IDS Clinic

Currently, I am a foot into the working society. As some of you guys may know, and have seen me around when you visited IDS Clinic, I am working as clinic assistant/ customer service officer in a dermatology and aesthetic clinic. The reason why I applied to this job despite holding a Nutrition degree is because I wanted to experience what my mum went through as a clinic assistant in a gynecology clinic. I thought the job scope will be fun, but hell no, it isn't that easy as a starter. Anyway, I am not going to touch in-depth about my working life here. Ask me personally, and I will tell you about it.

#selfie

The front counter of IDS Clinic

The waiting area

I consulted Dr. Heng about my hormonal acne during my free time. Firstly, I had to take photos of my face profile before consultation. I was embarrassed with my skin condition. Due to the hectic lifestyle I had back when I was studying, I hardly have enough time to sleep and take care of my skin. Trust me, I slept at irregular hours for months. E.g. Sleep at 7am - wake at 10am while I was doing my 30 pages Final Year Project dissertation.

After Dr. Heng analyzed my face through my photos, and through his magnifying glasses, he told me that yes, my condition is hormonal acne, which most young adults are experiencing. He prescribed me a few of IDS products in sample sizes, namely: Refreshing Cleanser (C1), Pore, C+, Spot and Probiotic Mask. As I am using toner from Nivea, Dr. Heng told me the toner that I am using should suffice, so he does not see the need of prescribing me IDS Oil-Control Toner (T2). He did told me that if my condition does not get any better in a month's time, I will have to take in Roaccutane (oral antibiotic).

Photo courtesy of idsclinic.com

Refreshing Cleanser (C1)

You must be wondering why the colour of the cleanser is so browny. Sometimes, I am so glad that I studied science. The reason why the cleanser is brown because it contains epigallotocatechin gallate (EGCG). Sounds mouthful? In summary, EGCG is a powerful polyphenol and antioxidant, mostly found in green tea. EGCG is able to inhibit the growth of Propionibacterium acnes (a gram-positive bacteria found abundantly on our human skin) to reduce inflammation.

You know how some cleansers in the market are able to make your skin feel squeaky clean after washing your face? I did try Garnier whitening cleanser, the cleanser made my skin feel squeaky, which is not a good sign, because the cleanser stripped off all of the excess oil on my skin. With the use of C1, I feel my skin has become smoother and cleaner after washing my face. Yay to no squeaky feeling.

Photo courtesy of idsclinic.com

Pore

The colour of Pore is similar to the cleanser, so yup, you guessed it right. Pore contains EGCG. Other key ingredients are botanical extracts, which are able to reduce the amount of oil produced by our sebum glands, the pore size and inflammations. After using Pore, I realized that my face is less shiny/ oily throughout the day.

Photo courtesy of idsclinic.com

C+

This is the product which I swear by. I do not know if it is placebo effect because the Refreshing Cleanser and Pore are so effective. C+ , as the name kindly suggested, contains vitamin C. So here's my input from the scientific knowledge at the back of my head... Vitamin C is a precursor of collagen. I dare to say that by ingesting collagen straight into body, does not directly make you produce more collagen on your face. Simple reason: What we eat, we pass out too. This is body homeostasis. By applying vitamin C on to our face, it does stimulate collagen directly. After using C+, I have noticed that my post-acne hyperpigmentation has faded off a lot, mainly due to the stimulation of collagen and continuous cell-renewing happening on my face.

Photo courtesy of idsclinic.com

Spot

I love that IDS named their products in an idiot-proof way. As the name suggested directly, Spot is used to apply on blemishes. When I use Spot initially, I feel that the smell of Spot is very similar to the smell of Acne Clear Pimple Treatment lotion. Then, I realized that under the ingredient list of Spot, it actually contains sulfur - which is also found in Acne Clear Pimple Treatment lotion. Sulfur is known to reduce the size and inflammation of pimples. I am very pleased with this product. As soon as I see a tiny pimple popping out, I dabbed Spot on it, the pimple was gone the next day.

