Hair Color: Rouge Chocolate Brown

Back in November 2012 (Yes, this is a flashback Friday post), I colored my hair with a reddish shade using a mix of hair color brands. I thought I wasn't able to document the moment so I didn't do a post about it but after looking through my hard drive, I saw that I was actually able to take some photos.

I've always colored my hair at home with the help of my mom. I know DIYs like these are somewhat scary (especially for first timers) but I've always felt like having it done outside is a lot scarier since I've heard about a lot of horror stories on hair color errors even with a professional's touch.

I've had an urge to color my hair with a touch of red ever since I saw Park Bom's hair in a 2NE1 MV (I think it's Can't Nobody). I just thought that a touch of red was kind of cool especially since I used to always stick to browns.

 Park Bom

I ended up getting HBC Hortaleza Hair Coloring Cream (Low Ammonia) in the shade Rouge 6.43 (firts photo above). I chose the low ammonia variant because I felt that this type of hair dye would not be as damaging as the regular ones. The swatch shown in the store was a little bit more red than the actual color I wanted but since hair dyes almost always doesn't color as bright as the swatch shows, I still bought it. It was pretty cheap and I was pretty happy with my purchase.

When I got back home, however, I chickened out! Since I used to work as a Staff Nurse and we weren't exactly allowed to dye our hair crazy colors, I had a lot of 'What If' moments. Panic went through me and I was unable to answer questions like, 'What if red doesn't suit me after all?', 'What if it doesn't turn out the way I want it too?', 'What if I look stupid after coloring my hair this shade?' and 'What if it actually colors as bright as the swatch?'. I then decided to mix this hair color with a previous hair dye that I've used- Bigen Silk Touch in Chocolate Brown!

I used the conditioner that came with the Bigen box dye for after color care

My hair is pretty fine and I had short hair back then so whenever I dye my hair, almost half of the dye is left untouched. That is why I still had the remains of my Bigen Silk Touch hair dye in Chocolate Brown. It was risky but then I decided to mix the two shades together in a ratio of 2:1 (Rouge: Chocolate Brown). I thought this would in turn help give the shade a touch of brown to make it more wearable. So how was the result?

I got reddish brown hair! I loved it! Especially the first few weeks when the red color was showing up really nicely. It's very humid in the Philippines and it's always summer here (Not really. But you get my point, right?) so I wash my hair everyday. And since I have fine hair, I can't skip on the shampoo so I guess the red color washed out pretty quickly. It washed out faster than the brown and in a month's time, my hair turned more of a brown shade than red. I guess that's just how it is since red hair is really hard to maintain.

 with flash

under natural lighting

Overall I was pleased with the results even if the red tones only lasted for a few weeks. I'm thinking of trying out bubble hair colors with red tones (Prettia, maybe?) right before I leave for South Korea in December. What do you guys think? Oh, and I have my next hair color at hand. It's Prettia Bubble Hair Dye in Milk Tea Brown. I bought it during my Japan trip. I'm planning to color my hair around April or May so watch out for that. ^^

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Ruby Valentine (08): Review

Statement lips? There's only one color I have in mind- RED!!! Think vixen! There's nothing easier than to wear a shade of red on your lips for that glam (but minimal) makeup look you're going for. No need for that smokey eye makeup you've been trying to perfect (but can't seem to) for the past few weeks. Yes, not all people are armed with makeup skills. Some people just have to go with the basics and this Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Ruby Valentine (08) might just be the one for you!

Milani Color Statement Lipstick in Ruby Valentine (08)

WARNING: Elements of K-Pop may be mentioned a couple of times from hereon. As I am a hardcore K-Pop fan, I'm not sure how crazy or how calm (depending on my control) I may sound for the rest of the post. Recently, I have noticed that quite a few K-Pop artists have been wearing shades of red for their promotions. Does Miss A's Hush concept come into mind? They wore red lips. I even saw Dara (2NE1)'s Get It Beauty tutorial and it incorporated red lips in one of the looks as well! Recently, SNSD (Girls Generation) has released their Mr.Mr Teaser (Don't ask me about my opinion on the alleged MV clip loss and the comeback delay. I may not be able to finish this post properly.) and most of them were wearing bold colored lips. For the past few years, girl group idols have mostly been wearing nude/peach/pink shades for most of their looks and now they're finally reaching out for more exciting looks, incorporating dark and bold colors for a change.

