Geez, I was gone for almost 2 months. Again, my apologies. I would understand if you would not believe me anymore if I say that ‘I vow to be a better blogger this year’ hee hee. I mean it! I swear, I will allot more time updating this blog (nose getting longer now) oh well, moving on

One time during lunchbreak, I got really bored and lacking of energy (my body has taken its toll due to rigid workout routines which include: zumba for xbox 360). So I decided to list down my Make-Up Christmas Wishlist for 2012 hahah! I know way too early, might as well label it as my TO BUY LIST for 2012. Seriously, I am trying my very best to simplify my make-up kit, I want to stick to my tried and tested items and to stop trying new collection. But, a make-up junkie can never have too many lippies, you know. Maybe, I’d be able to stop trying out concealers, foundation, eye shadows and blushes but not/NOT lipsticks!

Initially, I started out with this short list (photo above), but to date my current 2012 Must Buy Make-up List is this:

1. NARS Lippies: Casablanca, Niagara, Catfight, Damage, Dolce Vita.
2. NARS Oasis Blush.
3. Benefit Hervana Blush.
4. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium.
5. MAC Bare Again Lipstick.
6. Make-Up Forever Aqua Liners.
7. Make-Up HD Invisible Cover Concealer.
8. Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder.
9. Chloe Perfume.
10. No. 5 by Chanel Perfume.

Uh-oh, that was quite a long list and it’s just January hahah! Care to share your list?

Finding the perfect skincare products is like winning a lottery, I know I may sound OA to some but God knows how long I have been searching for one. Imagine the various amounts of skincare products my face had to take as it always had been a hit or miss for me. There were times when I felt like this certain product is going to be a hit, only to find out after 3 months or so, it would turn to a disaster, giving me unnecessary break-out episodes. To add to this, I do not have that much budget to buy skincare products that I would just end up dumping or giving away, not all brands give out free samples. (Although, I still have to find a skincare product that would lessen the flabs of my cheeky face hee hee, kidding! Perhaps one has to discover reverse osmosis for flabby body parts and cheeks.)

Anyway, when I blogged about the success of my experience with Lancome Genefique Youth Activating Serum, I did not plan on using the whole line, that’s just too much my wallet can take. But since, Lancome was generous with giving their customers jumbo-sized samples, I just had to give it a try. After almost a year of using the Genefique line, I am satisfied with how it works on me. I started to invest more on skincare products than make-up. This is also the reason why I blog less this time because I have no make-up hauls to share anymore hee hee.

VANITY.KIT’s RATING

Overall Product: A+

Value: 4/5

Ease of Use: 4/5

Packaging: 5/5

Then I got so lucky to have a friend who works for P&G ang made me try the SK-II products. Specifically these 4. After merely 2 days of using the SK-II line, my face instantly brightens up and I have seen how much my freckles/age spots lightened too.  I also noticed a more even skin tone. Since, I only have few amounts of these 4 SK-II products (read: jumbo–sample-sizes), I am wishing someone would give me SK-II shopping money so I can buy the jumbo sizes hee hee.

VANITY.KIT’s RATING

Overall Product: A+

Value: 3/5

Ease of Use: 4/5

Packaging: 5/5

I have finally found 2 skincare brands that I can alternately use and hoping that in the next 5 years or more, I would still be using the same skincare products. Now for my friends at Twitter and IG who asked how I combine all these skincare products, FYI: I do not use them all at the same time. Here is list of how I alternately use these 2 brands. I do not know if this combo will work for you too.

1st Combo:
Morning: Wash with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (sometimes I skip this in the morning). Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Lastly, moisturize with Lancome Bright Expert, then apply make-up (sometimes I use a primer or sunblock, depends on my mood).

Night: Remove make-up with Cetaphil. Wash face with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence. Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Then moisturize with Genefique Night Repair Cream.

