Review: Maithong Mangosteen Soap (Adult Acne; My Secret)

Maithong Mangosteen soap is an everyday Face and Body Wash.

Teen acne and Adult acne are not the same thing and need to be treated differently. I don't know how this product work on teen acne, even if it does. I use it to treat my adult acne for which it works wonders.

I haven't come across a product even similar to it's effectiveness to treat adult acne. I notice it is working only after the first use, after the second use my acne is noticeable better. My face feels very clean.

My acne isn't severe or spread throughout the entire face. It is normally (when I don't stray from my daily facial cleansing routine) located on my chin area and on my forehead.

The ingredients list reads:
Mangoosteen, Black Sesame, Vitamin E, Palm Kernel Oil, Sodium Cocate (Coconut oil), Glycerin, Aqua

It contains natural anti-oxidants and protects skin from acne and rash.

Back of the package reads:

Mangosteen and natural herbal extracts act as a natural AHA whitener. Mangosteen is an excellent anti-oxidant and has natural anti-bacterial properties that help reduce acne, black spots and skin imperfections of the face and body. Vitamin E, extracted from Black Sesame, provides moisture and brightens your skin.

Many products state similar things but are ineffective. Mangosteen reduced my acne significantly after just two uses. It's between $5 - $12 depending on where you buy it and it's cost effective. One bar of 100 g. soap will last me way past six months if used twice daily. I dare guess up to one year. To my knowledge it's probably not easy to find on the market outside of Asia. The producing company is located in Bangkok Thailand. I didn't find an official website but it's distributed on selected websites throughout the web. I bought mine off ebay.

Would you buy it: Yes
Would you recommend it: Yes
Rate it: ★★★★★
Comment: It sounds too good to be true, I have found my Mr. Right of acne products.

I like that it has anti-bacterial properties and is anti-inflammatory. I have some redness on the sides of the nose which this herbal soap reduces. Overall it gives my skin a more even tone and healthier glow. It looks like when I've applied a small amount of concealer, except I haven't. 

Mangosteen

Mangosteen, The queen of fruits is one of the tastiest fruits in the world, is native to South East Asia and requires a year round, warm, very humid, equatorial climate. Many researchers from many world-class laboratories founded that Mangosteen are naturally antibiotic, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory; and are the most powerful antioxidants found in nature that could cure skin rashes, infections and wounds.

Antioxidants are well known for their ability to slow the aging process, thus providing us with wrinkle-free skin. Antioxidants are good nutrition in our diets that neutralize damaging free radicals incurred cumulatively due to elder age. Free radicals damage healthy cells in our body.

Mini pick up Oriflame Elisha Coy Benefit

Couldn't resist these.... What are they? Well, the two similar to egg shape are Oriflame products. One a lip balm the other a softness restoring cream. Then there's the Elisha Coy Always Nuddy Blemish Balm and the Benefit High Beam.

Elisha Coy Always Nuddy Blemish Balm made with quality plant-based ingredients and advanced technologies for a surprisingly light and clear natural skin tone lasting a long period of time.

This BB cream is soothing, moisturizing and anti-irritant - I don't notice anything that would suggest otherwise.

The coverage is pretty good however it smells like something from art class (that can't be good). It evens out the complexion and does make a good foundation. Do I seem surprised? I didn't have any positive expectations as I set to apply this. The color work well with my untanned winter complexion, covering the dull with luster. It did hide pores and redness pretty well. It looked really natural. I would give this product 3 out of 5 possible stars, I actually believe this has become my new favorite foundation. :)

Benefit High Beam is a satiny pink liquid highlighter that can be used
either as a spot highlighter or delicately blended all over your complexion.

The color of the cream on the picture next to this text is actually off, more golden brown than the light pink that it is. The first, large, image in this post does the actual color better justice.

Haven't tried this one yet but I am excited. Am likely to update this post when I have experienced it.

Oriflame products. One a lip balm containing beeswax, olive and echium oil. The other a moisture-rich and instantly softness restoring cream with caramel aroma.

I've become a fan of these. They don't irritate my skin, there's no strange smell to complain over, and it is truly moisture RICH. The cream in the brown container has a caramel aroma which is just delicious!

My 2010 Christmas Wishlist

It's about THAT time of the year. Don't you feel jolly? Too soon? Ok. I'm in THAT type of mood already. It's freezing outside, there's pretty much snow and it takes longer than usual to type becauce the son has pulled out keys off the keyboard. It's keys that are often used, like the dot, the W, tab and so on. Yeah. Annoying, I need to get it fixed. I really should get a keyboard silicone cover protector. It is more hygentic anyway.

