The Laughing Chick

Changed My Facial Cleansing Routine Again…

EILLA — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:08:02 +0000

I have not really keep up to date on how my skin looks but I say, it didn’t make a huge difference. My skin is a bit more softer and smoother but it’s not flawless to say the least. I didn’t go to expensive spas and facials that for sure or add any expensive serums either. This project for saving my skin has actually gone pretty lazy. Even though my skin may by smoother and softer, it didn’t get rid of major problems of mine like the tiny brown spots on my right cheek. Second, I am getting acne! Red, big and painful acne. Right now, I have 2 of them on both of my cheeks. I am not sure because that time of the month is around the corner or that my skin is freaking out like a brat or that I changed my routine.

This would be about my third time changing my facial cleansing routine. I’m changing it cause I got a sample of a product that my guy signed me up for. You don’t get a lot of guys doing that for their girls and my guy decided to do it for me by surprise. He’s such a sweetheart.

Purpose: Healthier skin, to unclog pores, get rid of blackheads and scars.
Current skin condition: Smooth. Red angry acne. fine lines on forehead. The bridge of nose is very dry and flaky. Crow feet is starting around my eyes. A week before my period kind of skin.
Past skin condition: Dry and slightly flaky especially in between the eyebrows, oily surface but still dry, some blackheads around the nose and large pores beside the nose, old bad acne scars and sun spots.

Cleansers:
1) Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple
I had a bad start with this cleanser but it has been pretty steady relationship right now. I use this in the evening most of the days cause of my tinted moisturizer.

2) Clarisonic’s Hydro-Gentle Cleanser
This is a non-foaming cleanser that contains green tea so it does help a bit with my acne. It doesn’t dry out my skin at all. There are a lot of silicone in it so I usually avoid any silicone based moisturizer after.

3) Neutrogena Acne-free Foaming Cleanser
I use this on alternate days 2 weeks before my period.

4) Natural Raw Honey

Moisturizer
1) Stages of Beauty Harmony Treatment Cream
This is another change in my routine. There is silicone in this product so the first week when I used it, it broke me out. I broke out into those hard and painful acne on both of my cheeks. I am not that sensitive but I guess my skin is changing. I will post a review on this.

2) Juice Beauty Oil-free Moisturizer
I have been using this on and off. I only use this when my skin is overly dry and sore and on top of my other moisturizer.

Eye Cream
1) 100% Pure Coffee Bean Eye Cream

Beauty Tool
1) Clarisonic with Delicate brush head

Morning Routine
Depend on how my skin feels, I would alternate Honey and Clarisonic Hydro-Gentle Cleanser. I would not use my Clarisonic facial brush if I’m using Honey as a cleanser that morning. I will use tepid water for my face and splash cold water as a final rinse. I will splash about 10 times of cold water onto my face if I’m gonna apply makeup after. Then I will apply my 100% Pure Coffee Bean Eye Cream followed by my Stages of Beauty Harmony Treatment Cream. I will let the cream set for about 10 minutes before applying my primer and wait for another minute before applying my tinted moisturizer. That will how my basic every day face is.

Night Routine
I usually do a double wash if I have my makeup off. I do not use my Clarisonic facial brush to take the makeup off though. I will use either baby wipes or Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple, rinse off and then reapply my Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple and go over with my Clarisonic facial brush. The Clarisonic will take off whatever the first wash did not. I will then wash with tepid water and pat my face with a fluffy towel. I decided to skip my serum and all cause honestly, serums don’t really do much for me. It seems to break me out more. I will pat my Stages of Beauty Harmony Treatment Cream all over my face including under my eyes. Then I will pat down Juice Beauty Oil-free moisturizer at all the extra dry areas on my skin. I will massage my face for a minute and that’s about it. If I notice that I have whiteheads and such, I will spot it with Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion.

