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.

Just looking at these photos makes me smell AND see the blooming freshness of spring already!

This Soap and Glory Pulp Friction Body Scrub with notes of fig, orange, yuzu and pomelo smells yum but cleanly fragrant at the same time. It’s the partner scrub of their Foam Call body wash. I heard about this scent from Anna of “Vivianna Does Makeup”. She was originally talking loads about the Foam Call body wash which has the same fragrance notes. L’Oreal Elnett is the hairspray of high fashion biggies and celebrities alike…what it’s known for abroad is “brushable” hair hold and it keeps hair where you need it without looking like you’ve got hairspray on. The only con about it is the smell is strong for some people, I tried to find the new fragrance-free version but there wasn’t a travel size of it. I read a proper explanation about this mainstay spray from its feature here on bigtime beauty blog ITG (Into the Gloss).

Now, what’s with the candle? Jo Malone London is the Briton answer to Diptyque which is one of their direct competitors. Jo Malone has everything scented from candles to colognes, advanced skincare and bath & body products. On the Royal Wedding Day, reportedly, Kate, now the Duchess of Cambridge, had personally requested a selection of Jo Malone candles to fill the Abbey with fragrance, including Jo Malone’s bestselling Lime Mandarin & Basil candles, yup that’s one single scent but they said she also combined Grapefruit candles to layer fragrances in the Abbey. For lashes L’Oreal False Lash Telescopic is model Ruth Crilly’s staple mascara (A Model Recommends) and it’s currently mine as well. This is the UK titled same mascara as my L’Oreal Shocking Extensions Telescopic Mascara from the US, the waterproof version gives beautiful definition (both volume and length), won’t smudge and holds curl so well. It’s everything I want in a mascara.

The Maybelline 14-hr longwear lipstick, a completely creme matte range, was somewhat of a dark horse drugstore product until Lisa Eldridge practically waxed poetic over the matte shades Stay With Me Coral and Non-Stop Red in her Ultimate Guide to Red Lipsticks video here. The shade I’m giving up (huhu…haha I have my own of course) is Stay With Me Coral which is the first bright coral lipstick that doesn’t make me look like a clown, it’s a warm bright pink and the range smells like raspberry gummi bears. It stays on grandly without completely drying out my lips or making them peel but to be safe I still recommend hydrating your lips overnight with a rich balm before using this the next day. Next up we’ve got Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer (which I saw on FleurDeForce’s channel)… this in particular is having its moment of glory currently as a top drugstore liquid lipstick. I did, however, review something similar by Careline locally, you might want to check those out (they even smell the same, that synthetic watermelon note). Although Rimmel Apocalips isn’t as longwearing as I’d hoped (4-5 hours max) the colors go on strong and fade later on beautifully and this bright coral fuschia shade, “Stellar”, is actually quite…stellar. Last but NOT AT ALL the least is Collection’s Lasting Perfection Concealer which has been raved on by at least a billion (I exaggerate) beauty bloggers in Europe online. The Lasting Perfection shade Medium 3 which matches MAC NC30, is the shade I got and it is the most exact liquid concealer shade I have ever owned. This, my friends, is the first drugstore product I’ve encountered with this much hype that ACTUALLY delivers following every good word every person has ever had to say about it. It just works…it goes on creamy then dries semi-matte to matte, it covers the under-eye area, spots, and everywhere else fabulously and doesn’t get cake-y on me. I also picked up on how good this was first from Fleur as she mentioned it repeatedly through monthly favorites and also in her Best of Beauty 2012 video. I just can’t say enough about it and the fact that it’s only £4.20 (Php270.00) per tube is a blessing. For most of my time in Europe I was only wearing this concealer and pressed powder on top. There are only4 shades and mine, Medium 3 is the second to the darkest. The darkest is Deep 4 (probably an NC40 match) and it was sold out at the time when I looked in both Boots in Dublin and UK.

