Glow by Lady E

So we have a lot of new stuff at Hyphen PBCom! I got some for myself as well. I am on a self-imposed shopping ban just because I need to finish a lot of stuff in my vanity. Most of my shopping budget goes to cosmetics and makeup. It used to be that clothes, shoes and bags took up most of my budget but ever since I became a makeup artist/beauty junkie, I just couldn’t stop buying cosmetics! So now I have a self-imposed shopping ban. I also realized that I wanted more mileage out of my stuff (clothes, shoes and bags) that’s why I’m on a shopping diet. It’s my birth month and I think I’m going to have a hard time doing that. *evil grin* Anyway, I went to the mall one Sunday with MB and I left unscathed! I didn’t buy anything except for 3 packs of wet tissues! Of course I had withdrawal symptoms when I got home! Good thing our new stocks just arrived so I had a great time admiring them. I couldn’t resist getting some pieces though. Does that still counts as shopping? Peacock earring...

I am finally ready to blog about these lipsticks. I’ve had them for a  few weeks now. I gave the darkest shade to my sister. I’m sorry, I forgot the exact shade name. Here they are up close: Here are swatches: I didn’t do a lip swatch anymore as my lips are dry and chapping. These lipsticks are quite affordable at Php575. I was actually surprised with the price. I like the tube as it makes a click, click sound when I twist it to lengthen the lipstick. The cap also stays on. There are no weird smells unlike that other line of lipstick they released. Color payoff is not so good once its on my lips. I always apply lip balm before lipstick. I guess I shouldn’t with this one. Maybe that will make the lipstick look better. It feels dry on my lips maybe because of the suede effect but I don’t think it actually dries up my lips because, well, I have Carmex on. I don’t have any regrets buying these lippies but I will not buy any more. I have my eyes set on another...

I got this toner as a GWP. I keep forgetting to use it. Our Clinique toner is barely hanging on to dear life so I decided to go through my stock pile. I use this toner on days when I stay home. It’s not really refreshing for me. I feel that the toner leaves a film of oil on my face. I have no problems with that now because my face is too dry so it’s actually nice. The scent is okay. This small bottle will probably last me a few weeks, if not a month. A little goes a long way. I wouldn’t recommend this to oily skinned ladies just because of the oily feeling. I have to use this up before it becomes hot. When that happens, my skin will become a bit oily again and I’m sure this toner will make me breakout. It’s also amazing that for a new product, my skin didn’t break out. I guess my skin really likes Paul & Joe products.

This was a part of my Bench haul last year. This bottle costs Php109, more expensive than my usual shower gels but it was Christmas and I was really enamored with all the different colored shower gels at Bench so I got one of each!  This shower gel is not like the other Bench shower gels that I featured it. It doesn’t bubble up as well as the others. I have to use 5 pumps of this product to make a nice lather. I like to be covered in bubbles when I take a bath. = )  The other shower gels only took 2 pumps to bubble up. I also couldn’t figure out the smell at first because I used too little product. It’s sweet smelling but it’s blah to me. Because I need to use a lot of it in one bath, it’s not very economical. This will only probably last me a week. I hope the lotion is better.

The other day, I featured the FX heat protectant. This is the FX Curl Booster. If you do some Google search, you’ll find that this product has mixed reviews. I got this for a little over 300 pesos at Landmark. I use this with my Babyliss Hair Curler. At first, I wasn’t too happy about this spray. It did nothing to make my curls last. I would spray it on my hair after I curl it then I scrunch. The other day, I decided to spray this on first then curl my hair. It worked! Most of my curls lasted the whole day! Some even lasted until night time! Too bad I can’t use this with the heat protectant. The heat protectant cancels out the effects of this product. I’m pretty happy with the price and performance of this product. I will probably but this again once it runs out. If you’re going to try this, don’t forget to spray a generous amount on each section of your hair. It smells like something out of the salon but it’s not too strong and I’m able to tolerate it.

