Celeteque Sun Care Matte Moisturizer: Review

One thing I get asked frequently is what kind of sunscreen I use on my face. Honestly speaking, I never stick to one brand. I feel that this is the part of my skin care routine in which I don't have to be picky, brand-wise. But even if that's the case, there are still some things I take into consideration when choosing one.

Before I get into that, I would just like to dedicate this short portion to explain why sunscreen is needed. Yes, it is. Whether or not you're using whitening/peeling products, sunscreen is very important. If you've never gone out of the house and never noticed it (which I can hardy believe is possible), the heat emitted by the sun is definitely not something you can take lightly. Especially here in the Philippines, a tropical country, direct sunlight for a couple of minutes might result to unsolicited sun burn and wrinkles. So naturally, if you want even and youthful looking skin, then you should definitely wear sunscreen.

So what do I look for in a sunscreen? For one, I make sure that my sunscreen both has SPF and PA properties to provide me with both UVA and UVB protection. I also feel that the minimum number of SPF that I should use is 30. Moreover, I make sure that the formula isn't too sticky. I like those that feels like a light lotion (THEFACESHOP) or one that has a matte finish (this one). It also helps if the product doesn't come with a hefty price tag.

If you're in a budget, I would highly recommend this one from Celeteque as it has all the properties I'm looking for in a sunscreen. It's actually a moisturizer but it has SPF 30 and a PA protection, which they didn't indicate. It just said broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection but that's okay. It has a matte finish (perfect for those with oily skin like me) and it only costs roughly PHP250 or 5.6USD. It also doesn't break my very sensitive skin out. One tube would last for about half a year with continued everyday use. It is also available in leading drug stores such as Watsons, where I got mine.

If you're reading this and you're asking yourself whether you should buy a sunscreen or not, I'm telling you, you should. If you're in a budget, fret not, because Celeteque is a good dermatologist tested brand that's pretty affordable. So for the final question, do I recommend it? The answer's also 'Yes'.

Nichido Stardust Palette (Totally Neutral): Review

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. ^^)

So I was going through my hard drive and I saw this folder containing 400+ photos of unreviewed items over the past year and my initial reaction was, 'Wow! What have I been doing last year?'. I definitely have more products to review than I originally imagined. I know I've been doing good lately as I've been blogging often (every other day) and taking advantage of my free time these days. But the amount of products to review is just overwhelming, I'm not even sure I will get to blog about all of them!

But enough about that talk, let us welcome the month of July by talking about one of the products I've purchased last year, to scratch off from that pile (of unreviewed items). Do note that the photos were taken using my old camera so the photos aren't as good as the recent ones but hopefully, these shots would make do.

Plastic cover.

It had a 'Nichido' print on the shadow itself.

Just a closer look onto the shades.

So last year, I decided to do a makeup tutorial using local Filipino products only and I got this particular product from Nichido. It's their three-color eyeshadow palette called the Stardust Palette in the shade Totally Neutral. It contains three neutral (true to its name) everyday eyeshadow colors. It has a pale pink, a medium brown and a dark brown. All, when put together, creates a very lovely look.

Tried to do just show the swatches on my fingertips but the colors don't show up well.

Let me talk about each of the colors to give you more idea of the product. I will start off with the pale pink. The pale pink shadow is a nice color that I like to use to highlight my eyes. I often apply it under my brow bone and on my inner corners to brighten up the look. It is the lightest of the three and is also the least pigmented. I find that I really have to pack on the shadow for the color to hint its presence on my lid. It's especially harder when I use brushes so I like to use the foam applicator that came with the palette as it picks more of the product up.

In this swatch, the medium brown doesn't show up too much because frankly, the shade is a little close to my skin color.

The next shade I will be talking about is the medium brown. This is a really nice medium tone that I like to use on my crease area. It doesn't really create a loud eye contour effect, but more of a subtle shadow effect that I like to do especially when I (used to) go to work. At first, I didn't like the tone of the color on my lids but I eventually got used to it and it's now one of my favorite crease colors.

The last shade is the dark brown. This one is a really nice addition to the palette to provide your eyes with more definition, especially on your lash line/ outer V. It has a purple undertone so it looks a little bit purplish (Duh?) in some lighting. I received a lot of compliments regarding this particular shade when I first started using it. This is also the most pigmented of the three and my most favorite in the palette.

All three shades have hints of shimmer on the pan but doesn't appear sparkly when applied. When used all together, it creates a very neutral glamorous look. If you want to see how I usually use it, you can check out one of my old tutorials here:

The best thing about this product is that it is widely distributed all over the Philippines. I bought it from Watsons for only PHP168 so it definitely wouldn't hurt your budget. I highly recommend this especially for a neutral everyday makeup look.