Photo courtesy of idsclinic.com

Probiotic Mask

This mask smells really good! I have always thought that with my foundation in food sciences, probiotics are always used in yoghurt. I have never thought that a mask can contain probiotic. The probiotic used in this mask is of Lactobacillus species. The mask is able to normalize the microflora on our skin. Basically, it means Lactobacillus is able to reduce the dominant bacteria (P. acnes) on our skin, to reduce inflammation.

Skincare Routine

1. Nivea Refreshing Cleansing Milk to cleanse off make up
2. Refreshing Cleanser OR Caudalie Deep Cleansing Exfoliator once a week
3. Nivea Refreshing Toner

-Use of Probiotic Mask every fortnightly, leave it on for an hour, rinsed off-

4. Pore
5. C+
6. Spot


I am not in any way sponsored by IDS Clinic, or speaking good light about IDS Clinic because I want to be a good employee. I noticed tremendous difference with the usage of these products for two weeks. I have lesser breakouts, less inflamed pimples and my post-acne hyper-pigmentation has faded slightly. I will be using these products continuously, and I think it's time for me to buy the full size of products soon, as my sample size products are running out.

All products of IDS Clinic is formulated by Dr. SK Tan. If you are having acne conditions, come visit IDS Clinic. We are having free consultation.

IDS Clinic

Novena Specialist Centre

8 Sinaran Drive, #05-07 to 10

Celebration

So, I have finally finished my course of study in SIT- Newcastle University. I could still remember how fresh I started out as an university undergraduate, everything seems like yesterday. Now, I can't believe that I am en route to graduation. I have met up with Dai Yu, Jess and Cassandra for dinner. We have no idea that the night turned out to be that 'You Only Live Once' (YOLO). After we had our dinner, we went for bar-hopping at the Alley Bar, and cabbed down to the Wine Bar at Zouk. Eventually, we went up to Phuture till the party ends.

XLB x Steamboat

Kelvin and Yan Kit were flying off to the States for their overseas immersion program. Lynx guardians decided to hold a farewell dinner for them. We had steamboat dinner, accompanied with many xiao long baos at Holland Village's Crystal Jade.

Ukulele: 對面的同學看過來

I am having my examination period now, left two papers - Sports and Nutrition, and Medicinal Plants and Functional Foods, to end off my university final year semester 1 with a glass of champagne and shower with confetti. A week before my exams started, I have recorded myself singing and strumming 對面的女孩看過來 with my ukulele. I have changed the lyrics of the song to 對面的同學看過來 to suit the exam setting.

Lyrics:

我左看右看上看下看 原来我的考试不简单 :(

我想了又想 猜了又猜 原来我的老师真奇怪

Translation:

I look left, look right, then realizing that my exams are difficult :(

I think again, ponder again, then realizing that my teachers are so weird.

Hope this cheers you up, if you are having a bad day!

Batam Travelogue (Part I)

Last December (2013), Castalos, CQ, Eugene, Jessica and I decided to head to Batam for a short vacation. I guess it is becoming our tradition to end off each year with an overseas trip. Due to overwhelming amount of school work, we had kind of plan this trip in a rush. Nevertheless, the whole trip was really enjoyable, because of these lovely people traveling with me.

Left to Right: Joan, CQ and Jessica

Boarding the ferry from Harbourfront ferry terminal

Below - Left to Right: Joan, Castalos and Jessica. Above - Left to Right: CQ and Eugene
And off we go!

Maybe Castalos was really camera shy, otherwise, he is just really proud to be a Singaporean. ;) He was lacking of sleep that day, and he was in deep slumber mode throughout the whole one hour ride in the ferry.  He didn't respond to any of our disturbances when he was napping.

Shoreline of Singapore

We reached Batam Waterfront ferry terminal at noon. Then, we took a free shuttle bus to Harris Waterfront Resort. It was a less-than-5-minutes bus ride to the resort. Even though the bus ride to the resort was relatively short, the roads were pretty rough and it is not advisable to walk to the resort with your belongings. When we got off the shuttle bus, we were welcomed with scented warm towels and welcome drinks. 

