Pressed Powder Adventures Pt. 2

Been gone for a little time because we are currently on the process of moving to another place! :) bye old house!

Yesterday, I woke to discover that my Maybelline powder broke in two. It is not good way to start the morning.... On the other hand it is a great way to get a new powder, yes!

PICTURE: She looks so sad. She's broken and about to be replaced.

noooo.... don't throw me away plzzz....

I went back to the department store and yet again faced overbearing, snobby sales girls there and looked at a lot of pressed powders. Somehow, I don't want the usual brands so I took a gamble and went to some boutiques.

I'm totally into Asian brands now. If I had the money for it, I would probably head off to the Skinfood Store. I like their Buckwheat Loose Powder (#23), it's like around 700+ or something. Or maybe their new line, I love their Rice Mochi Pact 3

SPF 27! I KNEEEEEEWWWRR! It's so cool that this almost-nothing, translucent powder pact has a higher SPF than my Skinfood Aloe BB Cream SPF 20. Considering how extremely sunny it is here, it's a blessing.




SU-WEEEEEEEEEEET! I tried it out for the first time and it's awesome.

WHAT I LIKE:
1. It's totally cute, ultra-lightweight.
2. I like it because there's a plastic "separator" I have no idea what you call that.
3. The foundation itself is sheer, that even putting on a lot won't make it look like you put on a lot xD
4. It always looks very, very natural on my face.
5. Oil control is great.
6. No fragance. Nothing sweet or cloying, just your regular earthy, powdery scent.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:
1. The silver container scratches and smudges easily.
2. Bulkier than the Maybelline.

It's not Skinfood, but it's close, right? :D

Godiva Review and Happy Tags

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be?
- Nelson Mandela, 1994 inaugural speech

Pretty pink lips here we go!
YES? NO? LOBSTER?

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE FRONT:

The GODIVA LICOWHITE I BLOGGED ABOUT is awesome because... it works. Or so I'd like to believe. After like 2 weeks, using it night after night, have finally paid off. I woke up this morning and went to the bathroom to wash the sleep off my face and I pleasantly noticed how my lips have turned a sprightly color. I took the picture above to show off my fat lips the nice hue to all you guys. No lipgloss/stick, just godiva licowhite I applied last night before I went to bed.

I like it because it has no smell, so I don't get turned off from using it (like Vaseline) and that I don't eat it off my lips (like Nivea Cherry-lol!) But what I love most about it is that it really moisturizes, yet it's not grease-heavy on the lips. It's an apply-it-on-and-forget-about-it kind of product.

***

I have been tagged by the ever-lovely Golden of Goldensdiary! Thanks soooo much! :D I really like tags. I like it because I can talk about... myself. HAHAHAH! Self-centered noh?

SIX THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

1. Spending ME + BOOKS time. You know what, this past 3-day weekend have been such a great time to de-stress! I get to curl up with my book before I go to sleep, and reach for it beside my pillo when I wake up in the morning. I'm currently reading Atonement by Ian McEwan, South of the Border West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami, and Watchmen (DC Comics) by Alan Moore and I have a lot more books in my To-Be-Read pile which I am excited to read.

2. Buying and trying out Asian skin care products. I am absolutely in love with Asian skin care brands like Lioele, VOV, Beauty Credit, Skinfood, Etude, Samourai Girl. I love their cleansers, moisturizers, masks, serums, emulsions, etc etc. I've my eyes set on that Skinfood Black Garlic Emulsion at Frances' Beauty for a Living blogsale (just checked it--its already bought! naman! ). Maybe for now I have to settle with my trusty Celeteque oil-free toner. I love it and it does its job well.

3. Cosmetics with Cute packaging. I am a sucker for packaging. I'm the type of person who, on an impulse, would probably buy stuff because of the packaging. Or that because I wanted to keep the box. But if I can't but them then I'd just gush at them, like what I did when I'm at the Skinfood Store, or at La Core korean cosmetics shop

4. Watcing awesome movies with friends. Two nights straight we all watched two awesome movies: Orphan and District 9. We went home elated and discussing great scenes. The Orphan movie was very chilling. District 9 blew us away. The action never stopped and we were glued to the screen, barely eating our chips. And the whole thing with the District-9 aliens just about broke my heart.

5. Junk food. Chocolates. Ice cream. Cakes. And no matter how you grill me from eating all these crap I could never help myself. I love eating them all. One time we were out all over the city and my lunch and dinner consisted of 2 ice-cream sandwich and nothing more. I don't want to eat anything else except ice cream sandwiches for the rest of my life.

6. Internet and Videogames. Internet is, basically, my life an my diversion. It's fun working at home and taking it easy and still earn the same wages, at the same time being here in the internet is sweet! It's where I find my source of fun and distraction (sometimes more than I want it to distract me). As for videogames, well, I've been playing since I was 13, and I possibly will never grow out of this! I've played on Famicom, PS, PS2, Sega Dreamcast, XBOX, XBOX360, GameCube, Wii, PS3, even the handheld games and the PC (can't shake off my MMORPG addiction). Whenever I play videogames, it helps me forget about my troubles and simply focus on the linear but complex quest of going on a long adventure and saving the world from destruction.

Those are the six things that make me happy. Now, what's yours?

Strip It + Kabuki + SweetShuga's Giveaway

Hi! It's nice to see you all again :D

You know how crazy life + work gets and it hinders you from doing the things you want to do? Yep, we all have them. I've been online though but mostly it's for doing online work and editing and typing manuscript (nothing too grand but it's so fun to do! I wish this was my line of work)

What have I got these past few days:

Bought STRIP IT!
Because of the good results I got from using STRIP IT's P160.00 trial pack, I ordered 2 big jar wax at P295 each
over at their multiply store. As usual, Arlette was very accomodating and nice. Though their 2-for-280 promo was over but anyway, what's a 15 peso difference, right?
I've just used the first one yesterday and it's still good. Got a lot of extra wax strips now so I didn't have too much trouble. I've just used about half, so all in all I have roughly 4 months worth of hair-free skin for less than P600 ($12)! Cool, huh? :D


I might be weird to the lot of you but I didn't have a single brush before! No foundation brush, no stippling brush, not even a powder brush, so I've always wanted them :( Ok so I have a cheap eyeshadow brush which I bought to apply the Skinfood Brightening Eye Serum around my eye but that doesn't even count. Hayyy I'm such a loser!
But I'm a winner now (hahaha corny talaga!) because I bought Ellana Minerals Kabuki Brush from the Kadayawan Bazaar and i have never touched a brush so soft. The store sells Ellana Minerals so I bought also Ellana Minerals Espresso Con Panna Oil Absorbing Finishing Mineral Powder (hingal! hingal!). The brush and the 4g minerals were all for P500 ($10), so yakang-yaka naman. Also bought the Human Loves Nature Mandarin Orange sun protection lip balm for just Php50.00

I went to The Body Shop (window shopping lang, ang mahal dun) because I saw this adorable skin care line with the Japanese motif. They had cleansers, creams, etc and the packaging was so cuuuute. Haaay. The store smells so good too.

Let's all enter this amazing giveaway! Goodluck to all of us :D

SweetShuGaHon's Giveaway!

Rules:
[FOLLOW]
[VISIT MAC COSMETICS WEBSITE]
[COMMENT WITH 4 OF YOUR FAVE ITEM]
[POST]
Contest Ends Sept.25, 2009

Skinfood Salmon Brightening Eye Serum

Skinfood Salmon Brightening Eye Serum is a popular line in the Skinfood store. The serum is highly concentrated in omega-3 fatty acid, haloxyl, arbutin and vitamins to improve blood circulation and whiten skin for that pretty, radiant eyes.

This week has been major dark eyebags week for me. I've tried using cucumber when my eyes get too puffy, but it doesn't remove those dark rings under my eyes. It's time for me to take out the 3-piece Skinfood tester I got from Na-Hee and see how it fares.

