Venus and Mars Lulur Bar

As I've mentioned, I'm kind of nuts about Soap bars. Currently I have 6 which I use interchangeably. I do have favorites though, so those are about to run out.

About a month ago, I came across Venus and Mars' Multiply Store. Ive heard good things about their products so decided to look around and find something to try. I saw the Lulur bar and it intrigued me, since I'm a sucker for products that promise clear skin. I also thought that the mix of ingredients used for this bar was very interesting.

Product image taken from Venus and Mar's Multiply Store

Main ingredients used for this soap:
Emu oil, Tea tree essential oil, tumeric, Tea tree leaves, Shea Butter, Arbutin, Calamansi, Papain, Olive Oil and Coconut Oil

If the curious mix of ingredients isn't enough to entice you to get one bar for yourself, here are some of the benefits of the Java Tumeric Spice*:

• Reduces Skin Pigmentation
• Makes the skin supple
• Inhibits cell damage
• Reduces hair growth
• Helps heal Acne
• Excellent skin beautifier

(*You may read more about Venus and Mars' Lulur Bar over: HERE)

So you see, not only does it promise great skin, it can even reduce hair growth? Yeah, yeah, I'm a sucker for advertising haha. So, I imagined that I'd get great results and got the big bar which sells for P195 (120g). I also got Caby excited about it, and she got one for herself too! haha
'
This is some powerful soap! I don't suggest you leave this on your face for more than 3 minutes when ou first use it. Caby got to try it first and she told me it stung. The pain, she said, can be compared to getting a chemical peel. So I didn't try to act brave and let it sit on my face for more than 2 minutes. But it still stung a bit. Ahh, the price you pay for vanity :P

After using it for about a week, I noticed some slight peeling on my neck. I was actually very impressed and dubbed it as my Organic Chemical Peel ( I know that doesn't make sense haha). I actually wanted to blog about it already, but I told myself I'd have to wait 3 more weeks so I can conduct a proper review. boo! haha

As expected with soaps that cause you to peel, you wont see the effects immediately. So while I was slightly peeling (nothing crazy or anything so don't worry), I was waiting for when my good skin would come out.

2nd week...

3rd week...

I had to stop. I know I should have waited at least one more week. But one morning, I woke up and my cheek felt itchy. I rubbed it a little and youch! it was painful! So i ran to the mirror and checked. My skin was slightly burnt - it was similar to the effects of when I had used pimple drying medications a few years ago. And while taking a shower, I noticed I had similar burnt areas on my clavicle too. Yeek. Not good.

I also decided to stop using it, because my normally combination skin was now Dry. Not even my facial moisturizer could save my face. So I banished the Lulur from my Soap Kingdom haha. Its too bad since I cut up the bar into about 8 pieces and I'd only been able to use 2 small bars. Lesson learned, when trying something new, get the sample size!


Why you should buy it:
- Its organic
- The mix of ingredients used for this bar are all good for the skin.
- I suppose it did help dry up some of my pimples (including the rest of my face)


What you should consider:
- Probably not a good idea to try this if you have sensitive skin (or have low pain tolerance lol)
- Do not leave this on your skin for too long. Might be best to use it for just a few days a week.


As with any of my reviews, whatever is stated here is based on my personal experience and opinion. And as with any product, some might notwork for me while it could very well work for you. If you check the Venus and Mars Multiply Store, you'll see tons of raves for this product. So you see, it does work! ( just not on me haha) I'll probably still try a few more items from Venus and Mars.

Main reason I threw out this bar, was I found it too drying. If there's anything I hate, its dry skin! I did, however, find a great facial wash that helped soothe and improve my skin. I will post about it next time :) But so far, I'm loving it!

Busy Bee

Hey everyone! sorry for the lack of posts. Im sure everyone else is busy doing last minute christmas shopping and preparing for christmas, yes? I wish I was busy with holiday related stuff haha. Ive actually been packing and preparing to move to a new house. It is crazy to go through old things. And being a pack rat that I am, ive accumulated a looot of things! From notebook doodles to letters from highschool. So hard to let go even though I have no use for them haha. I even find it so hard to throw out college handouts! what a cuckoo I am. Maybe I would slowly weed out the useless stuff in the new house..maybe..I should! haha


Whats fun though are all the christmas parties! :) 2 days ago, we had a christmas party and also welcomed Caby's Birthday!


