Well, well, well! This week has been an interesting one. It’s the end of July, and it’s been raining everyday, as tropical depressions visit our country giving us all the chills, good slumbers because of the bed weather, but also no sleep, for those whose electricity had been out because of the weather disturbances. Well, as we are gearing towards August, I hope that we’d get to enjoy the dry, but chilly weather soon. I am so ready for that!

One thing that I shared this week, is one proud moment of mine, being able to do stage actress/singer Nikki Guevara’s makeup for a photoshoot. It’s just been too long that I’ve been hanging out with this photography club that I’ve worked with ever since I finished my first makeup course. Just looking at the photos of my work really make me want to do more makeup. I don’t know, it just gives me so much happiness to do makeup!

Speaking of makeup, I also shared on how obsessive I was with drawing eyebrows, thus, they’re the first feature that I look at, when I see someone. Sometimes, I just virtually shape their eyebrows in my mind, and think of how to draw them. Hahaha! Ruffa G gets my vote for the celebrity with the best eyebrows. Be it natural ( good for her ) or drawn ( good for her makeup artist! ), I seek to draw my eyebrows that perfectly, with ease, one day. OR maybe just wake up with eyebrows like that. A girl can dream, okay? Haha!

Beautynomics, being a beauty blog particularly picky about products, loves two brands of soap this week – the Olay Moisturizing Bar in Ultra Moisture feels fresh on the skin, but yet, makes skin feel the softest it can get with a soap, and Venus and Mars, an indie organic beauty company, has two really rave-able bestsellers of theirs, the acne-blasting Lulur Soap and the Royal Pearl Soap that smells like heaven. Oh, does it show, that I love spending time in the shower nowadays? I just love the equation chilly weather + warm water = relaxed muscles, and a good bath experience!

This week was also sort of remembering my sordid past about voltage issues with hair styling products, as I am planning a trip outside Asia soon. Thou-must-remember-not-to-bring-my-styling-products-with-me! This time, my hair iron cannot just die! Noooo!!!

Perhaps the news of the week must be all about the Mystery Shampoo that has been all over the broadsheets, and TV commercials nowadays. The TVC’s voice seems familiar, and even the color scheme in the TVC is familiar, and even the mystery shampoo and conditioner’s packaging are really really bordering on the obvious – I really don’t know what they intend to do! Do they intend to make us really surprised, or just give us obvious hints to make us feel smart and feed our ego, and have a strong brand recall once it gets revealed tomorrow, as we our guesses are right?

Well, think about it! Have a great weekend my lovelies! Any plans? Drop me a line here!

Traditionally recognized benefits of using pearl powder products include: Healing, skin brightening, anti-wrinkle, and sun protection. Other anti-aging benefits: Helps to promote cell renewal, enhance elasticity, improve circulation, calming and detoxification, protects from environmental radicals, regulates skin discoloration, and smoothes skin texture.

Pearls on the skin? Wow. With that, I feel very much like a queen. I particularly like this better than the Lulur Soap- read on why –

To be honest, I’m not really a believer of anti-aging in soaps for now, as I haven’t aged that much, and stayed loyal to one product long enough to see the effects. Leap of faith, thats what everyone should do to commit to an anti-aging routine. With the Royal Pearl Bar, the winning factor is the smell. Personally, I am totally in love with the very light and fragrant cucumber melon scent! I find myself staying in the shower longer just because I want to smell the soap! Silly me, but it’s true! Though, using this makes my skin squeaky clean in the morning, and is just perfect for a long, tiring day, the anti-aging benefits remains to be unproven, maybe, around a few more years? But I’m optimistic. My last three words about it – love.the.smell. Having emu oil as one of the ingredients also helps – it’s known to be the wonder oil of this decade, being able to heal various skin conditions, without necessarily greasing the skin!

For those who are into organic and natural beauty products, I would definitely recommend you to take a peek at Venus and Mars’ online store, as they have a wide selection of organic beauty treats, that I’m sure you will take pleasure in trying. I promise you, they’re one of the better ones!

Venus and Mars fangirls and fanbois? Share your favorite products, and convince me to try more! Haha!

Oh, here’s something that I wish, we’d have here soon!

I usually spend my idle time surfing for new products and brands in the market, and I just stumbled into a brand that just made me really happy – Melvita.

Melvita is a organic beauty brand, with homegrown, natural beauty products. Just hearing the word “organic” and “natural” in it totally got me sold. But then, there comes the surge of products in the market being marked as “organic” or “natural” without any claims, that really makes it hard for us, and just gives us more homework by checking the back labels to scrutinize ingredients. With Melvita, they are Ecocert, and Comebio-certified, approved by the most stringent organizations in global organic certification standard.

