Kanebo Skin Analysis and Haul (Part 1)

Last month, I was told to book an appointment on 21-22 March, because the Kanebo counter at BHG was having a special makeup and facial event. A Japanese makeup artist would be flown in specially and the Coffret Dor Spring 09 range would also be available. I didn't book an appointment but decided to go look at the new makeup yesterday. By chance, the SA told me there's a makeup and consultation spot available at 6pm, so I said ok, since it's only an hour later, and went back to the counter after hauling at Muji and having dinner. The MA was very cheerful and energetic even after working the whole day! She set a very good example for all the local SAs, who were perkier and more enthusiastic than usual. The MA did a skin analysis for me with the skin analysis machine. Why don't the local SAs use that machine at all? It makes for very objective skin check. And eeps the close ups of pores and melanin were scary! Final verdict: I have dry skin, slightly oily t-zone, lots of melanin above & below the skin, firm skin but rough due to the dryness and good elasticity. Sounds ok for my age, I think! Especially comforted to know I still have firm skin and good elasticity. LOL. She said I should address the melanin but I said I have sensitive skin and experienced allergic reactions to most whitening skincare. So, the MA recommended Blanchir range, which she said is suitable for sensitive skin, targets dryness, and addresses melanin above and below the skin. She applied the whole range on my face, as part of the consultation. I didn't get any immediate allergic reactions, which was a good sign. Plus, the son, who was with me, said he could see an immediate brightening effect! So, I bought some of the Blanchir products, because I have alot of freckles, even though I use alot of sunscreen, so I really need some products that provide whitening/brightening care. I was hoping to eventually find good products to address that issue without giving allergic reactions. So far so good, after using the Blanchir products, I have no allergic reactions and found it has a good brightening effect but the test will be best when I have no allergic reactions later. I'll let you know the final score in a few weeks' time. I went online to check and it looks like Blanchir is mostly natural ingredients. *Cross fingers* After so many words, here's a photo of my haul. Including makeup, which I'll talk about in another post. After I decided to buy, I said, "Oh no, I am spending too much?!!" And the SA said, she'll give me whatever gifts she had, then took out almost every gift available and gave them to me! Nice small bag for me to put my lunchbox! Haha. So many freebies. WOot! Including 2 Blanchir trial sets & 2 bottles of oil-based makeup remover. Good for me to try! A scarf and umbrella even! Good timing. I need another umbrella, the one I have is on the verge of spoiling. We even got to eat some special limited sakura cookies. Hahaa. I'll talk about the makeup in another post. There are few tips that the MA gave me, I thought I could share with you too in the next post. I read that Blanchir is a drugstore range in Japan. For a drugstore range it is still quite pricey, but I found the prices are comparable here (ie. not jacked up). If it works, that's the important thing. It will be still be cheaper than buying most other Japanese skincare ranges anyway. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

Oh Skin, Wherefore Art Thou?

As a beauty blogger, I'm often not very precise in the way I use words, especially I probably don't use them the way a medical professional might. So, sometimes when I use the words sensitivity and allergy, I may not be accurately describing the skin condition that I'm suffering from. I've never gone for an allergy test because I have my doubts about them but maybe one day I may do it. I do have mild ezcema (diagnosed) and sensitivities (contact dermatitis also diagnosed before), very dry and easily irritated body skin, and easily irritated facial skin and scalp. Often I'm also confused about how things from the same origin or of similar make affect me in different ways. Take the Face Shop paper face mask trauma I suffered from recently, which resulted in a mild sort of contact dermatitis. I am unable to isolate exactly which ingredient affected me. Maybe it is as one comment suggested the different percentage of an ingredient that caused the reaction. As I ponder on this, I realise one strange thing: When I eat very acidic citrus fruits lemons, grapefruit or oranges, and if the juices come into contact with my face skin, eg. my chin or the corners of my mouth, I get a very bad reaction, which includes a burning/stinging sensation, and later, bumps and peeling like contact dermatitis. However, I do not get any bad reaction from citrus essential oils. Then I notice this - if my skin is over cleaned eg. I use too harsh scrubs or cleansers that strip the oil and moisture from my skin, my skin reacts to everything, even a change in the temperature (eg. going from warm exterior to aircon room or vice versa). Maybe the key is, like I mentioned to someone, I just need to keep my skin's oil, moisture and ph balance. When I get some time, I'll go visit a dermatologist, but meanwhile, I'll continue to crack my head over this mystery. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

