Motives Collagen Core Lipstick in Motivated

What do you do if you often has chapped lips that makes you afraid to put on lipstick because your lips just kept flaking? I have this problem and will always need to apply lip balm before putting on my lipstick. If you ladies have this same problem as me, you need to look at the lipstick that I am sharing with you now. It's Motives Collagen Core Lipstick in Motivated.

The main benefit of Motives Collagen Core Lipstick is that it doubles up as a lip treatment in addition to being a lipstick. With hydrolysed collagen in the collagen core, it works with elastin in the skin to diminish fine lines and wrinkles. It also aids in the binding and retaining of water, which helps to moisturised and plump the lips. With Motives Collagen Core Lipstick, my lips feel comfortable even though I did not apply my usual lip balm before application. I also do not experience any flaking on my lips during the day.

Motivated is a mauve plum shade which I love very much. Do not be afraid to look goth after applying this shade because I can assure you that it doesn't. It gives my lips a tinge of plum pinkish tone that helps to brighten up my look.

Looking through my stash of lipsticks, here I am trying to find comparisons of swatches against Motives Collagen Core Lipstick in Motivated. The closest swatch looks to be Burberry Lip Mist in OxBlood with more brown tone in it.

Motives Collagen Core Lipstick is retailing for SGD39 at www.allyourfamilyneeds.sg and I hope this posting has been helpful to you. :)

Cooking healthy lunch in office with electic lunch box

Ever since I shifted out from my parents' place, it's common for me to eat my meals outside in coffee shops, food courts and restaurant because of the time constraint I have to cook my own meals after work. As for weekends, I also find it a chore to cook and wash up (basically, I am just lazy, haha). When I saw some of my colleagues buying electric lunch box and cooking simple lunches in office, I was seriously intrigued by how simple it is to cook a meal that is healthy and delicious so here I am jumping on the bandwagon to cooking with electric lunchbox!

I opt for the bigger capacity with the option of single or double tier. It's always a good idea to have the flexibility of expansion :)

So here you can see that it basically comes with 2 bowls. 1 slightly bigger suitable to cook soups, porridge, stews etc and a smaller bowl that u can use to steam smaller items or even rice for a single portion.

The concept behind the electric lunch box is basically steaming. All you need to do is pour water (I usually use hot water) at the lowest compartment of the lunch box and it will create steam to cook the raw food ingredients. Yes, your ingredients can be raw and the steam will cook it till it's fully cooked! In general, I noticed that 20 - 30 mins is all it takes to fully cook the ingredients. For soups (especially if I want it to be more flavourful, I will cook up to an hour. As long as there is water in the lower compartment, it will continue to steam and cook. So during the times when I am cooking a dish for longer period of time, I either add more water at the beginning of the process or add water after a while to keep the electric lunch box cooking.

Here are some of the dishes I have tried in office. They are all simple, one dish items.

Quinoa with salmon, carrots and edamame beans

Quinoa with steamed salmon, golden mushrooms and tomato

Corn, carrot and pork ribs soup with rice

Claypot chicken rice! Yums!

Pork porridge with cabbage, carrot and century egg

You can see from the dishes I tried above that it's simple to use this electric lunch box. Just need to exercise some creativity on what you want to cook for the day.

I ordered my electric lunch box from Qoo10 previously at around $20+ and it is a product made in China. You can use a travel adaptor for this lunch box as the original plug will be China plug. I have been using the cooking regularly for close to a year and is still working well.

For readers out there who find cooking to be a chore, this is something that you can consider to start simple healthy cooking. :)

My choices of body care products

I am not usually a person who bothers much with body care mainly because the humid weather in Singapore does not dry out my skin as much. Even though I work and sleep in air-conditioned room everyday, I am not someone who lather on body care products often because I dislike the sticky, uncomfortable feeling of applying. However, having said that, I still using body care products and today I would like to share some of the body care products that I use.

Just to share my personal preference on choices of body care products. I always prefer something that is light in texture with mild scent. Not only will I not have the uncomfortable sticky feeling, I like having something lightly scented on my body for that 'fresh out of shower' smell.

Below are the body care products that I am currently using:-

1) DNA Miracles Natural Hydrating Baby Lotion
2) Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia Body Cream
3) Kiehl's Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion

DNA Miracles Natural Hydrating Baby Lotion

Yes, I know this body lotion is for babies but what is stopping adults from using them? NOTHING, haha. I have always like baby lotions because they are usually the lightest in texture with the gentlest ingredients that can be applied on babies' skin. I have to say I reach out for this lotion more often than the other 2 because of the light texture. It is easily absorbed into my skin, providing the hydration I required on dry areas. There was once I had slight rashes on my arms after CNY spring cleaning and DNA Miracles Natural Hydrating Baby Lotion helps to sooth my skin after application. The combination of glycerin, willow herb flower / leaf/ steam extract, pathenol, aloe leaf juice and sodium hyaluronate make this product a wonderful body lotion for everyday application. With a mild sweet scent, DNA Miracles Natural Hydrating Baby Lotion does make me feel a child!

Available on www.allyourfamilyneeds.sg. Retailing at $24.50 for 190g of product.

Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia Body Cream

I bought this body cream plainly because I am a fan of Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia Cologne and it would be a great item for me to lay my scent when I would like my scent to stay longer. Being a body cream, Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia Body Cream comes in a luxurious glass pot and you scoop out the cream using your fingers (that's me) or a spatula. Despite me buying this previously to layer my scent, I ended up using this product at night, just before bed. I like how the scent relaxes me after long, stressful hours in offices. The texture is creamer than lotion and does makes me feel there is a thin layer of cream on the surface of the skin.

