Is it February already?! Let’s welcome the chocolate and flower-filled month with tons more love, shall we? This week’s roundup will have you excited for V-day! We’ve got the newest from KKW Beauty, Sephora Philippines’ brilliantly curated Valentine selection (forget the chocolates!), the much-awaited return of a famous balikbayan, and the Beauty Bootcamp you can't afford to miss! 

BYS Glitter Face and Body Kits (P599, SM Beauty) are one of those impulse buys that make so much sense at the time. Everyone wants to level up their look somehow, and what better way to do it than with shiny glitter? The thing is, it can be a little challenging to think up of ways to actually pull them off. In this post, I'm going to show you three ways to use the cosmetic glitter in the BYS Glitter Face and Body Kit in Sea Diamonds, for different comfort levels!

One of my big beauty lessons in 2017 was the importance of wearing blush. I didn't think it was crucial to my makeup routine until I realized how it instantly gives life to my face even when I'm feeling haggard. Different blush shades could also give a different feel to my monochromatic “natural” look: blue-based pinks make me look sweet and innocent, while a warm orange gives me a back-from-the-beach flush! 

Beauty for me is more than just about vanity or discovering new products. It's also about community, because there's nothing more beautiful than women coming together to share their prettifying secrets! That's why when Belle de Jour CEO Darlyn Ty floated the idea of co-presenting an event last year, I knew we had to do it. 

In the words of the wise men of Bowling for Soup, high school never ends. I started to believe it when my cringe-worthy high school days haunted me back in the form of the Pond's Magic Powder BB. This bottle of powder had been making rounds online as a super cheap yet effective oil-control powder so I made sure to pick up a bottle during my Bangkok trip last year. You can find this at any neighborhood 7-Eleven in Thailand but in the PH, availability is limited to online sellers.

The wine life is not for everyone, but thankfully, you don’t always have to drink it to appreciate it. Wine palettes are cropping up left and right, and today we’re going to take you through a step-by-step tutorial to create your own wine eye look!

Loving a blush feels a lot like being in a long-term relationship. People don’t tend to swap around blush shades as often as they would lipstick or eyeshadow. For as long as it jives well enough with your collection of lippies, then you can keep wearing the same blush shade again and again! In that sense, a blush is like an investment piece in your makeup wardrobe. And while we love ourselves a popping pink or a plush peach, a dusty rose shade spells refined flush and versatility across various skin tones and lipsticks. Dare we call it the MCBB (My Cheeks But Better) blush?

The thing we love most about the beauty world is that it's more than just looking good - it's also about feeling confident about who you are and what you can do! The latest releases from Estée Lauder offers more options for giving flawless coverage while Maybelline's hot new lippies provide the most amazing long-lasting lip color. Revlon hopes to empower women with their #LiveBoldly Campaign, and Ever Bilena’s newest Boss Lady endorser inspires with her uber stylish vibe. Take a gander at beauty's latest offerings!

When I was a teenager, my mom warned me to never aggravate or pop a pimple if it's on my nose. She told me that the daughter of a friend of a friend (not a typo) was prohibited by a doctor to never get "the triangle of death” on her face infected if she didn't want to die. To me, it sounded a lot like an urban legend: it evoked images of the Bermuda triangle in my head, and the third-degree anecdotal “proof” seemed pretty dubious. Still, being an obedient daughter, I did avoid picking at pimples whenever they grew in this so-called “danger area” because it seemed better to be safe than sorry.

The beauty industry is fast-paced and constantly evolving with new trends, techniques, and tools popping up seemingly overnight. Some of them, like these skincare “innovations” we reviewed, are fun but ultimately passing fads that soon go the way of butterfly clips and elephant pants.

While some trends are destined to delight then disappear, there have been a few survivors that have made the jump from beauty gimmick to beauty staple. While the fate of “washing machine” brush cleaners, jade face rollers, and pizza-cutter eyeliner are still up in the air, these tools have weathered disbelief, dissing, and dupes, and look like they’re here to stay!

Our skin is an amazing part of our body. It’s the largest organ because it covers us from head to toe. The skin on the face is delicate and is usually more sensitive than other parts. Fortunately, skin has a layer of protection that's called the skin barrier. This is basically the topmost layer of the skin that protects from bacteria, viruses, and other harmful substances. A healthy skin barrier on our faces keeps it hydrated and acne-free so if you're experiencing skin trouble, it's possible that your skin's barrier is not at its best state.

Is it just me or did January fly by so fast? One minute we’re celebrating the new year, the next we’re nearly at the end of the first month! I feel like the ink hasn’t even dried on our resolutions list, yet here we are. How have you been sticking to yours? Whether you chose to do a full beauty overhaul or just have a few improvements in mind, Watsons reminds us to celebrate the 2018 version of ourselves - this year’s Happy New You!

Sonnets have been written about this concealer. After using it for a couple of months, I now understand why! The Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer (P399) is a cult favorite for a reason. Never mind its promises of being a "treatment concealer" - let's be real, this is not skincare - but it's a crazy good concealer that covers and plumps up the skin beneath flawlessly. 

I’ve been experiencing bad breakouts on my forehead for a while now, and as the cause is hormonal, I’m trying to just manage it as best as I can. Finding products that help to control my acne and dry up existing pimples hasn’t been easy—I’ve had to experiment with so many products before finding ones that work and also fit into my student budget. Zapping zits is more than just applying a pimple gel though; you really need to fight acne with every step of your skincare, so here’s my favorite go-to products so far, under a P1,000 price tag!

When it comes to resolutions, the one at the top of my list is always to save more money. I want to be more responsible with my finances and make sure that I save as much as I can for the year, and for my future. So when an amazing luxe brand decides to bring in their famous lippies to the PH, well, that resolution goes out the window! Jokes aside, this week’s roundup will have you wishing you didn't make a #nobuy resolution. After all, Tom Ford's limited edition lippies just landed in the PH, Lindsay Lohan’s making her way into our vanities (we don’t know how to feel about this, too), and someone finally made a primer specifically for dark circles! See if you can get through this list without adding anything to your shopping cart.

Before we discovered the wonders of sheet masking, pampering our skin conjured images of green goop-covered faces with cucumber slices placed over the eye area. Yup, we're talking about clay masks! Clay is a soft, loose, naturally-occurring material that is rich in minerals. It is also very absorbent, which is why it's frequently used in skincare to draw out deep-seated impurities that simple cleansing can't reach. It's a great ingredient for unclogging pores and thus reducing pimples, whiteheads, and blackheads. Some even have brightening and anti-aging properties!

Just ask any member of the PV Team about where they shop for beauty booty, and they’ll immediately list Watsons as one of their regular haunts. Its wealth of makeup and skincare picks that fit a wide range of budgets, plus there's always something new! We’ve already switched and saved during budget season, stripped down to gentler bath and body formulations with the Naturals line, armed ourselves against the elements with the Pure Beauty Urban Shield line, and got a head start on anti-aging with the Collagen line. But it doesn’t stop there! This veritable drugstore brand has now tapped into the J-beauty scene to bring us Target Pro by Watsons.

The Ordinary is probably the biggest breakthrough beauty brand of 2017, and I'm just one of its many fans who can’t stop adding items to my shopping cart. It is addicting! They really raised the bar for skincare with their wide range of straightforward active ingredients offered at wallet-friendly prices. If you want to get on the bandwagon but don't know where to start, fellow PV girl Kim has a list of TO must-try's. But even if you're more into makeup than skincare, The Ordinary has also been making the internet buzz about its face primers and foundations - so much so that foundations had a 25,000-person waitlist!

Just like that, the first two weeks of 2018 have already passed! We’re hoping that your year is off to a good start but just in case you need a quick pick-me-up, this week’s roundup has got a bit of everything for you. From Avon’s grandest sale in 40 years (crazy, I know!) to Kat Von D’s latest music collab, these news bits are just as exciting as the fireworks you lit for the new year. Pat McGrath’s also got a luxurious new lip product, and you can have the opportunity to make beauty your business. And that's just as well because Tom Ford Beauty is bringing in something sensual this February! 

I recently read that contrary to popular psychology, it takes about 66 days to form a new habit instead of just 21. It sounds like a long time but I find this mildly reassuring as we've already reached the half month point and I'm still struggling to stick to my resolutions! Having a support group for encouragement goes a long way to helping me stay the course, so my fellow PV girls and I decided to share our beauty goals for this year. Here's what we've decided to focus on for 2018.