What made me eye on this brand further is their line, “Mum & Baby.” Mommies, starting from pregnancy, are supposed to stay away from products with chemicals that can potentially be harmful for the baby ( remember, no hair dyeing during pregnancy? ). Taking an extra precautionary step by using organic skin care products makes it easier for the mind that the baby is in good hands.

With the newborn baby, only the mildest bath products are to be used, as the skin is very sensitive. I am totally coo-ing over the cuteness of Melvita’s “Nappy Change Milk” and “Cleansing Milk for Face and Body.” I am totally dreaming of my future kid right now, to have all of these wonderful organic products to use as early as age 0. Wow, and smelling like aromatherapy. Hahaha!

Well, I really hope that organic beauty brands in the world can do something like this, so there’d be organic product loyalists as young as age zero! I think that would be super cool!

Hahaha! Don’t you think that the title’s funny? Instead of “travelling pants,” I’ve made it a whole lot vain-er . Well, come to think of it, we always want our hair styling tools around us, don’t you agree? They’re our sisters, and somehow, we share them with our friends during our getting-ready moments!

I remember during high school, during our retreat, seeing my really cute classmate ( she’s a girl ) fresh from the shower, with her hair wet, as she whipped up her hair blower, and started blow drying her hair. In that moment, I knew, that it was her secret for her impossibly bouncy and enviable hair that she sports everyday!

I remember two things that I shopped for in Watson’s before flying off to Singapore to study makeup – a precious hair iron ( it’s tourmaline! ) and a travel-sized hair blower. See, I’ll never be caught in Singapore with bad hair! Good thing that the tools I bought from Manila worked perfectly there.

But then, it doesn’t always turn out that way.

Way back, I was really really fascinated with those hair irons in the U.S. – let’s face it, their technologies in hair styling are way progressive than ours. Reading through cult favorites T3 and CHI ceramic flat iron reviews, I was deciding which to get. Someone sponsored me a T3 tourmaline ceramic iron, that really made my day, and despite of voltage issues and warnings that I’ve been reading online, I thought that it was going to be easy – just find a voltage adaptor, and you’re all set!

The day that I received and giddily tried my T3 tourmaline hair iron proved to be a day that I would never forget in my entire life. I stubbornly ignored “not for use outside the U.S.” warning on the box, and got myself a voltage adaptor, and put it on. Then, a quick, cracking sound ( I could not quite describe it ), and some smell of burnt electricity prompted me to stop using it. It had light on the hair iron, but it smelled burnt. Uh oh. Game over. Say bye bye to my precious T3 tourmaline hair iron that cost around $150. Total heartbreak, if you ask me.

Now that I’ve gotten my heart broken, I’m still not giving up with my “sisterhood of traveling hair styling tools” theme in life. Hair styling tools are my sisters, that help me look my best, and presentable during needed situations, so I am sharing this experience with you so as for you not to do the same – buy hair styling tools from the U.S. or maybe Europe, and have your heart broken. Check voltage compatibility. Make sure your adaptors work. It’s always safer buying from Asian countries ( I bought a hair iron from Singapore and it turned out fine yay! ) , and right now, I prefer buying my hair styling tools in my own country, even if they’re more expensive. I’m just playing safe. But then, when traveling to a country outside your continent, don’t immediately plug your hair styling tools, they might actually get ruined, just by that!

So now, with my trip to another continent coming up, I am definitely asking my friend who lives there to be a “sister” and share her hair iron with me, because I definitely cannot bring mine. Heehee!

Well, how about you? Do you have any stories about your hair styling tools? Share, share!

Ruffa Gutierrez. Hands down. Proof? I am a Summit fan -and I patronize Preview and Cosmo , and I grew up with Candy Magazine, but I don’t really read Good Housekeeping Magazine ( I’m just not a home improvement person! haha! ) . But then, I picked up this magazine in a heartbeat upon looking at the cover. Why? First, it was Ruffa G on the cover. Second, her perfectly shaped and defined eyebrows were calling me. Real bad. That I felt that it was a good buy already, and I haven’t even started browsing through the pages!

I swear, I have this really strange eyebrow obsession, and the first thing I’d look at are people’s eyebrows. I am obsessed with perfectly shaped, neatly groomed, and even perfectly drawn eyebrows. I start my day seeking to draw my eyebrows to perfection, and I don’t even care about anything else. Eyebrows are just plain love.

