Min's Beauty Equipment: October 2014

Sunday 26 October 2014

When is a Good Day to Ask for a Pay Rise? Check Your Time of the Month!

Menstrual cycle controls our moods and energy levels, don't ignore it!
How our menstrual cycle controls our moods and energy levels
Want to achieve personal success and always be your own best? If so, make sure that you know YOUR calendar month and your hormone cycle very well.

I found an article in the Daily Mail on 23 October 2014 which talks about our strongest and weakest days of the month. A lot of us, ladies, are not following our cycles to get the most of ourselves, so I wanted to bring this to your attention.

Below you will find a summary of the article published in the Mail. I hope you find it useful.

If you have any important event in your life, such as going on a date with that gorgeous man you've been dreaming about for months, or you need to talk to your boss to ask for a pay rise, you better consult your menstrual diary. Women are more moody or less energetic during certain periods of the month, but do we know how to work around our hormone cycle to achieve personal success?

First of all, we should do (or not do) certain things during certain periods of the month, i.e., we should plan important events around the time when we are at our best. Secondly, nutrition can help us improve the situation.

Most women's menstrual cycle is around 28 days, so we will take this cycle as an example and start it with the first day of your period.

Day 1-5

The best time for paperwork. Female hormone oestrogen levels are very low, you may feel surprisingly calm as oestrogen relates to emotional and physical energy. Iron levels are low and women feel tired. Mark these days in your diary for downtime. It's not uncommon to feel flu like symptoms at this stage.

Food that will help: shellfish, chicken, brown rice, calves' liver, apricots and red meat. Bread, pastry and cakes will only make you feel more lethargic.

Day 6-13

Your oestrogen levels start climbing up. Oestrogen also promotes brainpower, memory, good skin, emotional and bone strength. Slowly you will start feeling more enthusiastic, energetic and happy. Perfect time to take on new challenges, especially towards the end of this period as oestrogen levels are nearing the peak. Perfect time to impress anyone - boss, boyfriend and so on.

Food: your body is still rebuilding itself since last period, therefore, protein is a good choice. Eat eggs, chicken, walnuts, pecans. Also, eating plants with oestrogen like properties will help, i.e., celery, chicory, asparagus, globe artichokes, cherries and pomegranates.

Day 14-16

Mid-cycle is great to get what you want with men as you will be looking and feeling at your best. Oestrogen is at it's peak and testosterone is climbing up. Testosterone is a male hormone, which will improve your libido, or sex drive. You will be at your most confident with clearer thinking and better coordination. Some women can get bullish during this phase.

Food to avoid: anything that encourages more testosterone, i.e., pineapple, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower. Green foods are good now such as spinach. Avoid coffee or overly sugary foods.

Day 17-28

Progesterone levels rise sharply. It causes body to slow down, makes you less alert or energetic. A drop in oestrogen makes you lethargic, but you will be most tolerant and patient. A good time to visit your in-laws or host a children's party.

At around day 25-26 PMS may creep in as there is an imbalance of oestrogen and progesterone. If our bodies were working correctly oestrogen should be low and progesterone high, but sometimes due to our diets we get a surplus of oestrogen causing PMS. Excess oestrogen attracts fluid, causing it to accumulate in breasts, abdomen, causing bloating, and brain, leading to headaches and irritability.

Food to avoid: high sugar foods, processed food. Eat root vegetables such as carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, soups, casseroles. For bloating take probiotics to help re-balance the good bacteria in your gut. Avoid raw foods.

Final word


Do you suffer from headaches, bad moods and other symptoms related to your monthly cycle? How do you deal with them?

Monday 20 October 2014

The Most Entertaining Reviews on Amazon - Veet Men Hair Removal Creme

Have you ever read any funny reviews? If you think you have, read this and you will change your mind as Veet men hair removal creme reviews are the funniest, especially the first one I have "print screened". Enjoy!












































































What are the funniest reviews you have read? What were they about?


Saturday 11 October 2014

Derma Rollers Versus Derma Stamps - Various Shapes and Sizes

You have been sold on the idea that skin needling is something that would benefit your skin and you are about to acquire your first micro needling device.

Wait, it's not that simple, there are more things to consider before you make your purchase! If you buy the wrong device you may end up thinking that the whole therapy is a pile of poo. So, read on.

In my post called Dermaroller Skin Therapy I talked about derma rollers, how skin needling works, what can be achieved with these devices and a lot more things. There are some pictures to show what can be achieved when using theses anti-ageing multi-purpose skincare tools.

This time I want to talk about various shapes and sizes of derma rollers and derma stamps, which devices are best for one area or the other. It's all my opinion only and others may disagree with me, however, given that I have a plethora of skin needling tools, I feel entitled to having an opinion. And, yes, all these devices below are mine!
How to use derma rollers, stamps?
A collection of dermastamp and rolling devices

What are the most common shapes of derma needling tools?


There are three main types:

  • The first one is a single needle derma roller or, more correctly, derma stamp. You can buy them online, although, an ordinary sewing needle is just as good, provided it is sharp.
  • Derma roller. It is a rolling device that you roll on your skin.
  • Derma stamps are flat. They can be big, small or medium size.

I am not going to talk about a single needle as I talked about it a lot in the article here. However, a rolling device and a derma stamp is something that is worth mentioning and reviewing.

What should you consider when buying skin needling devices?


First of all, think about which area you are going to treat. Is it cellulite or stretch marks on thighs, hips, tummy, scars on your face or other areas or you are going to do skin needling to improve your wrinkles, increase skincare products permeability, or something else.

