everyday minerals sample kit arrives!!! ----Philippines temporarily banned at EDM

okay so bad news first, as you all know----or not know, Everyday Mineral (EDM) would be blocking shopping/shipping transactions to PH. sad news right? that was why i didn't feel like blogging about it when the news first blew up, because it's utterly embarrassing for me that some of our Filipino brothers and sisters have to go to dramatic and insane heights just so they can earn money--- even in the expense of some people getting violated and fooled. Over-pricing around 250% mark up at multiply site is not an excuse for shipping and tax fees, and HOT-LINKING the pictures from the original site and not putting a disclaimer where people can be informed, really puts your moral and ethical values to question, it's just waaaaaay off and over the moon. hm.. it's frustrating to know that one rotten tomato affect the other angelic, cute and good tomatoes. haha so if you are reading this, please know that edm doesn't charge THAT much to shipping and their products per se. and as for you rotten tomato, well... i don't know you and i won't judge your intentions, but i hope you straighten out your act before the company legally charges you.

ON A BRIGHTER NOTE...

tah-dah!!

i finally got hold of my FREE sample kit from everyday minerals, thank the high heavens i placed my order before the blocked shipping to PH. Anyway, our local mail person dude delivered this to my house. m-hmm you heard that right, delivered straight to my house. i was surprised because i thought he would be giving me a notification card but no, he was there, with the package. at 7AM!!!!! can you believe that?! 7AM!!!! when the door bell rang and my dog ran to the door barking at it like no tomorrow, i thought it was just my mom coming over to cook me breakfast so i didn't bother looking decent. hehe. and you all know i have the curly hair, and yeeaaa.. it was all over the place when i woke up. sooo not a pretty picture.

more good news!! aside from Mr mail dude delivering my package straight to my house, NO customs fee!!!!!! yea girls CUSTOMS FEE!!!! so i just gave what's suppose to be my payment (35 php) to Mr. mail dude's tip. just because he delivered it at a very early time and in good condition i may add. and from where I'm at right now it's pretty cold he could use a cup of coffee or whatever.

here's the picture of the goodies!!! i haven't used them yet as of today because i haven't taken my shower yet. i was so excited to tell you girls about it. and i did say that the package was delivered way early. 7am... o yea and it took ehrm.. around 17 days for my samples to arrive from US to PH. not that bad. i have waited longer (*cough*amazon*cough*)
my sample kit + foptic brush
(a lot of my friends said the foptic brush wasn't worth it--
but knowing that i have a stubborn brain i got it anyway--
i just wanted to see it for myself. hehe)

the foptic brush

my pretty little samples.

will i order from them again? YES. i have been and i always will. the question now is whether or not they will open their arms again to PH. i know the Asia mirror site will be up and running soon but i don't know how color availability and shipping terms will go. haaaaayy rotten tomato. ikaw kasi eh! haha


so... if you have questions about how shipping and handling goes, the products, the shipping cost, duration of orders i think i stated it above. but if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask. i will be more than willing to help. you can leave it as a comment or you can e-mail me like some of the beauties are doing =)

don't forget to comment and or subscribe. !! thanks

I'll be going back to sleep now it's still 8am. and work's still at 5pm for a night shoot

see you around,
at vanity boulevard =}

quickpost: sigma updates me!! o yeaa!!

everything just goes on so nicely today. i woke up, and Mr. sunshine was up and flooding my room with bright yellow, gleaming, happy light!! and then on i went to my laptop and checked my mail when i read this from Sigma Make up company:

"Hello,

You are receiving this message because you have pre-ordered a Sigma Makeup product. You are part of a selected group of clients that will be able to now finalize your purchase.

If your would like to proceed with your purchase of the complete set with or without brush roll, please visit the following link. We accept all major credit cards and PayPal."

finally i am going to get my dose of the most raved about M.A.C dupe (like a brush sister from another mother-- or so I've heard. haha) update you soon beauties,

until then,

see you around vanity boulevard =}

request: The Body Shop Flawless Skin Protecting Foundation--review and result

a request was sent to my gmail account, c/o jhenny
(won't give out e-mail addys for everybody's safety and privacy) and she basically asked me to do a review on : The Body Shop Flawless Skin Protecting Foundation since TBS is on a huge sale right now and she's contemplating whether or not to get this product.

