. But that doesn’t mean that the UV rays aren’t around.

During this time, I totally recommend double sunblock! It’s super important to prevent any pigmentation or premature aging signs from emerging.

It’s getting mighty bad out there! 😦 And they say it’ll last till November.

Gawd.

Take care of yourselves, everyone! Drink up lotssss of water!

XOXO, G.