Basta Igat, Sikat! by MyMaria: effective

Review: Belo Intensive Whitening Bar

ADVERTORIAL

Everyone agrees that the only thing in life that is constant is change and sometimes when we’re so used to something, it’s hard to move on from it even though there’s something else better waiting for us. Take for example, my favorite kojic soap. Ever since discovering it in 2007, I’ve been using the same kojic soap for years. It aids in keeping my skin fair because honestly, I don’t have fair skin. It’s the way it is because I maintain it with soaps and lotions. I like my skin tanned during the summer season but otherwise, I prefer a fairer complexion throughout the year.

So what’s new and what changed? Well, I just discovered the Belo Intensive Whitening Bar. I love Belo products because you know that I lean towards using Asian skincare and cosmetics because well, obviously, I am Asian. It’s for me. And then came the assortment of Belo products which have been proven time and again that they are indeed superior when it comes to offering products for Filipinas. And guess that, I am a true-blooded 100% Filipina. So why not, chocnut?

Very unique and special packaging with inspiration quotes! Yayyy!

So what makes Belo Intensive Whitening Bar better than my old kojic soap? I’ll tell you right now. The best thing about Belo’s Kojic soap is that it contains not just kojic acid but also tranexamic acid. Fans of kojic soap know that the purpose of using soap that has kojic acid is in order to inhibit the production of melanin. What’s melanin? Well that’s the substance that determines our skin color which is why the more you have it, the darker your skin color is. Kojic soap tries to deter melanin production, thus lighter skin for the users. Now what about tranexamic acid? Basically, aside from preventing skin pigmentation and its whitening effect on stubborn dark spots, it also restores damaged skin from UVA/UVB exposure and environmental factors like pollution. Problems with melasma? This is the answer! The tranexamic acid reduces melanin and inhibits tyrosinase (the enzyme that controls melanin production). It is non-irritating, it is hypoallergenic, and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Got sensitive skin and acne? This may be the solution you’ve been awaiting for!

Alright, let’s get down to my 7-day challenge with using Belo Intensive Whitening Bar. A week ago, I was at a sportsfest so I was subjected to a lot of sun exposure. I figured it was the best time to try the product.

As you can see it did an amazing job! Outrageous!!! They say it’s supposed to whiten 64% better than other brands with Kojic Acid alone, and I can truly say it does work so much better than my old kojic soap. Normally it would take a month for me to get my color back but in just a week, my skin looks so much better. The Belo Intensive Whitening Bar also smells great. When I lather it (yes, it does create suds!) I am reminded of spicy cinnamon tea and then it washes off without a hitch and leaves my skin moisturized. My skin becomes normally dry when I’m using kojic soap but with Belo Intensive Whitening Bar, it’s quite moisturized after use. So when I wash my face with it, it doesn’t leave me with tight skin.

I managed my expectations and didn’t assume my scars will fade miraculously in a week’s time but looking at my bare face, you can see that my skin’s texture is very much improved! That is a great thing and some of my red spots even lightened, too. I am confident that continued use will definitely give me superb results. Thus, I will stick to this!

For my 7-day challenge, I used the Belo Intensive Whitening Bar twice a day. Once in the morning when I shower and at night when I shower before hitting the sack. Even though Belo Intensive Whitening Bar only costs Php P59.75 at the supermarket, department stores, and drugstores I still cut it in half because in all my years of kojic soap use, it tends to last longer when I cut it in half.

And for my face, I turn it into a liquid facial wash. If I use just half the bar, it still won’t last for very long, so if you want to stretch your budget, turning it into a facial wash makes it easier to use as well as gives you more bang for the buck. Check out the step-by-step instruction below.

Directions:

1.   Prepare a cheese grater (preferably an old one you’re not using anymore) and a knife.
2.   Cut the Belo Intensive Whitening Bar soap in half. Keep the other half and/or use it to wash your body.
3.   Take the other half and grate it into a bowl.
4.   Microwave on high for a few seconds with 2 ounces of distilled water.
5.   Let it cool for a few hours and then transfer into a clean pump bottle.

