Random rants on social media don't do anyone any good - in fact, your friends may get irritated, screen you while scrolling, or worse, unfollow you. It's difficult to empathize when you have your own life happening around you. You don't honestly care when others do it, so why should others care about your daily lows?

But that's not the point, is it. You'd rant anyway because putting it out there is a lot like blowing out a bubble. All the stale air is in there and you just...let it go. Disappear into the atmosphere. Watching it burst where everyone else could maybe see it makes you feel like you've accomplished something relevant. Doesn't matter if the soap gets in their eyes.

Random ramble. :) Today I'll be reviewing the Shiseido Instant Eye and Lip Makeup Remover (P2,150) for you!

Yes it's that expensive. It's easily the priciest makeup remover I've tried per mil. 0_0 I actually considered buying a foundation or concealer instead of this (they cost much less) but I badly needed a good remover for waterproof mascara and other long-wearing makeup. I've tried a sample of this Shiseido remover before and liked it enough to get the full size.

So is it worth the expense? Okay I'll be honest with you - there are cheaper high-end makeup removers that work just as well. I would recommend this if you:  

• Have sensitive eyes and skin. This is the gentlest eye and lip makeup remover I've tried. It doesn't sting, doesn't cloud the eyes even if you soak it in for a minute.

It was only a matter of time before Etude House, the Korean beauty juggernaut, came out with their very own CC cream. I find it to be a unique product because unlike the other CC creams I've tried, this is a white cream with tiny pigment spheres! It's sheer but gives this glow-from-within finish, as if there's a softly lit light bulb trained on my face. Can't think of a better way to describe it!

The Etude House CC Cream in Glow is off-putting at first because it starts out very, very white, like a kabuki mask. But as I rub it starts to slowly blend in to my natural skin color. There's still a bit of whiteness due to the SPF30, but it's not obvious unless you flash a bright light. I love the finish; it's subtle enough that it's difficult to capture on camera! There is shimmer in the formula although it's very fine.

Here's a quick run down!

What I love about the product

• Its main purpose is to correct and care. It corrects the dullness and uneveness of my skin, while moisturizing and protecting it from the sun at the same time.
• Gives a soft focus, glow-from-within finish (with a bit of vigorous blending). It also sort of counteracts the yellowness of my skin, and gives it a more neutral tone - if that makes sense.
• This CC cream is an excellent makeup base!

Hey there Ms. Liz. I always see advertisements of Diamond Peel/ Chemical Peel, Microdermabrasion, etc. around the mall. I haven't tried any of those except for a basic facial that extracts comedones. I don't have pimples, just the occasional ones during my time of the month or if I forgot to wash my face. I just have bumps scattered on my forehead, visible pores around the nose area and a few bumps as well.

I'm only 20 and I'm scared those services might harm my facial skin and would turn out worse. So my question is when do we consider getting a diamond peel? Or is it required to get a diamond peel once in your life? Should I get one? - Nerys

Hey Nerys! I've tried quite a lot of facial treatments in my beauty blogging "career", and the truth is I have regretted most (not all) of them. Let me describe my skin condition back then: I had serious acne, from white heads to cystic ones, and they left very serious blemishes that would take months to fade away (still, luckily). I would get some sort of elaborate facial and my skin would look great for a few days, and then I would break out heavily for the next week or so. What a vicious cycle!

The worst thing that I think I did to my skin is the chemical peel (blue peel). The 7-day peeling process was traumatic, and on top of that I now have very fine wrinkles on my forehead due to the peel. I am 25, and I have wrinkles on my forehead. Wtf, right?

Physical and chemical peels work by scrubbing and burning the top layer of skin away to force a new, younger layer to emerge. Diamond peels involve a diamond-tipped, rotating drill that clears off the skin's top layer. Diamond peels are a form of microdermabrasion, which is basically a process that involves some sort of machine to scrub the skin. Chemical peels usually involve mild acid to burn the skin, and can thus penetrate deeper than physical peels.

