Official Hiatus

I had hoped to keep updating this blog, even sporadically, but the laptop with all my blogging stuff died. Not surprising though, since I've had that machine for more than 4 years.  I'll be back as soon as I have it repaired/replaced. Thank you for reading all my posts thus far!

Etude House Proof 10 Jewelry Pencil #3

This is the eyeliner I used in the previous post.

Price: around P250-P300
Location Bought: Etude House SM Mega
Date Bought: July 9, 2011

Majolica Majorca Shadow Customize: GR162

Price:  P295.00
Date Bought: May 20, 2011
Location Bought: Watsons SM Mega

Sunday Shots X

Welcome to the tenth Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, school, and assorted cutesy shit.

(Apologies for the absence, a lot of things happened this October.)

Things in my bag. I'm still using the bag I featured in the last Sunday Shots.

Sunday Shots IX

Welcome to the ninth Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, school, and assorted cutesy shit.

At long last! A Little Twin Stars bag that doesn't look too childish!
(With this, I can blatantly be the oddball woman-child that I am XD)

Sunday Shots VIII

[This post was supposed to be up last week, September 18. Screwy internet prevented me from posting until today though, but everything's okay now. :D]

Welcome to the eighth Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, school, and assorted cutesy shit.

Food! An old favorite: mooncake (one of the things I like about September!),
and a new favorite: PB&Co's Sesame Peanut Butter.
I don't eat them together though, that would be too weird! 

Sunday Shots VII

Welcome to the seventh Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, school, and assorted cutesy shit.

New favorite potion. The mintiness is an instant head-clearer and breath freshener!

Sunday Shots VI

Welcome to the sixth Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, law school, and assorted cutesy shit.

Messy dresser drawer :P

Sunday Shots V

Welcome to the fifth Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, law school, and assorted cutesy shit.

Done with midterms, and done with the Maybelline Lash Stiletto review!
Do check it out! I've also replied to all your comments. :D

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara

I've said many times before that eye makeup is not my strong suit. It's only recently that I've been wearing eyeshadow more often (thanks to this foolproof product), I rarely touch false eyelashes, and I really don't like wearing mascara because it makes my lashes feel heavy and uncomfortable.

But for Maybelline Lash Stiletto, I'll happily make an exception.

Price: P350.00
Location Bought: SM Hypermart
Approximate Date Bought: May 28, 2011

Shinyyyy

Sunday Shots IV

Welcome to the fourth Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, law school, and assorted cutesy shit.

My Palladio rice concealer. I've been using this for my undereyes
a lot more lately. It doesn't conceal as well as I'd like, so I need to
find a better product. Any suggestions?

The Best Blog Award

Around a week ago, Morbidfrank from Beautiful Rhapsody gave me this award. Thank you! ♥

Morbidfrank is also a law student in her first year just like me! (She can make a mean blueberry cheesecake!) Make sure to check out her blog later, ok? :D

The rules:
1. Link back the post to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the following questions:

Majolica Majorca Jeweling Eyes: BR381 Caramelisee

If you've been following my blog since I started around 2 years ago, chances are you've seen my HORRIBLE eye posts. I like to think I've improved since then, and that quality beginner-friendly products like Majolica Majorca's Caramelisee quad are helping me improve even further.

Price: P795.00
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall
Date Bought: May 5, 2011

Sunday Shots III

Welcome to the third Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, law school, and assorted cutesy shit.

Random lip shot I took during the week. I can't remember what
product/s I used, although I'm pretty sure there was a gloss. :P

Sunday Shots II

Welcome to the second Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, law school, and assorted cutesy shit.

I've finally tried all three Carmex flavors. Cherry is still my
absolute favorite since it smells like gummy worms, my favorite candy.
I wasn't too impressed with Strawberry, because it was just the typical strawberry
scent you find in most lip balm brands like Nivea or Chapstick.

Sunday Shots I

Welcome to the first Sunday Shots, aka my weekly attempt at keeping the blog constantly updated! Sunday Shots posts will be picture posts about the things I've been doing with makeup, law school, and assorted cutesy shit.

