Sunday, May 31, 2009

Being Filipino!

Finally, here is my entry to Mszcheysser's contest!

Here's what the contest is about:

ATTENTION MY LOVES :) I am holding a contest - just for you.
Ever since, I joined blogger, I made several friends from the Philippines who contacted me about how they are not able to get NYX and other American's brands. Because I know how it is to be in their shoes (alot of websites, doesn't want to send to Guam either!), I decided to do a contest for those only in the Philippines! (Since there's alot anyways, mainly for the United States) So what are the requirements? 01. You must be a follower of my blog, of course! 02. You must be in the country of the Philippines. 03. You must be able to get a package from USPS. So what's the contest? 01. In your blog, list down
  • 5 things that you enjoy about being a Filipina/Filipino
  • 5 things that about being a Filipino
  • 5 values that you keep as a Filipino
  • 5 stereotypes that represent you (Pointing with your lips, when you give directions)
  • Talk about one filipino celebrity that you admire

Pick any one of them! I'M NOT SAYING TO TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING. That's too much. =P

02. Be creative, add pictures/videos e.t.c
03. Link me in your blog! :)

How do you win?

01. I will be judging - and I will ask 1-2 other fellow bloggers from Guam to help me!

What are the prizes?

01. In my package, I will include products from NYX (Mainly, because this is the most common thing that I get comments about) and "Insert SECOND common Drug Store Brand in here".

** Please comment me, telling me which drug store brand that you are having a hard time finding in the Philippines, as well. If you are the winner, I will shop for your prize. :) And also, that you're entering in my contest! LOL.

IF YOU'RE CREATIVE...

And create a look with the Philippines' flag color, I will include a GRAND PRIZE. That is if you win.

WHEN DOES THIS END?

I would like to end this on June 7, 2009, so that I can send the package with my parents when they go to the Philippines but date might change to June 30, 2009 if I decide to just send it with USPS. I will let you know. =)

PS:
Sorry that I will not be able to provide High-end prizes - I'm being realistic! I need some more of those myself, lol. xD

PSS:
Just to let the public know, I don't mind how many people join. It could be 1 or it could be 100, I just want to help someone without having to swap - I just did a different approach. & It's a great way to learn know more about the ladies. [Edited 8:51pm of 05/22]
Justify Full
So here is my version:

5 things that you enjoy about being a Filipina/Filipino
1. Being bilingual: We have our own language but we can speak good English as well! In fact, if you're not Tagalog, you can probably speak 3 languages (English, Tagalog and another dialect)!
2. It's easy to find your way because everyone is always willing to give you directions on the street
3.We have so many beautiful beaches. A lot of tourists go visit there. I admit that I'm not much of a beach person but just the view of the beaches are really beautiful.


4. I enjoy being courted! Hhere, the old-style way of courting is still being done, especially in the provinces. The guy's job is to woo the girl, making us feel like princesses! Then the time will come when you say yes or no to the guy, then after that you're officially bf-gf.
5. We have a lot of godparents! Seriously! We add more godparents for each rite of passage (baptism, first communion, confirmation). Hence, lots of presents during Christmas!

5 things that about being a Filipino
1. We're multicultural: Filipinos are made up of ethnic groups, with its own language, tradition, dishes, etc.
2. We have soooooo many words to refer to family members, including distant ones and in-laws. For example, in English, in-laws are referred to as mother-in-law or sister-in-law, but in Tagalog, each in-law has a different name.Ii admit i can't keep up with all those names!
3. We have a lot of nice churches. These little gems are found in the provinces. They are small, old but wow! The art inside is quite breathtaking!
4. We throw great "fiestas!" These fiestas are also very popular attractions! Some of the most popular are the Pahiyas Festival in Quezon and the Ati-atihan in Aklan! Be prepared for a lot of free food, street dancing and bands!


5. We're everywhere! There are Filipinos all over the world.

5 values that you keep as a Filipino
1. Being family-oriented: In the Philippines, most people don't move out until they marry. In fact, some people don't even leave home even after they marry! The family then becomes an extended family.
2. we're great at hospitality. When we have guests, we always make sure they are extra comfortable. We prepare special food and give them the most comfortable accomodations that we can.
3. we're known as being warm, patient people.
4."Utang na loob." This is hard to explain. Literally, it means "internal debt." It's like when someone does you a big favor, you show them kindness and generosity in return. It's like saying, "I'm forever in your debt." Whether it may be good or bad, it's one of the values that we keep.
5. Optimism. I saw a news report once that said that a survey showed that filipinos are one of the happiest people in the world. I believe so too! Even if we're a developing country and life is not easy, Filipinos still manage to keep their heads up high and look at the bright side.

