Face Good

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!