Ah, pores, the last frontier into the metaphorical universe of porcelain skin. We often get asked how to “make pores disappear” and our answer is pretty much the same: you cannot eliminate them completely, especially through makeup alone. You can clean them to make them less visible, or get laser treatments to shrink them, but "eliminate" is too strong a word because your skin actually needs them to function properly! Apart from keeping them clear or getting professionally zapped, there are makeup primers that are specifically formulated to “refine,” “minimize,” and “blur” your pores to perfection.

I tested three products: the Ellana Blur Makeup Primer, the Happy Skin Matte About You Pore and Shine Control Primer, and the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer to see which blurs or minimizes my pores the best.

Today I turn 30. I've never been one to put much significance on age, or even birthdays, but there's something about being alive for three full decades that calls to meaning. I don't feel old at all - gosh, am I only really 30? - but I do feel just a little more grounded and blessed with clarity. Such as it were.

My friend asked recently, "How did you know that it was going to work out?" She is thinking about starting her own business and felt unsure about how to get it off the ground. She was asking me how I knew to price In Her Element (my company's skincare brand) and why even do skincare in the first place. 

Ultraviolet might be the color of the year but anyone interested in skincare knows that UV rays aren’t cool. When it comes to proper skin care, proper SPF is the commandment no one can break. Any PV girl worth her salt knows never to skip SPF; our editors Liz and Den would probably disown us if we ever violate this basic skin care rule!

Still, I would have to ‘fess up and admit to several things I might be neglecting when it comes to sun protection. Yes, it’s totally possible to be a skincare junkie yet still forget to cover all our SPF bases! 

How did we get from being afraid of looking even the slightest bit greasy to attempting to replicate dewy skin with the clever use of makeup? I’ll tell you how: pure, shimmery magic! Highlighter has become a permanent fixture to the #FOTD in recent years, deflecting from tired eyes, subtly defining bone structure, and adding brightness to dull skin. We’ve gone the Splurge vs. Save route and even dished on the ones that we can’t live without. So it’s pretty much a no-brainer to revisit the budget picks that’ll help you shine more for a lot less!

Is it February already?! Let’s welcome the chocolate and flower-filled month with tons more love, shall we? This week’s roundup will have you excited for V-day! We’ve got the newest from KKW Beauty, Sephora Philippines’ brilliantly curated Valentine selection (forget the chocolates!), the much-awaited return of a famous balikbayan, and the Beauty Bootcamp you can't afford to miss! 

BYS Glitter Face and Body Kits (P599, SM Beauty) are one of those impulse buys that make so much sense at the time. Everyone wants to level up their look somehow, and what better way to do it than with shiny glitter? The thing is, it can be a little challenging to think up of ways to actually pull them off. In this post, I'm going to show you three ways to use the cosmetic glitter in the BYS Glitter Face and Body Kit in Sea Diamonds, for different comfort levels!

One of my big beauty lessons in 2017 was the importance of wearing blush. I didn't think it was crucial to my makeup routine until I realized how it instantly gives life to my face even when I'm feeling haggard. Different blush shades could also give a different feel to my monochromatic “natural” look: blue-based pinks make me look sweet and innocent, while a warm orange gives me a back-from-the-beach flush! 

Beauty for me is more than just about vanity or discovering new products. It's also about community, because there's nothing more beautiful than women coming together to share their prettifying secrets! That's why when Belle de Jour CEO Darlyn Ty floated the idea of co-presenting an event last year, I knew we had to do it. 

In the words of the wise men of Bowling for Soup, high school never ends. I started to believe it when my cringe-worthy high school days haunted me back in the form of the Pond's Magic Powder BB. This bottle of powder had been making rounds online as a super cheap yet effective oil-control powder so I made sure to pick up a bottle during my Bangkok trip last year. You can find this at any neighborhood 7-Eleven in Thailand but in the PH, availability is limited to online sellers.

The wine life is not for everyone, but thankfully, you don’t always have to drink it to appreciate it. Wine palettes are cropping up left and right, and today we’re going to take you through a step-by-step tutorial to create your own wine eye look!

Loving a blush feels a lot like being in a long-term relationship. People don’t tend to swap around blush shades as often as they would lipstick or eyeshadow. For as long as it jives well enough with your collection of lippies, then you can keep wearing the same blush shade again and again! In that sense, a blush is like an investment piece in your makeup wardrobe. And while we love ourselves a popping pink or a plush peach, a dusty rose shade spells refined flush and versatility across various skin tones and lipsticks. Dare we call it the MCBB (My Cheeks But Better) blush?

