The Weight Loss Entry
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Food & Nosh
Aah so this is the entry everyone and their overweight uncles with beer bellies have been waiting for: How Ilyana Lost 25kg Without Losing Her Soul. Weight loss isn’t exactly rocket science but losing 25kg kinda makes me an unofficial expert in the field of calorie restriction so read this carefully and throw your Atkins Diet guidebooks in the bin cos weight loss tips like these don’t usually come for free.
Oh and because I don’t believe in going to extreme lengths for weight loss i.e starvation, this entry will be filled with yummeh food photos I illegally took at Carousel (photos aren’t allowed but they obviously don’t know who they’re dealing with, tsk) YES. A DIET ENTRY…WITH FOOD PHOTOS. I know, I know..I amaze myself sometimes.
I’ve always maintained a healthy weight since young, I don’t have skinny genes - I’m sorry it’s just not possible; I have boobs, an ass and I love my sushi too much to give it up for teeny tiny clothes. Everyone is probably going to expect some dramatic sob fest on the reasons behind my sudden 25kg weight gain but the answer is as easy and blunt as this: School sucks. I was really stressed up during my last year of school, we had our final project to complete and as I struggled with the many stipulated project deadlines, I turned to food for solace during the many long nights I had to stay awake to complete the project.
By the end of the final deadline, I was seriously overweight and I was living in grey sweats and giant sized tees…not a pretty sight. The worst thing was it didn’t register in my head that I had put on massive amounts of weight even though my thighs had grown to the size of a baby elephant, I was sadly living in denial until I asked my then-boyfriend, “Baby, do you think I’m fat?” and he couldn’t answer the question HAHAHHA SSSSHHHHHIIITTT.
When I first started out on a diet, I was really hard on myself. I was doing the Special K cereal thing where I ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a small meal for lunch and another bowl of cereal for dinner. I did that for two weeks straight and I’m still amazed that I actually had the determination to eat nothing but cereal *shudders* I lost a kilo after two weeks but I felt miserable despite the weight loss and told myself there was no way in heck I was gonna live on cereal for the rest of my life which brings me to the REAL dieting portion of this entry. The following “rules” are just an accumulation of what I’ve been doing so far, they work really well for me and hopefully they’ll do the same for you.
Rule 1: Eat breakfast for god’s sake!
I’m not saying you should be eating eggs benedict for breakfast every single day because it’s not quite healthy but not eating breakfast at all is much worse. They’ve been saying that breakfast is the most important meal for centuries now and with good reason, it kicks start your metabolism and gives you the energy you need to kick start the day bla bla bla you know this guys, you’ve heard it so many times before so EAT BREAKFAST, IT IS GOOD FOR CHU. Er if you’re curious about what I always have for breakfast…I usually have a traditional chinese breakfast back when I was still working: chee cheong fun minus the black sauce or 2 steamed chicken buns/baos.
Rule 2: Don’t go overboard with the salads.
Everyone assumes they should be eating a lot of salads when they’re on a diet, there really is nothing wrong with salads or vegetables but just don’t expect to eat a plain salad and fill full the rest of the day. You. will. die. It’s not healthy to be living on vegetables alone raw or not, you should always have some protein mixed in to make it a complete meal. I’m not fond of salads but I thought I should write a little paragraph about this because I know people who think they can live on vegetables alone…and they’re not vegetarians so that’s just crossing the line between trying to eat healthy and starving.
Rule 3: Focus on what you CAN eat and stock up on the soba.
If I could pick a certain type of food that would be the key to my weight loss, it would be the humble soba noodle. All of you should know by now I’m absolutely fanatical about Japanese food and I realized with great haste after my disastrous 2 week cereal diet that restricting myself to a certain type of food was just not my thing. Not all food is made equal but most of them are good for you, you just have to pick the ones you like and shut the supermarket down by buying an entire year’s supply like what I did with the soba.