TIRED EYES AT ITS BEST. HELP ME, SALMON!
(too much work, not a lot of sleep)

The serum is water-based so no clogging oily stuff here! It not only promises to brighten dark eyes, but it also promises to combat fine lines. What I like about this is it is a very light cream, so the skin absorbs it immediately. I just don't like the smell! It's like the smell of old, dry rose which I hate (creepy old rose smell!)

The sample pack lasts for 2-3 uses, since you need very little for both eyes. I have 3 so as soon as I finished all them I'm going to post a before and after shot or something... IF it has any effect lol!

Skinfood Agave Cactus BB Cream Wins

I've a lot of Skinfood samples from Na-Hee and I think I've found another BB cream that's ohhh so right for my skin!

Skinfood Agave Cactus
SPF 36 PA +++
50 ml
Skinfood Store: P2,100
Kkochipida Store: P880

USING the sample I got from Na-Hee:

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Godiva LicoWhite Lip Gloss

No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.
- Marilyn Monroe

Today, I bought the Godiva LicoWhite Lip Gloss with Vitamin C because it promises to "help give dark lips a pinkish tinge". Well, I hope so. Soft-pink lips evade me for some reason, no matter what lipbalm I use (I'm a former user of Chapstick and Nivea) so when I passed this by in Watsons, I was very interested if this could help me with my lip hue problem.


My lips really boggle me for some reason... I have never smoked in my life and still there are times when my lips are so grayish! When it gets worst, my lips would look as if I was drinking suka and smoked 2 cigars a day. I try to remedy it with Alba Terra Tints organic lipbalm but even that doesn't help! I want to try going out without lipgloss/stick on. I'm putting my hope on Godiva LicoWhite to remedy this.

The Godiva gloss is priced at P107: Pricier than Nivea and Chapstick, but cheaper than the lipbalm I currently use now. I tried it last night and I was surprised that it had NO SMELL AT ALL. Really, wala talaga. Its kind of weird, even Petroleum Jelly has a slight smell. Anyway, it glides on very smoothly, and it doesn't feel heavy at all. I'm thinking that I'll only use this before I go to sleep, so the vitamin c can work its magic overnight.

Crossing my fingers for good results!

Giveaways For Us to Enter

I like giveaways for a lot of reasons, one being that I get stuff that I can't find from where I am and they're giving it away for free! Two, it says a lot about someone when they share what they can and offer it to other people, even from the simplest gifts to the grandest one. Three, it amazes me: just the very effort that it took for them to pick out such nice items, the money they shell out for it and their enthusiasm in giving it away makes it such a happy event I love to be part of.

I hope I can do a giveaway someday too, just a little token. I'm sure I will! I'm looking into nice prizes that are cute and useable. If only I have the money I would probably give something to each of my 30-odd awesome people! Why not? They're super sweet to me! I like sharing and they deserve it :)

Please do join in these blogger's happy giveaway:

Hazelxeyes15's 100 followers Contest

[FOLLOW]
[COMMENT
[BLOG /TWEET!]

Deadline : Saturday 22nd August at 12 midnight GMT.

=====================================

Mineral Magic Cosmetics Giveaway Time!!

[FOLLOW]
[COMMENT]
[SPREAD THE WORD!]

Deadline: September 11th, 2009

=====================================

Lemonlady's First Giveaway!

[FOLLOW 2 BLOGS]
[POST]
[COMMENT]

Status: Ongoing

======================================

Amore Vintage's Giveaway!

[FOLLOW]
[COMMENT]
[BLOG]
Deadline: September 13, 2009

For more information, visit their blogs now :) Goodluck to all of us!

Meme Award

Nominated by dear Golden and I didn't even know what to do! Hahah I'm so clueless. Thank you! I've seen this Meme Award around and Viola! I have my first one ever !

So here are the rules of acceptance:

1) Acknowledge the person who sent you the award.
2) Nominate 7 other blogs.
3) Share your 7 personality traits so we can get to know you better.

