Beauty Talk: Remedy to Dark Underarms

Hello beauties,

Most of us would opt for sleeveless tops for the summer, as the weather has turned warmer and we would like to allow our "pits" to get more ventilation~ Some of us might be a little apprehensive to wear sleeveless tops, or to even raise our arms above our shoulders, because we fear that others might see our dark underarms... or in Singapore, we readily refer to it as armpits hehe. 

You're not alone.

Image Source: Health Regards

I have also been troubled by dark armpits, because the past few years, I have plucked the courage to wear sleeveless and noticed a "shadow" when I raise my arm, which never goes away even if I shine direct light onto it. I am writing this based on my experience as well as what I have done for myself to help improve the appearance of my armpits, and not forgetting extra research as I am not a professional in this ^^

Top Causes of Dark Underarms
1. Dirt
I know, it sounds like, EEK! Dirt!? You mean the accumulation of dirt can cause a darker appearance, can cause such DARK armpits? YES. Our armpits, as compared to the rest of our body, have an accumulation of skin that is folded. This allows it to be more vulnerable to dirt collection, as we might not be able to remove the dirt thaaat easily.

2. Clothing
Our armpits are always in contact with our clothing, especially when we wear sleeved tops or even jackets. Avoid wearing tight clothes as the constant contact of your clothes with your pits will cause friction - which may lead to the darkening of your armpits (this applies for other areas as well, e.g. your butt cheeks etc.).

3. Deodorant
I remember Michelle Phan talking about this, that the built up of deodorant on your armpits which are not removed properly could also result in darker armpits. Furthermore, according to Healthkart, the chemical compounds in strong deodorants could also be one of the reason for darker underarms as it leads to pigmentation, resulting in permanently darker armpits. 

4. Shaving
We are concerned about the appearance of our underarms, and definitely having "hair" there could be quite unsightly. So we shave, pluck or even epilate them, however shaving could cause irritation to the underarm if it is done too frequently. This could also cause scarring or inflmmation that causes underarm skin darker than the original - Let's Go Healthy

Other causes of darker underarms could also be attributed to your genetics, and diabetes which you can find out more information from Healthkart here. 

Remedy for Dark Underarms
1. SCRUB SCRUB SCRUB
For the layer of dirt that sits on our skin could be our dead cells or dirt from the air, we will need to exfoliate our skin by scrubbing. 

There are a few options you could choose from:

Source: D'Atra Paris Belal

1. Scrub Gloves

I personally use this glove daily, to scrub all over my body. This helps to ensure that I do not allow any dirt or dead cells to stay on my skin. Not only does it helps to keep the skin clean, it also makes your skin smoother! 

Remember those annoying bumps which you might get on your butts (butt bumps), using this helps you to also reduce the appearance and occurrence of them. 

2. Body Scrub

Another option that I personally vouch for it, because it really helps to brighten my underarms, and leave it smoother as well. This brand of body scrub is my personal favourite which I got it from Batam's Hypermart (Travel With Me here), which only costs me around SGD2-3 for the huge tub, and SGD1++ for this tub you see right here.

3. Professional Body Scrubs / Spa Sessions

If you're looking for a relaxation and a wonderful massage and body scrub, I would suggest for you to go for a spa session. I go for this yearly, as I think it would be too costly to do it frequently. And I have only gone to Eska's spa in Batam

2. NATURAL DEODORANT

Try to use lesser deodorant, but if you cannot do so, opt for natural deodorants that are better for your skin! I personally don't use deodorants, unless I am sure I will be perspiring a lot, or when I have an important event to go for. I don't even apply it when I exercise, as I do not want to block or clog up the pores and obstruct their freedom of "breathing" haha...

Source: The Daily Green

1. Choose Deodorants that Uses Natural Ingredients - Alexandra Zissu

Read the article for The 9 Best Natural Deodorants written by Alexandra Zissu, which does not contain parabens, fragrance and any other irritating chemicals. One of them which I found it more acessible is the deodorant by Burt's Bee.

2. DIY

Do it yourself! Deodorant uses some of the commonly found items that you can find them in your kitchen, and one of them is corn starch powder which can be found in deodorants and your powders. It is a wonderful product to help absorb oil and perspiration. Furthermore, it will not stain your clothing. Do not apply excessive, as it will have a whitish appearance for awhile ;)

Or you may try out this receipe from Wellness Mama - Healthy Homemade Deodorant 

And these are the ingredients that you'll need:

3 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil

3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda

3 Tablespoons of Shea Butter

3 Tablespoons of Arrowroot (Optional)

Essential Oils (Optional)

3. WAXING
Instead of shaving, opt for waxing, as it will help to prevent the chances of irritation to your skin. Or epilate, as these options will help you remove the hair from the root, and this results in a brighter and whiter looking underarms! Yay! Waxing may be very painful, so use an epilator if you are that afraid of the pain.

