Valen’s Vanity Square

With the electricity rates going up very soon, we all have to tighten our belts even further!

I can no longer afford to have the laptop powered on for 12 hours a day. This means that I have to get really efficient and have work done with the laptop during the daytime, and thus, no more dilly-dallying between the internet and serious work, hehe.

As much as I like the living room to be well lit at night even if it’s just watching TV, I think I have to ‘comply’ with some save-electricity movement and only have the wall lights on. Well, may be we should just use candles at night, haha! Besides saving electricity, we could create a romantic ambiance within the house.

Imagine how these candles placed at different corners of the house would set a romantic mood for two?

The candles shown above are from www.quickcandles.com.

With the increase of global petrol prices, the cost of living is on the rise too. Oooh… that hurts, coz it also means less shopping, less eating out, and forget about an oversea holiday next year!

However, it doesn’t mean I have to endure zero shopping or traveling.

My radar for skincare products and cosmetics continues to scan for new and interesting items, but just that it now focuses on products below a hundred bucks.

For my next anti-aging cream, I would either go for L’Oreal Revitalift Double Lifting Cream or Bio-Essence Face Lifting Cream with Pine Pollen. For problems like fine lines, I could try Eucerin’s latest intensive wrinkle-filling series - Hyaluron-filler creams for face and eye. These Eucerin products are priced around 90 ringgit, but with recent sales and promotions, one can get them at around 70 or 80 ringgit, depending on individual pharmacies.

As far as traveling is concerned, those who are firm with their oversea vacation plans, you may want to work out a new travel budget coz costs of accommodation and transport are expected to be higher than before. For example, if you are heading to Hilton Head Island, then better check out the latest Hilton Head rental. As for me, I will have to be contented with a Langkawi Island retreat with family next February. (Every year is Visit Malaysia Year…. )

Today is the World Environmental Day. So what can pretty and fashionable girls do to help save the environment and make the world a better place to live in?

How about a reusable shopping bag from Clarins? Proceeds from selling these bags will go to a tree-planting project. Priced at RM18, the bags will be available from the mid of June at all Clarins counters while stocks last.

Reusable bags from Clarins

You must have heard of beauty products concocted with organic ingredients or fashion accessories made of recycle items. How about organic panties? ;P Introducing Stella McCartney’s eco-friendly Daisy Dreaming, a series of 13 sets of undergarments made of organic cotton, incorporated with silk trim and comes in a variety of cuts. But mind you, the price is from 40 pounds onwards!

Daisy Dreaming undergarment

To see the full lingerie lines from Stella McCartney, visit: http://www.stellamccartney.com/us/en/lingerie/

See, pretty babes can also be eco-friendly inside and out.

As mentioned last week, I received free samples of skincare products to try out. They are products of Institut Esthederm Paris, given on the courtesy of Lolyco.com.

There were three of them:

From left to right: Eye contour gel cream, pore refiner concentrate, royal jelly vitalizing cream

Eye contour gel cream
This cream has a nice sweet fruity smell. It is rich and very moisturizing. For me, it may be a tad too heavy. But if you have dry skin around the eyes, I believe this eye cream is able to help.

Royal jelly vitalizing cream
A moisturizer with a mild but pleasant smell, it can be used day and night. But since it doesn’t contain SPF, so it must be followed by an SPF lotion in the daytime. I’m only using it at night. It doesn’t feel too heavy on the skin after application. So far I haven’t noticed any difference from using this cream (3-4 applications).

Pore refiner concentrate - must have!
This is what I like and will recommend! As it name says, it did really refine my pores after 4-5 applications! It is applied after the toner and before the moisturizer. My usually enlarged pores looked ‘tighter’ and so much less obvious. Too bad I have finished up the sachet. One 50-ml bottle of this concentrate costs RM223.50 at Lolyco.com. A bit pricey. But it will be a good, shall I say, ‘investment’ for a smooth, silky skin? Furthermore, a 50-ml bottle can last for quite some time. Hmm, I wonder when I will receive my pay checks…

I don’t know where else one can get Institut Esthederm products apart from Lolyco.com. Anyway, if you are interested, do check out their online store, okay?

I have my facial appointment at Leonard Drake this Saturday. I am thinking of canceling it though…

My facial package is used up and I’m not signing up for another one because I think their treatments no longer make any difference to my skin. I would like to try out services from other beauty centers.

I might give New York Skin Solution a try, as I have seen their amazing treatment results shown on TV. Whether it’s severe pigmentation, aged skin or acne problem, those who have undergone facial treatments with them ended up with new, younger and healthy-looking skin!

I’m not looking for the best acne treatment (I’m so well over the age to have zits), but I am certainly in the search for facial treatments and products that are able to give me a firmer and, if possible, porcelain-like complexion, hehe. (Setting high expectations again…)

There are hearsays that the sales staffs of NYSS are quite pushy to make customers sign up for long-term programs. For me, I just want to try out once or twice to see if their facials are good; I’m not prepared to spend over a thousand bucks for a course of 10 or 12 session of facials at this point of time! After all, I’m a “jobless housewife”, who is not going to stay in this town for long.

But if their treatment really works and service is excellent, may be I will consider continue using them after I’ve returned and settled down in KL (and provided that I have a job to pay for it!).

Our TV rack was bought from IKEA and has been with us for 4 years now. (Jeez, I’m saying this like it’s our pet dog. :P)

It looks modern and contemporary, but it also collects dust as it is an open rack. Dust on the CDs and the DVD player, too. So, too bad for it, this TV rack will not be sitting in our living room of our new house. We will try to find a corner for it though.

We shall get a TV rack with doors to keep dust away and things neatly organized. Something simple will do.

[Wanted to show a photo of the TV rack I like here, but the Wordpress add-image function just ain't working!]

Fortunately we won’t need audio racks because we don’t have any of those super high-tech home audio systems that only the rich can afford. That means one item less to spend money on (and the cash can be used to buy my dream oven, hehe).

Although I don’t seriously need to lose weight, but I do hope to trim away 2 inches from around my waist, hehe. Currently I’m only doing it through exercise with once a week of 1-hour brisk walk combined with slow walk, haha! This definitely is not enough if I want to see results fast. But it’s okay, I will go slow, and am figuring how to incorporate more workout sessions into my daily routine, even if it’s just some simple stretching exercise.

For those who have a significant amount of weight to loss, experts also suggest slow and steady weight loss plans. Fast results are often not sustainable, and predispose one to regain weight more easily. More importantly, if you are using incorrect weight loss methods, yes, you may lose weight, but you will surely lose out on nutrition and, thus, your health, too!

What are the possible harmful health consequences of incorrect weigh loss method? An article I came across listed these few:

• Brain - Poor memory
• Head - Hair loss
• Skin - Premature aging
• Eyes - Deteriorating vision
• Blood - Anemia
• Hormone - Irregular period
• Bone - Reduced bone mass
• Body system - Liver damage, kidney problem

Imagine, if you’ve succeeded in slimming down, but ended up with a whole lot of health problems, is that worth it? I definitely don’t want my skin to look aged and sagged or to see myself going bald!!

So, if you want to lose weight, plan it with a qualified professional and lose it in a ‘healthy’ way.