I must share this with you guys, that whenever I chat about skin care with people I know, or have just recently met, one brand really surfaces no matter what – and it’s Dove. I think, and feel that Dove is just in every household, either as a facial soap, a body soap, or even a hand soap! It’s that brand that we let our youngsters use when they ask us for their first facial soap in the advent of puberty ( at the risk of sounding like a mom, I’m more of a big, big sister with baby sisters who can pass off as my kids ). It’s THAT mild that it’s the first brand virgin, unadulterated skin tries.

On my end, it’s the brand that I use for all over my body as I am really not a fan of lotions. Sigh, okay, I don’t want to start reminiscing how silky it feels on my skin! But I’m sure you know as you’ve used it at one point in your life!

As I have browsed Dove PH’s new blog called Real Beauty Basics Blog, I could not help but be impressed of the article lineup. I mean, I was briefed by the people behind the brand that they are going to aim for an epic website this year, and when I checked it today, I was thinking on how great it is to start the year with articles about skin, hair, and lifestyle. The hair articles proved to be helpful as I am just starting to like styling my hair, and they have articles on how to use a curling iron, how to bun your hair, and all that jazz. I wish they would have videos too!
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Serums. I have plenty of them. Reason? It’s because my skin chooses serums for nourishment over moisturizers and creamy products. My skin is so oily that it can only rely on serum for hydration, anti-acne, anti-aging, anti-pigmentation, and salvation. I’m so addicted with serums that I read through so much literature and research every single one that I could come across with.

I’ve heard so much raves about Estee Lauder‘s skin care, and how amazing it is in terms of anti-aging. With my really oily skin, I really wanted to be a fan of anti-aging skin care though I honestly could not indulge in it as most anti-aging products in the market are cream-based, and might clog my pores and cause more breakouts in my acne-prone skin. Needless to say, anti-acne is my priority now, though I really want to keep my skin young as long as I can. Estee Lauder’s anti-aging skin care samples given to me by the company were passed on to my dad ( yes, lucky him! ), who loves Estee Lauder’s Time Zone Night Anti-Line/Wrinkle Creme to bits. People compliment on how he looked younger when he religiously used it. Oh wow, lucky him, right?

Now, Estee Lauder seem to have listened to my plea of grease-less anti-aging with the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum. Oh yes, a serum for anti-aging. I’ve read up on the benefits, and the promises are just something that I’d like to hold on to – Continue reading

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Last night was quite a lucky night for me as I got to chance upon Sofia Vergara’s guesting on Ellen’s on ETC 2nd Avenue. I was actually tweeting that I couldn’t stop laughing because everything Sofia Vergara uttered was simply crazy hilarious, and Ellen DeGeneres’ quick, and sarcastic humor really won me over! My family could not stop laughing all throughout, and as I am looking for videos of the episode, I couldn’t find any! But I found out that they are actually Covergirl’s image models/endorsers, and let me share with you a really funny behind the scenes video of their commercial,

And here’s one more video – this is actually a clip from Sofia Vergara’s guesting, as Ellen DeGeneres proceeded to do her a really hilarious makeover – watch and laugh away!

Okay, I just can’t stop laughing!

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Enjoying a memorable dinner at Aria, Boracay, with my bestbud Angel and my cousins Cherry and Ronnie
When I was catching up on my favorite beauty blogs, I found this post and my heart skipped a bit. OKAY. Not true. More of palpitated! Did you know that beauty bloggers are also mean, mean food lovers? We have so much fun with food bloggers too! Anyway, to cut the story short, my must-go to resto in Boracay is here, here, here!!!

Aria is close to my heart as I have made it a promise to always eat there whenever I am Boracay-bound. I LOVE their pastas -the sour-ness at an optimum, and I LOVEEEE their pizzas the most, while sprinkling a challenging amount of chili flakes, and drizzling chili oil on them. Cap it up with their frozen iced tea, and it surely completes the equation to a perfect lunch or dinner at the beach!

Now, Aria is Manila-bound and coming to me, and all Boracay lovers out there. January 28, 2011 marks the opening of Aria in Bonifacio High Street Central, the Fort.

Oh, more reasons to visit the Fort this time! I’m quite interested to see if Aria charms Manila as much as it has charmed Boracay!

As Aria is opening in Manila, they’re having a giveaway – just answer the question in the poster I have posted above (in their Facebook page ) and you might be the lucky winner for a trip to Boracay with Aria gift cheques!

Goodluck!

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With my bleached and ash blonde hair right now, you must be thinking if I had regrets with it. Well, as soon as I went home and faced the mirror, a realization just swept on to me – I needed to maintain it, and at that moment, I just remembered seeing some people who have had hair bleached like mine with their hair looked really dry and damaged already – which explains why I was scared of getting adventurous with my hair color and stalled bleaching for a while. I realized that bleached hair and colored hair was prone to damage. ( just now? ok pardon my craziness ) Okay, Sophie. Your hair is not going to the dry and damaged direction. You are going to do absolutely everything to keep it nice and soft-looking!