The thinnest layer of skin in our body is located under our eyes. It's a sensitive area, prone to hyperpigmentation due to allergies, fluid buildup, or excessive sun exposure. It also shows the blood vessels which is why some people have a bluish or purplish tint around their eyes.

The best way to solve dark circles (if at all possible in your case) is to get a lot of sleep and hydration. Drink water generously and don't forget to apply a moisturizing eye cream to keep that area elastic and plump! If your dark circles are hereditary or caused by age, then there's not much you can do except to use a bangin' concealer or undergo cosmetic surgery.

My point is that eye creams can only maintain the best possible version of your eye bags. They can't dramatically lighten dark circle or remove wrinkles, any more than what your skin would naturally allow. :) That being said, I do believe in using eye creams precisely because of the maintenance. When I stop, my bags look saggy, wrinkly, and ugh, papery. My current eye cream is the Clinique Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector (P2,450)!

This eye cream promises to lighten dark circles over time but I suggest you don't expect that. It does help improve the appearance of under eyes instantly due to the very fine mica shimmer in the formula and the slightest hint of tint.

Morning! So, I decided to do a Clinique Week because I've been receiving a lot of wonderful products from the brand lately. These are the latest releases so some of them might not be availble yet but you can ask your preferred counter to reserve. ;) To kick off the series, here's a review of something I've been using whenever I get the chance!

CC creams have brought a lot of confusion when they started popping out last year. What are they, really? Do you need them? It depends on your preference and skin type so there's no definite answer to that. But I can tell you that CC creams are specifically for color correction, with a focus on skincare rather than the cosmetic effect. CC creams are for treating and maintaining skin, not for covering it up the way BB creams would.

That said, I am loving the Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream (P1,850) because it is my ideal face base. I don't need to layer moisturizer and/or sunscreen, foundation, and powder on a day-to-day basis! I apply a generous amount on my skin, wait for it to dry, and voila - nice, primed skin that doesn't need layers of product to achieve.

Okay let me break that down in a neat list, before I degenerate into a raving maniac. :P

Why I LOVE the product

• It has this lightweight, non-greasy texture that melts on skin and somehow makes it look brighter. 

What, you say, Gluta-C? Seriously? Yes Virginia! Gluta-C is marketed as a skin whitening brand but for me that's just an aside. I actually have the Gluta-C Whitening Gel and I'm pleased that it does seem to even out dark areas in my body, albeit slightly. I use it on and off, when I remember. What more if I use it like twice a day?

But I'm not going to review that now. Today is all about the new Gluta-C Intense Whitening Body Scrub (P99.75)! It's my current body scrub and I think it's pretty good. It has smooth, tiny plastic beads to exfoliate dead skin. These beads are mixed in with a creamy base that prevents the newly rubbed skin from drying out.

The Gluta-C scrub has a floral, soapy, slightly powdery scent to it. It's very clean and fresh. It's not chemical-y - something I appreciate in my body products!

Julia of Bless My Bag first got me interested in the Nivea Baby Smoothy Cream (P167) when she raved about it last year. Then, Dinna Vasquez, an editor at Manila Standard, told me on Twitter that she couldn't live without it! I take raves seriously, especially when they're from people I respect, so I hunted high and low for this moisturizer.

It's not easy to find. It's usually out of stock, or simply not available in the baby section of drugstores and supermarkets. I finally got hold of in the Mall of Asia Hypermarket some months back! It was in the bottom of the Nivea baby section then. Anyway, true enough, this "miracle" cream is something special.

This is designed for baby skin, so it's gentle and tested to be hypoallergenic. It doesn't contain parabens, alcohol, and colorants. It also contains natural calendula which is a well-known herbal remedy for wounds and skin irritations. It's meant for the sensitive skin of babies, but surprise - it's also great for big girls like us!

I haven't tried the famous Embryolisse moisturizer, but people say that this is a good dupe.

