DIY Hair Dye L'oreal Excellence Fashion in 10.11 Crystal Ash | i made a video!

The mood to experiment on different hair dye is back! I feel like trying lighter hair shades now that I'm working from home and wouldn't need to worry about people noticing if it didn't turn out well on me LOL. This time I'm bought the L'oreal Excellence Fashion in 10.11 Crystal Ash after multiple contemplation and checking out reviews online. 

This retails at RM39.34 per box in Aeon Wellness, I got mine at RM29.49 after discount so both at RM59. Somehow ended up with so many L'oreal product samples including the ColoRista 1-Day Color Sprays and free green tea cups. You can get yours on ShopeeMY.

I'll just get straight up to the results. Here's my hair before _ black roots already long grown while the bottom is still in reddish mahogany brown. The after (on right) doesn't appear much difference. IRL you can tell its now in orange hue instead of red while the black roots now appear dark, orange-y brown. The after pic down really do much justice, probably due to lighting (it was moody when I took the pic).

The next morning, taken outdoor. Same clothes because I no longer change my clothes daily unless 1) they smell, 2) it's hotter & I feel yucky or 3) I have worn them for my workouts or after running errands outdoors.

Result-wise, somehow the color appears the most obvious on my scalp (see vid). This I think is probably due to the heat from my skin? I wonder if I should have left it a bit longer and put more consideration on the lengths of my hair instead of just the roots I'd have better results. Same goes to grays, I still spot them. But then, I've been told many times by stylist that my hair don't absorb color well, so could be the stubborn hair! A note on this: perhaps wear a hair cap while waiting for the color to develop.

Still, I think this is one really easy to use dye! Sure, it took effort to massage it into your hair but the cream glides easily with the help of the applicator brush and doesn't hardens up like some hair dye. Besides, it doesn't have overly pungent chemical smell. It does get messy, I have dye all over my arms and legs by the end of the process. Is it even? I'd say the coverage is close to what you'd get with bubble hair dyes which is great! Also, my hair don't feel dry after application and smoother with the conditioner. I've only used 1/3 of the bottle in a wash.

I kinda expected it to show up more (too high expectation wtf) because a it does on other bloggers or Youtubers. Its my stubborn, hard-to-dye hair really. This kinda bugs me because it means I probably won't get results I want from other hair dyes. I did find some DIY hair bleach in platinum blonde and am considering (most likely) to do that before I do dye my hair in another ash-y color which I already bought.

If you're interested to check out the whole process and results on video, I have made a simple recording.

~🤍~

Here's the update after a week from coloring my hair with L'oreal Excellence Fashion. The color on my hair is still intact and so is my root still obviously lighter *laughs* I still have remaining 1 and a quarter bottle of conditioner which works amazing at keeping my hair moisturized and soft. I think L'oreal got their formula right!

Update #2: So I kept wondering why the roots turned up lighter and yes, it is because of the heat from the scalp. Someone on YouTube commented that I oughta start from the roots. And I keep wondering, how come, this hasn't happen before?! And then it dawn to me that this is my first time in the longest while to be going for light colors! Make sense now. Just me rambling my thoughts out. Okthanksbye.

Update #3: Photos taken after 15 days from dyeing my hair. By then, the lighter part on the scalp has darkened.

get fitter this MCO 2.0 & introducing (possibly) the best exercise mat ever!

As we are all bracing for MCO 2.0, this is the chance to set new resolutions to be fitter especially if you haven't done so since the last MCO or new year. No more excuses or procrastination, peeps!

Sharing some of the workouts videos I'm following the past weeks which I super like!

 

Favorite stretching workout so far!

I had thought the Pamela Reif's workouts are the toughest until I tried this workout by GrowingAnanas and couldn't complete it and even felt super dizzy at the end laughdieme. Though I do feel super muscular the next day lolol Attempt this at your own risk! Just early this week, I tried her legs workout which is made up of combination of some basic moves that totally ramp up the intensity!