I'm always curious to try new thing so i bought this product on a 40% sale before their sale right now and i have been using it the most part of my stressful week since it has higher SPF than my M.A.C studio fix fluid (not to mention I'm running out of it), and i haven't been practicing my mineral make up application for a while so yea.. i don't want to go out in public looking like the corpse bride of Halloween past.

anyway, I'm on the fence on this particular foundation since ehrm... how do i put this, i have oily/combination skin by nature and this particular foundation offers a flawless dewy look. oily + dewy=?... well you girls can do the math. hehe. if i had say normal to dry skin this foundation would be a dream to use since it really offers a flawless finish with that subtle glow that's perfect for summer or winter. and it has spf 25. and i have to emphasize on the wonderful finish really.
i really really REALLY want to love this product i do, if it had a stronger oil control property

what i don't like about it is
*it doesn't come in a lot of shades like MAC does so the one i got in number 4 was tad orangey on me.
*it's unbelievably nice on my skin (for 3 hours... after that i just look like an oil slick, yes even with MAC blot on) oil control for ladies with oily skin to begin with isn't that nice, do not waste your money on this one. but again for those with relatively normal to dry skin, you can go ahead and give this baby a shot. but if you ask me, this foundation retails for 1,440php on regular price, for an itsy-bitsy sum of 60php you can strut your sassy self to a mac counter and try their Studio Fix Foundation which retails for 1,500 (correct me if I'm mistaken)
*application is hard, i tried M.A.C 190 with it since it's cream to powder form (duh!) but no, it was as stubborn as i was. and then my gay friend and i experimented with it and uhm... we blow dried it!!! lol, well, we had this crazy theory that if it was softer then maybe it would be easier to apply maybe the 187 can work with it even. yea it did!!! but this isn't a practical and intelligent method. is it..hehe and at the end of the day we settled that the bestest way to apply this foundation was with a damp sponge.
*if you use this foundation, HIDE when you and your girlfriends are cam-whoring on a night out and you're using flash. it's just a nightmare. no other way to put it. you'll look pasty white --- which is not good.

will i buy this again?
probably not... i think I'm better off settling with m.a.c or even mineral foundation once i perfect the method.

so here's the result...heading to a fashion show. =)
shinning, shimmering and not so splendid

like my review? don't forget to comment or follow the blog. it'll only take a minute...or less.

see you around,
at vanity boulevard =}

SKINFOOD BLACK BEAN NOSE PACK---REVIEW

hey beauties, so I'm back from our Surfing getaway--and suffering from acute asthma, but oh well, it was fun while it lasted (the trip)

so when i got home and comfy to my pad, what did i do first you ask? HAH, exfoliated and pampered my skin, because i don't want it to boycott me again because of the sand, water and sun exposure for 3days.

i took a long bath with LUSH bath bombs, and then showered and exfoliated my body using Victoria's secret body scrub in Love Spell. and then exfoliated my face with St. Ives Apricot Scrub, i love love loooooove this product. and so on and so forth

when i finally finished i went on ahead to my vanity area (this is where all the magic happens for me HAH) where i saw this little package that i got as a freebie not too long ago when we went for our Hongkong trip for fashion week. i decided to use it since i was in a clean-my-skin-and-exfoliate frenzy anyway.

the little package contained one pad of black bean nose pack from Skinfood. i was primarily hesitant to use this because I'm an avid user or Biore, just because it works for me and it does the job.

but but BUT....!! to my surprise, this product does the job too!! in a less painful manner, because everyone who used Biore knows that, that nose cleansing pad hurts like hell. and Skinfood, it hurts too!!! but not as much, nevertheless, it hurts.... and I'm going around in circles now. hehe sorry for that.

Skinfood black bean nose pack works, but hurts (yea i can't get over that). it does the job of getting the gunk off your nose. the waiting time for this one is 15minutes on the dot you can feel that it's ready for peeling when it's molded already, yea like a clay and harden up already. i was surprised at how much it took away because whenever i use Biore it's not that much but it might be because of the surfing trip too. (I'll be posting the picture of how much it took off a bit. and word of caution, it IS YUCKY!)

Cons are. it stinks. as in literally stinks i thought i would throw up but it goes away after a while.
and the instructions were hard to understand if you're a virgin at using nose packs you would be dumb-founded at how they laid out the instructions. but if you use other brands of nose packs it's basically the same procedure so peel away beauties!

and as i promised,
here's the picture. (WARNING: ICKYNESS AHEAD)
icky right?.. right.
but it works =D

til, next time...
see you around vanity boulevard =}

Victoria's Secret Chic Weekender bag--stylishly sleek

I've had this bag for a while now but i never really got to use it since it was WAAAAY HUGE for everyday use. i would look like... well unproportional with this bag on tow. but i use this when we have photoshoots and i have to bring the clothes and I'm too lazy to stroll along manila with garment bags hanging on my hand/s. so yeaaa...

