Archives for April 2011

It is Heaven-ly to Illumina-te, highlight and glow without discoball glitter

Paris B 13 Comments

Everytime I’ve sat myself down to tell you about the I Nuovi Illumina highlighter/base/primer, something distracts me. Or I start thinking about the Illuminati and run to dig out Dan Brown books. So this time, when I sat down, I told myself I’d FINALLY tell you about this product which is long outstanding and which is something I really like.

I Nuovi Illumina Heaven highlighter

Illumina by I Nuovi Cosmetics is a highlighter. “Not another one!” I hear you sigh. Well, yes, its another one. But unlike many highlighters we’ve come across, it isn’t disco ball glittery, nor is it super shiny and its quite hard to make a mistake with this one. It is in fact, very subtle and it is thanks to Illumina that I’m able to use my Clarins Everlasting liquid foundation without looking flat as a pancake 😛

I personally think that Heaven will be suitable for most skintones despite the fact its white. The reason I say so is because although the lotion looks white, it sheers out with a very pretty iridescence with very slight pink tones which help brighten the complexion. You can see what I mean in the swatch below.

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I and myMama Warmed up to the Osim uMama Warm Back Massager

Paris B 10 Comments

I went home last weekend, lugging with me the Osim uMama Warm back massager. It’d just been dropped off for me to take for a spin and since it did say uMama I wanted to see what my Mom thought of it.

osim umama warm with box

The Osim uMama Warm back massager is a mechanical massager for your neck, shoulder and lower back. Mom always complains about the tight muscles in her shoulder and since I don’t see her very often nor could I arrange for regular massages etc, I thought “Hey, if a machine can help relax her, why not?” Also, I can’t afford a massage chair which would be a nice luxury 😛

Mom didn’t get to it first though. It was Dad! haha… Minutes after I got home, he was peering into the box, wondering what it was and how to work it, so I put it on him for him to try. You have to wear the machine over your head so it rests on your shoulders. The piece at the back must sit on your lower back (just above your seating bone) so the straps are there for you to hold onto so you can adjust the height accordingly.

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Tip: Dry Skin Woes and How I Cured Mine

Paris B 53 Comments

Whenever people ask if I have sensitive skin, it always gives me pause. Do I say yes if my facial skin can tolerate quite a lot but the skin on some other parts of my body can’t?

dry skin on my hands and how I cure it

You see, I don’t have sensitive skin anywhere else on my body except for my hands. Its something I noticed and paid attention to in the last few years and I’ve traced my “allergy/sensitivity” to:-

  • harsh detergents – no washing up for me without gloves
  • certain chemicals – yet unknown which but usually in body washes, shampoos or face cleansing gels
  • certain organic products – depending on concentration of ingredients
  • prolonged contact with paper – work hazard

What happens in my case is nothing very serious from a health standpoint. However, its terribly serious from a aesthetics and comfort standpoint.

For me, if I come into contact with any of the above, within 2 days max (except for paper), the skin on my hands start to harden, dry out and peel. And its serious chronic continuous peeling. As long as I’m exposed to the item, it will continue. its so bad my hands look like that of a burn victim. And it does not recover as quickly even after I stop contact with the offending product.

I recently had a very bad bout – I have not yet been able to trace it to the particular product – where I had one of the worst ever reactions. I really should have taken a picture but I was spending too much time trying to cure it so all you have is a picture of my finger as shown above. Multiply that by 5 and include the palm and you get the general idea. Better this way. I don’t spoil your breakfast/lunch 😉

Using hand creams don’t help in my case. They alleviate the discomfort for a short while but then it comes back. That leads me to believe that many hand creams out there only work on the surface. They do not help “cure” a dry skin problem, no matter what they claim. Didn’t stop me however, and I did find a combination that helped me cure my problem! I’ve shared below some of those I tried and what eventually helped me.

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Turned On by Benefit’s Thrrrob Face Powder : Yes that’s 3 R’s in Thrrrob!

Paris B 21 Comments

3 years ago, I slammed Benefit Thrrrob Face Powder as being a useless piece of sparkly pink crap. So why I ended up purchasing it some time last year is beyond me. Isn’t nice to know that I’m able to admit to mistakes? 😛

benefit thrrob face powder blush swatch

I still stand by a lot of what I said previously. Benefit Thrrrob (3 r’s – WHY?!) face powder is not for use all over your face unless you are thinking of joining the circus or auditioning for the Chinese opera. Its too pink and people at Benefit Cosmetics must be on something if they thought this powder could really be used all over.

However, use it just as a blush and ahh…. that’s another story altogether! Having owned Dandelion, Georgia, Coralista and Sugarbomb and liking all of them (much to my surprise) I had to see just how good or bad Thrrrob was by comparison. You don’t read a lot about Thrrrob online. I’m not sure why because its quite a pretty pink blush.

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