April 2013 BELLABOX

Hey guys!

Here’s the April Bellabox 🙂 (Sorry that it’s so close to the March Bellabox… Just wanted to post this whilst it’s relevant!).

See the opening of my Bellabox on Youtube!

This month’s theme is Innovative Beauty!

April Bellabox: Innovative Beauty

This month’s box is filled with things that I’m really excited about – a nice change to the last couple of month’s!

April Bellabox: Innovative Beauty

Cellilux Deep Sea Secret Glacial Mineral Gel

Cellilux Deep Sea Secret Glacial Mineral Gel

First off we have a product with the world’s longest name…!
This is essentially a face mask that’s supposed to draw out positively charged bacteria and impurities.

Positively charged… that’s new to me. I didn’t know there were positively or negatively charged particles!
Either way, I’m excited to try this simply because I’m looking for a good face mask. Hopefully this will help with my impurities and black heads!

Orofluido Hair Elixir

Orofluido Hair Elixir

This elixir is apparently jam packed with argan, linseed and cyperus oil, giving your hair silkiness, lightness and shine! And apparently it’s supposed to work on any hair type in any condition.
This will be really good for my hair because I’ve been struggling with dry roots and a dry scalp.

I haven’t previously been too inclined towards using oils since I have oily hair and my skin is oily as well. But argan oil and all these other natural oils are the latest craze! It’s supposed to be really food for all skin and hair types and supposed to provide a nourishment. So… I’m EXCIIIITED!

Indio Multi-V Serum

Indio Multi-V Serum

This serum is supposed to be packed with vitamins A, H & F to keep skin healthy, beautiful and strong. That’s the marketing grab anyway.
I on the other hand I am entranced by the little blue, pink and white balls mixed in the serum! Not sure what they’re for, but it looks really pretty against the clear serum and silver packaging!

I’m also pretty excited about trying this since I just finished my Clinique Pore Minimiser and was looking for another serum to try.

Avene Micellar Lotion

Avene Micellar Lotion

Miracle lotion alert! This Avene Micellar Lotion is supposed to be a 3-1 product: removes make-up, cleanses and tones all at the time whilst not even requiring water to wash the product off!

I’m not sure about the whole “no need to wash after using this product” scheme.
Personally, if I’m trying to take off my make up at the end of the day, I’m thinking that I’d need more than a cotton pad soaked with a lotion. With the residue of the day and left over make-up that’s not mopped up by this lotion, I would normally prefer to give my face a good rinse afterwards.

I’ll give this a go, but I’m not quite the believer at the moment…

Rimmel BB Cream in Medium

Rimmel BB Cream in Medium

With the increase of popularity with BB Creams in Asia, the western market is starting to bring out all sorts of versions of the BB Cream. Rimmel’s BB Cream has an SPF 25, containing 9 different skin properties to help smooth out the skin tone and impurities.

It doesn’t quite list what the 9 skin perfecting properties are, but this BB Cream is supposed to smooth, mattify, illuminate, brighten, minimise pores and protect with SPF.

It’ll be good to try this and compare it to the Asian BB Creams that I have tried, but I’m not sure about the colouring. It looks a little dark for my skin tone…

Lash Card

Lash Card

Now THIS is another product that I’m excited to try!
This has been on the market for awhile, but I haven’t gotten around to getting my hands on it.

Essentially it’s just a piece of cardboard that sits behind your upper or lower lashes to prevent the skin from being stained by the application of mascara.
This is great for anyone who has longer lashes or very curled lashes that might bend back and press onto the eye lid during mascara application.

I… do not have that problem. My lashes point STRAIGHT DOWN – it’s a miracle that eyelash curlers and waterproof mascara can hold onto any curl in my lashes.

I’m more excited to use this for my lower lashes though since when applying mascara, the product tends to get onto the skin beneath my eyes. The card has a small curve and large curve on both sides to fit either to top or bottom of your eye area.

The edges of the card can also help separate lashes and remove clumping from excess mascara!

It can also be a great shield of flaking mascara or any pigments dropping down to the cheek area when loose eye shadows are applied.

