Pandan

My house has a pot of pandan shrubs.  It didn't grow symmetrically. When two of the branches became to heavy and started to slanted to the left, I thought that it will die eventually, but to my surprise, after it slanted to the left, it started to flourish and grow towards the sun. Hahaha, a very good example of plants grow toward the light, can be shown to a primary school student as one of the examples of phototropism for science class.

See, in order to capture as much light as possible for photosynthesis, it defies gravity and grows upwards to the sun to survive. It's just like human beings, against all odds, we will try to make it and survive!

pandan

Safi (Olive Oil Plus Rose Hip & Pure Olive Oil)

I use olive oil as my hair care product. I do not have a specific brand in mind, normally when I need it, I just choose the cheapest one available in the shop. 

Coincidentally, my latest two olive oil came from the same brand, which was Safi. I bought the Safi Minyak Zaitun Plus Ros Hip (Olive Oil Plus Rose Hip) from an online shop called Soukai (now changed to Hermiso) because I didn't want to pay for the shipping, I needed something to make the bill above RM99 to qualify for the free shipping, and this Olive Oil Plus Rose Hip was the perfect candidate, it's less than RM10 and it's something that I will use eventually. I did use it and it's almost empty now.

I bought the Safi Minyak Zaitun Sejati (Pure Olive Oil) from Guardian Pharmacy when this exact item was having sales, I forgot the price though. I felt funny everytime I saw the "sejati" on the bottle, why didn't Safi just use the word "tulen", instead of "sejati". To me, "sejati" is for "cinta sejati (true love)"! Hahaha!

Safi Minyak Zaitun Sejati & Minyak Zaitun Plus Ros Hip

AMPM 10X Peptide Ultra-Light UV lotion SPF30

Sunscreen, a very important skin care item not just to prevent ageing, but also to prevent sun burnt and prevent skin cancer. On every working day, the final step of my morning skin care steps is to apply sun screen. On weekends, if I don't wish to go out, I don't apply. If I go out, I will apply too.

My previous sunscreen was from the Shiseido Aqualabel range and it's pretty good. I bought this AMPM 10X Peptide Ultra-Light UV lotion SPF30 when I was travelling in Taiwan because I was looking to buy some Made in Taiwan stuffs. AMPM is a brand by Naruko and the review online was quite good. However, after I bought this, it's kept inside a drawer for a long time until I ran out of my Aqualabel sunscreen and I didn't manage to get a replacement fast enough. So, I started to use this AMPM SPF30 sunscreen.

Frankly, since the sun damage is difficult to see on the face immediately, it's not easy to gauge whether this sunscreen works or not. I just keep the faith that it did help to prevent the UV damage on my face.

AMPM 10X Peptide Ultra-Light UV lotion SPF30

Special Biomedical Repair Cream (New Version With Eucalyptus, Rose Germanium And Lavender Essential Oil)

This is the only cream that I repurchased from the beauty salon although the beautician didn't keep suggesting me to buy it. As a person who had suffered from acne since adolescent to adulthood, I value anything that keep my face clear. Over the years, I tried so many creams, gels and although some provided temporary relief, this is the only one that gives the consistent result until now, more than one year. It might due to the fact that I use more hydrating products on my face. Anyway, I like this!

The Special Biomedical Repair Cream I bought recently is different from the previous one I bought. The newer version repair cream has Eucalyptus, Rose Germanium and Lavender Essential Oil. And of course, the price is different, it is 14% increase compared to my previous purchase. Probably due to the GST and foreign exchange rate.

Special Biomedical Repair Cream (old and new version)

Bye Bye Rakuten Malaysia

Rakuten Malaysia has ceased operations from 1st March 2016. I am quite sad with the news. I started to use Rakuten Travel in Japan. I didn't have a credit card then and all the airlines that flew from Fukuoka to Malaysia (transit) then required a credit card to pay for the airfares. So, I researched around and found out that I could pay for the airfares in convenience shop if I bought the air ticket through Rakuten Travel. So, I bought a return ticket from Korean Air though Rakuten Travel.

Apart from air tickets, I booked bus tickets, hotels, dormitories, etc in Rakuten Travel. It's very convenient. A Malaysian friend of mine even asked a Japanese friend to help pay for her bookings in a convenience shop in Japan first and she paid her friend back after she reached Japan. Like the Rakuten Malaysia, for every payments done in Rakuten Travel, points would be added to the account and it could be used for the next payments. Although I booked a lot of travel related items in Rakuten Travel, I have never bought anything from Rakuten Japan. I did buy from Amazon Japan though.

Back to Malaysia three years ago, I was still not a fan of online shopping. However, one time, when I needed a bathroom rack and couldn't find it in the hardware store. Finally, I decided to go online. My first non travel related purchase online was a bathroom rack from Rakuten Malaysia!

Since then, I bought groceries, skin care, bags online. What a progression! Hahaha!

Before the CNY, I joined a Rakuten Malaysia "Count the Monkey" contest and won some Rakuten Super Points. It's not much, and I didn't have anything to buy at that moment. Since the points would become obsolete by the end of February, I decided to spend it on the UNICEF Inspired Gifts. I topped up some money and chose Polio Vaccines. The vaccines will be sent to those who needed it the most according to the UNICEF website. It's so convenient and that marks my final purchase from Rakuten Malaysia.

final points!

final purchase!

Rakuten is promoting the Rakuten Global Market now and gives out 3000 yen coupon for a 10000 yen order as a welcome offer. Well, I think I will give it a pass. There are so many online shops out there to explore!