New products to combat hyper-pigmentation and skin discolouration
Most girls, won't say all girls, or rather some girls, have a few common skin problems. That is one, skin discoloration and pigmentation, which is hard to get rid off, as you age. It gets worse as we age, our skin will age, sometimes even faster than us. Besides aging, some of our skin's pigmentation is not only caused by aging, but also UV exposure, which gets worse as we age. This is a serious condition as I do know there are people who walk under the hot sun without applying sunblock! This is a no-no, even with sunblock, you will need to reapply now and then as some sunblock has only + to ++.
This kind of pigmentation is known as hyper pigmentation, where skin gets discolouration and it does not just happen when you age, but it can happen to anyone. Usually people who apply sunblock will only apply the face, where the sun exposure is higher, but they tend to forget the neck, shoulder, lips and hands. There's where sun damages can be found too, besides the face.
Besides UV exposure, hyper pigmentation can also be caused by severed dryness in skin, acne scarring, hormones changes from pregnancy, birth-control pills and hormone replacement therapy. So how does hyper pigmentation form?
UV rays will cause melanin to be over-produced.
So to battle that situation we will need to reduce or remove the over-produced melanin, through topical creams.
Resolve the problem through application
Hyper pigmentation comes in many forms, some forms would be sun spots, age spots like freckles, Melasma and mask of pregnancy. To avoid that Palmer's has come out with their new range, White & Even range.
Dark Spot Corrector & CBB Cream
This range, there are nine different products, ranging from cleanser to cbb cream for face, body milk for body, hand cream to protect your hands. All of these products contains unique skin tone correcting formula and it is formulated with an advanced blend of potent yet gentle ingredient that reduce hyper-pigmentation.
For those who have concerns with sensitive skin or too oily skin, worry not, this range is suitable for all skin types and as usual, Palmer's products are free from parabens, phthalates, sulphates, hash dyes and synthetics dyes.
White & Even: Dark Spot Corrector
For this range, I am going to focus on two of their products, White & Even Dark Spot Corrector and White & Even CBB Cream.
White & Even: CBB Cream
Both products contain contains the following to whiten and tone enhancing.
As we all know, Palmer's main ingredient for all their products is Cocoa Butter and in order to lighten age spots, besides repairing, restoring, they have added in Synovea into this range.
Why Synovea?
With that said, this is the first time I've seen Synovea being used in dark spot correcting products and Dark Sport Corrector's main target will be to reduce dark spots, age spots, post-acne scars and sun damage.
My skin discolouration falls under he post-acne scars, which are quite visible even from far. And recently, I've gotten more break-outs around the jaw area, which are quite pretty visible and quite hard to remove.
Here is Dark Spot Corrector, to target dark spots, as the name suggested, age spots, post-acne scars (that's what I need) and also sun damage. Besides those 6 main ingredients for the range, Dark Spot Corrector also contains Songyi Mushroom, a Japanese mushroom which is known for its pigment-perfecting properties.
The packaging is compact that it is easy to bring it while I'm traveling.
After reading the instructions, it looks simple and none-skin harming. So I've decided to give it a try. For people who don't like to apply skincare that has smell may not like this product though. This actually contains fresh white lily fragrance, which will make you feel more refreshed after applying and smell nicer def (hehe).
This is my face before using Dark Spot Corrector.
Pardon for the horrible red outbreaks. :(
As visible as my eyes, the post-acne scars are on the neck and my nose. And the uneven squinting on the right side of my face (left on the pic) is actually my birthmark.
This is after using for 2 weeks.
After 2 weeks, post-acne scars are less visible
Been using it daily in order to see the results and you can see that the acne scare has lighten quite a bit. My overall complexion has also lighten up. But it has not completely remove the acne scare as this product requires daily application for 4-6 weeks for the new skin cells to rise to the surface.
We have all heard about BB Cream, CC Cream but I've never heard CBB Cream before. This CBB Cream, Correcting Beauty Balm also helps in targeting discolouration and hyper-pigmentation. Not only that, it also provides natural pigment-perfecting coverage and SPF 15 to protect your skin against the sun rays to prevent darkening of skin again. Like the Dark Spot Corrector, this CBB Cream also contains Fresh White Lily Fragrance.
Correcting Beauty Balm with SPF 15
This is my face before applying the CBB Cream, I was excited to try it out since it can also act as a primer for my foundation. Also, it is naturally tinted in colour to create even skin tone.
Before applying the CBB Cream
My skintone is uneven and there are spots of post-acne and wells, dark eye circles. And the following photo is after application of CBB Cream, I wore it alone without any foundation over it.
