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Elemis Day Spa, Central: Modern Skin Facial treatment review

Posted on June 2, 2011 | 5 comments

UPDATE: Elemis Day Spa is now closed 😦

Following on from my first Elemis experience courtesy of their magical melting cleansing gel, I was lucky enough to be treated to one of their signature facials at the Elemis Day Spa in Central – and it was every bit as lovely as I’d hoped.

I was pleasantly surprised at how peaceful and relaxed the spa felt, even though it’s located in one of those anonymous commercial buildings right in the heart of bustling Central (the more hardcore among you could even pop to Lan Kwai Fong for drinks after, it’s that close). It’s luxuriously laid-out and spacious, the soft spa music soothing without being irritating and it felt so tranquil and ‘other’ that it was hard to believe the heat and hustle of HK was going on just a few floors below. Being in Central makes it extra convenient as well – it’s so easy to get to and perfect for slotting into and around your daily routine, especially if you’re working (or shopping!) nearby.

After a brief chat with my beauty therapist (and after the poor girl endured a detailed inspection of my face), she decided the Modern Skin Facial would be the best treatment for me, with a few modifications for my skin. It’s especially suited for young skin (relieved I still fit in that category), and by rebalancing sebum levels, regenerating skin cells and raising mineral levels, helps repair and replenish stressed-out smog-exposed complexions, a feeling most HKers can probably identify with! Given that my blackheads are visible from the moon, she also performed a thorough and relatively pain-free extraction session and my pores have never looked clearer or better.

The facial lasts around an hour of cleansing, toning, massaging and moisturising, though thanks to the extraction, mine took about ninety minutes – and even then, it just doesn’t feel long enough! I didn’t want to leave! Throughout your session, you’ll be treated to plenty of Elemis’ wonderful products – cleaners, toners, serums and creams galore – but in all honesty, it passes by in a blur of bliss. All of the products felt so soft, smooth and soothing and my therapist had the lightest and most calming of touches.

Be prepared for an amazing array of scents too; I felt I’d drifted off into the aroma equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. They were too many lovely ones to count, but they were all heavenly and invigorating without being overpowering.

I particularly enjoyed the Papaya Enzyme Peel (one of Elemis’ best sellers). Unlike so many exfoliators, it didn’t feel harsh or grainy; instead, it was more of a gentle wash, with an uplifting fresh citrus scent to boot.

The other highlight was the Mineral Rich Peel-Off Mask… or rather, the wonderful dry-scalp massage you get during it. Head massages normally set my teeth on edge but this was brilliant and weeks’ worth of headaches just melted away. While you’re enjoying that, the mask works deep in the skin to boost mineral levels (it contains zinc, copper, magnesium and Swiss Garden cress), combining with an earlier product, the Visible Brilliance serum, to deeply moisturise and clear your complexion. There’s also a lovely neck and shoulder massage later on too.

Overall, it’s a relatively straightforward facial – there are no fancy tricks or bizarre high-tech utensils – but for that reason, it’s basically the ultimate in straightforward facials, although at $1280  it may feel a little pricey (it’s worth checking out the many coupon websites in HK for some good discounts; I was lucky enough to be receiving a complimentary treatment). However, the products used are of the highest quality (acting as a good introduction to Elemis’ range of skincare) and the expertise and training of my therapist shone through in her confident and assured touch. I love that she didn’t provide a running commentary of the items she was using or give me the hard sell for any of them (a pitfall in many local salons). She also gave me some great tips about my beauty routine, for instance that I need to exfoliate closer to my lip area as I’m missing out some parts due to my eagerness not to eat products!

This is also one of those facials that leaves you looking great instantly. Unlike many that leave you looking a little oily, blotchy or with a breakout set to burst, I emerged from Elemis with glowing plump skin and a brighter more even complexion. A few days on my skin still looks remarkably radiant and with a definite noticable decrease in redness.

