#makeupmonday #foodforskin

Lately, my skin condition has worsened. I’m unsure whether it’s the product that I’ve been using or my makeup brushes or even my diet. 
Let me just clarify here, it was never flawless in the first place but the big zits had stopped last year. Occasionally there will one or two (due to the time of the month) zits but it will go in a matter of days. So when in march this year, more zits seemed to voluntarily plant themselves on my face, I was getting extremely worried. I started to panic and got all kind of products, supplements and devices just so that it will clear up. I tried drugstore to high end products, but nothing seem to work. I was even thinking of taking hormonal pills to stop it. With the wedding coming, I just couldn’t see any possible solution to heal it. It may not be as big as cystic acne but the scarring and pigmentation was really taking a toll on me. I had to wear full-face make-up constantly just to cover it up. And I know that that wasn’t helping my skin any way at all.
Right now, I’m not as kanchiong and am taking my time to heal my skin. It’s not easy, considering how impatient I am, but oh wells, the more stress I am, the more zits I get. 

In this post, I’m going to share my diet and how it is and will affect my skin. But keep a lookout for upcoming posts in weeks to come as I share my night facial routine and some home-made masks that I’ve been pampering my skin with. 

I’ve been noticing a trend with my skin. As I start to gain weight, my zits started to show up in certain areas. The zit colony is mostly on right cheek, my temples and in between my eyebrows. All this conclude one thing: DIET

So as you can see, the right cheek shows underlying problems in the stomach, lungs and large intestine. Well, all I can say is, I’ve not been eating much of fruits, hence constipation is a biggie for me. Stomach… hmm… I guess its related to the large intestine and liver. Like my enzymes is overworking or something like that. But lungs, I can’t seem to figure out. I don’t smoke but I do have asthma. And my eczema has gotten worse from the dry weather. Is that it?
I don’t have a lot of zits on my temples but when they do decide to come and visit, it’s usually big. You know like those ones that make you look like you think too much and it’s going to explode haha. To be honest, I usually drink mineral water. Only recently I began to drink green tea again and ever since then, they have been visiting non-stop. But I thought green tea is supposed to be good for you right? Like anti-oxidants and stuff. No?

As of now, I’ve ditched my supplements and made some amendments to my diet. Au naturale. 

So every Monday, Wednesday and Friday: Consume Orange/Red fruits and vegetables. 

Orange/Red fruits and vegetables contain:

1. Beta carotene- A powerful anti-oxidant that can delay cognitive aging and protect our sun from sun damage. 
2. Vitamin A- An anti-oxidant that can neutralize the damaging free radicals in the body.
3. Vitamin C- An anti-oxidant that helps to rebuild collagen in the skin.
4. Anthocyanin- An anti-inflammatory enzyme.
5. Iron- Strong and steady blood flow for blood circulation and regeneration.

And every Tuesday and Thursday: Consume Green fruits and vegetables.

Green fruits and vegetables contain:

1. Dietary fibre & Calcium- To maintain healthy digestive tract without causing any stress to the digestive system.
2. Vitamin A- Minimizes the production of sebum and strengthens the skin’s protective tissue and helps flush out toxins.
3. Vitamin E- protects skin cells from free radical damage.

Lastly Saturday and Sunday: Consume any other coloured fruits and vegetables (yellow, purple etc.)

Yellow: Contains water soluble plant pigments taht function as anti-oxidants. It helps to maintain healthy skin and promote woung healing.
Purple: Vitamin A, C & Calcium- useful in treating hair and skin conditions, including reducing eye bags. Also to prevent acne, burns and scars overcome. 

I just hope I can commit to this very colourful diet. The vitamins are similar but i guess to benefit from the fruits and vegetables entirely, i would really need to incorporate it into my diet.I really want my skin to heal before the wedding haizzz..
So far, that's all for now. Till next time,
xoxo.

#funfindfriday #teethwhitening

Ok ok, so I’m guilty of not doing facials, scrubbing & milk-bathing my skin. I’m a lazy ass when it comes to taking care of my face and body, but I bath of course lah! To be honest, I don’t pamper my skin as much as some girls do.

In the recent years, I’ve been really into whitening my teeth. Call it addiction or obsession, I just love buying products that claims and proves (some) to whiten my teeth. From the traditional method of using baking soda to whitening it in the dental clinic, I’ve tried it all, or so I believe haha. 
Here is the list of methods that I’ve tried and my take on its end result. 

Disclaimer: These are my opinions after buying using my own money and trying it on my teeth. Results may vary depending on how discoloured your teeth is. 

Brushing on (baking soda + water): Yuck! I have to admit it is the cheapest (a small bottle of baking soda can last for quite a while) and the safest (no harmful chemicals!), but the gritty texture and after-taste is so bad that it made me not want to do it after a week! 

Eraser: Tasteless and cheap but a total FAIL! It did nothing to my teeth! Maybe just maybe, it will work for those who have coffee stains on their teeth, but other than that, don’t bother getting it.

