Life Update: Quarantine Beauty Routine

Hi all, I know it’s been a long time coming since I’ve last been on here but I’m here now! It’s been a crazy little bit for me. So before I start sharing my routine, I wanted to give you guys an update and explanation where I’ve been. I recently moved out to my own home and for the past little bit, I’ve been just decorating my new home along with stocking up/taking the precautious measures against COVID-19. I’m currently working from home but will be returning back to work next week (varying in what our Prime Minister says, later on, this week.) I hope you all are doing well and practicing social distancing. As we will need to for the next couple of months to suppress and minimize the spread of COVID-19. Many people were affected during this time of crisis, lots have lost their jobs, family members affected by the spread and etc, I just want you all to know, I’m sending you all love & positive vibes. I want us all to practice kindness and be considerate of our surroundings.

Now for many of us, we are likely working from home/stay at home because schools are closed. Some may be enjoying this time off, some may be really bored but regardless, I hope you’re all staying at home and avoiding going anywhere you don’t need to be. I’m not going to lie since I was away from the office, it kind of threw me off from my existing day by day schedule and forced me to create a new one. I came from having a very well structured week to not having any structure at all but I’ve been gradually implementing good little things into my life so I can live a better life such as working out, eating less junk and focusing/prioritizing house chores.

Here are 10 things I implemented in my life that have made this quarantine period a lot more chill and nice for me.

When stocking up for groceries, I like to buy 2 weeks of groceries in advance so that I’m not making a bunch of trips back and forth for small little things.
Meal plan, before even thinking about going to the grocery store, has an idea of what you want to eat for the week and write down your grocery list. Don’t shop blindly and take your time. Act like you have a limited time at the grocery store and go in and get your supplies and out as soon as possible. We are in a pandemic here, friends – now is NOT the time to dilly dag and take our sweet time. The less time you spend at any public place, you will minimize your exposure to COVID-19.
Sanitize everything and especially every time you return back from going out, sanitize your keys, wallet, credit cards and if you drive, your stirring wheel.
WASH YOUR HANDS, I feel like I’m in kindergarten again whenever I say this. I’ve been practicing good hygiene since I was very young because I grew up around germaphobes such as my mom. I find myself unconciously and obsessively washing my hands everything I handle so I need to apply hand cream. The hand cream that is heavy duty and that works best for my dry hands is the bioderma atoderm ultra repair hand cream. This hand cream works like no other and no, I was not sponsored to share this and I genuinely enjoy their products and I will continuously support them.
I love junk food and snacking but there comes to a time where things need to change. I did myself a favour and I stopped walking down in the snack aisle and I bought foods that would fill me up. If I felt snacky, I had vegetables I could grill, fry or bake myself. I’ve been avoiding anything frozen, packed because it’s not good for you and all that sodium is bound to affect your health whether now or later on in life. So I make my own comfort food and know exactly what I put in it. Take, or instance, I made myself some delicious Chiptole Lime Homefries and I also made a Pizza flavoured Homefries. They were way better than any packaged food I had.
I never hated working out, I was either too lazy to do it or I was not in the right environment. Gyms are closed, anything public is closed so enough is enough – I made myself a mini-workout studio at my own home. There is a whack load of workout routines you can do at home without needing weights so no excuses! Just make sure you don’t go too hard or eat/drank before your workout because you could throw up and hurt yourself and you don’t want that. Learn from my mistakes.
I stopped reading about COVID-19 articles and minimized the number of youtube videos I watched regarding this topic. Yes, we need to be aware of what’s going on the world but if it takes a toll in your overall mental space and you’re panicking about something you have limited/no control over, then don’t put yourself through that. Instead, practice social distancing, good hygiene and minimize the spread of COVID-19. Be kind to yourself and those that are around you. We all have family and loved ones we want to protect.
EDUCATE YOURSELF BEFORE FEAR MONGERING + SPREADING HATE. There’s a lot of racism, hate crimes and ignorant individuals out there that have very limited education on COVID-19 and what it is. Because it’s a novel virus, medical professionals are working closely to formulate a super vaccine to fight this virus and stop it from spreading in the future. In addition, because this is a novel virus, many people are panicking and scared so they act out in hate. I just want to be very, very clear that this virus is not caused by Chinese/China. It surprises me to hear this behaviour and what people have said so far. If we dive in history a little bit, there were so many plagues, viruses long before this. This is nature, people. Things like this happen. The Black Plague, Spanish Flu, HIV, Ebola, SARS were WAY BIGGER issues that were rarely even spoken about today and the fact there are people opening their mouths and rambling about how a certain race or country originated this virus is sickening. I don’t tolerate garbage behaviour and those who are uneducated and speak poorly of any race, I don’t spare a minute of my time and neither should you!
Find new hobbies and things to keep yourself occupied like painting, dancing, singing, anything you like! Step out from your comfort zone. It’s not like every day (before) where you can do these things in the comfort of your own home so do it now! Life is too short and we should keep ourselves occupied and uplifted.
Practising generosity is crucial during a time like this. If you or you know someone who has a surplus supply of products and supplies, please offer it to anyone who in need of these sorts of things. I have elderly neighbours who go grocery shopping once a week and I’ve offered to help them, not only because they’re elderly and at a huge risk but because things get harder when you’re older. You don’t process things as fast, vision and hearing can be limited – so I get it, I really do. I personally find offering help to others gives me such a warming and comforting feeling.

