Some people are die-hard fans of tried and tested beauty products that they don’t change brands for years - or even forever! I know of someone who keeps the same stash of wrinkle creams that work in her bag year in and year out. On my part however, I tend to switch from one brand to another because I like the thrill of discovering something “new”. But I must admit, there are just some products which I search high and low for and are permanent tools of the trade in my stash. I once blogged about The Face Shop’s Plus+ 1 Intensive Lip Care Cream which is a must-have for my forever chapping lips. Aside from this wonder lip care cream, I am also a big fan of Elianto’s Baked Blusher, specifically in Pale Pink.

This shimmery blush was first made available in 2007 but I only came across this blush when I did window shopping at an Elianto booth last year. I was psyched because of this particular shade’s natural-looking flush effect on my skin. The shimmer of this blush also makes it a good highlighter substitute for areas of the face that you want to pop out like the cheekbone and the browbone. Among the five blushers that I own, this is the one I use the most as it’s perfect for both daytime and nighttime use. This particular pan in fact is actually my third. =)

What I don’t like about this product, however, is that it easily shatters. When I bought my first pan, the saleslady told me to be careful with it since it breaks into pieces with just one drop. I accidentally dropped the blusher on the day I bought it and although the case was intact, the contents were not. I just transferred the contents into an empty mini-powder case. I also broke my second pan so I’ll no longer be surprised if I break my third soon. =)

What about you? What’s your favorite blush?

Just like me, I know a lot of women out there don’t like the sight of unwanted hair. I could not remember when I exactly first dipped my hand in a pan of hair wax but I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember. I have years of literally painful experience to back me up. But a guru, I am not. =)

One of the most commonly waxed spots is the underarm. Filipinas go crazy when it comes to unsightly underarm hair. I used to resort to shaving and plucking as soon as the first strand of my underarm hair grew. It was that time when I stopped playing jackstone while slumped nonchalantly in our cemented garage flooring, aka puberty, and the time when most pre-teens get conscious about how they look. For a time, the razor was my best friend. But, as many others have discovered as well, shaving tends to darken the underarms. (I’ve read a few internet articles claiming on why this happens but until I come across a sound explanation in my med books or journals, I’d rather shut up.) Aside from the darkening of the skin, it also appears that shaving causes more hair, and thicker at that, to grow. The itch and discomfort is annoying, hence, I thought plucking is the key.

One day, I came across a pan of warm wax in the department store. The brand was Epilin and I’ve been using it ever since. Waxing is just like plucking but you’re plucking the hair out all at the same time. Ouch! But with continuous use, you’d get used to the sting until it wouldn’t bother you anymore. Epilin, however, is not very easy to use. For one, I have to stick my pan inside the oven and wait for a part of it to melt before I can get to use it. Sometimes, it’s too molten that I have to wait for a while for it to get to a more skin-friendly temperature that wouldn’t result to scalding. That’s the tricky part in using warm wax: the temperature. As for me, I know it’s ready when the wax has a consistency of a thick syrup, meaning when the molten wax falls off the tilted wooden spatula very, very slowly. I then apply it to my skin towards the direction of hair growth, wait for it to harden… usually in 20 seconds and peel off. Back then, they didn’t sell waxing strips for Epilin so what I do is to lift one end of the hardened wax and pull it against the direction of hair growth. I repeat this twice and nothing more. The hair that is left is removed by plucking which is what they also do in waxing salons for stubborn hair.