Brush-on whitening gel: I bought this off ebay at an affordable price. However, this stuff taste funky and doesn’t absorb as quickly. So after applying it onto my teeth, as soon as I close my mouth, it liquidifies and mixes with my saliva. So I end up swallowing my own saliva. I don’t think it worked at all considering that I usually swallow all the gel lol.

Whitening gel (placed onto a mouth guard): I received this item from my dentist so am unsure how much does this really cost. So far I’ve not seen in any guardian or watsons. Maybe it’s like a control drug or something. Idk. The gel is in a syringe-like tube and you’re supposed to fill the mouth guard with the gel. It tastes like toothpaste and I couldn’t close my mouth properly when I‘ve placed both upper and lower mouth guards in. So with an open mouth, I tend to salivate a lot more, hence it seems like I was slurping the gel away. Now because I placed it in the mouth guard, most of the product is concentrated at the bottom of the mouth guard. Hence, the tip of my teeth is whiter than the front surface area of my teeth. Get it? 

Whitening toothpaste: I’ve only tried two to three brands of toothpaste, mainly because I found one that works for me. Currently I am using Colgate Whitening, before this I was using toothpaste from the Colgate family still. This brand works just fine for me, no gum sensitivity and the after taste is nice and minty. Downside though, it is expensive (as compared to other brands) and contains a lot of chemicals. This is a tip, to check the acidity level and if your toothpaste is partially or fully chemical based, check the tiny square at the back of the toothpaste tube. 

Whitening strips: I’ve used Crest whitening strips, both the normal and 3D strips. But before you use this product, you need to ensure that you have no gum sensitivity at all. It can sting quite a bit if you have swollen gums (been there, terrible feeling ever). 3D strips hold on better to my teeth and works faster (I believe) as compared to the normal ones. The normal ones would slip and slide especially when I tend to salivate a lot. To me, it looks exceptionally good in photos but in real-life, it’s just ok-lah. Oh yeah not forgetting, when I first started using this, I notice that my teeth has white spots.  Maybe because the chemical in the whitening strip somehow chose to clean certain areas of my tooth. Idk haha. Prices may vary depending on the number of packets you buy. In Singapore, most resellers sell by packets of strips instead of the box, so do your research first before buying. 

Professional dental whitening: This is the most expensive of all the treatment that I’ve done. Truth be told, I didn’t see a vast difference in my teeth immediately after the session. You know like those you watch in Extreme makeover series, where the dentist reveal and the patient is like ecstatic and crying tears of happiness. Nope, didn’t happen to me. The dentist said it’s because my teeth was already white in the first place (yeah right). So over the next few weeks, I followed the dentist advice regarding diet (no dark coloured drinks/food) and voila! It not that white, but it was a glossy, pearly white, well kind of. It looked good in pictures and real life. The only bummer was maintaining it. I can’t drink green tea as much, drink with a straw, not eat food that contains too much food colouring etc. Does it last? I did this in 2011, and hmmmmm it’s not as white as before but you know, due to diet n all. Worth it? Definitely yes. But pls if you do choose to do it, make sure you are disciplined enough to maintain it. 

Ok, so that’s all for now. To support my teeth whitening craze, I just bought another teeth whitening product. This time it’s Whitening Lightning. Comes with a light device oohlalaa. I’ll be trying it out this whole week and be doing a review next Friday. 

xoxo

#anewbeginning

So I finally decided that it was time for my first post. Well actually, I had long decided that, only, oh wells, procrastination got the better of me. So let me first start of by introducing myself.

I’m Radziism.

Aged 24 this year, alhamdulillah.

Works in a school, surrounded by happypills.

Loves dolling up.

Bride-to-be.

So yeah, you might have some idea of what this blog’s gonna be about.  All about me. Oh yes.

Like every new beginning, one must have goals/aspirations. Macam new year resolutions. Whether or not I will follow through is a whole different story lah.  To make me understand the term resolution, I have googled search the definition of it.

res*so*lu*tion [rez-uh-loo-shuhn]

noun

1. A formal expressionn of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, alegislature, a club, or any other group.
2. A decision or determination, a resolve: to make a firm resolution to do something.
3. The act of determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc
4. The firmness of purpose, the mental state of being resolver or resolute.

Err.. ok, so in other words, i have to be CLEAR, FIRM and DETERMINE to resolve my purpose. 

Get it? Hhaha

I've listed down what i want to achieve in the next 6 months.

Nothing too ambitious, just five points.

1. To be an active blogger, updates every week.
2. To start vlogging ( public or private – have not decide)
3. To start practising make up artistry on my friends ( free or paid – have not decide)
4. To continued losing weight (so I can start modelling – breangan!)
5. To start planning phase of my business

Ok, so that’s all for now. Hopefully since this is up on the blog, I will focus and write in more.

Stay healthy everyone!