I know I am late by a few days, but please do give this poor old sick girl a break? LOL. Finally had 1 weekend which I didn’t need to work or do anything that I normally would do, so I went out with friends, enjoyed the free time I had and I end up getting sick. Ugh. bad way to start the year, huh?

While I cough and sneeze away, am finally writing about my thoughts on Tsubaki!

Excuse me for my tardiness, I just feel that Tsubaki really do deserve to be my first post of the year! (Excuses, excuses!)

Anyways, I guess most of you know I love Tsubaki and had used quite a few bottles from them, even when it’s not available in Malaysia. Yeap, I had asked friends and sellers to lug them back for me, until the Yen skyrocketed and I didn’t want to wait for my stuff to come, so… I switched to other brands.

But now, Tsubaki is already available in Malaysia! And it’s the upgraded version! Imagine my delight!!!!

I was given the Shining range from Shiseido PR, and tell you what, I think it rocks!

I actually used the Damage range before, click here for my past review, and while it was good for my hair, I felt it could be too oily/ heavy depending on how often I used it and of course, the amount used too.

The Shining range is supposed to make your hair shiny and glossy, while Damage range is to help to “heal” your hair, making it look beautiful. So far I didn’t do anything to damage my hair, so Shining was just perfect for me. I want SHINY locks!

Both the ingredient list for both shampoo and conditioner, but weird thing is, the Mask/ treatment, didn’t have any! It was all in Japanese.

I’ll pretty much skip the scientific details and tell you how has Shining works for me, just because, well, the pictures has said enough!

The shampoo is great for daily usage, so is the conditioner. Both are actually “lighter” compared to Damage range, hence I don’t get the oily/ heavy scalp so fast. But the mask, I do need to be very careful with the amount used and also the frequency, anything more than 1 time a week and used more than  50 cents coin, you will see me having oily, limpy hair. Not a great sight huh? By the way, it smells great! Sweet and floral-y! But not so great who those who don’t enjoy sweet scent, as this scent can be quite strong.

As long as you monitor your usage on it, you’ll get happy hair like mine. Soft, doesn’t get tangled too easily and the frizz are kept to a minimum basis. Only one thing, my hair don’t seem to be as shiny as the models featured!!! It’s shinier compared to before, but not shiny enough! Haha.

Sorry, I was just being an idiot. With coarse hair like mine, it’s pretty much impossible to get glossy shiny locks like Suzuki Kyoka, Nakama Yurie, Takeuchi Yuko, Aoi Yu and Hirosue Ryoko. These ladies are quite the popular actress/ models in Japan and are currently endorsing the Tsubaki hair range.

Tsubaki is currently available in Jusco and Aeon Wellness Outlet, prices are as below:

Tsubaki Shining Range
Shampoo 200ml (RM15.90) / 550ml (RM32.90)
Conditioner 200ml (RM15.90) / 550ml (RM32.90)
Hair Mask 180g (RM40.90)

Tsubaki Damage Care Range
Shampoo 200ml (RM16.90) / 550ml (RM33.90)
Conditioner 200ml (RM16.90) / 550ml (RM33.90)
Hair Mask 180g (RM41.90)

The prices aren’t exactly the cheapest of what you can get in drugstores, but for this case, I do think you pay for what you get.

Now, when will the Hair Spa range gets carried into Malaysia?

It’s the mini version of Liese Juicy Shower Moisturizing Hair Mist!

At 50ml it’s totally adorable and it’s travel friendly!Plus it’s RM7, not too expensive me thinks!

Best part, when you finish, you can just buy the refill, and fill it in! Now, who says you need to get the 200ml version?

Now, I hope this isn’t limited edition!

Why?

Because I grew up with Pantene, and I think almost everyone in family grew up with them, or at least have been using them for years before they switched to another brand. I had been using it for at least 10 years, switching to another brand and then goes back to Pantene, and the whole switching n returning stop when I finally went to university and stopped using Pantene ever since. Not that I hated it or anything, just because I had more choices than before and was kinda bored with it. Come on, 10 years of Pantene, not enough?

