Good news [edited] & Beauty Must-have : Avene Thermal Spring Water

Before I start raving about this 'magic' water, I have a good news for my fellow Malaysian beauty-junkies.

Psst..guess what?

We are having our very own International Beauty Expo!! ..and the better news (well, at least for me) is, I'll be going on the very first day!! I've drooled reading posts about these expos by all those lovely and lucky girls in the States and I'm actually going to attend one in less than 12 hours.

The best news? You don't have to be in the industry to attend because only the first two days (11th and 12th) are for those in the industry while the other two days (13th and 14th) are for everyone!!

Anyway, to those who are in KL and interested, here are the details :-

The Exhibition
International Beauty Expo (IBE) 2008

Venue
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Date
11 – 14 July 2008 (Friday - Monday)

Time
11.00am to 7.00pm

Official Opening Ceremony
Date: 11 July 2008
Time: 10.30am

Entrance (Trader & Public)
11 - 12 July 2008           Open for trade only
13 - 14 July 2008           Open for both trade and public  

Admission
Visitors with improper attire will NOT be admitted.
Children under 12 years of age shall not be admitted

Major Exhibit
All kinds of products, services and equipments of cosmetic and toiletries, spa and wellness, health and nutrition, weight management, and hair.

** details taken from IBE's official website 

Although I don't know what to expect, I just hope this will be, if not as good, at least half as good as those in the States. This is the reason why I haven't clicked on my SN cart's 'checkout' button.

OMG I'm so excited!! 

::EDIT::

Here comes the bad news.

Although I went with no expectations at all, I was really disappointed.
The whole thing was nothing but a big joke.

How can a beauty expo has no proper products for sale?

They didn't even have any booths that actually sell single makeup brushes!!

The booths there were mainly occupied by, IMO, totally unrelated stuff. OK, fine. Maybe there were a couple of makeup academies but besides bugging your life to sign up courses, they have almost nothing to offer. Some have pan eyeshadows for sale but come on, they couldn't even give me the name of the brand/manufacturer when I asked and they were actually more expensive than MAC!! If you are looking for a bargain like what the girls from the States had, heh, tough luck. Except for those products by some unknown company, there wasn't a single familiar name.

The funniest part is, this particular BEAUTY expo has bank companies and travelling agencies (wtf??) occupying the booths. 

The organizer has some balls to even call it an international expo when the place looks like an indoor market. Not only the place was a huge mess, the things sold by half of exhibitors are just plain 'made-in-china' cheap looking stuff. The only booths decent enough for me (remember, i had no expectations at all) were this wholeseller who sells ChinaGlaze nail polishes at very cheap prices (10%-55% discount depending on the amount you buy) and another company, Bali Tangi, that sells natural holistic healing products such as scrubs, masks and body milk (review coming up soon!).

Unless you are big on nail polishes and natural skincare products, DON'T BOTHER GOING !!!!!

Even if you do go, don't worry, you won't cause any damage to the wallet. 

======

HO-KAY. Back to the 'magic' water.

WARNING : VERY LENGTHY!!

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Before using this, the only facial mist that I know is the one by Evian which I used once back in high school when I was an active sportswoman and I hated it. It wasn't because Evian was bad. It was just me not knowing back then that water, when mixed with sweat, could cause fungal infection and for that reason, I had white patches on my face for a very long time. Trust me, it wasn't beautiful.

It was only slightly more than a month ago when I decided to get one of these facial mists so that I could apply my foundation the 'wet' way. I grabbed a pack-of-3 of small (50ml) Evian and was about to pay when the SA popped out of nowhere and started promoting Avene to me. I was told that the biggest difference between Evian and Avene is the fact that Avene is thermal spring water which is non-comedogenic with hypoallergenic compund which is great even for those with hypersensitive skin while Evian is just mineral water mist. The SA managed to convince me and I got a 150ml bottle which cost a lot more than that Evian promo pack.

It didn't take me very long to be at the local drugstore paying RM99.80 for a pack-of-3 (why always 3??) of large (300ml) bottle.

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My mom looked at it and said " you paid soooooo much for. *clears throat*..water?? "  

As you have already seen from the first picture, it comes in 3 different sizes; 50ml, 150ml and 300ml and I, being totally in love with it, have 3 x 300ml, 1 x 150ml and 2 x 50ml. I have 1 big bottle sitting at my makeup 'station', 1 in my room in uni's residential college and 1 more as backup. The 2 tiny bottles are for my purse and school bag while the 150ml one is on the floor right beside me now. If this is not an obsession, what is?

I'm at my 4th paragraph now and I have not even started reviewing it yet because I suck at it. In fact, I think I'm going to talk about what do I do with it instead of what it can do and because I like doing list, here's the list of what do I use the thermal spring water for (I think my sentence is grammatically wrong somewhere) :-

1. Mineral foundation application

I spray my brush 2-3 times with it before picking up the foundation for the wet application and because it has moisturising properties, the foundation is less drying. If I apply my mineral foundation dry, I either spray my flat top brush a couple of times and buff my whole face (with foundation already applied dry) or spray my face to set the foundation and while it's still damp, buff with a clean brush. The dry and wet methods give the same creamy, flawless finish the difference is that the latter gives better coverage.

2. Additional moisturiser

I have dry-combo skin and it doesn't help that I'm in an air-conditioned room half the time. My skin gets extremely dry after cleansing and even when I use the most gentle cleanser, my skin will become taut which is why I abandon everything and jump straight to my skincare routine right after shower. Now, I give my face a couple of spray, let it sit for a few seconds before patting it dry and I can actually feel my skin 'drinking' it in. I can go about choosing my clothes or doing my hair before continuing with my normal skincare routine without feeling any tight-ness on my face. When I use it at night, my t-zone gets less oily in the morning too.

3. Leg spray

I know this sounds almost like throwing money away but I swear it helps in controlling the eczema from getting all wacky. In fact, I think it heals my legs a little. My legs itch and will have small red bumps all over when the surrounding is hot or dusty or dirty. I will always end up scatching them unconsciously, leaving me scarred all over the legs and since I've started using the spray, I not only stopped having new scars, I haven't been getting the bumps and itch at all and being in a hot and humid place all year long, it's almost impossible!

4. Pick-me-ups

I walk a lot around campus and in Malaysia, you have no choice but to sweat like a pig. So, having to walk 15 minutes uphill in the afternoon after lunch and then going into a cool (sometimes cold) air-conditioned room with soft cushioned seat for Spanish Civilasation class, I would be lying if I say that I'm actually alert and that's when the small bottle in my bag comes in handy. I blot away all the sweat with tissue (remember, sweat and water don't go along well) , spray and pat dry. Doing this actually helps to keep the shine away too!

I'm sure I use this for something else but these are what the spray is most used for. I'm very amazed at how this works for me and I cannot imagine not having it around although I've only been using it for slightly more than a month.

This is definitely a beauty must-have and I think everyone should give it a try, not necessarily by Avene. There are many other brands that have thermal spring water such as Vichy, La Roche, Suisse Programme and few others that I don't remember which can be easily found in Sasa or Guardian Pharmacy. It might be a little pricy for 'water' but they last pretty long and there are a couple of brands that are cheaper but slightly. I know Evian is cheaper and it might even work just as well.

At second thought, I should go back to Sasa to get the pack-of-3 of small Evians. Even if Evian doesn't have moisturing/healing properties as good as Avene's, I'm sure it'll work great for foundation application and as the pick-me-ups which means that I don't have to spend so much!!

p/s : please excuse me if there are a lot of typos because it's 3.27 am now and even the spray is not 'picking-me-up'.