Does your moisturisers have sun protection?

Do you put moisturiser on your face daily? I hope you do because its anti-ageing. *Ahem* Hollie if you're reading this! And does it have UV filter/SPF of at least 15 or higher because that is an important thing for anti-ageing.

A few years back, not many people paid attention to sun screen apart from when they are doing outdoor activities and sun bathing- according to my knowledge anyway. Also, the 3 letters SPF were only found in sunscreens/ sun tan lotions that were primarily used in sunny seasons and not in daily face moisturisers-by the way I'm talking about UK.

In Asia, everyone starting being obsessed with sun protection over 10 years ago- still are of course. UV filter wasn't just found in daily moisturisers and make-up products but also hats and umbrellas. Yes, umbrellas. If you visit places like Hong Kong during the summer you will see lots of ladies carrying umbrella out and about to protect their skin to the max! *Laugh out loud* Also, they have hats where the flap is a lot wider than their faces which is again to block the sun away.

I'm not saying people in the UK weren't aware of skin sun damage before but there seems to be more attention paid in recent years. This is evident in the increasing amount of face moisturisers containing SPF and the spectrum has become more broad, as broad as SPF 50.

The products I mention in this blog are just examples. I haven't used them myself so I'm not making any recommendation here. But do check them out, they could be really good.

Soap & Glory Feel Good Factor Facial Moisture Lotion, SPF 25 

A regular moisturiser like the one above, Soap & Glory contains SPF 25, I think that is perfect for autumn and winter; however, not enough in the summer as we are exposed to more sun. So in order to give your skin optimum sun protection you can top it up by applying another layer of sunscreen with a broad spectrum of SPF 30 or above, like the one below:

Clinique Face Cream SPF 40

Make sure the sunscreen is for the FACE and not body. Most sunscreen tend to be quite greasy and have a shiny finishing look but many now have progressed to being lightweight, no shiny look and even compatiable with make-up, like the one below:

Laura Mercier Daily Face Shield SPF 40 

"Do we need sun protection during winter?" Yes, you do. UV rays can still travel through clouds and don't forget we can't see UV rays; therefore, sun protection is needed all year round.

"My job is office based, so there's no need for sun protection."
That is incorrect. Those lights in your work place have UV rays too, so make sure your moisturiser have some sort of sun protection.

CC Cream is the new generation of BB Cream?

Just when BB Cream starts to trend in the UK, a "new generation" of the BB Cream is out in the market of Asia- why is UK always behind in so many things?

The new generation BB Cream I'm talking about is CC Cream which stands for Colour Control Cream.  It is an improved and refined version of the BB Cream and this time it is developed by a Japanese Brand called Doctor Kits. It has pretty much the same functions as BB cream but has a longer lasting formula apparently. I read an article from a Hong Kong newspaper and it said that CC cream can eliminate dark spots, scars and wrinkles and gives the skin a more natural radiance. But I thought BB Cream does that anyway? Have you guys seen or heard of it yet?

Bridal photoshoot with Nishi

I had a fun weekend this week, had a bridal photo shoot with Nishi at her house. Nishi is a make-up artist and a beauty therapist. If you would like to see her portfolio, check out her website www.nishiv.com. I will upload the photos once Nishi has photoshopped them, for now I'll show you the pictures behind the scenes.

I got there about 11am and we started off by doing my hair. What do you think of the bun? I think Nishi did a pretty good job since she said she hasn't done hair in a while and it was her first time doing this style.

Finished look of the bun

Then she did the make-up for the first shoot which is a western bride look and she opted for an Egyptian inspired look- by adding a necklace around my forehand. Most of the make-up used was from MAC. The dress was a bit big for me so in the picture I may look a bit bloated. *Blushes*

I look angry in this picture * laugh out loud*

Second shoot was the fun part, the Indian Bride look. She topped on a lot more make-up and jewellery. I wore her aunties' wedding dress and Nishi's own wedding jewellery. When she took out the earrings I was shocked. I was like 'That is an earring?' It was so big and heavy.

 

  

I told Nishi to take a picture of the earrings,not sure if you can see how big it is. It was so heavy but luckily it has a hook to hook on to the hair for extra support.

Look all these bangles, so pretty!

The second shoot I was more confident and did more creative poses- played with the scarf a little.

Do you think I can get away with being an Indian bride? Nishi said I could *laugh out loud*.

For more info about Nishi and her make-up check her out on:
Her website
Facebook

Or contact her on 07828 745 713 or via e-mail nishi@nishiv.com
And  follow her on Twitter

Free cake from Patisserie Valerie

On Friday, I received a complimentary voucher for an 8" gateau at Patisserie Valerie! Are you wondering why I got a voucher for a free cake? It wasn't for a good reason, here is what happened.

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a birthday cake from Patiserie Valerie's website for my cousin's birthday- I ordered the Macedonia Cake with Dark chocolate.

