Product Review: By Nature Handmade Soaps: Dairy Bar and Citrus White

I decided to join the By Nature Handmade Soaps craze and got 2 bars for testing. Well, I was able to try two By Nature soaps way back in 2007 when it wasn't a big hit yet. I tried the goat's milk and tea tree soaps which I never got to use up anyway as I didn't see anything grand about those soaps. So now I once again decided to give it a try and got the Dairy Bar and the Citrus White soaps.




I was really excited to try the Dairy Bar as I assumed it smelt of milk because of its name. With this soap, I have to admit that it was a major disappointment for me. First, it didn't smell anything like dairy or milk. It was just a strong scent that really triggers my allergic rhinitis. The scent was really annoying and sort of stung. The first time I used it to bathe, I seriously had migraine after the shower. I hated the scent so bad that I immediately grabbed my Honey I Washed the Kids soap from Lush to somewhat take over the irritating scent. I decided to ditch this bar. Maybe they shouldn't have named it "Dairy Bar" as it smells nothing like milk or any dairy product.

As for the Citrus Bar, the scent is still tolerable for me. I like that it has some sort of scrubs or grains in it that can somewhat help exfoliate my skin. I like how this soap lathers and melts like butter on my skin. I can definitely see that my skin has lightened up a bit but it's not as quick as Cyleina's Black Pearl Soap. I was kinda looking for a more citrus-y scent but it's nothing like that. It was kind of moisturizing but not moisturizing enough for me. I'll just use up this bar and stick to the soaps that work for me.

Overall, these soaps disappointed me big time. I was expecting more from a soap that costs PHP125 per 100g bar but there's nothing really special about it. The scents were major disappointments. For the price of these two soaps combined, I would've gotten like 4 bars of Cyleina soaps or perhaps another 100g bar of Lush Honey I Washed the Kids Soap. I bought these soaps due to the raves but rather found them utterly disappointing.

Will I buy again? NO. I wasted my money on these soaps.


Read more...

LUSH Honey I Washed the Kids Soap

I'm on my second or third bar of this soap. I've used this on and off because I find it quite expensive for a bar of soap, like PHP245 for 100g. But last Saturday, I couldn't resist the temptation of buying this soap as I really love the scent. It's not too sweet and not too strong. It's just the overall smell inside the store that triggers my sneezing. So I hurriedly told the sales assistant at Lush EDSA Shang that I want a 100g of this soap and then paid quickly so I can get outta their store.



Looks and smells really yummy, I want to take a bite of it! :P



This soap is super awesome. It gives me simple pleasures whenever I lather this on my skin. It's one way of pampering myself at home. Smells so luscious that it feeds my senses. It leaves my skin moisturized and the best thing is it doesn't break me out when I used this on my face. To simply describe this soap, it's "pleasure in a bar". Love it!

Now, will I buy again? Yes! But I won't be using this soap religiously. I'll use this only on days when I feel so stressed and want to pamper myself within the comforts of my own bathroom. :P


Read more...

Oh Goodies! for the 1st Week of May

Hey guys! It's been like a week or so since I last updated my blog. Been too busy with work and I go online for only less than half an hour during weekdays/nights and I have not had much time for blogging. Anyway, I would like to share the stuff I have acquired on the first week of May. Though a couple of products were purchased last week.

Clinique stuff

Cute pouch, Clinique Happy, makeup palette with blush (Pink Blush), bronzer (Sunkissed) and eyeshadow (Rose Wine), Lash Doubling Mascara, and Blushwear Cream Stick in 03 Rosy Blush

Random makeup

Revlon Colorstay Mineral Mousse Makeup in 030 Light with free Styli-Style Line & Seal 24 lipliner in Nude, Gosh Electric Pink Blush with freebies (Revlon Colorstay Makeup with Softflex sample in 02 Buff and Rimmel Soft Cream Blush in Coral Kiss), NARS Dolce Vita lipgloss with free NARS Sex Machine Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, LA Colors Auto Eyeliner in Black, Carmex Click Stick lip balm, and Fashion21 Dipliner in Black.

