Haul | Paris

I got this many things, threw it in a bag and took the Eurostar back to London~ 

Here's the exciting part-- the haul!

I went to CityPharma at 26 Rue du Four (the place to go for all skincare junkies), went into a trance and got a bunch of things.

I actually did research on what I wanted to get and things my relatives requested before going, but I still ended up this many things because everything is SO MUCH CHEAPER THAN SINGAPORE!!!(Even with the exchange rate, which was around 1.65:1)

I spent a ton and freaked out when I got to the cashier:

"€420 ?! WTH did I buy?" was the first thought in my head (even though I was the one who picked the items..)

I got some soap, Bioderma, moisturisers etc. French skincare is well known in the world and if you look at the French women in real life, you'd want to buy whatever they're using too. The good thing is, you can enjoy tax free shopping when you spend around  €175 and above, which can be easily done. 

Things that are super worth it to buy:

~Beauty Myths Experiment Diary~ Will drinking 8 cups of water a day really give me good skin? | Week 2

Welcome back to The Chapalang Way's "Beauty Myths Experiment Diary"!

In this segment, we try out beauty tips raved about by celebrities and media and see if they're just myths, or if there is an element of truth in it.

As of now, we're on to week 2 of testing if drinking 8 cups of water a day will give us good skin. If you've missed our previous posts, check them out here: Week 0 and Week 1. With that, let's see if our skin has improved~

	Will drinking 8 cups of water a day really give me good skin?!
Picture	Christine	El
Current Skin Condition	Quite miraculously, within 2-3 days, the pimples that popped out are all gone/on the way to healing (fingers crossed that there won't be any scarring). It usually lasts about 1 week and gives me a great headache. Besides that, my skin seems to be brighter than before. Oil production rate seems to have gone down too.	It's torture week for me. It's as if all the pimples have been waiting patiently to come out together. Other than that, texture of skin and looks wise is still ok. Suffering from redness and blemishes now, which you can see from the picture above >.<
Signs of Pimples	Only the leftovers, one or two, from the last pimple bout. No others have appeared.	It's almost that time of the month again, but this time I'm glad to say no major zit appeared. The most painful one was on my nose, which disappeared surprisingly quick. I've got around 10 small pimples coming out all over my face, with a few on my forehead. I expected more pimples(touchwood!) to come but thankfully there are less this time round. Could it be the water helping?
Hydration	Appearance-wise, my skin does feel more plump up and looks more hydrated.	My skin is still flaking at certain parts of my face, but less visible.
Oil Control	No blotting occurred.	Same as last week!
Other Comments	It's getting easier to drink 2l a day, hooray! In fact, I keep reaching for my water bottle for water throughout the day. Seems like my body has adjusted and now, it automatically reminds me to drink water. Before this week, it was such a chore to drink 2l before 12mn. Now, I can easily finish 2l before 9pm but I try not to because going to the toilet that many times in an hour is SUCH A HASSLE. By the way, I think those pimples could have been due to my period coming as the latter came a day after those pimples popped out. However, I'm not too sure because I've never paid attention to this. But, if that's the case, then I think drinking water has helped with clearing the pimples.	I fell sick this week! Despite drinking 2 liters and more a day, I still caught a cold. Sore throat, cough, flu-- the usual trio that I'd always get once a year at least. I think it was because I worked 2 11 hours shift on consecutive days, hence my immune system got screwed. My sore throat did go away pretty fast though. I think the water really helps in speeding up body recovery besides boosting skin quality. I think it's thanks to the water that there are less pimples coming out. Who knows? Maybe I'll stick to 2L per day and give a short update next month.

That's the end of this week's report on our progress! What do you think of the our progress so far? Do you think it's just a myth or think that it's true? Have you tried this out before? Tell us what you think in the comments section or tweet us @ChapalangGirls!
Follow us on twitter @ChapalangGirls or like us on our Facebook page to keep track of our progress! We will be updating our observations every Wednesday for a month :)

Till next time.
Love,
Christine & El xoxo

~Beauty Myths Experiment Diary~ Will drinking 8 cups of water a day really give me good skin? | Week 0

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our new series called "Beauty Myths Experiment Diary"!

We will be trying out beauty myths to see if they really are just myths, or if there is an element of truth. To kick-start this series, we will be testing the myth that drinking 8 cups of water a day will give us good skin.

Why is water important?
About 2/3 of the human body is made up of water and we also lose alot of water in a day. For example, do you know that a normal human sweat on average 6 litres of water a day, depending on the lifestyle and climate? Thus we can't stress enough how essential water is in our lives. To ensure that we replenish the needed amount of water each day, we have to stay hydrated.

Benefits of drinking water

• It will help with concentration
• Water will flush out toxins from body, which means that it will help improve your body system. Eg Blood circulation. If your internal system is great, your external appearance will be great too!
• Water will also help with controlling diet/losing weight.

Water is great for the body but drinking too much can be fatal. Read more about it here

How much water should I drink then?
Many of us have heard that one should consume 8 cups of water a day,which is approximately 2 liters. This is thought to be the amount of water a human body needs. However, there has been debate that it isn't 8 cups of water that a person should consume, but 8 cups of fluids. This means that the 2 litres of water intake consist of water from food as well as beverages besides plain water.