I finished these products just recently! Yay!

KKCenterHK ES 10 Pairs Short Cross Black False Eyelashes

Instant glam without the mess! I am super inexperienced when it comes to falsies, but these lashes weren't any trouble for me at all. As long as you have time to spare before school or work, I honestly think that these are easy and comfortable enough to put on every day. Thank you again for generously sending me these, Maggie!

Price: $6.09 (or around PHP262.00) for a pack of 10. That's around 61 cents (or PHP26.20) for each pair.
Location Bought: KKCenterHK
Approximate Date Bought: shipped sometime within last summer, arrived this week

What I've Been Up to the Past Month

I've been swimming in laws and cases! This picture accurately sums up all I've been doing lately. After a month of law school, I can definitely say that it's a LOT of hard work, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. (Is it because I'm a masochist nerd?)

I don't know if you've noticed, but this particular bedspread
always happens to be the one "worn" by my bed whenever I
take pictures on it for this blog.

Law School and Beauty Bloggers

An interesting thing I've noticed about the beauty blogs I follow is that a lot of them are run by law students! In no particular order, here are some of these lovely ladies of lipstick and the law:

1. Kristine of Temptalia - This girl is unreal. She's just finished a killer MBA + law degree, and yet she still manages to make so many beautifully photographed AND informative makeup and skincare posts.

About My Beauty Regimen

LOL, I'm sorry I've been posting mostly blogger tags and awards lately. School's creeping back up on me, so I haven't the time to take proper pictures for product reviews.  At least today's tag is about makeup? :D

I borrowed this from Diary of a Late Bloomer. Check out her blog too! Originally there was a part about skincare, but I omitted that since I'm not very confident about skincare blogging. The only skincare advice I can give with utmost certainty is to wash your face often so it stays clean! :))

Obligatory just-so-there's-a-picture picture.
The makeup I used today: the usual three suspects,
Maybelline Lash Stiletto, and TFS Cushion Touch Jelly Tint

I've been a bad girl.

I mentioned somewhere in this blog that I wouldn't buy any more new makeup until I was done with my Upcoming Reviews list. I successfully completed the list before summer ended, but then...

I didn't buy everything all in one go, but I did buy all of these
during the summer.

Blogger Luxury Award

Debbie gave me this Blogger Luxury Award! Thank you very much Debbie!

RULES:
1. Link back to the person who passed you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
(Please read the second to the last paragraph of the About the Blog page for my policies on tags.)

7 More Random Things About Myself
(I've been doing a lot of "about me" things lately, so I made a separate label for posts of this nature.)

What's in my Bag?

aka Making Gaya Gaya Aya :P

Aya made a What's in my Bag post earlier today. In the last part of the post, she invited other people to show her their bags. Invitation accepted, Aya! (Haha, I hope you don't mind! ♥)

Since I don't have classes yet, this is my "grab-and-go-have-adventures" bag. I can't remember when I bought it, but it's from EGG. It looks small but it can fit A LOT of things.

Tagged by blackshirt13!

Blackshirt13 tagged me to post 10 things about myself. Thanks Nathalie! ♥

Go check out her blog too, she's a great photographer!

MAC See Sheer

This was my aunt's graduation gift, technically. She gave me a bunch of Rustan's gift certificates. I was completely tempted to spend everything on makeup, but I restrained myself and only got this lovely everyday lipstick.

