[Monthly Project] #10 My Evening Cleansing Routine

Monthly Project (July 2017)

#10 My Evening Cleansing Routine

Good evening peeps! This is a round of "Get unready with me"!

A quick glance on what you can expect from today's project:

• How to remove makeup fast and effectively;
• Products I usually use to remove makeup.

Having said that, I wish to pull your attention to my first ever makeup-related video posted on YouTube, which I will link it down below, at the end of this post. :p

Let's get started! ;)

① Remove eye makeup

First of all, I always start by removing eye makeup using Banila Co.'s it fresh lip & eye remover. This is by far my favourite eye remover! Super effective and gentle on the eye areas. It removes all gel-type eyeliner, waterproof mascara, eyeshadow and etc. just in one step.

All you need is just get some of the formula on the cotton pad and lightly press on the eyelids for about 5~10 seconds... and it is all gone (you will be surpise)! ;)

② Remove face makeup

Here I am using POINT's Green Tea Pure Cleansing Cream. As you might already know, although cleansing cream has rather strong makeup removing power, it is slightly on the oily side. Hence, I don't use it on a daily basis. Nevertheless, it is my go-to makeup removing product whenever I am with full or heavy makeup, never fail.

Take adequate amount of cleansing cream and apply it all over on face (as below).

Rub and massage in circular motion until you felt like the cleansing cream has melted all your makeup. That would take about good 1~2 minutes.

Wipe off the cleansing cream with face tissue. You should see all the makeup coming off on the tissue paper. It is soooo satisfying to see the makeup coming off nicely. :)

③ Cleanse using cleansing tissue or cleansing water (optional)

As my subtitle reads, this step is totally optional. Say if you're in a situation where you don't have water to rinse your face or even if you're feeling a bit lazy today, here's the substitutes to get rid of the oiliness sensation from cleansing cream.

The quickest way I would suggest is to cleanse using cleansing tissue/wipe or cleansing water.

I am using Bioré's Makeup Cleansing Tissue (travel size). I love to carry this cleansing tissue whenever I go for travel. Be it on itself, it has above average makeup removing power, yet gentle, leaving the skin smooth, clean and fresh.

Meanwhile, the purpose why I am including this step here is to show that there are basically nothing left (no makeup residue) on my face after the previous step.

④ Cleanse using face wash

Well, of course, the proper way to end this evening cleansing routine would be to cleanse your face using proper face wash product.

I believe we do enjoy washing with lots of bubbles. However, it is important to choose a face wash product that doesn't dry out your face or leave your face squeaky clean (you know what I mean).

Here I am using Snow Fairy's Black Pearl Cleansing Mask. Without much effort, the formula will quickly turns into fine bubbles once it is exposed to the air and touches the skin. Rub and massage until the bubbles subsided. You should feel the stickiness at this point. Then proceed to rinse it off with water.


...And that's it! :D


Tired of words? Do check out my video below on the same topic! ;)

Any thoughts? Be sure to leave a comment below and let me know.

Good night, peeps! ^_^

[Review] ISKIN - Moisture Defense

Hello everyone! :)

Weather is getting hot these days. While keeping your body hydrated, don't forget your skin need extra moisture too! If not, your skin might secrete oil/sebum which would leads to more skin complications afterwards.

ISKIN's Moisture Defense | 30g / 1 fl. oz.

Malaysia's weather mostly is hot and humid. As my skin type is normal to oily, I would usually choose those liquid or watery-cream type moisturizers, which are easily to absorb.

I'm in love which this product design on the very first sight. It looks absolutely elegant and classy. 

To use, press the nozzle on the top.

This moisturizer is transparent liquid type; it contains 99% Hyaluronic Acid and Pro Vitamin B.

I like the light-weight formula which can be easily fully absorbed and replenish moisture effectively. All you have to do is, to apply it all over face and neck areas. Reapply on those dehydrated areas until you feel it is moistly plump.

Particularly, Hyaluronic Acid is better known to have stunning capacity to attract and hold vast amounts of moisture; to be accurate, it can hold moisture up to 1000 times of its weight (wow!).

Watch the Liah Yoo's video below on "The Truth of Hyaluronic Acid" if you would like to learn more about Hyaluronic Acid. :)

The ingredient is rather simple and clear cut for this product: Purified water, Phenoxyethanol, Panthenol and Hyaluronic Acid.

The batch number and expiry date are printed on the bottom (as below).

I got this product from ISKIN Aesthetic Centre for RM318.

Friends from abroad, don't worry; this product is available on OnlineBeauty2U for USD66.

Moisture Defense is one of my favourite products from ISKIN. I think it did a good job in supplying and locking moisture in the skin; it happens almost instantly! Considering my income and all, frankly speaking, I thought it is a bit over my spending power. But anyway, it's really up to you. :D

*******************************************************************************

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommend: Yes, it is gentle on the skin and the effect is almost instant.

