Shopping Day!

This is my loot from today's shopping trip. Today was a free day for me and I had every intention of going to Rustan's Shangri-La to check out MAC Fluidline (since I've started searching for my HG eye liner) but I got sidetracked to different places and I ended up getting Prestige brushes #102 and #103 (it's already P325 each from the previous prices of P200+ only). Next time, I want to get #104. I also bought Godiva Vitamin C Serum (I've been using this for a long time now and I promise to review this one of these days) and Covergirl Brow and Eye Maker. I bought this because I'm looking for an affordable brow product so I searched MUA and the reviews were favorable so I decided to try this out.

Regarding the Prestige brushes, I'm concerned about their quality control. Each brush really looks very different from one another. They weren't consistent so I really had to inspect each stock one by one and choose which I think is the best among the lot, especially when it came to #104 (which I haven't bought yet). If you try going to Beauty Bar in Robinson's Galleria, the difference with each #104 brush is so big, I got confused what that brush was actually for. It was only when I went to Beauty Bar Podium where the #104 brushes were more uniform that I finally saw what it was supposed to look like.

Anyway, I saw Cinderella's big sale and saw some simple gowns at around 60% off. How could I resist? Being a performer, I always have to have a ready stock of evening wear so I bought two! There goes my budget for MAC Fluidline. I never even made it to Shangri-La. I guess MAC Fluidline will have to wait!

My Dreamworld Minerals Loot!

Here is a picture of my loot during the Dreamworld Minerals Christmas sale. A full size jar of Amenti foundation in Luna formulation, a full size jar of Creme toppings in Butterscotch (with clay and silica), a mini jar of of butter illumination powder, and a sample size of lavender illumination powder.

I'm a little sad because the Amenti foundation I got is a tad lighter than the Amenti sample I have. It looks like the new batch of foundations are indeed a tad lighter than it used to be. But it's not that light for me so I can still use it.

At first I was surprised that there was no freebie, but my order actually came with a gift certificate! They gave me a code which I can use any time during the year, but it wasn't mentioned what promo/freebie/discount I can get if I use that gift certificate.

Well, that's all for now!

My Favorite Oil Control Products

I've mentioned so many times that my face is such and oil mine! So I thought I'd share my favorite products to keep oil at bay.

First, here are my favorite oil control film products. I prefer film to paper, since film is much more absorbent. The Clean and Clear yellow paper is one of my favorites because it has SPF 20. Perfect for retouching your sunscreen throughout the day. This is P120 (around $2.40) for 50 sheets. Gatsby Oil Control Film is the cheapest that I have found in the market. It's only P90 (less than $2) for 70 sheets. Before I used to buy Rustan's Essences Oil Control Film which was cheap at P50 ($1) for 50 sheets but this was phased out by Rustan's. I wonder why.

This is the most heavy duty primer I've used so far. This is the ever famous Monistat Anti-Chafing Gel. However, I can't use this everyday since I get whiteheads. But this really helps control oiliness.

Here are my favorite mineral finishing powders when it comes to oil control. In order from left to right: Lauress Fantastic Finish (old formulation), Ellana Sheer Velvet High Definition Powder, Aromaleigh Ultra Resolution Finishing Powder. Good old silica powder is also an inexpensive way to control oiliness.

For those who aren't into mineral makeup or other loose powder forms, there's also MAC Blot. This is more expensive than anything else I've shown in this entry.

What I love about these powders is that they come out as sheer, so they don't compromise your makeup. I've tried a lot of oil control powders (non-mineral) which look like a mask, and worse, as I keep on reapplying it throughout the day, it cakes. There is nothing worse than a face that looks cakey that screams, "Yes I TRIED to put on makeup!" Tried being the key word.

Remember, if you are looking for a product with good oil control, the following ingredients would be most suitable: silica, kaolin clay, silk powder, rice powder.

I'd like to try on Avon Magix Skin Protector SPF 20 because of Nikkiz' (notjustminerals) rave, but it's not available in the Philippines. For now, I'll just have to do with these.

What about you? Is there a good oil control product you'd like to recommend?

Testing out AWG foundation

This is really long overdue. Because of a lot of raves, I bought samples of AWG (Adorned with Grace) foundation. It's been with me since December last year but I wasn't able even open up my samples and find my match. Well I finally did, and I'm a Hope 3.8! My lament is that the sample is not very generous. However, I just got them at $12 for 15 samples which is already inexpensive.

AWG seems to be a very forgiving brand since their shades are so wearable. I find that I can also use Faith 4.0 and Faith 4.2.