I am just trying this new routine and gonna see how it works for my skin for the month or the season. As far as I can tell, my acne is based on new products which I find odd. I never reacted to new products and my skin isn’t that sensitive so I am very wary about trying out new products now. I will post any new discoveries to my skin.

A Recent Painting Annecy, France

EILLA — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:07:53 +0000

I decided to paint my guy’s birthday card this year and since it was Thanksgiving, we were super busy. He was the one who did both of our shares of work while I worked on his card and his niece’s. I could have done a better job at it if I wasn’t so stressed out and wanting to finish to do Thanksgiving. I do like how basic this turned out.

Annecy on birthday card

Clarisonic vs Pretika

EILLA — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:32:43 +0000

I know a number of ladies and guys are using the famous Clarisonic and while most of them love their electric facial brush, there are a small percentage that do not totally floored by it. I am pretty sure everyone has heard about the Clarisonic facial brush and what it does and the benefits of the brush. First of all, I have to say that I have my Clarisonic for about 4-5 months now and yes, I do love it. Is it a need or is it a want? A little history to why I ended up with the Clarisonic. My mom has the Clarisonic Pro facial brush and she loves it and she shared it with me while I was living at home. Then, I moved out and got a facial brush from The Body Shop for about $3-4. It isn’t a fancy electric facial brush but it is a facial brush. I was moving around a lot and I kinda lost the brush, I think. Then I moved to the states to be with my guy and I moved during winter. I would think my skin would be fine since I was having winter back home and the winter here is a bit less harsher too. I was wrong! My skin got into brat mode and refused to be pacify at all cost for a few months. Middle of this year, my pores were seriously clogged up and I had a hard time getting rid of it. We got me a Biore pore pack and that works if I use it weekly and I can see my blackheads were all over my nose. I was annoyed.

I decided to look for the Clarisonic and of course, it is still expensive here. I couldn’t afford one and I know I don’t want to ask my guy for it. I did some research and settle for the Pretika. On the Pretika website, it says it uses the sonic technology which is the same technology as Clarisonic uses. I even read some reviews on the Pretika and almost every review says that the brush is a bit abrasive so sensitive skin should beware. I purchased it over at Amazon and I got it at 40% off. Like all electronic gadgets, I charged them for 24 hours before I start using them. First time I use it, I can definitely tell the brush is a bit too abrasive for my skin so i just lightly moved it around my skin. It felt weird and by the fourth try, my left cheekbone is red. Pretika sent me a Sensitive brush head applicator to try instead. Even though the Sensitive brush is slightly softer, it is still abrasive. I did purge a bit but it was avery strange purge. I didn’t get tiny whiteheads or that painful cystic acne. I got a couple of bumps on the right side of my face close to my nose. They didn’t hurt but just bumps. They aren’t actually whiteheads either. I applied Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion and I only got 1 of them to disappear. The other one continued to stay until I started my Clarisonic. It also kinda destroyed that area. I was getting big pores or something. It was really disturbing for me.

I forgot the other Normal brush in this picture.

The Pretika kit:
1 Pretika handle unit
1 charging cradle + adapter
2 Normal brush head applicators
1 manual booklet
1 Sensitive brush head applicator through customer service.

This is what my kit originally came with

The Clarisonic kit:
1 Clarisonic handle unit
1 Sensitive brush head applicator
1 Delicate brush head applicator
1 Gentle Hydro cleanser sample – 1oz
1 universal p-link charger
1 manual booklet

My charging cradle took a bad turn. It refused to charge my Pretika after 3 weeks. My guy fixed it but I managed to get my mom to buy me a Clarisonic. She got me a Clarisonic Mia instead through her contact. It is a travel-friendly Clarisonic. They thought since I travel a lot, the Mia would make a lot more sense to carry and travel with. I agree that it makes more sense to travel with. It is smaller than my Pretika. Let’s talk about the difference.

