One of the brands I was way too excited to get my hands on in London was Soap & Glory a beauty range that actually looks like a bath & body first cousin of Benefit Cosmetics…they’re not related though. These guys do bath and body like nobody’s business.  They do an excellent blend of clean and gourmande scents with a balance that’s uniquely hard to come by.  This Sugar Crush Body Scrub seriously does not smell sickeningly sweet to me…it’s a yummy, tart sort of sweet.  It makes me think of those sweet cola jelly bottles with a zesty dash of tart lime.

I made a mad dash for this at the Soap & Glory shelf and contemplated getting this or the body wash.  I thought having the scrub which is more “touchworthy” in experience would set me off better the first time around. It’s got moisturizing and smoothing almond oil which I fully believe in aside from the scrubby bits of brown sugar and macadamia grains. The better way to use this so you get a thorough scrub and don’t waste product is to not have the shower running while applying this. Slather it on and rub generously…it isn’t painfully abrasive but it’s abrasive enough to be your smooth operator. As you will see in a bit I soooo needed this scrub right now as I delightfully thumb-type this from Norway. For a moment for truth’s sake, let me show you the semi-disgusting reason why I’m ever so glad I bought this when I did (believe me this was the compromise…showing my leggings instead of my scaly legs).

Don’t.judge.me…lol, and I have been bathing don’t you dare suggest that I wasn’t! What you’re seeing right there are my leggings having been pulled inside out so you can probably guess in what sort of state my lower legs were…it was not a pretty sight. I’d been faithful in moisturizing my face and hands here in Europe but I’m afraid I can’t say the same for my body. I used the scrub 2 nights ago and it set me straight for a day and a half but coming to Norway really dried up my legs again so it was time to convene with this star find once more.

“Use in the shower once, twice, or three times weekly, depending on the level of scaliness you struggle with. (Four times-even-if you’ve ever been labelled ‘old lizard legs’.)”

Two hours ago I used the Sugar Crush Body Scrub on damp legs with my feet in warm water sitting on the side of a hotel tub. It’s best on legs that aren’t too wet so the dense thick pasty consistency with the grains can exfoliate to the fullest. Whats lovely is you don’t just get the physical exfoliation…the almond and lime oil just makes the job a smooth, moisturizing, and nourishing experience and once you rinse your legs off you get a soft supple feeling that suggests no lotion required…but because we’re in a really dry country I still finished off my legs with my fave Nivea Baby Smoothy Cream which you can get in Manila. However you could walk out the door without doing so…because this is just a really fantastic scrub that moisturizes and doesn’t just exfoliate. Love this stuff.

I know that the Shiseido White Lucent Challenge, which began with this post here,  was supposed to be a 7-Day one, but I really personally wanted to see what the dynamic duo could do over a longer period.  I used the White Lucent Spot Targeting Serum with the aid of the Brightening Mask for a more realistic 2 weeks ++, a time period in which for me promising skincare products truly begin to kick in. In case you didn’t read my previous post, the serum is meant to “crush” the unwanted melanin beneath the skin surface and the mask is meant to “eject” it.

I used up both brightening masks in the first week and then continued with the serum once to twice daily (more often twice).  Here are the results, see for yourself.  Sorry about the slight difference in angle and lighting (there were a few more clouds on Feb 10).  I made sure both shots were taken between 8 and 9am in the morning with the same camera shutter speed and I did my best to color balance just so the lighting was even and results are as close to reality as possible.

First off, I have to point out that the top little dark spot and the ones near my nose and jaw are moles, not freckles or blemish marks so the serum would certainly not fade them out.  What is completely obvious when you first view these images is the overall improvement of my skin’s health seen in the supple skin surface and less oiliness along the T-zone.  You will also see a slight  increase in fairness that isn’t unnatural, less patchiness and redness over my sensitive areas, and my pores have diminished not just in appearance but in actual physical size.  I actually don’t feel my pores on my nose now.  If you look closer the pigmentation marks between the moles I mentioned may not have disappeared completely but they’ve faded noticeably.  I’m actually excited to see what happens after 4 weeks, a whole month.

