Four Summer Skincare Must-haves

I’ve had a very busy summer travelling here and there, especially to tropical, beachy destinations. To save my skin from the piercing sun, I’ve used these products religiously and I’m happy to say that I came back with better, healthier-looking skin. So this is what saved my skin:

ANESSA Perfect UV Sunscreen Skincare Milk

A holy grail item right here! I cannot recommend this sunscreen enough, I’ve recommended this to my girlfriends with passion (cut to me shouting at the drug store with excitement). This sunscreen is great for beach and outdoor holidays. It's very water resistant (I could still feel it after swimming) yet feels so light on the skin. Contrary to common belief, it doesn't have that powdery feel (most water proof sunscreens do) when applied, it felt like applying a light gel and very quickly absorbs into the skin. They called this product ‘skincare milk’ because they claim that it contains 50% skincare ingredients to calm, moisturise and repair the skin. Personally, I didn’t see any visible different before and after using the sunscreen, but it does feel moisturising when applied and I never felt gross at the end of the day. Another great feature is their ‘Aqua Booster’ technology, claiming that when in contact with sweat and water, the product provides stronger protection (kinda gross if you think about it, but if it enhances the strength, it’s fine by me). Again, I wasn’t able to test this out with controls but despite being under the 35 degree sun at noon on the beach, I didn't get sunburnt or horribly tanned.

Click here to find out more! (YOU NEED TO GET THIS!)

La Roche Posay Serozinc Spray

I have already used La Roche Posay products for years now, particularly their line targeted for acne-prone skin. This was a wonderful discovery. Like most thermal water sprays, it soothes and calms the skin. It feels great to mist over your face after a full day under the sun. Also, it contains an active ingredient: Zinc sulfate, which helps with skin repair and renewal and also modulates inflammation. This product really does calm my active acne. After using this as a toner, my skin feels less inflamed, the number of blackheads and pumps also decrease after a week of consistent use.

You'll be able to buy it here. 

How to get to the Blue Grotto in Capri || EATALY Vol. 3

When I did my research, the information was quite confusing, so I thought I’d make this to help y’all out. Blue Grotto is definitely worth going to but as it’s located on the west side of Capri, it does take some research to figure out a way to get there.

Getting on the island.

Now this is the easy part. You can take a ferry from a lot of places: Sorrento, Naples, Amalfi, Positano etc. We took the ferry from Sorrento and it was 20 euros, round trip. Once you get to the porto at Sorrento, you will see a mob of people queuing for tickets (so don’t worry). The people will put you on the latest ferry to Capri and they would also give you the return ticket with a return time printed on it. I didn’t take that exact ferry back and saw some other people take earlier ones back, so I don’t think it really matters. As long as you make it before the last one.

Check the ferry schedule here to plan you trip ahead of time.

Getting to the grotto.

There are a few ways you can do this. A, take a tour boat straight to the grotto (well just outside of it), you board the boat straight after you get off the ferry and it brings you straight there. Or B, take the bus across the island to the entrance of the grotto (which was what I did). Now, A is definitely a fuss-free choice: you pay the money and save the hassle, but prices for that tour could range from 14euros to 160 euros (according to TripAdvisor). You wouldn’t need to book in advanced as tour companies would come to you while you’re on the ferry anyway. I didn’t go for this option as it costs more and I wouldn’t have the chance to look at other parts of Capri (it was only a day trip, I was on a time crunch).

Lo and behold! This is how we went to the grotto spending less AND saw most of Capri:

Five Budget Friendly Eating Ideas in Italy || EATALY Vol. 1

Ciao! Over the past two weeks, I’ve been on a trip to Italy. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to share everything I did with you guys! With Italy being one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, it means that you will be ‘graced’ with high hotel prices, expensive mediocre food and crowds (quite depressing in’t). That being said, with the help of hostel hosts, I have put together a list of 5 budget-friendly meal ideas that might help you plan for your trip to Italy. Check them out:

Croatia Vlog 2015 | Part 1 | Voyage Diaries

My second attempt to vlog my trip to Croatia. I decided to put this vlog into two parts since I've been to quite a lot of places, one vlog would be WAY too long. 

Skin Detox:: "Calm the eff down..."

I've been back in Hong Kong for almost a month now and, I've got to say, my skin had been freaking out ever since. It's probably the pollution, constructions and the humidity all combined into a cocktail aggravation to my skin. My skin is acne-prone to begin with, so breaking out is nothing new. I started to have these weird goosebumps on my forearm and joints. I feel like they might be due all these environmental allergens.

To combat these my aggravated skin condition, I decided to let my skin rest and to return to its natural form. I wanted my skin to be protected naturally from allergens without all the fragrances, parabens, and minerals. I really did not want to do too much to my skin at the moment.

