Top 3 Beauty Products that I Can't Live Without

I'm a beauty addict, but there are some products that are just more important than others! Here is my list of the Top 3 Beauty Products that I will go crazy without.

1. Sunblock. I'm such a sunblock addict. I never go out without wearing at least SPF 40. I even supplement it with Clean and Clear Oil Blotting Papers a few times a day.

2. Lip Balm. I'm very prone to dry lips so I have have have to put on lip balm overnight every night to keep my lips moist. It's a double yikes to have dry lips for me because being a flutist, it's hard to play with dry lips.

3. Oil Blotting Papers. In case I haven't reiterrated over and over again, I have very oily skin that no product can control. I'd be happy to find a product that can keep my face looking like an oil mine for 4 hours. So, oil blotting papers have become my best friend. I go through a pack just like that!

What's your top 3? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Tag Time: Products I'm Using

I got this from Nikki's (askmewhats) blog. Here are the products that I'm using often nowadays

Shampoo & Conditioner: Head and Shoulders alternate with Johnson's Baby Shampoo and Opal Conditioner (I'm not that into my hair)

Styling products: none

Shower Gel: none

Body moisturizer: Mistine Extra Whitening Lotion

Deodorant: Gluta White and Firm Deodorant or Block and White Powder Deodorant

Fake Tan: don't use this! :) I can get a tan easily here in the Philippines => ditto!

Cleanser: Cyleina Black Pearl and Rice Bran

Eye makeup remover: Elianto Green Tea Cleansing Oil

Exfoliator: Soap Opera scrubs, Clinique Turnaround 15-minute facial

Primer: Bare Naturals S5 Primer, Camellia Rose primer, Monistat anti-chafing gel

Foundation: I keep on switching!

Foundation brush: Forever Female Flat top brush

Concealer: Ellana Awake Concealer

Powder: I keep switching on this too!

Blusher: Lumiere Ditto "O" Blush, Skin Food Vitamin Shadow 05

Bronzer: none

Highlighter: none

Eyeshadow base: MAC Paintpots

Eyeshadows: lately, none

Eyeliner: MAC Fluidline, Monave multi-purpose minerals

Eyelash curler: none

Eyelash base: none

Mascara: I rarely use mascaras nowadays

Lipstick: Silk Naturals Lip Glosses, Ellana lippies

Nail Color: right now I'm giving my nails a break from the polish

My First Attempt to Wear Colorful Eyeshadow

This is my first attempt to a combination of different colorful eyeshadow colors by myself! This is a combination of green and purple (both from my Coastal Scents 88 original palette). The eyeliner I used is Aromaleigh Pure Drama Eyeliner in Violet. I only wore this look for 4 hours in an airconditioned room but it held up pretty well considering how oily my lids are (with MAC Paintpot as my eyeshadow base). This picture was taken around 1 hour after I made this up. Please excuse the messy brows. I definitely need to pay more attention to them. Also, I wasn't wearing any mascara nor did I curl my lashes (lazy me) but thankfully, my lashes don't look too bad without anything on them.

Aromaleigh Pure Drama Eyeliner

from left to right: blue, cocoa, copper, green, red, silver, teal, topaz, violet

Phoebe (swipesomegloss.com) was selling her set of samples of Aromaleigh Pure Drama Eyeliners. I've been lemming for them since I saw them on her blog so I haaad to get them. I couldn't get the colors to show up well on cam, I'm sorry I should have used my other camera. The differences for each color are more obvious in person. They're much prettier in person. All of them are swatched dry BTW. I already have my favorites: silver, cocoa, teal and topaz. Now, if only I can get my hands on an eyeliner sealant or UDPP to make sure that it stays put.

Phoebe also included two AL sample e/s. One is a Le Mystere which I haven't swatched yet, but the one above is a picture of the e/s in Blast from the Elemental Luster Eye Collection. I couldn't get it also to show up properly (darn!) but this is really more of a gold in person. Real pretty!

My First MAC Brush Set

I was finally able to get my first MAC brush set at a discounted price (thanks gale!). I'm happy for my new brushes (I'm beginning to get really addicted to them). This is the Royal Assets Collection from 2007. It contains the 187SE, 190SE, 168SE and 194SE. I haven't gotten around washing all of them, but I washed my 187SE right away because I was so excited. Unfortunately, it sheds quite a lot. I hope it stops eventually though, I'm hoping that it's just a phase as I read that some stipplings go through a phase of bleeding/shedding.

I'm sorry that I'm not able to write a longer blog for now. February is such a busy month for me. Ciao!