Price: P1000.00 (but I got it "free" because I used a GC XD)

Location Bought: Rustan's Shangri-la
Approximate Date Bought: mid April 2011

Careline Vitamin E Lip Gloss 103

This is just as pigmented as TFS's Extreme Rouge, at a fraction of the price! A couple days before grad, I met up with one of my blockmates to have our legs waxed at our usual waxing salon. This time though, she wanted to go to the Robinsons branch for a change of  pace. Opportunity presented itself! I had been reading about these amazing glosses during the time, and since I was already in one of the few malls that carried it, I took advantage of the said opportunity. :D

Price: P60.00
Location Bought: Robinsons Galleria
Approximate Date Bought: mid April 2011

The Face Shop Face It Extreme Rouge Gloss: BR801 and PK102

EXTREME rouge indeed! These are seriously the most pigmented, well-formulated glosses I have ever encountered! My friend and I (the same one I was with when I got the in2it shimmer blush) were mall-hopping for graduation things when I got these. After we had found our graduation dresses, we decided to stop at a Face Shop at the mall we were currently in because she was mourning the loss of Elianto and wanted some things to "fill the void". While she made off with a whole shitload of things from toner to lip balm, I quietly went away with these babies. I was so taken with their pigmentation that I couldn't resist!

Price: P545.00 each
Location Bought: The Face Shop Shangri-la
Approximate Date Bought: mid April 2011

A Blogger Award from Ayumi + a tiny Status Update

Thanks for giving me this Ayumi! ♥ ♥ ♥

Slim Down without the Sweat - on Cozycot!

My May article for Cozycot has been published! It's about how I use makeup to cheat turn my siopao face into something a little more angular. Check it out here!

Clicking this image will also lead to the article!

If you're looking for reviews to the products I used, they're right here:
e.l.f. Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder
Revlon Colorburst lipstick: Raspberry

Covergirl Advanced Radiance Pressed Powder: Natural Beige

Covergirl's Advanced Radiance pressed powder was one of the failed candidates in my mother's "mission" to replace her discontinued Neutrogena Fine Fairness compact. (She has since found an alternative in one of Revlon's powders, but I don't know which one.) She passed this on to me because I was running low on Etude's BB Magic, my go-to powder at the time.

It's definitely "one man's trash is another's treasure" for this product! This cakes a lot on mother dear (and on a lot of other girls at the Makeupalley forums), but it's absolutely perfect on me! I don't think I'll be actively searching for any more powder products after this one!

Price: P545.00
Location Bought: a Covergirl counter somewhere (from what I know, Covergirl can be found at Watsons, Landmark and Robinsons Department Stores)
Approximate Date Bought: December 2010

The ABCs of Dee

This meme was shamelessly stolen borrowed from one of the lovely nail polish blogs I follow, because it looked fun.

Here's a random shot of nail polish, because this post was started
thanks to a nail polish blog, and also so this post isn't completely bare of pictures.

Mentholatum Lip Ice lip balm: Mandarin Orange

My favorite lip balm of all time would have to be Carmex Cherry, but since I'm a sucker for orange flavored things, I decided to try this out.

Price: P89.00
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall
Approximate Date Bought: March 2011

Etude House Miss Tangerine Follow Me tint

This was the second thing I wanted from Etude's March collection, the first one being the Choux blusher. I didn't even have to buy it myself, because when I met up with an old friend I hadn't seen in ages, she gifted it to me! She knew me in my pre-makeup days, so her reasoning for the gift was because my favorite color was orange, and not because I'm the closet makeup geek. Hee hee~

Price: P298.00 (No, I didn't ask her how much it was, that's rude! XD Got the price from the Etude House Princess Talk March issue.)
Location Bought: an Etude House branch somewhere?
Approximate Date Bought: late March 2011

Followers + Recent Comments

Something is wrong with my Followers and Recent Comments sidebar gadgets. They're not showing up at all! I tried switching to Firefox to see if it was just a Chrome-specific issue, but they're not working there either.

Does anybody else have this problem?

The Face Shop Fruit Jelly Tube: RD302

Like the previous post, this Fruit Jelly Tube is another lip product with a story. I was waiting for a date to show up when I got this. He was running very late (never a good sign :| ), so I went into The Face Shop to pass the time. The SA was so nice to me even though I made it apparent that I was just browsing. No hard selling, no tailing - she just let me play with the makeup and answered my questions very well, when I had them. You don't see that very often anymore - most salespeople here are quite irritating! To show my gratitude for her excellent customer skills, and for basically keeping me company while I waited for my horrible date, I decided to buy something that wasn't too pricey. I didn't feel like nail polish, so lip gloss it was!

Price: P198.00
Location Bought: The Face Shop Shangri-la
Approximate Date Bought: late February 2011

Wet n Wild Silk Finish lipstick: 528A Pink Ice

A good friend and I were malling one February weekend when I told her about the amazing pink frosted lipstick my (equally amazing) thesis adviser wore the other day. She then got the idea to look for a pink frosted lipstick at Watsons. We swatched so many tubes of lipstick that day, but we both ended up with Pink Ice from Wet n Wild. The nicest part of this lipstick hunting adventure was that she paid for mine as well, as a belated birthday present. Sweet!

Price: P99.00
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall
Approximate Date Bought: February 2011

Etude House Miss Tangerine Cream Choux Blusher: #02 Miss Peach

This was one of two things I wanted from Etude House's March collection, the other one being their Follow Me tint. The shades available for this blush intrigued me, and the formulation seemed interesting as well.

I wondered a little bit about the "choux" part in the name, so I googled. Turns out choux is a type of dough used for treats like eclairs and cream puffs. Does this mean this blush is meant to have the texture of choux cream, the lovely lovely dense sweet filling used in certain amazing pastries?  If so, then I'm all the more intrigued!

(Yes, I love eclairs and cream puffs. My thighs don't though. :P)

Price: P328.00
Location Bought: Etude House SM Megamall
Approximate Date Bought: March 17, 2011

Shu Uemura Glow On blush: P Peach 47

ETA 05/14/11 1:20: Reposted. Blogger didn't post this back when it returned from maintenance. All the comments are gone though. :(

My parents bought this for me when they vacationed in Hong Kong some months ago. I was super happy when they handed me a tiny paper bag with the Shu logo printed on. How'd they know I'd want makeup as pasalubong? Awesome! :D

Price: HKD145, which is roughly PHP800. At local stores, this retails for a very expensive PHP1500. You save PHP700 if you buy this in Hong Kong! (But then you have to pay for your plane ticket and your hotel haha)
Location Bought: a Shu Uemura store somewhere in HK? They didn't keep track XD
Approximate Date Bought: February 2011

Careline Rosy Cheek vs EB Rose

(A versus post! I haven't done these in a LOOONG time. This post is LONG OVERDUE too, actually. I've been meaning to write this since 2009!) 

What sort of local drugstore shopper isn't familiar with Careline and Ever Bilena? Both are owned by the same company, and where there's one, you can ALWAYS find the other. When I was an idiot high schooler, I used to look down on these brands because they were "cheap", and not just in the literal sense. Well, not anymore - I know better now! While not all their products are amazing, a lot of them - like their blushes - have decent quality at very wallet friendly prices.

e.l.f. Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder

When this came out locally last year, I thought, "Oh hey, it's that duo people keep talking about at the local AND international forums, the one they say is similar to the NARS Orgasm/Albatross duo!" I don't know how similar it is to that particular NARS product, but I do know that this is a pretty good blush/contour combo for round-faced people like me.

Price: P250.00
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall
Approximate Date Bought: mid 2010

e.l.f. All Over Color Stick: Golden Peach

If you ask me, they shouldn't be calling this an all over COLOR stick. It's more like an all over SHIMMER stick.

Price: P129.00
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall
Approximate Date Bought: mid 2010

in2it sheer shimmer blush: Peach Pearl

I can't remember exactly where, when, or why I bought this. I think I was shopping with a friend though. Hello memory gap!

Price: P375.00

Location Bought: Landmark Trinoma or Watsons SM Megamall

Approximate Date Bought: early 2011?

Myra E Tinted Moisturizer: Beige

Seeing Aya's and Elaine's great posts finally made me get off my lazy butt and throw in my opinions about this product. :P

I got this because I was looking for a cheapo makeup base to finish off this powder and this powder with. (It would be a waste to use my favorite almost-empty Hydro Splash, or buy something more expensive - like maybe a new Hydro Splash or the Laura Mercier TM I've got my eye on OH NOES - just for the purposes of finishing off leftovers, after all.) It was either this or ELF's tinted moisturizer, but that was out of stock at the time. Furthermore, Myra E's TM had more positive feedback from people at the forums.

