Latest news with #Vikki
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
I'm a tired mum of two and was looking exhausted. A $20 buy has given me my best ever skin, I can't believe the difference
A busy Sydney mum has shared how an affordable beauty buy transformed her skin taking it from lacklustre and dull to glowing and hydrated in a matter of weeks. Vikki felt she was looking exhausted thanks to running after two kids under three, and wanted a nourishing product to address fine lines and wrinkles as well as offer intense hydration. The designer and photographer trialled the new Skin Physics Anti-Ageing Intensive Hydration Serum, which launched just last month and after just four weeks of using the product daily she's been left with her 'best ever skin'. The potent product $39.95 which is currently on sale for just $19.97 in the brand's 50 per cent sitewide EOFY sale, addresses signs of ageing by offering skin intense hydration and works to improve firmness and elasticity dramatically improving the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Vikki told Daily Mail Australia: 'My skin felt so dry and dehydrated, my lines appeared more visible and after years of sleepless nights with my babies, life was definitely taking its toll. My simple skincare routine wasn't working, I knew I needed something more hardworking.' After using the Skin Physics Anti-Ageing Intensive Hydration Serum for just two days, Vikki said: ' I woke up and couldn't believe that I looked noticeably more rested and refreshed, despite having my usual broken sleep.' The hydrating serum contains 15 per cent WrinFix-Px, an ingredient which boasts an active compound derived from xylitol, known for its skin-rejuvenating properties. The potent ingredient enhances the production of collagen and enhances overall skin structure. The nourishing formula also contains collagen promoting ingredients, including rice extract and soluble collagen, to help improve firmness and elasticity and hyaluronic acid providing incredible hydration and enhancing water retention in the skin. Although Vikki noticed an immediate difference after using the serum for a few days, after a few weeks she was 'blown away' by the difference. Mum Vikki trialled the new Skin Physics Anti-Ageing Intensive Hydration Serum and after just four weeks of using the product daily she's been left with her 'best ever skin' 'After a few weeks of using the serum I can see that my lines have faded and my forehead looks smooth. I'm genuinely so impressed with the change,' Vikki said. 'After three weeks of use, I think my skin looks so good, my best ever skin. I can't believe the difference. I feel like I don't need any makeup or other products, I just do my eyebrows and off I go.' The serum, which is free from fragrance, parabens, alcohol and silicones has already attracted a number of rave reviews from happy customers. One shopper who gave the product a five star review said: 'This serum is a hydration game changer! My skin feels instantly plumper and smoother, and after a few weeks, I noticed reduced fine lines and better elasticity. Love that it's fragrance-free and gentle on my sensitive skin. A must-try for anyone targeting dryness and signs of aging!' Another said: 'Love this product especially before bed. It hydrates and plumps my face - I wake up feeling supple still the next morning!! Highly recommend!' 'After a few weeks of using the serum I can see that my lines have faded and my forehead looks smooth. I'm genuinely so impressed with the change,' Vikki said. The Anti-Ageing Intensive Hydration Serum is one of three new serums that were launched by the brand last month alongside the Skin Physics Repairing Phyto Serum and the Discolouration Serum, with the trio addressing a myriad of the most common concerns. The Repairing Phyto Serum is suitable for sensitive or irritated skin and is a calming, nourishing serum formulated to enhance the skin barrier and improve hydration. Harnessing extracts of olive leaf, cucumber fruit, morus alba root, and eucalyptus leaf, the Repairing Phyto Serum 's formula boasts antioxidant protection to promote skin repair and to reduce pigmentation and redness. Skin is hydrated thanks to hero ingredient Hyaluronic Acid, while Ectoin shields the skin from environmental damage. Vikki, pictured with her daughter, saw an immediate difference but said she was impressed with the results after using the serum after several weeks The Repairing serum has also become a fan favourite attracting plenty of praise from happy customers who say it's a great option for irritated winter skin. 'It's a beautiful barrier-supporting serum that's become a staple in my skincare lineup - especially now with the cooler weather. Highly recommend if you're looking for something calming, hydrating, and suitable for sensitive skin,' one shopper said. Another raved: 'Love this product. I have sensitive skin and these serums have worked wonderfully for me. Great ingredients, lightweight and absorbs well. Easy to use with my other products.' Finally, the Skin Physics Discolouration Serum is the last in the trio and it is is formulated to target uneven skin tone and discolouration for a more radiant complexion. The high-performance serum uses melanin-reducing Tranexamic Acid for dark spot correction, while brightening Alpha-Arbutin targets pigmentation and sun damage, and Niacinamide works to reduce hyperpigmentation and even skin tone. Exfoliating agent HEPES gently buffs and smooths the skin, while speeding up cell renewal, and also boosts the efficacy of the formulation by allowing the ingredients to penetrate the skin at a deeper level. With only five star reviews from thrilled customers plenty of shoppers have shared their thoughts on the serum. One reviewer shared: 'I have sun damage pigmentation and have tried many different products however saw a difference with this serum. It has really helped to lift it in just 14 days of use, I've also noticed a difference in my skin texture.' Another, who said they were 'obsessed' with the product said: 'What sets this serum apart in my opinion is its ability to tackle stubborn pigmentation. I had a few dark patches that hadn't budged in months, but this serum gradually lightened them without irritation. My skin tone now looks more balanced, and I've even received compliments about how 'glowy' my skin looks without makeup.' The newest trio for Skin Physics comes after the brand built a loyal following as a cosmeceutical skincare brand renowned for its science-backed, results-driven formulations. The brand's award-winning Oxygen-C 15% Vitamin C + Ferulic Acid buy, has been labelled as the 'holy grail' of skincare. The brand, which launched in 2007, has more than 2000 rave reviews on Trustpilot, with an average 4.7 out five star rating. To shop the trio of serums in the brand's EOFY 50 per cent off sitewide sale, click here.
