Mint Julep Masque: A Review

Last week I did a mini skin care haul and one of the products I bought was the Mint Julep Masque. I'm having break outs here and there and medium to large size zits would just randomly pop out of my face. Of course like any other consumer I read through the reviews first before buying a product.

Two to three generous pumps would be enough to cover the entire face. After the first swipe of the product it seems that my skin is a bit hot than normal. I can feel it tingling on my skin like tiny needles are poking all at once, and after a few seconds it would start to cool down and dry at the same time.

I have oily skin so during the 15-minute wait I contemplated if I still need to put on moisturizer or not (also by this time I have painted my toenails (Pussy Red by Caronia) and buffed my fingernails *hihi*). From the reviews that I read a lot of girls recommended not to skip moisturizer as the masque can be drying.

I waited for almost 20 minutes to make sure that the masque seeped through my pores to rid of dirt. To rinse of, I just used tap water and patted it with a wash cloth. My skin feels smoother and I can definitely tell that the masque is a bit drying for my skin so as per recommendation from the reviews that I read, I applied moisturizer. The I one I used is Celeteque Water Based Moisturizer.

Since it was the first day I can't really tell if it did make a big difference on my skin or not. I still have pimples and the redness is still the same, so I decided to test the Mint Julep Masque for 3 consecutive days and see if it'll make an impact or not. The second day feels pretty much the same except that my pimples were starting to dry out a little. The third day certainly feels a lot smoother and lighter and when I woke up the next day, my pimples have dried out and the redness due to the acne was lessened. I'd like to try it out for a week but decided not to so I could give my skin a breather and not to dry out my face.

With all things considered, I think this product is a 100% match on my skin. It doesn't dry out my pimples faster than Tretinoin Stieva-A but it does its job in healing acne and lessening the redness plus it makes my skin softer and smoother. I highly recommend this product especially for oily skin. Just remember to apply moisturizer after to hydrate your skin and replenish moisture lost from the products used. :)

The Art of Ombre Nails

Ze girlfriends and I took one Saturday afternoon off to do our nails. I don't usually go for bold, neon colors but that day was an exception. Plus I want to learn how to perfectly blend nail colors so I could do it on my own.

Tools used: lots o' nail polish colors for a wide variety to select from, sponge (not seen on the photo), nail polish remover and cotton to clean out the excess polish.

Photo from this blog. Click here for the tutorial.

I chose these two - bright yellow and mint green for some pop of color.

Pretty, noh? :)

Mini Skin Care Haul

Gaahh I missed writing! I know, I have neglected my blog and I'm not proud about it. It's just that I had a lot going on especially last month. Work was so-so but my personal life has been a rollercoaster - to a dream job that I almost got to a past someone who came back. A little bittersweet and a bit stressful, but what an eventful July that is!

So with the recent events for the past weeks, with an oily-combination skin type, along with a bit o' stress comes a little more acne. When my monthly period arrives it just doubles in number and in size too. I don't squeeze out my pimples as it leaves scars, instead I use Tretinoin Stieva-A to dry out my pimples. It leaves scars, yes, but not as skin deep as squeezing and picking it out. I've been using Celeteque for the longest time as you can see from this post but I don't think that's enough. And so through a friend who has the same skin dilemma as I have, I've acquired new products to try that has worked perfectly with her.

St. Ives Apricot Scrub (from Landmark Trinoma), A La Maison Rose Garden Body Soap and Mint Julep Masque (from Healthy Options).

I use baby oil, facial wash and toner to remove my make-up everyday but to keep my skin dirt free, I bought St. Ives Apricot Scrub for thorough washing. The beads would help in cleansing the nooks and crannies, the sides of the nose and mouth. I've used this before and just repurchased since this Apricot Scrub keeps my face spotless and fresh.

Of course not everything is removed by using facial scrubs alone so I bought Mint Julep Masque to help pull my blackheads and whiteheads out. I've read quite a few reviews about this product which they said would make your skin smoother and softer and a lot of users raved about it so why not give it a try. Also, my friend's been using this facial mask and highly recommended it since we have the same skin type - and I noticed that whatever works for her would work for me as well.

