Our outing began with a tour around the vast farm with owner, David (who was an accountant by profession) as our guide. Being a strong advocate of organic farming, David passionately explained the process of organic farming from using good quality soil & water to non- chemical fertilization. He also addressed the misconceptions that some may have about organic farming as well as the health benefits of consuming organic fruits and vegetables.

After the tour, we experienced planting our very own organic Aloe Vera plant which we got to take home. Finally, after witnessing the meticulous process of planting, growing & harvesting the organic vegetables, we enjoyed a healthy buffet spread of dishes with vegetables plucked fresh from the farm.

David runs a unique business from his farm where he offers a subscription service for fresh organic fruits & vegetables that are delivered right to your doorstep weekly. While the first selection of fruits & vegetables are random, you may subsequently customize your subscription with your favorite fruits & veggies, provided that they are available. They deliver free to most areas in the Klang Valley. For more info, you may contact 016-7113863 or 016-6747747

Would you like to win yourself one? Here’s how!
LIKE! Shiseido Malaysia Facebook to enter the contest. Fill in the contest form and upload your “picture of perfection”. Get as many votes as possible to stand a chance to win a full size Perfect UV Protector!

The cranberry-flavoured Le Fraiche Collagen contains Fish Collagen, Q10 CoEnzyme, Camellia Sinensis & Grape Seed, Soy Isoflavones & Vitamin C. Taste wise, it’s really more fish than cranberry so it’s not a drink to sip. I would highly suggest to either down it quickly or mix the powder with juice.

The benefits of collagen:
- strengthen hair and stimulate hair growth
- strengthen nails and ensure nails retain a healthy colour
- improves skin’s elasticity, providing beautiful and refresh complexion
- helps to relieve soreness and friction in joints
- strengthen bones and reduce chance of getting brittle bones
- strengthens blood vessels, intestines and uterus which protect against various blood pressure issues
- reduce acne, eczema, aging spots, minor cuts and scars
[From Le Fraiche Facebook Page]

The above benefits are not the easiest to notice. While I initially took collagen for my complexion, I couldn’t really see any apparent difference. However, I did find my hair to be growing longer faster during the time I was taking collagen. Perhaps to see more drastic results would require continuous intake of collagen.

Do you take collagen? What benefits have you experienced?

Le Fraiche Collagen can be purchased from leading pharmacies at ~RM180 for 15 sachets. More details about the product on their website: http://www.lefraiche.com/

Fine, my skin tone and texture is a lot better now thanks to proper skin care and the elimination of acne. Plus, I now know how to apply makeup to make my eyes look bigger and eyebrows more defined.

Yet, if you look closer, you’d spot the signs of aging. From the heavier eye bags to the cheekbones that aren’t as high as they used to be. Despite all the sunscreen and anti-aging skin care I’ve used over the years, age still catches up. Is that a bad thing? For me, not necessarily so.

The deepened laugh lines indicate all the joy I’ve experienced. The eye bags remind me that I’m strong enough to overcome hardships despite all the tears I’ve cried. As for the lines on my forehead, I blame that on having to lift my eyebrows whenever I’m applying eye makeup.

Aging is inevitable regardless of all the lifting serums and wrinkle correctors. We’ll just have to embrace it! Perhaps being “Forever Young” isn’t simply in the way you look. To me, being “Forever Young” means:

• Being passionate about something
• Having faith in yourself and others
• Knowing how to let go and have fun
• Having the courage to take risks or try new things
• Keeping up your energy
• Making the effort to be better overall

Other than that, I’m more than willing to leave teenage drama and emotional roller-coasters as things of the past.

What does being “Forever Young” means to you?

I did this look for a movie outing over the weekend. It’s a simple but great way to add color to a natural look. You can substitute teal with other bright colors such as green, purple, yellow etc. Darker shades would work too but there will be less contrast with the black liner.

