Ingredients for homemade skin care products

What are the ingredients for homemade skin care products? Basically what is good for your health is good for your skin.


Homemade skin care products: papaya

Papaya is one of the best natural food for your skin.

Papaya is rich in enzymes and antioxidants. You will find many commercial skin care products made from papaya.

You can use papaya to make a facial peel or facial cleanser.

homemade skin care products: Pineapple

Pineapple is another common fruit that is beneficial for your skin. When used with papaya and honey, you can feel the powerful effect of pineapple. You can combine papaya, pineapple and honey to make a simple facial peel.

Just mix papaya, pineapple and honey into a smooth paste.

homemade skin care products: Honey

Honey is a must have in your kitchen. You can use honey for practically everything. You can use honey to make shampoo, shower cream, acne cleanser and other skin care products.

Best of all, you can enjoy a glass of warm honey before bedtime.

homemade skin care products: grapes

Do you know how to use grapes for skin care? You do not even need to mix grapes with anything. Just smash a few grapes and rub all over. You can rinse with warm water.

Grapes is a natural facial cleanser. If you are adventurous, you can even try a warm grapes bath. However, you need more than just a few grapes to clean the whole body.

homemade skin care products: Oatmeal

If you have paid attention to the ingredients in many commercial facial peels, you will not miss out the importance of oatmeal.

The easiest way to use oatmeal is to cook it, let it cool, and mix with honey.

You can used cooked oatmeal with other ingredients, such as lemon juice, tomato juice, papaya, grapes and yogurt. You can use your creativity to mix and match and produce your own unique homemade skin care products.

homemade skin care products: Orange

Orange and lemon provide Vitamin C for your skin. If you do not have fresh oranges, you can use lemon juice as well.

Are you ready to try your own homemade skin care products? It is really easy to produce homemade skin care products. Watch this video and see how easy it is.

Benefits of home made skin care products

Have you ever considered home made skin care products? Have you ever thought of making your own skin care products at home?


Do you think that it is hard to prepare your own skin care products at home?

If you have the impression that it is impossible to prepare skin care products at home, you can watch the video here.

Have you noticed that all the ingredients are common items? Do you have mint at home? Do you have honey at home? These are the basic items for skin care products. You do not have to pay a hundred dollars or more to get the complete set of skin care products.

What you need is the creativity to try. Your skin has different needs. You have to understand your skin and know what is best for it.

Why do you want to make skin care products at home?

There are many benefits of home made skin care products.

1. Cheap

The raw ingredients are so cheap. You do not need to pay a few dollars for a citrus fruit, so why should you pay a hundred dollars for the skin care products made from citrus fruit.

2. Fresh

Have you checked the date of production of the commercial skin care products? You probably get them a few months later.

You can get fresh skin care products when you make it at home. The moment you finish the skin care products, you can use it immediately.

3. Fun

You can enjoy yourself when you mix and match the ingredients. You will have fun making the papaya facial mask. Once you start with skin care products, you may even want to try home made shampoo and shower cream.

4. Knowledge

You probably do not bother to check the property of many plants and flowers growing in your backyard. You do not see how a common little item has such commercial value. Once you start to make skin care products at home, you will gain knowledge of the herbs, plants and flowers.

You will see that many backyard flowers and herbs are available for your free use.

Are you ready to make your own skin care products. Do watch the video again, and try the recipe at least once.

More tips to simplify your life

In the first part of simplify your life series, we start the process of simplify your life by simplify your thoughts.


Once our thought is simplified, and allow us to appreciate the simple beauty of life, we can look into other ways to simplify your life.

Simplify your life: Clear priorities

Do you set priorities in life? Do you have clear priorities for this moment in time?

While priorities change due to changing circumstances, you need to have clear priorities at each important stage of your life.

You can think about the relation of each activity with your priorities in life now. If your priority is to provide for your family, going for skill-upgrading is more important than watching TV.

If your priority is to live a relaxing life, watching TV and socializing with friends are more important than spending hours in the workplace.

Simplify your life: Outsource Mundane work

You can eliminate many time-consuming daily activities by outsourcing them. If you do not want to outsource housework, you can consider moving to a less-maintenance house.

Moving from a house with big garden to an apartment is one way to free up your time. You do not need to live in a big house if all your children are not staying with you.

