Practical Charm

I live in a country where the sun is scorching hot… which within minutes can get really humid. I hate the idea of getting my hair all veraciously dry and superbly and flat the next.

Gah! I needed a hair glossing serum!

Alright, I bought it because of it's adorable golf ball sized blue and green package with the striking pink tag. (It looked too cute compared to the others!) It's CUTE! THERE'S NO BETTER REASON TO BUY IT! Then again. I'll elaborate anyway.

Again, my weakness for compact items, this is an easy bring along item small enough for travel and daily use! Love the sturdy features on the dispenser so you don't accidentally 'pump' serum by accident.

I have a crown of dark brown hair with touches of Caramelized honey shades which can appear very dry and frazzled. (Especially after a hard clean wash!) I simply lather a lil bit on my hair and I can get that famous Jennifer Aniston or Britney Spears smooth silky hair effect! (Yes! THERE IS HOPE FOR US ALL!)

The scent is an amazing hints of grapefruit and lemon! If I’m stuck at the club with the scent of heavy smoke in my hair, this helps with getting rid of that nasty smoky smell.

It says on the side of the bottle 'Outshine everyone'.. and trust me this is the BEST product I’ve ever used for a glossing serum although it’s price is abit on the high side

Product : Bed Head’s Girl Toys Shine Serum, Available at SaSa outlets
Price : About RM68.90 a bottle
Application : For shine on hair that is simply amazing!
Shelf Life : 18 months
One Bottle: 6 months for every 3-4 times a week use. 3 months for everyday use.
Tips: Best used on hair that has been washed. Use only very little or hair may appear incredibly greasy.

If you do happen to meet me, I'm very proud to show off my feet cause it's one of the most paid-attention-to spots of my body ^^

Ever since as of late, my feet have not been really well looked after. My job requires me to move up and down alot… so go figure.

It was then I decided, enough was enough. I need pretty feet (although they are not bared as much as the rest of my body) BEFORE it starts accumulating a mass of callus, stink bomb fungi and disfigurements of toenails.

Here are some rules I've developed in a long line of my years of experience with my own feet and I guarantee a difference in your foot texture when you follow these diligently and regularly

April's Guide to Beautiful Feet

1) NO HOT WATER!
As much as we have the idea of thinking that absurdly hot water will do some necessary bacteria of fungi assasination, Hot water tends to dry your skin incredibly fast. Opt for warm water instead and a rinse with cold water after everything is done.

2) Its all about the shoes baby!
I'm so sorry to say that it's definitely those pairs of kitty heels and sandals that aren't doing justice to your feet. Confound air conditioning if you like, but exposing the tips of your toes and heels to dry air is just plain asking for it.
Also hard surfaces of certain shoes tend to thicken the skin further.

Instead of wearing pretty heels at all times, give your feet a rest and try sneakers in college. For the working ladies like me, I keep a pair of socks in the drawer to wear around the office, or you could by a pair of those furry cute bedroom slippers.

3)Sandwich your feet!
I like to put body butter and dressing on my feet every gosh darned night. Forget it if you just put on your favourite lotion or cream, and then plop off to bed. All that hard work won't pay off much. Sandwich your creamed feet in fresh/clean cotton gym socks! You'll see the difference the next day!

4) File, Pumice, Brush
Most women I know don't even own a decent foot file! Or even worse, owning one but not going into changing their foot file when necessary. Always file your foot once a fortnight, Pumice everyday in the shower and brush of dead skin and file and pumice dirt which get caught in between skin linings with a medium strength brush.

5) The nails need some loving too!
Always trim your toe nails straight across! Cutting it in too deep can lead to in-grown toe nails! Buff your toe nails constantly although no one is going to go upclose and run their index finger on your nail to go "OOOOOOO SMOOTH!". Grains of dirt can get easily trapped in between the surfaces of uneven toe nails making your feet look incredibly dull.

Treat yourself. Go get a pedicure.

