Hi my dearies, my Friday post didn’t really come together as I planned so that’s why I’m posting on a Saturday. Thanks for bearing with me as I adjust back into my Tokyo routine. I have lots brewing in my mind and one of my recent ideas was to start a new column, “BB Tips”, which touch on makeup and beauty tricks to make your life easier, to help you look and feel great.

Let’s get started with our inaugural tip, shall we?

Today’s beauty trick focuses on body care. I don’t know about you but I use gallons of this stuff. It’s the one product (besides shower gel and shampoo/conditioner) that has one of the highest turnovers in my bathroom. I can stock up on these bottles without feeling a shred of regret because I know I would use them up.

But I also love expensive body creams/lotions. I dislike most drugstore ones because they are either not nicely fragranced or they just don’t moisturize well enough. Having said that, this may seem like a contradiction but I would combine a luxe body lotion with a fragrance-free drugstore one to make my expensive product stretch a bit longer.

The key is to choose an excellent drugstore lotion, and I would recommend CeraVe, a deeply moisturizing lotion suitable for sensitive skin and has a light texture. If you are in Japan, I would recommend Yuskin (the green or blue versions) as they have phenomenal body moisturizers at a very affordable price. The problem I have with these fantastic drugstore body lotions is that they do not smell of anything and I love slathering myself in scent after a shower.

I squirted CeraVe five times and the Korres one once — this is enough to moisturize both legs. If I just used the Korres one, I would need at least three squirts. And I haven’t even moved onto my arms and torso! So you can see how I could use one of these Korres body butters up in less than a month…

Just swirl the two lotions together and you still get a scented experience without wasting too much of your precious body cream. I have a fascination for high-end body moisturizers by Laura Mercier and Jo Malone and I would do the same for those creams to help them stretch.

What do you think? Is this something you would try or you think it would “pollute” your luxe moisturizer?

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Yes, yet another post on lip products but I do go through phases where I focus on one type of product. Does that happen to you, too?

I didn’t realize that I accumulated a few lip butters over the past couple of months quite unintentionally. And I am just loving them this winter. My lips (and hands and legs and feet – argh, everywhere!) get so dry that I need more grunt in my lip care products.

Thanks to Brianna from The Sungirl Says, I got these two Revlon Lip Butters in Candy Apple (extreme left) and Lollipop (second from the left) from the US late last year when they debuted and everyone went bananas for them. I can totally see why — they feel rich on the lips, you don’t need a lip balm underneath, and there is so much pigmentation for the darker shades.

I read that the lighter shades can be very sheer and are more tinted lip balm-like so I chose the more dramatic looking ones and I’ve kept using them since the start of the year and just can’t stop! I hope that they will come to Japan soon because I can’t wait to try more shades. I also can’t wait to see if Japanese brands might pick up on the lip butter trend and come up with their own.

Then in Singapore I couldn’t resist grabbing some Korres goodies because they had a Chinese New Year sale going on. In addition to my bodycare products, I chose a stark red lip butter, that is called Rose, and what I like about this product is that it has SPF15, and is free from parabens, mineral oil, silicone, propylene glycol, and ethanolamine. It’s quite similar to Candy Apple and the double shade curse struck again…what can I say, I just like reds with a hint of orange.

The last lip butter on the far right is The Body Shop’s limited edition Chocomania Lip Butter. I also have the body butter which I haven’t broken into yet. I did wonder if I wanted to smell like chocolate but it’s more like shea butter infused with a chocolate aroma and the chocolate fragrance actually fades away faster than the shea. It’s just a yummy treat to slather on my lips before bed and I am contemplating stocking up on more since this is limited edition. This lip butter keeps my lips moisturized till morning, and since the air is as dry as a friggin’ desert in Tokyo, I would say this is a solid lip care product.

As a side note, I used to love The Body Shop a lot but I kind of got sick of smelling the same products again and again so I strayed over to Korres for my regular body care products. But I must say my interest got renewed by the Chocomania range and their White Musk Libertine collection. I do hesitate to talk about The Body Shop because it’s a brand while popular, is kind of uninteresting, but I like what I like eh?

