Review : L'Occitane Reine Blanche Illuminating UV Shield SPF50

For the longest time, we all know having a fair and flawless complexion is the dream of every (Asian) girls because it symbolised beauty and femininity. Drawing on its extensive botanical research, L’Occitane has discovered a plant with the power to whiten and spectacularly illuminate the skin. Reine des Prés is a pure white flower illuminating its petals over time. Inspired by its immaculate beauty and unparalleled luminosity, L’Occitane has created the REINE BLANCHE Illuminating Program for a fair and translucent skin. Day after day, the skin recovers its natural translucency and inner light, glowing with immaculate radiance. 

L'Occitane Reine Blanche range comes with 4 products, Foaming Cleanser, Whitening Cream, Whitening Serum and Illuminating UV Shield. Out of these products, the serum and UV shield managed to won our local magazine editor's favourite products. 

Thanks to L'Occitane Malaysia, I got a bottle of Illuminating UV Shield to try out. Love the white glass bottle that comes in a pump, very minimalist yet elegant design. 

Reine des Prés is a pure white flower known for its lightening properties: the flower is illuminating its petals over time. It naturally contains salicylic acid - renowned for boosting luminosity and helping epidermal renewal. 

Inspired by its immaculate beauty and unparalleled luminosity, L’OCCITANE has created the Reine Blanche Illuminating Program for a fair and translucent skin. With its moisturizing formula, the Illuminating UV shield instantly offers comfort and a sensation of incredible smoothness, leaving skin feeling optimally protected, plumped and hydrated. 

The L'Occitane Illuminating UV Shield is a multiple action care that helps preserve luminous and even-toned skin. With continuous daily use, it promises to helps to

• Provide effective protection against UV rays (SPF50)
• Protect skin against external aggressions.
• Prevent uneven skin tone, caused by sun exposure
•  Improve translucency of the skin 
• Visibly revive the clarity of the skin 

Instruction how to use L'Occitane Reine Blanche Illuminating UV Shield SPF50

1) Take a quarter size of sunscreen/2 pumps and warm between your fingers.
2) Starting from your nose, apply outwards to your ears and your entire face, then apply on your forehead with alternate outward movements, finish on your neck and chest area.
3) Make sure that your skin is clean and dry, and apply after your daily moisturizer and before applying make up.

A you can see from the picture, the texture is milky lotion, it's quite thick compared to my usual sunblock. Surprisingly it's not sticky at all and it makes my skin feel smooth & hydrated after applying it. Although I was worried when I see a white cast on my face while I was applying the product but after a while it disappeared once it's set on my skin.

One thing I really like about this sunblock is that unlike usual sunscreen, L'Occitane Reine Blanche Illuminating UV Shield has this lovely floral scent which I find it therapeutic. It finds my skin feel hydrated and not oily even though I have been out in the sun all day long. The SPF 50 is great for my everyday use, keeping my skin safe from the harmful UV rays. Plus their lightening properties and SPF50 help my skin looks brighter and protected over time. 

I remembered a while ago, a friend told me she does not use sunblock ( yes there are still people that ignore the importance of sunblock) because she feel it's oily on her skin plus she works in the office. I told her the right sunblock would not make her face oily but comfortable all year long. Not sure how many times I have been mentioning this, harmful UV ways it's the number 1 reason that cause skin aging and pigmentation. And UV rays can reflect off windows, concrete roads and penetrate through glass windows, so even you work indoor you are still expose to UV rays.

L'Occitane Reine Blanche Illuminating UV Shield SPF50 is selling in all L'Occitane store at RM178/30ml or via their website. I do realised it's more expensive than my usual sunblock but I guess this offers more than just sunblock as it contains lightening properties (plus it smell so nice too!)

For more info, visit http://my.loccitane.com/

Top 5 reasons why you should celebrate Songkran Festival in Hatyai!

Have you heard of Songkran festival or better known as water festival?

Songkran Festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April and it's their national public holiday. The tradition of water pouring is meant as a symbol of washing away all of their sins and bad luck, and one cannot get angry when someone pour water on them.

I always wanted to experience Songkran festival and this year finally I made it, thanks to AirAsia for flying us to Hat Yai! Hat Yai is located southern of Thailand and it's near Malaysia (Bukit Kayu Hitam) boarder and it's fourth largest city in Thailand. Personally I have been there for many years and it feels like home when I got there.

So when I got back many asked me what should they expect and do for Songkran Festival and hence I decided to write this about it.