I LOVE SOBA. I still find it remarkable that something so easy to put together (boil the noodles, drain and eat it with the dipping sauce) would taste so…GLORIOUS. All that buckwheat fills you up real fast and keeps you full until the next meal. There are other ways to serve soba too, my eternal goddess Nigella has a yummy soba salad recipe up on the internets.
Rule 4: Raw fish makes white rice less evil.
Ok white rice isn’t really evil but when you pair it with rich, oily dishes and deep fried stuff, it just gets ugly. The thing about us Asians is that we LOVE rice as much as we love our grandmothers and I’m not saying you should stop eating rice altogether and in a perfect world, I would be pairing rice with healthy dishes like steamed vegetables, oven-baked chicken etc but pfft who has the time?! If you do, then good on ye girlfriend but I am now a full-time uni student and that leaves me with barely enough time to make a sandwich. The solution: JAPANESE FOOD.
The Japanese eat a lot of rice but they pair it with raw fish slices and if the dish is cooked at all, it’s usually sauteed or broiled lightly with soy/teriyaki sauce. I don’t eat rice very often but when I do, it’s usually when I’m eating Japanese food or when my dear mother decides to cook something that doesn’t have a bucket full of coconut milk.
Rule 4: Drink lots of tea!
LOL I didn’t have a photo of the tea I drank in the restaurant so this photo of the amazing green tea mousse cake I had would just have to suffice. I’m not going to elaborate on the benefits of tea (I don’t want to start sounding like an infomercial kthx) so BREW IT. DRINK IT. LOVE IT.
Rule 5: A little chocolate won’t harm you.
The more you deprive yourself of a certain food, the more you’d want to gorge on it so whatever your diet vice is, chocolate, gummy bears, ice cream, whatever - you can eat them all but in MODERATE amounts people. Ideally, you should aim for one cheat meal at the end of each week. You can eat whatever you want during a cheat meal because you deserve it!
Rule 6: Stop hating yourself.
If you’re not overweight, chances are you’re fine the way you are. Nobody’s perfect and everyone was born with different bodies so it really gets to me when my friends who are impossibly skinny whine and complain about how “fat” they are. They don’t eat (except the occasional plate of vegetables) and resort to extreme means in order to lose weight. They’re on a constant crash diet and it gets to a point where they are so steeped in delusion that they actually THINK they’re eating healthy. The best thing is after all that starving, they haven’t lost a single pound >_>
It’s okay if you want to drop a few pounds and cultivate better eating habits but DON’T GET OBSESSIVE. I’m sorry but losing 5 pounds will not drastically change your life and make you a rockstar with the boys (or the girls, whatever catches your fancy) as much as you think it will. I know, I’ve been there, dropped 55lbs and lived to tell u guys that STARVING DOES NOT WORK PEOPLE. This self-hate has got to stop! Recognize that you are amazing in your own way and learn to love your body because IT’S THE ONLY ONE YOU’VE GOT.
Ok I hope that’s answered some of your questions on how I lost weight, it’s the best diet in the world I think lol. Oh and as for exercise - I have a Wii Fit and I used to exercise for half an hour every morning…until I got lazy erk. I make sure I walk a lot though, window shopping is the best form of exercise 8D
Remember to love thyself and eat the damn cake. I’d be happy to answer any diet-related questions, just ask in the comments! ;D
Oh and this entry is going to be littered with grammatical errors I’m sure and I’m too exhausted to check for them (plus this entry is so overdue!!) so I’m going to apologise in advance.
ANDDD BEFORE I FORGET I RUN A BEAUTY BLOG: Make-up for my Carousel lunch was kept really basic because I had a pretty strong lipcolor on lol (OCC lip tar in Indashio, LOVE LOVE LOVE OMFG), did a lil’ flick trick with the eyeliner and La Femme’s Nectar Peach blush ;D
LIFE UPDATE: Uni just started a couple of days ago, this is my third week in Melbourne and everything’s going crazy fast! I’m thinking of taking Japanese as my second major but I’ll see how that goes. We had our first class today and I got my ass kicked a couple of times during the character writing session LOL oh but what fun! I’ll write more about Melbourne in my next entry, I hope everyone’s doing fine. I’m slowly catching up on all your past entries so expect comments by this week!
