The first thing you'll notice about the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oils is the price tag. They're quite expensive, there's no way to get around it! I used to think that there are equally good alternatives and for a while I've even used some like the ones from Muji and Pure Beauty, which are less than P500 for a big 200ml bottle.

However, when I got sample bottles of the Shu oil, I found out why it was so expensive. It is the best makeup remover + skincare product I've ever tried! And you know I've tried quite a number of them. Thus, I committed to a 450ml bottle of the Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil (P4,000).

What I love about it:

• Removes all makeup (except long-wearing, waterproof mascara) in a jiffy. I use less than one pump for my whole face and just massage gently to dissolve the makeup. It gets rid of waterproof eyeliner and liquid foundation, primers, lipstick, and powder makeup. They all wash off.

• It's skincare. Ever since I started using it, my skin looked better.

Working for Filipino retailers has made me appreciate the hard work and talent that goes into each garment, shoe, bag, or accessory. It's really different when it's Pinoy made. Lacking heavy machinery that mass-producing countries like China have, our workers have resorted to more or less creating things by hand.

At least, when it comes to homegrown, small brands. It's the same for locally produced cosmetics brands like Leyende and Venus & Mars.

Anyway, I was surfing blogs a couple of weeks back when I first read about Jewelled Bags. It's a Pinoy brand that makes these beautiful bags that are heavy with beads, semi-precious gems, glass, and other appliques. They also come in indigenous fabrics and luxe skins like snake and leather. 

Each bag is elaborate and obviously carefully made. From what I understand, there is only a limited number made for each style, so you're assured that what you have is more or less unique.

Christmas and New Year are two of the most stressful holidays of the year. It’s even worse because they’re just a week apart! We need to buy gifts and food for the festivities, squeezing between throngs of people to get things done. Then we have to attend parties with a healthy dose of crazy traffic in between - and by crazy I mean spending hours on the road when it used to take only minutes. 

It’s no surprise that our skin looks dull, puffy, and dark around the eyes. That’s because of the stress and over-eating. You may have also probably observed some dryness around the mouth, nose, and eyebrows too, which is usually caused by the cooler December weather. 

So, given all that, how do we look fresh during the holidays? Short of going on a long beach vacation, that is. I’ve got tips!

Adjust your skincare routine. Retire your heavy duty anti-oil, mattifying products in favor of gentler, creamier ones that do not strip your skin of moisture. When my skin is feeling dry, I like using the Sebamed Liquid Face & Body Wash and the Clinique Derma White moisturizer. I also use serum more regularly. More affordable gentle alternatives can be found from Cetaphil, Myra, and Neutrogena.

Exfoliate. Once skin is peeling, there’s nothing you can do to revive it. Just slough it off! Use a holey sea sponge with your facial wash for a natural exfoliation routine (Beauty Bar has those). You can also try using microfiber cloth with warm water; it works wonders! I like the Jane Iredale Magic Mitt but I am sure that normal microfiber will do.

If you must use a product, try the newly-released White Result Exfoliating Gel (available from Tupperware sellers). It does the job but it’s probably the gentlest of them all.

Saturday, and I finally have time to settle down and pick the commenter of the month for November. :D She is Jean Melgar. She's been reading Project Vanity for years now, I think, and I'm glad to give her the Clinique set as a hearty thank you. 

And now, for the December gift!

Ta-dah! The commenter of the month for December will get a VMV Hypoallergenics facial of her choice.

Do you know how the Bobbi Brown empire started? No? Ten lipsticks. That's how. Bobbi Brown is famous for her foundations, gel eyeliner, and blushes, but it was with lipsticks that the cosmetics company started off in the 1990s. You should read her lipstick diaries, an account of the inspirations and descriptions of her first ten lipsticks to understand the love that went into making them.

I got my first Bobbi Brown lipstick around two years ago when I got acquainted with the brand. It was called Brownie Pink and became my constant companion to, well, everywhere. It was a wearable color that was my perfect MLBB! For Bobbi, lipsticks are considered as foundations. That is, the most flattering lipstick is the one that's the exact shade of your lips. That's what Brownie Pink was to me: my lip foundation.

Of course, you should also have fun with your lip color by trying out bright and sultry shades. I recently got a Bobbi Brown lipstick simply called Pink, and oh, what a gorgeous pink it is!

Skincare, whether you are a man or a woman, is not an option. There's no stigma when women take precious care of their skin, but men? It seems that the prevailing thought is that if you're a guy and you use something other than soap and shampoo, you're considered metrosexual or even gay. That's unfair and quite counterproductive. If men can't not brush their teeth, then they also can't not use a proper facial wash, toner, and moisturizer.

Maybe the stigma lies in how products are packaged. Let me share a conversation I had with someone from a giant skincare company. The rep remarked that they are surprised that their new facial wash (then) was so successful, even men were buying them. It appears that men thought the new facial wash was for them simply because the tube was black.

Maybe guys don't feel as shy about skincare when the packaging is very much male. What do you think? If that's the case then they will love Watsons Men skincare line, with it's macho metal tubes and sporty bottles.

These days I am scrabbling for time to properly blog. :( I want to write more how-tos and tips, but those usually take me a good two hours to do. So, for the meantime, I'll be doing rapid-fire posts instead.

Snaps watching over my stuff as they wait to be photographed.

I just finished with a massive product photo session so I'd like to give you an idea of what I'll be writing about in the coming weeks!

Benefit Hervana blush. This much-awaited blush is much-awaited for a reason.

Benefit Triple Performing Facial Emulsion. Awesome stuff, this from a girl who is super picky about moisturizers.

