Product Review: Olay Deep Moisture Body Wash with Honey

Last week I received this lovely little surprise care package from Belle de Jour and Olay Philippines. I said I would begin using it over the weekend which, truth be told, the use for which began Sunday night. I've been a late afternoon to evening bather lately so commentaries and observations will stretch from the afternoon or evening of the previous day to the morning of the next. Mornings I tend to just do a quick shower to wash my hair so effects of products I use the night before tend to linger.

Here we go.

Pen and Ink Adventures Review: Elias Pad

First time I'll be talking about my return to art!

Allow me to dive right into what I've been obsessed with of late: watercolours, mixed media, and the aforementioned Elias Pad.

Now, normally I would pick up either a Corona or Canson sketchpad for my art. I'd been using the former since I was eight and the latter beginning college. But I needed something that would serve two purposes: doodling and actual writing since I do carry around at least six fountain pens on an average day.

Product Review: Olay Products via Belle de Jour Power Planner

I received these in the mail today.

FULL DISCLOSURE: These products were received as free items, I believe upon answering a Belle de Jour survey. (I know, I know--I'm terrible for forgetting, mea culpa.)

I have had a thing for sticking to cruelty-free products as much as I can but I've never freebies just to say that I gave them a chance.

I intend to begin using these this weekend and compile my comments on a weekly basis for a month before posting about them again. At the very least, I'm hoping that I'll be able to complete that task successfully whilst waiting for and eventually dealing with my newborn.

Here's hoping we get favourable results from the testing. I used to be an Olay user before I made the decision to stick with only cruelty-free cosmetics and personal care products and both Olay and Ponds worked very well for me.

Product Review: Three weeks of using the Pigeon Sakura line

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was given these items to test for free. I was actually surprised by the product size, expecting smaller bottles of each. The samples I received are probably worth a month of daily use--very generous of them, I must say.

So last week I posted my initial thoughts on the use of this new line of products from Pigeon:

I haven't started on the powder yet and now that I think of it, by the time it makes sense to use powder, he may be old enough for me to feel more confident about putting powder on his back, at least, to help with sweat management.

Anyway.

The lotion is halfway out. We use that much, yes. Why? Because I personally prefer to use lotion instead of a rash cream. It's lighter, easily absorbed, and let's face it: not all rash creams are compatible with modern cloth diapers and what we are treating is a specific type of allergy, not a rash per se.

I said to myself, when I got started on this review series that I would not compare and contrast. However, I have used three different products on my son's atopic dermatitis and here are the results--no photos, simply my reflections on each:

INDIGO JAR OF HOPE: This healed his large red patches in two to three days, getting rid of the raw and red bits of skin, and preventing him from scratching. It didn't make the patch disappear, but it allowed the skin gradual renewal.

HUMAN NATURE BABY LOTION: A slightly lighter formulation compared to its original, this is what helped maintain the moisture levels already corrected by the Jar of Hope. It worked well for several months until the weather changed and became cooler.

Enter the PIGEON BABY MILKY LOTION: Creamy but easily absorbed, and heavy enough for the cold days when he needs moisture locking the most. I have been using it steadily all over his body and it worked wonderfully as far as preventing further dry patches and the one on his thigh has almost completely vanished. Brilliant.

I've noticed, however, that the scent and his sweat do not mesh well. It doesn't smell bad but it is not quite that milky baby scent I've grown accustomed to, my son being purely breastfed up to now when he's begun taking solids. Aside from the lack of assurance that their products are cruelty-free* this is another point of contention that has come out of our near one month of use.

Is the Sakura infusion effective? I believe it is. I have no personal research done on it at the moment but their claims have been quite accurate from my experience. My son has extremely sensitive skin and their product has risen to the occasion and restored the smoothness of his skin.

Will I use it again? As I said before, perhaps I will if I'm completely out of our regular product. Going cruelty-free is important to me but if I do not find a cruelty-free equivalent, yes, I might consider going back to this product if only to prevent my son's allergies from getting worse.

Will I recommend it to friends? A more resounding yes now more than before. With full disclosure on how I came across the line.

