Samples Redeemed June 2013

It is quite a pleasant month of June, where we all chill out and tour Facebook for items to redeem just for the sake of trying out new things! I always like to have these things sent to me, even though I don't really use them often, because it is just fun to open your mailbox to see a lumpy package!

(some of the images are quite blur because there is something wrong with the focus in the camera, so it always comes out rather blur :/)

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Travel Packs

I have been really fond of Neutrogena's new Water gel sunscreen, because usually sunscreens have that common, unflattering smell of some odd foundation/chemical and I really disliked the smell of it on my face, and hey! This new Water Gel Sunscreen smells darn amazing and refreshing, like watermelons (to me)! Not only so, it has an interesting color: a light, pretty baby blue that is semi-translucent (see picture below, right).


It does not feel sticky when applied on the skin, and also doesn't make the skin oily, since I wore it out a few times, always worrying that my face will turn into some oil puddle, but it didn't happen, much to my surprise. The best part is that it does not feel dry on our skin but leaves it feeling reasonably hydrated, refreshed and decent smelling. I mean, smell is important, since you will be smelling your own face for quite some time before the scent wears off!

I also like how Neutrogena takes much care in having that sealed tip to ensure that even our samples are clean and fresh. Overall, I really like this product, and I will give it 5/5! Will definitely buy it once I finish my current (unpleasant smelling) sunscreen.

Listerine Natural Green Tea Mouth Wash

The mouth wash smells good, and leaves one with a clear refreshing breath afterwards, but despite it claiming to have a "mild and gentle flavour", it still stings quite a bit, and is still very minty. I have a lot of mouth wash that claims to be mild in flavor, but I always find them too minty: hold them in your mouth for a minute too long and feel your tongue going numb from all the prickling.

Still, I like the idea of using green tea scent, especially since I got really tired of things like mint, strong mint, herbal mint and the similar, green tea is indeed refreshing! Also thumbs up to keeping my breath fresh. The downside is that I realized that the "fresh and cool" breath feeling disappeared pretty quickly, like within half an hour or less, I can barely feel it anymore.

Overall, I think I will give it 3.5/5! :D

Essential Hair Masks

Personally, I enjoyed these hair masks tremendously, especially when Essential is really quite generous with each of the samples that they provided. For this round, they let everyone try one pink packaged hair mask (Nuance Airy) and orange-packaged one (Rich Premier). I have not really had much faith in hair masks before this, because I never find it necessary and all, but these hair masks changed my view of them completely.

For one thing, they smell amazing. Nuance Airy (pink) smells like sweet strawberries and honey, and smoothens out easily when applied to hair, leaving the hair silky and smooth. Especially when one is washing the mask off, there is literally no knots left in the hair and water just cascades down, like that.


Not to mention the after effects of using Nuance Airy (pink), I noted that my hair did not frizz out as much as it did usually, but lie down flat and smooth (all the while smelling as though they have just had a dip in strawberry cream). The good effects of Nuance Airy hair mask continued for almost two days, I took the pains of depriving myself of a hair wash for two days to see what would happen. For the next two days, my hair remained as great as ever: no frizz, no knots, just that amazing silky smooth texture (and great smell). I supposed the effect could have lasted even longer, but then my scalp was feeling terrible by the end of the second day, all oily and unbearable, so I gave up the test and enjoyed a good hair wash.

Currently, I am using Rich Premier (orange) sample, and it is still fabulous, even though I don't really feel as if there is any different from Nuance Airy. It smells rather like orange and mangoes with honey (yum yum), and I got to give it to Essential for coming up with such fantastic sweet smells. Like their Purely Smooth Shampoo and Conditioner smelled fantastic enough, and now it is just like pure heaven!

I can't remember which hyperlink I got these from, but maybe you can try to facebook their page and ask? Sorry guys, for my blurness :/

Liese Styling Milk

Just received this yesterday or the day before, haven't got to try it because I am cooped at home all day, so I can't really be bothered whether my hair is lying smooth or not. I am also trying to save this for a more important time, like when I go out shopping with Denyse or Clarissa or something. :>

That's all for today!
Thanks for reading guys and keep healthy!

Fashion Picks of the Month (June 2013)

Hey all!

