Review: B.Liv Squeaky Clean beads cleansing gel

This B.Liv cleanser came in a special promotional set that I purchased a while ago. It's an exfoliating gel cleanser with beads and has an herbal, menthol scent which I like. The beads are very fine and gentle and the light-green gel doesn't foam much. Its main function is a cleanser with exfoliating benefits, not a scrub, so it's safe to use every day. (Personally though, I prefer my cleansers and scrubs to be separate products, because I think exfoliating every day isn't very good for the skin!)

The instructions are to put 2-3 pea-sized drops onto your palm and lather with water before applying to your face. However, because it really doesn't foam well at all, I feel like I'm not cleansing my face very well. It does make my face feel tingly and fresh, but I have this niggling feeling that my face isn't very clean, and I need to use toner to remove the residue afterwards.

I like how fine and gentle the beads are, and they're just nicely dense enough to give the right amount of light exfoliation. However, the non-foaming bit annoys me. I have tried applying the gel directly to my wet face, but it feels a little bit off - like it doesn't clean enough. 

For now, I usually use it on the days when my Clarisonic is out of juice and I need to charge it, yet still need some light exfoliation in my cleansing, which is about once a week. Honestly, I had high expectations of this cleanser because I loved my other B.Liv products, but this one missed the mark. I have read a lot of rave reviews of this cleanser though, so who knows, maybe it's just me!

Rating: 6/10

Review: Soap & Glory Scrub Your Nose In It

My favourite brand at Sephora has got to be Soap & Glory. I absolutely love the cute pink retro packaging with the quirky wordings, plus the products are not too outrageously priced. This tube of Scrub Your Nose In It is about S$17 (~US$13) for 125ml which is more expensive than drugstore but more affordable than counter brands... a pretty good balance.

And every time I read the descriptions on Soap & Glory products... I'm sold! They have all these old-school designs where they display all their crazy outrageously amazing claims with lots! Of! Exclamation! Marks!!! (I love exclamation marks too!) And it helps that their products are pretty amazing really. Let's look at Scrub Your Nose in it... It's a lovely scrub with tiny micro particles (kind of like a microdermabrasion scrub), but you can leave it on your face too, as a deep-cleansing mask, because it contains clay to suck up all your impurities. So it's a multi-tasking marvel!

You can see the scrub particles are really fine, which is great because it is gentle... yet the particles are dense and plentiful enough to feel properly scrubby! The mask is green with a pleasant light tingly mint feeling. The instructions say to use a pea-size, but I use twice the amount for a good clean. After cleansing, I used this scrub on a damp face, concentrating on the T-zone and other problematic areas, then I leave it on for a few more minutes to let the clay do its work, and rinse it off.

It leaves my skin super smooth and feeling really clean. My pores definitely look smaller after, and I like how this scrub mask is like a microdermabrasion and a mask (fantastic multitasker) which deep-cleans, yet also maintains moisture. Also, I love the scent and how it feels more natural than other microdermabrasion masks I've used (Estee Lauder Micro-D deep thermal refinisher) which feel more... chemical, somehow.

Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Kaolin, Solum diatomeae (Diatomaceous earth), Glycerin, Sodium cocoamphoacetate, Montmorillonite, Stearic acid, Myristic acid, Palmitic acid, Lauric acid, Vaccinium myrtillus fruit/leaf extract, Sodium chloride, Potassium hydroxide, Phenoxyethanol, Saccharum officinarum (sugar cane) extract, Parfum (Fragrance), Salix nigra (Willow) bark extract, Xanthan gum, Methylparaben, Limonene, Ethylparaben, Citrus medica limonum (Lemon) peel extract, Citrus aurantium dulcis (Orange) flower extract, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium pyrophosphate, Butylphenyl methylpropional, Acer saccharum (Sugar maple) extract, Dipropylene glycol, CI 42090 (Blue 1)

Rating: 10/10

This is one of those products which make me feel happy to use it every day, even just to look at the packaging, and I feel like I'll never tire of it! I've actually purchased a few more Soap & Glory products, I'm definitely doing more reviews... their products are truly outstanding in my opinion. The only thing I wouldn't try though, is the fragrance. Their perfume bottles look really pretty, like Juicy Couture knock-offs, but the scent... is not my type, unfortunately. >_<

It feels weird blogging on a weeknight, but I missed my regular weekend post so I decided to just post this. I have such a backlog of stuff to review cos my skin was bad the past few weeks and I was so depressed, I couldn't wear too much make-up cos it just makes bad skin looks worse. Then I tried some new product and it really improved my skin. :) Will do some review on it soon after I ascertain its efficacy! Christmas is coming, falalala~ I'm excited!