So it's TIME for a Wishlist post. This Wishlist is by far complete (how can you complete a Wishlist?). So I have had these pictures stashed on my laptop for a while with no way of recalling from here I have got these and truth be told I'm too lazy to look these up and write specifics so I'm just gonna cover the basics.

Tarte The Royal Collection

This wish is based solely on the appearance since I have no experience of it, doesn't this look luxurious?

 

Phytomer:  Phytomer Perfect Cleanse Christmas Collection

I lack luster during the winter months, could this be ideal for me?

Benefit Powder flage 

Could you be the one? I have major issues with dark circles (Dedicated parent).

 

SANA Pore Putty Makeup Base

 Curious about you.

Gucci bag

Oh, love.

Arché Pearl Cream

Hello beautiful ladies :) I thought I'd write about this pearl cream Arché Pearl Cream which is a specially formulated (Formula AA) face cream for elimination of acne, freckles, melasma and dark spots. It is made in Thailand and is UV protected. Suppose to eliminate unwanted wrinkles. Claiming it can be used as foundation cream. Now I have only used it twice and according to instructions you are suppose to use it twice daily for one week so I haven't enough experience for a review yet as far as effectivity goes.

Direction state that after you have cleaned your skin thoroughly you are suppose to apply the pearl cream evenly during morning and evening but this cream doesn't absorb, it leaves your face with a mask so I don't see how anyone should use this in the morning. As far as the idea of foundation goes it makes a lousy foundation. Slightest touch and it smears out, it is so thick. It's moist and is available in one color only.

Instead, I applied it before my regular morning routine and did a little work by the laptop before washing it off after about 20 - 30 minutes and proceeded with the regual routine. It didn't rinse off easily, just water didn't do. I had to use a facial wash to clean away as much as was possible. Yet it was noticable, but using a facial towel to wipe off the last of it did the trick. After that you couldn't see it with your eyes anymore.

The good part is it is such a gentle and warming cream and just those 20 or 30 minutes made a small difference in skin tone appearance. It left the skin with a soft peal shine. I love the scent, I can't explain it cause I have no comparison.

I have tried other creams which wasn't this hard to rinse off and cleared up my skin faster than this is said to do. However they have dried out my skin in the process.


I found information about the product. The ingredients don't tell ME much, I am in need of some reading up to learn what's good and not for the face. However I don't see the word alcohol in there. I've heard that fragrance isn't good.


Ingredients: 
Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, CI 77891, Ceresin, Beeswax, Lanolin, Cetyl Alcohol, Talc, CI 77947, Fragrance, Niacinamide, Allantoin, Zinc oxide, Titanium dioxide, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Pearl Powder, Stearyl Glycyrretinate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Aluminum Stearate, Alumina, CI 47000, CI 26100

Have you tried this or any other pearl creams? What did you think of it?

Review: Sulwhasoo Overnight Vitalizing Treatment (Pictures)

Sulwhasoo use the rare Korean Ginseng Berry. Recognized for its healing & detoxifying powers, Ginseng leaf tea traditionally once was drunk to prevent freckles, blemishes and wrinkles.


I have dedicated entire posts to Korean skin care products before, same brand even; Sulwhasoo ( "Sul"(snow), "wha"(white) and "soo"(exellence) ), it's worth mentioning more than one time. The Overnight Vitalizing Treatment mask is used as the last step of the basic skincare. It pampers your skin with luxurious hydration and greatly improves as you sleep. It is formulated with Korean medicinal herbs like all Sulwhasoo products and one tube á 120ml cost around $60.00.

It is the noticeable difference in my skin such as reduced fine lines under the eyes* and the healthy radiance which are decisive in my decision to use the product regularly. The difference was evident after only one night. I notice that while I sleep my youth is restored. I haven't come across a product equally healing.


Would you buy it: Yes
Would you recommend it: Yes
Rate it: ★★★☆☆
Comment: I can feel that it lets the skin breath and the scent truely is effecting the body and the mind. This is pure herbal luxury.

As Western brands tend to cater to a symptom so if you have wrinkles you'd use wrinkle cream. Asian brands tend to focus on both the primal cause of the symptom and also in trying to fix the symptom in itself. 

Sulwhasoo believes in the principle of JaEum based on JaEumDan formula (5 herbs complex - Polygonatum Officinale, Nelumbo Nucifera, Paeonia Lacitflora, Rehmannia Glutinosa, and Lilium Tigrinum).

