Malago: A New Website for Kapampangans

There's a new website specifically for Kapampangans launched by Thea V. recently.  It's Malago.com.ph and is geared towards everything about Pampanga: places to go, things to do, etc. 

They have a launching promo wherein the first 50 registrants can claim a special gift from the following outlets in Angeles City:

PharmaPlus Drugstore (inside Essel Supermarket)

PharmaPlus Drugstore (along Jesus st., Angeles Public Market)

BMGA (inside Mr. JJ's Supermarket, Balibago)

Ed-Zon Drugstore (near AUF Hospital)

I am not from Pampanga (I don't have any province actually) but very close family friends live in Pampanga including my godson, my DD's ninang and my mom's BFF so we go to Angeles occasionally. We love to go around to eat (including trips to Clark DF).  

Here's to discovering more about our own localities within the 7,100 + islands in our country. 

Globe Gcash Card

I got my personalized Globe Gcash card a week ago. 

I put my family photo as the card's design.  The other side shows my ID picture.  The good thing is that I can cash out at any ATM machine in the country.

There may be a glitch though.  I tried cashing out at a BPI ATM but it wouldn't accept the transaction.  I even tried to check the balance and it still wouldn't accept the transaction.  I used another bank's ATM (PS Bank) and it worked.  Funny huh? Isn't it that Globe and BPI have the same owner? I'm afraid to try out another balance check coz they deduct P3 just for that.

PhoebeAnn.me contest

Want to win this?

or this?

or this?

and other prize packs to choose from?  If so then head on over to PhoebeAnn.me's blog for contest details!

I hope I win one of these packs as I haven't won in any blog contest for a few years now.

Lush Lemony Flutter

Lemony Flutter...how do I love thee?  I searched for a long time for this baby because of so many good reviews from nail bloggers.  I've tried cuticle oils and have a tin of Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream but Lush's Lemony Flutter beats them all.

Ingredients:

New Eyeko Products

Hello again!  A few new products I saw on the Eyeko.com website:

Eyeko Military Polish ($5.50)

All their Fat Balms ($10) have new packaging and SPF 15 in them and are available in 6 shades:

Muji at BHS

Mid-week saw us at Bonifacio High Street after going to the Myth of the Human Body Exhibit in Taguig (for another post).  I went straight to Muji because I wanted to satisfy my curiosity as I wasn't able to go to it's Hong Kong store a few years ago.

The place wasn't too full of people so I took my own sweet time browsing.  (I even saw Derek Ramsay and Angelica Panganiban there).  It probably took me around an hour to go around and peruse the items but much as I would like to buy something, I didn't.  I think most were quite expensive for plain-looking items that you could also buy at a much more cheaper price at your local bookstore like Fully-Booked across the lawn or National Bookstore or even Landmark and SM.  

The clothes were also too plain like a simple striped t-shirt for P900+.  I could get a much nicer top for less from Zara or Mango. The toiletries and other bath/cosmetic items like the PET bottles, cases and jars, I already own similar ones which I got from mineral makeup companies in the US (even the grocery store across our house has those refillable bottles for sale).  The only ones I find worth buying would probably be the travel organizer bags/kits like this in the photo:

Blog Sale

....coming soon.  I need to unload a ton of stuff I don't need or use or never used.

Stay tuned.

A Birthday!

My little girl turned 6 y/o last Sunday.  She requested a pizza party and we had one at home.  She invited her cousins who were mostly her age and had a wonderful time.  

Since it was 10-10-10, there were so many other people celebrating that I was put on hold when I ordered our food from Shakey's.  First time I was put on hold, ha ha.  The Monster Meal Deal package from them was worth it for the price.  Even all the adults enjoyed the food.

This Hello Kitty cake you see was also her request and I had it made by my grade school classmate.  It was so good!!!

What do you think

...of this pair of glasses?

Cool, huh? They're AJ Morgan frames in Burgundy/Pearl which I got for cheap!!! Like, less than P1K :-)
Need to update my glasses.