To end this review, I highly recommend you guys try Belo Intensive Whitening Bar (Kojic + Tranexamic Acid) if you’re looking for the fastest and most effective way to lighten your skin tone and get rid of any discolorations. Thanks to Dr. Vicki Belo and her authority in beauty, she has once again given us what most of us need and it doesn’t have to break the bank.

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Friday, July 11, 2014
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What's up with these lotions? Let's take a closer look.

allergic reaction

It took me a while to review these products (approximately 6 months since I got these) because I wanted to be sure of their effectivity. I don't like giving negative reviews because I always try to steer clear of negativity and I want to dwell in a cloud of optimism. I find that I am happier this way. But that's a different story.

For the sake of informing my readers and providing objective reviews, this post will be a combined review of (whitening) lotions I've tried over the past few months. I got the Vaseline Healthy White SPF30 PA++ Serum and the SkinWhite Advanced Whitening Lotion PowerWhitening SPF20 from Sample Room and the Avon Skin So Soft (soft & white) Glutathione hand and body lotion from my local Avon shop. So let's get straight to the point... Did they work as promised?

Nope. NOT FOR ME. You might say that I may not have tested it long enough but you know why? All because of this...

THAT IS WHY. Well, what is it, you ask? TBH, I don't know. I'm not a doctor nor am I a science expert so I can't diagnose it. But I will tell you that whenever I use of any of these lotions, I get the same super itchy reaction on the area where I put the lotions on. I thought at first that I had some skin reaction to something I ate. When I don't wear lotion (especially when I'm not going anywhere) my skin is just fine. I started to suspect the lotions were making my skin react so I stopped using these lotions altogether sometime in April when I underwent skin peeling. But when I tried using them once more (sayang naman there's still a lot, you know!) around mid May, I had these skin reactions all over again.

And then my mom handed me this Neosporin Eczema Essentials Daily Moisturizing Cream to alleviate my skin condition but it only seemed to make it worse. It's supposed to relieve dry and itchy skin but it just doesn't work.

But when I use other lotions, such as my favorite Gluta-C Intense Whitening Lotion or my Bath & Body Works Signature Collection Sweet Pea triple moisture body cream (not a whitening lotion!), my skin is perfectly fine. I use these two interchangeably now depending on the weather or where I'm going. I never experience any redness or itchiness with both.

However, with Vaseline, SkinWhite, and Avon as well as the Neosporin I get skin reactions that eventually goes away after 24-48 hours or as soon as I take a real good shower (by good shower I mean, I scrub the hell off my skin and exfoliate!). I wanted to do a last experiment so this week I used them again to give them one last chance. But I am so disappointed that they all gave me the same issue.

It recently occurred to me to check the ingredients so that's exactly what I did... and lo and behold! I think I found the culprit! So what's the common denominator of these 4 lotions?

Click to see larger photo.

I have a sneakin' suspicion that it's the dimethicone that's making my skin react and shit. It could be just that but, hey, this is just my suspicion really and no scientific method has been undertaken nor lab analysis has been made. Dimethicones are supposed to be key ingredients for anti-itch relief but why then am I scratching like there's no tomorrow? But then it could also be the ethylhexyl churvabells, niacinamide, PEG-100 stearate, phenoxyethanol, potassium hydroxide, xanthan gum, disodium EDTA, or mineral oil, although what do I know, right? Except that I do know for sure that some people get allergic reactions from makeup and cosmetics with dimethicone. Anyways, I think I'll just avoid any lotions containing that or if I find another lotion with that particular ingredient, I'll try it and see if there's any adverse reaction and then I can confirm that is indeed the stinger.

Comparing it to the other two lotions that I'm okay with, they both don't have dimethicone nor the other ingredients which I highlighted orange and yellow on the charts above. So apparently, that's what made me draw my conclusion. I strongly believe I could be allergic to those ingredients.

Do I recommend these lotions?

