Glow by Lady E

Tusen takk, my Glow Girls from Norway! 🇳🇴✨ You’ve made it to #2 on the blog rankings and I see you — glowing, growing, and shining from the fjords to the cities. Sending you all my love and a big warm hug from across the miles. 💖 Are you ready to glow up your week with me? This post is for YOU! There’s a certain kind of heartbreak that only makeup girls know — when a product looks so promising, feels luxurious, and still doesn’t work for you. That’s the case with the NARS Soft Matte Primer for me. Let’s get one thing straight: it’s not a bad primer. In fact, it’s beautiful on paper — lightweight, adds a luminous sheen, and blends effortlessly.  But here’s what no one tells you when you're just starting out: not all primers work with all foundations. 😮‍💨 I discovered this when I tried pairing the NARS primer with my holy grail NARS Punjab foundation. I thought, “same brand, they should play nice together, right?” Wrong. The finish didn’t sit right. It made my skin look cakey an...

Hi, everyone! I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I've had many things that needed my utmost attention. It's also the start of summer and my urticaria has come back. I am covered with huge wheals all over. I've seen a dermatologist the other day and was put on meds. I pray that this will work as I don't want to undergo any more tests. If you have chronic urticaria, I'd appreciate some tips and advice. So, let's talk about these Essence makeup that I got some time ago. My favorite among these is the All About Roses eye shadow palette. The shadows are super pigmented. They last the whole day. They are even better than my Stila palettes and for a fraction of the price! I just use a good primer such as UDPP or the one from Too Faced. I also like the All About Matt powder. I used it on my sister when I did her makeup for her party. She stayed shine-free for a long time in spite of the heat. I rarely use this on myself as my skin is too dry nowadays....

It's always a treat for me to visit Watsons, PCX or Mercury Drugstore here because I get to discover a lot of things. If that's a treat, then imagine my delight when I am abroad. I always make it a point to checkout the drugstores and beauty shops to find new products and products that are not available here. One of those products is Lucido-L. I haven't seen this here. I'm not sure if they have this at PCX though. I still have to check.  I normally use the wax from Bench Fix to tame my unruly baby hairs. The Lucido-L looked pretty (sucker for cute packaging) and it says that it's non-sticky. That's good enough for me.  I am so happy that I got this because it works so well! It doesn't harden my hair or make it oily/sticky. It feels so natural and it tames those unruly hairs. It's light and it smells nice too. Just a small amount and my hair is all set.  I am looking forward to going back abroad so that I can stock up on this.  Lucido-L N...

I don't like making long product reviews anymore. I usually just say if I like a product or not. Check out this post .

I should have used this before I used the other two EOS lip balms (lemon and mint) in my stash. This is so far the most effective at soothing my dry, chapped lips. I like the flavor as well and there are no weird tastes. The mint flavor has a weird aftertaste. I’m also surprised that in spite of the heat, the balm is still intact unlike the lemon variant.  This lasts a long time on my lips. Even after I eat and drink a lot of water, there are still traces of the balm left on my lips so I guess this really is the best among the 3. I’ve been using this everyday, for several times a day and I’m happy with the results so far. My lips have stopped bleeding and cracking and most of the dry skin just flakes away. I still have one more EOS in my stash and then after that, I’m probably moving on to my TBS lip balm.

This is the ELF Cover Everything Concealer: It’s very affordable for less than Php150 plus I got this on sale at 20% off. There’s nothing special about this concealer. It works but I have to re-apply every now and then. For that price, you can’t expect much right? But for everyday use, this is a good concealer. I just don’t like the clay smell so I stopped using it. I used to put this in my makeup kit so I can have a midday touchup. I apply a combination of Benefit Boi-ing 1 and 2 at home then use this ELF concealer for touchups. This concealer also does not react too much to my acidic skin so that’s a plus for me. This is a good budget concealer to have in your stash. Oh, I also noticed that there are a lot of Filipinas that are not familiar with concealers. We carry a lot of concealers in Hyphen and in the store, a lot of customers ask me what the concealer sticks are for. I explain to them how it’s used and then they exclaim, “so that’s how actresses hide their eye bags...

This is still a continuation of the reviews of my ELF Haul. I have been intrigued by this product from the very first time I saw it. I just didn’t purchase right away because I have a love-hate relationship with ELF products. It was on sale at only Php224.80 so I finally got one. Some of the reviews I read did not like the concealer as they said it didn’t do a good job of hiding their dark circles. I don’t have dark under eyes so this product works for me. I love the fact that it’s light and doesn’t make that area look too cakey. I love that it’s in liquid form. I think liquid concealers are great especially for my under eye area as I can easily blend it. I make sure to wipe the applicator first before inserting it back into the tube to keep it clean. As for the highlighter, if you are looking for a cheap, everyday highlighter, I would recommend this. It does what it says on the box. It brightens the area where you apply it. I think I’m not used to liquid highlighters (exc...

