Topping the list…

I trust everybody’s Christmas was great? I’m still so busy. I actually haven’t finished wrapping my gifts yet. Yeah, it’s that bad.

So, I got a few gifts this Christmas and here are the best three. Why best three? Anyone who knows me knows that fashion is my vice, that  I like to sleep a lot and I drink a lot.

1. Total Pillow from my cousins. Super love this pillow. It’s like my security pillow whenever I’m at home. You can bend it into different shapes to support your back, neck, etc. The girls got this for the car because I mostly do the driving but I can’t seem to get it out of my room. Even MB loves this. He uses this whenever he watches TV.  And for me, who has aches and pains almost every single day, this is truly a life saver!

2. Clothes from my best friend, the wonderful Ms. A.  Special thanks goes out to Kuya R for picking these out from the land beyond beyond. Love the colors and super love the fabric!

3. KOR water bottle from this guy, who is just absolutely awesome! I drink a lot...of water, that is. My illness makes me thirsty all the time. I’ve been wanting a KOR water bottle for months now ever since I saw  Iron Man using it. Or maybe that was even before? Seeing Iron Man use it just made it more tempting. Anyway, it seems that every time I see this at bazaars, my budget wouldn’t permit me to get one so I literally screamed and jumped in my room when I opened the package this morning.  And in a color I love, nonetheless!

Aside from these three, I also received a wonderful news from one of my dearest friends. She’s getting married and I will be her official MUA. It’s been my dream to be a MUA to my friends on their special day ever since I started getting serious with makeup. She’s the first one to make this wish come true. Not only that, she asked me to help plan her wedding! Isn’t that great? That’s on my list too! Today is a truly wonderful day for me. I am very happy. I’ve been very down these past few days and today really made a difference. To end, let me share something with you from The Secret Scrolls that I also received today. I hope it brightens up your day too!

“It is possible to be happy and joyful most of the time. You just have to look at little children and see their natural joy. You may say that little children are free and don't have anything to worry about, but you are free too! You are free to choose worry or to choose joy, and whatever you choose will attract exactly that. Worry attracts more worry. Joy attracts more joy.”

May the joy be with you.

Colors that we love

My older sister is a bookworm. She just likes to study. She’s not obsessed with kikay stuff like I am. My cousin R is like my sister. Sure she likes to be pretty but not to the point that she would spend a lot on beauty and fashion stuff. Now R’s younger sister C, is just like me. We are both obsessed with kikay stuff. School’s out so we’ve been hanging out a lot. Last weekend we went to Market, Market! and checked out some stuff at Etude House. She became obsessed with the glitter polish and I told her I have one exactly like the silver one she’s wearing, only it was the Bieber polish in Make U Smile. So when we got back home, I applied China Glaze Ahoy on her nails and topped it off with Make U Smile:

I was wearing China Glaze Lighthouse:






This is what I’m wearing now:



LA Girl Matte Red (available at Hyphen)

We’re going back to Etude to buy the glitter sets. We’ll be sure to post the photos when we do.  Isn’t it great to have a kikay sister?

Guest Post-Herbench So In Love

My cousin C and I went shopping the other day and Bench was one of our stops. I told her that I found this lotion that I really liked:
 

The other one that I liked was Tickled Pink. We both didn’t like Bare Me not. C immediately bought So In Love. I asked her to do a guest review on this lotion.

 

Hi lovely ladies! Last Sunday, My cousin and I bought this Herbench So In Love Moisturizing Lotion at the Bench Store, Glorietta 5, Makati. It’s only worth P55 (cheap huh?). It has a lovely fresh scent. It smoothens and softens the skin while leaving your favorite scent all over, for that all-day fresh feeling.

It didn’t give me allergies (both in terms of skin and scent). If I wash my hands with just water, the scent lingers. My hands remain soft. With continued use, I can see that my hands are getting softer. Not bad for a 55-peso product, no?

I’m getting obsessed with this lotion. I put it in my bag so I can put some lotion on my hand wherever I go.  Oh, Lady E is getting obsessed with this too!

Benefit

I was able to visit the opening of the first Benefit boutique in the Philippines last December 15. Here’s what I saw:








The prices of the wax services are not bad:



I’m going back to try the eye cream:



And get me some Ring My Bella:



I’m obsessed with that doll head. I’ve been wanting to get one since I saw it abroad.



