August 2014 Favorites (Beauty, K-Pop, Dramas, Books, Movies)

Hi guys! I know I skipped blogging for a few days. I've just been busy with a new hobby of mine, Clash of Clans. Let me know if you're also playing the game. Hehe! Also, I did have to go out the other day and I was pressed to edit a new video for my youtube channel. So yes, I can say that I was quite busy the past few days.

Today, I had to receive a visitor, a friend (Hi Lyle!). And I also filmed a video (which I have to refilm T_T) so I didn't have time to write up a post. So I'm just gonna have to share this video with you instead of writing up a new post. It's my August Favorites video, which I hope you enjoy watching.

Products Mentioned:

SKIN CARE
- Holika Holika Holiday Vita B Daily Mask
- THEFACESHOP Wrinkle Stop Eye Cream
- THEFACESHOP Clean Face Clear Away Spot

- Nature Republic 92%  Aloe Soothing Gel


MAKEUP
- Etude House Color Pop Shine Tint (#3 Vita Pop)

- Ever Bilena Pro Longwear Lipstick (Retro)
- Nature Republic Lip and Cheek Color (#4 Red Tangerine)

- Kate Tokyo Eyebrow Color (BR-1)


NON-BEAUTY FAVORITES
- Guardians of the Galaxy (Movie)
- Speechless by Hannah Harrington (Book)
- Nisekoi, Ao Haru Raido, Haikyuu!, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Anime)
- Marriage Not Dating, It's Okay That's Love, High School Love On (K-Drama)
- We Got Maried: Jongah Couple (Variety)

MUSIC
- Red Velvet- Happiness
- f(x)- Red Light
- Girls' Day- Darling
- Infinite- Back
- Winner- Empty
- High4 w/ Lim Kim- A Little Close
- Twin Forks- Cross My Mind
- Taylor Swift- Shake It Off
- Super Junior- MAMACITA (Ayayayaya) ❤

KARA Mamma Mia Makeup Look: Tutorial

I am one lazy kid. I knew I was supposed to have a post scheduled today but I was procrastinating too much that the day is almost at its end. And because I'm not in my 'writing mode', I just decided to share with you one of my makeup tutorials in my youtube channel.

This is actually K-Pop inspired. I'm not sure if you know of Kara but they are one of South Korea's most successful girl groups, especially in Japan. Although Nicole and Jiyoung already left the group, Kara still stands strong with a new member, Youngji. Their latest song is Mamma Mia and this look was inspired by their MV for that.

Basically, the look is a bronzey, goldish look. I really like their eye makeup. I feel that it is versatile as it can pass both as a day and night look. What do you think?

I'm filling this post with several photos to eat up space. Haha. Yes, that's how lazy I am. :)

If you want to know how I did this particular look, make sure to watch this video below. Otherwise, you can just comment down below on what you think of the makeup look basing from the photos above. :)

AOA Short Hair MV Makeup | 에이오에이 - 단발머리 메이크업

Before I go on with the formal content of this post, I would like to invite everyone to join my ongoing giveaway. I will be giving away a hair dye from the Japanese brand called Dariya Palty in the shade Milk Tea Brown, which happens to be one of the popular shades they have. It is open internationally so everyone is encouraged to join. :) (You will probably see this introduction in most of my future posts up until the giveaway is over. I hope you don't mind the post by post plug. ^^)

Here's a little bit of an update on what's new in my youtube channel. I just published a video earlier today with a simple makeup tutorial inspired by one of K-Pop's (not so) new girl group from FNC Entertainment (Yes, think C.N.Blue, F.T.Island and Juniel!), AOA or Ace of Angels. They recently released a new music video called Short Hair. It's an upbeat catchy song that I like to listen to on repeat. I like how cute and colorful the whole music video, which finally urged me to do a makeup look inspired by it.

(Click on the photo for the tutorial) 

I was mainly looking at Hye Jung's makeup and that was the look I was going for but somehow, after publishing it, a viewer commented that it looks more like Seolhyun's, which I happen to agree with. I'm not sure but whenever I try to recreate K-Pop looks, it doesn't really look exactly the same (probably) because my eye shape is different than those of Korean stars.

 Expectation: Hyejeong makeup

 Reality: Resulted as Seolhyun (Doesn't matter though, because both are pretty. ^^)

Anyway, it took me a longer period of time filming and editing this particular tutorial because I wanted the output to be an improved version of my previous uploads. I managed to get some new filming ideas thanks to ClairBellaTV, as she shared a few filming tips in her latest main channel video. So I give her all the credits for the better outcome of my videos from hereon. Yay!

