Himalaya Herbals Deep Cleansing Astringent Lotion: Super Gem Find!

I finally found a great astringent that really delivers results for those days when I suddenly break out--days I absolutely hate. Here is the Himalaya Herbals Deep Cleansing Astringent Lotion and its for oily and acne-prone skin.

What Himalaya Herbals say:

Reduces oil secretion. Keeps skin oil-free. Controls acne and pimple breakouts.

Himalaya herbals deep cleansing astringent lotion has been specially formulated to reduce oil secretion and effectively control acne and pimples. It gently but effectively deep cleans the pores, removes excess oil and reduces oil secretion to keep your facial skin clean and refreshed. Citron and Lemon have strong cleansing, astringent and anti-bacterial properties, while Common Sesban reduces oil secretion and removes excess oil from the face to prevent acne, pimples and blackheads.

I've been using this for over a month now, and I have to say that it works. The first time I used it, my pimples dried up immediately. The next day, the redness was gone.

The astringent doesn't have a clear color like most astringents have. This one has a brownish murky color. It actually has a spout top but mine suddenly collapsed so I have to shake up the bottle as I put the cotton pad over it. I guess that's a drawback of this product, but that's really the only one I can think of.

I'm a super oily girl, my eyelids are oily, my face is oily, hell even my scalp is oily! So this product is an immense help for me. By the way, I'm not acne-prone, I just breakout sometimes so I'm not so sure if this works well for those with acne.
I also use the shampoo and conditioner variant of this brand and it smells really great and helps my damaged hair. Not yet on my super gem find list, but its good!


Himalaya Herbals Deep Cleansing Astringent Lotion is available at any Watson's store. I forgot how much it is but I remember its below P150.

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HOW TO: Open Your Circle Lens Jars!

Hey everyone! This here is just a quick tutorial for all the newbies to opening a circle lens jar.

I have to say when these jars greeted me, I opened them wrong and ended up cutting my finger! Really really careless of me, right? So please be careful and I hope this will help you out.

First things first, look for the arrow on the gray metal right below the lid:

The arrow is an indication of where you should open up the lid. Place your finger under this and pull the rubber lid up.

Do NOT pull the lid all the way over. The lid will act as an opener for the metal ring. Just push the lid sidewards and pull of the entire metal ring over the rubber stopper.

But if you do sadly pull the ring all the way over like this:

Remove the entire lid completely and using a key, slide it in to one of the ends of the metal ring and push it outwards so the ring gets removed. DO NOT use your bare fingers for this, you might cut yourself.

After removing the metal ring, just remove the rubber stopper and voila! Your circle lens are ready to be deposited onto your lens case.

I hope the instructions were helpful, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to leave a comment below.^^

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Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Rosedew Review

I am totally in love with this lip color!!! I've been looking for a nudey pink lip color for a long time now and I think I got it! I honestly just stumbled on this one by accident because the lipstick I wanted from MAC was out of stock (go figure, they're always out of stock), so I strolled on over to the Revlon counter and thisi is what I got!

What Revlon says:

Infused with silk and vitamins for smooth, conditioning color. In a dazzling array of fabulous, fashionable shades.

The shade is Rosedew, and as you can see, its a a pretty sheer light salmon pink.

On my lips, its still pretty sheer but really wearable for everyday:

I think the only drawback for this lipstick is that the color doesn't stay on too long. I think its about 3 hours, tops. But I really like the shade so its all right for me, I just re-apply when needed.


Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Rosedew is available at any Revlon counters for only P450.

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Minerale Cosmetics Blush Review in Posey

I'm not a lover of mineral cosmetics because I usually find them too sheer for my taste. For me, mineral cosmetics mean spending too much money on a product that doesn't give too much coverage and not much color.

But I finally found a product that proved me wrong! This blush here is a product of Minerale Cosmetics.

