People who know me know that I am a huge advocate of sunscreen. It is so important to protect your skin against UV rays, because this prevents premature aging, liver spots, cancerous cells, and pigmentation, among other things.

I was recently given the opportunity to trial a brand new batch of sunscreen products straight out of the Kiss Me family, and I wanted to share a quick little review as well as reiterate everything I said in my last post about preventing aging.


Before I say anything about the SuhadaFit sunscreens, let me stress some little-known facts about sunscreen:

The higher the SPF, the longer your skin is protected from the sun, but it does not mean better protection. High SPF simply means that it protects your skin for longer than a sunscreen with low SPF, but please bear in mind that all cosmetic products tend to wear off after about 3 hours at the maximum, so you must reapply your sunscreen every 3 hours or so to make sure that you are fully protected at all times.

Sunscreen needs to protect you from both UVA and UVB rays. Most sunscreens provide protection from UVB rays, but don't have the ability to protect you from UVA rays, simply because of the ingredients that are used in these sunscreens. When looking for a sunscreen with total protection, you want to look out for the little "PA" underneath the SPF rating. The little PA should be followed by a number of + signs, indicating how high the protection offered is. The more + signs, the better.

The sun and its damaging rays are everywhere. Just because you are not directly under the sun, does not mean that there are no damaging UV rays harming your skin all the time! Even indoors, you are exposed to UV damage. This amount is significantly less when there is no sunlight at all, but even a small window allows a significant amount of UV rays into a room. So apply sunscreen everyday - there's no way around it. Sunscreen should be a part of your everyday routine. Carry a little bottle around with you for touch ups. It could mean you will look 30 when everyone else your age looks 45 in the future ;)

Sunscreen does not prevent tanning. I said this in my last post, and I feel I must say it again. Sunscreen helps protect your skin against UV damage, but does not stop the skin from getting darker when under the sun. I know some people love a good tan and will sit in the sun and bake for hours. Cancer councils from all around the world have voiced out against sun-tanning - sitting in the sun for an hour or more just to get a tan can make your skin wrinkly and leathery, and causes skin damage and promotes the growth and development of cancer cells. But if you feel like ignoring all that wealth of knowledge and research, and still want to go out and bake in the sun, you had better be savvy enough to understand that the only thing standing between you and bad skin and skin cancer, is sunscreen, and its frequent reapplication. Sun tanning oil is NOT enough!

A big mistake people make nowadays is to apply sunscreen, but nowhere near the appropriate amount to get the amount of protection that it says on the bottle. You must apply enough sunscreen in order to get adequate protection! A rule of thumb that people use is to apply enough sunscreen to fill a shot glass - that's about two full tablespoons worth of sunscreen, to the exposed areas on the body and to the face, and then a dollop the size of an almond to the neck alone.

And now on to the sunscreens. You all know I have my personal favourite brands when it comes to sunscreen, and I was eager to find out if these products passed the high bar that my favourite brands set.

SuhadaFit UV Daily Milk SPF 50+ PA+++


Many plus signs = good sign! This Daily Milk is (as the name suggests) milky, quite liquid, and very easy to spread onto the skin. This sunscreen is quite different from my favourite sunscreen in that it is much more moisturising and slightly more greasy, and dries down to a slightly slick finish. I think this is best suited to people with combination to dry skin, as it is formulated with moisturising ingredients like hyaluronic acid (a moisturising wizard!), acerola extract, and leaf of peach extract.
I wouldn't recommend it for oily skin, like mine, because it causes the skin to grease up a little, and when I apply makeup on top of it, it doesn't sit on the skin well and tends to come off on my fingers, clothes, or whatever I accidentally rub up against. If you have drier skin and want a good makeup base, this is perfect for you, because it will provide your skin with enough moisture to create a nice base for your makeup to stick to.

SuhadaFit UV Water Gel SPF30 PA+++


This is my favourite of the two sunscreens, because of its amazing texture. Its texture is like a hybrid between a gel and plain water, and it is so lightweight and basically feels like nothing on the skin! It also has a lovely 'cooling' effect, like you're splashing cold water onto your skin. So refreshing especially when I reapply in the middle of the afternoon. It dries down to practically nothing on the skin - I don't feel a thing when I wear this sunscreen - no heaviness, greasiness, or caking of any sort. My skin feels more moisturised, but still matte and dry.
Who I would recommend this for? Everyone, really! It works on both dry and oily skin, sinks into the skin instantly, and feels so lovely and refreshing when applied. Both sunscreens have also been tested for skin irritancy, so I am guessing they would do just fine on sensitive skin. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for a good sunscreen. It comes in a good sized bottle too - 90grams worth of product at an affordable RM30-ish price tag (that's about AUD10 for Aussies).

So will you be purchasing one of these? I hope my post has highlighted the dangers of not using sunscreen, and that it has helped sway you towards wearing sunscreen daily. Have a happy weekend! x

Ever since landing in Malaysia, I've had to adapt to many different things. Despite having lived in Malaysia for more than half my life, my time in Melbourne has made me soft. I've had to adjust to the food here (hello, food poisoning!), the weather, and the people.

One of the changes I've made is my makeup. Being exposed to so many Asian brands here, I naturally went a little crazy, but I've whittled it down to a select few products that I now wear on an everyday basis, for a simple, no-fuss, 5-minute makeup.



If, like me, you have very little time in the mornings to prepare for the long work day ahead, try these makeup products :)

Hello readers! I am back in sunny (humid!) Malaysia, and if you follow my updates on Instagram and Facebook, you may already know that I had the pleasure of attending a couple of events, including an amazing Kiss Me event just over the weekend.


Kiss Me are in the midst of organising fabulous road shows throughout the country, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend the one they organised at Sungei Wang, Kuala Lumpur recently. These road shows feature an amazing Kiss Me Makeup Station, pictured below, and was organised in conjunction with the release of their Brown Long & Curl and Volume & Curl mascaras, as well as the brand's expansion into new areas of Malaysia (you'll now be able to purchase Kiss Me mascaras at Watsons outlets in places like Penang and Ipoh). We were treated to go-go dancers, a makeup lesson, and a couple of hunky models!


I was lucky enough to receive both these mascaras for review, and so here are my thoughts:

Packaging

Both products feature the typical colourful, illustrated Kiss Me packaging, and the mascaras themselves have a curved wand (Volume & Curl) and a slightly diamond shaped wand (Long & Curl). Both wands are small enough to fit in the little corners of Asian eyes (score one for Asian makeup), and therefore pick your lashes up beautifully, even in the innermost and outermost corners of the eyes.

Product
I'm not one for brown mascaras, but I figured I'd give these a shot. I am a total convert now, especially when I pair this with my much-loved Naked Palette. The pink highlight tones of the Naked palette on my mobile lid compliment this mascara beautifully! It also looks a lot more natural, and let me let you in on a little secret - brown coloured mascaras make your lashes look thicker!

Performance
My benchmark for fabulous mascara, as you all already know, is the Majolica Majorca line of mascaras. I tested these out and have come to realise that I love Kiss Me almost as much as Majolica Majorca, but in different ways. For nighttime and dramatic looks, I would definitely still choose my Majolica Majorca, but for a more natural, defined, separated lash look with no clumps, the Kiss Me mascaras win hands down.

Kiss Me has managed to formulate their mascaras so that they deliver natural looking volume to the lash, without any clumpiness whatsoever. The result is defined, fluttery, girly eyelashes. LOVE.
As far as curling goes, both mascaras give my lashes great curl without needing the use of an eyelash curler. If you're worried about overusing eyelash curlers and damaging your eyelashes, you might want to look into these mascaras. They don't weigh the lashes down at all, which means more lift that lasts almost all day.



Both mascaras seem to perform almost exactly the same (both deliver beautiful fluttery lashes), so if they run out of one kind at your local store, you're probably fine picking up the other. The one (minute) difference that I should point out is that the lengthening mascara (Long & Curl) does lengthen the lashes just a tiny bit more. If you're desperate for length, the Long & Curl is the better choice.

Here's a final picture of the before and after mascara lashes:


If you have any questions about this mascara at all, you can leave a comment below or (as many of you have shown is your preferred method of contact ;)) contact me on my Facebook page.

The Kiss Me Heroine Make Long & Curl and Volume & Curl mascaras are available at select SASA and Watsons stores Malaysia-wide. The Kiss Me Makeup Station roadshows will be running till the 10th of June, so visit the Kiss Me Facebook page to find out when they'll be at a location near you.

The products featured in this article were gifted for the purposes of review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.