The difference:
The speed of the Clarisonic is a lot faster than the Pretika. The bristles actually oscillate more for a better and deeper cleaning.
The brush heads are of a different feel. The Sensitive brush head for the Clarisonic is softer than Pretika’s. No scratchy or irritating cheekbones.
Replacement brushes for Pretika is a lot cheaper. 4 brushes – $20 vs 2 brushes – $40

Bottom line, both product were advertised to do more or less the same thing but I still think they are slightly different. The Clarisonic do not exfoliate my skin at all. Others claimed it gives them a gentle exfoliation every day that they skipped using a separate manual exfoliant. No, that did not happen to me. I still have to use a separate exfoliant. As for the Pretika, it scrubbed my face raw at times that it makes my skin more dry. I do think the Clarisonic cleans my face better than the Pretika. The odd bump that was left by my Pretika is completely gone after I use my Clarisonic for a few weeks. I did not purge with my Clarisonic and I did not notice anymore weird bumps. Did it improve my skin texture? The Pretika did change my skin texture before the weird bumps popped along and the Clarisonic is slowly changing my skin texture back to normal. Both the Pretika and Clarisonic are not miracle beauty wand. I have to credit the other facial products I use in conjunction with the facial brush.

For more of my facial cleansing routine, click this post.

Honey for well-being

EILLA — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:09:17 +0000

Honey

I have been doing this whole honey conversion for my hair and skin. I was telling my guy some time back that my hair isn’t as shiny as before. It has been kinda dry and weird-feeling. I’m not sure if it’s the new conditioner we got couple of weeks ago. I switched from my HerCut medium conditioner to Organix Tea Tree Mint conditioner. I love how it smells. It smells so yummy on my guy’s hair. It stays the entire day on his hair and it is so strong. It isn’t as strong in my hair. It is probably cause I have a much longer hair and I only put it mid way down my hair. Even with my Chi Silk Infusion, my hair wasn’t as shiny as before. Usually after I washed and dried my hair, it will be super shiny and glassy. I have natural black hair so it’s a lot easier to tell when my hair is lack of shine. I decided to do some research and came across honey rinse for the hair.

Recipe for my honey rinse:
• 1 tsp of natural raw honey*
• 2 pints of warm/hot water
• a few drops of lemon juice**

Recommendation:
• Don’t use regular honey with added ingredients.
• Manuka Honey
• Organic/Natural Raw Honey

*Re-adjust the amount of honey according to your hair. Too much honey will make your hair sticky or you could just add more water to dilute it.
**I have really dry hair and dry scalp so I don’t add much of the lemon juice.

Overall this recipe works for my length and hair type.
Length: Almost to my waist
Condition: Dry, coarse, thick strands

After I washed my hair with my HerCut Normal-Dry shampoo and conditioned with my Organix Tea Tree Mint conditioner, I do a final rinse with the mixture and wrapped my hair with my Wrapadoo. I do not rinse off the mixture. After my first try, I am amazed at how wonderful it is. It also makes my hair dries a lot faster too and oh yes, my hair is back to being all shiny like it used to be. This has to be an almost perfect hair rinse for me. It is a chore to keep making it though but yes, I am definitely gonna use this again. I am definitely sure this helps with split-ends since my hair is being exposed to heat at a lot shorter period now. Overall, I am happy with my hair using this method.

I also decided to use honey for my skin. I tried honey and milk facial mask before whenever I ran out of commercial facial mask. I came across a site, Mothering, regarding washing your face with just honey. I already did this about 4 times and I have to say it is very, very effective. I just rubbed the honey in and massaged it on my face for a minute and rinsed it off with tepid water. My face is baby soft, smooth and super clean. I’m not sure if it’s the cause of a few acne that popped up but again, Aunt Flow is just around the corner. They were not big acne though. They were more like tiny whiteheads but I got a painful acne along my jawline but that took 3 days to disappear and I stop using honey to cleanse my face. I am not sure if I am purging cause I stop using my Purity and go on a more natural way to cleanse my face or that it is just Aunt Flow. Since I stop using honey as my everyday cleanser because of my acne, I will still use it as a weekly mask instead. I will test the honey cleansing method once again once my acne is totally gone.

