Products Category
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
On my most recent trip to Tokyo, I noticed these delightful BLACK Q-tips everywhere. I love how they have both a smooth end and a spiral end. Black seems to be the “IN” color for a lot of items including blotting tissues, toilet paper, facial masks, shampoo, toothbrush, and even their chopping boards.
Black Q-tips
Notice how they are individually packed, so I can carry them everywhere with me to retouch my makeup or on a weekend getaway. The spiral end is perfect for combing through my eyelashes and smoothing out the clumps of mascara.
Individually packed
Here’s a close up:
Normal and Spiral Ends
If anyone is interested in trying this, you can buy it online here for only USD 2.99.
Tags: Asia, asian, beauty, beauty products, beauty tool, instrument, japan, Japanese, new products, new tools, prevention, skin, skin care, tips, tool
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Monday, January 4th, 2010
Make a New Year’s resolution you can keep: wash your face at night. This one change can make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in how your skin looks and feels every day.
Every day living takes a toll on skin… Makeup, oil and dirt from our fingers, even dust and smog settle on the skin, creating a really disgusting stew of yuck. Sure we wash our face at least once, hopefully twice a day, but how do you know you’re really getting skin clean? Another reason why you want clean skin is that it allows for deeper product penetration, which means you’re more likely to get the result you want in the first place.
Here are a few simple tips:
Oil is good. To get skin really clean, use an oil-based cleanser -like Marie Louise Cleansing Clear Gel – before a regular cleanser. Make-up is oil-based, and only an oil-based cleanser can safely remove it.
Double up. Double cleansing is the only way to make sure skin is truly clean. After washing with Cleansing Clear Gel, use a mild cleanser like Marie Louise Washing Foam to remove any residual dirt and debris.
Take a time out. It takes two full minutes of massaging skin in circular motion with your fingertips to fully cleanse your face and neck. Want to know how long two minutes is? Sing the “Happy Birthday” song at four times in a row.
Wash twice a day. It is important to cleanse in the morning also because we sweat when we sleep at night.
Choose wisely. Understand what your true skin conditions are to help you make a better decision about the cleansers you should use. An esthetician is the best person to consult.
Tags: beauty tool, clean skin, cleansing, effective, esthetician, flawless skin, good skin, huge difference in skin, ingredients, mild cleanser, moisturizer, new products, new year, new year's resolution, oil, oily, popular, prevention, skin, skin advice, skin care, skincare, sparkle, tips
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Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
The best way to rejuvenate skin, according to my boss- a 50 something year-old woman, who barely looks a day over 35 – is exfoliation. Her skin is plump, bright, glowing, with very little lines. Not an ounce of flake!
I asked her what her secret was…. Good genes? Foreign products made in silence by monks? Nope: “I scrub my face like crazy with a loofah every morning under the hot shower. Scrubbing dead skin away is the key!”
So I tried it. The results? Well, lets just say I didn’t feel like going out that night. Not all of us have thick skin! But it got me thinking: there’s got to be a better way to shed the dead skin cells that are clogging my pores. And that’s when my desperate search to properly exfoliate my skin started!
Remember that whole at-home-microdermabrasion-craze? Sure, massaging my skin with pea-size beads made out of walnuts shells and ingredients I could not pronounce exfoliated dead skin. In fact, it exfoliated most of my skin away, leaving it blotchy, red and sensitized. NOT what I was looking for. Neither were all the scrubs, peels, serums and magic washcloths that followed: the chemicals in most of the products only managed to assault my skin, causing it to flare-up!
Little did I know that over-exfoliating, just like hard water, weather and pollution, is actually harmful to your skin. So what’s a girl to do?
Please meet Marie Louise’s Restoration Clear Gel. First of all and most important, this exfoliating gel is actually hydrating and nourishing, thanks to ingredients such as desalted deep sea water, glycerin and algae extracts, known to help the skin retain moisture. It literally melts as your skin absorbs it, dry grains gently (and that’s the key word one should look for in all products) lifting away impurities and dead skin. Once they have ceased to appear and have been rinsed off with warm water you are left with a bright and pure complexion. Since it’s gentle enough, you can use it more often; this regular regimen will allow your skin to absorb all the benefits your moisturizers, masks and serums have to offer, thus making them more effective! It will also reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles- after all, it’s no secret that the cleaner your skin is, the younger and healthier it looks!
Just remember: you shouldn’t need sandpaper to get results!
Tags: Asia, asian, attractive, beauty products, beauty tool, beneficial, cosmetics, effective, ingredients, japan, learning, maximize, new, new products, new tools, oil, oily, oily skin in the afternoon, popular, prevention, Santa Monica Daily, serum, shine, shiny skin, skin, skin care, skincare, sparkle, sunscreen, technology, tips, tool
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Sunday, November 29th, 2009
Like so many girls, I realized how important our eyelashes are a long time ago. The difference between having curly and straight lashes makes a dramatic difference for my eyes, since mine are not the biggest in the world. Let’s just say that I definitely get more compliments when my lashes are all dolled up and curled, with an application of mascara. In a way, I feel like it is my shield and sword, where it gives me more confidence to go out and face the world…lol…
Therefore, in order to achieve the perfect set of eyelashes, I have bought infinite numbers of eyelash curlers. From Shu Uemura, heated, plastic to metal eyelash curlers, I spent countless dollars on trying to find the right one. Right now, I have two favorites that I would like to share with you. One is for use at home and the other is so little and convenient that I can carry it in my bag everywhere I go.