Simplify your life: Eliminate unnecessary obligations

If you are a member of certain organization, and the obligations are eating up your energy and time, you can consider reducing your involvement.

You do not need to attend every birthday party and other functions as well. It is easier to buy the birthday presents online for those relatives out-of-town.

Simplify your life: Live in the present

Do not spend time worrying about the future. If you can take positive action to prevent the worst from happening, do so. If not, stop worrying about the future. Do not dwell on the past either. Live in the present and enjoy life now.

Simplify your life: buy online

If you are one of those who cannot stop impulse buying, you can make it a habit to buy online.

You are less likely to get tempted by the smell, the sight and the taste of sample food. You can make a shopping list and buy only those items you want.

This is one of the best way of simplifying your life, and saving time and money.

10 tips to live a meaningful life

Do you feel that life is empty at times? Do you want to live a meaningful life?


You can cheer yourself you and live a meaningful life by applying these simple tips.



Tips for living a meaningful life

1. Smile

Learn to smile and take life easy. Learn to look at people and smile at them, even when you are in a bad mood.

Learn to laugh at the mistakes you make. Learn to laugh at your silliness instead of getting angry at yourself. After all, life is so short. There is no point cursing and swearing at yourself.

2. Friends

A meaningful life is a life to share with others. When you face problems, or in a bad mood, learn to rely on your friends.

Do not keep your loved ones out of your inner world. Learn to inspire and encourage each other to live a meaningful life.

3. Limited your time on worries

Most of us spend too much time on worrying about the future. That is a meaningless activity. Worrying makes you feel negative and sucks your energy out of the day.

You can spend the time thinking of brightening your day, and make others happy. You can live a meaningful life only when you spend on meaningful activities. Worrying does not help you to live a meaningful life.

4. Do not get angry unnecessarily

Many of us get angry over a small matter. We get angry when the bus goes off without us. We get angry when we miss the traffic light. That is unnecessary anger. It does not help us live a meaningful life.

We can focus on positive thoughts, and think of how to improve ourselves.

5. Limit your complaints

If you cannot change the weather, stop complaining about the weather. It is useless to complain about things beyond our control.

If you want to live a meaningful life, complain on the things that are within human power to change. Instead of just complaining, offer suggestions on improvement.

6. Be a good friends to others

A meaningful life consists of sharing. You can live a meaningful life by being a good friend to others. Make life easier for others, and you will feel happier about your life.

7. Time for yourself

A meaningful life requires you to spend time on yourself. You can try to understand yourself, strengthen your strengths, and control your weaknesses.

8. Allow yourself to make mistakes

If you do not make mistakes, you do not learn. When you take up a new hobby, you will make many mistakes. The experience you gain from the mistakes becomes a valuable lesson for you and people around you.

On the same note, allow others to make mistakes in order to learn and to grow up. Learning is part of the cycle of a meaningful life.

9. Balance the past and the future

You do not dwell on the past all the time, yet you cannot forget the lessons from the past. A meaningful life requires to you to balance the past and the expectation for the future. The future is not always bright. The future is bright only when you are prepared for it.

10. Enjoy the present

A meaningful life consists of making use of the present. Your action now can decide the outcome of the future.

If you want to have less regrets in life, learn to live a worthwhile life

Resurrection men by Ian Rankin

Resurrection men by Ian Rankin is a plot within plot kind of suspense thriller. Resurrection men by Ian Rankin features Inspector Rebus and a few bad cops.


In Resurrection men by Ian Rankin, Inspector Rebus was asked to misbehave, in order to send to a program meant to retrain misbehaved policemen. There were a few interlinking plots within this book.

Resurrection men by Ian Rankin basically was about three bad cops and Inspector Rebus. The names of three bad cops were made known to Inspector Rebus. However, getting evidence to capture the three bad cops was no easy task.

I quite like one of the bad cops, Detective Inspector Francis Gray in this book. Detective Inspector Francis Gray had a sense of humor that is very endearing.

We can see his sense of humor in a play acting role between Inspector Francis Gray and Inspector Rebus. In this play acting, Inspector Rebus played the role of a member of the public:

‘Gray leaned forward on the table. “So, Mrs Ditchwater, you say you saw something that night?”

