More DIYing

You guys can see that I am really digging DIYing ;)  Well, you are absolutely RIGHT!  LOL!  I am enjoying making my own skincare and having 100% control over what I am putting into it. 

Not to say that I will NEVER buy commercial brands again, I mean how can you say no to the MAC Hello Kitty Range Awwwww so cute!  Anyway, I digress.

I made an appointment with Susan and Elaine of Jayeon Miyin again and this time for the DIY Soap and Skincare Workshop.

Here are the products of my labour today:

Bag FULL of goodies! and how sweet smelling all of them are!

First off are the soaps.

Susan told me that there are 4 different kinds of processes to make soaps:

1. Melt and Pour (MP)
2. Cold Process (CP)
3. Hot Process (HP)
4. Rebatching

Jayeon is mainly teaching the MP method, whereby you deploy ready made plain soaps and then add certain additives into it to customise the properties according to what you want it to be, be it Essential Oils, Natural Coloring etc.

They are in the process of trying to procure a raw material to be used to teach CP but that’s another story:)

I googled and found a programme that calculates all the ingredients for you when making soaps.  How cool is that?!

I made 2 types of soaps today using the MP process.  Susan let me divide the batch of raw materials into 2 so that I can have different types of soaps to bring home (THANKIE!)

First off are soaps made with Spinach powder

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The Spinach Powder is supposed to be good for oily complexion and I added Hempseed Oil for extra measure:) 

I used some new soap molds today (HURRAY!!) The one in the 3rd picture is a new mold and my soap is the virgin soap made using it LOL.  And doesn’t the soap in the middle remind you of some ancient Chinese Jade disc?  So quaint!

The other type is soap made with Chestnut Shell Powder.

These are good for open pores and green tea oil was added to it.

Don’t the chestnut ones look like yam biscuits?!  LOL.  You can see a clearer picture of the mold used for the disc cos we used it for the chestnut ones too.  Just look at the detailing.  So pretty!  Just imagine, if it is black in color then it will be Anna Suiish Soaps ;)

Susan and I made the soaps first then moved on to the skincare items while the soaps are cooling off.

Here, I have a Hydrating Moisturiser, Aloe vera Toner and Brown Sugar Face Scrub.

As you can see from the pictures below, the texture of the moisturiser is really fluffy and light but then don’t be tricked into thinking that it doesn’t do its job. 

You have to apply the moisturiser sparingly in the morning and then a heavier hand at night.  The addition of Hyaluronic Acid will ‘grab’ moisture from your surroundings to your face while the moisturiser does its part to lock up all that moisture and prevent losses to the environment.

I do not have a picture of the toner but I doubt if I will take a picture of it cos it looks just like water;)  But the toner also has Hyaluronic acid added it it:)  So double the moisture? =)

The last item is a Brown Sugar Scrub

This scrub is made using a finer sized brown sugar hence it would not be so ‘scratchy’ to use on the face.  Doesn’t it look good enough to eat?  Now I can use it up to two times a week but can I keep my paws out of the sugar jar;P

I have learnt soooo much from my classes and yet I can’t say that I know even one hundredth of what Susan and Elaine knows.  Throughout the lesson, Susan was educating me on so many different possibilities to DIYing but my brain can only absorb that much at one time.  So I’ll definately make more trips down to pick their brain;)

Till my next DIY, Adieu!

The onslaught of the DIY mania

First, you can DIY your own house decor, then you can DIY your clothes, what's next you may ask?

DIY your own skincare and cosmetics of course!

I think I first became interested in DIYing my own skincare etc after watching the Taiwanese entertainment programme hosted by Pauline Lan (藍心湄). The show, called <<女人我最大>>, invited a skincare guru, 牛爾, as a guest speaker, in her older episodes. Now this guy, worked in R & D in a few well-known cosmetics company before he left to freelance and, I suppose to start up his own brand.

In some of the episodes, he actually introduced to the viewers how to DIY certain skincare and cosmetic items ie moisturisers and cleansing oil etc all simple stuff. Soon after, he wrote a book on the different products available in the market, it's ingredients and a few simple DIY items that can act as a substitute for the expensive branded items.

However, as alot of the raw materials are not readily sold in Singapore, I had to drop the idea of DIYing. So, imagine my surprise when I saw a DIY workshop being advertised in my community. Of course I had to attend!

My achievements from the class is a bottle of Shampoo, moisturiser and face wash with the addition of my fav essential oils.

Then again, the instructor had to personally import/ship in certain raw materials from USA. Being lazy to buy off the instructor (she is free lancing), my DIY enthusiasm soon weaned off.

Imagine my surprise when I read from Vivawoman that she attended a DIY class to make her own BB cream and skincare!

I didn't waste time hesitating and immediately booked a place for myself at Jayeon Miyin.

On the scheduled day, I went to their cute little shop in China Square Central and propped myself at their countertop with all the pots, spatulas, weighing balance and boilers in the front of me. The scene before me looks exactly like attending a cooking class LOL!

At JM, the founders advocate the 4Rs: Using the Right ingredients for your skin, giving you the Right product experience, to make the Right environmental impact and having the Right attitude to carry out the abovmention 3Rs :)

The GM of Jayeon Miyin, Susan Noh, is the instructor for the class. She is a native Korean but she speaks very, very good English! So good until I cannot catch up with her explanations of some of the ingredients used Keke:)

Susan and Elaine (Sales and Marketing Manager) are both certified beauticians with Cidesco certs and Susan even went to Korea to study how to DIY all the products!

I will not double posts on the making of and steps of making the products as Sesame of Vivawoman has done such a good job of it (Pls see her writeup for detailed descriptions). That plus the fact the I didn't have time to take any photos! Even with one participant, the class was very intensive!

I can't wait to go back to buy the ingredients as well as to attend more lessons!

I have used the cleansing oil as well as the bb cream already and I must give them a big thumbsup!

The cleansing oil doubles up as a massage oil so you can use it to massage your face and let all the good properties of all the jojoba, sweet almond etc oils soak into your skin.

The bb cream is easy to use and does not leave your hands sticky and oily after using it. I find the texture best suited for our climate:) The addition of essential oils also make the bb cream a joy to wear early in the morning. Definately a perky wake me up:)

Here are some of the little photos that I took at home:

My BB cream and Cleansing Oil


With Jayeon Miyin's founders' namecards

Closeups of JM's namecards

Services offered by JM

Closeups of my work:)