Is snail cream a do or don't?

It appears that the latest miracle beauty ingredient is nothing you would consider high-tech like stem cells or complex molecules with unpronounceable names like IUHE2185. Instead, it is something so simple and basic that you'd probably stop dead in your tracks and go: "WHUT?"

It is... drumroll please... SNAIL SLIME.

Ok, now that the initial bout of expressions of disbelief is over, yes, I kid you not. I first heard about snail creams a few years ago at a press presentation. Apparently the slime produced by snails have a high concentration of some sort of proteins that supposedly help the skin repair itself at a quicker rate.

According to the PR rep, there are snail farms for the sole purpose of harvesting this slime (no, I have no idea how they collect the slime, maybe they scrape it off the floor?). This slime is then purified and put into a jar with a few other ingredients, probably preservatives, and there you have it, a gelatinous substance to apply on your face.

I love bling!

Sort & Pepper is a new accessories website launched by a friend of mine. I want to share about it, not just because the owner is a good friend, but because I like what I'm seeing on the website.

The site has a nicely curated collection of mostly costume jewellery and some bags, sourced from Korea and Thailand. All the items neatly categorised so you don't have to plow through pages and pages of stuff just to find something you like. The name Sort & Pepper is a play on salt and pepper, in reference to how accessories are meant to add a little flavour to your outfit.

I just love those cute opera singer rings, $19, pictured above. So fun to wear and they're great conversation starters too. And yes, the items are all in this reasonable price range, which makes it incredibly affordable and a guilt-free indulgence :)

Click on for more of my favourite picks.

Maybe she's born with it

Some people have a stash of brand new clothes that they break into whenever they want an instant-pick-me-up. Well, I have that too, but I also have a collection of brand new beauty products waiting to be ripped out of their packaging and sampled for the first time.

So last week, I decided to give myself a HUGE perk-me-up all at once and dig happily into an entire bunch of brand new Maybelline products all at once. I got these at the recent Lashionista launch party and was waiting for just the right (and auspicious) opportunity to use them, especially since these days, I don't have to rush through my new items but get drag out the pleasure instead :)

First things first, the star of the range - Lashionista, $21.90 (though I thought I spotted it at Watsons going for a promo price of $19.90 over the weekend). I'm a fan of Maybelline mascaras in particular, they're reliably good and well priced, especially for an item you should throw away every six months. This one is formulated for Asian lashes, which are typically stubby and sparse, which is why it contains tiny little fibres that stick to the lashes to lengthen them and make them look lusher.

Finally, a skincare post!

Unlike make-up, which I tend to dip into and sample with wild abandon and a good measure of glee, I am a lot more careful when it comes to my skincare. Anal, almost, though I wouldn't have it any other way.

My skin is thankfully rather problem free, but I'm not about to sit and wait for it to get sensitive or react adversely to some product before I try to fix it. So, when it comes to testing skincare products, I am incredibly slow and systematic. I pretty much have a core set of products I use all the time and then I swop in new products one at a time. So, it definitely takes me a little while to get a sense of which creams and lotions work for me. Here's a couple that I've tried and enjoyed recently.