Author: sweet surrender

Officially An Althea Angel

Posted on By sweet surrender 4 Comments on Officially An Althea Angel

This is one long overdue post… For your information, I’m now officially an Althea Angel. Yippie! Thank you Althea for having me in the community. You will get to see selected products from Althea that will be reviewed by me in near future.


About three weeks ago, I received the welcome gifts all the way from South Korea. Awesome! The highlight is the two tubes you see here, these are the latest products that are now selling in Althea.

Real Fresh Skin Detoxer, Rose (made with French rose petals + extract to refine the skin) and Green Tea (contains Jeju green tea leaves + extracts to purify). It’s 10-second wash-off mask that can be used daily.

Rose is for morning while green tea is for night. You know how troublesome or long time it is to apply mask on face, this will save you so much time, it’s a mask and cleanser in one. All you need is just leave it for 10 seconds and wash off! Your skin will be ready for your morning skincare and beauty routine or night skincare routine before bed.

You can head over to Althea to read the reviews or do a search in search engine for reviews from other Althea Angels if you can’t wait for mine as the offer is only for a limited time and each customer can only buy one set. So far, feedback is pretty good but might be drying for some.

Hopefully I get to try it out soon. I will review it as soon as possible, I hope I can do it before my next trip which in few days time. My skin is currently under unfavourable condition to experiment. Sigh… Suddenly flared up yesterday. Oh dear… Otherwise, I’ll bring it along on my trip and use it, then write about it after the trip. I hope my skin will calm down soon. Likely due to the dryness in the UK and came back with high humidity.

Althea Angels, Bulletin Board, Girl Stuffs

Lancôme Énergie De Vie Illuminating Eye Gel

Posted on By sweet surrender 2 Comments on Lancôme Énergie De Vie Illuminating Eye Gel

Have been blogging about beauty and skincare products lately. Kind of busy to process all those travel photos, so many of them, so I’ll blog about beauty and skincare products for the time being since they have been long overdue.

This time, I’m going to share with you the eye gel I’m using. I decided to give Lancôme Énergie De Vie Illuminating Eye Gel a try after I used up my usual eye gel, Garnier Light Brightening Eye Roll-On. Lancôme is on the pricier side of course, got it while it’s on offer and with extra discount. I got this last year and have been using it for more than 6 months.

If you are not into product with fragrance, this will not be for you. The smell is pretty strong but it’s not revolting, I quite like it. Certainly not smelling like some cheap fragrance that can cause you sneeze non-stop.

It is very cooling and not oily at all. The roller does take a bit of practice to use. I would squeeze the gel out and use the roller to massage my eye area. Then I would also extend the massage to the sides of my nose and around the lips. The gel absorb easily leaving no greasiness. Hence, you do not need to worry about developing milia seeds.

The eye gel is suitable for all skin types. It is enriched with 3 plant extracts- Melissa, Ginseng and Cranberry.

Does it work? It did refresh the eye area. Coupled with the roller ball for massage, it can help circulation around your eyes to reduce dark eye circle and puffy eyes.

Repurchase? I was tempted but decided not to due to the price. If you have the budget to spare, maybe you can try it out. I think I’ll keep the tube so that I can use the ball for massage with other eye gel that I might be using in the future.

Girl Stuffs, Review It!

Etude House Lovely Cookie Blusher

Posted on By sweet surrender 2 Comments on Etude House Lovely Cookie Blusher

I’m currently using Etude House Lovely Cookie Blusher. The packaging is so cute. Can easily get it from any Etude House or online from Althea or Hermo. I bought mine from Althea simply because I was running out of blusher and was buying other items on this website which entitled me to get free shipping if I shop for more than RM99 even though I’m based in East Malaysia.


The puff looks cute but a bit disappointing because I was expecting it to be very soft and fluffy. However, it still does its job.


I bought the colour known as Grapefruit Gelly which was the only colour available that time on the website. I do like the colour. Very pigmented and smooth blusher, you don’t need a lot. No shimmer in this. Can you see the pink on my cheek? The colour is light, just a flush of blush is what I like. If you want it to be more obvious, pad more.

According to the product descriptions, it has sebum control powder and coating pigment. This means it can absorb oil and sweat as well as preventing oxidation. I’m not sure about this part as I do not have oily cheek but I figured it also means it can last a long time as oxidation is prevented. The colour on the cheek can be quite lasting, I did not do any retouch. When I remove my makeup at the end of the day, can still see it on the cotton pad.

The price is reasonable, I bought it for RM26. It weighs 7.2g. I think it can last me for years! Hahaha… My last blusher before this lasted me for about 3 to 4 years I think… ;p

Do I recommend it? A yes from me.

As for repurchase, I don’t think I will because I want to try something else after I’m done with this because it can last me for years hahahaha!

Girl Stuffs, Review It!

Japan Shiseido Neuve Oil-controlling Pressed Powder

Posted on By sweet surrender 2 Comments on Japan Shiseido Neuve Oil-controlling Pressed Powder

Japan Shiseido Neuve Oil-controlling Pressed Powder is now my current face powder. Been using it for almost half year. Even restock it when I went to Taiwan in May. I purchased it in Taiwan when I went there in October last year for work assignment. After conversion from New Taiwan Dollar, it’s about RM18. You can buy it online but it won’t be that cheap. I don’t think I’ve seen it in Malaysia.

