Face Good

Early to sleep, early to rise lays the foundation for good health and beauty, but given our hectic lifestyles, we sometimes have to work till late, get home late and sleep even later! Especially when a huge festive season like Chinese New Year is just round the corner and everyone’s trying to handle increased workloads or finish work to enjoy the holiday in peace!

The good news is, yes, it is possible to sleep late and still maintain healthy skin, but there are some good habits that you must inculcate to make up for the lack of sleep!

1. Don’t wash your face late in the night.
Washing your face late at night actually stresses your skin and consequently encourages the formation of pimples and comedogenes. It’s just like eating late in the night, and your digestive system has to work when it shouldn’t have to. Wash your face as early as possible instead of right before bedtime, preferably right after you come back from work or wherever you are. It is also a good habit to remove make-up as early as possible.

2. Keep your skin well-moisturized
Late nights and exhaustion cause your skin’s moisture-trapping system to weaken. After cleansing your face, apply a good moisturizer that is easily absorbed. In other words, choose a moisturizer that suits your skin-type. Those with oily skin in particular, should generally avoid creamy moisturizers and choose water-based moisturizers instead. Frequently spraying water mist on your face is also a good practice. However, those with dry and sensitive skin should avoid using tap water to cleanse or moisturize your face as the deposits in it can cause further drying. Use mineral water or moisturizing sprays designed specially for skin care. Don’t forget to moisturize the nooks and crannies too, which are all too often neglected.

3. DIY Moisturizing Mask
Instead of applying your moisturizing serum directly to your face, apply it all over a plain facial mask and put it over your face. After 10 minutes, remove the mask; the serum should have settled into your skin. This is more thorough and gentler than rubbling the serum in with your fingers. Note that this works for serum and liquid moisturizers, but not for cream moisturizers.

More tips to come next week! Now you can stay up late to watch the Chingay without worrying, but all the same, don't go overboard, because sleeping late is still strenuous on your health in the long run!

Chinese New Year is coming! It’s the period of time when we have to sacrifice sleep to immerse ourselves in the festive celebrations and busy ourselves with all the preparations, and yet make ourselves look presentable for the throngs of relatives and friends storming our houses. How do we not succumb to the stress and keep our skin glowing?

Spring cleaning is a great activity in many ways – a complete workout on its own, a time for family to bond over the activities, keeps the house clean and unearths many things that have gone missing for the past year; sometimes, you may even come upon a windfall. However, it is very dusty and dirty work and all this stuff could get all over your face. Worst, because cleaning is such an exerting activity, your body generates heat and your facial pores open, making it even easier for all the dirt to get onto your face, which could lead to pimples. To prevent this, wear a mask (you know that huge stack of surgical masks that you got for H1N1 would eventually come into good use), rinse your face every time you take a break, and wash your face thoroughly after the spring cleaning activity.

Eating is going to constitute a major activity throughout the festives. There are so many festive goodies to savour! However, most of it is really fattening and heaty, which is why people often come down with sorethroats or breakouts after the Chinese New Year! Yes you should accept food when offered, that's only polite, but do eat with moderation; avoid requesting second helpings. You don't want to grow out of your new year clothes! Have green tea or Chinese tea whenever possible, they balance out the sweetness and savouriness of the cookies and cakes, and are capable of purging fats and toxins. Most people don't serve herbal tea to their guests since people generally have a love-it or hate-it attitude towards this Chinese medicinal drink, so keep some instant herbal tea at home which you can consume after a round of pigging out during the visitations!

When you stay up late, avoid eating and drinking. Keep your mind on that television show or the mahjong game! Do not drink tea or coffee to keep yourself up. To keep yourself awake, splash cold water on your face instead or place a cold eye mask or ice bag over your eyes. Remember to give your eyes a cucumber mask or teabag mask the next day.

Above all, Chinese New Year is meant to be fun, so don't exert yourselves physically or emotionally! Happy New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It’s been awhile since I last reviewed a product! Recently, I got some new make-up with red colour schemes. Most people talk about heralding Chinese New Year with new, red clothes and underwear, even hairstyles, to usher in the luck. Funny that people don’t place as much emphasis on make-up, since it’s pretty much something that we wear too!

In this post, I introduce to you my lips’ latest best friend, the new L’Oreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Classic Wine! Now true red lipsticks are difficult to pull off for people with fair skin. It could border on tacky, or simply look unbalanced on fair skin. This lipstick is in a very pretty and bright colour. It is a classic red colour, but not over the top red.

The lipstick goes on my lips smoothly and feels rich and smooth. It would be a good moisturizing lipstick for people with dry and peeling lips. It has decent staying power. It has been 4 hours since I’ve applied this lipstick. I drink water periodically (well I use a drinking straw, I don’t drink straight from the cup!) and I still don’t need to reapply yet!

Pretty lips for a low price - I’d definitely recommend this lipstick! If you fancy other colours or shades of red, this series has quite a generous selection.

For the life of me, I can't post it into our Facebook discussion group at the moment. There must be some glitch. You're more than welcome to repost it here. Thanks!