Indulgent Timeout with L'Herboflore Facial Masks

Facial sheet masks have been a favourite of mine for a mid week pick me up or weekend chill out session for the face.

They are easy to use, don't need to be washed off afterwards (unlike conventional clay or cream based masks) and generally have enough skincare fluids on them that that you can skip putting on your regular skincare serum if you do it during night-time.

My latest sheet masks indulgence are from L'Herboflore (蕾舒翠), a Taiwanese brand specialising in sheet masks. I managed to get a few of these masks when they were sent over by fellow beauty blogger and good friend Tina from Chasing Elixir who now resides in Taiwan and has started working for L'Herboflore.

L'Heboflore Facial Sheet Masks 

Right off, I have to say the packaging is divine - each and everyone of them are colourful, unique and tell a story that relates to the range it belongs to - trust these clever Taiwanese artists to come up with such pretty and cute designs.

back of packaging - the recommended  application time is 15-20 minutes

Available in over 25 varieties, from the Aromatherapy range, Agean sea range, Garden of Venus range to the Clinical range. Each range has a few different masks to cater for different skin types and skin concerns (eg. extra hydrating, firming, whitening, skin refining etc).  I've only tried a few of the varieties, and apart from the differences in scent, I can't say I've noticed too much difference in terms of benefits - they all provide intense hydration and leave skin feeling velvety soft after use. I don't really notice any firming or but I guess you might have to use it on a daily basis to see that kind of benefit.

The sheet masks are gel-like and flexible and made of thin breathable materials, allowing them to stretch better and fit my face more - something that I struggle with in many other sheet masks.

typical ingredients listing - this one is for the Q10+ Marine Collagen anti-aging silk mask

The serums in each mask pack are also very generous - you are looking at 30ml from each pack, enough to apply the excess serum on your face after taking off the cloth mask and then some for your neck. If you still have extra juice, you can even slap the excess all over your arms or legs.

These sheet masks feel very indulgent and luxurious on but surprisingly, are quite hip-pocket friendly with prices ranging from T$50 to NT$250 a piece (that equates to A$1.65 to A$8.35 for the most expensive face mask).

In all, these sheet masks are one of the best I've tried to date in their price range (far better than those from My Beauty Diary, Kose and Laneige facial masks). In fact, they probably blow their competitors out of their water in this price range.

This sheet mask wraps around your neck and over your ears (Tranexamic Acid + Truffle Whitening Mask 3D)

My only lament about L'Herboflore sheet masks are that they are not available outside of Taiwan yet, so if you are travelling there (or know someone who is going there), be sure to stock up!

L'Herboflore facial sheet masks ranges from NT$50 per piece to NT$250 (equiv to A$1.65 to A$8.35) from L'Herboflore store in Taipei (address: Taipei 101 Floor B1, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xin Yi A11 Floor 2) or you can grab them online (note: it's a Chinese site so you might struggle to navigate around and they don't ship overseas)

P.S - I'm told by Tina that if you ask very nicely over at their Facebook page, they will arrange something for us international peeps! Thanks Tina for introducing me to these sheet masks.

This featured product was provided for editorial consideration.

Lift your Lids with Eye Define

As the years go by, I'm noticing that my lids are feeling the weight of gravity and drooping more than when I was in my 20s.

Having Asian eyes which are semi hooded doesn't help either. Short of having surgery to correct the problem, what else can I do?

In Asia, women have been using the hugely popular invisible tapes to create double eye lids or enhance the creases over the past few years.

This idea has now caught on in western market and have gone on to additional uses, they can also be used to lift droopy eyes and create better defined creases.

One such product in our market is Eye Define.

Results others achieved with using Eye Define

Eye Define eye lid tapes

Out of the packet

The product comes in a box with a set of 34 strips of medical grade tape strips and a little tub of wax gel to help it apply to eyes.

The lid tape itself are cut to a crescent shape to fit the eyes. These are transparent temporary stick on lid tapes that you use to create deeper crease and hold the droopy lids in place.

The Eye Define lid tape 

To use, simply use a pair of tweezers to lift the lid tape from its backing paper, wipe on a bit of wax gel to create a and then apply onto the lids of eye according to your eye shape.

Don’t be afraid to use a pair of scissors to cut the tape to size to suit your eye shape if it is too thick, not curved enough etc. Play around with it until you find what works for you.

The Pros of Eye Define 

• Instant results of lifted eyes and better defined creases, creating bigger eyes. Stays put and lasts all day long without irritating eyes and is very comfortable on eye lids.
• Cost effective and great for special occasion are perfect for those Kodak moments where you want to look fresh and at your best for the camera. 
• Can be used over or under eye shadow. I find that the fading of eye shadows gives obvious lines around the tape so regular touch ups will be required when using shadow on top. 

The Cons of Eye Define

• Can be fiddly to work out the angle of which to apply the strips to create desired result. This means it can be time consuming unless you perfect your application of it. 
•  Depending on your eye shape and crease depth, they may not be as invisible as you like them to be. It will not be noticeable in photos but from speaking distance, people will be notice – just as they would with extravagant false lashes.