But they revamp their line and it seems to be a good time to try it, since I was running out of shampoo and conditioner, so, I thought, why not? After all, it had worked for me in the past, it should do the same for me now. No harm trying.

Pantene Shampoo, Conditioner and Hair Mask For Hair Fall Control

Pantene Hair Fall Control is designed to strengthen hair from root to tips, to give you stronger hair and noticeably less hair fall due to breakage. It addresses the issue of hair fall by tackling problems such as cuticle damage and hair roughness, which ultimately lead to hair fall. By effectively lubricating and conditioning, hair friction is reduced and as a result, hair fall due to breakage is reduced too.

Taken from press release

My hair is normally normal-oily at the scalp, and pretty dry at the ends (due to bad haircut ) and it’s a little frizzy. Hair breaks due to my dry ends, but the problem got resolved after I got my major hair cut. I have much lesser breakage, but still there’s quite a bit of breakage.

So on to the review, which I have segregated into before and hair hair cut. There’s a wee bit of difference.

Shampoo

Before Hair Cut

It’s like any other shampoo, but one problem, it dries out my end. And my ends are pretty dry to start off. Ugh. I can’t do without conditioner to be honest. And it doesn’t clean my scalp well. I still feel the oiliness there, despite giving it 2 washes.

After Hair Cut

Now that my ends are chopped off, it cleanses my ends good enough, doesn’t dry it out anymore but the problem of my scalp feeling not very clean is still there. I’d get oily at the roots faster than normal. With this shampoo, I need to wash my hair everyday instead of every other day. I’m pretty okay with scent, which smells like honeydew, but my sister says it smells very artificial, and a little too sweet.

Ingredients:

Conditioner

Before Hair Cut

It does nothing for my hair. NOTHING. My ends are still as dry as ever.

After Hair Cut

I like the conditioner better than the shampoo, as it does leave my hair feeling fluffy and soft. It doesn’t weigh my hair down and I think it’s just nice as an everyday conditioner. And I like the scent of this one better than the shampoo, as it’s lighter. Tee hee.

Ingredients:

Hair Mask

Before Hair Cut

Now, this is the one thing which seems to help my dry ends. At least my ends don’t seem to be that dry, and overall my hair seems to feel better. It doesn’t smell of honeydew, but smells like Pantene, like how it always was. I actually used this as a conditioner for my hair because the conditioner wasn’t working as it’s supposed to be and this is good enough to be used daily but not weighing my hair down!

After Hair Cut

After my hair cut, the hair mask seems to be tad too heavy for me to be used as a daily conditioner, so I used it once or twice a week. And it’s great! Just nice for my hair now. Leaves my hair feeling pampered! I think it’s the best of the lot that was given to me!

Ingredients:

Overall, I do know my hair breakage is reduced drastically after I got my hair cut, but ever since then, I noticed no more extra reduced hair fall, even with Pantene. Maybe there is, but the amount is too small to be noted of. Most probably it’s my hair problem, not so much of Pantene’s.

I like the whole combo as a daily maintenance haircare kit, as it’s great just to keep your hair happy and healthy.

Pantene can be bought at local drugstores/ pharmacies/ departmental stores.

Shampoo : RM9.30 (180ml), RM14.90 (350ml)

Conditioner: RM9.30 (180ml), RM14.90 (350ml)

Hair Mask: RM14.90 (135ml), RM19.30 (300ml)

Check out what other ladies has said about it!

Kahani of So Loverly

Rinnah of Rinnah’s Consumer Views

Juan of My Views and Reviews

Clearly, the title tells you basically everything you need to know about my impression and feelings towards Dove.

If you’d like to know more, just read on.

Otherwise just skip this entry and read some other entry that I wrote earlier?

