Do you feel Christmas in the air? Me, sort of! The weather is definitely colder (at least during mornings and evenings) and the neighbors are putting up wreaths and trees. Shopping malls are playing Christmas songs on loop, which I think is sneaky since it makes people mellow and make them want to buy more stuff! Anyway, I'm already making plans for the holidays - gifts to give, food to prepare - but I'll never forget the most essential thing...what to wear!

This season means more parties to attend, whether they're with family, friends, or co-workers. Allow me to suggest a look that features two major holiday themes: sparkle and the color red. What I like about it is that it's versatile and has that "wow" factor. If you're not comfortable with a strong red lipstick, you can easily replace it with a toned-down shade.

Are you ready for my tutorial? Read on!

Step 1: Start with a well-primed and evened-out face. Parties tend to last until late, so your makeup should be able to keep up! I used the Smooth-365 Peptide Serum as primer, then applied the Paul & Joe Creamy Compact Powder Foundation, MAC Studiofinish Concealer, topped by Ellana mineral finishing powder. In2It for the brows and Too Faced Shadow Insurance as eye primer.

Step 2: I patted on a sparkly white eyeshadow (Urban Decay Polyester Bride) on the lid. It's whiter and more glittery in person! I always thought it's a lot like snow.

A few things I like about BB creams in general is that they are designed to moisturize, have SPF, and provide some coverage. Very handy if you're just stepping out or simply too lazy to put on makeup. Anyway, the kind folks from Purederm sent me the Purederm 3-in-1 Magic BB Cream to try!

Now I'm sure you've already seen a lot of bloggers reviewing this product, so I'll just run through some quick points and show you what it does for me.

Hot pink tube with silver cap

Freshly sealed

What I like about the product

• Good coverage with the tiniest amount of product
• Has SPF 30
• Good for oily skin since the product absorbs and stays on for half a day. Use a finishing powder to lengthen the wear time.
• Yellow-toned. A lot of Korean BB creams tend to be beige-toned, thus casting a gray shade on yellow-toned Pinay skin.

I'm not a foodie, but I love good food (who doesn't?). We eat out a lot but the bulk of our meals are cooked by me! Therefore, it's important that I always find new flavors and new sources of ingredients. The healthier and more natural, the better. Location is also important!

So when I heard that a new weekend market is opening behind Bonifacio High Street, I immediately rushed to the opening this morning. Take note, I wasn't invited as part of the media. I was there to see what the place, called Mercato Centrale, had to offer. I admit though that the biggest draw for me was the location; it was near our condo, plus I love the atmosphere and crowd at High Street.

There are quite a lot of suppliers (three huge tents) so I wasn't able to take a picture of everything, but I did take photos of the few I bought from.

This is the first tent you'll see upon entrance. Opening day was packed with people! The first tent had a lot of pastries, cookies, and other sweet desserts. There were also vegetables, herbs, free-range organic chicken, and cooked meals. Leyende was there as well as this line of baby products.

Organic produce straight from the ground

Granola bars. I bought a sugar-free Chips Ahoy-flavored pack.

I love Charles & Keith! The brand's current selections are seriously amazing. They have a lot of neat office wear but it's balanced with edgy pieces closely patterned after the season's hottest shoes. The shoes are on the pricey side, but still quite affordable considering the quality and comfort you get out of every pair.

Anyway, following my last conservative C&K purchase, I got a daring one for a change. I was at High Street yesterday and couldn't resist these P2,700 beauties.

The needle-thin heels may look quite daunting, but the wide platform makes these shoes stable and comfortable. I was so surprised the first time I tried them on.

I think its about time I show you guys the upgraded Project Vanity Headquarters. Hahahaha. Okay seriously, this spot in the condo is where all the magic happens. This is where I come up with looks, do all my swatches and product photos. It's also where I store my current makeup, skincare, and scents. I store my unused stuff somewhere else but that's another story for another day.

So, I'll try not to talk much and just show you what's here.

The top level contains my day-to-day brushes, skincare, hair care, and a couple of liquid foundations.

The so-called "prime look" is the makeup that's put together to enhance your natural features. The colors used are the ones nearest to your actual skin tone and color, and they are applied in such a way that will highlight or recede your features. Okay, now that sounds more complex than it is, but it really isn't.

A prime look is simply the look that makes you appear your best. In other words - perfect glowing skin, neutral eyeshadows, flattering blush, and lipstick close to the real color of your lips. It's not that hard to achieve with makeup you probably already have!

Now the makeup I use for my personal prime look varies from time to time, but the technique I use is the same. Read here on how I fake the perfect skin. For eyeshadows: I only use two or three - a light brown on the crease, a dark brown to contour, and a beige to highlight. Then I use black eyeliner and mascara. Easy peasy!

Face: Smooth-365 Peptide Serum as primer, MAC Studiofinish Concealer, NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Barcelona, Colorescience pressed foundation in California Girl

I have received a lot of emails and comments asking me about the camera I use. When I tell them, they're always surprised that I'm not using a DSLR! I take pride in my clear macro shots which is indispensable to good beauty blogging. So if you've always wondered, meet my camera:

I use a three-year old (pushing four) Canon Powershot A710 IS. I would recommend this to everyone, but I'm pretty sure that Canon doesn't sell this model anymore. Now I'm not a photography enthusiast and I don't want to pretend I am so I can't help you with the specifics. What I do know is that this camera takes pretty awesome pictures and it's as tough as a diamond cookie. It's almost four years old but it's working perfectly!