Product Review: Pigeon's new Sakura-infused line

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was given these items to test for free. I was actually surprised by the product size, expecting smaller bottles of each. The samples I received are probably worth a month of daily use--very generous of them, I must say.

Straight off, I will be honest and say I am unlikely to use the powder on my son. I haven't read enough evidence on the amount of talc that is safe for children and just having warnings on talc inhalation is enough to scare me off it. I'll review it separately as I intend to use it on myself.

So out of the remaining three, two have been opened.

First was the lotion.

What I absolutely love is the scent. Lingers for at least two hours after application, and that is with a child who sweats a great deal. It is a huge bonus that, for a creamy lotion, it is light enough to be quickly absorbed whether the child's skin is damp or dry.

My son suffers from atopic dermatitis (http://www.medicinenet.com/atopic_dermatitis/article.htm) and our cure for that is simply to hydrate inside and out. The lotion helped improve his skin texture by a lot, stopping him from getting the urge to constantly scratch. You can just barely see the redness too.

Second product was the 2-in-1 baby wash. The scent isn't as heavenly as the lotion but the scent is relaxing anyway. The wash is clear--and no colorant means less source of skin irritant. What I love most is that the lather is very light which means it rinses off easily and the formula is no tears too. Bonus points that it comes in the pump bottle that it does. First, because it can be locked, second, I was able to bathe my son by myself and the large base of the packaging plus the pump made it so much easier to get the product out with one hand.

Will I use these again? Perhaps if I ran out of our regular product. While I do not condemn those who don't go the cruelty-free route, it is my personal choice to go cruelty-free for certain items. These product types are among the ones I prefer to be cruelty-free.

Will I recommend this to friends? Oh definitely. We have and have used other Pigeon products and I find them to be of excellent quality. One particular item needs an upgrade though. I think I'll keep up the reviews to cover that one.

Cool Showers

It's not summer but the combination of weather and pregnancy hormones has made me feel like this is the most scorching heat I've been in since I was in Australia in late 2003.

I know I generally pimp Human Nature more (naturally, since I am a Human Nature dealer and I can earn extra by getting people to purchase through me ^_~) it's not the only natural/organic brand I use.

Personal Care

Okay, this one is highly personal and quite intimate, and to be honest I wasn't even sure if I wanted to blog about this but well it's out there and there's really naught wrong with discussing hygiene.

But we'll still begin after the cut anyway. ^_~

Cosmetic Pride: Cruelty-free and Pinoy!

I have said that, knowing what I know now about animal welfare, at least for my cosmetic products, I want to switch to brands that would reflect the knowledge that I've gained since becoming a PAWS volunteer.

I'll be blogging about the work bit of it tonight--woot for setting schedules!--but for now, I shall fan girl about Human Nature products.

Mommy Bliss

Or perhaps calling it "Pregnancy Bliss" would be more appropriate?

Okay, it should probably have been my first clue that something was up when I realised my clothes were getting a little tight around the chest. Admittedly, I hadn't measured myself for nearly a year by then but having just come from a trip abroad, I figured, "Oh, it's travel fat."

Right. Of course it was.

The Face Shop Baked Shimmer

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

I have to admit that Christmas 2010 was quite the cosmetic spree for me as several of the brands imported from Korea went on sale during the holidays. This particular entry is my take on The Face Shop Baked Shimmer All-Over Illuminator.

Given my skin tone, my colouring happened to favour the #03 Apricot Nuance palette.

If memory serves, there are three other shimmer brick palettes. The #01 highlighter is precisely that: pastel-shaded highlight colours that, I would venture to guess, would work best with much lighter-skinned individuals. The #02 is a set of pink shades that I can best describe as "rose" shades, ranging from deep pink to an almost white pink which I think would look good with most warm skin tones. The #04 is a set of gold shades that I believe would also look fabulous on those with lighter skin tones.

Myra VitaGlow Tinted Mineral Moisturiser: The Week After

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

After a week of using the product, just a list of observations I've made on how my skin reacted to it.