Right-click on pictures to view in full size :D

Here we are, waiting for our food. Caby, Jaja and I
were first to arrive. We were very hungry!! haha



And a few hours later...Guess who? haha were both very particular with
our pictures. I actually dont like this one either but this picture was the
only one that showed the black and purple gradient so please dont
mind my woozy look- I was not drunk haha

Did have another christmas party with some of my highschool friends but idnt get to take pictures since we were a little preoccupied wolfing down on the food haha. Last week, our church's fellowship group also had a christmas party for College kids who werent so well off but very deserving. It was nice to see that they enjoyed and hopefully encouraged to strive harder to finish College :)

Me and my friends Michie and Kathy (Ive known
them since the 1st grade! haha)

And as promised, a picture from wedding #2. I was busy taking pictures the whole day since we went early. Ran out of memory space and forgot to take pictures of myself haha so this is the best one ive got lol

LOL you can easily spot me

Wedding #1

Can you believe that apart from last weeks wedding, the last one I attended was over 15 years ago? haha I think I was 7. I was sick and looked like a zombie and to make things worse, I lost a tooth at the reception hahaha.

So it isnt much of a surprise that I dont know anything about weddings. I dont know what youre supposed to wear, what youre not supposed to wear. blah. Weddings are a mystery to me haha. I decided to just go with whatever I had, since I rarely do need formal clothes so I didnt want to get a dress.

camwhoring in front of the door haha. Wanted to see
what I looked like in natural light :)




And again :)




Simple neutral eye makeup

What I used:

FACE

• Cinema Secrets Concealer Palette Kit #1
• RCMA Shinto 2 and 3
• M.A.C. Shape and Sculpt in Lightsweep and Shadester
• NARS Orgasm

EYES

• M.A.C. Charcoal brown and Browset in Mink (eyebrows)
• Urban Decay primer Potion
• ELF Brightening Eye Color Quad in Butternut (used lower left color for the lids)
• M.A.C. Haux (Crease)
  
• M.A.C. Charcoal Brown and Carbon (Outer lid and corner of the eyes)
• M.A.C. Nylon (Inner corner of the eyes)
• M.A.C. Fibre Rich Lash in All Black
• The Faceshop Eyelashes in XLH

LIPS

• M.A.C. Lipglass in Full on Lust

Im off to another wedding tomorrow! Hence the title, Wedding #1 haha. I'll post whatever I come up with tomorrow in a few days :) Im so glad I hauled on a few forever 21 dresses (lifesaver! lol) I wouldnt know what I would wear if I didnt have the dresses I bought a few months ago hehe.

New layout

Im seriously considering leaving blogger. Think it might be easier to code the layout if i purchase a domain or something. But who am I kidding? I cant even code blogger without getting frustrated haha. My new template is downloaded btw cause I cant code css from scratch. So I just got this and tweaked it until I was happy.

I kinda miss my old layout already haha. But oh well. Will try to learn css when I get too bored haha.

My cute notebook layout. Which was downloaded too. This was my second layout here
on blogger. Too bad I didnt get a screenshot of my first layout.
I coded that from scratch, well almost...LOL



I miss makeup/eotd/fotd posts! :( Boo! I promise the next post will be something
makeup related.

I meant to post an eotd but got caught up with changing this freakin layout! Blah. I cant believe how crazy this month is getting. I dont know where to start or what to do first! le sigh!

♥ ♥ ♥

I know ive been sporadic with posts again and yes im still alive lol. December is a really busy month. But posting a quick entry to say....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!