2nd Combo:
Morning: Wash with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (sometimes I skip this in the morning) . Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Lastly, moisturize with SK-II Cellumination Essence, then apply make-up (sometimes I use a primer or sunblock, depends on my mood).

Night: Remove make-up with Cetaphil. Wash face with SK-II Facial Skin Treatment Cleanser and Tone with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence. Apply Lancome Genefique Eye and follow with Lancome Genefique Activating Serum. Then moisturize with SK-II Cellumination  Deep Surge.

The constant products I always use are the first 5:

1. Cetaphil as make-up remover.
2. SK-II Facial Treatment Cleanser as facial wash.
3. SK-II Facial Treatment Essence as toner.
4. Lancome Genefique Eye Activating Concentrate as eye cream.
5. Lancome Genefique Youth Activating Serum as serum. (they say always use the serum first as it absorbs easily).
6. Then, alternating the rest of these on top of the Serum: Lancome Bright Expert, Lancome Night Repair Cream, SK-II Cellumination Essence and SK-II Celluminator Deep Surge.

Yikes! I am totally behind in terms of updating this blog . I am unsure if I will ever recover from my backlog.

I was checking my drafts section and I realized I have started a lot of entries but failed to finish them. Here are the pending reviews in my drafts section:

• NARS The Multiple
• NARS Orgasm Illuminator
• Benefit Benetint
• Benefit Coralista + Sugarbomb
• Benefit Confessions of a Concealaholic
  
• Travel Light: What Make-up to Bring on a Trip
• etc… etc…

and now that I have a wee bit of time left online, I still need to check on this video baby monitor for a friend we are visiting for a trip this week. Yes, dear friends, we are bound for another long trip (well, long road trip is actually an understatement, keep us in your prayers because this got to be longest time I would spend on the road) this Thursday and will be back Monday. After this trip, we will be having a short downtime, travel-wise, and off we go again to another Summer getaway in 3 weeks time. I am hoping that during the 3-week-window, I will find time to update this blog.

In the meantime, I am about to purchase 2 items in the MAC Sized to go collection. Fix+ and Pro Eye-Makeup Remover, these 2 things will definitely complete my travel make-up kit. I am so glad MAC introduced this 1-oz-size make-up must haves because the last time I brought my Fix+ on our trip to Chicago, it spilled and I got nothing left to use .  So tell me, what are you going to get from this collection?

The MAC Sized to Go Collection (all are 1-oz.)

* Fix+ (not the Rose version; $10 US/$12 CND)
* Cleanse Off Oil/Tranquil ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Cleanse Off Oil ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Pro Eye Makeup Remover ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Demi-Wipes (30 full-size sheets; $15 US/$18 CND)
* Oil Control Lotion ($15 US/$18 CND)
* Green Gel Cleanser ($10 US/$12 CND)
* Strobe Cream ($15 US/$18 CND)
* Studio Moisture Cream ($15 US/$18 CND)

I was inspired by my make-up junkie friend, Wanda to organize my make-up nook and purge my collection for the nth time. But then again, I do not have a make-up corner, I do not even have a dresser! I just stack up all of my vanities in my closet  carefully arranged in an all-in-one clear vanity organizer (with three drawers and 2 separate mini organizers) and bring them out whenever I feel like applying full make-up. Otherwise, I just use my cosmetics staples which are placed on the sink of our master’s bedroom bathroom or take out my everyday make-up kit from my purse.

Given the size of our humble abode, I am not considering on getting a dresser. But, I had an epiphany last Thursday and converted the master’s bedroom bathroom into my own makeshift vanity room hee hee . You should see the face of  dear hubby as soon as he saw it. I told him and the little boy that they are no longer allowed to use that particular bathroom . I have purged as much make-up as I could and for the nth time (again!), I need to remind myself that “I do not need to shop for more make-up”, I’ve got everything that I need. I guess, it’s but right to concentrate and invest on skincare products then. Pictures to be shared as soon as I finished organizing the room. It’s 95% done.