Ever Bilena Matte Lipstick in Viva: Review

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. ^^)

 The shade is depicted on the cap so you don't have to do some guesswork.

 

So enough about my giveaway plug. Here's to the real deal! Ever Bilena matte lipstick has been in the market for years now and many Filipina beauty bloggers have already professed their love for this product. I wasn't much of a matte finish fan but since many people are swearing by this product, I decided to join the craze. A little too late, you might say. Well, this is actually not the first time I've tried this particular product. It was two years ago when I convinced myself to buy one. I got the shade Mauvey for its nice nude pink color. I was pretty satisfied with my purchase but I never got to review it.

Swatch taken with my old camera

A year ago, however, I decided to buy another one from the same line, but a different color. I chose Viva. Viva is a nice everyday pink color. With one swipe, it looks very natural, perfect for those days when you just want to look sweet and simple. It is buildable, though, to a brighter finish for when you want to make a subtle pop of color on your lips.

True to its name, it sets matte. This can either be a good or bad thing, depending on how you like your lips to be. As I've said, I'm not really a fan of matte finish lipsticks but it doesn't really matter to me because I can easily just top it off with a gloss if I want to.

On the other hand, something that bothers me is that it leaves my lips 'too dry' if I don't prep properly. To solve this, I always make it a point to apply lip balm prior to applying this product. It also doesn't have a long staying power but I really don't expect it to be at only PHP155.

In my opinion, I don't really see this as a product that I would rave about but rather a product that delivers to its expectations. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a must-have but I would say it's something that's nice to try. However, if you have an extra PHP155 in your wallet (or purse... or wherever you keep your money) and there's a Watsons store (or any other major department store) near you, then I don't see any reason why you shouldn't buy it. It has a wide selection of colors so I'm pretty sure you will get one that fits your style.

This particular product is a part of my Top 5 Summer/ Spring 2014 Lip Colors. Be sure to check out the other 4 in this post.

Belo AcnePro and Hygienix (Sample Room): Review

Another Sample Room haul! Yay! I don't know about you but I always feel like a winner whenever I chance upon available samples that I like from the Sample Room website. For new readers out there who haven't read any of my Sample Room posts before, click on this link to enlighten you on what the site is all about.

 

Even after about more than a year of sampling, I only have limited amount of Sample Room points. How I wish I was a partner blogger or a VIP! But despite that, I am still able to get samples that are quite useful, not just for my blog content, but also for my day to day life.

My most recent snag before this was a cosmetic product, a lip product to be more exact, from the brand called Colour Collection. This time, however, I jumped on and tried this new skin care revolution from the brand Belo. I got both the face wash and toner. And with the little number of points I had remaining, I also got a handy dandy sanitizer spray from Hygienix, all included in just one shipping. Yay!

I was very excited to try this out as my previous post about Belo has got to be one of my most viewed posts. While I tried hard not to expect so much from the products (my previous review didn't exactly sing on a positive note), the promise of this bee venom technology that I only used to see in Korean skin care sets made me walk on blind faith. Without having any experience on any of the products from this line, I claimed that this product would be nothing but epic! I was convinced that this was the cheaper alternative to the organic skin care set I'm using or the dermatologist prescribed products I was using before. With many good reviews and being the editor's pick of the month (of Sample Room), I was very excited when the delivery man dropped this package off our doorstep.

 

 

I thought it was love at first use. I particularly liked the scent, the consistency and how it left my face after lathering/applying but my oh my, the disappointment it has caused in the form of acne. It started at the edges of my eyebrows and at first I thought it was the result of an unresolved hormonal imbalance from a previous monthly visit. But the more I used the product, the more pimples it creates. Yes, it does have a little bit of a calming effect-- to the person not on the zits! You see, the scent is just oh-so-divine. It's the perfect combination of powdery and flowery scent. I simply love it. But you know how they say "Sometimes love ain't enough."? I think I may have solved the mystery behind it by the use of this.

This product hates my face as much as I love its scent. While I would normally not give up after just a week of usage for a particular skin care set, I will make this an exception as I already had a not-so-good experience with the brand before. I don't want to linger on this set when I know my organic skin care takes better care of my skin.

To be fair, however, the line didn't dry up my skin. In fact, it left it soft and well moisturized. The only problem was it was causing more troubles than relief. And so I have decided to just let this go, just like Elsa's song. I passed both products (face wash and toner) onto my sister who offered to continue using it. If I get the chance to, then I might go back to this entry and update you guys with what happened to my sister's skin.

