[Product Review] Neesya and My Quest For Brighter Skin

Brighter and clearer skin is one of my neverending quests.

From puberty, I have had oily skin, pimples and then after I started using makeup, no one taught me to double cleanse, use toner and all that jazz. I learnt it the painful way. I went through a bout of really bad skin, with cystic pimples all along my jawline no thanks to a psycho ex.

And then a friend introduced me to Korean skincare earlier this year and I was using this cream that made my skin considerably less oily and it shrunk most of the pores on my cheeks too! Save for the little scars and sunspots I managed to accumulate over time, I can now gladly say my skin is is pretty good condition :D minus the occasional hormonal spots and enlarged pores on my cheeks.

Cynthia most kindly invited me to the launch of Neesya Skincare in Subang Parade a gazillion weeks ago and I ended up being horribly late and I had to navigate the mall, which I haven't been in more than a decade :p

I received 3 products from the event and I've been testing them for a while. 

The brightening trio. L-R:

Lumi°™ Brightening Enzymatic Refiner (75ml)RM 35.00

LumiScience°™ Illuminating Essence (65ml) RM 79.00

Lumi°™ Brightening Overnight Mask (75ml) RM 59.00

First up: Brightening Enzymatic Refiner:

This gel has a rather thick and cloudy appearance. Lightly scented, a medium layer is recommended on cleansed face and left on for 5-10 minutes. DO NOT EXCEED RECOMMENDED TIME!

I used this after my shower and cleansing my face. So while this was drying on my skin, I applied lotion to my body and cuticle oils on my toes, taking the time to massage in.

                

Just out of the tube and spreaded out.

Upon squeezing it out from the tube, it has a slight soothing fragrance and a gel-like texture. As a refiner (as per the name on the tube), there's no peeling action or scubby bits in the formula. It's just.... a gel. Hahaha...

It becomes transparent upon application however, areas that were too thick, still had the same cloudy white color :p. It felt kind of cooling, like mint, but it was not unpleasant.

I left it on for about 5-ish minutes and wet my fingertips to gently massage the semi-dry gel in circular motions. It had become very thick after 5 minutes so I had to wet my fingertips a few more times to be able to massage without dragging at my skin. I then used a wet towel to wipe off the residue.

I felt my skin was most definitely smoother, it was as if I had done a scrub as my skin looks brighter! If only my skin looks like that permanently!

After wiping down with toner, it's time for the Neesya Illuminating Essence.

A transparent thick liquid, this has the same light pleasant scent and silky texture. It first feels sticky when you pat it on your skin but a couple more patting motions and it's all fully absorbed in to your skin. It doesn't leave my skin feeling sticky or tacky, nor does it make it extra oily. With brightening/whitening products, I have heard that some of them can leave one's skin very dry but of course, with my combination skin, I didn't experience any dry skin at all.

I have paired it in several ways. After cleansing my face and my toner:

1. Before my serums

2. Before my Neesya Brightening Overnight sleeping mask

3. Mixing in with my Laneige sleeping mask

I personally feel, with my Laneige sleeping mask, I find the best results when I mix the recommended 4 drops into my dollop of jelly mask. 

With my Neesya Brightening Overnight Mask, the result was even more spectacular! I woke up to find a pimple scar turn from a slight dark red to a pink-er tone! Talk about magic!

             

 It's also slightly cloudy and has the same light scent as mentioned in the previous products. 

Texture-wise, it's a little more runny than the Enzymatic Refiner and I think I actually squeezed a little too much as my face was rather tacky after massaging it in but I left it as such since I did not manage to do any masks the whole of last week. It has a very slight tingling and cooling sensation after I've washed my hands but not the bad kind of tingle. 

The second time I used it, after spreading out, you can barely see or feel it on your skin as you can see in my above picture :D

As a lazy girl, I totally am digging the Overnight Mask as it saves me time. I'm not a fan of wash-off masks since the application already puts me off so sheet masks and overnight masks are my favourite. One single application has given me pretty good results so I hope with regular application, it will help reduce my scars.

I included the Illuminating Essence in my daily skincare routine and I personally feel that it has helped to lighten some of my 'new-er' sun spots acquired during my most recent diving trip in Langkawi.

Here's a makeup-less face to scare the bejesus out of your living soul if you're reading this at night. Sorry for the image being so blur, I took this in the morning, right after I washed off the Overnight Mask and I think my phone is still snoozing. It wouldn't focus properly. 

