Fancy 7 benefits in a bottle?

Notice how girls seemed to be broke almost every month? And how much we loved shopping? The amount of space needed for our room? Well, this is why - we have loads of beauty products to buy! Ranging from hair care to nail care, from head to toe, we need tens if not hundreds of bottles of these wonder products to enhance our beauty.

There's every product for head to toe!

I personally, have loads of nail colour in the shades of red. To guys, it may just be red. But to me, all these reds are different! And when it comes to moisturisers, you'll need one for the face, one for the body and one for the place where the sun don't shine! And those really adds up to the amount of products I have on my dressing table.







Noticed that my mosturiser bottle is nearly empty and it's time to go shopping for a new bottle! Yay on one side but heartache on the other because it's time to fork out loads of moolah to buy a bottle of cream that is not a life-saving item but completely necessary. I'm a very simple person when it comes to choosing a particular skincare product.



When I go searching for the bottle of moisturiser, I am looking at one that gives me the best benefits besides the affordable pricing and a trusting brand. Most of the moisturisers in the market now does not only offer the effects of moisturising and nourishing, some even offer the whitening benefits which garnered lots of approval from youngsters nowadays because of the amount of sun we are exposed to. Having a fair and smooth skin seemed to be the trend.







However, I was introduced to the new Olay Total Effects. It has never crossed my mind to try Olay because I can still remember the days where it was called Oil of Ulan then and the ads of this brand is all over the TV. I still have that perception that Olay is for the older and more mature ladies. Well, I was challenged to change my perception towards Olay Total Effects. The new moisturiser seemed to be the hottest product off the shelf because of the 7 EFFECTS that they promise to deliver.



Honestly I hate it when people tell me that I looked older than real age. The conversation always start with this "Hey Eiling, tell me, how old are you?" and I'll usually say "Why don't you take a guess?" And the replies I always get are - "Let me guess, you're 28 this year?" They always guess that I'm a few years older than my biological age. I guess the usual skincare with whitening is just not enough. Whitening do not include anti-ageing benefits.

Although I'm in my 20's, I've started to feel the effects due to our hot and humid weather and constant exposure to UV rays from the sun and also the dusty environment. Until I discovered Olay Total Effects! Love the light texture, and my skin actually starts to feel plumper after just a few weeks. I like that it has UV protection as well!

This is all you need for each application.

Total Effects fights 7 signs of aging (fine lines and wrinkles, rough texture, uneven skin tone, dullness, prominent pores, age spots and dryness) by:

• Minimizing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles

• Moisturizing to soothe and nourish dry skin

• Balancing color and tone while reducing the appearance of age spots

• Smoothing skin’s texture with gentle exfoliation

• Refining to minimize pore appearance

• Protecting skin’s surface with antioxidants

• Firming skin’s appearance with hydration

I've been using the Olay Total Effects for 2 weeks now and I have been tracking the changes I've experienced throughout this period of time. My beauty regime is simple: wash with a facial cleanser, apply toner & moisturiser. I do this in the morning and before I go to bed. Although the changes are not very drastic, as I do not have any visible wrinkles on my skin as of now, the moisturiser does provide my skin with enough protection and at the same time keeping it moisturised even in air-conditioned rooms and in the hot sun.



This is the right product for women in their 20's if they are looking for a product that gives them both the whitening and anti-ageing effects. It's always good to start early with the right skincare to achieve a clear, fair and flawless complexion.

Before & After

The skin is more evenly toned and pores has been reduced. The best thing is that the cream is now in a lighter formula for better absorption and less greasy on the skin. Knowing that the moisturiser also provides antioxidants to protect the skin surface gives me a peace of mind especially due to the nature of my job. I do go out in the sun once in a while during my market visits and therefore, I appreciate that the moisturiser is doing a good job by providing the 7 anti aging benefits in 1 formula for visibly younger-looking skin that looks more resilient to aging.







There's something about this moisturiser that I really like - the signature scent of a powdery and sunscreen bouquet. Considering the affordable pricing (RM40+) for this moisturiser, it is worth a try if you haven't test the Olay Total Effects yourself. It's available at most leading hypermarkets & pharmacies.



Do visit this link to share & further discover what other women are feeling about their skin!

Money Not Enough!

Sigh, it's such a cruel world where you can't afford the things you wanted! I was visiting the Perfect Livin 2011 exhibition at the Putra World Trade Centre where they exhibits the stuff that you'll need for the house from electrical appliances to furnishings. It was my first visit to such an exhibition as previously I don't have to care about the deco. Ever since I've joined the home owners club, I need to start thinking what am I going to do with the house!

