Curing chapped lips: DIY Natural Lip Scrub

Hello lovelies!

Just want to share with you a simple beauty DIY that I’ve been wanting to share for ages.

I made this in attempt to save my dry, chapped and painful lips. They were so horrible that the edges of my mouth were also swollen. I couldn’t wear lipsticks as they would only make my lips worse. But thanks to the goodness of nature *plays Lion King song*, this has made them so much better now.

All you need is:

• 2 tsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of sugar – I’m using normal refined sugar, but you can use brown sugar too if you want
• 1/2 tsp of multi-purpose cream, e.g. Vaseline. I’m using Egyptian Magic
• 1 tsp of lemon juice (optional)

For those who’ve heard or known of Egyptian Magic cream before must be thinking, “wow such a waste to use pricier all-purpose cream for a DIY”. But the thing is, this is the only multi-purpose cream that I use as it’s made of all natural ingredients: olive oil, beeswax, honey, pollen, royal jelly and propolis extract. I bought it to help ease my eczema last time. Didn’t really work so well on the eczema but it’s a great moisturizer (apply at night and your skin will be bouncy with glow in the morning) and lip balm.

Mix all ingredients together.

If you add lemon juice, you need to add more sugar to add consistency. I personally like it more liquidy so that after scrubbing off the flakes I can just leave my lips masked with the scrub overnight.

Store it in a small container and voila! You’re done!

I was amazed by the first time I applied this overnight. I could totally see the difference the next morning. After several times of using this, my lips returned to its moist flake-free state! But of course, this alone wouldn’t help. I drank gallons of water and sealed my lips with lipbalm at all times. The best lipbalms for me, hands down, are the Burt’s Bees. I’ve tried many other brands and even pricier ones are not as good as these bad boys. I’ve finished the original and the Kokum Butter and using the Mango Butter at the moment. Yum!

Oh, and one important tip is no biting! Ugh this is so hard, I know. But biting off the flaky lips would just make them worse.

Hope this helps to get your luscious lips at its best state, especially bright neon lips are so on-trend right now. Pucker up!

 

xo, Jo

Keep on keeping on (#TT139)

 Hello lovelies!

Can we just take a moment and appreciate that this song exists? I was feeling so turned off by the current hit songs nowadays. From J-Lo's "I Luh Ya Papi" (seriously, what?) to Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" (very disappointing), I was just sick of all of them! This is partly why I didn't post a TT post last week, because honestly I didn't have anything to post. At the end I just listed out several underground acoustic songs which I LOVE for today's post, but well, thanks to Travie McCoy and Panic! At The Disco's lead singer hottie, Brendon Urie, the acoustic post has to wait till next week!

You gotta keep on keeping on
Even with the feeling
That you're gonna keep losing

You gotta come back strong

Oh Oh
You gotta keep on keeping on

Even with the feeling

That you're gonna keep losing

You gotta come back strong

Oh Oh

This song applies to many situations that we encounter in life. Anything that makes us feel like giving up. To me personally, it reminds me not to give up on love and relationship. The right time will come one day *fingers crossed*. And so do you. Don't give up on something that you've always wished for.

Have a good week ahead!

xo, Jo

Vietnam Trip – Day 4

Previously in Vietnam: DAY 2 & 3

I spent the last day in Vietnam walking around Ho Chi Minh city and trying local delicacies that I had yet to try during the trip. I’ll let the pics do the talking =)

Broken rice with pork chop, steamed egg and shredded pork skin

Steamed rice cakes with shrimp and pork rinds (surprisingly I quite liked these! The fish sauce was so good)

Spicy pho (bun bo hue)

Meatballs pho (bo vien)

Vietnamese coffee with lots of milk =)

We had all the food in Parkson Plaza’s food court. Recommended for those who don’t have the luxury of time to explore around to try different kinds of Asian cuisines. It’s all here! According to my friend, Lan, most of the food stalls are good (we only tried 3 of them and they were all good).

