Please Pray for Maddy

She's getting a blood transfusion.

OC Behavior

I don't know about you guys but I actually find doing something repetitive comforting:

Murano heart necklaces.

pearl bracelets.

cellphone charms. Design first used here.

pearl headbands.

crystal headbands.

There's just one of this bracelet, but I've made something like it before but using another color scheme. I really like how this turned out, though. It looks really yummy and makes me think of berries.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Papemelroti Beauty in a Box and here's someone I'd like you to meet.

Papemelroti is a well-known specialty store in the Philippines that sells paper products and knick knacks. Its name is practically synonymous to country-style crafts. This store has always had a special place in my heart since I was in grade school and avidly collected stationery (admit it, you've gone through that phase, too). It was also one of my go-to places for emergency gifts/tokens of affection for years.

I was at one of their stores recently with my sister recently because she was looking for cutesy local products to send in a love package to her friends abroad and I got this:

It says: Beauty in a Box- Easy & natural ways to shine using homemade remedies.

It's a small craft box which contains a stack of cards roughly the size of your standard Post-It note. The cards contain miscellaneous beauty tips, DIY treatments, recipes and the like.

Sample cards. Clockwise from top left: tip for deodorizing any strong stench, remedies for tired eyes, goodbye crow's feet, for shiny hair, and fresh breath fast. There's more where these came from. The stack's pretty thick. I think I'll scan them and share them with you as I give them a try.

A lot of the tips seem interesting and easy enough to try at least once but there are also a few that feels like too much work. Mind you, some of the cards also contain stuff that's basically common knowledge especially to you beauty experts. For instance, there were quite a few cards about ACV. I'm no beauty guru, but I'm not stranger to the benefits of ACV, either. All in all, this is PHP 40 (less than 1 USD) well-spent. For non-beauty enthusiasts, they also have other themes of this box like Psalms, Bible verses, quotes, other Inspirational stuff, etc. There's a box for everyone!

***

Everyone, meet the Store Kitteh:

My friend and I were closing up our (still budding) shop the other night when I saw this kitteh crossing the street to a vacant lot beside the building where our shop was. It was so small that I feared for its life, so I checked the lot if the mommy kitteh were there but it wasn't so I took it home.

When I looked at it more closely, I could see that its eyes were still milky so I'm guessing it's really really young and its eyes were not completely open yet. My sister gave me a can of Fancy Feast cat food (pictured, so if you're familiar with the brand and how small that can is, you'll have an idea how small Store Kitteh is) for it the night I took it home. I was planning to just give it some milk because like I said it was so small I didn't think it could eat real food yet. Boy was I wrong. The cat gobbled it up and even made "om nom nom" noises. It must have been starving. I tried to give it dry cat food, too, and even though it tried to eat the dry food, her teeth must not have been strong enough for it yet,

I don't need to be told that my house is not the place for a practically newborn kitten (We have overly excitable dogs) so what I do is I take the kitten with me back to the shop and let it out where I can see it, in case it decides to go home or its mom comes back but at night I take it back home with me. I use a shoebox to transport it, and the system has worked for three nights so far.

(Personally, I think Store Kitteh has brought us luck at the shop. I consider it our living Maneki Neko. As of now, the business partner still needs further "convincing." Haha.)

Thanks for dropping by!

I ran out of steam.

How's everyone? I know that it seems like every time I make a promise to blog more frequently I disappear off the face of the internet soon after. I'll try not to do it this time.

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who has not stopped following me as well as new friends who still followed even though I haven't posted in a while. I look forward to getting to know all of you better, too. ^^

So here's a recap of stuff of what's happened since I last posted here: I quit my job! It's one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make but I felt like it was time. I did love doing my job, it was everything else that came with it that I hated.

NOT what was written on my resignation letter.

After that I took it easy for a while and in the process developed new obsessions and rekindled old ones I thought I'd forgotten about (I won't go into too much detail but HINT: See image above.) and there's also something exciting in the works: A friend and I opened a small shop together. It's hard to describe it but it's meant to have everything I love. It's part thrift store/curiosity shop, part candy store and would occasionally also sell dimsum. haha. It's my hippie dream/quarter-life crisis project. It's a work in progress.

