My UK Spring Beauty Giveaway! | Nationwide ‘Til May 31, 2013

What rocks this nationwide (Philippines only) UK beauty giveaway is it is a leap forward into spring (globally niweiz), it will blind you with coral pink, and frankly these bits of beauty aren’t readily available in retail here. I still haven’t made up my mind on whether I should sneak in past all of you and join in myself under an alias LOL (I kid alright).

LOVELY LOOT:

• Soap & Glory Pulp Friction Body Scrub 250ml £8.00
• L’Oreal Elnett Hairspray (Extra Strength) travel size 75ml £2.39
• Jo Malone Travel Candle(Lime Basil & Mandarin) 60g £22.00
• Rimmel London Apocalips Lip Lacquer (Stellar) 5.5ml £5.99
• Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, (Medium3 /MAC NC30) £4.19
• Maybelline SuperStay 14-hr Lipstick (Stay With Me Coral)
• L’Oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara WP (Black) £10.99
• Givenchy Bloom Compact Mirror, w/ red velvet sleeve (gift w/ purchase)

All this stuff is seriously soooo hard to give away. To join simply follow the instructions given by the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post, there are 3 required actions and 1 bonus action for more entry points. In the meantime click Read More to jump to close-up photos of the prizes and what I know about the praises sung of them. The trivia about a couple of these is quite compelling. The Rafflecopter mechanics follow immediately after.

Babyliss CompactYou Styling Iron (Mini) | With ProStyle Fuwarie Styling Mist

Ok, a round of applause for my first heat styling tool for hair ever at a time when I’ve had the… least…amount…of hair…ever, in my grownup life.  So, why now?  I’m planning to grow out my hair once the monsoon months roll in mid-year, yes a time when people don’t visit or see each other.   I saw just the exact thing I needed months back when one of my hairstylist partners, Tricia, was using what was simply a mini flat iron on a more mature client with curly cropped hair. It wasn’t this same one, but something like it.  Both she and EddieMar, my other hairstylist partner (who has only done Leighton Meester, Zac Efron, and Ian Somerhalder when they were here) highly recommended purchasing Babyliss heat styling tools from Landmark.  I was also recently sent Pro Style Fuwarie Straight styling mist, a product used on hair for heat styling.

This is such a bargain, to begin with it has the dual function of curling and straightening. The length of this mini Babyliss styling iron is about 6.5-7 inches, I don’t have huge hands. What’s great about this is apart from the size it’s voltage ready for either 110 or 220, so you needn’t worry about it short-circuiting on you. It works for both. The catch for a small tool is there’s only an on/off switch, in other words just 1 heat setting…but it heats up in 20 seconds and it’s very hot. I singed my finger when checking ‘coz i didnt believe it would be hot that quick (smart)! I needed a heat styling tool on hand but obviously not a huge one, something smaller that could style or tame hair that’s closer to the scalp, when the grown out hair begins looking horrendous with wispy flyaways etc, I wanted to be sure I was armed during that dreaded IN-BETWEEN stage of growth after summer before the holiday season. Read more to see me test this one out with Fuwarie Styling Mist.

My Current Haircare Crew | Argan Haircare By Delon & Finesse Clean+Simple

So I’ve run out of whatever haircare I’ve mentioned in the past and have moved on to new stuff, and they’re all locally available and all under Php200 each.    What you’re looking at is not Moroccan Oil haircare.  To END the confusion Moroccan Oil (brand name) is the top selling A-list brand of Argan oil infused beauty products.  This Argan oil infused hair pair is by Delon, a cruelty-free Canadian brand manufactured in Canada.  You can’t go wrong with something manufactured in Canada, that was the birthplace of MAC Cosmetics and you know how high 1st world Canadian standards are.  I know the amber + aquamarine colorway of these ring a bell, yes they contain Argan oil but not by Moroccan Oil.  This rich duo of bargain haircare  impressed me for the price at S&R Pricemart grocery.  The scent of these products is great for upcoming summertime as well, it’s a bright and fresh but not annoyingly zesty Mandarin orange sort of scent with a bit of honey…I think, that’s what comes to mind, anyway.  I can’t confirm if the notes are true orange notes, but they’re certainly citrus.

Key Ingredients: SHAMPOO – Argan Oil & Shea Butter, CONDITIONER – Argan Oil & Jojoba Extract

“Salon quality intensive hair treatment for extreme conditioning requirements.  Our extra rich formula is enriched with argan oil (Argania Spinosa), which comes from the argan tree found in Morocco.  The oil derived from the nut of this tree is extremely nutritious and ideal for strengthening and enhancing dry hair.”

