Celebration

I was supposed to wear this combo back in June to celebrate my son’s birth.









Actually, I had planned to wear all glitter back in June but I didn’t have the chance to do my nails so it’ s only now that I’m rocking them.

Coral Reef

I love the scent of this one! It reminds me of my VS shower gel. It has a hint of berries. My only problem with this is it makes my hands dry and rough. The bottle also leaks a little. I hope that does not happen with the Japanese Cherry Blossom PocketBac as I put that in purse.  It will be a disaster if that happens!

Japanese Cherry Blossom PocketBac

I was really looking forward to this hand gel from Bath and Body Works just because I am a sucker for cherry blossoms. I thought this would have a mild scent but it was too overwhelming!

I just finished the last two bottles of my hand sanitizers so I decided to replace the one in my bag with this. Good thing I use this when I’m not at home as I’m afraid the scent might be too strong for my baby.

I can’t describe the scent but it has too powerful notes in it that I feel they all clash. I think this will last me a long time as I will only put a tiny amount every time I use this.

I won’t repurchase this scent but I will definitely purchase more of these cute sanitizers!

Baby Love

I like featuring baby stuff here in my blog as a way of showing my gratitude to the people who give gifts to my baby and also to give an idea to all my mom readers on what’s out there. This is also useful to all you ninangs out there as December is fast approaching.

Like most men, my husband is clueless when it comes to shopping but sometimes he amazes me. I told him to buy some toys for our little one and he came home with these goodies:

Franco

Lenny

He remembered to buy a pack of mittens as our little one’s mittens keep falling off because of the elastic band. These have ribbons so we can secure them on his wrists.






This one is for me. I’m breastfeeding my baby so I need a little help in that department.

Moms, tell me if you want a review on this

My grandmother got him these cute socks

Mom went shopping at S&R again and got him a pack of Pampers. This is still too big for the little one so I’m keeping them. For now, we will stick to EQ newborn.



This is for MB and I. We just love the towels at S&R!

So that’s my baby haul this week! I can’t wait to go out so that I can do some shopping of my own for the little one. I’m on extended house arrest as my condition worsened a bit. My fibromyalgia is also acting up again and that’s no good either.

Rome

This is the second bottle of body wash from my Bath and Body Works haul. If you can remember, I didn’t like the first one.  You’ll be able to find that review in the archives if you haven’t read that yet.

I like this one. It smells sweet, too sweet in fact but I like it. It reminds me of my Victoria’s Secret Body Wash. I am not a huge fan of sweet scents but I guess I got used to it because of my VS stash. But my tolerance for sweet scents will remain in the bath department. I still go for citrusy scents when it comes to perfume.

Anyway, what I really like about this is I only need a small amount to make a good lather. It’s super tipid! I’ve been wondering why MB’s bottle still had a lot of product left even after more than 2 weeks of usage. Now I know why.

I also like the fact that the product itself does not feel/look cheap. There are a few body washes out there that are too thick or feel cheap, like they were produced in a hurry so the texture and consistency are not right.

I like pump bottles better but this packaging works for me too as the bottle is not so heavy so I won’t have a hard time applying the body wash to my bath lily.

As for the price, I got this on sale so I have no complaints.

It says on the label that it has a moisturizing effect. I’ve been using this for over a week and I have yet to see that. My skin is still super dry. The TBS mango soap beats this body wash in that department.

Will I repurchase more BBW products in the future? Definitely!

Glitter Nails

This is my first NOTD in about 2 months, I think.

Courtesy of:



Please ignore the bottle of baby bottle cleanser at the back. I guess that’s another part of motherhood. My beauty stuff are now mixed with baby stuff.

Now my nails are bare again. I hope I can find the time to fix them. Being a working mom is hard work!

Hyphen Love

Sorry for all the crease. I didn’t bother ironing this as I tossed it in the laundry basket after I took a photo.



I’ve lost 17 pounds since I gave birth so I am slowly rebuilding my wardrobe. I gave away more than half of my wardrobe when I got pregnant so I need new clothes. I haven’t been going out much except to go to the hospital so there’s no rush. I am still on house arrest until my bleeding stops or until my next checkup. My doctor will be the one to decide when I can go back to my normal routine of doing errands, etc. She says to take it easy for 3 months before doing house chores. I can’t wait for those 3 months to be over so that I can do some cleaning and sprucing up in our home. It has been neglected for so long. Anyway, back to the stuff.