The laughter was louder. The teacher waved them quiet. “Let’s try to keep this serious, shall we?”

Gray nodded, turned his eyes to Rebus again. “You definitely saw something?”

“Yes,” Rebus announced, coarsening his voice. “I saw the whole thing, Officer.”
“Though you’ve been registered blind these past eleven years?”’

As the story progressed, the humor seemed to disappear. Inspector Gray and the two bad cops got uglier and more violent.

The only problem I have in reading Resurrection men by Ian Rankin is that I do not follow the Inspector Rebus series according to order. Resurrection men by Ian Rankin has too many references to old cases and past history which I am not aware of.

There are too many loose ends and too many speculations too. For example, the relationship between the bad cop, Jazz, and the owner of MG Cabs, Ellen Dempsey, was not explained carefully. Inspector Rebus speculated about the relationship, but no further note about the money and the business or personal relationship appears in this book.

Overall, Resurrection men by Ian Rankin is an exciting thriller. The only thing missing is the police investigating procedures. Since the three bad cops were suspected and made known early in this story, Resurrection men by Ian Rankin lacks certain element of suspense.

The plot within plot in Resurrection men by Ian Rankin is a bit confusing, since this involves too many characters. Probably those readers who have followed the Inspector Rebus series will find it less confusing. However, for first time readers of Inspector Rebus, Resurrection men by Ian Rankin is too confusing.

Why skin care products are so expensive?

Skin care products are selling everywhere. Most skin care products are very expensive. It seems that the more natural the skin care products, the more expensive they are.


I wonder why skin care products are so expensive. After all, the ingredients for skin care products are so cheap.

The ingredients include green tea, eucalyptus oil, honey, orange or other citrus fruits, Chamomile, coconut, cucumber, and other common fruits and herbs.

Since the ingredients are so cheap, and the manufacturers can get them at bulk rate, I wonder why the end products are so expensive.

The branded ones are the worst. The cost of the skin care products must be a few hundred times the cost of the ingredients.

The consumers certainly pay much for the advertisements and the brand managers. That is why I avoid buying the branded ones. To pay a few hundred dollars for a complete set of skin care products is not my preferred way of spending money.

I do not like the idea of paying so much to the producers of skin care products, so that they can give free samples to celebrities, and to pay them millions to tell us to buy the products.

The best is to buy fresh ingredients and make your own skin care products for acne. You can watch this video to see how easy it is to make your own skin care products by clicking here.

Pros and cons of working for a small company

When I was young, my parents hoped that I could get a good degree and worked for a big company.


They hoped that I could get a job in large multi-nationals. The thinking at the time was that working for an American company was better than working for a local, small company.

By now, I have worked in both small companies and big foreign multi-national companies. The culture in small company and big company is completely different.

This blog post will focus on the pros and cons of working for a small company.



Pros of working for a small company

1. Wide exposure

A small company is a great place to learn skills. A small company is a great place to learn strategic management.

In a big company, you do not get to see the top management. You do not have the chance to attend management meeting. However, in a small company, you know your boss personally. Your boss is very happy to see that you show interests in the full spectrum of business.

2. Informal

A small company has a rather informal culture. You are not likely to follow multiple processes in order to get things done. As long as your boss agrees, you can go ahead and do whatever you think is good.

3. Grow with the company

The joy of seeing a small company grows from ten employees to a hundred employees is unmatched. You can watch your boss at work, and learn how he brings the company to the next level.

4. Recognition

In a small company, everyone knows what everyone is doing. There is no need for performance review. There is no need to wait for the annual appraisal exercise to get your promotion. Your boss can give you increment when he feels that you deserve it.



Cons of working for a small company

1. Lack of training

Many employees working in a small company do not benefit from structure training. A small company is unlikely to send employees for courses. The boss of a small company usually believes in learning-by-doing, and not in classroom, structured training.

2. Unethical boss

That is part of the reason why many people do not like to work for a small company. They hate unethical bosses. Sometimes, the boss of a small company even refuses to pay salary.

3. Work overload

A small company usually does not have budget for more headcounts. As a result, the existing staff may suffer from work overload. That is especially so when a colleague is away on sick leave or holiday. In a worst case, when there is no one to cover her duties, she has to work even when she is very sick.