The skintone looks more even here
After applying, my skin tone looks even and it doesn't feel sticky, unlike many other brands. Also it does lightweight coverage on my dark eye circles, as I feel it looks less visible after application. My skin feel refreshed after applying and I could just carry on with my make up the whole day with this acting as a primer. But if I am out the whole day, then I would probably apply sunblock first before using CBB Cream since it only has SPF 15 sunscreen. Which, I would say it is not enough to protect my skin the whole day.
Also, if you do not use sunscreen that is strong enough with the CBB Cream or during the period while you are using the dark spot corrector, the effects from both products won't be effective. As it carries on to over-produce melanin and even with the white & even range, it will take 4-6 weeks for it the new cells to surface up.
And stopping the usage of white & even range will allow over-production of melanin to resume and dark spots will return. Looks like I have to be hardworking, not to skip any steps, especially the sunblock!
Both Dark Spot Corrector and CBB Cream can be found at all Watsons, Guardian, BHG, Robinsons, John Little, Essential Pharmacy, Nishino Pharmacy, all leading pharmacies, departmental and cosmetics stores. Dark Spot Corrector is priced at $29.90/30ml and CBB Cream is priced at $22.90/30ml.
Recently, Xiaomi Singapore have announced that there's a new product coming into our market, which is the Mi 4i! That's the first global product which is launch outside of China, their home market. India have started selling Mi 4i on the 30th April, and it's coming to our shores on 12 May, noon time! So I am happy that I managed to get my hands on Mi 4i before the launch and I am going to do a comparison with its previous model, the Mi 4.
True to its weigh, I've tested both Mi 4 and Mi 4i on the weighing scale. And Mi 4i is indeed lighter than Mi 4, due to the build of the set. As Mi 4 is a metal build while Mi 4i is a plastic build. As far as I can remember, Mi 4i is the lightest phone so far with Xiaomi's launch in Singapore (it is even lighter than Redmi 2).
Weighing at 129g, 1g lighter than stated on their website.
Mi 4 is nearly 23g heavier than Mi 4i, but u can feel the weight difference.
With a lighter phone, you don't have to worry about weighing your pants down. Even though it maybe lighter, it does not feel like a toy phone, so that's a plus point for the phone (Not sure if it's gonna slip out of my butter fingers though). Besides the weight, the thickness of the Mi 4i wins over Mi 4, for it is thinner than Mi 4 by slightly a little.
Very slight difference in the thickness but Mi 4i is still the slimmer one!
The only thing that Mi 4 wins over Mi 4i is that it is smaller in width as Mi 4i is slightly wider as compared to Mi 4.
Slightly wider, maybe it's time to get a wider pocket for Mi 4i.
Mi 4i back casing is actually matt, hence, it doesn't feel slippery or fragile, as compared to Mi 4. In fact, Xiaomi Singapore had conducted a Mi 4i stress lab for their Mi fans on the 8th May. Highlights of the events were all posted here: http://c.mi.com/sg/thread-494-1-1.html.
It is interesting that Mi 4i is really stress resistance! :p I did have my fair share of stressing that poor little Mi 4i. Enough of the physical comparison of the phones, next I'm moving to the battery test, I can't say it is a fair test since my Mi 4 is a 3G set while Mi 4i is a dual sim 4G set. But at least both data SIMs are on Starhub (pretty fair in this sense). Also, I've reset my Mi 4 to Global stable ROM, factory reset, so Mi 4 is in the same state as Mi 4i. Apart from the fact that Mi 4 runs on KK based MIUI 6 while Mi 4i runs on Lollipop based MIUI 6.
Had to reboot two phones even though both had been charged till 100%, but because I've not reboot Mi 4 for more than 48hours. :p So reboot and these were the battery life of each of the phone.
Mi 4i takes a little longer to boot up, hence the time since boot up is shorter than Mi 4.
For this test, I've used Spotify to test on battery drainage, and also network connection.
SS to show that both phones are on the same playlist.
After 15 mins of playing on both phones, it doesn't seems to have any connection issue that's very severe, even during my trip on the mrt, under tunnel. :D But Mi 4i seems to drain a little more battery.
Mi 4i drained 1% more than Mi 4.
Most probably because Mi 4i is running on lollipop which results in higher battery drainage. So I decided to let both phones run on Spotify for the next 1 hour plus while I was doing something else. And I came back to check on the phones:
Both phones drained same percentage of battery juice in an hour plus.