The thing we love most about the beauty world is that it's more than just looking good - it's also about feeling confident about who you are and what you can do! The latest releases from Estée Lauder offers more options for giving flawless coverage while Maybelline's hot new lippies provide the most amazing long-lasting lip color. Revlon hopes to empower women with their #LiveBoldly Campaign, and Ever Bilena’s newest Boss Lady endorser inspires with her uber stylish vibe. Take a gander at beauty's latest offerings!

When I was a teenager, my mom warned me to never aggravate or pop a pimple if it's on my nose. She told me that the daughter of a friend of a friend (not a typo) was prohibited by a doctor to never get "the triangle of death” on her face infected if she didn't want to die. To me, it sounded a lot like an urban legend: it evoked images of the Bermuda triangle in my head, and the third-degree anecdotal “proof” seemed pretty dubious. Still, being an obedient daughter, I did avoid picking at pimples whenever they grew in this so-called “danger area” because it seemed better to be safe than sorry.

The beauty industry is fast-paced and constantly evolving with new trends, techniques, and tools popping up seemingly overnight. Some of them, like these skincare “innovations” we reviewed, are fun but ultimately passing fads that soon go the way of butterfly clips and elephant pants.

While some trends are destined to delight then disappear, there have been a few survivors that have made the jump from beauty gimmick to beauty staple. While the fate of “washing machine” brush cleaners, jade face rollers, and pizza-cutter eyeliner are still up in the air, these tools have weathered disbelief, dissing, and dupes, and look like they’re here to stay!

Our skin is an amazing part of our body. It’s the largest organ because it covers us from head to toe. The skin on the face is delicate and is usually more sensitive than other parts. Fortunately, skin has a layer of protection that's called the skin barrier. This is basically the topmost layer of the skin that protects from bacteria, viruses, and other harmful substances. A healthy skin barrier on our faces keeps it hydrated and acne-free so if you're experiencing skin trouble, it's possible that your skin's barrier is not at its best state.

Is it just me or did January fly by so fast? One minute we’re celebrating the new year, the next we’re nearly at the end of the first month! I feel like the ink hasn’t even dried on our resolutions list, yet here we are. How have you been sticking to yours? Whether you chose to do a full beauty overhaul or just have a few improvements in mind, Watsons reminds us to celebrate the 2018 version of ourselves - this year’s Happy New You!

Sonnets have been written about this concealer. After using it for a couple of months, I now understand why! The Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer (P399) is a cult favorite for a reason. Never mind its promises of being a "treatment concealer" - let's be real, this is not skincare - but it's a crazy good concealer that covers and plumps up the skin beneath flawlessly. 

I’ve been experiencing bad breakouts on my forehead for a while now, and as the cause is hormonal, I’m trying to just manage it as best as I can. Finding products that help to control my acne and dry up existing pimples hasn’t been easy—I’ve had to experiment with so many products before finding ones that work and also fit into my student budget. Zapping zits is more than just applying a pimple gel though; you really need to fight acne with every step of your skincare, so here’s my favorite go-to products so far, under a P1,000 price tag!

When it comes to resolutions, the one at the top of my list is always to save more money. I want to be more responsible with my finances and make sure that I save as much as I can for the year, and for my future. So when an amazing luxe brand decides to bring in their famous lippies to the PH, well, that resolution goes out the window! Jokes aside, this week’s roundup will have you wishing you didn't make a #nobuy resolution. After all, Tom Ford's limited edition lippies just landed in the PH, Lindsay Lohan’s making her way into our vanities (we don’t know how to feel about this, too), and someone finally made a primer specifically for dark circles! See if you can get through this list without adding anything to your shopping cart.

Before we discovered the wonders of sheet masking, pampering our skin conjured images of green goop-covered faces with cucumber slices placed over the eye area. Yup, we're talking about clay masks! Clay is a soft, loose, naturally-occurring material that is rich in minerals. It is also very absorbent, which is why it's frequently used in skincare to draw out deep-seated impurities that simple cleansing can't reach. It's a great ingredient for unclogging pores and thus reducing pimples, whiteheads, and blackheads. Some even have brightening and anti-aging properties!