A Muslim in Japan

Assalamualaikum J

  It has been 3 weeks in Japan and Alhamdulillah I still haven’t experienced any earthquake (not that I’m looking forward to it though). A lot has happened since I first came here, I made friends from all over the globe, I ate Unagi for the first time (hnm it was quite good, but expensive!), I took the wrong train twice haha.

  Japan all in all is amazing but I still have to get used to the weather. Coming from a country with only 2 seasons, (summer and rain) it’s quite hard for me to adjust to the weather here, especially in the morning for Subuh which is 3.30am to 5.00am. I am aware of all my alarms because I set 3 different alarms on 2 types of phones (6 alarms in total). I mean do you see how resolved  I am to wake up for Subuh! But whenever I push the blankets away to get up, the cold just hits me and I’m just so terrified of the cold and I continued sleeping. I know it’s wrong, I  know that you have to fight it, but I just can’t and I am ashamed of it. I will continue this fight and I hope someday my Jihad will be stronger than  Satan’s temptation.

  Being a Muslim here is not easy, however, I think it’s better here than any other country. Before coming here, my biggest concern was about my daily prayers. Class schedules, orientations, field trips, etc may interrupt one of my pillars of faith. So, when I got my period few days before coming to Japan, I was super thankful! I won’t have to pray and it made me easier to focus on the orientation and not have to flick a second thinking of my daily prayers. Nonetheless, period only lasted for a week and after that, I sneaked in a couple of unlocked rooms to complete my prayers.  Never did I know, they actually prepared a prayer room for me! I can’t remember when it was, but I do recall that it was still during the orientation and we all had a break for an hour. I ate my lunch really fast so that I’ll still have time to pray. I took my ablution in the restroom which was really hard because they had no pipe in the cubicle and I had to use the sink. It was not the best way to take your ablution since people kept coming in and out and the restroom were really small so whenever someone wanted to come in they will hit me with the door.

  After the ablution I met with one of the staff and had the guts to ask her permission to use one of the classrooms. It was then, when she finally introduced me to the prayer space!

JANG JANG~!~!~

My own prayer space!

  This is one of the biggest reason why I said that it’s better to be a Muslim here than any other country. It’s because of the people itself! Japanese are very thoughtful and they want you to feel at home. They don’t care about your religion, race or background. All they want is for you to be happy and secured. They were very considerate to take a part from their office just for one Muslim (I think). It’s basically my own personal space, I can eat, sleep, finish my homework here haha! They even went ahead and put a rug so that it’s even cleaner! The room itself is very near to the staffs’ sink so I won’t have to use the restroom again and it had locked doors to make it more private! Table and chair was also provided to put my bags and eat my lunch.

  At the bottom of my heart, I really am thankful for this space and I hope that students who are coming to Japan for the first time will not worry about this because  “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find it, knock and the door will be opened to you” –Matthew 7:7 (I know it’s from the Bible but it fits to what I want to say hehe)

Review: Biore Cleansing Oil

Hai :)

Double cleansing is one of the major key of achieving clear skin. Double cleansing simple means cleaning your face twice, the first step is to remove makeup and the second step is to purify the skin.





Before this I only used baby oil to remove my makeup so I can't really compare this Cleansing Oil with other product, but I'll try my best though.

Pros

It removes makeup effortlessly! I mean just with one swipe the eyeliner is all gone, and just some circular motion, you can start seeing the bb cream lifts up. For my whole face I only used 2 pumps to remove all the makeup, and you can see because when you wash off the water becomes murky. Biore also claims that it can remove waterproof effectively, I can't be sure on this one cause I don't use waterproof products.

Eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, lipstick, and eyeshadow

Just a bit of circular motion, and you can see the makeup dissolve.

MAGIC! It's all gone now

Other than that, your skin will feel refresh, smooth and not oily (like baby oil) after washing it off. 
Right after cleaning it off, you can feel that your skin is lighter and just makeup less. It also does not clog pores because I did not have breakouts when I use this and I just feel really clean.