Thus, I didn't have second thought when Canon Philippines asked me to take one of their latest PowerShot models, the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS, for a spin.

Hi Liz! First off, lemme just say that I am a BIG fan of Projectvanity.com and I always make it a point to check for updates when I go online. I really admire your sense of style and enjoy your no-nonsense reviews.

Now pardon my presumption in emailing you, but since I admire and trust your fashion and beauty sense, I thought I'd ask your advice. My thirteen-year-old sister has wavy hair much like yours, but it's very thick, dry and frizzy, and she's been getting quite self-conscious about it. My question is simple, what salon or home treatment have you tried that you would recommend as a remedy? Bearing in mind that she's still quite young and I wouldn't let her try anything that might potentially damage it. That's all, really. I'm sure you're a very busy person, but I would really appreciate a response. Thanks and keep up the good work!

 

Hi Paola! My gosh! Thanks so much for following Project Vanity! :D I always love hearing from readers.

Now about your question. You hit the mark - hair is something I'm really conscious about. Your sister and I seem to have the same hair and same problems. I was so bothered about my hair that when I was 15 I had my hair chemically straightened every six months until I was 17. I am still suffering the effects; now my hair is thinning and hair fall is a major problem. So if you or your sister is considering it - even when she's 20 or 25 - try not to. The cost, side effects, and maintenance is not worth it.

I think the key to having great hair is to adjust one's view of what great hair is. Right now, I am loving my wavy hair. I always wear it up (for convenience, also because I try not to apply any product on it as much as possible), but when I wear it as it is with only minimal styling, everyone thinks I had it digipermed or something! I'm sure the same goes for your sister. It's a matter of looking at things differently. Perhaps you guys can look online for pictures of glamorous women with thick wavy hair - there are lots!

Vanessa of Gossip Girl

Now that's out of the way, we can go on to products. For my hair, I like using a clear hair serum while it's damp. This manages the frizz and adds extra shine to the hair. I love Citre Shine (~P400)

My mom is my best friend - that is, in a mother-daughter sort of way. I don't tell her everything about my life (I wonder how many daughters actually do) but she manages to know me better than everyone else. I'd like to think that's a two way thing!

So when Clean & Clear contacted me about having a date with my BFF at the Mall of Asia, I immediately asked my mom to go. MOA is our favorite mall, and we haven't really hung out by ourselves for some time. Off we went!

Open the image to zoom

 

We were asked to do eight fashion/beauty-themed things and use the Clean & Clear BFF 8 Date app on Facebook to document our adventures. We didn't get too creative as my mom was fashionably late for the start of the event (two hours, lol) so I thought that we should just chill and do the things that we usually do when we hang out. And they are:

1. Visiting our favorite personal care store, Watsons. This is always, always our first stop when we go to the mall.

2. Taking outfit photos. Yay! 

 

I once joked on Twitter that I should be ashamed of myself if I still have eyebags after going through all the eye creams I have. Ha ha. But seriously, the skin around our eyes should be well-cared for. All that rubbing we do when you're tired, the late nights, the unnecessary exposure to the sun - these will take sweet revenge in twenty years, even ten. That's why it's important to find an eye cream that can serve as a maintenance product. 

Eye creams are basically designed to moisturize and to keep down the puffiness of the eye area. They should also be able to soothe the distressed skin after a long day of exposure. After trying out the famous Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye, I can say that this product does the jobs I mentioned above.

The Estee Lauder ANR was first formulated in 1982 and has now become one of the brand's key products. The texture is similar to a serum - not too heavy and absorbs easily.

There is nothing like cheap lipstick to lift a dour mood. It's the easiest, fastest way to change up your look and it doesn't even have to cost much to look good! Now, something I recently bought is the Fashion 21 Aqualicious lipstick in Little Mermaid. I read about it in a local beauty blog some weeks back and found it interesting. It was only P150 so I grabbed it when I got the chance.

What I love about the product

• Little Mermaid is a gorgeous pink coral shade that instantly brightens my skin.
• Vibrant, opaque, and pigmented. One sweep is enough to get a good color pay-off.
• Creamy and moisturizing, although I would still suggest a balm underneath.

I was just settling down to write about some cheap lipstick I found at the drugstore. But then I thought what the hell, I don't want to talk about lipstick. When you do what you love and you get either pressured or paid to do it, well, it stops being something you love, but just something you do.

Beauty blogging has allowed me to reach out to women who want to be more beautiful but just don't know where to begin. Thus, when Asian Secrets asked me to run a contest for them, I was ecstatic! Not often do I get the chance to work with a great product as well as help new people through it. 

After announcing the winners, I set about purchasing and booking P40,000 worth of prizes. Here's my post with pictures of the winners and what they got! This post is about Kirby's makeover.

