Friday, December 11, 2015

My Amazon Experience

My Amazon experience

Shoutout to Amazon's professional customer service.

I recently had an issue with my order with Amazon, wherein the item failed to arrive. In my years of being an avid buyer, that was the first time it happened. I quickly sent a mail to the customer service to ask for the status of my order. I got a prompt response, stating their apology, and that they will waive my delivery fee. They did check what happened to my item after a few minutes, and it turned out that it got badly broken during transit, thus the receiving post refused to accept it.

Amazon's  is just one of the very few customer service that really do what they ought to do. They didnt reply with nonsense excuses. They mean business, and that's keeping their customers satisfied.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Yet Another Home Fitness Alternative

And again, I have found another alternative to home fitness sans the expensive budget. While looking around youtube, I found this channel Shine Dance, that offers online classes for only………

10 USD! And that's per month.

I have signed up a few days back via paypal, and right then and there I got access to their class videos.

How it works:

Once you have signed up, you will be able to stream their recorded class videos that are mostly around 45 minutes. You get to see the dance steps and feel like you are also dancing and working out with them. One thing I really like about this is that they don't get to see how stupid I look when I dance. ;)

You will also have access to their routine videos. I hope they will add more routine videos soon as right now there are only around 10 of them. 

No folks, we cannot download their videos. Streaming only! Not too bad when you have 50/50 internet connection right?

The site says you can cancel anytime, but of course it's within a one month period.

It has a 3-day trial. For example you signed up today, there is a 3-day gap before paypal actually charges you with the subscription amount.

Some things to improve on:

I think the sound is a little too soft on the recording so maybe that's an area they need to improve. 

The perspective of the camera is in front, though I think it was recorded through the mirror. Personally I would have preferred that the camera is facing the back of the instructor, but also showing the view of the mirror.

I will try it out for some time and update this post for other comments.

And before I forget, you may find them at shinedancefitness.

Dance away ladies! I believe gents are welcome too!


DISCLAIMER:
I didn't / don't / won't get any money from this. I just thought that some people would be interested into this and I hope it helps in losing several pounds at home.




Saturday, July 4, 2015

Home Fitness For Busy (or Lazy) People


When your weighing scale tells you that your weight is now getting out of hand, (again), you tend to cram and look for the easiest  way to lose those extra pounds. AND FAST! It really doesn't help when your job only gives your exercise to your fingers.

I have been planning for a couple of months now to return to the gym. The last time that I have set foot there was last year, and there went the holiday season, the valentines, and now it's summer. My gym membership has already expired and now, adding to my excuses for not going is the expense. (sigh).

Just for the record, I never go to the gym for the facilities. I go just to join the group trainings like dancing and yoga. Yeah, yeah.. it's actually a waste of money, considering the price of membership. And you see, getting your bag, taking the bus, and actually going to the gym, and then shower and putting your things back to your bag, ugggh so many things to do. I'm lazy.

So, I turned to youtube.

I found this really,really nice channel that has these dance routines. I like them because for one, you can readily follow it from the comfort of your home, and take a shower right after!

Fitness Marshall's videos are easy to follow, and just very few but effective steps. He is also very energetic in his videos and I can see that he puts a lot of effort in making the routine look like you're there with him. I also like his facial expressions in the videos and I feel like it's fun!

I am not in any way connected to him or his channel, seriously, I just found his channel while searching for "zumba fitness" and this video just came in the "related searches" :) And I also have pledged in his page, ( sorry I forgot what that website was called ), it's to pledge some monetary donation every time he creates these videos. I hope he creates more of them so that people like me who doesn't like going out of the house will have fun while working out as well.



Friday, July 3, 2015

Vintage Bags and How to Remove Old Leather Odor



Is it just me, or there are many times that I think that vintage designer bags look lovelier and more durable than the newly released ones?

Recently I have acquired a vintage Gucci canvas bag, and I feel like the odor of the rather old leather lining is too much. I can smell it when I wear the bag and I deemed it needed rescue.

Here are the steps I took to finally make it smell nice.

1. Wipe it clean with non-alcoholic baby wipes. I only did this on the inside of the bag since the exterior is canvas.

2. Air it using a blower in cool setting. Leaving it open to breathe is also acceptable if you are patient.

3. Take an unused or old stocking, and fill it with 2 tablespoons of coffee granules. I used a thick stocking in my case and I made sure that the fiber will not allow any granule to fall out of the holes. Secure the stocking. Put this inside the bag overnight.

4.  Put some flavoured tea bag/s for added absorption, and to replace the bad door with the fresh scent of the tea. Leave this with the coffee granules overnight inside the bag.

5. If the next day you smell that the stink is still present, leave the teabags and the stocking for as long as possible. In my case, the door has significantly decreased after just one night, and I used it the next morning, but I still leave the stocking with the coffee granules with my things inside.

6. For lovely smell, keep your perfume without the cap inside the bag. Or any lotion that has a nice smell.

Aand there you go! Bye bye musty smell!

