One of the things that I wish I knew sooner in beauty was to shop for my skin type. In my rookie years as a skincare enthusiast, I would spend H O U R S watching and reading reviews of popular products that unfortunately turned out to be bad matches for my oily, acne-prone skin. I now mourn for all the time and money I could have saved! Fast forward to today, I have learned to tune out the hype and just listen to my skin and what it needs.

Stress is a daily experience for most of us. The expectations and work load at school, work, and even at home can get so out of hand. Even just getting around from place to place causes so much anxiety because of traffic and limited transportation options!

How do you deal with it? I personally find that doing little things for myself keeps me from going bonkers from all the pressure. Sure, I love caring for my family, accomplishing work goals, and making my writing deadlines at Project Vanity (I love you, Den) but I still crave a little time alone to myself regularly, doing something I like just for me, you know?

New York Times recently published an article about why essences may be more important than moisturizer. I beg to differ - I think that if you had to choose one, a good moisturizer for your skin type will serve you far well - but I do agree that essences are important to our skin. A serum, toner, and moisturizer in one, essences (or sometimes called lotions) can help moisturize and plump up the skin without adding extra texture underneath your moisturizer. Good ones typically contain actives for better results. You can use them alone if you layer them several times (read here about the Korean 7-Skin Method), but I find them most effective as a booster for my regular moisturizer.

Have you found your HG pressed powder yed? I personally have a few favorites, but I still am always on the lookout for promising options with affordable price tags. I mean, it’s the one item in my makeup arsenal that I keep hitting pan on! Finding a good formula is a challenge for my sensitive combination skin though because what works for my oily T-zone (nose and forehead) usually emphasizes texture on my drier U-zone (cheeks, jawline, and chin).

Hello, September! With the Christmas season just around the corner, it’s no surprise that the beauty world is busting out a bunch of amazing new collections that have us buzzing with excitement. From Urban Decay’s leaked photos of a new palette (this will help you get over the loss of the OG) to Jaclyn Hill’s Morphe Brush Collection (you’ll be blending like a pro), these updates will have you smiling all weekend!

Editor’s Note: Before Buwan ng Wika ends, we want to celebrate a Filipino language that has risen in popularity in recent years - Swardspeak! More popularly known as Bekinese or Bekimon, this gay lingo has also become common in the beauty world, especially with the arrival of the Vice Ganda brand. A glossary of terms has been included below for those who are not familiar with the terminology. We hope you enjoy this article as much as we did producing it!

Long before I’d jumped on the K-Beauty hypetrain, I was already a big fan of The Face Shop. Their Lovely Me:Ex Angel Skin Powder Pact was my first upgrade from drugstore pressed powders (and still holds a soft spot in my heart for its finely-milled, soft-matte finish). I still hold their My Lips Eat Cherry Aqua Tint as one of the gold standards for Korean lip and cheek tints: viscous enough to not be messy and bleed into my teeth, as other, more watery tints are apt to do. I’ve grown to be such a fan of their products that, despite being on no-buy, I can’t resist at least taking a peek when I pass by their stores, excited to see what new products or deals are on offer.

Kathryn Bernardo, to me, is the epitome of gandang polbo and lip tint. While I have not followed her body of work as an actress, I am a huge fan of her face and have admired her beauty journey through the years. In many past interviews, both she and her go-to celebrity makeup artist, Denise Go-Ochoa, would emphasize how little makeup Kathryn actually wears. She prefers to wear little to no foundation and would often stress the importance of good skin. Her signature makeup look consists of dewy skin, straight brows, defined lashes, flushed cheeks, and just a hint of lip color.

Picture this: You’re getting un-ready after a horribly hectic day of rushing deadlines, running on coffee, fast food, and three hours of sleep. You change out of your clothes and pass out on your bed. No ceremonies, no frills - understandable after a rough day! The next morning though, you wake up to find makeup on your pillowcase and new pimples on your face. It’s a sucky start to what already feels like another sucky day, but it could have been avoided with just a bit of self-care.

When local brands claim to be local, we expect it to mean that they are proudly made in the Philippines. But this isn't always the case. Their teams and concepts originate from the Philippines but manufacturing the actual products is a different story entirely. They go to Taiwan, China, Korea, Thailand, Japan, and Indonesia to bring their concepts to life. Why is this?

