Homemade Skincare Series: Bear's Toenail

Dear Mr Bear, if you don't mind me asking,
Could you scratch my paw, it's itching.

So I thought I saved my document...

Turned out I didn't.

So as you can see...

I need to rewrite the whole thing...

This will be a fairly short review...

Unless I decided to blabber or something...

Which is probably not going to happen.

Also, I've just installed Windows 7 on my laptop.

And I haven't got the chance of installing every applications yet.

Thus the unusual style of post and watermark.

Oh well.


(I lost the original file lol)

BEAR'S TOENAIL.

This is quite a rare item to acquire. I don't encourage bear hunting but this was given to me by my aunt, who seems to have a knack of having some of the weirdest items ever, but anyhow, she gave me this because she knows that I have a severe case of itchiness.

Just scratch yourself with this large nail and your spot won't feel as itchy again!

Wow.

Truthfully, I didn't know the logic behind such a tool, but truly, when I finished rubbing myself (or rather, scratch) with this nail, my itchiness decrease-it felt as if those bacteria were wiped off my skin.

Perhaps that's it! The nail stripped those bacteria off the skin, causing the skin to no longer squeal in distress.

Furthermore, it is harmless to scratch your skin with this item since it didn't tear your skin off, neither does it contribute to infections. It is perfectly gentle.

So I say...

Bear's nail, you are my life savior from the constant attack of itchiness.

Thank you.

(I just feel like blogging that's all)

Homemade Skincare Series: Rice Water

Rice, oh rice, how I adore you so,
Such bland taste, too hard to ignore,
Lingered forever, from my nose to my tongue,
Oh what would I do, if impossible to have some.

History claimed that Egyptians bathed in milk, while apparently ancient Chinese bathed in rice water…

Both tasted quite nice, which do you prefer?

I love me some rice water since it has a thin texture and doesn’t have the harsh milky taste…which is obvious because rice water didn’t have any milk in it thus wiped the possibility of having any milk taste whatsoever.

Anyhow.

Rice water has been used for generations in the Chinese community; even now they still use it to wash their faces from dirt and grime. The much rated SK-II even claimed to use the mighty pitera—which could be found in rice—in their products, although some has the suspicion that they didn’t actually include pitera in it, but actually sperm—

I don’t really know. After all, I don’t have any solid basis to back up my claim.

Rice water is supposed to lighten your complexion and control your oil production. The logic behind those claims is that rice water has detoxifying properties, which ultimately rejuvenate your face, creating a youthful and fresh complexion. So when they claimed to ‘lighten’, in my opinion, it wasn’t lightening your skin pigmentation per se, but more towards cleansing the toxin out of your pores, leaving brighter and healthier complexion from inside and out.

The drawback—or plus point, depending on your preference—of the rice water is that it would thoroughly mattify your face. Sounds great for oily skin, but really…I highly, highly do not recommend people with dry skin from using this, unless you have a heavy-duty moisturizer on your side, but then, it is best to not take the risk. Drying is an understatement; you’ll experience flakiness if you’re unlucky, and if you only have a thin moisturizer to replenish your skin’s moisture, then your skin would definitely wails and writhes in pain.

Take note rice water is a great detoxifier. I actually drank it for health purpose, so if your body has extreme toxin level, big chance your body can’t handle the tension created by those combating aliens, which results in various complications, and it will drag on until the good side wins, trumping the bad side with its superiority, which who knows when, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe someday. Someday. SOMEDAY.

And so you should know that when you put a substance as potent as that on your face, your skin is bound to absorb it better and probably fight with the aliens as well. And if you are supremely unlucky, the aliens will fight each other and treat your skin as their battlefield, possibly creating disaster and marks all over your face, until the war is over and you’re left with multiple scars but hey—at least someone has finally gained victory.

YEAH NONSENSICAL JAJAJAJAJA

So…Is it as good as it sounds?

1. Does it lighten your skin?
I honestly couldn’t see any lightening effect.

2. Does it even your skintone?
Best bet, no.

3. Does it brighten your skin?
Neither do I see any skin brightening.

4. Does it treat your acne?
It battles them! And it ain’t pretty.

5. Does it prevent acne?
It battles them! So yeah.

6. Does it lighten scars?
*shrugs*

7. Does it shrink pores?
Nay.

8. Does it help in unclogging pores?
Can’t say. I didn’t really notice.

9. Does it help in smoothing skin texture from bumps and other skin ailments?
Not really. I’m being positively vague.

10. Will your skin regain its horrible condition if you stop using this?
No. Your skin would just battle the rest of the residue.

11. Can you use this in exchange of other products?
Oil-control thingy, perhaps.

12. Have you found anything like this in the market?
Blotting paper? But even that is temporary. THIS IS PERMANENT YIKES. (if you don’t moisturize properly with heavy duty cream, of course)

13. DOES IT CONTROL OIL?
HELL YES.

Would I recommend this?

For people with deep patience who didn’t mind waiting until the battle is over then yes, go for it. Beware, the after-party is not pretty to look at, but hey, at least it is over.

For people with normal complexions who just want to brighten and control the oils on their faces—sure, I expect it won’t be as lethal. Many raves about it, so perhaps different skins react differently.

For others—maybe not.

I’m giving this a…2 out of 5.

Homemade Skincare Series: Base Makeup Removal!

I’ve had my share of talking.

Let’s get on with the experiment!

On my hand are…



I purposely applied different shades of foundation on my hand so that it would stand out against my skintone, however the powder foundation surprisingly looks like a perfect match for me in this photo, but in real life, it is a tad darker.