I'm sure that everybody in my friends list have done this already! (I did this a little too late, no?)
So, I hope you all don't mind if I went ahead and start talking about the 7 Personality Traits! :D

1. I really like to be organized. No, really really organized. I'm not someone who doesn't know where I put my stuff. Sometimes its gets serious when I know where YOU put your own stuff! I have a.... sense for these things xD

2. I am a naturally happy person and I am always cheery. At this day and age, it's tough to find something worthwhile to be happy about, but I don't know, I manage to find something that always brightens my day and I take that happiness until I find another source.

3. I am a listener than a talker although I talk a lot. I truly like listening to other people.

4. I am a book enthusiast! I think this defines my personality a lot and I don't mind! I'm sure we all have our introverted side and extroverted side. Being a book reader makes me more attuned to me quieter side.

5. I am generous with affection. When I love you, you'll know it. You'll feel it everyday, with every hug and my happy inquires about your health, life, love life, family, studies, work! I'm not stingy with I love you's to all my relationships. I always will try very hard to make you feel happy.

6. I get really quiet when I'm already angry. I don't like to shout and spew heated words. I hate nagging people. I don't do nagging. Some may want me to verbalize what got me upset but at that point in time, I really can't think and talk! I can only say what I want to when I'm not seething in anger and I can calmly say what's on my mind.

7. Self-pity happens to all of us. Sometimes it strikes me when my spirits are already low. I sometimes have trouble believing that all my dreams will come true. When it grows worse, I'll sometimes tell myself that having the bad things happen won't be so bad if I treat it as a lesson learned. Sometimes it gets the best of me, but I always look forward to getting past the whole thing.

Herbal Essences: Hate!

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
- Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan"

I bought the Herbal Essences Dangerously Straight Shampoo with the hopes of diversifying my range of shampoo products. I was so happy with this purchase because it was a.) cute b.) new c.) an imported brand but I learned the hard way that you can't trust a shampoo by its brand and packaging alone.

*sigh* I remember using this shampoo for the first time and I was taken aback that it DRIED MY HAIR BAD. Just upon rinsing, my hair felt heavy and hard to rinse. I tried to towel dry and then comb it, it was worse. It was hard to detangle the strands. You can't imagine what lengths I had to go through to blowdry my hair with a padded brush. I had to resort to a wide-toothed comb that I usually don't have to use back then when I was shampooing with Vaseline / Palmolive Intense Moisture (I miss Vaseline booo).


I'm never a product-waster (?). I try my best to stick to a product and finish the whole thing. I tried to give Herbal Essences another chance, and then another, and day after day my hair was dry to the touch, tangly, hard to comb! Why did I even buy it! UGGGGHHH! I hated this product! I will never buy this shit again.

GOOD RIDDANCE!

<3 Packages: Na-Hee and Thiamere

From THIAMERE'S BLOGSALE!





Thank you dear Thia! So nice and very trusting :) And OMG! The foundation is perfect!!!!! I love it because it's sooooo my color! For Thiamere it's too dark for her fair tone, but on me it's perfect because I'm morena. I currently use BB creams right now but I use it sparingly because my face kind of looks too fair for my overall body tone if I put on a lot. I love the Wet N Wild Honey because it glides so easy on the face. This is my first Wet N Wild brand! Yay me!

FROM NA-HEE'S SKINFOOD SAMPLE:


I've wanted to try Skinfood's Salmon Eye care line, especially the brightening serum and the lifting prime skin. I've always loved Skinfood, but I always get turned off by the price tag. If I wanted something from their store, I always try to ask Na-Hee if she has a trial pack for it. I am very conscientious that I don't rush out to buy the full bottle if I want to try something. I learned that the hard way xD

I got 2 Skinfood Newsletters too, although it would be such a task to read it because everything is in Korean. Well, this gives me some extra literature for my Korean language self-study anyway! Hehe!

Thanks to both lovely ladies!

Pre-Kadayawan Bazaar

Happy Kadayawan Davao!~

In celebration of the upcoming "Kadayawan sa Dabaw", events have been popping up all over the city, especially agri-harvest exhibits, bazaar/tiangge, and concerts where hundreds of people flock to.