I was really excited about meeting the bride. I wanted to find out more about her and her wedding plans! Kirby is actually a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who is now taking Law at the University of the Philippines. Her soon-to-be husband is a scientist. Talk about intimidating!

I love the Urban Decay Primer Potion, so when I "ran out", I made sure to follow the advice of the makeup gurus. I prepared a clean jar and cut the violet tube up to get the last remaining drops of the stuff. I knew that the packaging wasn't practical since the curves made it difficult to maximize the product, but I was surprised when I found out that there was still so much left! I estimated around 50%!

Now I know that the UDPP now comes in a squeeze tube, and the later genie tubes had a bent doe foot applicator, but I wanted to dry something new. Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog swears by the Too Faced Shadow Insurance so I got it to see what the hoopla was about.

It contains more product than the normal-sized UDPP, and it only cost P1,100 at Get Sophisticated. Good thing it's available here at a nice price!

What I love about the product

• Easier to spread and blend in than UDPP. UDPP dries up quickly so sometimes there are beige streaks left that I can't remove anymore. UDPP dries and hardens, while TFSI simply dries. The texture is like creamy liquid concealer.
• Colorless when blended properly.

 

Statement accessories that really make a personal, unique statement - that is the idea behind the upcoming collection at Ukay Manila called Trinket Box Luxe. Don't you just hate it when you're wearing a great necklace, but see someone else wearing the same thing? Well, even if you don't, you know deep inside your heart that at least two dozen other girls have the exact same thing. That's what happens when you buy from a department store.

The new accessories that we'll be putting up are all sourced from Bangkok, Korea, and Hongkong personally by our very meticulous supplier. She's awesome! Here is a sneak preview of some of the accessories:

Cute and elegant at the same time. A daintier version of Patricia Field's clover charm necklace for Sex and the City 2

Turquoise always adds a fresh, stylish pop of color to even the most boring ensembles

There is nothing better than cheap, nice shoes in this world. Okay I'm just kidding, there are a lot of better things. But you have to admit, a P600 pair of edgy heels can make anyone's heart skip a beat!

I found these at So Fab in Glorietta 5. They also had other interesting heels on sale for only P600. Such a great deal.

organic cotton cardigan from Zara/ old rose blouse from Ukay Manila/ Folded & Hung shorts/ So Fab shoes

 

Here is a picture of me with zero makeup and photo processing. I have okay skin lately, but as you can see, I have a number of blemishes and roughness in some areas. I also have natural eye bags that I really can't do much about. Like everyone else, I want to put my best face forward, so I started my enthusiasm for beauty products in the quest to fake perfect skin.

There are literally cartloads of stuff that you can use to look as if you have a flawless, glowing face, so the only question really is this: how much are you willing to spend for it?

I rummaged through my beauty collection to find the best way to fake perfect skin in terms of cost. I came up with two sets of products: one that's affordable, while the other one not so much.

Damage: P2,410

Pond's Flawless White Day Cream (P300), Purederm Magic BB Cream (P660), Revlon Beyond Naturals concealer (P750), Ellana Mineral foundation 6g (P420) and finishing powder (P280)

Damage: P12,200

Clinique Moisture Surge (P2500), Smooth-365 Serum (P2600), MAC Studionfinish concealer (P900), NARS Sheer Glow foundation (P2450), Colorescience pressed mineral foundation (P3750)

Before we get to how the products actually look and perform against each other, let's start with how my beauty routine goes. I find that this works best to create that flawless face.

1. Start with a good moisturizer. Make sure that it absorbs on your skin well, leaving a matte yet glowy finish.

I have amassed quite a number of lipsticks these past few months. While I like all of them, there are a few that stand out - a few that's on top of my mind when I'm hurrying out. One brand that I keep using is the Estee Lauder Pure Color. I have two variants: the Long Lasting Lipstick and Crystal Lipstick.

I first encountered Pure Color lipsticks a few months ago when Liz of Estee Lauder Philippines gave me a tube. I loved it, so when I got the chance to purchase a makeup set from the brand, I went for it. There were four Pure Color lipsticks included!

This is what Pure Color lipsticks look like, but since I got mine from a set, they were in plain gold tubes like this:

What I love about the product

• Lasting power is better than most. It doesn't fade for at least four to five hours. The Long Lasting variant lasts longer than the Crystal one, of course. They're reminiscent of MAC satin finish lippies, but without the dry texture.

Here's the first part of my coverage on the Asian Secrets grand winners!

Kirby, our December bride, said, "I found out rightaway that I won because my Google Reader's subscribed to Project Vanity. I called the fiance immediately 'coz I couldn't contain the excitement. I'm just thankful for the blog's and the company's generosity! I'm glad that I have been chosen by the people behind the product I really love and actually own in my bathroom. I'm glad I have won from a brand I really use. I didn't join for the sake of joining; I joined because I really wanted to share my experience at the same time. ""

Kirby with her Asian Secrets lulur

"Even before Project Vanity’s product review, I was already aware of the product as I have seen its promotional booth in Watson’s Galleria and it got me interested. I thought of purchasing the product on my next visit since I was in a hurry then. So I did."

"I loved it the first time!