I came to realize that despite my blog being called a fashion blog, I have not really blogged enough on fashion partially because I don't have the time to go out and shop, but now I have decided to include a new component, and that is Fashion Pick of the Month! :D

I probably won't be following any trend and stuff but instead introducing you guys to some of the outfits and styles that I like myself and how I think they would match. Maybe in the future when I get a better camera then I can try to take pictures of myself wearing clothes I like. Also given that I slim down enough. Heh. ;)

I was just thinking whether I should do the  picking based on themes, or simply just based on whim, but I guess I will do both: I will pick themes based on my whim! :D

 In case you are wondering how I will pick the clothes I like, it will be based on how much it appeals to me at the first glance. Yes, it is that simple. Some clothes just click with me, while others are just not compatible with myself. I will also classify the picks on whether they are suitable for formal wear or casual wear!

Without further ado, I will pick my this week's clothing!

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This week's clothing will be a JobandShop special, because I am a fan of this blogshop since they sell really trendy clothing that is both affordable and of good quality (depends on what you pick too).

In case you are curious, you can head over to http://www.jobandshop.com/ to check out some of their clothings! All of the photo credits below goes to Jobandshop! :)

Casual Outfits


Coming in third and second are the black sleeveless top on the left and the navy blue sleeveless top on the right respectively! Personally I think that the one on the left would be more suitable for slightly more formal occasions than the one on the right, like for work or for more important dinners, while the one on the left can be worn for more casual occasions like movie outings with friends. Afterall, I always think that over-dressing is really awkward when we go out with friends, especially those that are quick to judge and go like, "Woah, why are you wearing this kind of things?" Personally, I don't really care what people wear, unless it is really over the top, like just bra...in a transparent shirt...or a bikini top...for movie watching. Hmm....___,

I also like the style of the shirt on the right because it has refreshing style, and I feel that the stylist did well to use the rope-looking belt, and I find that it added extra charm to the overall appearance.  The other good point is that the top is longer and would probably extend past the hips, so if you are facing a hip-crisis like I do, it can be a good choice since it won't reveal so much much the bum. :D

And the top casual outfit goes to...

Clean button up top with black skirt, I think they are joint together, so maybe we can call this a dress? I found this dress a really refreshing choice because it is so simple, and yet it screams sophisticated-ness. I do think there is a touch of simple elegance there as well, and it is definitely NOT over the top and good to wear for casual to smart-casual occasions! Not only so, the dress makes the person wearing it looks demure, sweet and innocent, in my opinion.

I think this dress will go well with...

High heel platforms, for the really chic, simple, yet really elegant look. Especially if you have great legs, which UGH, angst of angst, I don't possess. >.< The picture of the shoes are credit of www.shoefashionista.com.


Formal Wear

Coming in a tie for the third place is the black dress with diamantes on the shoulder straps on the left, and the pale beige dress with diamantes around the boson area. I would prefer the black one over the beige one, because the black one looks marginally longer than the beige one, and also because the black-one is curve hugging, so it means that there is less chance of your dress flying up in the wind and exposing your...whatever that is under. Also, I cannot divorce the image of a sleepwear from the beige dress, I think that can be a result of the loosing fitting from the waist on, and my lord, I really do think that it is way too short, even for short dresses. It is like, the person can't even walk properly in it without having to worry about slips...unless you have short legs...then that will be less risky.


Coming in second is the lacy dress, and I have included both the black and beige-white versions for you guys to decide which is nicer. I find that I would prefer the white one, because it makes one look more youthful, while the black one just makes me think of a more aged individual, still in good form with plenty of appeal nevertheless, but a bit lacking on the youth side. I am surprised that I would pick a lacy dress to introduce to you all, because personally I am not a huge fan of anything overly lacy, I just don't like them. But hmm, this one is pretty good (judging from the photos, and I think it has incorporated the traditional Chinese Cheongsum feel into it well, and balanced it superbly with the modern classy look.

Coming in top place for formal....

is yet another black and white dress. Maybe I am addicted to this two colours nowadays, but I will just attribute part of this bias because I really like the model for this dress. She looks so much like the Korean Star, Song Hye Kyo, doesn't she? The dress is again simple, modest, yet classy in itself, and I think it will look great without and with a belt. Without a belt it would look more formal, while a belt could tone it down to make is a great everyday wear. :)

I think it will pair well with both the platforms I have shown you guys above, or with white heels or with wedges.

Other notable outfits

I thought that the outfit above looked really interesting because it looks like the person is wearing a cape, and the fact lies that it is really a cape like thingy. I felt that the design is creative because without the cape part, it would really be another rather common looking, part-of-the-current-craze outfits that promotes collar+button-up+no sleeves. The cape makes it look really outstanding, and almost designer-ish, and the belt also helps to accentuate the wearer's figure.

