Week 10 and 11

Hi guys, what's up?


Quick one, as I'm rushing to study for my Jap final test. It's coming really really soon in Nov, hence there will be 4 sections of final tests but luckily all will be at evening time so I still got plenty of time to study. The four sections are, Conversation, Writing Composition, Grammar, and Listening Comprehension. I don't even have any idea what's going to be but in the meantime I've been keeping on studying and recap all the chapters.

Ok, about my skin.

Now that I'm entering week 11, my skin has improved so much to the extent that I don't have anything to update. No major changes, still same routine…I've been religiously wearing Obagi and SPF 60 rain or shine during the day, and without fail putting Obagi and Hydrocortisone during the night. The redness is subside but still, I tend to be so red easily. Like Taylor Swift's Red. Ok. Kidding.

Now as I am waking up with a beautiful skin and pretty proud of my skin without make up *ahem*, I still find myself busy with morning routine because wearing Obagi (steps 1-6) is really hassle especially when morning rush. Belum lagi the neck cream and hand cream coz my skin (all over the body) tends to dry very easily. So moisturiser is my HOLY GRAIL now, after been my ENEMY for the past 26 years. Thank you very much.


And then, last week was my derma's appointment and I satisfied with the result…so far….minus the unfriendly receptionist at the clinic….minus the derma's attitude who really rushing here and there, and she doesn't really care about my opinion. The worst part was that, the short consultation which only 5- 10 minutes but they charged me fifteen bucks!  Okay, so I managed to persuade the derma to lighten my Acnotin dosage from 20mg to 10 mg….but I need to finish my 20mg pills at least until 2 Nov, continue to 10mg until a month later. I still got another month to go so I predict, the whole course will be finished until Dec. Hopefully before Christmas. I can't stop now because of the risk of flaring up or relapse. I can't stop now until I finish the race. Even the side-effects are still there but not really that bad now, thanks for my body who adjusting pretty well. So all in all, I AM DOING PRETTY FINE AND EVEN STILL 2 MONTHS TO GO, I'LL BE DEFINITELY PULL THROUGH
*consoling myself*


Oh ya, I am waiting until week 12 aka 3 months so that I can do a recap month by month. Next post yah. My goal is that now, I will be break free with these oral medication pretty soon. Frankly, I don't mind to put on Obagi to be my routine for the rest of my life……It's just the oral medication…that's it freaked me out…...

For those who has suffered from acne, whatever form it is, from mild acne to cystic acne, try Obagi+Acnotin combo and your skin will thank u you.

-Deb-

Avene Thermal Spring Water- Holy Grail!

This is scheduled post, by the time it published, I'll be in Bandung, to attend Joseph's wedding.

Ok, here we go, this post is about my finding to my Holy Grail water! Holy Cow!

Thanks to Nita, who recommend me to try this product, Avene Thermal Spring Water.

This is initally a face spray water, to reduce redness, soothe, and cool down the skin. How I wish I could discover this during my first week of the Obagi+Accutane treatment so I wouldn't be so embarrassed myself with my reddish skin. But it's never be too late, yo!

I really love how instant this water works, my face immediately calm down after I sprayed it and then, the nicest thing about this, it has no scent, pure thermal water, 100% natural, and non-irritant to the most sensitive skin.

So what I did, *thanks to Nita again*, spray it into my face, wait few second, and then dab dab dab the excess water. Result, soothe and calm my face at instant!

Maximise it to the next level, I use this for toner (for morning routine) as well. At least it's effortlessly soothe my skin before harsh Obagi application. I'm not sure about retail price but I bought it $19.90 for 3 mini-travel sized bottles. Can be purchased at local drugstore.

-Deb-

Week 9. Experiment week.

Hi guys!

Last week was my week 9 in my journey with Obagi + Accutane. 

My skin is improving so much so that I have *guts* to experiment to my skin. I used back my MAC face powder. Both mineralize and loose powder. Here is the result. 

One week using mineralize powder, even the coverage is damn good and smooth but still, I can feel like small little oil traps (very small not even form into whiteheads, as yet) on certain area on my cheek and its disappeared once I stop using it. So I decided to stop using it.

And for the loose powder, I am using it for a week now and although the coverage not as good as the other one, no oil traps or white or black heads whatsoever, as yet. Maybe I will just continue to use this one. 

So the update is, even there isn’t any new acne reforming, I am still battling with the acne scar and I hope it will faster fade away coz I don’t want to rely on my concealer anymore.

Other than that, not to my surprise, my cholesterol level shoots up. Literally it's near borderline now. It's kinda weird because I've been exercising like crazy and eat healthily. As now, I'm completely dislike eating supper and don't really eat tidbids, I'm damn healthy one ok!? hehehe....