Sulwhasoo Overnight Vitalizing Treatment

Formulated with Korean medicinal herbs, this overnight mask awakens a radiant looking skin with nourishing moisture and herbal extracts.

- Acutelobed Angelica and Pomegranate help brighten skin tone and Walnut and White Mulberry restore skin's vitality by delivering essential nutrients.
- Creating an essential moisture layer on the skin, this mask assures optimum penetration of nourishing herbs while you rest.

Walnut extract creates an essential moisture layer on the skin, promoting optimal absorption of nourishing ingredients, like purifying acutelobed angelica extract and antioxidant pomegranate extract, while you sleep. White mulberry extract minimizes redness and irritation as hyaluronic acid promotes long-term hydration, restoring and revitalizing skin overnight. 

• This treatment helps skin regenerate better throughout the night
• Replenishes nutrients from Korean medicinal extracts to improve cellular turnover
• Allows skin to breathe andcirculate during healing process
• Korean medicinal aroma comforts body andmind
• Leaves skin look energized and refreshed in morning

Sulwhasoo has reached the west with their debut spa outside Korea located on Canton Road.

Sulwhasoo Spa
82-84 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
+852 3101 9861

Like the snow blossoms in winter that silently bear life within, foreseeing the clearness of spring, the greenness of summer, and the abundance of autumn, Sulwhasoo symbolizes the refined and deeply white beauty of Korea.

* The stress and sleepless nights after my pregnancy has caused signs of premature aging :((

Review: Sulwhasoo Serum and Firming Cream (Pictures)

I received a renewal kit by Sulwhasoo. It contains one First Care Serum and one Firming Cream. I have used it for two days now. What I first noticed was the pleasant scent of the Serum and the aromatic scent of the firming cream. I applied no larger amount than I needed to. I applied it after my daily facial wash routine. There was an instant firming and lifting without drying out the skin and a more even tone. Now I'm not old or saggy but there was a healthy difference. I'm a mother to a two year old and often times don't get enough sleep or time to rewind or stress down so I have a problem with looking tired and dull now adays. Using these two products I find that I have got some of my rested glow back. It is perfect as a daycream and under make-up since it doesn't leave your skin oily or greasy yet it adds moisture. My skin type is oily and these two Sulwhasoo products keep a shiney forehead away. I would definitely buy this product and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I have tried many well known products, products in your local store and drug store and I didn't find any of them delivering their promisses as much as Sulwhasoo products.

Would you buy it: Yes
Would you recommend it: Yes
Rate it: ★★☆☆☆
Comment: Sulwhasoo products are quite expensive but of better quality compared with many commercial brans skin care products.


It was difficult to find information about these items in a language that I can understand. Here is what I got so far, I will update if I get new info.

Delicate Korean herbal medicinal aesthetics bringing the utmost depth of beauty, Sulwhasoo. With the literal meaning of 'an arid and frail branch covered with snow-white flowers, exploding in full blossom', the brand name of Sulwhasoo implies that the exquisite beauty of a magnificent winter tree with the full snow blossom is brought to women whose soft and succulent skin tone has been withered with aging. A metaphor was used in comparing the appearance of aged women to an arid winter branch.

Firming Cream:

• Developed with Korean medicinal herbs to hydrate skin from within
• Contains Adlay Millet for detoxifying
• Blended with Pomegranate
• Ginkgo Bibloba Leaf extract
• Recovers skin density
• Firmness for aged, damaged slackening skin
• Blends sleekly into skin for immediate lifting effect
• Unveils more elastic
• Healthier skin

First Care Serum:
Formulated with Korean medicinal herbs, this essential regimen boosting serum assures optimal skin care results, promoting balance and replenishing essential moisture and nutrients.

- Membranous Milkvetch promotes natural skin circulation and Dwarf Lilyturf and Licorice boost synergy among herbal extracts to restore skin’s natural healthy radiance.
- Absorbing instantly and deep within the skin, this serum leaves the skin soft, smooth and supple, prepares skin to receive treatment and boosts the efficacy of skin care used throughout the regimen.

Review: Big Happie Hair (As Seen On TV) (Pictures)

One package of Big Happie Hair.

The bumpits have arrived. I ordered them off the net just 5 or 6 days ago. They came all the way from Hong Kong so that's fast shipping! Bumpits are hair volumizing inserts, "from flat to fabulous" (Quoting text on the package).

