Tuesday, December 28, 2010

SIZE MATTERS PART II

I was about to go to sleep early tonight but I decided to check my gmail, facebook, twitter and Girltalk. hoho. I checked them regularly, atleast 4-8x a day. LOL!

I was checking for updates then I came across to Venus and Mars' thread. The topic was about the size of emu oil of Venus and Mars. To know more, here's the LINK of the thread. 

I was curious since I'm using Emu Oil of Venus and Mars too. And so, I decided to do a simple test
*This test is based only on my OWN concept/knowledge. NOT 100% accurate. This is just to show you my hypothesis to the 30ml bottle mystery (hahaha!)*

The objectives of this test are 
1. to test if 20ml of bottle 1 is equal to 20ml of bottle 2
2. to test if 30ml bottle of Venus and Mars Emu Oil contains 30ml of the product itself

I looked for 20ml and 30ml bottles at home. 

So, here's the test:

This is an empty bottles of 20ml bottle of VnM Cpc+g and 20ml bottle of Ellana Make It Last Primer
You'll notice that Ellana's bottle is bigger (in height) than VnM
By merely looking, you will notice that the diameter are almost the same but not exactly.(VnM>Ellana)
I filled VnM's bottle with water up to the exact amount when I got my cpc+g. So, yes, that's the 20ml for CPC+G. 
I poured the water from VnM cpc+g bottle to Ellana's bottle.
Tada! You'll notice that if you buy Ellana Make It Last Primer you don't get that exact amount of 20 ml simply because it's hard to be 100% accurate. In my own opinion, the reason is because of the thick consistency of Ellana. Try to use a thicker sample for this experiment then try to transfer from one bottle to another. You'll notice the there are some products left on the other bottle. So, yes, it's really hard to transfer samples with thick consistency as Ellana Make It Last Primer

Let's try other bottles please
I can't find any 30ml bottle aside from my  VnM Emu Oil. So, I decided to use Johnson's Baby Oil 25ml bottle. 
Again, I filled the Johnson's Baby Oil's bottle with water and poured it on the other bottle.
Since, I'm using my cellphone's camera, you will not be able see the amount of water in VnM's bottle so I edited it (sorry, i'm lazy! ;p) The blue is the volume of bottle filled with water. Again, that's only 25ml of Water. So, yes, emu oil is not exactly 30ml but approximately 30ml. Same reason for the error. It's the consistency. 
Possible Reasons for Errors:
*Human Error (i was not using exact scale)
*Error in Materials (consistency varies)

Though I haven't proved it 100% accurately, I conclude that the measurement of volume should be equal in all products. 30ml of bottle 1 should be 30ml of bottle 2 regardless of the consistency, otherwise there's an error. In additional, the answer for ml to grams is dependent on the density of the material. You cannot convert grams to ml unless you know the density. Always remember that 30ml is different from 30 g except for materials with density of 1 like water. Ml is measured in volume and grams is in weight.

So, this is my hypothesis. What's yours? 


Hope this helps.

Monday, December 27, 2010

A VERY LONG POST: BODY SHOP NATRULIFT SKIN CARE LINE

I’ve been using Body Shop Natrulift skin care line religiously these past few weeks, from toner, Cleanser, facial wash, Day and Night Cream, to serum. So, now I think it’s time to do my reviews on them.

Uhm, My mom told me not to use “anti-aging” cream at my young age. According to some people in the Earth, this product is most suitable for women in their late 20s, 30s or 40s. But because of internet and the power of google --- the brain I never had--- I learned that using Anti-aging products can be use, at my age, to prevent signs of aging such as wrinkles and fine lines. What a relief! 

Moving on…
(About the product, tips and instruction are not originally from me, source: http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk)

NATRULIFT FIRMING DAY CREAM


About the product:
Skin feels firmer and hydrated, wrinkles appear softer. Moisturises for up to 12 hours. For signs of ageing.
Has a temporary lifting effect: skin is plumper and hydrated. Enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade brazil nut oil. The pomegranate seed oil we use in our firming skin care range comes from pomegranates that are organically grown and hand-harvested by farmers in south-east Turkey. To retain their natural goodness the seeds are cold-pressed. The oil that’s extracted is organically certified.

Tips: Apply after serum as part of your daily skin care regime.

Instruction: Massage into skin in a circular motion.