I’m evidently going to crack straight into these babies the moment I’m done blogging!

Eylure Naturalites Falsies

Eylure Naturalites

And last but not least, the April Bellabox had Eylure Naturalites falsies!
YAY! Yet another product that I’m super excited about!

These false lashes are great since they’ve got a nice natural look and volume – unlike some that are marketed as “natural” but looks more drag than anything else…

This set also comes with glue so it’ll be great for anyone that is just starting out on trying false lashes and haven’t got any materials to work with.

Just a note to those who are starting out with falsies: If you have dead set straight lashes like myself, you’ll want to give your lashes a good curl first before you apply any falsies. This will help your lashes curl similarly to the false ones and blend in a whole lot better 🙂

That’s it for the April Bellabox!
Let me know what you guys got and whether you’re happy with your Bellaboxes!

For now though…

Lovelove,

Rean.

Mini HAUL: Priceline (again)

Hi guys!

If you guys follow me on Twitter (@reanspeaks), you’ll know that I did a mini haul at Priceline on Friday.
I was in there to buy a recommended shampoo and conditioner, but I’m so glad this only ended up being a mini haul! – there were ridiculous sales on everything!

DermaVeen Oatmeal Shampoo & Conditioner

DermaVeen Shampoo & Conditioner

I’ve been experiencing a very VERY dry scalp lately which grossly causes flaking and occasional itchiness. It’s not only inconvenient, it’s frustrating, embarrassing and down right EW!
After chitty chatting with a cousin of mine though, she suggested this DermaVeen Oatmeal Shampoo & Conditioner. She apparently experienced the same issues and after using half a bottle of this combination, now sports a nourished and healthy scalp!

Well, it definitely sounds good but let’s see how it is on me!

Burt’s Bees Natural Anti-Blemish Solutions Spot Treatment

Burt’s Bees Natural Anti-Blemish Solutions Spot Treatment

Okay this isn’t so much for myself as for my boyfriend. I’ve currently got 2 other spot treatments lined up (Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Spot Treatment Gel & Mary Kay Acne Treatment Gel), so I won’t be purchasing another anytime soon. But le boyfriend needed something to tackle those baddies! So after some reviews I thought I’d pick this up for him to try.

I’m not sure about Burt’s Bees since I haven’t really used their products before (though you’ll see that it takes up majority of this post…), but I read pretty good things about this treatment hence the decision.
If you guys have tried this before or have any Burt’s Bees product recommendations, please drop a comment below. I’d gladly try items from their range – I’ve just never really known what was good or whether it was good.

Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Rose & Hibiscus

Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Rose & Hibiscus

I did mention that Burt’s Bees overtook this post, didn’t I?

After having this in possession last time, using it once and then LOSING it… I was so disappointed that I needed to get them again.
I’ve again heard HEAPS about these balms but haven’t had (much of) an opportunity to test out their magic, so I needed to get my hands on them!

I ended up settling on the colours Rose and Hibicus and haven’t tried it on my lips to know what the colourings are, but have swatches in the image above.
Funny how Hibiscus looks a little coral whereas Rose is looking pink. Those outer packaging colourings are very deceiving!

Anyhow, that’s the end of my mini haul at Priceline.
I’m thinking of doing a lip tint/balm battle to compare some or the moisturising yet coloured lip products on the market. Thoughts?
Let me know whether you have any suggestions on particular products I should test and stay tuned for the post!

Also! If you want to see more daily updates, follow me!
Twitter: @reanspeaks
Instagram: reanspeaks

For now though…

Lovelove!

Rean

TALK ABOUT: 15kg Weight Loss (33 pounds!)

Hey guys!

So this is a little out of the ordinary from my posts on favourites and hauls.

I did mention in my new year post that I was going to talk about my weight loss. And it’s taken me 2 months to get around to it, but hurrah! it’s here 🙂

Once Upon A Time…

Ok so lets get some background on this story. There’s a reason why I’m not a Youtube vlogger but a blogger. I’m quite a big girl and unfortunately I’m not that comfortable in my own skin.
I’ve always been big – prior to this drop in weight last year, I was a whopping 90kg!
That definitely deserves a code red.