Skincare stuff

Cyleina Black Pearl Soap Supreme with free Lavender Soap sample, 100% Pure Cocoa Butter, Ilog Maria Honeymilk Cleanser and Moisturizer, and Garnier Light Complete

And something that is not a beauty product

Wedgies from Market Market Fashion Market!

I know it's so old school but I love wedges! They really make your feet look pretty and sexy. Abaca wedge is the best for me. :P Got this for only PHP450! I was told I can haggle but I don't know how to so I just paid for it and left with happy feet. :)

Have a great long weekend, everyone! No work on Monday! :) I'm going to hit the sack again. I'm nursing a hangover, was drinking with colleagues til 3am. Dunno what time they finished drinking.

P.S.

I am not a registered voter but please do vote wisely, peeps! :)


Read more...

What African Black Soap did to my face and the Superhero Soap

Upon reading good reviews about the African Black Soap, I bought myself a trial size so I won't waste money if in case that product doesn't work for me. I guess I made a good decision of not buying a bigger one.

Lemme show you how the soap looks like again. It looks like poo to me.


Now I'll show you what happened to my skin after using the soap for barely 2 days. It's disgusting and frustrating.



That's by far the worst state my skin has ever been in. Now I'm really glad I purchased another bar of the derma soap that has been rescuing me from all those occasional break outs or whenever my skin is acting up.


It's cheap as it costs only 75 bucks. I've cut a portion of the soap and it was able to salvage my skin. The spots aren't completely gone but at least they are on their way to going Houdini!

Here's an update after using my superhero soap twice.



My skin looks better now. :P I only used In2It Oil Control Powder Foundation. You can still see some spots but they're no longer as bad as they were last night. I am happy! :P

And another reason to be happy. I received the free J&J miniature lotion this morning.


And a PO notice. I am assuming that in the package is the sample kit from SkinMD that I will be reviewing pretty soon.


My mom will pick it up tomorrow. I am excited. Plus I will receive my loots which means more make up for me! :P

Have a great week ahead, everyone! :)




Read more...

African Black Soap + Mascaras and a Blush

Here is my recent mini haul for the week. I'm sort of in a mascara phase right now, after hoarding blushes last year and I have purchased 2 tubes of mascaras - 1 Maybelline Lash Stylist in Soft Black and the other one is Rimmel Extra Super Lash in Black Black. Both have good reviews at MUA but I'll just see for myself if good reviews are worth adding for both. The other one is another small blush compact from Rimmel. I really liked Rimmel Apricot and the only other shade available on eBay is Sienna so I bought one. I also bought one gluta and obagi-infused soap which I have tried before and works really well and I forgot to include it when I took the photo below. And the weird looking thing is the African Black Soap.



I've read a lot of good reviews on the African Black Soap so I decided to check out my go-to shopping website - eBay. :P I saw a few listings for the African Black Soap and I purchased one that only has 50g for trial. Hopefully, if it works well for me, I will purchase more of it and be my HG facial soap/cleanser. So far so good.


See how it looks like? It sort of reminds me of a weird-looking chocolate chip cookie and it is soft. I only need to pinch just a tiny portion of it which is enough for my entire neck and face. It lathers easily too. I am really excited to see the results of this soap and see if this will indeed deliver as my skin's acting up again. I will make a comprehensive review on this soap in a few weeks' time.

Oh, there will be one more mascara added to my mascara purchases. Ooops, make that 2 as I just purchased one from a fellow girltalker. I am itching to try the Imju Fiberwig Mascara but it can probably wait. I have opened 2 mascaras so once I receive my Maybelline Colossal, I may need to have my mom hide it where I can't find it in 3 months. I need to ditch my Maybelline Hypercurl mascara by the end of the month. :( Then I have to throw away the 2 other tubes by mid-April which means that that's the only time I can open my Colossal and the best part is I can finally purchase a fiberwig mascara. Have I mentioned that I am in a mascara phase right now? :P

Anyway, I am excited for the loots I am to receive by next week. See yah! :P

Read more...

Initial Review: The Soap Factory Geisha Soap

This is the second soap I have purchased from The Soap Factory. The first one is their Zit Away soap for oily and acne-prone skin, and now I got the Geisha Soap.

The first soap, instead of helping clear out my zits and help reduce the oilies, it broke me out. >_< So I stopped using it. Since I am getting more and more addicted to soaps, I figured I should give their other soaps a try. So I bought just one bar to try out. The Geisha Soap. I have been using it for only 2 days and I can see a lot of improvement. My facial skin's lighter, smoother, clearer, and softer. Well, it could be that this soap just helped since I was using Cyleina's Tomato soap prior to this. But I can tell that I did not get any adverse reaction or I did not break out with this soap because I normally break out in just a day or two if a certain product doesn't work for me. And I still haven't. And I'm hoping I won't. Because if this goes well for the next few days, weeks, and months, then I will be hooked into this soap. I do not use it directly on my face. I first create a lather on my hands and then that's the time I rub it gently on my face. I actually enjoy using it because it is really creamy and sudsy and bubbly. Plus the smell's not that strong and it doesn't bother me at all. I'll just keep this short because this is just an initial review. I'll come up with a final review in a couple of weeks when I have used this product longer than I have but so far so good.

Now I want to try their Choco Dream Bar because it smelled so yummy, I want to take a bite of it. I'd also like to try their Seriously White Soap for my arms and legs. Still has a tan. And the last soap I so want to try is the Shea Butter for my arms and legs which has dry skin. Weird because my face is oily yet the rest of my body is dry. Read more...

mini soap haul + rant

I went out today and had late lunch at Charlie's with two friends. Of course, I had buffalo wings. We headed to MegaMall after we ate and we all went to different directions. I went to The Soap Factory to buy a soap and i got the Geisha soap (whitening + anti-aging). I got the big bar for only 99 bucks and had it cut in 4 cubes. I then searched for The Soap Opera and got the Small Wonder Soap which is really small. 30g for 75 bucks! I hope there won't be an adverse reaction from these soaps.

My mini soap haul.



There goes my mini soap haul. I am becoming a soapaholic.


Now, time to rant!

I just had a buyer from eBay who gave me such a headache! First, she bids on my items. Then after she won, I sent her the invoice. I then receive several Chikka messages (sorry, I hate Chikka) asking for my BPI account details when it was already stated on the listings that I only accept G-Cash payments for now. Then buyer asks how to pay via G-cash and if a new sim is needed. I didn't mean to sound like a snob but I simply told her to go to a Globe business center and ask for instructions and that the people there will help her but I told her that there is no need to have a Globe sim. Alright, so payment method has been settled. Then the following day which is a Sunday, I received the payment. So I told the buyer I will have it picked up by Air21 the following day. Monday came and I called Air21 to have it picked up. I was surprised that the buyer has already left me feedback even though I have not shipped the item yet. And I received a message from the buyer that she has already left me feedback and told me to leave her 2 feedback as well because she's just new and needs to accumulate feedback. I didn't like it. Plus the feedback left was "hassle-fri transaction. ang ebay pala di lang pangmayaman, pwede din pala sa poor". C'mon! Then I received another Chikka message in ALL CAPS asking about the tracking number. Told her I'll text her the tracking number once Air21 has picked it up. But no Air21 came so I wasn't able to ship it. I wasn't able to text her, my bad. Early this morning, I got a message from her through eBay telling me I did not text her the tracking number, asking if I did not ship it, that she has already paid so I should ship the item. C'mon! It's only been a day. And it's not like I am going to run away with her money, which, by the way, is 377 bucks. I told her I will go to Air21 and ship it personally and then I will text her the tracking number. And so I did. Even before she won, she kept on asking if I can end the listings for her. She even asked me if I can combine shipping because she is still a student. So I combined the shipping, which I normally do. She's the obnly buyer who I received several messages from, of course, the infamous psycho eBayer being an exception. She gave me a headache. I find her kind of demanding but in a subtle way. My rant ends here. At least I'm done with the transaction with her. Read more...