Yes! I completely aware, it’s one of the Accutane’s side effects but when I asked my derma, she doesn’t admit it, God dammit. I googled trying to find solutions, some of people said, the cholesterol went up during medication but it will went down aftermath. Some of people said, they suffered from cholesterol for the rest of their life. Mine’s don’t know yet but now I’m aiming to maintain a healthy life style. Meaning to say, gotta eat healthy food, more veggies and fruits. Exercise thrice a week. Keep active. Maintain 8-9 hours’ sleep. Stress-free. I swear to myself, not to sweat over the small stuff and be relax as much as possible. *Arm-fist*

Shit, now my face looks normal but easily blushed! A bit hot or angry or agitated or shy or after exercise, will trigger the redness. People who don’t know might think that I blush easily. Don’t care what other people say la! Red then red lo! J

My next derma appointment is 26 Oct. Next appointment I’m going to ask derma to lower down my Accutane dosage and maybe I can ask her to prescribe me the maintenance program?

Week 9, it's an experiment week for me, and yet, still hoping....

-Deb-

Words that matters

I am a kind of person who believe that words are matters.

People talks, speaks, sings, making sound from its mouth....whatever you called it, we are basically communicating with people surrounds us, with words. That's us. Human. Social Creature.

Well....Communication is segregate by two types. 1. Direct communication such as face to face....and 2.  Indirect communication such as facebook, twitter, blogging, online-kinda thing.....

But the thing that I want to talk type about is, when we talk, type, sing, performing sort of way communication, you carry burden of your image in front of people. The way we convey message, is indirectly jugding us, as a person. Again , as a human. As a social creature.

For me, the more I ageing (hoho I'm in mid-twenty now and still growing :-D ) , the more I realised that , "silence is gold" .... "less is more" philosophy.  Rather than talk non-stop revealing how shallow yourself *ahem* and do some non-quality/ rubbish talking and stuff, might as well (I suggest) just keep quiet and listen...Well....there must be a reason why God created us with two ears and one mouth, rite? So that, people can LISTEN MORE and TALK LESS.

Not only that, I always make a distance between myself and those group of people, hey, the gossiper. You know, a type of person who always get to near you to "dig" all informations about you and then spread it like nobody's business. Yep, the gossiper.

Well, I completely understand that I cannot control what people said about me, neither I can control people NOT TO gossip about me. But one thing for sure, I CAN control myself not to share information to those kind of asshole people. Not blaming them, though... Nothing to be blamed or frustrated about. It's just their nature hey, gossiper, yes I'm talking about you! I don't even give a shit about your existence. Stay away! :-D

Furthermore, for myself, again, if I found a situation whereby I can't really talk nicely towards a particular person. I'd better shut my mouth off and don't talk at all. Don't even want to strike a conversation. Again remember my philosophy, silence is gold!?

Holy cow! How I'd wish people can be matured enough to understand this synergy. Because after all, words are matter. Just my two cents of thought.

-Deb-

Week 7 and 8 on Obagi and Acnotin

To pick up from what I 've left off. The reason why I just update now is because: 1. same thing, I was too busy last week and this week, too… trainings, stupid office politics, kanji test, holiday preparation, etc, etc….2. My face is improving A LOT better. There was one day when I wake up in the morning, see mirror, and found no active zits + even skin tone. Washing my face is becoming one of my fave new addictions because I can feel no bumps/ hurts/ whatsoever. Totally smooth flat surface. I love it! Oh ya, except the one cystic on left and another one on right jaw which sitting there nicely, I am doing fine. I don’t know what’s going on there but it’s really no head or tail or rather I can say, it just a small bump with a bit of discoloration which doesn’t hurt. I really don’t know what the hell they are!? *arm fist*

Although I got no active zits but I still suffer from the acne-scar. Dot dot dot like hyperpigmentation. 

Sigh.

OK, I am the master of concealing those ugliness so at least they're not so obvious.

Okay, so last week was exactly week 7 and was my derma’s review appointment again. Third time I’m seeing her already. This time round, I was a bit discouraged because what happened was that:

She examined my face, she said, ok, NOW YOUR SKIN HAS IMPROVED A LOT. But still you need to take 20MG of Acnotin for another 1 month. I was like, WHAT!?? …I shoot her; CAN I JUST TAKE 10MG? Since my skin improving and I couldn’t take the side effect no more. She replied, yeah can, but can you take the risk of acne flaring up again!? OK. SHE WINS.  So another 20MG for another month haiz….If I’m not mistaken, 20MG cost me SGD 90 for a month. Maybe 10MG is half price.

