Random tips

Just posting some random tips.

For the home:

Sticky labels? Use masking tape to peel them off the surface. You can also use masking tape to pick up lint on clothes or glitters on the floor.

Moldy shower but hate scrubbing? Mix Domex (this stuff is amazing!) with water (around 2:1) and spray it on the moldy surface. Leave for a few minutes. The dirt will drip with the mixture. Also works on shower curtains and kitchen tops.

Add some essential oils to baking soda and place it in your bathroom or shoe cabinet to absorb odor and moisture. If you're sensitive to scents, skip the essential oil.


Kikay tips:

Dry lips? Scrub your lips with sugar and some honey.

If you're a hoarder like me, store your extra creams and mask sheets in the fridge.

Full-coverage foundations are more flexible and more value for your money. Add to moisturizer to make tinted foundation, or thin out its coverage by spritzing water on your makeup brush/ sponge before application. An extra layer on target areas will also eliminate the need for concealer.

Fix your brows. SERIOUSLY. If there's anything I wish I knew in college, it would be this. The brows frame your face. It's the best instant 'makeover' you can do.

Revive your hardened gel liner by popping it in the microwave for 5 seconds. Make sure it's in a glass pot. Don't forget to remove the cap. haha

Dab your lipstick with your finger instead of swiping it. Color stays longer if you dab.

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That's about it! Hope I've helped!

Happy birthday Suyen!

It's Suyen's birthday. Suyen owns House of Flair on multiply. I love shopping on Multiply but I've never had the chance to shop from Suyen's store because something always comes up whenever I decide on pre-ordering stuff. Anyway, she's giving out a Urban Decay black palette for her birthday. Urban Decay is my favorite brand when it comes to makeup so I'm taking my chances here.

If you wanna join, click HERE and read how! Yay!

Something Fishy

Yesterday I felt like a fish out of the water.

I attended my friend Ana's birthday celebration at Red Box. Originally it was gonna the usual four of us but lots of her friends from her college (Fine Arts) tagged along which brings the grand total of 11 people. I was the only 'new' person. my friend Mau, despite being from Home Economics, is pretty much part of the group because she's always tagged along in their plans. Plus, everyone knows I'm a serious 'karaoke' girl...meaning when there's karaoke, I expect everyone to sing the songs they picked- and not just mumble or worse, listen to the MTV version. So it got a little bit frustrating when songs would play and no one was taking the microphone.

Poor me, BA girl. HAHA They didn't know I was from BA though. There wasn't any chance of introducing my 'history' to everyone. I made an alibi that I had to leave at 10 because I've got work to do early the next day. But later that night, we were all warming up, food kept coming, and somehow I felt a teeny bit more comfortable so I decided to stay.

In general, it was a good night. It was interesting to be the outlier in a group. Besides, I stayed for Ana. She's a good friend so to hell with being a fish out of water, as long as she's happy because I stayed.

Earlier that night, while waiting for 7 pm to proceed to Red Box, I had an urge to get a haircut. I initially wanted to have it at Tony and Guy but I needed to wait for 40 minutes before my turn so I declined. I went to the usual Acqua and was hoping my stylist is absent so I can try Narry who's been much raved about on blogs. BUT NO. When I entered, I immediately saw my stylist and shempre, nahiya na rin ako, and I need a cut so I proceeded for a cut.

The thing i hate about my stylist Terry is that she'd always always try to persuade me to get a hair treatment. Dai, ikaw ba magbabayad nun? Hello. After finishing touches on my cut, she kept commenting 'Dry yung hair mo, ma'am. May static. Mag treatment ka.' I didn't say anything. It was getting into my nerves na talaga. Just do what you have to do with my hair k? After that cut, I paid and gave they shampoo-blowdry girl her tip. I couldn't find Terry so I left immediately. I would have looked for her and give her a tip- just because I always give one. But this time, I didn't feel any guilt not giving her one. I am sooo moving to Tony and Guy. It's a few hundreds more expensive but if it'll be a peaceful session, I'm willing to pay.

SHOCKING!

I try to take care of my skin and am not quite successful at it. I get the breakouts from time to time despite religiously cleaning my face twice a day. Unlike mareng Fa who, thanks to genetics, can sleep without washing her face when she's dead tired but never wakes up with breakouts! If I sleep without washing my face, waking up is a nightmare. One time in our last year of college, she had a pimple and told everyone about it coz she hasn't had one ever since she was in high school (if I remember it right.)

