Glow by Lady E

Yes, yes, I know that the Garnier Brightening Eye Roll-On has been reviewed by different bloggers so many times but I will give you 3 different points of view here. First, my mom's. She's in her late 50's and she bugged my sister to buy her this. She wanted to erase all those years of OT (and months of Cafe World until midnight) from her under eyes. Well, she got her wish but she's only halfway there. She said that the bags are now thinner and they are less inflamed. I agree. That area also lightened considerably. Mom gives this a 3 out of 5 stars. Next, a man's point of view: MB. MB has really dark areas under his eyes. If you have a programmer/computer junkie/computer engineer for a friend/relative, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about. The eye bags are not that prominent but they're there. He hasn''t been religiously applying this product but I did notice some results. He said that he still needs to see some results. I can say that hi...

I love SM because of my BDO Rewards Card. I just love shopping there to accumulate points and then using the points to shop some more! Heck, even my boss loves the points system! I've even mapped out my shopping list strategically to get the most out of my card. Everything that I can buy from SM, I buy at SM. I especially love Watsons. I buy all my cosmetics and toiletries there. But I do most of my grocery shopping at Landmark because it's cheaper there. Hey, I may love to shop but I'm also a smart shopper. I love bargains that are useful and worth the trip/money/effort. I don't just buy because something is on sale.  And speaking of sales, don't you just love SM's seasonal sales and year-round promos? I love their buy one, take one promos at Watsons and the occasional discounts. I especially love the freebies.  Take this for example: I got this FREE when I purchased Php1300 worth of stuff at Beauty by SM. It' pretty big and durable. It was able to hand...

I know I am, especially when I'm cooking. I wash my hands every time I change ingredient. And if I'm handling meat, I make sure to soap up before handling the next ingredient. This attitude has lead me to try numerous hand washes over the years. My favorite is the Watsons brand. Not only is it cheap at P179.75 at buy one, take one most of the time, it's effective and doesn't dry out my hands. It smells really nice too. I love the watermelon, citrus, magnolia and lavender scents. There's also this other brand from Watsons which I will show you in the future. Meanwhile, when these hand washes are not on buy one, take one, I look for alternatives. El cheapo in me just couldn't manage to shell out the same amount for only one bottle. This has lead me to discovering this product: I don't like the original Bench Alcogel Hand Sanitizer as it makes my hands rough and the gel smells terrible after some time. Since this hand wash is in mint, I couldn't resist. ...

I love using whitening lotions, not to lighten my skin but because of their 'lightness' on my skin. Whitening lotions have a thinner consistency compared to regular lotions, well in my experience, that is. There may be some whitening lotions out there that are thick that I do not know of.  Whitening lotions are a must-have for me during summer because I can't stand feeling sticky and oily in the heat. With Garnier Body Light, I still feel somewhat sticky (when at home where there's no A/C) but nothing a good dousing of water can't fix.  I also like the fact that this is a whitening hydrating UV lotion. I don't like putting sunblock because I hate the feeling afterwards so I just look for products that have UV protection.  I can't vouch for the lightening effect of this lotion. I didn't observe my skin but I think it became somewhat lighter and even toned after a few weeks of usage.  This lotion does not make me itch even when I sweat. Some lotions d...

These are all one-of-a-kind, handmade pieces made by yours truly. The beads used are a mix of semi-precious, Indian, faux pearl and plastic beads.  turquoise and black necklace with Indian beads Php599 Earth Necklace Php599 red semi-precious and indian necklace Php499 (all beads used are semi-precious and Indian) shades of purple Php299 turquoise & bronze animal print necklace Php399 shades of blue Php699 (made of Indian and semi-precious beads with silver spacers) I never make duplicates so if ever you own a piece from Street of Jewels, you can be proud that you have a unique necklace.  if you're interested, leave a message here or email me at esther.avelino@gmail.com.

