January Haul

I know I've been away for so long and no amount of apologies will ever suffice. It's just so hard to keep your blog updated when your hands are overflowing with things to do. But thank you all so much for leaving me comments and messages on my chatbox and for sending emails. I'll try to reply to all of them as soon as I can. For the meantime, I'd like to share with you the things that I've purchased this past month. Bear in mind, however, that my reason for posting my [monthly] hauls is not to brag about my purchases but to keep track of my spending because it was while I was taking photos of my purchases that I realized that doing so helps me keep track of my expenses and control my spending.

These were purchased together with the hot pink lipstick and the romantic beauty stand, both of which I forgot to take photos of. Etude House nail polishes are among the must try's of the brand. They're relatively cheap, have excellent pigmentation, and never goopy. Oh, and excuse my dirty brush. I realized how dirty it was after the photo was taken. It went straight to my bathroom counter after this.

I bought these Revlon Colorstay Mineral lipglazes the moment I saw them selling for Php350 (around $) 7on Ebay (mall price is Php520 [around $11], I believe). I love these and I want to collect all the shades. I also got a tube of one of my favorite mascaras, L'Oreal Voluminous, coz my two other tubes have already dried up. I was so glad to see someone selling this mascara on Ebay coz L'Oreal Philippines does not carry this line. I always have to ask my beloved to get it for me in the US. The Covergirl Lashblast, on the other hand, was purchased coz I'm a sucker for volumizing/thickening mascaras. The two shimmer cremes on the upper left were freebies from the seller.

Since purchasing waterproof mascaras in December, I've always felt the need to get a bottle of makeup remover especially made to remove waterproof makeup. Thank God for this cheap yet effective gentle makeup remover from L'Oreal.

I bought the sponges and brush cleanser at the Suesh booth at the Rockwell bazaar sometime last month.

This is one of my most exciting [and expensive] purchases for January. This roll unfolds to reveal...

...a 30pc brush set from Dashe Cosmetics! While some find Php3000 (around $66) pricey, this 30pc brush set is still way cheaper compared to MAC brushes which are priced at $20-$30 each.

This nose contouring brush is one of my favorites from the set.

Bare Naturals is one of my most well-loved mineral makeup companies; their products always impress me.

Please don't ask me why I got another brush set. I know I have way too many brushes (I own all of the brush sets that BN sells) but I just felt like I had to get BN's deluxe brush set because of their gold handles. They look so classy! By the way, the mineral bronzer (the one with the black lid) and the Natural Pink Lip and Nipple Gel along with the sample size soap and other samples in makeup baggies are all freebies.

I don't really use moisturizers (I'm tooooo lazy), but I signed up on the J&J website and got this set for free.

Been wanting these pencils since forever, so when I saw the set on Ebay, I immediately placed my bid until I won. I may have paid more (almost $10) but I think it's worth it. I love Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencils.

I got the Himalaya's face packs because of the raves I've been reading about them. They may not smell that pleasant, but they work well. The pimple gel from Eskinol is just an experiment.

Here's what I got for my beloved. He's been eyeing this since we saw it at The Fort. He didn't buy it then (coz I told him not to), coz I had plans of getting it for his birthday. He's so stoked to have this; he wears it only on special occasions.

And his birthday cake :)

These may not be a lot for many others, but I feel like I've bought so much more than what I need. I have enough makeup to last me a forever, but it's so hard to pass up good deals on some items you've always wanted to have. Besides, it's such an eye candy when you see your collection growing.

Thanks for stopping by beautiful ladies. Have a good night sleep.

December Haul

December is the month of bazaars and endless sales in the Philippines. Although bazaars usually start as early as November, it is (usually) still the (best) time to go shopping for gifts for yourself and for your loved ones when sales are up and when bazaars are left and right. That is, of course, if you'd discount the traffic. Though I didn't really do that much Christmas shopping, I pretty much hit the biggest bazaars in the metro and took advantage of the sales. I didn't score that many great deals at the bazaars that I went to because nothing really caught my fancy apart from the vintage-y accessories that I spotted. So when L'Oreal and Maybelline announced a sale in mid-December, I knew I had to take advantage of it. Revlon didn't announce a sale but they slashed off 20% off of selected items.

So without further adieu, here's a photo of my December haul (not in it's entirety, though). I didn't include the accessories, nail polishes, some random hauls from The Face Shop and my Etude House haul, coz I was too lazy to take out everything that I got in December just for a photo.


So what did I get?

• Four different foundations. Three from Revlon and one from Maybelline.
  
• The Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner. I got it in both black and brown.
• Maybelline Cats Eye Hypercurl Volume Mascara. What a mouthful!
  
• Eye Pencils from Maybelline and Prestige.
  
• Revlon Matte Lipstick in Nude Attitude.
  
