I have been out of the country in the past few weeks: Flying to Hong Kong right after Thanksgiving. Then I flew to Guam (it is a US military base, 4 hours from Hong Kong) to attend my brother’s wedding and got back to Hong Kong on Dec 1. I was back to the US on Dec 4. A business trip took me to UK and Belgium on Dec 6. I was so jet lagged and sleepy by then that my wallet was pickpocked in Brussels! I did not know how that happened and the only thing I knew was the horrible 2.5 hours that I spent at hotel lobby to cancel all my credit cards!

That was why I did not write for a few weeks. But I did get a chance network with my family and friends and some business partners in various places. I also picked up some new trend in the area. I could not resist not sharing the latest beauty trend that was sweeping through the region. Although I have lived in the western side of the globe for quite some time, the asian way of beautifying always apply better on ME! For all the guy readers, bear with me for this time.

The two most latest trends were PU leather dressy shoes and “Big Eyes” contact lens.

PU leather is also called Bicast Leather. It looks extremely shiny on surface. It is made with a thick layer of polyurethane layer applying to a leather service. The PU leather shoes can be worn with work clothes and the shoes just made you look smart. Black and Red color PU leather shoes are the main characters but all the other fun colors (green, blue, orange, pink…) are all welcomed! I wore a black pair to work and got a lot of enquires on where to get them. Send me a comment and I can give you some tips to find them.

The “Big Eyes” contact lens are something really new and NOVEL to me. These are not color contact lens. These are contact lens that can make the iris of the eye look bigger. The key manufacturers of “Big Eyes” contact lens are from Korea. These bigger eyes make the face of the person look cuter and sweeter and seem like they could talk. However since these contact lens are not very air permeable they could not be worn more than 8 hours. For those bride-to-be preparing for their big day, you may want to give it a try!!

 

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I was surfing on youtube and found this video about wedding dress.  The video gives some good tips about latest trend of design such as moving away from strapless to sphagetti strap and some drop-shoulder type of design. Some metallic color and details built in the wedding dress matches well with bridemaid dresses and  etc.  Thought some bride-to-be would be interested in it.

I was eating my dinner yesterday and saw something strange on my daughter’s face. SHE LOST HER EYEBROWS! I was so worried that she had some skin problems of whatsoever. She said that “It’s nothin’…I just messed around with my eyebrow.” It turned out that she made her first attempt to trim her eyebrow(Don’t forget she is only 9 and 1/2!). Unfortunately she picked up the wrong tool - razor. She shaved off the whole eyebrow! I told her that whenever she had beauty questions, she should go to her mom first. It is okay for her to talk to her friends and listen to them, but DON’t trust them and do the things they told you!

I think most female species older than the 20 yearold can relate what I am talking about. All our girlfriends used to share beauty tips in sleepovers or other gatherings. Everybody must have experienced several episodes of beauty disasters in their lives. One of my friends put big patches of purple eyeshadow together with bright red lips and blushes and went to her first summer job one year. She was supposed to be the sweet and pleasant sales lady in a mid-priced men’s  apparel store. Customers went away when she got close to them!!!

The eyebrow thing is really tricky even I have got over 20 years of trials and errors. One would thing it is very easy-just don’t wax them, pull it one hair at a time, that should be okay. But once you started to pull one or two hair, somethimes the whole shape could be messed up..don’t try it girls!!

Maybe I should celebrate this event with my daughter…celebrating that she is entering into a new stage of her life - beauty maniac!

[thumb:8:l]It was an extremely hot (almost 100F here) July 4 holiday today. I was so happy to find out that our neighbourhood pool was open.

My daughter and I bumped into our next door neighbour Alicia, her husband and the kids. We were chatting and chilling in the pool. Alicia mentioned that she was getting old (in fact she was 5′10, 135lb and had a very pretty face) and found some dark spot on the face. They were not freckles but would get darker after a nice sun tan.

Most of the Asian women use “whitening” skin care products. Alicia asked me if they contained bleaches as she never heard about them. In fact, these products usually contain retinoids, vitamin C, soy, collagens and other agents that exfoliate the outer layer of dead-skin so that the unpigmented skin can shine through like a boiled egg just come out from the shell. Some also contain pearl powder. They help even skin tone and remove dark spots. Most of the international skin care brand such as Lancome, Shisedo, Max Factor, Christine Dior, H2O etc carry “whitening” line (also UV protection) of products. I usually use “whitening” mask after suntan or when I find my skin looks dull. I sometimes use “whitening” cleansing milk and moisturiser in the hottest months of summer, interchanging them with “High Moisture” type of skin care products. I also use “whitening mask” from time to time. Skin care companies usually market “whitening” line in Asia rather than in America as people like to get tanned here. I guess women under the age of 20 will not care about dark spots. But when we get older all of us should try to take care of those “shadows” on our face a little bit more. Who don’t want a brighter and smoother face?

The link below shows some examples of “whitening” products if anybody want to try:

Skin care Whitening