Price: Php 1625.00

My review:
I’m a type of girl who doesn’t see scented products as a big NO NO… As long as it works, I could live with that. This product is scented but believe me, the scent is nothing but good. It wasn’t the kind of creams that would slap your nose like those grandma’s scented creams. Actually, I think that the smell of this cream is simply gorgeous.  
For texture’s sake, the texture is very creamy. You can get a little goes a long way with this. I think this tube would last me a long time.
In additional, this cream does a good job is making your skin soft and smooth. (especially when you’re using the entire skin care line).
For the cons, I wouldn't think it’s a big con for others but for me, yes. Since it is enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade Brazil nut oil, you really can get a lot of oils with these. Haha! It feels like the oils (for moisturizing) are too heavy for my skin. It makes my skin looks greasy… that is why I don’t really use this with Serum. But, if you have a dry skin, oh you should really really get this one for yourself.
Now, let me tell you about the temporary lifting effect or the skin being plumper. I wasn’t sure I’ve seen or felt that. I do have few wrinkles on my forehead and so far, it looks exactly the same before I had this product. But, I’m not telling you that this is totally a worthless product. I’ve been using it only for weeks, I haven’t even used a half of it so I can’t tell you yet. So if you’re looking for a product that would do instant job, go get a botox.
**NOTE: Glad I had this during cold season; don’t have to worry about looking greasy as my skin absorbs this easily. But beware, never use this during hot weather/season**


PROS:
>Makes skin soft and smooth
>Smells good
>Texture is very creamy. Little goes a long way
>Good moisturizer
>Feels amazing after hours of applying this cream--- when your skin absorbs the product (at first, it will give you a heavy oily greasy feeling hahaha!)
>It’s organic

CONS
>Expensive (for me? ;p)
>Can makes skin greasy (depends on skin type)
>If you hate products on tube, you’ll hate this.

NATRULIFT FIRMING NIGHT CREAM

About the product:
Skin feels firmer and hydrated, wrinkles appear softer. Moisturises for up to 12 hours. For signs of ageing.
Has a temporary lifting effect: skin is plumper and hydrated. Enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade brazil nut oil. The pomegranate seed oil we use in our firming skin care range comes from pomegranates that are organically grown and hand-harvested by farmers in south-east Turkey. To retain their natural goodness the seeds are cold-pressed. The oil that’s extracted is organically certified.

Tips: Apply after serum as part of your evening skin care regime.

Instruction: Massage into skin in a circular motion.

Price: Php 1795.00 

My review:
If you’re sleeping in an air-conditioned room, you wouldn’t have any problems with these. In fact, I’m quite sure that you’ll fall inlove with this just like me. The best part is when you wake up in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror and you’ll see a glowing you. Otherwise, this would be a nightmare. Again, the oils can be too much for you to handle
PROS:
>Makes skin really soft and smooth
>Brightens your skin 

CONS
>Comes in tube
>Expensive

NIGHT AND DAY CREAM
I like that they use a darker color for night cream so you could recognize easily which is which.
Natrulift Day Cream looks yellowish while Night cream is white.

NATRULIFT FIRMING SERUM

About the product:
Leaves skin feeling firmer and more toned. For signs of ageing.
Has a temporary lifting effect: skin is plumper and hydrated. Enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade brazil nut oil. The pomegranate seed oil we use in our firming skin care range comes from pomegranates that are organically grown and hand-harvested by farmers in south-east Turkey. To retain their natural goodness the seeds are cold-pressed. The oil that’s extracted is organically certified.

Tips: Use morning and evening as part of your daily skin care regime. Apply after toner.

Instruction: Apply in a circular motion. Use morning and evening before moisturising.

Price: Php 1950.00 (Please correct me if I am wrong, I saw this on their website and it’s only $7 while other are like $9)

My review:
I think serums are more concentrated than creams. So, yes if you can’t afford to buy two creams (day and night) maybe, you could buy this na lang.
Compared to day cream, this feels much lighter on skin. But I choose to use this on evening before my night cream. I’ve been putting lots of products on mornings so I don’t want to add more burdens on my skin. Though, this is just for skin care, I still believe that anything that is too much is way no better. Oh well, nothing really special about this. For the price, actually, I think you could just skip this if you’re using day and night cream already. 
PROS:
>Light on skin
>Smells good
>Organic
>Comes in a pump
>makes skin soft
>does not deliver sticky feeling
>In my opinion, you could use this as substitute if you can’t afford to buy day and night cream. It’s much cheaper than buying 2 creams right?