I finished things off with a final trip to the Zen Room, where there’s a small but perfectly formed buffet – and yes ladies, there are brownies! [Very tasty ones too]. But what’s even better than the brownies (and that’s a phrase I thought I’d never utter) is Elemis’ signature health drink, found in a teapot that should be labelled ‘Drink Me’! It’s a deeply soothing mixture of honey, ginger and lemon that’s absolutely greater than the sum of its parts; I often do a homemade version of this at home when I’m run-down and I can promise you, I’ve never managed to make it taste this good! Warming and sweet with a bracing little kick of ginger at the end – the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

I’d highly recommend the Elemis Day Spa for its convenience, its super-chilled atmosphere and most importantly, the quality of its treatments. Many thanks to Sarah at Communique for organising my day and all the lovely Elemis staff who made me feel so welcome. My skin is most grateful!

Elemis Day Spa, 9/F, Century Square, 1 D’Aguilar Street, Central, 2521 6660, http://www.elemisdayspa.com.hk

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CND Poppyfield nail polish review

Posted on May 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

The sun has got its hat on, hip hip hooray, the sun has got its hat on, CND Poppyfield’s coming out to play.

Isn’t coral just such a fabulous summer colour? I’ve been searching for a great coral all year in anticipation of sunny days, blue skies and beach dreams but it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought it would be! A good coral should be the perfect blend of pink, orange and red; you know it’s perfect when it’s definitely not identifiable as being solely any of the colours above but cries out to be called coral! It’s also one of those colours that depends on skintone and surroundings to pull it in different directions, so one woman’s ultimate coral can easily be another’s crash and burn.

Poppyfield’s name doesn’t really do it justice. When I think of poppies, I think of a cheerful bright red, which this polish clearly ain’t. It’s a tangy mostly orange-leaning red that pops with more gusto than an Andy Warhol painting. A Californian poppy at a push, but much more likely a nasturtium, geranium or hibiscus if you must go down the garden path (yes, I did a lot of gardening as a child, what of it?!). In real life, there is a detectable melon sorbet pink tone in there too, but my camera clearly preferred the orange instead (you can see it more in the bottle). So what’s that – mentions of red, orange AND pink? Clear coral territory, for sure.

Poppyfield was the first CND nail polish I’ve tried – and I’m definitely going to be back for more! Unfortunately, Creative Nail Design (to use their full moniker) underwent a revamp a few years back, which overhauled their bottle design for the better, but severely stunted their range of colours in the process. It’s now a mostly uninspiring collection seemingly based on the boring racks in Essie i.e. traditional colours in red, pink and neutral shades.

Such a shame as the formula on this was brilliant. Smooth, creamy, easily opaque in two coats, a high-shine glossy finish and chip-free after well over seven days. I also loved the rubber cap of these bottles, which made such a difference to getting that extra bit of grip and security (my polish-stained blanket bears testament to the number of plastic caps that have slipped through my fingers!). The brush itself was not too memorable (I’d compare it to China Glaze’s in terms of size and thickness) and judging by how relatively neat my nails look here, it must have been pretty good to use.

Poppyfield is a coral that doesn’t just smile – it positively sings. It looks A-MA-ZING (emphasis on the zing) paired with summer brights and it’s the kind of polish that brightens up your whole look. Together with the fabulous formula, Poppyfield is a no-brainer. Flash but not brash, it’s definitely one for your summer stash. Yes, I do rhymes here too.

Looks good with: summer brights, sunnies, shorts
Drying time: 5-7 minutes
Coats required: 2-3
Chips: +7 days

CND Poppyfield nail polish, $60, Nail Concept Company

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China Glaze Passion In The Pacific nail polish review

Posted on May 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Whilst I was desperately seeking Turned Up Turquoise, I ended up buying a bottle of China Glaze’s Passion In The Pacific to fill the tropical turquoise void in my life. Well, you know, the one that hadn’t already been filled by Essie’s Turquoise & Caicos.

I initially thought Passion In The Pacific would be a shimmery zingy emerald to Turned Up Turquoise’s true turquoise hue – but in fact, they ended up as much closer cousins than I would have imagined. Just like Turned Up Turquoise, Passion In The Pacific becomes a lush jewel-toned turquoise in the brightest artificial white light and just like Turned Up Turquoise, it’s a standard summery palm tree green practically any time otherwise.