Tags: diet & health, nosh: Carousel
Handle with care!
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Make-Up & Beauty
Last night I was got back home a little later than usual due to a hold-up at work, I was really tired - I had the flu, my nose was leaking like crazy (you have no idea how close I was to stuffing a tampon up my nose….not that you needed to know that but hey I’m trying to keep it real and funny here ya know?) and all I wanted to do was pop a couple of pills and sleep.
Then I noticed the box.
OMG MY SWAP PACKAGE FROM CATHERINE IS FINALLY HEREEEEEEEEEEE! I did a lil’ SQUEEE! and danced around the living room, totally forgetting that my parents were there and giving me weird looks. Uh, right. Sorry mom I know my 20 second ~IMMA BE JLO~ dance routine last night was painful to watch but despite the odds, I’m still your daughter k. Promise.
What’s weird is the box Catherine sent me only had our names and no addresses! I guess technology has become so advanced that you no longer have to write addresses on mail anymore…or maybe my Photoshop skills are so kick-ass and hot like fire that I managed to get rid of our addresses to prevent scary stalkers XD
A little back story on how the swap came about: Cat reviewed the MAC 5 Haute High Jinks Warm Pigment/Glitter Set and I commented on the post asking if she’s tried MAC’s pigment in Blonde’s Gold (gorgeous light yellow-gold color btw) because it’s one of my favourites. Turns out she hadn’t so I offered to send her a sample and cut to the chase, that somehow turned into a full blown international swap lol.
I was telling Cat how I had all these annoying bumps on my t-zone from time to time and I had absolutely no idea how to get rid of them. I think they’re a lot worse than pimples because although pimples are icky, they go away after a few days but these bumps just STAY THERE. What is the point srsly? They’re not even paying rent so they gotta go go go.
Cat recommended using a concoction of jojoba oil + squalane as a moisturizer to help declog the pores so she got me a bottle each plus a small vial of lavender oil to add into mixture. She’s also written a couple of blog entries pertaining to the wonders of jojoba oil and how they can help with acne, read about them here.
I also asked her to get me Weleda’s Skin Food because this multipurpose tube of moisturizer has been getting raves on Makeupalley, everyone’s proclaiming it to be the next best thing since Lady GaGa. It supposedly addresses many concerns like dryness, redness etc and you can use it on your face + body so I thought it would come in handy during winter in Melbourne.
NAIL POLISHES! L to R: China Glaze Stella, OPI Smitten with Mittens, OPI Merry Midnight. I asked Cat to get me some OPI, particularly Smitten with Mittens which was part of their 2009 holiday collection. She also talked me into getting another polish from the same collection - Merry Midnight and HOLY CRAP it’s an amazing shade of purple! She was kind enough to include so many extras for me including THREE other nail polishes, one of them being China Glaze’s Stella which an outer worldly shade of warm purple, gorgeousss.
Dude. I completely flipped out when I saw that Cat got me the infamous Essie Mint Candy Apple which is a great dupe of Chanel’s “Jade” nail polish. I love it so much omg, thank you, thank you! The funny thing is she also included a bottle of Essie’s Love, Beverly Hills xx, which is another color I’ve been curious about (it’s got 24k gold in it!) How the heck did you read my mind girl??
See the beautiful shimmery pool of gold in the red base? Can’t wait to try this one out!
Stella is a very unique purple, I think it should have been renamed Stellar lol because it’s just so alien-pretty…if that makes any sense (sorry it’s 11pm, I’m sick and I’m sleepy)
Smitten with Mittens is a classic red with gold glitter! You might think it’s similar to Love, Beverly Hills xx but that’s got more of a metallic finish compared to Smitten with Mittens.