Do you have other suggestions on how to keep your leather bags smelling nice and clean? Feel free to comment.



Thursday, May 21, 2015

Review: Silk'n ReVit Microdermabrasion



Finally got the time ( and energy ) to write down my thoughts about my newly purchased ReVit.

As I mentioned on my previous posts, I'm a sucker for home based skin care devices. My reason mostly revolves around the fact that I don't like going out of the house after work (yea lame) and it's really expensive to have it done frequently at clinics. Don't get me wrong, i have tried several clinics and services before so I know whether or not it's the same.

So, Silk'n Revit review, here goes!

UNBOXING

The box includes
1 unit for microdermabrasion
3 heads/tips
30 filters
Plug

I was excited and immediately plugged it in. The unused filter looks like this:

I tried it out at the back of my hand to test the strength of the vacuum.
After running it a few times, the filter becomes this:


I'm not really sure if those are really skin, because my feeling is that they are like shreded parts of the tip, like the by product of a sand paper.

First use

I used the fine tip for my face with only one stroke on each area. It was a weekday so I didnt want to irritate my skin if ever there will be any untoward results.

Basically, i think the first level suction setting is just right for the face. It left my skin feeling soft and after that I put on placenta moisturizer. What I noticed os that the moisturizer was better absorbed as I felt plumpiness on my skin when I woke up the next morning.

I will continue using this once a week, if I dont develop any cystic acne. Take note that it is not advised to use this when you have active cystic acne. It will most probably aggravate the cyst and inflame it.

I will have a comparison post, against my previous cosme-awarded microdermabrasion device. (Cosme.net Japanese beauty and skin care journal).

My only question about the Silk'n revit is the lack of hygienic cover or pouch to have the unit and heads stored. Right now I just keep them in a cabinet but it should have a cover for the heads at least.



Sunday, May 17, 2015

How I Controlled my Excessive Hairfall - Almost

----update: 17June2015------

Finally, it seems that I'm making so much progress against my hair loss with my new product! Actually I had it all allong but I was just tooooo lazy to use it.

Here it is!!!!


I started using this since last week. I can say that I have substantially decreased my falling hair!

I use it every day for almost a week now every after shower with a towel dry hair. And it smells nice too!

I noticed that I dont get hair on my hand whenever i stroke my hair with my fingers anymore. Before this, it was horrible! 
My hair started to have life and moisturized. I guess it was really the dryness that caused my dilemma.






-------------
They're on the bathroom floor, on the table top, desk, laptop, and sometimes on the food! It becomes really annoying, alarming and gross.

How much hair fall is really too much?

I didn't do much scientific research for this, it's just that I know that it has become worse. At least I know that around 100 hair should normally fall in a day.

So I have started to act, did some trials, and here's a list of what you could try too if you are suffering the same as I am.

1. Rule out serious diseases, chemotherapies, and the like. If there's a high chance that you don't have any, proceed to next.

2. Pinpoint the estimated season that it has started to become worse. It could be that the weather has become so dry that the static in strands has increased. Maybe here you can find the possible trigger.

3. Change hair care. I realised that when I changed my shampoo and conditioner to tresemme that my hair fall has turned to worse. ( I have tried Tresemme because they were on sale ). Try to switch to a gentler shampoo, first I have tried L'oreal anti-breakage, and switched again to an olive-oil based shampoo. By doing this, I have felt that my hair fall has somehow tamed, but not tamed enough.





4. Massage your scalp with oil. I think any kind of hair care oil will do. I have tried to use Argan Oil of Morocco. ( See my previous post for photos ). Every night before I sleep, I massage my scalp with a generous amount of this oil. In the morning after I shower, I use a palm drop of argan oil on my damp hair before I blow dry. And this bring us to number 5.

5. Invest in a good hair dryer.  If you cannot skip blow drying your hair altogether, better invest in a dryer that has a cool setting.

6. Avoid washing your hair with hot water. This step is kind of difficult for me. When I feel warm enough to be able to do it, I shower my body with the usual hot water but I wash my hair afterwards with lukewarm to cold water. This keeps the moisture in hair strands and consequently reduces static thus reducing breakage.

7. Avoid too much harsh hair style products. I think this goes without saying. I never used any hair styling products since I am very lazy to do it.

8. Fish Oil. I have started to take fish oil supplements for another reason. However, I have noticed that ever since I have started taking fish oil capsules twice a day, my hair fall decreased. I don't have any medical proof to back it up, so I guess it only adds up to being healthy, which bring us to number 9.

9. Drink more water. Eat healthy, and decrease ( or if possible ) stop smoking.

10. Use untangler-type combs instead of brushes, and refrain from brushing your hair while wet. This worked very well for me.

I have been doing most of these things for 3 weeks now, not religiously though. I can say that my bathroom floor still has a few strands, but it is not as bad as before. I hope this post helps!

Friday, May 8, 2015

Silkn Dual Clean : First-Timer Review

-------update 17june2015--------
I hate this now. My breakouts havent subsided ever since, and until now Im struggling in controlling them.
I am looking into what the insurance that came with it covers to see if I can get a refund.