I got to know about this from the Taiwanese beauty show, Queen(女人我最大). The pressed powder is 3.5g, very compact with mirror and easy to carry around. The powder is quite translucent. If you are looking for coverage, this product doesn’t do that.

It claims that it can smooth out your skin and eliminate shine; absorbs excess oil to prevent clogged pores and pimples; protect skin against UVA and UVB. It is made entirely from natural ingredients and unscented.


I do not use foundation. My routine is after sunblock, face power will follow. As simple as that.

It does smooth out my skin, no discomfort. The powder is so fine that you do not need to worry about having it trapped in fine lines especially under the eyes even when you apply a lot of it. As for shine elimination, it could last me for about 5 hours. I don’t use thick layer, just a thin layer, dabbing it on with the puff provided and no retouch throughout the day. As for UVA and UVB, I’ll just take it as what it’s claimed. I already have sunblock under it anyway.

I’m quite happy using it. I do recommend it. Nothing fancy, very basic and does its work.

Girl Stuffs, Review It!

Jiufen, Shifen and Keelung Miaokow Night Market Shuttle Bus from Ximen

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Jiufen, Shifen and Keelung Miaokow Night Market Shuttle Bus from Ximen

On our second last day in Taipei, we went to Shifen Waterfall, Shifen Old Street, Jiufen Old Street and Keelung Miaokow Night Market. Did quite a fair bit of research on where and how to go to somewhere in and around Taipei, not really keen to take a taxi because there were 5 of us. Decided to save all the troubles of arranging and we did not have the luxury of time to get lost too. So we purchased Jiufen, Shifen and Keelung Miaokow Night Market Shuttle Bus from Ximen from Klook.

Here’s the itinerary:
9:50am meet up at GaKuDen Bakery (near exit 4 of Ximen Station)
10:00am depart for Shifen Waterfall
It happened that we stayed in Ximending and it’s only 5 minutes walk to Ximen Station Exit 4 from our hotel. It is not a guided tour, you are free to roam around the attractions. Just be sure to get back to the bus on the said time.

11:00am Shifen Waterfall (60 minutes)

It was such a hot day, hotter than in Kuching. By the way, be sure to have insect repellent with you, you don’t want to be mozzie’s feast.

Walked across the bridge to the other side…

You’ll be greeted with food and souvenirs.

Be sure to have comfortable shoes with you. It’s a bit of a walk if you want to go further up for a different kind of view. Don’t worry, the road is paved, average slope, and some staircase. Don’t worry about tracking any rugged paths. This is the view that you will see. We had only 60 minutes, so can’t stay too long there. However, it’s enough for us, it is just too hot. The main thing to see is this waterfall.

12:10pm Shifen Old Street (80 minutes)

Our next stop is to hunt for lunch. This is where you can decorate and set off a sky lantern along the historic railway tracks in Shifen. The street made up of two rows of shops and the railway track dividing them. The track is still used, you will have to clear the track when the train is coming.

We did not set off any sky lantern nor written anything on the bamboo. Just strolled the old street. Many shops selling sky lanterns, souvenirs(edible and inedible), and street food.

We had our lunch at Shi Fen Qie Zai Mian at the far end of the row of shops at the railway track area. All the pork dish you can get. Seating is limited, so be sure to act fast. Don’t bother about queuing, just sit when you see one.


Can’t quote remember what was ordered, there’s some parts of pork, dumpling, and noodle. Food price range from NT$30 to NT$300. By the way, no English in the menu.

Next stop, we hop on the bus to Jiufen Old Street.

2:10pm Jiufen Old Street (120 minutes)

It’s an uphill walk when we reached Jiufen. On weekdays, you do not need to worry about needing to fork out extra for get another shuttle to get in, the bus will be parked nearby and you can just walk. It will be tricky on weekend as certain road will be closed and you need to get on a shuttle to get into the old street which is not included in the package.

It was such a hot day. We had to climb up so many staircase… Oh man… Torturing. There’s crowd but not as bad. Weekend would be sardine packed!

We had not much mood at all, we just walked around and went to the meeting point half hour before the departure time. Ate nothing there too even though our bus driver told us that there’s more food here than Shifen.

Hearing so many people said Jiufen is a must-go and so on. Well… This one time is good enough for me. Not really my kind of place. Too touristy, things aren’t really cheap. Same goes to Shifen. Oh well… What do you expect? These are tourist attractions hahaha…

4:40pm Keelung Miaokow Night Market (90 minutes)

Time to hunt for dinner! So much to eat and didn’t know where to start.

All you need to do is walk around, buy and eat or takeaway. We had combination of both.




Be sure to head back to the pick-up and drop-off area to get back to XiMenDing.

7:10pm arrive and disembark at Ximen

Overall, this is suitable for those who don’t want to worry about planning and wasting time getting lost. Very convenient.

You can book it from here if you would like to go for this tour or just to have look at the details:


Klook.com

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