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Notre Dame Cathedral

Central Post Office

Then… I flew back to Singapore. With the damage.
Posted on Instagram: @limjoannaa – follow me? ;)

Yes I had dragonfruits in my suitcase. In case I have not told you yet, on the way back from Phan Thiet to Ho Chi Minh, we dropped by a dragonfruit heaven. I was SO amused. Never did I see so many dragonfruits in my life lol. I love dragonfruits, especially the red ones. (how many times did I say dragonfruit here? Haha)

I never saw the green ones before. Inside is white though. They say one dragonfruit tree could produce up to 3 times. The ‘ombre’ kinds are the second harvest.

Overall it was a good trip. It was a last-minute decision to go on this trip and I’m glad that I did go. And it was the first time I went to a new country by myself! Though I did meet my friends there, but still, it was a mini adventure :) More adventures to come (hopefully)!

Thanks for reading!

DAY 1 // DAY 2 & 3

 

xo, Jo

Say something, I’m giving up on you (TT#138)

And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye

Hello lovelies!

I’m quite late in discovering these 2 great songs but will post them anyway because I like them! Especially the first one that I can relate to.

Giving up or letting go of something that you’ve been holding on to is hard.. but perhaps better things will come after you do? I sure hope so.. I’d like to believe it that way.

Anyways, moving on to a happier song. It’s so catchy and will really lift up your mood =)

Have a nice week ahead!

xo, Jo

Vietnam Trip Day 2 & 3

Previously in Vietnam: DAY 1

Hello lovelies!

I don’t know what took me so long to post this up, but anyways here it is!

The second day of my Vietnam adventure started very early, as early as 5.30AM. The reason is because my friend, Lan, booked a weekend trip to another city called Phan Thiet with a tour so we needed to gather at the travel office that early. The trip itself took us about 6 hours! The highway is like a normal road, which explains the 6-hour road trip.

The travel company was Vietravel and overall the service was good. Probably a couple things that they could improve is to get their tour guides speak English aside from Vietnamese (I was pretty much sleeping during the entire trip since I didn’t understand a single word the tour guide said) and to acquire better mini-buses (the seats were too narrow and it was hard to be comfortable for such a long trip).

We stopped at a restaurant for pho noodles and Vietnamese coffee breakfast! The pho was descent, but the coffee was really good. It was strong but not espresso-type of strong and FYI I dislike espresso. It was thick and they filled a quarter of the cup just enough to make us awake in the morning.

Pretty much what my view was during the trip – dragonfruit trees and palm trees! And cute little houses.

After 6 hours of snoozes, snacking and chatting, we finally arrived Phan Thiet! Wine Castle was our first stop.

This place is the official replica of the original Napa Valley winery. The wines are sold with factory price. Pretty good deal but instead Lan and I bought beers and snacks lol. I guess we’re not that fancy haha. Overall, it’s a pretty cool place.

Afterwards, we went to have lunch and checked in at Ocean Star Resort which is just at the Mui Ne Beach and… took a nap lol.

Recharged and we went off to Red Sand Dunes.

Sliding off the top of the dunes!!

FAILED. LOL

Your hair and entire body will be so sandy even if you just walk around. The wind was so strong! You’ll get that beach hair volume that feels yucky, but it’s all worth it :)

Dinner at Hoa Vien (Beer Garden?).

The next day we just chilled and swam at the beach before heading back to Ho Chi Minh.

HAHA! I love this picture :’D

Goodbye Mui Ne! Goodbye Phan Thiet!

We spent the rest of the day on the road and when we finally reached Ho Chi Minh, we went to a fabulous pho restaurant nearby our apartment for dinner. Too bad I didn’t bring any photo taking devices as we were riding motorbikes! Felt like a true Vietnamese haha. After dinner, we walked around to see the flower outdoor exhibition to see the pretty flowers and orange trees ready for Chinese New Year celebration.

Next: DAY 4!

 
xo, Jo