Ask Me: Morning Skincare Routine

Hi!

I'm going to post about... my morning skincare routine! I personally like to keep everything simple by only using a few products, so here is the most basic routine I can think of. Unless you only use soap and water...

1. Water and Cleanser: I like to use warm water, then scrub off stuff with a wet flannel, since a dry one is too scratchy. Then I use face cleanser. I like to alternate between my Garnier Light Gentle Clarifying Face Wash and my Bioré Gentle Foam Facial Wash. Here is a picture from the Internet of the Garnier face wash. 
2. Scrubbing (Hard, but not too hard): This is my version of exfoliation, since I don't have an exfoliator. So I just keep the face cleanser on, and with aforementioned face flannel, I just rub gently on my nose, cheeks and forehead, I know my method may not be exactly correct, but it makes my skin feel fresh, smooth and soft. Although make sure that you don't scrub too hard, or your face will turn tomato read from the flannel's rubbing! Not. Cool. 
3. Washing it all off: This step = meh. Just splashing water on my face. Water must be warm. 
4. Dry time: Pat your face dry with a damp flannel. 
5. Moisturiser: I like to use a light BB cream, or a light day cream that includes SPF protection as well as moisturization. I personally prefer a water-based cream since I have combination skin and I live in humid and hot Singapore, which means those oils will be produced even faster. However if you have dry skin, you should use a medium-weight cream that is oil based. 

Ta-dah! There it is. Feel free to leave comments below on what you do in the morning for your skincare routine. 

Ask Me: How To Organise and Decorate Your Locker

Tired of messy lockers? Exasperated with that shower of paper you get whenever you open that creaky metal door? Fear no more, locker-organisation day is here to help!
Note: I just made that day up. Hehe. *blush*

Here are my tips for a neat and organised locker:

1. Get locker shelves. Get one each for "Take Home" items, notebooks and stationery, textbooks, and binders. If you have a smaller locker, put "Take Home" items, notebooks and stationery into one shelf and then get a shelf each for textbooks and binders. If you really have a spacious locker, get one shelf for each subject. 
2. Get a dry-erase whiteboard. Let's face it, post-it notes are only helpful when they stay on your locker door. With all those bags being shoved in and taken out, plus all those doors being slammed shut, they just don't have enough sticking power. Get a dry-erase whiteboard and attach magnets to the back so you can stick it to the wall. Don't have a metal locker? Use an adhesive hook, some tape and cord and you have yourself a whiteboard-hanger. The added advantage: Save paper!
3. Colour-coordinate items by subject. That moment when: you take the wrong notebook for your class! Say goodbye to days of running through the corridors to get the right notebook by colour-coordinating items by class. For example: blue for science, pink for maths and so on and so forth. Never take the wrong item again! 
4. Remember the rules. How are you going to keep your locker neat if you can't put things back in the right place? Make sure you aren't putting your English notebook where your French one lives. A solution? Label shelves with stickers. 
5. Use folders for those loose papers. These can also be colour-coordinated like the rest of your stuff. Bye bye, paper shower!
6. Put things into bags. School materials in school bag, PE stuff in a separate bag. Laptop in laptop sleeve and pencils in pencilcase. There! All tidied up! 
7. Emergency Kit: So I already talked about the basic girls emergency kit. Okay. Now how about one for school? Keep a pack of paper, a small binder or folder, a water bottle and a spare set of pencils and pens for when you forget something. Problemo solved. 

So now your locker is clean. But what about the decorating aspect? 