The main difference is the finish. Whilst Turned Up Turquoise has that trademark semi-matte finish of most neons, Passion In The Pacific is a definite ocean-in-the-sunlight shimmer. I’d even be tempted to call it a frost, if it didn’t seem utterly strange calling a colour evocative of beaches, summer and sarongs something so cold, stark and wintry.

I had all kinds of problems with it though. I don’t know if this is because Passion In The Pacific is an older polish so has a different formula than the China Glazes I know and love or if I just got a dodgy bottle, but it was dishearteningly difficult to work with. Extremely thin, watery and streaky, prone to air bubbles, looooong drying time and brush-strokey finish when dry. I hated it. As usual with polishes I hate, that meant it decided to stay with a vengeance – I managed a full week chip-free before I finally caved in and ditched those mocking air bubbles.

Under bright artificial light (plus flash)

The colour pay-off is a nice summer bright but probably not that unique – if I’d have known that it was so similar to Turned Up Turquoise, indeed if I’d have known I’d find Turned Up Turquoise in the first place, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. After all, there are enough top coats in the world that could probably recreate that oceanic shimmer, except without all the application problems and maybe look even better.

In short, Passion In The Pacific is a great summer colour – but only if you can’t find any other similar alternatives! Looks like he’ll be enjoying his beach-side cocktail on his own!

Looks good with: tropical brights, bikinis, cocktails with umbrellas in
Drying time: 10 mins
Coats required: 3-4
Chips: +7 days

China Glaze Passion In The Pacific nail polish, Spring/Summer 2006 Fiji Fling Collection, $60, Cher2

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Red Pepper restaurant review – the spice of life

Posted on May 17, 2011 | 4 comments

Ask my boyfriend what his favourite restaurant in Hong Kong is and his answer may well be Red Pepper.

Red Pepper has been a staple of Hong Kong’s dining scene for years. It’s the kind of place that old-timers in HK for flying visits make a point of visiting, the kind of place businessmen take clients for impressive banquets and the kind of place that tourists get told to try. Consequently, some of my local friends shake their heads and complain it’s only for ‘gweilos and expats’, with its Sichuan dishes geared towards Western tastes. Oh well, leave it to the gweilos and expats then, as that means more prawns for us!

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China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise nail polish review

Posted on May 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Have you cottoned onto the fact that I like turquoise – a lot – yet? It should come as no surprise then that, after seeing pictures of China Glaze’s Turned Up Turquoise on some blogs, I just knew I had to claim that turquoise for my own too!

Part of the Summer 2008 Ink Collection, which were somewhat bizarrely based on the hues of tattoos, it proved pretty difficult to track down – but as you know with me, the journey is half of the fun… or something like that (see tracking down Gosh Cosmetics, flakies and even Waterball Bay for further evidence!). The whole collection is made up of bright buzzing neons that practically jolt you to attention and Turned Up Turquoise is no exception. It’s an intense saturated turquoise colour that floods the senses with its zing. So far, so amazing.

But unlike Essie’s Turquoise & Caicos, I don’t think I can describe this as true turquoise. It’s simply not content to be just one colour! Turned Up Turquoise is a bit of a tropical chameleon in a way that I don’t think most Internet swatches have shown. Sometimes, it really would look like the perfect turquoise adrenaline rush; other times, it leaned massively towards a mouth-watering candy-coated green. All the pictures on this page were taken in daylight (apart from one I’ll mention later), with only minor adjustments to hand positions and the natural variations of sunlight and shade to blame for how differently they all turned out!

The greenest shades remind me of the most vibrant green of cartoon palm trees whilst the most truly turquoise make me think of the clearest, jewel-like tropical oceans. Either way, they’re all violently vivid, although some seem to have had a heftier dose of lime juice than others. As you may guess, my favourite hue is the most traditionally turquoise one… but to guarantee that colour, you have to stay in the brightest sunlight or the whitest lighting possible at all times!

Like many neons, Turned Up Turquoise dries to a semi-matte finish. I think it might look even more awesome glossy, but the matte effect is stopped from falling flat by a slight shimmer that’s been thrown into the mix too. It proves somewhat elusive to catch in photos; the slightly blurry one below taken under artificial light comes closest to capturing the subtle glow that stops it from looking chalky and dull.