KATE powder foundation in OC-D (sheer coverage...kind of)

Just like any other powder products, their longevity couldn’t be compared to liquid or cream, because those stick to your skin while this one just sat on top. I think.

Surely, dust wouldn’t stain your feet compared to mud…right?

KATE liquid foundation in OC-C (sheer to medium)

Once upon a time, I asked my boss, “Why can’t I use liquid foundation instead?”

My boss narrowed her eyes at me. “And why can’t you?”

Sweating, I answered, “Because it is not as long-lasting as cream type?”

She smiled smugly. “Any more questions?”

Liquid foundation looks more natural than Kryolan’s stick foundation, that’s for sure.

Kryolan Stick Foundation in 6W (high coverage)

My father once asked me, “Two hours of makeup? Just what did you do?”

So I answered, “An hour for complexion, another hour for cheeks, eyes and lips.”

I doubt he understands, but whatever. The only concern in his mind is that how on earth would those brides pray with those ‘things’ on their faces. I don’t know about the brides, but if you’re talking about models (I did my fair share of grooming models as well) then they…didn’t.

Yeah well who cares about some snobbish models. XD

No no I’m not talking about you. Just some models that I met.

Anyway.

In order to look natural in front of the camera, you couldn’t simply slather a one tone foundation on your face and call it a day (unless you want to look like a paper doll…and hey, if that’s your thing, then by all means go for it). Bear in mind Kryolan’s foundation acts like a concealer (that’s good because we need not worry about concealing + another hour) so it basically conceals everything.

But for the face to look presentable in pictures, shading is a requirement, and thus plenty shades of foundations were used to make those brides look…human I guess. In photos, of course. *cough*I mean natural*cough

So you could guess that a bride’s foundation is more potent than any of the rest.
It’s actually a concealer in disguise. *cough*

All are set with MAC Studio Fix powder with no primer underneath.

Experiment Number 1: Washing off base makeup with normal water (and some mild rubbing)



They didn’t even waver.

Experiment Number 2: Washing off base makeup with cleanser
(continuing with the same hand because…you would wash your face with water first before applying cleanser, right?)



My daily cleanser is Nivea Visage White Sparkling White Whitening Foam (I get it I get it white white white the whitening claim is absurd of course). Yes well, it is a nice cleanser, but I didn’t pick it up for the whitening properties. I used to use Nivea Deep Cleansing, but nowadays my skin isn’t as oily anymore, so the cleanser dried my skin a bit. So I used this cleanser, which is actually my mother’s. Yeah.

Apparently it can remove makeup as well.

Let’s see how legit that claim is.



Powder foundation wearers, do not fear, your deep cleansing cleanser could possibly do the job nicely. However, liquid foundation tried to hang on my skin by leaving residues while the cream one simply didn’t want to go away.

Experiment Number 3: Washing off base makeup with cleanser and microfiber cloth
(continuing with the same hand because…adding microfiber cloth is just adding more force in rubbing the stain away, so if the others could be easily removed by using your hands, what’s more by using this cloth?)



Liquid foundation is thoroughly gone! Good. Cream foundation staggers a bit, but not without leaving a hint of stain behind.

Ugh.

My hand looks as if it has pigmentation problem.

Experiment Number 4: Washing off base makeup with yogurt!
(freshly applied on the other hand just to prove my point)

Oh my trusty yogurt how could you go wrong—



FAIL.
You’ve betrayed me, my lovable yogurt. I am disappointed in you.

…at least you shaved off a bit of that powder foundation away.

Experiment Number 5: Washing off base makeup with EVOO!



Just a swipe with cotton pad and you’re gone~



Easy peasy!

Experiment Number 6: Washing off base makeup with grapeseed oil!



Just a swipe with cotton pad and I could see my skin again~



Poof!

DING DING DING! Do we have a winner?

*drumroll*

It’s a tie between EVOO and Grapeseed oil! Yay. :D

Those oils might not fare that well in removing eye makeup, but they are invincible in battling base makeup!

Putting oil on your face might sound risky, but vegetable oils in general have the same consistency as your natural skin oils, so it is perfectly fine; your face would absorb the goodness and it would not clog your pores. The same logic could be applied to oil cleansers.

Just like using an oil cleanser, double cleansing is favorable—double cleansing means cleansing your face with oil and then proceeded to cleanse again with normal cleanser—because while the oils could dissolve makeup, it couldn’t really remove those bacteria and dirt. Plus, you wouldn’t want an oil + makeup residues settling in your pores.

Depending on your preference, you could use EVOO if you like slightly thick liquid or Grapeseed oil if you like products with runny texture.

Either way, both are good for your skin, but I shall talk about it later in another post. I’m trying to be organized and not clattered everything at once. :D

…

This Sunday, I shall meet Nnashuhaa XD

Hohoho.

TATA.

Homemade Skincare Series: Base Makeup Removal PREVIEW!

One of the most common things in the world: misconceptions toward makeup wearers.

It seems as if time hasn’t changed much since my childhood years; people still have the presumption that made up women are ugly. They are not to be blamed however, because indeed, if you look at a before and after picture of a random celebrity, big chance you can see the huge differences between the natural look and made-up look. And so, I constantly heard on how makeup girls are phony, ugly, hypocrites, insecure, while natural girls are down to earth, beautiful—simply the best.

I can’t deny that some of the natural girls are definitely simply the best, but one can’t generalize and say the makeup women are not. I think the world’s perspective of beauty is laughable these days; they condemned people with makeup, yet belittled those who doesn’t match the world’s level of attractiveness. Yet when they try to at least do something in order to not being belittled, people mock them around and accused them of being a hypocrite. Seriously, how mature can you get?