1. Inspirational quotes: You can print these online and stick them onto the door with blue-tack. 
2. Mirror: Attach a magnet to the back and stick to the locker door. You will never have to go to the bathroom for a touch-up again! Yay! 
3. Photos: Take a piece of ribbon and pull taut. Then stick to the locker door. You can now clip photos of family and friends to the ribbon using mini-clothes pins or paper clips. 
4. Use the magnets: You can buy cool magnets at most DIY stores, or you can make your own. Express your personality through the magnets. 
5. What's the theme? Deciding on a theme is a great idea for your locker. 
1. Glam divas can add a mini disco-ball, mirrors and pictures of hollywood celebrities. Use an old feather boa as trim for locker shelves!
2. Sporty chicks can stick up pictures of famous athletes and put their old trophies onto the shelves. 
3. The pink princess can stick up wallpaper and add rhinestones onto the walls. Bling bling!
4. Rock star? Add pictures of your favourite rock band onto the door and a mirror in the shape of a guitar or microphone. 
6. Go all out glam with the markers: If your locker is painted on the inside, you can write on it with dry-erase whiteboard markers (hint: this helps if there's no space for a whiteboard). Test the markers in a little corner first, and if it erases, you can write all you want! Keep a few wet wipes and markers inside and you're all set. 

Have fun with the decorating, but before you do anything, check your school rule-book. You don't want to end up in the headmistress's office because of an inappropriately-decorated locker!

Good luck. 

Ask Me: Best Christmas Gift Ideas

Hi, it's me again!

Christmas is coming, and if you're like me, you're probably stalling 'til the last minute to buy all those presents for family and friends. Stuck on what to get for everyone? Me too. Here are some ideas that I brainstormed earlier.

1. For your Mum: Jewelry is always a win. My school sometimes has fairs where they'll sell items that students made. Usually I buy cute necklaces or bracelets and I add a little something else, like coupons for breakfast-in-bed or back massage. 
2. For your Dad: If you have a lot of money (which, at the moment, I don't) you could buy cufflinks or a necktie. Cologne is also a safe bet and will never fail you. If you don't have a lot of money, then a handmade comic book anthology will work too. 
3. For your little sister: If she has a mobile phone, get her a cute screen-cleaner/accessory. Or you can buy cute clothes or shoes. A sketchpad, set of colouring pencils and pens will also never fail to please. 
4. For the girly sister: Clothes, makeup, shoes or jewelry. Need I say anymore? 
5. For the tomboy sister: Buy a jersey with their team's name on it or a cap. 
6. For the younger brother: Toy trains, action figures and water guns. Comic books and jigsaw puzzles. 
7. For the sporty older brother: Their team's jersey, cap and NBA standard basketball. Or, buy a mini basketball+hoop set for their room. They'll love it! 
8. For the music-loving sibling: Head/ear phones and stickers to personalise that iPod with! 
9. For the grandmother: A chain for eyeglasses. Functional, and stylish! 
10. For the grandfather: Photo montage. If he's tech-savvy and you want to splurge, buy a DSLR camera! 

So, what are you getting for Christmas? Leave a comment below! 

Ask Me: Easy DIY Spa Day

Hey guys!

With Christmas coming up, god knows how much more stress is getting piled onto us. I mean, who can possibly deal with all that shopping, wrapping and end-of-term tests? It's enough to make you scream!

The solution to this frenzy? A treat-yourself, do it yourself spa day! This is a super simple snow day activity. Heck, maybe you could even do it on a non-snow-day! Here are a few ideas for treatments:

1. Pumpkin Scrub: Take 1/4 cup cooked pumpkin, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of almond/olive/jojoba oil, 1 tablespoon ground coffee and juice squeezed from 1/2 a lemon. Mix ingredients in a large bowl. Apply on any rough areas and wait before rinsing.
2. Cucumber Eye-pads: Make a pint of cucumber juice. Take cotton pads, soak with the cucumber juice. Freeze. When you need to use the eye-pads, take out the cucumber pads, and thaw for 5 minutes before applying. (Hint: Make more so you can use the eye-pads everyday!) 
3. Yoghurt-Honey Facial Mask: Take 1 cup of yoghurt and mix with 1/4 cup of honey. Apply to face and wait 10-20 minutes before rinsing off. 
4. Lavender-Rose Face Steam: Fill up a basin or tub with hot water. Add one drop each of lavender and rose essential oils to the water and allow to steam for a few seconds. Take a towel and hold it over your head while you hold your face over the tub. 