What I love about the serum is it didn’t have any side effects and didn’t irritate my skin at all.  No sting, just whopping good skincare that sinks in so quickly.  The serum at this 30ml size costs about Php5650 from your local Shiseido counter.  It’s available from local counters here.  So what do you think, having seen the results for yourselves do you want to try this and see for yourselves?  Like Shiseido PH on Facebook to get more updates and information regarding the launch of Shiseido White Lucent skincare!  By the way if you haven’t joined my special Shiseido giveaway that ends tomorrow, go to this link here!

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.

1. SHISEIDO White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum – crushes melanin,

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.

The serum itself is a translucent milky consistency that is pleasantly scented, but the scent isn’t too overpowering and neither did it cause me to break out in any way minutes later.  I love the quality of a skincare item that’s potent but does not irritate sensitive skin.  It says a lot about the high level of ingredient processing done for Shiseido.

2-pumps for each facial application, morning and evening.

We were corralled into the Shiseido Pop-Up Beauty Lounge approximately pair by pair (Noah’s Ark? lol) to experience both the serum and brightening mask followed by a delicately applied layer of Shiseido Spring collection makeup directly over the skincare.  Upon the Shiseido attendant’s application of the serum on my skin I immediately noticed absolutely no irritation or itching.  After letting the serum settle for a few minutes she applied the brightening mask over the top, stretching it over the contours of my face.  Boo.

It was the White Lucent brightening mask that sort of made me feel “something happening” on my face.  The function of the serum with its “Melano Crush” ingredient is to crush the melanin and the brightening mask supposedly “ejects” the crush melanin afterwards.  There was a tingly sensation that was neither a sting nor an itch, so that was pretty interesting for me.  To actually feel something actively transpiring across the surface of your face with no pain or itch is new for me.  After the facial treatment, which you don’t rinse off, even with makeup on my skin felt supple and smooth, my facial pores seemed smaller which is probably why my skin felt so smooth.  So technically yesterday was actually sort of like Day 1.  I was supplied with 2 more brightening masks for my 1 week White Lucent challenge. The point of the whole 7-day challenge beginning today is to witness the disappearance or lightening of these pigmentation spots and tiny blemish scars.   I have more of them on the left side of my face than on my right.

The dark spots at the beginning of our challenge are still very visible so this is a proper “before” sort of photo.  We can check for the contrast in the results after Day 7.  Check back with the conclusive post in a week to see the benefits of my White Lucent skincare challenge.  Remember, the Shiseido Pop-Up Beauty Lounge will be there at SM Makati until March 31.  As part and parcel of this skincare trial I will sort of need your help, lovely readers, but those who help, in my opinion, should be at least given the chance to be duly rewarded.  So the way you can “help” is actually by joining this Shiseido giveaway, isn’t that a COOL way to help?  Giveaway open nationwide only.

HOW TO JOIN MY SHISEIDO SPRING 2013 GIVEAWAY

This giveaway is open nationwide until Feb.28 12am (GMT +8).  All you need do is follow the mandatory steps and exact instructions via the Rafflecopter widget below.  You’ll notice that the first required option is to “Tweet about the giveaway”, please remember DO NOT CHANGE THE DEFAULT TWEET provided for that option because I already included the proper hashtag there #ShiseidoWhiteLucent.  Here is my exclusive Shiseido giveaway prize up for grabs for one blessed reader/follower.

From the soon to be released Spring collection I will be giving away this super-duper pretty Shiseido Luminizing Satin Eye Color Trio in the colorway RD711.  Use the Rafflecopter widget below this photo which will give you 5 mandatory actions to complete in order to be officially entered into the giveaway, no actions provided for additional points.

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.