Working at Project Vanity means I have to stay updated about the newest products and latest trends, and I think it's amazing that there's always more for me to learn about! Because of this constant exposure, I've become a lot meticulous about adding to my beauty stash and I feel that it's really paying off. Together with the other PV girls, we've discovered quite a few HGs in the past year! We've raved about some of them in posts here on PV and on the Facebook group but we're still so #shookt about how good these finds are so we're recapping them here together with the disappointments that landed in our trash.

Despite the abundance of heat and humidity in our country, there are people like me who worry about looking tuyot. Persistently dry or dehydrated skin cracks, folds, and doesn’t tend to smooth back out, thus making us look older than we really are. I’ve had really bad days when insufficient skincare and dry foundation formulas have made me look wrinkly and washed out. While I know that aging is inevitable, it's not fun looking twice your actual age!

Aging concerns are real for people like me who have dry and/or dehydrated skin so the Revlon Youth FX line is aimed at addressing just that.

Making resolutions for the new year means evaluating the present and figuring out how to make the good better, and the better best. That's why it seems timely that Kiehl’s has taken an old favorite - one that they claim sells at a rate of one bottle per minute - and made it more powerful than ever! The star ingredient is also now more potent and more stable.

With so many brands coming in and new product releases, 2017 was a truly exciting year for beauty. As much as we loved welcoming the likes of Tom Ford and Fenty Beauty into our shores, our wallets found relief in more affordable discoveries! Drugstore beauty isn't about cheap, forgettable formulations anymore and we're definitely expecting even better things this year. Here are ten budget beauty finds that raised the bar on drugstore beauty! All were released in the Philippines in 2017

If there’s one beauty product that changed my life in 2017, it would be chemical exfoliants! I have acids to thank for helping me get this much closer to my chok chok skin goals. My skin has never been so clear and smooth. Even my husband has gotten hooked on skincare ever since I made him try using acids!

I’ve been preaching the gospel of chemical exfoliation to anyone who’s been willing to listen, and as excited as many have been to finally get into it, there’s always this one hurdle: how do you use acids? So once and for all, let’s finally answer all those questions and get you started!

Sheet masks are like an instant best friend skincare item that’s available whenever and wherever you need them. Tired and want a quick pick-me-upper for your skin? Prepping for a big event and need of an extra boost of moisture? Just feeling the desire for some me-time and TLC for your skin? Put on a refreshing sheet mask! It’s like a spa day for your face tidily wrapped in one small packet, and it doesn’t need to be pricey. Just check out our under-100 pesos picks below!

If I can summarize my 2017 in one word, it would be courage. This is the year that the Project Vanity Team and I went out of my comfort zone (such as it were) to go for new things we had never considered before. Project Vanity is more than a blog, as I like to say - it's a community this year more than ever, with the birth of the Project Vanity Community Page on FB and regular live videos that also tie with in-store exclusives and events! 

I was a little surprised to learn that Eye of Horus is actually an indie brand. We’ve featured them extensively on the site and are always blown away by the quality of the items, so it’s easy to assume that there’s a gigantic team of chemists and researchers slaving away to perfect their powerhouse collection of eye enhancers.

But no! The secret to Eye of Horus is the hands-on mother-daughter tandem of Heather and Holly Spierings, who make it their duty to know all about the exotic and health-beneficial oils that they incorporate into the products.

Happy New Year PV Girls! We hope that you all had an amazing Christmas, and starting 2018 with nothing but love, happiness, and loads of beauty! This week’s roundup is nothing short of festive, with peeks at the exciting new developments that await us in the coming year. Riri's latest pout is on the spotlight and we're dropping the bomb on best gray hair rescuer ever (spoiler alert: it only takes 30 minutes!) And because we deserve to start the new year with a bang, it's time to treat yo'self to a bunch of shiny new additions to your stash, thanks to major deals from Sephora, Beauty Bar, and Colourpop! Don't wait 'til midnight, girls, because this beauty ball has already dropped!