Mom also has the same pair on the right. I’m itching to do some bag and shoe shopping next. I can’t wait!

The Body Shop Savon Mangue

I have a love-hate relationship with this soap. I’ve been using it for over 2 weeks now. It has some good points and bad points.

I already said that I am partial to the scent of local mangoes so it’s no surprise that I didn’t like the smell of this soap. At first it reminded me of calamansi (calamondin) then sometimes it smells like a tea bag to me. It has that sour note that sometimes annoys me.

As I have small hands, this soap kept slipping when it was still new. Now it’s small enough to fit in my hands.

I like the fact that this does not melt easily. Some soaps only last for a week. This is good value for Php195.

For a bar soap, I was surprised with its moisturizing powers. It didn’t cure my dry skin but I can clearly tell that it was a bit moisturized. This soap didn’t make my skin itch even without lotion. I haven’t been applying lotion as I’m always at home and I couldn’t take the heat. Plus I can’t apply lotion on my arms as my son sometimes bites/sucks on them.

I also have the strawberry variant of this soap. I hope that smells better. If it does, it will probably be a staple in our bathroom.

Thankful

A lot has happened during the past 2 days. We took our son to the doctor last Friday because he threw up a few times. The doctor ordered a barrage of tests to rule out an infection. If you haven’t read that post yet, I had an emergency CS because my water bag leaked. My son swallowed a lot of meconium but thankfully the doctors were able to take it all out before reaching his lungs. Although he was discharged from the hospital, the doctor is still concerned about infections so my son was put on antibiotics even when we took him home.

Anyway, we’ve been going in and out of the hospital to make sure that he is okay. His first labs were okay aside from a low platelet count which concerned his doctor so she ordered another CBC. On his first CBC, the med techs had a hard time drawing blood. It was painful to watch my son go through all that. They finally called a pediatrician to do it and she was able to draw a lot of blood without much difficulty. My mom couldn’t take my son’s crying so she went out of the lab and cried. I didn’t know that she was crying at that time. Maybe that was when she offered to buy me some water. I wanted to cry too but I needed to stay calm, focused and strong for my son. So I didn’t. We held hands throughout his ordeal. My mom is a very strong woman and when I was little and got sick, I never saw her cry. She is one tough cookie but I guess grandkids have a way of breaking their grandparents’ heart.

We got the results of the other CBC last night and thank God everything was normal! (This time around, I asked my husband to take him to the lab as I couldn’t go through all that again). As a matter of fact, the ER doctor said that his stats were actually great! So yes, we are all very thankful that we made it through unscathed and that my son is healthy. The doctor thinks he may have had a viral infection that we were unaware of. He didn’t have any fever, rashes, etc. He feeds ravenously (like he is always starving or like he has not had a meal in days), has a lot of wet/dirty diapers, sleeps well and plays when he is awake so there was really no sign of him getting sick. The ER doctors feel that he is overfed or he is not burped enough (considering the amount of breast milk that he drinks) that is why he vomited. He is very well now, actually he is sleeping on my lap as I type this.

On other things to be thankful for, mom got these for the little one:






Spit ups are no longer a problem!

My son has a “Moo Bank”. Now he has this “Ducky Bank” from mom. My husband keeps saying that the Moo Bank is a daddy-baby joint venture and this is their next investment. The thing is, he rarely makes an “investment” in the Moo Bank and he claims to share profits with my son. It’s an ongoing joke in the family as my cousin and my mom put in significant “investments” in my son’s coin bank as well and my husband usually gets some coins when he does not have change for transportation or for buying small things.

Cousin C got back from her gig with my sister in Apayao. She went shopping last Friday and got the little one these:

I’m a very practical person and I love receiving practical gifts. Heck, give me a month’s supply of boxed tissues and I’d be happy. So, we are really loving her gifts. Actually, mom has been supplying us with diapers and baby wipes. She’s hoarding them like crazy from Landmark plus my best friend M gave us 3 packs when she visited us in the hospital. We haven’t bought diapers with our own money except for 2 packs maybe before I gave birth.

