I've always been one to try my best to take good care of my skin. I'm never happy with my skin because it's acne-prone. When my higher-end skin care line started to not work as well anymore, I started to look for alternatives. Lately, I've become obsessed with beauty-related home remedies. Here's my gathered list of some of the ones I found to be most useful.

For Acne
Aspirin Mask
- for acne, due to its acidic properties (salicyclic acid)
- dissolve a few aspirin tablets in very little water (use uncoated cheap store brand)
- mix in a little honey (helps it stick, also won't dry out skin as much)
- spread on face, leave on for 10-30 min depending on frequency (or wash off when it dries/flakes off)
- rinse and exfoliate using the graininess of the aspirin
- use alcohol-free toner
- moisturize with Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle cream (more just for the anti-wrinkle effects! hehe)

Mopiko
- an anti-itch cream

Vaseline (petroleum jelly)
- rub on face every night for smooth skin (non-comedogenic, won't clog pores)
- makeup remover
- soften feet: apply vaseline to feet before bed and cover with socks
- CHAPPED, DRY, and BURNT LIPS - Apply Vaseline everynight before sleeping and your lips would be as good as new within a week
- DRY SKIN - VASELINE does the trick
- CUTS - VASELINE helps heal little nicks and cuts anywhere on your body. It even stops your cuts from bleeding
- EYE BAGS - According to Tyra Banks, this works wonders for your eye bags
- D.I.Y. AT HOME HAIR COLOR - Prevent your dye from sliding to your forehead and staining it (yikes!) by applying Vaseline to your hairline. It’ll catch any dye and make it stay where it’s supposed to stay!
- EYELASHES AND EYEBROWS - Apply VASELINE to your eyelashes and eyebrows every night to make them grow longer and thicker
- MAKEUP - Mix your fave eyeshadow color with VASELINE to make a cream shadow, a cream blush, or a new color lip gloss. Also, if your fave lipstick is running out, transfer it to a small pot and add VASELINE to it. Instant colored lip balm!
- FRAGRANCE - Apply VASELINE wherever you apply your perfume to make the scent last longer. The scent would last longer in the moist area, and also heighten the perfume to it’s full potential!

Sugar and olive oil (or honey and sugar)
- exfoliate with these for softer hands/skin

Lemon and/or Tomato
- Rub a slice of lemon or the remains a squeezed lemon on your face. Allow it to remain overnight, then wash with cold water. It will restore your skin's softness and lend your complexion a glow.
- Squeeze the juice of one lemon into one ripe tomato (in which a hole has been made). Rub the tomato on your face. Leave to dry. Then, wash with water and pat dry.
- Can use lemon as a toner

Strawberries
- brush into teeth to whiten
- Be careful not to use this too often, though, as the acid could damage the enamel on your teeth.
- You need:
1 ripe strawberry
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Directions: Crush the strawberry to a pulp, then mix with the baking powder until blended. Use a soft toothbrush to spread the mixture onto your teeth. Leave on for 5 minutes, then brush thoroughly with toothpaste to remove the berry–baking powder mix. Rinse. (A little floss will help get rid of any strawberry seeds.) Apply once a week.

Visine
- remove redness from blemishes

So far, I've tried the aspirin mask and Vaseline for my skin and eyelashes. My skin's still not perfect, but I think it's definitely in better condition than it was before I tried either of these. As for my eyelashes, I see some improvement. Some of the improvement may be due to my mascara, but the day after I tried the Vaseline on my super-straight lashes I had a much easier time curling them and the curl stayed much longer. This tells me that my mascara is helping the length, but perhaps the Vaseline is helping the thickness :) Also, the smaller of my two eyelids is looking more like the other one (more prominent double eyelids). A small observation, but noticeable enough for me ^_^

As for makeup, I'm still using BE but I've recently discovered Everyday Minerals. From reviews online, it seems that it might be better than BE, AND it's CHEAPER!!! They offer free samples so I should be expecting those in the mail soon. I hope it works out so I could save money on some makeup!

posted by che @ 2:08 PM [[ 1 comments ]]

I hate Mondays. I never want to come back to work!

I didn't do too much this weekend, yet I still didn't get enough rest. Saturday was spent mostly sleeping, but that night I went to a birthday party in Irvine with B and my cousin. It was Playboy-themed but lucky for me I got out of having to be a "bunny" for the night. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet... maybe when I'm sexier, LOL!