I cannot get over how AWESOME Merry Midnight is! It’s a very deep purple with lots of blue-red glitter and flakes! If witches celebrated Christmas, this would be their nail polish of choice lmao. Oh and I’ve got Essie’s Mint Candy Apple on my nails in this photo ;D
I wanted a replacement for my MAC paintpots before they completely dry up on me so I now have the L’Oreal HIP cream shadow paint in 807 Secretive which is a very light neutral color that can be used alone or as a base for eyeshadow. I love how it comes with its own brush too!
Sweet Sienna’s a MAC LE pigment that came out 2 years ago and it is what I would classify as “The one that got away”. I can’t remember why I didn’t buy it but I’ve always regretted not getting the pigment. It’s a dirty brown with silver/grey pearl, I think there’s nothing like it. Cat actually received a large sample of Sweet Sienna in a separate swap and she kindly gave me a portion for me to try <3 <3 <3
LOL I’M NOT DONE YET. She also included another MAC pigment sample, Sunnydaze which is a stunning almost brown taupe shade! You’re so right Cat, I don’t have this at all lol! My pigment collection’s mostly golds and greens ;D
Thank you so much Cat!!! I love everything you sent, you’re my first official cosmetics swap ever and I had such a great time emailing/chatting with you on msn! I think we got to know each other a lot better since the swap so cheers to a blossoming friendship <3333 If you're curious to see what I sent Cat from my end, you can read about it here!
This post is seriously lacking in swatches, I know and I apologise. I couldn’t stay out in the sun for a long period of time today because this flu is just killin’ my fun and I had to take a day’s off from work :/ My voice is so hoarse and raspy now, I almost sound like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. I hear he’s quit the band so guys, if you’re still looking for a replacement I’m willing to take the job but I should probably let you all know in advance that the only Aerosmith song I know is “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” from that Armageddon movie LOL
Tags: MAC, nails: China Glaze, nails: essie, nails: OPI, skincare: jojoba oil, skincare: weleda, swap
Attack of the Cherry Blossoms & my SK-II mask review
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Food & Nosh
This has got to be the prettiest product shot I’ve ever taken. I would have totally posted this up as a 1280 x 960 wallpaper sized image but that would make me seem obsessive, wouldn’t it?
Just some photos of the Bath & Body Works shower gels and body butter I got from Hid who flew out to San Francisco last month. There isn’t a B&BW store in Singapore so I’m happy I can finally try their products out ;D Doesn’t “Sea Island Cotton” sound so blissfully romantic? Long chilly walks by the beach at sunset, being carried on your boyfriend’s back as he sparkles and runs at superhuman speed through the mossy terrain..oh wait that’s just Twilight lol -Thanks Hid, you’re super!
I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately (pictured above is my current fave, sakura! sakura! from TWG), it’s de-stressing especially after a long arduous day of making a student visa. I have the worst luck in taking ID card photos, all my photo ID cards e.g. my driver’s license, my IC- ALL of them have the most unflattering shots of me and today my visa is going to join my dysfunctional family of monster ID cards.
I actually look entirely different (in a bad I’m-about-to-murder-someone way) in my visa photo and that just sucks because I have to live with it for the next 3 years of my life! Mr Photographer dude, I didn’t just take a day’s leave from work for you to take a lousy photo of me!!!!!!! Fork this -_-
Anyway, I promised you guys a review of the SK-II Facial Treatment Mask and I finally got around to using it last night.
It comes individually wrapped in pretty silvery foil packaging, I actually regretted not taking a photo of it but it was night = shit lighting and I’d rather kick myself than put up a bad photo on this blog lol (yeah sue me for being anal).
Once you’ve ripped open the packaging, you can see the mask is completely soaked in Pitera, a top-secret key ingredient in all SK-II products and the sole reason why SK-II is so goddamn expensive. C’mon guys, the jig is up! WE ALL KNOW IT’S JUST RICE VINEGAR!
Ok ok, don’t sue me. I made that rice vinegar thing up. (tho I won’t be surprised if it’s actually made of rice vinegar lol, juz sayin’) Rice vinegar or not, THIS MASK IS EPIC. I left it on for 30 minutes and removed the mask to reveal the softest, glowing skin *_* The mask itself is made of thick, woven material which fyi, is even thicker than my Silk Whitia masks surprisingly. I LOVE the shape/cutting of the mask- it fits my face perfectly which is a good thing because I hate it when I have to constantly adjust a sheet mask in order to get even coverage on my skin.