Pond's joined the BB cream bandwagon rather late, but they believe they came out with something that's totally worth the wait. True enough, the Pond's Flawless White and Age Miracle BB Creams (P399) did not disappoint. It's fairly good considering how much it costs.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how nice the texture of this Pond's product is! It's water-based and therefore non-greasy, and it does help brighten and even out the complexion instantly. It's easy to apply and it also dries in a few minutes. You won't even need a setting powder if you're not particularly oily, but if you want to extend the wear time then you must set it with foundation or at least a face powder.

By itself, this BB cream lasts for about 3 hours before it starts to fade. I don't like to think of it as foundation - it's really more of a skincare/ makeup base, the way BB creams were originally supposed to be.

One of the best things that you can do for your skin is to get a bottle of Cure Natural Aqua Gel (P1,500 at Beauty Bar). I have yet to meet a person who didn't fall on her toes (figuratively) to buy this after a couple of tries! This is actually a cult favorite product in Japan, changing the way women exfoliate their skin for many years now. I'm happy to announce that it's finally here in the Philippines!

Okay let's backtrack a little bit. I tried Cure about two or three years ago, when a friend gave me a sample. I felt it broke me out (my skin was extremely reactive then) so it dropped from my radar. Fast forward to today. I got a bottle of this early this year and held off using it for a month. When I felt that my skin could take a breakout, I finally tried it and holy cranberry - it is amazing! I didn't get any pimples too.

But wait, what does Cure do exactly? It's a gommage exfoliator. It's a gel product that hardens into soft, paper-like bits as it dries. These bits, when massaged onto the skin, exfoliate gently and thoroughly. I cannot emphasize enough how thoroughly this gets rid of dead skin and even mild blackheads! My skin feels squeaky clean after I rinse it off. Think of a newly washed plate, and how the surface is so clean that your fingers get some resistance when you drag it. That's what a newly "Cured" face feels like.

Since I started using Cure twice a week, the tiny bumps around my eyes, nose, and chin have significantly lessened.

The AC Clinique line of Etude House is designed to prevent and heal acne, and until recently only features facial wash, toner, and moisturizer. Two new products were recently added to the collection (labeled "intense") that have the sole purpose of spot-treating pimples as they come. I've tried the famous AC Clinic Intense Pink Powder Spot and it's just okay. It's like calamine lotion - smells like, looks like, feels like. I reckon it would also be useful on rashes and other skin irritations. ;)

The star of the collection for me though would be the Etude House AC Clinic Intense Red Spot Balm (P628 when packaged with the facial wash). This is the real deal! It was one of those things that have been sitting in my "to review" box for weeks, until I took it out for a test drive because of extreme annoyance. I had these two large red pimples on my right upper and lower lip (like star-crossed lovers UGH) and they are just not budging after more than a week. That's abnormal for me!

So I thought hey, why don't I try that Red Spot Balm over there. Boom. The two very angry pimples calmed down in an hour, and stopped swelling completely after six hours. No kidding. The next day, they're gone!

How often do you use hand cream? I admit I can be pretty lazy most days. I usually put off using hand cream until my hands can't take the dryness anymore - by that time, they're already so wrinkly and hard! Yuck. That's a bad bad habit because the hands, other than the neck, betray our age sooner than we'd like. That's why it pays in the long run to use a specialized moisturizer for them.

I've recently been enjoying the Bobbi Brown Extra Hand Cream (P1,700). It's a 50ml tube of moisture-boosting cream that contains shea butter and clary sage to improve our hands' moisture barrier, glucosamine to gently exfoliate, and licorice extract to help lessen discoloration.

This is a very heavy cream - a little goes a long way, and it indeed helps soften super dry hands instantly. It's like you coated your skin in this cocoon of smoothing, reviving oil! This actually has avocado and corn kernel oil for that purpose.

Running out of clever introductions here so I thought I'd get right to the point. :P Today I want to talk about a few Shiseido stuff I received a couple of months ago. They are expensive, true, but if you don't mind then they are definitely worth the splurge. 

When I first saw the Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio in RD299 I thought, boring. Gold, violet, and white? Surely there are more interesting, exciting combinations out there! But I should know that it's not smart to judge an eyeshadow palette by how it looks in the pan. I guess I better show you!