Things to prepare for Songkran Festival

Your weapon of course! We got this water gun from Hat Yai at 350baht (RM37) if I remembered correctly. There are many kinds of water gun, some has really cute Hello Kitty design. My advice is go for the one that has the maximum capacity of water, reason being you are preparing for a "water war" tedious to keep looking for place to refill your water gun. 

Note : If you decide to bring back your water gun, please check in this in your luggage or it would be confiscated if you try to hand carry this on board. I guess because of the container can fill more than 100ml hence you cannot bring this on board. 

If you decide to bring your handphone along to Songkran Festival, please make sure it's water resistant like my Sony Z3 or well protected with a waterproof pouch..I'm thankful that my handphone is waterproof and can take picture during the water war.

Waterproof bag or drybag 

This is super important lah, keep your money & mobile phone in waterproof pouch because you will get wet (it's more like you will get drenched) from head to toe. There will be a lot of people selling at the Songkran festival but always come prepare lah because you actually will get wet the moment you walk on the street.

Protective Eye wear 

I never thought protective eye wear would be that important. I tell you why because a lot of people will be spraying around and water will get into your eyes until you can't open your eyes. I bought this at 50baht (RM5.40) from a roadside stall.

We are in Hat Yai on the eve of Songkran Festival and the celebration has already started that night itself! 

Okay check out my OOTD lah.. recommend girls to wear black top because you will get wet and wear light material pants so that it will dry up quickly.

Eazy, Shannon, me & Khai all prepare to go for water war :D 

AirAsia organised a stage that night. There are DJ spinning music all day long with a lot of activities going on stage. So damn happening lah! 

Those AirAsia staff on stage busy entertaining us with water and all the audience happily accepting it like like blessing *good lah wash away all the bad luck*

I remembered my some Thai girls put some cooling powder paste to put on my face when they walk pass me... apparently also one of the tradition during Songkran Festival.. 

I think they made the cooling paste with prickly heat cooling powder

No matter young or old, all of them has water gun on their hand... this little boy damn mischievous... he literally chase me and spray me :P 

And I have to counter attack him..with my water gun..

There are water station on the roadside during the festival for you to refill. But there are people who rent the whole water tank for their own use. 

Now you see why I tell you to get higher capacity water gun because it's troublesome to find free water station.

Damn crowded ...and happening

So nice of AirAsia to give out prizes to lucky winners.... haha I also want to win flight tickets

There are concert everywhere during Songkran Festival eve. 

First time watching Muay Thai competition on street. 

Some even go to the extend of renting vehicle and have their water tank in car... fuiyoh..

Some of them fill up their tank with ice and it's super chilling water when they spray on you..very notty right!

I never knew how crazy and fun is Songkran Festival until I experienced it. Everyone suddenly become like little kids running around spraying water on each other... SO SO FUN because it's Thai new year and no one can get angry when water was being sprayed on them :D

So some asked me why want to celebrate Songkran Festival in Hat Yai, well this is my reason why. 

1) It's the biggest city in Southern Thailand and one of the nearest city to Malaysia boarder. So means everyone at the Southern region will gather in Hat Yai to celebrate Songkran Festival together.

It's very near to KL, with only about 1h 10mins flight from KLIA2 to Hat Yai International Airport. AirAsia flies 10x weekly to Hat Yai from Kuala Lumpur.  Hat Yai is one of the main hub in Southern Thailand, hence it's easy to get transit flight to Hat Yai via Don Mueang with 9x Daily flights.

2) Very easy to communicate with Thais in Hat Yai because they can speak fluent English, Malay, Mandarin and some even can speak Hokkien. That's why I said it feel like home in Hat Yai... no need to worry about language barrier! 

3) FOOD - I love Thai Food. What so unique in Hat Yai is there are plenty Chinese & Muslim Thai food too. They are cheap and good. 

And of of the must try in Hat Yai is Chinese dim sum. It's has huge varieties of choices and only 18 baht (RM1.90) per basket . Must try dim sum restaurant in Hat Yai - highly recommending Chokdee Dim Sum Restaurant

4) After celebrating Songkran Festival in Hat Yai, there are a lot of nearby places of interest that one can visit. One should not miss the famous statue in Thailand which is the Golden Mermaid in Songkla.

Hat Yai also has their own floating market. Klonghae Floating Market is the only floating market at the southern of Thailand. Opens on Friday to Sunday from 3pm to 9pm. Most of them are selling local food. We took tuk tuk here about 100baht for return trip from city. 

5) In Hat Yai besides Thai Baht, you can also pay in Malaysian ringgit if you don't have enough Thai Baht. How convenient right? This shows that there are a lot of Malaysian tourists visitting Hat Yai until Malaysian Ringgit is widely accepted there.