Review: The Body Shop Spa Wisdom™ Japan Adzuki Bean & Rice Washing Grains

My sister got a tub of this recently. It retails for S$34.90, I'm not sure if it's available only in Asia? After using it a few times, I quite like it! I have the Spa Wisdom Japan Apricot and Rice Finishing Mist myself, and the washing grains smell just like it - a very comforting, powdery scent. (I usually hate powdery scents like Flower by Kenzo or Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely, but the Spa Wisdom Japan scent smells good to me! Perhaps it's more of a powdery fruit scent as opposed to overwhelming powdery floral. Very comforting and familiar and safe.)
So anyway, this is a salt-based washing powder with finely grinded rice and adzuki beans. (I feel kinda hungry just thinking about it, heh!) You could use it on face or body, but I've only used it on my face. (Wee bit expensive to use as a body scrub, I think!) It comes with a plastic spoon for you to scoop it out. It comes in a lovely glass jar with metal hinges like a cookie jar, which looks very pretty but not very functional next to the sink - I always have to use both hands to hold it steady on the countertop. Plus I find it quite troublesome to avoid getting the washing grains wet - I splash my face with water first, then I have to dry my hands thoroughly before opening the jar to avoid my damp hands wetting plastic spoon and in turn, the washing grains. Quite annoying.

How I use it - it's salt-based and I want to enjoy the exfoliation without the scrubbiness melting away into nothingness too quickly, so I just splash my face with water first, then I put 1 teaspoon of washing grains into my dry hand, add maybe just the tiniest drop of water to make it slightly pastey, then work it into my damp face. This way I get the exfoliating benefits and the washing grains melt away gradually. One thing to note - since it's salt-based, it'll sting your eyes if you're not careful and any open wounds/zits you might have on your face. And yes it tastes salty, somehow I always inadvertently taste it in the shower. >_< I like the fact that it's salt-based though, since salt is a disinfectant, I feel like it is disinfecting my face.

I would categorise this as a mild exfoliating cleanser, not a facial scrub, which means I'd use this in place of cleanser maybe once or twice a week, whereas for regular facial scrubs, I use them after cleanser once a week. I usually use this on no-makeup days, because it is not a super deep cleansing kind of facial wash (which is what I prefer to use after removing make-up, personal preference).

Overall, this is quite a unique product and I would purchase it for my own use in the future. I really love the scent, it's very soothing and makes me look forward to using it. The main drawback - it's difficult keeping the washing grains dry and lid of the jar is annoying. Then again, you could reuse the jar when it's used up, since it looks so pretty.

Rating: 8/10
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Some photos to share... I've been having training the past week, so I could leave work on time, go out with friends, get my hair dyed. Oh, how nice to have a regular life.

Beef hotplate from Manna Story at Plaza Singapura basement.

Bario half ramen with egg at Ramen Champion. It's this mini-ramen-town at Bugis Iluma with 6 ramen stalls which will be around for a year (till next July), and we get to vote for our favourite ramen stall. The winner gets to set up a permanent ramen stall here! They all taste so good. The Bario half-ramen with egg is only S$7.50, and I couldn't really finish it. If I can't even finish a half bowl, I can't imagine how filling a regular bowl would be. >_<

Macha float at Shokudo.

Beef kebab roll from The Flyin' Bread - really good and filling! It's middle-eastern, but somehow reminds me of burritos filled with rice I had at Chipotle in Chicago, so yummy and huge.


No I will not climb the stairs to fitness, no matter how pretty the stairs look. :P

Have you guys seen the iphone whale? ^_^

What I wore out recently. The dress was elasticised and too short so I unpicked the elastic but it was still too short so I wore denim shorts underneath.

Hot pink blazer - I wonder what people would say if I wore this to the office hehe.

I saw this really cute pink leopard print bag at Forever21, I'm thinking of getting it but it seems pretty useless, I can't think of what to use it for. Any ideas? It's too cute!

Review: Kose Seikisho/Sekkisei Mask White, Exfoliating Massage Gel, Lotion and Mist

I thought I should do a review on this bunch of products from Kose. They confuse me though, you can see that the 2 tube masks are Seikisho while the lotion and mist are Sekkisei (the last character is different). Overall I think I'd only repurchase the Kose Seikisho Mask White (I've already repurchased once).




Kose Seikisho Mask White
This is one famous mask that has been reviewed by lots of people. It's about SGD$36 a tube (but you can get it for SGD$29.90 at the airport's duty-free shops and at Beaute Spring outlets), which seems quite affordable for a counter brand, but each tube lasts me about 10 applications tops, so it isn't as cheap if you calculate the cost per usage as compared to other peeling masks.

This is pretty much the only peel-off mask that peels off in a single piece, but you also have to slather quite a thick amount. Drying time is pretty long (about 20 mins to half an hour in humid Singapore) but if you apply it correctly (upwards into your pores), you can peel off some tiny clogs which is so satisfying! Of course, you have to be very patient with the long drying time, and it adheres so well to my skin that it stings a little when I peel it off, but wow! Love the pore-unclogging effect. I can see the little oil droplets sucked up on the mask from every pore. If you have sensitive skin, I suggest using it on oilier areas like the T-zone only. And avoid your eyebrows. :P

This mask will not improve your skin significantly, but it is good for those who already have pretty clear skin and just want to maintain their good skin. Also good for people with sensitive skin; it doesn't react to my skin (because it physically unclogs pores rather than chemically exfoliates), leaves it feeling quite moist and tight. Don't expect miracles like getting all your blackheads removed (this stuff is not a Biore pore pack), but it does shrink my pores and suck up oil. :D I loved it so much that even when I reached home at 2am after work, I'd use it and wait for it to dry while I napped.