Items Used:

Anna Sui Spot Concealer in 03, Lancome Blanc Miracle Powder Foundation in O-03, Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC Paint Pot in Vintage Selection [base], Everyday Minerals Blush in Waffle Cone [base], Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in #21 [liner], MAC Eyeshadow in Double Feature 4 (Teal) [liner], Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner Pen [liner], Urban Decay Eye Shadow in Darkhorse [bottom liner], MAC Eyeshadow in Ricepaper [highlight], Shu Uemura Hard 9 Pencil in Seal Brown, Maybelline The Falsies Mascara, Shu Uemura Blush in M Orange 55, Korres Jasmine Lip Butter Glaze

When you list every single product out it does look overwhelming, doesn’t it?

I kept the base makeup light with just some concealer on my dark areas and then set everything with a sheer layer of powder foundation.

After prepping the lids with an eyeshadow primer, I applied a nude pearl cream eyeshadow and set it with a matching eyeshadow (though technically I used a blush). With the teal cream eyeshadow, I created a winged out line as the base then applied teal eyeshadow over the base.

Following the shape of the teal line, I applied the black liquid eyeliner closer to the lash line. After that, I applied a shimmery dark brown eyeshadow just to define the bottom lash line and applied a warm-toned highlight right under the brows. To finish the eye makeup, I filled in my brows, curled my lashes and applied mascara.

For the cheeks, I used a peach-colored blush which. I tend to prefer pairing teal eyes with a warm blush. On the lips, I used a sheer light pink gloss.

If I’m not going anywhere during the weekend, I’m usually completely makeup-free. How about you?

I would keep thinking about the agony of nursing a pimple should I sleep with foundation on and scare myself with the possibility of my lashes falling off if I kept my mascara on overnight (actually, I’m not sure if that could even happen).

Currently, my makeup removers are from the Biore (the pink range). I’m a huge fan of their makeup remover wipes and after a few decent reviews of the Cleansing Oil and Eye Makeup Remover, I picked them up too.

Biore Cleansing Oil

I’ve been using cleansing oil for years as part of my double cleansing regime but coming across a cheap yet effective cleansing oil locally wasn’t easy back then. My all-time favourite cleansing oil would still be the Kose Softymo (which I’ve now stocked up) which unfortunately, isn’t available locally.

So, I’ve been using the Biore Cleansing Oil and for the price, it gets the job done pretty well. I’ve read mixed reviews about it (dried out skin, oily film, zits, etc.) but I figured it was cheap enough to try out and thankfully, I didn’t experience any of the cons mentioned. The formula did sting my eyes a little more so than other cleansing oils but I endured it initially because my main intention was to get a cleansing oil that could remove waterproof eye makeup.

I’m on my second bottle and I don’t have much complaints except that I’m not keen on the cloying apple scent.

It retails for less than RM30 but I got mine during a sale whereby 2 bottles came up to less than RM20 each.

Biore Eye Makeup Remover

Eye makeup removers have not been a necessity for me until I read this post. I was completely reliant on cleansing oils but it’s not easy getting waterproof mascara off without rubbing. With age catching up, I was starting to worry. I don’t want crow’s feet!

And so I bought the Biore Eye Makeup Remover. It took awhile to get into the habit of using a separate eye makeup remover. I sometimes skip mascara (or makeup) altogether just so it would be easier to remove my makeup at the end of the day. Yes, I’m that lazy.

This is one of the more effective eye makeup removers I’ve used. My first bottle lasted over half a year. I only need one cotton pad with a 20 to 50 sen [old] coin size to remove the makeup from both eyes. I’ve used some other popular pharmacy brands such as L’Oreal and Maybelline but they don’t work as well, I feel.

RM29.90 seemed a bit steep at first considering that most pharmacy brands are cheaper but I guess with its effectiveness, it’s worth the price.

Are makeup removers a must for you? Which brands do you use?

]]> http://skindeco.net/1-skin-care-rule/feed/ 11 http://skindeco.net/out-with-the-old/ http://skindeco.net/out-with-the-old/#comments Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:23:29 +0000 Connie D http://skindeco.net/?p=74 And in with the new.

If everything seems unfamiliar and you’re feeling kinda lost, welcome to the new Skin Deco!