Application-wise, I found it a little difficult to work with simply because, like many mattes, it dries quickly. Unlike all those OPI Suedes that I’ve loved, Turned Up Turquoise seems to have a thicker consistency that meant it was difficult to make perfect, without visible brush-strokes, in the short time before the lacquer started setting. Even though the colour was so strikingly strong and intensely-pigmented to only require one coat for opaque coverage in a colour that looked exactly like it did in the bottle, you might need to go for two just to try and clean things up a bit. But like the other matte finishes I’ve tried, this didn’t wear too well, with chips appearing after just one or two days.

Turned Up Turquoise does have its faults, but for that extreme rich colour pay-off, it’s definitely worth it. When it does decide to give you a glimpse of its turquoise side, it’s a turquoise so eye-poppingly amped up to the max that you’re shocked into submission, yet without appearing garishly fluorescent. And hey, those green shades aren’t too shabby either, right?

Looks good with: neons, high contrast, high NRG
Drying time: <2 mins
Coats required: 1-2
Chips: 1-2 days

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise nail polish, Summer 2008 Ink Collection, $160, Nails From The Heart, Admiralty Centre

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China Glaze BFF nail polish review

Posted on May 10, 2011 | 2 comments

And so the holo madness continues, with China Glaze’s BFF.

Short recap if you haven’t been keeping close track over my nail polish obsession: Rach discovers lacquers that have rainbow holographic effect reminiscent of her favourite stickers from childhood, Rach decides she must have as many of these holographic lacquers as possible, regardless of colour, price or availability. Polish connoisseurs regard China Glaze’s Kaleidoscope and OMG Collections as the zenith of shimmery rainbowy goodness, so Rach dedicates huge numbers of man hours, resources and dollars to tracking down said collections. Rach is so zombified by doing this and blogging about 85 dresses as 2011’s Met Gala that she starts referring to herself in the third person.

Back to BFF. BFF is the colour of rhododendrons or mallows in full pinky-purply bloom. Except with added rainbows, of course. It looks a lot pinker in my photos than it did in real life, as it’s very much an in-betweeny mix of cool mid-toned pink and a pale dusty magenta. Unlike DV8, which gave a more marine-flavoured spectrum, BFF has the more traditional full rainbow glow when it hits the sun.

An easy fast-drying two-coater, BFF reverted to type when it came to chips too. DV8 unexpectedly lasted a whole week without any obvious wear but BFF started flaking away after a few days. Generally, shampoo day is the death knell for any holos I wear, and DV8 looks like it was the exception that proved the rule!

Normal light vs artificial light

Although BFF probably isn’t the most stand-out colour from the OMG Collection, it’s actually one of the most wearable whilst still providing that revelatory wink of rainbows. It’s not a too-girlie pink, but nor is it a not-safe-for-work blast of purple. Fully deserving of being every girl’s BFF, it’s pretty much the perfect Trojan horse for holographic goodness.

Looks good with: most things
Drying time: <2 mins
Coats required: 2
Chips: 3-4 days

China Glaze BFF nail polish, Spring 2008 OMG Collection, $115, Nail Concept Company

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China Glaze DV8 nail polish review

Posted on May 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

As you’ll know by now, I try and avoid nail polish jargon – largely because I don’t understand it myself! I made a recent exception for flakies, although I prefer my  more descriptive term ‘amazing shreds of rainbow awesomeness’, and now I’m going to make another exception for ‘holos’ – basically because I’ve become obsessed with the things! So here goes with my first holo, China Glaze’s DV8.

… Actually, it’s my second. I stumbled upon China Glaze’s IDK on a dusty shelf in a little shop in Tsim Sha Tsui and bought it on a whim, only to be instantly spellbound by the hidden rainbow hues which came out to play in the sunlight. Little did I know, I had happened upon a much-sought-after holo from China Glaze’s discontinued OMG Collection, which nail bloggers still discuss misty-eyed although it was launched (and withdrawn) two years ago!