This is a very long post and if you made it up to here, thank you to you too! I will be posting some regular beauty stuff next.

EOS Honeydew

I haven’t hit pan on my EOS Tangerine but I stopped using it already as it’s already flat and I’m having a hard time applying it to my lips. I don’t like to use my fingers and I don’t like to get up and get a brush every single time I need to apply it. And believe me, I apply it several times during the day as my lips are terribly dry and chapped. So, I decided to use my last EOS which is Honeydew.

I love the taste of this one. It’s a bit sweet compared to the other variants. I just don’t know if it’s effective as the others. I think I mentioned that the most effective one is the Tangerine variant. I guess because it’s medicated. This green one has yet to prove its moisturizing powers to me. I’ve been applying it for a few days now and my lips are still chapped. The dry skin has become a bit soft but not soft enough to fall off or be removed.

Anyway, I’m quite happy with this as I only use this at home. I can drink lots of water to help combat my dry lips. I just don’t think I would put this in my makeup kit when I go out. I need more moisturizing power when I’m out and about and I won’t be able to drink as much water as I like so my lips will really dry out. 

I already mentioned before that I will not repurchase because I have quality issues. I can’t wait to finish my lip balm stash and try new ones!

Hyphen Love

Of Baby Elephants and Minions

From time to time, I will be posting some baby stuff. Don’t worry, this will not turn into a baby blog. This blog is bits and treats after all. I write bits of my life here and there and the treats refer to the treats I give myself and receive from friends and family. We have a new member in the family that will be receiving those treats. He already got some:




When I was pregnant, my baby asked his Mama A for a baby elephant. Don’t ask how he asked. He just wanted one. So my best friend A immediately got him this huge baby elephant. Thank you Mama A!

By the way, my son will refer to all his aunts and uncles as mama and papa. We call our aunts and uncles in the province the same way. I just feel that it makes the relationship better. The kids learn to love and respect their aunts and uncles the same way they do their parents while the aunts and uncles treat them as their own kids. They discipline them when needed or make important decisions when the parents are not around. My biological father left us when I was 5 and I never felt his absence because I had a lot of better dads surrounding me. They are still a guiding force in my life today. I want my son to have the same presence in his life. Although my husband and I are together, I believe that he will be a better person because of this support group.

Moving on. Last Saturday night, cousin C (known as Mama Chat) dropped by our house to give this to the baby:



It was a very sweet gesture. She does not have much money but she still remembered to give something. Thank you Mama Chat!

Finally, mom went crazy collecting these:



Back when I was pregnant, I wanted to buy the stuffed minions at Clipper but I didn’t like the quality. I guess these will suffice for now. I didn’t open the packaging because these are for my son. Thanks mom! She got the last pieces in Quezon City and we live in Makati! I guess moms will do anything for their kids or in this case, grandchild.

Bath and Body Works Cotton Blossom

I took advantage of the Bath and Body Works sale and got a few things. This is one of them:

This is Cotton Blossom shower gel. I think this is the first time I’m trying BBW shower gels. Unfortunately, I only used this once. I don’t like the smell. It smells nice, don’t get me wrong but it reminds me of Sampaguitas. I don’t know the English word for it. Google translate gives me tulips. They are not tulips. They are little white flowers that are strung together to make a lei and is usually offered to images/statues of Christ, Mary and other saints. I don’t like the smell of said flower so I gave this to MB. At least I’m not with him for several hours during the day and by the time he gets home the scent would have faded.

The scent stays a bit on the skin but it’s gone once you sweat. It says on the label that it moisturizes. I will test that out on my next bottle but it didn’t leave my skin dry so I have my hopes up. I will finish my VS shower gel first before I move on to the next one.

June 2013 Empties

I only finished 3 products last June.

Neutrogena Body Oil

TBS Cranberry Heart Soap

TBS Cranberry Body Butter

I’m positive July will be different as I’ve hit pan on my NARS bronzer. I’m also nearing the end of a few of my lipsticks and ELF lip gloss. Finally, I’ll be able to finish some makeup!

Hyphen Love

Lots of beads from Hyphen this season.









These have matching bracelets too: