I gotta admit, I was among the hordes of women who were dazzled by Kris Aquino’s glittery crystal studded Chanel logo earrings with dangling pearls. My materialistic persona could not help but scout for this beautiful pair, hoping to adorn myself with its enchanting beauty… and of course… when these insane and shallow cravings of mine continue to nag me, i turn to my dearest friend- ebay… my search brought me to the realm of the modest and the majestic…to the hypocritical and the genuine…. to the affordable and the insanely overpriced. ..
Like a young girl’s “when I grow up” ambition, I vowed to get myself a pair. I had a lot of considerations to make, the most pressing amongst them is financial in nature. I sought to narrow down my options to three:
1) Get the genuine Chanel- described to be silver-plated, studded with Swarovski crystals, and embellished with a nice (and probably cultured) pearl. This set costs roughly around 700$, or something like 30,000 pesos. In my opinion, buying this item is definitely ludicrous. Oh… don’t get me wrong…. I practically worship designer brands. If I were Kris Aquino, why shouldn’t I buy? But the fact remains that I am just a mere preschool teacher with a measly salary… I would definitely not buy something that has no lifetime guarantee. So, I tried to explore other possibilities and found option no.2…
2) Get a Chanel inspired set- I loved this alternative! For the same price of 30,000, I can get something made of white gold with diamonds, plus a real south sea pearl! However, having just bought a Louis Vuitton bag for myself, is it wise for me to splurge in yet another expensive endeavour? Well, after beating myself hard to wake up from my fantasy trip, I shouted, no! Not this time… I was pretty much depressed for a couple of days… even if my will was strong I could not shake the craving off… It’s like a shadow that moves as I do, a disease that is incurable, an infatuation that bugs me in my slumber. I am in love… and I want it, regardless… After many hours scouting for something to quench my abnormal yearning, I came across option no.3…
3) Option no.3 is so much like no.2, with the only differences being composition and price. Option number 3 is a Chanel inspired CC earring made of fine silver and lab created diamonds. Fine silver is purer than sterling silver, and promises to be more lustrous and elegant for practically a lifetime! The lab created diamonds also have a genuine quality… that it is difficult to tell if they are fake or not. It has also a dangling freshwater cultured pearl…overall, i think this is a good deal, especially for someone like me who doesn’t need anything fancy… just something to satisfy a pesky and irrational want. And of course, I got it and honestly, I loved it!

If you’d take a peek into my overflowing cosmetics bag, you’d right away conclude that I have no loyalty to a certain brand. However, I do have my personal preferences- among them is my Body Shop brown liquid eyeliner.

The Body Shop Liquid Eyeliner is a must have especially for young professionals who only have a few minutes to spare for make-up. It is easy to use and quick to apply. Its long-wearing feature is an added benefit more so for women like me, who only puts on make-up before going to work. Plus, soap and water are enough to remove it from the face…
I thought all liquid eyeliners are somewhat closer to this one. Just recently, I got one from Rimmel. I was disappointed because it took a lot of fine motor effort from me to get it into shape. The brush is too long and the tip is so thin that it gets in the way of my eyelashes when I put it on. With that experience, I decided to stick to the Body Shop and stop experimenting with other brands. For a little over (or less?) Php1000… you can enjoy better looking eyes…

It has been months since my last sensible blog.  Many factors can be attributed to this decline.  For one, my day job has eaten my spirits away- with all the work load and Christmas prep, I have only little time left to do other things.  Another very painful occurance is the bugging down of the Apple MacBook Pro that I so so love.  I woke up one day and it refused to start-up.  I was confident that my techie spouse could whip up his computer wizardry and make it work but alas, it was not as simple as that.

To resolve the concern, we browsed through apple sites and forums and searched for related problems.  We found one that enumerated the same symptoms that our MacBook was experiencing.  We were disheartened to find out that in order for us to address the problem, we have to shell out at least Php50,000 to purchase an important hardware.  My goodness, it was as if buying a whole new unit again!  So naturally, we have to plan this out first and see how we can squeeze it in our finances.