Price: P130.00
Location Bought: Mercury Drug Shangri-La
Approximate Date Bought: December 2010

NARS Mata Hari

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Charm Kabuki Brush

My main blush brush, the Charm Retractable Kabuki, literally fell apart on me last December. The glue holding the metal parts together dissolved, and no amount of regluing could get the brush's retracting mechanism to work properly again. While I did not love the falling apart, I really loved the brush's density. I was convinced that no other brush brand would be the same. And so, to prevent any more incidents like that, I got the nonretractable variant as a replacement.

Price: P500.00
Location Bought: Shopsui Tiendesitas
Approximate Date Bought: January 2011

10 Things I Love

Thank you for tagging me, Diary of a Late Bloomer!

In no particular order, here we go!


1. handheld game system- Yes, i am a giant kid.

Game of the moment: PVZ! The DS version is just as good as the
PC original, if not even better - it's portable! Some of my other favorites are:
Cooking Mama, Big Bang Mini, and the Ace Attorney series.

2 things about life + 3 things about makeup

Happy Easter everyone! This post is a mishmash of things I'd like to share, both blog and non-blog related.

First, the boring stuff:

1. I've got my bachelor's degree!

2. I'm headed to law school. Fight!

And now, the fun stuff!

3. I've accumulated more unreviewed products, either as personal purchases or gifts from relatives and friends. Oops. I think it's time for a makeup buying ban, at least until I finish reviewing everything. Click the "Upcoming Reviews" tab above to see the list!

I seem to have gotten even more lip products O_O

4. I'll be writing for Singaporean beauty site Cozycot from time to time now, but don't worry, I'm never going to leave this blog. See my first Cozycot post about Revlon's Colorstay Blemish Concealer here! Also, I've written extra details about the concealer in this post.

5. Remember Nail Polish Ninja, my other blog? I'm thinking of making it a more personal journal-style photoblog and moving it to tumblr, which handles blogs of that kind more easily. I'm also thinking of posting the swatches pre-cleanup, as wrong as that might sound to some. The main reason why I lost interest in posting was because cleanup was turning nail polish blogging into a chore, which shouldn't be the case. Will update you guys when I've made my decision!

Revlon Colorstay Blemish Concealer - on cozycot!

Yay! My first article on Cozycot.com!

ETA 04/21/2011 1:06 PM: will add extras to this post when I'm more free. Have my hands full at the moment. (Yes, again. And here I thought it'd be over once the school year ended hahaha!)

ETA 04/23/2011 4:32 PM: Here are the extras! (These are just supplementary materials for the full review on the Cozycot website. Please do read the article there too! :D )

Extra 01: The Product in a Nutshell, Stockpiled!-style
Price: P795.00 (I think this is reasonable considering its excellent performance and my frequency of use.)
Location Bought: Watsons SM Megamall
Approximate Date Bought: December 2010
Packaging: Function over form. Doe foot applicator. Unbreakable (in my experience).
Color and Pigmentation: My shade was Medium. Pigmentation was strong - it practically made my pimple scars invisible!
Formulation: Consistency was slightly thick, like my favorite BB cream. Practically scentless, save for a very light alcohol scent. Non-sticky. Long lasting - lasts a full school day on me (10AM - 5PM).

More after the jump!

Marionnaud Angled Blush Brush

This was the temporary replacement brush I got when my main blush brush died on me.

Approximate Price: P100-200.00
Location Bought: Watsons Hypermart
Approximate Date Bought: late 2010

e.l.f. Lipstick: Classy

ELF Classy is one of those medium pinks that I am rather obsessed with looking for. I already threw my EB Mauvey out, but this lipstick could be a possible relative of that shade.

Price: P129.00
Location Bought: Watsons Greenhills
Approximate Date Bought: late 2010