Himalaya Herbals NEW Clear Complexion range

Himalaya Herbals launched their Clear Complexion range and I must admit that I was quite excited when I was informed that they would be launching their 'whitening' products. I've heard so many raves about Himalaya but have never really picked up anything from them. And I love whitening/brightening products not because I want to get any whiter but I believe that items in any whitening range should at least promote clarity in the complexion and provide some sort of better exfoliation to maintain an appearance of "brighter" skin.

The range is entirely new, not new looking packages or rebranded/reformulated products.

Can ZA Total Hydration Day and Night Cream White brighten my skin in just 10 days?

When I was asked if I would like to try out the latest Total Hydration moisturisers from the whitening range of ZA, I got a little excited. Well for one, ZA brings some sentimental touchy-feely warmth in me as I recalled those years starting out after graduation and cash was kinda limited. I turned to ZA for my makeup and skincare needs and they worked well for my super oily skin type. Secondly, despite being very comfortable using products from the luxury skincare brands, I am always on a lookout for good reliable drugstore brands that are suitable for my current skin condition and what better way than to say yes to this opportunity. I mean, let's try to push aside the notion that expensive skincare is good while cheap ones are just so-so.

I had also just returned from a trip to a hot and sunny island that it'd be interesting to see how the whitening range can help bring back by tanned skin to its original tone. And the challenge was the promise of just 10 days for it to help brighten skin.

some description of the day cream...

and the night cream.

I think I've always been skeptical of brightening/whitening promises especially coming from a drugstore brand. Furthermore, I am only using these two products and not the entire range, hence, this review may not be that helpful if you are looking to find me totally agreeing on its claims. And, to be fair, I got tanned after bathing in the hot sun for 5 days... therefore, even if they did help brighten my skin tone, it is only because it got me back to my original skin colour.

But what do I really think of them??... well, I kinda like the moisturisers. They are no-nonsense, pretty cheap and decently protect the dermis. I didn't see my skin looking any different than when I was using products from the luxury brands. They are quite moisturising, helping my dehydrated skin looks healthy and glowy, and I truly like their light scent.

On the left is the creamier moisturiser with SPF and on the right is the gel-like texture of the night cream.

However, I do think that the day cream leaves my skin a little shiny by noon, with or without makeup on. This is something that I'd usually come across with moisturisers with SPF - they simply make me oilier. But since I didn't break out using the products, I believe this is a value for money item. Still, like any of those other whitening range I've tried, I'd much rather use a non-SPF moisturiser and top it off with a sunscreen product to control the oil on my face. 

The night cream, on the other hand, is my favourite! The gel texture and scent reminds me so much of Shiseido's White Lucent Brightening Moisturising Gel, it calms my skin at night and I wake up with skin that looks energised from a good night's sleep. It comes on light, non-greasy and easily absorbed into the skin.

There's an entire range of Total Hydration that's available and ZA has appointed a young local artiste, Amanda Amani as the face of ZA. The Total Hydration range appears to be her favourite in addition to the Perfect Fit concealer and foundation (pictured below the skincare range). These, I don't mind trying... prolly once my current skincare products are finished.

The Total Hydration Day and Night Cream White retails at RM26.90 and RM28.90 each, while the concealer is priced at RM30.90. The 2-way cake costs RM36.90 for its refill and just RM14 for its case. They also have a BB Cream UV under this range which I have yet to read much of it. I do think I shall pick it up soon to try it out.

Are you a fan of ZA? Funny that I keep thinking of Karen Mok when I think of ZA. She was one of the earliest faces of ZA right?

Brighter, more luminous skin with Lancome's Blanc Expert Duo - Derm Crystal & Spot Eraser Melanolyser

Remember my post on Lancome's Blanc Expert Derm Crystal about 2 months ago? Well, today I would like to update you on how it fared so far.