Honey is known for its healing properties. It is anti-bacterial and antibiotic so it usually will heal the skin if you have a problem with acne or burns or wounds. I am known for burning myself so I have to try this method instead of applying stinky aloe vera. If you have a less problem skin, I don’t think it will do much for you. Acne- and clogged pores- prone guys and ladies should try this method to cleanse your face.

Beauty Weekly Challenge Entry » A Must Have Product

EILLA — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:47:35 +0000

My must have skincare product is 100% Pure Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream.

Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream

I usually would choose a cleanser but I don’t have a must have or a favorite cleanser at the moment. Almost all cleansers I’ve used are either too drying or clogged my pores in the long run. My eye cream is important cause I tend to get puffy eyes and puffy face in the morning. I drank too much water before bed, I think. It don’t happen when I thirst myself silly before bed. This is the only eye cream I use that works great at de-puffing, brightening my eyes up in the morning and diminishing fine lines. I would also use this on my forehead and around my lips. Sometimes I would even use it on my cheeks and tip of my nose cause they tend to get more drier and honestly brightened up my skin too. I look totally awake with this cream. Plus side, it’s organic and no paraben and harsh chemicals. This is one of the cheapest organic eye cream I use that works. There are more expensive eye creams that don’t work or even eco-friendly.

Cost: $19 for 1oz at 100% Pure Website
Recommendation: Yes! Try it for yourself and you’ll love it.

My second product would be my makeup product and that is Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer in Bisque.

Laura Mercier Oil-free Tinted Moisturizer in Bisque

I know a lot of ladies love this tinted moisturizer. I have been using this for a long time and my aunt was the one who introduce me to this product since I hate foundation. I would say this is lighter than a light foundation. It adds a tiny bit of color to even the skin tone with a dewy finish. The texture of this formula is thicker which makes it a bit harder to spread and blend. It dries up pretty fast so blending it as soon as it is being applied is crucial. As for the coverage, it is definitely better than the original formula and most tinted moisturizers in the market. Another plus on this product is that it has SPF of 20 so this is good for the minimum protection and it also means it has that sunblock scent. I’m not that keen on the scent but the scent is gone once it touched the skin. I hardly even use sunblock on daily basis so this is an up for me. As for the bad part, this do not have a long lasting power. It last about 4-5 hours on me without a primer. However with a primer, it lasted about 6-7 hours. Another thing which I just love about this tinted moisturizer is that it is super light that I sometimes forgot I have it on.

Cost: $42 for 1.7oz at Sephora
Recommendation: Yes if you can splurge.

Oral-B Pulsar 3D White Advanced Vivid Toothbrush Soft Review

EILLA — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:50:38 +0000

I think this falls in the Beauty category. I always try to take good care of teeth even though my major problem since young was that I have difficulty losing my teeth. I remembered my friends were losing their baby teeth while I was strangely hanging onto mine. My parents had special dentists looked in my mouth and took x-rays and dentists told them that teeth are coming but the baby ones ain’t budging yet and they had cases of some children coming in with the exact problem. They didn’t say the exact number of children since I was already feeling like a freak.

Anyways, I grew up and slowly my baby teeth started to fall off. Super slowly though. We went out to Walmart last weekend and told my guy that we need toothbrushes. He definitely need a new toothbrush and mine was time to change. I have been using mine for over a year to be honest and the blue indicator was just screaming. I love Oral-B toothbrushes and I have been using them like forever plus my parents were the ones buying my toothbrushes. Even after I moved out, Oral-B toothbrushes are the only ones I keep buying. I strayed once for Reach toothbrush but I just love that blue indicator and the brushes always fit my mouth. We were looking and my guy picked up one of those pulsating toothbrush. I had use one of their charging toothbrush and I love it. We were torn between the different vibrating toothbrush and decided on the 3D White Advanced instead.