As a simple, spring bonus I’m also including this super pretty Givenchy Bloom compact mirror. It’s a gift of goodwill for me because the Filipino sales assistant in a Dutyfree I purchased perfumes from was so happy to encounter a fellow Filipino that he gave me not just one but two of these lovely mirrors and they feel heavy, seem to be made of steel with enamel, and snap firmly with magnetized lids. It has a regular and magnifying mirror on either lid and also comes with a red velvet sleeve for classy safekeeping. So that’s it for all the loot folks, now you know what you could be winning so now is the time to KEEP CALM AND JOIN I love you guys! From May to you… haha…haha.

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.

I’m not a hair expert and I’ve never received formal flat iron lessons (LOL) but I did manage to help set up a small salon and manage it for a few months…so I picked up one or two things since then. The ProStyle Fuwarie Mists are available at Beauty Bar for Php450. The way they claim to work is by protecting the hair for heat styling, increasing style longevity, and adding shine. There’s also a lightly fresh fruity scent. Fuwarie styling mist comes in 3 variants, for medium bob blowout styles, for curly styles, and for long, straight styles. The one I used was for straight styling. They can also be used on hair for blowdrying.

You spray Fuwarie on (at a height for more spray coverage) ’til hair is slightly damp and right after that just begin styling! What I always and absolutely want to be rid off is the cowlick wave at the back of my head. It ruins the serenity of my pixie do whenever I wake up or when it resists hair product. So this styling iron and Fuwarie prove to be great allies for those more stubborn bad hair days. Please excuse the overdue regrowth amidst haircolor. I just had my hair completely recolored today after this.

I wasn’t able to roadtest if it adds longevity to the style but I believe it does, question lang is how much humidity can undo the styling work. Fuwarie styling mists are available for Php450.00 at Beauty Bar. The arrival of my bottles of Fuwarie was the cue to find this baby Babyliss iron and who knew it would be on sale?  The most popular Babyliss items available at Landmark now are currently marked down Php500-Php1000 off from the original price.  My Babyliss Compact You Styling Iron, a cutie of a tool, cost me Php1350, its former price was Php1850.

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.

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 .

1.) Two K-Palette 1Day Tattoo 2way Eyebrow pens, 2.) Fairydrops Volume Burst Mascara

3.) Shiseido Benefiance Duo – Wrinkle Resist Day Cream & BalancingSoftener, 4.) L’Occitane Extra Gentle Milk Soap, 5.) Nivea Essential Care Lip Balm, 6.) LUSH Solid Shampoo “Jumping Juniper” (Oil-Control)

7.) Yves Rocher Hydra Vegetal Skincare Trio: Cleansing Milk, Toner, Moisturizer 8.) Ahava – Dead Sea Skincare Trio Sampler: Mud Mask, Hand Cream, Facial Moisturizer

9.) Benefit Cosmetics Porefessional Primer 7.5ml sample, 10.) ProStyle Fuwarie Hair Styling Mist, 11.) Artistry Powder Foundation Compact (made in Japan)

12.) Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Holiday Duo Set: 2 Water Sleeping Pack, Multiberry, 1 Yogurt Repair Moisturizer, 1 Multiberry Yogurt Peeling Gel, 1 Water Bank Essence

Aren’t the prizes for this Valentine’s Giveaway simply “the bomb”? I actually don’t want to give away that Laneige set but Mom got me a pot of Water Sleeping Pack when she was in Korea and I haven’t finished it yet, it’s far from being consumed completely but it’s an awesome product. So it’s only fair that one of you wins this set coz I’ve got too much moisturizer. You have to agree, I must admit I’m beaming with pride when it comes to this one!  To join this giveaway please make use of the Rafflecopter giveaway below and follow the instructions.  There are 3 mandatory steps (make sure you really do them then click the +1 buttons on first 3 steps, Rafflecopter tells me) and a few more steps if you want additional raffle giveaway points.  Excited to see who wins   Thanks for wanting to join!

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.