Same thing could be said to those celebrities; if they decided to go on television with their natural faces, baring their acne scars, wrinkles from stress, under eye circles and eye bags from lack of sleep, could you survive an hour watching them without cringing? Yes, you may say you would, but somewhere deep, we all like to watch beautiful humans. Admit it. Pretty people sail their lives rather easily. Well, some of them, and yes, they do have their own problems, every human on this earth has their own trials, yet somehow it felt as if pretty people sail their lives rather easily.

If not, you would think that Susan Boyle might have been recruited early in her years and not in 2009. Maybe she didn’t put a lot of effort, maybe she didn’t have the luck, maybe I didn’t do much research on her to backup my claim, but really, if she were born as a pretty girl, she might have become a singer early in her life. Provided luck is on her side. Provided the recording bosses like her. Provided the audiences like her. But humans love pretty people! Even more for a person with undeniable talents! Plus point if she has the brains! But even then, if she didn’t have the talents or brains, we still find her bearable! Because she’s pretty! And humans love pretty people! Can’t forget that.

But by the time she basked in the stardom, she would be too busy to do mundane stuff. Starlets are busy, why would they bother adding something mediocre in their busy lives? Maybe they aren’t that ignorance, maybe they still care about their skin, but would it be enough to just care?
What would happen if we didn’t have enough sleep? Oh right, dark circles. What if we didn’t eat right? Yeah, zits. How about constant stressing and tension? Premature wrinkle maybe. Lack of liquid? Overall dehydration. Lack of skin caring? Skin goes wild.

I don’t expect celebrities—with their tight schedule—to indulge in spa treatment or spoil their skin all the time. That sounds like the schedule of a rich person who has no job. And no offense, I may say the wrong thing, but my point is, they could afford to spoil themselves, but 24 hours are not enough for us, what’s more for them? Even office ladies admit on slacking off once in a while due to their hectic work, you don’t think the celebrities won’t do the same, do you? Or maybe they have someone who washes their makeup off while they sleep. They could afford it nonetheless.

That being said, most of the makeup products are loaded with chemicals and whatnot, so if proper cleansing wasn’t executed, big chance the chemicals will make a pact with the grime in your pores on planning for massive destruction.

And so companies nowadays are bringing in various mineral makeups that are supposedly healthy, hoping that customer will have a second thought from generally generalizing that makeup as bad.

It’s full of minerals—it’s bound to be healthy right?!

Minerals alike, if you didn’t cleanse it well, it would troll your system. Surely you would experience some sort of a sore throat if you didn’t cleanse your throat after having some sort of a heavy meal? Yes you are not supposed to drink at least half an hour after finishing your meal, but the point is, wouldn’t your throat feel funny if you let it that way for say…overnight? Yes? No? I’m talking nonsense am I? Can you tell that my fingers somehow have a mind of their own? What’s up with the throat thing? Arr? :D

Anyway, the point of this long rant is…

YES! REMOVE YOUR MAKEUP PROPERLY!

Let’s get to that in the next post.

Huda’s Random Corner

YAY Nanchatte Renai is number two on Oricon!
YAY I don’t like the Seaside song much despite liking the three bands.

Oh well.

:D

Homemade Skincare Series: Eye Makeup Remover-EVOO vs Grapeseed Oil

Ever so often, I would hear my clients asking, “What should I use to wash this makeup off?”

I used to work as an ex-assistant of a makeup artist, and let me tell you that being an assistant doesn’t give me the freedom of speech. Or freedom of anything, really. What is freedom? Where is freedom? FREEDOM?!

I have since quitted the job, not because of my freedom’s sake—I don’t mind, really—but due to some unavoidable personal matters that I may or may not reveal in the future. Hehe.

And so, you could guess that I didn’t enhance one’s features much nowadays, thus my skills have gotten quite rusty. I am my own guinea pig, but eye makeup is not something I like to put on myself. XD

Back to the question, when someone asked me that, I would just blurt out, “Buy a makeup remover.”

But then my boss would glare at me and promptly cut me off, “Just use baby wipes.”

“Yeah,” I shrugged, dusting the client’s face. “Use baby wipes.”

Baby wipes, while defiantly effective in removing makeup (unfortunately, it fails against proofproof things) is considered bad for your skin. Apparently the PH level of your skin would deteriorate if you use it constantly, further causing in premature aging and extreme dehydration.

Nevertheless, if you only use it like, once a year, once in a lifetime, only on your memorial day, wedding day, then I guess it would be fine.

But more than often, simple baby wipes could not remove waterproof bride makeup—it could not remove waterproof mascara, how could it remove the one-inch-Kryolan-stick-foundation on their faces?

(Yes I am aware that those brides look awful with thick foundation. My boss taught me to use three foundations in order to make it look natural. Natural doesn’t equal less makeup. At least, natural in photography.)

That didn’t sit too well with me, thinking of the painstaking task my clients are going through during the cleansing phase. My job is to only prettify one’s face in order for it to look bearable in front of the camera, not to stay with the bride until the reception ends.

Uh…yeah. That’s exactly my job. Assistant, remember?

Apparently makeup artists (in my agency) did the talking while assistants (like me) did the work.

It was fun, though. At least I was only obliged to do the makeup and not other…things. Not good at other things. I still haven’t mastered the perfect bun. I coughed at the slight smell of hairspray. :D

Anyway, back to the main question…

What can you use to remove eye makeup, preferably one that is readily accessible in your household, preferably one that you could obtain easily, preferably one that you would use often, preferably one that you probably would have a use of if you didn’t use that often, preferably one that is not going to be left in the dust, forever forgotten until you decided to sell it off on ebay, providing you remember to sell it off on ebay before the expiration date?