Benefit Watt's Up Highlighter. Cream-to-powder illuminator that doesn't look weird.

Lancome Teint Miracle. "Light creator" sums up what it does!

Since Benefit is opening today, I thought I'd direct the spotlight to one of my favorite products from the brand: the Benefit Brow Zings (P1,600). I was quite loyal to my old routine (pencil + powder) but after coming across Brow Zings, well, it was love at first try!

Before, I usually did my eyebrows a shade lighter, a bit blonder. But as some readers said in my light vs dark brows post, darker eyebrows frame my round face better and somehow matches my personality. That's why I've lately taken to wearing darker brows with the help of Brow Zings. 

What I love about the product 

• The colors look dark in the pan but they never give me scary, harsh-looking eyebrows. I'd say the effect looks quite natural. The wax + powder is pigmented but just enough to shape and shade, not draw on the eyebrows.
• The wax keeps my eyebrow hair in place. It thickens the hair and shades the skin underneath so it looks like I have lush-looking eyebrows. The powder sets the wax wonderfully and helps fill in the gaps. They work wonderfully together!

If you're lazy when it comes to washing your makeup brushes, raise your hand! *Raises hand* Well, you and I are in luck. There are such things as instant brush cleaners to make our lives easier. You simply spray it/ swirl on your brush, wipe, and voila it's as good as new.

I've heard and read of such wondrous inventions before but it's my first time to actually use one: the Parian Spirit Brush Cleaner (P800). It's a solution that melts makeup off your brushes, leaving it sanitized, deodorized, and ready to use in less than a minute. Professional makeup artists, theatre performers, and makeup studios love this stuff because it allows them to reuse their brushes quickly.

Scent. The first thing you'll notice about Parian is that it smells strongly of oranges (it has the essence of California organes, I hear).

Last year, Avon launched Outspoken, a perfume in collaboration with pop star Fergie. It was designed to be daring and sexy and I think it delivered! This year, Avon followed up the success of the scent with a new version called Outspoken Intense (P999).

Outspoken Intense comes in a silver glass bottle with a cap similar to a crystal decanter's. It's a simple design that won't immediately say "expensive", but once you touch it and hold it in your hand you'll feel that the bottle is actually heavy. It's glass even though it looks like plastic.

As for the scent, I love it! The old version is floral and feminine, but it is underscored by a muskiness that lends it a masculine touch.

I get a lot of free stuff because of this blog, but this is the first time I've gotten something because I sang for it. Lol! You heard that right. I joined a sort of singing contest during the Bloggers United Bazaar. Contestants were asked to perform Florrie's Sunday Girl, the theme song of the Nina L'Elixir perfume.

And two winners got this!

Cinderella was my favorite fairy tale when I was a child. But now that I'm a little older and consider Cinderella as stupid and weak (well not counting Drew Barrymore's Ever After), my favorite is now East of the Sun and West of Moon. The heroine in that story has more guts and determination than all Disney princesses combined. That's the kind of girl I want to be when I grow up!

Anyway! This whole flashback is brought you by Majolica Majorca's latest collection called Glass Trick. It pays homage to the immortal glass shoes that generations have come to know and love (at some point...), and features glossy and shimmery products that mimic the effect of glass. 

I'm going to review the whole collection quickly, so you know what to check out!

Dress Glove Cream (P325). This is a hand cream that has the sweet scent of the Majoromantica Perfume. It also has fine shimmer, so it makes hands sort of glow.

Going inside Rustan's and inquiring about prices is nerve-wracking: agree or disagree? Call it shallow but checking out the luxury store was so intimidating when I was still in college! I knew I couldn't afford most of the things there, so I was quite shy and a bit scared to look and ask around. I couldn't bear the thought of being ignored or looked down on.

Now that I'm working though I am less intimidated. :P Once I was over my insecurity I found out that I was wrong about them. The people in Rustan's are actually super nice and always helpful! I love the attendants in the Clinique counter, as well as in Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, NARS, Paul & Joe, and Laura Mercier - the ones in Rustan's Makati, where I always visit. They're very warm, easy to talk to, and I never felt unwelcome.

Anyway! I just wanted to share the new website called the Rustan's Beauty Source. At first I thought it was an online store like Beauty Bar, but it's actually more of an online catalogue with photos and prices.

Brigitte is a true-blue makeup addict who started collecting, reading, then blogging about cosmetics a few years ago. Then, she moved on to study and practice makeup artistry professionally. Finally, she came out with her own cosmetics line called Beauty PRO Cosmetics only recently. If that's not passion, then I don't know what is!

I like to think of Beauty PRO as makeup made by a makeup addict for makeup addicts. It has the perfect pigmentation and texture, with carefully chosen colors that are designed to be wearable (the Sweet and Smoky palette) and exciting (Crazy Colour). Let's go through the pros and cons, shall we?

What I love about the product

• Beautiful colors that offer amazing color payoff. You don't need a base to make them pop out.

Ahh, December. It’s the month where frenzied shoppers stake out bazaars and mall sales as if shopping for the end of the world. It’s also the season for Christmas parties and family reunions. That’s why this month is the best time to give yourself a makeover - everything is on some sale or discount, plus you need to look your best for the barrage of parties coming your way anyway!

So, here’s some friendly advice on how you can change your look to match not only this season, but for the whole new year ahead.

Get an updated hair cut. A new hairdo can profoundly change the way you look to other people as well as yourself. That’s why a smashing cut is a must-have if you want to reinvent yourself. If you’re not ready for new hair though, you can just style or color it differently; ask for the advice of a hair stylist like, say, Lourd Ramos of Creations Salon (Glorietta 5).