Telegraph
16-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
I gardened my way through grief. Then cancer struck
It was a mad idea, swapping a 40-foot garden in London for a three-acre spread in Norfolk but that's the kind of leap you make when you're running to stay ahead of cancer. My wife Vikki was diagnosed aged 36 and though she had treatment that was initially successful, it returned with a vengeance, several times, until we knew it wasn't going away again. So, we lived faster and faster, travelling, partying, tasting life to the full, until we saw this extraordinary house and garden in the Norfolk countryside. It felt like a Swallows and Amazons dream, a chance to connect properly with nature, to camp under the stars and have fresh veg for dinner; a perfect playground for our four-year-old daughter, Romy; a wonderful space to entertain family and friends. The house was large, but the garden was vast – 47 trees, nine lawns, a beech maze in one corner and a former chalk quarry lined with tropical plants in the middle. It would have tested Monty Don, never mind a London couple, one of whom knew little about gardening and the other one less than that. Truth be told, we hadn't a clue how we were going to look after it. But then who cares about practicalities when cancer's involved? We didn't do much gardening in the time Vikki had left; we were too busy just enjoying it. There were some memorable moments I'll never forget but way, way too few because she died 18 months after we first moved in. In my mind there was no doubt I was going to try and keep the place going. It felt like a tribute to her and the dreams we'd shared. It already felt like a kind of support too, a fixed point when so much else had crumbled. In the years that followed, the garden was to become much more: a companion, an inspiration, a frustration, a hobby, a commercial outlet and even a chat-up line. A few months after Vikki passed away, I discovered a huge supply of onions in some raised beds and visualised some sort of business opportunity. I brought them in, wrapped them in newspaper and filled the house. After several weeks I realised I hadn't a clue how to realise the plan and just left them. They naturally turned to mush, clinging to the newspaper like toffee and smelling like sulphur. I had to dump the lot and suffered guilt-pangs for weeks, wondering if I'd let Vikki's legacy down, even if we should move. Looking back, it was just another chapter in the crazy book of grief. More successful than that was the summer when the garden played Cupid as I spent an afternoon for the first time with my soon-to-be new partner Emma and her children; me shamelessly parading it in front of her, like a city boy with a massive green Porsche, the garden playing the part of a bonkers, horticultural chat-up line. The succeeding years saw many great memories as the families joined forces and built dens out of branches and leaves, had endless games of tag and danced under the stars as we dished out hot dogs around a glowing firepit. Through it all I was doing as much gardening as I could: weeding, pruning, clearing but maintaining rather than adding, and doing everything badly – accidentally leaving little tufts in the lawns after mowing so they looked like Tintin's scalp, over- pruning plants so they never recovered, and digging unwanted strimmer burrows because I couldn't keep the bloody thing level. Then, suddenly, cancer struck again – this time it was my turn. Head-neck cancer, stage two. I had to avoid other people for fear of infection so became a recluse in my bedroom, my only contact with the real world the view of the garden outside. Like James Stewart in Rear Window, I'd watch for hours, obsessed with the stories unfolding in front of me; the squirrels chasing each other; the leaves competing to be the first to fall from the trees; the garden a distraction, a comfort, a reminder that life goes on. Afterwards, it continued to be an invaluable help as I suffered a marked post-treatment collapse. It's a mental health issue rarely discussed. What happens after the hospital care ends, when you are let out alone into the world to fend for yourself, when you become for want of a better phrase (and personally I dislike it) a 'cancer survivor'. My diagnosis and treatment were fairly challenging in themselves – 30 radiotherapies, six rounds of chemo, an operation – and I couldn't have got through it without Emma who was nurse, driver, cook, babysitter, partner and counsellor combined. She got me to the hospital for my many appointments, sorted out my meds (I had bad chemo brain fog), and helped to syringe sustenance into my stomach through a tube when my burned-out neck was closed for business. She did everything with patience, good grace and humour and it wasn't even the first time; years before, she'd lost her own husband to cancer. Despite that amazing support, the treatment still felt, occasionally, like physical and mental torture. Ironic then that in retrospect I still feel that the worst bit, for me, was the day I was told 'you are all clear, we'll see you in three months'. Nothing prepares you for that. There is the occasional warning phrase in a leaflet, the odd support group to hand if you're lucky but there is no real buttress against the psychological challenges ahead. It's not so much the uncertainty – we all know cancer might return – but the inexplicable bursts of anger (I bludgeoned a tiny mouse that had strayed in from a nearby field to the house as if I was a serial killer), the sadness, the confusion, the frustration, the loss of identity, all of which I experienced. I was the same person as before but different. I was picking up the threads of my new life but as