Happy Birthday to my handsome, sexy bestfriend and boyfriend! :)

No need to say how old you are because you'll whack me on the side of my head hahaha. It was yesterday actually but didnt have time to post this until today :)

Contest Winner

I won a TCA peel from The Beauty Bin! Woo! Ive never won anything haha im soo excited I had to post this haha. Thanks! woohoo! lol

I dont even know what a TCA peel is exactly but ive quickly searched for it and this is what I found:

• TCA stands for trichloroacetic acid. It is a very common chemical used to perform medium depth chemical peels.
• The procedure results in red, swollen, and crusted skin which peels over the weeks following the procedure. This will help improve the skin texture, tone, and reduce the appearance of fine wrinkles and superficial discoloration.
• TCA peels have been found effective and approved by the FDA for treatment of various skin disorders like skin pigmentation problems, wrinkles, fine lines and crows feet around the eyes and even all ranges of acne.

Ive been contemplating on getting a peel done for quite some time. So double yay! But you know, makeup junkies usually use the money they put aside for other things on makeup LOL . Will definitely post my experience :) have any of you tried a TCA peel? what were your experiences?

What a perfect way to end my night! Now off to get some beauty rest have a wedding to go to tomorrow :)

Heads up! - Pigment Sale!

A great way to doll yourselves up this Holiday. Use pigments and glitters!

The Body Needs is giving 15% off discount on purchases of 5 or more M.A.C. pigment samples, M.A.C. Glitter samples, The body needs mineral eyeshadows and/or The Body Needs mixing Medium!

Enter the coupon code: WINTER at checkout and you'll get 15% off your purchase! Follow this link to shop now!

The Body Needs2

*Discount applies ONLY to TheBodyNeeds Mineral Eye Shadows, TheBodyNeeds Mixing Medium, MAC pigment samples, and MAC glitter samples, all other items are excluded from the 15% discount. You must purchase a combination of at least 5 of TheBodyNeeds Mineral Eye Shadows, TheBodyNeeds Mixing Medium, MAC pigment samples, and/or MAC glitter samples, to use the coupon. Code can not be applied retroactively.Code may be used on each order placed during the promotion. Multiple orders may be placed using one coupon per order. Discount does not apply to S/H charges. Offer ends 12/31/2009.

Wide Awake

Most people prefer to use neutral shades for eye makeup. It can go with almost anything, its not as flashy and the colors are easier to use and blend. Neutral usually means without color but Neutral colors are classified as having low colorfulness or chroma on the color wheel. Some examples are beige, taupe, ivory, black and grey. But colors that have a hint of brown are also considered as neutrals when it comes to makeup


Neutral eye makeup is great for work, can be used for weddings and the likes. It can also be a quick way to make you look polished especially when you have little time to prepare for work in the morning or need to be done in 10-15 minutes. I personally use neutral colors for eye makeup when im in a hurry and dont have time to experiment with colors. . My go to colors for neutral makeup are M.A.C. Vex, Haux, Charcoal Brown, Embark and Vanilla.

Vex (lid) , Haux (Crease), Charcoal Brown (Outer Crease),
Embark (Outer crease to add depth) and Vanilla (brow bone)
I usually add nylon to the iner corners of the eyes and feeme fi to highlight the brow bone
Images are from M.A.C.

But brown e/s if not blended well, have a tendency to make you look drab and tired. A neutral eye look is pretty simple and easy to do. You just need to know where to place the colors.



A few tips when doing a neutral eye look:

• To help make your eyes more awake, make sure to line your lashline. If youre not a fan of black or liquid eyeliner, Grab some eyeshadow with a wet/moist brush, line your lids and you can also blend it or smudge it a bit to make it look more natural instead of having a harsh line.

• Curling your lashes is one of the best way to open your eyes. Remember to curl your lashes before applying Mascara

• Line your waterline with a white eyeliner to help make eyes look bigger and brighter. Avoid getting the white liner on he lower lashline or make sure to line your lower lashline with brown or black. Putting a white e/s especially those that are shimmery on your lower lashline can actually make your eyebags look bigger.
  

• Make sure you blend the colors well and leave the darker shades on the outer corner of the lid especially during daytime to keep the look more simple. Dark brown eyeshadow all over the lid or the crease and not blended well tends to make you look tired.

Hope that helps! Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I know ive been somewhat manic-depressive when updating my blog (sometimes daily, sometimes even two posts in a day and sometimes none for more than a week haha) I will however be a bit busy for the next 2 weeks. Im sure most of us will be because of the christmas shopping and what not! =)

Have a great weekend and be safe!