Both the shampoo and conditioner cost  Php129.00 each for a full 354ml each and I like that the bottle is clear enough so you can see how full it is…or eventually how much is left.  I actually think these are sale prices  because off Amazon these By Delon products cost $8 USD each which is about Php320.00, so just be aware of the full price.  The shampoo foams up nicely but not OVERLY so so you know that it’s a milder brand with less chemicals.  I checked and there are no parabens either.  The WINNER for me however is the conditioner, when you apply it you can absolutely feel that it’s a rich, nourishing conditioner that contains natural oil because of the more organic slip when you massage your hair through with fingers.  My pixie hair, short as it is, displays the effects of the conditioner which are added shine and softly hydrated locks.  If you view the ingredients list the Delon conditioner contains more Argan oil (Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil) than the shampoo because Argan oil comes in 4th on the list (which means the conditioner contains a very good amount) while in the shampoo it is 9th on the list.  What’s great for the price as well is  indicated by the “from opening” symbol (beside the bunny) which indicates “36M” meaning it will be good for 36 months or 3 years from opening (and to think it’s paraben-free).  For those with color treated hair, unfortunately the shampoo isn’t SLS free.  I’m using it because I’m quite due for color retouch in a week anyway.  This next shampoo which I use to cleanse is also from the grocery (Makati Supermart Alabang) and this is what I use if I’m maintaining color (when newly retouched) giving my hair and scalp a mild reset.

“Non-irritating, free of allergens, dyes, sulfates, dermatologist tested.”

I was so glad to find this Php188.00 SLS-free shampoo by Finesse at a regular grocery (Makati Supermart), you can also try Rustan’s Fresh or Landmark which may carry this.  The Clean + Simple Hypoallergenic range also has a conditioner, I have it also but it’s not something to rave about, unlike this shampoo.  It’s lightly scented.  It smells clean, like super duper clean (with signature Finesse notes) and just refreshes hair that’s been weighed down by lots of product or other haircare items. so about once a week I use this to give my hair a reset.  I find the Neutrogena cleansing shampoo that everyone knows about quite expensive even though I like it (its great especially if you have a bad case of pool hair) and I just ran out of my color-preserving sulfate-free shampoos which were sent to me in the past by both Pureology and Kerastase.  While I loved those premium quality SLS free shampoos they’re sadly too steep in price and I don’t want to spend BIG money on SLS free shampoos to preserve color when I have pixie hair this short.  It’s just not cost efficient.  This does the job of cleansing and at the same time it’s safe for color treated hair.  So that’s my haircare crew at the moment.  I’ve stepped away from pampering hair masques and expensive OTT treatments just because I haven’t got a whole lot of hair yet.  These do the job for now.

My Valentine Makeover Giveaway! | Nationwide Until Feb.10, 2013

Hey, Beauties!  I’d preferably put up a Valentine Giveaway on the 1st of February to mark the month of love, but since there’s a major wedding the following week and I’m a bridesmaid I just really had to get this up sooner.  This, Ladies, gets the gussy going starting with skincare at least a night or two before VDay which also explains why I’m making the draw on February 10.  No sulking allowed even if you haven’t got a fella, bring on the pamper and polish because you’ve got to look your best!

The winner gets to take home ALL these prizes. It’s a fine mix of skincare, makeup, and haircare this time with brands like Laneige, Lush, Nivea, Benefit Cosmetics, K-Palette and more!  I’m so happy that I’m able to share these prizes with you just before Valentine’s Day!  In order to facilitate this giveaway I’ll be using an embedded Rafflecopter widget like the last time to make it fair for everyone.  Click read more to get to the list and close-up photos of these prizes and enter the giveaway by using the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this blog post .

My Lil’ Black Book of Beauty Pt. 2 | Foreign Blogs I Love Reading

Beauty videos, to say the least, are all very engaging but sometimes silence and a wash of beautiful photos over some prose is golden.  It’s equally relaxing to have a read through some of the most prolific beauty blogs online.  By the way this is part 2 of the Lil’ Black Book of Beauty Pt.1 post I began first containing the channels I watch.  I sometimes don’t  have the time to download or wait for a full video to stream, so reading these blogs is the quickest way to stay updated.  To save even more time I don’t always cart around my 17″ ASUS laptop (which baffles everyone who sees it) to read these.  I have most of the blogs booted via RSS on my Android Pulse Reader app (available for Apple, too) which allows me to view all the blogs I choose by row and I can immediately scroll to see if there’s a new post or not because of thumbnails then I can read them via Pulse, too.  This way I don’t waste precious time loading up each website /channel only to find some may not have an update.  Also once you’ve loaded them you can read the posts offline if you’re on the go, great for traffic on certain days.

I have a Pulse page for blogs, local blogs, and a pulse page for YouTube channels.  Many of them are British and reading through a ton of British blogs has actually improved my writing because no one  writes English like the English…ahem.  I do have a certain bias towards European beauty blogs simply because it’s the dead smack center of carefully developed luxury beauty brands using the freshest and best ingredients and also because they’ve banned over a thousand questionable chemicals for use in cosmetics (the U.S. have reportedly only banned 9?).  Okay, enough blabber, click  read more to see what are more or less my daily beauty reads.