I Just Love FitFlops!

Yes, I do.  My FitFlop addiction continues because my feet and ankles have improved from using them. I have a bad right ankle due to a previous injury that wearing plain flip flops with no support like Havaianas makes my right foot hurt (that's why I sold all the Havaianas in my collection).

I got 2 new ones coming soon coz I got them hugely discounted from FitFlops in the US.  First is the Oasis in Violet:

and second, the Rebel in Chocolate which I got for half it's local price!

Forever 21 At Last

A week ago after much arm-twisting my hubby, we were able to go to Mega Mall.  Hurray! For I was able to go to Forever 21.  

It really was huge and since it was a holiday, there were sooo many people that I couldn't go around slowly and choose more since my budget is also very limited.  I was in line for almost 1 hour just for the dressing room!  Because of so many people milling about (making me feel whoozy and not-so-happy), I only zeroed in on the stuff I put in my online F21 cart.  I got these 2:

From the Heritage line which is my fave:

My Online Store

Please check out my items for sale at my online Multiply store.  Links are here:

Bath & Body

and here:

Nail Polishes & Treatments

Thanks!

Update

Hi all!  Just an update from little ole' me. 

These past few weeks have been difficult for me especially because of so many things going on in my life that blogging is far away from my mind right now. (I'd rather go on Facebook and play, ha!).  A few weeks ago my dad had an accident and he's on his way to full recovery now (but going back to his old ways which stresses me out everyday).  My little girl had her first mastery test in school which we had to study for (in which she passed with flying colors!) at the same time my dad was in the hospital.  

Spa-rty!

Last Saturday was my first Spa-rty.  Since some of the girls were in the country for a holiday, it was a good time to meet up with one another - where else but at a nail spa.

We held it at Organic Rituals Spa in Annapolis, San Juan where I met up with my fellow nail polish addicts and the Havies (Sheila, Pam, Sol, Smile, Pao, Mindy, Elsa and Therese). We had a wonderful time having foot spas, manis/pedis and the others had waxing and threading done too.  

The place was very cozy and relaxing.   

Dashing Diva Iron Foundation and Flash Drip Dry

Aside from nail polishes, I am "obsessed" with nail treatments.

A couple of treatments I recently tried were from Dashing Diva. Although I haven't tried their services, I can say that I like their products.  I bought Flash Drip Dry and Iron Foundation a couple of months ago for Php 375 per bottle of 0.5 fl.oz..

NOTD: Essie Pop Art Pink

Essie's Pop Art Pink.

Applied with basecoat, 3 coats polish and topcoat.  All taken without flash which shows shade more accurately.  Oops, forgot to clean-up before taking photos.

This polish is very jelly-like! It looks so squishy and soft, like I want to eat it, he he.

It is a bit sheer so I needed 3 thin coats so streaks won't show.

Essie Haul and ELF Lilac

A recent haul from Amazon.com is Essie's Fall 2009 collection mini's.  It was selling for a lower price with free shipping on Amazon 2 months ago.

The Body Shop DeoDry Deodorant

Hi everyone! Long time no post :-)

Anyway, here's a product review for all of you.  It's The Body Shop's new DeoDry Dry Effect Deodorant.  It retails for Php550 locally but they had a launching sale for Php 350.  There are 3 variants (green, blue and pink) and 2 forms (stick and roll-on). I got the green one in Cool & Zesty Stick as it was the only one available in stick form at Gateway.

NOTD: Gosh w/ Color Club and my Indian Top

Here's my next installment on Gosh Rainbow.  I really love this polish!  I used it on top of Color Club's Best Dressed List.

with flash

My Gosh!

I recently got hold of my own bottle of Gosh Rainbow! Yipee!  