So why are we testing this out?
Many celebrities and people swear by drinking 8 cups of water daily as the secret to their glowing complexion. Despite this supposed effect, neither of us drink the recommended amount of water- perhaps that's why our skin are not glowing as we want them to be (or maybe it's just hormones :\). So is this a myth, or will drinking 8 cups of water do wonders to our skin? Hence, we've decided to test this myth out for a month and see if drinking 8 cups of water each day will really help with our skin woes~!

For a month, we'll be uploading our observations and updates weekly. This means you'll get to see us bare-faced, pimples and all(and no filters or editing to it). We'll be publishing a new post on this beauty myth every Wednesday for a month. Follow us and track our progress!

Without further ado, here begins Week 0 as we show you our skin before we start the experiment!

	Will drinking 8 cups of water a day really give me good skin?!
Picture	Christine	El
Usual Skin Condition	To be honest, I'm very confused as to what skin type I have. If I were to hazard a guess, I'll say normal to combination skin. I do get oily in my t-zone area as the day passes but not overwhelmingly. I get the occasional pimples because of the food I eat or when I don't use my skincare products (tried and proven). As you can see, I've got a few blemishes (those whiteheads came out of nowhere!) on my forehead and one on my nose (result of a pimple). Plus, you've got to agree, those are pretty bad under eye dark circles. As for big pores, I do have them, but my skincare routine do help to minimize them. That's about it for my skin. Oh yes, I had to use flash for the photo because it's pretty dark in my house although I took the photo in the morning. So, pardon if you find the picture misleading. I assure you, this is how I look like even before I wash my face.	My skin's pretty oily all over and I've got pretty big pores thanks to genetics and the weather. I tend to get pimples often, especially when it's near the time of the month. Surprisingly, my skin looks pretty good in this photo, except for that blemish scar on my forehead. I think it's due to the bright bathroom light. If I did a zoom in of my skin, you'd see more blemish scars. Recently, I've been experiencing pretty bad flaking of skin on my nose and forehead while wearing makeup. Let's see if drinking more water will help solve that.
Signs of Pimples	As of now, I have two pimples on my right cheek which I think are due to bacteria from using my mobile. But they are pretty much already healing.	Right now, I've got one or two tiny ones I guess? I'm having my "good skin" week currently. Let's see if this will last a month with the water routine.
Hydration	Honestly, how do you tell if your skin is hydrated?! That aside, I know my skin is not dehydrated (skin feels tight and doesn't "bounce" back easily) so I guess my skin is hydrated. This logic works...right?	My skin's pretty plump and glowing still... not sure if the glowing is from the oil though.
Oil Control	I don't blot at all.	Right now, I've to blot twice a day at least. My face will usually get oily 6 hours after I apply makeup with primer on.
Current Skincare Routine (if anyone wants to know. We'll be maintaining the routine for control purposes)	**NOTE: the facial cleanser I use depends on when I shower. For convenience's sake, let's all assume that I shower in the morning. :) Morning: Mario Badescu's Enzyme Cleansing Gel, Mario Badescu's Glycolic Acid Toner, Kiehl's Clearly Corrective™ DARK SPOT SOLUTION, Kiehl's Rare Earth Pore Minimizing Lotion, Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream and Lancôme's Genifique Yeux Youth Activating Eye Concentrate. Night: Hada Labo's Tamagohada AHA/BHA Exfoliating Face Wash Foam, Mario Badescu's Glycolic Acid Toner, Kiehl's Clearly Corrective™ DARK SPOT SOLUTION, Kiehl's Rare Earth Pore Minimizing Lotion, Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream, Lancôme's Genifique Yeux Youth Activating Eye Concentrate, Nip + Fab Spot Fix if needed.	Morning: Himalaya Herbals Purifying Neem Facewash, SK II Facial Treatment Essence, Naruko Majoram and Lavender Brightening Eye Cream, The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil, La Roche Posay Effaclar A.I, VICHY Tri-Active Anti-Imperfection Hydrating Care Moisturiser. Night: Same face wash as morning, although I do change it up a little by using my Olay Pro X brush to wash my face. Paula's Choice CLEAR Anti-Redness Exfoliating Solution (Regular Strength), SK II Facial Treatment Essence, Naruko Majoram and Lavender Brightening Eye Cream, The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil, La Roche Posay Effaclar A.I, VICHY Normaderm Anti-Imperfection+Rejuvenating Care and Bio-essence Hydra Tri action Aqua Droplet Sleeping Beauty Mask( You can read my review on it here.)

Do you think drinking 8 cups of water a day will really give us glowing skin or have you tried this out before? Is it just a myth or is there some truth in it? We would love to hear your thoughts on this! Follow us on twitter @ChapalangGirls or like us on our Facebook page to keep track of our progress! We will be updating our observations every Wednesday for a month :)
Also, join us in our myth adventure with the hashtag #TCWBMED! Till next time. Love, Christine & El xoxo