I did mention to you in that entry that I was impressed with the Derm Crystal immediately after the first use. If I had wanted clarity and smoothness of the skin, I got it. I used it at night and I think the salicylic acid content somewhat helped slough away dull skin - I woke up looking un-tired with smooth skin. 

I have been getting a little bit more pimples than usual before this and I must say that although it is not an anti-blemish product, it probably did help with the appearance of my skin. And since I felt truly happy with its efficacy, I have decided to get its soul mate, the Blanc Expert Spot Eraser just to see how much better my skin would look. I am, after all a big fan of brightening products and I believe that the ingredients in this range could help me look naturally radiant.

According to Lancome, the combination of both products can dramatically improve the look of skin, making it look exceptionally luminous. They would give you flawless, fair radiant skin where skin dullness is reduced, you'll get longer lasting glow, there'll be a reduction in dark spots and skin will appear brighter. I am not sure how they will fare on me but I may be biased of Lancome since I did use its whitening range some time back and my old pimple marks were practically erased off my face. Now, they have all been reformulated and that might not necessarily give me the same effect especially since my hormones have been playing tricks on me and the skin isn't as youthful as it was back then.

Thankfully, as I discovered, they work pretty well. I have been using the Derm Crystal for about 2 months now and the Spot Eraser for about 1 month. I may not see any dramatic results since I have been using whitening products for the past couple of years on and off, but I did notice that my skin looks pretty healthy even without makeup in the afternoon. Improvement in clarity is noticeable  and skin texture has definitely looked so much better.

Before this, I would use an entire range of whitening products from other brands yet I don't see quite the result I get from just using these 2 products to supplement my current anti-blemish skincare regime. At my most tired moods, I would be surprised to see how clear the skin appears.

I'm quite happy with the way this duo work on my skin. Just 2 drops of crystal clear Derm Crystal and 2 drops of the white-colour liquid of the Spot Eraser on my palm, mix them together and apply. I can't see the content of the blue tube after 1 month of use but the Derm Crystal is still about half way through after 2 months of use, twice a day. I won't say I am loving them tremendously but I do like them very much :)

Both Derm Crystal and Spot Eraser Melanolyser comes in a 30ml packaging that retails at RM350 and RM330 each. 

Are you a fan of brightening products? Have you tried these yet?

Crystal Clear Skin with Lancome's Derm-Crystal, Crystal Brightness Activating Essence

It's pretty tough to read what's written under the words, BLANC EXPERT, right? Well, that's probably because that's almost to that effect the new product promises to deliver - crystal clear looking skin.

I have always had a soft spot for Blanc Expert because this was the first whitening range I used and I thought their spot eraser truly worked to lighten my old acne marks and evening out my skin tone. And I remembered how easy it was using their whitening range because they do not require you to use too many products the way many other brands would.

Very recently, Lancome launched Derm-Crystal^TM, a crystal brightness activating essence in their Blanc Expert range. Come to think of it, I believe they never had any whitening serum before this, other than the spot eraser, right? (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)...

A few bloggers (moi included) were given the honour to be the first to discover what Derm-Crystal^TM is all about. And when it was unveiled to us, I guess many of us were a little skeptical (moi included too!)... I mean, you have every single skincare company tell you what their whitening/brightening serum can do to the skin's deeper layers but when I use them, I don't see much difference other than just a little improvement that probably can be achieved with clever makeup tricks.

Furthermore, when they explained some of the main ingredients used in this crystal serum, I thought they sounded too simple - ingredients like soy, sunflower seed, peppermint and rose. Of course, they also have those regular ingredients we would come across many brightening formula like Vitamin C (which they called, Actyl C, a formulation exclusive to Lancome) and salicylic acid but yeah... they sounded just normal.

Skepticism aside, I was still curious to find out how well this liquidy serum fare. I kept reminding myself how well the spot eraser worked on my skin at one time years back and I was hoping that this serum is not just an addition to the range.