LIPGLOSSIPING.COM / Charlotte Thompson

Twitter & Instagram: @lipglossiping

Let’s begin with my “fevohreht”, after all, I have been following her blog daily for the past 3 and a half years now.  It was Charlotte’s blog, Lipglossiping.com that helped supply the main vibe of the inspiration you see on my blog today.  We’re in touch personally and have even done a swap.  I discovered her blog about mid 2010 when I was excitedly Googling for more information on the Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette and it turns out she was the British blogger sent a package for the UK’s first look at it that year.  She won the Johnson & Johnson Best Beauty blog award for 2011(?) and is among the top 3 beauty blogs in the UK today.  The pristine photos on her blog absolutely drew me in as well as her proficiently written, thought-filled, snark-y musings on life and beauty.  She also does meal and recipe posts once in awhile to change it up.  I am also in love with the way Charlotte chronicles the growth of her lovely daughter, Leila, seen here wearing toxin and solvent-free kiddie polish.  I’ll never forget the year 2010, it was when the world of online beauty opened up for me and there wasn’t the feel of “too much beauty noise” yet.  Everyone just had a happy not-too-annoyingly-uppity vibe about all their new discoveries.

WORSHIPBLUES.COM / Yasumi Toyoda aka “Fushigi Lady”

The Fushigi Lady (as she calls herself) of Worshipblues.com is a London-based Japanese online curator/oversharer of all things artful, beautiful, and dainty, modern or vintage.  She does a careful cocktail of beauty, skincare, travel, art, stationery musings, accessories, photos of abandoned buildings, local and overlooked boutiques, and once in awhile or increasingly more often, food…shaken not stirred.  She makes trips to and from Japan which makes her blog a delightfully well-written mix of East and West.  She’s very sweet and replied joyfully on Twitter when I said I loved her blog and had one of my own.  Yasumi also owns a well-loved online shop called “Fushigi Shop” for her handpicked/handmade creations.

INTOTHEGLOSS.COM/Emily Weiss and team ITG

Dita Von Teese to ITG

Laura Mercier to ITG

This is like THE Beauty Blog.  Emily Weiss has put up what is now one of the most sought after “IT”  U.S. beauty blogs in the world, which is ITG (IntotheGloss.com).  Emily and her team have got the front row on nearly everything that’s anything in the beauty blogosphere and being expected in big places they get to travel so much as a result.  Her blog is most probably as popular and revered as you wish yours ever could be.  Practically every beauty brand in the biz wants ITG to like and feature them.  Dior (see first photo) had Emily do an eye tutorial for them.  Now a team (so they can be everywhere), ITG has evolved into an online magazine of sorts while still retaining that non-contrived /raw feel which is what makes a blog a blog, but more now a blogazine.  They’re still candid in expressing what they think it’s just that now they’ve got invites to the best sources.  It’s a very thin line between this and something like Vogue Beauty branching out on its own, but the line is still there.  On ITG it’s like you get a backstage pass to major high fashion events and absolutely fresh beauty reviews, the latest (as in almost to the minute) beauty scoop, intimate word-for-word written interviews with celebrity icons, supermodels, beauty and hair professionals, and chats with unique individuals as they spill the brands and tips in their beauty arsenal.  ITG is wanted at nearly every beauty launch that’s at the top.  Emily and her team have only interviewed after all the likes of Essie herself (yes, Essie nail polish), Dita Von Teese sharing her cosmetic approach as a Burlesque beauty, Laura Mercier giving her beautiful back story on becoming who she is (and making up Madonna the 1st time), and more recently Drew Barrymore on her latest undertaking with her own new beauty brand.  ITG also does videos once every few months on their YouTube channel IntoTheGlossMotion.  This is the blog that proves pictures with flash aren’t always uncool…on their end flash evokes reality and popularity.  ITG makes me love reading casually about what these “top” individuals are using and some of these revelations show they’re surprisingly simplistic and minimal in their approach to beauty.

