Today is Chinese New Year…the year of the rooster. I have been pampering my clients faces and pouts with the magic of jade all day.
You don’t have to be Asian to celebrate the lunar new year and all things Asian beauty!
I also love to celebrate the next 15 days of the Chinese New Year with other beauty rituals and of course FOOD glorious Asian food.
I am Cholish…
This makes me Chinese and Polish. I love being a combination platter!
If you don’t know… Chinese, Japanese and above all K-Beauty (Korean Beauty) are all the rage.Especially when it comes to beauty rituals!
Go to your pantry or nearest Asian grocery store. Get some Chinese Take-Out and brew some hot tea starting this weekend to celebrate the lunar New Year, which begins TODAY Saturday January 28, 2017.
Treat yourself to a festive meal and a trip to the orient without leaving the city! You might even want to invite your bestie!
Asian women I have interviewed from Hong Kong to Korea all agree…
Tea is an everyday beauty ritual. All kinds of tea from Chinese Oolong tea to Korean Barley tea. To fight off cancer they love green tea. To give them energy and stamina they drink ginseng tea. There is even a tea for inner cleansing and detoxifying tea.
Note: They usually do not use sugar or sweet and low in their tea.
Did you know that tea also freshens breath and keeps your gums healthy too? Allow me to turn you on to a delightful type tea. Jasmine tea is both delicious, smells and tastes divine. You must try it.
Rice is a favorite food in their diet as well. It fills you up faster and low in fat so you tend to eat less. Soups as main meals are another way to eat and stay trim. They fill the bowl with chicken or beef stock and toss in fresh veggies. What a delightful explosion of tastes! My fave rice is aromatic jasmine rice.* If you are looking to lose a a few pounds…try eating with chopsticks!
Korean women use up to 10 products on their face a day! They double cleanse their skin daily. They also love sheet masks. They have a mask for almost everything! Face, lips, eye area, neck, hair, feet and thighs. Some are made with crushed pearls, fruit, veggies and essence of snails (yikes). All to make them look their best.
Japanese girls love the benefits of a face mask made with nightingale droppings. That means bird poop! However, they swear by it for gorgeous flawless skin.
Jade Face Skin Smoothing Roller: Asian Royalty has used it for years. Excellent when you roll this cool tool on the face for revitalizing the skin by bringing the blood to the surface. It is also very relaxing. One side is for eyelid area and other side for face. You have to feel it to believe its magic. I am addicted.
Pearl Cream is a beauty must have. To this day Chinese and Vietnamese girls and women use this ant-aging ancient secret cream. It is made of crushed pearls and other emollients. It is opaque in color, melts on your fingers when applied to the face, and becomes translucent. It helps brighten the complexion by lightening sunspots and keeps the skin moist and hydrated. It smells as if you visited a flower garden.
Rice powder an oriental silky powder sets your makeup, helps your makeup up last longer and tones down shine. If you have problem with always being hot or have oily skin it also helps to prevent makeup meltdown. It can be used by itself on your skin or over makeup base. It can be unisex. It is applied with a Kabuki powder brush.
It also comes in a powder to go version. A little notebook of 70 papers comes to this business card like booklet. It powders the face as well as blots oil. They are called Asian Powder Papers.
Shark fin supplements and other herb shop potions are recommended to keep their fountain of youth. Even the celebrities are doing it. They say Nicole Kidman the actress takes them to keep her skin looking gorgeous and younger looking.
Dragon fruit: As argan oil is the new buzz in skin care so is the dragon fruit for our skin cells. This pink delight does wonders for the complexion when added to skincare or by eating it. It looks kinky and is a gorgeous pink hue with shooting green things coming from it. Sweet to eat!
My recipe for a cheap D.I.Y Jasmine Rice Face Mask:
- Take a cup of rice, rinse gently.
- Next, pour the rinsed rice into a clear small bowl with enough water to cover it. Wait until a milky residue appears. This is your face mask. (They call them Water Masks)
- On a clean face, place the milky watery solution from the rice on your face with a drenched cotton pad. Let it dry.
- Rinse with a luke warm washcloth and warm water. It will brighten your skin and your skin will feel like silk from this face treat.
The fountain of youth and pretty is at your fingertips.
Explore some of the above Oriental delights.
Life is an adventure…explore beyond your door!
I’ve been traveling throughout China and fell in LOVE with the one and only Hong Kong. I am back in the US but still on a travel high! However, jet lag is REAL! I had forgotten how long those international flights feel and how hard it is to get back to reality.