My blockmate gave me this to try out as a gift for Christmas and the shade I got was Posey:

What Minerale says:

Minerale Blush is universally flattering, from completely matte to subtly shimmery. This super sexy flush gives the effect of the ultimate afterglow. The right application technique can make blush look natural. Minerale blush offers controlled intensity and color to give you what you want. 

The blush comes with an instruction booklet so you know how to apply it:

Swatched the shade on my hand just so you guys can see how it looks like in highly-pigmented form:

The color came out a bit lighter with the light from my room, but its basically a bit more darker than this, Posey isn't a baby pink color.

On my cheeks:

See how far the color is from my hand to my cheek? I like it better when applied to my face--shimmers are gone and it doesn't go on clumpy.

The instruction booklet tells you that if you're using a brush, you should swirl it on the pigments tapped onto the lid and apply to cheeks using circular motions. I prefer a different method!

I do recommend using a stippling brush to pick up the pigments on the lid. I don't like to swirl though, because I find that it gets too much product and I wind up looking like a red-faced loon.

I just firmly place it on top of the lid, dust off some pigments on the back of my hand if there's too much product on the brush, and quickly pat it on my cheeks. This way, the product doesn't accumulate on any part of your cheeks and you can build up the color.

By the way, that stippling brush is from Etude House, got it from Korea!!!

Over-all, this is one of my favorite blushes (believe me this is a breakthrough, I hardly use blushes). I find that it creates a natural-looking flush and you don't need a lot of product to achieve so. I do recommend this product to those looking for a new blush to try, and be sure to try their other shades:

They also have other make-up products available, such as foundations, mattifiers, bronzers, eyeshades/eyeliner duos, and even brushes.


Minerale Blush in Posey is available at Minerale Cosmetics for only P375.

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Dollface 88 Color Eyeshadow Palette and Blush Palette Reviews

Look what somebody got as Christmas presents!!! Brand spanking new palettes from Dollface Cosmetics!

Don't you just love the minimalist packaging? I thought it looked very classy. Open them up and see these:

The palette above is the 88 Color Eyeshadow Palette while the one below is the 10 Piece Blush Palette.  

I'll start off with the eyeshadow palette. The colors are mostly matte and satin, and features tons of them:

You can totally see how many looks you can create from this palette alone! No more problems with groping around, finding the right color of eyeshadow because everything's all here. I like how vibrant each one is, and even though each shadow is potted at about a 50-centavo sized container, the palette will last you a long time!

The ingredients of the palette just in case you want to check if you're allergic to any before purchasing:

Some swatches of the shadows (because I can't swatch them all!):

I was a bit disappointed that the black was a bit on the lighter side, but I'm sure you can build it up more for the colors.

I'm not really a big fan of matte eyeshadows, I do prefer shimmer ones but I had someone get this for me because I wanted to give them a chance. I also own the shimmer counterpart of this palette and I prefer the latter than this one. But I guess I'll just have to try using it again for a couple more times to really see if I do like matte eyeshadows more.

On to the Blush Palette! I found it a bit strange that the black thing in between the pots is made out of foam, as compared with the shadow palette. It has a combination of both light and bright colored blushes to a highlighter as well as bronzers that are great for countouring.

Some swatches of the numbers above:

Shades 1, 2, 3 and 6 are a bit too light to be seen by the camera because they serve better as highlighters instead of blushes. My favorite has to be 7 and 9 because they're pretty unconventional blush colors! 4 is a bit too orange for my complexion though.

Ingredients:

Over-all these palettes are good buys if you're looking to expand your make-up collection even on a budget!

Dollface 88 Color Eyeshadow Palette (P800) and the Blush Palette (P850) is available here for ordering! They have so many other palettes and brushes to choose from so try checking them out!

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Chicken Charlie: Gobbling My Way Down to Chicken-y Heaven!

I have found MY chicken place. It is now the only place where I'll get my fix of this kind of double fried chicken dipped in soy sauce or chili sauce. I am definitely coming back to Chicken Charlie again and again and again!