Today mom and I tried a new skincare line and one of their dealers chitchat a bit with mom while I check their products. Imagine my horror when she told us about their clinical tests on popular brands such as Clinique and Olay. Clinique positions itself as 'ultra safe, allergy tested, and suitable for all skin types. Of course the best litmus test for that would be the using the products on super sensitive skin a.k.a. my mom. She's allergic to it so she never used any of their products since trying them 10++ years ago.

In my case, I use Clinique eye makeup, makeup remover, and their bronzer especially when Lola brings home lots of goodies from the States. Recently lola gave me a tube of Clinique foundation and I converted it into a tinted moisturizer since I'm not comfortable wearing liquid makeup.

Anyway back to the lab test, the result of the Clinique soap was, to quote Ms. Hazel 'para ka lang nag Safeguard sa mukha mo'. Kalurks! I don't even use Safeguard for my hands (I used to bathe with Safeguard white because the scent is good but it's super drying). She also mentioned Clinique toners are flammable, meaning it's alcohol based. Toners are supposed to be alcohol free (and astringents are the alcohol based ones). Boo. Clinique has mineral oil which is a by-product of petroleum. Would you want that on your face? Also, Ms. Hazel's mother has been using Olay for 15 years (her father who is a seaman would hoard Olay for her mother back in the 90's when Olay was still called Oil of Olay and was not available locally). She told her mom 'Ma, sa 15 years mong pag gamit, diba dapat mukha ka pa ring youthful?' *I silently panic because I use Olay!*

To verify her stories,I researched harmful ingredients on personal care products as soon we arrived home. Clinique did have mineral oil. Olay also contains mineral oil and glycerin which supposedly locks in moisture on the skin. NOT. Fact is mineral oil creates an oil film on the skin, suffocating it and preventing the skin to absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide.* While glycerin absorbs moisture in the air keeping moisture in creams and other products. When applied on your skin, it'll absorb your moisture, drying you inside out.*

Now I feel so bad I have to ditch Olay and find a safer moisturizer. I like Olay. It wasn't sticky, the scent is light, it has SPF. But the long term effects of its ingredients are just too damaging. I'm also replacing my tinted moisturizer made with Clinique with a Neutrogena base. I looked it up and it's safer.

I'm not super OA with organic stuff- I still eat fast food and GMO. (KFC and McDo, yum!!!!) I still use medicated gels for breakouts. But when it comes to skin, it helps to take extra precautions. Last year I switched to mineral makeup thanks to Fa, and early this year organic soaps. When I get back I'm paying Healthy Options a visit to grab some bottles of 'safe' shampoo and conditioner.

I'll use Olay as a body lotion nalang so I can finish my bottles. Which reminds me I still have unopened bottles of Olay in stock. Oh noes!

Anyway, ika nga ng Nido CHECK THE LABEL! haha :)

source: *http://www.healthy-communications.com/harmfulingredients1.html

Skin deep

We all need a little help from science so when I hit the 20's, there was this instant increase of well, concern about aging. I bought an eye cream for the first time, religiously slathered moisturizer and began ditching products without sunscreen.

My skin is far from flawless so I'm not the best person to share you my tips. Whenever it's that time of the month, I get one or two zits that drive me nuts because my skin scars very fast. So before my previous scar fades, here comes new ones. Sophie of Beautynomics recommended regular diamond peels to get rid of the scars. I have diamond peels but only when I feel like it. Maybe I'll make it regular so I can see results.

Anyway because I'm mababaw like that, here are my skin savers.

Olay Tota Effects- Junjun should give me free bottles for the PR. haha Light on the skin, and has SPF.

Avalon Organics Vitamin C eye cream- This replaced my Olay eye cream which I wasn't satisfied with. Been using this only for a week. So far it's good and ultra-moisturizing.

Clindamycin from my derma and Benzac for emerging zits. Benzac saved my skin in Sophomore year. Bought a tube again recently because my skin seemed to be temporarily immuned to clindamycin.

For extra protection, I apply sunscreen bought from my derma.

Take care of your skin! Ten years from now, your patience from slathering all those creams will be rewarded.