Me! Prior to Weight Loss. At 90kgs (198 pounds).

Diets have come and gone and most have failed. A few years ago I did go on a no-carb diet, which worked whilst it lasted.
I lost 2 dress sizes and was looking great without even breaking a sweat, but the moment I started bringing back anything with carbs, it all came rushing back to my thighs.

I really don’t recommend this diet by the way. Though it really worked, it wasn’t very healthy.
I was cutting out all carb related foods and anything with sugar in it – even fruits! I didn’t do any exercise and that meant not toning up where fat used to be.

The moment I got off this diet, the weight started to creep back onto my body and made me heavier than when I started! Not the best feeling…

And this is how it happened.

My most recent weight loss journey actually started off as a challenge. Around March 2012, couple of friends brought up the idea that we should all stop eating fast foods for the rest of the year. Any offender would pop $5 into the piggy which would then be smashed on New Years Eve and put towards a nice big fat celebratory meal.

And as you’d expect, a few people started cheating… a few people started dropping out… quite a few excuses were made…

And the challenge was over.

So I’m not sure what happened in my case, but I must’ve started getting used to the lack of all these bad foods. I had simply cut out any fast foods (e.g. McDonalds/Maccas, KFC etc) plus any sweets.
I just continued on with the challenge even though the rest of my friends had given up, and found myself 3kgs lighter after a couple of months.

That’s when my motivation kicked in.

Those 3kgs were so easy to lose. I didn’t feel the loss of keeping bad foods at bay, so I wanted to challenge myself to do more. To EXERCISE.

Now let me stress the extremity of this situation. I have never really exercised in my life.
I took out a gym membership when I was in high school around the age of 15. But after a couple of months the membership was reduced to a nice addition to my wallet.

But starting slow, I decided to try jogs around the block. This then progress to random visits to the gym and eventually became a fully fledged membership.

Exercise Progression: How I worked out how to work out

When I first joined the gym, I avoided the treadmill like a plague.

I could not run to save my life and that was definitely the last thing I was going to try to master.
I stepped on it once to see how far I could go, but after walking at a normal pace for about 5 minutes and losing half my water weight in sweat, I finally realised how unfit I was.

I started just cross training at about 6km/hr and keeping my heart rate within the “fat burn” range. And slowly stepped it up as I began to feel more comfortable with the routine.
Once in awhile I would change it up and incorporate weights for different parts of the body to tone. And I’ll join some classes like yoga, pilates and Zumba that would help my core whilst keeping it fun and entertaining.

I think one of the biggest problems I had was commitment – as like everyone else.
I eventually realised that if I went to the gym straight after work, there’d be no time to think and let laziness take over.

I would be at work, would be at home, would be changed and out the door.

Now after a year of training, I went from not being able to walk for 5 minutes to doing 6km a day.
I do 1.5 minute intervals of walking and jogging for 45 minutes each session and push myself to improve this endurance.

Though my physique is far from anything you would categorise as normal, I’ve shed 15kgs (33 pounds) and aim for at least another 12 (26 pounds).
Fingers crossed I’ll be able to achieve it!

And this is where I am…

So after a doctoral recommendation of taking break from weight loss to reduce the “stress” my body was experiencing, I’m back at the gym doing intense sessions to get myself to a normal weight range.

I started off sitting around the 90 kg mark (approx 198 pounds) which was well and truly classified as obesity.
I’m now fluttering around 75 kg (approx 165 pounds) which is considered overweight, and need another 12 before I fall under a normal BMI.

Apologies for the photo of me… this was all I could find! I was at the Ozsale warehouse sale I blogged about and there was no mirror. So my friend and I had to take photos of each other to see how each piece looked!

Me! After 15kg Weight Loss. At 75kg (165 pounds).

If you have any tips or tricks or any snacks that can be suggested to make this an easier process, please feel free to drop a comment below!
It would be great to have some support on this journey.

I’ll keep you guys updated with my progress. It won’t be too frequent because I’m aiming to have a healthy (and slow) weight loss journey, but you’ll hear more from me 🙂

For now though….

Lovelove!

Rean