I got horribly sick the week before Christmas. Weak and stuck in bed with a high fever, doing my skincare routine was simply out of the question and my skin began acting up. Pimples appeared on my forehead, nose, and chin while a scaly rash spread over my left cheek. By the time I was well enough to get into the groove again, I looked like a hot mess and didn’t have much time to fix my skin before attending various holiday parties.

As a model, Gigi Hadid basically has three places she can call home: her birthplace in Los Angeles, the fashion capital of New York, and her third home: the airplanes that take her to all her exotic work locations! Her collection with Maybelline is inspired by that supermodel lifestyle, and the Philippines is getting an Asia-first look at this ‘coast-to-coast’ makeup collection!

I’ll be honest: I began this assignment with extreme prejudice against a metallic lip, cursing my editor (jk) and the laze-enabling weather. But after a little experimentation, I’m happy to report that I can now consider the metallic lip as a bonafide option in my lip arsenal, thanks to the Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolors (P575).

As you read this, I’ll probably be at the mall making a mad dash to finish all my Christmas shopping. Yes, I have once again procrastinated on buying gifts as I have done all the years before, and I finally figured out why: I simply have no idea what to get for some people on my list!

The easiest people to shop for were all my friends who are into beauty as well. My plan was simple: if I want it, they probably would, too! But there are many different types of beauty addictions so if you want to really curate according to what they’re into, here’s a quick easy guide to follow.

The holidays have become a full-on production number with the grand displays of twinkling lights and the thoroughly planned decor themes.  For beauty lovers out there, the holidays take on another layer of fun as this is the most wonderful time of year to get glam, with emphasis on the shimmer and sparkle! Always on the pulse of the season’s trendiest, MAC thinks up a new and exciting way to bling it up with the Snow Ball collection.

People travel to soul-search, take a break from work, and to immerse themselves in a new culture. Why not travel for beauty? Seoul has been touted as the new beauty capital of the world, and it's not hard to see why. K-beauty is on the cutting edge of advancements in beauty, and shopping directly from brand stores (as opposed to online!) makes it possible to do a 10-step routine even on a budget. Beauty shopping is high on the list for any SoKor itinerary but there are a lot more kikay activities available that you shouldn't miss out on!

To gift someone with a fragrance is a move that is both intimate and powerful. It’s a strong statement to make, but nevertheless true. Specific scents are intertwined with memories, like a place you visited in your childhood or the scent of a loved one. So when someone gives you a fragrance to celebrate a joyous occasion or to mark a milestone, the mind builds a connection that links that particular fragrance with the giver and the moment. In short, the gift of scent is a surefire way to make a lasting impression!

For most, the holidays conjure up a sense of wonder and joy. For me, however, the onset of December can only mean one thing: stress. The prospect of having to shop for my considerable list usually gives me tiny panic attacks, which is why I often find myself procrastinating Christmas shopping until the last possible moment... resulting in lackluster gift sets that even I know are destined for the “White Elephant” pile.

A few months ago, my fellow writers Stacie, Tellie, Crystal, and I ordered the Peripera Fashion People Carrier from an online reseller (a steal at just P690 each!). The adorable luggage-design contains five mini items from the Peripera Ink line plus you can choose to get it in pink or yellow, which you can decorate with an adorable sticker set (New York-themed stickers for yellow, Seoul-themed stickers for pink). These aren't just different color lip tints - there's actually an interesting mix of products within and we soon realized we could probably do an entire face with them. So we decided to try it out!

Here at Project Vanity, we love our bags with our outfits - not under our eyes! This tutorial, together with a mix of our daily faves, saves us from carrying all that unwanted baggage. As for the bags that we DO want though, we're all about roomy, sturdy and stylish designs that can add that extra oomph to our OOTDs. This time, we’ve turned our gaze to The School of Satchel brand of quality leather bags for our holiday arm candy.