The last one is the A La Maison Rose Garden body soap. I was overwhelmed with the body soaps in Healthy Options and they have a wide range to choose from - mint, oatmeal, almond, lavender, organic. I tried it last weekend and it has a fainter scent than what I hoped for. I'm hoping to buy a product from LUSH to try out their soaps and compare it with the ones form Healthy Options. I guess LUSH has stronger smelling soaps so I'm looking forward to that.

I was supposed to try out the Maybelline Pore Eraser but it was out of stock in Trinoma. :( All in all, I'm pretty stoked with the products that I bought since I normally purchase single items only to see if it would really work for me. I wear make-up every single day and it's a must to invest in skin care products to ensure the cleanliness of my skin at the end of the day. I was reminded to pay attention to my skin and give a lil more TLC ever since I started getting acne again. I would try and make a review on the products above and see if it'll work for me as well. :-)

e.l.f. Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder: A Review

I am a big fan of bronzers and have been using it since I started to learn about make-up. Cause of my NC 40 skin, bronzers, for me, look more natural than pink or coral blushes. Every time I find my holy grail bronzer it gets discontinued (sad). I've used bronzers from Penshoppe (that I stocked up twice and when I returned to buy one more, they said the product got pulled out for re-packaging and never came back) and Max Factor's bronzer which was also discontinued.

What I don't like about bronzers is that they are often shimmery - it's as if you've taken a pack of glitters and applied it all over your face. It speeds up my oiling process since I get oily skin after 5 hours. Nevertheless, I still use shimmery bronzers as an alternative to blush. I don't contour my face as most people would do with bronzers, as I have a relatively smaller face than most people plus I don't know how to properly contour. Maybe I'm using the wrong make-up brush or I just need more practice.

Since my Max Factor bronzer is consumed, I started to look for alternatives and two products caught my eye - Body Shop's Bronzing Powder which will be featured on the next post and e.l.f.'s Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder.

Images are from Google. Will promise to take more pictures, doesn't matter if I use my phone's blurry camera or my SLR lol. This retails for more or less PHP 250.00 and can be found at local drugstores (Watson's, SM Department stores).

Colors are not as pigmented as I hoped it to be - it's much lighter in person. I can't seem to make out the colors on my skin (or is it because I am too dark?). I became oily and shiny roughly about an hour and it just didn't feel right on my skin. This is not all about criticizing e.l.f. products, but I think this particular bronzer and blush duo didn't seem to make the cut for me. I love their make-up brushes though - affordable and quality is okay.

What I really want to try is NARS Highlighting Bronzing Blush Duo in Orgasm/Laguna but it's hella expensive. You can find e.l.f.'s and NARS' review here. Side note - I've learned so much from this blogger, Karen, who is also a Pinay living in the U.S. You can click here to view Karen's blog and her reviews on other notable products.

So what happened to my e.l.f. Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder, you ask? I gave it to my office mate who's as keen on make-up as I am (she said she didn't mind even if I used it once, the important factor here is it's FREE lol).

So far I'm loving Body Shop's Bronzing Powder, but would you know any more matte bronzers that are of good quality? :)

And We're Back! @ Dasol, Pangasinan (Summer Outing # 2)

About the same time last week, my office mates and I were feeling excited on our then upcoming trip. Remember my first post? Le Boyfie and I went to Dasol, Pangasinan for some R & R. I wanted to go back and so I brought my friends with me (and of course Le Boyfie too).

Manila last week was partly cloudy with scattered rains and so I thought I wouldn't be seeing Mr. Sunshine on our trip, but it was the exact opposite. Blue skies with no hint of clouds greeted us as we arrived in the municipality of Dasol from a 6-hour bus ride. We immediately went to the wet market to buy some crabs (for brunch) and marshmallows and hot dogs for the bonfire that we are to set up.

 

 Yum! PHP 300 for 1 kilo, while in Manila it's roughly PHP 300 each (as in per crab).