For me, the lift not only created a wider eye look, it also helped to remove the hooding of my eye lids so I have proper double eye lids, like what the Asian eye lid tapes could help me achieve.

A pleasant surprise I had from using Eye Define was that after a couple hours of wear, and then after taking off the tape, my enhanced creases were maintained and I still had the benefits of enlarged double lids for a few extra hours longer. This meant I could have wider eyes without the tell-tale signs of the tape.

Wider Eyes: one done (on the left). You can even use eye shadow over these lid tapes

Eye Define on both eyes

Although I get gorgeous wider and lifted eyes using Eye Define, I'm not too excited about using it due to the the amount of time needed for me to get the angle right to create natural looking enhanced creases. If you have deeper creases, you will properly have fewer issues than me as you have more lid space to play with.

In any case, practice makes perfect so if you are looking to use the product for a special event, make sure you do this a few times before you actually want to wear this out as you will need plenty of practice to know what angle you need to apply these eye lid tapes on.

RRP A$29.95 from Eye Define online.
This featured product was provided for consideration.

Weekend Recipe: Pineapple Tarts

It’s been a long time since I did some baking but I’ve been having a major craving for pineapple tarts for a while now. Unfortunately, I don't know of any places in Melbourne that sells them so I finally succumbed to my cravings and made these pineapple tarts myself.

Pineapple tarts are traditionally a Singaporean/ Chinese Malaysian sweet that is made during Chinese New Year to share with family and friends and they are equally a farourite amongst the young and the old.

In fact, the sweet juicy pineapple jam morsel wrapped in a light crumbly shortcake pastry creates the perfect treat any time of the year. What’s more, they can be eaten in one mouthful so you can indulge in one than one!

The only thing that stops me from making them more regularly is the time involved to make everything from scratch – it’s pretty darn time consuming. That’s why I like to make extra pineapple jam and store them in the fridge so I have the filling on standby whenever I get craving (they store up to 4 weeks in the chiller compartment).

So if you are interested, I’ll share with you my version of the recipe which I modified from Rasa Malaysia (check her site out - she is one of my all time favourite Asian food bloggers).

Pineapple Tarts (makes 30)
Degree of difficulty to make - moderate

For Pineapple Jam paste

• Two 825gcans pineapples slices in natural juices (lightly drained) – you can buy the pieces as well. I use the Golden Circle brand.
• 8 tablespoons (150g) sugar (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch or corn flour (mixed with 1 teaspoon water) – to thicken the jam

For Shortcake pastry 

• 2 ½ cup (375g) plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 200 grams unsalted butter - room temperature
• 10 g of Copha (vegetable shortening) – optional but adding this gives a crumblier pastry. If you don’t use shortening just add the extra amount in butter.
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 extra egg yolk (lightly beaten to use as egg wash)

Method 

1. Drain the pineapple and add them in a blender to pulverise them for 10-15 seconds. Don’t over-drain the juices out of the pineapple as you won’t get that nice tangy pineapple taste if you squeeze out all the juices. (for an alternative to blending the pineapple: see note 1)
2. Add crushed pineapples with sugar in a saucepan over high heat and cook till there is no liquids to be seen, stirring occasionally. Most of the liquid would have evaporated by now. (note 1: roughly chop the pineapple slice and use a potato masher to crush it up during cooking stage - it's more work but as I hate cleaning and didn’t want to wash another piece of equipment, it works better for me).Turn the heat down to medium-low heat and continue to stir occasionally until the mixture becomes slightly sticky.
3. Mix in the cornstarch water mixture to thicken it and stir a few more times. By now your pineapple jam should be a thick paste with a golden yellow colour. Set aside to cool down (you can leave this in the fridge to cool faster).

   

   golden pineapple paste divided ready to be made into tarts

4. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
5. The make the pastry, sift in all the dry ingredient into a large mixing bowl.
6. In a separate bowl, mix in the butter, shortening, vanilla essence and use a beater to cream it until it is light yellow and fluffy in texture.
7. Beat in the egg yolks until it is well combined.
8. Mix in the flour mixture until it is well combined and you have a soft dough. Cut the dough up into 30 pieces. Tip: I use my kitchen scale to divide the dough in half, then in half again etc, until I get all even sized pieces.

   

   same sized pastry - use a scale to divide them evenly

9. Do the same for the pineapple paste so you have equal parts to fill each pastry.
10. Roll the pastry dough out on the palm of your hand and put in a portion of the pineapple paste before folding up the edges to form a ball. Roll in your hands some more to get a log shape.
11. Continue with remaining pastry. Use a fork to press on top of the pastry to form cross-hack patterns.
12. Mix the extra egg yolk with a tablespoon of water to create an egg wash to brush on top of the tarts.
13. Place pineapple tarts into a baking tray in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until light golden brown.

    

    almost done - baking away in the oven

14. Let cool before transferring them to prevent pastry from crumbling.

These tarts are best enjoyed the next day as the flavours are more developed with a nice cup of tea. And you can’t stop at one once you start. They keep well for up to a week but I bet they won't last that long!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I had making and eating them. Thanks for reading.