Repurchase: Maybe, because I wish to continue trying out other products available in the market.

For your reference.

*******************************************************************************

Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review or share yours experience with me in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^

[Manila] 5D4N Getaway to Manila! 马尼拉首旅 Day 1.2 Lotus Garden Hotel●Robinsons Place Manila●Lugang Cafe

5D4N Getaway to Manila! 马尼拉首旅

June 24, 2017 (Saturday)

Lotus Garden Hotel, check-in.

- Address : 1227 A Mabini, Ermita, Manila, 1000 Metro Manila, Philippines.


We arrived the hotel which we gonna stay for the next 4 nights. It is 8:30AM in the morning. Fairly early to check-in. Fortunately, the receptionist was kind to allow us to check-in early without extra charges. Yippie-yay!

The hotel was in the middle of reconstruction work. Here's a photo I got from the internet. To give you an idea how it looks like before.

The interior of the room looks exactly as we saw from the photos on internet. A bit old, yet clean and cozy.

As expected from a sleepless night, all of us went on to bed to catch some sleep. (blackout---)

Robinsons Place Manila (shopping mall), lunch

- Address : Pedro Gil St, Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines.
- Operating hours : 10AM–10PM

We didn't know then it will be a place which we will be visiting for the rest of our stay here (spoiler).

It is the nearest shopping mall from where we stay, Lotus Garden Hotel. It's about 5 minutes walk down the street.

One thing which we thought interesting was, you must let the security guards to check your bag(s) before entering the mall. This applies to all shopping malls, everywhere!

All you gotta do is just open your bag and let them examine. The whole process is rather quick, but still, a culture shock for us.

The mall is rather spacious and clean. Looks new though it might looks old from the outside.

First stop, Lugang Cafe (鹿港小镇). It is known for Taiwanese food.

We haven't heard of it. Let's give it a try ^^

Its interior design looks more like Hong Kong style to me though :D Bright and modern.

Food alert!!! :p

Steamed Pork Buns 小笼包 | P248

Spicy Beef Noodle Soup 红烧牛肉面 | P290

Stewed Pork Set 东坡肉一人份套餐 | P320

Pineapple Fried Rice 凤梨炒饭 | P290

Mango Smoothie 芒果雪花冰 | P200

The environment and service was good. Food was delicious. Love Chinese-style cooking. Price slightly on the higher side.

I saw people do order their Signature Bubble Milk Tea. Didn't try that one. If you did, let me know in the comment box below how it tastes :)


-stay tuned for more!-

[Manila] 5D4N Getaway to Manila! 马尼拉首旅 Day 1.1 Prelude●Arrival at NAIA

5D4N Getaway to Manila! 马尼拉首旅

June 23, 2017 (Friday late night)

It is 10.30pm. We are waiting impatiently for our ride to arrive. Not that our ride is late, but it is us who are a little too excited(?) and anxious about this upcoming trip.

We pre-booked our GrabTaxi ride to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), and the driver arrived promptly. It's about 20~25 minutes ride from our home to the airport.

Actually our flight departs at 2.15AM (the next day), but we wanted to arrive the airport early to avoid hassle. In fact, we arrived too early, so we had McDonald's while waiting for boarding. Basically that's it for the night.

Prelude

The reason we chose Manila as our family trip destination is because (1) it is near to Sabah (where we staying), (2) it is a country which we haven't been before. Plus, my mum recommended so since she has been there years ago.

We went during the Hari Raya festive season this year. So it is a short getaway.

Most of the times, we spent time visiting restaurants, food stalls and shopping malls. Probably to some you might feel not that exciting. It's okay, I understand :)

Hope you guys will enjoy the pictures taken from this trip and have fun reading! Follow me~ ^_^

June 24, 2017 (Saturday)

Departure

This time, something different, we are flying with Philippine low-cost airline - Cebu Pacific (a.k.a. Cebu Pacific Air), and it is our very first experience with it. It is to depart on 2:15AM, and the flight should take 2 hours to arrive Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

The very first thing I noticed is their seats; they are less-cushion than other airlines, for instance, AirAsia. The plane interior is clean and well-maintained, but just looks a little bit old.

The plane took off promptly.





Side track a bit. When we booked our flight tickets, we booked it with check-in luggage and in-flight meals. Funny thing is, it didn't cross our mind that having meals in the middle of the night, about 3AM, is something ridiculous. And yeah, so we had our "supper" and ended up couldn't catch much sleep on the plane.

Our plane arrived SUPER early, about half an hour before estimated time of arrival (ETA). Having said that, you might think "oh yeah, people usually got delayed by flight, but you guys arrived pretty on-time".

Noooo, that's not the case. We did arrived early, but the plane couldn't get a "parking" because of that. So we all caught inside the plane for the next dreadful 30~40 minutes (can you imagine?)