Yesterday, B and I spent some time in LA. We went to Chinatown to eat at Ocean Seafood Restaurant for some good dim sum. There was some sort of fair going on as well, so we checked that out to get some free stuff.

After lunch, we made it over to the fashion district. For as long as I have lived in LA (almost 9 years now... whoa, really?), I never shopped there. I've always wanted to go so we finally made some time for it this weekend. I was on a mission to get some "cheap" purses, if you know what I mean. Oh, and to buy some socks, too! Hehe :P I managed to finagle a couple of "Gucci" purses for less than a bill! It doesn't sound like they're cheap, but they are "Class A" knockoffs so the look and quality is the best there is as far as knockoffs come. I got this 'positano' purse for my work-bag. The only difference seems to be the color of the hardware. Mine is silver, but I like it better that way :) I couldn't find the exact match for my other bag, but it looks a lot like this 'pelham' one except part of the strap of the one I have is the green and red webbing, which I prefer. Mine is also a little more boxier looking... I think. So with a combined retail price of $2805, I managed to save myself over $2700!!! LOL! They're not real, but I still love Gucci and relative to my collection of real purses this is very few! It's not a big deal anyway... they look nice :D

posted by che @ 2:18 PM [[ 1 comments ]]

I know I'm a day late, but I've been a little busy. I'll post more about the weekend later.

posted by che @ 1:03 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

Valentine's Day celebrations are about surprise romantic candlelit dinners at home... at least that's what it was about this year ^_^

B and I decided to celebrate the big V-day early this year because attempting to eat out somewhere nice the night of without a reservation will be near impossible. He had the whole night planned. All I had to do was leave the house and kill a few hours while he prepared. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds when you're not in the mood to shop, hehe.

I got home and had to hideout in my room for a little while he put the finishing touches. I freshened up, then shortly after it was time to eat. I went downstairs and was presented with candlelights and lobster, dungeness crab, and salmon sashimi. And to drink? Champagne of course :) A romantic playlist he had made on my iPod was playing in the background. It was a beautiful setup for a romantic evening :D

And for dessert?



I am so grateful. I couldn't have asked for more ^_^ Thank you, Honey!!!

posted by che @ 8:51 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

Another busy weekend come and gone. Luckily, it felt long enough. Too bad this week is a long week :\

Anyway, last Wednesday night I had dinner with K and C and Musha in Santa Monica. We've tried tapas before but this is more Japanese-style tapas. It was pretty good and the portions were a lot more than expected. I wouldn't mind coming here again. We even got hooked up with green tea ice cream thanks to one of the waitresses who happened to be one of my coworker's wives! It was crazy bumping into her there!

Thursday night, B and I headed down to SD to attend a financial seminar as suggested by my sister. She's been pushing me to read a book for a while now. The author of Missed Fortune 101, Doug Andrew, was there to give a talk and it was pretty much an overview of his book and what he teaches in it. It was definitely enlightening because it's not the traditional way of viewing investments. I hate considering investments, but this made me look forward to it more. It was comforting to know that whatever I'm doing right now is on the right path according to their plan. B bought the original book and I bought the engineering version which has a lot more derivations and explanations of how he comes up with his numbers. As I was getting it signed he asked what I do for a living. When I mentioned that I was an engineer, he chuckled and said, "Of course! I can always tell the engineers because they always buy the engineering version of my book." Hehe, I'm afraid he's right :P

B and I went to go have lunch with my bro-in-law at his work on Friday. He gave us the grand tour of DC Comics which also consisted of meeting a lot of cool artists/colorists, and getting a bunch of free comics and graphic novels. We really wanted to meet Jim Lee but unfortunately we missed him by half an hour. It's ok... there's always next time!!!

Saturday was spent shopping... a lot! We had lunch at Kabuki Sushi in Pacific Beach. It's a revolving sushi place, so the environment was pretty cool. I love sushi! We did a little more shopping in PB and at the outlets. Next thing we knew, it was night. We went home that night and spent the rest of the weekend running errands and trying to chill out whenever possible. Hmph... it's been a while since we've been able to just relax! Can't wait til the weekend again... :)

posted by che @ 12:40 PM [[ 0 comments ]]