As I have been told by the staff at Creations Salon that my hair looked really healthy despite getting bleached months before ( my hair was bleached since August ), I credited it to my using organic shampoo and conditioner by Venus and Mars. I cracked the code and realized that using sulfate-free cleansers is the reason why my hair has been this healthy. So now, I’ve really been trying organic hair care products to take care of my hair.

For the longest time already, my hair has been really particular with conditioners as it is categorized as dry and damaged. Regular conditioners simply won’t do, and I consider deep-conditioning masques as my daily conditioner and really, really quench my hair with the needed moisture as it needs it. I remember that quite well during my rebonded, and coloured hair days. Now that it’s bleached, and really light, it definitely needs more tender lovin`.

I’ve been hearing alot of good things about the wonder ingredient Argan Oil for the skin, and the hair. Argan Oil is a really rare kind of oil found in Morrocco, that is loaded with Vitamin E and antioxidants. So when I chanced on Snoe Beauty’s booth at the Rockwell Moonlit Bazaar (see, I am always a good neighbor to my bazaar neighbors, mahilig akong mangapitbahay hahaha!) I reserved their Hair Heroes Intense Argan Oil Cleansing Conditioner for the hair. I saw the price tag – almost P500.00, hmmm not so cheap, and a bit expensive. But I was willing to try it. If it breaks out my scalp, then goodbye, and maybe my sisters who have less sensitive scalps can use them, and if yes, it’d be a gem forever in my bath essentials! Key word was also “liquid gold.” Who can ever resist that? So checkout!
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Well, this is still beauty-related as Smart C is a drink loaded with Vitamin C and Vitamin C does not only take care of our health, keeping colds and sicknesses at bay, it also makes our skin glow and healthy!

Smart C deserves a post in my beauty blog as it has been my “official” health drink for Bazaar Season 2011. Well, even before that, during Team E’s Tagaytay bonding session, I was the official Smart C girl, asking everyone to bring a Smart C drink that ended up in an excess supply that we brought a bottle each for our lunch affair! Haha!

Smart C bottles tucked behind my bazaar booth haha!
For Bazaar Season 2011, it was really toxic and tiring. It was fun, so Straw and I needed to be healthy at all times! Smart C is the perfect drink for me as I really enjoy its flavor (lemon for me, please!), my thirst is quenched, I get some interesting flavor aside from my luxurious bottle of mineral water ( I LOVE water ), and my health is safe!

So, thank you Smart C for keeping me healthy, and well-nourished during bazaar season, as well as tasting really good that I keep coming back for more!

So, who likes Smart C here? Raise your hand!!!

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I’ve always found it hard to find contour kits that are easy to use, and yet very affordable. 2011 has been very kind to me, that I was able to find one really remarkable shading/highlighting kit – Sleek Makeup’s Contour Kit in Medium.

2011 was the year when Sleek had its “soft-domination,” amongst beauty enthusiasts in Manila. Sleek is actually a really popular makeup brand in the UK, and is really known for their pout paints (very much like OCC’s Lip Tar) and their lipsticks with really nice, and bold shades. But me, I’m finding solace in their contour kits, as I really need it. Continue reading

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I’ve always been honest with you. My nails are…well, nails. My nails are brittle, I never had the patience to grow them long, and though I really, really envision myself having long, elegant-looking nails, I always find myself on a path of sabotage and nail-destruction, as my nails easily break. I’ve tried them all – even the crazy teflon-coated Sally Hansen nail strengtheners, and I just couldn’t make my nails grow longer and stronger. And ok, not blaming it all on my nail-DNA, I also don’t feel like typing and doing stuff with my hands with long nails. I’m quite comfortable this way – with short nails that do all the labor, carry stuff, type like a maniac ( I scored high during typing maniac okay ), and all.

Although, sometimes, I just don’t feel like a lady sometimes with my short nails, and much more, a short nailbed. Haha! So…just imagine what I did during a really boring day at the mall…

While I was getting really bored on a Friday afternoon, I was checking on MAC Cosmetics’ holiday collection, and I really felt like getting a manicure. I strolled in Dashing Diva at Powerplant Mall, and well, I asked for “fake nails.” Haha! That was really, really blunt! But they really are, right? Anyway, Dashing Diva apparently has a variety of “virtual nails,” as they are called there – they have metallic nails with various designs, french tipped nails, and just plain nails that can be applied with your chosen shade of nail polish. I chose the plain nails, to save the complication. I was surprised that it only cost me P800.00 for both hands, as before, sculptured nails were much, much more expensive, going to thousands. But these are not sculptured nails, these are virtual nails! Yay for affordable nails!
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