Beauty Talk - Testing serums

I was at Shoppers Drug Mart a few weeks ago and I wanted to look for a face serum.  The cosmetics girl introduced me to three different brands:  Biotherm, Clarins, and Dior.  Serums are not cheap so if I'm going to invest in one, I have to try them out first.  So the girl gave me a sample of each and told me to try them out and see which one I like best.

Serums are designed to penetrate to the deeper layers of skin, while face creams only moisturize the surface layer.  They are quite concentrated so you don't need to use a lot of it.

First up was Biotherm's Skin Vivo serum - $80 for 50 ml.
When I first tried this, it had a weird smell but the weird smell quickly went away.  It was replaced by a light fragrance which was really quite nice.  You apply this with a dropper and it dispenses just enough to cover your entire face.
My first impression of this serum was that it really left my skin feeling soft and hydrated.  It didn't feel greasy and after the 2nd day of use, I had two people tell me that I looked like I was refreshed and glowing.  Wow.  This stuff is miracle in a bottle!
Price wise, it's priced fairly well.  It's still a bit on the expensive side but it actually works well for me.  I'm seriously considering buying this.
I was really sad when my sample ran out.  I made sure I got every single drop of this out of the container.  :)

After a day of no serum use, I started on my second sample.  Clarins HydraQuench Intensive Bi-Phase serum.  The cosmetics girl really recommended this one.  It comes in a 30 ml size at $60.  She let me try some on the back of my hand at first and it felt really nice and smelled good too.  However, the sample I tried was not impressive.  It has a slight floral scent - not bad.  But when I put it on my face, it felt greasy!  The texture was more like a baby oil than a serum.  I heard that you have to give the bottle a good shake before dispensing it.  But I didn't like it on my skin.  It makes me feel like I'm going to break out because of the greasy feeling.  So far, I wasn't impressed.

The last one to try is Dior's Capture Totale One Essential super serum.  This is the most expensive one of the three at $100 for 30 ml.  I have not tried this one yet.  I'm still working on the greasy Clarins one - I'm determine to give it a good try before declaring it 'not for me'.  But the cosmetics girl had an interesting story to tell me about the Dior products.  She told me that she is required to take classes on the different brands sold at Shoppers Drug Mart.  So she attended one for Dior and the Dior representative was an older lady.  She had one really nice soft and young looking hand, and her other hand was old, wrinkly, and full of age spots!  The hand that's soft and young looking was due to years of demo-ing/testing Dior stuff on her hand.  She is a walking testimonial on how good Dior stuff is.  And here I thought we were just paying for the name.  I tried this at the store as well and this one was really nice.  At $100 ... ouch.  But I'll blog about how this one turned out.

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Doubles League - Week 1

Doubles' League at the badminton club started last night. Every Monday night from now until the end of May, I'll be playing with club members who are around the same skill level as me. As you improve your scores, you move up the ladder. If you're good enough, eventually you'll end up in a pool with the city ranked players. I don't think I'll be that good but I hope I end up around the middle of the pack when the season ends.

My first night playing was good. I lost a lot of games but I ran my butt off. So I may start out at the bottom but you know what they say? There's only one way to go and that's up. :) My body is tired though. On Sunday, I did a body pump class at the gym and it's a full body workout. Sometimes when I'm too lazy to hit the gym for three separate workout days, I take a body pump class to work the entire body.

I should get some sleep. Good night.

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First Baking Disaster

It had to happen.  Nobody's perfect.  :)  Tonight, I tried to make a pear crisp and it turned out bad.  I am too embarrassed to describe how bad the crisp turned out.  I know what I did wrong and will try again.  Unfortunately, I made three of them.  Two individual servings and one big one.

I tried to salvage them but in the end, it could not be saved.  Pears are not an easy fruit to work with.  You never know the moisture content and how it will turn out in the cooking.  I was hoping that there would be a bit of moisture produced during the cooking process but little to none came out.  This caused the flour to stay ... well .. white.  This made the crisp dry.  After baking it, it smelled good but when I cut into it the fruit was still coated with raw flour.  :(  Gross.

So embarrassing .. but I'm not going to quit.  I'll try again.

pudge

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Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

This video was sent to me a while ago.  I have found it inspirational.  I thought maybe you will find it inspirational as well.  It's long but worth the time.

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Wine Picks for the August & September

I noticed that I didn't provide wine picks for the month of August and it's now September.  Here are my wine picks for August/early September.

Low budget white:  Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (it's on sale!  I love sales :)
Low budget red:  The Lucky Country (approx. $15)

Medium budget red:  Perrin & Fils Peyre Blanche Cotes du Rhone-Villages Cairanne 2007 (Many reasons for recommending this wine.

1. its complex notes and long finish.  I love a wine that has a long finish.  The flavour lingers on the tongue.  Wow.
2. its cellering potential.  If you buy it now, you don't have to drink it right away.  It can be cellared for the next 6-8 years.  However, if you crack a bottle now, you should give it some air before serving.  Pour it into a wine decanter and swirl it around a bit, and let it sit for about an hr before serving.   Best paired with a good steak or pasta with a meat sauce.
3. the price.  At $18, that's a great value.

Big budget red:  Hess Allomi Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2007  (I was going to pick the Ironstone Reserve Old Vine Zinfandel but I think I've been recommending a lot of zins so I decided to go with this cab.  Hess is a great California wine maker.  This cabernet sauvignon is a great addition to your cellar.)

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Congratulations, Fa Yeh and Susan

Last night, I found out that my friends Fa-Yeh and Susan became first time parents.  They had a baby girl - Alexandra Hailey Lin.

I saw pics of her on their Facebook page and she's so cute!  She's only 10 weeks old.  All are doing well.  Mom and dad are lacking a bit of sleep but that comes with the job.  ;-)

I should also give Damien and Anna a long overdue congratulations as well.  They welcomed baby Jaden back in mid June.

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Short weekend in Toronto

I was in Toronto this past weekend.  I arrived Friday night around 7:15 pm.  I wanted to make it home in time for dinner with the family but unfortunately, I couldn't make it there by 6:30 pm.  However, I was happy that everyone waited for me to celebrate my sister Joyce's birthday.  I baked Joyce a dozen blueberry muffins.  I hope you like them!

It was really nice to see my family.  I haven't seen them in a while.  I particularly enjoyed seeing Chloe.  She's so cute.  She didn't cry when I held her - although she kept grabbing my hair.  Ouch!  :)

Karen and I drove out to the Hershey Centre to watch some friends play in the CPB badminton tournament.  We got there in time to watch Tim and Hon play.  There were nine courts of action that it was tough to watch everyone.  Sorry guys if I missed your matches.

When I left on Sunday, mom and dad loaded me up with groceries.  Even though there is a T&T in Ottawa, the prices are pretty crazy.  So when I'm in Toronto, I will pick up a bunch of things before heading back.

My next trip back will be in mid September.  I may stay a bit longer but we'll see. 

I took some pictures of family .. I'll post them next time for all to see.

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