I won't mince words with you: the Revlon Beyond Naturals Blush & Bronzer isn't a stellar product. I'd say it's so-so. Its only wow factor is how beautiful this blush looks on me! Unfortunately I don't have a picture to prove it so you'd have to go on my word, haha.

What I love about this product

• Looks natural on my face. The plum blush looks like my actual flush while the bronzer is a subtle shade close to my skin that makes it perfect for contouring.
• I get that "glowing-from-within" cheeks.
• Covenient. It saves me time blending and picking up two different products for contouring/blushing.
• Generous amount of product in the big compact. 

What I don't like about the product

• The powder is hard, so you may have to scrape with your brush.
• Texture is a bit coarse.

I've written before that Indonesian lulur was originally invented for brides who need to look beautiful on their special day. It helps slough off dead skin cells without removing moisture and, if used regularly, should even out and lighten your skin! But of course, great skin, while an absolute must-have, isn't the only thing you need to have on your wedding day. There are other details you need to take care of to get that makeover before the big day!

Asian Secrets wants to congratulate all brides-to-be* out there by giving them a chance to win a full body makeover package worth P15,000. It will include a relaxing spa day, waxing, hair cut, color, facial, nails, makeup lessons, and other similar treatments in the best salons all over the metro. Aside from that, we will also be giving the lucky bride a beauty loot worth P5,000 which she can use on her wedding day. I will be personally handpicking what goes in there (definitely NARS, MAC, and other favorites!). She will also win a supply of Asian Secrets.

Not a bride-to-be? Don't worry! There will be a second winner. The winner will get a 32 gig iPod Touch to help with her daily productivity and lifestyle. She will also get a beauty loot worth P6,000 full of goodies to be handpicked by me. She will also win a supply of Asian Secrets.

My gosh, I already envy the winners. Here's how to join!

Good morning from Baguio! I'm here with Marco to chill - quite literally. It's very cold here. Unfortunately I was naive enough to think otherwise, so I brought only one jacket and mostly flimsy clothes. Horror, I tell you, especially for someone who has low tolerance for cold. How I wish I sneaked off some of the new Ukay Manila blazers from my store! (Yes I just have to say that lol. New arrivals today ladies!)

Anyway, I'd just like to share with you the kikay stuff I brought. You can easily guess from my what's in my bag post that I prefer to travel extra light. I don't mind sacrificing a few comforts, routines, and favorites if that means that I don't have to worry about the weight of my bag, breaking anything, or god forbid, losing anything important. 

Only three small pouches and the rest are clothes. Yes I brought my POSH Pocket Shoes! Soo travel-friendly.

This VNC bag is perhaps the most useful thing I ever got from an event. It has divisions, garter holders for brushes, and has this hook so I can hang it. It's also a shoe bag. It's thin and small but very roomy so I prefer to use it for stocking makeup when I'm out of town. Everything is protected and nothing jiggles around while my luggage is in transit. I'm not sure if this is for sale, but if you ever see it, get it asap!

Sorry for the late post! This week has been extra hectic for me. I only had time today to review all the entries, then I'm off to Baguio to vacation! Whee. So. Anyway, I judged entries based on the quality and honesty of the post.

Here are the three winners of my Levi's contest! Hope you click their links and read their entries, because there are valuable lessons to learn from them. ;)

Today I want to talk about love.

I've been in love with the same man for more than three years now. First time we met, there was no explosion of feeling. No fireworks crackling. No romance, we weren't swept away. First time we met it was the most natural thing in the world. It was like we've known each other for ages and that we knew exactly what we wanted from that day on - to simply be together. Corny but true story.

It's not fun to tell our story because nothing much happens in it. There's rarely any drama or conflict. We never fight. Our life together can be summarized in two words: quietly happy.

Grow Luscious by Fabulash is Revlon's latest mascara offering. It just came out last month! The kind folks at Revlon sent it to me for review. It's supposed to lengthen and strengthen lashes overtime, but I can't vouch for that because I reckon it will take at least a month of regular use to see any difference. What I can talk about though is its formula, texture, packaging, and overall performance.

Grow Luscious has three shades: Black Noir, Black Shimmer, and Blackened Brown. They come in two formulas, Regular and Waterproof.

What I like about this mascara

• Minimal clumping. Take note to work quickly while coating your lashes to avoid clumping.
• Didn't smudge or budge on me. I used it the whole day, but I was mostly in cabs and airconditioned rooms. I didn't sweat much.
• No flaking that I noticed.

This, my friends, is perhaps the cutest thing that you'll see today.