***************************************************************************************

Why do I sound like I’m some diplomat?

Anyways.

I tried very hard to love Dove. I really did. But Dove didn’t want my love. Oh the woes.

My sisters tried to love Dove too, but still, Dove didn’t want their love either.

I guess Dove just love the trash bin better.

Do you want to hear our tragic love story?

Read on!

2 or 3 years ago, I was bored with Pantene. I decided to break up with it. Thus, I was in search for someone (thing) new.

And I was smitten with Dove!

With all those lovely promises like 1/4 moisturizing cream, leaving hair soft and moisturized and all, and with a rather affordable price tag to boot, any girl would be suckered into buying it back home. So I took home Dove Moisturetherapy Shampoo and Conditioner (dark blue bottle) thinking all the TLC it could give me.

And it isn’t a “we-live-happy-forever” ending.

In fact, I was tortured by it. My hair felt fried and crispy and crunchy for the whole period I was using it. Even using the conditioner didn’t help at all.

Worst part?

It is said that Dove Moisturetherapy Shampoo is for dry and damaged hair and intensively hydrates and restores moisture for better manageability. Dove Moisturetherapy Conditioner coats hair to provide added protection.

Puh-leaze!

My hair felt nothing like it at all!

After using 1/2 bottle, I decided to trash it.

Then my sisters said let them try, maybe they’ll love it.

And well, my sisters told me this stuff is poisonous. Never let it get near their hair anymore. LOL.

FYI, my sisters both have fine hair, and not as dry as mine.

So… off it goes to the bin.

Fast forward into year 2009, I decided to give Dove another chance upon reading Kahani’s and Paris’.

This time, I wanted it to be anti dandruff.

Yes you heard me. I got DANDRUFF! eeeeeeks!

I didn’t have them until I started working, and it’s getting worse because of the stress level and also the non stop air conditioning, and of course, my not-very-healthy lifestyle and diet.

I used so many products and none of them work, I had to try Dove.

I bought this…

picture taken from here

And sigh.

It actually made my dandruff even worse!

Other than giving more dandruff, it also fried my hair to a crispy crunchy sound which I so hate it when my hair is dry.

Off it goes into the bin.

No more Dove hair shampoo or conditioners for me, they hate my hair. Well, I now hate them too because they hate me. Haha. Vicious cycle.

Anyone else thinks that Dove is bad for their hair?

I hope I’m not alone!

I haven’t been doing much lately, no thanks to my blog which I think hates me right now and can’t access it without using a proxy. Troublesome!

I have alot of stuff on my mind which I want to write about, so you might see more post than expected! Maybe not too, it all depends on the internet.

Alright then, I shall start my review and you shall read them.

I am a junkie. Specifically, anything beauty related. So I have tonnes of stuff lying around, waiting to be picked up by me. And the worst part, I enjoy buying them even more. >_<

So yeah, I declared my love for Tsubaki, and I still do love it very very much, but it didn’t stop me from buying a new shampoo and conditioner. =_=

Tada! Ascience Deep Nourish Shampoo and Conditioner.

I have been using this for about 2 to 3 weeks, and it should be given a proper review I feel

What tempted me to buy this was the fact that it’s a quite a strong competitor to Tsubaki both in Taiwan and in Japan, and there are quite some raves about it, and I know as a beauty blogger (am I one?, you decide!), I should be trying stuff out instead of using the same old thing over and over

So with it’s classy golden packaging, and with a decent price tag (Both items are selling for RM14.90 each, 220ml each), I’d say it’s not too expensive. It’s cheaper than Tsubaki, well naturally, since there’s no stores selling it right now, with or without a super marked up price. Sigh.

So, how does this compare? Scent wise, it’s pretty much florally-sweeter than Tsubaki White, but lighter than Tsubaki Red. And it has quite a similar scent to Tsubaki. You wanna know why? Because it contains Camellia Oil, an extract found in Tsubaki too! Shall get into that later.