First of all, sorry for the following photos. Blogger is giving me a hard time with uploading. The original photos are horizontal and when I upload, they become vertical. So, I apologize. Last Mother's Day, my sister and I treated our mom and grandmother to lunch at Max's Greenbelt. For every P1500 purchase, you get a Rags2Riches purse/makeup kit. It looks like a small rectangular box when closed Here are the photos: Cute as a button two small compartments inside top compartment (thanks a lot blogger) bottom compartment My mom and grandma decided to give me this kit because there's only one and they said I'd probably be the one to have the most use out of this. Plus it's too bulky to put inside a bag and too small for them to carry their everyday stuff. This is my second piece from a local designer. The first is my Barba Eco Bag .  I haven't really used this as the compartments are too small. My makeup and brushes would fit here but the overall p...

I've been somewhat struggling to keep my posts regular because I was on Project 10-Pan since March. In the beginning I told myself that I would go and splurge the moment I reach 10. But seeing my 'empty container collection' grow gradually got me challenged. Why not see how far this will take me? Or how far my strength won't fail me. = ) I'm more into skin care than makeup so that's what I focused on with this Project. Without further ado, I present to you my Project 10+ Pan: Break it down: Palmolive Aroma Therapy Talc 2 Garnier Whiten & Protect Moisturizing Cream 2 Monea Curl Defining Milk Vaseline Healthy White lotion (400 ml) Foot Treats Foot Scrub Virgin Coconut Hair Spa Holy Seat Human Heart Nature Exfoliating Facial Scrub Johnson's Baby Cologne in Tropical Burst 2 Bench Alcogels Etude House Clear Polish Human Heart Nature Hand and Foot Salve Vitress Hair Cuticle Coat The Face Shop Blush 17 pans! Not bad, eh? I'm so proud of mys...

Get a 20% discount on any Grape Bella product at Watson's when you present your SM Advantage or BDO Rewards Card! Hurry, promo is only until May 31.  I hoarded these two. I'm planning to buy some more next week. Will give you my reviews very soon.  The Grape Bella Exfoliating Body Polish costs P169 while the Grape Bella Moisturising Shower Cream costs P159.

Buy any full size Colgate Total Whitening and get a free Colgate Plax, toothbrush or Toy Story Lunch Kit at Landmark Supermarket! Php96.20. Yeah, I'm a sucker for freebies especially ones that I actually use. 

Remember Christian the Lion? Meet Kwibi the Gorilla I truly, truly believe that animals are intelligent and are capable of loving. My cats have already proven that to me. Even animals in the wild like Kwibi and Christian don't forget the love of their human masters/friends. I hope we do everything we can to save their natural habitat, ours too. 

You guessed it! What else, but Celeteque! Regular readers know that I use these  for my daily skin care. I added Celeteque Facial Moisturizer about a few months ago to my nightly routine. I love to use this when I'm stressed out or when it's too hot. This very light moisturizer glides on my skin smoothly and is easily absorbed. It doesn't make my skin oily. It doesn't make my face itch even when I sweat. No allergies, rashes or redness from this product either. It's water based and oil free so it's perfect for sensitive and/or oily skin.  I interchange this with my other products. I use the night cream from Human Heart Nature after my weekly DIY facial scrub. When my face feels fresh and is not itching or is not breaking out, I use the Garnier spot corrector to get rid of the spots left by my steroid breakout. On regular days, I use Celeteque. I don't get allergies even if I use this after my Etude House Tea Time Facial Wash . My skin feels extra soft in...

This is my first time to win in a blog contest. So a big THANK YOU goes out to Phoebe ! Phoebe is one of my favorite bloggers. I like the way she writes plus she takes fabulous photos. This set includes the Dove Go Fresh energizing bars, deo and beauty body wash. I'm afraid I'm allergic to the bars because of the scrub beads. It's a pity as they smell amazing. So MB gets the beauty bars and my mom got the deo. I don't really mind because the body wash is perfect for me. It's Dove in liquid form! You only need a little to get a good lather. I made the mistake of putting too much on my bath lily the first time I used this. I thought, because the wash was almost cream-like in texture that it won't lather up as much. Big mistake. The lily was still very bubbly and full of the product when I finished taking a bath. I wanted to cry while rinsing it off. You know how cheap I can get with products. So now, I very carefully put Dove on my bath lily because I don't ...

