I was cleaning my brushes the other day and while doing so, I thought about how much I hate the process. One, I’m 6’2” so my back always hurts whenever I bend over the sink to rinse my makeup brushes. Two, cleaning brushes takes so much time. Three, you have to leave them overnight in order for them to dry. I can go on and on, really. Waking up the next morning, however, I am instantly in a good mood when I see that all my brushes are clean.

Skincare has been at the forefront of my beauty life last year and I alternate between a full blown routine to days where I just want it quick and easy. But the thing with products for quick and easy, they kind of have to really do it all. Now Happy Skin recently released their new #GoodForYouSkincare line and it feels like this can be that minimalist skincare routine I’ve been looking for.

Learn how Vitamin C serum benefits the skin by helping to reduce dark spots and hyperpigmentation to result in a more even skintone and brighter skin.

Gosh, this really takes me back. I actually first reviewed the NARS Laguna Bronzer nine years ago. I remember using it for a few years and moving on to something else, but a few months ago NARS sent me one and well, now you’ll have to pry it from my fists. This is such a fantastic product that even the P2,250 price tag shouldn’t deter you if you have the budget for it. Let me tell you why!

Now that we’re on masks all the time, eye makeup has never been more relevant. These days I don’t step out of the house without at least some eyebrows and mascara on. Forget the base - these two products are all I need to look presentable! Anyway my favorite mascara find last year is the Maybelline The Falsies Lash Lift Mascara (P379 on Lazada). THIS IS SO GOOD. It’s the best AND most affordable drugstore mascara I’ve found to date. I’m already on my second tube!

I’m the type of person who has to wash her hair every single day. As a yoga teacher who practices and teaches yoga practically every morning, I need to be able to cleanse my hair of all the workout gunk! Also, the new normal has me washing my hair twice a day on days when I have to do essential runs.

This is why I need shampoo that cleanses my hair really well without drying it out. It has to be nourishing enough not to strip my hair of its natural oils as well as not be too heavy to leave me with sticky, greasy, limp hair. I’m also a conditioner user, which is why I need a conditioner that brings life to my hair without weighing my hair down or causing breakouts on my back and hairline.

Although it feels like it was just yesterday when I reviewed Details Cosmetics’ Powder Pout Collection, I am not complaining one bit! After all, who doesn’t like new makeup? Now, while new makeup brings excitement, it also presents the temptation of spending. In order to avoid unnecessary spending, we look to reviews, which is where I come in!

The moment Kiehl’s put “Dark Circle Diminishing” + “Vitamin C” in their latest eye serum, I’m sure they wrote my name on the bottle. I felt like the brand heard my current beauty wish to lighten my dark under eyes and even added “Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing” to sweeten the deal. I guess you can imagine my excitement to try out this product which I tried to temper because I’ve used a lot of eye creams before and they haven’t done a lot for the darkness. Moisturized? Yes. Dark circles? Not so much. I did have a positive experience with the Kiehl’s Powerful Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate before so this product definitely came with high expectations.

Honestly, makeup has taken a backseat for me because of the pandemic. I’ve been working in beauty for almost 13 years so it was quite strange to not be as involved with makeup as I always have. There aren’t as many new products and there aren’t huge waves anymore when it comes to trends. Definitely not normal. But this has given me an opportunity to re-examine my beauty look and go back to the basics. I still do want to look good, after all! This blog is called Project Vanity, haha.

Here is something I will never forget: I was about 13 years old when I woke up at 11 o’clock in the evening with water up to my knees. Up to that point I have lived my life with no major natural disasters; that flood has never happened before in our neighborhood, even during my grandparents’ time. I remember feeling eerily calm as I rushed to my parents’ room and knocked to wake them up. “May baha!” I shouted. It was completely dark, and only the sound of the swiftly rising floodwaters filled my ears.

Are you ready for 2021? What about your skin? A new year is a good place as any to start some healthy skin habits. As a dermatologist, here are a few things I recommend to get better skin on 2021!

Learn more about the best face essences for skin hydration and how it should be used as the first step of the moisturizing part of your skincare routine.

While lipstick is the number one makeup product I cannot live without, mascara is definitely number two. There’s just something so fabulous about applying a coat of mascara. Personally, I feel like I’m about to take over the world whenever I’d wiggle the wand between my lashes. Applying mascara for me is an instant pick-me-upper!

How are you celebrating the holiday season? The years before meant lots of big parties and reunions, but this year will be considerably different because of the pandemic. Safety is naturally the most important thing. Still, that doesn’t mean that we throw all celebrations out of the window. Zoom parties or parties with your own closed bubble are great ways to share love and cheer to everyone in your life. And you know what that means - it’s the best excuse for glamming up!

That’s why we asked celebrity hairstylist Renz Pangilinan for hair looks that we can do at home for the holidays. Some of Renz’s clients are Pia Wurtzbach, Heart Evangelista, and Kylie Versoza, and he’s here to serve us some inspo and tips!

We love our face masks at Project Vanity, and since K-beauty is the fountain of face masks, we are sharing with you the best Korean face masks to try!

Since we are all wearing masks for the time being, beauty trends have been focused on eye and brow makeup. Sometimes, though, we want to wear more face makeup, but then it would just transfer to our masks instead! As a PV girl, I still sometimes wear makeup under my mask and have learned a few tricks to help my makeup stay put on my face and not turn my mask into an icky mess. Here are some of my tried-and-tested tips to make my makeup more mask-resistant!

I hit my mid-30s halfway through this year, just a couple of months after our son turned a year old. My hobbies now include taking daily selfies with our hyperactive toddler. Being the beauty writer that I am, I cannot help but notice the huge difference between his skin and mine. Baby skin is just so plump and bouncy! And while I have nothing against aging, I would still like to delay signs of it when it comes to my skin.

Unfortunately, my skin is starting to tell a different story which can be attributed to the steady loss of collagen. A bit of sagging has started which can be seen on my eyebrow area and cheeks. My pores are more visible, and some fine lines are settling down around my eye and mouth area. I’m sure you can imagine just how excited I was when I first heard about Avon’s newest skincare breakthrough!

Before I get into this blush review, I just want to talk about something life-changing: mask brackets. These are silicone brackets that you can put underneath your face mask so that you can talk and breathe easily. The best thing about them though is that I can - wait for it - wear makeup again without it all rubbing into the mask! There would be some creasing where the brackets touch my face but it’s easy to fix with a clean finger.

Wrinkles are a normal part of skin aging. Apart from wrinkles, when the collagen and elastin in the dermal layer of the skin gets broken down, the skin will look less supple and plump, and will eventually sag due to gravity. The areas where wrinkles and sagging appear the earliest are the areas frequently exposed to the sun like the face, neck, arms, back of the hands, and the upper part of the chest. Today, I’ll focus on the neck because it’s a direct extension of the face.

Prior to the pandemic, I was admittedly not all that concerned about how long-wearing my lipsticks were. I didn’t mind repeatedly re-applying, and I even found the process fun. But with the need to constantly keep the mask on when outside, except for stopping to eat or drink, the search for a mask-proof lippie gets high on the priority list. So let’s turn to a line with an impressive reputation, the Maybelline Superstay Matte Ink Liquid Lipsticks (P299).