Lifestyle | Good Reasons To Ditch Your Contacts and Stick With Glasses

 

When we first start wearing glasses, most of us dream of the day that we can finally get rid of them. Perhaps you hate having those large frames on your face or maybe you’re just tired of maintaining them and keeping them clean. Perhaps you’ve considered laser eye surgery as a long-term solution to correct your vision, or maybe you’re interested in a number of other surgeries that can help you get rid of your glasses.

Regardless of your circumstances, perhaps the most common and effective way to be free of your glasses is to wear contact lenses. However, there are a surprising number of people who are now ditching their contacts in favour of putting on their specs once again. But why? Why are people going back to their glasses if an option such as contact lenses exists? In this post, we’ll be covering some of the best reasons why you might want to ditch your contacts and stick with your glasses.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/qmnpqDwla_E (CC0)

Glasses can be cheaper if you know where to look

Contact lenses are fairly inexpensive these days. Even daily disposables are affordable especially if you mix them with wearing your glasses like you normally would. However, most people don’t realize that glasses can also be quite affordable if you know where to look.

For example, you can actually ask your optometrist for details about your prescription. They often don’t tell you because they know you’re likely to go and purchase glasses from another service for a lower price. However, they’re obliged to tell you and will eventually give up the numbers if they’re hesitant at first. Once you have your prescription, you can browse around for frames with a stylish shape, frames from designer brands and much cheaper options than what the optometrist can offer. This helps you save a huge amount of money on glasses and can be even cheaper than lenses in some cases.

Glasses can look fantastic if you treat them as a fashion accessory

More and more people are starting to think of their glasses not as a necessity but a fashion accessory that can transform your look. It’s a great addition to any outfit and can look rather stunning if you pair it with the right clothes. You might need to invest in a pair of designer glasses to truly get a unique look, but there are also plenty of cheaper options if you’re willing to browse around and look for offers and lesser-known brands. Unlike other fashion accessories and clothes, brand names don’t really mean too much in the world of glasses.

The key here is to pick glasses that are suitable for your face shape. You generally want to pick frames that oppose the facial features you have. For instance, if you have a round face then picking glasses with sharp angles and straight edges can contrast your face and look amazing. By identifying your face shape, you’ll be more aware of the types of glasses that suit your appearance.

Glasses can actually be less maintenance than contact lenses

When people first get contact lenses they often feel overwhelmed at the amount of work it takes to put them on in the morning. Sure, you’ll eventually get used to it, but what about all the other little annoyances that you have to worry about? For example, you might find yourself struggling to take them out after a long day at work, they might dry your eyes out more than a regular pair of glasses and you might get tired of maintaining them with your contact lens solution and case. It can be surprisingly annoying to wear lenses every day which is why a lot of people still carry around their glasses in the event something happens to their lenses.

So even if you don’t want to completely get rid of your lenses, it’s always a good idea to keep your glasses around. You’ll find that this is especially true if you’re new to wearing contact lenses and are still going through the honeymoon period of trying them. If you find that you can’t really get over the adjustment period then we’d highly suggest ditching your contacts and just sticking to your glasses. They’re a lot easier to wear, they come in lots of different designs and they won’t dry out your eyes as much. They’re far less maintenance in the long run and can even help you save money if you know where to buy your glasses.

Review | Lyanature.co Fleur Ball Twin Klenzer

Upon entering my 30s, I had to give away many of my skincare products especially those for sebum controlling as my skin had transitioned to a much drier side. While my skin feels normal on my best skin days, my T-zone is no longer feels oily. 

With the changes, the first type of product that I switch out with dry skin-compatible product is facial cleanser. While I can still use all of my first cleansers which are mostly oil-based cleansers, I can no longer use harsh, high pH water-based cleansers that contain alcohol and sodium lauryl sulfate; at least not when these two drying ingredients are listed in the first half of the ingredients list. 

As I was searching for gentle cleansers I can use for my dry and sensitive skin days, I have discovered this South Korean brand, Lyanature.co which is co-founded by one of the top Korean actress, Lee Young Ae who also a brand ambassador of one of the most prestigious Korean skincare brand, The History of Whoo. But above all that, the sole reason why I decided to invest a bit more in this brand is because the ingredients in their products are zero hazard level assessed by EWG. 

High points of this soap! There are 2 different ball cleansers to be used together for elastic and brightening effect. Basically, both cleansers have Camellia Seed Oil, Olive Oil, highly-enriched Red Ginseng extract with botanic neroli essential oil.