The Charm Luxe Baby Buki brush is a small kabuki made of super soft synthetic hair. You might be wondering, what am I going to use a tiny kabuki brush for? Won't that take me extra time and work to cover my face? Well that's the thing. Baby bukis are not meant to use for full-face makeup. It's for hard to reach areas by your bulky normal-sized kabuki brush like the sides of the nose and under the eyes.

I have never heard of lulur before the kind folks behind Asian Secrets clued me in. So what is lulur? There is an ancient Indonesian custom that requires future brides to apply a luxurious body scrub mix 40 days before their wedding.  The lulur is traditionally made from jasmine, ground rice, green tea, scented moisturizing oils, and yogurt. This practice of applying lulur originated from the palaces of Java, and is intended as a purifying, beautifying ritual to prepare brides-to-be for the big day.

Of course, you don't have to be a bride to reap the benefits of lulur! It's for every woman (and man, if they are so inclined) who loves having radiant, soft skin. 

Finally, lulur is here in the Philippines. The brand is called Asian Secrets - apt, if I may add, since this beauty ritual is indeed one of Indonesia's best-kept secrets. It is marketed as a luxe whitening body scrub, formulated to target dark skin areas like armpits, elbows, knees, and the singit. 

Asian Secrets is available exclusively in Watsons and Beauty by SM. 250g/P130 and 135g/P80

What I love about this product:

• It's a gentle yet effective exfoliating scrub. I hate abrasive scrubs that feel like my skin is rubbed raw! The lulur felt light but still left my skin feeling squeaky clean after I rinsed it off. 
• It's creamy and moisturizing. I didn't have to apply lotion afterwards. No kidding. This is a huge achievement for a body scrub. I scratched a fingernail on my arm and look ma, no dry white lines!

Whenever I go out I run through all the places I have to go, at what time I need to be there, plus the things I have to bring. Then I wear shoes accordingly. If I'm going to the office, I need to hurry and bring my laptop so I wear flats. If I'm going to an event, I need to look glammed up and tall, so I pick heels! But wouldn't it be nice if you can wear both flats and heels whenever and wherever you want to?

That's the dream that POSH Pocket Shoes set out to realize.

POSH Pocket Shoes are exactly what they say they are - posh shoes in a pocket! It's the size of an average kikay kit or makeup bag and could fit comfortably into shoulder and hand bags. The shoes conveniently fold halfway, fitting in a black, zip-up purse which can be converted into a bag for your heels. Ingenious eh? Now you can just take off your heels anytime you feel uncomfortable since POSH shoes are lightweight, small, and thus easy to bring.

The shoes themselves are extremely comfortable. The soles are very cushy while the inside of the shoe is lined with what feels to be soft, faux suede.

What does this photo make you think of?

Floating before my eyes are apparitions of sticky sweet pudding, icing on top of cupcakes, whipped cream, ice cream, flavored yogurt - you get the idea! Now I want dessert! Anyway, seriously now. The good-looking stuff on top can't actually be eaten (sadly) since they're for your hair.

Lorys Hair Cream just landed on the shelves of Watsons two months ago. It's big in Brazil, which is what compelled the Filipino distributors to bring it to the Philippines. They contacted me and asked me to try Lorys.

So what is it exactly? It's a product that you can use for a quick n' cheap hair spa at home. You can use it two ways: as a conditioner and as a treatment (hot oil). The five variants (Ceramidas, Duo Chocolate, Snake Oil, Shea Butter, and Fruit Cocktail) are designed to target specific hair problems. I only tried one that seemed the most applicable to my topmost hair concern -  Shea Butter, which is supposed to nourish and shine curly, dry hair.

What I love about the product

• As promised, it really moisturized my curly hair. It's more bouncy and soft to the touch.
• The texture is very creamy. Half a handful is enough for my whole head of hair.

Have you guys ever come across a fashion blog called Karla's Closet? It's amazing! I love Karla's sensible, modern style that's far from boring since she always incorporates romance, whimsy, and vintage into her looks. Aside from her fashion sense, I love her makeup! She doesn't wear that much actually. I just like her signature looks: dark blood red lips (which compelled me to get NYX Dark Cherry) and nude lips with barely there eye makeup.

This time, I saw something different on her: pale lips with smoky eyes. Nothing new but I love the whole "thrown-together", effortless feel of the makeup.

I liked it so much that I decided to cop the look. It's super easy! You can do this in less than 10 minutes. You just need two eyeshadow colors; although you can technically do with one (black) I want something a tiny bit more polished.

Are you ready? Here's what I did!

Step 1: Do the ground work. Prime your face and brows. For this look, I used: Revlon Beyond Natural concealer, Ellana Caramel Latte mineral foundation and Ellana Espresso Con Panna finishing powder.

