Valen’s Vanity Square

H20+ Marine Toner (Alcohol-free) - 237 ml

• A purifying toner that helps strip away impurities; Instantly boosts moisture absorption; Strengthens skin while hydrating
• Contains: Sea Mineral Complex (hydrating marine extracts and vitamins), Provitamin B, wakame, sea fennel, sea lettuce

Remember the Marine Toner from H20+ that I bought online from Acmamall.com?

I bought it at a very discounted price for RM65, while it is sold at over RM90 at the H20+ retail kiosk in 1 Utama! Saw it last weekend, and am surely glad that I saved almost RM30, hehehe.

If you want to get a bottle of H20+ Marine Toner and save yourself some bucks, you can still get it at a discounted price at Acmamall.com. I think it’s around RM70 now. Sorry, but the very good discount opportunity that I managed to ’seize’ is no longer valid. Still, you save around RM20, not bad actually.

I have started using the toner and I quite like it. Firstly, it really hydrates the skin well. Secondly, it does remove residual impurities that aren’t cleaned when washing the face. I’m very particular about this part - I make sure I apply toner not only on my face, but also behind my ears, under my chin, front and back of my neck, my shoulders… hahaha! I just want to make sure these areas are clean, okay?

While the face tends to feel a little sticky after applying the toner, it is not much of a problem coz I will apply my night moisturizer anyway. The toner has a mild oceanic fragrant, I find it rather soothing. It reminds me of the shower gel I used in a 5-Star resort in Langkawi…the smell of sea … hmmm.

If there is a scale to measure a gal’s level of vanity, I think mine has probably dropped by 80%! Haha!

Simply because I have no extra money to splurge on skincare and make-up products! Oops, whenever I have a little bit extra money in my pocket, I somehow spent it on books and my hobbies.

I’m very into handmade accessories these days, and a hobby like this - making your own bracelets and earrings and necklaces - is quite an expensive one, I tell you. But not as expensive as having a full range of SK-II products on the dressing table, of course. Haha!

Also, materials needed to make handmade jewelry are not as easily accessible as Estee Lauder or Shu Uemura products, okay? I find it even more time-consuming to find suitable and reasonably priced jewelry making materials than to find a door hardware shop. I always have to search on the internet to compare product prices and postage rates offered from various merchants.

Hmm, since I spent so much on this hobby of mine, I think I should try to make some money out of it, right? Then perhaps, may be, one day, not so long in th future, I will be able to ‘restore’ my purchasing power and raise my level of vanity, haha!

P.S. Feel free to drop by my hobby blog at Beads And Wires.

My favorite drama series Ghost Whisperer Season 4 is not shown on 8TV yet (I don’t subscribe to ASTRO), but I have gotten myself the DVDs for the first 10 episodes or so last month, and finished watching it in just a couple of days! (So that’s how I wither my life away, haha!)

I love watching Ghost Whisperer because the stories are spooky but not scary, and I’m glad to know that even ghosts have problems and unresolved issues of their own - even after they’re dead. Haha!

Of course, I also enjoy watching Melinda Gordon’s wardrobe! Her vintage clothing style is classy, feminine, and with just the right amount of sexiness. I also wish I could own just one silky sexy lingerie like hers, coz mine are more like the-girl-next-door lingerie, haha! Oh, and her hair and make-up is just perfect. Smokey eyes, but not wild. Her hair is sometimes wavy, sometimes straight, just right for the occassion. I wonder how much time a gal need to spend to create that look before she walks out the door and head off to work…

Back to the story. It’s kinda sad to see Jim died and ‘reincarnated’ in another man’s body that is not as half good-looking as him! I think I should check out the DVD store soon to get the remaining episodes of Ghost Whisperer, and find out what’s going to happen between Melinda and the ‘new’ Jim.

Here’s some quick tips to healthy and radiant skin, by knowing what potential irritants to avoid when buying skincare products, especially for those with sensitive skin.

Artificial fragrance - can cause irritation, allergic reactions and pigmentation problems when exposed to sunlight.

SD-Alcohol - can cause dry skin because it strips off oil and moisture from the skin, leading to skin dehydration.

Comedogenic ingredients - can clog pores, leading to blackheads and acne problem.

Mineral oil - leaves a heavy after-feeling, makes skin even more sensitive to irritants.

Lanolin - is comedogenic and can cause allergic reactions.

Artificial coloring - can cause irritation and photosensitivity that lead to skin dehydration.

I had always wanted to be one of those small-office-home-office people, working independently for myself and work in a very organized and comfortable home office.

Well, I’m sort of a independent, self-employed individual now (read my lips: jobless plus no income, haha!), and I do have a so-called home office (again, read my lips: a room with book shelves and a simple working station). My home office, unfortunately, it’s not so organized at all, haha!

My ‘office furniture‘, hehe, is just a combination of a desk, a swivel chair, a printer and movable drawer units from IKEA. It’s not a successful SOHO office set up, I’m afraid. More over, it’s getting more and more untidy - papers, pens, magazines and note pads are scattered all over the table!

