tattler magazine

The whitening phenomenon. The western world is obsessed with tanning themselves while we Asians on the other hand are obsessed with whitening. In the West, someone sporting a tan usually suggests that he/she has money and time for a beach holiday. In parts of the East, anyone with fair skin means he/she has money to work indoors and not have to spend hours under the sun doing hard labor – half a century ago anyway.

Whitening any part of your body takes relatively much more time unlike tanning for a new bronzey glow, but there are 3 features that you can whiten that can give you the most and fastest impact to your appearance are your eyes, teeth and complexion.

Eyes

First contact is always eye contact. Celebrities and models are known to use special eye drops that helps to brighten their eyes to make them more captivating. It is fad that is much raved about in the States but isn’t at that popular here (yet?). Personally I think it should be about time – it definitely is one of the best kept secrets of makeup artists in helping out weary-eyed models.

There are many brightening or whitening eye drops available online. One of my favorite is Visine. It’s active main ingredient is Tetrahydrozoline HCl that helps to constrict blood vessels, making the eyes appear whiter and brighter.

There are other types of eye drops that helps to counter the redness in our eyes by using blue dyes in the solution. But like any other over-the-counter drugs and medications, it is absolutely important to read and follow the instructions. Honestly, if Panadol can be misused then so can these.

On a lighter note, this is a personal choice for me because it generally is a brand that helps allergy sufferers from eye irritants and other such symptoms. There are also an array of supplements that boast eye brightening benefits available over the counter.

Pearly Whites

Our teeth are naturally stained by the food that we consume, but especially more so if you’re a caffeine addict, tea lover (me) or if you smoke. There is so much to say on how a brighter smile helps. Who doesn’t want brighter teeth?

Now dental whitening treatments are expensive – almost everything dealing with teeth is – so until you save up for a professional treat, brushing your teeth everyday with whitening formula toothpaste helps. Brushing with a whitening paste helps to rid off superficial staining that you got from your morning coffee. It is affordable and totally worth shelling out the extra pennies for.

Complexion

Now I’m quite a cheater on this one. I have a love and hate relationship with my tan. Sometimes because of my job – sun, sea and sports – my tan makes me feel healthy, sporty, vibrant and glowing. But there are other times when surrounded by models, I feel dull in comparison. Before somebody shoots me, I have nothing against dark complexions. It’s just my going-out clothes don’t match my tanned colouring and when I’m lazy, neither does my foundation.

I try to lose my face tan as fast as possible when I can… by cheating. I use whitening spot treatments every spare night – no point trying to be fair if you’re going to be out on the beach the next day – all over my face. Instead of applying on imperfections and spots, I use these treatment creams all over for a ‘faster’ whitening effect.

Unfortunately most of these treatment creams or serums are too rich for my oily skin. So instead, I only use them at night and I always exfoliate for better absoption!