I know what I'll be doing this weekend! Good luck, and try out these treatments! :) 

Ask Me: Girl's Emergency Kit

Hey there! 

So to kick off my first blog post, I'm going to be talking about an 'emergency kit' for your backpack, purse or locker. 

Well what is an 'emergency kit'? It's a small pouch or pencil case that has a few things you might need at school that you can carry around with you. On Youtube, it seems that most people start being interested in an emergency kit in middle school, so here is a middle school 'emergency kit'. 

First, you're going to find a pouch or pencil case to put your things in. I chose a medium sized, opaque little pencil case with cute patterns on it. It's going to help if the pouch is cute since you'll have to see it everyday if you put items you use regularly inside. 

Items for Your Kit

1. Deodorant: Personally, I use a Body Shop deodorant but you can put in whatever deodorant you use. This can be small or large, depending on how big the pouch you've bought is. 
2. Perfume or Body Spray/Mist: My deodorant has a nice fragrance to it, but I still put a small perfume inside the kit since sometimes, you just want to smell a little fruity or floral, you know? This is good if you have it in travel-sized containers or in small samples, but if you have smaller bottles of perfume, they work too. 
3. Chapstick or Lip Balm: If you're putting lip balm into the kit, it's better to have it in a tube instead of a pot since sometimes, you don't know what you've touched and it's just not really hygienic to put your fingers into that little tub. Tubes are cool too, and you can still get really nice flavours. Of course, you can also get..... 
4. Lip glosses: Some glosses have SPF and moisturising qualities in them, so these are cute to have in the kit too. I personally chose a nude coloured gloss and a pale pink one, since our school has a 'discreet makeup' policy. To stop yourself from getting gloss all over your face, use a...
5. Compact Mirror: It's a mirror. 'Nuff said. 
6. Hairbrush: If you have PE, make your hair look nice again with this brush. And incase you forgot about PE and have to put your hair up, use... 
7. Hairbands: Ponytail, messy bun or braids. Look cute, all year round! 
8. Hand or Body Lotion: This is going to help a lot during the winter months when you have dry hands. Again, it's great to have this in little bottles instead of big ones if your kit isn't too big, but it's really up to you. 
9. Tampons or Pads: If you already have your period, you're going to want to put a few extras inside, but for those who haven't, just have a few. You never know when it'll come! If you want, put this in a separate pocket. It's extremely embarrassing to have these fall out suddenly when you're taking out a gloss (trust me, I know). This is also why you should have an opaque little pouch instead of a zip-loc! Unless, of course, that's your thing... 
10. Mints or Gum: My school doesn't allow gum, but if your school does, then it's great to have some with you. Otherwise, mints work fine as well. Or if you don't like to have these, you can have...
11. Mouthwash: I didn't put this in my kit since I don't like mouthwash, but this is cool too. 
12. Cough drops/lozenges: I hate when suddenly I have a coughing fit in class. This should prevent those situations. 
13. Cotton-pads or Cotton-buds: I keep a few of these, just in case. And maybe some...
14. Rubbing Alcohol: OK,  this isn't really something small, but I have a little in a small bottle to clean up cuts. Stops infections from getting in, too. Cover up the cut with... 
15. Plasters/Band-aids: These are for those times when you or your friend falls over in the playground. We all have those days! 
16. Hand Sanitizer: Just touched some gross stuff under the table and teach won't let you out? Use some sanitizer to clean yourself up. 
17. Extra pencil, pen and eraser: You never know if you'll lose one. 
18. Extra money: I always forget something after the big holidays. Most often, it's my lunch money.
19. Nail file: Get rid of those hang nails, pronto! 
20. Tissues: Cure that runny nose. 
21. Oil Blotting Tissues: To prevent acne and just get rid of that shiny face. 

So that's all for now. Leave a comment below to tell me what you have in your 'emergency kit'!