It is going to be a long week at my end, apart from the fact that I need to research on immediate annuities, I have got so many deadlines, work-wise. So I made sure to have a very relaxing bath early this morning using my favorite L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil. It gives me such a relaxing and moisturizing bath without leaving my skin with greasy feeling. A must for me especially since I have a few bumps in my arms. Afterwards, I applied L’Occitane en Provence Almond Tonic Body Oil all over my body to give me the glow it needs. It also leaves me with therapeutic smell that also adds to that relaxing mindset. The combination of these 2 Almond Products from L’Occitane surely relaxes the bumps in my arms, I noticed that with constant usage of both, my bumps have extremely lessened.

Then, I massage my feet and hands with L’Occitane Shea Butter Foot Cream and L’Occitane en Provence Dry Skin Hand Cream. I am totally a L’Occitane junkie.

L’Occitane Shea Butter Foot Cream – 1 oz $10.00

L’Occitane en Provence Almond Tonic Body Oil – 3.4 fl oz $38.00

L’Occitane en Provence Dry Skin Hand Cream – 1 oz $10.00

L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil – 8.4 fl oz $22.00

VANITY.KIT’s RATING

Overall Product: A+

Value: 4/5

Ease of Use: 5/5

Packaging: 5/5

Before I check on this tourmaster site for a friend, let me share a new staple in my bedside + travel kit.

A piece of Pond’s Wet Cleansing Towelettes in Evening Soothe is what I needed after a day’s worth of stress and heavy make-up. It feels like I had a cold masque on my cheeks and freshly sliced cucumber on my eyes. I do not use it daily but when I feel like I needed a cold masque to relax me before I hit the sack, I get one and pat it gently on my face. I use this AFTER cleaning my face with Cetaphil and SK-II facial cleanser and BEFORE I apply my night cream. While it claims to remove make-up especially mascara, it cannot remove mine. So make sure to remove your make up with your regular facial cleanser then gently pat a towelette before you apply your night cream.

Evening Soothe with Chamomile & White Tea

Lifts away impurities while soothing the senses, Removes waterproof mascara, New Seal Helps Towelettes Stay Wet

Breath deep and unwind. A perfect end to the day, Pond’s Evening Soothe Towelettes gently clean away all traces of dirt and make-up, while calming the skin and senses. These soft, textured cloths wipe away the day while releasing the relaxing fragrance of Chamomile and White Tea.

• Removes waterproof mascara
• Dermatologist tested
• Ophthalmologist tested
• Leaves skin perfectly clean and make-up free
• Removes waterproof mascara with ease
• Soft, textured cloth works gently, without drying skin
• Ideal for all skin types

VANITY.KIT’s RATING

Overall Product: A

Value: 4/5

Ease of Use: 4/5

Packaging: 4/5

Finding the perfect skincare products is like winning a lottery, I know I may sound OA to some but God knows how long I have been searching for one. Imagine the various amounts of skincare products my face had to take as it always had been a hit or miss for me. There were times when I felt like this certain product is going to be a hit, only to find out after 3 months or so, it would turn to a disaster, giving me unnecessary break-out episodes. To add to this, I do not have that much budget to buy skincare products that I would just end up dumping or giving away, not all brands give out free samples. (Although, I still have to find a skincare product that would lessen the flabs of my cheeky face hee hee, kidding! Perhaps one has to discover reverse osmosis for flabby body parts and cheeks.)

Anyway, when I blogged about the success of my experience with Lancome Genefique Youth Activating Serum, I did not plan on using the whole line, that’s just too much my wallet can take. But since, Lancome was generous with giving their customers jumbo-sized samples, I just had to give it a try. After almost a year of using the Genefique line, I am satisfied with how it works on me. I started to invest more on skincare products than make-up. This is also the reason why I blog less this time because I have no make-up hauls to share anymore hee hee.

VANITY.KIT’s RATING

Overall Product: A+

Value: 4/5

Ease of Use: 4/5

Packaging: 5/5

Then I got so lucky to have a friend who works for P&G ang made me try the SK-II products. Specifically these 4. After merely 2 days of using the SK-II line, my face instantly brightens up and I have seen how much my freckles/age spots lightened too.  I also noticed a more even skin tone. Since, I only have few amounts of these 4 SK-II products (read: jumbo–sample-sizes), I am wishing someone would give me SK-II shopping money so I can buy the jumbo sizes hee hee.

VANITY.KIT’s RATING

Overall Product: A+

Value: 3/5

Ease of Use: 4/5

Packaging: 5/5

I have finally found 2 skincare brands that I can alternately use and hoping that in the next 5 years or more, I would still be using the same skincare products. Now for my friends at Twitter and IG who asked how I combine all these skincare products, FYI: I do not use them all at the same time. Here is list of how I alternately use these 2 brands. I do not know if this combo will work for you too.

1st Combo:
Morning: Wash with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (sometimes I skip this in the morning). Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Lastly, moisturize with Lancome Bright Expert, then apply make-up (sometimes I use a primer or sunblock, depends on my mood).

Night: Remove make-up with Cetaphil. Wash face with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence. Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Then moisturize with Genefique Night Repair Cream.

2nd Combo:
Morning: Wash with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (sometimes I skip this in the morning) . Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Lastly, moisturize with SK-II Cellumination Essence, then apply make-up (sometimes I use a primer or sunblock, depends on my mood).

