Hada Labo - The Results

After using Hada Labo - that magic liquid everyone is crazy about - for over a month, I can say that it is indeed something that should be kept in a woman's arsenal of beauty products!

I am not one to conform to rules. I do not pat it on....well, I did when I first started using it and then I got too impatient. So I rub it on gently. Patting takes forever to get this stuff absorbed into your skin. So I rub. I rub it on my face. I rub it on my neck, and whatever is left, I rub on the backs of my hands. (I am convinced I am not the only one who is guilty of this!)

I have used the liquid after I take off my makeup at the end of my workday. I mostly use it at night before I go to sleep, because I figure that the air conditioning dries out my skin and this thing is supposed to keep moisture in so nighttime must be the best time to use it. And it has been. Whenever I use it at night, I notice a clearness and clarity in my skin the next morning. 

On the flipside, after a while, I notice that my face becomes oily around the t-zone. I have skin which tends to get oily and I had pimples for the most of my teen years and adult life. Things started to get better when my doctor put me on birth control pills which in turn stabilised the oiliness and helped with giving me clearer skin.

There is, however, no "bounce" to my skin unlike what you all saw in the video. Perhaps that is why I gave up patting. I know advertisements are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but come on....a little teensy, weensy bounce would have meant the world to me. Didn't happen.

So I am using it everyday. The amount needed is far less than what is recommended. The SA at the pharmacy I purchased this from took one look at my face and said "4 drops" - I use 2 and still have some to spare for my neck.

This product is not available in Singapore according to Sesame of Viva Woman but if it is in your part of the world and you have purchased a bottle, I hope to hear your thoughts.

Bangkok - How We Spent Our 10th Wedding Anniversary: Part 2

I loved everything that went past my mouth in Bangkok. I was fortunate enough to have friends there who gave me lists of places to go for food. We partially followed the list and let our noses lead the way sometimes. I ate too much.

This is Pad Thai. We found this delightful stall tucked away in one of the side streets in Chinatown and the pad thai only cost us RM 4. It is one of the dishes in Chinatown that our noses led us to! The pad thai was so good we ordered another plate to share between us.  Along that road was also a man selling porridge or 'cjhok' as they call it. I am not a fan of this but my husband enjoyed it very much.

Kalpapruek restaurant at the Siam Paragon came highly recommended and our friend was right! Finding it was horrible though....try pronouncing the name and asking for directions in broken Thai! The ladies at the information counter of Siam laughed at us when we approached them for directions.

 

The picture above is where we had breakfast at the hotel. This shows the wood oven used to toast the variety of breads you see on display there. Wood oven! Toast never tasted so good and a worthy mention is also the croissants.....they were bits of manna from heaven. My husband said that it was just not polite for a grown woman and mother of two children to sneak those croissants into my handbag. I disagreed with him but did not take the croissants for the record!

These are some of the culinary delights we discovered at Chatuchak Market. Its an awsome market but in a crazy way....we got a map and did not get lost at all. My husband's keen navigation skills must be commended here!
Giant Prawn Noodle (left) - Rating: 7/10
Beef Noodle (right) - Rating: 10/10


Below you will see my favourite dessert (name escapes me), one that I had almost every day I was there. Rating: Out of this world/10!

It is a thin crispy pancake that tastes like chinese loveletters, filled with eggwhite and sugar whisked to a fluffy cloud with grated persimmons on top. This was another find at the Siam Paragon food court.

I am missing the food already......

Bangkok - How We Spent Our 10th Wedding Anniversary; Pt 1

Bangkok was an experience like none other! Old and new co-exist alongisde one another like it was always meant to be. As you can see from the picture here, tall and modern buildings sprout up between little shops and houses. This is the mighty Chao Praya River - this picture was taken from our hotel room. We stayed at the beautiful Lebua State Tower and seeing that it was our wedding anniversary, they upgraded us to a suite! Their service, needless to say, was impeccable.

This is the living area of our room. It was nice to see a box of chocolates on the table as we walked into the room.....plus it was a convenient place to dump all our purchases for the day!

There was a little kitchenette just past the hall and coffee making facilities (drip coffee maker) was provided. They also had cups and plates with some cutlery as well as a microwave which was really convenient especially since we brought back snacks to have late at night on the balcony!

                                     

The bathroom was the best part of the room for me as it was huge! I spent a night soaking in the tub and just relaxing........

                            

Our bed was massive. I was hoping there would be a picture of it nicely made up but there is none. Every night, we found our bedroom slippers laid down and the bed turned for us with a card on the pillow describing the weather for the next day. Very important indeed for a tourist.

This picture was taken on the last day of our visit and the bag on the bed is so full that it was hard getting it back on the floor.

Look out for my next post on Bangkok's awesome food!

 

Vaseline Healthy Hand and Nail Conditioning

I purchased this adorable looking cutie at a Boots in Bangkok recently. I loved the design and compactness of it the moment I set eyes on it and at a price of THB 65, which is around RM6.70 for a 100ml bottle, cheap as chips!

I have of late, gone into overdrive with ensuring that my hands are well moisturized. I dreamt, one night, that someone compared my skin to that of a dinosaurs! Go figure.

I do intend to moisturize often and this is evident in the fact that I carry a bottle of hand cream in my handbag, but I never get around to actually doing it.

The reason I like this product is that it is also formulated for the nails - so I feel like I am getting a two in one. I have horrible cuticles that are dry and rough and this helps soften them and keep them happy.