• Oleic acid from Camellia Seed Oil for soft, elastic skin.
• Olive Oil that is known for its moisturising properties and great for dry skin.
• Saponin contains in Red Ginseng Extract helps enhance skin's elasticity and fortify the skin for healthy, glowing complexion.

While the Bright Tone cleanser contains Organic Raw Grains like whole wheat, rice and potato, the Elastic cleanser contains mung bean and black bean that are long-known to be good for anti-aging and radiance skin. Each cleanser comes in 50g (dry) or 55g (wet) size so I estimated that this actually lasts for about 4 months, used twice daily.

Ingredients list:

• Fleur Ball Bright Tone Klenzer: Camellia Seed Oil, Olive Oil, Organic Raw Grains (whole wheat, rice, potato starch), Highly enriched Red Ginseng Extract, botanic essential oil (neroli).
• Fleur Ball Elastic Klenzer: Camellia Seed Oil, Olive Oil, Organic Raw Grains (black bean, mung bean, potato starch), Highly enriched Red Ginseng Extract, botanic essential oil (neroli).

PACKAGING

 

The facial cleanser comes in a box with Korean product description printed at the bottom of the box with the expiry date in YYYY.MM.DD (Year.Month.Day) format.

There's also a small leaflet with instruction on how to use although in Korean as well.

 

Originally, you can purchase the cleansers separately but this is more of a limited edition product where 2 ball cleansers come in an earthenware which can also be used in various ways as a decorative piece for the home interior as well. The brand was designed in collaboration with creative director, Bo Kyung Lee.

 

The ball cleansers came within a mesh bag with a thin grey ribbon to secure its opening by using the metal pin. I've noticed that the mesh bag has a double  lining which is to create plenty of soft foam.

As shown above, that's how the actual ball cleansers look like; the Bright Tone cleanser with visible organic grains in it while the plain-looking one being the Elastic cleanser that contains mung bean and black bean extracts for anti-aging benefits therefore using these together is to achieve  soft and smooth-looking skin while being nourished with phytonutrients from the plant extracts.

 APPLICATION

 

To use this, you can simply put the cleansers in the mesh bag and make plenty of foam by adding water to it. The foam feels soft and so fluffy on my skin! It is easy to rinse off in a sense that it is not too soapy so these cleansers take less time and water. It has a subtle neroli scent to it which has recently became one of my favourite scent therefore it doesn't bother me at all but you might want to consider if you are sensitive to essential oil.

THOUGHTS

When it comes to this type of cleanser, I would prefer to use it as my morning cleanser as my skin usually feels a bit drier in the morning; yes, I still can't give up sleeping in air-conditioned room.

After using these cleansers for over three months now, I find that not only they don't make my dehydrated skin even drier as there's that slightly oily film left on my skin but also they don't irritate my redness-prone area at all. I feel that my skin feeling so soft to touch after every single wash.

I'm still quite impressed with how minimal the ingredients list is and it was thanks to the brand's low temperature treatment that have made it possible to extract raw plant nutrients which also helps in preserving the nutrients better than the regular hydrothermal process.

While I do consider these cleansers as hydrating cleansers so I usually follow up with layers of soothing, hydrating or brightening toner then use a lightweight moisturiser as a sealant to my routine prior tone-up sunscreen or base makeup application.

 

How to store these cleansers is to just simply let them in the mesh bag after properly rinsing them off with lukewarm water and then hang them on the wall just like that but once they dried out, I'd keep them in the earthenware they came with to avoid water contamination in between uses as shown below.

Overall, I give these cleansers 5/5. They work very well especially during my sensitive skin days and while the products from this brand are more on the pricier side, I'd be investing more in them because of the sensorial experience I've been having while using the products. In addition, I personally find the design and concept of the whole brand is very much appealing which can be seen from its beautiful packaging to the minimal ingredients in their products.

I guess that's all from me and definitely let me know if you're using facial soaps by leaving comments down below so I guess  I'll be seeing you guys on my next post. Take care!

Review | Shu Uemura Reset Tint Remover & Lip Conditioner

Are you guilty of carrying more than 3 lipsticks on your makeup bag? It is definitely not intentional at all as I always grab the one lip colour that I actually want to wear off my makeup organisers and throw it into my makeup bag prior heading out to work in the morning totally unaware that I've accumulated so much in there. I personally stick to more wearable colours throughout the day; mostly nudes for more natural looks but whenever I need to attend some evening events or hanging out with my friends, I would go for bolder and intense lip colours.

You probably would have noticed this already, most of these lip colours featured here are long-wearing liquid lipsticks and lip tints so removing them can be a bit of work so I checked out @cosme The Best Cosmetic Award around mid last year and discovered this product as one of the winner for Best Cleanser category.