I got it from Smile of Updated Trends for Php520 a bottle.  All stocks are bought in Hong Kong personally.  This is probably the most expensive bottle of polish I've ever bought.  See the cute packaging:

She included a note and a freebie of an oil control paper (thanks sis!).  Sorry about the rotated photo.  I don't know how to fix it as it rotates by itself when uploaded to blogger.

Mini Haul & NOTD's (Again)

Thank heavens for little blessings :-).  No matter how busy I am, I still can't help not hauling even just a few tiny things.

I got this hot pink shirt a couple of weeks ago when we watched Legally Blonde the Musical.  Bend and Snap!  There was another shirt in black with pink letters but I don't wear black so pink it was.  Cute, huh?

NOTD: Color Club High Society, Rant and Rave Ahead

This was last week's NOTD which is Color Club's High Society.  I love the color and Color Club's consistency.  This is my first time to use the brand and I will definitely order more colors.  It is Big 3 Free and applies effortlessly.

It's been 5 days now and it is still chip free with only very minimal tip wear on both my middle fingers (considering I've been doing a lot of house chores this past week).

All with basecoat, 2 coats polish, 1 coat Dashing Diva Iron Foundation, Poshe fast dry topcoat

with flash

What is Big 3 Free and My NP Haul

This is turning out to be a nail blog! 

However, I am sticking to my theme of minerals or no harmful chemicals as much as possible hence my purchases of Big 3 Free polishes.

What was that again?  

As you may have noticed in previous posts I keep mentioning Big 3 free polishes.  What does that mean?  Big 3 Free means polishes free of the 3 toxic chemicals: Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP or Dibutyl Phthalate.  

To break it down:

DBP (Dibutyl Phthalate) - is commonly used as a plasticizer.  This chemical is banned in the European Union and is restricted for use in children's toys.  Possible health issues with the use of DBP: suspected teratogen (may cause birth defects), carcinogen (can cause cancer), diabetes, obesity, suspected endocrine disruptor. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibutyl_phthalate

NOTD: OPI Jade is the New Black with CG Snow Globe

My NOTD on my footsies is made up of 2 polishes: 

OPI's Jade is the New Black topped with China Glaze's Snow Globe (from their Glitter collection of 50 specialty shades).

NOTD: Barielle Make-It-A-Latte

My NOTD this week is Barielle's Make-It-A-Latte.  It is described as a "chocolate cream with golden highlights".

All taken with flash, applied with basecoat, 2 coats polish and Poshe Fastdry topcoat.

Awards!

Thank you to Laarni of the jagged barn for these awards:

I really appreciate it! And now the rules:

Skin Food Fresh Fruit Lip & Cheek

Hi all! 

Belated Happy Father's Day to all Dad's out there.  Since school started, it's been pretty busy here what with my DD's new schedule in big school.  We all sleep earlier than usual (9pm !!!) and wake up earlier too (6 am !!!).

Anyways, here's a long overdue review.  It's Skin Food's Fresh Fruit Lip & Cheek in Pomegranate.  I have no idea how much this is locally but based on their other products it's probably 2-3x more than what it is in Korea.  I got this from a Korean pre-buy months ago for less than Php500.

Nubar Prize!!!

Painted Lady Fingers is having a contest sponsored by Nubar.  The prizes are shown in the photo:

I am sooo entering coz Nubar is on my lemming list.  For more about the contest head on over to Painted Lady Fingers' Blog HERE.

NOTD: Orly Glam Rock

NOTD: Orly Glam Rock from the Metal Chic Collection

This is 2 coats with basecoat and topcoat coz I put this on yesterday and needed a topcoat to make it last a few days.  I used OPI Nail Envy Matte as the topcoat.

no flash

NOTD: Orly Solid Gold (Metal Chic Collection)

Orly Solid Gold from the Metal Chic Collection

All with basecoat and no topcoat.  This was 2 coats.  The polish dried fast like all matte polishes but you can still work with this because it didn't dry super fast, if you know what I mean.

with flash

Orly Metal Chic Collection

Yesterday I got my own set of Orly's Metal Chic Collection.   This collection gives a matte finish with a metallic look.  Like all matte polishes, a basecoat may be used but not a topcoat to keep the matte finish.