Rating: 10/10

Kose Seikisho Exfoliating Massage Gel
This is a relatively new product that was released after the popularity of Mask White. Texture is pretty much the same, except this is a scrub. It is a warming scrub and the black gel will turn grey after a while which signals that exfoliation is complete, but I kind of doubt the self-timing effect, so I just continue exfoliating. :P Also, I find the scrubby bits a little too huge (but not harsh) and sparse for exfoliation as I prefer finer and more concentrated scrubs for microexfoliation. I like that this scrub is not harsh and the gel leaves my skin moist (unlike regular microexfoliants which can dry out skin). I wouldn't repurchase though. Price is the same as Kose Seikisho Mask White.

Rating: 6/10

Kose Sekkisei Lotion
This is what most people use for lotion masks. I honestly don't know how to use this (as a toner with a cotton square or just patting?) so I just use it occasionally as a lotion mask. Sometimes I use a paper mask pill and pop it into this lotion, or I also use cotton squares and saturate it with the lotion to leave on my face in the Saeki Chizu method. The Saeki Chizu method advocates saturating the cotton squares with plain water (tap is fine I suppose) first, then squeezing out excess water and putting lotion on it. I find I do have to follow this method, because the Kose Sekkisei Lotion has such a high concentration of alcohol that my eyes become red (with the alcohol fumes) if I don't saturate the cotton squares with water first.

Honestly, I can't see the hype about this product. It's not particularly moisturizing or whitening or pore-shrinking... Very average. And the high alcohol content just ruins it for me. :( You can probaby find a more gentle and effective product elsewhere. I did a lotion mask with Simple toner, and it worked even better than this. And my Simple toner only costs like SGD$7. I have no idea how much the Kose lotion costs, but it's definitely way more expensive.

Rating: Fail

Kose Sekkisei Lotion Mist
I couldn't find this product on the website, but I got it as a gift with purchase. I think it's pretty much the lotion in a mist bottle. Feels quite nice and lightly moisturizing when I spray it on my face on a hot day, but nothing amazing. I wouldn't repurchase this either.

Rating: 6/10



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I hate to be so negative about products, but well, some brands are just hit-and-miss I suppose! I especially hate it when I find some cult product (like the Kose lotion) that is so popular with others, doesn't work for me. :(


Anyway, here's a photo of the books I bought in China. They're between SGD$5-10 each, all in Chinese. So cheap! My Chinese is seriously improving when I read them. I find the skincare methods much better and relevant than Western methods. Moisture and lymphatic massage seems to be the hype - I'm just very lazy about lymphatic massage because I find it troublesome to look at the photos and I can't remember the steps. :(





The Abekawa mochi with kinako is awesome!!!!!!! LOVE IT. This is at Ministry of Food.


Mango pomelo sago at Honeymoon Desserts. It's a Hong Kong franchise that opened in Singapore. Not bad but the mango was a little sour.

Have a good week everyone (:

Review: Skinfood Pineapple Peeling Gel

I was going to go jogging but it started raining. :( So here I am with another review!


Skinfood Pineapple Peeling Gel - I think it cost me about S$25 in Taiwan, but it should be cheaper on Gmarket and way more expensive in Singapore stores. It's this light exfoliating gel, kinda comparable to Cure Aqua Gel/Ginvera Marvel Gel in the sense that it doesn't really come with uniform scrubby exfoliating grains, but with little pieces of cellulose that rub off in pieces.

Like Cure/Ginvera, it's best used after cleansing and drying. Using on a wet or damp face reduces the exfoliating effect. Similar to Cure/Ginvera, I find I have to use quite a larger amount (as compared to conventional scrubs/exfoliators) so it's kinda pricey in a way.

You can see the little cellulose bits in the gel.

And when you scrub it off, it rubs off in pieces.

I find it a pretty gentle and effective exfoliator which can be used every day if you have normal skin. However it's not as gentle as Cure/Ginvera because I think the Skinfood gel contains pineapple extract which can sting my skin sometimes if I have an open zit or something. I feel Cure/Ginvera work as physical exfoliators while this one is both physical and chemical. It can also be slightly drying so I really need to moisturize well after use.

Rating: 7/10

Let me end off with some photos of cookies I made with my new oven, like, 2 months ago, when I ended a long engagement. According to a friend, it raised a furore when I posted it on Facebook (2 months late) cos they thought that I had so much time to bake and were jealous. Lol. There's nothing in my life to be jealous about, really. I've been quite down lately, thank God for friends or I would have given up a long time ago.



I bought the packaging from Daiso, is it cute? I baked the white chocolate chewy cookies for a friend who'd broken up with her bf but she didn't appear heartbroken after all so I gave the rest to my colleagues, lol!

I had a good Friday night out with friends and later I'm going out for some emotional support... I'm quite thankful for everyone who's been there for me, even if we're just hanging out or sending random texts throughout the week, it really helps me cope with all that... stuff.

Here's to a good week ahead (: