Review - Pot of Gold Skin Balm

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Posted by alexis at 11:57 PM | Labels: blackhead, mosturizer, review

It has been a while since last beauty product review. I will be doing less review now because I am trying to save up for other things, e.g. clothes and trips. I have also found a new hobby, which is sewing! Might show some sewing projects in the future.

My blog has been extremely quiet lately. This makes me have no mood and no motivation on blogging. And my nuffnang is business is not doing well. I have only earned RM1.94 for this year, wuwu..And out of the RM1.94, I clicked RM1.25, so it really sucks. So, I would like ask, what kind of stuffs do you like to read? I do not expect people to comment, please help me to fill in the poll the below.. please.. You can choose maximum two answers.

Okay, back to the product review. This is the product that I have been wanting for a long time. I always think it has similiarities with the famous Egyptian Magic Cream, they are both very oily and have been receiving overwhelming response in the web.

So, I bought this balm for RM69 from Nature In A Box website. I was quite surprise to see the size of the tub, because it appeared larger in the website. It has a very simple package, no fancy shape and does not come with a box.

What it is special about this product is, it is organic. Many reviews say that it can treat eczema. But that is not the reason I longed to try this, because it says "acne" there. So, I bought this hoping it can help on my acne problem. You can see that the ingredients are very basic.

Direction of usage: apply a thin layer directly to problems area.

This balm is fragrance-less, almost scentless. I have seen in forum, people saying this balm has a very thick texture, something like vaseline. So, I thought it is like an oily cream. But, I was wrong! Its texture is a lot heavier than vaseline. When I try to apply it on my face, it is very hard to spread the balm on skin, it felt very harsh on my face. Then, I figured out a way to apply it, which is rub the balm with only fingers first, the balm will soften and melt after being rubbed, then I dab it on my fingers on my face. I also apply it on my neck too.

Comparing to vaseline (right). Pot of Gold Skin Balm is on the left with darker colour.

The balm is too oily and it is impossible to wear it on day time. When wearing it to sleep, I need to pin my fringe up, so that my hair dont stick to my face. I guess you can imagine how sticky the balm is now.

the texture of the balm. Sticky.

I have been using this for about 2 months now. At first, I used it with another product (Actizen Purifying Essense), I found that there are some tiny pimples popped out. So, I think they did not match. Then, I tried to use it alone, and it didnt cause me breakout. What I can say about this product is, it did help me to mosturise my skin and lighten my scars. For my pimples problem it did not help much. However, I do feel that it helped to soften my blackheads and made them easier to be extracted out. Besides that, I think it is too rich on my forehead, so I do not recommend this to oily skin. Another thing is, the balm needs time to be absorbed, I wake up with very oily face if I sleep less than 5 hours with this balm. The longer I sleep, the balm seems well absorbed into my skin, and I wake up with supple skin :)

So far, I find this balm quite good and I will continue using it especially on cold nights. I do not have much choice now because of my pimple problem I need to stop using whitening stuffs.

My Yogyakarta Trip Part 4 (End) - Shopping and Misc

Sunday, December 27, 2009 Posted by alexis at 1:03 AM | Labels: cleanse, others, outings, shopping, Tje Fuk

I'm going to wrap things up, I think people are getting bored with my Jogja trip. However, I still want to write about it :)

So, I will talk about shopping in this post. Do not expect massive shopping malls in Jogja, I think the biggest shopping mall is called Amplaz, but we did not get to go there. We went to Malioboro Mall, which is in Malioboro Street. Malioboro Street is a must-go place for tourist, it is like Batu Ferringhi Pasar Malam in Penang, lol.

Malioboro Mall.

Do you know that J.Co is from Indonesia?

Malioboro Street is supposed the busiest part in Jogja I guess (by judging by its traffic). You can find your souvenirs there. They have batik shops, local tidbits, t-shirts, key-chains, and many other things.

A batik shop with lots of batik products.

The Malioboro Street, with rows of becak (trishaw) waiting for you to ride.

Bought a batik shirt for Rp35k (~RM13), some fabric for my hobby (Rp10k/pc ~RM4), embroidery

sandals (Rp13k/pair ~RM5)

I love this snack. It is called Emping/ Belinjo. It is a crunchy cracker with a taste of bitterness.

The most important thing in my shopping list --> Tje Fuk product! I have blogged about Tje Fuk's Washing Cream, and I love it. So, it was time for me to stock up because in Malaysia you need to pay double price for it.

This is the Tje Fuk Beauty Centre. It provides facial treatments too.

I bought the Transparent Antiseptic Soap (Rp19500/pc ~RM8), Washing Cream 1 (Rp145k/tub ~RM53) and Washing Cream 2 (Rp105k/tub ~RM39)

We went to a factory outlet store as well. Plenty of branded stuffs there, CK, Billabong, Roxy, MNG, ZARA, Bape, you name it..Too bad we did not dare to spend much cos we were afraid of no money to go home. I bought a Disney Couture t-shirt (Rp69k ~RM25) and a pair of Miu Miu sandals for Rp55k ~RM20, they are too cheap, I am not sure about their authenticity, but for RM20, who cares?

The store, Kosmo. It was drizzling.

Another must-buy thing from Jogja ---> leather stuffs. We planned to buy leather bags, but we bought shoes instead. I bought a pair of leather platform sandals for Rp37k (~RM14).

I thought I have done with the food part of my Jogja trip, but I have not yet! Check out for this bakery called Amanda, which sells only chocolate brownies. My saliva starts dripping while thinking of this *gulp*. The brownies are super yummy! I can finish the whole loaf of brownies myself. That explains why I put on so much weight lately.

Amanda, the chocolate brownie expert.

Rich, creamy chocolate cake. Price from Rp20k/box (~RM8)

I am drooling.

This brownie is topped with cheese..Yum~

Next, some pictures on our accomodation.

We stayed at Motel Mitra 2 @Kaliurang for Day 1.

Nice and cozy place. Rp180k (~RM64) per room. We booked two rooms.

Volcano view.

Indo mee goreng served by the motel at 5am in the morning. Because of time-zone different, the day was already super-bright at 5am.

Day 2 and 3, we put-in in Hotel Sewu Mas.

We got a suite with 2 rooms and a living room for Rp960k (~RM350) for two nights. This is one of the rooms.

So, that it is, my Jogja trip. We spent around RM1k per person for the trip including the air tickets (RM300 returns KUL-JOG-KUL). Pretty good, eh?

My Yogyakarta Trip Part 3 - Food

Saturday, December 19, 2009 Posted by alexis at 7:35 PM |

We have come to the most exciting part of my trip -----> food! . I would say, in jogjakarta, you can find relatively cheap and good food. So, for those who are into food hunting (like me), it is not a bad choice.

Breakfast @ 1st Day
We arrived at Jogjakarta kind of early in the morning, 9am. My cousin, Emily brought us to this shop which sells Bakso.

Bakso Babar Djogjakarta.

Our first meal in Jogja --> Bakso. Very delicious!! Bakso is chicken soup noodles with beef meat balls. The meat balls are springy and nice. (Rp6k/bowl ~RM2.50)

Common drinks in Indonesia. Left - Es Jeruk, Right - Es Teh. Es stands for Ice. Es Jeruk tasted like mandarin orange juice. (Rp2500/glass ~RM1)

Lunch @ 1st Day
It was raining and we went to this cozy restaurant.

Parsley Bakery. A chain restaurant in Indonesia. Nice and dim in the restaurant.

My cousin Emily went to get some local pastry for us. Macaroni is made of the macaroni pasta. Then, the white cake with a chilli on top is called Misoa. Misoa is made of rice vercimille (面线), very special (and spicy too!) The two yellowy things are Risoles and Egg Roll. They tasted okay. And the chocolate cake is called Opera.

Chicken Maryland (Rp25k ~RM9)

Seafood fried rice (Rp25k ~RM9)

Beef Steak (Rp29k ~RM11)

Indo fried rice (Rp21k ~RM8) I ate this. It was spicy and the chicken satay was nice.

Our drinks. Iced coffee (Rp12k ~RM4.50), Tropical Pasley (Rp14k ~RM5), Lemon Squash (Rp10k ~RM4), Mixed Juice (Rp14k ~RM5)

Dinner @ 1st Day

We went to a place which had chalets built on a lake. And in the middle of the lake, was a stage for performance. The environment was windy and cool.

Restoran Boyong Kalegan.

You have to sit on the mat while dining.

An Indonesian singer. She kept on asking us to go on the stage and sing. And she thought we were Korean @@.

We ordered a set dinner. All the food and drinks cost Rp195k (~RM70)

Gurameh Asam Manis - This is a common fish, I think it is called Talapia (非洲鱼) in Malaysia.

Seafood soup with lots of tomatoes.

Ayam Bakar. Roasted chicken, it may look dark but it was nice!

Lalapan - raw vegie.

Cumi goreng tepung. Cumi stands for squids. This battered squids was yummy. :)

Karedok - a flaming hot and spicy salad with peanut sauce.

We ordered Es Jeruk and this -Wedang Kalegan. This is a warm drink, ginger flavor and it has bread in it! Very weird food, felt like a fish while eating the bread (you know, we use bread to feed the fish)

Breakfast @ 2nd Day
Our hotel prepared us some yummy noodles for breakfast (I'll blog later on the hotel part). And yet, we still went out for breakfast. We went to Tlugo Putri for some local food.

Wajik - a local delight made of glutinous rice and brown sugar (gula jawa)

This is how you eat wajik. like a hamburger, fold the wajik with jadah tempe. Tempe is the white thingy which made of soya beans. And top it with a chili!

Ronde - something like the Chinese glutinous rice ball. The base is gingery and it has lots of roasted peanuts in it. Lovely drinks.

Guess what, I have a video too, wee... (the person who laugh like a horse is not me XD)

Tea Break @ 2nd Day
On the way back from Borobudur, we had teh poci to cool us down. It is a stall which can be found in many places in Indonesia. It sells different flavours of tea. Price is shown in the picture. We found the tea was too sweet for our liking. :)

We saw a stall selling manggoes. Very cheap. We bought 5 manggoes for Rp10k (~RM4) and they are sweet and nice.XD

Lunch @ 2nd Day
After Borobudur, we went to a place nearby to have very yummy fried chicken and fried duck rice.

Warung Djadoel (according to my cousin, Djadoel means old times)

You can choose to sit on the mat or on chair.

Super yummy fried chicken rice. The chili paste was fiery. (Rp18k/plate ~RM7)

I forgot to take a photo of the fried duck rice. It was yummy too. Nasi bebek goreng (Rp23k ~RM9). Bebek means duck in Indonesia.

Cocacola is not popular, they have teh botol (Rp2500/bottle ~RM1). The green coloured drinks are Alpukat (Rp7500/glass RM3), which is Avacado Juice with chocolate. Unlike Malaysia, Avocado is quite common in Indonesia.