Revlon ColorStay

Image taken from amazon.com

I've been wearing lipstick lately. Although I'm not a fan of wearing it I thought maybe it won't hurt to try something new, and so I did. So for first-timers like me I tried this Revlon ColorStay lipstick. I have the Soft Cinnamon. It's like brownish-red in color. It's fine but I realized it's not my favorite hue. Anyway, I was supposedly looking for a shade of red, something that's like red in a darker tone, maybe something close to maroon I think but I couldn't find it in their colors. In the end I was left with no choice but to buy the color that is somewhat forgivable, plus since it says that it is long-lasting. But long-lasting is it, no. I was disappointed that its color doesn't stay all day when you eat food... yeah, so far whenever I finish eating and see my lips the color faded away. Most of the color that's left can only be seen around my lip line. It's like I have shaped my lips through a lip-liner, that's what it's like.  But you know what, when I read its reviews online one example is from this site, amazon.com I don't get why it has lots of good feedbacks. I thought it's weird, or is it me? So far that's my only problem about it but it's big deal right? cuz you wanna have the day away from embarrassment when you meet or mingle with people and realize that your lipstick isn't intact anymore. I just don't like that kind of trouble that's all.

Acne/pimple whatever!

Hi Maech! You see, I'm kinda hesitant to make this as I am not a pro in curing acne myself. I still frequently get pimples or acne especially whenever I'm stressed out or before I have my period. But I say I have a better way to treat them now than before and hopefully it may help you even a little bit with your problem.

Whenever I have some breakouts on my skin what I usually do is pop them. Yeah it's a bad thing, I know. I just try to remove the pus to stop the abscess from stinging, swelling and reddening. I don't scrape it with my fingernails or anything cause it's more prone to scarring than my other alternative. In my way what I do is I sandwich the abscess with my point fingers and push them to the center where the abscess was until the pus comes out and let some blood flow until the bump subsides. There are times it's very painful to do that it can even put you in tears but I don't stop in the middle of the process regardless cuz I bet if you do then you'll irritate more the pimple and will cause you big-time troubles ahead. So if you intend to do the same you have to be prepared. In the end if you put away the pus from the abscess you'll feel much better cuz the stinging, swelling and reddening will be gone. But note that it will not guarantee you that it will make you pimple-free, in fact if you didn't disinfect or make urgent treatment to the pimple you forcefully touched then the bacteria will only spread. To keep that from occurring what I do is I put isopropyl alcohol or mild cleanser to the affected area right away. Next I put Benzoyl cream. I don't just put the cream on the pimple that I pricked, I actually put it all over my face. And of course I don't let myself forget to drink an antibacterial capsule for acne cuz it will help you obviously fight the bacteria from spreading. In other words, it hinders the pimples from multiplying on your skin. Now I suggest that you don't wash it with water cuz it'll make the pimple darker after you just popped it. It happened to me, and it's ugly. It's alright to finally wash it with water after awhile, maybe after the popped pimple finally looked dry. And that's it. You just have to continue using mild cleanser, if possible choose a pimple fighting cleanser, and benzoyl, and the antibacterial capsule. Do them until your pimples are gone or you lose its severity that you think you finally have to pause for now until they breakout again, or if they have already served its purpose.

There are still times where you get dark spots from your previous acne, and I think it's harder to treat than when it scarred. Like even now I still have those dark spots although it's not as dark as way back. There are skin products that promise to even your skin tone and remove dark spots but most them would do no good. But when it comes to that I just exfoliate two times a week. Exfoliating not only removes dead skin cells, it can also brighten your skin especially if you pick the one that has whitening ingredient like Peeling Day (White Jewel) from The Faceshop and the one I'm using right now is a L'Occitane brand. When you exfoliate, the dark spots will gradually lighten up and if you get scarred from acne it may also aid in smoothing the scar to kinda conceal those so-called, "potholes" on your face. You may also like to put a whitening moisturizer to remove those dark spots, as for me, I stopped trying and only use an emulsion with ginseng such as the one from Missha. On the other hand, another option in treating those potholes is to use scar removal gel or cream. I use Contractubex gel, it worked but not absolutely. There are also other brands you may wanna try for yourself. Another is the use of collagen products. Any products that has collagen in it will do for that ingredient says that it rejuvenates the skin. Not only it's use to fight wrinkles but also plumps the skin which is also good for treating scars, or might just work as an aid I'm not sure though. Actually the collagen thing I said where some information I read from all types of sources. I haven't tried using collagenic products yet since I have tons of facial products at hand, maybe soon after I empty one or two of them. Ah! I have a reminder that never ever exfoliate with a broken skin, you'll just make your case worse. If possible if you feel like exfoliating yourself and you think you're still prone to pimples I think you should ready your antibacterial capsule just in case you need immediate treatment.

Now if you're the type who wants to make your skin be back to how it was when you haven't encountered acne before then you should see a Dermatologist for fast treatment.

