For all the girls and ladies, daily make-up, skincare and beauty products are always available at your local store, and you know that your brand is always available. I remember that I'd often dash into Clicks or Edgars, knowing exactly where to find what I was looking for. Shopping done in 10 minutes.
Fast forward to Thailand ..
There's a really good department store called Beauty Buffet who stocks a variety of make up and other beauty products. The most popular make up brand there is Gino Mc Cray, which is an okay product for daily use if you can find something that suits your skin colour and type, which I sometimes do, so it's my new Clicks when I'm on the run.
I believe this product is manufactured in Korea, not unlike most products found almost everywhere in Thailand. The problem is finding a product that does not have a whitening agent in it. There is an enormous Korean influence here, where skins should be lighter and whiter. 90% of all products, including deodorants, have whitening agents. International brands like Garnier, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon, Ponds, Nivea and others supply mostly their whitening ranges to Thailand.
For those that use talcum powder, most brands have a whitening agent. Snail White products are a winner, but to me it conjures up hideous images of gooey snail trails in the garden. Eeek!!
Anyway, I'm not the beauty and make-up expert, so I do what I've always done and just buy the closest "fit" to my natural skin colour. Thanks to my daughter who is the make-up and beauty guru in the family (and who has a really good blog) I've become a little wiser - using brushes, choosing colours and applying make-up with a little less haste and waste. She also introduced me to the facial washes and creams, make-up removers et al.
I've always slapped on a bit of founation to hide the wisdom lines, brushed on a little mascara and off I go. In the evening, soap and water to remove what was left of the make-up, and that's as good as it got. The closest I got to real "care" was my monthly facial at a local nail and beauty salon - manicure, pedicure, facial, nails and all, and a couple of hours later, with my next appointment penciled in, off I would go.
So the quest began here to make more effort, choosing the right product (and not a Clicks special), shades and colours and textures and masks and creams ... the whole regime. The end of one-stop shopping! I'm still pretty clueless, but I think I've improved a little.
Needless to say, my daughter is an ace at finding good products online, so I leave the search for good and non-whitening products to her.
Going to the movies is a treat
Back in SA I never went to the movies. Well, that's not entirely true, I went twice in 15 years. Easier of course just to watch TV or DVDs in the comfort of my home, could pause and rewind - just more convenient. Snacks, drinks, ablutions and interruptions were just a pause away. No problem.
Recently, once we discovered that the movie theater here does show movies with English soundtracks, my daughter and I have become keen movie-goers. It's mindless and relaxing entertainment, and getting out of our apartments and away from computers is a plus. Not all the featured movies have English soundtracks and we do sometimes miss a good movie because of it, but we do manage to see some of the "blockbusters" that are shown. Movies with English soundtracks are only shown on Wednesday and Friday evenings, with Thai sub-titles.
Going to the movies usually involves dinner and coffee, then popcorn and a soda during the movie. The seats are extremely comfortable and there is a lot of leg-room - can really stretch out. Having said that, there are 2 choices of seats - the "honeymoon" rows (3) or the normal rows (7). We always opt for the honeymoon rows, obviously solely for comfort reasons. After previews and commercials, and before the movie starts, it's mandatory to stand up for the King's Anthem which is played in every movie theater in the country. I rather like this custom, the anthem is beautiful and yes, I do know all the words.
Coffee
I have no doubt that the best coffee drinking experience in the world is right here in Thailand. I graduated from hot coffee to iced coffee when I moved here. At first the thought of "cold" coffee wasn't very appealing, but this isn't just cold coffee, and I'm not referring to the tins of coffee found in supermarket fridges. I'm talking fresh coffee made to order while you wait. My original choice was Espresso Yen, replaced about 2 years ago with Mocca Yen. The usual order is from a coffee stand on the side of the road, and I'm happy to say I found 3 in close proximity to each other in case first choice is closed. The coffee is wickedly unhealthy with way too much sugary stuff - liquid sugar, condensed milk, Ideal milk, frothy milk all blended nicely together with the coffee and poured over ice. Delicious.
There are some really good coffee shops in the malls as well, with Amazon being my number one choice, followed by Bitter Sweet. I notice Starbucks is opening soon in one of the malls we frequent, but I'm not a fan of Starbucks coffees. Quite a lot of competition in the mall ... will see how that pans out.
That's all for now folks.
Sabaai-dee from here :-)
SOME OF THE "WHITE STUFF" on the shelves at a supermarket
I laughed so much reading this!Thanks! <3
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