Review: Orly Won't Chip

I bought this because of the good reviews. I really want my nail polish to last long, and I read that this is the way to go.

Let me run through the pros and cons.

PROS

• It really makes a difference with your nail polish life. With this as my top coat and Orly Bonder as my base coat, my nail polish can be chip free for a week! And to think that I wash dishes and sometimes scratch my skin.

CONS

• This has a clumping problem for me (and some people also). After a few swipes, the application is no longer smooth so you have to close it and shake it before continuing to apply it.
• If you put even little more than what is necessary, it bubbles.

So what is the final verdict? Would i buy this again?

The answer is no. Unless I can find away to get rid of this bubbling problem, I'm trying other top coats.

Soap Opera Mini Haul

I got two scrubs from Soap Opera today. The one on the left is the Power Whitening Scrub. This is my second tub already. This tub is supposedly good for three months if used twice a week on the whole body. I'm not quite sure how long it lasted on me. It's a little pricey for a body scrub at P500 (around $10), but I like how it's not so harsh, it leaves my skin moisturized and the smell is not bad either! Regarding the whitening effect, I'm not sure if it makes any difference since I'm always out in the sun anyway!


The scrub on the right is the Small Wonder Daily Cleansing Facial Scrub. I asked the sales lady and she told me that the active ingredient is Vitamin A (so it's actually retinol). This will be my first retinol product so I have to see how it goes. This little scrub costs P275 (around $5.50). I hope this will help my face stay clear all the time as well as brighten it up!

Ask Me Whats Seminar for a Cause Photos

Yesterday was Nikki's Ask Me Whats Seminar for a Cause. As I have posted before, all the proceeds will be used to help Judith's hospital bills. I'm so proud of Nikki for doing this! She's using her talent to help others!

The attendees (aside from me) were Gale (galelovescolors), Rhea (did I spell your name right?), Shen (shensaddiction) and Nina. Also present were the hubbies! Keith (Nikki's hubby) and Nap (Rhea's hubby).

Here are some photos from the workshop. I'm sorry I wasn't able to take any more.

These are pictures of Nikki working it! She did a great job on all of us. I love the smokey look she did on Gale!

Here's a pic of me wearing nothing but foundation and eye makeup. My eye makeup looks brown on picture (because of bad lighting). Yeah, I'm no photographer. In person, it's really pretty! It was a combination of fuchsia, gold and black. Nikki showed us how to draw eyelids. It's really useful for me since I'm very single-lidded.

One more perk I got from this workshop is that I got to try on different products that I've been curious about. These include Smashbox Photo Light Primer, Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC Painterly (c/o Gale), Urban Decay Eyeshadows, Urban Decay 24/7 liners, Stila Smudgepots and and Paul and Joe Eyeliner.

Here is what I found: the Smashbox Primer is good for controlling the oilies, but for now I think I'll stick to my primers since I have a lot left and Smashbox is pricey. The products in my eyes were amazing! I have really oily lids and I can't get anything to stay put but with UDPP in my left eye and MAC Painterly on the other, my eye makeup stayed put! After 9 hours, my eyeshadow was perfectly intact on both eyes. The Stila Smudgepots (which was on my upper lashline) stayed perfectly in my left eye but in my right eye, it creased a teensy weensy bit. It was almost invisible though. As of now I can't blame the MAC Painterly because my right eye is slightly more single-lidded than my left eye, so things really have a harder time staying put on my right eye than on my left. I have to try both UDPP and MAC Painterly one more time (on both eyes) to really see which one works better for me. On my lower lashline, Nikki used a Black Paul and Joe eyeliner for the outer 3/4 of my eye and then Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Yeyo (white) for the inner 1/4. She earlier told me that Urban Decay 24/7 smudged on her waterline so it was probably going to smudge on me too. She recommended that Paul and Joe might be a better choice. However, I checked my makeup 9 hours later (I intentionally left it that long to see how they perform) and found that the Paul and Joe eyeliner was almost completely gone while the Urban Decay liner stayed put! No smudging. What a surprise. The opposite thing happened with Nikki and I! I've already been lemming for Stila smudgepots and Urban Decay 24/7 even before this, but after what happened, I really want it! At the end of the day, I felt sorry about taking my makeup off because of the excellent staying power. I love it!

Anyway, my only regret is that I didn't get to try on the Coastal Scents Gel Liners. It slipped my mind. Oh well, next time.

Nikki, thanks for the fun and educational seminar. I'm sure Judith and her family really appreciate what you're doing.