Both Mi 4 and Mi 4i drained same percentage of battery juice and the temperature did not rise that much either. Both are still within the acceptable range of temperature, even though both phones may feel a little warm while using, but it's not a burning touch.
Being a fan of photo-taking, camera test is something I'm not gonna miss out. All settings are set as default, apart from the fact Mi 4i was set @ 16:9 and Mi 4 @ 4:3 for this shoot (my mistake for not checking). But the condition for the photos were the same. Orange warm light @ Swensens.
The colours of the nanoblocks looks pretty neat though in my opinion.
The colours look rather harsh here.
Base on the two photos, Mi 4 photo turned out better than Mi 4i, but Mi 4i seems to have cooler colours than Mi 4. I prefer the Mi 4 photo out of these two though, for I feel that Mi 4i didn't bring out the vibrant colours of the instagram nanoblock.
Next I set both phones to HDR normal mode, taking my favorite stuffs of all time, FOOD! Since yesterday was Mother's day, its time to feast (Secretly yay! to food)
Colours are rather dark though.
Colours here looks brighter and yummy!
Base on HDR normal mode, Mi 4i seems to bring out the colours of the food while Mi 4 seems to be darker in pictures. So both phones have their pros and cons, is how we adjust the focus point when we take photos.
Lastly I've created this video and tested the following:
* Boot up time/Loading time
* Gaming quality (Since on Xiaomi website, they boost that Mi 4i is adept at handling both everyday apps and intense 3D gaming)
* Sound quality (For it has smart PA)
* The battery drainage and temperature after gaming.
I've read through that there are heating issues with Mi 4i and I just had to test it myself.
Can't compare SD 801 and SD 615 second gen, as the loading speed and game frame rates will be slower for Mi 4i. But I am happy that indeed, Mi 4i is able to handle the graphics of hearthstone, and also inner world (not in the video) without any lagging. Besides the game frame rate, Mi 4i really lives up to its smart PA. In this video, the speaker of Mi 4i is technically covered, as it is at the back. But the sound quality and volumes is exactly the same as Mi 4, which has its speakers at the bottom of the phone (uncovered).
I've also tested playing games with the speaker uncovered for Mi 4i, and the verdict from my family members were that Mi 4i sounds louder and clearer than Mi 4 when I'm playing the exact same games on both phone. I ran the games at the same time for testing purposes. SO gamers, rejoice!!
And I do not experience any overheating issue as what some might have and there's no lag at all at this moment in time. Both Mi 4 and Mi 4i have the exact same apps installed so maybe a SD 615 second gen with a better GPU makes up for the lag in CPU? :D
Oh, another point to take note (probably some of you know this, but I kuku), you can use whatsapp on the non-data phone, but using the data of the other SIM card. Just a question that my friend asked yesterday so I tried it out today and it works (new discovery for me).
For a price of $279, you'll get a phone that has specs like this and able to do some serious gaming (for people like my brother), why not?
My Beauty Diary has been around in the Singapore market for quite a couple of years and I remembered trying out their Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing Mask. I loved that mask a lot as my skin requires a lot of hydration replenishing. I tend to get super dry skin every once a while, especially the nose. :( And since then it has rose up to being No. 1 Facial and Eye Mask brand in Singapore with their wide range of mask, targeting different ladies with different skin issue.
To help ladies with different skin issues, even sensitive skin, My Beauty Diary has recently improved their formula, features and packaging. The enhanced mask range now features a uniquely patented
ingredient - Cosphingo™ with long-lasting moisturizing property for improved hydration, enabling the skin to
feel soft and supple like baby’s skin! Made of high-quality fine and smooth cotton fibres from Japan, the cotton sheet mask feels extremely gentle on the skin, and its exceptional absorption ability allows the
essences from the mask to be thoroughly absorbed by the skin, enhancing its skin care benefits. Besides the quality of the mask, the masks are free from harmful paraben preservatives, alcohol, mineral oil, pigments and fluorescent agents, making it safe for our skins ladies!
Besides having the enhanced mask range, My Beauty Diary have recently introduced a new range to their current wide range of mask. The New Black Mask Range is their latest line and it comes with three e exquisite variants - Black
Obsidian Moisturizing, Black Rose Brightening and Black Pearl Total Effect Black Masks. This new range uses the mystical
black ingredients to help eliminate skin pigmentation, unevenness and loose skin caused by UV rays and
environmental impurities. It also helps in restoring uneven skin tone, enhance skin
elasticity, leaving our skin rejuvenated, deeply moisturized with dewy radiance! QQ like baby skin, which what most girls wish for! Wells i definitely would want my baby skin backkkkk.