Macedonia Cake with Dark chocolate

As you can see it is very mouth watering! Fruits looks fresh. Unfortunately, the pineapples on top of the cake had an unpleasant odour and had an off flavour. I however didn't take the cake back (I should of really), I just removed the pineapples and had the rest of the cake.

I called the shop where I picked it up from and spoke to the manager the following day. She was very apologetic about it and explained that they always use fresh fruits. She asked if I wanted to come to the shop and get a part refund. But then I think she realised she's not allowed to that or something so changed her mind and told me to fill in the complaint online form on their website. So I did. Guess what? I waited for a week and still didn't get any reply. So I e-mailed the head office directly and waited for another 3 days for a reply from the Brand Excellence Manager, Ms. J.D. (below is a copy of the e-mail)

Dear Ms. Li

Thank you for your email. I am sorry in the delay in replying to you.

All our cakes are freshly made with fresh ingredients. Clearly there could be no issues with off flavours.

Can you please confirm whether you have any photographs of the cake or that you returned any of the cake to the café?

Regards

1. Did you realise she has not apologised or sounded apologetic about the issue? But apologised replying late. Whenever a customer complains for whatever reason, the staff should apologise whether the customer is right or wrong.
2. I appreciate that they use fresh fruits but saying that 'clearly there could be no issues with off- flavours' is basically you're not accepting the responsibility at all. I mean did you bake the cake? I'm sure you recruit bakers. I mean accidents do happen, maybe one of your bakers left the pineapple out somewhere for a long time and forgot to put them back in fridge or something.
3. Why do you need a picture of the cake for?

I sent her the picture regardless and explained that I didn't return because we ate the whole cake as everything was fine except pinapples. Two days later she replied;

Dear Ms. Li

Thank you for the photograph.

We use fresh fruit on our cakes and of course there should be no question of any off-flavour. I can assure you your comments have been fed back to the Bakery.

In the circumstances, I will be happy to send you a complimentary voucher for another gateau, and if you can sned me your address I will forward that to you.

Regards

Still didn't get an apology but the content of this e-mail is a little better than the first though.

I replied to give my address and got the voucher within 2-3 days. The voucher was attached with a letter and at the end of the letter it said, 'Once again please accept my apologies about this....'

What apologies? I never got any apology. I assume that is just a standard complaint letter that they send out.

Anyways, at least I got some compensation in the end. The branch manager dealt with issue much better than her. At least she apologised than explained that they used fresh fruits and sounded apologetic. The bottom line is, the brand excellence manager didn't make me feel valued as a customer and it was as if she's saying I'm lying about the off flavours. You may be a very successful Patisserie and have branches all over central London and other parts of UK, but that doesn't mean customer service is not important any more within your company.

My first Glossy Box- Harrods Edition

This morning I was woken up by a loud knock on the door. It was the postman, he had my Glossy Box!

It's my very first Glossy Box and my first box is a Harrods Edition one, how cool is that. =p

Goodies inside the box

The samples that were sent to me were; SK-II Skin Signature Moisturising Cream, Clarins Extra- Firming Body Cream, Molton Brown Bath and Shower gel, a Valentino perfume sample, Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara and Shu uemura cleansing oil. I always think SK-II is designed for women that are in their 30s or above, maybe I'll give it to my mum. Same with the Clarins firming body cream, I don't think my skin needs firming yet, lol! But I'm definitely looking forward in using the rest especially the Lancome mascara!

No.7, Garnier & 17's BB cream Review

Today's blog post is going to be a review on UK BB Creams from brands of Garnier, Boots No.7 and 17;  I actually started this blog like 3 months ago but never got to finish it.

Before trying:

By looking at the specification itself, the best one to me is 17 because its the cheapest, has the highest sun protection, has oil control effect. 



Before applying BB Cream

The picture above is me before applying BB Cream. You can see that the side of my nose is really red and you can see my pores on the side of my nose- basically my skin doesn't look very smooth there.

BB Cream Reviewed

Boots No.7 Beautiful Skin

Price: £12.95

Sun Protection: SPF 15, 5* UVA

Functions: Evens skin tone, conceals imperfections, eliminates your blemish.

Categorised by skin tone and skin type; skin tone, Fair or Medium;

Normal/oily skin

Normal/Dry skin

Dry/ Very Dry

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector

Price: £9.99

Sun Protection: SPF 15

Functions: Conceals, illuminates skin, even skin tone, 24 hour hydration
Categorised by skin tone; light and medium

Blemish Balm

Price: £4.99 (was £6.99)

Sun Protection: SPF 25

Functions: Oil control, evens skin tone, conceals, hydrates.

Categorised by skin tone; light and medium (the shades are one shade light than No.7. The medium for 17 is equivalent to No.7's fair tone.)