Love it because

• it's a moisturiser so it doesn't dry out immediately upon contact with my skin giving me time to move the colour around and blend it in evenly and flawlessly.
• I've finally managed to get most of the product on my face rather than my fingers--it seems that the trick is to keep rubbing it into my skin until it dries to a powdery feel--and I discovered that if I apply a dab of alcogel to my hands, I can redistribute the traces of the product from my fingers to the rest of my hand, giving my hands a little bit of glow.
• even if the heat was at "OMG I'm melting!" degrees, it stayed on, keeping most of my face looking flawless.
• it made me feel fully made-up even if I'd only put on the tinted moisturiser, mascara and lip balm.

Annoyed with it because

• the summer heat wave has given me dry patches and the moisturiser isn't strong enough to soothe them.
• attempts to reapply the product just made the appearance of the dry patches worse since the tint and minerals settled into the dry bits of skin.
• my very slick lip balm tends to bleed and when it touches the edges of my lips where a bit of moisturiser is, the products mixed and made my face seem like it's really melting especially when, after eating, I dab my lips with tissue.

I haven't noticed any real changes or improvements yet but my cheeks did feel wonderfully smooth. Perhaps I'll do a comparison after I've finished off the entire tube.


Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 19 May 2010

Side by Side Comparison: With and Without M.A.C. Strobe Cream

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

Just a little comparison, this time of the effect with the powder.

On the left is the pure Studio Fix Powder + Foundation, and on the right, the same product but with the Strobe Cream layered underneath.

Granted I took the first photo during the day and the flash kind of messed up the glow effect from the Strobe Cream the difference is still obvious.


Originally posted as Boudoir Angel on Tumblr, 14 May 2010

M.A.C. Strobe Cream PLUS Studio Fix Powder + Foundation

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

I said before that I wasn't too happy with how the Strobe Cream worked on my face because it made my already oily skin look greasier. However, I read a long since lost article that said underneath powder, Strobe Cream works wonders. So this is my second product trial.

Myra VitaGlow Tinted Mineral Moisturizer

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

Watching the likes of Lauren Luke (panacea81 on YouTube and creator of the By Lauren Luke line) and Marlean (MakeUpGeekTV on YouTube) has taught me a great deal of ins and outs when it comes to make-up and one of the things that I've often heard them speak of is the make-up base.

I always thought that you start off with the foundation and then build up from there but apparently, times have changed since my Barbie doll helped me learn how to put on make-up. The make-up base helps even everything out prior to putting on any other product (whether worn as THE foundation or underneath it).

L'Oreal Renewal Lash Serum, Week One

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

Introducing a new experimental product (and by that I mean something I may or may not keep using), L'Oreal's Renewal Lash Serum.

I am a huge fan of anything that will make my lashes look more dramatic, regardless of whether it will look natural or not, so when this product came out, I was very excited.

The claim:

L'Oreal Renewal Lash Serum is an intensive formula enriched with arginine (an amino acid) and centella (which is apparently an herb, therefore an herb extract) to help give lashes a boost of nourishment to reivie and renew them, as well as prevent excessive lash fall out.

Great finds and red lipstick pride

Note: This is an old entry reposted from my old blog called Boudoir Angel on Tumblr. I'm reposting all of these old entries because I plan to delete my old blog and consolidate everything to this one. Some posts may have its text updated and/or reformatted slightly according to the platform change.

Since a prior involvement with some self-proclaimed eco warriors, I have consciously attempted to take more seriously my prior efforts to abide by the example Captain Planet and his Planeteers tried to set.

This find was something I came across whilst browsing a mini branch of the ECHOstore with my mum. Both are from their Body Basics line and contain peppermint which, while I'm not fond of eating, I am definitely fond of sniffing.

On the left is the antibacterial spray (this one is the totable kind; they do have larger bottles of this) and on the right is the lip balm. I found both to be quite refreshing though the lip balm was a bit too soft and easily melts even in the slightest heat. Moisturises perfectly though and it was what I wore underneath my first trial run for my new M.A.C. lipstick.