Oral-B Pulsar 3D White Advanced Vivid Toothbrush

It suppose to penetrate deeper and give a better cleaning with the pulsating action. It has that blue indicator I love so much. The company claimed that the toothbrush suppose to last at least 3 months so I’ll update after 3 months and see how well the battery last. The first time I use it, my gum bleeds as usual like any other toothbrush. You would think I am an abrasive brusher right? I’m not cause I have sensitive gums so I don’t press at all. My gums just bleed. The weird part is after that, my gums stop bleeding. I have not experience any bleeding at all now. That just blows me. It does clean more effectively and I think I can just eliminate my dental visits to once a year than twice a year. You do need a good toothpaste too to get rid of tartar and plaque.

Pros
• Anti-bacterial
• Soft pulses for better cleaning
• Penetrate deeper in between teeth
• Travel-friendly
• Gets rid of plaque and tartar more effectively than normal toothbrush
• The famous blue indicator

Cons
• No-charging cradle
• Disposable so it’s not very economical or eco-friendly
• Slightly expensive unless you bought a twin pack ($9.27)

Will I repurchase? Too soon to tell but I’ll keep repurchasing the brand. At the moment, I am very happy with my toothbrush and my guy likes it too.

Will I recommend it? Ja! Yes! Oui! I forgot the spanish word for yes. It is definitely cheaper than the premium Oral-B electric toothbrush but it’s not very eco-friendly since the battery isn’t irreplaceable. I wish they would make the battery replaceable. This is travel-friendly so you don’t need the whole charging cradle to drag around.

Beauty Weekly Challenge» A Must Have Beauty Product

EILLA — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:41:24 +0000

I have yet to decide which product is a must have for me. I have a few products that I usually carry but I still haven’t decided which is a must. Therefore I’m gonna break it to 2 categories.

1) A skincare product and why

2) A makeup product and why

I’ll post them up once I’ve decided. I might even do a review on them.

My Beauty Weekly Challenge Entry

EILLA — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:48:22 +0000

I was going to do this at the beginning of the week but I ended up not feeling too good. Anyways, for my first part regarding my favorite hair product. It has to be hair grips. I have long and wild hair so I need the grips to get my hair out of my face during those windy days or when I’m putting my hair up.

Hair Grips that will keep my wild mane out of place

Now, this is my everyday hair when I’m at home or just lounging around. My guy usually will tell me to tame it a bit more if we’re heading out to the shops or something.

Blow dried with a medium round brush

My second hair would me braiding. It took me forever to learn it and I just love this during the summer.

Dutch braid on 1 side and the other side, I use it to wrap and hide the hair tie

The problem of showing hair styles or hair tutorial with my hair is because it’s super black and any definition and details are really hard to show unless I have a super flash flashing on my hair.

Weekly Challenge» It’s All About Hair

EILLA — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:00:41 +0000

Monday, 12 Sep

Here here! The time for our first weekly challenge and this time it’s all about hair. There are 2 parts of this challenge.

1) Name your favorite hair styling product or anything that helps with styling your hair and use that product or tool for the next part of the challenge.

2) Style 2 of your favorite hair styles; everyday and special.

Take snapshots of the finally 2 hairstyles.

Deadline: Saturday, 17 Sep at 8CST.

Beauty Weekly Challenge

EILLA — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:03:23 +0000

I’ve decided to start a new category under the Beauty main category. This will be a weekly challenge and it will start every Monday at noon and ends by Saturday evening. This challenge is just a fun reminder to keep oneself up to date with their own skin and perfect a look or just to play with their products. If you would like to participate, just keep coming back and watch the Weekly Challenge and post your links to your finish entry. The best entry will be featured on my blog.

First challenge will be on Monday, 12 Sep 12cst and ends on Saturday, 17 Sep 5cst.