So here ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…

THE OILS!

:D

I don’t have any eye makeup remover at home, but the one I often used at work was Lancome Bi-Facil. And while it is good, should you really be shelling out more money than you’re supposed to?

Well, let’s see then. :D

Take note: I will only review these oils as EYE MAKEUP REMOVER in this post. I will make a post later about removing base makeup and the benefits of eating/drinking/swallowing it. :D Maybe.

CONTENDER NUMBER 1: EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (EVOO)

There are a lot of selections to choose from; Greek-made, Italian-made, Spain-made…someone on the television claimed that the Italian one is the most nutritious, while my brother mentioned how the internet claimed otherwise, so my brother followed its advice and used the Greek one. He didn’t use the oil to wipe his makeup of course. He didn’t even wear sunscreen, much less to wear foundation. He uses it in his cooking. We use EVOO on a daily basis. In fact, we eat/drink/swallow EVOO. Yes. That’s the reason as to why EVOO is a staple in my house. We swallow it. Harhar.

Ehem.

EVOO has a thick texture, rich in flavor, strong smell, and extremely emollient.

I know this because I’ve swallowed it and smeared it on my face. I’m sure you’ve known by now how I play with food. :D

(A nearly empty bottle of EVOO)

First experiment: Removing stubborn makeup on hand!



On hand:
K-Palette 1 Day Tattoo Real Lasting 24 Hour Eyeliner (liquid liner)
Silkygirl Funky Eyelights in Pure Purple (pencil liner) mixed with KATE Line Spicy in PU-2 (purple with green shimmers shade)

K-Palette’s liquid liner is definitely appropriately named (although the ‘1 day’ and ’24 hour’ makes it such a redundant name); it is painstakingly hard to remove. Tattoo it is; I couldn’t give a better description judging by the way it merges with the skin. Scary!

Even EVOO couldn’t easily dissolve the liner, but it did its job well with the eyeshadow and pencil liner. It took quite a lot of rubbing for the liquid liner to finally melt away, causing my hand to become quite red.

It wasn’t that apparent in this photo though.



Conclusion: It has proved itself to be quite good in removing makeup.

Second Experiment: Removing stubborn makeup on the eyes!

This is my eye, sloppily made up. It’s a simple and quite basic eye makeup.




Items used:
Benefit Lemon Aid
-to prime
Clinique Quick Eyes Cream Shadow in Glimmering Gold
-all-over wash
Lavshuca Eye Color Select Palette in BU-1 (light blue shade)
-on the lid
Majolica Majorca Majolook Palette in GR750 (dark blue shade)
-on the outer corner and the lower outer lashline
MAC eyeshadow in Silver Ring
-between the light blue and dark blue
MAC eyeshadow in Nylon
-on the inner corner and lower inner lashline
Majolica Majorca Majolook Palette in GR750 (dusty pink shade)
-on the browbone
Clinique Cream Shaper for Eyes in 101 Black Diamond
-upper and lower outer waterline
Silkygirl Funky Eyelights in Frosty Silver
-inner waterline
KATE gel liner in BR-1
-upper lashline
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus
-on the lashes

As usual for amateur photographer like yours truly, I couldn’t capture the true color. :D It’s all washed out!

But the point of this post is to show the effectiveness of the oils removing the makeup, so here it is!

Take your facial cotton pad, pour a small amount of oil on your pad and place it on your eyelid, slowly rubbing it out.

And then…TADA! Clean eyes :D



Unfortunately, it didn’t completely remove the shimmers and fallout.

Now, the question is…how does it feel?

I have read somewhere that EVOO is not suitable for the eyes due to the consistency, but then again I also read somewhere that vegetable oils in general won’t irritate your eyes, so here I am to attest to that claim.

The oil easily melted the eyeshadows away, removing the mascara effortlessly (MM mascara is tough to remove as well) but I experienced cloudiness. That makes me uncomfortable, regardless how effective it is as an eye makeup remover.

All in all, it is a good eye makeup remover but the cloudiness is a turnoff.

CONTENDER NUMBER 2: GRAPESEED OIL




I used to swallow grapeseed oil on a daily basis, but lately I’ve been finding myself neglecting the sad bottle away and went about with my life. :D Do not worry my dear bottle; I will drink your juice right now. *swallow* Yay. :D

Grapeseed oil has a runny and thin texture with an unmistakable nutty taste, and definitely lighter than EVOO. Several people like to use it as their eye cream, so perhaps it is more eye-friendly?

First Experiment: Removing Stubborn Makeup on Hand!



On hand:
K-Palette 1 Day Tattoo Real Lasting 24 Hour Eyeliner (liquid liner)
Silkygirl Funky Eyelights in Pure Purple (pencil liner) mixed with KATE Line Spicy in PU-2 (purple with green shimmers)




The eyeshadow and pencil liner was removed without a problem, but the liquid liner was extremely, extremely budgeproof and it took every ounce of my patience to make it go away. I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until my hand was all red; redder than the outcome I experienced when using EVOO.