What's so special about the New Black Mask range besides the wonderful black ingredients that helps in getting baby skin radiance and texture back are the two special features of this range that are shown below.
The two special feature of the New Black Mask range
Conforming to my neck is something I will look for in purchasing a mask, as most of the mask are still the standard facial mask, it doesn't not moisturize all the way to the neck. This is one of my concern as our neck requires daily protection and replenishing too! Masking all the way till my neck covers my jaw line, where I tend to get dry and pimple breakouts *argggh* Especially on my left side of the chin, hence this mask comes in handy in conquering all my issues on my face and neck. And with the 3D Hyaluronic acid, it doesn't lose the moisture of my skin and my skin needs deep hydration. I've not come across any mask that has Yeast Compound and it is amazing to see my skin glow after usage due to the Yeast compound contain in the mask itself.
Black Obsidian Moisturizing Black Mask
In this range I'm going to try out Black Obsidian Moisturizing Black Mask, which is suitable for normal skin types & especially recommended for skin
requiring intense hydration and illumination. This is good for ladies who work in air-con office as our skin tends to get dry up due to the dryness in the air. (I think that's why my nose's skin tends to peel off once a while)
Each box contains 5 pieces. Selling at $16.90/box.
The Black Obsidian Moisturizing Black Mask contains Bladder wrack seaweed, Aloe vera, and
hydrolyzed Jojoba, which are essential in improving hydration in our skin, allowing it to feel optimally nourished,
revitalized with glowing luminosity. Also, to relieve dry,
rough and irritated skin, enriched
with numerous soothing ingredients like Calendula officinalis, Licorice are added in this Black Mask. Like the name of the mask, the France Black Obsidian helps to support the skin’s protective mechanism and
enhances the skin’s hydrating power. The infusion of Laminaria digitata
and sugar maple delivers intense hydration to the deep layers of skin to
improve dry skin texture, revealing renewed and brighter skin.
My face before using the mask. You can see the dullness and the dryness near to the chin area
This is my skin before using the mask. You can see that the skin is a little dry and yes I have pimples and clogs on my left jaw line. *sigh*
While applying the mask
You can see that the mask fits my face just nice, unlike some 3D masks that makes you feel like you have a face too small for the mask. Some of the masks just doesn't fit nicely on the face but this mask fits fine for my face.
After using the Black Obsidian Moisturizing Black Mask
This is after applying the Black Obsidian Moisturizing Black Mask for 20 mins. My skin looks a little firmer, less dull, brighter and the pores looks a little smaller. D said my skin looks more radiant in real life even though he got shocked by the black mask. :p I am definitely applying this mask every night before I head to bed so I would look more radiant every morning!
For a limited time period, MyBeautyDiarySG Facebook fans get to try the Black Obsidian
Moisturizing Black Mask first-hand by redeeming their FREE samples in a ‘Group Redemption Deal’. Valid only
for the first 1,000 fans who participate in this group deal, the deal would only be unlocked once 1,000 entries
are received. Each of these 1,000 fan will receive a single-piece pack of Black Obsidian Moisturizing Black Mask, worth
$3.95 each! So hurry and share with your friends now!! If you have liked and unlock, you can redeem yours right here http://bit.ly/mbdblackmask
One of my favourite daily skin care product is Hada Labo ♥. Ever since I tried their facial wash and famous lotion - Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Lotion, I've never turned back to other products. Their Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Wash is the only other facial wash that doesn't gives me breakout on my second bottle besides SKII.
And now they have released another great product ! Hada Labo launches the NEW 3-in-1 Arbutin Whitening Perfect Gel for fair, bright and bouncy skin! Fast absorbing and non-oily in texture, this whitening gel boosts 3-in-1 skincare product benefits of Essence + Moisturiser + Paper Mask!
You probably think that it's another whitening product, which many brands have already introduced. But remember, Hada Labo is good for the moisturising content and this product, too, have the great moisturising content.
Personally, I'm already considered fair for most standards, even the great Vaseline instant fair couldn't even get me fair enough. I've tried on D's hand and instant fair works perfectly for him but he doesn't want me to show everyone his popping veins. *Hahaha*
But with 3-in-1 Arbutin Whitening Perfect Gel, I can see the slight difference on the first application and the effect doesn't fade off like most of the whitening products I've tired before. And now even my daily bb cream, Laneige's bb cushion No. 21 looks darker than my skin colour. =_= (waste money).