Six Products I can't live without

Last night I was bored and still not sleepy so I decided to watch makeup videos on youtube. With the many videos I've seen, I came up with my own six things.

Note: Six things only cover personal care. That said, let's begin! *Ohghad I hope I keep it in six because I have a lot of stuff. I'm writing this without pre-listing so good luck to me!*

1. Shampoo & Conditioner (haha ang daya ko!)- my current brand is Head&Shoulders in pink. I'm a brand butterfly when it comes to shampoos because I have not yet found THE ONE. Well, it's actually Kerastase but it's too expensive. In my brand-hopping, I've gone through almost all the brands in the supermarket from Sunsilk,Palmolive to Rejoice, pricey ones like VO5 and Elseve, tried organic ones from Human Nature but here I am, back with the world's number one. I realized that the conditioner really works! My hair is in its normal frizzy state when I just use shampoo (unless I've recently had an olive oil treatment, then it stays really nice). So the conditioner really seals moisture and doesn't make my scalp itchy.

2. Deodorant - NAMAN! Try mo to live without it. Even your housemates won't survive. HAHAHA

3. Papaya frost soap from Holic Body treats (holicbodytreats.multiply.com hehe)- I use it for my face but works pretty good for the body too so if I'd get stuck in an island, I'd pick this. Double purpose.

In the photo are some of those I listed.

4. Moisturizer with Sunscreen - Olay Total Effects with SPF 15. I use it in the morning and evening. (Even with the SPF) When it's extra hot or when I'm sinisipag, I apply a layer of sunscreen from my derma, SPF 30. Btw, when counting SPF that you're wearing, you only get the highest SPF as the total protection. In my case, Olay SPF 15 + derma SPF 30 = SPF 30. Divide it by 6 and you get the number of hours you are 'protected'.

5. Concealer and setting powder (okay madaya nanaman ako! ang hiraaap. Tandem kasi sila ok?) - long time brand of concealer is Cinema Secrets but I recently bought a MAC concealer pot in Singapore. I was originally given NW30 for my skin. McCartney, the name of the makeup artist who accommodated me did a patch test. It looked right that time but when applied in natural light, it looks too dark so I had it changed. Buti nalang MAC (at least in SG) accepts color changes even if you kinda touched the makeup na. So Genie the other makeup artist tried a shade lighter, NW25 and it looked better. Will road test it when I finally decide to go out of the house. Right now I'm still tired from all the walking we did in SG and the rainy weather makes me lazy to go out. Setting poweder- Ellana Mineral foundation in Cafe Mocha.

6. This is so hard but I pick lip balm with SPF as my 6th item. I hate dry lips but I also hate the feel of Chapstick on the lips. It's too artificial and topical. Parang layer lang talaga ng oil over your lips. I want my balm to be absorbed so I know it the lips really get nourished. I use Desert Essence Lip Rescue with Shea butter from Healthy Options. It smells and tastes so good and it feels natural on the lips.

OKAY I JUST WANT TO COMPLETE IT SO LET'S EXTEND. It this was Ten Things I can't Live Without...the next four would be...

7. Eyelash curler- after getting Shu Uemura back in 2005, I've never changed my brand. SHU IS JUST PERFECT.

8. VEET. One of my pet peeves are exposed hairy legs of women. SERIOUSLY??? DON'T YOU EVER LOOK AT YOUR LEGS BEFORE WEARING THAT SKIRT, DRESS OR SHORTS? hahahaha

9. Non-sticky lotion. I currently like Vaseline aloe fresh. The scent is so light and it's not greasy. In this heat I normally don't put lotion but I try to moisturize my elbows, ankles and knees. If I'm commuting, I don't put on lotion because it'll just make me sweat which really irritates me.

10. AAAND finally! Tweezers! To groom my eyebrows.

OKAY DONE! I would have included bronzer, mascara, lip&cheek stain, body mist, eye cream etc. BUT I KNOW THE LIST WON'T END. haha

Try listing your 6-10 products too and let's see if it fits! :)

Nature's Best

I like my wavy locks but more often than not, it's frizzy and dry. When I started working, I vowed to take care of my locks more since I have more time and budget. But the thing is they don't come cheap- like Php 1,200 per treatment. I get annoyed whenever I sit at the salon for a hair cut and then the stylist and assistant would sales talk about getting a treatment "Kasi maam, dry na hair niyo. Bagay yun sayo."