Chicken Charlie is actually a pretty small resto with only 2 locations: there's one in Banaue in Quezon City, and one in San Juan near Wilson.

If you want to get a seat in time for dinner, make sure to get there early! I remember I got here around 6:30 an the place was empty save for 1 customer sitting down. But after only 15 minutes, the people just poured in. You have to queue in line and get your order. We got the 4 drumsticks + 4 wings combo with just the Soy Garlic Sauce.

Just in case you're wondering, the Cheesestick Dynamite is actually sili (with a little bit of cheese) wrapped in lumpia wrapper! A lot of people ordered this.

The chicken takes awhile to cook, because they fry it as soon as you order so its all fresh! While waiting, you can just read the wallpaper around the store! It just makes you hungrier because it describes the food so well. Don't those photos just make you hungry?

By the way they also have free WiFi so you can also amuse yourself using that while waiting for your food.
Then here comes the drinks and the utensils, and they give you a chicken bones bucket!

We also ordered drinks that caught our interest because its actually old school Sarsaparilla!

Kinda expensive at P90 a bottle, it does get you interested, right?
I got myself the Sarsaparilla, which actually tastes like muted down rootbeer!

Boyfriend got the Ginger Beer, which tastes a bit like salabat tea but carbonated. I didn't really like this and love the Sarsaparilla more.

We also ordered Potato Wedges (P45) which are hand-cut potatoes! These are good, but surprisingly the chicken tastes better with good ol' rice!

And...here comes the CHICKEN! Nom nom noooom!!! We got the 4 WINGS + 4 DRUMSTICKS COMBO (P288).

The chicken is just TOO GOOD. I swear the skin is wooooow. Very very crispy but also really flavorful! The meat inside wasn't dry at all, still pretty tender. I have to say that comparing this to Chicken Bonchon, the former is better for me because of the non-dryness inside.

I totally enjoyed my experience eating here, if I get any chicken craving I will definitely be coming back!


Chicken Charlie is located at J. Abad Santos in San Juan City. Its near Ristra's and Serenitea (which I have yet to try!!!). Open from 11am-9pm.

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Asian Secrets Lulur Whitening Body Scrub: Scrubbing Your Way to a Whiter You

I'm not a body scrub person, at all but in times of desperation in trying to get my fair skin back I had to try other products. Here comes Asian Secrets, which is actually a lulur whitening body scrub.

What Asian Secrets say:

Asian Secrets Lulur Whitening Body Scrub is a beauty treatment inspired by a most luxurious Javanese ritual called Lulur. The ritual was originally intended for the bride-to-be in order to beautify, smoothen, and whiten her skin before her wedding day. Lulur originated from the royal palaces of Java, Indonesia and products inspired by this traditional treatment are still used by Indonesian women today.

Doesn't that sound really luxurious that you might think its going to come at an expensive price? The benefits of this scrub is that it actually does all these things:

The product gently exfoliates the skin and removes dead skin cells as it softens the skin giving it a nice and radiant glow.

Frequent usage reduces skin pigmentation, evening out our skin tone by getting rid of dark patches especially in areas prone to darkening such as elbows, knees, armpits and area between the thighs.

It contains Vitamin E and Green Tea Extract, which are powerful antioxidants that protects the skin from free radicals keeping it healthy and young-looking.

It also has Squalene and Olive Oil which will aid in maintaining the moisture to our skin.

Here's a photo of  my almost-empty small tub! I finished this up quickly, I have to say.

I used this for my whole body, and not just only for those "dark areas" such as for your elbows or knees, which is why this lasted for a short while. Its not rough at all and I loved the experience of using it. Its a bit time consuming to use this, because you have to scoop up the product, apply it on your skin, and scrub-a-dub-dub in a circular motion.

I also love the smell--it smells like sampaguita! Although I think its jasmine. It stays on your skin for quite awhile after your bath. I keep smelling myself after I take a bath.