4. Lack of regional experience

A small company usually is a local company serving the local market. It is rare for employees of a small company to gain regional working experience.



Have you worked in a small company? How do you feel about working for a small company?

Sell Yourself to the World

Self esteem means to believe in yourself and your ability to sell yourself to the world.

Stand up tall, stand up straight and walk with your chin up.

No matter how depressed you are, no matter how badly life has treated you, no matter how many worries and problems you are facing, when you are facing the world at large, you stand up tall, stand up straight, walk with your chin up and bloom with happiness.

The moment you are out of your house, you are selling yourself to the world at large. Let the world see you as an individual. Let the whole world respect you even if they do not know your name.

Even though you are just walking to the shop to get a loaf of bread, you are to carry yourself well. You are selling yourself to the people in the street, the salesgirl at the counter, the neighbors glancing out from the windows and all kind of people whom you do not know.

Do not slough. Do not walk with your head bow, even if you are deep in your worries. Walk as if you are the owner of the Earth. Walk as if everything on Earth is created for your sake.

In a sense, you are a part owner of the Earth. You are created with the ability to take in the fresh air from the atmosphere. You are created with the ability to eat and to absorb nutrients into your body. All the nutrients that you take in belong to you and are used to build up your body. All these functions are given to you free of charge.

You are part owner of the Earth and you deserve to breathe the air that the plants produce for you. You have the right to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers, the warmth of the sunshine, the beauty of nature and all the abundance of the Earth. You do not create all these, but you are given the power to enjoy life and enjoy living on this Earth.

You deserve to stand up tall and walk straight, look at people in the eyes, smile at them when they meet your eyes. They are as much an individual as you are.

You are unique and so are they. You are a part owner of the Earth and so are they. You enjoy the abundance of the Earth and so are they. Nobody has the ability to reproduce the exact you, with your wealth of experience and knowledge. Nobody has the power to tax you on the air you breathe in, on the enjoyable of nature and the happiness you feel.

No matter how many worries and problems you are facing, once you are out of your house, do leave the worries and problems at home. You are selling yourself to the world. You do not know who you will meet when you step out of the house. You do not what opportunities you will meet when you go out. You may have the opportunity to bring happiness to a stranger. You may have the opportunity to meet new friend.

You do not and will not have the ability to predict the future, even the next minute. You do have the ability to sell yourself to the world. You stand up tall, stand up straight, walk with you chin up and bloom with happiness when you are facing the world.

How to talk a lot and say nothing

There are a few very important skills in life that all of us must learn. One skill is to talk a lot and say nothing. Another skill is to say a lot with few words or no word.

Let us first focus on how to talk a lot and say nothing.

Have you ever heard an Economist or Politician talk? They are the ones who always talk a lot but say nothing.

This is how they do it. When you ask them a question about the economy situation, they will say something like this “On one hand, there are signs that economy is in a recovery stage. On the other hand, the economy may not recover yet.”

This is in fact a very useless sentence. It doesn’t answer the question at all.

Imagine the Meteorological Office uses the same method for the weather forecast. “On one hand, thunderstorm is expected for the next 12 hours. On the other hand, the strong wind may blow the stormy clouds away.” How helpful is this to you? The Meteorological Office is right if there is a thunderstorm. It is also right if there is no thunderstorm.

Why is learning this skill so important even if you are neither an Economist nor Politician?

If you are a manager or a supervisor, you will appreciate that “talk a lot and say nothing” is a very important skill.

Imagine your boss informs you of the restructuring plan. This plan is still under review and you are not to tell anyone about it. Once the management approves the plan, you will have to layoff two of your staff.

So how do you answer when your employees question you about the layoff rumor? You cannot just keep quiet. Silence will constitute as your acknowledgement of the rumor.

Try this “On one hand, management is working hard to save the company and your jobs. On the other hand, management has to take into account the cost factor.” Let your subordinates scratch their heads and ponder your answer.

Now let us discuss how to say a lot with few words or no word.

Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address in 1863. It was a very short speech with a total of 246 words. The famous “government of the people by the people for the people” was the conclusion of the whole speech.

This speech is very short if you compare it with all the speeches that modern politicians make. However these 246 words say a lot, it defines the form of government known as democracy in simple and powerful words that even a kid can understand.

