Face Good

Now we all know that fruits and veggies are good for skin, but some don’t taste very nice unprocessed, and we get sick of the common fruits. It’s good to have some variations, isn’t it? Here are some self-invented juices that will help you lessen the harmful effects of late nights on your skin! And they taste great too!

Veggie Delight
You will need 1 radish, 1 carrot, a few stalks of spinach and celery, half a glass of fresh milk, 2 tablespoons of honey and a few ice cubes.
Cut up all the vegetables into small pieces and place them into the fruit juicer. Add the milk, honey, and ice and mash them all together.

Creamie Fruitie
You will need one banana, a slice of papaya and a small carton of yogurt (250ml). Peel the banana and remove the skin of the papaya. Cut the banana and papaya into small pieces. Put them into the juicer with the yogurt and mash them all together.

Sour Stimulation (warning: It’s really sour! Good for digestion though, especially when you’ve just returned from supper!)
You will need 2 kiwi fruits, 4 oranges and 1 lemon. Remove their skins and cut them into small pieces. Mash them together in the juicer.

Sweet and Sour
You will need three pomeloes, a bunch of grapes and 2 tablespoons of honey. Peel the pomeloes and cut them into small pieces. Mash them together in the juicer. The mixture will be a nice balance of sour and sweet!

Minty Cool
You will need 1 cucumber, 500ml of soya bean milk, 3 peppermint leaves. Skin and slice the cucumber. Mash and mix them up in the juicer. It’s cooling and makes you feel more energetic!

Unhygienic face sponges, powder puffs and cosmetic brushes are breeding grounds for bacteria. After washing your face, rinse your face sponge or towel thoroughly and place it in a well-ventilated area to dry. Face sponges and towels should be sunned every now and then to prevent them from being wet. Powder puffs and cosmetic brushes must be washed regularly. There are cleaning liquids specifically for this purpose that you can buy from places selling skincare and cosmetic products. Ideally, you can use your bath foam or shampoo as cleaning agents. They are pretty effective too!

Powder puffs blacken easily so you ought to wash them at least once a week. Brushes can be washed once in two months, but each time after usage, they must be wiped with tissue. After that, shake them hard to dislodge residue.
Using a lip brush to apply your lip balm and lipstick is most ideal (if you keep your lip brush clean!). If you apply your lipstick or lip balm directly to your lips, that’s fine too, but do remember to use tissue to wipe its surface of contact with your lips after usage. You wouldn’t want your saliva to remain on your lipstick till the next day.

Eyes are the windows to the soul. When Korean cosmetic contact lens companies like GEO, Dueba and G & G were introduced online a few years ago, they took Asia by storm and their popularity has yet to cease, in spite of projected risks (the usual contact lens problems complete with colour chemicals running from the lenses) and the fact that they aren't actually legally prescribed and sold in Singapore. Most users snag them online through 'Group Orders' (in which a group of likeminded shoppers combine orders from the same store to save up on overseas shipping). I have a pair of GEOs myself and they sure do make my eyes look bigger, although I only wear them for weekends and special occasions because I'm concerned about possible side effects too.


I'm not going to discuss regular cosmetic contact lenses since you can probably find tonnes of reviews and information online. I'm going to deviate from the norm for a bit to introduce some bizarre lenses that were actually created and existed for some point of time. Some are beautiful but probably dangerous to wear, some are just really creepy, but they're eye-openers nonetheless (no pun intended!)


Starry eyes





Anthony Mallier designed these sparkly lenses. They're adorned with swarowski crystals, which are  gorgeous but probably really risky and uncomfortable to wear. They're competition entries and not for sale. I can imagine why. Still, if a company manages to reproduce a similar effect on 2D, I'm sure cosmetic lens users will be all over them.


Eric Klarenbeek's Eye Jewelery Project adds a whole new meaning to those watery eyes so loved by manga fans and romance novelists. You could look like you're crying for as long as you wear these crystals which are attached to special contact lenses with medical wire. It's an interesting idea, but far less aesthetically-appealing than using glitter make-up or swarowski stickers on your cheek. It looks like eye discharge! And the promotional video isn't exactly appealing. Small wonder that despite having been unveiled in 2008, it receives little positive attention from the consumer market.


Too obsessed?


Like the saying goes, there's a time and place for everything. Cartoon characters like Mickey and Hello Kitty look cute as stuffed toys, costumes and decorative art. Not so much for cosmetic purposes. These contact lenses wouldn't look out of place at a Macabre party or a goth club.





This football print contact lens is a novel way to express your interest in the world's most popular sports event! The downside is, you might miss seeing some goals as colour contact lens wearers are known to have complained about obscured vision from colours overlapping the pupil.


Functional lenses (debatable actually)



These red Nike Maxsight contact lenses are creepy, but they reduce road glare from the sun, which would greatly benefit atheletes. The green pair looks better. These lenses are a joint project by Nike and Bosch & Lomb to enhance or protect the vision of sports people. Different lenses cater to different spots. However, these aren't very popular and don't seem to be in production any more. And a good thing too; vampirish or alien eyes aren't a pretty sight on our atheletic hunks and babes.


This research project by the University of Washington, if successful, would be a hit with all sci-fi fanboys and fangirls. The electronic circuit and lights imprinted on the lenses could serve as power visual aids, creating virtual displays superimposed on the real world, such as projecting a vehicle's speed on its windshield and creating a midair virtual display of a screen only visible to its user - no more busybodies peeking over your shoulder as you update your latest facebook status on your iphone!


Hope you had a good laugh over these oddities as I did!

Hot summer days are approaching! And though our erratic weather isn’t making it obvious, don’t you think the heat’s getting more ‘in your face’ during the sunny days?

It’s time to shore up the defences in your immunity system and your skin. I’ve extolled the virtues of tea, the all-natural detoxification fluid, in some previous articles, so here are more healthy tea recipes that could do wonders to your health and skin! Because remember that good health is equivalent to good skin. Each tea serves different purposes and uses different ingredients. Take your pick on what you need and what you can make!

Constitution-strengthening tea

You will need: 5 g of dried Chrysanthemum, 5 g of dried wolfberry and 2 – 3 red dates.

Wash the wolfberries and dates thoroughly and shred them. Place all the ingredients into your boiling pot. Add warm water to rinse the ingredients, and then pour it out. Add boiling water to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes. It’s ready for consumption!

This tea detoxifies your organs, reduces body heat and nourishes your blood.

Detoxifying cooling tea

You will need: 4g of dried honeysuckle, 4g of dried Chrysanthemum and 2g of dried Jasmine.
Use the same cleansing and boiling process as above.
This tea detoxifies and reduces heat and body swellings and provides prevention against flu.

Detoxifying cooling sweet tea

For those who don’t like the subtle taste of Chinese tea, this recipe, which uses 30g of barley seeds, 60g of green beans, 1g of green tea leaves (or a green tea bag) and a table spoon of honey will appeal to you.
Rinse the barley seeds and green beans and place in a pot. Add 300g of water and boil at high heat for 15 – 20 minutes. Add the green tea and boil for another minute. Filter out the liquid and let it simmer. Add honey to it for consumption.

This tea gets rid of heatiness and removes swelling and toxins from water retention.