Holo is basically shorthand for holographic – and that clicking noise you hear is the sound of me “getting it”! It basically refers to an elusive type of glitter that reflects the whole rainbow right back at you when you hit a magic angle in strong light. It’s the kind of effect you may remember from stickers you used to collect when you were little, the rare shiny sparkly ones that would often have a special page in your sticker book and as such, were worth big stakes when trading amongst your friends. Well, you might have grown up, but nothing changes! Bloggers practically devour holographic nail polish, are constantly on the hunt for new and stronger holos and dream of rare swaps… and now I’ve become an addict too!

After hitting up the afore-mentioned shop in TST to claim whatever stock of the OMG Collection they had left (not much), I was still hungry for more. I thought I could wait until China Glaze released its much-anticipated Tronica Collection this spring, which was allegedly chock-full of rainbow goodness, but reviews started filtering in reckoning these weren’t proper holos at all… so I decided I had to source the OMG Collection whatever the cost! Hence how I got ripped off ridiculous amounts of money at a shop in Causeway Bay instead.

But it was so soooo worth it. A good holo is a thing of rare enchanting beauty and a danger to my personal safety as I find myself staring at my nails when I should be concentrating on things like crossing roads. And DV8 has to be one of the best of the lot.

A strongly-pigmented teal colour, it’s a pretty amazing aquamarine even without the rainbow shimmer, which is highly visible under strong sunlight or artificial light. Such an intense bright colour is actually pretty rare in the strange magical world of holos – it seems easier to make them in pale silvery shades, which are consequently much easier to find. Factor in the spectrum of multi-coloured hues that flit your way when the mood takes them and this oceanic stunner becomes one of the seven wonders of the nail polish world.

Under artificial light

The rainbow rays in here seem to reflect a much more mermaid-themed palette of glittering greens, blues and golds as opposed to the usual full ‘shine a crystal in sunlight’ kaleidoscope of colours, but that just suits the magnificent marine theme even more. DV8 feels like a treasure unearthed from the deep, guarded by sirens but rescued for your wearing pleasure: glowing, glittering, gorgeous.

I had no problems in applying this over a base and the formula was easy to work with – two thin coats and you’re done! Holos are also renowned for chipping fairly quickly (IDK flaked off into papery pieces without notice) but incredibly, DV8 lasted well over a week in picture-perfect condition. Maybe it’s to do with that stronger colour pigment but seriously, is there anything about this nail polish not to love?!

So forget about the pot of gold at the end, it’s all about the rainbow. And DV8 deserves to be celebrated with all the delight of a double one!

Looks good with: summer, bright colours, high contrast
Drying time: 2 mins
Coats required: 2
Chips: +5 days

China Glaze DV8 nail polish, Spring 2009 OMG Collection, ridiculous sum of money, Senda Salon


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Hong Kong: Creative Ecologies @ HK Heritage Museum – Like peas in a pod!

Posted on May 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

During our trip to the Pixar: 25 Years Of Animation exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, we had a quick scoot round the rest of the place. Emphasis on quick – you’ll have noticed my usual grumble about crappy café quality (see Museum of Coastal Defence, History Museum and Botanical Gardens posts for further moaning) was missing from the Pixar write-up… because this time there wasn’t an eating facility at all!

Sadly, nothing was as awesome as the colourful display of Fei-Fei’s plus-sized cheongsams we stumbled upon when we visited the Age Of Couture Exhibition (a greater aesthetic juxtaposition you could not imagine!). Yes, HK ‘affectionately’ nicknamed their much-beloved actress cum singer cum media personality Lydia Sum something that translates as ‘Fatty’!

This time, we happened upon the Hong Kong: Creative Ecologies exhibition – or what of it had been placed in the foyer of the second floor. Dozens of identical ‘Tin Tin’ figurines, all decorated, styled and re-imagined in different ways by various home-grown artists and designers.