6)Bloody-flow
Massaging, cutting down smoking, and physical activity helps with ciruclating the blood flow and maintaining a healthy glow on both skin and nails of your feet. My nails are a healthy pink from all that pampering. Yes Sir-Ree!

7)You're already sweet enough
Watch your blood sugar. Diabetic stories can be told from the feet alone

I'm going to add some of my favourite foot care products to share with you all

Favourite foot moisturising cream: Body Shop's Peppermint Cooling Foot Rescue Treatment - I love the easing sensation peppermint leaves on tired feet.

Favourite Foot File: OPI Foot File - Easy to handle with it's ergonomic shape, the dual grit (80 grit and 120grit) leaves a fine smooth almost baby soft finish

Favourite Foot Pads for heels: Party Feet by Scholls! - Anti Slip and great for the balls of my feet

Favourite Foot Soak - My own recipe of peppermint, eucalyptus, germanium and honey in a foot soak bowl filled with marbles - A refreshing and invigorating foot soak with marbles to massage the bottom of the feet.

Let us know if they work for you! Give it a week or two to check it out the amazing results!

My family swears that I could be a Caucasian sometimes..since I can have a cup of tea anytime of the day. *snicker* It's not easy to find a good blend of tea nowadays, and I'm tired of having a cup of locally highland grown tea like everyone else.

Being a random insomniac there are times when I get stressed or stay up to the point that I find it hard to sleep, it's hard to get a decent good night's sleep. The last thing I should be doing is actually scourging around for a cup of tea. That is when I stumbled upon some really pleasant tea that claims to put the restless insomniac at ease.

There is a long history to the Celestial Seasonings brand. And being the number one herbal tea producer in the US, when they mean caffeine free, you can bet your precious sleep time it is.

A wonderful tasty blend of chamomile flowers, spearmint leaves, lemon grass, tilia flowers, blackberry leaves, orange blossoms, hawthorn berries, and rosebuds. I personally can't stand the taste of solely chamomile tea, but there are only slight hints of the flower in the blend, and slightly stronger hints of the spearmint, blackberry leaves and orange blossoms. The spearmint leaves a mild cooling trail as you sip on the tea and from experience (I dab a bit of peppermint essence on my pillow once in a while), it really helps to knock you out.

Non-addictive, calorie-free, caffeine free, gluten free, definitely halal and kosher too! I personally have a cup before I sleep after a rough day and take it when I want to ease my tensions too so that I can still look good and feel good the next day.

Product : Sleepytime herbal teabags from Celestial Seasonings
Price : About RM12.90 for a pack of 20 bags
Application : Insomnia, restlessness, destress
Shelf Life : 13 months when stored properly (keep away from spices or food stuff with strong scents and essences)
One pack: Available in 10s, 20s, and 40s or in sampler packs of 3 or 5 bags.
Tips: 1)Purchasing or even finding a box of Sleepytime is difficult in Malaysia. You may want to try grocery stores where imported goods are the prime attraction such as Cold Storage. Other than that, order online at www.celestialseasonings.com
2)Adding honey gives a lil flavour and a mild taste to your tea. Honey amplifies the notes of orange blossom in the tea

Hi Everybody!

April here! Minishorts has delegated me some responsiblities to improve and prep up the site and so here I am!

I have big, humongous, gigantic, crazy, fun and fresh ideas for the site that I will be incorporating. Shopping parties, networking sessions, Health and Beauty tips, salon experimenting just to name a few!

Minishorts will still be making her contributions to the site, and two new writers will be joining us for the ride! One includes a writer from the northern region of the Peninsula for all you shopaholics up north!

What we want from you is your feedback. It's so important and delightful to hear from you so that we can still continue to be critical to give you the best that we can!

Oh wow! I'm so hyped up, I'm going to get started right away!

P/S hope you all love the new look!

We've been busy. But now we're completely ready. Stay tuned to this site on 1st November 2007.

I love Polyvore. Will be posting more of my sets here with great designs!! I know i've ignored this blog for a while but things will change!