Photos: Sukin Skincare Set

This is what's keeping me up late at night, and making me rush through all my chores today (even rushing my blogging ... but I did want to tell you about this since I took pics haha). The Legend, K-drama dvd. All I want to do is sit down and watch the last 2 discs. Then I want to go out and get more K-drama to watch. So addictive! I always thought Bae Yong Joon was a little bit too sissy and never understood all the fuss about him. He's the lead actor you see on the dvd covers. But then I've never watched any of his shows, and now that I have, I can see why he's got so many fans. In fact, I've come to like his acting very much and feel he has charisma. (Maybe a new fan in the making?) One interesting thing: the Korean title of the show, sounds very close to the Chinese title. 태왕사신기 (Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi) / 太王四神記 (Tai wang shi shen ji). The pronunciations are so similar (similar meaning too). Anyway, this sort of confirms my suspicions about why Korean seems easier to "hear" and pick up - it's similar to Chinese in many ways ... perhaps with the close Chinese-Korean history, there are many borrowed words? Everytime I watch k-drama, Korean phrases and words run around in my head, almost like if I could, I would just start talking in Korean! How weird am I? Now you know. (I did try to learn Korean and Japanese but ahhh all my efforts are half-baked with nothing much to show for). Ok, this is a beauty blog, so I'll show you my $36SG Sukin skincare trial set and the $19.95SG night cream. Used them last night and this morning. Nothing spectacular in terms of promises ... in fact, it promises nothing except being gentle and soothing. But, today my skin looks like skin ... normal human skin, not scary bumpy, itchy-scratchy or red but normal even toned skin ... that seems to be normal ... hahaha ... I don't know how to explain how good this feels. To have normal human skin ... ugh. I hope this lasts. I think Jamilla and Chizu Saeki are right about not over-treating your skin. I've probably been over-treating it and it was getting upset with me. Now it's just getting a good rest. I'll give a proper review when I've used it for some time, hopefully with good reports. I have to say this is a very value-for-money brand. The 4-piece trial set contains four 125ml bottles consisting of cleanser, scrub, facial mist (like a toner) and day moisturiser. The night cream is an item from the standard-size range and is 120ml. Fuz is right, if it works, I save more money for makeup, which is a good thing in this crazy economy, isn't it? Keke. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

Minimalist Skin Care

A recommended strategy for people with sensitive skin is to use products with fewer ingredients so as to limit the number of potential chemical irritants. In fact, beyond giving cortisol for ezcema conditions, doctors I saw always told me to just wash my face with Cetaphil and apply nothing else, so as to give the skin a rest when it becomes agitated and starts peeling or becomes dry and itchy. According to an article on Sensitive Skin, " Products containing less than 10 ingredients should be used. The fewer ingredients a consumer is exposed to the less the possibility of sensitisation." I've actually read this statement at several places. If as-few-ingredient-as-possible and as-natural-as-possible is the best way to go, then the geek in me would like to seek out the optimal outcome (good basic skincare) for the minimal inputs (good price). Hmmm, then, I would think I should go for as cheap as possible with as good ingredients as the brand could use. How should one such as myself make a choice about products. Step 1: Take 2 comparable products (like face wash or toner) that contain similar basic ingredients and proclaim nothing special beyond the basic functions like cleansing without stripping the skin. I would think, to make the choice between the 2, I should go for the one that has the "best" basic ingredients. So, the question is, "What is considered 'best ingredients'?" Because we are talking about sensitive skin here, I am thinking, 'best' would be ingredients that contain as few chemical additives and are in as "pure" or natural a form as possible. So, organic would be good. Natural would be good. Not a chemical product would be good. And not chemically processed would be good. Step 2: If 2 brands have equally "good ingredients" as I have defined above, then the geeky consumer like me, should go for the cheaper one. Why pay more, yes? Haha. ...... Eerrrms erggg hahaha ... actually this is me trying to rationalise why I went and bought the $36SG 4-piece Sukin trial set, instead of going the Fancl, Jurlique or Dr Hauscha route ... What do you think? I'm just trying to be logical but probably over-analysing this. I'm emotional in the way I buy things, which is why I keep trying new products even though I know it's not so good to aggravate my touchy skin. Still, I should think harder before I buy. If Sukin works, I should stick to it ... it's rather cheap. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