This product is available over Jo Malone boutiques in Singapore but I previously purchased mine over Saks Fifth Avenue at USD 75 for 5.9 oz (approx 167g) of product.

Kiehl's Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion

Ok, I have to say this. Kiehl's Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion is the product that I have hardly used. Despite being named as 'body lotion', the texture is the thickest among the 3 making me feel very sticky after application. I guess it will worked well for individuals with badly chapped skin. The scent is also the strongest among the 3, which is the reason why I touches it the least now. The key ingredient in Kiehl's Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion is Argan Oil and Argan leaf extract which is a very popular ingredient in a lot of products to provide hydration.

Available over Kiehl's counters in Singapore, it was previously retailing at $100 (I'm not sure if there are price changes lately) for 475ml of product.

Swatch of textures for the above-mentioned 3 products

From left to right: DNA Miracles Natural Hydrating Baby Lotion, Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia Body Cream, Kiehl's Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion

Motives Mineral Pressed Blush in Empress

What make up items do you ladies not live without? For me, it would be base (primer, foundation), blush and lipstick. The reason is because I usually do not have the time to do much eye make up when I rush out for work so I just want very basic products to even out the uneven skin tone on my face and then brighten it up so that I do not look tired or 'dead'. Blushes and lipsticks are especially easier to pick up because they are usually affordable and small. We can always come up with 100001 excuses why we need that extra blush or lipstick. Today, I would like to share my new blush love. It's none other than Motives Mineral Pressed Blush in Empress.

The packaging is basic and no frill. Housed in a plastic round case with clear plastic cover, the packaging is as simple as it can be. (Sorry for the sorry state of the blush but you can see how much I have been using it just by looking at the picture).

Motives Mineral Pressed Blush in Empress is a nice warm pink shade with gold shimmers. I totally love it. A little goes a long way as this blush is pretty pigmented and the pigments get picked up very easily by the brush.

I know warm pink shades are usually my go-to blush shade so I decide to compare it against my long time favourite, MAC blush in Springsheen. So glad to see that the colours are no where close. Springsheen is more peachy than pink and the gold tone in Springsheen is also stronger than Empress.

From left to right: Motives Mineral Blush Empress, MAC Blush Springsheen

From left to right: Motives Mineral Blush Empress, MAC Blush Springsheen

At only S$28 for 4gram of product, I say Motives Mineral Pressed Blush in Empress is a good buy, not only in terms of price but also quality. For ladies concerned with ingredients in the products that they are using, you will be glad to know this blush is paraben and talc free.

In case you wonder where and how you can purchase Motives products, you can purchase Motives products at www.allyourfamilyneeds.sg (residing in Singapore) or www.allyourfamilyneeds.com (any countries other than Singapore).

How to switch your skincare products

Hi all, it has really been a while and I apologize for the lack of updates in this small space of mine. Life just catches up with us and we have other priorities that we need to attend to. I would certainly continue to update this humble blog of mine and would appreciate your patience with this.

Today I would like to share my personal experience on switching skincare products. Some people out there are not as lucky as others who have zero issues switching their skincare products just like that. Unfortunately for me, I fall into the 'unlucky' category whereby issues will always surface whenever I switch skincare. So you would say 'Why switch then?'. Well, there could be reasons..... Because we heard good feedbacks from our friends, we were fascinated by the advertisements on TV and the list goes on..... So how do we do it then?

1) Know yourself (and your skin)
Nothing beats knowing yourself and your skin, especially ingredients that you have reacted adversely towards to previously. Skin does change over time and especially as we age. My skin now reacts differently to products as compared to 10 years ago and products that I have tried previously that gave me severe breakouts instead worked wonders for me now. However, as a precaution, you can always start with a patch test first.

2) Plan ahead
My skin can be sensitive at times so I always plan ahead when I have the intention to switch products. You might ask "Ruby, what do you mean by planning ahead?'. My suggestion is always to start baby steps in switching over to new products while you are still on the existing skincare regime and products. I always start trying out new products while I still has 1/4 of the existing products. A suggestion could be this:-

Week 1 (Trying new products only on alternate evenings)
- Morning: Existing products
- Evening: New products (alternate evenings only)

Week 2 (Trying new products every evening)
- Morning: Existing products
- Evening: New products

Week 3 (Using new products alternate mornings, and every evenings)

Week 4 (You can fully switch over to new products)

For ladies who have extremely sensitive skin, you have to start gradual and be patient. My sister who has extremely sensitive skin, tried this method and thank goodness was able to switch over to new skincare regime and products.

3) It's normal to have breakouts?
I used to stop continuing with the new products the moment I see pimples popping out within the first few days. I started to recognise that this is the way my skin goes through the detoxification process. This is no difference from you feeling lethargic when you start on a juice cleanse or detox program. However, should the breakouts be extremely red and fierce after 1 - 2 weeks, the new products might not be for you.

4) Be patient
I usually do not switch over an entire new skincare regime just like that. My personal preference is to switch product by product. This is also because my products do not all run out at the same time. By switching over product by product, it will also be easier for you to identify which products work or not work for you.

5) Drink more water
Healthy skin always start with proper lifestyle. Drinking sufficient water help the body to flush out toxins and keep our skin hydrated.

The above pointers are tried by me personally and I certain hope that it can help other individuals. However, do note that results will varies from individual and ultimately you know yourself best. :)