This is my first time using anything from SK-II so I’m a little weirded out by the Pitera scent. It smells faintly of fishballs and vinegar LOL I’m not kidding this time! It doesn’t offend me as much as it offends other people so I’m not going to bitch about it.
Overall, I’m really liking the SK-II Facial Treatment Mask and I can seriously see myself emptying whatever remnants of money I have left in my bank account (which isn’t much to begin with >.>) to invest in these masks XD The only drawback is the price (SGD$21 per piece D8) so I think I’m going to stick with my Silk Whitia masks and only purchase this when I find myself a rich boyfriend for special occasions.
Tags: bodycare: B&BW, nosh: TWG, review: masks, skincare: SK-II
Loot from down undaaa!
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Make-Up & Beauty
Ok I’m back from my self-imposed Christmas holiday break! XD A couple of minutes after I uploaded my previous foodie entry, I realized I’ve blogged about the sights and the food in Melbourne but totally missed out on what I bought from there lol oops. Here we go:
OMG I was a nut in LUSH. I got lost trying to find the store, walking up and down the street for a good 20 mins before I caught the scent of bath bombs 10 metres away. Seriously if you know roughly where LUSH is but can’t find exactly where the store is, rely on your nose. The store gives off a very distinct yummy “LUSH” scent which is kinda overpowering but in a good way ;P
So I bought the Christmas limited edition shower gel Snow Fairy which smells really gross and plasticky in the bottle but when you try it in the shower, you get this nice powdery candy scent which lingers on your skin forever.
Two toners too, Breath of Fresh Air & Tea Tree Water (Thank you Naomi!) - I love Lush toners, you can just spray it on your skin straight from the bottle. It’s very light and even if it gets into your eyes, it doesn’t sting.
Two solid shampoo bars: Karma Komba and Ultimate Shine which are the two top selling shampoos in LUSH (in Australia at the very least lol) I think it’s a cool concept, there are no bottles (+1 for mother earth) and despite common misconceptions, the bars actually lather pretty well. You get a free tin to store them in if you purchase two bars too!
American Dream is a vanilla infused conditioner made with no silicone. I’ve read that conditioners with silicone (which is what 99% of hair conditioners in the market have in their ingredients) actually weigh your hair down so I’ve been wanting to try out a non-silicone conditioner. American Dream seems like the perfect candidate for that. C’mon it’s made from honey water, vanilla pods, fresh oranges and fresh strawberries - I am so there.
I also got the fresh face Crash Course in Skincare mask which has smells like lemony cupcake batter and spreads on the skin like a dream!
Even my dad caught on the LUSH bug (I was in the store for half an hour and he got annoyed waiting for me so he went in to see what was all the fuss about HAHA) and bought the infamous Honey I Washed the Kids soap I talked about in my previous LUSH entry.
My ROCK CHICK gift set I bought for myself! It’s got a small bar of Rockstar soap and a Creamy Candy bubble bar which I used in the bathtub at the hotel we stayed in. It was amaaaazing! The whole room was bathed in this fluffy vanilla candied scent, the bubbles were aplenty and the water was tinted a pale pink. I stayed in the tub for a long, long time and only got out when my toes were all wrinkly.
Handmade soaps!! From left to right: Orange & rose, bubblegum blueberry (my fave!) and African pumice scrub soap. I actually have a lot more but they’ve been given away to friends and family.
Mor Cosmetics is an Australian brand I got introduced to in Melbourne. Their packaging is to die for and beneath all that jazz, their products are very well-made. They sell all kinds of stuff from body butters to bath salts. Check out their website and be stunned by their beautiful packaging.
I bought their Moroccan Mint body butter from their Emporium range - MOROCCAN MINT BODY BUTTER! That’s something you don’t see everyday!
