Project 365: I <3 Pink Friday! (Day 162)

OPI came out with a limited edition Nicki Minaj collection nail polish and was available at my favorite nail salon, Nail Tropics. Love the Pink Friday color on my toes!

Project 365: i <3 curls (Day 146)

Thought I’d curl my hair today 🙂 Something different for today.

Project 365: I <3 Lipstick! (Day 145)

Bought these new shades of lipstick! A new tube of Viva Glam IV, Cosmo and Sheen Supreme in Tea Ceremony all from MAC 🙂

Project 365: I <3 play make-up! (Day 122)

Don’t you just wish you were a child again and you played with your mom’s make-up looking all-silly but having the grandest time dreaming of great things to come?

Here’s Tiffany with playing with my mom’s make-up and performing to Justin Bieber’s Baby.

Project 365: I <3 orange nail polish! (Day 120)

Since orange has now become my favorite summer color of the year, I decided to get my nails done in a nice orange color. Dark orange for my feet and light orange for my hands 🙂

Project 365: I <3 Facials! :) (Day 119)

I decided to give my skin some pampering by heading to my dermatologist for a facial. This is their newly opened beauty clinic and I tried their facial and for the first time, got a diamond peel.

Good news was that she told me I had not much blackheads on my face – a big difference from before!

The Beauty Book: Azta Urban Salon

Aside from my daily maintenance of shampoo and conditioner, I also seek professional service for my hair maintenance.

I paid a visit to my regular salon Azta Urban Salon a visit to have my hair colored and trimmed just in time for summer.

I’ve been going to this salon since it opened in 2005 in Metrowalk Complex. Since their flagship store closed a few years ago, I started to visit their Eastwood Citywalk branch and have been going there ever since.

I just love the salon, with its modern feel and homey atmosphere. The staff are always welcoming and friendly and its a lot cheaper than other salons, but delivers great service.

I needed to color my hair since my roots have been showing for some time now. Luckily my regular stylist Jojie was there to make sure my hair gets its regular treatment and match my color.

This is me before my hair color. Urk.

Jojie, and his assistant Chad, colored my hair a shade lighter than my old color to match my current hair color. Currently using Ash Brown, which is more natural brown and it shows up more on my regular dark brown hair than other colors.

After which I got a NouNou Treatment to condition my hair, and got a nice head and back massage while waiting for the treatment to set.

After a quick trim from Joji and a wash, my hair was blowdried for it to appear straight and shiny.

And voila! The finished product!!! I just love my hair and cut 🙂

For color maintenance, I purchased some LOreal color shampoo and conditioner to take care of my color and to avoid it fading.

The Beauty Book: Human <3 Nature All Natural Spray Sanitizer

Living in an urban city, you couldn’t help get exposed to dirt and grime. And being constantly on the go, you sometimes don’t have time to look for a clean public toilet. And so I usually rely on anti-bacterial sanitizing products to keep me protected.

I am a hand sanitizer fan. I usually use it after eating or smoking to get rid of the smell. Since my usual brand can only be found abroad, I decided to give a 100% Filipino product a try.

I’ve been hearing about Human ❤ Nature products across the web and seeing it in grocery stores and various media in the city. I was curious, its got great packaging and found in leading grocery stores and top beauty stores in the country, but kept on thinking that this is a foreign brand. But imagine my surprise that its purely Filipino made brought to us by the good people behind the famous non-government organizations, Gawad Kalinga.

It is quite affordable. This handsanitizer costs around P67.75 (a little over $1) in the grocery stores and comes in a spray bottle, so there won’t make much of a mess inside your bag, and comes in a handy travel size for me to stick in my bag organizer and it take it wherever I go. The spray formula is easily absorbed and doesn’t leave sticky residue like some handgels. And it comes in a clean, citrusy scent that even kids like.

And the best thing about it, its 100% made with no harmful chemicals! That’s very good news for nature lovers and environmentalists. I am personally glad and support this advocacy.

For my foreign readers, I encourage you to try their products when you come visit. Please see their website: www.hearthumannature.com

The Beauty Book: Nude Nail Polish

Its my monthly visit to my favorite place: Nail Tropics, and today I decided to try something new. I usually don’t put nail polish on my hands as I usually tend to ruin them before I even come out of the salon, but after looking at the nail polish selection rack, I spotted a cute nude/brownish color and decided to take a risk and put it on my nails.

And voila! This is the finished product:

OPI’s Barefoot in Barcelona

I am really loving my nails and would love to try again next month 🙂

The Beauty Book: My Korean Beauty Loot

Koreans are very well known for their beauty and skin care lines. Brands like The Face Shop, Etude, Skin Food and Laniage have all made its way into the Philippines and have been staples in our beauty and skin care regimen.

As an avid beauty and skin care fan, I couldn’t pass up not getting something from these stores to update my skin care and make-up line.

The stores are easy to find. In Myeong-dong, the stores are right next to each other and are usually open later than the boutiques. The sales ladies are very helpful and actually know their skincare line when we asked them specific questions like “what is good for dry skin?” or “what is good for women 50 and above to use?” (like when I got my mom some beauty products). And the best part are the freebies that come with it 🙂

Here is my Korean Beauty loot:

I got some cleansers, BB creams, eye creams and lipstick!

I am an avid fan of oil based cleansers and have been using Shu Uemura cleansing oils as a prime make up remover. I was running out of stock so I wanted to get one, but found this great alternative from Nature Republic! Its made out of Olive Oil, perfect for dry to normal skin. I tried and tested it already and it easily removed my daily make-up and has the sweet smell of olive oil. Its also light on the face and much cheaper than Shu Uemura!

BB Creams (Blemish Balm creams) are all the rage now and has gained popularity in Korea, and now in the Philippine market. Its used mainly to hide imperfections, giving a smoother effect on skin. I experimented with two brands – Tony Moly and Nature Republic, trying out their snail bb cream, that promises to keep the skin moist and firm.

I already started using the Nature Republic brand, and I liked the results. I use mainly after putting on my tinted moisturizer as a sort of concealer before dusting off with mineral powder. The results is flawless looking skin and it surprisingly stays on until I wash it off with water and cleanser.

Because I am not getting younger, I invested on some eye cream to pack in the vitamins and help reduce wrinkles. I got the 70 Whitening Collagen Dream Eye Cream from Nature Republic, that the sales lady says was for lightening dark undereyes and the collagen ingredient helps reduces wrinkles. I’ve applied it both day and night. It has a light formula that isn’t that irritating to the eyes and it sticks! I was surprised when I accidentally washed it off when I went to the bathroom at night, and left a little residue.

And ofcourse no journey to Korea is complete without a stop at the airport duty free to get some MAC lipstick which was actually cheaper than here in the Philippines. I got some red Ruby Woo retro matte lipstick and stocked up on my staple Viva Glam IV lipstick.