Saturday, 3 November 2012

Geo Twins Lens Review - Aqua and Honey


Brand: Geo 
Models: YH-302 and YH-304
Diameter: 14mm
Water content: 38%

Prescription: Available
Colours available: Honey, Brown, Aqua, Blue, Green, Grey

I purchased these from: Shoppingnspree and Eyecandylens

I usually wear lens for cosplay, so vibrancy and colour are my main priorities in looking for coloured contact lenses to match the character I am cosplaying. I try to avoid the anime special lenses because it's much too unnatural, although I do own a pair of red ones for Enma Ai (Hell Girl). After vibrancy comes enlargement. I personally prefer 14.00-14.2mm lenses, anything larger makes my eyes look...scary. *envious of people who can pull off big lenses* xD


 Colour: Honey - 5/5 Aqua - 4/5
Both are very vibrant, you can clearly see the colour from a distance. 

Design: 4/5 for both. 
The design is three-toned, with the colour gradually fading to a honey-brown towards the centre/pupil hole, making it more natural looking. I do find the spike design a little too harsh towards the middle, you can't tell in photos. Overall, if you wanted a natural, but piercing look, these are perfect.

 Englargement: 2.5/5
Very little enlargement, but what enlargement it does give is perfect for cosplaying male characters, but for cosplaying female characters, I do prefer slightly bigger lenses. 
14mm size + small pupil hole = minimal enlargement
14mm size + large pupil hole = 14.5/15mm size + small pupil hole

 Comfort: 4/5
I wore these for 6 hours without discomfort, but needed some eye-drops afterwards.

Honey
Aqua

 Overall: 4.5/5
I really love these lenses! I only wish they came in bigger sizes and the design was more like the Geo Tri-colour series while retaining its vibrancy. Also, a wider range of colours would be nice eg. violet, red, pink 
             

Monday, 1 October 2012

Relief for Eczema Sufferers




Image source: http://www.naturesense.co.uk/naturesense/eczema-info/info_24.html

 Eczema is a relatively common chronic skin problem, especially in areas with dry climates ie. Melbourne. It is an autoimmune disease where your body overreacts (hypersensitivity) to harmless stimuli such as wind, dust, ect. and hence, makes efforts to protect itself by attacking its own cells. Redness, itchiness, dryness and flakiness are all symptoms of it. As you can see, many cells become damaged so our skin becomes more sensitive to irritants, and cannot retain natural oils and water very well.

I've had eczema since I was 2, it's not genetic because I'm the only one in my family history with it. Eczema is more common in babies and younger children since their immune system hasn't fully developed yet and for most, disappear by the time they reach 10 years of age. Unfortunately for some, it never goes away and it cannot be cured. However, it can be controlled. 

I used to have eczema all over my body, but by watching what I eat and using a variety of ointments and creams, I have now localised it to my mouth area and neck which now, cannot even be seen! The only good thing about my eczema is that my skin is so dry, I never get pimples/acne! The downside is that I have scars everywhere from scratching over the years and very uneven skin tone around my mouth. I know a lot of people have it much worse than me which is why I have created this post to help other eczema sufferers.

 First, you want to diagnose the agitators of your eczema, observe what causes your flare-ups. Mine is agitated by dry conditions, dust and foods with weak acids eg. tomato, orange, lemon, fish sauce and try to avoid it as much as possible or protect yourself against it. With acidic foods, I just take care when eating not it let it touch my skin.

 1. Drink lots of water, eat fruit, vegetables: have a healthy diet. Exercising helps. 

 2. Bio-Oil: The key ingredient is PurCellin Oil, which according to the packaging, is a type of oil designed to mimic and have very similar properties to the natural oils our body produces. Since we don't produce enough of it or our body can't retain it very well, we need to use external sources of this oil we lack. It does take a while to absorb into the skin, but with this, I don't even need moisturiser throughout the day anymore! It does not clog pores, so it's unlikely to cause breakouts.

3. Rosehip Oil: use this along with Bio-Oil - it helps moisturise and rejuvenate the skin, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and has numerous other benefits. It is a highly raved about product featured on many blogs and even on the news. 



















3. Medication: use sparingly! I only used it when I had really bad flareups. 

- Advantan Fatty Ointment (requires prescription)
I had a flareup all over my neck, it was flaky and looked it had slits on it (gross I know) so I put this on and the next day it was all gone, my skin was smooth and wasn't itchy at all. Note: it is very strong so use small amount

- Sigmacort 1% Hydrocortisone Ointment 

4. Vitamin E Oil: (I used Invite E 100% Pure Vitamin E Oil) After months of suffering with redness, dryness and itchiness on my eyelids nothing could cure, the vitamin E oil relieved me in a day. It hasn't come back since! The only downside is that it looks very oily. 



5. Fish Oil: You can take this in the form of Omega 3 supplement capsules or fish meat

6. Don't touch, don't scratch. I know it's the most repetitive thing you hear, which is even more annoying when it comes from people without eczema and don't understand the unbearable itchiness, but they're right. Our hands are covered in bacteria and other impurities which can irritate the skin and cause breakouts for some people.

7. Take moisturisers around with you! QV, Cetaphil are both rich drugstore brands. I also use the Face Shop Rice Emulsion Moisturiser in the morning to brighten up the complexion.

So that's all from me, and I will update this post if I find anything else useful but I really hope some of you found this useful :)

Makeup And Skincare for Dry Skin

A constantly updated list of mostly drugstore / affordable makeup for people with dry skin! Many people around my age (15 - 25) have oily skin, so blog posts with help for people with dry skin like me are rather limited. 

Skincare 

1. Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturising Cream with cooling action
Pros: 
  • 24 hour lasting hydration (colloidal oatmeal and shea butter)
  • no heavy feeling on skin
  • very affordable and accessible 
  • relieves stubborn skin conditions such as eczema
  • menthol leaves a cooling, tingly feeling!
Cons:
  • not travel friendly - one size only
  • may leave sticky feeling for oily-normal skin 

3. Bonne Bell Active Outdoor SPF 30+ Lip Balm 
Pros: 

  • long lasting and super hydrating
  • SPF30+
  • affordable 

Makeup 

 1. Beauty Blender - great investment for anyone!
Pros: 

  • buildable coverage (light to full)
  • a heaven-send for DRY skin
  • gives flawless finish in minimal time 
Cons
  • pricey and hard to find in store 
  • hard to clean 

2.  Revlon Photoready Liquid Foundation - medium coverage, hydrating, long-lasting, photogenic 

 3. Skin79 VIP Gold BB Cream SPF 30+ - light-medium coverage, hydrating

 4. Skin79 Super Plus BB Cream SPF 50+ - medium-high coverage, hydrating

5. L'Oreal True Match Mineral Powder Foundation - only powder foundation I've used that isn't drying and gives medium-full coverage. 

 6. Shu Uemura Lightbulb Foundation - medium-high coverage, hydrating, photogenic

 7. Face of Australia 3-in-1 Face Primer - moisturiser, sunscreen and primer all in one! Highly recommended for dry skin as it creates a flawless canvas that hides dry patches. 

8. Rimmel Perfect Match Concealer - only concealer that doesn't accentuate dry patches, doesn't crease and covers my dark circles! 

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