Ok, the packaging is real cute. It contains five bumpits, one large, two medium size and two small. The official Bumpits website sell them for $9.99 + shipping costs ($7.95), I ordered mine off ebay for just $2.68 and the shipping was free.

The box, instructions and the bumptis.

Close up of one bumpit, this is the large size.

Bumpits come in four colors, I ordered the color Brunette.

The official Bumpits website state that if styled as directed Bumpits inserts will stay firmly in your hair unless you remove it. This is thanks to the raised edging that firmly grips any hair type. They advice that ladies with finer, thinner hair do some light teasing at the base to ensure a firm hold. Bumpits inserts can be worn during activites such as dancing and working out.

The back of the box. If you click on the image or this text you are able to view a larger size of this image. Might be easier to read the text that way.

 I can in a wild imagination fantasise that a bumpit could stay in place in large very curly hair, or hair that's very dry and damaged. I couldn't make them stay firmly in my hair and I couldn't create any dues. My head just looked odly shaped.


Would you buy it: No
Would you recommend it: No
Rate it: ☆☆☆☆☆
Comment: Don't know if it's my hair type, the shape of my head or the bumpits but they didn't stick to my hair or stayed in place. Perhaps it takes some training but I didn't make it work dispite of following instructions.

Do you use Bumpits or any other product to volumize your hair?

Benefits of Green Tea

On the morning after a late night I enjoy a cup of green tea but what I'm really after is the warm te bag which works relaxing on tense eyes. I use the tea bag on my entire face before throwing it away when it's gotten cold. Makes my skin feel very smooth. Besides a cup of green tea on tired eyes I consume at least one large cup of green tea each day, usually late evenings after my son has fallen asleep for the day. I experience that green tea is stress-releaving and healsome. Naturally I'm hoping that I will benefit on a daily green tea consumption both short and long-term in senses of keeping diseases and aging away, since active consumption of effective antioxidants will restrain the aging process.

Green tea originates from China more than 4000 years ago where it has been used as a method of traditional medicine to help everything from controlling bleeding to regulate the blood sugar and promoting digestion. Green tea has medical qualities acting as a stimulant, curing blotchiness, quenching thirst, eliminating indigestion, curing beriberi disease, preventing fatigue and improving urinary and brain function.

Green tea can also have a positive effect on the five vital organs, especially the heart and tea is credited without scientific evidence on a wide variety of health benefits such as treating multiple scleroris, preventing the degration of cell membranes by neutralizing the spread of free radicals which occur during oxidation process and stopping certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Other discovered benefits include effective burning of calories and the prevention of food poisoning because of its ability to destroy bacteria.

Green tea is natural, herbal and 100% free from side effects. Anti-aging is the reward that if applied regularly on the body for cleaning the skin, green tea can give the skin a look of energetic.


Facts

• Improves memory
• Reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure
• Reduces systolic Increase fat oxidation during moderately intense exersice
• Steps up your metabolism
• The mental clarity without the caffeine
• Lowers high blood preassure
• Balences cholesterol levels
• Prevents heart attacks and stroke
• Prevents heart desieses
• Inhibits the growth of cancer cells
• The antioxidant levels of green tea is hundred times more effective than vitamin C and twenty-five times better than vitamin E in protecting our immune systems
• Controlls diabetes
• Makes your complextion healthier
• Prevent tooth decay
• Protective effects against free radicals

Studies

• In a recent case-control study of the eating habits of 2,018 women, consumption of mushrooms and green tea was linked to a 90% lower occurrence of breast cancer .
• A recent study on rats at the University of Hong Kong, published in the February issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that the catechins in green tea were absorbed by the lens, retina and other parts of the eye. The absorbed catechins reduced oxidative stress in the eye for up to 20 hours, suggesting that green tea may be effective in preventing glaucoma and other diseases of the eye.
• In a study performed at the Israel Institute of Technology, it was shown that the main antioxidant polyphenol of green tea extract, EGCG, when fed to mice induced with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, helped to protect brain cells from dying, as well as 'rescuing' already damaged neurons in the brain, a phenomenon called neurorescue or neurorestoration. The findings of the study, led by Dr. Silvia Mandell, were presented at the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health in Washington D.C., in 2007. Resulting tests underway in China, under the auspices of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, are being held on early Parkinson's patients.
• Green tea consumption is associated with reduced heart disease in epidemiological studies.

Do you benefit the healing poweres of green tea?

Most of the information in this post is provided by Wikipedia.