I roadtested their foundation and here's how it looked like (my blush seemed to come off very light in the picture):

FACE

• Bare Naturals S5 Primer
• Sweetscents Hide-a-Pore in Medium
• Ellana Sheer Velvet Finishing Powder in White Chocolate Mocha
• AWG foundation in Hope 3.8
• Joppa Dewy Finishing Silk in Sheer

EYES

• Lunasol Brow Styling Mascara in Brown
• Monave Lidwash in Buttercup
• Ellana Undereye Concealer in Awake

CHEEKS

• Ellana Blush in Happiness
• Aromaleigh Illuminating Perle Powder in Whisper

LIPS

• Silk Naturals Lip Gloss in Breathless

BTW, please pardon the damp hair. I had just taken a bath and my hair takes a long time to dry.

The foundation had a creamy, matte (but not flat) finish with heavy coverage. With a primer, plus the sandwich method (which I do for all my foundations) this lasted on my face the whole day.

I also have a sample of their Divine Oil-control Powder, which is supposed to be divine! LOL. I haven't tried it yet but I'll try it soon and see how it goes.

Review: Leyende Face Canvas

photo taken from leyende.multiply.com

Product Description:

Mango butter from India serves as the base for this deliciously non-greasy moisturizer. Perfect for tropical or cold weather, Face Canvas locks moisture in and stays put along with your make-up.

With organic bearberry extract. And now with added carrot extract!



After a reeeeaaaally long wait I finally got my order from Leyende. I got the face canvas as part of the holiday gift set that they have so what I have is a mini size instead of the full size. I've been using it for a week now, and so far, my really oil-mine, acne prone skin hasn't broken out yet.

Let me give a rundown on the pros and cons with this product:

PROS

• It's oil-free.
  
• It's non-greasy and doesn't leave a heavy feeling on the skin, making it perfect for me to use during daytime.
• It's easily absorbed by the skin.
• It's organic! 'Nuff said.
• It has bearberry extract which is supposed to help with skin lightening. This might be a con for some people, but it's a pro for me since I'm always under the heat of the sun. I have to maintain my color somehow! Of course, I haven't seen noticed any difference yet since I've only been using it for a week.
• It somehow helps control the oiliness of my skin.
• The fragrance is mild and smells yummy. This might be a con for people who prefer their products to be fragrance-free.
  

CONS

• It's in a tub, so it's not very hygienic.
• At P450 for 60 g, it's a tad pricey for a local product.
• Although some people say that it's also a good makeup base (but it's marketed as a moisturizer), I find that its texture is not very makeup base-y so I still put a primer after. Although, it's not their fault because it's not being marketed as a primer.
  
• This has no SPF, so it's still a must to use sunblock.
  

Would I buy this again? Yes! Unless I find something better.

My Essence of Beauty Brushes

I finally got my Essence of Beauty Brushes from eBay! This is actually my first purchase via eBay and I got them for a decent price. I actually started eyeing this because of Girltalk and I saw Shen (shensaddiction) with these babies during the MMU weekend. I loved how they look like! These are 3 double-ended brushes with 1 bonus eyeshadow brush.

from top to bottom:

blush and powder brush

foundation and concealer brush

blending and eye shadow brush

eye shadow brush

I'm no expert on brushes, but I think that these brushes are mixed. Some are synthetic while some are animal hair. The 3 duo brushes are soft, but the bonus eye shadow brush is hard and scratchy. I already see a little bit of shedding in the blush brush, which I guess to be made of animal hair. Because they're double-ended, they're very handy for travel, but it's a little hard to store. I wish I was able to find more of their eye brushes though, because they're much raved about. I guess I'll have to wait till I actually go the US to buy those.

Anyway, I was in Watson's today and look what caught my eye:

See the giant 70% off? It was originally P100 (around $2) but it came out at P20 only (around $0.40) so it was actually 80% off. I tried to feel the sponge (since it couldn't be opened) and it felt more durable than the usual sponge tip applicators so I decided to give this a shot. When I finally opened it up when I got home, yes it really was more durable. Although, this won't last as long as a brush will. LOL.

Review: Fanny Serrano Long Wearing Gel Liner

I tried this out because of the good reviews. In my experience, it's quite creamy and not hard to apply. However, waterproof as it may be, it's not very oil-resistant (at least in my case).

The first time I tried it, I just applied silica powder on my lids then proceeded to apply the liner on my upper lash line. One hour later, it was completely gone.

Not giving up hope, I tried it again for a second time. This time I place eyeshadow on my lids first, then applied the liner. Four hours later, to my horror, the liner migrated all the way to my undereye. I've been walking around with racoon eyes for who knows how long?

I still didn't give up hope. The next day, I applied Bare Naturals S5 Primer on first, then foundation, then eyeshadow. There was still some smudging a few hours later, although it didn't go all the way to my undereye. 6 hours later, the gel liner looked like eyeshadow already :(

Would I buy this again? No. For me, the search continues.