What you need to know!

Basically it is a lip remover that effortlessly takes off stubborn lip makeup and gently exfoliates lips to make them smoother and softer, which helps lip color last longer.

• This product has a breakthrough formula that acts like a priming cleanser. Tint-melting technology dissolves pigments and breaks the bond between pigment and lips, so even long-lasting lipsticks and lip tints are easily removed with no need to rub strongly.
• With breakthrough polishing technology, this product wraps around dead skin cells to gently exfoliate lips, making lips look and feel healthier.

Capacity: 30ml - about 2 to 3 months of daily use with cotton pads. 

Manufacturing Country: Japan

Ingredients list: Aqua, Propanediol, Glycerin, Maris Aqua, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Arginine, Coco-Betaine, Acrylates/Beheneth-25 Methacrylate Copolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Acrylates Copolymer, Capryl Glycol, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil, Limonene, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Saccharin, Linalool, Citral. Code F.I.L.: C224387/1

Packaging:

 

This product comes in a white paper box with simple design and there’s English ingredients list printed at the back side of the box for your easy reference. I would like to highlight that this lip makeup remover contains Linalool and Limonene; potential allergens so you might want to consider if your skin cannot or have low tolerant toward these two fragrance ingredients.

Do note that this product has only 6 months of Period-After-Opening (PAO). There’s also official distributor stickers where the Barcode and Batch Number were printed on. Generally, Shu Uemura products have 3 years of shelf life.

 

On the other small side of the box, there's instruction on how to properly use the product.
Note that this product is not merely to remove your stubborn lip tints or liquid lipsticks prior your facial makeup remover but also to condition your lips before applying your base makeup. By the time you apply your choice of lip colours, your lips will be ready to dress.

There's a small manufacturing date sticker at the bottom of the box but in the case that it is not available, you can simply punch the Batch Code number into cosmetic analyser around the Internet.

 

Basically, the product comes in a medium-sized white plastic tube with red colour across the middle part of it, highlighting the product name with simple Japanese product description at the back.

Again, there's the Manufacturing Date printed at the top of the tube itself and the format is YYMMDD (Year-Month-Day).

 

The product comes with an airless pump that works greatly in dispensing the appropriate amount for a single application.


Application:

 

As I have mentioned before, there are 2 ways of using this product and the first one is to condition the lips. You can simply use the tip of your finger to smooth out the product on your lips like most lip balms if you want but I personally would prefer to use cotton swabs or cotton buds.

I would dispense 1 to 2 pumps onto the tip then run it across my lips once on my upper and lower lip and let the product sit for about 5 to 10 seconds before I gently wipe off any excess or residue on lips. Although I cannot really see the difference but I can definitely feel that my lips become smoother after doing this.

Here, I have attempted to remove some long-wearing lip tints that I have and I was quite surprised with the result. The above are some lip products that I've been obsessing a lot with lately; Dior Addict Lip Tattoo, Shu Uemura Matte Supreme, Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Cheek and Lip Stain,Innisfree Vivid Cotton Ink, Lilybyred x Esther Bunny Mood Liar Velvet Tint and the most recent would be LANEIGE Tattoo Lip Tint as I'm all about long-wearing makeup these days.

I have swatched all the products at the back of my hand, waited for about 15 minutes for all of them to dries down properly as I want to show how well this product work!

 

For the purpose of this demonstration, I've dispensed some of the product directly onto the swatches instead of cotton pad, usually 3 to 4 pumps and just let it sit for a good 5 to 10 seconds. Then I simply wiped off half of the swatches with cotton pad.


Thoughts:

As you can see above, all the swatches that I wiped off were gone! I usually just use my oil-based cleansers to remove the most stubborn liquid lipsticks that I have but I finally find a lip makeup remover that I can use say for example, in between doing swatches for lip products but mostly I use this product when I want to change my wearable day lip colours to bold ones for night makeup looks rather quickly prior getting off work.

With that said, I probably need to carry this product in much smaller bottle to include in my makeup bag but this product contains merely 30ml worth of product so the whole tube is considerably lightweight so I don't mind carrying it with me.

Overall, I give this product 5/5. I love it and absolutely obsessed with it! Obviously here this product works well and does not irritate at all; giving my mouth area some redness or anything. Also I found that a little goes a long way with this product as you really need a small amount to remove your lip makeup.

I've gotten my first bottle last year but recently Shu Uemura had teamed up with The Pokemon Company and released an entire collection featuring Pikachu so I grabbed one for myself because it is just so cute!