---------
update: (19-may-2015)
It seems that using this had caused me break outs. I said "it seems" because I am unsure if it is the dual clean or the cleanser that I have used with it. I am acne prone, saying the least, but never had this much recently. I stopped using this along with the cleanser and the acne subsided. For the record, I used the lowest setting with less than 30 secs in each area of my face. Duh!
/yuki



Here goes my review for the Silk'n DualClean. I hope that it helps someone decide whether to purchase one or not, one way or another.

Very first time user here. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I was actually torn between Silk'n SonicPlus, DualClean and Clarisonic series.

MY REASON FOR PURCHASE

The reason I picked Dual Clean is because it's the cheapest of the three, and I was not really sure of the differences they offer in terms of functionality. I really think they will all do the job. I also found that replacement brushes for Dual Clean is cheaper.

UNBOXING

The box includes these:


1 unit of DualClean
1 brush with cover
1 cotton pad holder
Batteries
1 pouch bag
Instruction manual


I would like to give a special mention about the pouch bag and the cover. The bag looks elegant and the cover is not something the Sonic has.

It is battery operated which is also very convenient for me as I would like to reduce the cables lying around my apartment. It is also very good for portability reasons.


Now here's where I got a little hesitant. Seems it's a brand from Netherlands, but it was made in China. This kind of coincides with the plastic make, and well, the feel is not really expensive or something well made. Who's complaining? Even Apple is made in China eh? And let's not "judge a book by its cover."

Moving on...

This is the unit. It's very easy to hold by one hand and very light. 


And this is when I changed the head from brush to cotton holder. Not so bad. The head is held by a polygon latch, so unless I drop it and break one segment, i wouldnt really worry about the head falling off.

FIRST TIME USE

I used the cotton pad holder with a, well, cotton pad with make up remover. Maybe I used a bad cotton brand because the cotton sort of disintegrated in the process. I'll try a better pad next time.

And by the way, I was pretty surprised that it rotates. I was expecting it to be just pulsating or vibrating like my Neutrogenia Microdermabrasion System (hmm, should I maybe have a review on that?).

I replaced the head with the brush after I have washed it with warm water and used a cleanser on my face. I prefer that I put the cleanser on my face instead of the head, though it seems it's your choice, so that the cleanser is used evenly.

The bristles are really soft, and feels really nice on my skin, so this is a plus. I think the manual says not to exceed 30 seconds on each area. The way it rotates is also very gentle on my skin. 

All in all I am happy with this product, as my face felt really clean after. My toner also shows that no trace of makeup lingered, and not even my face sunscreen. So it works!

I will update this post after a few weeks to show durability and effects.

In summary:

WHY I LIKE IT:

Costs less than $35, cheaper than my other choices
Replacement available
The brush has a cover
Battery-operated, very portable
Soft bristles, gentle rotation
Pouch bag for travel or storage

CONS 

Cannot be used while in the shower - I don't mind

No timer or sound to signify that you are using it too long in an area - I can count

I have doubts on durability - I will update this after weeks of use


I hope this review helped. Your decent comments/corrections/thoughts are welcome.



Silk'n ReVit Microdermabrasion and DualClean

Just purchased new toys today!

Did I mention that I'm a fan of home-use beauty machines?


For many reasons, practicality and time constraints to name two, I am always opting to have portable and "clinical" machines for home use. I like the fact that I wouldn't need to book an appointment or pay a lot of money to skin clinics, so I am very happy when I see these kinds of products. 

By the way I already have a Japanese brand diamond-peel machine but I thought that this one is more portable.
I also thought a lot about choosing PMD
; but since silk'n is cheaper then I'll give it a try!

Regarding the silk'n DualClean, I was torn between Silk'n Sonic Clean, this, and the Clarisonic products. Again, practicality kicked in. I mean, why not start trying with the cheapest one, since I cannot really figure out what's the difference in functionality. This I gotta see.

Let me remind you guys that all my reviews are honest and unsponsored. I bought (and will buy) all products that I will review. Of course, if ever they are sponsored ( unlikely! ) then I would absolutely say so.

Stay tuned for my separate reviews of the two!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

My Hopes Up on Argan Oil

OIFor the past few months, I have been struggling with uncontrollable hair fall. I would assume that my routine probably is the culprit, as I wash my hair and shampoo everyday, blow dry every morning and I use hot water to shower. But then again, it wasn't really this bad before.

So I decided I have to do something now before my scalp starts showing.

I didn't do any research, just that my gut feeling tells me I need to massage my scalp more often ( I never do! ), and to do that I needed some kind of oil.

Saw this in the drug store, so let's see. I have my hopes up for this oil....


Argan Oil of Morocco




Ironically, it's not made in Morocco...



Here are the ingredients:


I was expecting this list to be a bit shorter, with mostly ARGAN OIL. But let's see...

The smell is nice, not too strong.

Non-sticky.

I will update this post after a week of using it everyday.