Well, it's such a wonder that RM20k don't get you much nowadays. That's approximately the price of 2 units of 1 seater sofa that I fell in love with, with a Lebensstil fridge and a induction cooker. Wow... how could one possibly furnish the whole house at one go?!! I'm partly to be blamed because of such fine tastes. I just couldn't help it... I want my dream home!







And my dream kitchen is one that looks like this. There's a built in wine fridge to store my wines and champagnes with the right temperature. Then, there's an island in the centre for me to do my baking or act as a dining table if I'm dining alone or if it's just 1 or 2 people.



Back to reality, I can't really afford this kitchen and my house is not that big! Just the built in kitchen cabinets itself will cost more than RM10k, not inclusive of the fridge, the sink, the cooker, the oven and kitchen hood! Double sigh...

I want a colourful theme for my living room!

Lucky I didn't commit myself to sign up any packages at the exhibition despite them giving big discounts as I believe a wise consumer should only buy something they need at that time. I won't be rennovating the house till next year and certainly I won't need to buy anything now! You know what they say, there'll always be another exhibition... soon!

Massage & Body Scrub @ Aspen Spa

During the afternoon, I took my Mom to Aspen Spa located on the 1st Floor of Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 7 at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail for a nice body scrub and full body massage. There's a promotion during the Merdeka & Raya where the whole package only costs RM138 for a 90 minute treatment. Though it may not be some fancy spa places but it does offer a very professional and relaxing massage. The body scrub was very good as I can feel the difference after all the dead skin cells have been removed and the body is well moisturised now.







As for dinner, Mom and me decided to buy some food from the Ramadan Bazaar near our home instead of her cooking or eating at the restaurant. It's my 1st ramadan bazaar so far for the year. There are not many choices as only a few stalls are set up in my housing area. I was craving for ayam percik and lucky there was a stall selling that!







For RM3.50, it's a pretty decent price but I was more disappointed with the quality. They didn't grill it properly as the chicken were not completely cooked. The marinate wasn't strong enough but the chilli sauce does a good job by covering the lack of flavours.

The chicken murtabak I had wasn't any good either!

Colourful drinks don't appeal to me..

Actually I do realise how much food prices have gone up! I bought 5 pieces of really small fried cempedak (a fruit resembling jackfruit but has a soft and slimy texture) for RM2! The pieces were really small and I thought it was really expensive.



Seriously, if you think eating at the bazaars are cheap, they aren't. I usually end up buying more than what I can really stomach because I can't stop buying all the different kind of food that I wanted to try but then can't finish them. Money these days really can't buy much!

Ageing young... am I?

Honestly I hate it when people tell me that I looked older than real age. The conversation always start with this "Hey Eiling, tell me, how old are you?" and I'll usually say "Why don't you take a guess?"

And the replies I always get are - "Let me guess, you're 28 this year?" when I'm actually 25 years old (two years ago-lah). Grrr... It's even worse when one of them tells me that I looked 30!!! Do I, do I?!! Well, I sometimes ask myself this question and often I would look back at my pictures taken a few years ago and start comparing if my skin is starting to show signs of ageing?!! I'm not that extremely-vain-pot kinda girl but you do have to know that each lady's main concern is really about ageing.


Although I'm in my 20's, I've started to feel the effects due to our hot and humid weather and constant exposure to UV rays from the sun and also the dusty environment. Maybe it's also due to the things we eat. As you know, I'm not exactly the healthiest woman around who eats bunny food. I still love my alcohol and pork lard.

I've been reading some articles lately and there was a survey carried out and 61% of the Asian women believed that in general, a woman's skin begins to age at 30. However in reality, by the age of 24, 65% of the women have begin to notice at least one change in their skin condition which leads to the sign of ageing.



There's also a scientific study that shows that women in the 20's experience a significant increase in permanent lines and wrinkles formation and when they are in their 30's, the increase is even more! Surprisingly, 2 out of 5 Asian women do not know how to treat the multiple skin concerns they face. And that includes me. Honestly, I don't really have a proper beauty regime and I am also not tackling the ageing process with any anti-ageing skincare.

I used to think that anti-ageing skincare are meant for older women. That's because I do not see it as a need to treat the skin ageing concerns now which falls under the category of the 56% of Asian women whom are delaying the use of the anti-ageing skincare in their 20's.


And interestingly, many women, including myself would sometimes use whitening products without the anti-ageing benefits. I could provide a reason for that - I'm still young mah and what for spend so much on anti-ageing products. Wait until I'm 40 or so lah... However, the survey did say that 65% of Asian women believe youthful skin is an important component of ideal standard for beautiful skin. Yet, 1/3 of women in their 20s who have seen signs of skin ageing are only using whitening skincare! Why is everyone so obsessed about whitening only? There's more to just having fairer skin you know?!!