L-R: Iron Butterfly, Solid Gold, Glam Rock

Also, Orly is Big 3 Free (no DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde) and I am slowly converting all my polishes and treatments to B3F.  Actually 3/4 of my polish stash are B3F (Essie, Orly, OPI, China Glaze, Misa, E.L.F. and Zoya).  Sadly, TFS and Elianto polishes and top/base coats turn my nails yellow so I am now steering clear of them since they're not B3F (and I plan to have another baby soon).

Orly's Metal Chic Collection will be available in the Philippines by the end of June for Php 350 per bottle (Pls. correct me if I'm wrong about the price).

*I purchased this set with my own money (but at a discounted price, ha, ha!).

Etude House Sleeping Pack

About time for a review on the Etude House Sleeping Pack.  I got the Pore Tightening variant in the green tube.  There are other variants available (Pink- Moist & Firm, Lilac- Bright & Soft) for Php 428 per tube.

NOTD's: Essie and OPI

Been busy as usual.  Was out of town for 2 consecutive weekends with enrollment of my DD in between and preparing for start of classes this week.  Now that summer is over I hope I'll be able to post more.

Here are a couple of NOTD's since these are easier to post.  I haven't or barely used any of the new cosmetics I got since the start of the year except for nail polishes so I can't post reviews on them.

This is Essie's Boca Ratanned. I wore this to the beach in San Fabian, Pangasinan a week ago.  Unfortunately this is a discontinued color but I was able to find a brand new bottle of it thru a friend a couple of years ago.  No application difficulties with this one.  This is 3 coats.

Milani Minerals Blush

This is an initial review of my new Milani Blushes.  I won't be reviewing it's wear on me as I haven't tried it long enough.  I don't know exactly how much they cost coz my Mom paid for it (thanks Mom!) and it was bought at Costco in the US.

I got the blushes in Mai-Tai and Luminous (considered to be a Nars Orgasm dupe).  

Luminous, no flash

Break from the Heat - Not!

Last week was the PCS Convention held this year in Tagaytay.  We stayed there for a few days at One Tagaytay Place.  The hotel is fairly new, the rooms clean and the staff very courteous.  Amenities were complete including Wi-Fi access but I did not bring my laptop on purpose.  

The weather was warm but a bit cooler then Manila. Here's a pic of our room.  There's a balcony behind those curtains.  Hot and cold water shower available, daily newspaper and mineral water bottles, LCD TV with cable, mini bar, etc.  Also included were daily buffet breakfast and their food is pretty good.

A Play and More Hauls & NP's plus NOTD

Hi all!

Been gone for half of the week last week but will make a separate post on that later.  Just giddy with excitement coz my Mom got us tickets to Legally Blonde for July.  Seats Front row and Center, woo-hoo!  Can't wait to see it because I love watching plays since I was a kid.  Saw Les Miserables and Miss Saigon when it was shown locally years ago plus other plays by Rep.  

Wedding FOTD and NOTD

We went to a wedding yesterday at Fernbrook Gardens in Alabang.  The place is amazing!  It is so beautiful that you would even think you're not in the Phils.

Here are some photos taken by my phone camera coz I left my digicam in the car.

swans in the man-made river (we were on a bridge going to the chapel)

There was also a huge gondola with 2 gondoliers but I wasn't able to take a photo of that.

May Giveaway from...

...Lizzbuenaventura.com


These are the prizes:

To answer her question, my favorite summer activity is going to the beach!

Click HERE to know more about the contest.

Getting To Know Each Other

Tagged by Rhiian.