I was scared, but I applied K-Palette’s liquid liner on my lid anyways, just for experimental purpose. :D




My lashes look terrible. I thought I’ve separated it well before snapping aaah XD

Items used:
Benefit Lemon Aid
-to prime
Clinique Quick Eyes Cream Shadow in Glimmering Gold
-all over wash
Lunasol Sheer Contrast Palette in Lavender Coral (yellowish green shade)
-on the lid
Majolica Majorca Majolook Palette in GR750 (moss green shade)
-on the inner corner
Lunasol Sheer Contrast Palette in Lavender Coral (light purple shade)
-on the outer corner
Silkygirl Funky Eyelights in Pure Purple
-on the outer corner and lower outer lashline
Majolica Majorca Majolook Palette in GR750 (dusty pink shade)
-on the browbone
Silkygirl Funky Eyelights in Frosty Silver
-on the lower inner lashline and lower inner waterline
Clinique Cream Shaper for Eyes in 101 Black Diamond
-on the upper and lower outer waterline
K-Palette 1 Day Tattoo Real Lasting 24 Hour Eyeliner
-on the upper lashline
Majolica Majorca Lash Expander Frame Plus
-on the lashes




(Random: My lashes definitely love Shu Uemura’s eyelash curler. I curled it up like…last month? And the curl still held strong till this very day. Someone was messing around with my makeup collection and for demonstration sake, I showed her my method of curling the lashes. Easy and foolproof. Awesome, don’t you think? Beats any craptastic cheap eyelash curler out there for sure.)

It didn’t feel as cloudy as the olive oil, but the thin consistency of the oil makes it harder to melt the stubborn eye makeup away. It took more effort to remove the liners at the lower lashline, and by the end of it, I still couldn’t remove all the silver liner away. Strangely the K-Palette liner didn’t leave any residue; it melted away just like the mascara. Perhaps the oils on my lid contribute to that effect. I do have amazingly oily lids.

All in all, good remover, but took a lot more effort, which isn’t good considering how our eye area supposed to be treated with utmost attention and gentle care.

CONCLUSION:

EVOO
PRO: Melt the eye makeup away easily, but somehow couldn’t remove all the shimmers.
CONS: Cloudiness.
3 out of 5.

GRAPESEED OIL
PRO: Didn’t have any irritation, supposedly good for the eye area.
CONS: The thin consistency makes it hard to dissolve stubborn makeup.
3 out of 5.

As you can see, I’m really on the fence…so this is a tie.

I’ll try other oils next, just for experimental purpose. :D

But if you ask me to choose between the two, I’ll go with Grapeseed oil. At least it didn’t irritate my eyes.

…

Lately I didn’t have any random corner. :D

I suppose being busy makes my brain wary of thinking random things. I need to get ahold of myself.

And thus this post ends here. :D

Homemade Skincare Series: Microfiber Cloth

How could a mere sheet such as microfiber cloth could effectively grab every single grime there is and toss it into the hell that it was meant to be? Apparently microfiber cloth is made of fine synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon, woven with polyamide (although other types of microfiber cloth might have different percentage of polyester and polyamide), which creates a soft and complicated surface that could grab every single dirt, oils out of your way.

The one that I’m using is bought from an automotive store, and I’m not exactly sure the percentage of the material used, but I reckon if you want to find an extremely effective microfiber cloth, buy the cloth that is specialized for dermal usage—I believe Missha has something like that in their stash. But if you couldn’t find anything like that, then I suggest finding a microfiber cloth that has at least 80% polyester and 20% polyamide, since that is the composition of most dermal clothes. Yadayadayada you know I’m no expert so…

On to the review!

The cloth felt really soft to the touch and quite packed, yet airy compared to cotton cloth.


As you can see…such peculiar texture.

There are quite a lot of methods to try, but I tend to follow the trend and use a foolproof method by taking a small amount of cleanser, rub-dub-dub until it foams, massage gently on the skin, then use the microfiber cloth to do further cleansing.

However I admit that I am a lazy bum and so usually I just put some of the cleanser on the cloth, rubbed it together until it foams, then smeared it on the face like so.

…

Hey, I couldn’t tell the difference anyways. :D

…

Moving on, upon rubbing your face, you would experience the smooth sensation of being polished by an expert car masseur, further fulfilling your secret wish of being a car.

If you dreamt of that, of course.

But yes, it really does felt that way. The way the cloth glided down your face, smooth yet strangely harsh, gentle yet captivatingly violent, clandestinely lethal on grabbing every odd thing out of your pores were exactly how I felt when polishing a car. And I used to think that it felt that way due to the car wax…maybe both.

After washing and patting it dry, my face felt considerably cleaner and smoother. Not as smooth as using regular scrubs, but the mild exfoliation from this cloth is enough for sensitive skin, I reckon.

The great thing of having a microfiber cloth in your stash is that you probably wouldn’t need a base makeup remover, since this thing practically removes everything.

Well, not really, but it did remove base makeup, oils, dirt, any poking-out-whiteheads/blackheads, dead cells, scabs, anything at all on the surface, yet one major (or minor, depends on your take) flaw is that it couldn’t really counterattack those stubborn ones.

So while the cloth is definitely appropriate for everyday exfoliation, I much prefer salt scrub since it takes all those stubborn scabs away, regardless of how you should only use it once a week.

It is a good enough eye makeup remover, but bear in mind; it wasn’t that effective in removing simple mascara. Yeah, and you bet it won’t do that good with stubborn mascara.

Word of advice though, normal microfiber cloth could be abrasive to your eye area, so if anything, buy the cloth that’s specifically for the face/eyes area. It is gentler and less harsher compared to the normal ones, so potentially less damaging. Don’t mind me, I like to experiment.

Conclusion?

On to the questionnaire!

1. Does it lighten your skin?
Uh…nope?

2. Does it even your skintone?
I don’t think so.

3. Does it brighten your skin?
Since the cloth exfoliates your face aside from cleansing, then yes, it does brighten your skin, since it removes the dead cells.