That's the angry looking pimple scar on my cheek and some sunspots way further up. 

I'm going to attempt to do the whole routime at least twice a week for another month or so and then we will see the effects. Let's just hope I am diligent enough to stay to my routine.

Neesya products are very affordable, considering that each time, you only use a 10 cent size of the essence and the old 50 cent size for the refiner and overnight mask. Neesya products can be found in Subang Parade and The Mines Shopping Mall. 

For more information, do visit their website or their Facebook page.

Happy weekend!

Work-appropriate NOTD

A really old picture of my then NOTD.
Bloop polish as base
Glitter polish on accent nail is from Korea.

The Mythical L'Oreal Hair Do

So mythical, it's magical!

As part of the little job perks, I was invited by L'Oreal Professionnel for a totally Mythic Hair Makeover and the the viewing of Jonathan Liang's collection at KLFW 2013.

I was there with Eugein of HotPinkyRoom. Have you seen her baby?

                    

She's sooooo cute and adorable. And Eugein is one of those hot mamas who looks super young, slim and pretty. *jealous*

OK, back to my mythical hair makeover - Upon being seated, one of the staffs immediately  handed me a drink menu and I choose a nice hot cup of green tea to soothe my ruffled senses from the KL jam.

Of course, there has to be a pre-makeover picture. I had pinned and tied my hair up in my usual ponytail as I was out the whole day today - Clarins launch in the AM, SaSa launch in the afternoon and finally, this.

 

Phew. Life is tough as a vainpot.

*photo courtesy of Eugein*  

And the Mythic Hair Treatment began!

Here I am, having my day-old hair washed by Elaine- my hairstylist of the day, using the Mythical Oil Shampoo.

Elaine is damn freaking awesome and I like her because she's not the super chatty type where they won't stop talking to the customer or their colleagues :D She's also very thorough when she was washing my hair and she gave me awesome hair, which you all have seen on my instagram and facebook. 

She first washed my hair with the  Mythic Oil Shampoo. It has a very light refreshing scent and I couldn't help inhaling deeply throughout the process. I was then ushered to rinse my hair and she used the Mythic Oil conditioner to soften my hair (which kinda resembles hay on a bad day)

  I always wonder how do they wrap my hair in that towel. It's so short, but yet they can wrap it snugly and it doesn't pull at my hair.

 Elaine towel dried my hair and applied the Mythic Oil on my damp hair. I assume it's for better adsorption :p Next time I ask ok? She then began to blow dry my hair. Can you see the nice and soft flyaway curls on my side? Ahhh, If only my hair was like this everyday *dreaming*

 
And here's the final result! Elaine blew dried my hair with a large round brush and the hot air; she also gave me gorgeous voluminous curlss. On a normal day with shampoo and conditioner, I would have a ton of flyaway hair but the Mythic Hair Oil gave me commercial-worthy shine and smoothed every little bit of hair down without weighing down and making me look like an oil slick.

With the L'Oreal team - Audra from VenuzBuzz.com and Eugein

Once we were all done, we were ushered to Ben's for dinner a couple doors away. 

I also had a bowl of tomato soup that was a tad less creamy for my taste. Sorry, no picture because my one and only picture was blur. Ben's has one of the most awesome Toasties - plenty of soft oozy cheese on warm and fluffy toasted bread. That's my complimentary bottle of Mythic Oil in the matching gorgeous black and gold paper bag in the background.

We also had a few moments of fame while cameras flashed and we gave our million megawatt smiles (L-R) Audra, me, Eugein and Wendy from 惡魔婷婷

And then we were ushered to the fashion show - FRONT ROW SEATS FTW! 

Being the typical klutz, I kicked over Audra's beer and it spilled all over the carpet. Good thing they had black carpets, for which the beer magically disappeared.

With Tissot kickstarting the show and being so kind as to provide us with a very pretty boy for eye candy *wipes drool daintily with tissue*

Eye candy from Tissot

  Obviously, I didn't manage to capture most of the outfits which were shown that night and I'm no fashionista myself, but I do like the designs as there were elements of surprise in each outfit - a little cutout at the back, swallow tails and

And Tinie, she is soooooo gorgeous. I couldn't take my eyes off her every time she appeared on the runway and she modeled every outfit perfectly. 