5 stereotypes that represent you
1. the way we use flowery words to talk about our sexual organs. When i say flowery, i mean it! We have words like hiyas (jewel), perlas (pearl), ari (own) to refer to our sexual body parts.
2. The way we always understand each other from using the word "ano." It means, "what." For some reason, even if we say, "kunin mo yung ano sa ano (get the what from the what), we understand what the other person is saying!
3. We can eat food on a banana leaf. Yep!
4. We have a technique for eating with our hands (newly-washed hands, of course) without looking like slobs.
5. We love to sing! karaoke is everywhere! in the mall and in the streets!

Talk about one filipino celebrity that you admire
I admire Chin-Chin Gutierrez. Not only is she pretty, but she chooses her projects well. She chooses shows that have substance. It's sad that there's a lot of not-so-good quality tv shows and movies out now. she sings too! But that's not only what she does, she's also an activist. In fact, she was even featured in the cover of Time Magazine Asia.



And now for the look...

The Philippine flag is red, white and blue, with yellow for the stars. So here's what I did:


I place blue on the outer 2/3 of the lid (I didn't have a blue like this so I mixed two different colors to get this blue), yellow on the inner 1/2 of the lid, white on the brow bone and in the lower lashline, and the red on the lips!

I'm not smiling!

Products used:

FACE
Lauress Minimalist

EYES
Coastal Scents Gel liner in Silk White
Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Palette for blues and yellow
Coastal Scents 28 Neutral Palette White
Urban Decay 24/7 eye liner in Zero
Urban Decay 24/7 eye liner in Yeyo
Loreal Telescopic Mascara

LIPS
ELF Mineral Lipstick in Ripe Rose
Ellana Liquid Lip Color in Allure

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Paris, Rome, Singapore Part 2

Okay, finally here are my pics from Paris! Sorry for the late upload, but finally here they are!

Paris was BRRRR!!! It was so cold, but it was so beautiful! I love it! It was so easy to get around because the subway was so convenient, much like the subway system of London. It turns out that London, Paris and Budapest are the oldest subway systems in Europe.

Anyway, before I got to my first stop, lookie what I saw:


A Sephora store! It was hard to show the whole store in the picture, but it was big and had two floors! Ooh...

Here's a little info I gathered about prices of French products:
Loreal and Garnier - more expensive in Paris, but they do have a lot to choose from
Paul and Joe - I'm not quite sure, but it seems that P&J is not cheaper in France
Avene - it's so cheap in France! it turns out that Avene is terribly overpriced here in the Phils.

Anyway, here's me in the inverted triangle in the Louvre Museum. This was made famous in the DaVinci Code.


Me in the Arc de Triomphe


Eiffel Tower at night


Me in the beautiful Versailles gate!

Here's just an example of how beautiful it is inside! Oh wow...

Anyway, that's all for now. Stay tune for Part 3 where I show you pictures from Rome.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Joppa Grab Bag



Lookie here! It's my Joppa Grab Bag! These grab bags are all the rage in GirlTalk, so being the MMU addict that I am, I had to see what all the fuzz is about. These actually arrived last April 27, but I only got my hands on them yesterday. I'm posting this because a lot of people are still curious and debating whether they should get their own. I hope this post would help other people.

What is the Joppa Grab Bag? It's a bag that costs $18 (and free shipping worldwide) where they put stuff filled with clearance items for one reason or another. You can't choose what you get here, you can only hope for the best. So what did my grab bag contain? I got a FS Medium #1 in full coverage (I haven't swatched it yet, but it's REALLY big), a jar of Sheer Finishing Silk, Cherish eyeshadow, Olive Leaf eyeshadow, Field of Lavender Soap, and Devoted Silk and Supple Lip Stick. I haven't swatched any of them but the lippie, it looks like a semi-dark red, but when i wore it, it was very sheer and shimmery. Pretty! My only problem is that it smells like oil :P

So what is the verdict? You get your money's worth for $18, but it's not as much as the previous grab bags where there were a lot of eyeshadows and a few lippies. But it's also possible that it's the giant jar of foundation that ate up my credit. Haha? So what do you think? I leave it up to you to decide.

Anyway, that's all for now. I know I'm supposed to post pictures of my trip, but I haven't gotten all my pictures yet. I promise that my next post will be about my trip :D

Thursday, May 21, 2009

I'm back! Paris, Rome, Singapore Part 1 + award

I'm back! All I can say is, I'm so tired from all the walking I did for the past 11 days. It was insane! Anyway, before I go to serious travel talk, let me start with my haul from Singapore first (although it was the last stop on my vacation) just because I'm quite excited with my goodies. But before anything else, here's a picture of Sephora in Singapore.


Okay, it's not as tiny as what I expected from everyone else's comments, but it is much smaller than the other Sephoras I've seen in Europe.