Other than the above workouts without equipment, I am trying some workouts that incorporates resistant bands because I just got several from CottonOn Body. Kinda like how they increase the intensity for workouts such a squats, lunges, crab walk, fire hydrants and the likes. The variety also make working out from home less boring.

Since I've started doing cardio/HIIT/Tabata at end of March/April of last year, I have lost several inches on my waist, butt and arms but most importantly, felt much stronger!

Previously I jogged but that didn't seem to improve my stamina nor did much to reduce some stubborn fat. Hopefully with a better mat and consistent workout for the year I'd get to lose a few more inches. Weight-wise, it's a bit funny because I'm still the same weight. I'm told that meant I've gotten leaner and built some muscles  ᕦ(* •̀ ᗜ •́ * )ᕤ “ Hopefully the same for you who does the workout consistently!

~🤍~

Aside from the above, I wanna flex my new mat in this post hahaha 

Tadaaaa °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

This Forest Fitness mat is a new one I bought with my own money (therefore NOT a sponsored post) at the start of the year and I'm already loving it! As you have probably hear me mentioned, my first workout mat fell apart just 2 months into using but which I didn't part until last month because I didn't know what are the other alternatives that could last. Thinking back, I was quite noob and chose a yoga mat thinking it is the only option for home cardio. BTW I do very little yoga, mostly stretches that incorporate yoga moves (Pamela Reif's vid above) while most of the time its cardio or HIIT. 

Found out later what I need is a pilates mat! Of course, the other option is gym flooring mat but I'd prefer something I can roll up and put aside. With this new mat, I kinda have high hopes for the new mat for the price I'm paying and seeing how the material seems much durable. It is described as a mat "made with heavy duty and premium grade natural rubber built for extreme durability and long term usage".

I think Forest Fitness is a local brand which is only available on Shopee.MY. For that, I went to search on Amazon for yoga mat that has almost similar-looking material and surface with my: here, here (black and navy blue) and here. A lot with this kinda surface are black, I'm not sure why. Of course if you want something prettier, you can go for Lululemon's which apparently offers amazing mats as well.

Close up!

Pros of this Forest Fitness mat include:

1) amazing grip at the bottom and top surfaces which prevents slipping. I think this is important because it reduces unnecessary friction so you can focus your energy and getting the most of your workout!

2) doesn't sink so very stable when holding poses such as deep lunge

3) absorbs impact better than foam ones so lesser noise when jumping around. I also noticed I bruised less on my knees _it was a frequent thing with my old mat. Besides that, my elbows don't hurt or get scrapped when I do moves like planks or the likes!

4) surprisingly, sweat evaporates off easily and do not leave sweat stains. I was worried it doesn't look like it'll absorb as well as foam one initially. It is also super easy to clean

5) doesn't have too strong rubber smell 

The only cons I can think if now is that its only in one color, it is quite heavy (hovering about 2.6kg on my kitchen scale) if you're looking for something to bring around and definitely to the pricier end. The latter, I wont mind if I don't need to change it anytime soon! So far it hasn't disappoint. Will remember to keep y'all posted on the mat condition after I have used it for a few more months. If you already own this mat or bought it from my recommendation, please do share your experience in the comment!

mini reviews: trying different soap bars

In my attempt to reduce plastic waste for the sake of dearest mother nature, I made a switch from liquid soap to soap bars! Mostly because I've read manufacturing liquid soap produces higher carbon footprint and we know plastic packaging aren't recycled much here. So happen that homemade soap bars are all the rage since last year and to cater to the rising demand, I am definitely seeing a lot of local handmade soap stores mushrooming (before Covid19 happened)! There are even classes which I was tempted to join but alas that didn't happen.

Instead I got myself a variety of soap bars to experiment on including locally homemade ones which can cost up to RM25 per bar from The Hive and Tanamera but the most expensive of them is the Ghar Soap, priced at RM35 per bar. This post is me reviewing each of them, took me awhile to go through them all LOL. Without further ado, let's get started!