Of course the ultimate question is whether it delivered results. Did I whiten after using it? YES! My skin is now just a shade short of my natural skin color and I'll be buying myself a new tub soon because I've already used up the first one. When I used this on my underarms, it not only whitened it, but it also smoothened it.

Some people still use soap after using the scrub, but I don't because I don't want the smell to go away. Yes it smells that goooood!


Asian Secrets Lulur Whitening Body Scrub is available at 135g at for only P80 and 250g for only P130 at any Watson's!

Suggestion to the people who brought this product in, please package this at bigger tubs!

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Etude House Green Tea Facial Mask Review

My deep love and fascination for facial masks (and all things Etude House) still hasn't wavered so I'm here with another review of a facial mask!

I was scouring the racks of my local Etude House store for the AC Clinic Mask I love, but it was once again, out of stock. The saleslady recommended the Etude House Natural Mask in Green Tea to me so I decdied to take her word for it.

She said that this particular mask had the same effects as the AC Clinic one at a cheaper price. Too good to be true, right? I AGREE.

What Etude House says:

Essence mask contains green tea extract that soothes & comforts stressed and fatigued skin. Tension fit design for improved facial adhesion and comfort.

[Directions] Apply masked sheet to cleansed face and leave on for 20-30 minutes. Remove mask and massage remaining solution into skin with hands. Recommended interval for mask application is every 2-3 days for maximum efficiency.

The mask is super moist as all Etude House masks are.

Results? I left this on my face for about 40 minutes. My skin definitely looked a bit refreshed (can you say perked up for skin?), but pimples weren't toned down like the after-effect of the AC Clinic Mask. They remained the same--looked the same, just sitting there.

The salesday told me this Green Tea mask targeted break-outs, I bought it because I was breaking out but it just didn't work. Not really a good substitute, if you catch my drift. But good if you're looking for a cheap facial mask that will make you look refreshed!

Etude House Natural Mask in Green Tea is available in Etude House stores for only P58! 

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OMAKASE: Cutesy Japanese Dining!

Is it getting too obvious what my second love is aside from make-up? Its going to be another fat year and I know it!

"Omakase" in Japanese literally means, "It's up to you!", and with so many choices on their menu, you're bound to get dizzy from thinking of what to order.

Japanese food has to be on the top of my favorite food list, so invite me anywhere Japanese-y, I'll be there!

This cute little girl greets you on the entryway!

There are various figurines and wallpaper of their mascot, a kawaii little girl decked in a pink kimono.

This one meets you at the dining area upstairs

We ordered the following dishes, nothing too experimental though.

The Sushi Boat! (P295) 

This was my first time trying the sea urchin (that one nestled in the center looking all gooey). Dip it in soy sauce with wasabi and it was good! I never expected that I would like it because I hate gooey food but I really liked this one.

Kani Salad (P80)

I didn't have the chance to try this one because it was pretty small, good for only 1 person. Looks like ordinary kani salad though.

Salmon Sashimi (P170)

You cannot have too much salmon, I say! Very very good--the fish was silky and just slid down my throat. I can gulp this all down in seconds, seriously.

Beef Teppan (P270)

The beef was very tender but the flavor was just okay for me.

Ebi Tempura (5 pcs for P190)

Tempura for me is the same for most Japanese restaurants, but I'm glad this one used tiger prawns. Ultra crunchy and easy to gobble down.

I remember we also ordered the Oyster Butteryaki (P210), but it seems I forgot to take a photo of it. I liked the oysters, didn't taste raw and very yummy!

Omakase isn't exactly high on my list for Best Japanese Restaurant Ever (the winner still remains with Kamameshi), but the food's good and if you're looking for a Japanese restaurant that's good for the buck, you should go here.

Omakase is located at Greenhills Shopping Center, Ground Level, Connecticut Arcade, Greenhills Shopping Complex in Ortigas Ave., Greenhills.

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