4. Does it treat your acne?
No, it doesn’t really treat my acne. It cleanses the nearby area from getting infected by the acne, nonetheless.

5. Does it prevent acne?
Possibly yes. It grabbed every alien thing out of the pores; hence your pores are much more protected from being alienated.

6. Does it lighten scars?
Since it removes the dead cells, then the scars might have lightened. But it wasn’t that noticeable.

7. Does it shrink pores?
Nope, not at all.

8. Does it help in unclogging pores?
Yes.

9. Does it help in smoothing skin texture from bumps and other skin ailments?
Yes, but I found normal scrubs did better in smoothing skin texture.

10. Will your skin regain its horrible condition if you stop using this?
No, I felt nothing whatsoever during the period of abandoning this cloth.

11. Can you use this in exchange of other products?
Great makeup remover alternative, or even a gentle exfoliator for sensitive skin. I would definitely recommend it if you want to taste the sensation of squeaky clean skin.

12. Have you found anything like this in the market?
No, any other cleansing cloth didn’t even come close.

I’m giving this a…3 and a half out of 5. It did its job well, but I like more abrasive stuff…ah.

Homemade Skincare Series: Microfiber Cloth PREVIEW!

(No pictures. This is just a preview. So no pictures.)

Microfiber cloth isn’t particularly homemade or anything, considering you need to buy it at a nearby automotive store of some sort (or any mall really) so it falls under the category of facial cloth that you need to buy but couldn’t really make from scratch…or maybe you can (but as if you can make your own honey…providing you have your own beehive, of course, like Martha Stewart. Or bee-lover. Honey lover. Whatever.) THE POINT IS!

…

Maybe I should rename the title to…

Homemade Skincare Series: Unusual Tools for your face!

…

That didn’t sound catchy enough.

…

I change my mind.

…

(take notice I am quite blur today. I have just submitted my work. Deadline is cruel. Cruel….)

Anyways, microfiber cloth is a staple in my house. We have incorporated the cloth to become our handy dandy savior that I’m sure one day it would be listed in my family’s hall of fame as an honorary member of our lovable stuff.

Of course, the cloth has sacrificed a lot in order to have a place in our hearts. We use it vigorously to wipe the car, wipe the camera, wipe the mirror, wipe the windows, wipe the toilet seat, wipe the iPod—microfiber cloth is seriously one of the best wiper ever. And I say one of the best, because you will never know if I’d find a new love…just in case.

You see, I won’t be giving such high raves if it’s not for this one incident. You see, my lovely iPod Touch, which is possibly my favorite thing on earth (read: THING) was smeared with popsicle’s droplets, staining the surface, further settling in the crooks of my fugly case (decoden it someday!), and for the life of me I didn’t know how to open the darn case. So I waited for my brother, patiently waited for my brother, even when the day has start anew he hadn’t come back, and I realized that he wasn’t coming back.

He should have told us that earlier. >.>

Discouraged, I tried my hardest to open the case, and WALLA. IT WAS OPENED.

SO DARN EASY WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL MEH? D: There’s a trick on how to open the case, and I discovered that quite…late, shame to say.

By now, you could probably guess the gross condition of my iPod screen—filled with hardened, frosted substance of dried popsicle’s droplets, potentially accumulating bacteria or something of that nature. I didn’t have any microfiber cloth in my room at the time, so I grabbed the nearest cloth (not really, nearest would be my handkerchief, but as if I want to wipe my iPod with my boogers), which was the spectacle cloth, but to my dismay, the stain didn’t budge. I tried to moisten the cloth with some water and wiped it off (and I’m not sure if it’s good for the iPod’s health, but eh…what’s done is done), but still, it didn’t go away. I tried using the cloth that was included with the iPod; yes, it did little to polish the little surface.

Frustrated, I exited my room, searching for any cloth to rub the icky stuff away, until my eyes landed on a stack of dirty microfiber clothes in the kitchen. Of course, when one used it to wipe the car, windows, mirrors, toilet seat—it is bound to be all greasy and dirty.

Where could I find a clean microfiber cloth?

Yes yes an automotive store would be a great answer, but it is late at night, early in the morning I dare say, and I don’t think the store would open that early.

AHAH! I have just experienced a rare moment of pure genius.

My brother’s microfiber cloth for the camera! There, I am so smart. :D

*gag*

The cloth—albeit not that clean, but I can’t see the grime in question really, so it is clean in my book, although might not be that clean to the naked eyes, but whatever—did its job beautifully, cleaning the surface like a magic sponge, and in fact, it works better than a magic sponged claimed to do. No pressure needed, just wiped it off like wiping a baby’s butt. Although you probably need some force to wipe a baby’s butt. No? Oh…I’ve only become a babysitter for about a week…my niece is darn cute.

The point of the long story?

MICROFIBER CLOTH IS AWESOME!

Then I decided to read more about the multipurpose cloth on the net, and unsurprisingly, stumbled upon reviews at Makeupalley.

I was intrigued by the idea of using microfiber cloth as your facial cloth, so I tried it for a good month or so. Maybe more. I didn’t keep track.

How does it fare, really?

Well…onto the next post…next time! :D
>><<

Quite busy lately. But when things are too busy, I found myself not that busy. Because I tried not to do much work that would add to the busyness. Thus the busyness decreased, leaving time for me to work on the main point of busyness. But I procrastinate. Duh.

Time is too slow lately (anticipating for my journey) yet I’m running out of time (dreading for the deadline).

Ah.

Huda’s Random Corner

I thought a post in this blog is never complete without a random corner.

Granted, everything is random, but…yeah. Yeah.