Agitated Skin Soothed By SANA Natural Resource

Decided to just blog something quickly. Sad to report that my facial skin started becoming agitated a few weeks ago. There was the usual peeling, redness, raw sensation and bumps, which did not go away no matter what I did. And a "stretched", dry look, like the skin is very "stressed". I suspected Biotherm creams were the main culprit, although I used it without much problem for some time. I stopped using Biotherm but even my normal face wash was irritating by then. So, I looked through my stash and found a lucky draw freebie: SANA Natural Resource Trial Set (Face wash, Lotion M, Milk Lotion). I figured since it's all-natural, my skin will do better with it. After using it for a few days, indeed my skin calmed down, looks and feels smoother. Even the bumps are gone. Since I had such good results, I thought I could explore using this for the long-term. But now I have a problem trying to understand this SANA product line. Why is it called "Medicated" on all the bottles? I wonder should I even continue using it? I didn't even realise it is targetted for acne-prone skin. I checked the SANA website, and it seems only some products are for acne, not all. So why are all the products labelled "Medicated"? I wonder what to do next, after the SANA Natural Resource trial pack is used up. Overall, looks like I have to face the fact that I need to return to gentler skincare, since I find the ingredients lists are too long and difficult to read. It's hard to isolate which are likely ingredients that might cause sensitive skin reactions! I should just suck it up and return to "natural" and "preservative free" skincare like Fancl or Jurlique. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

More On Sensitive Skin

Previously I had written about sensitive skin in my posts What is Sensitive Skin? and Not Fated to Use Kose Skin Care.

Recently, in the spirit of good reporting and being a dedicated beauty blogger, I took a photo of what happened to the skin on my arm when I walked out of the air-con office into the humid, hot and dusty evening air after work. This has been happening alot more since I had to take the public transport home every evening, instead of driving comfortably in the car. (To avoid scaring you, I've made the photos small. Kekeke.) As you can see, my body skin can get very blotchy and dry, and itchy and scratchy. To prevent such adverse skin reactions, I normally have to slather on alot of lotion to create a protective barrier. So, I shall share with you some of my favourite body and hand lotions. I always apply body lotion all over my body after every shower while the skin is still damp. I also reapply hand lotion every time I wash my hands. Well, yes, I admit, I do have some little OCD tendencies.

For most of 2008, I was able to keep my body skin soft and blotch-less by using Canus Goat's Milk Lotion. There's something in this lotion that allows moisture to absorb into the skin, such that when I wake up in the morning, I can still feel my skin is soft and moist. I also liked the delicate scent. I had the cream too, but I didn't find it as good as the lotion.

Then, I ran out of it late last year and since I find it overpriced here in Singapore and only the small bottle is available, I turned to using other creams. I didn't find any of them any good at all. Eventually, I found Origins' Paradise Found was a close substitute in providing good moisture and soothing properties. But I used it up very quickly and after it was finished, I didn't buy a replacement because I was on a guilt-trip about spending so much. I had a hard time finding a good cheap lotion. I needed cheap because I go through them very fast!

So, you can imagine my joy when recently, I found this cheap and good substitute ...

