The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter Review

When I was pregnant, I fell in love with body moisturizers particularly when stretchmarks were showing as my pregnancy bump grew bigger and also when my skin turned quite dry. I went for The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter when my regular Johnsons Baby Lotion isn't rich enough for my skin at that time. This body butter is very rich, thus I used 3 jars of it during pregnancy. I'm using the 4th jar now and I want to share my thoughts about it ...

Love it ...
- this body butter is amazingly rich and moisturizing, hence it's perfect for those with very dry or flaky skin, and especially during winter months
- smells like chocolate which I love. It smells so yummy till I feel like licking it, lol!
- the texture is very creamy and smooth
- it will not clog pores or cause body acne
- absorbs into the skin quickly and keeps skin hydrated all day
- helps to reduce the appearance of stretchmarks. I use this with Bio Oil and I'm impressed :)
- the packaging is great. I prefer jars because it minimizes wastage instead of tube or bottle packagings

Hate it ...
- it is greasy once applied but like I said, it sinks into the skin pretty fast. The trick is to apply this body butter right after shower when skin is still damp. I hate using this when the weather is hot as it still leaves my skin feeling greasy, sticky and worse if I sweat!
- it will not prevent stretchmarks. I still get some minor stretchmarks although I layered this body butter on my belly every night when I was pregnant
- not very economical unless I use it twice per week. If I were to use it daily, it can only last for about 2 weeks

Size: 200ml / 6.9 OZ (196g)
Price: RM59.00 / USD19.53 (approx)

Here are the list of ingredients: -

Overall ratings ...
Price: ★★★
Product: ★★★
Quality: ★★★★
Packaging: ★★★★★

Would I buy again: Maybe.

Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser Review

Hi beauties. It has been a long time I have not done any product reviews. Today I want to do a review on my current favorite facial cleanser. If you look at my beauty profile, you will see that I'm a huge Dermalogica fan. I never wanted to switch my facial cleanser but I was given a 20ml sample tube of Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser for combination and oily skin 4 months ago and I fell in love with it instantly. I'm on my second tube of this cleanser and here is the review to support my love for this cleanser.

Pros...
- to me it is inexpensive. It is only RM92.00 (approximately USD23)
- great for oily and combination skin. It removes all traces of make-up and leaves my skin perfectly clean, refreshed, matte and comfortable
- it rinses off very easily unlike my previous Dermalogica cleanser
- great as a gentle exfoliator as well because it contains tamarind and purifying micro-pearls to aid dead skin cells elimination
- absorbs excess oil, hence acne breakouts are much lesser now particularly those on the forehead and cheeks
- economical, one tube of 125ml can last up to 2 months because only a pea-sized amount is required.

Cons...
- the fragrance is quite strong
- not suitable for the eye area

Here are the ingredients: -
Aqua, glycerin, stearic acid, myristic acid, potassium hydroxide, glycol distearate, lauric acid, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, tipalaureth sulfate, aluminium starch octenylsuccinate, glyceryl behenate, ozokerite, parfum, dimethicone, mannitol, propylene glycol, cellulose, tetrasodium EDTA, alpha-glucan oligosaccharide, polymnia sonchifolia root juice, sodium salicylate, tartaric acid, maltodextrin, tamarindus indica extract, acrylates/ammonium methacrylate copolymer, triethyl citrate, gossypium herbaceum (cotton) seed extract, hydroxypropyl methycellulose, gypsophila paniculata root extract, lactobacillus, potassium sorbate, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, sorbic acid, bht, benzyl salicylate, butylphenyl methylpropional, limonene, linalool, CI 77891 / titanium dioxide, CI 77007 / ultramarines.

Overall ratings...
Price: ★★★★
Product: ★★★★★
Quality: ★★★★★
Packaging: ★★★★★

Would I buy again: Yes, yes and yes!

What are my changes during and after pregnancy?

Hi all. I'm back from my pregnancy break and I'm so excited to blog again. Yup, I gave birth to a baby boy last November via Cesarean Section and I have to admit that recovery was not so good but whenever I look at my baby I feel that the pain is all worthy. Just like many mothers out there, pre and post natal certainly changed my body and I want to share about the changes on me from head to toe!

