Eyelash Extensions

Eyelash extensions are the latest beauty trend. There are two ways of doing eyelash extensions. Some Spas/Salons glued a chunk of flare/cluster lashes on top or between natural lashes. These flares have a fake appearance, and usually started to fall off in a few days. Most complaint about flares are the heaviness and the obvious fakeness of the look. They also weighed down your natural lashes and caused them to fall out, leaving gaps and bald spots in the lash line.

Semi-permanent eyelash extensions are individual lash-like fibres attached millimetres above your eyelashes, where you'd usually apply eyeliner. As your eyelash grows from 30 - 90 days, the extensions will fall out with your natural lash and replaced by new younger lashes. Single lashes take about 1 - 1.5 hours to apply. The extensions typically last three weeks to three months, but can fall out within days. You can even shower or go swimming in them .To maintain the full look, refills are required between 2-4 weeks.

SPF

SPF stands for sun protection factor. SPF is a number that represents how long a person can stay out in the sun without burning while using the product. It refers to the amount of ultraviolet energy required to produce a minimal redness or minimal erythema dose(MED) on unprotected skin. If a person normally burns in 10 minutes without sunscreen, an SPF-15 sunscreen will protect your skin for 150 minutes. However, there is no such thing as total protection from the sun, you will still get sunburn if you do not continuously reapply sunscreen while your skin is exposed to the sun.

You may start to think using a high number of SPF, you will never need to reapply sunscreen, but that simply isn't the case if you want to protect your skin. A higher SPF also means a greater concentration of chemicals, which can lead to a greater risk of allergic reactions.

Sun Damage

The sun projects three basic kinds of ultraviolet rays, or UV rays. UVC rays are short rays that are absorbed by the earth's ozone layer before they can enter the atmosphere. UVB are the next longest UV ray. It cause most skin cancers and are responsible for sunburns. They penetrate the epidermis to the basal layer. Although UVB rays are the ones responsible for sunburns, UVA rays penetrate deeper and are associated with breaking down collagen and elastin and leading to wrinkles. Although UVA don't cause sunburns, they do stimulate melanin production that can lead to pigmentation irregularities and cause long-term damage to skin.
People whose skins have been overexposed to sunlight during their younger age usually start to show signs of aging between the ages of 35 and 45, this is due to structural damage that affects the skin's elasticity. Once the skin has lost its elasticity, it cannot be restored. Many people may think that a deep tan is a sign of good health, but overexposure can be harmful.

White bumps under my eyes

Have white bump under or around your eyes? These are called milia, they are tiny cysts formed by clogged oil glands. These milia are caused by heavy moisturizers, heavy eyecream, oily makeup remover or under eye concealer. Prolonged exposure to the sun, can make your skin more likely to form milia, because sun-damaged skin thickens over time, which can make it more difficult for the skin to shed dead skin cells.

If you are prone to getting milia around your eyes, try gentlly exfoliation around the affected area a couple times a week to help cell regeneration, also switch to a lighter moisturizer such as eye gel or eye serum.

Milia may removed by skin specialist with a sterile lancet and a comedone extractor, do not remove them yourself, you may end up with a scar.

Eye Creams Vs Face Cream

Many people might wonder why they can't use their face cream instead of eye cream.

Skin around our eye area is extremely thin and very delicate, face creams contain higher concertrations of active ingredients, which may be too aggressive and could cause damage to our eye area.

Another common concern about our eye area such as puffiness and eye bags can also get worse by using lots of hydrating ingredients, and end up making the eyelid look puffier.

Moisturizers

Always apply moisturizers after cleansing and toning. Moisturizers help to protect our skin from the damaging environment, and also reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

There are moisturizers for daytime and nighttime use:

Day creams tend to be a bit lighter and usually contain sunscreen. It protect our skin from UV rays, and provide a protective layer between our skin and make-up. 

Night creams tend to be a bit heavier and contain ingredients like collagens, vitamins and anti-aging components. The cell renewal of our skin is more active at night, using a night cream gives our skin the chance to repair the damage caused by make-up, pollution and UV rays.

If a moisturizer is designed for both day and night use, then always remember to apply sunscreen in the morning.

Why use Toner?

Toner is one of the most important parts of our daily regimen.

1. It helps remove any residue left on the skin after cleansing.

2. It has a relatively low pH, helping to adjust the pH of our skin's acid mantle after cleansing. When our skin's pH is balanced, it provide our skin a good barrier function against the environment.

3. It rehydrates our skin and prepares it for moisturizers. 

When choosing a toner, try to avoid toners containing SD, ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, these are very drying and irritating ingredients. Alcohol will dry up the existing surface oil and cause the oil glands to produce more oil to compensate.

The best way of applying toner is to spray it on, if your toner doesn't come with a spray bottle, you can always get one from a dollar store. Otherwise, you can just pad it on with your hands.

Facial Cleansers

Basically there are two types of facial cleansers:
1. Milk cleansers

These cleansers contain emollients that help dissolve make-up very readily, making it an excellent product for removing make-up. It's more suitable for normal, dry and sensitive skin. For acne skin, a milk cleanser may be used strictly as a make-up remover, followed by a rinseable detergent cleanser for extra cleansing action.
2. Foaming cleansers

These cleansers contain detergent to help remove excess amounts of oil. It's more suitable for combination, oily and acne skin. For people who are used to washing their faces with bar soap, and like the "squeaky clean" feeling, a foaming cleanser is your best bet.