I just need to let this out.

I’ve been reading a book.

And while it is desperately awesome beyond words, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of conversation by the hero and heroine.

Yeah yeah they conversed alright, but the author didn’t write the actual conversation, just a summary of it.

Why why why why why

I cherish all the actual conversation with the “quote” thing like I cherish my iPod, but still, I wasn’t content.

So I read another book.

I was at the random place where they feature random books of the day and on a whim, I chose the one with quite an interesting, but typical summary.

Upon reading it…

OH WOW. CLICHÉ MUCH?

I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect the story to be THAT cliché.

But it is.

Oh.

How awful.

I am speechless.

Ugh.

As you can see.

I am terribly disappointed.

That’s all for random corner.

Maybe this one should be renamed to Rant Corner.

Okay.

Huda’s Rant Corner it is.

Over and out.

Homemade Skincare Series: Yogurt my trusty sidekick

I’m sure you’ve encountered several DIY masques on the net yet you wondered to yourself, does it really work and worth the effort?

Messy, slippery, troublesome, I much rather use a simple packaged product from a mainstream line that has undergone test by the authority than use this…this…food. Thingy. Thingamajig. Thingy.

In my opinion, homemade skincare can be quite impractical considering how they'll get rotten real quickly, thus you can’t store them for long, and it isn’t too travel-friendly, but as they say, you’ll get what you pay for.

Nevertheless, I’ve tried some of them, and here’s my take on them. Due to my slightly twisted fate, I’ve been blessed with horrible skin, and so I’ve tried everything under the sun in order to rejuvenate the moon surface.

Word of advice:

1. If you suffer from terrible skin condition and no matter what you do, it doesn't seem to fluctuate or run like a bunch of coward monkeys, make sure you investigate the core of your problem and later strangle the culprit who ruined your life to death. Take the time to examine yourself thoroughly and take whatever precautions needed to banish that thing out of your way. These remedies would only treat the outer part, not the inner part, so it is best for you to have a dual-attack by treating your skin from within and out.

2. An unsuitable product might be the cause for your problem—take the time to investigate which works best for you and which doesn’t, chucking out the ones that let you down. Cut down your skin regime one by one, monitor your skin behavior, and after you have determined the source of evil, SAYONARA ADIOS BYE BYE CHACHA!

3. Most often we did not cleanse our face well, sometimes the sunscreen and makeup residues settled into your pores, which further contributes to excessive skin problems, so take the time to do proper cleansing—dual cleansing if you may (oil and cleanser).

One last thing: I have a chronic problem of fungal infections and eczema.

+_+_+

Yogurt is loaded with lactic acid, so if you are allergic to lactic acid (or if you didn’t know, check the ingredients of your failed skin products and see if it was listed) then perhaps this treatment won’t work for you. However, lactic acid is a natural substance found inside the body, so it would cause less irritations. And since yogurt produced natural lactic acid and not chemical loaded stuff, it is unlikely to cause reactions.

+_+_+

When you think of yogurt, you would think of those savory flavored sour milk in small tubs filled with chunky fruits and fruit juice- NO NOT THAT ONE.

This is what I mean.


PLAIN YOGURT, plainly put.

In the quest of finding a good warrior in attacking my fungal infections and eczema, I came across multiple articles that suggested on using yogurt—the understated Mary Jane (and I refuse to use La Mer, the overrated Mary Sue, but I wouldn’t deny that I would love me some of that). Plain and simple, yet effective in combating yeast/fungal. Initially, I bought it for the sake of my fungalities, but later on, I found myself struggling to swallow the stinky madness, so I decided to slather it on my face instead.

Because you know, I play with food. >.>

Yogurt is quite a famous ingredient to add in your cauldron of homemade skincare potion (same could be said with honey and lemon). I was tempted to try that, but living with a family who only eat flavored yogurt didn’t leave me much choice, it is quite bizarre to suddenly find a tub of plain yogurt sitting idly among all those tongue ticklers in the fridge. Not to mention the yogurt is nowhere under the category of ‘el cheapo food’, so it is extremely bizarre to find a simple PLAIN YOGURT in my house.

Yogurt in general didn’t cost such a bomb, but whenever I see yogurt, I automatically think—YOGURT—EXPENSIVE. (it only cost RM5+, in all honesty)

But I digress.

So for the first experiment, I decided to be adventurous and added a squirt of honey and a teaspoon of rosewater while bellowing the magic spell. (I was following a recipe that I nicked from Makeupalley)

First impression…

Well, it’s good. Nothing special. It did calm my skin though. Maybe it’s the honey. Or the yogurt. Or the rosewater. Or all of them. Or both. Or maybe one of them. Or. I am confused. Orz

Maybe I shouldn’t mix a lot of ingredients on my first try. After all, I am a newbie witch.

So on to the second try.

I opened the lid, and scoop a teaspoon of yogurt out of the container.



The sour milk is looking straightly at me. The smelly, stinky, sour rancid milk—and it tastes just like that.

I am enjoying the savory sourness however. It tickles my tongue.

Onto my palm it goes…OH! COLD! OH! SAMUIIIIIIIIII!!!!!

My first reaction. Honestly.

You bet its worse when it found its way onto my face.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Fortunately the coldness doesn’t linger forever. Afterward, it meddles with my skin’s chemistry, combining the warmth and evoking quite a comfortable and delirious sensation called sooth.

Nowadays, I am quite immune to the numbness that is cold. All I feel is sooth. Aahhh…

Freshly applied, you would look as if you were drenched in milk…sour milk to be précised.