It was fascinating to see how so many people could take one identical thing and end up with something so different yet still recognisable. Designs ranged from the beautiful to the comical to the bizarre to the slightly macabre (I didn’t take a photo of the one that had been mocked up to look like a see-through human body, with all the vital organs glowing inside, as it freaked me out too much), whilst many had a uniquely HK flavour – one had a map of our MTR system, another had silhouettes of our trademark bamboo scaffolding system with workers hanging out un-harnessed and causing heart attacks to Western Health & Safety bodies.

My favourites were the ones who thought ‘outside the box’ and mixed it up a little. I noticed that whilst many of the fashion and accessory designers decorated their models, the artistes chose to do more abstract things – like one completely encased in a steel box, with just that recognisable pointing finger sticking out, or the one that appears to be melting. I was engrossed by the one that seemed to have sprouted alarmingly naturalistic-looking roots and was even growing foliage up top!

The only HK artist whose work I recognised instantly was Prudence Mak. That distinctive bright patchwork style couldn’t belong to anyone but the founder of cute quirky local brand, Chocolate Rain, who you will hear more of later…! Apologies for the picture quality – I haven’t figured out how to minimise the reflections caused by the glass cases – so I’ve compared it with a nice HQ photo from the Heritage Museum’s website so you can see it in all its detailed technicolour glory!

Hopefully these will be kept together as a display once the exhibition has ended and housed somewhere else, as they’re far more powerful and dynamic as a collection rather than if they were split up. It’s certainly nothing to warrant a special visit to the Heritage Museum (though apparently there was a Creative Ecologies gallery that I was too hungry to visit), but it’s a cool little diversion nonetheless! Enjoy!

Hong Kong: Creative Ecologies, 5 Feburary-11 May 2011, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 1 Man Lam Road, Sha Tin, 2180 8188. See Hong Kong: Creative Ecologies Website for further details.

$10 admission, free on Weds. Opening hours: 10am-6pm, 7pm on Sunday and public holidays. Closed Tuesdays.

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Make-Up Miracles: Sebamed Hand & Nail Repair Cream review

Posted on May 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

*UPDATE: I have since discovered some even more miraculous hand creams – check out my post here to find out more!*

You may have picked up from previous posts that a year at kindergarten dealing with adhesives, snotty children and copious amounts of antibacterial hand-wash on a daily basis left me ravaged, dry, scaly and flaking – and that was just my hands! Or should that be hooves. Seriously, I had the hands of an 18th century scullery maid… in her 60s.

I went through numerous hand creams, body butters, lotions, potions and prayers without any making much of a difference – and some even seemed to make it worse! But one day, reading through the SCMP’s Young Post section (and, in my opinion, the only readable part of the paper), I saw Sebamed’s Hand & Nail Repair Cream receiving a glowing recommendation. I’d had previous success with Young Post recommendations – it was they who put me in the direction of previous make-up miracle, Atorrege AD+ Spots Treatment – and the product didn’t seem too pricey, so I thought I’d give it a go.

I’ve not looked back since. I’ve since discovered that Sebamed is a bit of a hidden gem, a no-frills brand with plain packaging that gets great word-of-mouth Stateside. Their products are formulated to a neutral pH of exactly 5.5, the precise pH of healthy skin (soap, for instance, is a different pH and this is one reason why it can dry out and break up some skins), and this strengthens and stabilises the ‘natural barrier function of the skin’s acid mantle’ (I presume this is make-up speak for protects the skin so your skin can protect you!). Meanwhile, their gentle mild formulas are perfect for sensitive skin.

Their Hand & Nail Repair Cream was no exception. The medium consistency of the lotion seemed nothing to write home about but it absorbs super-quickly and is not at all greasy or oily, like some of the richer lotions on the market. There is a slight ‘bathroom cabinet’ scent but nothing unpleasant, instead vaguely reassuring, and it disappears quickly anyway. The cream also contains ingredients like allantonin, which regenerates the skin and makes it soft and supple, and bisabolol (the active ingredient from camomile), which alleviates irritation.

Although the packing might not be fancy, some of the claims Sebamed make certainly are! They reckon this cream will increase the skin’s capacity to retain moisture, restore the elasticity of the skin, smooth relieve and soften dry chapped hands and strengthen the nails, preventing them from breaking. And for once, each and every single one of these claims came true!