I love the subtly sweet smell of this. It does not overpower me. I find that a small amount goes a long way and the cream is thick enough not to dribble out of the bottle, hence controlling the amount you dispense at each use. I concentrate on rubbing them into the palms as well as the back of my hands and then massage them into my nails and cuticles. I then rub the excess on my elbows.

It is indeed a conditioning cream as my skin feels smooth and soft after using it for several weeks now.

This conditioning cream lists water, mineral oil and sunflower seed oil as some of its main ingredients. This is a bargain for less than RM 10 and I hope to see it in our pharmacies soon. I did see a similar packaging of a Vaseline hand cream but I am not sure if this one has reached our shores yet. If you have seen it dear readers, please let me know.

Body Shop's Merry Cranberry Lip Balm

I purchased this for RM22, a day before Christmas. I was at the mall picking up some last minute gifts for family and friends. I tell you! I plan ahead to get all my shopping done waaay before Chirstmas but fail. Will I ever learn?!

This lip balm attracted me for several reasons:-

1. 
   
   The container is a lovely shade of deep red
   
   
   
2. 
   
   The lip balm is a lovely shade of deep red
   
   
   

I love red - well most shades of it anyway.

The fruity sweet smell of this thing is out of this world and all this month, I have been getting a little high on smelling it only because it reminds me of last Christmas.

As you can see, I have been dipping my little fingers into this one. I tend to use this towards the later part of the afternoon when my lippie has faded post lunch. I sometimes cannot be bothered to take out my liner and lipstick and find a mirror to get applying it all right. So I have been using this to keep my lips moist with a little pop of color.

You may not be able to see it in the picture above but this lip balm has a slight shimmer to it which is a huge plus in my book. Also, I can wing it and apply it without a mirror and still look like I have done a decent job.

On the flipside, I am not too keen on using my fingers to pick this up for hygiene reasons. Once is never enough and you need to use your fingers twice for every application - or maybe I have giant lips and need more of the product......

Did you pick up any make-up goodies over the Christmas period, dear readers?

May you be Blessed!

Hello Readers,

December has been a really trying and busy month for me. On the good side, my husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and we went on a short holiday to Bangkok to celebrate. Its been a wonderful 10 years, with its ups and downs but more ups than downs I must assure you!

I also came home from the holiday being sick and staying sick for weeks after - it started off with sore eyes and the flu and the flu all over again!

I took time off in preparation for Christmas and only just managed to recover to bake cookies and cakes to be enjoyed by family on Christmas day. It was a curious Christmas for us in certain parts of the city - at around 6.30pm that evening, we were plunged in darkness! A call to TNB (our power suppliers) confirmed that there was a major problem at a substation nearby. So when anyone in Malaysia says "major problem" you sorta know that it is indeed major! The power was only restored at around midnight! It was a hot and humid Christmas evening indeed.

I am looking forward to the new year, dear readers, only because this blog has been a great adventure to me and it has forced me to really think about the products I use - hence the lack of posts everyday. I simply cannot bring myself to write about a product and give my views on it unless I have tried it and I can see some results or have good before and afters to show you.

I thank you for your patience and support - to Pugnes who was my only reader for the longest time and to my fellow bloggers, Vivawoman whose quest to share with us the benefits of using natural products is wonderful to ParisB who inspired me to write.

I hope that you will continue to have faith in me as I continue this journey.

I wish you all a New Year full of Blessings........

Hada Labo - Super Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing liquid

I happened to be in Jusco Wangsa Maju yesterday evening and thought I would pop by Guardian Pharmacy to check out if they carry the much raved about Hada Labo Super Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing liquid. To my surprise, they did and a small stand was set up right at the front of Guardian so you cannot miss it. I found a bottle and looked around to see if there were a few hundred women ready to pounce on the same item too because I had read that these little gems were sold out in many other places! I purchased a bottle of this and had thoughts of being greedy and buying another bottle just in case……but changed my mind. At RM 40.90, this is a very reasonably priced item and if it can do what it claims, then we have got a winner on our hands!

Hada Labo Super Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing promises to provide hydration and nourishment to the skin and the payoff is radiant and crystal clear skin. Now how many hands would go up at the promise of RADIANT and crystal CLEAR skin? I know mine will in a heartbeat.

In my teens and well into my 20’s, I had a face full of pimples and had to battle scars which were unsightly. My skin improved in my 30’s and I have a clear face with no scars now which I love. I do remember telling myself when I was younger that one day if my face became clear I would wear no makeup to show off my skin! This was because I always used to hide under thick foundations to cover up the scars and hated it! I am happy to say that I pretty much kept my promise and I do use much less now and am not afraid to leave the house with clean skin and a slick of lipgloss.

Back to Hada Labo, the function of Super Hyaluronic Acid is the ability to retain moisture and do it better than plain Hyaluronic Acid and the claim is that one gram of Hyaluronic Acid can hold up to 6 litres of water. This results in more moisture retained in the epidermis or skin thus making it soft and supple.

I used it last night before going bed and the SA said to put four drops in the palm of your hand, rub to spread it and then pat on your face. For me the four drops were too much and I ended up patting the liquid on my neck and finished it off by patting the excess on the backs of my hands. This morning I tried using three drops and that was just ideal. I am unable to comment on the claims just yet but once I have used the product for a few weeks, I will present my findings.