Almost my topical creams are finishing soon so I need to top up.  Since it costs me a bomb so might as well I share it here but price is varies depend on which derma you go and this is for GUIDELINE ONLY. AND I’M NOT TRYING TO BRAGGING, TOO. Okay, disclaimer done. Here we go.

For Obagi facial wash and toner, this is an optional coz I don’t really purchase it. I used back my Neutrogena facial wash and Kiehl’s Calendula toner which obviously cheaper. But I found a way to get it online and it’s cheaper by $8-10 bucks only. Lead time is 2-4 weeks.

For Topicil, since the price is under $50, I don’t even bother to find cheaper online price. Kidding. I tried to find but yet to avail. So I think this must buy with doctor’s prescription and bought it over the counter.

For Obagi Clear, there is no way to buy online and it is only available at the derma’s counter.  It costs me $112 (after 20% discount). Normal retail price is $140. Again, price may vary.

For Tretinoin, I purchased it in derma’s counter at $35. Come to my surprise, I managed to stretch it to 2 months usage. And my face still bloody red despite I use very thinly amount.

For Obagi Exfoderm Forte, over the counter, 57G cost me about $96 after 20% discount, but I bought online $81.50. Yippie. The downside is, I gotta wait 2-4 weeks’ time.

The rest, like Hydrocortisone cream and SPF, I still have tons of it so I just wait till finish before repurchasing it again. I also quite surprised how I managed to stretch all the topical creams maybe my face is smaller now. Haha.

For oral medication, I’m still doing fine with Erythromycin and Acnotin but I’m dreadly to ask for 10MG instead of 20MG….Let’s see next appointment lah.

You guys still remember when I told ya about using Exfoderm at night leaving me a tingling sensation? I have consulted to my derma and ask why didn’t she give me Blender at night instead. She just saying that, if the tingling sensation only last for few minutes and it’s subside….nothing to be worry about. It’s just a way to saving up a penny because Blender and Exfoderm Forte are basically have same exfoliation functions. So rather than wasting another $96, might as well using same product morning and night!? She suggests if the tingling sensation become worse and worsen, by then I have to apply Tretinoin thinly at evening. Or use Exfoderm in alternate day. Ok, I heed her advice and it worked! At least, the tingling sensation subsides pretty quickly and I am satisfied customer now J

Hmm what else ah….Oh ya, side track a bit. This month is officially 1 year of me doing the braces. Yippie 1 year anniversary! *Proud face*. Within a year, my face contour has changed tremendously now I have even smaller face. I don’t know how to explain coz recently; almost all my colleagues are asking whether I got do filler or botox or cosmetic surgery or not, how come my face change but they also cannot tell what the change is. They said last time my cheek was plumper and chubbier but now it’s sunken!? (Don’t know it’s a good sign a not). Maybe more 3D!? I don’t know how to explain. Now my homework is digging my old photos for comparison purposes. Haha.

Starting from 8/10, next week is my week 9. I can proudly say, my skin is improving tremendously! As per brochure, I still have 9 more weeks to go so I was like, yeah! I am half way through journey to the healthiest skin that I dreamt of. Next appointment is 26 October, for the fourth review. Next visit, I gotta ask for smaller dosage of medication, promise! I don’t mind to use topical cream for the rest of my life but for the medication…the thing that I need to put inside my body….A bit skeptical about it…I completely aware it’s not good for long term…So what to do!?

Ok, see you at week 9!

It's good to have kids, isn't it?

Wuahh…long time never post about parenthood topics already.

Next year, Giselle is going to attend primary school but now she knows how to do simple counting, writing and reading pretty good. Thanks to the tuition that she attends now, she’ll be able to reach this step of milestones. But talking about it I feel pity on her coz she is still kindergarten but already had to do tuition! What a childhood life in Singapore!

For me, I just let her do whatever she wants, never ever wanted to force her to study. Bless in disguise, sometime Giselle will be like, take the blank paper, write down something, and then ask me to read it together…or ask me to count together (mostly coin or money hahaha) or sometime ask me to accompany her to go library.

So now, she crazy over Minion things, Despicable Me. When eating out with her, she is like, mommy, let’s go home quickly, I want to make minion. And then reached home, she took paper, newspaper, color pencil, scotch tape, and scissors. She make an oval-shaped from scrunch newspaper, wrap it with yellow paper, and then make a pattern of blue overalls with blue paper . For the eye, she took plastic saucer from McDonald, just make small dot for irish and then stick it and draw the goggle.  Become handmade Minion figurine. By 6 years old toddler.  :-D

Not only that, using youtube, she jotted down the subtitle of banana songs, and some others minion songs, then read/ sing along together! LOL! What a creative toddler is she! I’ve never expected her to do that especially on this age but creativity doesn’t limit by age, right?

 -Deb-