Here's a picture of Sasa in Singapore:


Now this is what I call tiny! It's really small, unlike its counterparts in Hong Kong, which is Sasa land! I was hoping it would be bigger. Oh well.

My sister and I bought an epilator in Singapore. This is a shared purchase. I tested it and it was nice. Quite expensive though.


Here is my haul from Singapore:


Here's a rundown of the stuff I bought: I bought 3 eye brushes from Sasa. The brand is Arezia (never heard of it actually) and they were cheap. They were less than P120 pesos (around USD2.5) and they looked soft so I decided to try them. I got a sample of Clinique Turnaround Visible Concentrate because I've read a lot of good reviews. I got a sheet of nail stickers from a nail art stall I saw, a pack of Biore black pore strips since I've read a lot of good reviews, an e/s quad from Coffret D'Or (since Kanebo is cheaper in Singapore than in the Philippines), and Legere Water Drop BB cream. Thank you everyone for you input, BTW. I tried some of the BB creams I saw. I also really liked Legere Multi White BB cream (the purple one) but the petrolatum scared me since I'm really oily and I might breakout from continuous usage so I got the oil-free one instead.

I also forgot to add these:


I bought some stuff from MAC Duty Free since it was cheaper than retail price. I bought the Summer Rose Beauty Powder from A Rose Romance Collection. I'm loving this! It gives me a very natural blush. I also got a Layin' Low paintpot. This was the only neutral paintpot they had, since the Duty Free stores don't have all the MAC items.

Here is my happiest beauty purchase:


This is a pack of 5 Shu Uemura Cleansing Oils with a free extra brightening oil in the rightmost! I've been really curious about Shu oils (since they're supposed to be really fab) for the longest time but I didn't want to invest in a big bottle until I'm sure which one worked for me. So now, here comes a set of the oils in 50 ml sizes! Perfect for sampling since I need to sample one product for at least 3-5 days each. I can't remember the exact price I paid for it but it costed less than P2500 for sure. It still doesn't come out cheap but since they are Shu oils the price is reasonable. I haven't seen them outside Duty Free Singapore, though.

Anyway, that's it for my hauls! Stay tune for Part 2 of this post.

Let's move on. I'd like to say thank you for the love you've given me while I was away. I even got this lovely award from Shatz, Pammy and Vonnie:


Terms & Conditions For the Award Recipient:
1. Paste the Award Logo in your blog
2. Give out the award to 10 Blogs that you feels the most inspired and most friendly
.3. Make sure u back linked the recipients' blogs to your blog.
4. Inform the recipients about the award by leaving them comments on their blog
5. Give some love to the person who give you this award.

I'm not sure who's received this award while I was gone but I'm passing it to these people:
Gale
Chrissy
Nikki
Chris
Soapaholic

Blogger problems...

There seems to be some problems with blogger right now. My new post doesn't seem to appear in dashboards. Does anyone else have this problem?

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Quick Note: Stila is Back!

Ok, I know I said that I'd go bye bye for now, but I just had to share this bit of news before I go. Stila is back! Click HERE to read the story. Wahoo! I'm happy that Stila is back because I really love their smudgepots and now I don't have to worry that they'll stop making them soon. Anyway, that's all. I better get back to packing. Ciao!

Friday, May 08, 2009

Bye for Now and a Little Help?

Hello dear bloggers and readers! I'd just like to tell you that I will be going away for a while. I'll be leaving tomorrow for France, Italy and then I'll be going straight to Singapore on the 18th to 20th. If any of you are in those areas (especially Singapore since I'll have more free time there) and would like to meet up, give me holler ok? Unfortunately, I don't know if any of you are from those areas.

Anyway, since there are a lot of BB creams in Singapore, and there are just TOO many to choose from, I'd like to ask you, dear readers, What BB cream can you recommend that I try? I have VERY oily, acne-prone skin, btw, I'm a MAC NC 25 or a mixture of NC 20 and 25 (I don't know yet), Monave Saturnina and a Lauress Pure Yellow. I already have the Skinfood Aloe BB Cream and the BRTC Perfect Cover BB Cream. I'd love any input you might have! TIA!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Recent Hauls + Award

Let me show you a picture of my recent hauls. Mind you, I did not buy them all at the same time! I'm not that rich. LOL.

Anyway, since Stila is having some problems and is refinancing, I thought it was best to purchase some items already since I really don't know what will happen to them.

I bought the Stila Contouring Trio, it comes with tiny lights as you can see on the side. I'm sorry I forgot to swatch them, though.


