Monday, September 16, 2013

La Mer The Eye Concentrate

My colleague told me yesterday that I looked like crap, highlighting that my eyes looked extremely tired. To make it worse, she added that I looked sicker than another colleague who was suffering from migraine.

Prior to her forthcoming comments, I had always been worried about the area around my eyes. I thought of going for Thermage someday but decided against it because I am still rather young (not anywhere close to my 30s yet) and it is really costly. On the other hand there is a growing sentiment against eye creams and how they do not help improve the condition around the eyes artificially or not.

Anyway, I wouldn't really know until I try it and I can feel my strained eyes, together with the dark rings and such, making me look like I could do with a thousand years of sleep (and it probably made me look fugly and old too).


So I decided to ask around and did some research online. Alas, I came to know of La Mer and its famous eye cream. As my mom always say, "do not settle for no.2 as it's inferior", I decided to splurge on this brand. Of course if it is expensive and yet doesn't work it won't be no.1 for just its price tag.

Ironically I went to CK Tangs with the intention of buying the Intense version and came out with the Concentrate one.

The La Mer Representative, Wee, was excellent in his service and patiently explained the nuances between the Intense and the Concentrate. After which, he was kind enough to SMS and advise me on other stuff too!

La Mer The Eye Concentrate

So today marks the first day I started using this. It is going to be my morning eye cream as I am still using Jan Marini's for the night.

It might be illusory but I felt that the cream did work in a sense that my dark rings seemed a little less obvious. Another caveat is that I took Wee's advice and decided to sleep slightly earlier than usual. My dog did not wake me up throughout the night and I probably had as much sleep as I would require for the day.

I think most people are probably familiar with the silver wand that comes with this product. You kinda tap like 6 spots around an eye (top and bottom) with then wand and proceed to use it circle around the eye for like 3-5 times. It felt really relaxing and I probably overdid it. I do not use eye makeup or any concealers so I can't say for sure if the cream would not be a disaster for those who do but it gets absorbed into your skin really quickly and you will not really feel it there after like 3 mins.

As with all other cosmetic products, I can't indicate on the first day of use whether it is The eye cream to use so I can only say that I will strive to review it sometime again.

Speaking of which, I can probably start reviewing the SK-II effect soon...

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

SK II : Skin Refining Treatment & Facial Clear Solution

So my SK II craze did not just end at the basic three. My face tends to be really oily throughout the day and I am often left blotting the oil off my face. As such, I decided to pay the SK II counter at Isetan a visit with my new UOB JCB card. Apparently there is some kind of rebate with the card. After speaking to the lady at the counter, I purchased the following which cost me a total of $309;

And she was nice enough to get me an SK II Men's paper bag. I didn't really mind if it were a normal SK II bag but I guess it was nice of her to be somewhat considerate. Anyway, I did realise that by going to a proper SK II counter, you would be able to ask many questions about the products and ask them to recommend something for you (they have just so many products!).

First Thoughts
Skin Refining Treatment
So my mission really was simply to get a moisturiser. After some research online, I realised that I had to get a good moisturiser. I've been told a myriad of things by pharmacists, skin-specialists and stuff and the last advice that I got was not to use a moisturiser simply because I have oily skin!

Anyway, this Skin Refining Treatment is meant to be used only at night. The lady did warn that my skin would get somewhat oily and have some kinda thick sticky feeling on the areas where I applied it to.

It's about 5 days (including Sunday night) when I started this and honestly I can't tell any difference. My face seems to be less oily in the day at times but nothing significant enough for me to say it has changed drastically.


Facial Clear Solution
So if that was meant to be used only in the night, I needed something for the day right? Initially I was quite concerned about the price. I mean $309! I'm like spending too much this month already! She did recommend that I get this and forsake the previous item but I just decided to get both anyway. After all, what's another hundred over? -_-

This seems to work pretty well I must say. It does not feel oily after application. In the morning however, I use this right after washing my face, followed by the Jan Marini Oil Controlling Serum (which I will review sometime). I think I have gotten my steps wrong now that I think of it. It should be...

Wash > Serum > Moisturiser

Oh wells.

Finally, it's been 9 days since I started using the basic 3 and I have been admiring my face in the mirror. MWAHAHAHA. It could have been the lasers but my pores definitely look much much smaller.