REVIEW: DHC's Lip Cream

A couple of weeks back, I was waiting for a friend, decided to pop by Watsons and proceeded to spend an hour going through all the skincare aisles. Haha. Some things just do not change. Anyway, DHC was having some discounts and I got the Lip Cream... Which really isn't inexpensive ($17) but it was accompanied with another deal.

DHC Lip Cream contains Lanolin Oil, Squalene, Olive Oil, Panax Ginseng Root Extract and Aloe Vera, among other ingredients. All these help to add and lock in moisture so that you get healthy lips all day. Just like all lip balms, it can be worn alone, under lipsticks as a primer or over them as gloss.

When I first opened the lip balm, I thought nothing of it. It looked just like any other lip balm, except that it was encased in a pretty peach tube. I slathered some on before bed, liked that it felt like a second skin on my lips (Neither too thick nor too gooey.) and slept. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that the lip balm was completely absorbed and my lips were well-hydrated. And they stayed that way for a large part of the day even though I didn't reapply it! This made me buy 4 more tubes. Hahaha. But only because Watsons was selling it at $13.00 for a couple of days and it's $10 on Qoo10. The only downside, besides being expensive, is that it doesn't contain SPF... Which is a real pity. :\

ATM: Buying Beauty Samples from Qoo10

Beauty products are always coming out and as a beauty junkie, I'm very naturally interested in them. But they usually come full-sized and are expensive, especially if they end up not working for you. :\ So I really appreciate brands that dole out samples. Of course, this doesn't really benefit them but I do keep a lookout for them more than the others. Okay, it isn't like they care about this. Haha.

Anyway, a few months back, Mich was telling me how Sulwhasoo's Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Essential Oil made her skin glow like never before and I wanted to try it so badly. But as much as I love the brand, it's really just too expensive. ): I was searching for prices all over (Airport, staff discount yada yada.), when JH told me about Qoo10 and how you can buy samples from there. ♡

And that's how I ended up with the above, which is just the tip of the iceberg (I have a whole box full of them in my drawer. :D). I got most of my samples Momo Skin, which ships really quickly from Korea. It probably took only about a week, if I remembered it right. And I'm so happy with them! Not only do I get to try products at a fraction of their prices, things are also kept really hygienic with the much smaller portions. As for the prices, they are a lot cheaper. :D One thing though... I do find the sachets a tad troublesome because they aren't resealable. So I got empty bottles from Muji to empty the sachets in.

I know that some people aren't comfy using samples. No expiry dates are printed on the samples but the retailer promises 100% authenticity and that their samples are all produced only a few months back. I haven't encountered any problems with mine, and they smell and feel exactly like how they should. Of course, do purchase only if you're completely okay with them. (: Otherwise, just wait for sales!

ATM: Dealing with Hair Loss

Earlier this year, I had quite a bit on my plate and started dropping a lot of hair. I do drop more hair during stressful periods but I had never woken up to a pillow covered in hair strands. Yes, it was crazy frightening and it only compounded the stress I was going under. Gosh, I hope I never go through anything like that again. *shudders*

Anyway, I told some friends about it and I realised that hair loss is actually quite a common problem. For some people, bald spots start developing and for others, it's general hair loss. Mine was the latter and I visited both Chinese and Western doctors. Both doctors said that I didn't have enough blood so my body wasn't absorbing nutrients. It was distributing blood to the more important organs, so things like hair and nails were left out. The Chinese doctor prescribed medicine that 补血, while the Western doctor gave me iron tablets and vitamins (Consultation and supplements cost me 90 friggin' bucks. *curses*). Yes, I took both at the same time since the latter was just vitamins (Did check with the Chinese doctor first.). I also bought a couple of hair tonics to drown my scalp in.

So... Did the above work??? Yep, I'm back to dropping my usual amounts which I don't even notice so yay! :DDD *jumps and throws imaginary flowers around* (:

Here are the 2 main products I used during that period and am still using:

• Yohmo Tonic
  This was recommended by a shop assistant at a Chinese Medical Hall which I happened to pass by. It smells like a warm, kind grandfather who just came out of a shower... Lol! It's flowery and I really have no idea how to describe the scent. It's okay but it isn't something that I would wear in the day because it's rather strong. And grandfather-y. Lol! I don't know why but that word just pops into my head every time I smell it. Lol. Anyway, this has quite a number of raving reviews online and yeah, I think this did help my hair grow quite a bit. I was dropping baby hair too (Never, in all of the XX years of my life. )': ), but not anymore. In fact, I have new ones sprouting out! :D
• Country Life's Maxi-Hair
  This was given to me by the Western doctor. I can't remember how much it was but iHerb stocks this too. It has B Vitamins and Biotin, among many others. I didn't experience any adverse reactions to this and it helped curb the hair loss and boost hair growth for me. Anyway, it's just vitamins that are also good for the nails and skin. Haven't seen any improvements in those departments yet but I'll be carrying on with this for a while.