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What are your beauty resolutions for 2008?

January 3rd 2008 02:47
After a week of face-stuffing and playing endless rounds of drinking games (with the result of trying to prove to everyone you are indeed sober by trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time), I noticed that people usually spend the first week of the new year hung over - with guilt. Many then resort to trying to put some semblance of control into their new year by creating New Year's resolutions. Myself included. But since my NY resolutions have been consisten in the past 5 years (winning money from lotto), I decided to create NY Beauty Resolutions instead.


Mona Lisa Painting
Possible Beauty Resolution 08 : to look more like the Mona Lisa


Here are my 8 Beauty Resolutions for 2008 :

1. Use make-up remover before going to bed. This not only stops your pores from clogging but will prevent your pillows and sheets from looking like a Picasso painting.

2. Not be too gullible everytime I see a new ad promoting a 'miracle' beauty product - especially if the miracle product has to do with extending eyelashes.

3. Either get rid of the 24 bottles of moisturiser in the cupboard or use them.

4. Stop blaming the hot summer weather or the rain for not exercising for 3 months.

5. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables and admit that frozen beer-battered chips are not classified vegetables and choc-dipped strawberries are not fresh fruits.


6. Take pity on my dentist and appreciate the time and effort they take into their monthly 'You are overdue for a visit' notices by actually turning up to appointments.

7. Wear lipgloss at all times. Since I know better to NOT resolve to chew the skin off my lips, creating a bloody mess, I've decided instead to resolve to cover up the blood.

8. Not squint or frown as much when I'm thinking. This not only helps keep those wrinkles at bay, but will hopefully stop people from thinking I'm trying to pick a fight at the bus stop.

Do YOU have any beauty resolutions for 2008?





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The Thirties Panic Phenomenon

December 14th 2007 00:57
Have you ever had moments you would consider to be major turning points in your life? Graduation? Marriage? Maybe, having your first child? All of these life changes can make you stop and think, maybe even panic? All of these events, anxious it may seem are usually expected and considered normal. However, there is one particular event I was not entirely prepared for, and that was turning 3-0. I had no idea how this would affect me, consciously.

Suddenly, it was not just another birthday. To me, it was the end of youthfulness and the beginning of aging. It had occurred to me, I was now the age of my mother when I was a little girl who, back then, thought of her mum as being “old”!

In the past, I had never been one to be overly concerned about my skin condition. My only beauty regime was to splash some hot water on my face and wipe it with a towel. No cleanser, soap, or even moisturisers. I occasionally would put on some body cream on my face when I could see my face was flaky. Apart from a stint of bad acne in my pre-teen year, I was somewhat lucky to not have too many problems.

When I came to the realisation I was turning 30, suddenly, my whole focus on skin care shifted. I suddenly found myself in a panic and started to build a collection of cleansers, toners, scrubs, moisturisers…. the lot! Facials were no longer just pampering sessions. It was now a prescribed remedy to hinder ageing. Money becomes a lesser factor in choosing facial products. It doesn’t matter if the cleanser is $100, as long as there is hope it would make me look youthful! In a matter of a few months, I came from no products to a hoarded collection fit for a beauty spa.

No one really ever warned me about the anxiety that comes with turning 30. I always knew my mum started taking care of her skin from as long as I can remember. She religiously would use Oil of Olay on her face everyday. I guess she was already prepared for it long back. I just wished I got the hint then and started earlier. Because now, I feel like I missed the boat and am now trying to make up for lost time by bulking up with face creams.

I can also look back at old photos of myself and see the big differences in my appearance compared to 10 years ago. My skin now is so thin that you can see the capillaries in my cheeks. My skin tone is just all over the place and my sunspots are a lot more visible. Sometimes I also get some micro-wart like things growing on my cheeks. I know it sounds rather grouse but that’s how it is. My mum recently had some laser therapy done on her face when she went overseas. It made a really big difference. I’m really contemplating on getting it done myself. Is this bordering obsession? My mum is turning 60 next year and her skin still looks fabulous. On occasions, she has been mistaken to be my older sister. Of course, that was music to her ears but it doesn’t do me any justice. I don’t have any visible wrinkles just yet. I’m still hopeful I’ve inherited my mum’s fortified youthful looks.

Well, I don’t have much advise to share with you, readers. I could only share with you my experience of when I started to obsess about skin care and anti-aging. I recently spoke to a friend turning 30 herself, who is now currently going through the motions too. I’m wondering if this is, in fact, a 30’s phenomenon?
Edvard Munch -The Scream
Beauty panic strikes when you hit 30.
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Paris' Beauty Secrets

December 4th 2007 02:16
Yes, as sad as it may sound, I honestly wanted to know. Not because I wanted to emulate the pinched, scrawny, Playboy Bunny-who’s downed-some-sleeping-pills-wi th-vodka look, but because I secretly wanted to see if she could come up with a tip other than : Be born ridiculously rich (as to make up for the huge lack of brain and natural talent) so you can squander your ancestors’ hard-earned money on plastic surgery and become a walking poster for FAKE (fake tan, fake eye colour, fake hair, fake smile, etc). Of course, this is all between driving down the wrong side of the road, being holed up in prison or (pretending to?) angrily swiping copies of your One Night in Paris from porn shops.