I hope this helped you all and sending you all love and good vibes during this time! We can get past this, just be sure to practice social distancing.

[REVIEW] MISSHA TIME REVOLUTION TONE UP TONER

Missha is one of the very few brands that I continue to use. When I was 16, I purchased myself my very first Korean beauty product and it was the Missha Vita BB cream. I really liked how it filled in my pores and made everything so smooth. I do recall using a lot of their foam cleansers a lot when I was younger and I really enjoyed them. Jolse kindly sent this product over to me back in November and I’ve been using it for quite a while now.

Claims

Clean & Bright Skin
Provides vitality and energy to dull skin
Protects Skin from Environmental Factors
Protects the skin from harmful environmental factors that cause skin to lose its natural glow
Refreshing Moisture Care
Cream provides rich and refreshing moisture to help skin maintain a healthy and moist condition

Full List Of Ingredients

Water, Peg/Ppg-18/4 Copolymer, Bellis Perennis (Daisy) Flower Extract, Freesia Alba Flower Extract, Lilium Candidum Flower Extract, Butylene Glycol, Saussurea Involucrata Extract, Niacinamide, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Gnaphalium Leontopodium Flower Extract, Houttuynia Cordata Extract, Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Flower Extract, Saussurea Involucrata Extract, Peg-11 Methyl Ether Dimethicone, Betaine, Cyclomethicone, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Sea Water, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Ppg-26-Buteth-26, Glyceryl Caprylate, Aspergillus/Rice Ferment Filtrate, Lactobacillus/Rice Ferment Filtrate, Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tuber Magnatum Extract, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Fragrance, Titanium Dioxide, Benzophenone-4, Tocopheryl Acetate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Copper Sulfate, Glucose, Polyacrylic Acid, Sodium C14-17 Alkyl Sec Sulfonate, Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract, Disodium Edta, Methoxy Peg-45 Thioctate, Phenoxyethanol, Campsis Grandiflora Flower Extract, Cassia Alata Leaf Extract, Hippophae Rhamnoides Extract, Tin Oxide, Squalane, Fullerenes

How to use:

After thoroughly cleansing your face, apply toner with a cotton pad or on hands and apply it evenly throughout the face. You can even make a toner mask out of this product if you want.

My Thoughts:

There were a lot of positive reviews online so I was hoping this was going to be amazing for me but let’s just say I had high expectations for this and really wanted it to work for me but it did quite the opposite. I expected it to have a mild scent as a lot of products do, have a lightweight watery consistency and possibly provided longterm brightening results as the product claims. I was not wowed by this product and I do hope Missha decides to reformulate or possibly create a line that is specifically for sensitive skin types with no fragrance added. I didn’t realize Missha had so many products that contained heavy amounts of fragrance in them until I rediscovered them. I do believe my preference for skincare has definitely changed a lot throughout the years.

Texture: 3/5 –The texture surprised me the most because I was expecting almost a watery consistency but instead it was quite thick. It really reminds me of the Whamisa Organic Flowers Rich Toner’s consistency. I wasn’t a big fan of it as I was hoping for something lighter.
Scent: 2/5 –Sensitive skin friends, stir far away from this product. I was shocked when I smelled this. It has quite a strong floral, clean scent to it and it lingers. Unlike some products scents that do eventually go away, this kind of just stays.
Price: 4/5 – Missha products are affordable so the price wasn’t an issue.
Performance: 1/5 –Did absolutely nothing for me. No brightening, wasn’t really moisturizing either and kind of just sat on my skin.
Packaging: 5/5 – Gorgeous packaging! The bottle is glass and has a beautiful gradient design. It doesn’t spill the product everywhere and is really well made.
Overall: 2/5 – I must say I am beyond disappointed in this and I was expecting more from Missha. I’m starting to believe they are quite comparable to The Saem. The Saem makes great makeup product products but when it comes to skincare, it’s like they poured a bottle of perfume in their products. I would not recommend this to anyone who has sensitive skin. Maybe those who have dry skin would enjoy this as this does have a thicker consistency to it but I personally didn’t see any amazing results from using it on my dehydrated, combination skin.

10 Pet Peeves of Instagram Folks

Hi friends, I hope you’re all doing well. I’m in the process of moving so I have not been quite inactive off my social media platforms and I plan to come back real soon. I wanted to open up a discussion today that could very much be controversial and have mixed responses to but here it is; As much as I love sharing my thoughts on products and sharing tips & tricks on how to make up or skincare, I wanted to shed some light on a topic that isn’t really discussed and perhaps maybe you’ll find some of this relatable to a certain extent.