If you must know, the soy and sunflower extracts can help us achieve an ideal luminous and bright skin. The soy extract can assist in the stimulation of new collagen while the sunflower extract can help prevent darkening (or yellowing) of the skin. The rose and mint extracts apparently help calm the skin and I guess for me, the mint extract may also help make skin feels fresher, no?

In any whitening/brightening skincare launch, we would always be educated on how our skin works, scientifically, the dermal layers. This is so interesting to me, as I always put to use the biology subject I took well into my matriculation years. Scientifically, what they presented to me may sound a little over the top but I guess with research and findings in the laboratory, these findings may not be highly illogical either.

This was a clever way of them showing to us how clarity of the skin can be achieved by shining the light to a transparent box filled with 'crystals' as opposed to skin's fibre that's not being taken cared (as per the box on the right) ;P it's just a clever gimmick that I thought was fun to watch.

By targeting the furthest epidermal layer, your skin will possibly reveal its "inner light" making you glow from within.

Well, I'd like to say that the curiosity in me killed the cat and I put aside my usual whitening serum that night after the event... only after one application, I must say, I was stunned... hehe... will update that in another, entry, shall we?

L-R: cleanser, toner, spot eraser, Derm-Crystal^TM, moituriser (lotion), moisturiser (day cream), eye serum and well, they were supposed to have the night cream which is dark blue in colour but I just realised that it is the day cream at the most right.

And with the unveiling of the new serum, we were all also shown the new packaging of the Blanc Expert range. I love the new midnight blue. It makes the entire range looks so luxurious, gorgeous and uniformed.

Note the spot eraser on the left side of the serum in the picture above. If you're already using this star product, the combination of both the spot eraser and Derm-Crystal^TM will offer exceptional efficacy. Haha... am a little worried of that because how much more luminous can your skin get, right? But let's not laugh until we put it to the test, shall we? And am suddenly already planning to get this product again once I get my next paycheck *wink*

grabbed this from their facebook page

aaand... as per most beauty events, I got the chance to some make-over...

FYI, if you are interested to check out the Blanc Expert Derm-Crystal^TM Crystal Brightness Activating Essence, they are only available at the KLCC Concourse Area until tomorrow, 6 March 2012. You will also get to experience many other events on the ground as they can show you their 2-minute aura (you must must try this!), have your skin diagnosed and get some makeup & hair done too.

The Essence which retails at RM350 for 30ml will be available nationwide mid-March onwards.

And, if you're lucky, any purchase of Derm-Crystal^TM will allow you the chance to win one of the three Derm-Crystal inspired Carven Ong dresses which he designed especially for this launch, only during this promotion. According to them, the dress is worth some RM4k o.O

Are you a fan of whitening products? Have you checked this one out yet?

Estee Lauder's NEW CyberWhite Brilliant Cells

Just recently, I was privileged to get included into Estee Lauder's soft launch of their newly improved whitening range, now named, CyberWhite Brilliant Cells. I really have to thank this friend who has given me this sorta window of opportunity to get into the insights of the latest beauty products in the market :)

In this event, I only expected to be informed of the new range of products but I think most of us who attended the event was pleasantly surprised that we were given the first hand experience to try out the entire range in what was arranged as a fulfilling beauty workshop! They covered everything - from cleansing to the proper way of applying products especially when removing make up to how we should apply serum, moisturiser, eye care and SPF. Then, we were all given a thorough demonstration on how we can apply make up with all the proper tools.

But since many things were covered that day, I think I shall just in this post share with you on the new Cyberwhite Brilliant Cells range, which has not been officially launched.

Ok... what I always hate about brightening/whitening range is the so many stuff you need to slather on your face. But as many experienced women would say, you need sacrifices to be beautiful... not everyone is blessed with natural beauty and some would need to work harder than others :D

The new whitening range is a newly improved range from when EL made whitening popular with the CyberWhite EX. This time, the Cyberwhite Brilliant Cells (CBC) leads with new innovation and findings from EL's 25 years of brightening expertise.