Aside from Ruffa G being the bearer of the most beautiful eyebrows in the Philippine industry, KC Concepcion comes at a close second.

Believe me, I could just stare at their eyebrows all day long!

Here’s to parallel lines, perfect arches, and pointed but seamless ends with eyebrows!

Read all about my eyebrow grooming adventures here.

I’m the type of person who just loves taking showers in the morning, that I would not be able to function well if I didn’t, for the day! I always like starting my day on a clean slate, with a fresh promise of a bright, and promising day with so much possibilities as soon as my eyes are open, and revived from a good night’s sleep.

For the past few weeks, what’s been making my mornings bright and nice ? I’m about to share to you right now – it’s the Olay Moisturizing Bar in the Ultra Moisture variant.

Truth be told, I was at first dubious of the product. Ultra moisture, with shea butter as the primary ingredient? I was a bit hesitant to open the bar and try it, for one, my body, not only my face, has open pores and are susceptible to body acne (yes, I’m a body acne sufferer ), and hearing shea butter triggers some fear because it just sounds so…greasy! Another concern would be the smell of commercial soaps in the market – my nerves cannot tolerate wildly synthetic scents in the morning, for I am a fan of aromatherapy.

Okay, so what made me try it? Well, I am such a lotion phobic person that I don’t really apply lotion on my body. I only do so when I get alarmed during moments of realization that my skin’s so dry already, and that promise of lotion-applying only lasts for a day or two! Looking at my skin, specifically my arms, they’re really dry already, that hints of white are already showing from so much dryness, so I decided to try this. After all, what’s there to lose? I can always stop after a day!

Trying the Olay Moisturizing Bar in Ultra Moisture proved to be a revelation – first, the scent was not strong at all, so it didn’t ruin my morning mood. Second, the product glided smoothly on my skin, with enough lather to enjoy. Needless to say, it passed my standards on the bath-sensory department ( haha is there such! ) , that I was willing to use it everyday. Best of it all, it didn’t aggravate, or trigger any body acne, as it did not feel greasy, as I was afraid it would be, but instead, it gave me a squeaky clean feeling, with added softness on my skin. As for the promise of “ultra moisture,” I can definitely see that my skin is less dry as before, though I think I would really need to force myself to use lotions with my really dry skin.

Overall, I don’t think there is still a soap that can make us stay away from lotions and can act as a soap, and lotion in one, but then, the Olay Moisturizing Bar in Ultra Moisture, I believe, is the closest ( yes, the clooosest! ) product that can fill in that need. It really does infuse moisture in the skin that it’s a part of my staples in my favorite morning routine.

Tata for now!

Nikki Guevara is a stage actress, a singer, a TV personality, and just finished taking up makeup lessons in the Make Up For Ever Academy here, so just imagine the pressure on my shoulders when I was asked to do her makeup for this photoshoot. Oh yes, my shoulders were sore for an entire week after. Hahaha!

Kidding aside, Nikki was so much fun to talk to, as she was friendly, and we had our love for makeup as our common ground. She even brought with her a traincase full of droolworthy makeup ( at least she was more organized than I am! ) , and a Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual, that I really really love as well! As I was chatting with her, I kept on sensing that she looked familiar, until out of the blue, I just asked, “are you related to Carla Guevara?” She said, “Yes, she’s my sister!” No wonder, they looked so much alike ! I remember applauding over Carla Guevara-Laforteza’s performance in Avenue Q, and looks like Nikki is also going to steal the stage just like that soon!

For the photoshoot, we agreed that we wanted to channel a Kim Kardashian vibe on her – bold, sultry, sexy, and edgy. I made her eyebrows strong, ala Kim Kardashian, lined her eyes heavily with black eyeliner for more intensity, and put on Monave Multi-purpose Mineral in Envy ( a dark green shade ) on her outer V, and Monave Multi-Purpose Mineral in Gold on the bigger fraction of her lids. Cheeks were contoured heavily, and I used Monave Mineral Blush in Vintage Lace on a contouring motion as well to further sculpt her cheeks. Lips were kept in a pale pink shade – using her favorite pink lipstick, the MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick.

Well, what do you think? Well, I think she looks beautiful!

I am looking forward to see various writeups about her as she is going to be busy with plays soon – one, with The Wedding Singer, and another one, playing the lead, Princess Melissandre, in Sleeping Beauty! She’d also be starring in “Sugo,” which is going to be aired in GMA soon. Muy excited! Let’s all watch her shine!

Special thanks to Mark Ong for the superb photos!