Now I am back to using my dear old Compaq Presario 2100.  From being totally disregarded for the past several months, we now see it to be a durable and reliable piece of machine.  I would want to one day own a Sony Vaio for a change but in the meantime, I do not see any harm in settling for my dependable and sturdy laptop.

What really bugs me is that I had 100% faith over Apple and all its products.  For me, an Apple shutting down and refusing to start up is way impossible.  I mean, isn’t Apple the best? Isn’t Apple top-of-the-line?  I am not computer geek.  I am simply expressing my sentiments.  Regardless, I am still hopeful that the MacBook will soon be repaired and start running again.  Even with my experience, I am still relying on the fact that the laptop is still an MacBook and so it will be revived again.  In a way, I am also to be blamed for its temporary demise.  I mean, I am not the most careful person in the world… Well then, if given a second chance I will surely be more cautious-  I will really give the MacBook the care and concern that it deserves… Anyway, my blogging need not be curtailed as I have my durable Compaq at my disposal.

Make-up is not really my thing.  Actually, it took me a long time before finally accepting the fact that I need to look good every time I go to work.  For the past years, I have grown to love the process of putting make-up on my face.  Because of my fear of allergies and blemishes, I sought to purchase only the best brands in the market.  For today, let me talk about blush-ons.

The best blush that I have used so far is Revlon’s swirl blush (this was probably 2006).  During that time, it was Halle Berry who was the model for Revlon.  I was fascinated with the way it looks, pink blush with swirls of darker pink. Also, it was probably one of the first blush-ons that had that shimmery effect on your face.  Most importantly, even with a relatively higher price compared to others, it was a good buy because I was able to use it for more than a year! However, by the time I went out to buy another, I was told that they phased-out the product already… sad… And so I shifted to other Revlon blush-ons.  However, nothing can beat my swirl blush!

I remained loyal to Revlon.  Just recently, I bought their newest product- colorstaymineral blush. The packaging was good- it kind of has a 3D effect with the blush protruding out of its socket.  Anyway, the Revlon girl claimed that it was long wearing.  And so she said that for an expensive price of Php898- it was a great buy.  When it comes to beauty products, I admit that I am not an expert.  So, I trusted her and bought one.

I admit that the color was good on my face.  It also gave my face a nice shimmer which I liked.  However, it was not as long wearing as I have expected.  One day, I was surprised that I have already consumed the whole thing!  After 3 months, I needed to buy a new blush-on!  Disappointed, I went to Watsons and sought to find another brand.

In2it is one of the make-up brands that I really don’t give much attention to when I am in the cosmetics section.  Usually, I settle for Revlon, Maybelline, and Max Factor.  This time, I gave it a closer look… I then realized that it was a good find!

For one, it was very affordable! At Php379, I already have a dual blush which was also long wearing according to the sales lady. And what’s best is that the applicator is so soft and easy to use.

Because I found it to be so cheap, I decided to buy something else.  I heard from a friend that blush-ons look good if you blend it with a highlighter- more like a white blush if you’d ask me.  I discovered that in2it has a nice product like this and so I bought one.  Since I do not know how to use it, I asked the sales lady to give me a short demo.  True enough, it gave my face a beautiful and shimmery glow.  My friends and I were so excited to try it out and we had fun putting make-up on each other.  It is really a must-by for ladies!

I have been a Friendster member for quite a long time now, probably about 3 years already. I am quite picky when it comes to approving friend requests- I make sure that I really know the person prior to my approval. Maybe that explains why I have only about 150 friends. Some people kind of get the impression that it is all about quantity. Well, it is different for me. I want to make sure that the people who can view my profile are really my friends.
Just recently, I have been introduced to Facebook. According to my husband, Facebook is popular worldwide. Friendster, on the other hand, is mostly known in the Philippines and probably, in some Asian countries. Anyway, with my brief orientation to this social networking site, I already started to enjoy being a member of Facebook. Right after signing up, Facebook already prompted me to add my friends from high school. So I got instant friends right there and then. Of course, with my great experience with Facebook, I started promoting it to my friends. Sadly, most of them are hard-core Friendster loyalists. Out of the few friends that I have, I only managed to convince one (she also happens to be my sister). For this post, I tried to come up with a crude comparison between these two well-liked social networking sites…

In terms of site design, Friendster appears to be more colorful and easy to navigate. Facebook is, in my opinion, more formal looking. For a not-so internet savvy person like me, it took a while before I learned the in’s and out’s of this site.