 Dara (2NE1) in Get It Beauty with CLIO

Miss A- Hush concept

So what does that have to do with me or with this post for that matter? Well, they've successfully converted a self proclaimed K-Pop fan ergo I've started considering (and using) bold colors for different looks as well. The timing couldn't also be better since I received this particular product from my best friend. Color Statement Lipstick from Milani DOES make a statement. It's definitely perfect to make my look more made up than I actually put an effort to. It has a semi-matte finish that make it look even more elegant (in my opinion). I love how pigmented this product is without being drying. I do touchups about 2 times in a day which practically means every 4 hours or so. That amount of time is already fine with me since I usually eat/drink around that time frame and I always do my touchups after eating/drinking no matter what product I'm using. Overall, I'm impressed with this product. I can't thank Botbot (my best friend) enough for this present. :)

So recently, Sunmi has released an MV called Full Moon. Once again, catchy songs like 24 Hours fill in the K-Pop scene. Yehet! I've taken a liking to Sunmi's overall look for this promotion that I filmed my take on her makeup. If you're interested, you can check my video out over here where I used this particular lipstick for my red lips: End of post realization: I think I did a pretty good job controlling myself in this post I didn't sound too K-Pop cray, right? Just don't mention the 2NE1 ALL OR NOTHING Live in Manila because I just heard that ticket release would be on March 22, 2014 and oh my gosh, I'm not prepared! I have to stop writing now because I have to leave my other K-Pop friend a message regarding this matter. That's all for now, ohorat!

THEFACESHOP Freshian Volumizing Mascara: Review

Two good things you'd want to hear side by side are cheap and effective. Not all things beauty related (or even nonbeauty) are measured by its price. Sometimes, you just have to look for that one good product you can brag about, not because it costs a fortune but because you practically didn't spend much on it.

THEFACESHOP is a really good brand from South Korea. I love their skin care line and it has never failed me at any point in my life. (I hope it never does.)

A few years back, I bought this mascara from THEFACESHOP. It was the first time I actually looked around the store and I fancied this particular product. It was calling me inside my head, begging me to take it. And I'm glad I had that little psych thing going in my head because this is probably the best everyday wear kind of mascara that I've tried!

I have long lashes but my lashes are very fine, stick straight and hardly noticeable. I need something that would volumize them enough to be actually seen. I mean who cares about long lashes when noone seems to even notice it? I got the Volume variant without high expectations. They also have Curling ones, by the way. I just wanted a new mascara, wanted it to be from THEFACESHOP and I wanted it to be cheap. At that time it was around PHP265 but I'm pretty sure I was able to get ahold of this for around PHP198 the second time I bought it. (Do correct me if I get the prices wrong though.) So I bought it. Again, I had no expectations whatsoever. But when I tried it? Oh my gosh, I loved it! It was able to give me the right amount of volume for an everyday kind of look. I didn't really want my lashes to be over the top, I just want it to be noticeable and... it was! With just one coat, I was able to achieve the look that I wanted. Also, it was able to hold the curl of my lashes for a couple of hours. I'm guessing around 4 hours or so and I know you might think 4 hours is short but mind you, I have stick straight lashes that I can't seem to curl! Now with this mascara? I see hope.

 one coat

Tried doing double coat but I didn't do a perfect job. It turned out to be a little clumpy. Truth be told, though, I don't mind clumpy lashes so if I really want to make my lashes even more noticeable, I wouldn't mind doing double coats. 

double coat

Have you tried this product out? My friend Bear (Hi Bear!) has and we couldn't help but rave about it when it was brought up. It's also the perfect gift for those in a tight budget. I usually recommend this product to good friends who are looking for an affordable but effective mascara. It's one of my favorites and I will definitely repurchase this in the future.

Celeteque Advanced Anti-Aging Cleansing Oil: Review

Another product review! Yehet! This one's from Sample Room. I know I've mentioned Sample Room before but for those who do not know what Sample Room is, basically it's a website that offers limited free samples of different particular featured products. To know more, you can visit their site at: http://www.sampleroom.ph/.