a changed individual, one who didn't yet know who he was. I was lost. I cried. I withdrew. Why didn't I feel better? I wa s better, wasn't I? And all the time I heard the piercing voices of former cancer sufferers telling me how everything looked brighter, smelt better, sounded clearer (it didn't to me); how they just wanted to bungee jump for charity, navigate the Amazon, leave the city and make knitwear. I didn't want to leave the sofa. I even (shock horror) sometimes missed my cancer or at least missed how I felt psychologically when being treated. As someone in the system you feel secure and taken care of. It holds you, embraces you, gives you security. Whilst it's all happening you get enormous support outside too – a tsunami of love. You get sympathy when you have a heart condition or dementia or are ill in a thousand different ways, but nothing comes close to cancer. Not in the power, the reliability of the reaction, not in the simple, unquestioning responses from everyone around. It's still the Big C, the biggest taboo, the greatest fear. When you're dealing with cancer you get preference, you get the benefit of the doubt, you're cut some slack. There are the small things too. Trying to get your Skybox fixed? Tell them you have cancer. Want to get someone to deliver a parcel when it suits you, not them? Same again. And then, naturally, post-treatment, a lot of that, if not all, slowly disappears and you have to pick up the pieces. It's an adjustment, a big one. You're living in a different world now and I just wasn't prepared for it. Thankfully, I recovered from that low. Through the patience and love of those close by, some medication, some meditation, some time passing, some therapy, an understanding GP who admitted they perhaps don't do enough in that area, and probably some good fortune too. The garden helped massively. When all else seemed so fragile I would spend hours there: clearing, digging, simple tasks. But the steady rhythm of physical labour gave me a skeleton I might have collapsed without. Sometimes when even the gardening felt too much, I'd sit on the seat looking out across the old chalk quarry and listen to the wind rush through the trees. Nothing happens fast in a garden, and it helped to slow me down. It pulled me back to something older, more fundamental and in doing so I gradually recovered a sense of myself. I came to understand that what I'd experienced was a phase. That I hadn't failed in some way. That I was still me, beneath it all and that person wasn't insane but damaged and slowly getting better. By this time the kids had grown up and were leaving home, so it also felt the right moment to downsize and move on. Unfortunately, Emma and I couldn't sell the property, so decided to rent it out as a holiday-let. For a brief period, I became a full-time horticulturalist, trying to rescue years of neglect under the expert tutelage of Martin, our professional gardener. He was hugely knowledgeable, and I felt inadequate by comparison. When he wielded a spade, it was like another limb; when I used mine, it was like someone attacking an intruder. When Martin sweated, it was heroic, Brad Pitt in Troy; when I did, it was Lee Evans at Wembley. Covid brought an end to our holiday-let ambitions but as we emerged from its shadow, we did finally manage to sell the house. It's been five years now since we left that wonderful garden behind for good and exchanged it for another delightful but much smaller space; room enough to continue my gardening journey but with much less stress. My book doesn't quite have a Hollywood ending– I didn't go from gardening moron to gold medal winner at Chelsea. But the experience of living with that extraordinary three acres is nonetheless seared into my soul. When I venture out now (and nature walks are as much a part of my day as writing) things have definitely changed. I'm more aware of my surroundings. I look up and around. Take it all in. Just appreciate. I appreciate that I'm in a place that adds to my sense of wellbeing; one that can instantly restore my perspective; one that has a strength and solidity that is ever more vital in the fractured, fleeting world of today.
South China Morning Post
11-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How a 30-year-old Hong Kong flat became a French bistro-inspired haven
Published: 1:15pm, 11 Feb 2025 The dated decor was inconsequential to the buyers of this early 1990s Mid-Levels apartment. What mattered to Vikki and Hai Lin was its prime, elevated location, affording up-close views of neighbouring Central and Hong Kong 's famous towers and harbour. With good bones and a sunny orientation, the building had the makings of a fine home for two professionals working in the financial sector. All it needed was an aesthetic overhaul . The mainland Chinese couple both studied overseas, gaining an appreciation for Western culture and a particular fondness for the cosy feel of French bistros. MAD Studio was engaged to infuse that vibe into the apartment. At 1,520 square feet, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom flat with helper's quarters could accommodate the level of detail synonymous with French interior design. Case in point: wainscoting, a classic decorative element, is used on walls throughout, with matching trims on the built-in cabinetry. Green cabinetry provides a splash of colour in the monochrome-and-neutrals dining room. Photo: Tracy Wong Photography 'In smaller flats we tend to conceal storage in line with the wall to avoid the space looking cluttered,' says Alvin Cheng Ka Heng , creative director at MAD Studio. '[With flats] over 1,000 square feet we have the freedom to add more design detail to make the joinery stand out.'