I guess that's all from me so I'll be seeing you guys on my next post. Annyeong~

Beauty Empties 24.0 | March

Two weeks into MCO, how are you guys doing? I've been going at my emptied products; cleaning them, organising them and running around my apartment looking for more. Obviously running out of things to do so here's my beauty empties for the past quarter of 2020!

Using more and more quite intense anti-bacterial soaps so I'm upping my body lotion game to avoid dehydration.

I guess that's all from me and I'll be seeing you guys on my next Empties post! Take care and stay at home!

Review | AXIS-Y Skincare for Our Malaysian Tropical Weather

It has been over a year now since I have started incorporating skin barrier-repairing products into my daily skincare routines because honestly, most of my stash of products are single-functional; either they're simply hydrating or brightening with variable consistencies so I actually do need a separate set of soothing and calming (to tone down the redness-prone area) to complement the rest of my skincare products.

I have been adding these products from AXIS-Y mostly in my morning skincare routine for about 2 months now and I actually do love them especially the duo-moisturiser but first, let's get into the exfoliating toner; the first step after cleansing.

AXIS-Y DAILY PURIFYING TREATMENT TONER

Product Description:

• Has a unique formulation containing six premium natural ingredients along with 0.5% of Salicylic Acid (BHA) that helps to gently exfoliate, remove dead skin cells as this works from deep within the pores to clean and dissolve impurities while minimising pores and controlling the excess oil, leading to a clearer, breakout-free complexion.
• Tea tree and Centella Asiatica extracts soothe redness, calm irritated skin, control sebum production and offer hydration; giving a glowing, healthy complexion.

How to use: After cleansing, use a cotton pad soaked with toner and gently spread the liquid over facial area. Follow up with the rest of your skincare routine.

Ingredients: Here's a link to SkinCarisma.com

Packaging:

  

This toner comes in its own box with a minimal design which suits product concept in keeping a simple routine when skin barrier is being compromised.

There's product description, a little bit of visualisation and ingredients list printed at the sides of the box for your reference.

  

The toner comes in a simple, transparent green bottle like that which is convenient for me to see how much product actually left. 

There's no pump but the toner is watery enough to be simply poured onto cotton pads and the product expiry date is printed at the bottom of the bottle as you can see in the above photo with the format of YYYYMMDD.

APPLICATION

 

The texture of the toner is very watery so I always use a textured cotton pad as shown above to go with any exfoliating toner to simply  help with sloughing of dead skin cells. All I do is gently drag the cotton pad across my facial area from in outward direction.

There isn't much of scent to this toner other than lemon-fresh which is nice to me. 

Now, let's go to the treatment product of this skincare line!

AXIS-Y ARTICHOKE INTENSIVE SKIN BARRIER AMPOULE

Product Description:

• Has a unique formulation containing six premium natural ingredients along with a high concentration of artichoke extract and beneficial skin technology.
• The rich supply of antioxidants found in artichoke strengthens the skin's barrier and prevents loss of moisture, tightens pores to reduce appearance and improve skin texture. for a visibly healthier complexion.

How to Use: After cleansing and toning, apply a moderate amount of ampoule onto the skin and gently pat in for a better absorption. Follow with a moisturiser for a long-lasting effect.

Ingredients:: Here's a link to SkinCarisma.com

Packaging:

  

This ampoule comes in its own box with a minimal design which suits product concept in keeping a simple routine when skin barrier is being compromised.

There's product description, a little bit of visualisation and ingredients list printed at the sides of the box for your convenience.

  

This ampoule comes in that simple, transparent green bottle like that which is convenient for me to see how much product actually left and instead of a pump, you'll need to use the pipette to take out an appropriate amount of the product which is preferable to me as I won't know how much I really need at each application; it really depends on my skin condition on that day.

As this ampoule is quite concentrated to begin with, I merely dispensed like 2 to 5 drops of it and focusing on the sides of my nose and forehead where .

The product expiry date is printed at the bottom of the bottle as you can see in the above photo with the format of YYYYMMDD.

APPLICATION

 

The texture of the ampoule is quite thick like most ampoules but even with light finger taps on the facial area, the product is well-absorbed into skin while giving slight soothing sensation and leaving nice smooth finish; ready for the next step.

There is a little bit of lavender scent to this ampoule which I'm not really a big fan of but it's still good as it's quite subtle.

Last but not least, let's go to the duo-moisturiser!

AXIS-Y CERA-HEART MY TYPE DUO CREAM

Product Description:

• Features two completely unique cream formulation to tend skin's moisturising needs.
• The T-zone Cream is a lightweight, Heartleaf-based cream that hydrates oily skin while the U-zone cream is a rich, Ceramide-based cream that nourishes dry skin.