It contains quite a good amount of goodies for your hair, shall list them down right now!

Pearl – Nourishing protein to repair and strengthen
Korean Ginseng – Excellent emollients to moisturize and control frizz (thank god no ginseng smell though!)
Soybean – Nourishing protein to repair and strengthen
Camellia Oil – Excellent emollients to moisturize and control frizz
Eucalyptus extract – Soothing extract to protect and seal in cuticles

Hm, not bad aye? And if it’s not good enough, Ascience also have this Japan’s Advanced M-18 Hair Beautifying Technology that works to restore, replenish and nourish hair to bring back to its original lustrous condition from within. It is due to 18-MEA (I seriously don’t know what that is!), a natural protective coat that wraps around the hair’s surface gets depeleted very easily sue to chemical treatments, blow drying and harmful UV rays, and without 18-MEA, hair is dull, dry and rough. Thus, the Advanced M-18 Hair Beautifying Technology.

Is this for real? You ask. I don’t know. All I know my hair is happy with it. Tee hee.

My hair is soft, smooth and everything, just like using my trusty Tsubaki. However, this one is lighter than Tsubaki, meaning to say that my hair don’t go as oily as fast if I use it on a hot humid day, comparing to Tsubaki itself.

I really think this is a nice product to try, if you have slightly dry hair like mine. And with the price, it’s not too shabby. The bigger bottles, I think about 450ml? Not sure, it’s selling at RM26.90 each. There’s a treatment pack as well, retailing at RM26.90 too, if not mistaken, but I don’t see the need of using the treatment for now as the shampoo and conditioner works well enough.

I would purchase this again, when I run out of shampoo and conditioner. I still have Tsubaki to finish up! Now, if only Tsubaki gets imported in!

Ascience range is easily available at most Watsons and Aeon Wellness aka Jusco outlets.

Me love me hair! What about you?

I love this baby! I really really do!

I’ve not regretted for splurging on this mud! By the way, it’s RM147.20 for 430ml in Sasa. Prices differ in other places, going up to RM200+ if not mistaken.

It’s green (duh!), and feels creamy and moist. Slab some on the face, and let it dry. Depending on how much you apply, it will take approximately from 10 minutes to 30 minutes of drying time. I usually apply till I can’t see my skin, that’s what I do with my other clay/ mud mask.

Once dry/ nearly dry, wash off with that HUGE yellow sponge. It’s really big! Can wash half of my face in one go! But that’s also a con, since it’s big, might not clean the smaller areas like the side of nose etc. But because it’s sponge, you can squeeze it a little to fit the areas you want. But still, there’s a limit. Hope you get what I mean.

After cleansing, you can definitely feel the difference! Skin is clean, lesser blackhead, and smooth! I like! It doesn’t dry out my skin though, and I thought it would. Weird huh? Maybe my skin is super oily! That’s why?

And oh, the smell of this mud, it’s weird a little at first, but then once you get used to it, it’s soothing and nice. Somewhat of a minty smell.

I have not tried this on my body, I think I should. But for the face, it’s lovely! One problem though, this is not travel friendly. >_< It's made of glass and it's bloody heavy! Lugging it around is a NO NO!

Other than that, no complains from me!

Er, maybe a tiny one, smaller price tag maybe?

Pimple attack. >_<

Anyway, with some pimples on my face means I don’t put anymore makeup on my face till it’s cleared, which is now clearing (thank god for the holidays, great environment and of course, away from work stress!). Should be able to do one or two FOTDs soon.

No makeup doesn’t mean it’s the end of my life. LOL. I go to work bare face everyday, anyway. Weird huh? For someone to buy that much (though not lately), to be such a lazy girl to wear makeup.

But I don’t care! Miahahahaha!

Okay, I want to review on Shiseido Tsubaki Hair Mask.

Read on!