I grabbed a quick bite at McDo, but upon going to Damosa St., I saw people lining up from the curb, straight up to the Gateway parking lot. The line was seriously long that I had to wonder what's happening, plus I kind of got worried because I saw a lot of people elbowing and shoving each other none too gently. Then I saw the cincher: Hale Band, Yeng Constantino, Eric Santos and Rachel Ann Go were part of an event concert. Ahh.

Fortunately, there was also another event nearby that I could go: the Matina Town Square Kadayawan Bazaar! There weren't a lot of people there and it was a bit quiet (But if you ask me, this event is more fun and I like the fact that it's less likely a random elbow is going to break my nose here.)

Here are some pics I took! :)

Tents inside a big ass tent! How cool is that? This way, the shoppers are 2x protected from bad weather! HEHE!

Clothes! Clothes! Accessories! Cheap Prices! Clothes! What more could you want?

Earrings and Purses: The white wallet with the hearts all over it is so cute! Only P190 (less than $4) too!

Cute shoes for you! Not for me though, I'm not a slippers/sandals kind of person. I'm more into slip-on sneakers and skimmers. But I have to admit that the displays are sweet eye candies! CLICK TO FULL VIEW!

OMG! I am seeing Human Nature Organic skin care products! For just P49.00 (less than $1.00) I bought their "Solid Perfume" in Pineapple and Coconut... AND I WANNA EAT IT BECAUSE ITS SO DELICIOUS ; ; STOP ME!! But it's okay, isn't it? I mean, it's 100% organic anyway! xD


Moar accessories! Look closely at the earrings encircled above. My gulay! It's the cutest earrings ever! They're shiny, lightweight apples with little green leaves on top. All of the earrings you see are sold for only P80.00 and all of them are so cute. Too bad I'm also not a long-earrings kind of girl. I like the studded ones better. I hate it when the long earrings pull some strands from my hair :(



This one above is a Zen body scrub. (The picture is kinda dark-- My stupid shadow got in the way) I haven't heard of it before, but I think they're from Aromacology. The kindly lady let me try and smell it (yay she knows how to satisfy my olfactory needs--I need to smell EVERYTHING!) and if you love coffee, you'll absolutely love this scrub. My god, I fell in love with one whiff. I wanted to eat the body scrub too. (Ugh I'm disgusting! But yeah!) The coffee scent is sooooo strong and it makes you want to go out and buy pan de sal or something XDD

A contact of mine has also sent me a message that some seller in the MTS Kadayawan Bazaar is going to promote Ellana Minerals next week. Waaa! I am going to get that oil-absorbing finishing powder and a baby buki brush. I can't wait! This makes me love Kadayawan even more!

Of Cute Things

I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship.
- Pietro Aretino

I'm sure I'm not alone in squealing and shrieking and dawwwws and aaaaaaahs when we see kawaii things. I've been Multiply and EBay hopping lately and I've seen so many things I wanted to buy! They're sooo cute! I've saved them in a folder somewhere and attached a notepad file of the details (website, price, shipping) because I'm going to save for these!

Here are my top three cutest finds ever that I really really want:

Isn't that worthy of a capital ADORABLE?! I'm sure you know my undying love for Japanese Washi Wallets, but now I have a very close second. This wallet is made of what I think is felt fabric and its 100% handmade! Bawwwwwww! I adore handmade, especially those that are made with quality love

RABBIT! RABBIT! CARROT! RABBIT! Though looking at the bag from this perspective, the rabbit looks a tad evil, no? But I love his little bunny ears and his pert, pink nose! I am a rabbit lover, and through the years I've taken care of 4 rabbits (my first rabbit was Robby and I was in grade 4--- sad to say he was run over by my sister's boyfriend's car--- I hated him until they broke up. The three last remaining rabbits all passed away, fat and happy of old age.) This bag is such a mix of happy, cool colors blue, green, and then a sudden vibrant orange on the carrot! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the carrot keychain! My gulay! It gives this bag a huge amount of whimsical-ness, if there is ever a word like that.

Tagged by the Lovely Thiamere

it's the '10th pic on photo folder' tag...
rules:

* Open your first photo folder

* Scroll down to the 10th photo

* Post that photo and story on my blog

* Tag five {or more} friends to do the same

So this is the 10th pic on my pic folder...