My Pregnancy Bump! Buhahaha!

Lets begin with my hair. I felt extremely good with my hair when I was pregnant because of almost no hair fall. Yes, no hair loss! Whenever I washed my hair, there was less than 10 strands of hair falling out. It was such a bliss that my hair grew longer, thicker and healthier, just the way I want it to be. The nightmare begins on the 2nd month post natal until now. My hair is falling out like crazy! If you google, most sources will tell you that it is normal to lose 50-100 hairs per day but let me tell you that it is NOT normal to lose that much hair. If you lose 20-30 hairs, that IS normal. A lot of hair will come out when I run my fingers through my hair or brush it. I lost more than 80 strands of hair during each wash! Yes, I picked them up from the plug hole and counted the amount each time. It's so heart breaking to notice that my hair is also thinning (not balding yet) around the temple area :( I asked around and everyone is telling me that this is absolutely normal because of hormonal changes and readjustment. During pregnancy, expectant moms stop shedding hair, so after pregnancy those extra hair will fall out. My friend's wife had the same problem too (she gave birth 3 months earlier than me) and she told me she has tons of baby hair growing back, so I should not stress about it and it will eventually stop within 6 months. My hairdresser told me that there is nothing I can do except to wait for my hair to resume its thickness again when it 's ready but I disagree. Hence, I'm taking my vitamins, some traditional chinese medicine and try to maintain a healthy diet. A friend advised that I should avoid fast food, soya and soda drinks at the moment until the shedding stops. I'm also using an anti hair loss vitalizing shampoo from EKS. I will do a review about this shampoo after 1 month.

Next is my complexion. During pregnancy, there were angry acnes occassionally and I used a lot of aloe vera to nourish my skin. The good news is my acne cleared up at the end of my pregnancy and during confinement. Now, I only get tiny pimples on my forehead and chin, thanks to those crazy hormones again but they will go away after 2 days. My complexion is much clearer with lesser black or whiteheads.

My breast grew one cup larger after pregnancy :) So, I have nothing to complain. I put on 20kgs during pregnancy. My pre-pregnancy weight was 52kg and I have successfully shed 14kgs after 3.5 months. So, another 6kgs to go. I will gambateh, lol! Nonetheless, I do not wish to lose weight so quickly because it is not healthy. It is very important to nourish the body after giving birth. Failure to do so, not only it is bad for the health but we will also age very fast. I also went to get my teeth checked as well and load up on calcium.

Hips and thighs have widen for sure but it will shrink back after 6 months post partum according to my mom. Well, I choose to believe her... hehehe!

Hmm... what about my cesarean scar? Many women said their scar is only 4-5 inches long. I measured mine and it is about 6 inches because my baby is quite big. My scar is like a thin line, still a little red and the scarring has not gone down yet but it looks OK to me. I'm recovering rather slow but it is no longer painful. I have a little tummy but it had shrink down a lot. Some of my relatives who don't know about my pregnancy can't even tell I have given birth. Oops I almost forgot about my stretchmarks! I applied a lot of cocoa butter from Body Shop during pregnancy but I still get stretchmarks at the sides below my pregnancy belly. I've been applying Bio Oil after I gave birth and they are 80% less visible :)

I think that's about it. I will be posting more regularly, so check back for updates.
My best regards to all :)

Hai Sun Fong Breast Enlargement Pump Review

Hey all. I am back real quick this time. As promise, I will be updating much more regularly since I have the time and energy. Today, I will be doing a review on a breast enlargement pump :o I have been wanting to write a review on this some time ago and finally I am doing it now =)

One and half years ago, I bumped into a seller on a forum who is selling this beauty device. It is actually called "Hai Sun Fong" Beauty Server. In order to encourage sales, she even posted censored pictures of her breast, before and after using this pump and the pictures tempted many gals like me to purchase because she went from an A cup to C! Her marketing skills were so convincing. Well, I am not going to mention who she is or post a link to her pictures because those pictures were already taken off.

Most gals are never satisfied with what they have and this is normal. For myself, I would never opt for surgery. Hence, I went ahead and got a unit inclusive of shipping for RM188 (approximately USD55) with 1 year warranty. Sounds like a good deal right?