BLACK & GOLD /o/ /o/ /o/so so pretty!
L’Occitane Foot Cream I got from Duty Free! This is my HG foot cream! I get dry feet easily and this is the only foot cream that works for me. It’s creamy but sinks into the skin fast and who doesn’t love the signature L’Occitane lavender scent?
And last but not least, I bought another tube of YSL Rouge Volupté ;P It’s really cheap in duty-free, SGD$37 when it costs USD$34 in the states which works out to be about SGD$50. That’s a good discount y/y? I bought it in shade 26, Tender Peach - I’ll swatch it soon!
I apologize in advance if this entry is riddled with grammar errors, I’m so tired D: I’ll catch you guys soon!
Tags: beauty: yves saint laurent, bodycare: l'occitane, bodycare: mor cosmetics, LUSH
KORRES
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Make-Up & Beauty
Has anyone checked out the new ION ORCHARD mall? I checked it out last weekend and although 20% of the shops there aren’t open yet, I’m impressed by it’s interior architecture and the range of shops available. I went to the luxury boutiques with my Louis Vuitton toting best friend (he owns an LV bag while I don’t even own one high-end bag, the world is such a bleak cruel place) and practically drooled all over miu miu.
Another note-worthy addition to our island’s freakishly small range of beauty brands is Greek brand KORRES, known for their famous Wild Rose range. I went in the store with absolutely no intention of buying anything but I was floored by their lovely, minimalist packaging and like the typical design + beauty product whore I am, I bought two travel-size items from KORRES to try out.
I like how they sell reasonably priced travel-sized versions of their best-selling products so people who are new the brand would be able to try out the product before investing in a full-sized product. Brownie points for that KORRES!~
Oh and another lovely plus point: They’re quite generous with their samples. I was given the entire Wild Rose range (in sample form, of course) to try out and I’m stoked!
My purchases were wrapped up in this eco-friendly fibrous bag which added a nice rustic touch to the whole KORRES branding (here I go again with the design terms, sorry guys I can’t help myself sometimes)
I bought the Guava shower gel and Rice Protein + Oligoelements Shampoo for Fine & Fragile hair.
The Guava shower gel didn’t really smell like guava lol; twas more of a musky amber and aloe vera scent(aloe vera was one of the main ingredients of the shower gel). I’ve been using this everyday now, there’s a slight masculinity to the scent which I love. It doesn’t dry my skin out and the scent lingers even after you’ve stepped out of the shower. I’d probably invest in a full size bottle once I’m done with my small bottle!
The Rice + Olighekiejwhatever shampoo was just okay for me, I’ve only used it once so I’ll update you guys if it really does anything for my hair. It’s got a funny scent which isn’t unpleasant but I just can’t put my finger on what it smells like…it was just weird lol.
I’ve not tried out the samples I received but I can’t wait to! I’ve heard brilliant reviews on their Wild Rose brightening mask so you guys should probably check it out too! If you’re skeptical about spending money on a brand you’ve not heard of before, I suggest you check out their travel-size range which include body scrubs, body milk (their vanilla cinnamon one is d-i-v-i-n-e) etc.
Randomly, the photos in this entry were my first foray in taking photos with my dad’s DSLR. My dad’s had the camera for ages and I never had the guts to use it until now so here are some of the photos I took as I pranced around in my garden looking like a fool in stale make-up…not exactly a pretty sight haha.
*whistles* This is such a long entry, I’m almost proud of myself lol!
Coming up next on tea noir: A series of mask reviews to suit your every need! Moisturising, whitening, acne-killin’ - I’ve got it covered bitchez! Watch out for it ;D
Tags: Bodycare, KORRES, shopping
Trust the French to make us sigh.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare, Make-Up & Beauty
Sigh in pure bliss and absolute joy, that is.
I was having a nice sushi dinner with my good friend, Jacq. Just two single girls greedily swiping off plates of sushi off the conveyor belt (ok honestly, the only greedy person was me). After ordering countless salmon avocado gunkan sushi (my favourite!), we left the restaurant with our bloated tummies and headed out to do some shopping.