Yes, I know this is a re-issue but I what I like about this is the metal/velcro clasp so you can fold up the tote and put inside your weekend bag for convenience. I have a lot of eco totes but most of the time I forget to bring them because they're too bulky. They don't fold up nicely. I have to secure them with a band or something. Most of the time I just fold them and either put them in MB's bag or just hold them until I make a purchase. But I hate holding stuff when I'm walking. So this bag is really a blessing for me and for the environment. I found this when my cousins and I had a mall date. I wandered around G5 while R was having her hair done at Ricky Reyes. I found this really cheap bag and of course, bought it and filled it with stuff while waiting. = ) I just had a problem when I bought this. We had to go through about 10 bags to get the perfect one. The first time, I had it changed because the straps were not sewn on properly. When C and I were in the escal...

I'm very loyal to Celeteque Facial Wash but it's too gentle to remove dirt and makeup, in my opinion. While checking out the products at Etude House in SM Makati, Ellen, the nice manager of Etude House Mega was there and recognized me as a customer in the Megamall branch. We talked a little and she recommended their facial wash, the peach variant to be exact. She said that was a best seller as it has instant whitening effects. I really don't care much for whitening products. I use them just to even out my skin tone at times when I'm exposed too much to the sun. I promised her I would try the facial wash soon.  A week after I came back but the peach facial wash was out of stock. So I bought the Happy Tea Time Milk Tea Cleansing Foam instead since the makeup remover in the same variant works really well.  This cleansing foam smells like the makeup remover, like a light baby powder. The texture is like that of Pond's but the product comes out of the tube more defin...

Just to show my appreciation to MB for buying me this (and to make him stop bugging me to blog about this), I am posting a couple of pictures of this Twilight Saga Boxed Set.   Yeah, I know that it's lame that I was only able to finish this a couple of weeks ago but I'm still glad I was able to. I really didn't like how the saga ended. Twilight made me excited but that excitement eventually died down until I reached Breaking Dawn. I think my favorite is Eclipse. Let's see how the movie compares. Didn't like New Moon at all. I found some things in Breaking Dawn totally absurd and sometimes even sick. The Twilight Saga Boxed Set is available at National Bookstore for P1400. How about you? What's your favorite Twilight book? And I couldn't resist, are you Team Edward or Team Jacob? I'm on the wolf's side 'cause I always go for the underdog. = ) So, THANK YOU MB!

If you're a follower of this blog, you'd know that lately I've been pretty obsessed with ELF makeup. In addition to my growing collection, I recently purchased this: I've been using this for about two weeks now and I can say that I'm in love with it! I did not get any allergies, rashes, redness or itchiness. It doesn't make my acidic skin look dark.  The packaging is quite nice. Classic round powder compact. It has two compartments. The top houses the foundation while the bottom houses the sponge. To open, just press the center button. It lasts for a reasonable amount of time. I don't know if it will last long on an oily face. You can use this wet or dry. The box says if you want a sheer coverage, use wet. If you want a matte finish, apply dry. I apply this dry and it gives me a nice, clean, smooth matte finish. Even my officemate uses this and after walking in the sun on the way to the office, her face still looks perfect. And she walks quite...

So how was your long weekend ladies? I hope you were able to exercise your right to vote. I know it was very frustrating but the election was a very important milestones for our country. I'm proud to say that ever since I was allowed to vote, I've never missed a single election. Remember, if you did not vote just because you were too lazy, you don't have the right to complain about what's going on in the country for the next few years. Anyway, let me brighten up your day by presenting this week's cheap chica find:     I've been looking for a makeup kit that has a brush compartment. Found it here: Those are my Charm brushes. They're too small for the band. I just pulled them up to show how the brushes would look like when strapped.  My requirements for a makeup kit are simple - not too big but not too small and not heavy. Just the right size to hold my stuff: It holds my compact, lip balm, lipstick, blush, kabuki brush, blotting paper, mirror. It sti...

