Tip: Home Remedy: Make an Aspirin mask

Picture Credit of pietroizzo

I don’t take aspirin for headaches or pains - it isn’t common here in Malaysia where paracetamol is usually more popular. That said, I learnt of a useful tip of using aspirin as a facial mask and here is my recipe for the aspirin mask. There’s More! Continue reading →

Update : Using Olive Oil on the face

I’ve been on an olive oil cleansing regime for 1 week.

In this time, I’ve realised that I’d been having a sudden increase in spots, some of which are of the hidden painful variety. These were in places I haven’t had spots for a while i.e my forehead and cheeks.

I’ve only added the olive oil into my skincare regime so I’m going to go out on a limb and say its attributed to that. Maybe my combination skin cannot take the oil as the spots are in places which tend to get oily during the day.

So, for now, I’m stopping this and going back to my regular cleansing with makeup remover and/or cleansing oils and foaming cleansers. I guess the olive oil was just too rich for me. It might be better for those with dry skin.

For now, the olive oil goes back into the kitchen. Its great with crusty bread and balsamic vinegar by the way

Beauty in your kitchen: Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I’d been talking to a friend recently. She’s got amazing smooth skin with tiny pores and seriously does not look like a mother of a young child. She looks like she is the child herself! What’s her secret?

One of the things she uses for her skin is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil? The sort found in kitchens? The kind used for cooking pasta? The oil I dip my crusty baguettes into?

Yes, the very same oil.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) works on the same principle as that of cleansing oils. The only thing that can truly remove oil, so the experts say, is oil. So, using that principle, using oil to remove your makeup at the end of the day is a good thing as it cleans out your pores nicely.

There are many options of oils available, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and olive oil, just to name a few. In fact, there is a brand called DHC which has olive oil (in a refined form) as its base ingredient and uses it for their cleansing oil. I’ve tried this. Its thick, compared to other cleansing oils and I’ll review it separately one day.

Coming back to the use of Olive Oil. Olive Oil has natural Vitamin E and is touted to have anti-oxidant properties. Some people use it as a moisturiser and claim that it has anti-aging effects. I would imagine that if you have very dry skin on your face, it would be beneficial, but definitely not if you have oily skin.

Anyway, after hearing her rave about it and having read online various reports extoling the virtues of using this oil as a makeup remover, I decided to try it.

I have a bottle of Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil in my kitchen. I cook with it, and Extra Virgin is the best quality you can get. Where it comes from matters if you are cooking but not for your face I think. To be honest I picked up the Spanish one because it was the only one I could afford then!

I covered the mouth of the bottle with a cotton pad and tipped the bottle over, just getting some oil onto the cotton pad. I then used it on my face. It was quick to remove my makeup. The waterproof mascara took a bit longer, but off it came anyway. My face felt rather oily and sticky due to the oil but it was only a thin layer and didn’t bother me too much. To my surprise, my skin felt very soft and clean which is a bit of an oxymoron as there was the oil still on my face. Oh apparently olive oil makes a great conditioner for the eyelashes too! So maybe this will help them grow/stay soft despite my daily use of mascara.

Then, I washed my face with my usual cleansing foam - Estee Lauder Cyber White Calming Foaming cleanser. This foaming wash usually leaves my skin feeling taut but today, there was no such feeling. My skin actually felt very clean and smooth. Impressive. I then followed up with my usual night skincare routine.

I’m only concerned about any pore clogging effects as I have normal-combination skin i.e. an oily forehead, nose and chin, and normal to dry cheeks. I’m going to be a guinea pig and try this out for 2 weeks and see what happens.

Other benefits of olive oil are:

• Skin Moisturizer - good for elbows or dry bits of skin
• Hair Conditioner - I’m going to try this one day!
• Cuticle Treatment - softens up your cuticles and treats dry bits of skin

Its natural and if it works, its also cheap! I’ll be back with my report in 2 weeks time!

Evening Primrose Oil

KittyCat previously asked me my views on EPO or Evening Primrose Oil.

Well, I am a firm advocate of taking evening primrose oil to relieve period pains. I found that by taking one a day, I would not suffer as badly each month, and if I did, then I’d pop 4 at a go, and the pain/cramps would go away.

I was not aware of its beauty benefits until later. Evening Primrose Oil has Omega 6, which is good for the skin and hair. Taking it regularly will help improve your skin texture and also slow down the aging process. Isn’t that what every woman wants? I cannot say for certain that taking Evening Primrose Oil has helped my skin, as I have been taking it for a while now, and am also taking other supplements besides.

There are many brands available in the market, but I take the one by Kordel’s in 1000mg doses. I take only 1 a day. Someone told me not to take too many as it can also lead to a higher cholestorol. I’m not quite sure how true that is but I’m not going to risk it! Beauty cannot come at the expense of health!

Disclaimer: This is based on my own personal experience. I’m not a nutritionist nor doctor. If in doubt consult your doctor before embarking on any supplements

technorati tags: Evening primrose oil, skincare, health, supplements