EH Duo Fibre Brush + mini eyelash curlers

Paying a visit to Etude House during its first couple of weeks in Manila had been frustrating because everything I was interested in getting was sold out but when I got back from vacay, the hype had died down so I was finally able to get their stippling brush!

The stippling brush costs PHP 428 and I was urged by the SA's to get a little something extra because I was so close to PHP 500 which entitled me to a freebie.

I got the collagen eyepatch for PHP 78 and so I got a folder with the guy on Boys Over Flowers (I'm not a fan, but my niece watched this series and might like it.)

What I didn't know was that for a PHP 500 purchase, I could have gotten the pink card instead. More info on the pink card here. Why wasn't I told about this earlier?

Actually, I had a different goal that day. Remember this?

I have always wanted to get a backup before in case something like this happened:

See that white line on the left? I kinda pressed it a little too hard one time and it snapped. It's not completely broken but I don't know what to do to repair it.

But it was too late when I got back to EH. The curlers were gone. Now a PHP 1K purchase gets you a mini bb cream thingie. I didn't want it.

Luckily, I found the perfect replacement:

The Allue mini eyelash curler works just as well as the EH Code B one, plus you can get one at any HBC store. I got mine on sale, too. (PHP 50- about 1 USD.) The barbie pink color might be a plus for some of you girls out there, but I still think the EH one is prettier.

I think mini curlers work better on me. Here's another one I got recently:

The Fanny Serrano mini curler costs PHP 125 (less than 3 USD). The width of the curler is about half of a regular eylash curler which makes it perfect for curling just the outer lashes for a kind of cat-eye look. It pinched a little when I first started using it, but it works great when you get used to it.

Thanks for dropping by!

P.S. Big news next week. Stay tuned!

Lancome Juicy Tube Charms

Hi everyone! How's everyone doing? Been a while, right? I went on vacation a few weeks ago, and I just haven't had the chance to blog again since I got back.

Here's a short post just to get the ball rolling again. I have recently made my first ever blogsale purchase. It's been a long time since I bought anything online, but I think this was too sweet a deal to pass up. Here's what I got:

Lancome Juicy Tubes Juicy Charms Mini Trio

L-R: 1. Bewitching ruby - A delicate and shimmering pink gloss - Cherry flavour / 2. Crystal shine -A translucent gloss with festive sparkles - Raspberry flavour / 3. Hypnotic sapphire - A Lilac gloss with pale pink sparkles.- Grapefruit flavour.

Originally, these mini (7 ml) tubes are charms on a silver (toned?) bracelet. I looked online and it retails for about 20-45 dollars depending on where you look. I got all three glosses (brand new) sans the bracelet for PHP 200. (Less than 5 dollars)

Here's what you'll get if you buy the actual product and it comes in a box.

It's all good, though. Even though I've been been lemming for this for the longest time, I probably would never wear it like a bracelet. I'd feel silly.

I have absolutely no problem with using them as cellphone charms, though. I couldn't resist adding a little embellishment:

Bewitching Ruby + cellphone lariat + crystal heart + acrylic flower + peach pink pearl

Hypnotic Sapphire + cellphone lariat + crystal heart + blue enamel "J" + marbled blue and white acrylic star

Crystal Shine + cellphone lariat + crystal heart + silver-toned snowflake + milky white pearl

Thanks for looking!

Product Review: Sanli Super BB Cream Blemish Balm Essential

As you may have noticed, I don't usually post product reviews. Most products I've had are nothing new and have been reviewed by users who are more knowledgeable than me in this area. However, I googled this BB Cream which I bought recently and have not found any reviews. It seemed like a good topic to blog about.

I bought this product at a Chinese Drugstore. Makes sense in a way, I guess since BB Creams were originally developed to treat serious skin problems and aid in healing. It costs PHP 700 for 50 ml (about 15 USD). It is manufactured by Sanli International Cosmetic Group Co. which is based in Hong Kong.

Promises: Good coverage, sunblock, wrinkle-care and whitening effect.

