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.

ELF Plumping Lip Glaze

These are two ELF products from a haul several months back. I purchased two colors of the Plumping Lip Glaze namely Ruby Kiss and Mocha Ice. It comes with the lip color on one side and the clear lip plumper on the other side. This has a doe foot applicator which can be a nuisance once you get to the last bit of the product and find that you cannot extract it. It really frustrates me when this happens as I hate to waste at least 4 or five applications worth of product.

Ruby Kiss

Mocha Ice

I bought this out of interest of the claim that it can plump up my lips and leave them feeling moisturized at the same time as I am all for lip products that moisturize especially. I don’t know about you ladies out there but for some reason, by lunchtime, my lipstick tends to do a disappearing act and I look all washed out without any color on my lips. What really works for me is Revlon’s Colorstay Mineral Lipglaze – of which I have a strong bond to. These are the only products I have discovered do far that stay on my lips and leave them feeling moisturized. As for plump lips, well I have been blessed with full lips - a little too full in my opinion but I am grateful so I cannot complain. Hence, I thought, it would be good to see if indeed the claim that it would plump my lips holds true.

This is what the eyeslipsface website claims that the Lip Glaze would do:-

Forget costly Collagen injections, or those painfully stinging glosses, stimulate your senses to a refreshed full perfect pout with e.l.f. Plumping Lip Glaze! e.l.f. proudly presents a revolutionary lip plumper, infusing natural ingredients that awaken your senses for fresh, volume enhanced, and moisturized lips. This dual sided Plumping Lip Glaze has a tinted color for a subtle plump or a clear gloss that power plumps your lips, use together and instantly feel the lip enlarging effects!

I love both the colors that I chose and as you can see, I have also included a swatch of the clear gloss next to the color Mocha Ice.

Both colors actually work for my skin tone. Don’t be alarmed at how red Ruby Kiss is, it actually applies rather sheer. Mocha Ice is also as rich as it looks in the swatch. I do use this on its own without the clear gloss, but because it is sheer, I sometimes like to layer it over another color. When applied to the middle of the lower lip, it gives a nice highlight to the pout.

Both the lip color and the clear gloss have a very strong scent which is rather medicinal and not appealing at all. You will feel a little ‘tightening’ on your lips for a minute or so after application but there was no significant plumping of my lips. I will say that I did not notice much difference perhaps because my lips are already full. Also, the lip plumping effects did not seem to last beyond the first few minutes when you feel the tightening sensation.


No one noticed anything different about my lips and it was not as earth shattering as I had expected. Perhaps if your lips are on the thinner side, you might be able to see a slight difference.


For now, I ignore the clear gloss and use the two colors on days that I want a slight hint of a color on my lips and nothing too strong. The only thing that keeps me from reaching for this again and again is the awful medicinal smell. Hopefully this reaches the ears of the people at eyelipsface and they will do something about it.