I am strictly sticking to the following products as they are mostly organic or considerably more natural than others (fragrance free, paraben free etc...). Some of these products are quite new to me, so I will get back to you on my review on them.

So, after a long rant about my skin, here are the products I'm currently using to detoxify my skin:

Italy 2015 || VLOG || Voyage Diaries

I have to stop repeating myself here, but it really has been a LONG while (6 months) since my last post.  A lot had happened in my life in the past 6 months. I am now officially done with university (Yay for me!). I had been busy with academic work and life in general, and I feel like I can never create entertaining material when there is so much at stake. Do you guys feel that way? When your brain feels like its stuffed with fluff (feels like nothing, but takes up space for some reason)?

Anyhow, now that I am a free soul again *squeak*, I took the chance to travel around Europe before diving into the workforce. I will be updating you constantly on the blog with my travelling experiences (and I mean it, so stay tuned). 

The first stop of my voyage was the long anticipated ITALIA!!! (the word choice was deliberate) I had seen so many people head to Italy across Instagram, blogs, and Facebook; the scenery and architecture fascinated me. So when I actually stood there (in front of the colosseum, Cinque Terre, duomo, you name it!), I was truly mesmerised. I simply could not believe that I was physically looking at the places I had screenshotted for my bucket list (with no exaggeration). 

Since this trip had been so highly anticipated, I decided to commemorate this journey in motion, hoping to capture every moment of my experience (which was fairly hard, and may have failed slightly). With much efforts, I present to you, MY FIRST VLOG. 

To be very honest, I was skeptical in making vlogs, but I then I thought 'Hey, a video's the most straightforward way to show what I saw'. So here it is...

I hope you enjoy the video :) I put a lot of effort into this (treated it as a baby) and so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 

It's summer, Beaches!! || All about Working Out

Working out is a crucial part of getting fit. Although it only contributes 20% of losing weight (the other 80% being diet), exercise is SO important for general health. It speeds up the metabolism, builds muscle which, in turn, burns more fat, and sweating would actually release toxins that cannot be excreted through urine (or number 2). The list of benefits goes on...
I have learnt and done quite a variety of exercises and developed a routine or ways that I found were more efficient and enjoyable at getting in shape. So I thought I would share them with you. :)

It's summer, Beaches!! || The SPF and PA+

Sun protection is SO important especially during summer when the sun rays are elevated. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of sunscreen. It prevents dark spots, sun burn and most importantly skin cancer.

As a typical asian girl, I don't really like getting tanned and embrace looking white. I have been searching for the best products that are suitable for my acne-prone, combination skin. That said, I have comprised 5 products that I think works wonders for me.

It's summer, Beaches!! || Getting fit for the sun, sea and sand.

It is officially SUMMER!!! Well actually, summer began a while ago and my holiday had actually started two months ago, but I have not been living on a schedule for a while (felt kind of lost I guess), hence explaining the messy posts. Well, let me get things right, I have finally gone back into a schedule and will hopefully share more with y'all. :)

Anyhow, every summer I sort of get into a cycle of wanting to get in shape for summer, trying really hard, and then failing and giving up. Luckily for the FIRST TIME in my life, last summer it was successful! I was invited to a boat party and knowing that I had to wear a bikini, I was determined to get in shape. I was pretty happy with the results after 2 months' hard work, and was confident to get into a bikini.

I must say, I was impressed at my determination back then, but things went down-hill once Autumn hit. I guess it was the change of lifestyle that made me put on the pounds. Believe it or not, I gained almost 8 pounds as Christmas struck!!! (Scary right?) I had been struggling to shed those pounds off since then, they always say 'It's easy to gain but extremely difficult to lose'. I didn't really realise the change, until the weather got warmer again. I realised I had gained some muffintops, beer belly, flabby arms and also felt fatigue and groggy all the time. I knew there was something wrong with my lifestyle.

It was at that point where I realised that I missed the times I would feel energised, strong and grounded after exercising. So I tried to get back on the bandwagon of exercising. I had a gym membership at university, so decided to run on the treadmill every other day to get fit. It did help a bit but the takeaway, late-night dinners and junk food slowed down the process.

So, now that I have more time to myself. I have decided to go on a fitness journey until the end of August. I know there is only 3 weeks left of the month, but I thought I would start making changes for August and see how things are. My goal is to tone up my body, build muscle, get into better shape and hopefully lose some weight. I must emphasise that weight lose is not the most important goal and I believe body shape and definition is what's important. I decided to share this on the blog, so that all of you will monitor me in this journey. I will give updates on my progress and share some of the tips that I found useful.

If you are interested to go on the fitness journey with me or have any tips you would like to share, please leave a comment down below. I would love to hear from you. :)

WISH ME LUCK!!
Hope you are well.

Love,         

Vivien