The packaging is kept to a minimalistic approach, it’s purely red in colour and the words are in gold. Pretty classy if you ask me.

It’s rather creamy, not watery. It’s kinda like a soft paste. It smells really sweet, I think the Red Tsubaki range all have this smell, while the White Tsubaki range (Click here for the review) has a much lighter, more subdue smell of floral sweetness.

If talking about preferences, I like the smell of this red one much better! Maybe it’s because I have always preferred something sweeter.

Talking about it’s goodness, here’s what I found off ebay.com

Product Details

Tsubaki contain traditional ingredient of camellia oil which historically used and now it improved as new ingredient. The New concept series Shiseido Tsubaki awake your beauty of hair.

Shiseido Tsubaki contain high purity camellia oil EX which awakes gloss and flexibility of hair. This camellia oil was made combination of traditional camellia oil and unique ingredient which Shiseido developed hair beautify element, and it will restore and bring out hidden beauty that hair originally have.

Enriched with Shiseido special ingredient Tsubaki oil EX, texturize, separate, smooth, straighten, enhance, calm, and sooth your hair. After one use, hair will be dramatically improved, stronger, shinier and revitalized.

Does it live up to it’s claim?

Yes. It does!

My hair is soft and nice and smells slightly sweet and it’s not difficult to manage even though I did not blow dry my hair before I go to bed. Do not be mistaken that I sleep with wet hair, I just let my hair air dry by itself.

But if you apply too much on your hair, it becomes greasy. >_< So do apply the appropriate amount of the mask on your hair if you want your hair to be nice and soft minus the greasy feeling!

I usually do hair mask every once a week or once every fortnight. I have slightly frizzy hair, but is now much better because I had them all chopped off, but still you can’t be lazy!

It’s a little expensive depending on who you bought it from, but I got mine slightly cheaper because I bought it in a package with the White Tsubaki shampoo and conditioner. But it contains 200/300g (can’t remember the exact amount) of product, and you don’t need much each time you use, so it last fairly long, unless you have super long, dry hair.

Now all I gotta do is use up my White Tsubaki shampoo and conditioner and I can start using my Red Tsubaki. Yeap, I told you I will repurchase the Tsubaki range!

Time flies huh?

Anyway, I am doing a quick simple round up for 2008, based on the stuff I’ve tried out so far, which either I have reviewed, or have not reviewed

If the item has been reviewed, a link will be provided. Otherwise, a general review shall be written and a more in-depth review will be up sometime later in the year.

Here goes for part I!

Skincare

Cleanser: Mandom cleansers

Scrubs: Laneige Strawberry Yoghurt Peeling Gel, Garnier Brightening Scrub Wash, Skinfood Black Sesame Hot Mask

Toner: Nivea Visage Refreshing Toner

Serum/ Essence: Neutrogena Fine Fairness Essence

Moisturizer: Sana Nameraka Soybean Isofrabon Medicated Emulsion, Loreal Hydrafresh Aqua Gel Essence

Eye cream: Avon Eye Perfector with Peptides

Lipbalm: MyLipStuff lipbalms

Why: Moisturizing, cheap, not waxy, smells and taste great! It comes in like 400 flavours? Downside: Not available in Malaysia.

Lip serum/ essence: Shu Uemura Deep Sea Moisture Lip Serum

Bodycare

Bodywash: Johnson & Johnson Milk Bath, Shokubutsu Grapefruit Shower Wash

Why: Both are cheap, smells good, and doesn’t dry out the skin!

Scrubs: Watson Body Scrub(Brown tube)

Lotions/ Creams: Lotions from Vaseline, Johnson & Johnson Baby Cream, Johnson & Johnson Milk Lotion, Johnson & Johnson Baby Softlotion 24 Hour Moisture, The Bodyshop body butters

Why: Inexpensive (Not for TBS body butters though), easily available, does the job well!