Ellana liquid lip color vs. Ellana lip gloss

I find myself buying from Ellana Minerals quite often because (1) it's affordable, and (2) they have a showroom which saves me the trouble of buying samples and I don't even have to wait for a bazaar.

Anyway, being a lippie lover, my head naturally gravitates towards lippies! Ellana has 4 types of lippies, the moisturizing lip color (which I don't have) in a pot, the lip and cheek tint (which is a different category for me because it's also for the cheeks), the liquid lip color (the one on the left) and the lip gloss (on the right):

So let's go through all these one-by-one, shall we?

Price: The liquid lip color si P150 while the lip gloss is P160.

Quantity: There's no exact amount in the picture, but as you can see you the lip gloss has much more product.

Application: The liquid lip color is more like a lip pen type that you twist to get more product while the lip gloss is a lip wand style. I find that it's easier to control the amount of product to use using wand types. With lip pens, once you twist too much, there's no putting that product back. The lip pen is more hygienic, though, because the product doesn't get contaminated.

Stickiness: The liquid lip color is not sticky while the lip gloss is extremely sticky. If hair flies onto my face and hits my lips, the hair will stay there forever unless I manually remove the hair from my lips.

Pigmentation: The liquid lip color is more pigmented while the lip gloss is more sheer. The new formulation of the lip gloss is also glittery.

Gloss: The liquid lip color isn't really glossy while the lip gloss has high shine.

Staying Power: I find that the liquid lip color has better staying power.

Mintiness: The lip gloss has a minty feeling on your lips! I don't really notice this with the liquid lip color.

So after all these, what do you think I prefer? My answer is the liquid lip color! I'm really loving this. Too bad there are only 6 colors to choose from. I hope they make new colors soon. This is a keeper!

Seminar for a Cause

I copied this from Nikki's blog. She's holding a make-up seminar to help a friend of hers. Please read on. It's for a good cause :)

Read the original post here

Dear Philippine Readers:

Yours truly will be holding a 3 hours make-up seminar to a limited number of slots. (details below)

Why?

My high school friend, Kerby, who's sister Judith suffers from Leukemia, she's undergoing Chemotherapy and my friend is the one who takes care of her. They already spent so much for the treatment and the group of friends (us) already sent a couple of emails and messages to others to help our friend Kerby.

We've got positive responses, but last night, I got a text from Kerby himself, thanking us for the help, and told us that his sister was in the hospital since December 23, yes they spent Christmas and New years in the hospital. He messaged all of his friends to let us know that his mom is selling off watches and some jewelries to help out with the finances.

I felt bad...I wanted to help... and just right on asking money won't be right...I have to do something... with a lot of thinking, and eating LOL (joking aside)

Askmewhats Seminar for a Cause was born!(note from author: ALL PROCEEDS WILL BE GIVEN TO JUDITH'S FAMILY)

When: January 31, 2009

Time: 1:30pm-4:30pm

Fee: Php1,500/head (snacks will be provided)

Where: 2107 21st Floor One San Miguel Bldg, San Miguel Ave. Ortigas Pasig City

For Inquiries and Reservations: email ntiu1027@gmail.com

Thanks and please help me spread the word!

God bless!!!

Stay Happy!

My First Experience with Konad Nail Art

This is my first nail art using Konad! My polish color is Orly Catch the Bouquet. I actually took this while I was in the slipper section of SM Megamall. I started out a simple flower design, but hopefully I'll be able to do more complicated designs in the future.

I had to practice this a few times to get it right. The first few times, the design was incomplete so I had to try some more but I finally got it! I tried using my Sally Hansen nail polish for the nail art but yes, as the seller told me, the formula was runny and the design came out pale. I guess I have to stick to the special nail polish unless I can find a brand with that has really thick nail polish. Originally, I wanted the flowers to be silver, however, when I stamped the silver polish onto my nail, the design looked pale. I was disappointed in the silver. The white and black polishes work well, though. I have yet to try the gold polish.

When I finally finished stamping all my nails, I was going to apply a top coat, and to my horror, the design smudged! I had no choice but to do the smudged nail all over again. I waited for another 2 hours for the special nail polish to "dry," but it smudged again, much to my dismay. I redid a lot of my nails because of the smudged designs. Finally, I got the trick to applying the top coat. The brush must not actually touch the design. Apply the top coat on the nail with the right thickness, and brush the polish very lightly. Just enough for the polish to spread around the nail. The polish will act as a barrier between the brush and the design. Once the top coat dries, the design dried as well. However, be careful not to put too much top coat in an effort to avoid contact between the brush and the special polish, or else bubbles will form.

