Fabulous Feet

Then and Now

I found this picture ( on the left ) of myself which was taken back in 2005 and a bit shock to realize that my under eyes bags were so big.
It almost like I have extra eyelids but they were under my eyes.
Funny that I thought this was a great portrait of myself at the time. Now, the recent ME on the right, shot from my recent trip May 2011, still I have an under eyes bags but looks smaller, especially the right eye looks nearly smooth out. So, I thought of what could have caused this improvement?
Then, here is my answer... At least I think it is relevant.
Back to 2007, I met my female soulmate who is German, Marie Becker. She was nearly fifty and looked just great for her age. She always take care of herself and of course I learnt a lot of her secret on how to live beauty and healthy. One of her tip is about "beauty sleep" she told me not to sleep on the pillow and I should lay down flat right on the mattress. I thought it was funny and she must have been joking. Then, she gave me lecture about how the water got trapped under your eyes and packed as a bag if your forehead stay higher than your cheeks long hours like when sleeping on the pillow. Besides, the pillow fabric would scratch on you skin and left the lines, aged lines. I did not buy it at first but she showed me one of her wooden pillow ( yes, she carried this beauty block with her when traveling)
It was a small block of wood got carved in to this foldable structure.



the size of small back pillow. It looks old but all the edges are so smooth but certainly it did not suggest comfy in any angle.to me, it was more a head rest, or neck rest piece. I told her that I better lay flat without anything under my head than put my head on that wood. That was not enough for her, she told me that it was a monk pillow to train them to detach from the comfort and she even told me that the Chinese Empress had slept on the head rest to kept the face and hair away from the pillow. For the same reason, beauty sleep. She insisted me to try it because if this was actually working and help improving my under eyes bags, she wanted me to find the factory to produce it and export back to Europe and we would all gonna get richhhh.

So, I took that beauty pillow home and told her that I would give it a try.
But really I could not put my head in the position, it felt all wrong.and my husband would not enjoy having me and this pillow in the same bed? I did not try it. I was careless about that experiment and gave the beauty block back to her when she was leaving. Three years later, I went to the national art museum in Taipei and I saw the real Beauty Pillow displayed next to other personal things of the Chinese Empress!



Then, It got me thinking about this "beauty sleeping" I came back home and since then, I have been sleeping without pillow under my head. I use only small soft pillow (the small one they put on the chair and when you sit it support the lower part of your back) to support my neck. I still could not go far to use the wood one.

Now it is already two years sleeping like that. From my recent pictures, I begin to see the sign of improvement and it may actually working.

If you read this and would like to try, please do.....
And let me know how it works on you.

Beauty wisdom from Marie Becker
Experimented by KanJANA

SMALL beauty boost up needs BIG courage

As the name f the post put it. Before you could pull these tricks, you need to practice your courage! Practice make perfect so, try to have fun and just be cool with it.
How many type of make up that you can put on for one workweek? someone may do the same make up everyday and too lazy to learn how to dazzling up your look. Here are few great tricks that will keep you be REMEMBER at your workplace, or at your power lunch! I always do them when I get to do the design presentation, or important meeting, or re-union with old friends. Because I want to portray " I am confident" that s it!
I am fun and fabuluous and I could take this project like it is not a biggie!

My first time trying with CUSINART MKT executive and VP, I did what we called
"the world cup make up" It was 2010, at south Africa,I drew my forehead with my lipstick, the ethnic look three line of red. Then, we went to the design meeting at Sheraton hotel, and it went great!
( I got to look for that pic, and will put it here soon)




Then came the most hilarious one that I did, FRIDA VS. JANA
The picture says it all!



And the modern gothic fake tattoo written by my eyeliner pen.
This was on the photography set for a bag brand called LOMME, Danish designer. I saw the pictures of their product and I felt in that mood. I drew my earring and made a scar mark above the brow.



This one is the cute, fun and not so crazy... Even though, people kept asking me was that a mosqito bites on your face? I said it was a romantic mosquito or he was in love, because the bite marks were heart shape.



I always inspired by things around me, so, surely this post is unfinished and to be continue......


Beauty boost up Created by KanJANA

Minimal make up

I would like to start this blog with this fact! What is the beauty problem?
We never think we are beautiful or pretty enough! So we look and find the way to make the best look for ourselves. To stay young, freeze the skin and stop the lines. On top of that, make up is magic! Right!
I always have fun doing various of make up. And as a late make up lover. I still tried things that my other friends already did them all in collage life. Mine was very bare, only I applied sunscreen, baby powder and lip gross, I thought that was too much already. This feeling still hit me time to time, even nowadays. I'd bet everyone used to get the same feeling of laziness and boredom on making up your face! And we all love to look good naturally without too much trying!
But can we go outside RAW and REAL! meaning bare face!
I did sometimes when traveling and must admit that even everyone ( especially the hubby) said it was FINE, nobody noticed! Bull...., I noticed and worried.



My confident actually is shaking a bit or more, depending on how much you interact with me.
So, I would like to put this post of how can you do the brief beauty, using few items and little effort to get the OK, natural minimal look.
Here are the tools:



BENEFIT care, cover and STAY concealer.
It helps covering the dark circle under your eyes and gives vitamin treat to around the eyes-skin greatly. I use it for my freckles as well.
At the same time, put on your eyelids to help keeping the eye shadow STAY!

CARE baby powder.
Nothing beats Baby products, lightly use it over your face just to keep the greasy look away. It won't cover the dark spot but it will let your skin breath!




MUJI glittery brush on- sun kissed
Just the name of the color already got me. I love the healthy look of being red by the sun but not BURNT.... Just a good KISSED. Why not?
I picked the glittery one because even we are lazy, we just want others to perceive that there are slight sophisticate level here. Just tiny bit sparkling if you really notice it.




Optional item! You may not need this item if your eyes are big but mine are small and swollen-looking.
BENEFIT eyeshadow cream- smoky eyes pot.
First of all, it is so smooth, you can just use it with your finger. The size is great for the idea of "just enough" items and effort. And you can apply lightly for the dimension or heavily for the dazzling smoky eyes sexy look. Hey, but this post is about minimalist so, we will keep it super simple.

HOW TO:



After moisturizer and sunscreen, use small portion of BENEFIT concealer ti cover eyes lids, under eyes and dark spot on your face.( in my case, the freckles)
You can see the great difference between my right and left face. I think I do not need to tell you which side of my face already got covered up.




Then, powder your face lightly with CARE baby powder.
Brush your cheek with MUJI, sun kissed brush on.




Touch up with BENEFIT smoky eye cream to give a bit dimension to your eyes and nose.

Fast and FINISHED.

How to...by KanJANA