Step 2: Pat on black matte or semi-matte eyeshadow on the lid. I used Urban Decay's Oil Slick eyeshadow.

Contouring is a neat trick to have up your sleeves. You can easily loose a couple of pounds off your face, lift it up, and just generally make you look different. Prettier too, if done right!

Now the thing about contouring is that it's quite easy. You just need to remember three things: find the right angle, use the right brush and contouring color, and then blend like mad.

Just a small note: this is a tutorial for basic, everyday contouring on the cheeks. It's not the whole deal for the face, because that's a little more complex and time-consuming.

Step 1: Finding the right angle to darken

The easiest way to do this is to just suck your cheeks in and then apply the color where the hollows are. A slightly harder (but better and more natural) way to do it is this: go under direct light, then observe where the shadows fall on your face. To illustrate -

Let's take a break from all the beauty talk, shall we? Here's a video I took of an awesome a capella performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by the Listerine Mouthacular players. This is just an exclusive peek of their rehearsals so they're only using ball pens as mics. Haha. Watch!

Amazing right? I was getting goosebumps the whole time they were performing. Their mall shows will officially launch today, August 27, at the Eastwood Mall Atrium. There will be two shows: one on 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. So if you've got nothing to do tonight, grab your friends and watch this talented "mouthacular" team of musicians!

The poster containing the schedule of the shows and press release after the cut. 

Lately I'm going for darker, smokier eyeshadows. It could be the rain, I don't know. That's how I noticed that I don't have a kickass nude lipstick! Striking eyes should always be matched with lighter lips to avoid overdoing the look. Easy enough to say, but I know that Pinays find it difficult to wear a nude lippie that doesn't wash us out. Sure we have fab smokey cat-lined eyes but our tacky nude lips can make it all look like a great Halloween idea!

Enter Wet n Wild's Bare It All.

I am absolutely in love with the shade. It's a light brown-pink color that's just right for my light/medium skin. It's only P299 too!

What I love about it 

• Creamy texture, semi-matte finish. 
• Wet n Wild promises that this should last for four hours. It will, provided you don't eat. Drinking is okay. If you eat though most of it will go, just leaving a slight stain.
• Pigmented and opaque.
• Generous amount of product.

I've already shared my first impressions on Pond's latest offerings, the White Beauty Facial Foam and the Flawless White UV Cream. This is my in-depth review of the products after using them for around three weeks.

Pond's White Beauty

Its main ingredient is activated carbon, which is a form of processed carbon that is designed to absorb and neutralize impurities. It is used in different fields - medical, industrial, environmental, and now, beauty. Just 1 gram of the stuff has a surface area of 500 square meters, which according to Wikipedia is 1/10 the size of a football field!

What activated carbon looks like

Left glass contains water purified with activated carbon while the right glass is untouched The dirty water (beaker behind) both passed through a filter.

The product itself is a pearl gray color

Wet n Wild is now in Beauty by SM! I read the news in Phoebe's post. I admit, I was a bit lukewarm to the brand - I thought it was just another so-so drugstore business. But hey, never say never! When I got the chance to drop by SM Makati, I immediately honed in to the Wet n Wild stall.

photo grabbed from Phoebe

I swatched almost everything they had, except the foundations. First impression? They're good! The eyeshadows, pencils, and lipsticks were very pigmented. I love the prices too since there was nothing above P500.

I received a lot of inquiries about the "mystery store" that carries the dress that I earlier gushed about. It's not much of a mystery, since it seems that even though it was the first time I heard about it, the store is already popular! The name, ladies and gents, is COEXIST.

I wouldn't have spotted it inside the huge department store of Robinson's Midtown if Kira didn't go to the rest room. Coexist is right beside it, but don't worry, it's all classily set-up. It's along this area called the Runway, where fashionable and non-mainstream brands are displayed.

This is the first dress that caught my eye:

Lovely! And then comes the price tag:

It's far above what I would normally spend for a single dress, to be honest with you. The thing about Coexist though is that the fabric is really nice (the Wendy dress is made of fabric similar to the ones used in the Kamiseta x Liberty collaboration last May) plus the pieces are well-made. You'll know when you touch and wear them! Just a bit of caution though - not all the stuff in the store are worth their prices.

There's definitely more hits than misses! 

You know those days when you've tried every single outfit you can think of and still end up unhappy with the results? May be your mood, may be the pre-period bloating, may be a nasty offhand comment someone gave you. In any case you just stop trying. When I have those days, this is my go-to dress.

Thrifted ruffled dress/ Necklace from Robinson's Dept Store/ Shoes from Charles & Keith

Check out the necklace I wore! Bought it from the Rob Midtown Department Store for only P139. More details after the jump.