If you're wondering how can a facial cost $800, you're not alone. Another thought that probably popped into your head was, "What's inside? Gold? Caviar? Diamond?" Well...you're not too far off. Perhaps you're also imagining some fancy schmancy science stuff or tools that are involved.

HAACH has recently launched its latest luxe professional facial - the Diamond Age-Defying Marine Miracle (90 min). When I was given the chance to try it out, I naturally jumped at it. Who wouldn't? Especially when the tagline is to make your skin "Shine Bright Like a Diamond".

The facial was held at HAACH's new concept store as well as Singapore's first seamless curation of both beauty and wellness. Called HAACH Curation, it is conveniently situated in Wheelock Place and houses both their chiropractic, physiotherapy as well as spa services under one roof. The overall feel of the place is comfortable and pleasant.

Front view of my face before the treatment

Left view

Right view

How timely this facial was! I suddenly had a pimple that popped on my nose so it was a plea for some professional intervention.

The beautician explained to me that for this Diamond Age-Defying Marine Miracle facial, there are no machines involved because all the natural ingredients used will help to exfoliate gently, lock in moisture, rehydrate skin and encourage the strengthening of the skin's elastin and collagen. In other words, it's a lot of massaging of my face with their advanced skincare products.

After cleansing came the exfoliating. Instead of a normal scrub, a serum-like gel was used. The gel contains nano-fine diamond powder that helps to remove the dead skin cells while the rest of the ingredients will help to pull the dead skin cells together until it clumps together.

Doesn't it look like I suddenly have dust over my face or dandruff? Anyway, the beautician said that my skin is quite well taken care of (thank you Clarisonic) and although I have quite a bit of dead skin, it's not dark coloured. Ladies, please remember to scrub your face at least once a week. Otherwise, please invest in a face cleansing tool like Clarisonic or HAACH's equivalent, which costs only S$60 and the brush head is made up of super fine hairs (even finer than Clarisonic's). Do remember to ask the HAACH ladies about it.

Once that gunk was removed, my blackheads were removed and after which, came the mask part! That's where the Marine Organisms, concentrates and seaweed extracts that are rich in vitamins and minerals come in! In addition, there are 20 herbal extracts (each with its own skin healing properties and one of them is called the Melissa plant *wink*) in this power packed mask.

For every person, one such tube is cracked open just before the mask is applied. This means that the product is fresh and all the vitamins are still active.

The marine and herbal mask

I could smell the algae!!! Add that to the intense wet herb smell and my nose was completely offended. Brain had to tell the nose to bear with it. Beauty comes with a small dose of sacrifice. After letting my skin soak in the concoction for a few of minutes while I received an awesome shoulder and décolletage massage, a gel mask with the diamond powder was soon placed over it.

Herbs used in HAACH's Diamond Age-defying Marine Miracle Facial

Beauty Tip: when you open your gel/paper mask, keep the excess liquids first. Apply some more onto the mask as this help you push out any bubbles as well as to massage the liquid in a little. Then, massage that excess liquid over your neck and décolletage. It is a moisturiser after all, so good to rub it into areas that are usually neglected but are sure signs of your age. After a few minutes, there will be areas that dry up faster for sure and the top up from your excess liquid would also be rather beneficial for your face.

After 20 or 30 minutes, the masks were removed and TADAH:

My face definitely was cleaner and brighter than before the facial! It felt quite moisturised too but that would be quite natural after a facial, no? I'll tell you later why you can push aside the cynicism.

So how does a $800 facial feel? Perfectly normal - relaxing (awesome massage) and moisturising. What you're paying for is for the sheer quality of ingredients used in the products. The proof in the pudding came only a day AFTER the facial. Remember that red spot that you saw on the left side of my nose? Normally, it would take a few days for it to heal and disappear but because of the facial, I was pleasantly surprised that it was completely healed the next day!

The beautician warned me that due to the strengthening of the elastin and collagen as well as the  natural healing properties of the mask, it is normal to see white and black heads popping up the next day as they get pushed out of the pores from within.

I can only imagine that with prolonged usage of such quality products, one's skin will definitely get smoother and nobody will be able to say that you look old!

If you'd like to go for the Diamond Age-defying Marine Miracle treatment, HAACH is offering a special trial price of $99 for my readers! You can either book through www.passhen.com if you are a member or quote the promo code "PASS_MM" when you call HAACH's outlet directly for an appointment. For those who would like something a little more affordable, Pásshers get special prices off selected treatments that have also won recent awards in Harper's Bazaar! To find out more, click here.