I tried DIY treatments such as the Cream Silk and L'Oreal Liss Extreme treatments. Of course they work, but the effect lasts like two to three days only.

So two weeks ago, I decided to try olive oil on my hair. I've heard about how olive oil softens the skin and hair but never really tried it. I checked online for instructions but they're all so complicated. Instructions included heating the oil on the microwave, adding lemon juice, etc. Being the lazy girl, I just slathered the olive oil on my hair and placed a shower cap- no heating and lemons. After 15 minutes, I shampooed my hair (twice) to remove the smell of olive oil.

The result? Super soft and shiny hair that lasted two weeks! No kidding! I'll be doing it again tomorrow. I'm so glad mom always makes sure we have a olive oil.

What's in my bag

I know, such a pretty self-absorbed post. eeek! Sorreeeeh. I'm curious what's in your bags so feel free to post your WIMB shot too. yey!

Bag: Limited edition Longchamp le pliage in Navy.

Contents: black Esprit ballet (gift like 4 years ago), gray eco bag (rolled), Sodexho GCs (in red envelope; Christmas gift from bosses), phone, coin purse and vanity kit (metallic gray pouch).

Inside vanity kit:

• Holic sanitizers (pink and blue)
• Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizing lotion (meant for the face but I use it as a regular lotion because I use Olay for the face and it's unscented- not allowed to use scented lotions in the car.)
• My emergency lint remover
• Neosporin ointment (yellow tube; first aid for cuts, bruises and scratches)
• Dr.B anti-stress balm (that little yellow pot), Clinique lippie, Blistex moisture rich lip balm, Mistine lip&cheek tint
• hair clamp
• and my freebie compact powder from Farrah that she gave me during her internship in a cosmetics company. hehe

That's about it, I guess. Somtimes I bring my camera- it fits in my bayong-ish bag. hahaha Share what's in your bag too! :)

Saving face

This is not the nega 'save face' ok? I'm talking about make-up. Specifically, mineral makeup.

Right after college, I discovered the beauty of mineral makeup. I've been using the regular loose powder ever since but when a friend (Fa) started to sell Ellana mineral make up, I ordered for the heck of it. (Sayang lang my order didn't make it before college grad haha)

*photo from sooomuch.multiply.com

It really leaves a better finish compared to non-mineral loose powder. In fact it looks even nicer a few hours after application- when natural oils mix with it. It looks even more natural. In addition, mineral makeup is non-comedogenic, oil-free, has buildable coverage and you'll only need a little amount in every use.

If you're pondering on upgrading your vanity kit for work, or like to lessen touch ups, or are looking for something to replace your make-up, try mineral makeup.

p.s. I've only tried Ellana and I'm happy with it. However there are a lot of brands available such as Milea, Bare naturals, Monave, Pureglow. Fa stopped selling alredy because she's super busy with her corporate life. I have a new 'supplier'. You can get your mineral fix from Gaile of http://sooomuch.multiply.com/ Fellow ABAMers, she's the girlfriend of Vincent, our photographer during my batch of execore. hehe Super bait niya. :) (and no, this isn't a plug. I'm just sharing my appreciation for the mineral makeup.)

Something new

NEWS FLASH: I didn't get the job or at least I didn't get a call when she said she would. hahahaha ok lang naman, but I sorta wanted that one. Too bad for me. Thank God I have a new neck piece to cushion the bad news. I got myself a birthday present from Promod. ahahaha

LORD, BIGYAN MO NAMAN AKO NG WORK PARA HINDI AKO MAKADAGDAG SA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE NG PILIPINAS. Thank you.

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Today my mom and I went to Quiapo to hear mass. Shempre I went with her coz I had special intentions in mind. Pero I keep reciting the same wishes and prayers even when I'm at home so I dunno if it makes a difference in my merits. hehe

I'm excited for tomorrow- Lunch with Fa! And then Wolverine (haha I know, laggard) with the family in the evening.

p.s. This is what happens when you have too much time in your hands and not much contact with friends- you get to blog (almost) everyday. Haaay, mag b-boxing nalang ako sa June- Ma, penge pang enroll. YEHEY! Sometimes I wanna be emo but what the hell- emo is so overrated. senti- that's better. ahahahaha I miss you all!