The fact that it can be used with wet skin is just impressive. But this is just because I'm comparing with baby oil, I don't know if other cleansing oil can be used with water. Since it does not emulsify with water, it's really easy to remove the cleansing oil. Just splash your face with water and the cleansing oil immediately drip off your face. Before this I had to wash my face 2 times with foaming cleanser and I can still feel oil on my skin...

Lastly, I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but the fragrance of this product makes you eager to eat it. It's really fruity and sweet like a candy!

Cons

It stings A BIT when you use this on your eye area, but it's not that bad just a little uncomfortable at first.

It has alcohol in it, but maybe just a small amount because it's at the bottom of the list so I guess it's a bit drying... But you can always use a moisturizer right after

Conclusion

At this point I really like this product and I'm going to continue using it, but that does not mean that I'll use this for the rest of my life, I'm still gonna hunt down better cleansing oil just because I want to compare it better. I'll give this 8/10 because it does what it claims, but less 2 points just because I think that I'm gonna find a better one later

Byebye now
<3 Aeng

Review: FCC CC Cream

Hai :)

So today I'll be reviewing a product all the way from Istanbul~ It's a brand that is know for their halal cosmetics which is what all Muslims are looking for, right?  It's certified halal by 2 bodies in Turkey, and now is applying for 3rd Halal certification from JAKIM.

There are 2 types of tones, which is the lighter one and the darker one. I bought the lighter one for RM45.90 you can also find their store at some shopping malls.

CC Cream, which stands for color control cream is basically like a tinted moisturizer with extra benefits.

KEY FEATURES

• Collagen & Argan Oil: improve skin surface & reduce the appearance of age spots
• Colour Control: Capable to smooth and correct the color according to the skin tone
• Gives lighter color in comparison with foundation
• Macadamia Oil: Moisturizes all day long
• Oat extract: nourishes and repairs the skin
• Silk Protein: smoothes and evens skin tone
• SPF 25: Gives extra coverage and protects skin against harmful effect of sun
• Tinted moisturiser (combines the benefits of foundation and moisturiser)
• Vitamin C: Regains tense to skin and helps to treat skin naturally
• Vit B3: creates natural looking glow

The key features of this product are:

• Collagen & Argan Oil- improve skin surface, reduce age spots

Colour Control: Capable to smooth and correct the color according to the skin tone

• Color Control - Capable to smooth and correct the color according to skin tone

• Gives lighter color compared to foundation

• Macadamia Oil- Moisturizes all day long

• Oat Extract- Nourishes and repair the skin

• Silk Protein- Smoothes and evens skin tone

• SPF 25- Protect skin against harmful sun

• Vit B3- Creates natural looking glow

• Vit C- Treat skin naturally

Pros

The texture is creamy, and I only need a small amount to cover my whole face. I  think this CC Cream gives great coverage too, it cover all the redness I have and it evens out the skin without clogging my pores :)  This CC Cream has a dewy finish so it looks like I have glowing and healthy skin. Moreover, it also make me look brighter and whiter in a natural way which I really like! :) I know some of you might think that it is too white for my skin and it looks really pale, but actually it looks really nice in natural sunlight. I've used this product for quite some time now, and I realized that it looks better once you had it on your skin for some time. When I first applied it on my skin, it looks cakey but after awhile it looks really nice :) This CC Cream also have slight fragrance, kind of like a flowery smell~

So creamy~ Yummy~

Cons

The one thing that I dislike about this CC cream is, it gives a blotchy look if I don't blend it fast. Usually, I like to dot product all over my face first before blending it, but when I use this CC Cream, I have to right away blend it once put on my skin because if not, it will be really hard to blend and I feel like I'm tugging my skin too much thus creates blotchiness :( It's also quite oily for me but you can cover it with a good powder. Other than that, the product doesn't have PA so it won't protect my skin from the UVA rays which will cause ageing.

Conclusion

I'd give it 6/10
The product itself is great, it gives good coverage and my skin looks glowy but I don't like the fact that I have to apply other product on my face after this CC Cream, etc powder, sunblock. I don't think I'll be repurchasing this CC Cream but I will continue to use mine until it's finished.