Need I say more? You know what I'm talking about by just reading the title. I finally bought one in preparation for the wedding we attended last March. Yes, all the raves are true but let me share with you some points from a girl with very sensitive eyes. The mascara has curling effects. Even if you don't curl your lashes, you will still end up with brighter eyes. The mascara includes a comb wand which is a first for me.  For my everyday look, I apply one coat. For the wedding, I applied two coats on each eye. I still have to shake the wand when applying because sometimes the product clumps up. If I can't fix it with the comb, I "blot" my lashes on a piece of tissue to remove the excess.  This is great even if you have sensitive eyes as long as you remain in a cold place. Once sweat gets mixed in, my eyes become itchy. It also kinda "melts" (lacking a better term) when it's hot making my eyes red. I know it's waterproof but my eyes don...

If you're looking for a cheap eyelash curler that's not crappy, I suggest you try elf's mechanical eyelash curler. I've had this for over a month now and I'm satisfied with its performance.  I like the fact that it has handle guards to keep the springs in tip top shape. It's also useful when storing. It keeps the curler's shape.  I've been using The Face Shop eyelash curler for a few years now. It works but the problem is with the refills. They don't have refills at TFS so I chuck one when it's overused already and buy another curler. Not very practical. I've discovered some eyelash curler foams/refills but I've yet to try them out. I'll feature them here if they meet my standards. Going back to ELF. I've been using this everyday for the past month and I can say that I'm impressed with the quality, what for the price of P129.75? It doesn't give my eyelashes squarish curls. I also don't need to press hard. I just ...

I'm getting addicted to nail polish. I change colors every two days! Good thing I have quite a collection. My nail polish are mostly from The Face Shop, Etude House, one from Sally Hansen and a few from Caronia. You've already seen my Caronia collection. If not, you can see it here . I've added a couple more.  I swore that I will not buy pinks anymore but I couldn't resist especially when the two colors that I've been looking for forever finally popped out a couple of weeks ago. Here they are: Meet Diva and Posh! Diva has a magenta-like shade while Posh looks like a toned down neon pink that's glossy/metallic. I don't wear these colors separately. I combine them! First, I swipe some Diva then wait for it to dry. I then apply a coat of Posh. I purposely didn't take a picture of my nails because I want you to find that out for yourselves! I'll give you a hint. The resulting color reminds me of beautiful sunsets and summer tropical punches. = )

So how was your long weekend ladies? I did a lot of pampering and relaxing. I finally finished the Twilight Saga (yes, I know. Lame!), had some DIY hair spa and did some de-stressing in the mall with MB and my sister. NO SHOPPING involved! I'm on Project 10-Pan and MB is very strict about it. I've been trying to care for myself better in the past few months, paying more attention to my skin. A woman's age shows first in her hands. The hands wrinkle quite fast. That's why what you do to your face, you must do with your neck and your hands too. If you moisturize your face religiously, don't forget to include your neck and your hands.  I've been using The Face Shop's moisturizing hand lotion for a couple of years now. I didn't have any complaints about it but I think it's too expensive, around P300 for a small tube. It's not spectacular so I guess the lotion's performance doesn't justify its price. I'll pay that amount if the product ...

Isn't that so Ana Sui or Etude House? I've been putting off buying a compact mirror for so long. My cheap alter ego keeps thinking that I don't need one because I already have my compact powder mirror. But you know, I can sometimes be really cheap as I don't throw out my powder compact when I reach pan. I have to use up all the foundation or until the foundation crumbles. That can pose quite a problem when I open the compact in a public place, right?  This was a lucky purchase. I bought it the same time I bought my cute shades .  Back Opened Sorry for the pic. Blogger is giving me problems. It doesn't want to load my picture horizontally. This costs only P20 at Cindy Carol! They usually run out but today they have stocks at Cindy Carol Glorietta. So go, go, go!