• Revlon Colorstay Mineral Lipglaze. I love this! This is actually my second tube and I think I'll be getting the other shades, too! Oops, my wallet just ran away from me.
  
• Some ELF False Eye Lashes. I was looking for some more items from the ELF Studio Line but it seems like Robinson's Department Store isn't carrying most of the items.
  
• Some mineral makeup from Pureglow Mineral Cosmetics. Jamie, I love your products!
• Vintage accessories (not in photo).
• Nail polishes from The Face Shop and Elianto.
  

Ah! I can't remember all that I got. I spent quite a lot in December but I justified my spending as "a way to treat and reward myself for all the hard work."

Anyway, I didn't really feel guilty after spending so much coz I got a good 20%-30% off of some items. Revlon slashed off only 20% while Maybelline gave me 30% off of every item I got (which is around 6. haha!).


As of this writing, the only thing I've purchased is the Romantic Beauty Stand from Etude House. I got it the other day when I returned the tester bottle of the nail polish that I talked about here. I would've gotten more than the beauty stand but I'm still waiting for them to stock up on their duo fiber brushes. Besides, I was running late for work that day. So technically speaking, I think I've been a pretty a good girl so far. We'll see how long I'd be able to keep this up.

So have any of you beautiful ladies hauled yet?

Foundation Army

Happy New Year folks!

Ever since discovering the amazing finish that liquid foundations give, I've developed this itch to try foundations from various brands. But since I wasn't (and still not) too keen on purchasing liquid foundations from more high end brands (with the except of MAC because it has broken me out in the past), I decided to do a research on the best drugstore foundations. Despite getting a rating of only 3.9 on Makeupalley, the best drugstore foundation for a lot of women is the Revlon Colorstay Foundation. This is not surprising though, as I have watched tons of ladies on YouTube rave about this product and have likewise read good things about the same foundation on random blogs that I've stumbled upon. However, even with all the recommendations and positive reviews on the Revlon Colorstay Foundation, I was still on the fence about purchasing a full size bottle of it for fear of breaking out. Quickly, I searched for the sample of Revlon Colorstay Active Foundation which I got from Charry, and tested it out for a week. After a week of trying it out, I'm happy and pleased to exclaim that I did not break out from it! I may have developed whiteheads around the nose area more quickly than I do with mineral makeup, but that's not something I have no remedy for. But just when I was about to purchase one full size bottle for myself, something else caught my eye - the Custom Creations Foundation from Revlon. Since I didn't want to waste money on something that doesn't perform that well, I decided to do another research, this time on the Custom Creations Foundation. The reviews weren't all that, to be honest, but I bought it because I thought it was ingenious. I mean, I like the idea of having several shades in one foundation bottle that I can mix and match to get the perfect match of anyone's skin color. Actually, I bought this foundation with Ynez in mind, and also, since my beloved has asked me to do makeup on whoever is willing to model for him, I felt it practical to have this foundation in my stash. And yes, it did land a spot in my stash, along with the Colorstay Active Foundation. My search didn't end there, however. After buying two foundations which offer full coverage, I started looking for a foundation that wouldn't make me look as if I was wearing a mask. I wanted something that would even out my skin tone and cover flaws not my skin. Thanks to Liz of Project Vanity, I discovered Maybelline Angelfit Liquid Foundation. I had originally thought of purchasing Maybelline Clear Smooth Minerals Healthy Natural Liquid Foundation, but the reviews weren't really that convincing. But I didn't stop there. While my beloved and I were doing our last minute Christmas grocery shopping at SM Hypermart, I told him that I'll just pick up a few essentials at Watson's since we were still afar off from the cashier. So I went ahead to the Revlon counter and inquired from the SA what my shade for the Revlon Colorstay Mineral Mousse Foundation even if I already knew what it is, grabbed the bottle, and left. These are the only liquid foundations that I have ever bought. The other two Cover Girl foundations there in the photos were from my beloved. There should've been three of them had I not given one to my co-worker a while back. The reason? Cover Girl breaks me out. It doesn't matter what liquid foundation, pressed powder or blush I use from Cover Girl because everything from their line breaks me out. Also, those are not my shades. They're too dark for my light medium skin tone.

So why do I have this much liquid foundation? I'm trying things out. I am not and have no plans of turning my back on mineral makeup; I am just testing the waters to see if my mineral makeup-spoiled skin will react adversely to these liquid foundations which I have never in my entire life tried on myself. I cannot and do not want to limit myself. After all, it's always fun and exciting to try out new things. Besides, liquid foundations would be better to use when doing other people's makeup for photoshoots. Until more options for HD foundations come to our shores, I'll most likely be sticking to these.

To know more about how these foundations deliver, check back every once in a while for a detailed and comprehensive (hopefully) review on each. I'll start writing my reviews on each as soon as I finish my lunch.

Till then, thank you all for reading. I hope everyone's enjoying her first weekend of the year.