I find the packaging very pretty. It comes in a textured gold box designed with vines and flowers. The tube has a similar design, but its color is a greenish gold. One side of the box has the list of ingredients and the other side has a brief description of the product.

What I don't like is its use of Engrish. No biggie, but for me it kinda makes the product dubious. On the other hand, its information is a bit more helpful for me than say, those products that only have Korean or Japanese characters. Haha.

Likes:
- Price. Cheaper than premium or even most popular brands, but not so cheap it's scary to try.
- No breakouts!
- Good coverage but does not feel heavy. It looks a little strange on me when first applied, but after a while it adapts and looks natural.
- The girl who sold this to me said this suits all skintones. Not sure if that's true but I gave samples to 2 of my sisters (we all have different skintones) and it looks fine on them as well.
- Pretty packaging. The magpie in me likes the shiny gold box.
- Oil-controlling ability is amazing. The first time I used it, I was amazed that I still looked fresh and hardly needed a touch up even after several hours of playing with my hyperactive niece.

Dislikes:
- Has a faint medicine-y smell (but like I said, that is what BB Cream is.) Reminds me of joint cream but the smell is not as powerful. It's not unpleasant, mind you, but when it comes to products for the face, I really prefer fragrance-free stuff.
- The product as well as the manufacturer is so obscure. Even a Google search for Sanli International Cosmetic Group came up with the following results:

Click to Enlarge

The first result- a question on Yahoo! Answers that goes "Is Sanli International Cosmetic Group of Hong Kong a real company?"- does not exactly inspire confidence.

All in all, I would consider this a good buy. I'm definitely satisfied with it. ^^

Thanks for dropping by!

Etude Hizz-ouse!

Happy New Year lovelies!

Here is my first haul post for the year 2010. Bought these last week, way way back in 2009, haha.

As most of you have probably already heard, Etude House opened in Manila a couple of weeks ago. Like most girls in the area, I had been dying to go.

Thoughts:

The store was smaller than I expected or seemed from the pics I've seen on the web, but it was so cute and totally the kind of style I go for. I also got a kick from being called a "Princess." Ha-ha.

This is my first time to purchase Etude House products, so I chose my items based on what struck my fancy.

Here is a pic of my Etude House mini-haul:

55 Kissful Tint Chou no. 3 (Strawberry)

This is a sheer baby pink lip gloss with a faint yummy scent. I've pics of this online before and have always wanted one in this shade. Perfect for "natural makeup" days.

Fresh Cherry Tint (Red)

This is a lip tint which has a creamy consistency but feels light on your lips. It gives you healthy and natural-looking color which is also long-lasting. It also has a very light and yummy scent. I love it! I wanna get the other shades, too.

I'm not good at making swatches but here's what the two lip stuff look like.

w/o flash

w/ flash

BB Magic Pact

The compact is pretty

.

Inside.

BB Magic Pact is a pressed powder pact that gives good coverage. I was planning to get the Peach Pact because I've been hearing good things about it but when I got there, I had trouble choosing among three types: BB Magic Pact, Peach Pact and Secret Beam. Secret Beam had lots of shimmers which I liked and cost a bit less. In the end I went with BB magic pact because it was the one without talc.

Freebie: Code B Mini Curler

The store was offering various freebies depending on how much the customer spent: PHP 1000 gets you the mini-curler (which was the only freebie I wanted) PHP 2000 gets you a cat plushie (do not want), and PHP 3000 gets you a skincare trial kit (will wait for reviews).

I do have a teensy rant about my first EH experience. I asked one of the SA's about the Fresh Cherry tint because the peach shade was the only shade on display. She said that was the only shade left but after a couple of minutes, another SA brought out more red Fresh Cherry tints.

Oh well, I still had a good time. I'm probably not the only girl who feels this way, but I was missing Etude House and planning my next purchases the moment I stepped out of Etude House.Will buy skin care prods next, and I really wanted the display stuff such as the Romantic box and stand, but I'm saving it for when I move to my new home. ^^

What are your fave Etude House prods?

Farewell 2009!

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