so I'm going off on to a vacation right now. nothing big though just a well deserved weekend vacay with friends.. in fashion week, stress is an understatement. and surfing was always been like my dream thing to do and so my friends and i are off to San Juan, La Union surf spot of the PH baby! yea we traded it off to Palawan instead. good thing there's more guys than chicks on our clique in this situation. (hehe forgive me girls)

anyway so i needed a cute and efficient (hala marketing's rubbing in on me na LOL) and i decided to finally use Victoria's Secret Chic Weekender bag i know i know this bag retails for 2,000php and above off from other sites but FORTUNATELY VS had this big sale and ate Ray (from Raysui.multiply.com) was soooo gracious enough to let us in with the news and for a fraction of the price, i got this baby for 950php only HAH!!!!! hella cheap right? beat that recessionista chicks!

and i wanted to share to you girls how big and spacious it really is.... so here

almost as big as our stairs haha
my clothes, shoes(even my Steve Madden pumps are inside haha, and my trustee RayBan aviators.) ready for the beach!!!

P.S.: sorry the background looks hella messy, it's actually the coat's textile getting ready for cutting for our fall/winter line. (but that's another story)

until next time..
see you around at vanity boulevard =}

The Body Shop's Tea Tree Oil -- review and what-nots

i have been and i guess will always be on the look out for skincare products that caters to oily/acne-prone/combination/really-hard-to-mattify skin type. no my skin's not THAT bad but when stress situations pile up (e.g: fashion week, pictorials, photoshoots, go-sees) that's when my skin takes its toll and decide to boycott me. and BAM!!! zits galore.----so not a pretty picture.

my girlfriends and i went for window shopping when whu-lah body shop is on a gigantic sale of the year. and ladies, i am not exaggerating they are on sale. a big big BIG sale. my friends helped themselves to bronzers, i didn't (because I'm tan anyway.. so.. no thanks i don't wanna be a striding carrot) and i helped myself to my trustee-always in the medicine cabinet-go to treatment. their tea tree oil!!!!
(the cap really doesn't look like that one, it's black actually. hey, i got bored and colored the cap with M.A.C's peppermint patty nail lacquer. me thinks it looks purdee LOL)

i love this stuff!!! love it!!! i have tried the cheaper counterpart of it which was available in Zen Zest, but i found ZZ's tea tree oil was milder than TBS. now to some ladies that may be good, but not for me, i need a product that works fast and i mean FAST!

what i like about this product is i have to emphasize that it works fast... i dab it to upcoming bumps and even whiteheads that are already there for consecutive nights (say 1 or 2 nights.. 3 nights was the longest for me and it was a really huge cystic acne no thanks to bare naturals mineral make up).. and when i wake up. POOF! it's bye bye.. and here's the best part (well at least, for me it is.) it doesn't leave your poof-ed pimple/acne with the "i-was-here" pimple mark. i think you ladies can relate to me on this one. so yea. it might be a tad bit pricier than Zen Zest, but if you really want fast drying action to your facial bumps then i really suggest this product. don't worry about the smell.. well, it smells really organic but you get used to it after a while..

until then...
see you around at vanity boulevard =}

DICKINSON'S WITCH HAZEL TONER

i have been in constant search for an HG toner and i have tried loads of them from L'oreal to Proactive to various dermatologist products. but my skin was as stubborn as daffy duck and spongebob combined so.. yea..

until one day i was running an errand for m mom to buy tea at healthy options. and i found Dickinson's witch hazel toner.. until then, the rest was history----for my pimples and red bumps. call it destiny.., HAHA

they claim:

our unique 100% natural formula for skin care combines extracts of the witch hazel plant to thoroughly cleanse and condition your skin. Unlike other astringents, our gentle formulation cleans deeply to remove the last traces of make-up, soap residue and excess oil - without the use of artificial ingredients that may overdry your skin. Use as the final step in your cleansing routine to leave your skin feeling soft, smooth and refreshed!

My experience: i got the yellow bottle, the one which actually has witch hazel extract since witch hazel is known for being an anti-oxidant and astringent which makes it very handy in treating pimples and acne. i didn't mind the 14% alcohol, the concentration is relatively mild and alcohol would synergize the effect of witch hazel being an astringent since alcohol is primarily used as an antiseptic (in english: kills bacteria). i have been using this toner for 2 months now and the only negative thing i can point at it is........... it doesn't travel well, the cap isn't tight enough for the container's "mouth" so it spills all over the place. but as far as cleansing goes, it relieved my stubborn zits and red bumps without leaving dark marks after it. also, i noticed that this product made my face less oily and yes, i can stand the smell of it. all for the sake of having clear skin LOL

will i buy it again: ABSOLUTELY not only that it's hella affordable but it's true to its claim and it healed my facial problem. plus it's organic.