Leave it on your face until it dries to a matte, transparent finish. You might experience some kind of a tightening sensation—do not worry, the yogurt is just doing its job—or a crumbly finish—do not worry, sometimes the yogurt acts cranky.

(the yogurt hasn't dried down completely yet, but you can tell that the center has completely dry to a matte and transparent finish, while the edges has this sort of frosted saliva look to it. The moist part is glossy like a shimmery silver liquid eyeshadow...I joke.)

The rigid and numb state of your face is an indication that it has absorbed all there is that need to be absorb, so off you go and wash your face from the rotten smell. (Okay, the smell isn’t that bad, but you can’t deny that the smell is quite…apparent) However, if you didn’t mind sleeping in a marbleized state, then you could wash it off in the morning. I left it in on my eczema patch overnight, and it diminished the evil thing instantly.

Next time I have an eczema patch, I would try to remember to photograph it.

So after washing it off, how do I feel?

Truthfully I must say it works better on its own.

>Moisturized!
>Plumped!
>Softer!
>I have small bumps scattered around my face. Decreased!
>Smoother! No joke!

The bumps-decreasing sold me. I have been searching for anything to kill those scattered bumps. Nothing did its work better than this plain ol’ yogurt.

For one month, I slathered this on my face faithfully every night. However, you should know that once a week, I mixed my yogurt concoction with a squirt of Vitamin E.



That will be reviewed in another post, but here’s my take of the whole yogurt treatment on its own.

1. Does it lighten your skin?
I must say it brightens your skin, not lighten per se.

2. Does it even your skintone?
Definitive yes. Matching foundation has never been easier.

3. Does it brighten your skin?
See answer above. Yes.

4. Does it treat your acne?
Yes, the yogurt attacks those acnes until it gets all dry and scabby.

5. Does it prevent acne?
I must say yes as well. I noticed I experience less breakout nowadays.

6. Does it lighten scars?
I am tempted to answer yes, but I have the slight suspicion that the Vitamin E is doing the main job, not the yogurt. However in my opinion, the yogurt may have contributed a bit.

7. Does it shrink pores?
Must say it did not. My pores remain the same size.

8. Does it help in unclogging pores?
YES!

9. Does it help in smoothing skin texture from bumps and other skin ailments?
YES! I can’t say for other skin ailments (milia seeds for instance) but for bumps, yes for sure.

10. Will your skin regain its horrible condition if you stop using this?
I must say no. I purposely stopped using it for a week and aside from minor breakout here and there which is a regularity for me, I didn’t notice anything obscure.

11. Can you use this in exchange of other products?
The yogurt would be a great cleanser alternative. It is mild and gentle yet its ability to deep cleanse is better than any abrasive cleanser out there. Definitely a gem.

12. Have you found anything like this in the market?
No, although perhaps other products that contain lactic acid would give you the same results.

I can’t think of any question for now, so if a bolt suddenly strike me, I will update this questionnaire.

In the mean time, I hope your yogurt experience would be a total blast, just like mine.

If it doesn’t, well, I’m sorry it didn’t work for you.

I’m giving this…a five gazillion out of five.

>><<

Huda’s Random Corner

(I can’t think of a time when my mind isn’t doing some random calculation of random things that is purely random but interestingly random)

I’ll be the first to admit that GAKIKAME (Or RisaEri…they should have done Erisa and stick with it) radioshow annoyed me sometimes. Aside from constant H!P songs (which is inevitable) I often did not know which song were played by Gakiki and which were played by Kameme. Oh, I do know which song was Kame’s selection, she always raved about the song (for example, she mentioned how she collects BoA and Cocco’s albums, which is useless information for me, but somehow I know. I shouldn’t suppose to know. I wouldn’t want to know. Why did I know? Bad Kame.)

Oh I know Gaki-san likes Yoshii Kazuya. She talked about it on the NHK radio program. She openly admitted it in front of Yoshii Kazuya himself. She repeated it on her radioshow as well…she likes to repeat herself too, huh?

Anyway, when Gaki-han said she likes Yoshii Kazuya, I got the impression that it’s more under the pretense of “My mom likes him and listens to him all the time so I kind of get used to him and I also listen to him and I like him now.

=.=

Long after, I have concluded that they might take turn on playing their song selection. Yet I was not thoroughly convinced.

So the latest Gakikame show, Kame poured her everlasting love towards the Gakz, and then Mame-chan was all teary (perhaps later on…) and explained the reason for her song choice.

It was Kimi ga Iru Kara –My Best Friends— by JUJU. Supposedly the lyrics reminded her of her friendship with Kame and other important people in her life (Taka included of course).

Okay. Let me tell you the truth.

I didn’t listen to this radioshow.

No I didn’t! I read the translation.

Naturally, I didn’t listen to the precious Gaki-san selection song.

Frantically, I searched for the song on Youtube.

THERE IS NONE. EXCEPT FOR A GUITAR COVER.

No matter, I search for the song online.

THERE’S ONE, BUT I NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE ALBUM.

Oh whatever. I’ll listen to the whole album then.

The day after…

Song(s)! :D

*plugged my ears*

It must have been just me but something about JUJU’s voice/style reminds me of Niigaki Risa. In fact, if she were to sing JUJU’s song, I don’t think she would sound that off—she would nail it greatly, I’m sure of that.

What could be the reason for the uncanny resemblance?

Perhaps JUJU is an influence to Gaki.

*hat hat hat hat hat hat*

YAY!

Favorited.

No, really. I do like her songs. Like, intensely so.

Especially Ashita ga Kurunara with Jay’ed. That is just so sick! :D

Tata. :D