#1 Ecostore's Lemongrass Soap

My favorite bar because I'm totally loving the lemongrass scent which smells amazing though unfortunately the scent doesn't stick. Priced at RM10.90 per bar at Aeon Wellness and even cheaper on Shopee.MY, this is about 3-4× that of other commercial brand.


Scent: ★★★★★
Sweat Level: ★☆☆☆☆
Long-Lasting: ★★☆☆☆

#2 Aleppo aka Ghar Soap

This was something I was super excited to try this out mostly because it is so unique and there was quite some hype about it among the minimalist and eco-loving community. Read somewhere on IG that someone even used this in replace of toothpaste and it worked. So die die wanna try and bought one from The Hive in SS2 for RM35 (online on Shopee.MY for RM33.90!). For the price, you get a chunk the size of my tiny palm can hold (Yes, I'm very detailed with the dimensions) wrapped up in a magazine page.

I'm sad to announce I find this bar of soap very disappointing. It's definitely a unique soap with interesting color _ golden on the outside and olive in the inside. Also, fair for the price, it's bloody durable thanks to the proportion of ingredients used and the amount of time to dry it out (up to a year!).

But it is oh-so-o-boring because there isn't a scent. Sure, I feel clean enough after using but because I'm so used to scented soap (think Dove, Shokubutsu and others), I feel the need to wash up with scented ones afterwards just because! On top of that, it doesn't lather on its own so not fun for me. It does lather with the help of a foaming net or used Liese hair dye dispenser (I just found out recently!). Still the foams are boringly scentless so much that I resorted to adding my Muji's Bergamot essential oil...

If you're not so particular about scent and wouldn't mind one-soap-for-all (you can wash your face and hair with them) and think want an economical and super minimalist soap, this is the one. You'd be impressed to know that even after soaking the soap pieces (they broke when I sliced it with a cleaver) in the bottle, they dont melt completely for weeks! 

There are also a bunch of articles that vouch for the benefits of using ghar soaps such as resulting to youthful feeling skin, great for eczema or fungal infection and even dandruff and a hundred other benefits apparently. I just don't think this is my thing... Quite a letdown considering how excited I initially was!

Scent: ☆☆☆☆☆
Sweat Level: ☆☆☆☆☆
Long-Lasting: ★★★★★

#3 Old Sage Soapworks' 
Grape Slushie & Roses on the Porch Soaps

Very fancy names, I know. Again, got them both from The Hive for RM25 per bar. I truly think these are made using hot process from the clumpier texture. I find these kinda messy, the dye stains my soap dish with bits of soaps. They're washable, just messy. I'm not sure if it's the same with cold process soaps but these break down and shapeshift (oh my vocab!), like a slime. I use half a bar at a time because obviously it's too big for my grip. My first half lasted less than 10 days, and the smaller it gets, the faster the bar melts.

Unintentionally, I left the other bar on my table between testing out other bars, during which it had time to dry out further. I found out it lasted a bit longer that way. I guess that's partially how ghar soap could last so long_ they're left to dry for a year after all. The other reason is the composition of ingredients used.

For the price and how fancy they are IMO they're great if you want to pamper yourself once in a while. At least for me because on a longer term, I'd choose practicality, with nice enough scent and without the mess.

Scent: ★★★☆☆
Sweat Level: ★★★★★
Long-Lasting: ★☆☆☆☆

#4 Tanamera's 
Toning Green Coffee Body Soap

Tanamera is a local homemade brands that boast all natural plants ingredients in their products and offer a handful of options of bar soaps. I opted for the Toning Green Coffee Body Soap which scent I find most bearable among the soap bars (their liquid one is quite nice)! This is available in Isetan or Shopee.MY at RM30 (100g).

The packaging definitely screams "luxurious".

It does feel like you're in a spa treat when using this soap LOL. I happen to test their liquid hand soap and think its actually nice. Worth the price for the spa-like experience!

Scent: ★★★☆☆
Sweat Level: ☆☆☆☆☆
Long-Lasting: ★★★☆☆

#5 Sabun Society's
Loofah Soap


I love the scent that reminds me of the beach (literally!) so that feels amazing. However, the soap is super slippery and with more use, the newly exposed loofah can be really rough to the skin. I'm sure exfoliating won't turn my skin so red all over. To minimize this, I used the foaming net (very useful!) to wrap and lather up the soap. This one bar can last about a month.