Many people had sacrificed their lives so that their countries could have a “government of the people by the people for the people.”

Short is good. Short is sweet. Short is profound. Sometimes only silence is more powerful than a short sentence.

So folks, please learn these two very important lessons:
How to talk a lot and say nothing;
How to say a lot with few words or no word

You will never regret learning these two important skills in your life.

Sun Tzu and the Art of War

Sun Tzu was recognized as the author who penned the famous The Art of War two thousands and five hundred years ago.

Although known worldwide as Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War, this was not his real name.

His family name is Sun, and Tzu is an honorific title in classic Chinese, like the use of Sir.

In ancient China, there are three parts to a name. Sun is his family name. Wu is his real name. Chang Qing is his style name.

In this article, to avoid confusion, Sun Tzu is used and treated as his name.

Sun Tzu was born around 535 BCE in the state of Qin. The exact year, month and day of his birth was not known. He was born during the period in history known as the Warring States.

That was the time when the central government did not have much power, and the warlords fought with each other for land and money.

Sun Tzu was born into a rich family. His father was a high ranking officer serving the king of Qin. Sun Tzu had the opportunity to study ancient writings. He took an interest in reading books on war strategies.

During the Warring States, regional wars were frequent. Hardly a year passed without any war. Sun Tzu had a lot of opportunities to hear war reports, and to analyze the war strategies employed by different generals.

When he was 18 years old, he was disgusted with the internal turmoil among the royal family in the state of Qin. He decided to leave the state of Qin, and to serve the king of Wu instead.

When he reached the state of Wu, he befriended Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu became a trusted advisor to the king of Wu. He highly recommended Sun Tzu as military advisor, so that the king of Wu would conquer all the other states, and consolidated his power. The king of Wu agreed to meet Sun Tzu.

By then, Sun Tzu had written part of The Art of War. The king of Wu was impressed with the writings, but not convinced of Sun Tzu’s ability to command the army.

He decided to test Sun Tzu. He asked Sun Tzu to demonstrate his leadership skill by training 360 of his concubines. It was a tough job. All the ladies were giggling and treating it as a game.

Sun Tzu laid down the military laws. He asked them to acknowledge the laws and to clarify any doubt. All the ladies answered that they understand. Sun Tzu appointed the king of Wu’s favorite concubines as the leaders. The ladies were formed into two platoons.

He gave the command to turn right. The ladies were either talking or giggling and not acting accordingly to order.

Sun Tzu repeated the military laws. The ladies repeated their acknowledgments. However, they were still giggling and not acting according to order.

Sun Tzu ordered the execution of the leaders. The king of Wu had a shock when he heard this. These two ladies were his favorite concubines. He begged for mercy, saying “I know your ability and do not need you to continue the training. These 2 ladies are my favorite concubines. If you kill them, I will have a miserable time enjoying my meals.”

Sun Tzu refused and told the king: “A general has the right to refuse the king’s order when he is on duty. A general is responsible for the soldiers under his charge. He has to do what is best for the army, and fulfilled his duty as the appointed general for the country.”

After the two ladies were beheaded, all the ladies were so obedient that they marched according to order, and became exemplary “soldiers”.

The king of Wu was a wise ruler. Even though he was angry with Sun Tzu for beheading his concubines, he recognized that Sun Tzu’s ability was useful to him. He appointed Sun Tzu as the Commander, in charge of all his armies in 512 BCE.

Sun Tzu proved his worth. In 506 BCE, he defeated armies from the state of Chu. Chu was a much powerful state with 200,000 soldiers. Sun Tzu led his 30,000 soldiers and defeated state of Chu, forcing the king of Chu to flee from the capital.

When the king of Wu passed away, his son became the new king. His son was not a good king. He was arrogant and preferred to spend his time with his concubines.

Sun Tzu knew that the new king would not listen to him, so he left quietly and retired to the mountain.

He spent his remaining life polishing his initial draft of The Art of War. The completed 13 chapters of the book were passed down through the generations. This book was widely used and quoted throughout the history of China. It is still the widely quoted strategy book for fighting the commercial battle.

The Art of War was translated into English as early as 1910 by Lionel Giles. The copyrights for both the Chinese and English versions have expired, and available for download at Project Gutenberg.