A non-drying matte lipstick is a prize find but for me there’s also a balance to be had when it comes to matte lipstick. To me, matte lipsticks needn’t be completely FLAT looking, you’re allowed to disagree with me. That’s just a personal preference because I don’t want high shine because of my massive lips but at the same time I don’t want my lips to look like a flat vector graphic pasted on my face. I’ve found my dream matte lipstick formula by T. LeClerc, available at Rustan’s for Php795…complete value for money but I’m really sad there are only 4 or 5 shades available locally, they remind me of the IZGO lipstick I blogged about ages ago (as in like 2 years ago). It’s great that they’ve got this sort of red, 03 Rouge Secret, a beautiful brick red that has a very slight, almost unnoticeable pink undertone. It’s very wearable, I wore it at a friend’s wedding and because I loved the color so much I made sure I retouched at the reception (even though I was recovering from a small gaping lip wound), though I didn’t have to pack on a lot to retouch. You better believe it, red lips have not vanished from the trend reports and hello, love month isn’t over yet.
The texture of this T.Le Clerc lipstick is like that of a MAC lipstick like Ruby Woo but creamier and more velvety, easier to bring across the lips. Also in comparison to a NARS Pure Matte lipstick I own this is way more comfortable to wear. You can also safely eat with this lipstick without it going everywhere…a light retouch may be required if the food is a bit greasy. French brand T.Le Clerc has a strong following and one of my former bosses, Tinette O. Puyat, salon owner and hairdresser is extremely fond of their powder bases, too. One of my wedding clients, Maita, wore this brand of lipstick as maid of honor at another wedding I did, but her shade was like a slightly brighter cherry red and seeing how it lasted on her is what made me go on the hunt for it. A lovely matching lipliner for the T.LeClerc lipstick shade 03 Rouge Secret, and I mean a real exact match, is NICHIDO’s lip pencil in Coral Rust which is what I used to line and color my lips in midway first to help with longevity. The NICHIDO lipliners have the same texture as NYX slim lipliners which are also a favorite of mine but these local ones only cost between Php100-Php200.
There’s a 90s revival ongoing and it’s bleeding through almost every style magazine feature I’ve noticed so far. Every so often people will reminisce about what was nearly 2 decades ago and crave a reinterpreted throwback. In my teens bell bottoms and elephant pants plus everything 70s when it came to music was the “in” thing in high-school. Mod beauty for the 90s was earthy, brick red lips which were big on TV stars (remember Monica and Rachel in FRIENDS?), movies like Reality Bites, Empire Records, Pulp Fiction (more ox blood red than brick though), and even Clueless (check Brittany Murphy’s lips). Here’s an inspiration photo from Reality Bites which also shows a similar sort of red on the lovely Winona Ryder.
The T.LeClerc lipstick, I reiterate, is Php795 from Rustan’s (got mine at Rustan’s Grand Mall) and for the lovely slim size and packaging I have to say it’s a real find, a similar one by MAC would be Russian Red but that isn’t as matte. T.LeClerc also has a bright coral pink that’s kind of like Chanel’s Rouge Allure velvet Exuberante and also a slightly more beige pink is also available. Have you also been bit by the 90s revival you see everywhere and if so have you been incorporating it into your wardrobe or makeup looks?
I’m gonna pull an “honesty is the best policy” fast one on you guys. Sorry it got a bit quiet around here…in just the last week I suddenly felt a lot of the adrenalin, energy, and excitement I had from my cousin’s wedding suddenly retreat from me when real life kicked in. I had lots of stuff to feature for the blog but while sitting in front of WordPress, I had nothing to say, nothing would come out. I was left a bit worse for wear in terms of online presence having been on a roll checking every social media account I had plus suddenly discovering all these Instagram and photo-editing apps that made it quite addictive to post stuff like almost every half hour or so. I got net burnout and to be honest I was feeling it already in early January then right after the wedding it slowly came crashing down on me. I just realized I was having lots of fun with new friends but eventually pixel-weary and tired of looking, posting, and checking feeds, and even just for a few days, blogging. However I have 2 or 3 nice features and photos coming up for you guys next, hopefully tomorrow. To be just a bit more relevant here’s a nice photo of makeup stuff that I have nothing to say about except that it was all for a celebrity makeup job hehe.
Pardon the silence, please just a bit more patience, like just until tomorrow. I just needed a timeout. I’ll be back on with a post by tomorrow after lunch hopefully. I have all these nice photos here just waiting to be blogged. Thanks to those of you who totally understand. It really means a lot. By the way this message here by Joshua Harris is a video I discovered 2 years ago that totally explains why I’m currently fasting from social media, just click here to go to his YouTube video about having Self-Control in a Wired World it’s actually quite funny.