Well, what can I say? I'm sorry that I am just one unfortunate person with skin that do not agree with the Vaseline, SkinWhite, and Avon lotions. If you don't have skin allergies, you can give it a try but if you have sensitive skin, I think you'd be better off looking elsewhere. Don't forget to check the ingredients of the product if you can. Save yourself the hassle and money.

On the other hand, I do recommend getting the Bath & Body Works lotion if you want to skip wearing perfume because the scent can be overpowering (though I wonder why fragrance is not in their list of ingredients when obviously it's there). I also recommend the Gluta-C Intense Whitening lotion because I've been using this for a year now and so far, it's one of the best lotions I've tried.

I'll update this post once I try other lotions so I could compare it further. That's all for now. Thanks for reading this blog post and come back soon for more beauty and product reviews.

Friday, June 06, 2014
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Cure Natural Aqua Gel Review: Hands down best skin exfoliator EVER!

beauty

ヾ(＾∇＾) Ohayou gozaimasu. おはようございます。(Time to brush up on my Japanese/anime lingo!)

Guys, you know for a fact that I am an insanely huge fan of everything Japanese -- geography, food, culture, tech, anime, fashion, music, and most of all, beauty products!!! Ever since I started investing on skincare as well as food supplements, I always ended up buying Japanese products more than anything else. I could not, for the life of me, read the labels but that's okay. Thank goodness for the Internet, you can basically Google everything. Just a few keystrokes and *POOF* instant translation. It may not be 100% accurate but there are online reviews and forum sites that you can visit to find out about something. Also it's good to keep in mind, upon checking the 13-digit or 8-digit bar codes, that items from Japan start with either 49 or 45.

Alright, moving on to this review. Let's check out the Cure Natural Aqua Gel samples that I got from Sample Room last week.

Visit http://www.sampleroom.ph to get your samples!

It contained 5 trial packs that should be good enough for 2-1/2 weeks of use, since you're only supposed to exfoliate twice a week. I used to exfoliate up to 3 x a week before using different kinds of scrubs but come summertime when I get loads of sunburns, the scrubs are a big no-no! It would be like using sandpaper on my skin... so again, no, thank you. ~(>_<。)＼

FACEBOOK ¤ TWITTER ¤ INSTAGRAM

So when I found Cure Natural Aqua Gel on Facebook, I got curious. The product claims to be 91% made up of water and natural plant extracts of aloe vera, gingko, and rosemary. Hmmm. Interesting. It probably won't get the title of being Japan's No. 1 exfoliator for no reason. I just had to check it out for myself.

Yes, I do apply sunblock generously when I hit the beach. But that's just me. My skin burns bad. Boo!

I dare not use any peeling creams during the hot summer months so this Cure Natural Aqua Gel is the perfect solution to all my skin problems. You see, I love summer and well, I love it so much that nothing stops me from soaking up the sun, complete with SPF 50 or 70 sunblock. In spite of this, I still get vicious sunburns and uneven skin color. For the rest of the year, my goal would be getting rid of my tanned skin and going back to its normal color. And so the journey to the world of exfoliation begins.

Cure Natural Aqua Gel is very gentle on the skin. In fact, it uses a protective solution that is applied by ophthalmologists for eye surgery. There is no need to apply pressure to your skin when applying Cure. It only works on the skin and not on other surfaces such as glass or ceramic dishes. And, dead skin cells will no longer come off if you use it twice on the same skin area. It gently removes unwanted dead skin cells unlike chemical peels which use strong acids to dissolve protein. (http://www.toyojapan.net)

It's unlike any other skin exfoliator I've tried in the past. As soon as I put some gel on my face it magically turned liquid-y of sorts. I wanted to let my skin soak it up at first, you know, just to get the product really in there, but I figured I don't want to be dripping all over the place so I massaged it gently and in ~~less than~~ a second, I could feel tiny balls of dead skin forming under my fingertips! And the whiteheads on my nose and chin? Gone in just a blink of an eye! WHOA! That was fast! I mean, I've tried scrubs before and I really am not sure if those really exfoliated any skin at all because all I could feel then were the slowly dissolving grains of whatever the scrub was made of. But with Cure Natural Aqua Gel, there's no doubt about those dead skin cells coming off! Even when the product all ~~evaporated or~~ disappeared, the white balls (rolls?) remained as seen in the photos.