Celeteque Dermoscience: a dermatologist tested brand available locally in any major drugstore and groceries. I've tried a couple of products from Celeteque but sad to say, I haven't found anything that really impressed me except for their moisturizing mist. It's actually kind of sad because I have high hopes for this brand when I first found out about it. Other people swear by it but for some reason, it doesn't match well with my skin. This particular product is not exempted, either.

Cleansing oils... I've tried a couple of makeup removers before and this isn't the first time I've used an oil variant. I'm not particularly a fan since I don't really like the greasy feeling after using makeup removers like these but I'm not a hater either. I think cleansing oils are best for removing waterproof makeup. And true to all these, Celeteque Advanced Anti-Aging, Anti-Wrinkle, Ultra Hydrating Cleansing Oil is once again not an exemption. Celeteque does leave a greasy feeling after (It's oil so there's really nothing else to expect.) and yes, Celeteque also removes makeup quite well. I can't really comment on the anti-aging properties since I don't really have much of a problem in that area.

So what is all the fuss, you might wanna ask? It broke me out! How do I know for sure? I don't really stop using a product even after breaking out once or twice. I wait about few more weeks just to make sure that it isn't all coincidental. I've used up about 3/4 of the whole bottle before finally deciding to give up on it. I would have tried it again if my face didn't start to clear up right after I stopped using this. I'm not sure what's in the product that causes this problem but I'm pretty sure it's not my cleansing technique because I do wash my face pretty well with face soap and water everytime I remove my makeup.

To conclude this post, I would have to say I was not pleased with this particular product and I definitely would not purchase my own bottle anytime in the future. Sorry, Celeteque. But don't worry, I won't give up on you. Not yet.

Review: Snoe White Lighting Licorice Beauty Bar

Okay guys! So I'm back to blogging! I'm going to try and be more active from this day forward. I know I've said this a million times before and you might have the concept of 'The Boy (better make that 'Girl') Who Cried Wolf' going on in your head. (I don't know about you but whenever I hear about the BWCW, EXO's image pops into my head. Sorry, K-Pop fan to the core. Yehet!) Anyway, I think I'm drifting away from my main point. So it's 11:20 PM right now and I'm typing this all down. I'm not planning on sleeping anytime soon because I want to finish two posts for tonight and maybe write more tomorrow. Since I now have the concept of scheduled posts (I only knew about this today. This justifies my claim that aging and technology don't mesh well.), I may be able to actually fulfill my wishes of being active in beauty blogging once again.

Wanna be the fairest of them all?

Anyway, I am here to talk about Snoe Lightening Licorice Beauty Bar. I bought this wwaayyyy back, I don't even remember exactly when. I was so busy with work stuff (usual excuse, mian~) that I didn't get to review it right away.

So yeah, it's been quite a while since I used this but this was quite a memorable product for me. I wouldn't forget this product cause I got a lot of compliments after I started using this.

So what is this product anyway? Heck, what is Snoe? If you didn't already know, Snoe is a Filipino beauty and skin care brand. If you want to know more about the brand, you can check them out at http://www.snoebeauty.com/. Yay for Pinoy pride!

I bought this particular product at SM Sta. Rosa. They have a store there. It's been quite a while since I visited the same mall but I'm pretty sure they're still there.

Anyway, so I got this product along with two other things: another soap and the Shoozit Spray me from Behind Back Acne Spray (my sister's). When I first entered their store, I was really impressed with the set-up. It felt warm and welcoming. It was hard for me to not go through all the products because they have the best names for each one of them. You know how Benefit creates cool names for their products like 'Porefessional' and stuff alike? Snoe does it too! Sometimes even better! Their product names goes something like 'It’s Oat K! It’s Alright Hydrating Facial Mist' and 'Awesome Poresome Pore Minimizing Power Cleanser'. Cool, huh? If there's one Filipino brand that I believe could go international, it would be Snoe.

Enough about the brand, let's talk about the soap. Here's a little something about the product taken from their official website:

"We’ve got your sensitive skin covered, so make it stand out! Our special formulation containing licorice is safe for the most delicate skin for a total nourishing and gentle whitening effect. Contains Glabridina that inhibits pigmentation by preventing Tyrosinase (responsible for dark spots), Delays skin aging while giving you that pinkish, radiant glow and comes with anti-inflammatory properties derived from licorice."