As I continue to read the studies and research done on the women in their 20's, I begin to worry. I know I shouldn't as it'll just add a few more wrinkles.

So what I'm going to do is to embark on a journey to search for a good anti ageing whitening skincare to try! And hopefully I can freeze or reverse my aging skin and look as youthful as I was 25?!! In search of my lost youthful skin! Haha... stay tuned!

(pics are all taken way back in 2008 and now I'm ageing... boo hoo...)

One Solution for All of Asia's Whitening Needs...

I would be the last person on earth to be declaring that I need whitening skincare products. Everywhere I go, people often tell me that I am too fair or rather "do you even go out into the sun?" Well, yes I do and I am exposed to the sun quite a fair bit especially when I'm in Langkawi for my outlet visits. The problem is, or rather the advantage I had is that I can't get a tan even when I spend hours under the sun. My skin would turn into tomato red, then started peeling and later I would be fair again...

Yeah, so why do I need any whitening products?!! Honestly when I first receive the invitation for a beauty workshop by Estee Lauder in conjuction with the new launching of the CyberWhite Brilliant Cells, I was quite sceptical to attend as I thought "yeah, another boring session where they tell you to put hundred layers of cream and yada..yada..." but then again, it's going to be my first beauty talk and so why not?!!

I could be well sleeping past 10am on a Saturday but for sake of good skin and beauty, I forced myself to wake up for the workshop. It was just a few of us and we were treated to some light breakfast before we move on to the serious stuff! Obviously I am no beauty writer and I absolutely had no idea why they made me go through 2 hours of cleaning my face, applying the creams and then putting on the make up. It usually takes me no more than 15 minutes to get ready and by the time we finished washing the face, I would have been sleeping soundly!

But then I learnt some valuable lessons. I had been doing it wrongly for years and it's time I do it the right way. I never knew why we had to go through all the cleansing and creams application but now I know that it's not a waste of time. The reason why I had dark spots on my face or hands that causes dullness and skin discolouration was due to dehydration, uneven skin texture, disorganised collagen and microcirculation.

The Skincare Range

The very reason why the Estee Lauder New CyberWhite Brilliant Cells was created is to target these 4 factors by bringing back the translucent, luminous skin that will help reveal a fresher, fairer, brighter cells delivering full spectrum brightening results to illuminate the skin.

The trend now is to have a dewy look with radiance. According to the beauty experts at EL, the matte look is out! And the new CyberWhite Brilliant Cells skincare and makeup range will help you to achieve that look!

The Makeup Range

Apart from learning about the skincare and the daily regime, we were taught how to apply makeup the correct way. Gosh, I didn't know I was doing it wrong all these while as the art of applying makeup the right way is really not as easy as one thinks.

The makeup artist shows how to mix 1 part of the essence with 2 parts of GelCreme makeup with a Powder Foundation Brush

Apparently, the using of a powder foundation brush instead of the usual foundation brush 1 does wonders. I have never used any brushes to apply the liquid foundation and I had difficulties doing it right the first time but no worries, the beauty consultants at EL were really helpful. I seemed like a noob among the professionals!


One thing I was very happy about the whole experience is that I am finally realising that it's time to do things right. The reason I can slack in my beauty regime is due to the arrogance of youth but I know my time is running out. I better take good care of my skin now or never! Ever since that workshop, I have been religiously following the beauty regime for 2 weeks now and I had to wake up extra early to do it.

Very important tips:

1. Remove makeup with the right remover for eyes, face and lips.
2. Foam the cleanser on the fingers first before applying to the face.
3. Apply the toner/moisture lotion.
4. Gently apply eye cream/creme around the eyes area.
   
5. The brightening essence is applied lightly like playing piano on the face.
6. Layered it with a moisturiser/moisture creme/milky lotion
7. If you're out in the sun, don't forget to apply the UV protector!

All these steps are to be done before one goes to bed or applying makeup. Now you see why I need to wake up an extra hour early to do this?!! But above all, I'm happy as I begin to see results for being so hardworking on my face. I find the new products from EL very easy to absorb into my skin and it didn't leave a greasy feeling. I guess afterall, I could be a very disciplined person and here's a big clap to myself!

Seriously if you're looking for a whitening solution to take care of your spots as well, give Estee Lauder New CyberWhite Brilliant Cells a try as their clinical testing showed that 43% increase in overall skin brightness after using the range for 8 weeks.



For more info, log on to the website, or join their Facebook and you can even play a game to win a full size of the new range!