St Ives Oatmeal and Shea Butter moisturiser. It works well in combination with the matching shower foam or by itself, regardless of whatever I use in the shower. I also love the buttery smell, yummy.

For my hands I always have these in my bag. There's no beating these for moisture and a beautiful scent! My favourite has to be the Rose Velvet Cream.

Slathering lotions doesn't always work though. These couple of days, my neck has a patch of itchy ezcema. Ugh! Hard to remove without cortisone. Used to be that my friends thought my boyfriends (then later when I married ... husband) must be terribly horny and violent for always giving me so many HUGE hickies. Hahaa, but no, they're not hickies, just ezcema on my neck. LOL.

Recently, I read Now I know why so many people have sensitive skin on their face! and realised why even if your body skin isn't sensitive like mine, you might have sensitive skin on your face.

"Now it is certainly possible to irritate the skin of the hands. There are whole journals devoted to contact dermatitis which is most common on the hands. But there does seem to be something about facial skin that makes it especially liable to react to products. It is a bit of a puzzle because the skin is generally a pretty good barrier - and why should the most exposed part of the skin be the worst at keeping nasties out? Thanks to Tagami, I now know why. It turns out that the skin on the face is particularly rich in pores, and it seems to be these that are letting the allergens through. So it seems that are faces are most sensitive to irritation for the same reason that they are most prone to acne. It is because they have lots of pores."

Very interesting, isn't it?

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What is Sensitive Skin?

I was at a skin care shop buying things to put into Christmas packages ... and the nice and well-meaning SA who was serving me asked me about my skin ... *boohoo* ... She said, "Oh dear, your skin has so many dry patches and small bumps! What happened?" I told her I probably had a reaction to something I used, probably because my skin is sensitive. That was when she tried to explain to me that I do not have sensitive skin but that I am adapting to the new product. She said, "If you put something on your skin and it right away feels prickly, then your skin is sensitive. But, if there are reactions like dryness, itchiness and pimples/small bumps then it's just the skin detoxifying and getting used to a product. Use the product a bit more and it should all go away." Because her demeanour was friendly and nice, I didn't want to argue with her, so I smiled and said, "Ok, I'll go back and try some more." (Just to clarify, this SA wasn't from Kose, so she wasn't trying to defend her product, and I didn't tell which product I used anyway.) ... Dear friends, Do not. I repeat, DO NOT. Do not listen to anyone who says that to you. Do not go home and continue using the product on your precious face, thinking it is detoxifying and that one fine day it will get used to the product, and all will be well. Because that was what I did years ago and I had a bad case of skin reactions that caused my skin to become so very weak as it is now. Sensitive skin is not restricted to having a limited and immediate prickly sensation or reaction to products. I know I have sensitive skin because if left unprotected, even things like dust from a gust of wind or a sudden change in temperature will cause dry, itchy red patches to appear on my skin. It happens all over my body, arms, legs but mostly the exposed regions of the neck and face. If I use a product that I cannot tolerate, the allergic reaction is almost but not always immediate. Sometimes it takes a while, but there will be symptoms like contact dermatitis that some people get from eg. wearing nickel jewellery, which is another sign of sensitivity. I also cannot wear cosmetic jewellery, it makes my skin react. So, I list for your benefit below, some signs and symptoms of sensitive skin, which I collected from the web. I have sensitive skin, and maybe you do too, so try your best to listen to your skin, not those well-meaning SAs who might not be as aware of your skin as you are.

"A sensitive skin is a thin or a fine-textured skin. It reacts quickly to both heat and cold; therefore, it sunburns and windburns easily. It is commonly dry, delicate and prone to allergic reactions. Temperature changes, some detergents, cosmetics and alcohol (used on the skin) can all cause irritation, leaving the skin red and blotchy, with visible surface veins."

