and the quest to "fix" my skin goes on

If there's anything at all that getting horribly sunburned has done to my routine, it's that I've become pretty much obsessed with my skin. After I got back from Calaguas and saw my horribly fried (I've begun calling myself crispy lechon precisely because of it) skin, I scrounged through my closet and unearthed every single Clinique sample my mom sent from the US. Then, as you may have all read by now, I went on a body wash shopping spree at Watson's.

For the past couple of days, I must admit, I had been bouncing in extreme shower love.

Today though, yes today when I was supposed to be checking papers and writing pleadings and doing laundry (I eventually did two out of three before the sun set), I moved on to face stuff. I'm thinking, now that my nose is finally normal once more and now that my forehead has stopped peeling like crazy, I can now move on to making my face presentable once more.

First things first though: while I do dabble occasionally with Clinique stuff and while there are times that you'd find me getting a facial, I'm one of those cheap girls who doesn't spend much on her skin, not even on her face. I did stock up big time on Celeteque when it went on sale (I loved the fact that not only was it cheap enough for me, it was no nonsense) and for a while back, I did my own version of the three step routine (cleanse, tone, moisturize), but for the most part, I hardly pay much attention to my skin and just hope for the best. After all, I'm the girl who (sometimes) uses regular bathing soap (read: not Dove) to wash her face.

Given everything I've said so far, you'd understand why I did my search for face stuff at the beauty aisle in the grocery store. And, you'd also understand why, instead of buying those lovely products in boxes, I stuck to something that came in pink and white packaging (pink happens to be my favorite color).

The come on:

It wasn't really the Belo name, or the fact that Bea Alonzo is one of their models. It was because Xeng Zulueta, on twitter, mentioned how Belo's pore minimizer facial wash actually works. That same day, I went to Watson's with every intention of buying it except that I was turned off with the fact that it was also a whitening product. I haven't really got anything against whitening products (I did, after all, rely heavily on them after I got chicken pox at 24 and my face was crazy spotted) but let's just say I honestly think I don't really need them.

Of course, when you do turn into a crispy lechon and your nose morphs into a rainbow of reds and browns, you begin to realize (once more) that whitening products may exactly be what you need.

I also loved the fact that products were easy on the pocket (P1__ for the facial wash and P49.00 for the toner) and therefore, very, very attractive to me.

The verdict:

The facial wash comes in the form of a gel (I think it's a PINK gel too!) and you'll need more than a pea sized amount to get it foamy. It was relatively easy to wash off and that is a good thing (especially since I live in BF, that part without water yet, boo!) After that, I used the toner and I was pleased with the fact that it didn't leave my skin feeling tight. Since I didn't buy the moisturizer (apparently I had to get two: one for day and one for night), that was pretty much the end of my routine for the day.

After a couple of hours, my t-zone is oily, but then again, it's almost always like that. My pores don't seem any smaller (I just checked the mirror), but then again, I've only used the products once – I guess I need to give them more time to work on my ginormous pores.

For now, I'm giving Belo more time to work her magic on my skin. Who knows. Maybe one day I'll wake up looking like Bea Alonzo too.

rosa, the crispy lechon

my bad.

they've always said that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. unfortunately, while i believe in it, i failed to act on it. and so i came back from my weekend at the beach burned to a crisp.

boo. i am fat and burned. i feel like a lechon at a fiesta. kulang na lang, apple.

all self-mockery aside, my skin's present state is horrible. i am sunburned, and days after i got back, i still feel slight pain on my back and shoulders. my face is peeling like crazy, including my ears.

and in case you were wondering, i did apply sunblock, i just forgot to re-apply.

since i couldn't do the past over, i thought i'd do the next best thing: take care of my skin. so i trooped over to watson's megamall and tried looking for something that'll (1) fix (2) cure (3) alleviate my sunburn.

in the end, i came home with this:

the packaging promised to help "renew skin in the shower" (yes, my skin needs major renewing). they claim that it is "infused with dead sea salt and exfoliating beads to help remove old skin cells" (uhm, including sunburn peel i hope!) as well as "concentrated vitamin c known to increase the synthesis of collagen and help reduce skin damage cause by free radicals" (collagen is good, right?). and, while it was inside a box and sealed i (gently) opened the box so i can get sniff the contents. what good is a product that fights free radicals is it'll make me smell like chowking's orange chicken, right? (connection: orange chicken = orange = vitamin c. i always associate vitamin c products with the orange smell. don't you?)

the verdict? the slight orange-y scent was the selling point. i LOVED it.

i used it last night and again this morning and i just love how even without a bath lily or scrubbing glove (neither of which i could use cause my sunburn HURTS!) the product is easy to use. i hate how you can't maximize bath gels unless you use a bath lily to distribute the product on your skin but the consistency of the radox "shower cream" allows you to wash your entire body without using much product. i could feel the tiny dead sea salt that they incorporated in the product and while it does exfoliate, i believe that the sparse amount of the sea salt makes it gentle enough for daily use.

it didn't hurt that smell lingered even after i had washed off the product. ☺☺☺ shower love ♥♥♥

going back to my predicament, i'll need more than two showers to determine whether or not it does help in renewing my skin and making it all better. but, to my mind, the mere fact that it makes showering fun and it makes me smell slightly of oranges is a happy thing. and i think that if you want happy showers and the hint of an orange-y scent in your bath, then you should hie off to watson's yourself and get a bottle of this product for only P220 for 450 ml.

*image from beauty haven