MESSYWANDS.COM/Xiao

Xiao’s blog, MessyWands.com is so neat and clean and yet there’s enough rawness in the photos that makes the blog more sincere.  Her skin up close isn’t photoshopped to the nines and she’s got a light but skillful hand with color.  Her taste in cosmetics, more often than not is luxurious and the blog feels minimal but not at all lacking in content.  She really has put the blinders on and focused primarily on high-street to luxury makeup.  I do think once in awhile she does a skincare mention but what makes Xiao’s blog exceedingly lovely to visit are her spot on pretty FOTDs (face of the day features) where she combines colors from a lot of the products she is sent or stuff she has bought by luxury brands.  To flaunt her reputation, let me make mention of brands like Clinique and Europe’s Rouge Bunny Rouge who usually send her their latest releases.

BRITISHBEAUTYBLOGGER.COM/ Jane Cunningham

On BritishBeautyBlogger.com you’ll find the latest and greatest when it comes to mostly stuff from Europe.  UK’s Jane Cunningham is really a beauty editor/insider by day which explains her access to and hands-on reviews for so many brands.  Jane gets early previews of stuff sometimes way before other bloggers do.  She’s also got a lot of moxie and doesn’t shy away from openly disclosing if a brand’s PR person misread her or communicated weakly (sometimes she’ll take it as far as quoting them openly w/o mentioning who they are) which is partly why a lot of brands trust her honest opinion.  She’s not afraid of what others think, on her site her opinion is all that matters.  She also has quite a lot of posts tackling blogger, PR, and media issues in the industry that are all very well written.

BEAUTYBETS.COM / Elizabeth Dehn

Elizabeth Dehn is BeautyBets.com and she’s now made it a team.  She is as her site says “an editor, lifestyle writer, and beauty enthusiast who worked for Aveda, Kiehl’s, Target and several magazines before launching the blog in 2009. When not schmearing on face masks or battling her new body wave, she covers the beauty and wellness beats for Mpls.St. Paul Magazine, Marie Claire, Divine Caroline, and Twin Cities Live television. Her work has also appeared in Minnesota Monthly, the Star Tribune, Sotheby’s Artful Living magazine, Fashion Weekly, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Rue Magazine and Glamour.”  The articles on BeautyBets.com are light, not that long and well edited.

THECHERRYBLOSSOMGIRL.COM/ Alix Bancourt

Her site, TheCherryBlossomGirl.com is primarily about fashion since Alix is a French (yes, not Japanese) fashion graduate from a few years back, but hers was one of the first style sites I visited that once in awhile had beauty features intertwined (here she is with a bottle of Chloe perfume. The photos are nothing short of exquisite (with a lot of drama though, a bit too much sometimes I think) and with her porcelain skin and dark hair she kind of looks as if she could pass as Dita Von Teese’s daughter.  What’s amazing is she shoots almost all of her own editorials…it’s a bit flabbergasting because they’re so awesome.

FASHIONTOAST.COM / Rumi Neely

For more laid back, not overly ethereal (unlike the Cherry Blossom Girl) Cali girl street style I always, always refer to Rumi of FashionToast.com.  She throws things on and they just look.. correct.  That’s pretty much it…anything she proclaims to love or posts on her blog sells like wildfire throughout the U.S. (and parts of Japan since she is half-Japanese) and she really tries to be unpretentiously healthy.  You probably have seen her prancing around online with our very own Bryan Boy who happens to be somewhat of a declared soulmate of hers…they are undoubtedly BFFs, but I am very much more interested in hermusings.  She, like Alix, once in awhile weaves in beauty items into her posts and I like how Rumi keeps it not too wordy, everything on her blog is what she thinks basically stripped down.  Rumi is forever circling the globe to sit in the front rows of the latest runway shows and whatever she chooses to bring with her often become industry highlights.

You must be wondering why I said most of the blogs I read are British…I already mentioned them in the Part 1 post of this series.  The written blogs of the channels I watch comprise the rest of the foreign blog list I go through and all their site links are here at the Lil’ Black Book of Beauty Pt.1 post.