Happy About A Zit?:Testing Cyleina Organic Tomato Soap

So I used the Olay Total Effect Moisturizer yesterday because I figured that I have to at least use all of it before I move on to other moisturizers and voila! I got myself a zit on my right cheek. It's painful, but I find it exciting because I can test the powers of the Cyleina Organic Tomato soap.

Be Fairer with Glutamaxxx Ultima and Cyleina Black Pearl Soap

Lei Before Glutamaxxx Ultima + Cyleina Black Pearl

This is my sister, Lei. She's our youngest and I love her to bits. She's the real beauty addict in our family. She's a natural beauty fanatic. If you don't believe me, let's just say that at two years old, she's already choosing her hair accessories. I can still see her as before, slumped on a glass counter, her chubby fingers pointing to the hair accessories she wanted. She also asked my mother to buy her a complete set of powder, cologne, and shampoo from Avon's Disney collection.

Unfortunately, while all of her three older sisters were blessed with fair skin, she had a darker complexion. See the difference in the first picture? The one beside her is my other sister, Mei, who's fairest of us all. Hihi. I still feel that surge of anger whenever people tactlessly exclaim, "Ay, bakit maitim ang bunso? (Why is the youngest dark-skinned?)" whenever we're introduced. And for us Filipinos who are obsessed with fair skin, this was not a compliment. So she grew up with the thought that she's the darker sister hanging over her head.

When she was older and learned the beauty of makeup, I often see her applying a tad more foundation that she should have. She also had some acne problems when she was in high school and so I couldn't blame her. Since she went off to college, I see her around four or five times a year. But in March, last year, when my family visited me last year, I noticed something different in her. Her face was fairer and it glowed. When I looked closer, she was not wearing any makeup at all! In fact, she was fairer than when I last saw her. (See her pictures above.) So I asked her what she did and she said she was using the Cyleina Black Pearl soap for four days. Yes, you heard me. Four days. She's also using Glutamaxxx Ultima (yes there are three x's) for her body. I got the pictures with the more or less the same lighting conditions (yes, my family loves swimming) and I used the same camera.

Lei After Glutamaxxx Ultima + Cyleina Black Pearl Soap

She had no makeup on whatsoever in these pictures. Do you see the difference? And this is only after a few weeks using this combination.

That is why I was totally sold on Cyleina products. They are effective, at least for my sister. Of course, I couldn't discount the fact that we have different skin types. But it worked for my sister. It might work for you. You'll never know.

Before and After Pics Side-by-Side

How To Use Cyleina Soaps: A Cheapskate's Guide to Using Your Cyleina Soaps

Don't you just hate it when you cannot use your soap up to the last bit? That's because the soap left over usually lose their ability to lather and you're left with a tiny bit of useless soap. What Cyleina lovers rave about is that Cyleina soaps have this amazing ability to create a lather even if it is just as big as your thumbnail. Ask any Cyleina customer who's been given a soap cut or soap sample and they'll know what you're talking about.

Times are hard and being a cheapskate is not something to be ashamed about. Being a cheapskate has suddenly become (gasp!) fashionable! So here's a tried-and-tested method for Cyleina lovers to get every last bit of Cyleina Organic goodness.

Make the Cut
Cyleina Organic soaps will last a little longer if you cut them in half. Some opt to cut in into fours, but I usually cut my Cyleina Organic soaps in half because holding on to a teeny bit of soap regardless of its ability to create a lather can be very challenging. Cutting the soaps in half will also make your Cyleina soaps fit in a regular soap dish. When I was a lurker in the GirlTalk Cyleina thread, a discussion was made on which instrument to use to cut their soaps. The answer is up to you. Since Cyleina soaps are softer than other soaps, you can cut it with anything, from a regular kitchen knife (which is hygienic because you have to wash it after! I repeat, wash it after. Just because soap is self-cleaning doesn’t mean that you can use the kitchen knife on food.) to a pair of scissors (I tried this because I was upstairs with no kitchen knife in hand and the lazy side of me refused to go downstairs to have my soap cut.) However, a pair of scissors will leave you with jagged edges. You can cut it with your teeth if you’re marooned in an island or trapped in a panic room. I’d like to ask Miss Leigh if you can get poisoned from eating Cyleina soaps, but I don’t want her to question my sanity. But to make your Cyleina Organic soaps last, cut it, cut it, cut it! Except for the Cyleina Black Pearl soap which is too cute to cut.

Choose your Soap Dish Well
Yes ladies and gentlemen, since Cyleina Organic soaps are free from any hardeners or parabens, Cyleina soaps may melt faster than your regular soap. That is no reason for you to bug your reseller complaining about how fast the soaps melt. So the best thing for you to do is to find a soap dish that will keep your beloved Cyleina Organic soaps away from water. Don’t let it sit too long in the water and you’ll be left with a messy and deformed lump of a soap which you can still use if you’re not grossed out that much.