Last Sunday, I read the papers, and I’ve seen a huge ad, with an unbranded, unnamed shampoo bottle with a big question mark in it, calling it the Mystery Shampoo. Last week, I’ve seen two bloggers blog about it taking the 14-day Challenge, taking a leap of faith on testing a hair product that they don’t know what it is. Well, what is the Mystery Shampoo?

Tried by 150 million across 14 countries, it’s the No.1 shampoo brand, worldwide. You try, you decide.

I was able to receive a few small bottles of the Mystery Shampoo ( and a small bottle of conditioner ) to try, and the bottles, at first look, were really familiar. The packaging is exactly like something that I’d see in grocery shelves, a brand very much familiar to the Filipino people. But I could be wrong. I don’t know the marketing strategy of the company behind it, if they’d like to border on the obvious, or let us in a wild surprise.

With my hair very much stiff and tangled from my steroids application due to my scalp allergy, I decided to try it today. The scent reminds me so much of the cucumber melon variant of beauty products, and I love the light, sweet scent that doesn’t scream synthetic. After rinsing, my hair felt moderately soft, and without using a comb, finger-combing proved to be very easy with the tangle-free feel. Wow, this must be good. For the moisture factor, I haven’t experienced anything wow at the moment, but I’m willing to try it for another week to see if this can be good for my hair.

Well, have you tried the Mystery Shampoo? I think they’re giving away sample packs! and, I’d like to know, what brand do you think is the “mystery shampoo?”

Have a great morning!

Would you believe that I’ve only been aware and conscious of the hair on my upper lip, just last year? My makeup class teacher pointed at me and called me a man for having a “mustache.” Hahaha! Well, after that very rude awakening and earning a few laughs from my classmates ( which, I was a good sport, by the way, and laughed along ), I started exploring ways to get rid of my upper lip hair. I tried using wax strips, but I’m afraid that my entire upper lip area became really red and swollen right after, making me swear off that procedure! I’ve had my teacher thread them off during our threading class, but of course, I had to do them on my own in time. Right now, I find that using an epilator for my upper lip was effective, but is painful. Good thing it only lasts for two minutes doing it, and I only do it when I get conscious. Haha!

Looking at the Lindo Twist-N-Roll Tweezers offers a new alternative in getting rid of facial hair, much like a D-I-Y threading procedure. I swear, learning threading using thin threads wasn’t as easy as I thought, and I can hardly remember how to do it now, so a “threading” gadget would really be helpful!

Lindo twist-n-roll tweezers gently removes hair in one twist motion. It’s a gentle and natural alternative to other hair removal products. Use it on upper lip, cheeks, forehead, chin, neck and more.

A video demo on how to use it can be found here. Reading through their website, I understand that there is still discomfort with using this tool. Well, just goes to show that with the exception of in-clinic hair removal procedures like the IPL, discomfort is to be expected with DIY hair removal tools, or even threading itself. But on the brighter side of things, it’s how fast your hands can move that will determine the discomfort. The faster you act, the less painful it’s gonna be!

As I am still contemplating about laser hair removal procedures, I think I would stick with my DIY hair removal tools for now!

Tata for now!

I’ve told you about Sunsilk’s amazing reformulation a post back, teaming up with the world’s best hair experts to give us salon results at the comfort of our own homes! With that, they celebrated the new hair care line with a really fun event!

Well, it was really fun, as it started, with beautiful models gracing the runway, and it got even better with two of the hair experts flown in to grace the event,

and of course, making it even better, with Sunsilk brand endorser Sarah Geronimo making us all squeal “Sarah!!!!”, as it all turns out most of us love her being on TV and watch her movies.

What’s fun as well is the event with so much friends around,

But then, what was the really fun part of the event? Oh, they just know that girls are giddy for cameras. Aside from the paparazzi-esque entrance they made for all the guests, they had a Sunsilk wall that was managed by top photographer Mark Chester Ang. My images were scanned, so they turned out blurry ( too bad! ) But then, I think they’re good enough to tell a story about :

Oh my gosh. Can you see what a trying hard model I am? I saw Ria Bolivar posing at the Sunsilk wall, all beautiful, and all mean supermodel mode. I mustered the guts to approach her and asked her to take a photo with us, imitating her poses. She gamely agreed, and showed us the photos she had taken. Well, lookie lookie! I think, it was the funniest part of the event!

Well, I was also able to go back to the Sunsilk wall to take that much-due photo with the girls. Here’s a goofy shot of us for. Missing Jheng much!

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend! I’m bound for an exciting one!