Dreaming of a Chocolaty Christmas!

We probably all have our little secret cravings, yes? In times of stress, some people will start craving salt, starch, spice--or even sweets. When I'm up to my ears in work, I start craving chocolate. Badly.

Instead of nibbling on something dark, rich and milky, I decided some information would be a nice distraction.

A few sweet facts about chocolate:

• Chocolate is made from cacao beans. Cacao flowers and pods grow straight out of the tree trunk! The tree itself has the scientific name of Theobroma--which means 'food of the gods'.
• The Mayans used cacao beans as currency--some people even tried to counterfeit them by carving little clay beans.
• In early times, fermented, dried cocoa beans were ground and mixed with hot water, spices and flowers, and then frothed between two containers. (Sounds a bit like Milo tarik…)
• Way back when, it was a drink for the rich--the Aztec King Montezuma was said to drink 50 cups of it a day!
• When the Western world discovered chocolate, it was considered a health food and medicine. It was prescribed for fevers, to cool the body, aid digestion and relieve pain.
• The first milk chocolate bar was invented in 1875, by Daniel Peter and Henry Nestle. They added condensed milk to solid chocolate, and voila! White chocolate is white because it doesn't contain any actual cocoa solids--just the cocoa butter. 
• We know now that cocoa has anti-inflammatory properties, and it's a great antioxidant, which eliminates free radicals from the body. Weight for weight, dark chocolate has more than 5 times the antioxidants of blueberries!

There's also another type of chocolate to indulge in that absolutely won't affect your weight.

SkinFood's Choco Smoky Makeup Line

We've just introduced a brand new makeup line in our Malaysian stores, and this is it! The Choco Smoky Makeup Line is a softer, smokier and sweeter alternative to harsh, dark eye makeup--but just as dramatic. Deep, chocolaty shades will enhance your natural beauty, while the cocoa in every product minimizes skin irritation while moisturizing and protecting your skin. You'll love how it just melts onto the skin and lasts for as long as you need it to.

(In this case, chocolate's really a girl's best friend.)

Start off with the four-colour Eye Palette (RM73.90), which contains three eye shades and one eyeliner for perfect smoky lids. Then match it with our delicious Volume Mascara (RM42.90), which curls, coats and lengthens lashes without clumping--or our Eyebrow Jam (RM31.90), for brows that resist sweat, water, oil and smudging. Enhance the look further with one of our four nude shades of Lip Color (RM31.90), with natural wax, mango butter and coconut oil for shine, not stickiness! Finish off the whole look with out Nail Kit (RM31.90)--three delicious that make nail gradients easy to achieve, even for beginners at home. It's a look delicious enough to eat!

You can get the whole Choco Smoky Line for RM212.50 at your nearest friendly Skinfood Outlet--it's the perfect last-minute indulgent gift for Christmas, for friends, or just because. Since when have we ever needed reasons for chocolate? ;)