I suppose people who are successful with a home-based business will have their home office set up like this…

Office furniture from www.OfConcepts.com

Well, it looks rather old fashioned, but undeniably it provides ample space for one to work and to keep work-related documents and stuffs. Hmmm, may be one day I can have some thing like this in my home office…

My sister’s honeymoon to Japan this Friday is a self-planned trip. Don’t get it wrong, neither my sister or her husband can speak or read Japanese at all! But they’ll survive, haha!

These days people actually like to plan their own holiday even in totally foreign speaking countries. It is more exciting, more fun and time better utilized than joining group tours. You get to see places and sites you truly interested in, and plan the holiday itinerary according to your leisure and pleasure.

Of course, this also means you need to do your research weeks before your planned holiday. This is not a daunting task since traveling information is easily available and accessible today. Making accommodation reservation is easy too because booking online is very common now.

For instance, if you are going to North Carolina for a beach vacation, then you might want to survey rentals of the beach homes at Outer Banks, and find out which are the must-visit attractions or must-do activities. When you have all the information in hands, you are able to decide on the duration of your stay and estimate your travel cost.

I do sound like an expert in planning my own holiday, eh? Hahaha! But too bad, I’m not going anywhere far this year. Oh well, I guess I will just stay put back at home and enjoy receiving gifts from those who came back from oversea holidays.

My sister just came back from a working trip in UK, and that means…. present-receiving time!!

I got this small bottle of fragrance - Estee Lauder’s Pleasures Exotic.

A sparkling blend of exotic fruits and flowers, with a seductive fusion of Mango Passion Fruit Cocktail, juicy Citrus Fruits and watery Lychee combined with Island Bamboo Flowers, Orange blossom and dewy Bougainvillea Vine.

I love floral type of fragrance, that’s why I love the Pleasures perfume series. So now I have two fragrances from Estee Lauder; the other one is Pleasures Intense. I hope I would be able to, sooner or later, collect the other two - Pleasures (original) and Pleasures Delight.

I came across some articles in the newspaper about caring for the elderly population at home. While this topic has nothing to do with beauty or vanity, I think it is worthwhile to share the information in brief here. Understanding the needs of an elderly will help you take better care of them at home.

(For those who are applying for healthcare jobs, perhaps these information may help you during your interview? ;))

Common health problems of the elderly:

• Eating problem - tooth loss, saliva production decreases, reduce in digestive function
• Sleeping problem - difficult to fall asleep, wake up often during the night
• Circulatory problem - blood circulation slows down, often leads to postural hypotension (a form of low blood pressure that occurs after a change in body position, typically when a person stands up from either a seated or lying position)
• Bone problems - decreased bone mineral density as one ages increases the risk of bone fracture, particular after a fall
• Others - dry skin, deterioration in vision, poor memory

Tips to eating well for the elderly:

• Eat small but frequent meals. Healthy snacks between meals also help to increase their nutrition intake.
• Replace animal protein source with proteins from soy-bean products and various types of nuts.
  Eat 2 servings of fruits daily.
• Limit fat intake, including desserts such as cake.
• Use natural ingredients to add flavors to cooking, instead of salt, MSG, and soy sauce.
• Avoid spicy food.
• Drink more water during the day and less after dinner, so that sleep will not be interrupted by frequent toilet breaks.
• Take multivitamins and minerals supplement to overcome nutrition deficiencies, since elderly people do not eat as much as they used to.

Hope this info sharing helps.

The mentioning of Kose Sekkisei toner in my previous post somehow ‘inspired’ me to write this one - a short list of sun-protection and whitening products that I have used and would like to recommend to everyone. Those that I don’t like will not be mentioned, that’s why this list is so short.

I don’t intend to have a snowy white complexion, but I strongly advise the daily use of sun protection and regular whitening products to maintain a healthy looking and glowing skin.

Olay White Radiance day lotion with SPF24 - Protecting the skin from the damage of the sun light and whitening the skin at the same time. Very wallet-friendly and does it job so well! I could really see a difference after using it for some time.

Garnier Light with SPF15 - Gentle to the skin,pleasant smell of lemon essence. More for sun protection, suitable for daily use if whitening is not your primary goal.

Kose Sekkisei Lotion - the greatest whitening toner of all! Well, at least to me. Hydrating, softening, clarifying, calming, whitening… everything I need in a bottle!

Biotherm White Detox Botanic[A]lyzer Corrective Make-up Base with SPF25 - I bought the white colored make-up base that provides instant whitening effect. However, I found out that the purple colored corrective base (one of the freebies I got from my purchase of Biotherm products) suits my skin color better. It gives an instant correcting effect by diminishing the ‘yellowness’ of my skin. I use either of these to brighten up my complexion (after day moisturizer) daily. The make-up base smells nice, too.

(Note: Start with just a tiny squeeze of the make-up base, and gradually add on if necessary. The whitening effect is drastic if you apply too much of it. You won’t want to look as if you just painted a thin layer of white paint on your face, hahaha!)

Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Lotion for Face and Body, SPF50, PA+++ - Last but not least, this lotion that I have just recently bought is a ‘big’ investment worth spending. If you are going outdoor and want good sun protection from top to toe minus the sticky feeling and typical smell of sunscreen lotion, this is a good one!