Skin Hour’s Deep Cleansing Oil

I’m a sucker for new *beauty* things, in some strange way. Especially *natural* made stuff. So when Skin Hour launched their line of beauty products, and were going to give away freebies, I quickly sent in my request for some!

I asked for a Mattifying Day Cream and a Firming and Clarifying Toner.

They both came in itsy bitsy sizes, though, enough for a trial.

When I tried the mattifying day cream, I noticed that it suspiciously smelled and felt like Leyende‘s Face Canvas.  I later found out that it was Neva of Leyende who indeed manufactured these products for Skin Hour!  However, these products were the concept of Char (of Skin Hour).

I honestly didn’t notice much difference between the mattifying day cream and face canvass, however, I do understand that Skin Hour‘s day cream has some kind of sunblock (SPF) in it.  And is supposed to be more mattifying than the Face Canvas.

Makeup Haul!!

Oh happy days!

I have accumulated a bit of Ellana Minerals in the past couple of months.

I have been very happy with the coverage of their foundation and mineral veil. More than that, Coney Avellana, owner, has been very nice and accommodating (I mean, I know she has to, but she just truly is! Especially to a major kulit “I want it today” client.)

Leyende

When the G-Man mentioned that they’d begun to sell Leyende on Kikay Exchange, I said, nah…too expensive. Can’t afford it.

That was until I got on to Multiply. And I read how yummy the products smelled like and how this one particular item worked so well with oily skin. (One of my major major problems was that whatever I do—use the sandwich method, or even spritz with water to set my foundation, my face always oiled and when you drag a finger from one point of my forehead to the other, you’d surely have some semblance of foundation on the fingertip.)

On one hand, I was so eager to try Face Canvas because it sounded really interesting (“natural” and “organic” being the number 1 reasons). On the other hand, I was afraid that if I got one, it would see dust faster than I can say “Fox in Socks”. (Which is something that happens with most of my face stuff.)

Advocacy

Lookee here—my friend D, who makes soaps by hand, is making LATCH one of her beneficiaries!!

I bought a couple of bars from her—Mint Fantasia and Cinnamon Spice—a few months back. I use the mint bar for showers while the cinnamon spice to wash my face. Both bars are terrific! I love the scent of the cinnamon bar. Reminds me of those cinnamon rolls my mom used to bake when we were kids. Nice and spicy, it gives my face a nice fresh tingly feel.

And with the hot weather these days, the mint fantasia is a fantastic cooler! It makes my skin feel cool because (I’m guessing) of the mint extracts that she used. Saraaaap!

Mostly, I am looking forward to THIS.

(photo taken from website of BY Nature)

Finally, a haircut!

Anyone who knows me knows that I get nervous when I go to get my hair styled (or cut for that matter).

I sit in the salon’s chair, praying and hoping that whoever cuts my hair will give me something I not only like, but will grow out well.

I’ve “graduated” from Pierre’s (in the super duper old Makati Arcade–where Landmark now is!) and Precy’s (isn’t this salon such a blast from the past???). I’ve tried Fix (kasi cheap), Rey Angeles (who did my makeup during our wedding but cuts hair too), Fabio Salsa (because S’s cousins went there and their hair looked pretty good), Emphasis (Teng Roma and Victor Ortega were okay, but — kulang), Rodger Craig (when it was still in the Peninsula Makati), Propaganda‘s Alex Carbonell (who, I understand, does the training of the people from Fix Salon.)

And every time I’m out of the country (it just sounds like I travel a lot. I don’t. The last trip I took out of the country was six or so years ago!), I never fail toying with going to a top salon there and getting a cut. (I contemplate that every time we would be in HK and in Paris–once!–on our honeymoon.)

Honey Propolis Shampoo

We were at Tagaytay a few weekends ago and I was so happy to hear from our friend that the store at the Sports Center sold stuff by Ilog Maria!

It was a great excuse to go “shopping” for the weekend. (And you’d think there was no shopping place in Highlands, think again!)

Of course, I didn’t wait long to use it–I made sure that I bought it before we went to swim at Camp Highlands so I could use it when I showered after!

Eyes!

Took P and K to P’s friend’s house this afternoon for a play date. P has been friends with MG for more than a year now. They were classmates at preschool. I guess they grew close because his mom, JG, and I hung around a lot.

Anyway, when JG saw me this afternoon, her first greeting was “Hi! Uy, parang pumayat ka yata!” (translated: “Hey, looks like you’ve slimmed down!” — this is such a Pinoy thing to greet like this…but that’s for another blog entry.) “And, you’re looking good!”

So I say thanks, and that it’s mostly because I had my hair styled (by this “magician” called Louis Philip Kee of Salon de Ken along Palanca St in Makati) and I now wear makeup (thanks to mineral makeup!).

Then she looked at me and said, “Well…your eyes are easy to makeup kasi eh.”

At that point, I appreciated the however tiny crease that I have in my eyes. I looked at her and realized that she had typical Asian eyes without creases at all! After my endless research on how to do makeup for Asian eyes, I figure that I have it a lot easier after all!

Smokey eyes, here I come! (Thanks to my Soho Lounge and my Retro Lounge Eye Kits!)

My NEW Makeup Box!!!

My Mom got me a new makeup box!

M.A.

Hi, I’m J, and I’m an addict.

Okay, I’m not denying it…I need help! Does anyone know any member of M.A. (Makeup Anonymous)?? Hahahahaha!

Just wanted to share with you my kit!!

This is the entire shebang. The only thing I think I don’t really have is lipstick, because with mineral makeup, all I have to do is dip my lip balm into the color and then I have my lipstick! Tipid!!!!

Here are the colors I have, up close…

My blushes…

My eye colors…

My eye liner shadows…

and last, but not the least, and my foundation, mineral veil, and all-over face color…

Makeup Monster

In the past two weeks or so I haven’t blogged, I got to know about this brand of makeup called Bare Escentuals.

I just happened to learn about it on one of the threads in my egroup. In fact, at first, I hardly noticed it. Me, makeup? Bah! But strangely, I read one of the emails and, well, whaddaya know? I actually found myself googling the brand, to the extent of looking for resellers here.

Apparently, what these resellers do is repackage them into sample sizes for their market to “try” out the product…if they don’t like it, the buyers won’t feel bad, since they’ve only purchased a small amount.

I found two resellers, Claudine Baron and Rosey Vidal. And they’ve been so helpful! I got so much! I love the stuff! I get a bare but polished look with the makeup…

I found myself agreeing to join my FIL a few weekends ago to a wedding of a couple I didn’t know from Adam only because I wanted to try out my makeup.

It’s so easy to put on! I actually wear makeup everyday now! And if I don’t want to put more colors on my face, I just buff the makeup on. It’s so fun!

And I blew so much on new makeup! (Well, I had good justification—my old makeup was really old…like around 4-5 years old—eeew!)

To date, I have the basics, plus 4 blushes, 5 eyeliners, and around 7 shadows. Makeup Monster or what????

Here’s my makeup kit…check it out!