• Create a New Blog Post
• Paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your title as "Getting to Know Each Other!" 
• Tag as many people as you like :) 
• Don't forget to link the person who has given you the award
• Contact the bloggers to let them know they've been tagged
  

1. What time did you get up this morning?   7:00 AM
2. How do you like your steak?   I don't eat steak.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?   Iron Man 2
4. What is your favorite TV show?   Glee
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?   Anywhere in Europe
6. What did you have for breakfast?   Hard-boiled egg, Skyflakes Fiber with Nutella, Coffee
7. What is your favorite cuisine?   Italian
8. What foods do you dislike?  afritada, caldereta

Random Hauls and More

A few stuff accumulated over the past 2 or 3 weeks.

From Drugstore.com I got my first Yes to Carrots items.  This is the Pink Power lip set which includes Lip Butter, Lip Gloss and Lip Tint in varying shades of Pink.  I saw Yes to Carrots being sold before in Watson's MOA last year but they didn't have cosmetics, only skin and hair care.  Not sure if they're still being sold locally.  Yes to Carrots is an organic or all natural line of products.

I haven't opened this box up to now since I still have a ton of lippies open.

Next is Etude House Dr. Oil Solution Shine Free Dual Primer.  Good thing their whole Dr. Oil Solution line is now available locally as I almost ordered it from pre-order groups.  It's also so much cheaper in local stores.  

NOTD: Essie Lilacism and My Lilacs

Here is my NOTD this week using Essie's Art of Spring 2010 shade in Lilacism.

with flash

Go Out and Vote!

I already did.

Happy Mother's Day!

This comes in a day late but nevertheless I want to greet all moms a Happy Mother's Day!

Spent the day at Riviera Golf & Country Club for lunch and an afternoon of swimming with my parents and brother and his family.  We are all a few shades darker but had a great time.  Not to mention the good food they have (that's why we love going there) and the added pounds, burp.

Just gave my mom and mom-in-law pretty and delicious cakes from special cake stores and they both loved it.  Well, not just them but other family members who took a bite, ha!

For myself, I chose my hubby and DD's gift to me:

Essie's Art of Spring 2010 Mini Set   

I got it from the online store HERE.  It came just in time too last Saturday.  (See, I'm not wishing for anything expensive nor extravagant.  I'm easy to please and I know my limits).

Hope all you moms had a special day with your loved ones.

***photo from carefree shopper.multiply

HairinManila's Blog Your Vote Contest

Another Kerastase Minis set plus Pureology and L'Oreal products giveaway!

Check out HairinManila's contest mechanics HERE!

Contest runs from April 29 to May 15, 2010.

Comb-A-Color

One of the ingenious "gadgets" I discovered recently.  It's called Comb-A-Color Quick Haircolor Applicator and I got it off Drugstore.com in one of my hauls for $4.99.

It's a plastic squeezable tube wherein you put your home hair color kits into the bottle after preparing, close the comb cap then apply to hair.

Blogger Award, Lemmings and Other Stuff

Thanks to Abegail of Breathing Space:

As part of the award, I have to give out ten things that keep me happy.

NOTD: Elianto & OPI

My NOTD's for the past week:

Elianto nail polish in Thistle.  Really pretty  pastel shade which is so apt for spring (even if we don't have spring here).

with flash

Skin Within

Last Saturday I was able to visit my dermatologist after almost 3 months.  My skin was at it's worst, breakouts on my forehead, chin and nose due to the scorching heat we are currently having.  I was able to have my underarm IPL maintenance and my much needed glycolic and diamond peels.   Aah, that felt so good!

She and my mom were discussing sunblocks and other stuff mom needed for her skin when we were introduced to the new generation of sunblocks: Skin Within.

Health Post

The H1N1 vaccine is now available in the country.  I just had my H1N1/Flu shot tonight (done by hubby) and I administered my hubby's, parents' and sister theirs.   Tomorrow I'll be giving my brother and his family (and in-laws) their shots and my DD's from her pedia this week.

The DOH issued a warning of a possible resurgence of the H1N1 virus this June.  Just make sure you wash your hands all the time and avoid crowded places.  Eat healthy and don't forget your vitamins.

Here's to good health!