I'm a full-time mummy

17th January 2013 is the day I colored my hair for the first time in my life. I was so nervous to do this and yet excited to be doing this because:

- I am bored with my jet black hair of 32 years +

- I am getting more white hairs at the top of my head (averaging 4-5 strands of white hair discoveries everyday)

- Why not try while I am still young and have the courage and time to recover from any mistakes?

And so, I get down to finding the opportunity to go out and browse through the many hair color products on the supermarket shelves. Browsing through the many brands and colors and shades... my oh my... not easy decision to settle down on one! In the end, I settled on Schwarzkopf Palette Intense Color Creme (4-89 Medium Brown Red Violet)

Next step is deciding whether I should color my hair at home by myself which I then decided not to because I do not know how and I might missed some spots and some friends in the SAHM group I joined in said it is better to bring the hair color product to the saloon and let the stylist color my hair as it will get messy if I do it myself at home.

I had earlier hinted to my hubby asking for his thoughts on whether I should color my hair and the first thing he said was 'No. Why color and damage your hair?' and yet I still go ahead to buy that pack of hair color because I just can't resist the change and excitement. I arranged for my MIL to take care of my 16 months old girl at home while I bring my almost 4 years old boy along with me and leave him at my SIL's condo (she works from home) as the hair saloon is just at the ground floor of her condo.

The first thing the stylist said when I showed him the color I got is 'This color might not be obvious in your hair because your hair is very black! But nevermind, we just give it a try.' I also decided a change of hair style a little bit and the stylist got down to cutting my hair and once done, he started mixing the tubes of color and stuff and I prayed for the best. Once my hair was colored, the stylist took a look at my hair and said 'Hmmm.. now look a bit reddish, nevermind, we will see what happened next'. I had to wait an agonising 30 minutes for the chemical to settle in and prayed I don't end up with a tomato colored hair and it was then that the stylist said 'You know, a lot of people will never return back once they started coloring their hair. They get hooked!' Oh my! Why only tell me now?! Arghhhh...

When the 30 minutes is up, the stylist put on the conditioner mix into my hair and then washes off the color. Blow dry and style my hair a wee bit and it was then that we realised...

My hair is still jet black as ever.

D'ohhhhhhh!!

That night, I confessed to my hubby about coloring my hair and he didn't appear angry or upset at what I did. Pheww... he told me that he is not against me coloring my hair, just that I should go for less chemical ingredients in the hair coloring products. So, yay for future possible hair coloring plans? Hehehehe...

Although I am disappointed my hair doesn't turn out Barney-ish (purple color) or tomato-ish as per the hair color packaging, I'm happy that at least I took this bold step! Of course deep in my heart I would've love to see some tinge of purple red shade on my hair but oh well, maybe next time I will go for a lighter shade of color.

What do you think?

I received an email from Applecrumby & Fish asking whether I would be interested to review one of the products range in their store and oh boy, who am I to say no to trying out awesome products for my family and I right?! So here goes my review for the "Putto Secret Powder Cream":

Description from the product page:
"Putto Secret Powder Cream is made from pure corn starch and is free from talc. It is enriched with Vitamin E which is perfect for scar relief. Forget the usual irritants from conventional baby powder but instead, apply Putto Secret Powder Cream which is in a cream base form, and allow it to absorb naturally in leaving a silky soft smooth feeling!"

This bottle is almost 6 inches tall and it has a protective seal to cover it the first time I tried to open it. Once the seal is taken off, I squeezed a pea size amount of the powder cream onto my palm and started rubbing it all over my hand.

There is a subtle tinge of lemony/citrusy smell on the cream which has a peach-like color and it does not leave any oily feel on your skin after it dries up.

I like that this cream is made from pure corn starch and is free from talc. The cool thing is it is unlike the conventional powder as it is cream based, I like that there is no worries of any powder flying off or spilling on to floor.