Whoever said that adults do not get acne is lying. Sure, it's not that serious an outbreak but...acne and pimples still pop up on adult skins! What makes things worse is that these scars take longer to lighten and disappear as you get older. Moreover, if you're fair like me, the scars are horribly obvious.

Here comes Hiruscar, which is a Post Acne gel to help lighten these scars, improve any depressions caused by these scars as well as prevent further acne action! Which means, boys and girls, this is great for people aged 15 - 24 and even those in their 30s like moi.

Hiruscar is a clear gel that you're supposed to put onto your scars 2-3 times a day, washing your hands before and after application.

I had an outbreak 2 weeks ago and as you can see, I do have a couple of acne/pimple scars on my chin and neck with a little depression around it.

Now...let's try this Hiruscar gel. Like I mentioned earlier, it's clear and it has absolutely no smell whatsoever. It glides on very well without feeling sticky but when it first dries, you can feel a slight film over the area. This feeling will disappear once you apply your moisturiser over it.

My nose is really oily and even when I applied on my nose (it's supposed to help prevent acne right?), it didn't cause new pimples and my nose appeared less oily so I conclude that the gel is good to go on oily, acne prone skin. The Pionin in the gel acts as an anti-bacterial and it did help with preventing new pimples from popping up.

I felt that applying it 3 times a day was almost impossible for me as I work full time and I'm too busy to whip it out in the middle of the day to apply. Therefore, I only applied it in the morning and in the evenings. I have to admit that there were days where I completely forgot about applying the gel. Oops.

This is 10 days later. As you can see, the large red scar has reduced in size by quite a bit and the one on my chin is gone. Also, the skin has smoothed a little. There was no peeling of my skin although the instructions inside the box stated that the formulation has a peeling effect to help restore the skin's appearance. I guess I am lucky?

If you are plagued by your acne/pimple scars, it really doesn't hurt to try a tube of Hiruscar. It's really affordable at S$22.90/10ml and is easily available at Watson's, Guardian, Pharmacies and polyclinics.

Received my Benzac AC loot from SampleStore last week and I decided to do a proper review because if you're like me and in your 30s but still suffering from the occasional breakout, you'll want something to treat only the acne and not dry out the skin all around it.

Warning: you will see a few gross pictures of zits.

So...what's with the clinical brand name? Benzac AC 5 is a topical, water-base gel that contains 5% benzoyl peroxide (cue the 'ahhh...I geddit's). This gel also comes in other strengths - 2.5% and 10%. Benzoyl peroxide is an antibacterial that effectively treats acne without the peeling and drying of the skin. Supposedly. Let's take it to the test!

Although I've been blessed with relatively good skin, it has been suffering for the past 3 weeks thanks to stress, hormones and insomnia (yes...lack of sleep wreaks havoc to the skin). As a result, I've been breaking out on my chin area and a few on my shoulders.

After applying Benzac AC twice a day, I realised that it sped up the process of some pimples to become ripe and it happily burst when I washed my face the next morning. The really embedded acne didn't surface but it didn't become red and angry either! That's a big deal to me because I'd rather deal with a lump that can be easily covered with concealer than one that's painful and looks awful.

As you can see from the whole kit, I also managed to get my hands on the Daily Facial Cleanser as well as the Scrub. Both are water-based too! Good news for those who use Clarisonic or other face cleansing tools: the Daily Facial Cleanser works on it! It doesn't foam a lot but enough to ensure that your face is thoroughly cleansed without it feeling dry. I do notice that for the rest of the day, my skin produced slightly less shine than usual. If foam is your thing, there is a foam version to this cleanser too. Apply the topical gel after cleansing and moisturising your face.

After 2 days:

As you can see, the pimples have lightened and some of them have gone completely flat. The red 'scarring' is still left behind but that's quite normal for me as I'm a bit too fair :( The pimple on my shoulder burst on Day 2 and it too remains as a red scar. Benzac AC doesn't help with the scarring, unfortunately. However, I do find that the areas where I applied the gel was less oily than usual.


On Day 3, I decided to try out the scrub. It came out in a butter yellow and I couldn't help but think, "Sulphur!" thanks to my dad's former penchant for soaps with sulphur to combat fungal and bacterial skin infections. To my surprise, it's actually a very pleasant and refreshing lemon scent! It didn't feel too dry as a scrub and I quite like the smell. Can't really tell how great it is as a scrub especially since I use Clarisonic. I still can feel quite a bit of white heads on my chin and my nose still has black and white heads.

Overall, I loved how it dried out my pimples without causing my skin to peel or flake! Definitely is a better alternative to expensive tea tree oil or other pimple creams that I've tried in my teenage days. Rating: 4.5/5! Begone acne!!

