Skin Warrior

Getting new skincare or make-up products is honestly one of the best feelings in the world. I recently purchased the Lush mask and lip-scrub from online shops that happen to sell them and opening pre-order for these rare products (in the country I live); After a few weeks of impatient waiting, they finally came, and of course, I tried to put them on right away. It's been a few days since the first time I tried on these Lush products, and I thought they are amazing and I can see why are people so hyped about them.

Mint Julips Lip Scrub

Whenever I put on some lipsticks, my lips would get chapped by the end of the day, luckily, a few months ago, I found the perfect lip balm to put an end of my chapped lips, it's Philosophy's Kiss Me Tonight Lip Therapy. I wrote about the wonders it does to my lips on previous post, but I must admit that using lip balm before layering with lipstick, always gives me the glossy look even when I put on my matte lipstick on. Basically, I cannot get the matte look on my lips because I have to put lip balm on or else my lips would get heavily chapped. 

I miss the matte look on my lips sometimes, so I decided to give my lips more treatment to ease on the chaps. I learned that by scrubbing your lips, you would get smoother and cleaner lips, just like how it works on our bodies, so I gave it a try. I happened to stumble on a post on Instagram about Lush's lip scrub, and I thought why not try it out, since Lush is heavily praised by most of my friends and the people on the internet, and the lip scrubs look appealing, to be honest. Finding any Lush products in my country is not easy, but luckily, some online shops have them on their lists. I originally wanted to try the Bubblegum one, just because it looked the prettiest, but it was sold out, so I had to go with Mint Julips. 

When it got delivered to me, I immediately put it on my lips, and I've been hooked ever since. It tastes like mint chocolate, and I'm liking it a lot, it feels like putting sugar on your lips, because these scrubs are literally textured like sugar. It feels weird at first, and I was worried ants would crawl all over my bed if some of them fell off because they taste sweet and sugary, but it didn't happen. After it faded (from me mostly licking it), my lips did feel a lot smoother than they were before, I'm not even exaggerating. It felt like the dead skin on my lips were scrubbed away and it gave me a lot smoother lips, I do think this product worth every dime. It has become my regular lip treatment ever since, and sometime, I'm coating it with my Philosophy's lip balm to give it extra therapy and care. I don't even have to worry about cracking my matte lipstick ever again, thanks to these scrubs.

Lush's lip scrubs include castor sugar, organic jojoba oil, vanilla extract, tagetes oil, peppermint oil, limonene (which apparently a natural thing to occur in natural oils, according to lush website), and flavor. 

0.8 oz.

Cosmetic Warrior Fresh Face Mask

I've been battling breakouts for a few months now, I'm not sure what caused the acnes to keep popping out, but I'm guessing it started when my house undergone a renovation and everything got so dusty and dirty around the house. It's even more frustrating for the fact that after each acne went away, the scars would linger even longer on my face because I'm prone to scars, and it takes longer for it to fade away from my skin. So, ever since the breakouts got a little bit out of control, I stepped up my skincare game, from only cleansing and nourishing it with SKII's miracle water, to buying the whole arsenal to fight off these breakouts. 

Some of the products I tried include face mask, I bought my first one and cleansed my face with it for a few weeks, but it didn't have much affect despite the fact that it was claimed to cleanse acnes and blemishes. It did really well in soothing the face though, but I needed something to actually help my breakouts. I wasn't planning on trying Lush's face mask (even though I'm familiar with the brand) until I got a broadcast message of an online shop was opening pre-orders for Lush products. So, I checked out Lush's website to see the variants they have, and I was immensely interested to try the Cosmetic Warrior face mask, because it claims to help blemishes and acne problems, just the thing I need, I thought. It finally got delivered to me after a couple of weeks, and yes, I tried it right away.

The first time I used Lush's Cosmetic Warrior was a couple of days ago, and since then, I have seen differences on my skin. Acne scars fade away much faster than the first face mask I tried, I'm surprised it works much more effective than I thought it would. The scars are still visible but they look fader each day, and it's only been about three days. It could be the affects of combinations of products I've been using, but I'm pretty sure this face mask helps a lot too. I'll keep using this mask and see how it will effect more on my skin. So far, I'm very happy with how effective it is, although the smell is not necessarily the best smell in the world, probably because this mask is made of organic ingredients, but it's not too bad. I'll update on how this mask works on my skin in a couple of weeks, alongside with the products I've been using to fight off my breakouts.