CONS
>Expensive


NOTE: NATRULIFT FIRMING DAY CREAM, NIGHT CREAM AND SERUM ARE BEST USE DURING COLD SEASON. 

NATRULIFT SOFTENING CREAM CLEANSER
About the product:
Cleanses and refreshes for a softer-looking complexion. For signs of ageing.
Has a temporary lifting effect: skin is plumper and hydrated. Enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade brazil nut oil. The pomegranate seed oil we use in our firming skin care range comes from pomegranates that are organically grown and hand-harvested by farmers in south-east Turkey. To retain their natural goodness the seeds are cold-pressed. The oil that’s extracted is organically certified.

Tips: Use morning and evening as part of your daily skin care regime. Follow with Natrulift Softening Toner.

Instruction: Apply with fingertips using circular motions, then remove with cotton wool or a muslin cloth. If product gets into eyes, rinse with clean water.

Price: Php 1025.00 

My review:
I was surprised that I was actually using this the wrong way. Haha. I was using this like Pond’s Cold Cream because it thought it works like that. And indeed, it works like that. It removes my makeup instantly. Take note, I used this “before” washing my face. But the instruction says I have to use this before toner. So, I’ll try to interchange them tonight. Gosh, now I’m worried. You know why? Because whenever I put this on my face it feels like it’s burning my face! I can’t stand the feeling that’s why after removing all my makeup, I have to wash my face na. Oh gosh, if I’m doing it the other way, I would have to endure the pain.  Then see if toner could ease the pain just like the facial wash.
Oh well, but so far, I’m inlove with these. Superb in removing my makeup. Makes my skin feels softer, smoother and cleaner than ever! Yes, my favorite product in Natrulift skin care line!

Click HERE to see my first review on this.

 PROS:
>It does what it supposed to do
>Makes skin feels SOFTER, SMOOTHER AND CLEANER!

CONS
>Expensive

NATRULIFT SOFTENING TONER
About the product:
Clarifies and refreshes for a softer-looking complexion. For signs of ageing.
Has a temporary lifting effect: skin is plumper and hydrated. Enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade brazil nut oil. The pomegranate seed oil we use in our firming skin care range comes from pomegranates that are organically grown and hand-harvested by farmers in south-east Turkey. To retain their natural goodness the seeds are cold-pressed. The oil that’s extracted is organically certified.

Tips: Use morning and evening after cleansing as part of your daily skin care regime. Follow with Natrulift Firming Serum.

Instruction: Apply to a cotton pad and sweep over face after cleansing.

Price: Php 1250.00 

My review:
Doing a great job as a toner! Another fave of mine! My last step of cleansing. Leaves my skin amazingly clean!  I never go to sleep without applying toner, oh yes, you have to make sure that your face is totally 100% clean from makeup and dirt. 

PROS
>Makes skin soft and smooth
>Leaves skin amazingly clean

CONS
>Expensive

NATRULIFT SOFTENING FACIAL WASH
About the product:
Softly cleanses and refreshes for a velvety-looking complexion. For signs of ageing.
Has a temporary lifting effect: skin is plumper and hydrated. Enriched with pomegranate seed oil and Community Trade brazil nut oil. The pomegranate seed oil we use in our firming skin care range comes from pomegranates that are organically grown and hand-harvested by farmers in south-east Turkey. To retain their natural goodness the seeds are cold-pressed. The oil that’s extracted is organically certified.

Tips: Use morning and evening as part of your daily skin care regime. Follow with Natrulift Softening Toner.

Instruction: Gently massage onto face in a circular motion. Rinse with water. If product gets into eyes, rinse with clean water.

Price: Php 995.00

My review:
I started using stieva-a so yes, my face is suffering from lot of pains in peeling. I usually use my St. Ives Blemish and Blackhead control facial wash during evening but the hell, it’s so painful. Glad I had Body Shop Facial Wash with me. It’s so mild and makes my skin really soft. Though, I don’t feel like it cleanses as much as my St. Ives. 

For my first review on this, click HERE

Sorry for the long post. But hope this helps.