However, if I am given the chance to have unlimited funds to finance my own vanity room, this photo of a vanity-slash-walk-in-closet swiped from tumblr is a perfect choice for me. I would just have to add more white and yellow lights, but the huge mirror, hint of purple plus the flower chair are exactly the kind of furniture I want for my vanity room. Oh and yes, it would also be a bonus if I had a Hermes purse sitting on the floor .

Enough of this daydreaming, I shall check on this archery equipment for now, tata!

I have compiled these looks for a couple of months already (researching Spring/Summer pegs like how I did when I made my own little research  for this online university). I tried some of it at work and most of the time, I end up tying my hair up (or down!) because I have no more time left for dolling up my hair hee hee.

So here’s sharing my top Make-up trend/look for Spring and Summer.
I get giddy just by looking at these faces .

Notice the emphasis on the lipcolors?
Clean forehead, blended blush and pop a bright color on the lips! I gotta have a coral-orangey lippie soon.

My friend, C and I were talking for 2 hours last night. Initially, we were talking about our kitchen must-haves, say this set of le creuset pans and our newly discovered recipes. Then like we would always discuss, we tackled on our most current beauty product lemmings! We both agreed that while we loved MAC products especially their lippies and eyeshadows, their foundation collection tend to cause us breakouts and make us look yellowish if not finished with another loose powder, although, my everyday powder foundation is a MAC Studio Fix  powder plus foundation. We are both on the fair side, by the way. I was telling her that I noticed more dark-skinned women suit MAC foundation while Laura Mercier, NARS, Benefit, Shu Uemura, Lancome and Clinique are popular on fair-skinned women. That is just my opinion.

I also realized that I do not own a MAC blush (save for THIS as I just find it too powdery and too matte/dry on my cheeks. I am a huge fan of NARS and Benefit blushes. On the other hand, a dark-skinned friend dislikes NARS and Benefit blushes because they do not seem pigmented for her skin color.

So if I were to pick my top 1 foundation, that would be Laura Mercier collection. In fact, I am lemming their Spring Collection ‘11.

Hello Monday! I am sooo ready for you !

Despite the warmer weather forecast (but gloomy and rainy), we have decided to just stay home for the weekend save for some errands and the Sunday mass. We realized we needed to catch up with our home chores and the wet grounds stopped us from doing something outdoor. So I started with my Spring Cleaning last Sunday and so far, productive, almost 85% done! I cannot believe that I even managed to sort out DH’s office supply among his other clutter. Also, I realized that I have enough clothes and purses to last me for the next couple more years ! The purses were hidden that I cannot see them every morning and my clothes, well, yes, because of weight gain, I only use the same batch of clothes every week. Other than that, the biggest shocker was my choice of clothes came out to be all colorful and printed hee hee. Time to revamp my clothes choice with more earth-y colors. That and I also need to remind myself that I do not need shop if only I shed off the excess 15 lbs!
Then, I went on to check my make-up closet. Whew! A lot had to be dumped because they expired already. This made me realized to stop buying again because I know it’s never healthy to use expired make-ups. Anyway, I know I have posted this before but just in case you are in the middle of some Spring Cleaning as well, here’s a quick run down of the life span of Make-Up.

• MASCARA:4-6 Months
• EYELINER:1 Year
• FOUNDATION&CONCEALER:1 Year
• BLUSH&EYESHADOW:1-2 Years
• LIPSTICK:8 Months
• BRUSHES:A year or longer, even forever, depends on the brand and how you care for it.

I used to experiment on different make-up remover and cleansers, most of which are oil-based. But then I keep coming back to these 2 products, both very affordable and easy to use.

On days when I wear full make-up, I use the Pond’s Cold Cream (cool classic) and on regular days when I just use light make-up, I use Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, which according to my friend can also work as an acne scar removal.

This is how I use both of these products: Apply a liberal amount to the skin and rub gently in circular motion. Remove excess with a soft cloth or cotton, then rinse with facial soap/cleansers or sometimes just water.