1. Excel Eyelash Curler
Excel Eyelash Curler (39mm)
Excel Eyelash Curler
This 39mm eyelash curler is wide enough to capture all my eyelashes (even the ones at the corner of my eyes) at the same time. The design of the angle of the eyelash curler allows my eyelashes to curl at a beautifully natural degree. I curl my eyelashes twice, and I find that most effective. The first time is before I apply mascara, and then a second time after my mascara dries. With this technique, my eyelashes stay all curly and natural for a really long time. The best part is that it doesn’t break my eyelashes at all. =)
2. Compact Curler for people on the go
Compact Curler
side view
My friend was actually the one who discovered this and recommended it to me. I fell in love with it right away. Even though it doesn’t capture all of my eyelashes in one squeeze, it is so compact that I can’t leave home without it now. My eyelashes look so natural after I curl it with this. The best part is that I can use this at the end of the day without applying new coats of mascara and my eyelashes still appears curly and natural. This is definitely a good buy since it costs only around $5 dollars in the US.
Tags: Asia, asian, attractive, beautiful eyes, beauty, beauty instrument, beauty tool, beneficial, cheap eyelash curler, cosmetics, create big eyes, curly eyelashes, effective, eyelash, eyelash curler, eyelash curler on the go, eyelashes, eyes, instrument, Japanese, large eyes, mascara, new, new products, new tools, popular, skin care, skincare, small eyelash curler, sparkle, technology, tips, tool
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
FINALLY. SaSa is now here in the US! I’m not sure how long ago this took place, but Sasa.com now not only caters and ships to the US market, but for orders over $75, shipping is free!
For those who frequent the huge stores of anything-you-need-in-the-beauty-category in Asia, yay! For those of you who are not familiar with who or what the heck Sasa is, just imagine, a Sephora store, but with hair, skin care, make up products and accessories (my favorite part!) from Europe, US, AND also Japan, Korea, HK etc. I have always wondered, with the growing interest surrounding Asian culture, and the solid Asian-American consumer base, why there wasn’t a “Sephora Asia” or something here. Well forget my idea of “Sephora Asia”…. cuz Sasa is here, and if they continue their huge success in Asia, they’re here to stay and spread.
My favorite part of Sasa.com are actually the unique and innovatibe beauty accessories that Korea and Japan comes up with. For example, can you guess what this is and what its purpose is?
What is this?
I’ll tell you in a few days. =)
Tags: Asia, asian, beauty, beauty accessories, beauty products, cosmetics, Japanese, Korean, online store, Sasa, shop, skin care, store, trends
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Friday, September 11th, 2009
Why should I clean my face twice? That was my thought when I first heard about a process called “dual cleansing”!
If you’re like me, your cleaning routine (especially on a late night of partying) is to wipe off the eyes with some lotion and a cotton pad – after all, we’ve been conditioned to never go to bed with makeup on- splash some water and vigorously dry my face (instead of the gentle patting beauty experts recommend) to make sure everything is gone. Ha!
That clearly did not clean anything (if the eruption of pimples is any indication).
I started religiously washing my face with a nice, expensive cleanser, massaging everything diligently for 60 seconds only to discover traces of mascara or foundation on my pillowcase the next morning!
I was quite dubious of cleansing gels or “pre-cleansers” as they like to call them and yet, one day, decided to give it a try. After all, they were all the rage on makeupalley’s skincare board!
Well, let me tell you: it is the most effective way to really remove dirt before cleaning my skin without ripping my eyelashes off with the eye makeup remover (yes, I rubbed my eye lids with the cotton pad. How else am I supposed to do this?)
To my big surprise, cleansing gels remove EVERYTHING, not just my eye makeup: by massaging the gel into the skin, it blends with the makeup and other impurities and really lifts everything up. Wipe it off and follow with a cleanser (this will remove whatever is left) and you’re finally cleaning your face.
Dual cleansing is really the only way I’ve kept my skin clear. Just make sure you choose a cleansing oil or gel suitable for your skin type (there are plenty on the market, so every budget can find the appropriate one; but watch out ladies, I heard a dermatologist once say that if you don’t thoroughly rinse off the cleansing oil—it can lead to the clogging of pores and breaking out!) and voila: squeaky-clean skin…
And since you’re reading this blog, go have a look at our non-clogging, cleansing clear gel and follow it with the washing foam. All the info you need is at: http://www.marielouisecosmetics.com/products_cleansing_clear_gel.html
Tags: attractive, beauty, beauty tool, beneficial, effective, ingredients, learning, moisturizer, new products, popular, prevention, skin, skin care, skincare, tips
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Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Apparently so in Asia as double-eyelid plastic surgery is still the most common plastic surgery. Since larger eyes are still considered to be more attractive by most Asians, there are all types of tools or methods to help you achieve this look. Beside eyelid tape/glue which has been around for quite some time, I just discovered this crazy tool from Japan: a clip to help you create double eyelids. What you must do is clip your upper eyelids with this tool for about 5 minutes and it will create deeper and wider eyelids. The makers claim that this will give you larger-looking eyes.
Double Eyelids Maker
Directions with Before and After Photos
Creating Double Eyelids Tool/Clip
So what’s my verdict? Well, after trying it for 5 minutes for 3 days in a row, I must say that I didn’t notice any dramatic differences in my eyelids yet. My eyelids do look a bit deeper (or more swollen) for the first hour or so, but after that, it looks pretty much the same. So I don’t think I would recommend this to anyone.
Tags: asian, attractive, beauty, beauty tool, double eyelids, eyes, glue, new products, new tools, tape, upper eyelids
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