All in all, I think once I learn how to do this better, this will be more enjoyable. It's a little faster than manually drawing the nail art, especially for untalented ones like me. Nail stamping can also be used in combination with manual painting.

My First Attempt at Nail Art, My Konad loot and My Post-Christmas Gift

Okay, around a week ago I posted the nail art pens that I got from Nikki (askmewhats). I finally used them to paint my feet! It's my first attempt ever to do my own nail art and yes, it looks very crudely done (Darn! I should have used the dotting pen instead). Hopefully, with a lot of practice someday I'll be half as good as Nikki. It's a good thing that this is on my feet so it's not so obvious that it isn't perfect or even. Right now, flowers are the only designs I can do. Tee hee!

Anyway, I also bought nail stamping items from Konad. In the picture is a French tip set (with a stamper, scraper, 2 10 ml bottles of nail polish, a demo video and 3 image plates), 2 5 ml nail polishes and 9 image plates. I admit that I got carried away. I hoarded a lot of image plates. The nail polish is expensive! P330 (around $7.6) for 10 ml bottle. It's even more expensive than imported polish Anyway, I'm in the process of testing them. I'll do a review on this stamping set soon.

I also received some goodies from Kanebo from my mom as Post-Christmas gifts.

from left to right: Faircrea White UV Protector SPF 50, Lunasol Brow Styling Mascara and Coffret D'0r Natural Clear Liner.

Remember the review I did on sunblocks? The Faircrea SPF 50 is very similar if not exactly the same as the Tiffa SPF 50. Of all the sunblocks I've tried, this is my favorite!

Product Spotlight: ThermaClear Acne Clearing Device

photo taken from www.amazon.com

Product Description:

ThermaClear’s exclusive two-second Thermal Pulse Technology™ reaches beneath the skin’s surface to trigger a highly effective dual-action healing process: neutralizing acne-causing bacteria from above while stimulating the body’s own powerful acne-fighting proteins from below, so you get clearer skin up to four times faster than if left untreated. It’s similar to the laser technology dermatologists use to treat mild-to-moderate acne — but without the hassle or expense of doctor’s appointments. See for yourself how our technology helps you look good — and when you look good, you feel even better.

My sister and I have always been on the look out for a good anti-acne product in the market, and when Zeno came out, we got curious about it. It's a good thing we didn't have the resources back then to get it, because a superior version came out: the Thermaclear!

We did a lot of research on Zeno vs. Thermaclear and we were convinced that ThermaClear was the way to go. Both seemed to be effective products, but the ThermaClear had a warm-up time of 10 seconds compared to the Zeno's warm-up time of 2 minutes. The application time of the ThermaClear is only 2 seconds compared to the Zeno's application time of 2.5 minutes. It's such a long time to hold a device for 2.5 minutes on one pimple. The Zeno can only treat up to 3 pimples in one session as opposed to ThermaClear's unlimited treatments per session.

The ThermaClear can be applied up to three times a day, but no more than once every hour. It's best to use it on the first sign of blemish, and results can be seen after a day. It can also work on small pimples. However, this will not work on pimples that already have a head and on cystic pimples. The point of the ThermaClear is to stop a pimple dead on its tracks, not to treat a full-fledged pimple.

The pain? Very tolerable. And it only lasts for 1-2 seconds. A small price to pay for clear skin.

I recommend this is a supplement to an anti-acne regimen or can be used solely by people who have a few to moderate acne. This is NOT a substitute for a good anti-acne regimen.

Cons? This ain't cheap at $150 so think twice before purchasing it. They also don't ship outside the US so you need to ask a relative or someone residing in the US to bring this home to you. This has been with us for almost a year now and it's still in working order.

The verdict: This is a good device for people with acne problems.

Would I buy this again? If ours gets broken, yes!

Much Awaited Arrivals for Early 2009!

photo taken from www.everydayminerals.com

Everyday Minerals Stippling Brush

This brush is due to come out late January. There is so much anticipation for this brush already because there are only a few stippling brushes here in the Philippines and stippling brushes are quite pricey compared to other brushes so everyone is always on the lookout for a good stippling brush. EDM previously came out with a stippling brush but the reviews weren't so good. But with the new lineup of EDM brushes today, I'm hoping that this brush will deliver. And it's sure to be affordable, since all EDM brushes are. My one concern, though, is that this is going to be made of 100% synthetic hair. Huh? Let's see how this will work out.


Hello Kitty for MAC

As you can see, I'm not into MAC that much because I prefer mineral makeup, but now MAC has teamed up with Hello Kitty! And being a pink lover, I love Hello Kitty! This is really making me want to buy some of these. I don't know if this will be available in the Philippines, but then, there's always online shopping! *wink wink*

How about you? What are you awaiting?