 "Lapu-lapu" fresh out of the sea.

"Dilis", yummers! Cooked by Nanay Precy :)

Let's eat!

I have a couple of places that I haven't been to, so we had island hopping immediately after lunch.

From the shore, you need to swim a bit further for you to get to the swings. Swings are attached on the tree above.

Payong-payong Island. This "bahay kubo" is situated on a large rock.

Bonfire at night. Ah.. this is the life!

Lyka - a first timer on roasting marshmallows through bonfire.

 Le Boyfie, myself, officemates (Lyka, Hazel and her friend Lorraine).

The first time I went here, it was like love at first sight! This is, without a doubt, the best place for me to go to every summer. Far, yes - it took us approximately 7 hours (6 hours by bus and an hour more by boat). But good places such as these are not easy to reach, right? I told Nanay Precy that we'll surely come back next year.

Para-para-paradise  ♪ ♪ ♪

Finally It's Friday!

Well that was fast - it's Friday once again! Or was it made faster since Wednesday was a holiday? Anyhooo.. Since I was in the office 2 hours early, I decided to play with make-up and create a subtle, simple, office-appropriate eye make-up. For the past 5 years I have been watching make-up tutorials on Youtube and those make-up gurus make it seem pretty easy to apply and blend eye shadows.

I have been trying on some shadows for a couple of months and since brown is suitable for everyday eye make-up, I decided to buy one from Etude House. I have oily-combination skin (mostly oily, don't get fooled by the "combination" lol) so eye shadows tend to crease in my eye lids after 5 or so hours. To prevent creasing, I used Ellana Minerals Eye Primer.

Photo from Google. I forgot to take a picture of my own primer he he.

These are the products that I used for today's eye make-up:

 

Brown eye shadow from Etude House.

Black liquid eye liner from IN2IT.

Final look. Sorry for the quality of the photos since I only used my phone's camera. I'll upload clear photos on my next posts.

Have you noticed the brown shadow? I just placed it on the crease so it wont be as dark. The trick is to blend~ blend~ blend~ so as not to have harsh lines. I'm not into loud colors (pinks, greens, etc) but now I'm trying to experiment and see what colors would suit me best. Earth colors go well with my dark skin tone so I decided to try on brown for now plus it matches with everything. I'm planning on buying Naked Palette, the only one stopping me is the fact that it's expensive lol. And oh, the Urban Decay Primer Potion! It's a must-have for me, so maybe in a month or two I'll be sporting shadows from the Naked Palette. As of now, I'm content with this one shadow from Etude House.

Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend :)

Bobbie Matte Nail Polish Top Coat and Other Things

I know a month has passed since my last post. I have so many things to write about but I just don't know how to express it. Pretty exhausting month for me, with deadlines (work-wise) and summer outings here and there, or is it because of the Manila heat?

Well anyway, to start off, I have recently discovered this amazing top coat from Bobbie which turns your glossy polishes into matte! Introducing this very affordable product that retails for PHP 34.25 and is readily available in your local drugstores (Watsons, SM Department Store, Mercury Drug).

Image from Google

Since yesterday was a holiday and I didn't go to work, my friends and I did our own nails. I had mine in blue, my two other friends had pink and turquoise.

Ombre from left to right! :)

I dunno if you could notice it but it's not as glossy as your regular polish. These photos does not do justice to my nails and looks way better in person. Matte, for me, as in nail polishes and make-up, is cleaner looking than glossy / shimmery ones.

Image from Google. LA Colors Ombre set.

On another note, since it's Summer, I've decided to slowly start my diet and get back to my normal 120 pounds. My officemate and I stocked up on some salami, wheat bread, cheese and tomatoes which we eat every lunch. 

Salami was currently in the microwave when I took a picture of my nearly done sandwich. Wheat bread and tomatoes on cheese. Yum!

After lunch, I had my usual cup of tea. Tea leaves are rarely seen in Manila, this one was bought as "pasalubong" from China.

Isn't it obvious from this post that I like the color blue? Lol

One more day to go 'til weekend. Weee~