Swatches from Left: No7, Garnier, 17

For No.7 I opted for the medium shade so that is why it appears to be the darkest shade, the other two are light/fair shade. However, 17 appears to be a little bit lighter than Garnier and it has more of a pink undertone than the rest. 

After Trying:

The picture above is after applying the BB Cream. Starting from far left; No.7, Garnier and 17's BB Cream. I know my skin colour looks different in all three, its not to do with BB Cream its the light. I know these are not the best pictures to show you the results of each BB Cream. Please forgive me!

No.7

It's quite thick and from that you would probably expect great coverage; I have to say it's not great but average. You can still see some redness on my nose after applying 2 layers. My dark circles are not covered very well either- so embarrassing and I know I have bags under my eyes in that picture. It doesn't absorb into my skin quick enough. However, it does make my skin look smoother and does even my skin tone.

Garnier

It has a strong fragrance, a nice floral scent which I do like. It is also quite thick, but feels very light when applied and spreads easily onto your skin. Coverage is also average maybe a bit better than No.7. I applied a few layers on to the side of my nose, it reduced the redness but not fully covered. My dark circle however were lighter. It absorbs into your skin really quick, so your skin feels really smooth in no time.

17

This is a little less thicker than the other two and surprisingly it has best coverage too. I think its to do with the pink undertone it has which matches my skin colour the best. The downside however it doesn't absorb into skin quickly enough and like No.7 still has a little sticky finishing feel to it.

After trying all 3, I would say they are all average. Not really let down by any of them though because I didn't have any high expectations from them. Unfortunately, these 3 brands do not have enough shades to cater for people with pale or dark skin. Maybe that is something they need to think about. I wouldn't recommend Boots. No.7 judging from my experience but Garnier and 17 are worth trying- they are cheaper too. I would probably use Garnier and 17 as my alternatives to tinted moisturiser but not for going out on special occasions.

This is just my opinion and so each of these products may work differently with your skin; maybe better or worse; No.7 may work for you better, or maybe all them work really well on your skin. Anyways ladies, start BB Creaming your lovely faces! 

KONY 2012

Many of you may have already heard about the name "Kony" or even watched the video "Kony 2012". If you haven't, I've included the video "Kony 2012" below in this post.

I have never heard of Joseph Kony until I watched this video and I believe it's the same with most of you which is the reason why this video is produced. This video is produced by the Invisible Children campaign that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not in a good way but in a way to make people aware and support the arrest of him. It's so shocking to see how hard it is for these children to have a happy childhood while we can effortlessly have a good one. I cried a little while watching, I felt so sad and so fortunate. I'm sure many of us take so many things for granted, for example; our parents, friends & family, food, clothes, the house/flat we live in, electricity, water, etc; we forget the value of them and forget that there's many people that are not as fortunate as us. I admit I forget all the time which is bad I know. For example, it's normal to us to be having clean water running through our taps but it's not for some people. Anyways, I think I'm going off the topic now. Help spread the word and make sure everyone you know sees this video.

BB Cream trend is rising in the UK

Hey Everyone! I've been kind of lazy with blogging lately, but since it is one of my favourite hobbies I will not give it up. This is another blog on BB Cream, I am currently working on a review on 3 BB Creams that I bought about 3 months ago. Stayed tuned!

There are so many BB Creams in the UK now, I can't even catch up. (My previous blog on BB Cream http://www.missyungquainth.com/2011/09/bb-cream-wave-is-going-to-be-big-in-uk.html - and I was right about the trend!).

I am a fan of BB Cream, so I was quite excited to see BB Cream in the UK. A quick explanation of what BB Cream is. It is also known as Blemish Balm Cream, it is a sheer foundation with multi functions like whitening, concealing, sun protection, evens skin tone, anti- wrinkle, and have nutrients that improves the condition of your skin. It is very popular in East Asia, Oriental womens' best friend). Currently I am using Missha's Perfect Cover and Real Signature and they are also my very first BB Creams I've ever used.

If you watch TV you would have seen the commercial for Garnier's new product- BB Cream Miracle skin Perfector. Not only Garnier, other high street brands like Boots No.7, 17, L'Oreal, UNE and Santuary have also got their own BB Cream.

High street brands; BB Creams in the UK

Department store brands like Estée Lauder and YSL have them too but they call it slightly different, Estée Lauder calls their one 'Beauty Benefit Creme' and YSL one is called 'BB Shade.' (According to my knowledge these are the only brands that have BB Cream in the UK but there may be more that I don't know about.)

Department Store Brands BB Cream in the UK

America have had BB Cream in their market for a while now but they are more like tinted moisturizer I heard- Smashbox (an American Studio makeup brand) have also recently introduced their own BB Cream but not sure if its out in UK though.

My BB Cream Review is on its way! Talk to you later! xxx