4. DIY MASKS 
There are plenty of DIY masks out there to share with you how you could brighten or lighten your dark underarms, but here are a few that I have tried and want to recommend it to you.

1. Lemon Juice
Lemon is a natural bleaching agent, and it effectively lightens your skin. I've used this on my pits, my elbows, as well as directly on any acne scars before. And it works fine! 

HOW TO? You can simply apply it directly to your armpits the night before, and shower the next morning. However if you have sensitive or very thin skin, apply it for 10-20 minutes and cleanse after - to avoid skin burn!

2. Mixture of Lime and Cucumber - Let's Go Healthy

Mix 1 teaspoon of lime juice (lemon juice works too), 1 teaspoon of cucumber juice and a pinch of turmeric powder. Then apply the mask onto your underarms, leave it on for 20 minutes before rinsing it off. - I have not try this, but I believe it works because of the use of lime or lemon, is definitely going to work hahaha.. 

Do give these tips a try and let me know if they have helped you significantly lighten your armpits or not. I realised that these must be done on a regular basis to ensure that the armpits are "clean" and free of dirts. 

For the masks, I only use them when I have an important occasion coming up, otherwise on every other day, I would do a body scrub or simply alternate with my scrub glove. 

I hope you have found this interesting! And if you'd like to read more of such beauty articles, do let me know! Do you have any beauty issues that you would like me to address as well? Leave me a comment down below~

For the brighter pits yo~ Peace out!

DIY: Green Tea Exfoliating Mask

Today I have yet another DIY mask to share with you guys or girls. I do this whenever I feel I need some pampering. Because this does get a bit messy, so doing it weekly is a no-no for me.

I learned this on Bubzbeauty's Youtube channel, and I decided to try it out for myself. Scroll down to see her Youtube video if you wish to see how she does it "live"~

Drinking green tea is great for detoxing and boosting the anti oxidants in your body. But did you know, this can be great for your skin too? I also learned from Michelle Phan that you can use Green Tea to create toners too!

Find out more about the benefits of consuming Green Tea here

Green Tea is known to help to soothe and calm irritated skin, and thus helps in the combat of acne issues. Furthermore, it is great for anti-ageing as it contains anti-oxidants - thus saying goodbye to fine lines and wrinkles!

What you'll need:

• Manuka honey or regular honey is fine - this is for moisturising and killing of bacteria
• Green tea bag

Let's start!

First, make yourself a cup of hot green tea and let the tea bag soak for a few minutes. Then remove from the cup, and squeeze it to release the excess water.

Cut open the tea bag, and pour the green tea into a mixing bowl. I am using my regular DIY face mask mixing bowl I bought from Sasa last year. 

Read more »

DIY: Plain old sneakers to Studded Wedges Sneakers

If you have no idea what Wedges Sneakers are, just like the name, it's actually wedges + sneakers!

I'm really really short so I LOVE anything that gives me height. Wedges do the best job because they give me height and don't hurt even if I wear them throughout the day!

As much as I like anything that gives me height, I love SNEAKERS so much because they are so comfortable and they make me look very sporty LOL.
When I heard of the current trend - WEDGES SNEAKERS - I was immediately SOLD lol.

Sadly, Wedges Sneakers are not largely sold in Singapore and are usually selling at a cray price (Like usually not anything less than $60??) which a very stingy person like me won't want to splurge anyhow on, although I really like them.

So before I decided to get my hands on them, HOW ABOUT LET'S MAKE ONE TOGETHER?!?!

Let's start off with studding your sneakers up..

- A pair of cheap sneakers (the cotton ones are easier to work with than leather ones and are cheaper) I got mine from Cotton on for $5 during a sale wtf. It's so ugly so I only wore it once HAHAHA.

- STUDS
I got mine online and I'll be using the flat studs for this tutorial because they are the easiest to work with.

- GLUE
I'm using the epoxy one WHICH sadly didn't work very well.

A better picture of the ugly sneakers. I'll love to get a pair of black one but there were only grey ones around so...yeah, might as well.

I decided to stud this piece of thing on my sneakers only.
And since it's made of cloth, I can just poke my studs through it and secure it by pressing the sharp ends flat using the end of a tweezer.

GET IT? :D
Very easy one!

Stud up the whole row.

And do it on both sneakers!

Now it's ten times nicer than the boring old $5 sneakers!!!

I'll love to put more spikes at the side of the sneakers but my glue didn't work well so I couldn't. :(

AND NOW, ON TO THE PART WHERE YOU TRANSFORM YOUR SNEAKERS TO WEDGES!!!!!!

AHEM.

Go to Daiso and get these fantastic "height increase" shoe soles...

Just put them in your sneakers! Daiso sells lots of different kind of 'height increase' shoe soles.
The one I got is probably only 2 cm high.

Most sneaker wedges are about 10 cm high so I suggest you buy a few of these shoe soles and stack 'em up if Daiso don't sell any shoe soles that are more than 2 cm high.