Benzac AC series is easily available at the National Skin Centre (it is dermatological tested, after all), selected Guardian, Watsons and Unity stores at S$17.50. If you don't want to buy the full tube but want to try it, you can get the sample version from SampleStore here or from Benzac directly.

That's me chilling with an eye mask. Not just any eye mask, but Kao's latest "Eye Steam Mask"! I managed to get a sample of their lavender eye steam mask and I was really intrigued by it because you do not need to heat it up with water or crack anything. Also, with the name "Eye Steam", I really wondered whether there would be any steam coming out from the mask although I really do not want my eyes to be cooked by hot vapour.

It opens up like this and as you can see, there is a patch in the middle which is the part that is infused with the scent (if you get the scented ones) and the heating element. It is written on the box that this eye mask contains iron, so please do not use this if you're allergic to iron compounds.

This mask opens out into the eye mask as seen on my face and you sorta tear out the elastic bands located in the middle. The elastic bands are to be hooked on your ears so as to secure the mask.

How does the mask feel? Really warm! It is stated that the mask can reach temperatures of about 40 deg C so if you find that too hot, do the eye masking in an air-conditioned room. I found the eye mask quite relaxing and the lavender scent was quite pleasant. Interestingly, the mask tightened a little after a while and I realised that it's because the heating caused the centre patches to bloat.

Would I use it again? Probably. It really is quite relaxing and it's not too expensive as you can get a box of 5 for S$6.90 at Watson's.

I was very privileged to be given complimentary V-Face Shaper treatments, which is the signature treatment at ClearSK! These treatments come at a very timely manner because after hitting 28, the skin around my neck is starting to sag and *gasp* I feel like I'm developing a double chin. So yes...I need my V-Face back ;)

If you're wondering what a V-Face is...you can see it from the image above and as the banner reads, ClearSK's V-Face Shaper treatment is non-surgical so there is absolutely no downtime.

What I liked about ClearSK off the bat is that it is not just a spa but it also has medical doctors available for consultation (by appointment only). It does make me feel a lot better that these therapists weren't talking pseudo-medical terms without knowing what they actually mean.

I went to the branch located at Novena Square and I liked that it was bright and clean while the Service Officer, Princess, at the reception was really friendly. She also explained to me that the V-Face Shaper treatment is painless, non-surgical and does not have any needles (good for those with phobia of needles). It works by using Bi-Polar RF (Radio Frequency) to agitate and breakdown the fats located around the jawline. After this, they use another RF to tighten the skin because after you breakdown the fats you wouldn't want sagging skin right?

Before going for the treatment, I was taken to a consultation room to get my skin analysed by the funky looking machine at the bottom.

I call this 'dormant' stage

When it's lit and ready for your face to be placed inside

Ready for my face to be analysed!

The machine 'rates' your face based on the roughness, pores, spots, wrinkles and brown spots (UV spots) which are under the current skin layer but will show up in years to come.

After evaluating all categories, the machine concluded that the age of my skin is 30.55. I don't know whether to feel happy/sad/neutral because it means that my skin is only half a year younger than my actual age. Mmm...I am taking care of my skin but I guess not as intensively as I should? The main aging factor has to do with my laziness when it comes to sunblock.

See the above categorical report...99% UV spots that a 30 year old should/could have. Ok...I geddit. Sunblock it shall be.

After the skin analysis, I was made to wait while the previous customer finishes up (they only have 1 machine there). After waiting for about 10-15 minutes, I was led into the treatment room which has a very nice fluffy and warm blanket that reminded me of my personal comforter. Snug as a bug. I would've fallen asleep but I was woken up by an angry customer who was told that her appointment was delayed due to a shortage of therapists. I agree with the customer that someone should've called her to inform but I disagreed with her tone because we're all humans and we all deserve to be spoken to with some level of respect unless he/she really messed things up.

Anyway, I had to wait for another 10-15 minutes before the therapist came and shut the door (no more interruptions) before proceeding to cleanse my skin and starting the V-Face Shaper treatment. The cleansing process is similar to most spas and when the 1st RF procedure started, I could only feel the gentle probing of the machine against my jawline and there was a high pitched buzzing sound along with it. This is where the stubborn fat cells are being encouraged to reduce its size.

The skin tightening RF procedure was also painless but it did cause a bit of warmth to radiate across the skin so the therapist did warn me about it before starting the procedure and told me to inform her if it became too uncomfortable. I could feel the rollers going across my face and it was like a very firm facial massage. Can't complain because it was soothing and the thought that my skin was going to be tightened and firmed up just made me relax and go to lala land (I really fell asleep during my 2nd treatment). After the RF procedures, the therapist proceeded to put a mask on my face. Mind you, this mask not only covered my face but also my neck!