Crazy woman! plus skin update

Have you heard of the crazy woman who called a bank, not sure if it's Citibank, and just kept on cursing at the agent in Tagalog? If you have, then it must've been too late for me. I just heard it. And I swear I had a headache while listening to it and I didn't finish the whole audio clip. If you want to listen to it, click HERE.

I say good luck to your eardrums. >_< Here's a mini update on my skin. Since I have been so desperate to have my old skin color back, I bought a few products. Just recently, I bought a Cyleina Kojic Soap since it's one of the fastest in whitening, as most people say. I used it for the first time last night together with my all time favorite Rice Bran and Papaya Goat's Milk as well since both RB and Kojic can be too drying for some. I used it again when I took a shower this morning and this is the result on my arm. Beware. You're in for a scare.
See how fast it worked on my skin? I was quite surprised when I saw the peeling on my skin. I have the arms of a snake. >_< But my mom saw that there's an improvement with my color. I hope my real skin color comes back in just a few months. ;D

I recently hauled some stuff but I'll just post them when they're all here.

Ciao for now! ^_^ Read more...

Rambling, Cyleina Haul + 2 Others

I had a very tiring evening. What started out as a good day turned out to be one of the worst nights in my entire life. I just experienced verbal abuse from some guy. I couldn't post exactly what happened because he knows the link to this blog but all I can say is that I was so scared for myself last night. I had to tell a few friends what happened to me because it was really that bad and I was sort of shocked. They were pissed with the guy. Who wouldn't be? Yeah, verbal abuse is a big no-no. It affected me emotionally and psychologically. It affected me so bad that I was walking around Robinson's Galleria with tears.

My rambling ends here. X_X

Anyway, so I just had to divert my attention somewhere else and I walked around the mall for a few minutes. I have been browsing eBay for like a week now looking for a bronzer. There are a few but I find them a little pricey because I do not want to spend much on a bronzer. I'm more of a blush fan. I saw on a thread at Girltalk that ELF's (eyeslipsface) Sunkissed bronzer is good. So I checked out the ELF counter and got myself a Sunkissed bronzer. Then I passed by Nichido and I saw one particular lippie that caught my eye. It looked so pretty when I tested it so I got it as well.



Damage: PHP129 bucks for the bronzer and PHP163 bucks for the lippie. Not bad at all.


So when I finally got home, I saw another package. My Cyleina soaps haul. I went up to my room and opened the package. The seller was kind enough to include 3 soap samples.


I cut a piece of each soap to try. The anti-acne soap seems promising and so does the tomato soap. Since it's time of the month, I had two zits -one on the nose, one on my chin. The chocolate milk soap smells so yummy but it sort of reminds me of Rice Bran. Or it's just me?


I also tried the bronzer and the lippie at home. I was able to sort of make the bronzer work for me and contour my chubby face. I think I'm going to like bronzers. ^_^ The lippie....it's so sheer and glides smoothly on the lips. I love it! I found the best MLBB so far! And it's just cheap for PHP163. I want to get the Nude shade too.

I wanted to look for more stuff but I wanted to go home so much. This wasn't much of a shopping therapy but it helped me in a way. Whew! I'll get over what happened last night soon. Soon enough.

Goodnight. Er, good morning. :) Read more...

What happens when I am uber bored...

I am really bored right now. Can't think of any other websites to go to. After I took a shower last night, I just thought of browsing eBay for Cyleina soaps. I love Rice Bran and Black pearl but the other variants intrigue me. So was just clicking on items one by one and this is what happened.

I ended up hoarding 6 different bars of soap.

1. rice bran
2. black pearl
3. chocolate milk
4. papaya goat's milk
5. tomato
6. anti-acne

They will be shipped on Monday and I will receive them on Tuesday. I'm excited. I was also thinking of buying the coffee soap but I figured I only have one face and body.

I am kinda sleepy now and my eyes are tired. *yawn* Ciao! ^_^

Read more...