What’s your favorite primer? Mine is Too Faced. Urban Decay comes second. I don’t like UD that much because the product dries up. It does not matter if it comes in the potion bottle or the tube. They dry up pretty quickly whereas the Too Faced primers last a long time without drying up. I have a lot of primers on stock but I was curious about the ELF Eyelid Primer. I thought I can use this for my budget clients. I got this on sale at Landmark for only Php116.80. If you need an everyday cheap primer, I recommend this. It’s a great product! I was even surprised by how well it performed. Some of the eyeshadows crease but I think that’s because I applied the shadows too soon. Let this dry first before applying. Or maybe it depends on the brand. The staying power is comparable to my UD and Too Faced primers but don’t expect the color to be that radiant by the end of the day. If you want your makeup to go from day to night then I suggest that you layer it and blend thoroughly...

Landmark had a cosmetics sale last month and I took advantage of it. I got some ELF products that I’ve been wanting to try. This is one of them. This costs around Php250 but I got it when it was 10% off. This is good value for your money even if it’s not on sale. The powder is supposedly translucent but it makes my undereyes too white. At first I was worried that with my acidic skin, this will turn out to be useless. Turns out, my acidic skin won’t affect it all. The trick is to apply just the right amount of powder, pat it and blend it. I also use this on other areas of my face to make my concealer last longer. I think if you put too much and you get your photo taken, the whites will really show so have a light hand when applying. Also, experiment with different concealers as some concealers when used with this product seeped into my fine lines and after a few hours, the lines were really visible so you have to do a bit of trial and error. This works best with my Benef...

In one of my very old posts, I mentioned that I was looking for the perfect top coat. I know Seche Vite is at the top of the list but I didn’t want to buy an expensive top coat. That’s just me. I have nothing against Seche Vite. As a matter of fact, when I have the budget I will try it. So my search took me to Etude House where I found this Jelly Pop Nail Top Coat. I asked the SA if they had the fast drying top coat as that seems to be the best one I’ve tried. She offered this to me instead and said that it’s their best top coat. It costs around Php200+ so I got it. It really makes my nails glossy and gives it the appearance of jelly. You know how a gelatin gleams when hit by light? It kinda has that effect on my nails. The photo does not give it justice. You have to see the actual swatch to appreciate it. I can’t comment much about the lasting ability as I do a lot of typing and chores around the house so this pink manicure only lasted for a day. I’m wearing a diff...

I was super intrigued when I discovered this product at Etude House. I’ve never seen a cream nail polish remover before. It costs over Php200 so I gave it a go. At first I thought it was going to be economical as I will avoid spills and excess product application. Boy, was I wrong. This is such a waste of money! I apply the product directly on my nail. It looks and feels like lotion, by the way. Then I rub my nail with a cotton pad. It took a few tries to remove my regular flat nail polish. On my first try, the nail polish wouldn’t budge so I used my finger to rub the product in and waited for a minute thinking that I might have to give the product time to settle/penetrate the nail polish. Wrong! I had to re-apply about 3-5 times to completely remove the polish on one nail. It takes sooo long to remove the nail polish. I was really frustrated so I went back to my TFS nail polish removers. The other night, I forgot to remove the nail polish on my toes and I just did my manicu...

I’ve been using this product for so long now that I was surprised to find that I haven’t blogged about this. I saw this at Watsons for the first time and since it’s a whitening soap, I immediately asked the whitening product expert, Kitten. I’m afraid to use whitening soaps as they tend to make me itch but I was using Dove Go Fresh soap at that time and it was making me itch so I needed a replacement. Kitten said that this soap is okay and it smelled really nice so I immediately got it. Like the body scrub, this works well on my uber sensitive skin too. I do experience a bit of dryness but nothing that a good lotion can fix. I guess most whitening products do that to your skin. I have no idea if the whitening stuff works. I use this soap because it’s one of the few soaps in the market that doesn’t give me allergies. I’m looking at my skin right now and I don’t think I became whiter. Maybe you have to use this religiously. I don’t. I change soaps every now and then to avoid t...