I got this together with a care pack so I don't know the price for just the soap. I looked up their Facebook page and didn't see this listed so I cannot be sure if this is made specially for the care pack or they have discontinued the loofah soaps edition.

Scent: ★★★★★
Sweat Level: ★☆☆☆☆
Long-Lasting: ★★★☆☆



#6 Maitre Savon De Marseille's
Lily of the Valley 

This French brand soap offers a whole variety of scented soap bars _ Lemon, Rose, Green Apple, Olive, Goat's Milk, even Donkey's Milk, Marine (which smells like the sea water! Beach lovers, anyone?) and the list goes on! in two sizes, the 100g bar at RM18.90 and a larger bar approximately RM25 (I don't remember!) from Isetan.


La Corvette Marseille is another brand that carries similar-looking bars but priced higher at RM23.90 for the 100g and RM38.90 for the 200g bar. You probably won't be able to tell these two brands apart when they're placed side-by-side and looking almost alike down to the packaging! Because they're both like hard candy kind (similar to Sabun Society's) and doesn't sweat, they last a good while. Not too bad but its a bit to the pricey end.


Scent: ★★☆☆☆

Sweat Level: ☆☆☆☆☆
Long-Lasting: ★★★★★

~♡~

When I shared with a friend about my plan of trying soap bars especially homemade ones, she raised a concern about the quality of homemade soap that is unlike commercial ones that have more stable PH value. I've read that depending on how homemade soaps are produced, their PH varies and sometimes may be unsuitable for use such as being overly acidic to sensitive skin. So they're fun to try unless you have super sensitive skin.

After trying so many types of soap bars, I have decided that I prefer something without fancy dyes or scents but not totally scentless like the ghar soap! Scent-wise, my favorite among the ones above gotta be the lemongrass and Sabun Society's! Though the most economical ones and  lasting gotta be the commercially available brands such as Shokubutsu (probably the nicest scent besides Dove!). In fact what I have now are mostly supermarket-available brands.

I've got no idea why I stocked up on so many at a time!

Updated beauty routine: HadaLabo Kouji range, Wahadabisen Gokujo Fermented Sake Yogurt, Watson Natural Rice Bran & Soy Bean Illuminating Essence Lotion & Hada Labo Hydrating Perfect Jelly

Happy New Year!!!!

First blog post for 2021 and so I thought I should kick start the year by sharing my latest beauty routine.

Can you tell there's a very obvious theme going on: majority Asian branded cosmetics and products with natural ingredients such as rice water, sake and fermented miso as their key ingredients!

Just a note before I proceed, I have included affiliate links to Amazon in this blog post to which I may receive a commission should you choose to use it. My advance appreciation if you do! ヾ(☆ﾟ∀ﾟ  )ﾉ

#1 HadaLabo Kouji
Cleansing Foam, Treatment Essence and Night Cream

First, jumping right into my recent favourite _ the HadaLabo's Kouji range which Treatment Essence (Amazon | Shopee.MY) I've been using and loving since the end of 2019. At the start of  2020, I started adding the Kouji Cleansing Foam (Amazon | Shopee.MY) and Kouji Treatment Cream (Amazon | Shopee.MY). I feel they're soothing for my skin but only moderately hydrating. What I love is the simplicity in ingredients (sake in the treatment essence smells super nice!) and design. You'd also be happy to know they are "Free of Fragrances, Colorants and Mineral Oils".

#2 Wahadabisen 

Gokujo Fermented Sake Yogurt Face Pack

The other product I'm totally obsessing with is the Wahadabisen range which I chanced upon from Aeon Wellness (apparently my recent favorite place to shop for beauty products!) that carries 2 main lineups_ the Japanese herbal face pack and Gokujo fermented skincare range. Under the Japanese herbal face pack, there are 3 options: Yomogi (Amazon) which contains mugwort extract for healing & rejuvenating, Amazake which contains Kyoto Sake and Lees extract for skin brightening, and Hatomugi (Amazon) which contains Hokkkaido Adlay for skin moisturizing and firming. Apparently this range can be used for both face and body!