From their new discovery, this range of products promises to deliver exceptional results targeting 4 key types of brown spots and make your skin look luminous, radiant and even. Their comprehensive, full spectrum brigtening technologies will hydrate the skin, even up skin texture, promote protection of collagen but what I like most is that they combat poor microcirculation common in most Asian skin.

When we were all brought through the entire process of using the skincare, I guess I kinda liked the lighter scent compared to their older EX version and their texture felt lighter on the skin. Of course, I couldn't vouch much because years ago I only used their samples which didn't work well on my oily skin but I did see very good results on a former boss. Thus, I gather that the products work better on more mature skin types.

We all also had the opportunity to try out their new gelcreme makeup with SPF21/PA+. With the proper tools and method of applying it, supplemented with a little brigtening essence, you will be surprised at how dewy and radiant your face looks. Seriously, I was impressed at myself and can't help admiring myself in the mirror *vain pot*

This must be one of their star makeup products. I can't get enough of the fine texture of the brightening loose powder but more so because when you finish up your look with this powder, your skin will be transformed into a more translucent and luminous appearance. Among many wonderful properties, it contains polarised pearls which reflect light, making your complexion looking a healthy pink. I'm still waiting for my photo from EL and will share it with you in another post.

this is just a sneak preview of the technique used in applying the gelcreme foundation, which i shall share in another entry ;)

these are the deluxe samples i received to try. the essence, though, is the actual-sized bottle :D

I do like to share with you that the Estee Lauder Cyberwhite Brilliant Cells will be available at all EL counters starting 26 February 2011. And in conjunction with the launch of the skincare range, you are all invited to join Estee Lauder for "A Time To Brighten" at KLCC Centrecourt from 11am-2pm that day. Come early because the 1st 1,000 early birds to bring any whitening product from any brands can exchange for a CyberWhite Brilliant Cells deluxe-sized sample.

The list of the products in this range, is as follows:

• Cleanser (125ml) - RM140
• Lotion (200ml) - RM160 (this is a toner)
• Essence (30ml) - RM350
• Milky Lotion (100ml) - RM210 (moisturiser)
• Moisture Cream (50ml) - RM245
• UV Protector SPF50/PA+++ (30ml) - RM175
• Brightening Powder Makeup SPF 25/PA+++ - RM140 (refill) & RM48 (compact)
• GelCreme Makeup SPF 21/PA+ - RM155
• Concealer SPF 35/PA++ - RM85
• Loose Powder SPF 15/PA++ - RM150

I'll be working in a fundraising charity drive at Berjaya Times Square on that day and may not be able to check out the launch in KLCC. So, do let me know if you managed to try the products.

Update: Diorsnow range - no more makeup needed.

Remember this post I did a couple of month ago? Well, I am happy to give you an update after almost 2 months of using the full range of Diorsnow.

See, the reason I decided to start using a whitening/brightening regime was due to my skin getting dull, uneven toned with some early signs of pigmentation due to my ignorance in using an SPF during the day, but especially because I was sick of having to conceal these marks on the left side of my face (as shown above)... also the chicken pox mark I got just a year ago on the right side of my forehead, as shown below...

even with thick makeup, the marks are still visible...

Now I've used another whitening range before around 5-6 years ago, and I know that these products (if you use the right ones) really do work like a charm in giving you an even skin tone and a brighter complexion... not so much a big change in the colour of your complexion but you will see your skin looking clearer somewhat cleaner, especially when you have very oily skin like moi.