I can’t believe I only tried this product recently: For a lip balm addict, I sure am slow… I know Carmex has been around for some time and I’ve read and heard all the great things about it. I just kept putting off buying it. I guess I got swayed by all the pretty packaging of the other brands. Well, you have to admit. Red and yellow is not really very attractive for a lip balm. It kinda reminds me of McDonald’s. But anyway, that red and yellow combo is a classic and people identify with it. So who am I to judge a classic? So what else can I say that’s new about this product? Absolutely nothing! It’s a great product. It does not taste weird (in my opinion), it doesn’t smell weird. It makes a great base for my ELF liquid lipsticks (more on that soon) and other lipsticks. It makes my lips soft. Actually, it made my lips better. Before Carmex, my lips would dry out whenever I don’t have lip balm on. With Carmex, my lips are no longer that dry. But what I really love about it is...

I like this better than Posie Tint. It lasts much longer and the color shows better on my skin. Here’s the swatch: I usually swipe the brush twice on my cheeks, being careful to apply very light strokes then I blend right away. That swatch on the photograph is not blended yet because I want you to see the mango shade. The product dries fast so if you don’t blend quickly, it will leave a mark on your cheeks. I did this once and I was left with 2 lines on my cheeks even after applying another coat on top of the 2 lines. The 2 lines were really prominent inside the cloud of tint. = ) I won’t repurchase as I have far too many products that I need to finish and by the time I do so, this product has been probably discontinued or Benefit has already come up with something better.

I’ve only tried 3 products for my brows – Bobbi Brown’s Brow Shaper, MAC’s Girl Boy and Etude House Color My Brows. When I really like a product, I tend to find substitutes for it in case it gets out of stock. In this case, I was looking for a substitute for Girl Boy. I found it at Etude House. I have colored hair so naturally, I have to color my brows. This shade is #2. If you have black brows, don’t expect them to be that exact shade on the wand. Your brows will just lighten up a bit. Girl Boy is still better for temporarily coloring your brows. It still works though. It costs around Php300 if I’m not mistaken. Way cheaper than Girl Boy. It lasts a fair amount of time. I’m just not sure if the product inside dries up quickly or the tube is not full. When I first opened this, I had a hard time applying the product to my brows so I had to apply several times. Now it’s just 2-3 times per brow. If you are looking for a good eye brow shaper that’s affordable, I give this...

There were more products included in the Forever 21 Love & Beauty makeup kit that Ahne gifted me. I already blogged about the palette and the gloss. Here are the remaining three: eye liner mascara liquid liner I wasn’t able to use these three because my cousin C got them. She said they were okay and she can’t complain because she got them for free. LOL. These are not waterproof and I don’t usually wear regular eye products because they smudge and smear like crazy on me. So I guess it’s good that C was able to enjoy them. Here are a few swatches: I rubbed the eye liner with with my finger and it still left a mark. I had to remove it with a makeup remover so I guess it really is good for a student on a budget to use. Here’s the mascara wand: In my opinion, Forever 21’s latest beauty products are getting better. I have a few other products which I personally use and some others which are available at Hyphen (lipstick, blush, palettes, etc.). I’m exc...

I’m on a mission to change our shopping and lifestyle habits drastically and that means going out of my comfort zone and discovering new things. I used to ignore the Watsons line of products thinking that they won’t work or they were mediocre because let’s face it, these types of products are usually cheap but ineffective. The Watsons Shower gels are an exception. I have a big issue with soaps and shower gels. I end up with rashes and I itch a lot with the wrong soap. The only soaps that work on me so far are Kojie San, Dove Go Fresh Body Wash (not the soap, the soap gives me rashes), Victoria’s Secret Body Washes and Watsons. I was really surprised with Watsons as I was expecting it to give me allergies. I decided to try this shower gel because it was on BOGO. A bottle regularly costs Php249.75 so I thought to myself, what have I got to lose? I can always give it away if it doesn’t work for me. Don’t expect this shower gel to moisturize your skin though. I have terribly dry ...

That’s my opinion. I have tried different cleansers from The Face Shop and other brands and this turned out to be the best. It helped keep my breakouts at bay. I breakout when my period is near. With this cleanser, the pimples only last for 2-3 days then they shrink and dry out. I also use The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Oil in conjunction with this. I have a new cleanser and it kinda sucks. I tried it because it also has tea tree oil, an ingredient that seems to go well with my skin. My period has been long over but my breakouts are still very visible even with the use of TBS Tea Tree Oil and Clinique’s acne gel. This Acne Solution Foam Cleansing is expensive at Php600+ but is totally worth it. It’s cheaper than Clinique’s facial wash which I used before. My friend Kitten is scandalized (for lack of a better humorous term) with the prices of my things and so I am in search for cheaper alternatives. It’s doing me a lot of good, alright. I will buy this again once my cleanser hits pan. ...