I had wanted to get a tub of The Body Shop’s new Peach body butter which by the way smells absolutely divine like it was made of ice cream but to my horror, all The Body Shop outlets were closed.
I cursed under my breath. It was absolutely ridiculous, it was only 7pm - why were the shops closed? Jacq then quickly pointed out to me that we were in the central business district, affectionately referred to as the CBD in which all shops closed at 7pm. Aah, a rather enlightening moment there.
We decided then to walk to City Hall where shops only closed at 9pm or later (Oh thank heavens.) The walk to City Hall was pretty amusing, not so much the walk but the people we encountered. I’ll elaborate no further because if I do, this entry will probably not see the light of the nifty “Publish” button.
When I got to City Hall, I suddenly remembered there was a L’occitane store there which I’ve been meaning to check out for ages because I’ve always, always wanted to get their Cherry Blossom solid perfume tin ever since Naomi made me sniff hers a couple of months ago.
Here she is, keeper of my heart. As I opened the tin, I breathed into the clean, floral scent of cherry blossoms and was won over by delicate..almost romantic act of applying the warm fragrant wax on my wrists but of course, that’s just the French woman in me speaking.
I like applying it on my pulse points e.g. behind the ears, neck and wrists after a bath and especially before bedtime; it just has such a calming effect on me and oh, the luxury.
As I was paying for the solid perfume (and shamelessly asking for samples as well), I noticed a pretty basket on the cashier counter filled with bundles of foot cream and shea butter wrapped up together. Looking down at my poor tired feet, I drifted off into my own little world where my feet would be treated and moisturized with care. I could see it vividly, a nice foot scrub and some L’occitane foot cream.
Did I mention the foot cream? Oh yes, I did. Well I bought the damn thing and HELLOOOOO HAPPY FEET! I was seriously amazed at this little tube and what it did for my feet, goodbye dry skin (btw, how adorably quaint is the paint tube-like packaging?!). It’s got 15% shea butter in it, together with other essential oils. Its lavender scent is so soothing and it absorbs into your feet in a jiffy, what’s there not to like?
This tin of 100% shea butter was included in the bundle I bought. I wasn’t really impressed by it on first try because it was really hard and waxy but I now use it daily as a lip balm. It’s got a faint cinnamon + mint scent, it’ll take some time for you to get used to its thick consistency but that’s what I like about it actually - it lasts through a meal and there’s no need for reapplication.
I’m beginning to think myself as a L’occitane fan as of now and that really isn’t a very good thing for I can see myself buying more of their products lol. If you’re new to the brand, I recommend you check out their cherry blossom range and their foot + hand creams!
Tags: bodycare: l'occitane, perfume: l'occitane
Gifts from a poor girl’s Tokyo.
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Bodycare
Two of my friends, Jacq and Naomi went to Hong Kong as part of their world sushi eating tour also known as their “YES WE’RE FINALLY OUT OF SCHOOL” trip so I demanded that they buy me soaps from Lush. Soaps from Lush are such a treat, they’re made of natural, organic ingredients and are handmade!
I love how they print out the names of each LUSH staff responsible for making these soaps, such a personal touch. My soaps were made in Japan and I have no idea who “Haru”, “Hide” and “Osupee” are but I’m sure they must be hot >D
Happy: A special edition soap bar based on the best selling LUSH shower gel “Happy Hippy” has grapefruit and bergamot oil and smells absolutely DIVINE.
Karma: This soap is so popular, its scent has been incorporated into many LUSH products e.g. perfume, shower gel, bubble bar - even shampoo! It’s got orange, lemongrass, pine and a hint of lavender, very oriental.
Honey, I washed the kids: This is the one soap EVERYONE has to try. This is the soap LUSH is famous for with real honeycomb in it to moisturise the skin. Its scent reminds me of warm honey and waffles and it will always be my favourite LUSH soap. After showering, the scent just lingers and dries down to a faint delicious caramel - positively yummy.
Good luck with...