Lush's Cosmetic Warrior's ingredients include kaolin, fresh green grapes, fresh free range eggs, honey, cornstarch, glycerine, fresh garlic, tea tree oil, limonene, and fragrance. 

2.1 oz.

So far, I'm very much impressed by Lush's products; it's sad that they are not officially available in my country, I would most likely buy all of their product variants should I visited one of their stores one day. I'm looking forward to more wonders that will happen on my skin with Lush's ingredients, they've been very good and delivering the claims of their products. And have I mentioned that they're cruelty free and vegan? They are! Plus points for Lush, I think I'm in love with them.

Photography by: Michelle Sal. / iPhone 7

Bits of Gloss

It is not easy to get my hands on Glossier make-up in the country I live in, but thanks to a certain online shop and my friends, I finally got to try Glossier's perfecting skin tint and boy brow. I am so happy when I got these two products, as they are my favorite of all Glossier's make-up. These two are my basic make-up necessity and oh, aren't they the purest and easiest things to apply. 

Glossier is all about skin and less make-up, but to me their make-up products are equally as tempting as their skincare to be honest. Their packaging is no doubt one of the factors I wouldn't mind spending extra money on their products, but their natural looking make-up is the main reason I'm so hooked on Glossier. They are water-based formulated and most importantly, cruelty free, plus point for Glossier!

Perfecting Skin Tint

When foundation feels too thick yet BB cream feels too shear, Glossier's perfecting skin tint is just perfect for toning skin on daily basis. Some people said it's too thin and does not really work, but it has worked wonders on my skin; I personally think it really depends on the condition of each skin and blemish types, just like any other make-up products. On regular basis, my skin glows amazingly using this skin tint, it's toned, it's dewy, yet feels like I'm not using any make-up on, it's extremely light, which feels really great. 

Glossier's perfecting skin tint comes in five shades, and mine happens to be medium. Its ingredients include diamond powder, glycerin, and polymer x; the skin tint claims to be hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, and suits any skin types. It's supposed to be breathable, smoothing, refining, and enhancing skin, and so far, I've been really impressed with how it works on my skin.

30 ml.

Boy Brow

The absolute magic and the love of my brows, Glossier's boy brow is the only thing my brows have been missing all these years. Boy brow define brows in the best way possible, it gives the fuller and fluffer look; and the best part is, the boy brow does not fade, at all. It is highly pigmented, made of beeswax and Carnauba wax, oleic acid, lecithin, and atellocollagen. And though my hair is naturally black, I still prefer the black boy brow shade instead of going for brown, it gives more intensity as well as natural looking brows. Lots of love for this product and my friends for giving it as one of my birthday presents.

0.11 oz.

I do really hope Glossier get to expand their brand and reach Asian countries, I would most likely get upset when these two favourites run out. And to make it worse, last time I checked, the online shop where I bought these rare products have sold out my shades. I'm using mine very wisely these days, I need to figure out a way to get my hands on more of these little joys.

And what makes fan-girling over Glossier better is the fact that my friend is also a big fan of their products; Glossier has got my friend's approval, she's a beauty fanatic and her reviews have sort of become my bible. She lives on the other side of the world and has more access to many more amazing beauty products, I secretly despise her for every post she updated (kidding, still love you, girl). She's Michelle Raena, the babe behind Beautysht.

Photography by: Michelle Sal. / iPhone 7

Weekend

Waking up to no sound of alarm has been a very rare routine to me, working hours during weekdays have not allowed myself to linger and curl up longer in the comfort of bed and sheets. To make up to all those uneasy mornings, I always make the most of my weekends, enjoying being in bed and simply wasting my time. This weekend however, I've got a little company to spend my Saturday morning, a little book of love and chilling playlist. Weekends cannot start any better than this.

Naela Ali, a local illustrator and writer, has released the second book of Stories for Rainy Days. I love the first release so much and I expect more of her alluring love stories on the second book. Similar to its first volume, this second release tells more stories about love and heart-breaks, although it is quite obvious that the author seems to be very much in love during the process of her second book. Happy stories are all over this book, even though there are some heart-breaking stories in between. I relate so much more to the previous book, but this second volume of Stories for Rainy Days is still a nice company in gloomy weekends. 

I wrote about how I love and relate to the first volume in previous posts. 

One fine weekend would not be complete without some relaxing tunes to be a company of. Waking up to the sounds of easy songs are much better than waking up cursing each day for starting too early. Here are my tunes for the weekend.

Stories for Rainy Days by Naela Ali.

Photography by: Michelle Sal. / iPhone 7