Byebye now
<3 Aeng

It’s certified Halal by 2 bodies which are from Federal Lab of Turkey’s Ministry of Health and an international independent body in Turkey named Artibel. Currently, FCC is applying for the 3^rd Halal certificate from a Halal institution in Istanbul which is certified by JAKIM. So, please be rest assured of our Halal Certification. Not many have more than 1 Halal Certificate.

Review: Nature Republic Super AQUA Max

Hai :)
Since this is my first post, I decided to start it with my holy grail product which is the Nature Republic Super AQUA Max

I've been using AQUA max for oily skin.

                                      
So I bought mine last year, and I've been using it religiously since, cause this product is just amazing. You can also see that it was featured on Get It Beauty (a Korean variety) and was awarded Best Of Beauty :) So yeah you know its good if it is featured on TV hehe~ AQUA Max line has different cream for different types of skin, blue for oily, pink for dry, and green for combination.

You can pick which suits best depending on you skin type.

 The whole concept of this cream is it uses MD water which has a lot of benefits to it.

AQUA Max has a very high moisturizing power compared to other creams.

Pros
1) Packaging

I'm not a person who really cares about packaging but I notice that many beauty bloggers like talk about it and it also concerns some people so I'll try my best to describe the packaging haha~

AQUA Max comes in a sturdy container along with a spatula for hygienic purposes. The spatula is used to scoop the product so that you won't use your hands. For some people using hands to scoop the product is not hygienic because hand are full of bacterias, but I think its better to just use your hands after washing it because the spatula also collects bacteria.

The container is very thick so it won't break if falls which I really like haha~ The product itself is 80ml which I think will last me for 1 year if used day and night. The container also has a really sleek and expensive design in my opinion. The box that contains the container is an Eco-Friendly Paper and was printed using Soy Ink:) Not only I'm using a spectacular cream but I'm also helping the environment :)) The box also has braille for the blind. Braille is only at the ingredient section of the box tho

BIG SIZE!!

You can see that the texture is very watery.

2) Product

The consistency of this product is very watery so it glides on face really easily without tugging on your skin too much thus less wrinkleee~ It also absorbs really fast!! Like really fast!! You just need to pat a little and the product will absorb into you skin instantly!! This is great for busy people because you won't have to wait to go to the next step of your skincare routine because it absorbs really well :) After it has absorbed, it doesn't leave an oily feeling to your face like most moisturizers do. AQUA Max is also very moisturizing. Since the texture is watery, you don't need a lot to moisturize your whole face :) A little goes a long way! For my face I only need a pea size amount.
At the side of the box it stated that there's 3 non added formulas, I don't know what it means but I think its a good thing haha~


3) Price

I bought this at www.hermo.my for RM 48.90 (it was on sale) which I think is really affordable because this product will at least last me for 1 year (this is my own assumption tho) If you calculate it by month, I only pay for RM 4 every month.


Con
1) Fragrance

I'm not a fan of fragrance in my skincare because I think it is irrelevant since my nose is not sensitive at all. For me it just adds more chemical to the skincare which is not good.
For people who loves fragrance, AQUA Max has really great smell like a super fresh lagoon water. But it's really strong too so I just assume stronger smell, stronger chemical haha if it makes any sense to you..

2) Spatula won't fit in the container

So I presume that this is just me.. haha but it really annoys me that the spatula doesn't fit in the container. I mean I try my best to use the spatula but the fact that it does not fit in the container and I have to go all the way to the toilet to clean it makes me so irritated. I have no idea where to put the spatula now and I don't want to throw it away cause i paid for it >:(
haha btw now I just use my hands cause it's way more convenient. Just make sure that your hands are washed or use a hand sanitizer :)

Conclusion

9.5/10
AQUA max an amazing product! It makes my skin so moisturize and my skin is more supple after I've applied it. My skin has also improved after using this for moths now. I can see that I have less sebum on my forehead and just looks healthy :)
Definitely will repurchase after I finish this one! :)

Byebye now :)
<3 Aeng