1. Does your skin get extra dry after you wash it with soap?
2. Does your skin get extra oily and break out after you use particular types of moisturizers?If you answered Yes to one or both of these questions, you may have sensitive skin.
3. Does your skin get red, itch, burn, or feel "tight" after coming into direct or indirect contact with perfumes and/or particular shampoos, shaving creams, detergents, dish soaps, hair sprays, cleaning products, or deodorants? What irritates sensitive skin includes many household and personal products. The fragrances and dyes in just about every household product, and many personal care products, can cause irritation either from direct contact or even from deposits left on your clothes, towels, or bedding. If you have any of the classic signs and symptoms of sensitive skin in Question 3, try to use hypoallergenic products without ingredients known to cause skin reactions.
4. Does your skin get red, itch, burn, or feel "tight" after extended exposure to sun, wind, heat, or cold? Sensitive skin often reacts to extreme weather conditions. In fact, anything in the environment that damages your skin's natural protective barrier against water evaporation -- called sebum -- can irritate sensitive skin.
5. Do you have acne or psoriasis? People with acne, psoriasis, or skin conditions like eczema often have sensitive skin. These conditions impair immune system functioning and/or destroy the skin's protective barrier. If you have of these conditions,you may have sensitive skin.

Classic Signs of Sensitive Skin

• Tingling, tightening, cutaneous discomfort without visible signs.
• Easily reacts to products
• Overreaction to external factors: shaving, stress, aesthetic procedures,…
• Diffuse redness, drying, recurrent irritation of the skin

Contact Dermatitis Symptoms

Telling allergic contact dermatitis apart from irritant contact dermatitis can be very difficult. Allergic dermatitis is usually confined to the area where the trigger actually touched the skin, whereas irritant dermatitis may be more widespread on the skin

• A red rash is the usual reaction. It appears immediately in irritant contact dermatitis, but sometimes in allergic contact dermatitis the rash does not appear for 1-2 days after the exposure.
• Your skin may blister, or you may get a raised red rash, called hives, sometimes in a pattern that points to the offending agent.
• Your skin will itch and perhaps burn. Irritant contact dermatitis tends to be more painful than itchy.
• Irritant contact dermatitis often affects the hands, which have been exposed by resting in or dipping into a container (sink, pail, tub) containing the irritant.
• Once a reaction starts, it may take as long as 4 weeks to resolve completely.

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Not Fated To Use Kose Skin Care

Be prepared for scary skin pictures (edit: ugh, I felt my skin looked too gross, so I've removed the photos) ... I'm quite upset. My skin was fine for this week when I used the Biotherm creams and the Ultimation eye cream. Then yesterday morning, I started using the Ultimation lotion samples. It made my skin soft and hydrated, not oily, but this is what started happening last night and got worse this morning when I woke up ... Pimples, itchy scaly-dry skin and itchy bumpy rash, pores enlarged terribly ... I do have old enlarged pores from old pimples and probably from skin sag due to aging but this is a horrible worsening of my skin condition ... Look at the scaly skin near my driest areas around my mouth and cheeks! It seems to have gotten worse ... and turned into some kind of contact dermatitis!! OMG ... *photos removed It is exactly what happened to me when I used Sekkisei in the past, many years ago. Just to clarify, my skin used to be slightly oily but it is now no longer oily, it is now quite dry (you can see the dryness in some area) and that is why I need to look for hydrating skin care ... I may need to fall back on natural products ... looks like my skin is too sensitive to try products with advanced-tech ingredients ... *SOB* ... (ref my previous post about Jurlique ... looks like I need my Recovery Gel all the more now *SOB SOB!*). I was so determined to give Kose another try but it looks like the SAs were right when they seemed like they didn't want to sell me any of their skin care. They do know how to look at the skin and decide if it's suitable for their skin care products ... Good thing the Taka SA told me not to buy the lotion but try it with the samples first ... I did say I am dense in this way, didn't I? It took so long and so much for me to finally arrive at this conclusion and accept the truth that I am not fated to use Kose Skin Care ... luckily the eye cream and eye masks are still working out well ... But, you know what? I thought if the eye cream and masks are ok with Kose, it means it should be ok for the skin on the rest of the face too ... I don't quite get the logic behind this. © Copyright. All rights reserved.