Raise your hand if you own more makeup and skincare than you know what to do with! I’m sure I’m not alone in this! I always thought that beauty was a great collector hobby to get into, since you can use and enjoy your purchases instead of simply putting them on display. Like any collection, we carefully create our beauty wardrobes to be filled with products that we love and can’t live without. And to make sure that we never run out, we get backups! Whether it’s by taking advantage of sales or friends traveling abroad, there are things we PV girls just need to stock up on:

Are you excited for another long weekend ahead? I know I am! Let’s you all get settled and relaxed for the next three days with a beauty roundup that has gotten us planning our next vacay, vamping up our skincare, and thinking about growing out our locks. Oh yes, we’re dishing on blk’s travel-inspired lipstick collection, ColourPop’s sister skincare line, Chanel’s bold move into the realm of male beauty products, and BeautyMNL’s latest Kardashian-approved product. We’re also shocked and saddened to say goodbye to a beauty icon - we didn’t see that coming!

You’ve said “yes” to the dress, blinged out your shoes, scheduled your facials, and decided on whether to book a makeup artist or do your own makeup for the big day. A must-add to your wedding prep list: get your nails did! Aside from being a great way to relax from all the stress of wedding planning (and I KNOW that there are many!), your digits are actually going to be photographed to show off your new bling so you want to make sure that they look every inch as polished as the rest of you!

While we know Elizabeth Arden mostly for its feminine fragrances (White Tea remains a personal favorite since trying it last year), they’re not one to be left behind on color cosmetics and skincare.

The introduction of the SUPERSTART Skin Renewal Booster has inspired a full-on SUPERSTART collection. This collection features skincare technology that focuses on improving the radiance and appearance of the skin’s topmost layer, the stratum corneum. The line heavily features probiotics, which aims to strengthen skin’s own natural defenses leaving your skin feeling resilient and refreshed.

Here's a fact of life: women don't buy lipstick because they need one. They buy because of the way it makes them feel. We tend to pick up our bullet of the day because of our mood or even according to who we want to be like; is it chic and elegant, sexy and hot, smart and practical? The permutations are endless, which is why lipstick is one of the easiest beauty products to sell even in an already crowded market. We can't have too much of it because we assign a unique and personal value to each of our carefully chosen shades.

The only thing spooky about this ghost month is the fact that it’s almost over. We’ve got a bunch of fun beauty discoveries plus a little bit of drama, too! This week, we’ve got the scoop on which actress is currently under fire for her controversial new collection, as well as deets on the super cute paint pots that we’re piling onto our (online) shopping carts. We’re also turning up the wattage on our glow game with hot drops from NikkieTutorials and Laura Mercier,

I often think that we expect too much from beauty influencers. We form a bond with them as they share the innermost details of not just their skincare and makeup routines, but their lives. We believe them when they rave about a product, or discard it as not worth anybody's money. We trust them to look out for our beauty and happiness but at the end of the day, they are just normal people too. They say or do shitty things that they regret afterwards and they are just as flawed as the next person on the street - only more glamorous with the perfect cat eye, of course!

I was sooooo excited to try the Mega Mushroom line formulated by Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins, since the products are specifically for people with sensitive skin. Formulated with a blend of “soothing” mushrooms, with the Reishi Mushroom as the active ingredient, Origins claims that the line helps “calm sensitivity and irritation, boost resilience and reduce visible redness.”

How true are these claims? I tested three products in two months: the Mega Mushroom Skin Relief Face Cleanser, Soothing Treatment Lotion, and Soothing Face Cream, since even skincare products that claim they’re perfect for sensitive break me out or make me itch.

Kérastase Philippines just launched a new haircare line, Kérastase Résistance Extentioniste, as their first hair program designed to optimize and reinforce the length of damaged hair. It features Creatine-R Complex, a natural amino acid that is usually found in workout supplements. It is meant to improve strength, increase muscle mass and help muscles recover quicker during exercise. Recherche Avancée L’Oréal Research Institute has harnessed this technology to create a ‘training program’ for hair that will strengthen and reinforce hair’s internal structure, which is supposed to assist in uninterrupted lengthening.

This line claims to induce hair growth of up to 4cm in just 3 months of consistent use. Average hair growth is at 1cm per month, but if you’re impatient about growing your hair like I am, the product promise has definitely gotten me intrigued!

From being ‘Jenny from the block’ to becoming a film actress, Jennifer Lopez has always worked in front of the camera. For the first time ever, she’s stepped behind the scenes to collaborate with European cosmetics brand Inglot to create a massive 70-piece collection that is now available here in the PH!