Not a huge fan of the lippies but a believer of that purple box:



Nice display:

The brushes are similar to Bobbi Brown’s in terms of look and first feel. I just haven’t had the chance to use them. They are more affordable though with the most expensive brush marked at Php2,300, according to SA Hern.

It was very busy during the open day (naturally) so I wasn’t able to look around that much. I just took photos and talked to Hern for a few minutes then just told them that I would come back when it’s no longer busy. I’d really like to try the eye cream, Ring My Bella and Watts Up. And probably the eyebrow wax service. Benefit products are great. If you’re looking for an upscale makeup brand to try without killing your wallet or making your credit card cry, then I suggest you try Benefit. They’ve got great kits to start your makeup journey.

Dressed for War

I’ve been in a fashion rut ever since my stress levels sky rocketed but thanks to a certain Ms. M, I suddenly got inspired to dress up again. It was great timing because MB was taking me shopping the next day. I got more inspired to liven up my wardrobe. During the weekend though, something happened that really made me mad and so I was determined to go to war, I mean work, come Monday. Of course, I needed to be in my best “war” attire:

Sometimes when I feel sick or stressed, I try to glam up so as to make up for my mood. (Clothes are from Hyphen Luxe)



Had lunch with my sister, Dr. G., at Benny’s. Will write about that in my food blog.

EOTD (sorry for the blurry photo):



I used Flow, Tainted, Half Truth and Evidence from the UD 15th Anniversary Palette.

Tools of the trade:

Finding Mr. Bright

Bobbi Brown Pale Pink and MAC Playing Koi

Must accessorize:

 

Can’t get enough of this purse:

A last minute addition:

The mask ring was also a last minute addition. Got them from the kapitbahay store.

I really hope everything will be great from now on. I could use a long break from stress. Dressing up seems to alleviate some of that “pain” though so expect more posts like these.

Sigma Dry N Shape

I have so many backlog posts! I’ve been out of the blogging scene for a few months now because I had to attend to more important things. I’m still so full on the stress meter so I decided to give blogging a try again, to de-stress. So far it’s working.

I have this Sigma Dry N Shape that I love so much! As you all know, brushes need to be deep cleaned at least once a week (oh, how I wish I could do that!). Before I had this product, I used a towel to dry my brushes. I used to dread washing my brushes because they take too long to dry and using the towel is such a hassle as the brushes keep slipping. Now, washing brushes is fun:

I love the fact that this product wrings out all the water from the brushes. It also keeps them in good shape. I just wish It had a slot for kabuki brushes. The main functions are just that – dry and shape. It also promises to dry your brushes in just a few hours. Some of the brushes get dried in 2-4 hours whereas some take overnight (sometimes longer when it’s cold) to dry. This pouch is very convenient as the brushes don’t roll over and storage is a breeze. Just close the magnetic snaps and store wherever. I still keep the box so I just put it back in it.

Hyphen still carries one so if you want one for yourself, check it out: www.thehyphenstore.com

Finding Mr. Bright

I love brightening products because my skin is acidic. I was quite excited to try out this kit and today was the perfect timing.



The kit contains:

• Girl Meets Pearl – liquid pearl for the face
• Posie Tint – poppy-pink tinted lip & cheek stain
• High Beam – luminescent complexion enhancer
• Erase Paste – brightening camouflage for eyes and face

I already have the the Erase Paste prior to this kit. I was very intrigued with Girl Meets Pearl so I used that first. According to the directions, you can layer this over makeup or use alone for a pearlized effect. You must know that I no longer use face primers because they speed up the acidity effect on my skin thus making it look darker. I used Girl Meets Pearl over my Laura Mercier liquid foundation. It blended quite nicely and prevented any darkening. Your skin will really look brighter with this product.

Next is the Erase Paste. This is one of the best concealers I’ve ever used as it retains its brightness in spite of my acidic skin. It takes a whole day for my under eye area to darken.

Posie Tint was a bit of a disappointment. The direction says to apply 3 small strokes on your cheek then blend. I was scared with the bright pink color and so I tested it on the back of my hand first. Not much color there. So I applied three small strokes on my cheek then blended. Not much color there either. So I applied three more. The color showed but it was just a bit of a flush. I wouldn’t recommend this product if you want your cheeks pink. This is great for a dewy look though. Oh, and the product is blendable and does not easily dry up so you don’t end up looking like a clown.

Lastly, High Beam. I love this product! It’s a perfect everyday highlighter for the bridge of the nose, chin and cheek bones. The only highlighters I use are MAC Chez Chez Lame and Bobbi Brown Bone and I only use these when I want to look all glammed up. High Beam is a nice, subtle highlighter for casual/work days.