Absolutely lovely, yes?

It's that time of the quarter again - the dreaded writer's block. I can't seem to write anything worth pennies, and it's driving me crazy! I keep thinking of all the other things I need to do at work and it's extremely difficult to focus on beauty stuff when you're worrying about so and so. However, this should pass soon. Maybe I just need to buy more shoes? That usually kicks the block in the shins!

It usually helps to change my routine or explore a new place, as well. Talking about the things I like is easier and much less expensive though (lol) so here's a review on the MoringaO2 Malunggay Herbal Moisturizing Lotion (P129.75) for you.

(By the way thanks to Sample Room for sending me this! They had free full bottles up for grabs last January. Check them now for new free samples available.)

Not gonna mince words - this lotion is pretty good! It has moringa (malunggay!), sunflower oil, and olive oil to condition the skin. It's light and non-sticky (perfect for summer) but even with this texture the moisturizing power is not compromised. I've tried light lotions that are not very moisturizing short of slathering them all over, but Moringa O2 keeps the skin supple with only a relatively small amount of product.

Its unique selling point, however, is that it smells almost exactly like Elizabeth Arden Green Tea. Swear!

I'm extremely picky when it comes to moisturizers. I try something new once in a blue moon, but then I always end up coming back to Clinique Moisture Surge. That's one moisturizer that I know I can depend my life on. Others would break me out or cause my skin to look dull after a few weeks, but never my Clinique.

That's why I had absolutely no expectations from the Etude House Moistfull Collagen Enriched Cream (P898), even though it was touted to be the brand's best-selling product with 9 jars sold every minute. But surprise, surprise - it's actually pretty good! I use it interchangeably with my Clinique Moisture Surge Intense as they're very similar. Both are rich moisturizers that make my skin smooth and positively glowing.

They're similar in texture but the Moistfull has this strong jasmine scent. I love the smell, don't get me wrong, but if you don't like that in your skincare then I thought I'd let you know. I use only a tiny bit during the day (as in one small swipe on my index finger) as it can make me oily, but I'm more generous when I slather it on at night.

Quite a lot of you gals asked me this question when I posted Avon's latest serum. It seems that there's some confusion about the proper age for starting an anti-aging regimen, but that's the thing: there's no standard recommended age! Even anti-aging ads don't drop exact numbers as to when you should start using the products, if you've noticed. It's very vague. Here's why.

Your skin is unique due to genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Some women can look incredibly young for their age, while others are prone to premature wrinkles and sallowness. If you're lucky to have fabulous genes then good for you. But even so, excessive drinking (of alcohol), sun exposure, stress, or lack of sleep can hasten the aging process. Your skin won't be able to regenerate as quickly or as thoroughly if you don't do basic maintenance.

In other words, you should drink lots of water, wear sunscreen everyday, avoid alcohol and sleep as much as possible. I know it sounds trite but this is advice you can bet your life on! You will age slower if you religiously do all of the above - with or without a knockout anti-aging serum.

Anti-aging beauty products won't stop the hands of time. The best that they can do is brighten skin, fill in wrinkles and even re-inflate them a little over time, and plump up sunken areas of the face.

Last year, the big anti-aging story was all about re-activating our youth cells. Apparently, scientists have discovered a way to jumpstart youth by re-energizing some cells with a special ingredient. I don't know if there was any truth to it but I do know that most of the anti-aging products that came out in 2012 had that magic formula.

This year, Avon might just be headlining another new development in the anti-aging race. It appears that the new Anew Clinical Pro Line Corrector with A-F33 presents a different approach to anti-aging inspired by Nobel Prize-winning research. It promises to fade wrinkles in seven days by intercepting collagen-blockers.