Most important just prepare to have FUN FUN FUN lah! It's an unforgettable experience for me. You got to experience Songkran Festival yourself to know how FUN is it!

And with the coming AirAsia Travel Fair in Paradigm mall happening over this weekends (29 - 31 May 2015) offering 20% off all flights tickets, you should go and book tickets to enjoy Songkran Festival in Hatyai next year lah! I'm planning mine trips too, so hope to see you all there!

To find out more about AirAsia flights to Hat Yai, please visit www.airasia.com

Sephora opened it's 14th store in Mid Valley Megamall!

To all beauty lovers, if you do not know yet Sephora Malaysia opened their 14th store recently in Mid Valley Megamall! Hooray! It's located at the old Padini store opposite Metrojaya. 

All girls will agree Sephora is the one stop center for women ; where we can get our beauty fix from head to toe! 

Some of us asked what about the the existing outlet in Robinson Gardens Mall and I have just checked that the store will be still opened despite the opening of the Mid Valley store. I guess for different target markets :)

I'm looking forward to check out this new GlamGlow Daily Treatment Cleanser in Sephora ever since I had  a sneak peek of it at the opening party. Am excited to find out that it's already available in store and if I'm not mistaken it's about RM110 (tbc) per tube. Please note that GlamGlow is sold exclusively in Sephora only. 

Sephora Malaysia address in Mid Valley Megamall

Mid Valley Megamall, G082, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening hour : 10am to 10pm

For more info, visit

https://www.facebook.com/SephoraMalaysia
http://www.sephora.my/

Review : Philips Easy Natural Curler great for beginner!

p/s: Please excuse my no makeup face because I took this picture right after shower :D 

I'm blessed with very straight hair and although it's easy to maintain but secretly sometimes I wish I have curly hair. I feel curly hair is sexy and give volume to my hair and makes my face looks smaller. But honestly most curler out there are difficult to use and take too much time to do the curl. Agree ?

So when I was told this hair curler can makes your hair curl within 30 seconds whether you are short, medium and long hair lengths, I took up the challenge to try to see if it's true. 

 So this Philips Easy Natural Curler landed on my table for me to try. 

Building on 60 years of beauty heritage, the Philips Easy Natural Curler is Philips’ latest innovative solution to help women achieve stylish natural-looking curls easily. 

With its unique Tulip shape, the c enables women to create natural and effortless curls in just one simple step. 

The curler uses innovative clip and curl plates to automatically clip and hold the lock of hair while styling, allowing women to curl their tresses with just one hand, even at the back of the head. The styling plates are designed to prevent accidental brushes and burns to the hair. 

To reduce hair damage, the plates are coated with protective ceramic to ensure even heat distribution for shiny and soft hair. The plates can only be heated to a professional temperature of 200°C to further minimise hair damage. 

Clip & Curl your hair.

I like how the Philips Easy Natural Curler is very light to hold, compact and pretty easy-to-use design makes it easy for beginner to curl their hair. To be honest, it took me some effort to insert my hair into the thin gap between the plates. I think those beginner ; specifically girls with long & thin hair will benefit from the thin gap because they do not need to do segmentation while doing curling.

My first experience using Philips Easy Natural Curler. The curling plate heat up quite fast (less than 30 seconds) and able to give my hair some curl at my ends. Was disappointed that the result is not as curly as I expected... after all the name of the product is easy natural curler means it can give natural curls only I guess. And the good thing is I did not smell any burning smelling which sometimes some curler too hot to handle and over burn my hair. 

Nevertheless I think with my ends curl up, it makes my hair looks more volumize and face looks smaller. And bear in this this are loose wavey/curl so you do definitely need spray or product to make it stay.

I bought this Philips Easy Natural Curler to my recent hair to Hatyai and let Shannon my roomate from my trip to try out the product. She told me that she has been using Philips curling tong user for years every morning. She works like a pro, looks at her hair end result! 

She then decided to be more adventurous to try Korean perm style.. 

According to her feedback, she also think that this Philips Easy Natural Curler is really suitable for beginner and the gap between the hot plates on the curler is too small and might be suitable for girls with thin & long hair. And the heating plates are not hot enough and it took a bit of time to curl her hair compared to her usual curling thong. And personally she said she preferred her Philips curling tong with different heating level. 

The Philips Easy Natural Curler is available at major electrical and departmental stores and www.blipmy.com at a recommended price of RM169. For more information please visit http://www.philips.com.my.