Anyway, check out the fruits of my hardwork, the video itself, over HERE. Thanks!

Jeon Hyo Sung 전효성 (SECRET) 시크릿 Good Night Kiss MV Inspired Makeup

It's been quite a while since my last makeup tutorial video but I just thought of doing one a few weeks back and now here it is! After taking a long time trying to get past my laziness, I am finally done editing it!

Yes, it is the very makeup I was wearing in my Flexwear Contact Lens post. :)

You don't have to be a K-Pop fan to try this look out. It's a nice semi-smokey (kind of) makeup that is definitely wearable for both a day and night out. So I won't prolong the entry and I will be leaving you with the video and hope that you learn something from it. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe if you do watch it! ^^

Oh, and today is my dear sister's birthday, exactly one week after my mom's so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!!! Love ya! <3

Nature Republic Botanical Eyebrow Mascara (#2 Light Brown): Review

Let me share a fact regarding myself with you. I am scared of bleaching my hair-- both my actual hair and my brows. I am quite fond of hair coloring, though. The lightest I've gone/used would have to be Medium Ash Blonde and that lifted my hair color significantly. Personally, I get really hyped up when I lighten my hair without bleaching. The only problem is my eyebrow color gets left behind. I don't know about you but I just don't really like the look I have when my hair is too light for my brows. But since I am afraid of bleaching my brows, I only have one option left-- colored brow mascara.

Just like in my previous brow mascara review, I tend to use light brown mascara to set my brows in place and lighten them up. Nature Republic's Botanical Eyebrow Mascara in No. 2 (Light Brown) does a good job in doing those tasks. It sets my brows (for the whole day) and it lightens my brows to match my hair color.

The applicator

This would be the second colored brow mascara I've used and although almost every aspect is the same with the other brand, I prefer this one a little bit just because of the applicator. The applicator for this particular brand is a tad bit smaller and a bit stiffer. You would think that I'd stay away from an applicator that is stiff but I feel that the bristles in the applicator gets to brush the hair a lot better than the flimsier ones and it grabs onto each brow hair strand better and keeps it in place. It also doesn't go all over the place since as I've said, it is smaller, so it offers more precision.

For you to appreciate the product even more, I would like to share this video I made in my youtube channel showing you a demonstration of how I use this particular product plus a little bit of a "How I Do My Brows" tutorial.

Let me know what you guys think in the comment section below. I really appreciate it when people comment down on my blog.

Etude House Color Pop Shine Tint in Vita Pop: Review

It's the season to be bright and bold! At least that's how I believe this season is to be. I live in the Philippines and we're in the middle of summer. Temperature is so high, I can't even leave an air conditioned room in the middle of the day. Let's take today for example. Today is April 12 (one day before this post gets published) and the temperature ranges from 25-33 C, at least that's what my trusty iPad Mini says. It gets unbelievably hot around 2-3PM and even after that, the air just seems to sizzle with heat every single time I get out of the room. Make sure to hydrate yourself well, drink a lot of water and as much as possible, don't expose yourself from too much heat. You don't want to experience heat stroke, right? In some countries, however, it is still partially cold as they just transitioned to the spring season. Oh, how I envy you. I envy those especially who has cherry blossoms to look at. But may it be spring or summer, bright lip colors would still suit the season! I particularly like pink and orange shades for this season. I'm not sure if you've seen my Top 5 Summer/Spring Lip Colors 2014 but this particular product I'm about to talk about is included in that list and it's the only non-local product I included in the lot. It is non other than the Etude House Color Pop Shine Tint in Vita Pop!  

I've had this for quite a while, again from my trusty, favorite online shop called Kkochipida. It was not yet available in Etude House stores back then and this was the first local online store that offered the product for a reasonable price. No, this is not sponsored. I bought this with my own money last year. I've been using this since late August (Yes, I did not use it right away.) but I only found time to write down my thoughts today. (Talk about major back log there!)

If I'm not mistaken, Color Pop Shine Tint collection from Etude House came out last year as part of their summer collection. So when they released this, summer was actually already over (or closely getting over) here in the Philippines. Good thing we live in a tropical country so I managed to still rock this even after summer.

