The NIVEA 14 Day Challenge.

In the past, I was never quite bothered with skin care or sun block on a regular basis because I didn’t think much of the sun damage. All that changed when I got pregnant with Jerry more than 2 years ago. I started noticing that my skin condition is looking really bad, like I have age spots all over my arms and pigmentation spots all over my face. Sure, I know it’s the works of the increased production of melanin during pregnancy, but because of it, I was made aware of these age spots and pigmentation that I never noticed (or bother to notice) before. Guess what, till today, the sight of them haunts me everyday.

and you know what? It changes everything for me. I started being obsessed with sun protection since. But I am already in my 30s, and honestly, a lot of damage has been done, especially since I lead quite an active lifestyle (pre-pregger days) and like to go out into the sun a lot.

*warning* the next picture will probably freak you out a bit.

Sorry for the scary picture, but I am trying to make a point. Don’t think your skin isn’t suffering just because your naked eyes don’t see much. If you scrutinize the first picture taken in natural light enough, you can also see the same age spots and pigmentation. I didn’t digitally enhance the age spots in there, but just increased the contrast to show you how bad it actually is.

It’s dull, uneven, flaky (dry), rough, scratched and probably really stressed out. The tan lines from me wearing a watch daily are also very obvious in the picture.

And now, I am telling you. Don’t make the same mistake I did. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of sun protection, especially on women. Start young! If you are still in your 20s and didn’t bother before, start now. Sun protection goes a long way. These days, I religiously slap on moisturizer and sun block on my face & body every morning before I step out and greet the sun. On the days I forget, I silently curse under my breath and lower my head to shield my face as much as I can from the sun and cower in the shadows of buildings or lamp posts. Yes, my act is absolutely necessary in my opinion. To think I used to laugh at my ex-colleague who always bring a brolly with her out for lunch.

Which also brings me to another point – looks maintenance post marriage and kids. I feel strongly for this one. Those who know me would know that I strive to be a yummy mummy and try to look good. I always feel it is so darn important to stay attractive to your spouse, because the level of attractiveness plays a part in marriage maintenance. And looking good naturally makes you more confident of yourself and it helps in relationships because most guys like confident girls! Not many guys/husbands would admit it but they secretly want or prefer that their other half make an effort to look good, to exude radiance and maintain their looks & skin, simply because it bounces off them and make them look good too. Those who say no are bullshit. Everybody would naturally be attracted to pretty things at the first instance. No? I know I am.

So please, make an effort to take good care of your skin and protect it from the sun before you reach a point of no return – skin dullness, pigmentation, freckles, and a whole bunch of skin problems, because time and age is not forgiving. And it only takes a minute of your time everyday to slap on moisturizer and sun block. If I can do it with 2 kids, you can do it too.

And so, I have been searching for a body moisturizer that contains UV protection for a while now. I know mothers are time starved, and being a full-time working mum of 2, time is even more precious. So putting on a layer of moisturizer and then another layer of sun block requires double the amount of time and I would like to cut that and makes things more convenient. You know, an all-in-one solution. I thought it would commonly be available but apparently, no. There isn’t a lot of products in the market that offer both moisturizing benefits as well as UV protection so I was quite excited when I found out about the NIVEA Body UV Whitening Serum with SPF 25.

NIVEA very kindly sent a few tubes my way for me to try!

Look at the claims. It’s moisturizing, packed with UV protection of SPF 25 that I am looking for and to top it off, it’s a whitening serum that boasts of more radiant, fairer and even skin tone in just 14 days! I just had to try it out!

It comes in a squeeze bottle and its great for me since it means minimal contact with the contents (great for hygiene!) and I can just squeeze out the amount that I need to minimize wastage.

I’m gonna embark on a 14 days challenge since the product claims that you’ll get noticeably more radient and fairer within 14 days, and I’ll post my results and share it here with all of you.

Day 1: Here’s my bare, uneven skin, looking dry here. You can also see the age spots and a bit of freckles here and there.

A dollop of the cream on my hand, and the lotion is easily squeezed out from the tube without exerting too much pressure.

The lotion is extremely fluid and lightweight. Seconds after I took the first picture, the lotion just slides down my skin effortlessly.

The texture when it is spread across my hand.

Product applied on my entire hand. You can immediately see the effect of the serum upon application (not as dry and fine lines are not as visible) and the best bit which I really like – it doesn’t have a sticky after feel. I cannot tolerate any products that leave a sticky after feel because with the humidity levels where we stay, it is just freaking unbearable and uncomfortable. Somehow, I also have this weird notion that dust sticks on me too when my skin feels sticky after applying something, so its pretty eeks in my books.

I also like that it leaves the skin feeling smooth and matt-looking and I feel hydrated in seconds. It also has a really mild floral scent that makes me feel like I had a very light perfume on me without it being overpowering.

So far so good. And yup, I’ll continue using it for the next 14 days and tell you more about the results in 2 weeks’ time.

I would also like to know how it would fare with my active lifestyle. These days, I always schedule some outdoor activities for Jerry to exhaust his boundless energy on the weeknds. Toddlerhood is exhausting for the parents!