OK, you can close this window now because I am just going to to post shameless camwhore selfies of me with my almost-perfect hair (almost-perfect because of the horrifyingly ugly roots). Seriously, I will never have any events/dinners/functions to attend when I have perfectly colored hair. The invites only come when their roots are horrendously long and impossible to cover up. Doesn't help that my hair grows incredibly fast. 

Still in the salon. No, I didn't filter this. My phone camera likes to add filters on it's own. But this picture got me thinking whether I should lighten my hair color this much :p 

And with Eugein. OMG, she's a mom. I can't imagine if I ever gave birth. People will be able to feel the vibrations on the ground when I start walking. Like a mile away. FML.


And right after the fashion show. See my fugly hair roots? But the shine was awesome!

Thank you so much  to the generous and wonderful team from L'Oreal Professionnel for allowing to experience the Mythic Hair Makeover and my first ever front row fashion show, Miko Galere and the most gorgeous hair makeover and of course VanityTrove Malaysia ;)

Till then, toodles~

Denesy Velvet Manicure Swatches & Review

Together with the Saxby polishes mentioned in my last post, I received 2 Denesy Velvet manicures set for review.

I received two sets: #02 White and #7, a Granny Smith Green. In each pack, you will receive a bottle of base color, a brush and 2 matching bottles of the velvet powder.

This is how the packaging looks like.

The set comes sealed in plastic and once you flip them around, you will see the numbers at the bottom.

On the back of the box are application directions. Very straightforward and simple. 

I first started with the base polishes, 2 coats each and about a couple mins to dry in between. The polish brushes were fairly decent, easy to control and not too bushy. Polish wise, the white was a little thick but nothing a couple drops of thinner could not handle. Green was slightly more sheer and I had to do 3 thin coats instead of 2.

 Flocking powder #07 on a sheet of paper. 

After I had applied the second coat of white and third coat of green, instead of following the directions on the box, I poured out the flocking powder on a piece of paper and rolled nail with my still wet polish on it. Waited for about 30 seconds and used my finger pads to press down the flocking powder.

I had to pay a little more attention to my edges as my nails are quite curved and om my first attempt, it was pretty obvious I missed the sides.

After that, I used the brush to brush off any excess powder and voilà! Velvet nails!!

I tried doing polka dots and a french nail on my pinkie but the results for the polka dots aren't too obvious. Pardon the horrible pics, but the camera wasn't playing nice that day.

Do remember to make sure that your base polishes are opaque as the flocking powder will not cover the streaks nicely (as seen in my index and middle finger).

The flocking powder stayed on for a couple of days and I had to remove them as I had wedding dinner to attend.

I loved touching the surface but my boyfriend weren't too pleased about it. He likes smooth nails and matchy matchy colors. Hahaha.

Overall, these are a good buy if you're interested to try out the velvet nails look as they definitely won't break your bank account. 

Denesy Velvet Manicure is available at all SaSa Malaysia outlets and retails for RM21.90 each. Find out more from their website and following them at social media links below:

Website: www.sasa.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SaSaMalaysia
Blog: www.blog.sasa.my
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SaSaMsia

Disclaimer: These polishes were sent to me for my review however this does not affect my judgement in any way. All feedback and opinions are based on my personal and honest opinion. 

Saxby Polish Swatches and Review

Hi everyone!

This is my first ever batch of polishes that I've been sent to swatch and review. So without further ado, let's get started! I received a total of 8 polishes - 5 Saxby polishes, 2 Venesy Velvet Manicures and a topcoat but I will review the Velvet Manicures in the next post. 

All pictures taken in direct sunlight unless stated otherwise.

First up, I have #48 - a pretty sky blue creme that dries matte. This was the first polish I picked from the lot because it looked so pretty in the bottle. 

I started with a base coat provided by SaSa on my middle finger and pinky but it made the polish sooooo streaky and clumpy upon application. I tried redoing it 3 times, until I gave up and did without a basecoat on my middle finger. All subsequent swatches are without basecoat. 

This is the final results of 2 coats each and top coat on my middle finger. It eventually self-leveled out quite nicely on my ring and index finger. You can see the clumpy-ness on my middle finger near the cuticle. This was taken when the sun refused to come out from hiding behind the clouds. 