The Chocomania lip butter doesn’t have any colour so I didn’t swatch it, but here are what Candy Apple (left), Lollipop (middle), and Korres’ Rose (right) look like. Rose is almost identical to Candy Apple but is on the sheerer side. Lollipop is this brilliant fuschia which I usually tone down with a nude lip gloss but would work for a night out on its own. I’ve been alternating between these three lately and my other lipsticks are feeling quite neglected.

Another lip butter I would like to try is the Yes To Carrots ones which show up with Revlon if you search for “lip butter” on Google. It’s such a quirky cute brand which I would like to get to know.

Have you ever tried Yes To Carrots? Are you also a lip butter fan?

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Today’s Beauty Debate topic is a bit of a fun topic and I would love to hear what you have to say:

What’s your beauty quirk?

It’s something that doesn’t quite connect the dots or it contradicts some of your “beliefs” or you are particular about something that isn’t usually a concern for others etc., you know what I mean?

Let me list my beauty quirks here…

Quirk #1

I don’t use scented lip balms if it is in stick form, but if they are in pot form, I don’t mind if it has fragrance. This is my personal logic: the stick types go directly onto your lips so saliva mingles with the balm which makes the scent go bad within a matter of weeks (this really bothers me). For lip balm sticks, I’m using Mentholatum Waterlip and Yuskin Lip Cream.

But for pot balms, I always use a clean lip brush so the balm doesn’t get that “gone bad” smell and right now I’m using Jurlique’s Love Balm and Paula’s Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm. Scented lip gloss is fine too because I either use my finger or a lip brush. The ultimate contradiction: I don’t mind scented lipsticks although I apply them directly onto my lips.

Quirk #2

I adore good quality body lotion that smells divine — nothing less. Right now, I’m using Korres Body Milk in Jasmine. I love smelling good all over, but for some strange reason, I don’t like scented hand cream because I like to cuddle a pillow while I sleep and if my hands have fragrance, I would feel bothered.

I’ve tried different types, brands, and scents, but at the end of the day I always reach for an unscented moisturizer (I like QV Cream, but it’s not available in Japan and I buy it in Singapore or Australia if I get the chance) and currently I am using the Yuskin S-series Body Cream. That’s also another quirk: I use body moisturizers for my hands.

…Which explains why I’m having trouble finishing two tubes of the paw paw balm I bought in Melbourne in March this year — the slightly “rotten” papaya scent is quite off-putting although it is an amazing product. I use this on my feet and toes so I can’t smell it at all.

Now it’s your turn!

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Hello my dears, I was going to put up a video yesterday but am facing major uploading problems over at Youtube (apparently it’s better to use “Private Browsing” to get it up but to no avail – any advice would be appreciated).

So instead of a video, I’ll just make a quick mention of the things I bought that will accompany to my trip to Singapore and Hokkaido where I’ll get hitched. Sorry for all the wedding talk lately but let me just say that I finally understand 100% why this milestone in life is truly….huge. The massive number of people are involved in the exercise of two people joining their lives legally is just mind-boggling. And it takes a very strong woman to not be bothered about how she looks on her big day.

I always thought I would be more…”level-headed” and wouldn’t go on crash diets and such — I haven’t but I can tell you that it has definitely motivated me to really move my butt and be more careful with what I eat. Though I’m at the point where I am dreaming of being lazy and slurping on instant ramen — kind of like when you are in the last kilometers of a marathon, you can almost taste the sensation of an ice-cold sweet beverage and falling into a fluffy bed.

So I thought a little help in the beauty department was in order to help me psychologically and physically. By surrounding myself with pretty things, I think I could feel more at ease and confident. I’m definitely a believer in putting your best face forward to gain some pep in your step.

Remember my wish list for fall? I got me some Jill Stuart, oh yeah…

Can I just die of prettiness right now?

This pressed powder compact is called Smooth Silk Powder Foundation N in 105 which is the darkest shade they have. It looks almost identical to my Revlon pressed powder but it is finer in texture similar to my Paul & Joe loose powder — compact, fine, and encased in a dreamy girly compact. Though this is not a proper review since I’ve only tried it on my face at the counter.