Bond The Old and the New
Another trick that I use, which shows you how much of a cheapskate I’ve become, is to unite my itty-bitty Cyleina Organic soap with a new soap cut. You’ll notice that as you use your Cyleina Organic soap, that it will not break off or crumble like other soaps usually do. Instead, it will become paper thin. The trick is after it’s become too thin, you can just place it gently on top of a new soap cut, pat it so that it’s completely attached to the new soap, and leave it to dry. You’ll be surprised that the next time you bathe, the paper thin soap will bond onto the new soap.

What about you? How do you use your Cyleina Organic soaps? Any other nifty ideas on how to use Cyleina Organic soaps well are most welcome.

Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream

Don't you just love it when you discover a beauty product that is cheap and effective? Since I started with this blog, I was on the lookout for a beauty product that won't break the bank. I was still short on having a regular night cream when this little 10-gram tub of Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream caught my eye. A steal at only P22.50, I did not hesitate to buy it.

I wasn't expecting much from a beauty product that's this cheap, but I was truly amazed that two weeks after using the Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream, my skin positively glowed. I could say that I noticed visible lightening during this week and my skin is as soft as a baby's. Its active ingredients according to the label are:

•  Niacinamide
• Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate
• Carica papaya enzyme
• Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate

Perhaps my skin loves papaya since the Cyleina Organic Papaya Goat's Milk has also lightened my skin like no other Cyleina whitening products did. My only complaint for the Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream is its scent. It's a little on the sweet side, like a fully-ripened papaya fruit or Iya Villania's voice when she's singing the Silka Papaya jingle.  My husband, who's very vocal with the way I smell, wasn't too keen on how the Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream smelled. I got around to this potential problem by applying it hours before he came home from work. I tried surfing Cosmetique Asia website, the manufacturer of this little wonder, but I couldn't find the Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream on its product line. Perhaps this is a newcomer since we've seen Iya Villania's ad for Silka Papaya has been around for some time. I'm very proud to discover, though, that this product is proudly Philippine-made, in the province of Malolos, Bulacan. So if you're looking for an affordable alternative to a whitening cream, then try the Silka Papaya Whitening Night Cream. Complement it with the Cyleina Placenta soap and you've got yourself the key to getting that healthy glow.

The New Cyleina Organic Carrot & Pineapple Soap: Yellow Suds Alert!

Since I'm a member of Girltalk, I've found a lot of Cyleina fans and Sis purpleish of Girltalk so graciously let me borrow a photo of the new Cyleina organic soap variants. Here they are relaxing in potpourri. Sis purpleish also sells Cyleina soaps in Cavite and other areas. If you want to visit her Multiply site, please click here. Thanks also to her hubby who took this wonderful picture.

Now for the review. I've used the new Cyleina Organic Carrot & Pineapple for two weeks. According to literature sent by Ms. Leigh, this new product from Cyleina is loaded with vitamins that specifically target our skin. These include Vitamin C and pineapple enzymes that treat age spots and fine lines, and beta-carotene and Vitamin A from carrots. These vitamins give you glowing, youthful skin.

I used to have an Alba Organic Pineapple Facial Wash and I wasn't very keen on the smell of pineapples. Most of my experience with pineapples were rather nasty because they were usually sour and it's hard to find a perfectly ripened pineapple in Central Luzon. But bathing with the new Cyleina Organic Carrot and Pineapple soap is like biting into a pineapple and surprisingly finding out that it tastes wonderful. The smell is not at all tangy, but mild like those pineapple candies of my youth which was ingeniously wrapped to make it look like a real pineapple.

What surprised me was this soap produced yellow suds! That's right! Yellow suds perhaps from the organic pineapple and carrot extracts that were mixed in with saponified organic vegetable oil, jojoba oil, and sunflower oil. You'll be sure that you're getting a soap that has no chemical hardeners because it melted away faster than my strawberry or coffee soaps.

Since I already have youthful skin (teehee), I didn't notice anything that changed in my skin while I was using it. But once again, Cyleina Organic has given us another quality product to enhance our bathing experience.

New Look

So this is too cute for words. I found this amazing site of cute free Blogger backgrounds that made me coo and make baby noises. They are just so cute!! I love Suzanne Woolcott! And I haven't forgotten my promise about the new reviews for Cyleina Organic Triple Citrus and Cyleina Organic Pineapple & Carrot. I'm still gathering my evidence since this is just the first week I'm using the Cyleina Organic Triple Citrus.