The formula on this bottle was very thick. It was so thick that it could have been a one coater, however, since it's a matte polish, it tends to dry extra fast, what more with Malaysia's crazy humid weather. I'm just surprised that it hasn't bubbled on me. 

Next up is #12 - a pretty sunflower yellow creme that has some orange tones to it. Think pumpkin orange, but less orange. The color's quite accurate in this pic below, taken under direct sunlight. 3 coats with topcoat on the middle finger. 

Formula of this color is much sheerer than the sky blue, however it's surprisingly streak-free at 2 coats as compared with other yellow polishes that I have, BUT.. There's always a but... It starts to really streak on the third coat, which you can see in my picture.

I did a quickie swatch of this over my old mani of an OPI jelly polish, and it was nice and opaque in one coat. Maybe I should do that again :)

Next up - #50, a blue toned pink creme. Lovely formula on this! A one-coater at a thicker coat which is what you see on my middle finger (with topcoat). 3 thin coats on the rest.

The fourth polish is a little confused but very pretty girl - she's not sure whether she's a #66 or #99. 

I swear, I mean, look at the numbering!!

She has a little hidden secret shimmer upon application. It's not visible in the bottle but you can see it upon application. Formula is quite sheer on this, I did 2 coats and you can still see my nails, maybe I should have done 3 coats, but I didn't want it to streak like the yellow. Easy application, fast dry time for this baby here. 

Last but not least, my favourite of the bunch - #112, a lime green nail polish with silver glitters! This polish has a little secret - besides fine silver glitter in a jelly base, it's also a textured polish! It feels like you have fine sugar grains on your fingertips. 

I used 3 coats to gain full coverage and a top coat on my middle finger. I much prefer it matte. Dry time was a tad slower for this polish. 

Here's an additional picture I took, I was trying to capture the texture of the polish. I think I failed miserably, my S3 is not strong enough for super detailed pics like this. That, or I need a different app. 

I tried to wear the neon coral polish as a full mani, but this is what happened in less than 24 hours: 2 major chips on my index and middle fingers!

So I did a quick change of mani at 1-ish am that night but I failed to take a decent picture in the sun. This was taken in my office. 2 coats of Catrice - Steel My Heart and 2 coats of the neon coral polish. 1 coat of fast drying topcoat from Daiso. To be honest, I really wanted to love the Saxby polish. 

I did these nails at like 1am and I made sure the topcoat had dried everything before I fell asleep. I woke up 7 hours later, and took a shower, being very careful not to use my nails on my scalp as I usually do (yeah, I know it's bad, but I feel like it's not clean if I don't use my nails :p).

Went to work, and as I was driving, I realised that my wrapped part was gone on my index and I took a pic to show my friend the chipping on my nails when I reached the office. It was less than 12 hours and I spent a good 7 hours sleeping. 

The pic below is Day 2: After my shower, my whole tip on my index is revealed with 2 big chunks gone from my thumb. Catrice is still holding up strong. 

So let's face it, this matte neon polishes don't have the most awesome wear time, but then again, they were on my primary fingers. 

Day 3, major chips on all nails with Saxby neon polish, even my pinky, which usually last the longest. Shall not show you anymore horrible pics of chipped nail polish.

Final verdict: I'm quite sold on the formulas and colors although there were a little inconsistency. My only gripe is that not all of the polishes were brand new. Look at my picture below, these 4 polishes had dried polish at the opening of the bottle!

I would actually give this brand another chance and besides, they really are quite affordable: RM10.90 or approx. USD $3.70 per bottle. 

The Saxby polishes are available exclusively in SaSa stores nationwide. Find out more from their website and following them at social media links below:

Website: www.sasa.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SaSaMalaysia
Blog: www.blog.sasa.my
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SaSaMsia

Disclaimer: These polishes were sent to me for my review however this does not affect my judgement in any way. All feedback and opinions are based on my personal and honest opinion. 

Birthday mani

So I celebrated my last birthday for my 20s last month. Decided to do a quick and easy mani with my favourite colors.

Shown here is a one of my favourite color combos, which also happen to be my favourite colors - turquoise and gold.

China glaze - For Audrey and I'm Not Lion.

Easy peasy 2 coats each with topcoat.

Purple nails with gradient glitter tips

Base: 2 coats Essie -  No More Film
Glitter tips: essence nail art special effect topper - it's purplicious + Innisfree #108
2 layers of random topcoat.