Anyway, I also bought a set of mini Smudgepots. It has the bestselling colors: Black, Bronze and Gray. For me, Stila Smudgepots are better than MAC Fluidlines. However, I didn't expect it to be this small. When it said mini, they really meant it! This is much smaller than the regular Smudgepots (which is big). This is smaller than MAC Fluidline. I purposely didn't swatch it to prolong its lifespan since I still have my MAC Fluidline.


My Lumiere Pre-buy brushes have finally arrived! Thank you Grace (OD from Girltalk) for hosting these! We made our order last January pa and it finally arrived. I ordered the LHK, FO and angled FO. I haven't washed these so I can't say how they are. The LHK is very soft though. They're very well packaged for shipping! I can't wait to join Lumiere's next prebuy to get some more brushes since I regretted not buying the FT.


I also got my loot from EG minerals from an order we placed last January! LOL. It's been with Grace all this time. Thank you for holding this for me.


And here are my recent purchases from Rustan's. A Coffret D'Or liquid pen. This is my 2nd one already. It's not boxed anymore since I started using this already. Gia also informed me that Fasio mascaras are back in stock at Rustan's Gateway (Thank you Gia!) so I bought one when I happened to be in the area since I've been dying to try it for a long time.


I also got this friendship award from Chrissy, Donnarence, Khymm and Soapaholic. Thank you dearies! Mwah mwah mwah!
The rules are:

1. Take your award here

2. Put the logo on your post

3. Link the person who awarded you

4. Nominate at least 7 other bloggers

5. Add the links of those bloggers on yours

6. Leave a message for your nominees


So now, I'm passing this to 7 different bloggers:

1. Nikki

2. Nlng*Star

3. Gale

4. Shasta

5. Aileen

6. Yumeko

7. Blair

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Contest Time!

Up for grabs are these FABULOUS prices!


limited edition Shu Uemura Mika Hearts Shu Portable Brush Set!

The set includes 4 brushes: goat brush for the face, pony and squirrel brush for cheeks, sable and kolinsky brush for eyes, and sable
brush for lips.

Jurlique Maintain Balance Introductory Set

The kit contains a Balancing Foaming Cleanser, Rosewater Balancing Mist, Daily Exfoliating Cream, Herbal Recovery Gel and Balancing Day Care Cream.

Shu Uemura Lipstick Holder

This is a super cute case that will hold 2 lipstick tubes. Specially designed with delicate artwork, it also comes with a little mirror for quick touchups wherever you may be!

Wanna know how you can win this?
Click HERE


Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Tagged, right now!

Rules: Take a picture of yourself RIGHT now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture. Load the picture onto your blog. Tag some people to play.


I got tagged by Chrissy! If you're reading this, haha, you tagged me at the wrong time Chrissy! I had just gotten home from a long commute so I quickly washed my face so I had no makeup on! Even I'm not used to seeing myself without makeup in pictures! Anyway, excuse the red marks, my cheeks are a bit blotchy, which is why I like wearing makeup to cover it up.

Anyway, I'm tagging:
Sarah
Blair
K
Vonnie
Cris
Nlng*Star
Yu

Monday, May 04, 2009

Another Neutral FOTD for an Outdoor Graduation

I'd just like to show you the FOTD I took during my graduation from UP. I kept it very neutral since it was held outdoors.



FACE
Monistat Anti-Chafing Gel
Sweetscents Hide-a-Pore in Medium
Ellana Sheer Velvet Finishing Powder in White Chocolate
Earthen Glow Minerals Cover Me Foundation in Yuan Yuan
Lauress Minimalist Foundation in Pure Yellow
Aromaleigh URFP

EYES
UDPP
Covergirl Brow and Eye Maker in Midnight Brown
Lunasol Brow Styling Mascara in Natural Brown
All eyeshadows are from Coastal Scents 28 Neutral Palette
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Yeyo
Loreal Telescopic Mascara
Ellana Undereye Concealer in Awake

CHEEKS
Coastal Scents Contour and Blush Palette

LIPS
Silk Naturals Lip Gloss in Breathless

And also my medal...

Friday, May 01, 2009

Review: Ellana Buffer Brush


Gosh this is a big brush! I don't have a MAC buffer brush so I can't compare, but as you can see, just from the handle itself, it's a chubby brush. This brush is synthetic, so it's definitely soft and not scratchy. The great thing about this is because of its size, it's perfect for buffing mineral foundation if you're in a hurry because it covers a lot of area quickly.

Let me just give a quick rundown of pros and cons:

PROS
  • available locally for P750 (around $15)
  • soft and not scratchy
  • fluffy and dense

CONS

  • minimal shedding
  • the handle is so fat that I can't find a brush roll/belt/case that it can fit in so it's a challenge to store

Rating: 4.5/5

I'd give it a 5 if it didn't shed a bit, as I noticed with Ellana brushes.

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