While the domain name is the same, SkinDeco.net is now a completely new site hosted on a completely new platform. It’s so new that none of the old posts from the past 4 years are here. Alright, no need to panic just yet. You didn’t think that I’d let over 900 posts vanish just like that, did you?

All of the old posts are still available for viewing at http://skindeco.blogspot.com so if you ever need to refer to any of them, they are still very much there. However, many of the links are broken and it’ll take me some time to fix them. I apologize for the inconvenience.

So, why didn’t I move the posts here? Well, besides the fact that it’ll be too much hassle, I sort of wanted to leave the past in the past and really start from scratch. It’s not gonna be easy to build again all that I’ve built before (nor do I hope to redo everything) but presently, words like “unique visitors” and “view counts” hold little meaning to me.

With this new blog, I’m simply hoping to find my passion for writing about beauty again.

Sometimes, however, change comes with age and experience. That was what happened with my views on beauty & cosmetics. Many styles & looks that were synonymous to me are no longer so.

Tanned Skin

I’ve never been fair nor wanted to be fair. Instead, I embraced my naturally medium skin tone by making myself look even more tanned. I did everything from tanning beds, bronzers, spray tans, self-tanning lotions & good ol’ lying in the sun.

Though I still don’t shun from the sun these days, I don’t make the effort to darken my skin tone. I’ve started to be more concerned with skin damage & lather on the sunblock. I’m even starting to use some whitening products to even out my skin tone.

Colorful Eye Makeup

If anyone was to pull off a yellow or bright blue eyeshadow, it would be me. I loved colors. I still do actually. But previously, I was very biased towards colors and shunned neutrals. Now, however, I’ve started to appreciate the beauty of neutrals but I still sneak in some color here and there.

Buying Because It’s Cheap

During my college days, I loved acquiring makeup. Unfortunately, decent or popular cosmetics sometimes don’t come cheap. Thus, I had a mission to hunt for “cheap dupes” which led me to cumulatively spend a lot of money on products that I ended up not using because they really weren’t that good.

It’s not that I’ve become a brand snob. To me, a good product may not need to be expensive (e.g. Mascara & cleansers) but if something that’s really good but happens to be on the high end, I’d rather spend a bit to get the real thing rather than buying cheaper alternatives that simply don’t match up. Also, I no longer buy cheap cosmetics to try just because they’re cheap.

Colored Contacts

In most of my previous blog posts and when I’m out, I’m usually seen wearing colored contact lenses. It became sort of a trademark. I even jumped on the circle lens bandwagon but was eventually put off when stories about fake contact lenses surfaced. After that I switched to commercial brands but by then, my eyes were giving up on them. I would have tired eyes which looked red and by the time my eyes felt better to wear contacts again, they’re expired. So, I’m a specky. Unglamorous but I’d rather that than look like I perpetually have conjunctivitis.

Full Coverage Foundation

Honestly, I can’t make sense of it. Despite not having tremendously good skin before, it still wasn’t bad to the point that I needed heavy coverage. Yet, I preferred it over lightweight foundations. I literally used to make a face whenever I come across any description that says “sheer coverage”. Knock on wood, my skin is a lot more well-behaved nowadays and layering on the base products seem to be suffocating my skin. I’m a lot more comfortable with just enough coverage to even out my skin tone.

Nude Lips

Another trademark look of mine! I could easily pull off nude lips because I had rather pale lips to begin with and my eye makeup is usually quite heavy. On the other hand, if you have light eye makeup, nude lips simply won’t go. The bold lip look still isn’t quite my cup of tea but neither am I going nude. MLBB (My Lips But Better) for the win!

Tell me, how have your views on beauty changed over the years?

This brand new platform is slowly being developed from a blank canvas so there’s nothing much to explore for the time being. In time, the posts will come rolling in!

2012 was a year of milestones for me, filled with life changes, proud achievements and unforgettable memories. It can only get better from here. Thank you for your support all these years and I look forward to sharing my reviews, tips, thoughts and tutorials to inspire your beauty experiments and shopping urges.

Here’s to a wonderful 2013!

*Image source: http://www.psdgraphics.com/backgrounds/happy-new-year/