As a big skincare enthusiast, I try to “influence” my family and friends to take better care of their skin. It’s not a frivolous pursuit - after all the skin is the body’s largest organ! It can be difficult for a complete newbie to buy into skincare though because there are so many products available now. Even I sometimes feel a bit intimidated and confused by all the options you can find in stores! This is why I am a fan of skincare sets - they usually cover all the basic steps, are united by a common effect or ingredient that can make them more effective, and are often cheaper than buying products individually!

What could be more fun than going beauty shopping? Why, shopping with gift certificates, of course! More than getting a straight-up discount, there’s something very satisfying about handing over a bunch of GCs to pay for your purchases. This is the experience that four Luxasia Philippines brands try to recreate with their first ever Beauty Shopping Wonderland in Mega Fashion Hall!

Last November 23rd, Human Nature celebrated their anniversary with a bang at the PICC Banquet Hall. In attendance were hundreds of their employees and advocates. The positive energy was palpable as the husband and wife tandem of Paolo Abrera and Suzi Entrata-Abrera introduced themselves as hosts for the night, as well as long-time supporters of the proudly local brand.

I purchased the Urban Decay Born To Run Palette at the Sephora SoHo branch in New York. I didn’t enter Sephora with intention to buy ~a lot~ of makeup, but I ended up spending quite a bit inside! The hysteria is different inside a US Sephora store. I’ve been inside the stores in Singapore and Malaysia before, but the level of shopping energy is so different in New York. It’s like…ubusan ng makeup levels of excitement. It does catch.

My patron singer Santa Mariah, along with Tita Whitney, once sang that there can be miracles when you believe. TBQH, I immediately ignore any product that claims to be miraculous. But thanks to all the persuasive marketing and my insecurity of having adult acne, I volunteered my face to try the Some By Mi AHA BHA PHA Miracle Toner.

When the new PV team was first assembled two years ago, I was surprised to see many familiar names. Pretty much everyone, including myself, had “met” Liz through Project Vanity. We were all active commenters so it was really nice to meet the real people we’d interacted with online.

K-Beauty has taken over the local beauty scene with so many Korean brands that have washed up in Philippine shores. There is one brand, however, that many have been pining to see here and now it has finally arrived. Innisfree just opened its first branch at SM Mall of Asia and boy, is it huge!

Happy weekend, PV readers! Now I know you are all still trying to recover from the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness, but this week’s roundup might make you want to shop just a little bit more. We’ve spotted new shades from Generation Happy Skin, a K-Beauty collab with a huge fashion house, the iconic ABH highlighter, and your new YouTube channel obsession. Plus, there’s a new celebrity makeup artist collab that got us giddy with excitement! Are you ready? Let’s go!