There's just no stopping Suri from being adorable.



Heck, the girl's got a bigger wardrobe than I do! I love this little lady to bits and I can't wait for her to grow up!

How bout you? Do you like Suri Cruise, too?

I love Pond's Cold cream because it thoroughly removes my foundation and concealer. It also incorporates a little massage to the face (versus cleansing oils that you plainly splash onto your face) to improve microcirculation.


The Edge:

• waaaaay cheaper than Shu's :D
• mildly scented
• moisturizes skin making it soft and supple afterward
• great for getting tough foundie/concealer off the face
• i have an outrageously sensitive skin and i never broke out on this one

Uh-Ohs:

• you still need a tissue/wet wipe to remove the cream
• there is the need to reapply the cream all over again (after taking it off the first time) if you're wearing heavy make up
  
• the face can get a lil greasy after removing the stuff off your face (an uh-oh for oily skinned gals like me)... but you'll wash the face with soap after, anyway
• if you wear make up daily, the size of the cold cream may be insufficient for you (somebody tell me if it has a bigger size!)

If you're a newbie to make up (just like me) and you're not into make up removers yet, do consider having one. You need it to ensure that the face is squeaky clean after washing with your fave cleanser. You might want to start with a Pond's cold cream purchase!


Royally yours, Bleak

Most girls have a long line of prods for primping and prettifying. Since earning money is rather tough these days, we must make sure that these beauty agents that we spend so much moolah on will be as efficient as it was made to be.

Our skin needs exfoliation at least once every two weeks to slough off icky dead skin cells. Gentle exfoliation removes unwanted elements in the skin (thick dead skin cells plus dirt) so that our creams and lotions will work best to give us that soft, supple and glowing look.

My exfoliation regimen? I gently scrub my face and neck using St. Ives Apricot scrub every week and dry brush the entire body every other day. Facial and neck skin are relatively thinner than the rest of the body, hence, the once a week regimen (it's still okay to exfoliate these thinner areas twice a month).

Face and Neck Exfoliation


St. Ives Apricot Scrub has microbeads to aid in scrubbing the skin. Since this is the case, I don't really understand why most girls need to exert so much force in applying the scrub onto their poor faces. Just gently rub the scrub onto your face and neck in an upward circular motion and let your face and neck bask in the glory of exfoliation!

Don't forget to wash the scrub off thoroughly. You wouldn't want the tiny beads to block the pores.


I love St. Ives Apricot scrub because:

- I instantly notice that my face and neck become softer
- I feel like a huge amount of the metro's dirt has been sloughed off my face
- it has a menthol-y scent and feel that calms and relaxes my skin

Dry Brushing the Body

Scrubbing the skin with loofah prior to wetting it can make a huge difference! I also exfoliate with a wet skin using L'oreal Exfotonic (done every two weeks), but the idea of removing dirt off your body is more optimal when the skin isn't wet. Dry brushing makes it easier to remove dirt and dead skin clls off your thick body skin.



A daily dose of this technique is okay since you get to use light strokes. Here are the steps to do it:

1. Using a loofah or a scrubbing glove, work your way up the body using light strokes beginning with the feet.

2. Provide imaginary bodily divisions as you work your way up (i.e., toes going up towards ankle, ankle going up towards knees, etc). Working your way up activates the technique's detoxifying effect (the skin is the largest organ that excretes waste products, you can just imagine how much detoxification it needs!).

3. Do seven light sweeping motions on every body division.

4. Use a long handled loofah scrubber to exfoliate the back.

A few pointers:

• be sure to use LIGHT, CIRCULAR STROKING MOTIONS. too much pressure will not only scratch your precious skin, it may even stress the valves in your veins (varicose veins, anyone?)
• you may want to dry brush the tummy area using a counter-clockwise stroke to improve digestion
• keep your loofah off wounds and infections

Why I love dry brushing:

- it gives me a certain kind of glow after using my fave Olay shower cream. I tried scratching off dry brushing from my bath routine for several weeks and I was able to conclude that this method does a HUGE difference...and I finally decided to continue this exfoliating regimen even if it eats up a couple of my precious minutes.
- it softens and makes my skin supple
- i feel uber clean!

Now that you've warded off dirt and dead skin cells from your face and bod, it's time to slather on those expensive beauty stuff and experience better skin!

Exfoliation isn't much of a rave when it comes to prettifying. Now that you know what big difference it makes, maybe you'll stop thinking twice about purchasing that funny loofah scrub.


Royally yours, Bleak

Whenever I need some "natural high" after a long day, I know I could always count on a favorite site called totallylookslike.com. Here are my fave picks from their 'Look-Alikes' tab that keeps me amused:

(all photos courtesy of totallylookslike.com)

Separated at birth?









Cool, huh? Have you got laughtrip sites that you often visit? Lemme know so I can add more web addies to my roster of funny and amusing sites!


Royally yours, Bleak