How to Use: Use the provided spatula to scoop the desired cream and apply on the appropriate areas.

Ingredients:: Here's a link to SkinCarisma.com

Packaging:

   

This moisturiser comes in its own box with a minimal design which suits product concept in keeping a simple routine when skin barrier is being compromised.

There's product description, a little bit of visualisation and ingredients list printed in Korean and English at the sides of the box for your reference.

 

The duo-cream is housed within a transparent green tub with an inner opaque white tub. The product expiry date is printed at the bottom of the bottle as you can see in the above photo with the format of YYYYMMDD.

 

Such a nice thing that this moisturiser comes with its own spatula that fits in between the cap and the inner lid.

The inner tub is with 2 compartments for the creams respectively which is nice although you might want to be careful and not drop it as the creams mixed a little bit actually.

APPLICATION

  

As you can see in the above photos, the blue cream is the T-zone; lightweight while the white cream is slightly thicker but still gel-like although once spread well and even on skin, both creams leave a nice, smooth and well-hydrated feeling on skin.

THOUGHTS

AXIS-Y Daily Purifying Treatment Toner

• Living in hot tropical country and working in cold workplace tends to drive my skin condition into a roller-coaster situation; dealing with my flaky facial area and accumulated dead skin cells and abrasive physical exfoliator is absolute no-no for me so while I'm aware that my skin is not big on BHA-containing toner, this is gentle enough for me to use once or twice a week at most.
• I always use this exfoliating toner in my evening skincare routine and layering Hyaluronic Acid-containing toners on top is a crucial step for me. I would be careful not to overuse BHA-containing toner because I might further sensitised my redness-prone facial area but so far so good! No irritation whatsoever.
• I do appreciate that while this toner helps with exfoliating my skin, it doesn't make my skin feeling dry or anything even though I accidentally forgot to layer another toner and merely applied a lightweight moisturiser on top.

AXIS-Y Artichoke Intensive Skin Barrier

• After my skin barrier was damaged (again!) back in December last year, I began looking for more soothing and hydrating treatment skincare product because I’m lacking the patience of layering several different treatment products especially when my skin just feels so uncomfortable at the time with blemishes all over my mouth area.
• I really do love the texture of this ampoule. Fast-absorbing, calming and can be used in any of my daily skincare.
• I have severe pore situations these days so I haven’t been seeing much changes in that department.
• While I have never tried any other products containing the featured ingredient; artichoke, having Aloe, Hyaluronic Acid, Centella Asiatica, Licorice Root Extract in a single treatment product like this is already quite intriguing to me.

AXIS-Y Cera-Heart My Type Duo Cream

• While I juggle different sunscreens on daily basis, I'd prefer to layer lightweight moisturisers underneath so my base makeup can still glide on evenly. If I were to use sleeping mask at night, I'd go to simple occlusive-containing moisturiser to layer underneath.
• I do indulge myself in a lot of chemical SPFs these days, the blue cream made me went back to my neglected tone-up sunscreens that I've ditched as I found them a bit drying compared to before my skin barrier got damaged due to allergic reactions. The cream simply makes my skin feels well-hydrated all day long.
• I can't give up sleeping in air-conditioned room but why do I have to? The ceramide-containing white cream helps sealing all the moisture in and even on its own, my skin still feel nice and smooth i.e. no dryness in the morning. I know the brand is giving us Malaysian people a solution in dealing with our hot and humid weather, I just want to say outright that this cream works greatly with my currently dehydrated skin. I really feel like I'm getting close to my normal to oily skin again and yes, I miss my sebum-controlling powders!

Overall, I find all these three products are working well with my currently dehydrated skin and am absolutely sure to keep having them in my skincare routine to really a more significant result.

All these products are currently available to purchase on Marshear Malaysia; linked down below.

So I guess that's all for now and do let me know your thoughts on this skin barrier-repairing line by leaving comments down below. I'll be seeing you guys on my next post. Annyeong~

|||   SHOP THE POST   |||

Axis-Y Daily Purifying Treatment Toner 200ml

Axis-Y Artichoke Intensive Skin Barrier Ampoule 30ml

Axis-y Cera-Heart My Type Duo Cream 60ml

||| Official links |||

Official Website | https://www.axis-y.com/

Official Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/axisy_official/

Distributor | https://shopee.com.my/marshearbeauty/

Disclaimer: Links provided are non-affiliated. This product was sent to me for review purposes and all opinions here are based on my personal use of the products.