The above is just before my 1st treatment while the pic below is just after my 2nd treatment.

As you can see, the protruding start of a double chin on the left side of my face (look on your right) is gone! I'm quite impressed because I did feel a tightening around my jawline after my first treatment but the reduction of the double chin wasn't so obvious till after the 2nd treatment.

Another great side effect of the V-Face Shaper procedure is that my pores are now tighter! Thus, my blackheads are less visible and this is something that all my pore packs and face masks have been unable to do for ages. A lot of other facials too, now that I think about it.

I highly recommend this treatment if you are concerned about your double chin as you will see results almost immediately. The therapists recommend doing it every week to really reduce the double chin and maintain the V shape. Ideally, one should have 6-12 sessions in total. Best thing? Nobody would think that you've had anything done because it's non-invasive and has no downtime!

Do visit ClearSK at any of their current outlets located conveniently at:
Novena Medical Centre
Novena Square, Velocity
Orchard
Toa Payoh
Tampines

Hotline: +65 6100 6868
Website: www.clearsk.com 

Warning! This post contains a potentially disgusting photo which may make you squirm before cursing and swearing at me.  Others may react differently with fascination.  No matter what...you've been warned.  Scroll down at your own discretion.

Now, for those who use this product regularly, you'll recognise that this is a pore pack to remove white and blackheads.  That's a heck of a lot of blackheads that I've never seen before on my fortnightly pore pack ritual.  Moreover, A LOT of large blackheads were easily removed by the pore pack!  I stuck a pore pack on my chin too and I garnered a similar effect - more blackheads/whiteheads removed than previously. I wish that I had a photo of a pore pack before I started using Clarisonic but alas, I forgot.

This has to be the power of the Clarisonic.  It must've loosened up the heads and made them easily extracted.  In fact, a loathsome HUGE blackhead is finally out!! I'm sooo happy about that.  I can already see that my nose looks a lot less like a strawberry and more like a smooth apple. 

After extracting all these blackheads, I followed up with a serum and face mask. Very important to ensure that the pores tighten properly and not get clogged up with dead sebum again!  So far, the changes in my skin are still subtle but I think I like the direction it's going in!  My T-zone is surprisingly less oily than usual too!  Yay...I think I will really save money in the long run because I might not need facials anymore.

So, above is my face after using Clarisonic after a week and with make up on.  I must say that my pores have tightened, although I still feel a lot of white heads on my chin.

The most amazing thing is that my make up lasted for a VERY long time.  The photo above was taken 7 hours after application of make up!

The face is still oily but it's really not as oily as before.  Nonetheless, I feel that my skin has hit a certain plateau. It's not improving anymore.  Either that or my hormones is wreaking havoc on my skin and no Clarisonic will help.

So...that's my face after 3 days of using Clarisonic.  My nose itches everytime I wash my face thanks to the vibrating bristles.  Ok, I shall not digress.  I must say that I'm quite impressed.  Why? My whiteheads on my chin have significantly reduced.  I no longer feel that it's that bumpy when I run my fingers across.  Appearance of blackheads on my cheeks have reduced a bit too.  Most impressive thing that happened is that the uneven skin tone on the side of my cheek has started to even out by a shade!  Something that all those moons of facials have failed to do!  Other than what I've pointed out, face is still not in its optimum condition and the cheeks feel a little dryer than usual.

So, I caved in and bought the Clarisonic Mia 2 facial sonic cleanser after reading and hearing rave reviews.  This cost me S$215 from Sephora and comes with a 2-year warranty.  It's only S$20 more expensive than if I had bought it via Amazon but I save on having to get another adapter AND I am assured of a warranty.

I intend to save money in the long run because a make-up artist claimed that he didn't need any facials after using Clarisonic.  So, I'm going to use this baby every single day. I'm not changing my usual facial cleanser nor my moisturisers nor my weekly mask regime.  Only change is that I probably will not be using my scrub once a week.  Perhaps once a month or so.
 

Day 1 - used the Clarisonic for the first time.  As you can see, my problems are enlarged pores and a bit of uneven skin tone.  That said, the first wash with the Clarisonic has helped clean a bit of the blackheads at the tip of my nose.  So far, so good.  I can still feel the whiteheads on my chin and my upper lip felt a bit roughed up when being cleansed.

The sales assistant said that her blemishes lightened after she started using Clarisonic...so let's see how this skin journey continues!