By the way, the measures I use to treat my pimples were applicable to me and can't guarantee you have the same effect. But from my Dermatologist's prescription she told me to use Benzoyl, antibacterial medicine for acne (Tetralysal), sunscreen, and skin care products that is hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic. She in fact suggested brands such as Neutrogena and VMV Hypoallegenics to name a few. I haven't tried the latter cuz their products are expensive, but the previous is alright so I went for that brand instead. My favorite and tested Neutrogena product is their Deep Clean Foaming Cleanser. I haven't used it for awhile but it's really something.

There. Good luck! : )

Vanillary @ Lush

Took so long to make an entry about my new love--- scent. These days I have to say that I'm addicted to one of Lush's solid perfumes that is Vanillary. The smell of vanilla and caramel were so right for me, and it's what I'm looking for in a scent that I believe is appropriate for my age. I read that the scent of vanilla--- I'm not sure about caramel--- has a sexy appeal to guys. Not that I intend to seduce or flirt with them, but for me it would at least may signal that I'm passed the in-between stage of maturity. I wanna feel like I'm a lady and be treated as is, I should be at my age now, yes.  It's not that I forced myself to love vanilla cuz of their appeal to opposite sex it's actually easy to fall in love with it. With the combination of caramel, the perfume smells so sweet like you wanna lick it or taste it. No kidding. If it's only a candy or any sweet food  I would have devoured it into my mouth right on the spot. Unfortunately, it's inedible and I don't have plans in killing myself so I gotta be aware that it's not food. Actually as a girl, and whenever I smell the perfume it's almost always that I wanna stick my nose to the skin where the scent was concentrated. You wanna smell it like crazy cuz it's sweet like you have your sweet-tooth activated again. Girls, if ever you got curious about this solid perfume and eventually went nuts about the scent as well,  I suggest that you put some behind your ears and nape so the scent will linger almost every minute of the day, and especially when the wind blows it's as if the smell would spread around where you are and people will have a second look at you with smiles on their faces. The back of my ears and nape are my fave places too cuz it has lots of purpose, the two things I've already mentioned. Another is that the smell of the perfume sticks to your hair so your shafts would somewhat smell the same, it's better cuz it supplements your early morning shower when you put shampoo and conditioner for the whole day. In fact I could usually smell it even the next morning so waking up or taking a bath later makes me not think much of stinking. Lastly, since the back of the ears and nape are close to your cheek and shoulder therefore when people kiss you or embrace you the other person will get an immediate impression to its scent. I very much like that part the most to say the least. But of course, girls have their own places on their body which they prefer their perfume to apply so definitely they have the freedom to do so. But don't forget the pulse areas of the body, just saying.

Image from www.punmiris.com

The perfume I have I bought in Lush Glorietta.  It costs over P500, and the tube in size is not even half in height of a standard pen. It's small in other words. You may have a second thought on buying it thinking if it's worth its price. But, as for me, despite deliberating it in my head I came to purchase the perfume for myself since I must be already under its spell. So far, I never regretted buying it. I might get another one when I have it empty.

Gave me a break

Summer Palace, Beijing, China

It's just today that I got to update my blog especially about the recent vacation I had with my mom in China, specifically, in Macau and Beijing. If you ask me how was it, I'll tell you that it was the most stressful journey I've experienced in my life. Truly, language barrier gave us a bit of hell especially when we were in Beijing. I never wished to be Chinese but when we were there I wished that I knew their language before I sat foot in their land. Lots of them even in the city don't know English, as well as the staffs from our checked-in hotel hardly speak the universal language we know best. It was tough almost everyday as communication is vital to our lives. It was such an effort to let them know what we wanna say. But no matter how difficult it was in speaking to them, I could say that, still, we managed to have a good time by going to the itineraries as planned. Not everything on my list we had a chance to see, but what we saw were enough to let China have a mark in our memories. It was a beautiful and interesting country to see. With that being said, I have the urge to go back there again as I haven't had enough of exploring what that country can offer. I mean, this is actually the first time I complemented a country this much, so believe what I said was true. Going there is highly recommendable for everyone--- but don't forget to learn a little bit of Mandarin for your convenience.

St. Paul Ruins, Macau, SAR China

And how can I not mention about Macau. Of course, it's a place to be for shopping and casino... shoot! that's cliche already. Well, I haven't been in Hong Kong but I believe that going there and in Macau look almost the same. You can even go back and forth to those countries if you please--- for there are available ferries to take you there. Although we lack of time to experience the latter I have known of that privileged and thought of sharing it with you. Anyway, there was also difficulty in communicating with the local people but it was incomparable when we were in Beijing. I think it shouldn't be a surprise since there are hotels and casinos everywhere so it's expected that staffs are able to speak English. It was to our advantage. Because of the people there are able to speak English and Macau is a small city we had gone to all the tourist spots of our priority. But I should say that our mode of transportation was pretty much not budget-friendly for we only used Taxis to go around the city--- in Beijing too--- and it was costly. I say if you have enough pocket money to pay cabs in a country where people and the road signs are all alien to you then it's somewhat an acceptable option than let yourself go nuts in talking to people you can't properly speak with and read maps that's painful to understand. It was the soft option we know to lessen the burden and be able to enjoy the trip. In the end, our stay can still be considered worthwhile.