looselips’ Neighborhood

So since there has been a lot of stress, there has been a lot of retail therapy...and also lots of break outs! >< I bought the mavala double lash because it was on sale at a local retailer for about $12 CAD.  I haven't been using it as consistently as I should so I can't report much back about it.  Since I've spent many nights away from home, I haven't applied it those nights, and when I am home I'm so dead tired that I completely forget to apply it.  I'm not looking for dramatic growth though...really hope to just strengthen them and maybe have them a bit fuller so that all my mascara and curling won't pull them all out.

Along with the stress, my face has been breaking out TERRIBLY.  This is the worst that it has ever been in my life.  People keep commenting on it though which makes it even worst...Chinese adults just don't seem to have any tact.  Well at least the ones I've encountered (my parents most of all).  While browsing through the Whole Foods, I found this natural acne gel and for the first night it seemed to work really well...it calmed down the spots and they were less red and painful.  I also loved that I could understand pretty much everything on the ingredient list and there were no parabens or strong chemicals like benzoyl peroxide but instead used lovely tea tree.  So I bought that and used it a couple of days and was satisfied enough that I went to look up the brand.  It's a Canadian brand which makes it another plus, and I found they have this acne kit with the gel that I have, a acne wash that only has 4 ingredients and they're all natural except for the 2% of salycid acid (but at this point of my acne I think I do need the little bit of medicatedness), as well as a supplement vitamins with more all natural organic properties that I only have to eat twice a day with my meal (I tried other acne supplements but those required like 4 times a day and I could never remember...) 

So far I've only tried the kit for two days so I don't have much to report yet.  The wash was a bit drying but just using my Lush Eu Roma toner was enough to moisturize it.  The supplements are also a bit big but luckily I don't have too much trouble swallowing it down with a glass of water.  I know that my lifestyle right now might also ruin the chances of this kit working because I am hardly sleeping, eating junk (but at the same time, my team fortunately tries to make more healthy meals for one another, and while I work, I tend to touch my face without realizing it >< 

Oh and I loved the CS of this Dermamed company.  I was about to order from their site (prices were better than what other retailers were selling it for...I guess its the whole, get it from the source!) and I noticed that their office is in my city!  So I emailed them and asked them if I could come in and pick up the order instead of having them waste package for shipping it 10 minutes away.  They agreed and told me to just let them know when I come in and they'll have it ready for me!  So I did and they were super nice and it even has a 30 day money back guarantee if this doesn't work out in the end.  I'm trying my best to be consistent with this though and not let my schedule wreck havoc on my face....

Last thing...I've started the no'poo regimen!  For those who don't know what it is.....it is weaning your body off of using shampoos...all the brand, lab produced shampoos.  Our bodies are supposed to be able to naturally generate oil that nourishes our hair but since we've been using shampoos, it strips our scalp of too much oil and so our scalps over-produces and we keep trying to wash it and it becomes a vicious cycle.  So instead of washing with shampoo now, as a transition/detox period, I am washing with baking soda and conditioning with apple cider vinegar!  Don't you love these two things?  Remember my last post about using this stuff for face scrub and toner?  It's about the same idea here but for your scalp.  I've been doing this for a week now.  I still have to wash my hair every day but my hair is so much shinier and full of natural body than with even my favourite lush shampoo!  I love lush, but it can get quite pricey and these two ingredients are so affordable.  Eventually my scalp is supposed to get used to producing the natural oils and tone down and I'll be able to wash my hair less and less (still washing with just water though) until eventually my hair will only need to be rinsed with water alone!  I am really liking it so far.  My hair right now is getting a bit oilier faster than usual but that's only as my head starts to get used to it.  It happens to everyone this way and it's just a waiting game from here.  I have noticed though that the greasyness is not as bad looking as it was before when my head gets greasy and my hair is in so much better health now.  Google no 'poo to read up more on how to do this if you're interested!

 

There's so much here that I didn't even remember having...so much that I haven't even opened...but I'm too attached to let go of them!!  *sigh* but then I look at all of it and I feel overwhelmed again!!

There's a wedding tomorrow (where I'm actually a guest and not a photographer! yay!) so I get to dress it up some more.  

Ugh, my complexion has been really bad lately too....I think I keep changing my skincare routine and that messes up the whole balance.  I'm trying to keep patient and just stay disciplined in keeping one routine going.

These are the remaining gel liners left from the preorder. I may have 1 prune Indelible pencil, but these pencils went uber fast! Gel liners/shadows listed here are $8 plus $2 shipping.

Brow Fix-5

Free 1 gram jar filled with your choice for every $5 order.

 Free eye candy with every $10 order

  Free Lip Gloss(ETOA shades white tube choice of :Frosted Rose Petal,Hot Chocolate,Paradise Pink,Bronze,24kt- 1 left,Iced Cranberry) with every $15 order

Free 2 oz Herbal Hair Zen with every $25 order

Free  1/2 oz Honey Masque with every $35 order

 

That means with every $35 order you get all the above!

 

 

 Free Shot added to every spray ordered

I've been intrigued with the concept of mascara tubes since I first heard about tubes (From a gmail ad...haha they actually work sometimes...) but then I couldn't justify the price and so I never got to try it.  When I saw that L'Oreal had come out with their own, I was excited to finally be able to try it and get it from my local Shoppers.  Well, it was too expensive at Shoppers (15.99?!) and so erm...my mom got it for me from Superstore (at $11 something? oh well) Anyways, even though it is still more pricey than my other favourite mascara (Rimmel Extra Super Lash), I was willing to pay again for a second tube just this week.

My lashes are dull...they are short, straight, and sparse.  Probably the worst kind of lashes you could get (but I am thankful they grow outwards...one of my friends has lashes that grow INward that irritate her eyes and she has to PLUCK her poor lashes!  She said it hurts like crazy...I can imagine that it would....)  

Anyways, here are photos of the unexciting lashes:

Lookit those tiny things....please excuse the unruly brows!

Might as well throw in a review of the Shiseido curler!  This is by far my best curler.  I've got a bunch of cheap ones that all fail compared to the Shiseido.  I think it generally works better for Asian eyes because we have a "flatter" lash line and the shiseido has that only slight curve that fits our slightly curved eyes.

If you look closely, you can see that it has a grip on all of my lashes from the left to the right.

The curled lashes naked is nothing exciting either, since my lashes are still short...they still just look just as short curled without mascara...they are just too sparse and fine that you can't see anything.

So here is a photo of both my eyes, one without mascara and the one of the right with L'Loreal Double Extend.  See they are much more visible now and you can see the outer lashes are really lengthened.  But the real difference is from open-eyed shots!

Ta-da! Look at the difference! sorry one eye is a bit blurry... but I finally have lashes that frame my eyes!! It makes such a huge difference in my appearance!  

Mind you, I do have to re-curl after the mascara dries...but it's very easy with the shiseido, I don't have to clamp down as hard and it doesn't stick to the curler or pull out any of my lashes like other mascaras have.  Ignore the little specks of black though....that was when I totally forgot I had mascara on one eye and rubbed it....haha but at least they're not smudges! it's easy to remove those specks...and they really weren't visible until I took a picture with my super sharp macro/micro lens.

I give it 8 out of 10!  It could still work on it's volumizing category and maybe take out both steps and just make it a one-step mascara.  But otherwise, it's my HG mascara now~