Hmmm, a notable street style, even though very few people wear it around my estate, I won't putit past the fashionable ones roaming Orchard in Singapore. The casual black tee with the tiger head suggests a tinge of rebellion in the wearer, like a subtle protest against conformity and a symbol of strength and female empowerment, while the high-low pink skirt layered with white brings out the feminine side to the wearer, balancing the power and the sweet.

I have an issue with the model's sunglasses, not just because I think most sunglasses look rather weird, but also because this particular sunglasses look really ugly. Ugh, like square sunglasses? Reminds me of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Not a particular fan of baby blue heels, those are pretty hard to match with most clothes, even though I have to concede that the effect is not as jarring or as unacceptable here. And mustard yellow clutch? What is with the play on shades of primary colors? A bit too retro for my likings.

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With this, I end my post on June 2013's fashion picks! How do you like it? Do drop me a comment to tell me what you think of this or head over to my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Live-and-Dictate/250086195112938 to let me know! :D

Thanks for reading and bye!

Skin Care Tips!

Hi lovelies, I am back with another post!

Recently I received an email from a reader asking me how to take care of skin that is more prone to acne breakout and pimples, and I was all like, "Ahhhaa! You came to the right person!"

Despite my skin being much better now compared to the period from Primary 5 all the way to Secondary 2, I am still being plagued by a variety of skin problems, and they are not limited to:

• Frequent Outbreaks of Pimples (RAWR!)
• Black/White heads
• Enlarged pores
• Dark eye circles

But on the whole they are really much much better than what I experienced before I started getting better, little by little. I can totally understand how you feel like when your face is covered in hundreds of little raised red bumps, swollen, painful, and obviously unsightly. It took away a large portion of my confidence in primary school because my skin was that bad, and also because I was so unfashionable at that time I had one of the worst haircuts, worse glasses that all snowballed together to make me the ultimate NERD. It didn't help that I was academically competitive and did pretty well; all of the above just came together to reinforce my image of being this unappealing Nerd. It felt terrible, but at that time I felt that there was nothing I could do about it- I was so helpless.

The worst thing about impressions is that they are really hard to change, because I fell under the image of a stereotypical nerd (and outcast in class), I tried for a period of time to be better and friendlier. It ultimately didn't work out because I think that I was sort of a temperamental person back then, a little too weird for my classmates: afterall, most people didn't work that hard in primary school. So my confidence took a further dip, I gave up trying to make friends, and I just went along with the nerdish image and even did the nerdiest things: I went to the library whenever possible, but it was more to hide from the people that I could not get along with more than anything, and I found a recluse, a safe haven in books and their lovely tales, because books didn't judge me for my looks or my strange personality. I studied as much as I could, because it sort of took my worries away whenever I bury myself in work: it distracted me enough for me not to think about myself being a misfit. I remember each time I got hurt in class or had a quarrel with people, I would go home feeling incredibly upset, and the only thought that could cheer me was that I would work really hard and bag that top position and subject prizes every year.

Okay, so enough of my emotional rant about my rather sad past (it isn't as sad as it sounds because I had a dream, a goal, so that held me together and pushed me through). Let's go back to the topic on how to improve your skin condition, especially if you have acne! :D

1. Drink a lot of water (8 glasses a day)

Picture source: healthyfresh.org

I know, every beauty blogger or guru out there will keep telling you to drink that much water, and yes, it works. I tried it, but only recently. I am not a person who likes to keep gulping down water like goldfish, but I watched Bubz' video on skincare and I decided to take her advice, and so far, it worked pretty well!

According to experts, you have to drink a lot of water to flush out all the toxins in your body, because if you don't, they will accumulate in your body and surface as pimples as a way of releasing all the toxic materials. So if you drink a lot of water and go to the washroom a lot, you will be having a healthy digestive system and circulatory system, not to mention good clear skin! :D


2. Sleep 8-10 hours a day

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

I know! That is really hard to achieve right, especially for you people who are in secondary school or in JC like me, that is almost like impossible. I have noticed that my skin is always so much better in holidays because I sleep like a pig in holidays. I would sleep at 9pm and wake up at 11am the next morning (and lose a lot of weight because I would be skipping meal without feeling hungry).

If you don't have the time to sleep for that number of hours, then try to sleep at 11pm latest. That is when our bodily organs need to recuperate, especially our liver and kidney. They are the ones that need to recuperate and heal after a long day of removing all the toxins you have eaten from instant noodles, fast food and so much more. If you let them heal properly, then they can remove waste from your body efficiently and you would suffer less from breakouts!