If you wouldn't mind spending Php 8,000+ for skin care products, then you should try this.. Overall, they're good products for skin.. and besides, it's Body shop!  A brand you could trust your skin with. Right ladies? ;p

Oh by the way, if you're wondering if i purchased everything with my own money,, the answer is NO. Haha. 
I won a giveaway contest from ms. PHOEBEANN's sweet November
Thanks again for giving me the chance to try this products...
CLICK HERE
 


Sunday, December 26, 2010

I'm inlove with an awesome blog

...Yes, i'm inlove with an awesome blog...
...No, it's not my blog...
...Yes I'm inlove with an awesome blog...
...No, i don't even know her...

 I love her blog because she talks alot about skin care
When I want to look for something,
I could find it there.

Oh yes, I love reading her blog.
Who is she?

None other than the owner of this blog
http://cecilywishes.blogspot.com


CONTESTS

Again... I'll be joining contests because wasn't able to win any last time. lol!
Who wouldn't want free items right?

Let's start!
Click photos for the link
BRITTANYLOVE'S CONTEST GIVEAWAY
ends January 1, 2011
 
7 Piece Brush Set (1 Powder/Blusher brush, 1 large round Eye Shadow brush, 1 small round Eye Shadow brush, 1 Lipstick brush, 1 Eye Definer brush, 1 Eye Applicator brush, 1 Lash comb/Brow comb) Worth £10.00 
2 Eyeko London Lips (Shades: Portobello & Knightsbridge) Worth £13.00 
1 Barry M Lip Paint (The most popular shade: Marshmallow 101) Worth £4.50 
1 Face Stockholm Blusher (Shade: Shy) Worth £13.00 
1 Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Gloss (Shade: Candy Gloss) Worth £8.25

Why I joined: I want the brush set! ;p

 JEWELRYBEAD'S CONTEST GIVEAWAYS
ends January 12, 2010
 
Lancome Juicy Tubes Gift Set- "Sparkling Pinks" (Set includes the following 6 colors:  Butterflies, Sweetheart, Pink Bling, Raspberry Ice, Miracle, and Dreamsicle) 
NARS Highlighting Blush Powder - "Albatross" 
OPI "Simmer & Shimmer" Nail Lacquer 
NYX Blush -"Pinky" 
NYX Blush - "Peach" 
NYX Glitter Cream Pallet - "Paradise"

Why I joined: I want them all! :)

JEN W'S CONTEST GIVEAWAYS
ends January 1, 2011

 
MAC Shy Girl cremesheen lipstick
MAC Viva Glam Cindy lipglass

Why I joined: I want Mac lippies (lipstick and lipglass)

MADIHA'S CONTEST GIVEAWAYS
ends February 28, 2011
First Prize:
* MAC paintpot of your choice
*MAC lipstick of your choice
*MAC eyeshadow of your choice

 
Second Prize:
*One Sedonalace 88 palette of your choice ( Matte, shimmer, warm, metal mania)
 
Why I joined: I get to choose the mac eyeshadow, lipstick, paintpot and palette! Yey.
 
HOLLYWOOD'S HEEL'S CONTEST GIVEAWAY 
 
 MAC blush in Sunbasque (gorgeous shimmery peachy color LOVE this blush)
Everyday Minerals Eyeshadow in Rock Anthem (Pretty shimmery purple)
Christian Dior Duo Eyeshadow in 365 Nude Look (1 matte (light brown) and 1 pearly ( champagne) colors)
Urban Decay Glitter Eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy (Golden glitters)

Why I joined: I want them all!!
 
That's all for now ladies.
Let's join the contest. 

Size matters

Lotions, makeup, perfumes, and more--- the prices of this products largely depends on the quality, ingredients, name of the brands and of course sizes. If you’re a person who checks the sizes of the product you’re buying most of the time, you might notice that different packaging or brand comes in different units of sizes. Sometimes, it is labeled in ml, fluid oz, grams or oz. You might wonder, where can you get more products? Is it in 10ml or 10 g? 2.2 fluid oz or 2.2 oz? The answer is dependent on the density of the material. If it’s water, then 1ml is equals 1g simply because the density of water is 1. Going back to our elementary days, we have learned that Density= mass/volume. Indeed, you get 1 gram for every 1 ml. For other materials, since ml and fluid oz are measured in volume while grams and oz are measure in weight, you really can’t compare where you can get more products unless you know the density.

For instance, I bought 40g of Skin79 BB Cream because I thought it was cheaper than 30ml of other BB Cream brands. But I was shocked with what I saw.