Cure Natural Aqua Gel gently removes the dried surface of rough skin. It is a very simple product as approximately 91% of Cure Natural Aqua Gel is water. It is fragrance free. Has no artificial colors or preservatives. (http://www.toyojapan.net)

I still had much product left in one sample sachet after doing my face, so I went ahead and exfoliated the heels of my feet and some scars I have from erythema nodosum. As expected, stubborn dead cells came off so easily. I didn't even have to scrub like a madwoman to get some results! It really is amaaaaaaazeballs!

First time *EVER* to post my bare face! LOL! Absolutely zero makeup; nothing applied. not even a toner.

Four days later since the first time I used Cure Natural Aqua Gel, I went ahead and opened a second sachet and braced myself to be amazed once again. However, this time I didn't get as much dead skin cells off. I guess I should do a week's interval in between skin exfoliation as it seems like I don't need to exfoliate 2 x a week. Perhaps my skin cells don't die so fast after all. (ñ_ñ) Tee hee. (∩_∩)

And since I'm loving the product so much, I just had to let Noodle Boy try it! I'm guessing that it works for the male species, too! It's not just for women I believe. Beauty products like these tend to be tried and reviewed more by females. But what the hey, right? It didn't say anything like guys can't use it, did it?

*BEST* husband in the world! Letting me do what I want with him. Mwahhh.

As advertised, 1 bottle is sold every 12 seconds in Japan! I think it's really cool that we don't need to buy this online because we can do away with international shipping now. Why? Because Cure Natural Aqua Gel is now available at Beauty Bars! I will surely buy a bottle when I run out of these samples. It is absofrigginlutely now my HG skin exfoliator!!! I have oily/combination skin and also acne-prone and sensitive. Now I can't stop touching my face (when I really shouldn't be!) because it is so soft just like a baby's bum! Kyaaaaaaa! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ\

Also I noticed that it is so much easier to apply BB creams (or foundations) now that my face is all smooth! It is feels easier to blend it for even coverage so what's not to love about it?! My face has never felt this squeaky, but not dry at all, clean before! OMGWTFBBQ! You really have to try it for yourself so you'll know I'm not making things up! Try the samples!!! Don't buy the whole bottle first because I think it's a bit expensive at PHP1,500.00 for 250 mL. It comes with a pump and dispenses just 1 mL each time; therefore, a bottle should last you a good 3-4 months depending on use. Then again, trust me, you'll get your money's worth!

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CURE NATURAL AQUA GEL:
1. It just works! Best. skin. exfoliator. EVER.
2. They give out samples/trial sachets you can test out.
3. It's Japanese. ( ^_^)／
4. The "peeling" part does not hurt one bit! Perfect even for the most sensitive skin!
5. You only need a small amount to get a lot of dead skin cells off.
6. No weird smell.
7. No sticky-icky sensation.
8. Face feels a whole lot cleaner and so so so smoooooth!
9. Applying make-up especially BB creams seems easier. Products like foundation and powder feels like they glide smoothly on my face.
10. It's available here in the Philippines at Beauty Bars.

WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT CURE NATURAL AQUA GEL:
1. It's a bit pricey but it's a high-end product. What do you expect?
2. Comes in only one-sized variant (250 mL). Maybe if they had like a 100 mL bottle, that'd be more affordable for me. LOL.

Guys, it is an amazing product and I'm not exaggerating! FYI: I'm not paid to do this review. I requested these samples because I've read the reviews of others. So many have tried and so many can attest to its effectiveness. I wanted to find it out for myself and I can't believe I just found out about it! So if you're reading this review because you're also curious about Cure Natural Aqua Gel, then what are you waiting for?

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ Ganbatte! がんばって！