Mom made an impromptu trip to Bangkok a couple of weeks back. I was supposed to go with her but I had to do a lot of things here and take care of some of the problems at our store. She brought me back a lot of pasalubong: Calbee is my favorite prawn snack! This version from Thailand is not as salty as the one from Hong Kong. Hmmmm.. Hello Kitty candies. I think the other one is hard and the other one is chewy. Chiffon studded blouses. She got 3 so she can get them at a lower price. These are oversized button-down shirts which I love! I can’t wait to use them! Mom also got MB a couple of things. This is Sukantha Rice Crispies. Mom knows that MB loves munching on almonds and pistachios so she got her this. Mom will probably go back in March for a business trip. She’s still thinking if she’s going to take me along or if we are going to another country. She did a lot of walking there and I’ve been told by my doctors to take it easy for the next several months so ...

I was amazed with the amount of products I finished this January! Check them out! This isn’t exactly an empty. This flower puff is part of the bath and body set that best friend M gave me for Christmas. I was looking for a cheap bath lily in my stash to bring to Cebu but found that I didn’t have any. MB suggested that I bring this instead. I didn’t like this puff at all. It’s too hard on my skin (because it’s like foam) and it doesn’t do a good job of making the shower gel bubble up so before leaving Cebu, I chucked it. Etude House Mini Anti-Germ Hand Lotion and Benefit Girl Meets Pearl. I love hand lotions and it took me some time to finish this one. Now that I finished the tube, I think it’s a bit expensive. I won’t repurchase. As for Girl Meets Pearl, I have a full sized tube in my stash and all I can say is I love this face primer. Bench Dreamy Berry Burst Shower Gel. This is part of my Bench haul last December. This also smelled nice. Watsons Sakura Bella Mini...

While we are in the subject of nails, here’s what’s new in my collection: From Left to Right: China Glaze Sunshine Pop, Electric Beat, Knotty, OPI for Sephora. I can’t wait to try Sunshine Pop! How do you wear your nail polish? Do you rotate them (like I do) or do you just wear whatever you feel like wearing on a particular day?

My favorite color is green but it seems I don’t favor it when it comes to nail polish. I only have 3 green shades in my entire collection. I used the Etude House Versailles Nails for the first part of January and used the greens on the last half. Here are my January green nails: From top to bottom: China Glaze Starboard, Nicki Minaj for OPI Did it on ‘Em, OPI for Sephora (I can’t remember for which collection this is). I used my Etude House nail stickers for the nail art. February will be filled with pinks and purples!

I’ve been looking for a heat protectant ever since my stylist told me that he will not curl my hair because of the damage. I blow dry my hair or use a curling iron when I go out so I needed a heat protectant to protect my hair from further damage. I’ve gone to a lot of shops and I saw this bottle at Landmark. The brand is FX. You might be familiar with this brand as they are ones that sell argan shampoo and fruit based hair products. It costs a little over 200 pesos if I’m not mistaken. It’s a good buy. I can’t use it with a curling iron though as it prevents my hair from curling up. I just use this with a blow dryer.  The smell is something that I can tolerate plus it weakens over time so I don’t have any problems with that. Just spray generously and use a flat iron or hair dryer and you are ready to go.

Watsons is on sale again and that means I need to stock up on some of our essentials. MB and I are on a tight budget as we have a lot of things going on. We finally found an apartment and it’s not the size of shoebox, thank God! That’s just one of our concerns right now so we are keeping a close watch on our budget. It’s fortunate that we ran out of body wash the same time Watsons is holding a sale. I saw in their Facebook page that they had one brand of body wash on sale for only Php99 at BOGO so I definitely had to have it. We went to SM as I thought they had plenty of stock there. Turns out, it’s sold out so we went back to Greenbelt. Before I continue, here’s what I got: This is the Aqua Vera Body Wash. I cleaned the shelf on this one. I mentioned that in FB, Watsons said that this costs Php99. Today it costs Php109.75. I asked the SA why the price is higher and she said that they just raised the prices. How convenient! Anyway, it’s just a few pesos and it’s still a steal s...