For myself, when I don't sleep enough for a period of three days, immediately my skin will start having tiny little bumps erupting all over it, not to mention that my dark eye circles will morph into smoky eye liner that extend all the way out of my eyes. :/ So do try to sleep early!

3. Avoid processed food and unhealthy food

www.ecofriend.com

Oh yum yum, om nom nom! Look at that spread of fast food and fried and all the food that cause breakout! That is what you have to avoid: processed food (like luncheon meat, sausages, nuggets), fast food (because they are made of processed food), things that are too sweet or too choked full of hormones, like milk even. Many many years ago, milk is really healthy and good for your skin. Not now. Milk in America is most likely to be full of bovine growth hormones, and all this additional chemicals in your milk will affect your skin (and health) in some ways.

For me, I consume less meat during holidays because my Mom is trying to become a vegetarian, slowly, so we eat vegetarian about 5 days in a week, till we both cave from the temptation of wanting to eat meat and go out for food. Meat was a prized possession very long ago too, but now it could have an increasing amount of chemicals like antibiotics and whatnots that farmers inject chickens with, and more. Eating all those is enough to make your digestive system unhealthy, so try to avoid them:)

Instead, go for fresh fruits and vegetables. Eat organic and raw vegetable salad if possible. I have been in love with raw cabbage salad this holidays, and the best thing is that it doesn't use cream dressings that will clock up your caloric count: it contains some honey, vinegar, salt and one chili padi, and it taste fabulous. I will make another post on it if you guys are interested!

4. Wash your face and hands often

fayettewoman.com

I wash my face with T-Zone exfoliating cleanser every morning and night, but I am starting to think that using a exfoliating cleanser, no matter how gentle, twice a day is still a bit too much, so I am saving up to get myself either Acnes Medicated Creamy Face Wash or Eucerin DemoPurifyer. Those two are some of my favourite cleansers so far!

T-Zone Exfoliating Daily Wash

Throughout the day when you are at home, whenever your face feels oily, you can go and rinse your face with just water, without using any cleansers to avoid over cleansing your face. I like to rinse my face and pat it dry with a towel because it feels refreshing and oil-free after that, so I do that almost once every few hours. It is not scientifically proven, but I do feel that for me at least, rinsing my face makes my skin hydrated and refreshed!

I also wash my hands very very often, because I have the bad habit of touching my face with my hands every now and then, either to scratch or poke. I keep my nails short since this year to avoid bacteria accumulation under them, and wash my hands frequently (especially after typing!).

5. Dealing with Black and White heads
After so much tries and so much angst, I have came up with a solution to keep black and white heads at bay! To do so, you need:

Exfoliating Daily Wash

Biore Nose Pore Strips

I have a written a post on this before, it is here, do check it out! Anyways, in the nutshell, I use the face wash at least once a day to prevent the accumulation of dirt inside my pores, so that I look black-head free most of the time! You can read more about T-Zone Exfoliating Daily Wash here. Then I use the pore strip once every two months or so (depending on condition) to remove the more stubborn ones that have accumulated anyways. In that way, you won't be damaging your skin so often with the pore strip and you still have clear skin!

6. Dealing with pimples

I have been using Acnes Medicated Sealing Jell ever since they gave it to me a year ago for review, and darn, this product is pretty fantastic and in my opinion, too underrated. If you apply it onto a spot after face washing, the spot will tingle and itch a little- it is totally bearable and I believe it to be the sensation of the jell working its magic.

After a few days, the spot will get noticeably smaller and shrivel up, and give it a few more days before it heals altogether. I read some reviews on it and I still can't believe that some people don't find it good, like I say, different skin react different to products, and I really like this sealing jell myself. :D

7. Dark Eye Cirlces
Oh ho! I have no solutions or remedies to recommend to remove dark circle apart from encouraging everyone to sleep early, like before 11pm. If you really have uncompleted work to do, then do it the next day, in the morning, but don't stay up late or your dark circles will become permanent, like mine. Uuuuuww~~uwww. :'(

And nope, Garnier Brightening eye roll on doesn't really work either, in case you are counting on that.

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That's all for today! How do you guys like my post? Do you find it helpful, interesting or even boring? Do leave a comment down below and tell me what you think!Oh and do tell me if you are interested to know the recipe for the cabbage salad, it is darn delicious I swear!