With the exception of blog & work stuff I’m only allowing myself email, PMs from FB, and DMs from Twitter. I’ll be back on track, soon.
I absolutely waited for this. I nagged Pao and Sam Valenciano, ever so dear to me, about when it was coming out, it was shown at the wedding but it wasn’t as complete then as it is now, now it’s perfect. At the time I asked, Paolo said they were still fine tuning it before sharing online.
There are some wedding videos that make an impact even on people who don’t know the couple personally and even make strangers cry, and I’m sure this one is exactly that. It captures the exact mood and embodies the everlasting love, childlike humor, and solid friendship we all experienced during their union last February 7, 2013.
The cinematography just grabs you and pulls you into the wedding with the magic of Bob Nicolas and his onsite team. Of course the direction and comments on the edit by Pao, the groom (who is also an editor) make all the difference. Watching this video FULLSCREEN is the closest experience to being at their wedding if you weren’t there. If you can’t view the embedded video click on this link to watch Pao and Sam’s Wedding on YouTube.
Today’s post is over at the Sample Room Blog! There I lightly discuss tips on being believably fresh and photogenic during the daytime without overdoing it. It’s a great stream of tips for people who want to practice looking fresh during the day without putting on too much.
Makeup by Julia for a lighting workshop…
I also make mention of the actual products I used for the look done on myself there (not this one on the model because this is a studio look). Click on this image or here to proceed to the article .
You know how cats love to mark…whatever…whoever? It’s high time they marked something sacred. I got these in January. I love that they’re not as thick as regular paper clips so they won’t damage delicate pages and they’re tightly shaped.
MUJI Cat Paperclips about Php250++?? Sorry, give or take…approximately, could be less. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and the “rest” of your Sunday, hehe.
Okay, you might not have had the biggest Valentine Date of your life last night, but you can sure look like you did. “Bring it” with Benefit’s warm Cha Cha Tint.
Believe me when I say natural flush or blush on your cheeks is a simple makeup choice that guys can actually appreciate and I’ve gotten compliments for it. Flush amps cuteness, implies health, and projects quite beautifully that you’re a happy camper. I’d say hands down that Cha Cha Tint is one of the most believably natural lip & cheek tints I’ve tried for Asian skin so far. I also used it on my lips here. It’s a bright coral tint applied with a tiny brush wand…kind of like from a nailpolish bottle. You have to be quite quick in blending it in or else it might stain just a little on your cheek. I have a deluxe travel size mini from Sampleroom.ph. My only honest cause to weep is the local full size prize of Php1800 for 12ml *eyes twitch*. That’s quite expensive for a lip & cheek tint I have to say, even though it works, but if nothing else does the same job get this & use it sparingly. You can see here in the look I did using all liquid products it just looks really natural and perfect for summer, which is already sneaking up on us day after day. Benefit Cosmetics has branches at Greenbelt 5, Rustan’s Makati Grandmall, and Rustan’s ShangriLa Mall.
This is not going to be a WHAT IS LOVE nosebleeder and neither is it going to be a snarky, bitter “date-shmate” sort of post. Let’s get you SAD (single awareness day) people off that chair. If you didn’t have a date yesterday why should it be more depressing that you don’t have a date today? Hahaha, hope that helped. I want my thoughts on the matter to be warm (I’ll try), genuine, and what I really think about humans and love should sweetly smack you in the face. Yes, these are my hands.
The funny thing about us human beings is we actually KNOW what love is, we’re programmed to know. None of this “I wanna know what love is…” ignoramus baloney, WE KNOW, or at least we recognize it. Deep inside, nearly every sane person more or less knows how other people should be treated or cherished and even if you didn’t grow up in 7th Heaven the only problem might be the absence of loving habits and the problem of pain or disappointment, but we all know how we or other people want to be loved, how we need to be loved is a whole different story. Now, I think what a lot of us need to get is God’s way of expanding our ability to love and reinforcing consistency. A lot of us suck at consistency. Who knows what a Mech Warrior is? (crickets) Geez, wrong audience, well if you watched Matrix Revolutions, or Avatar even, the mech suits were like enlarged robotic extensions of every soldier, enabling them to do what they do best on a bigger scale. I think God tenderly and genuinely wants us all to be able to love wholeheartedly BIG. In order to do that though, we need to choose Him and put His garment on. What’s achingly beautiful about the whole thing is He doesn’t just enable us to love better, He loves us first before we extend His lovingkindness, that way, bringing the love forward doesn’t become a “chore”, it becomes real, you do it and really want to. In my life God has been overwhelmingly present and close to me in spite of my failures. I’ve not been daughter of the year for 2012 I think, but He still looks for me when I’m not looking for Him. That just really gets me emotional sometimes when I catch myself, knowing that He keeps the candle burning and doesn’t lock the front door ’til I’m home. He always reminds me that I am His and no one can change that and He wants me to be loved as best as I possibly can be so I can love other people the same way. For those who have dates, check your teeth and smile, and for those who don’t or who have love problems, ANU BEH, watch this video here keep on smiling and smile some more, you ARE LOVED.