Paris Hilton
Yes, please tell us, o enlighted one, what makes you so beautiful?

During the promotion of her new fragrance Skank Skank, Can Can, Paris sat down with a beauty blogger (alas, not yours truly) and condescended to impart her beauty secrets to her adoring masses. So, let’s indulge her for five minutes and pretend that we are seriously considering how we can incorporate Paris’ beauty wisdom into our daily humdrum lives.

So *drum roll*, Paris’ 5 beauty secrets are :

#1 Wear a scent that means something to you

The smell of fried bacon and eggs mean a lot to me. They remind me of relaxed, sleepy Saturday mornings. But the idea of being tailed by hungry dogs prevents me from liberally slapping my neck with crispy bacon rashes and dabbing my wrists with lightly scrambled eggs. Mmm….bacon and eggs….yum……

#2 Wear lipgloss

Nothing more beautiful than the sight of shiny, glittering lips framed around a fake pearly-white smile.

#3 Get weekly facials

Now, if I can just convince my husband to sell our apartment and live under the pedestrian bridge down the road, I, too, can have the flawless, evenly-toned, no-need-to-wear-make up skin like, er, Paris?

#4 Start looking after your skin at an early age

This is actually something I agree with so I’ll shut up.

#5 Be polite and sweet to everyone.

Well, no, not to everyone. Goodness knows if I was sweet and polite to my other half, we’d still be living with our respective parents at the age of 50.
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At what age would you take your daughter to a beauty spa?

November 29th 2007 01:26
In the US, girls as young as 6 can waltz into a beauty salon, ask for a facial, manicure and hair extensions without the beauty therapist batting an eyelid or quickly shepherding them out of the salon to look for their parents. Because the thing is, it’s actually the mothers ushering their daughters into these pampering sessions, which some of us didn’t get until we were adults, under the guise of quality time.

Little Girls
Growing up too fast

Because of the hectic working schedule of many parents, taking time out to spend with their kids is becoming a struggle with more mothers keen on killing two birds with one stone by booking their daughter for a facial while they get their own – I don’t know about you but when I get a facial, I pretty much tune out everyone else’s company.

As a result, beauty salons marketed toward pre-pubescent girls, accompanied by their mothers are a booming industry with billions of dollars being spent to meet the demand. Many predict that Australia will soon follow and I can just imagine the day when I walk into a salon for a manicure and being seated next to a girl whose feet don’t quite touch the floor asking for Fantasy Red nail polish.

But predictably, there are more salons sprouting up that mostly cater for 12 and under girls who want to experience being grown up on their own - like Ooolala, a ‘young ladies’ spa in Illinois. For US$145, your darling little girl can get a full facial with a personal skin care analysis, a massage, a French manicure and pedicure as well as eyebrow, lip, chin and bikini wax while listening to the chipper-music from High School Musical and drinking bubbly non-alcoholic drinks from champagne flutes. Nice.

In an age where little girls seem to be growing up too soon, evident in dozens of eleven-year old girls I see walking around the mall with their boob tubes, I have to ask what happened to those days when, as a 7-year old girl, the things you cared about were if you would ever find your Peaches n Cream Barbie shoes and worrying about your big sister stealing your teacup and saucer set. I had enough hang-ups when I was 18 and finally discovered that having your eyebrows extended toward your hairline was unattractive and I can just imagine the adult I would have become if I had those hang-ups by the tender age of 12.

What do you think?
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The Ugly Side of Beauty

November 15th 2007 02:06
Did you know that you are absorbing more than 200 chemical toxins into your body, even before leaving your house? The lotions, creams, sprays, the shiny glittery things – products that are designed to make us feel and look good on the outside - can potentially lead to cancer, infertility, birth defects and chronic disease?

Not Just a Pretty Face
Stacy Malkan, a self-confessed former make-up diva, is a staunch advocate of eliminating harmful chemicals from personal care and cosmetic products, launching the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and writing Not Just a Pretty Face : The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. Here, she exposes how the US Food & Drug Administration seems to be protecting the $35 billion beauty industry by letting their products hit the shelves without prior approval from the FDA and why only 10 harmful products had been banned from the US shelves while the EU has banned more than 1100. Pretty worrying considering that 70% of the products available for purchase contain phthalates which are connected to infertility and birth defects and that baby soaps contain 1,4 dioxane, a cancer causing chemical. So it’s not just the beauty junkies at risk, it’s everyone who has ever picked up a personal care product – from men liberally spraying deodorant to newborn babes via breast milk laden with pollutants from mothers who have used these products.
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Posted By: Aimzster - Category: Stories, Body Care
   


Weird, Wacky (Wonderful?) Beauty Treatments

September 18th 2007 01:57
A nanny once told me that one surefire way to get rid of pimples is to rinse your face with your own periods. But before you scoff at this, check out some of the more bizarre beauty treatments that have piqued people’s curiosity enough to queue up outside certain day spas :

Woman Bathing

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What was your worst beauty buy?