I decided to try out the Putto Secret Powder Cream on my girl's tummy rash. It takes about 3-4 days for her rash to clear up. I would like to highlight that this product did not clear the rash but it does help the healing process as I noticed my girl normally has scars or scabs after her rash clears but when I used this cream on her rash, there is no scabs/scars around. If you are looking for products to help combat rash, you can try the Putto Secret Lotion.

Also, I keep the bottle near me at all times as I love the convenience of applying baby powder in cream form leaving my kiddos' skin smooth and silky clean. Good product!

You can get this at Applecrumby & Fish website.

Yes, yes, we are all waiting for this glorious moment!

1 lucky winner will get to win a Putto Secret Powder Cream!

* Special notes from sponsor on selection of winners for this giveaway: Winners should be those with the most genuine stories.

Giveaway opens for Malaysians only! Just read below for the giveaway terms and entry form, OK?

To enter the giveaway, kindly read and follow the instructions as stated in the Rafflecopter form below.

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I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

I have previously reviewed the MagMag Spout Cup by Pigeon company and is thrilled to be contacted again to review their latest range of skincare products, the Sakura Skincare Range. I am all for natural ingredients products and since this range of products offered for my review are free from harsh chemicals, does not contain paraben, sulphates and coloring agents and uses natural ingredients such as sakura flowers extract, I thought why not? It took me almost 2 months to try out all the products as I had to clear off other skincare products that I got for my reviews as well. Without further delay, read on for my review below:

Description from the product page:
"PIGEON Sakura Baby Toiletries is the perfect solution to help protect your baby's skin against skin irritation and its associated problems. Free from harsh chemicals, it does not contain paraben, sulphates and coloring agents.  It uses natural ingredients such as our signature Sakura extract, renowned for its moisturizing and anti-inflammatory properties.  So mild and gentle, it is proven safe on baby's sensitive skin."

I received the following products for my review: Sakura Skincare Baby Wash 2-in-1, Sakura Skincare Baby Shampoo, Sakura Skincare Baby Milky Lotion, Sakura Skincare Baby Oil and Sakura Skincare Baby Powder.

The first product I tried on my 2 kiddos is the Sakura Skincare Baby Milky Lotion. It was such a coincident that my girl was having some rash on her tummy (reactions from taking certain Cheddar cheese products) and I thought why not give this lotion a try? So I dabbed on some of the lotion on my girl's tummy and gently rubbed it all over her tummy. The lotion smells flowery and I love it! The rash cleared by 2nd day. I think that's good as it normally takes my girl about 3 days at least for her rash to start clearing bit by bit. So to see it gone by 2nd day itself is really a good outcome!

The next products I tried on my 2 kiddos are the Sakura Skincare Baby Wash 2-in-1 and Sakura Skincare Baby Shampoo. The smell is same as the lotion itself. The transparent color liquid produces enough foam for me to generously rubbed it all over my kiddos body and I love that after using these products on them, their skin stays smooth and supple. I like the fact that I can use these product from head to toe! Yay!

The next product I tried on my 2 kiddos is the Sakura Skincare Baby Powder. I love that the bottle is handy and the powder that comes out is not too much and it is easy to just shake and pour out some powder for immediate application. There are some brands of powder I used before which is difficult to shake out the powder. Again, the Sakura Skincare Baby Powder smells just as flowery as the earlier products I tried on my 2 kiddos. I also like that the powder rubs off easily leaving my kiddos' skin smooth and fresh.

The last product I tried on my 2 kiddos is the Sakura Skincare Baby Oil. To be honest, the reason why this is the last product being tested is because I don't use baby oil that much on my 2 kiddos. Maybe it's because of my weird mindset that baby oil is greasy and yucky and messy. But anyway, I have to test it out and share my feedback with you guys, so I dabbed on some onto my palm and rubbed it around my girl's arms and legs and tummy. I'd like to share that the oil keeps my girl's skin smooth and supple and it does not feel as greasy as I thought it would be. Smell wise, same flowery scent. Not bad actually!

You can find out more info at Pigeon's website.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.