Inspirational Talk – My Beautiful Hero-ine, my Wonder-Mummy

For the Heroes in our Lives 

Even before I was born into the world, mummy had a hard time delivering me. I was then only about 42-43 weeks old but was already too comfortable to get out of mummy’s tummy, causing her much discomfort. She has never gave up on me since that very moment when she risked her life to bring me into this world. Ironically, I was born on 9th August and am proud to be part of Singapore today.

My elder brother was 5 and I was 3 when my dad passed away due to a severe cold virus. We had to sell our business and move to Singapore. Only at the age of 25, mummy was suffering from a broken heart but with us in mind, she strived to live on and brought us up singlehandedly.

Mummy gave up her youth for us. She never left our sides as we grew up and never ever said no to any of my requests, no matter how ridiculous they sounded. We struggled much with the language when we first came to Singapore, not knowing how to speak any other language other than Bahasa Indonesia. Till date, I have never had any problem blending into the Singaporean culture because mummy never gave up. She was always both the strict father and loving mother that every child needs and we had nothing short of a complete family.

Even after getting married to the most important man in my life, I never fail to give constant thanks to mummy who is always there quietly, supporting us in everything we do. She still loses sleep and gets worried about us when we fall sick or are facing problems in life. Mummy never fails to prepare our favourite food and bakes, making sure we eat and are rested well, and always checking on whether we have arrived at work and home safely.

In everyone’s lives, there is always one or more than one Hero or Heroine who will be there to support us and help us fulfill our dreams. This person inspires us and never gives up on us, and never ever asked for anything in return. I too, have a significant Heroine in my life and as cliché as it sounds, she is my wonder-mummy!

If you would like to contribute by sharing your stories about your own heroes, feel free to do so here: www.thatsmyfairprice.com.sg! FairPrice is providing avenues for Singaporeans to share their stories on the website, outdoor interviews and radio dial-in, and these stories will be showcased on a virtual cake and an actual cake installation!

I would love to read all about your stories so remember to contribute them and I will be checking out the website from time to time! :D

Beauty Talk - Vitamin C for healthy skin

Many of us take Vitamin C orally, be it chewable or tablets regularly, but how many of us actually realized that our skin needs Vitamin C when very little of the oral Vitamin C reaches the skin when orally ingested.  Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation and environmental pollutants can accelerate skin aging by degrading collagen and triggering oxidative stress in the skin. Fortunately, the anti-aging benefits of a time-honored remedy used by ancient civilizations to heal their skin can help overcome these undesirable effects. Vitamin C is an essential component in the body’s production of collagen and a potent antioxidant that can help rejuvenate aged and photo damaged skin.  When incorporated into your daily skincare lineup, well-formulated products containing vitamin C can provide a range of benefits that keep your skin younger-looking, longer!  Some of the benefits of C: 

• Reduce the appearance of brown spots and other types of sun damage
• Helps boost healthy collagen production (hello, firmer skin!) 
• Reduce inflammation and irritation, both of which cause a cascade of damage 
• Fade post-breakout red marks by improving skin’s natural healing response 
• Increase the effectiveness of your sunscreens and boosts your skins defense against UV exposure

Dermagold Miracle C+

The star product of Dermagold, Miracle C+ is a silky smooth high performance concentrated 18% Vitamin C Ester serum. Multi-functioning product with anti-oxidant, anti-age, anti-pigment, anti- inflammatory and anti-wrinkle properties. Formulated in a base of hyaluronic acid to boost, protect and restore skin. Another good news is that it is so suitable for oil control!

The texture is light and smooth so I really love it! It contains ingredients like organic herbal infusion, aloe vera, jojoba oil, etc and is paraben-free!

Well the good news is that you can win a dual prize for whiter and brighter skin which includes the Dermagold Miracle C+ ($69) and a Hadara Essential Facial ($98) (worth a total of $167).