Night: Remove make-up with Cetaphil. Wash face with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence. Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Then moisturize with SK-II Cellumination  Deep Surge.

The constant products I always use are the first 5:

1. Cetaphil as make-up remover.
2. SK-II Facial Treatment Cleanser as facial wash.
3. SK-II Facial Treatment Essence as toner.
4. Lancome Genefique Eye Activating Concentrate as eye cream.
5. Lancome Genefique Youth Activating Serum as serum. (they say always use the serum first as it absorbs easily).
6. Then, alternating the rest of these on top of the Serum: Lancome Bright Expert, Lancome Night Repair Cream, SK-II Cellumination Essence and SK-II Celluminator Deep Surge.

Yikes! I am totally behind in terms of updating this blog . I am unsure if I will ever recover from my backlog.

I was checking my drafts section and I realized I have started a lot of entries but failed to finish them. Here are the pending reviews in my drafts section:

• NARS The Multiple
• NARS Orgasm Illuminator
• Benefit Benetint
• Benefit Coralista + Sugarbomb
• Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic
  
• Travel Light: What Make-up to Bring on a Trip
• etc… etc…

and now that I have a wee bit of time left online, I still need to check on this video baby monitor for a friend we are visiting for a trip this week. Yes, dear friends, we are bound for another long trip (well, long road trip is actually an understatement, keep us in your prayers because this got to be longest time I would spend on the road) this Thursday and will be back Monday. After this trip, we will be having a short downtime, travel-wise, and off we go again to another Summer getaway in 3 weeks time. I am hoping that during the 3-week-window, I will find time to update this blog.

In the meantime, I am about to purchase 2 items in the MAC Sized to go collection. Fix+ and Pro Eye-Makeup Remover, these 2 things will definitely complete my travel make-up kit. I am so glad MAC introduced this 1-oz-size make-up must haves because the last time I brought my Fix+ on our trip to Chicago, it spilled and I got nothing left to use .  So tell me, what are you going to get from this collection?

The MAC Sized to Go Collection (all are 1-oz.)

* Fix+ (not the Rose version; $10 US/$12 CND)
* Cleanse Off Oil/Tranquil ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Cleanse Off Oil ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Pro Eye Makeup Remover ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Demi-Wipes (30 full-size sheets; $15 US/$18 CND)
* Oil Control Lotion ($15 US/$18 CND)
* Green Gel Cleanser ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Strobe Cream ($15 US/$18 CND)
* Studio Moisture Cream ($15 US/$18 CND)

I used to experiment on different make-up remover and cleansers, most of which are oil-based. But then I keep coming back to these 2 products, both very affordable and easy to use.

On days when I wear full make-up, I use the Pond’s Cold Cream (cool classic) and on regular days when I just use light make-up, I use Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, which according to my friend can also work as an acne scar removal.

This is how I use both of these products: Apply a liberal amount to the skin and rub gently in circular motion. Remove excess with a soft cloth or cotton, then rinse with facial soap/cleansers or sometimes just water.

I’ve been making rounds in my xx# blogs posting a total of 31 things I want on my 31st birthday next month. Like I previously said, I am not fond of writing down birthday wishlists because mostly, my birthday wishes are not material things. But, just for the heck of it, here are some beauty products I would want to GIVE MYSELF on my birthday, but then again, I have maxed out my shopping budget for this year so, these remain to be in my wishlist hahah!
Shu Uemura Limited Edition Brightening Cleansing Oil.

SPANX Slim Cognito Mid-thigh BodySuit Shapewear (so, I have something to replace my other Spanx shapewear)

NARS Kabuki Artisan Brush

The first time I heard of this Oil Cleansing Method was when I was checking my feeds from Google Reader and found THIS ENTRY. It is pretty simple as you will only need these:

- a soft washcloth
- a blend of castor oil and olive oil
- hot water

I had a hard time looking for castor oil and even thought that this kind of oil is being used to tune up cars and other auto accessories, but I was wrong hee hee . I researched where to buy it but ended up getting a bottle from DH’s Aunt who always has everything you’ll ever need. Giddily, I did it one weekend and again, the instruction is pretty simple as well:

The Method:
1. Pour the oil into your palm. Rub your hands together to warm the oil and smooth it over your face.
2. Massage the oil into your face. Massage the oil deeply into your pores in a circular motion. Work it into your pores so that blackheads and all that gunk can be dissolved and steamed away. (I love it when I feel little beady, pore-clogging stuff coming out of my pores as I massage the oil, delightfully gross haha!)
3. Once you feel your pores are clean enough, pick up your washcloth and soak it in hot water. The water must be warm enough to open pores and remove the oil.
4. Cover your face with the warm washcloth, and let it stay until it cools.
5. Wipe the oil away and rinse the washcloth well in hot, running water. Repeat steps 4 & 5 for at least 2 more times.

Amazingly, you’ll instantly see how this method can rid off your stubborn black heads! For more information, you can read THIS. I do not recommend it to oily skin because DH who has oily skin, broke out when we did this process together. I have normal-dry skin and got no breakouts.

If you want an easier step but would spare some budget, Shu Uemura really sells out good cleansing oils. Check it out HERE and HERE.