It turned out that Jessica and I, each had reserved two connected rooms at Harris Waterfront Resort. We had miscommunications, only to realize the problem until the day of our trip. The reception at Harris Resort was really kind to waive off the rooms that we have double reserved, at no charges.

While we were waiting for the administration process to waive off the rooms that we have double reserved, we decided to explore around.

Trendy wing of Harris Waterfront Resort at Batam

We were really famished, and decided to settle down at a Korean-Japanese restaurant located beside the trendy wing of Harris. The restaurant featured many Japanese art and poetry as wall decorations. Surprisingly, the restaurant are run by Indonesians and Chinese nationalities. 

In my opinion, it is not recommendable to dine here if you are looking for deliciously, cheap food. The price of the set meals in the restaurant is as comparable to a typical Japanese set meals in a Singapore restaurant. The soup of my udon is too salty for my liking. :(

We went back to the reception to take our hotel room key cards after our lunch. Our initial plan was to rest and go down for a swim in the pool. However, the weather was quite unpredictable that day. Dark clouds shrouded over the resort at 2pm, and it started to rain heavily, with occasional lightnings. 

It was a perfect weather for Castalos to fall asleep. The four of us decided to leave Castalos to rest in the room for awhile. Jessica and I decided to try Indonesian foot reflexology for an hour, while CQ and Eugene explore around the place at Harris Resort. 

The foot reflexology session was really great, although it is quite painful at times. My foot masseur does not speak much English. Nonetheless, he still tried his best to convey his message or initiate a conversation with me. He has great knowledge on how our foot nerve endings can affect a person's health. He told me that I have headache and sleepless nights often, whenever he applied pressure on a specific area of my foot. That was really spot on.

After the foot reflexology session, the four of us met up again. It was still drizzling. We really wanted to go for a swim, but we were denied access to the pool by the security guard, due to safety reasons. Our moods were dampened. We decided that there was nothing else that we can do, we shall wake Castalos up to go for an early seafood dinner.

In the early evening, the five of us rented a taxi from the resort, and headed down to Golden Prawn Seafood Restaurant. The ride from the resort to the seafood restaurant was approximately half an hour. The weather was getting really rainy, dark and scary, and we were surprised that despite the roads are not properly lit up, the taxi driver knows his way to our destination very well.

Golden Prawn Seafood Restaurant works in a pretty flexible manner. We are allowed to pick the seafood that we wanted from their fresh water, and request to cook in the style that we would like to eat. We ordered other dishes, along with crayfish, prawns and two crabs - one to be cooked with salted egg, and another to be cooked with chilli.

Dinner at Golden Prawn Seafood Restaurant

However, the waiter at the restaurant kind of messed up our order for the crabs. Instead of having one crab cooked with salted egg, and the other cooked with chilli, we had two crabs being cooked with salted egg. We demanded for a change in the dish thrice. After half an hour, the waiter came over with a dish of chilli crab, and told us it is on the house.

Crabs, cooked with salted eggs

Free crab, cooked with chilli

We were really full from the scrumptious seafood dinner. I must say, it was relatively cheap to eat seafood in Indonesia. We decided to walk around, and shop for Indonesian snacks, before we squeeze into the taxi and head back to our resort. I noticed that the amount of bags that are 'inspired' by luxury brands are plentiful, and they look real, if you know what I mean.

We went back to our resort with the same taxi, it was another half an hour ride. Our taxi driver is very kind. We decided to book the same taxi driver for our next day in Batam. He agreed to our requests happily, and even gave us discounted fares.

When we reach back to our hotel rooms, we were somehow exhausted, which was weird, because we didn't exactly use up a lot of energy throughout the day and we kept eating. CQ and I were being surprised by Castalos, Eugene and Jessica with a birthday cake. I really have no idea when did they get the cake, because I was with them throughout the whole day, most of the time.

Thank you so much for the cake! 

My shared birthday cake with CQ

We played some games, and we decided to retire early. I am not sure if there was due to the therapeutic effect of foot reflexology, I slept pretty well throughout the night.

-End of Part I-