All you need to do is:

1. Like Dermagold.sg (www.facebook.com/Dermagold) Facebook page 
2. Like and share this post (Only public shares valid) 
3. Tag 3 friends and Tell us why you would like to win the prizes in the comments box below this post

Contest ends 12 April 2015. Winners will be announced here on Dermagold's Facebook page on 20 April 2015. Good luck! :P

*Do note only public shares and those living in Singapore are eligible

Beauty Talk – NIVEA Make Up Clear

[Sponsored post]

Working in the fitness industry, I have gotten used to leaving home bare-faced, with just sunscreen on. Therefore, I have always had a habit of removing my makeup first thing I get home because I can’t seem to feel at ease with makeup on. Not sure if you were also facing the same issue, I realized my makeup was always not fully removed even after double and triple cleansing! Even the most expensive makeup remover I had ever purchased could not solve this, so I ended up with clogged pores, acne and sometimes mild breakouts after.

I was privileged to be invited to attend the new product launch of the NIVEA Make Up Clear Range a few weeks ago and learnt a lot more about how to take care of my skin. Because #goodthingsmustshare, I’m going to share with you what I learnt from the experts!

NIVEA Make Up Clear product launch

I’m sure NIVEA doesn’t sound foreign at all, I grew up using NIVEA and recently wrote about the NIVEA Deodorant (click on the link if you have missed that) and I can’t say how much the brand has grown over the years and constantly improving effectiveness of the products, yet still superior in terms of care and mildness. Best of all, its widely available at affordable prices!

With gorgeous Evonne and Mongchin

The event was hosted at Top Deck, along Upper Thomson Road and it felt sooo good to be amongst so many gorgeous ladies all gathered to talk about beauty and skincare over yummy food and cakes! :P

We were each given a plush and a range of products, and of course some yummy refreshments before the presentation started.

Checking out the pretty demo booth at a corner of the café

Make up for us to play with and test out the NIVEA products

The presentation started shortly after and we learnt about how makeup can actually damage our skin and increase the tendency for clogged pores and therefore acne. Using too much make up can also make wrinkles more apparent. It is so important to remove makeup properly because the lack of proper makeup removal can cause premature skin ageing.

The Star Product, focus of this launch is the NIVEA Make Up Clear 3-in-1 Mud Cleanser, designed for light make up users, it can remove 10 types of makeup for 10x fairer*, water-like looking skin! (* 10x better whitening efficacy than vitamin C, based on in-vitro study of Pearl Whitening Complex by Beiersdorf AG Germany.).

The NIVEA Make Up Clear 3-in-1 Mud Cleanser provides 3 effects in 1 use!

1. Apply as Mud Mask to absorb makeup & unclog pores
2. At the touch of water, turns into Makeup Remover to remove 10 types of Makeup
 
    The 10 types of Make Up include:

1. Make up base 
2. Concealer 
3. Foundation 
4. Bronzer 
5. Blusher 
6. BB Cream 
7. Powder 
8. Brow Pencil 
9. Tinted Moisturizer 
10. Tinted Sunscreen

3. Cleanses as foam with whitening effect

For heavy makeup which includes waterproof and eye makeup, you may want to use the Make Up Clear Micellar Water & Make Up Clear Cleansing wipes for double cleansing to ensure all makeup are thoroughly removed. There is actually no need for unnecessary double or even triple cleansing if you do not have heavy makeup (times you include eye makeup) on.

So, the presentation ended with a fun demo by the NIVEA Girl, Xin Lin.

She started with applying layers of the usual light makeup (sunscreen, bb/cc cream), and added some concealer on her forearm.

After which, she first removed with the 3-in-1 Mud Cleanser and then ended off wiping using the Micellar Water to assure the audience that the makeup is fully off and skin is clearer and more radiant after cleansing.

The session then carried on with some mingling around, followed by the recording of our video appearance, which I was very shy about! :P

I tried the Micellar Water and then 3-in-1 Mud Cleanser as soon as I got home and love the clean feeling right after cleansing so I continued using it, and am still using it now – Micellar Water when I have eye makeup on and the 3-in-1 Mud Cleanser when I have light makeup or just tinted sunscreen on. On some days, I will switch between the 3-in-1 Foam Cleanser as well as the 3-in-1 Scrub. Having been on the products for 2-3 weeks, I’m still very much in love with the results considering that my skin is very thin and it has always been very sensitive to certain products.

I actually have both the Micellar Water and 3-in-1 Mud Cleanser (especially) in my huge gym bag almost everyday because it’s so convenient! The product range will be available in Watsons, Guardian and hypermarts in Singapore and I’m so glad that now, its not expensive to not only smell good but look clean and good! :D

For latest news and updates on NIVEA products, feel free to LIKE the Facebook page!