Beauty Review: Oatmeal Turmeric Yogurt Mask

Hot-as-hell weather is ongoing in Malaysia and that means it's time for my acne-prone skin to experience summer acne breakout!

I have acne-prone skin and I always find the Malaysia's summer months make the condition worse. On top of that, I experienced bad emotional stress from my previous job. I believe the stress at work created high levels of cortisone hormone, which lead to inflammatory acne mostly in my cheeks area.

Blemished skin in action!

Got a few black spots and closed comedonal acne on my left cheek. It's bearable anyway. 

I can't bear with my right cheeks. Pustule, whitehead, & papule are everywhere!

I am someone who fancy wash-off face mask so much. I personally tailored the facial mask to treat my particular skin condition. In this post, I will be sharing the recipe for oatmeal turmeric yogurt mask!

Let's start with the main ingredients first.

Oatmeal Turmeric Mask & Scrub by Yellow Gorgeous

We all know turmeric has powerful anti-inflammatory and can be quite beneficial for treating acne. This natural and handmade product is specially formulated and blended with other ingredients as well.

Authentic Greek Yogurt by Farm Fresh

This is the cheapest Greek Yogurt available yet it has the highest probiotic count in the market. But trust me, I purchased this brand because of the price only. So, how is Greek yogurt different from regular yogurt?
- Greek yogurt has denser consistency after the watery component is removed.
- Greek yogurt has more protein than regular yogurt.

Always go for original/plain flavor and full-fat yogurt for facial mask

And how does Greek yogurt help in combating the acne?

- The probiotics (the good bacteria) in yogurt aids in destroying the (bad) bacteria in the skin.
- The zinc present in yogurt reduces skin inflammation and also helps in reducing the amount of oil produced by the sebaceous glands.

Next, we will be mixing these two ingredients in a bowl using spatula and facial mask brush.

Greek yogurt is very thick like a plasticine hence you need to mix it very well 

You would notice from the photos above that the amount of yogurt used was little because the mixture of turmeric and yogurt emits a pungent smell hence just a small amount will do. And the mask will dry faster too! A super-thick layer won’t result in a more effective masking session anyway.

Just like applying clay mask, my face was completely frozen and I intentionally applied it right under my eyes to treat the dark circles.

This is my second night applying the mask and I'm still in dilemma whether to apply toner or not after I wash it off. The reason why because I don't want to "disturb/remove" the remaining good bacteria on the skin. Hmmm.

I'm planning to apply this mask daily until the affected areas got treated. I will update the result next week.

Beef Soup to Beef Stew

Sejak berkahwin, Anis mula gemar masuk ke dapur dan memasak.
Sebelum kahwin, Anis tidak rajin memasak tapi tahulah sikit-sikit sebab Mama Anis ada ajar juga cara-cara memasak. Tup tap tup tap, lepas kahwin terus pandai masak macam-macam. Lebih-lebih lagi sejak ada teknologi rempah segera yang mudah didapati di mana-mana pasaraya, lagi mudahlah kerja memasak bagi si isteri. Tumis, tuang, gaul dan siap!

Resipi masakan yang Anis reka kebanyakan adalah jenis versi yang 'malas'. Jadi, untuk post hari ini Anis akan berkongsi resipi sup daging dan convert sup menjadi beef stew.

Memandangkan hari ini si suami demam, jadi sup daging yang Anis masak perlukan banyak bahan-bahan sayuran yang berkhasiat.

Untuk bahan kisaran:
Bawang kecil
Bawang merah
Bawang putih
Halia

Anis sengaja lebihkan isi bawang putih dan halia untuk heat up the body. Barulah demam si suami akan cepat kebah. Kemudian,

1. Tumis bahan kisaran bersama bawang besar. Anis turut masukkan lobak merah untuk lembutkannya dan taburkan coarse grind black pepper. (Sebab si suami sukakan pedas tapi sebab dia sakit gastrik, tidak boleh makan cili, jadi Anis ganti dengan lada hitam) 
2. Setelah bahan tumisan telah naik bau dan pecah minyak, masukkan Sup Bunjut Adabi bersama ubi kentang, jagung sayuran, dan isi daging yang telah dipotong nipis. Anis turut masukkan isi bebola ayam untuk memeriahkan masakan.
3. Kebiasaannya, Anis suka gaul sebati dahulu bahan tumisan dengan isi daging untuk seketika. Konon-konon nak bagi flavour seep in through the meat.
4. Selepas 5 minit gaul sebati, barulah tambahkan air, potongan tomato dan jadilah sup! Biarkan sup masak sehingga menggelegak selama 30 minit dengan tujuan untuk lembutkan daging, lobak merah, kentang dan jagung.
5. Bila bahan-bahan di atas telah empuk, masukkan hirisan daun sup dan daun bawang untuk naikkan aroma sup dan juga bawang goreng untuk bagi rasa rangup bila dimakan.

Kebiasannya, Anis akan lebihkan portion makanan malam sebab bahagian yang lebih akan disimpan untuk dijadikan bekalan si suami di tempat kerja pada esok keesokan harinya dan juga makanan tengahari Anis.

Sejak kahwin ini juga Anis sangat menghargai makanan dan seboleh-bolehnya elakkan pembaziran maka Anis telah menjadi seperti Mama Anis, we tend to improvise (read: recycle) the leftover food.

Untuk makanan tengahari, Anis panaskan sup tersebut sehingga kuahnya menjadi pekat dan likat seperti stew. Anis makan dengan kepingan roti yang telah dibakar. Memang best makan roti bakar cicah dengan stew especially during rainy day!

Roti yang dibakar pada suhu 150 degrees celcius selama 4 minit

Resonance and goodbye

I had a dream last night.

I had a dream about my first flame.
I feel terribly guilty whenever think about it. Because, obviously, I'm happily married now.
But, it's not like the mushy, I-miss-him kinda dream.
It was a parting, for us.
It was a farewell, between us.
After all these years, this is my first time having a dream of him, saying goodbye and returning something to me.

I always knew that he was special because we loved each other deeply, we developed strong and lasting memories. I knew that for sure. That vibration of feelings, the resonance we both share is a special mixture.

In previous years, he would randomly appeared in my dreams but it was mute dream. No talking and even he'd said something, I couldn't hear his voice. But normally, he will just appear, just like that. I assumed maybe he was having feelings of memory or nostalgia which I sub-conscious, or my higher self was receiving.

But in last night's dream, I can hear his voice clearly. He was holding something but I couldn't recall what it was. That thing look familiar to me, like I knew what it was and it was something that I gave to him. So he returned it back to me. He said it clearly, "I don't need this anymore. I'm returning this to you." and I just stood there until he turned his back on me and walk away.

I don't know whether I'm supposed to feel sad but I kinda feel... I don't know how to describe this feeling but I guess that's how letting go feels like? My heart got struck a bit yet I didn't reach out for him neither call his name. At the same time, my heart felt ready to see him go...

Dear Al,
I wish you and family all the happiness in the world. I hope we both will be the best true love to our partners because they deserved it. They deserve the best version of us.