Product Review: Purederm Cell Illuminating Hydro Pure Gel Mask

Pampering ourselves definitely do something good for our health and wellness. It helps us relax during times of stress and "haggardness" and we sometimes want to just go Houdini on other people and have a little "me" time. But there are times when we are too lazy to drag ourselves to a spa and have facials and treatments and all the other types of pampering we need or we just don't want to splurge on those things. Thank goodness for face, hand, foot and all other kinds of masks that we can easily get from malls and drugstores. Last year, I hoarded several types of masks from different brands and got to try each of them. I like how I get to treat myself to a little pampering at home so I keep stocks of those masks. I'm going to review the latest face mask I was able to try. This was really something new to me as I am used to wash off and plain sheet masks. This one is different as it has gel. It's the Purederm Cell Illuminating Hydro Pure Gel Mask.

What I like:
- This mask instantly brightened my face.
- Comes in a sealed packaging so you're rest assured that the mask is fresh.
- No stinging sensation and no allergic reactions for me.
- Has a little scent which I cannot tell but it is so faint my highly sensitive nose just ignored it. :P
- Not your ordinary sheet mask because the mask literally felt like gel on my face, I wanted to think it was solidified gel. Hehe.
- It has two separate sheets for the upper part of the face and another one for the lower part of the face. I sometimes find applying a whole sheet on my face kinda difficult.
- The usual problem with sheet masks is that it's not super easy to smoothen out the bubbles formed on the face. With this one, the bubbles were easily gone by gently patting on them til they disappear.
- Locally available at Watson's and SM department stores. Not sure about the price but will get back to you on that.

What I don't like:
- Kinda messy to apply due to the gel-like texture. I had gel all over my hands and hair and it felt like I had slime on my face.
- Since it goes on really smoothly on the face and because it has a gel-like texture, it does not easily adhere on the skin. It slides off and found one of the sheets covering the airways on my nose and the other one on my lips. I had to keep pulling them up so they will stay in place.
- Other than brightening, I didn't see any other significant results.

Overall rating: 3/5

Will I buy again? Maybe not. I am off to try their other masks and besides, I am too attached to their Dual Wellbeing Pack and the Aztec Indian Healing Clay Mask.

On me

What are your favorite face masks?

Happy Thursday, super awesome peeps! :P

NOTE: Product received for review but has not in any way influenced my experience and review on this product.

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Product Review: EcoTools Bamboo Blush Brush

Investing on good brushes is something every make up aficionado should know. When I say good brushes, I am talking about the quality and not the price tag. Brushes do not necessarily have to have a hefty price tag to perform really well. You get what you pay for is the most common argument, like if you buy something for a really cheap price, you end up with something that has poor or lesser quality than if you paid more for it. Of course, it is not entirely true in all cases. On most, it is, but there are a few exceptions to the rule. I am one of those who initially never understood why I have to pay more for cosmetic brushes when they are already included in some cosmetics and there are cheap ones so I bought this brush set from a local brand I won't name (clue: sounds Japanese or Chinese) thinking those will do. I was wrong. I couldn't bring myself to use them on my face after the first few times because they were utterly scratchy and quite a pain to use aside from being flimsy and basically not doing a good job at all. My first ever soft brush is the Every Day Minerals flat top kabuki brush (which I will be reviewing soon) and I sort of understood why I have to pay a little extra to get something good. Then came the EDM LHK and when I started reading reviews about EcoTools, I had my cousin in the US buy some of those for me and I was a happy girl when he finally handed them to me the moment he arrived here to visit. I instantly fell in love the moment I took each brush out from the ziplocks. The one I ultimately fell in love with is the Bamboo Blush Brush which I will be reviewing today. Okay, that was quite a speech so without further delays, here are the pictures and the review.

I have stopped using this brush May this year because that was the time I discovered the Marionnaud N32 Slanted Blusher Brush and this took the backseat. But I have recently started using it again and I am once again amazed with the quality of this brush.

What I like:
- This brush is super soft and application feels great on the skin. I couldn't describe it any other way.
- The bristles are dense and fluffy and the size is perfect for my chubby cheeks.
- Eco-friendly and animal-friendly as the bristles are made of synthetic taklon (animal cruelty-free), ferrule is made of recycled tin, and handle is made of bamboo.
- Picks up just the right amount of pigment and deposits color on the cheeks really well.
- Has not shed on me at all even after having this for about a year and a half.
- Bleeding was never a problem for this brush. I have never experienced it at all.
- Even though it has been washed several times, the bristles did not turn scratchy.
- I have tried using this as a powder brush and it still works.
- Inexpensive but has good quality - this is exactly what I was talking about on my opening statements.

What I don't like:
- Not locally available though this can be purchased online from resellers (local and international).

In between: Having a big and fluffy head may be a con to some especially for those with small faces as it might be too big for their cheeks. But if you have the powder brush from the Mineral Brush Set, you can try using that for blushes. Or you can use this as a powder brush instead.

Overall rating: 5/5 Whoever said that good quality brushes have to be expensive has never heard of EcoTools yet.

Will I buy again? Yes! But hopefully, I won't have to since it'll be hard to get my hands on this brush.

Side view

 

See how thick and fluffy this brush is?

What's your favorite blush brush?

Happy Wednesday, super awesome peeps! :)
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Yum Moments: Homemade Pizza

My mom was craving for pizza earlier so she asked me to make some. She bought the ingredients when she did our grocery this morning so everything was set and all I needed to do was put everything together for our little pizza bites.

This was very easy to make. I just made spaghetti sauce with ground beef and used it as a substitute for pizza sauce then put some of it on the crust then sprinkled it with a lot of cheese then added ham, pineapple chunks, and onions then once again sprinkled it with cheese then popped it in the oven and waited for 5-6 minutes for it to cook. Et voila! Our very own homemade pizza. I forgot to add green bell peppers but it still tasted good.

Try making homemade pizza too. You can add absolutely anything you want from the kind of cheese and toppings you will use. Happy Tuesday once again! :P

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Product Review: Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap - Lavender Pure Castille Soap (Brush Cleaner)

Keeping our brushes clean is important as we use them on our face. Dirty brushes can irritate our skin and can cause blemishes like pimples and I'm sure no one loves having pimples. Aside from the spot cleaners, deep cleaning at least once a week is essential because it will remove all the dirt and makeup residues that the spot brush cleaners cannot remove. I'd like to share a soap that effectively removes all those dirt - the Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap 18-in-1 Hemp Lavender Pure Castille Soap.

What I like:
- You only need a little amount to clean one brush.
- Effectively removes dirt even on just the first wash.
- Easily lathers.
- No detergents and did not cause any break outs at all.
- My brushes still feel soft even after several washes using this soap.
- This magic soap can be used in several other ways - shampoo, safe enough to be used on babies, etc.
- One bottle lasts for a long time. I've had this for a little over a year yet I haven't used up this 118mL of bottle.
- It may seem expensive at first because it costs more or less than PHP300 (I forgot the actual price) but given the quality and how long this lasts, I would say it's cheap in the long run.
- Locally available at Healthy Options.

What I don't like:
- The lavender scent but it's just my nose. Some may find the scent relaxing but I don't. **This is subjective**

Overall rating: 5/5 I still gave it a 5 because it performs well.

Will I buy again? Yes! But I will try other variants like peppermint or if they have unscented ones. :)

 After more than a year, I still have a lot left. I think this will last for another 6 months.

Happy Tuesday, super awesome peeps! :)

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FOTD: Chubby Cheeks using L'egere White Multi BB Cream (",)

I was testing L'egere White Multi BB Cream earlier when I decided to just do an FOTD. I call it the Chubby Cheeks FOTD because of, well, my chubby cheeks. Here are pictures. :)

What I used:
- Celeteque Facial Moisturizer
- L'egere White Multi BB Cream
- Kryolan Dermacolor Camouflage Creme in D2
- Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Powder
- Kryolan Anti Shine Powder
- ELF Studio Line Eyebrow Kit in Light
- ELF Eyeshadow Quad - Ivy
- Maybelline Gel Liner
- Stila Major Lash Mascara
- Shu Uemura Glow On M Pink 30
- Nivea Pomegranate Lip Balm
- Palladio Herbal Lip Slix in Rosewood

See my chubby cheeks? Haha! I love the munchkin donuts on my face! :P

Happy Halloween, guys! :)
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Cheap Find: Bag Organizer

When I did my What's In My Bag post, you'll see that I bring a large pouch and another small one. It can be quite bulky so I sometimes skip the large pouch and just put everything inside my bag. And when I need something, I have to dig inside and it takes a little while before finding it. To better describe my bag - it was disorganized and messy. So while walking around Landmark last Friday, Arg spotted bag organizers and I couldn't resist it. At first I was a bit hesitant but then I just couldn't resist the price tag - PHP79.75. I was choosing between pink-purple and gray-khaki then decided to go for the latter. Much to my surprise, it was on sale with a 10% discount and the price dropped to PHP71.77. I have been checking out bag organizers on eBay and they sell for more than PHP150 each so this is really a good bargain. I chose the one without the base but it still does the job of organizing my things. Here are pictures. :)

Originally, I made a silly mistake of thinking this is how it's supposed to look like. But later on realized that it's not.

And I got it right.

How it looks like inside my bag. Better, right? :)

Even though I don't know my way around Trinoma and it awfully reminds me of Glorietta (which I really hate going to since I think it's like an octopus and has many alleys which isn't good for people with no sense of direction like, ehem, me) I think I should start going there more often because of the great bargains at Landmark. :P

Found anything cheap but fab lately? :) Happy Halloween!
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LUSH Colour Supplement Swatches

I have been seeing blog posts and reviews about this product by Lush and some reviews made me want to go grab a jar of this. So when I went to Lush (Trinoma) with the cute Arg of The Beauty Bin yesterday afternoon, I took the chance to swatch them and see what shade suits me.

Here are the swatches.

No flash - Light Pink, Dark Pink, Light Yellow, Dark Yellow (extra: their tinted lip balm)

With flash- Light Pink, Dark Pink, Light Yellow, Dark Yellow (extra: their tinted lip balm)

I was matched with Light Pink based on the swatches but once I blended Light Pink and Light Yellow, they looked pretty much the same on my arm. I really had the intention of buying one but decided not to when they started forming something that somewhat looks like cement or "nagbubuo-buo". Plus my arm got a little itchy after I removed them. Initially, the consistency was creamy and I liked the texture but it dries so easily. The itchiness was the deciding factor and the lemming was gone. And I knew the jars were going to be small but I wasn't expecting them to be THAT small. I thought PHP525 was pretty cheap since you can use these alone or mixed with your moisturizer. I'm glad I did not purchase it and that my arm itched after a few minutes; otherwise, it could've been my face that's itching by now. :)

Happy Saturday, super awesome peeps! :)


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Product Review: EcoTools Kabuki Brush from the Mineral 5-pc Bamboo Brush Set

If you love make up, you will agree with me when I say brushes are essential tools. Though people have preferences when it comes to the materials brushes are made of - synthetic and animal hair - it still boils down to the fact that brushes are important. I noticed that I haven't been reviewing much the brushes that I love so I will start reviewing them one by one. I'll start with the kabuki brush that is included in the EcoTools Mineral 5-pc Bamboo Brush set. I've had this for a year and a half and have been using it for that long so I will give it its well-deserved review.

I personally prefer brushes with synthetic bristles over those made of animal hair. I find animal hair scratchy and they shed a lot. I want something smooth and soft, without having to worry that the bristles will irritate the skin. So almost all my brushes are synthetic except for my stippling brushes with partial animal hair. And please, love the animals, not make them bald!!! :P

What I like:
- This brush is unbelievably soft and not in any way scratchy.
- Bristles are made of synthetic taklon and recycled tin (for the base) so this is eco-friendly, thus, the name EcoTools.
- I mentioned I have been using this for over a year now and it has not shed a single hair. I never experienced having tiny stray hairs on my face with this brush. Absolutely no shedding.
- It does not bleed every time I wash it.
- Picks up and deposits powder evenly (of course, by buffing it) and provides light -medium coverage depending on your desired coverage.
- Not as dense as other kabuki brushes and therefore ideal for light dusting of powders. Can be used to have lighter coverage from those foundations that are heavy.
- The size of this brush is really cute and can easily fit in purses since this is small - around 2 inches.
- Can be used on foundation (pressed or loose), blushes, and finishing powders (some even use it for bronzers).
- Has never irritated my skin the way brushes with animal hairs did (Yes, I have used a couple of brushes with animal hairs when I was starting out with makeup).


What I don't like:
- The top of this baby buki has become flat (could be that I buff too hard?).
- Be extra careful with this brush as it might break off just like what happened to Nikki's. :(
- Cannot be purchased individually as this is part of a set. However, if you want just a kabuki brush from EcoTools, you can try their retractable kabuki which is denser.
- Not locally available at malls but you can buy them from resellers.

Overall rating: 4/5

Will I buy again? Yes but I don't need an entire brush set so I might try baby kabuki brushes from other brands. I have been itching to try the Charm mini kabuki and I might buy one soon so I can have something to alternate this brush with.

Size compared to a MAC lipstick.

Really cute and small. My hands look bigger when holding this brush.

What's your favorite kabuki brush?

Happy Thursday, super awesome peeps! :P

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