Fair warning, I will be trying out a new anti-blemish serum after I publish this review, so don't be surprised if you see me talking about another serum just after I swear by this one! If I weren't a beauty blogger I wouldn't be going out to try new serums every time I empty a bottle. I would have stopped long ago at the Estee Lauder ANR, the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery, then Shu Uemura Tsuya, and now, the Kiehl's Clearly Corrective serum, which are all awesome products by the way. But I am a beauty blogger so I always have something new and interesting to try. 

Anyway! I'm here to talk about the Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Serum (P3,000), which I have been using since late November. It's an awesome product that helped me clear out the last vestiges of my old blemishes and prevents my new ones from darkening overmuch. Yes, this stuff works! For me at least. You'll see a photo.

What I love about the product

• Lightens blemishes with its main active ingredient which is Vitamin C. Now you don't need to put pure lemon juice on your face. :P Kidding aside this serum does lighten blemishes but it won't happen overnight - it's very gradual. I noticed lightening of my marks in about three to four weeks.
• Brightens and somehow tightens the face. I noticed that my skin has a smoother, super-fine texture. It's more like a subtly lacquered surface if that makes sense! 
• Helps heal pimples slightly faster because of its salicylic acid content.

Serums traditionally provide intense care and repair for our face. They usually have more concentrated ingredients in a clear, gel-like, sometimes oily solution for better absorption on skin. I was pretty excited when I first heard about a new serum for - are you ready - the body. How fabulous would it be if we can lavish our whole body in intensified skincare?

The Nivea Body UV Whitening Serum SPF25 PA++ (P219) promises radiant and whiter skin with ingredients like Vitamin C, licorice, red seaweed, and Hydra IQ. Does it look and feel like the other serums I've tried before? No. It's white, watery, and feels like lotion. I was a little disappointed because "serum" was the word that hooked me in, but for P219 /200ml I don't see how it could be more than lotion.

But I love it nonetheless. :) Three things: it's the lightest lotion I've tried EVER, it has SPF25 PA++, and has a pleasant citrus smell - no chemical sunblock-y scent at all! Did I say it was super light?

I raved about the Bioderma Crealine H20 Micellar Solution late last year, a French makeup remover that feels exactly like water. It's a great product but it's only sold in limited quantities here. Bioderma is also expensive for those who are used to drugstore makeup removers, which begs the question: what's an equally good, or (dare we hope) better alternative that's easy to find locally?

Friends, meet the Bifesta Cleansing Lotion (P419), a Japanese water-based makeup remover that's exactly like Bioderma. I believe that this brand was called Mandom before, but the whole line is now repackaged, reformulated, and renamed.

It comes in four handy variants for different skin types: Moist (dry and sensitive skin), Sebum (combination-oily), Brightup (dull and flaky), and Agecare (mature). I've been using the Bifesta Sebum Cleansing Lotion so it's the one I will review for now!

First things first: I love this stuff. This feels like you're just applying water to remove makeup. It's fairly simple to use, just squirt a full pump per cotton pad, wipe off the gunk on your face, repeat until 100% clean, and rinse. You can actually just leave your face like that and proceed to moisturizing if you wish. Bifesta cleans so well, that is can be both your facial wash and toner in one fell swoop!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: BB creams have come a long way. No longer are they thick and unwieldy, they're now more comfortable in humid weather, with a more perfecting finish. Well, the shade selection is still limited but if you fall in the fair to medium range then you shouldn't have any trouble.

Now three of the BB creams featured here are too light on me, but that's because I didn't get the chance to choose the right shade. That notwithstanding the formula of these BB creams are amazing! Here's why I highly recommend them. :)

The Fairydrops Candy Bar BB Cream is hands down my favorite BB cream ever. It stays put, matches my skin perfectly (luckily), and has such a flawless, photogenic finish. It's definitely something I would buy when I run out!

A lot of people don't like that this doesn't have SPF - it's unheard of for a BB cream to have no SPF! - but for me that feature is a boon. At least this product can be worn pretty much any time during the 24-hour day. It's not a big hassle for me to just use my preferred SPF moisturizer/base if I am going out in daylight.

Best for: girls with oily skin, who need a photo-ready face base. Light to medium range only (two shades).