I got it in the shade no. 3 (Vita Pop). I think this one looks closest to the tangerine shade I've always coveted ever since Dara became an Etude House endorser. I know it's f(x)'s Krystal and Sulli who endorses the brand nowadays but I just can't forget who actually convinced me of trying out orange shades as part of my makeup routine. If you're not familiar with Dara's Miss Tangerine days, you can check her CF here.

I'm not sure why I took so many shots of the applicator but it's nothing really fancy or extraordinary. Truth be told, I have small issues on the length of the applicator since it is too short for my taste but it's nothing too much that I would actually complain about. It gets the job done anyway.

Here is a swatch and just as I've said, it is as tangerine as I hoped it would look like. I especially like to do an ombre look using this, along with my Ever Bilena lipstick in Retro. Otherwise, using it on its own is okay too.

Like any other tints, it stains the lips for a longer lasting staying power. The difference, however, is the finish, which as one would assume from its name, is glossy/ shiny. I don't think my lips dry up as much as other tints do with this particular product probably because of the finish. On the other hand, the downside is that it doesn't stay as long as the other tints I've tried. It doesn't bother me, though. Because I only really just bought this because I wanted its shade. Originally, I thought this would only look like a colored lip gloss on my lips that would just last for an hour or so. But as stated above, it provides good color pay off, finishes with a gloss and has a comparable (but sadly not up to par) staying power. Needless to say, it performed better than my expectations that is why I am very impressed with this product. I highly recommend this especially during this summer/ spring season. If you want a video swatch, be sure to check out my Top 5 Summer/ Spring Lip Colors 2014 over here where I swatched all my favorite lip colors for this season, including this.

Three weeks ago, I went to Etude House Glorietta and I saw that this particular product was still in stock so I'm pretty sure it is still available in Etude House boutiques out there. But if you want, you can just ask Etude House Philippines through their facebook page to check if it is in fact, still in stores. It is priced at PHP478. If no Etude House branch is near you and you feel like losing hope, don't fret. Kkochipida is the answer to your prayers!

Tony Moly Cats Wink Clear Pact in Clear Skin #1: Review

I gotta be honest, guys (and by 'guys', I mean 'girls'). I don't like cats. I get allergic to (any) animal fur and to make things worse, I was scratched by a stray one back when I was just a little kid. It was traumatic and I was scared. But that didn't stop the family from having one. Yes, we have one here at home but I don't really play with it (...or 'him'. Don't wanna upset cat lovers, do I?) I'm not even sure why we have a cat. Our house help says he was born here and that even though we had no intention of adopting him, we just naturally fed the cat and since then, he never went away. He doesn't even have a name. We just call him "Miming", just like how we call any other cat. But then again, this post is not about our house cat. It's about another cat that I personally use and own. It's my Tony Moly Cats Wink Clear Pact.

 The packaging looks so cute, don't you think? :)

 Not the cheapest compact powder out there but definitely not that expensive.

 Shade #1 (Clear Skin)

Okay, so this cat isn't actually real and I know that writing about our house cat for my intro sounds lame. But then again, I can't think of another introduction so I will just leave it at that. Heck, I'm writing this down at 2:30AM! So if you really think about it, I should just be thankful that words are actually coming out of my head!

 You can test your hangul skills by reading the back label.

 It has a paw print on the powder itself!

So enough about my house cat, my introduction and my dramatic way of saying I wanna go to sleep. Let's get down to business and talk about the product itself. First and foremost, I loooovvvee the packaging. Although I don't like cats in general, I would be willing to get along with this one because 1.) It can't scratch or bite me. It's not alive. 2.) It's super duper cute! I even had friends comment on how cute this powder pact looks like whenever I get it out of my makeup kit for a touch up. 3.) To top it all off, it's in pink (my favorite color)! So just by looking at the design, I knew deep within my heart that I was bound to get this for myself... And I did! With the help of the saleslady at SM Makati, I got the one in Clear Skin shade (#1).

This shade is actually a little bit light upon initial application but it oxidizes a little bit on me so it sets into a shade closer to my actual skin tone. It is a good product to set makeup and control excessive dewiness or even help keep my oil production at bay.  It doesn't cake and doesn't break me out, which is a plus. With my oily skin and humid weather in the Philippines, it stays on for about 3 hours before I need to re-blot. This is pretty standard for my case since I have really really oily skin. So far, I have no regrets buying this product and I am actually thinking about repurchasing this, if I don't get the urge to try a new product once this runs out.