Haircare

Hair shampoo/ conditioner: Shiseido Tsubaki, Joico Silk Results

Hair mask: Shiseido Tsubaki Hair Mask, Loreal Elseve Anti Breakage Hair Mask

Why: Tsubaki is really good! I love it! But the problem is that it’s not available here Other than that, this is a really nice hair mask! Might be a little heavy for oily hair though, but good for dry hair like mine!

Leave in conditioner: Schwarzkopf Bonacure Moisture Kick Moisture Spray Conditioner

Treatment: Sexy Girl Night Repair Oil Essence

Serum: Schwarzkopf Osis Magic Anti-Frizz Gloss Serum

Why: Moisturize my hair ends, keeping it soft and silky, not too expensive, last quite a while.

Part II will consist of makeup and stuff, so stay tune okay!

Oh god, this is just so hard! It’s killing my brains!

Happy New Year everyone! ^_^

Sexy Girl Milk Wax – Soft Type

I hardly use wax on my hair. I don’t like the feel or the touch or the texture of my hair after using wax. And I don’t like the sticky feeling.

But… this changed my mind. Well, for the time being anyway.

The wax is creamy, the creaminess is quite similar to cream type face moisturizers, but slightly watery. The wax is white in colour. It carries a light fruity scent. Nothing too heavy.

This wax is meant for wavy, loose curls BUT I use them on my un-curled hair. In other words, my un-styled hair.

I have relatively straight hair, with slight waves and I do have some frizzies.

The wax is strong enough to hold my straight hair while helping to minimize some frizzies, but yet light enough like as though I did not put anything on my hair.

I have not tried this on my curled hair, so I can’t say much about it’s holding power on curly/ wavy hair. But my guess would be the holding power would be a bit weak if you like strong, tight curls, but good enough for those who like those soft, wavy, airy curls

It’s quite a big jar and will last me for a long time as I don’t need much. Price wise it’s quite decent, compare to the Night Essence, which is a bit expensive >_<

But oh well, it works, so I think that’s okay. I’ll never pay for something which don’t work!

Sexy Girl Night Repair Oil Essence

This product acts like a leave in treatment for your hair, the only thing that makes all the difference, is that it repairs your hair while you sleep. Don’t it sounds like a leave over night mask for your face? LOL.

I bought this because a once favourite of mine, Lucidol Night Treatment has long been discontinued. I finished my last jar way back last year and have been hunting for it high and low and can’t find any. And so, I can’t pamper my hair while I sleep.

And one fine day I was browsing through Sasa, I saw that Sexy Girl was brought in and the Night Repair Essence caught my attention! I was hesitant to buy it as it’s quite pricey, so I decided to do a little research first.

But reviews for this hair product is really little and so I took the plunge. I fork out about RM60 for this. T_T But… it’s quite well worth the money!

The pink pump bottle contains crystal clear runny liquid, and smells a nice, light foodie scent. I can’t be sure of what smell it is, but it’s not bad.

It is very light weight and non greasy to boot. I quite like the whole texture and smell actually.

This is what it claims to do.

And does it live up to it?

I’ll say yes.

The 3 main functions of the night essence is to REPAIR, MOISTURIZE and PROTECT your hair. I don’t know how much it repairs my hair, but I definitely know it helped my hair from being dry and “crispy”. On days when I don’t use Tsubaki *click here for the review*, my hair is more difficult to manage. But with this, my hair is much easier to manage the next day! The effect is quite comparable to using Tsubaki on it’s own IMO.

And oh, I usually divide my hair into 2 sections, and I use one to two pumps of the essence on one section of the hair.

I am currently using Tsubaki, Schwarzkopf Bonacure Moisture Kick Moisture Spray Conditioner and this and I end up with soft hair with very minimal frizzies. Somehow, these 3 items just work well for my hair. Love them so much! *hearts*

I will repurchase this, and I am definitely hoping for a lower price tag for this item!