For the Gokujo fermented skincare range, there are choices of fermented rice, sake yogurt and fermented miso. All of which comes in either the face wash, face pack and lotion except for the fermented miso that didn't have the lotion option.

I was tempted to try most of them but with so many facial products at home, I ended up with just the Gokujo Fermented Sake Yogurt Face Pack (Amazon) for now! This have the texture of thick yogurt and does a great job in stripping off sweat and oil without being drying. According to the brochure available in Aeon Wellness, the facepack is the second step after the cleanser, but I have been using the face pack on its own and it works alright!

Ignore the sticker, I can't get it off! @@

#3 Watson Naturals Rice Bran & Soy Bean 

Illuminating Essence Lotion

Alternating with the Kouji Treatment Essence, I use this Watson Naturals' Rice Bran & Soy Bean Illuminating Essence Lotion (Shopee.MY). Bought it for the same reason _ my obsession for natural ingredients but unlike Kouji's, this is has artificial scent which smells great not gonna lie. Does okay as everyday toner but I don't feel much difference to my skin using this.

So far loving the scent!

#4 Melano CC Vitamin C 

Brightening Essence

Vitamin C packed cream or essence has been something I want to experiment as I have heard they could reduce scars and reduce skin dullness. Bought this Melano CC Vitamin C Brightening Essence (Amazon | Shopee.MY) to see if it help with some of the dark spots resulting from acnes on my chin, which can takes forever to recover. I wouldn't say I noticed much difference because of how lazy I am to apply consistently but oh wow, the orange scent is really nice! I love citrus-y scent and even have Muji's bergamot essential oil for #selflove hahaha. I'll try to apply this more frequently and see if it works!

#5 Hada Labo Hydrating Perfect Jelly

As I am almost clearing out my Naturals and Hada Kouji toners _both actually lasted me a year during the lockdown!!_ it's time to try other new stuff! Before Innisfree and HadaLabo Kouji (and maybe more brands I cannot remember) I'm a huge fan of Hada Labo. Somehow when the market got so saturated with unlimited choices of beauty products, I stopped buying Hada Labo just so I can experiment with other brands. This Hada Labo Hydrating Perfect Jelly (Amazon | Shopee.MY) that retails at RM93.50 but once again, I got mine at a discount for RM79.49 at Aeon Wellness.

If you especially need a super moisturizing toner, you can trust that Hada Labo delivers! Only after two nights of using this, I can tell my skin feels bouncier and that's really nice. I don't think you need to go for the Hydrating Perfect Jelly if you're only looking for something moisturizing, their regular and much affordable toner range (see their Hydrating Collection on their site or Shopee.MY) works equally well. 

This one is pricier because it claims to be a 4-in-1 skin solution comprising of lotion, serum, milk and sleeping mask. Meaning lazy people like me who usually settles for 3 to 4 steps (cleanse, moisturize, oil and cream) will find this useful. Myself, I don't see the point of doing the whole Korean 10-step skincare routine, really. Less can be more if you choose the right product!

Something that'd I usually add to my routine is the Thursday Plantation's 100% Pure Tea Tree Oil (Amazon | Shopee.MY) or the Thursday Plantation Rose Hip Oil which I will use right after toner or before the cream just so they can be absorbed into the skin. I realize tea tree oil is a must for me because of their anti-bacterial properties that helps control breakouts around my chin area. On the other hand, I'm not the biggest fan with rose hip because I haven't been able to tell what it does for me and so plan to discontinue it once I empty this bottle. I also don't like that if you keep this for too long it starts coagulating. So messy!

So yeap, those are everything in my beauty routine which I will be sticking with for awhile. I may need to stock up on cleanser and night cream in a few months and probably be looking at trying out other brands if I find something that caught my interest *shrugs* 

Until then, look forward to my other posts!