After a month, you can see that those scars has lightened a lot and the pimple mark on the lower part of my left cheek is non-existent! I could even wear really light makeup and not worry about those marks :)

And just last weekend during dinner, as seen in the photo above, my face sans makeup (well, I cheated a little as I can't live without my eyebrow pencil and lippie!! so, don't sue me...) and I feel free after just 6 weeks of using the entire range! In fact, I have occasionally not wear make up since 2 weeks ago and I feel just fine and dandy. My skin is now even toned, I haven't had a dull-skin day since I started using it and my skin feels softer and smoother. I can't say much about their effect on my large pores because they mainly target to brighten one's complexion but I did see an overall improvement due to its exfoliating properties. Therefore, I am extremely happy.

So, thank you, Dior and its brilliant Diorsnow range. The products have not yet run out except for its White Reveal Renewing Mask which I think will deplete in another 2-3 uses. Kinda bad on the wallet but it pays well too :D

Have you tried any whitening/brightening skincare? Would you like to give Dior a try?

Diorsnow White Reveal Renewing Mask

I think I've converted into a Dior junkie... a real Dior junkie. Wait, lemme rephrase that... a Dior beauty junkie.

Since I've always had very oily-dehydrated-acne prone skin, I've always shied away from beauty brands that seem to target those of the more mature market. However, throughout the years, I have been some mini fan of Dior... I loved their j'adore and Dior Addict fragrances, and I have used their Diorskin compact foundation, which I thought suited me really well in terms of texture, airiness and colour.

Recently though, I've noticed some startling changes in my skin. Yes, it is its usual oily slick and dehydrated but I've also realised that my skin was getting rather dull with plenty of dark spots here and there, from acne marks. This got me to thinking about my positive experience with one other European brand and their whitening skincare years ago, and I think I should start using whitening products again, or rather, brightening skincare, as most luxury skincare now brands this range.

I know a lot of people do not believe in the whitening effect of this range of skincare. However, I must vouch that I have seen a nice change it made my skin then, and I've even seen how more translucent and even the skin tone of my ex-bosses who were using whitening skincare from 2 different luxury brands.

Hence recently, after being happy with many of Dior's products like their Rouge de Serum, their One Essential, and their Hydra Life products, I've decided to try out their brightening range, called, the Diorsnow range. It was one of those purchases where I wanted everything necessary in their range and I made sure that I got as many freebies as I could for the amount that I was spending. Sadly though, unlike Kiehl's or Clinique or Estee Lauder, Dior is a little stingy in their giveaways... but I guess you should be very nice to their SA because loyalty does pay :)

Since I've just started on the new skincare regime, I may not be able to really tell you how different my skin looks now after about 10 days of usage although I can say that there has been some positive changes... nothing very dramatic but promising enough.

And I would like to share with you the instant benefit of using their White Reveal Renewing Mask.

I think this is a pretty new product from this range because as far as I know, they only had the Whitening Essence Sheet Mask that I managed to try out once in their free mini facial.

Through the research that I did before purchasing this WRRM, it is clay based. Hence, it is most suitable for those with oily skin. But, as with any brightening product, I suspect that the clay-tightening effect may not be that strong.

Upon squeezing it out from the tube, it comes out white and creamy. It has a very subtle scent which is soothing and sweet to me, and instantly, I could feel a cooling effect making my tired skin feels recharged. The cool feeling made me want it to keep working on my face after 10 minutes which is when I'm supposed to wash it away. Afraid that I'm doing more harm than good to my skin by disobeying the recommended usage, I slowly massaged the mask for a while into the skin before washing it off.

Immediately, I could see my pores tightened but nothing of that uncomfortable tight feeling... best of all, I could see an improvement in my skin texture - it looked refined, soft and smooth. It wasn't acne week for me last week and so, the skin feels really clean.

The cooling sensation could be felt way until I go on to the next step of using the wipe-off gel, toner, essence and moisturiser.

i love the more refined skin texture sans open pores.

After 10 days, I think my skin looks less patchy but that would all be tested once I could really go out of the house without make-up. When I do that, I will say that the Diorsnow range really works. I hope that is not too ambitious, no?? ;)

The Diorsnow White Reveal Renewing Mask is retailed at RM186 for 75 grams.