For now, I would say that this is a good product. A good product for someone else. For an acne prone, oily, sensitive skin person like me, I wouldn't recommend this as it broke me out like no tomorrow.

As for the sanitizer spray, I don't really have any complaints whatsoever. I like that it's compact, easy to use and gets its job done. Other than those, I have nothing more to say.

Have you noticed that most of my posts recently are skin care related? Haha. I'm not sure why but I have so much skin care stuff left for review. My next skin care post will be about a product that works well for cystic acne so be on the lookout for that! In the mean time, watch out for my next post, which will most probably be a makeup or hair product, just for a bit of a change.

Nichido High Definition Lipstick (Pretty Tulip): Review + Swatches

Since I'm feeling a little lazy today, I won't be writing down a long post today. This will only be a short review plus swatches of one of my favorite lip colors these days. This was included in my Top 5 Summer/ Spring 2014 Lip Colors so you may have seen it at least once before, if you're a follower of my blog.

 Cute packaing, don't you think? :)

Poor swatches from my old camera.

The highlight of this post is a local Filipino product from the brand Nichido. It is called the High Definition Lipstick in the shade Pretty Tulip. I put this baby to good use over the past two months whenever I felt like going for a bold lip color and minimal eye makeup. I find that instead of red (which I consider to be the best for a bold lip color), pink or orange is better suited for warmer weather. This is not an absolute rule. It's just my opinion. You can wear red if you want to, of course!

So I've been constantly reaching out for this particular product for the most part of April and have been using it interchangeably with the Colour Collection Ultimate Wear Lipstick (Headturner) that I got from Sample Room. I like it a lot as it is has good color payoff. The shade is a very vibrant pink, perfect for a minimalistic makeup. You instantly glam up even with little to no eye makeup. I use this whenever I have an important event coming up with limited time for preparation.

 Poorly taken swatches are still swatches. Just deal with it. :p

It has a bit of a satin finish which I personally prefer. It tends to dry up after a couple of hours so I highly recommend that you prep your lips with a balm prior to using this. It transfers too so you have to reapply after you drink or eat. It's not a big deal though. Especially since it only costs PHP198.00 in Watsons!

It has a tinted lip balm strategically located at the cover cap that you can use to prep your lips. I rarely use this as I prefer using my Maybelline Baby Lips as base but I've tried it before and it does a pretty decent job of moisturizing your lips.

 This is not your ordinary color cap. It's a lip balm! ;)

The shade is almost always mistaken (by my family) to be the same as the other lipstick I mentioned above but just to be clear, I will provide a swatch side by side, below, just so you have a better idea. Nichido is a hot pink lip color with a little bit of coral undertone where as Colour Collection has a little bit of blue undertone.

 L: Colour Collection; R: Nichido

 See the difference?

For those of you who are looking for an affordable lip product in the hot pink family shade, I suggest you get this one and try it out! It works well, cheap and widely distributed all over the Philippines! Bili na! (Trans: "Buy it!")

Quick FX Eye Life Cream: Review

For about two years, I've been faithful to THEFACESHOP Wrinkle Stop Eye Cream line. When I first saw this particular product, it was still called THEFACESHOP Wrinkle Stop Abyssine Eye Cream in purple packaging. A little over a year after, the packaging and name changed to THEFACESHOP Backryuncho Wrinkle Stop Eye Cream, in a different color. But because I was very much impressed with its performance, I just followed through.

When I finished my last tub, however, I had this itch to change my eye cream. As this is a very risky move, I couldn't just choose any other eye cream. My previous eye cream had been so good that I feel I should choose really really well for my next eye cream escapade. I don't want to spend a lot of money for something that isn't even at par with my previous one. I know I may seem super attached with my previous eye cream but as a beauty blogger, I must get over this 'attachment'. I have to try out new products for comparison. But because I'm such a scaredy cat, I decided to just choose another eye cream from the same brand, THEFACESHOP. I immediately contacted Charm of Kkochipida to see if she can get the eye cream I've been eyeing. Since it will take some time before I can actually get a hold of that particular item, I decided to just buy a cheap, temporary eye cream that I can use for the mean time.

This particular eye cream is priced at PHP49, pretty cheap, if you ask me. You also get easy access to it since it is offered in most Watsons stores all over the Philippines. I didn't expect it to work as well as my previous eye cream but it does a good job in keeping my under eye area moisturized. I also like the idea that the sachet is resealable with a twist cap.

To be honest, it is nowhere near the effectivity of my previous eye cream, probably due to its price difference, but it is a good eye cream especially for people who don't have fine line problems, as of yet. If you ask me, I would recommend this item for teenagers out there who just wants something to keep their eye area moisturized and prevent early onset of wrinkles.