The haze has been getting from bad to worse recently, so please do take the necessary precautions when you have to go out, and remember to wash your face upon returning! :D

Also, I would really appreciate it if you can subscribe to my blog via GFC on the right and like my Facebook Page at Live and Dictate!

Thanks for reading this and catch you all later!

Whinings~

Okay I am going to sound really childish and retarded but I ain't gonna care...

Oh my god I can't believe that only 10 days of holidays are left!?

Someone kill me please.

When you ask me to recall what I have done in the past 20 days, I really can't remember what I did at all. Apart from going to Vivocity with mom for shopping, going out to Jurong Point countless number of times for yummy food (and more shopping), and of course I went to the hospital to get my stomach checked for Helicobacter Pylori. Oh oh and I went to the Parliament. Darn cool, but darn boring. I had a splitting headache when I got home. :/

*Screams*

So much revision left, so little time!

Why on earth does my holidays always end up as slack-o-days eh? *uuwwww~~uwwww T_T*

Wheee!~ New post at last!

I haven't blogged for so long that the idea of blogging suddenly become alien to me, goodness gracious. And since I turned seventeen I have been so obsessed with so many questions that I am suffering from an existential crisis, so while trying to discover myself, I didn't have the time to blog (as much)!

Anyway, it is the lovely June holidays and boy am I glad that holidays are finally here (and one week has already lapsed while I was enjoying myself tremendously). You can't imagine how good life is when your alarm no longer rings at 5.50am in the morning and you no longer have to drag your lethargic body off the bed to prepare for another tedious day at school, learning things that you doubt will have any use for you in the future.

Of course the school probably can't believe in Hedonism, since they decided to have BLOCK TEST right after the school holidays, which is like oh my god, WHY?

That unpleasant bit sobers me up a little each time I am too happy. It is like this constant nagging pain in your system that acts up whenever it decides that you are too comfortable. Aish.

Still, holidays are pretty darn awesome (if we exclude the part about revision, which takes up just this tiny little bit of my fantabulous holidays). :D

Anyways, I was amusing myself as usual the other day when someone asked me, "How is life?" and I was like, "Pretty good!" and the person went like, "School life is pretty good?" and I was suddenly so cool and un-nerdish and replied in my coolest voice,

"I have a life outside of school."

At that point maybe, I was just tired of people thinking that for us students our whole life is just about school. It is mostly about school, but I don't see why we should allow it to be all about school. The more I think about it, the more I admire myself for coming up with such a witty and ingenious reply that I couldn't do anything but beam at my own reflection for the rest of the day, indulging myself with shoulder-pats.

*pat-pat*

True enough, school is indeed a very energy zapping part of our lives now, and the saddest thing is non other than the fact that it is inescapable and inevitable. You just have to face it. But now I saw the light - instead of letting myself dwell grouchily on all the negative aspects of school, I do try to (force myself) to see the "brighter side". The thorns will always be there; it is up to us to seek the roses and admire them.

For another, I have made wonderful new friends in class, namely Denyse and Clarissa (okay, and somewhat grudgingly Jun Jie I guess, even though he doesn't treat me as well as I treat him, it's fine. "Love those that hate you, bless those that curse you and despitefully use you." right?). Denyse and Clarissa are fantastic people. They are more than anything that I could have asked for in friends, witty, humorous, always positive and cheerful and always seeing the good in people and things. Of course with Clarissa comes her little bundle of humors, like Jason, Kah Wai, Ivan, Jiangshen etc etc, the name list of her friends who are boys are so long that I cannot recall them completely. The second most funny thing is that despite never having conversed with the aforementioned friends of Clarissa's, I felt like I know them (praise the lord) because I heard so much about them. Denyse and I would chuckle each time we hear each of those names and exchange knowing looks which Clarissa would pretend to frown at before laughing along with us.

With true, sincere and good friends, life is good hehe xD

A really short post I know, my wrist hurts a little ( I have no idea why), and I just got back from my urea breath test this morning, and despite the name sounding really weird, it is a test to determine whether I still have helicobacter pylori in my tummy. Remember the previous blog post where I wrote about myself getting really sick twice? I know I didn't manage to update, but I had an infection of HP, a pretty bad one at that, and now after all my antibiotics and stuff, I have to go back to check if I am better! I heard that I have to go for another test next year just to ensure that all the HP are mercifully murdered by my brilliant doctor, Dr Leong from Gleneagles.

If I have time, I will blog again! So far, bye!