When we finally got off from the plane, there is a long hallway to go in order to reach the immigration counter. About a good 5 minutes walk, at least.

The time is 4:29AM in the morning. And I'm so sleepy zzzzzzzz

Once we came out from the international arrival hall, we headed to the telecommunication service counter to purchase data SIM. As far as I know, there are 2 major telecommunication service provider here in Philippines - Smart and Globe.

Since there was a long queue in front of Globe's counter, we chose Smart instead. They provide free prepaid SIM card (with no extra charge). Then we need to purchase prepaid value top-up/reload in order to use the service.

In fact, if you're planning to travel to Philippines, you could book your free tourist SIM ahead. For more info, check out the link here.

The local staffs weren't all fluent in English. So it's a bit hard to communicate and understand each other. What we did was, we reloaded P500, which is recommended for 7-day length of stay. This includes all day LTE surfing for 7 days up to 800MB per day at normal speed.

When all is set, we book our ride to hotel via Grab Car. The fare is P270. We thought it is fairly cheap and convenient using this APP, rather than getting an airport taxi.

-stay tuned for more!-

[Review] Benton - Aloe BHA Skin Toner

Hello everyone! :)

To be very honest with you, I have totally no idea of the brand Benton before this. Very much inspired (in many ways) by Liah Yoo, Youtube Beauty Creator, I have then decided to try on one of her skincare favourites. (showing love to Liah!! ...and most likely she won't read this anyway haha)

Benton's Aloe BHA Skin Toner | 200ml

Suitable for all skin types, Benton's Aloe BHA Skin Toner uses aloe barbadensis leaf water instead of plain H20 (water). Besides that, it contains Beta-Glucan (an anti-inflammatory and promotes collagen production), Snail Secretion Filtrate (helps in reducing acne scarring and even out overall skin tone) and Betaine (protects against cellular dehydration).

The highlight of the highlights? It contains active ingredient Salicylic Acid (0.5%) which is a beta hydroxy acid (BHA) that is often used as an acne treatment. Being said that 0.5% is the highest percentage of BHA which is allowed in Korea Cosmetic Industry, Benton has naturally gained the public's affection.

In fact, a few months earlier I suffered from some kind of skin infection which caused quite some little red patches on my face, mainly on the cheeks (as below).

I noticed after using Benton's Aloe BHA Skin Toner and Snail Bee High Content Essence, my skin condition improved and much more stabilized/under-control. Don't get me wrong. I still have acne breakouts occasionally.

The packaging is simple and clean. I like the dark green background with white fonts. Previously, they used spray nozzle (but customers didn't like it); hence, their updated packaging comes with push-nozzle (as above).

Let's take a moment to understand the brand a little bit more.

From Benton official website, the brand's name and vision is actually inspired by the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". The story was about an old man who starts aging backwards and ultimately dies as a new born baby. During the mist of the bizarre consequences, he has no choice but to leave Daisy, his love interest. The turning point for the brand Benton is, what if Daisy could have also turned the time back on her physical appearance, would she be happier? Would they be happier?

Wow. Amazing brand story.

Check out Liah Yoo's Korean Skincare Secrets : LAYERING TONER 7 TIMES?! 🌊 The 7 Skin Method Explained where featuring Benton's Snail Bee High Content Skin.

Guess what I'm going to do next???

YASSSS how about experimenting the new Korean skincare trend? LAYERING TONER FOR 7 TIMES!!!!!!!

Liah uses Benton's Snail Bee High Content Skin in the video. And today, I'm going to demonstrate by using Aloe BHA Skin Toner.

Let's get started~ ^^

Give it a pump of 2~3 times. Apply it all over the face and neck area.

First layer should be quickly absorbed by the skin. Apply the second layer.

...And the third layer...

...And continue with the forth layer... The skin takes longer time to fully absorb by now...

...Honestly I'm getting a bit annoyed at this point already... the fifth layer...

...This is taking ages... longer waiting time... the sixth layer...

At last, the seventh layer of toner. We made it!! \\(^0^)//

Before vs. After

Well not much of difference you can see from the appearance, but definitely my skin is soft and "chok-chok" (very moisture in Korean) after 7 times layering. It is really mind blowing to see my skin can actually absorb so much of "moisture". In other words, could it also imply that we might feed our skin so much less than it needs?

Other than applying skincare, we must also be reminded to drink more water to keep our body and skin hydrated (a serious reminder for myself too ><).

This product is available at Althea for RM74.

********************************************************************

Rating: 4/5

Recommend: Yes. Specially recommend if you suffer from acne trouble. It really helps.

Repurchase: Yes, if I couldn't find other similar alternatives with 0.5% or higher BHA content.

For your reference.

********************************************************************

Do lemme know your thoughts about this product review or share yours experience with me in the comment box below.

Cheers!^^