From the pictures, the device comes with 2 sucking cups. The big one is suppose to cup the breast and the small one is meant to cup the nipples >.< It also comes with a charger, a CD and a mini leaflet for instructions. I was so excited when the vacuum pump arrived. Deh… :P

I used this breast pump once a day for an hour as instructed by the seller together with the Lelan Vital breast serum which claims to speed up the results and Lelan Vital breast firming cream to diffuse redness after that. So, you got to leave it on to do the boob sucking (lol!) for 30 minutes on each breast. On the second day, the device went dead! >.< Great… I am not sure if the manufacturer sucks or the device hated my boobs. Lol! Since it comes with a 1 year warranty, I contacted the seller, returned the damaged unit and she exchanged a new one.

Ok, here are my reviews about this breast enlargement pump!

Love it ...
- I noticed fuller and firmer breast within a week. I kept measuring my boobs for size increment. Haha!

Hate it…
- The pump is very noisy! You will hear a brrrrrx100 sound during the entire 1 hour boob sucking session. It is very irritating and embarrassing especially if there are people at home.
- You will suffer for the first week. Why? Because after each session, your breast will have lots of bruises and red marks like giant love bites! But it will go away in days.
- And yes, it is painful while you pump and after. The seller claimed that it is not painful at all. How can that be?!

And the conclusion after using it for 1.5 months is…

IT DOESN’T WORK! My boobs’ size went back to its original! I was so disappointed and contacted a few friends who also bought and tested this beauty device. Their results were same as mine. It simply doesn’t work. If you stop pumping after 3 days, it will shrink back to its original shape and size. So, it won’t give you permanent result. T.T In addition, using this type of breast enhancement pump may cause broken blood vessels. Not worth the risk...

The seller’s pictures were very deceiving. Why? Because the pictures of her enlarged boobs are taken right after she pumped her boobs and not after she has stopped using the pump for some time because I could see those obvious FRESH red bruises. And I saw modeled pictures of her recently selling other stuffs and her breast size are small, unlike what she has shown in her pictures right after she has pumped her breast.

So, my advice is DON’T waste your money unless you want to get an extra thing to collect dust in your room  =(

Coastal Scents Haul

Hey everybody. I did an online shopping lately and yup, my first coastal scents haul! It arrived yesterday in less than a week but of course, I chose Fedex instead of the standard USPS First Class Mail. I am so excited to try out their products after reading so many positive reviews. I got quite a number of stuffs so that I can I save on shipping. It is not obviously practical to buy just a few products and pay a great sum for shipping. The shipping is kinda costly but I would rather buy from overseas than to buy from some of the local sellers here. I have bad experience dealing with online sellers from my country, Malaysia that I have yet to share with you guys. Most (not some) of them do not know what is customer service, they have no idea what business is and hence, zero business ethics. I must post an article on the attributes of these online sellers. I am really sick and ashamed on how Malaysians do business online.

Back to my CS haul, I got 13 brushes, 1 of the 88 eye shadow palette, 10 5g packaging jars and 2 gel liners =) Most of their products are really afforable compared to MAC but I strongly disagree that their products quality are as good as MAC. Then again, you always get what you paid for. So, no complaints! Here is my haul ;)

Brushes (from left to right): Italian Badger Pencil Brush, Pink Semi Firm Pointed Crease, Pink Oval Synthetic Concealer Brush, Chisel Fluff Large Shadow Brush, Black Sable Shadow, Tapered Crease Eye Brush, Sable Contour Brush, Chisel Fluff/Point Crease Duet, Sable Blending Brush, Chisel Angle Fluff Shadow Brush, White Angled Liner, Black Taklon Angle Liner and Pink Kabuki Brush.

The famous 88 warm palette. I love warm neutral colors! =)

Gel liners (Peach Bellini & Exotic) and 5g packaging jars

Coastal Scents also threw in a freebie for me along with my order. It is a lip gloss. Not too fond of it anyway.

I will definitely do reviews once I have tested these out. If you love makeup but on a budget, you must check out coastalscents.com for excellent deals.

Have a great day people! xoxo...