My hands were so dry and flaky that snakes probably mistook them for scaly skin they had shed earlier; my fingers were so cracked that my fingerprints no longer match the ones saved on my HK ID card. But after weeks of regular use (that’s daily, nightly and whenever else I find myself anywhere near the bottle), they slowly started to improve. My hands do indeed feel softer, my dry patches have indeed been healed and my nails do indeed seem stronger and haven’t broken once (also thanks to my trusty Nail Tek II, no doubt!).

My ultra-chapped areas are recovering at a promising rate and are completely smoothed and softened immediately after use, with normal levels of flakiness more ‘too many washing-up sessions with strong detergent’ rather than ‘just endured a trek to the North Pole’ or ‘may be regenerating into fish scales’. I also rub the lotion into the rough patches on my elbows and it seems to do a better job than the much-lauded Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream.

My 300ml bottle with a pump dispenser – which, bear in mind, I use like it’s going out of fashion – lasts me between 6 to 10 months. You can also buy a smaller squeezy tube that’s perfect for on-the-go use to keep your mitts permanently moisturised, especially in HK’s inescapable blasts of sub-Arctic air-conditioning. One thing that could be improved is the amount of excess packaging – the bottle comes in an unnecessary cellophane-wrapped cardboard box, whilst there is also another unnecessary plastic case around the head of the pump.

Overall, my hands are somewhere back to the plump, soft, never-seen-a-day-of-hard-graft status that they were at before my stint with a class of wild five year olds. And it’s solely down to Sebamed (I suppose Young Post could get a biscuit too). So welcome Sebamed’s Hand & Nail Repair Cream into your gallery of make-up miracles too – your hands, and anyone else who has to touch them, will be forever grateful!

Sebamed Hand & Nail Repair Cream, available from Meka and selected Watsons

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Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel cleanser review

Posted on April 30, 2011 | 1 comment

I was recently lucky enough to be sent some small sample sachets for a brand new product to Hong Kong – Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel.

I love the concept of this ‘dual-phase’ product. It starts life as a thick luxurious translucent gel, which glides silkily smooth onto the face. Next, massage it into your skin with wet fingertips, thus melting it into a milky creamy emulsion. Finally, wipe or rinse it off and you’re left with deeply-cleansed, super-soft and ultra-radiant skin.

The Melting Cleansing Gel also contains one of the current ‘It ingredients’ for cosmetics, Argan oil, which comes stuffed with naturally-occurring minerals and is renowned for its restorative and nutritive properties. Other high-achieving ingredients include rice silk (to mattify and eliminate shine), assai fruit (an antioxidant that prevents the skin from drying out) and rosemary leaf (a purifying antioxidant).

Even though I only had enough of the stuff to last around four days, I was bowled over. Elemis, much like one of my favourite skincare brands Bliss, originated from spa treatments and therapies and the Melting Cleansing Gel has a similarly amazing luxurious feel to it. I’m used to cleansers feeling very workaday so it was a lovely way to inject a little bit of luxury to my daily routine. The texture really is meltingly beautiful, gooey gliding goodness – as if someone made the softest cashmere, silk and velvet into gel form.

The results are instantly noticeable. My skin felt deeply cleansed without any of those familiar feelings of tightness or dryness and I was instead left feeling refreshed, relaxed and with supremely soft skin to boot. My complexion definitely seemed brighter and lighter too. Other reviews have commented on a pleasant citrus scent but oops, I was clearly enjoying the gel to cream transition to notice!

Because the Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel offers such a deep clean that feels more moisturising rather than stripping, I think it would be ideal for sensitive skin. Despite the whole melting dual-phase technology, it’s not especially time-consuming and can easily fit into your everyday skincare routine.

With just enough sample for four uses, I can’t really comment on the product’s long-term effects or how long it lasts for and it might be a little bit pricey to make it into everyone’s daily regime. However, what I can say is that I was so impressed by the Melting Cleansing Gel that I would definitely recommend it to others and would even give it a full-time trial myself!

Elemis Melting Cleansing Gel, $380 for 125ml, available from Elemis Day Spa in Central and Elemis counters at Lane Crawford and Joyce Beauty.

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