In terms of applications, I guess both sites have enough applications available to spice-up an account. However, I feel like Facebook is heavy with advertisements.

In terms of social networking features, I think Facebook is the best! Honestly, I do not give much attention to the network updates of Friendster. In the case of Facebook, it is actually fun checking out the updates about my friends. Their simpleWhat are you doing now? Feature is enough for me to somehow get in touch with what is going on in my good friends’ lives. Also, as I have mentioned a while ago, it is easy to generate ‘real’ friends in Facebook. Thanks to this feature that automatically links you with old-time friends.

But of course, generally speaking, I am thankful for the presence of these two wonderful sites. Another good thing is that we do not need to choose between the two. In fact, they complement each other! Hence, there is no harm in signing up for accounts in both sites.

So that’s about it for now… feel free to add in your ideas and opinions!

Girl talk time…

I am one of those fortunate girls who are rarely plagued by pimples and blemishes… One day in a supermarket, a girl approached me and asked “What do you put on your face?” and I simply said “Hmm… safeguard?”.  Safeguard is an ordinary soap used by many Filipino families.  At that time, I was not at all particular about stuff that I apply on my body.  I just wanted to be clean.  Then, after a while, aging is beginning to step in.  At 30, I believe it’s high time for me to start using an effective product to counter the effects of aging.  And so, I opted for a facial cream that is highly recommended by my friends- Olay Total Effects.
As of now, after 2 months of usage, the only evident change is that my skin is not that dry anymore… For a person like me with very few skin problems, I think this product is a good maintenance regimen.  For my friends, they claim that their skin is visibly smoother and clearer following their religious usage of olay.  For me, I just like the idea of having something to put on my face… besides safeguard.

Also, I have been wearing eyeglasses for almost 10 years now.  This, coupled with my habit of sleeping late, brought about unsightly dark circles under my eyes.  So to fight eye wrinkles and hopefully, to address my ‘black eye’ concern, I started using Mary Kay’s time wise age-defying eye cream.  As there are no visible effects yet to date, I think I should just start sleeping early….

Though these two products are somehow expensive (olay Php600, mary kay eye cream Php850), it’s OK because I only apply a small amount on my face, hence, it would take me months before I totally consume a bottle/tube.  As to their claim of softer, smoother, and younger looking skin, well, I guess I have to wait some more to find out.

I am now slowly experiencing the symptoms of aging… At 30, I am beginning to realize that I am somewhat slowing down… I feel sleepy in the afternoons, I am feeling all sorts of aches and pains across my body, I feel exhausted after an hour of strolling in the mall… Yep, it is like a stop light sign flashing ‘old! old! old!’ Well, I am determined to slow down this process!  At this age and with 2 children, I am proud to say that I have not crossed over the 100 pound borderline! Even with a few centimeters accumulated around my waist, I would still pass for ‘skinny’.  However, with virtually no exercise I’m afraid that I’m not exactly helping much in terms of my health either.

Well, I know I had to start with some kind of an exercise regimen.  But I do not have much options… I do not like jogging because I usually work late.  I cannot enroll in an aerobics class also… That’s why given these conditions I opted for workout videos.  Since our DVD player is busted again, I tried watching aero classes in youtube.  However, slow internet connections turn 8 minute work-out sessions into 30 minute sacrifices.  I knew I had to do something! And then… I discovered that I had a knack for hoola hooping!  I decided to buy the most expensive hoola hoop in Toy Kingdom and started on my morning and night hoola hoop exercises.  Now this is something that I can do anytime and anywhere!  I usually do a 15 to 30 minute routine a day.  I can say that it is helping me tone my body really well.  The tape measure revealed that after 2 weeks of hoola hooping, I now lost almost an inch off my waistline.  Also, I tried to supplement this with a daily intake of delmonte pineapple fiber-enriched juice… Gradually, I am beginning to feel some spunk coming back… Maybe I might be challenging myself more in the coming days…and hopefully, will be reporting success ‘weight-loss’ stories soon.