And the salesgirl was so convincing in selling the new limited edition Jill Stuart Mixed Blush Compact Sweet Lock, I found myself saying, “Hai!” before I could comprehend what I was doing. Can I say that I’m tired of corals (for now anyway) and want to go back to pinks? And this is a lovely neutral pink blush. It’s not cool but not warm either which is what I’m looking for. I swatched the Blush Blossom fall item at the counter too and it was way to glittery and the Sweet Lock one was matte in comparison, so no guesses which I got…

I think you could even use this as an eyeshadow palette especially that neutral shade at the bottom left corner. When mixed together, it’s just really gorgeous and not as pigmented as their usual Mixed Blush compacts where it’s all too easy to put on too much blush because they are so pigmented.

Next up, I got two main products to help me smell like ambrosia in Singapore’s steamy hot weather…You know that I’m obsessed with fragrances and especially so for a special occasion.

I know I said in this video I found my perfumes for the wedding but I think I finally settled on one that would suit both hot and cold climates — Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Flora Nymphea.

I love scents that smell like skin — a beautiful woman’s skin that has just been bathed but still has that “human” aroma and not completely synthetic…Flora Nymphea is just that. It’s a soft dewy floral that contains some milky musk and herbal notes that are an intoxicating blend.

And the final one to wrap up my signature scent for this special occasion is the Korres Mint Tea Body Milk. I used to be a hardcore Body Shop body butter fan but I’m now a Korres convert. This creamy body lotion is light enough for humid weather but hydrates pretty well. I think it’s a bit too light for freezing dry winters but it works for my purpose now.

More importantly, the fragrance is thoroughly sexy and not in musky way. It is pillowy with a slight hint of mint and a lick of masculine bergamot. Again, it has that character of cleanly washed skin that falls on the natural side than something fully synthetic (e.g. lemon scents that smell just like detergent…ew….).

I’m all set now. Lock and load, babeh and I’m just going to enjoy myself and leave all the stress behind — I figured that at this point, nothing really bad could ruin the wedding(s). Wish me luck!

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I totally wanted to do a video on my top 10 winter essentials as a follow-up to my summer faves video here. But the iMovie program on my Macbook is not working for some reason and I can’t figure it out.

Soooo, here’s a blog post on them instead…

Fruit of the Earth Vitamin E Oil is something I use almost every night along with some aloe vera gel to thin it. It moisturizes my skin in this dry weather and helps to heal scars and acne.

There’s also another reason why I have not moved my butt to get a video camera to replace my faulty Macbook — my skin is not in great condition and as a beauty blogger, I feel embarrassed to have problematic skin at the moment. One of my resolutions this year (and the year is almost over!) is to be more authentic and I’ll be honest why I’m suffering from pimple breakouts: I came off birth control pills at the end of June and the transition has been a bit rocky emotionally and physically. I took the pill for six years and my mother would be so upset if she read this (but mum, if you are reading this, take it as good news that I’ve finally stopped) because she is very against pouring artificial hormones into the body.

For those who have not been through this experience, let me tell you that it is no less than awful. My emotions are better because I don’t have so much estrogen in my body but I feel flat because my body is not used to having that large amount, too. Skin-wise, it has been sucky — I’m breaking out like a teenager and it makes me feel depressed.

But I know it is temporary and I’m trying the best I can to help my body heal. Let’s go back to my winter love list.

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Hey gorgeous people, it’s mid-week and I’m just getting into the groove of my schedule. Alas, my summer travels have come to an end and I’m badly in need of some self-pampering.

But first, let me show you my mini-holiday haul. As a general rule, I try not to shop while travelling — I usually have no space in one small carry-on luggage, plus beauty products tend to be liquid so that makes things difficult if you don’t plan to check-in your luggage. And I really want to just buy products when I need them, too. Why don’t I just put a halo over my head right now, you must be wondering! Well, I used to hoard beauty products like no tomorrow so it’s an on-going resolution to live light.

But I broke a couple of rules when I was transiting at the Dubai International Airport en route to Singapore from Moscow.

I got this:

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