Lifestyle Archives - Page 26 of 28

Your say: Do you research new brands and products before trying? What is your criteria

March 5, 2013 Paris B 38 Comments

how much research do you do for new products

As consumers, we are almost daily bombarded with news of what’s new in the market, be it a new restaurant, a new gadget or, in keeping with the theme of my blog, a new cosmetic brand or product. Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? I do! 😯

Every other week sees the launch of a new product, a revamp of an existing product, and sometimes, a new brand attempts to break into the already saturated cosmetics market. Every now and then, I receive pitches from random brands, many of which I’ve never heard or read of before, asking if I’m willing to try their new brand/product. I am always a little hesitant to though, and I usually do very intensive research before I even decide if I want to. That said, for me, this is true whether or not I blog or as a consumer. Its something I’ve been doing.

But what I’m curious about is how much research you do, if you do any at all, into a new brand or product before you take the leap of faith and buy or try it? What are things you look for?

Scrumptious Saturday Vol. 24: Juicing for Health and Better Skin

March 2, 2013 Paris B 42 Comments

This whole week, I’ve been talking about making changes to various parts of my skincare (toning and using a cream/milk cleaner) with great success. The primary reason I’ve had to do this is because last month, my skin decided to throw a tantrum. I had terrible acne and clogged pores on the lower half of my face – one of the worst episodes I’ve seen since I got my skin under control. I remembered my previous experience when this happened, where I found that what my food intake can also have an effect on my skin. Over the Chinese New Year festivities, a lot of food was consumed, mostly not very healthy and significantly lacking in fibre and greens.

So when I got home and settled back into my routine, I sat down and decided that I had to do something about my fibre intake and I hit on the idea of making juices with fruits and vegetables. I looked it up online and its a really really huge thing. There are blogs and websites dedicated to just juicing! But I ran into a problem.

juicing for health

I don’t have a fruit juicer! I thought about picking up one, but there were so many things to think about – did I want a slow juicer or a normal juicer? Did I want something that was pricey or could I make do with something cheap? How long could I keep this up for before I fall off the bandwagon?

It was about then that I remembered I had a blender. So I looked up information online and it turns out, blending fruits and vegetables has its own niche and following too! Gosh, is there nothing that no one is an expert on online? 😛

For the past 2 weeks, I have been blending a fruit (and sometimes vegetable) drink almost daily and I have to say, I really enjoy it! Not only that, I believe I’m getting health and beauty benefits too 😀

Your Say: How dedicated are you to collecting brand loyalty points to redeem vouchers or products?

January 22, 2013 Paris B 60 Comments

brand loyalty memberships

Every now and again, I make purchases from different counters and every now and again I get the same questions “Are you a XXX Brand member?” It appears that every brand has their own loyalty membership system now aside from the department store loyalty memberships. I know its a way for the brand to track their customer’s spending patterns and what they buy and the members benefits are just to sidetrack us from this.

Recently, I went to the Dior counter to pick up the Spring blushes for friends and when they pulled up my record, it showed that I’ve been to 2 other Dior counters to apparently pick up the same items 😛 It was quite creepy, and I can tell you the sales assistant was puzzled but to her credit, she didn’t say anything, just asked if the other counter did not have what I wanted haha! No, it did, I told her. I’m just getting more. She must think I snort blush or something 😛

But the thing is this though – I don’t monitor my loyalty points nor do I actually know or care how many points I get. I know I don’t usually get enough points to redeem anything. Last year, I received a few statements from some brands I’d signed up as members for. I saw that in one brand, I wasn’t too far from being able to redeem a cash voucher, while in another, I was light years away from redeeming anything. The first brand even called me up to tell me to top up my purchases so I could get a voucher.

So, did I go and top up my points so I could redeem a cash voucher? Or maybe did I top up purchases to be able to redeem something? Would you?

Thinking Positive: Love yourself! What do you love about you?

January 15, 2013 Paris B 51 Comments

love yourself

You are beautiful, no matter what they say ~ Christina Aguilera

I came across a saying once that you can’t expect anyone else to love you unless you first love yourself.

There is a lot of truth to it. Often, we see our flaws far more clearly than we do our merits. It is so much easier to see a negative point, pick at it, blow it all out of proportion until it overshadows everything else positive. It is almost as if we love to wallow in self-pity. It doesn’t help when society has their set ideas on how you should look and behave.

Well, get out of it! 😛

Beauty is so much more than just proper application of makeup and good skincare. It is much more than having a pretty face. Beauty is to me, a package. It is reflected in your physical beauty but also in what you do, how you behave and how you react to situations. It is enhanced by what you use, that’s for certain and yet, how many of us have something we love about ourselves, yet never embrace or enhance it? How many of us downplay our strengths to conform to the general perception of beauty?

We think “Oh I have a big nose, not a cute button nose like Ms. Y” But do you then notice that what we have is also a great sunny smile? Or we think “I have so many acne scars and my skin isn’t porcelain smooth” but do we also realise that we may have a lovely head of hair and lovely delicate fingers?

We don’t do we?

I had this post in drafts for the longest time – 2 years. I never found the right way to approach it. But then, I saw Tine’s post and suddenly, it all fell into place so thank you Tine! 😀 Tine asked you what you loved about yourself. Well, I’m going to ask you something a little different. What do you find beautiful, that you love about yourself?