LIKE THIS! :D

Make sure you don't be too greedy and put way too much until your heel is exposed at the end, or too high to the extent that you can't walk properly in the sneakers.

You can choose to stick them down or just place them in without sticking them down so you still can take them out if you don't want your sneakers to be wedges for a day or smth HAHA.

IT'S JUST SO SIMPLE!!!
Do you feel a bit cheated? LOL

Hope you like this super easy DIY tutorial! ^_^

XOXO

DIY: Nourishing Face Mask

Do It Yourself has been something quite trendy lately.. because with simple materials that can be found in your kitchen you can also make for your skin a delicious treat!

Today I will be sharing a simple DIY mask that I have been doing for the past few years, I do alter this recipe often to incorporate more or less items (when I run out of them!).

This mask is suitable for 

• Dry and flaky skin
• Acne and scars
• Sensitive to Normal skin

If you are interested to see, please keep on reading!

Read more »

Re-Fashioned Earrings ~ Coloring Stones DIY

~ Earrings before the makeover ~

Its not that i don't like these white stone earrings but for quite a while now i have been looking for earrings that match my new Salwar Kameez. Its a gorgeous hot pink color and i don't seem to find anything that matches in color or even close to it. Well am a very choosy person and compromising at times is pretty hard for me. So i came up with this DIY to give an instant makeover to my old pair of earrings. It just gave the exact shade i have been looking for!!

This DIY project is for Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets, Rings or any piece of jewelry with stones, just grab a nail polish of your choice and get going...

How to ~

Its easy-peasy, start coloring the stones and let them air-dry.

Few Pointers to Remember ~

* Do a trial test before actually coloring the stones. Its important as the nail color might look different on stones.

Ex - The nail polish I picked is actually a Red Color with fine glitter but when swatched on stones it showed up as gorgeous hot pink. The same color i was looking for!!

* Depending upon the shade a single coat of nail color gives, decide if one coat is good enough or if you want to apply second coat. 

I went for two coats, single coat was sheer for me.

* Make sure there's enough drying time between two coats.

Final look ~

Now its all ready to be worn *.*

Isn't that gorgeous pink??? So is my dress.... 

Will do a separate post on how i wore my DIY earrings...

Hope this inspired you to do some DIY project this weekend....

P.s - Now, Lipglossaffairs is on Bloglovin and Networked Blogs too, would love if you follow me there too *.*

Thanks for stopping by, till next time......

XoXo

Sangy

Jewelry Storage Ideas

Hi there!

hope you all had a good week~

I thought I should share how I store/organize my Jewelry. While I was trying to clean out my closet, clumsy me accidentally spilled my organized accessories on the floor and while i was trying to organize them again, I thought i should put it up on my blog just in case some of you are having some problems I used to have of trying to organize/store  jewelry.

Did you know: properly storing your jewelry can make them last longer!

Before:

 

After:

• I used a drawer/utensil organizer to separate necklaces and bracelets.

• I made this DIY necklace hanger out of an old picture frame to hang the necklaces/earrings I wear more often.
• it's hanging on my wall, this is great so you can actually see the necklaces that you have, since I've had this I'm always reminded to put the necklace back after i wear it instead of just tossing it somewhere and forgetting about it. I made some for my friends also, they love it!!

  

• Lastly, the good old Jewelry box. I use this for smaller items like rings and earrings. you can never go wrong with this one, its great for keeping dust away. For me the problem with this is that i don't see what i have so i tend to forget about what's inside.

Hope this was rather helpful~
Have a FUN weekend!!

<3 Jill

Nail art tutorial !

Remember the simple nail art tutorial gazillion years ago? :)
Heheh , so I'm back to post another nail art tutorial, this time....a little better LOL.

Okay actually not really better because I didn't planned before doing this.
But I decided to just show you all what I came out with. ^o^"

Apply base coat if you're doing this on your nails. :D



I started off with this pinkish shimmer nail polish from nature republic.







Then apply pink nail polish on half of your nail.
Try to make the bottom as perfectly straight as possible.
DO NOT LEAVE IT LIKE MINE, I was lazy to make them straight xD





I'm using the face shop one bytheway.

Then take a rough paper, put a little Red/Coral nail colour on it, and dunk your toothpick in it!
Dot a few random 'splats' and shape them a little like...what you see in the photo haha.





Using Love and Beauty from Forever21 !



Take your green nail colour, same, put it on the rough paper, and do a few polka dots with a little spiky thing coming out of it (refer to pic ) around the 'rose' you made xD







Using this from nature republic!



And tralala! You got your rose! hahaha!

I decided to add a little glitter around it , you can , of course, play around with anything you like ^o^





My end product is..



Apply top coat after your desired design is out!

Not very nice but it's my first attempt on rose soo....

Alright ! ^_^

Bye ~~~ ♥