Derma rollers for eye area
The special eye derma roller on the right is useless due
to high density of needles. A derma roller on the left
is great even though it could be narrower on the sides,
but the needles are perfect
Once you have the treatment area in mind, it's time to choose between a derma roller or a derma stamp, or possibly both.

Derma rollers are good for larger areas, such as your hips, thighs, forehead, cheeks, however, if you want to rejuvenate around the eye, lips or nose area, you may want a derma stamp or a special derma roller which is a lot thinner than a standard one. See the picture on your right and the one below.

The third thing to consider is the density of the needles. It is my personal opinion, but I think that derma rollers/stamps that have high needle density are quite useless. For me, the less needles the better. For example, look at the picture on your right. There are two derma rollers that can be both used for the eye area. The first one has three rows of needles and the needles are very sparse while the second one is the very dense with four rows of needles. The first one is great, but the second one is useless even though the red one is a special derma roller for the around the eye area. If you carry on reading you will find an explanation as to why sparse derma rollers are better than dense.

If you decide to go for a derma stamp, make sure you choose the right size for the area. Around your nose or lips consider getting a small derma stamp with only a few needles. Big and flat one will not do the trick, the thinner and smaller the better. See the picture below.

Needle length definitely needs to be considered too, but I won't talk about it, because I already talked about it in this article here. The only thing I would mention is that sometimes it's worth getting a device with a bit longer needles, as such devices can be more convenient to use. That doesn't mean that you need to stab as far as the needle goes!

Also, the sharper the needles the better.


Review of my anti-ageing skin needling tools


Microneedling for around the eye, nose, lip area
Perfect derma stamp for around the nose or eye area.
Also, great for frown lines
I don't use skin needling for any areas other than my face, so I will tell you which devices are my essentials:
  • The red wide one for my forehead and cheeks. It has sharp needles, it doesn't feel too dense, even though it could be more sparse.
  • The white narrow one is great for around the eye area.
  • The white small derma stamp with 12 needles. It's great around my lips, nose, area between my brows and occasionally I have a dab around my eyes with it.

The ones that are NOT so useful:

  • The yellow derma stamp is ok, but it's too large for those bent areas around my nose. It would probably be ok for my glabella lines, but the one I got has a bit short needles for that purpose.
  • The large purple derma stamp has no special use on my face. I use it on my forehead, but wide derma rollers work probably better for me. 
  • The narrow derma roller special for the around they eye area is completely useless due to too high needle density. Despite of a perfect shape for the eye area, the needles don't even puncture my skin. It's a throwaway for me.

Why do I prefer devices with sparse needles?


Just imagine you are lying on a bed of nails. The more nails there are the less likely that the person lying on them will be hurt, providing that the pressure is distributed evenly. The most dangerous part is lying down and standing up, i.e., when there is a chance that the weight of the person will be distributed unevenly and the person will get hurt by applying too much pressure on only a few nails.

Derma rollers work the same. The more needles they have the more difficult it is to puncture skin. Therefore, the beauty tools with lesser needles are my favourite as I feel that they do what they are supposed to do, i.e., puncture my skin.


Watch YouTube video about derma rollers and derma stamps




Sunday 5 October 2014

Dirty Marketing Trick By Skincare Companies That You Must Be Aware Of

Marketing Tricks
Dirty tricks that skincare companies use to sell their products
Have you ever seen a face or an eye cream that gets rid of your wrinkles instantly? I mean, instantly! Magic? No, it's a marketing trick that some companies use.

In May, I went to the Anti-ageing Show where I tested and listened to companies presenting their products. One of them was VineVera, which I mentioned to you all before in this post. I got a little free sample of their face cream which felt good on my skin. What I also tried was an eye product, which was applied to my skin by the guy who I assume was the owner, marketing director or something like that representing the company. He was sweet, but I am sure that he used a marketing trick on me to convince me to buy their product. Although I didn't buy it as I already had lots of stuff that would take me years to use up, I was very tempted.

So, what was the trick used on me?


First of all, I was asked to sit down. The guy looked at me attentively, then he wiped off some of the make-up that I had around one of my eyes, of which I had a lot; I had tried to conceal my dark circles. He applied some eye cream and showed my eye to me in the mirror. It looked impressive! The contrast between the two eyes was huge. The area around one of them seemed to be very wrinkly in comparison to the other. The seller asked me if I was impressed and, obviously, offered to buy the product.

I knew that I had lots of make-up and the area around my eyes looked a lot wrinklier with make-up on than it was without it, so I pointed this out to the chap, but, also, I noticed something else when I got home. Even without any make-up the area around one of my eyes is less wrinkly and I know why. It's due to my sleeping habits. I sleep on my front, which means that one side of my face is squashed against the pillow when I am asleep. I always keep my face on the same side and the area around that squashed eye is a lot wrinklier than the area around the other eye where skin doesn't get squashed every single night for approximately seven hours! And it's not only the eye area that suffers from my bad sleeping position at night, but also when I look closer I can see my whole cheek skin is a bit distorted. Obviously, I am the only one who can notice it, but it all makes sense to me now! I realised that the marketing guy of VineVera spent a couple of seconds comparing my two eyes to identify if there was any noticeable difference between my eyes in terms of wrinkles and he chose the eye with less wrinkles to demonstrate the cream's immediate effect. Also, when I asked how a cream can possibly have an instant effect, he said to me that it was nano technology, which is nowhere mentioned on their site!

So, beware! If something is too good to be true, wait, give yourself time to think about it and act later. If you still think it's a good product, then buy it. There is no rush, but giving yourself time to think may save you a lot of money in the long run.

Final word


Have you ever fell for any marketing tricks? If so, what were they? Did you ever get convinced into buying something that you later regretted?