Look at this picture.
I dipped a ballpen refill to show you the height of the content of the Skin79 bb cream.
  I know, looks can be deceiving so as the packaging! LOL! The height is not even 1/3 of its packaging. 
 The height measures approximately 2.5 cm.

Now, let’s measure the diameter. 
Approximately 1.2 cm.

To compute for Volume of this, I use the formula for cylinder. Volume= 2.83 cubic centimeters or 2.83 ml.

Thus, you can get more by buying 30ml than 30g of this product. 

But it’s not always like that.

For instance, the cream in the picture. The packaging says its 50ml or approximately 49 g.

Alright, I don’t know why I’m blogging about this. LOL! But I hope this helps you understand the basic measurements. I hope most products are measured in volume because it’s much easier to imagine how long this product will lasts me. In using a product, we do estimate how much product we get in terms of volume rather than how much we get in terms of weights right?


Until then.


Friday, December 24, 2010

TOP PICK FOR 2010

Ohhh, Christmas’ eve is near. Aren’t you guys excited? Well, I am. My mom is sooooo busy right now cooking foods for us. Anyways, since mom’s doing the entire job, I was left with nothing to do but to blog. ;p 

So, I thought I’ll just make a TOP PICK for 2010! But no time to take a pictures now. Sorry ^_^ (I’ll just review them someday when I’m not busy)

I’ll do TOP PICK 2010 with Spend and Save Version. Save products are the cheaper versions of Spend products.  But those in Spend category doesn’t mean you have to spend thousands of pesos. Let me just say that I’m inlove with two products … so I decided to put the cheaper in Save while the other in Spend. LOL!

FOR HAIR PRODUCTS:

CONDITIONER
Save: Venus and Mars Conditioner
Spend: CreamSilk

SHAMPOO
Save: Head and Shoulder Smooth and Silky Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

BODY PRODUCTS:

SOAP
Save: Olay Beauty Bar (I’m inlove with them,, all of them)
Spend: Palmolive Naturals in Pink (made my skin soft.yey!)

BODY SCRUB
Save: HBC Body Recipe Skin Lightening Body Scrub

LOTION
Save: St. Ives Aloe and Chamomile
Spend: Lancome Miracle (my bf’s gift to me with perfume ;p)

OTHERS
Bath Origins Sole Food * Foot Blush
Scents and Blends Green Therapy Protecting Foot Scrub
Venus and Mars Bare It All Cream (Mentholated)
Veet Hair Removal Cream
Veet Hair Removal Wax

FACE PRODUCTS

CLEANSER
Save: Pond’s Cold Cream Perfect Care
Spend: The Body Shop’s Natrulift Cleanser

FACIAL WASH
Save: St. Ives Blemish and Blackhead Control Facial Wash
Spend: TBS Natrulift Facial Wash

FACIAL SCRUB
St. Ives Blemish and Blackhead Control Facial Scrub

FACIAL CREAMS
Save: TBS Natrulift Day and Night Cream
Spend: Olay Total Effect Cream

EMU OIL
Save: Venus and Mars Emu Oil
Spend: BareNaturals Emu Oil

MOISTURIZER
Olay Complete Moisturizer

TONER
Save: Belo Pore Refining in Pink
Spend: TBS Natrulift Toner

COSMETICS:
Primer: Ellana Make It Last Primer
BB Cream: Skin79 BB Cream Hot Pink
Eyebrows: Elf Eyebrow Kit in Light
Lip Product/s: Lip Ice, Nyx Tea Rose and Indian Pink
Foundation: Neutrogena Fine Fairness UV Compact; Maybelline Clearsmooth Mineral Foundation
Concealer: Maybelline Mineral Power with Elf Tone Correcting
Eyeliner: Elianto StayOn Eye pencil
Brush: Bare Naturals Softest Focus Flat Top Brush

Yey, that’s all. And I’m currently on my search for powder foundation. I love Neutrogena but I’m looking for yellow undertone, light on skin, light to medium coverage, refillable(if not refillable atleast affordable) and good for the skin. Can you help me ladies? Oh by the way, I’m using Natural Beige but I guess,uhm, it’s a bit darker on me now. How light is the other shade again? ;p

And oh, I’ll be trying new skincare products for 2011. What can you recommend ladies? And I’m torn between Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting Cream and Olay Total Effect Cream. And, St. Ives Mask or Mud Pack Masque?
I’ll be happy if you can help me. Thanks in Advance. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!