August 28th 2007 01:24
Recently my sister was conned persuaded into buying a plethora of skincare products to treat her acne-prone skin. Two weeks later, she lamented over the loss of $300 of her hard-earned money on products that had only made her skin cry out for hydration as it sprouted a multitude of big, red angry pimples. As much as I was tempted to ask her why she chose to trust a beauty therapist whose face resembled an abstract painting of oranges and blues and who looked like she wrestled with a cheap can of tan spray judging by the zigzag colours of her cleavage, sadly, it’s a tale I’ve heard (and moaned out myself) too often. In our desperate attempt to imitate the flawless, glowing faces of our favourite celebs and retain our youth, beauty products will continue to be a hit and miss and my sister was not the first – or the last – to vow revenge on these beauty companies for false advertising.

In the past several years, I’ve probably thrown out a hundred garbagefuls of useless beauty and cosmetic products. Here are only some of the products I bought in 2007 that I wish I hadn’t spent the time, money and effort on :
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Coping with Stress

August 14th 2007 01:05
Some say a little bit of stress in your life is good for you, it gives an otherwise ho-hum life a much needed excitement. On the other hand, everyone knows prolonged stress is extremely bad for your mental and physical health. The negative effects are endless – migraines, insomnia, heart attack, lowering of the immune system, triggering unhealthy behaviour like smoking, overeating, drug-taking and can make you appear older than you actually are.

Unfortunately, stress is all too much a part of our daily routine but some people cope with their stress better than most. I, for one, was born a stresshead - high strung, impatient people usually are. I used to stress about everything, including stupid things like running out of milk in the midst of making coffee or merging into the next lane on a freeway. I imagined myself a steam train gathering full speed – I felt the heat rising from my shoulders, spreading through the back of my neck, covering my ears with a buzzing sound and filling the rest of my head that I think my eyes are going to pop out and I have the urge to lash out physically, by either yelling out a string of expletives or slamming my fist into something, or both. And having a human-sized dummy made up of bubble wrap in your room to punch every time I was stressed only fuelled my violent tendencies.
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Wanted : A damn good eye cream

August 9th 2007 01:14
Being of Asian descent, I was never endowed with lids you could freely apply any shade of eyeshadow to. But with the years passing, my eyelids have been getting heavier and heavier that I feel, within the next decade, they would droop right down to my line of vision and I would have to pry them up with a peg – or get plastic surgery. Nowadays, when I stare at someone, I make the conscious effort to raise my eyebrows slightly so I don’t look like I’m growling at them.

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7 Beauty Tips my Mother told me

August 6th 2007 01:12
My mother is a character. Everyone tells me so everytime I relay stories of those times she didn’t let me out of a van as the rest of the family piled into church because I was wearing a hanging shirt (you know those cropped shirts in the 80s that expose your belly when you lift up your arms over your head?) or the time she chased me around the house with an iron when she spotted a crease down the side of my dress.

In my 30 years, my mum has sprouted one old wives’ tale after another which I accepted in my later years with the rolling of the eyes and a groan. While some of her old wives’ tales turned out to be true (milk does make the bones stronger and thumb-sucking can damage your teeth to a certain extent), there have been what I think are some doozies -
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What's a Beauty Product you CAN'T live without?

July 31st 2007 03:44
Ladies, I don’t think I’m alone in saying that our bathroom can use some spring cleaning every now and then. The condition of my bathroom has sparked many a domestic fight. When my husband returns anything of mine, he’ll open the door slightly, ensuring he keeps his head averted and throw whatever he borrowed in the general direction of the sink, like one would throw food in the cage of a feral pet. I didn’t realise he had a habit of doing this until I got hit by a bottle of Domestos at the back of my head.

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Joey NY Specialty - Urges Collection

July 30th 2007 00:38



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What's your Daily Beauty regime?

July 23rd 2007 00:04
As I had already highlighted in one of my old posts, I used to be a beauty product marketer’s dream. If I was impressed by an advert, I bought the advertised product the next day. And if a sales clerk happened to stop me and gave me a spiel on why I should buy certain beauty products, I would. And if I asked a sales clerk what products would be recommended for my specific skin problems and she listed 100 products, I would walk out of the shop with a $500 charge on my credit card.

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#1 Stupid Thing I've done for Beauty's sake

July 17th 2007 20:53
And now, it's finally come to this...

# Pot Scourer, the new exfoliator
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