In all my years of using contact lenses, I made a switch some two and a half odd years ago and I think I'll never switch to another set of contact lenses again.

Ocular Sciences has given me the freedom of sight without my glasses with amazing comfortability. I have recommended this brand to friends who complain of their previous contact lenses giving way to discomfort and wear and tear, and all I hear from them is now thanks and praises for introducing them to… *drumroll*

Biomedics55by Ocular Sciences.

It's SO COMFORTABLE, it doesn't give that itch in the eye or 'misplaced' feeling even after wearing it for 12 hours on. Moreover, I like the fact that it's slightly tinted blue, so I can see it in my lens casing for easy pickup without having to feel too much with my fingers ^^

Going for RM80 a box of 6.

Bogged down with work, means having days which require an incredible amount of walking from end to end on insanely painful heels exposing my tender feet to dry Air Conditioned environments. Since I started my Job, I have inherited horrible feet no thanks to the lack of humidity in artificially cool Malaysian buildings.

Owing to the time constraints I have in my job, and figuring on ways how to spend without overspending, I came across some advertising on the Tsuya Tsuya silk factor for callus removal of feet.

Its a simple do at home mask pack that is easy to use and guarantees smoother minutes in just under half an hour which includes masking (5 mins) and a pretty long time of filing (depending how much you can actually file on)

Each pack contains 6 masks sheets enough to cover up a whole heel. So if you are using for both feet to remove callus for the upper part of the foot and heels, that makes four sheets already being used up.

Directions for use:
1. Soak, Clean and Dry Foot

2. Apply Patch for approx 5-10mins

3. Remove patch and file down callus with foot file

4. Rinse, Apply Moisturising cream to maintain softness of feet

Not convinced that it can be so easy? Just look at my own before and after results!

Now isn't that what we all want? The mask is pretty effective. Mom recycled the mask by dabbing a little water to make it stick all over her own feet and got a lot of dead skin removed too! For my self, I noticed there was alot of skin peeling since I had'nt enough stamina to keep filing properly.

A pack goes for RM16.90. I got 3 packs at RM50 with a free foot file. Currently it's not available over retail counters yet, But I'm really hoping they will be soon!

You can contact these people at Miracles Cosmetics Marketing to get your own pack.

Product : Tsuya Tsuya Silk Factor Callus Removing patch
Price : RM16.90 per pack of 6 patches
Application : To remove callus
Purchasing Details: Miracles Cosmetics Marketing, G-2-2, Menara Pan Global, Np. 8, Jln P. Ramlee, 50250 K. Lumpur. Tel: 03-2026 4600

April and I are supremely caught up with work, hence explains the silence for the past few days.

BUT I WENT SHOPPING IN FERINGGHI JUST DAYS AGO AND CAME HOME WITH LOTS OF THINGS TO SHOW!!

Actually… I wanted to show off the new Chloe bag I got, but because it's probably not very legal to do so… I'm just going to sneak off for a bit.

Oh April also went to do some salon-shopping and she's in the midst of cleaning up the photos to show for it.

Wait up for that.

If any of you have ever noticed before, every season, Dior will release a special edition makeup palette that is available in limited quantities. I personally am particularly sensitive to the release of these beautifully packaged collectibles and I must comment that I am most impressed with the latest Spring Palette by Dior.

Absolutely love it. For the past seasons, they have usually been releasing a palette full of assorted eyeshadows and lip glosses but I love this one cause it has all the basic needs for a long lasting makeup.

Drool over the packaging ladies, its a compact magnetic case wrapped in white leather. Although available in 2 sets, I chose 'Peachy Adventure' as it had the dark eyeshadow perfect for amplfying and lining eyes, a not so plumpy but pouty lip colour and the most natural brush.

The other one would be more suited towards those who want more emphasis on their pouts with a deeper tone of fuschia for gloss and purple eyeshadow with a bright pink flush for cheeks.

You'll need to check it out yourself at the Dior counters. Retailing at RM169 (Duty free and out of duty free) A must collect for every Dior fan like me