They're STORMTOOPERS! Stormtroopers are so iconic in the Sci-Fi genre because of Star Wars. I saved this picture because I laughed my cheeks off when I saw this photo. Somebody told me it was a young couple's wedding picture. I love the stormtrooper masks! If this is going to be my wedding motif, maybe I wouldn't mind getting married! LOL! SO FUNNY! XDD

DesignsByVanessa Giveaway

Earlier this week I went to SM and happened to pass by The Body Shop. Now, I've never set foot in that store before, despite passing it by going to and from bookstores. I got kind of curious because the shop looked very welcoming, had a nice palm-like logo, and their fonts are fabulous (weird but whatever, I like pretty typography!).
The Body Shop was promoting their Tea-Tree Oil line, so their motif was all green and natural-looking. I went in and looked at several products especially the tea tree oil blemish sticks. I loved it! (I loved the packaging, too!) I wanted to buy! If only the prices weren't sky high, I would have taken all of their tea tree oil range home!

Since I didn't have the chance to buy it yet, I'm going to take my chance on DesignByVanessa's The Body Shop Giveaway



1. Visit The Body Shop's Tea Tree line and pick out your fave item(s)
2. Blog about this contest in your blog
3. For Additional Entries: Subscribe to blog, Add blog button , Follow on twitter, Become a fan of Designs by Vanessa on facebook, and Fave blog on technorati

Let's all try our luck, shall we?

Mini Necessities Haul + Victoria's Secret Mascara

WATSONS/HBC STORE:

YAY!!
Trying Age Miracle for the first time! Hahah!

The mascara way up there is what I bought for myself yesterday. It's Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Mascara in Blackest Black. This is my VERY FIRST mascara ever. I bought it because the price was slashed down: from PHP300+ to PHP 125! Yay me! Bargain Hunter me! I opened it in haste and looked at the brush and smelled the fluid. Heheh, because that's what I do!

I hope I look ok with mascara on XD

I've Wanted This Wallet for SO long! ;;

"I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist!"
- Tammy Faye Bakker

I finally found a store that sells these Japanese paper wallets. Mrs.Lin's Kitchen offers the washi wallet that I have always wanted for sooo long! (Since I was 18 years old!LOL!)

The wallets are priced at $4.35 each! And they're made from washi paper, so they don't tear easily. They're richly decorated with ukiyo-e depictions of women in kimono doing something pleasant like boating, sewing, painting, and the like. I tried contacting the American Emporium (A pinoy multiply site based in the US where they offer to buy your items that you normally can't get if you order from the Philippines). I tried to see how much it is using their system, but I was pretty taken aback when they quoted a PHP1,000 price on the item and the shipping. I can understand why it's really expensive though. But my goodness! Come on, it's a PHP 250 wallet that I have to pay PHP 1,000 for?!

I guess I'll have to settle with my current (stupid, cheap) wallet! >:(

New Lipgloss for August

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
- Andy Warhol

I was bumming around the mall and I went to an HBC store. There I found the nicest, richest shade of lipgloss ever! It's almost pigmented like a lipstick, without that heavy, thick feeling, plus it's enriched with Vitamin E and C, too! Because it's San-San Cosmetics, you can always be assured that their products won't make a dent in your pockets. On top of everything, San-San Lipgloss #2 is priced at P62.00 only (approx. less than $2)--- I have to admit it's a sweet find!

1st - one swipe
2nd - two swipes

Currently I use Terra Tints 70% Organic tinted lipgloss from Alba Botanicals, which I bought at Healthy Options for P125.00 (approx $3). I like Terra Tints as I have itchy, dry lips sometimes and the minty cooling effect of Terra Tints is a welcome relief. But I discovered that I needed a brighter tint than what they offer, since they only have earth-toned colors.

I'm just going to empty my Alba Terra Tints and use the San-San for a change. Too bad that San-San isn't all-natural. I love using organic, because I feel safe with it. But I just hope using San-San isn't all that terrible.