*Disclaimer: By no means am I trying to offend anyone, these are my own opinions and thoughts on the platform and the stuff I’ve seen in the past couple of years that have been bothering me.

Follow for follow
No offense but this method does not work and it ruins the whole purpose of you follow the content you genuinely care for. When I first joined Instagram, I followed back pretty much everyone who followed me then realized that a lot of these accounts don’t have anything I care for so I did a mass unfollow spree. Also, stop dm-ing people to follow you back because this is just embarrassing. No one needs to follow your page unless they really want to. IT IS WHAT IT IS! Also, hate to burst your bubble but if you had content that served, you would have gained those followers without needing to beg every single person to follow you. Truth be told, friends. PS: Nobody owes you a follow back, sorry.
Hashtags to counter the algorithm/gain attention
Unfortunately, this doesn’t work. I’m sure the majority of people who use this think this is some life hack to gain likes and following but it’s seen as desperate and annoying. I actually check people’s hashtags to see how accurate and relevant they are to the photos and often, a lot of them are very spammy, copy and paste or just generic hashtags like L4L, Like for like, mass likes and etc.
INSPO-PLAGERISING
I know we can’t trademark anything from our photos, captions, and hashtags but I have caught a handful of people literally copying element by element of other people’s work to “stand out” and be seen as creative. It’s ok to be inspired and share whatever you want to share but if you’re legitimately copying other people’s photos for the sake of likes, validation and follows, maybe social media isn’t for you.
Constant complaints about the algorithm
As a fellow content creator, I know the struggles of growth here. Sometimes growth is slim and limited but that shouldn’t limit your creativity and ability to expand on your page. That being said, a lot of people who blame the algorithm for their lack of engagement are usually the ones who are simply in denial. YOU as a content creator have to understand and figure out whether your content is serving or not. YOU also need to be aware that if you don’t engage with others, your engagement will be low and stay that way. Maybe you need to change and switch up your feed’s style, write compelling captions, understand your audience + when to post and ensure you have relevant hashtags. There are many factors to posting on Instagram and how to get successful posts. You’re not guaranteed a successful post every time but the least you can do is try and be consistent whenever you can be.
Oversharing about personal details
Sure, share about mental health and spread awareness. I’m talking about the ones who are going on social media and spilling out their problems – whether being addicts, in debt and family loss. Sorry to burst your bubble but a lot of people social media won’t know what to do with the information you’re sharing and a lot of them simply don’t care. If you’re not in the right mental health space you should be in, seek help from your family & peers. People online do not know you and those details should be private. The more strangers know people about you, it puts your life at risk.
No/Low Buy Movements
No/low buys should be a lifestyle change and it should allow you to view things from a different perspective rather than a temporary ban. Like crash diets, these movements are not effective in the long run and only effective for the short term. Once the No Buy Cycle/Time ends, then most people are likely to return back to their old ways of shopping for unnecessary things – from hype, friend recommendations, impulse urges and etc. Regardless of the case, this puts you through a vicious cycle of “crash” movements. If you truly wanted to make a lifestyle change, you would do it without having the motives of getting a “reward” in the end.
Nudity/Soft Core Nude Images
Yes, be proud of your body! Good for you that you’re comfortable in your own skin but I think it’s really important to be respectful of our surroundings because you as the individual do not own the platform, place or the world and you should be considerate of those who are around you. I personally am not offended by soft nude images but they can sometimes make me feel uncomfortable because of my views. We also need to keep in mind that these sorts of images can set an example for the younger generation and perhaps even children so please be considerate and mindful of what you post because you never know who is seeing it.
Excessive Use Of Vulgar Language
Listen, I know it’s 2020 and there are children/teenagers who swear too but I think it’s also very important to again, be very cautious of what we post because, at the end of the day, it reflects us as a person. I don’t think it’s ever professional to cuss in general. Sure, I’ve seen people cuss here and there on their stories and captions but I’m talking about the ones who cuss all the time on their pages. I have trouble supporting these people because they often come off as negative and I really don’t need that energy anywhere near me nor will I allow it. There are plenty of words in the English language rather than resulting to using such vocabulary.
Just because it works for someone, doesn’t mean it’ll work for you
I’ve seen a lot of people “sUdDeNlY” change their feeds to try to be relevant and become popular. There is no secret trick to a successful page, you’re going to have to invest a lot of time in it to allow it to grow and that means you will need to engage with people, be responsive to your comments and even messages and also be consistent with your content posting and content style. The moment you change your style, your existing followers who already followed you will notice the change and they may or may not want to continue to support that. Instead of trying to find tricks, you need to understand what YOU like and how you’re going to make it work on YOUR feed. Nobody has this answer but yourself.
Reposts, unless you’re a brand
Brands repost content creators work to express their appreciation of their support to the brand and share exposure for the content creator to gain follows or interest on their page. I find reposting pages completely pointless and I find it even more disrespectful that they go ahead and repost your images without consent. Content creators spend a long time to put their pieces together, please be considerate and not repost for your selfish reasons. The content piece is not free for you to use because you can’t make your own.