Another product that I am a fan of is J. Tomas Skin Solution No Hair Wax Kit. I’ve been using it even before it won the Cosmo Beauty Awards in 2009. I bought my first box at The Landmark in Trinoma where I first spotted it among the shelves. I’ve now consumed three boxes of this product. =) This is trickier to use though. It’s actually sugaring and not exactly “cold wax”. It has a syrupy consistency which I apply on the skin - again towards the direction of hair growth. It comes with ten reusable strips which you put on top of the wax. What I do is to gently press the strip towards the direction of hair growth to make sure the sugar sticks to it. Make sure that the one on top of the sugar is the rough side of the strip. During my first attempt, I couldn’t figure out which one was the rough side and ended up using the apparently smoother side. I thought I wasted 300 bucks for a useless product until I realized it was the wrong side. Anyway, you’ll know you’re successful when the whole thing comes off when you pull the strip against hair growth. I use the product only for my legs. It’s best for areas with thinner hair strands like the arms and legs. I tried to use it for my underarm hair to no avail. But it’s perfect for my legs. =)

The problem with plucking and waxing is that you, most likely, would end up with chicken-like skin: rough stubbles. Hair ingrowths are also a problem. To help combat this, I scrub the areas I waxed 1-2 days after waxing to help exfoliate the skin and prevent hair from growing under the epidermis. For my underams, the usual site for chicken-like skin, I have an underarm peeling regimen which I do every three months. =) And that’s something I’ll talk about soon. =)

Hope I helped!

Sleep is perhaps one of the most natural acne treatments ever discovered. I’ve seen the beauty of sleep myself whenever I get more than 8 hours’ worth of sleep… most especially during weekends off. Bring me back to my old routine and there goes my zit-free face going haywire. This is because lack of sleep increases cortisol production which also increases the amount of androgens in the body, hence, there are more androgen-sensitive oil glands working heavier than usual. An overproductive oil gland equals oiliness and zits for zit-prone individuals like me.

The same principle of overworked androgen-sensitive oil glands is in play in women who get pimples when they’re about to have their period. This is because there’s a lot more androgens circulating in the woman’s body due to the natural shift in hormone-production. At times like these, keeping the face clean and bacteria-free is of utmost importance so you won’t get blocked pores which make you more predisposed to acne during periods.

However, when sleep becomes the culprit to acne, there is no other best solution for your acne problem than getting enough zzzzzs to keep your hormones from going haywire.

I just finished reading a thread from Candymag’s teentalk (yes, I know I am way past my teenage years LOL). I must say I am pretty amazed at how “knowledgeable” teens are nowadays when it comes to beauty and skin care. But then it also alarms me at the same time; because admit it or not, what they “know” is most often courtesy of Google whose reliability has always remained to be in question.

Having recently finished my rotation in Dermatology, I’ve come to appreciate a lot of facts and health and beauty practices which I weren’t fully aware of before. That is despite my addiction to googling the worldwide web. I must admit that what I’ve picked up from my 15-day stint as a pseudo-Dermatologist will never come up in any Yahoo or Google search. In fact, the actual experience of handling a patient beats the millions of search queries that these engines will harvest for you at any given time.

Perhaps what bothers me most about what I’ve witnessed to be going on online among many women is how the practice of self-medication has become more rampant than before. And for that I point the accusing finger towards Mr. Google because of his ability to come up with results from Medicare supplement to the latest fad in skin whitening. Don’t get me wrong. Internet results are not necessarily evil; but misleading advertisements under the guise of reliable medical information are and I sure hope that internet users have high enough IQ to know how to spot a fake from the real deal.

I’ve realized that Dermatologists in practice are losing in the battle against non-medical people peddling their skincare goods online. It’s actually a double whammy. For one, they lose potential patients. Second, they become the option of last resort of patients whose problems are even worse than how they started from trying various products without knowing their drug interactions. I’m a witness. Most of the patients I’ve seen would claim to have applied certain lotions, medications and ointments they could not even read. For me, such practice is the same as taking medications without knowing what they’re for. Perhaps most think that the harm would be less since they are topically applied. They have entirely forgotten however that the skin is virtually the largest organ in the body with a huge potential for systemic absorption.

I wish people would be more vigilant not only on the price tag of the goods they see online but moreso on the indications of their use; because no matter which way you look at it, they’re all drugs and just one and the same banana.