I tried to take a photo but I don’t think you’ll notice the products:

You’ll see the highlighter though. (I can’t wait to get a new cam!) So that ends this 3-part series of my OOTD, EOTD and FOTD.

Isla Serena EOTD

Sorry, my cam is broken so you’d have to forgive these photos. I couldn’t get the colors to show on either camera phones (mine and MB’s).



This is the eye makeup that I wore with my outfit in the previous post.




Here’s the palette:

Photo from Duwop

I used this for the base (middle):




And the blues and pink:

This is the second time I’ve used this palette. The first time was a blur, so that doesn’t count.

You have to build the colors. This is not like Urban Decay that you only need one sweep and you’re good to go. But, this has very little fall outs compared to UD. The powder is fine and didn’t irritate my eyes. The color lasted the whole time I was out in the mall (around 5 hours). I think you need to retouch when you reach the 6th or 7th hour. I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance for my primer. This works better on me than UDPP. Then, my T. Le Clerc liquid liner and Shu Uemura mascara.

I haven’t used the lippies on this palette. I will post a review when I do. Next in this series, a review of my Finding Mr. Bright Kit.

Rainy Days and Sundays

Cold weather makes me sick. As in literally. So what better way to cheer myself up than to play dress up!

Harem/pj pants are one of our bestsellers at Hyphen Luxe. At first, I had a hard time styling it. Luckily my best friend A said it might be the print. And it was! I was wearing the wrong prints that’s why they looked awkward on me. So that night, I grabbed 2 pairs from our rack (yeah, I do that a lot) and tried them on when I got home. Here’s the result:

I like this background because the shapes complement the print on my pants. I think I’ll be taking more photos on this spot in the future.

My blouse is a chiffon white blouse also from Hyphen Luxe. Those are my favorite wedges so you’ll be seeing a lot of them in future posts.


Here’s a breakdown of the accessories:

Hyphen Luxe Owl cuff

Necklace from a fellow bazaarista

The print on my pants

My periwinkle blue purse, a gift from the in-laws in Singapore

I’ve had the necklace and the purse for quite some time now but it’s only today that I got to use them. I’m like that. When I see something I like, I get it even though it won’t fit in my wardrobe because I know, one day, I’ll be able to spot some things that will go well with it. Such is the case of the necklace. The purse, on the other hand, was a gift so I don’t have any controls over it. Blue is not high on my color list but this shade is perfect. It’s not in your face blue, it’s just right and I think it would go well with the new clothes I got from Hyphen Luxe.

Next is a post about my makeup and a review of my Duwop Isla Serena palette.

*www.hyphenluxe.multiply.com for your outfit needs.

How Do You Wear…

Urban Decay Junk Show?

I wear it like this:

Since it’s such a bold, loud color, I decided to wear it alone accentuated with a simple flick of an eyeliner.

I haven’t worn it ever since so I guess I need to be more creative next time.

What I’m Lovin’ Now

You’d have to excuse my photos as my camera is broken. I’m using my phone.

I know Halloween is long past but I guess all the Twilight fever hit me and I found myself in love with this deep red nail polish from the Goth collection of OPI. And to top everything off, I’ve been wearing just red lipstick. Plain face + red lipstick + bloody red nails equals?

Of Cute and Useful Things

I’m a sucker for cute things especially cute packaging. Over the years, I’ve been trying to nip that attitude just because I feel that sometimes I make impulse purchases that won’t be useful in the long run.

But I’m pretty happy with these purchases:

This Hello Kitty bowl is from mom. We got this at one of our former bazaars. I think it’s 150 pesos and it serves as my jewelry dish on my vanity.

This Etude House Penguin is a hand lotion. I saw this at Sugar’s blog (where I find all my Etude House lemmings) and it took a while before I was able to buy them because at that time, they were not available at Etude House, Beauty by SM.

Love the smell. It’s like mild baby powder. The packaging also works because the cap doesn’t come off so it doesn’t spill.

“This is my Fairy Penguin Story”

I totally forgot the price but it’s affordable and worth it. I like this better than the first EH hand lotion that I bought.  It’s not sticky and gets absorbed by my skin fast. I also sometimes use this to soothe the dry skin on my legs, elbows and knees. One bottle will last you a long time.

Got any cute stuff that are worth a shoutout?