After using the product for about two weeks, my workmates have started to notice my skin lightening. I personally didn't notice it since I didn't really think it would actually whiten my skin but then people started voicing it out and I can't help but believe them. One workmate even sent me a personal message in facebook asking me to tell her my secret! I told her about how I'm using this new soap and she took note of it and made sure to recognize the brand if she happens to pass by. She also asked about its side effects and I told her I didn't experience anything other than whitening. It didn't sting, didn't itch, didn't peel. True to its claim, it is suitable for sensitive skin!

One of my most popular posts is my Kojie-san review, which is another whitening soap. If you guys ask me which is better, I'd say they're right about the same with its whitening effects. It's just that Kojie-san dries up my skin more so I tend to lean more on this product.

However, I already stopped using this. And that's only because I have a bad case of bacne (and this was even before I started using this product) so I had to get a different soap specifically made for pimples and such. Just to clarify though, this did NOT aggravate the condition of my skin. It just wasn't helping with the current state so I had to switch for the love of my back.

So if you don't have problematic skin and you want to be the fairest of them all, why don't you give this product a try and tell me how it goes for you?

Swatch: Rain Nail Polish in Pistachio Delight

Hi guys! I've been out and I'm so tiiirrreed. Got my NBI clearance earlier. I haven't told you this before but I've tried getting my clearance three times (in three different places) before but all attempts turned out to be failures. I don't have a hit, mind you. It's just that there seems to be a cut-off in every NBI branch I go to. Last month, I went to Muntinlupa and secured a stub with a number and a date. That date is today and I finally got my NBI clearance! It was surprisingly easier when you already have a numnber. I got my clearance in less than an hour. Why am I tired, you ask? Well, it was kind of hot (not to mention humid) outside and I had to walk around the marketside for quite sometime to get to the NBI branch. That's why. So yeah, my day went by so quickly and now that I'm home, I just realized how empty my blog feels. It's been quite a while since I last had a decent post in here. I wanted to write down a review for today but since I'm feeling a little bit tired, I just opted for this swatch post. I may have mentioned this nail polish in my previous NOTDs but since I already have these photos edited and ready for upload, why not upload a separate swatch post? I got this particular nail polish for PHP17.00 from a local boutique.

 Rain by Colortrends in Pistachio Delight

 nice summery green color

no flash 

with flash

Valentine's Day 2014 Makeup Tutorial

Hi everyone! So what day is it today? For me, it's Friday. But for most people, it's Valentine's Day. Haha. Feeling a little bit bitter cause I don't have a date. But then again, who said Valentine's is just for lovers? However you want to spend your Valentine's Day, may it be with your special someone, your friends, family or even just yourself (pampering and all that), I hope that you all are having a good one. If you ask me, my day's been pretty good so far. I slept in late. I just got my work out done and I feel great! I received a present from my parents (chocolates, donuts and a rose) since they already know I'm not going out today (Thanks Ma, Pa.). My sister's out for a doctor's appointment so I'm all alone in the house, planning out which movie I'm going to download and watch.

But enough about me. How's your day going so far? Got a date? Going out? What makeup are you wearing? Recently, I filmed this makeup tutorial. It's a date makeup made especially for beginners out there. I know not everyone is an expert with makeup application and I just thought that doing a beginner's makeup tutorial would be a nice idea. The theme of the makeup is pink and gold, which in my opinion is very girly and perfect for a special day. It's simple but eye catching especially if you're going to finish it off with a winged liner look.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this tutorial with you and if you want to check it out, here's the video for it:

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! ^^

Lip Product Collection + Swatches

Hi everyone! I made this video to share my lip product collection with you guys. I enjoy watching videos like this and I am in no way bragging about my stuff. I don't even own that much and most of my stuff are drugstore products but yeah, since I enjoy watching these kinds of video, I filmed one myself.

I decided to cut the video into 2. I didn't originally plan it this way so if you watched this video until the end, you'd notice I didn't have a proper outro. But after filming it, I realized that the video was too long and I had to cut it in the middle because I'm pretty sure some might get bored with a really long video.

The first one will be a video of my opened/tried/used lip products and their swatches. The second video will be all about my other lip products that I haven't opened yet. It will not include swatches since I have no intention of opening them up yet.

If you want me to review any of the items mentioned here, feel free to comment down below.