Romans 8:37-39
New International Version (NIV)
“37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I told you that at my cuz Paolo Valenciano’s wedding I was too lazy as part of the entourage to be shooting with a full throttle camera the whole time, much less holding one…so I didn’t. I also couldn’t be bothered with taking pics of myself because I was having too much of a blast observing my station as a bridesmaid, mingling, eating, laughing, and whatevs…I also wasn’t seated with any of my much younger cousins that evening so forget about group photos with the baby bunch. What I nearly forgot amidst the blur of celebration that evening was that there was a photo booth (I was like “oh yeaaaaaaaaaa, there was one”)…and that I had 2 pictures taken with my cousin KC (mom is Tito Kiko’s older sister) who was seated at the same table right before I accompanied her to her car. It was so late I’d forgotten that we had that photo moment…then these popped up on Facebook. Tada! And yes, I did my own makeup I’m so happy we have these to keep.
The married couple, Pao & Sam Valenciano.
Somewhere at home there are exactly two photos of me and KC also shot back to back when I was 11 and she was 9 and I was still taller than her (straightens back). It would have made a great throwback, but like I said…it’s somewhere.
I’m beaming with delight and it’s all thanks to Shiseido Philippines and blogger friend, Sophie Uy. I’ve got something special that I’m about to sort of embark on as well as a makeup item to give you lovely readers today, but before we get to that nationwide giveaway prize, be still your beating heart…patience is a virtue, we’ve got to start at the beginning. I’ve got a full 7 days to take two wonderful skincare items out for a “road spin”. Something by Shiseido suddenly got us bloggers “arrested” just the other day at the Shiseido Pop-Up Beauty Lounge at SM Makati, which will by the way be there until March 31st for purchases, facials, and free consultations. It’s amazing how one mention of revered cosmetics brand, Shiseido, drew quite a huge bunch of us Filipina beauty bloggers together…and on a weekday, too. To be honest, my mother and I are quite a couple of Shiseido fan-girls I tell you. The first main product the bloggers were introduced to, The White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum, coupled with a brightening mask, is designed to nourish skin, help radiance resurface, and help lighten or eliminate unwanted spots brought about by small clusters of hardened melanin beneath the surface of the skin.
2. SHISEIDO White Lucent Brightening Mask – ejects melanin
Getting ready here for my skincare treatment, this was shot in the middle of having my own makeup removed by a Shiseido lady. Here I am side by side with Sophie Uy of Beautynomics who has already been using the White Lucent serum several days ahead of me, she’s naturally a shade or two fairer than me.
On that day we were being presented with Shiseido’s White Lucent Intensive spot targeting serum and the partnering brightening mask. The serum is a targeted treatment containing their proprietary “Melano crush” to cause spots to, in theory break apart into finer particles or disintegrate. Our White Lucent 7-day skincare challenge involves the twice daily use of the White Lucent serum coupled with the intermittent use of the brightening mask on top of it every few days. Click “Read more” to continue to my experience at the Shiseido Pop-up lounge and get to the Rafflecopter widget at the end for my single Shiseido giveaway.
Just one photo because I was too busy making memories with family and friends to tune out and take lots. My BFF cousin Paolo Valenciano married his childhood sweetheart, Sam, and no words can define how happy I am for both of them.
We’ve known Sam since like forever. All us cousins (don’t ask how many) from all 4 sides of both parent sets, (Valenciano, Pangilinan, Godinez, Tabuena) have “hung out” with each other for years. Sam’s dad, Tito Jaime, being the sound and technical director for Tito (Uncle) Gary’s shows since the 80s, often had his family in tow backstage, on tour, and at family gatherings. Two families…were undoubtedly meant to become one and believe me it was one tearjerker and fun-filled blast of a wedding. My often shy, non-limelight cousin Paolo did not conceal or withhold any joy he felt yesterday as a new husband. Who ever really knows what God has planned for those who love Him and seek His approval? Oh, here’s a little secret the bride was keeping and I’m not sure everyone knew…
Instead of sky high stilettos or even other sorts of traditional bridal footwear Sam was wearing these sweetly glittery Toms underneath her bridal gown the whole time, a lovely laid back twist for a bigtime wedding.
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