With a bit of application it doesn't leave any sticky feeling plus you can use it as a sleeping mask! It is definitely a great product to invest money in. I am officially announce I'm a Hada Labo fan.
Gel texture.
As you can see in the photo above, the texture is made into gel, which makes it easy to absorb and act as a night mask. A product that can be used in two ways is worth the money.
This product contents Arbutin which is extracted from bearberry plant, hence its natural, so you do not have to worry about artificial whitening ingredients. My mum is always skeptical about whitening products and now she have no worries with this whitening perfect gel. *thumbs up* Besides that, it also content Vitamin C which we all know that it can even out skin tone and prevents dullness. Don't we girls want great, fair skin? ;)
So what does this product improves on?
Hada Labo 3-in-1 Arbutin Whitening Perfect Gel contains 3 trinity efficacious ingredients that penetrate within and work on:
Natural Arbutin: High concentration levels at 3% of Japanese pharmaceutical-level Arbutin to offer effective whitening results. Enhances skin fairness and targets dark spots.
Efficacious Vitamin C Concentrate: Proven anti-oxidant enhances collagen production, inhibits the appearance of dark spots and reawakens the appearance of dull skin.
Hyaluronic Acids (HA) and nano-Hyaluronic Acids: HA is a natural component found on skin. The duo-HA molecules instantly hydrate and lock-in moisture, keeping skin soft, smooth bouncy.
Fair, Bright and Bouncy skin from within with Hada Labo 3-in-1 Arbutin Whitening Perfect Gel.
Look out to win this product
So after reading how great this product is, Hada Labo is going to have a 3-in-1 Arbutin Whitening Perfect Gel Snow Princess Game on their SG official Facebook. Do look out for the game, and who knows, you might be the winner of this product!
Try it out now~
If you can't wait for the game and want to try out this product before purchasing, not to worry, SampleStore has the product for you to redeem, while stock last! Do check them out often for the product redemption and to try out great products there! (:
Where to buy:
You can purchase it at BHG, Guardian, NTUC, OG, Robinsons, Sasa, Unity and Watsons at $38.90/80g.
Remember to try out Hada Labo's other products too if you haven't! ^_^
Since I've got a Redmi, I had to just test out the camera and its gaming qualities. I think that's my main concern when it comes to getting a new phone. Normal social applications like instagram, hangout, Facebook, twitter works just fine like any other phone. But not all phones have good camera or gaming qualities. My S3 has lag so badly that I can barely even load games.
Camera
So Redi has a 8MP camera, not that great in today market since Samsung offers up to 13MP for back camera. However, a 8MP camera turns out not bad for a phone camera. Here's some of the photos I've took, in 6MP, fine quality, using Steve Job (without specs) as the model :p
Normal
HDR
With Flash
Close up
Looking great, Steve Job! hahaha. I think its pretty decent enough for a phone camera, even though its just 8MP. Great to showcase your favourite scene or food using this phone. :D
Gaming
This phone is just normal in its gaming qualities, good for games like flappy bird, candy crush, clash of clans. But however, serious gamers, especially those who like graphic intensive games e.g. RPG games, this phone is not the one for you. It cannot support those games.
Here's screenshot of the games that can be played on the phone. Just some choices, not everything. :p
Clash of Clans
Deer Hunter Reloaded
GunZombie: Hellgate
The graphics of these games looks decent to me. But for gamers who want better gaming performance, then maybe not this phone.
Security
I think with technology advancement, I'm worried about the security of my phone. Like which apps are actually secretly running. :x And finding a good security app isn't easy, especially when you want to get a free one (cheapo me:p) Worry not, Redmi actually has a pre-load security application.
The security app
The cleaner can clear the data cache and residuals files. The data usage allows you to keep track on the amount of data that each app is using and you can set a data limit for the whole phone. The blacklist allows you to block contacts! *hooray* Power is to track the estimated remaining power duration and the battery configuration allows you to optimise the battery usage.
Won't explain more on virus scan, but definitely this is one of the most useful tool in this security. Lastly, permissions allows you to adjust the access of different applications. (: One app, 6 great use.
Benchmark
Using the AnTuTu benchmark, you can see where your phone position based on performance among the rest of the phones including HTC, Google Nexus, Samsung and Sony.
This is my Redmi Specs
Fallshort behind S3 by a bit.
If this set was running on Snapdragon processor, the result could have been different. :D
So would you get a Redmi? The next batch order release will be on this Thursday, 27 Feb. There's still time to consider. (:
