Apart from beauty, I'd love to share some lifestyle favorites, stuff that I've been appreciating a little more and new finds that help me in my every day life.
1. MUJI PP VANITY CASE
I've been loving the Muji PP vanity cases for a while now. Recently, I added the biggest one in their line (Php 375), which holds my skincare bottles, tubes, and whatnot, and also my sister's so that it's bunched up together and easy to transport especially when I wipe down the vanity. Some bottles are actually taller than the actual container, but it's not too bad cause I don't really need to put a lid on it.
I started out with the 1/2 sized one (Php 275), which is perfect for lipsticks. It has handles on the side too which makes it easier to carry. Though they sell a separate lid, I opted for the mirror that also serves as a lid, which is somewhere around Php 650. I actually saw the mirror first from Browhaus. It's the mirror they hand out after they fix your brows.
After making a conscious effort to use up my other makeup items, I bought the 1/4 size one (Php 215) which holds random makeup items like concealer, mascara, blush, and others. This sits on top of my 1/2 one which holds the lipsticks.
Naturally, it gets dirty after a while, considering it holds makeup, but they're easy to wash or wipe. Another thing I like about them is that they aren't fully transparent.
2. EGG BRUSH CLEANING PAD
I was strolling around Daiso one time and I saw this, which looked extremely similar to this brush egg cleaner. It was amazing to find out that it was also used as a scrubbing board for laundry. Though, thinking about it, I can see how this works as a laundry tool too. Given that I saw this in Daiso, you know that this only costs less than Php 100.
Basically, it's made of silicone material. The picture doesn't really show that you put your fingers through the opening below, but that's what I do when cleaning brushes. Normally, I would use my bare hands to clean brushes (I swirl them around my palm), but now I can opt to use this especially for smaller brushes. I put liquid soap or shower gel directly on this, wet my brush, and rub the brush against the egg. It cleans the brushes faster; so, I get on with my life faster.
3. GLADE AUTOMATIC SPRAY
If you live in a condominium unit, especially a small one, and if you're sensitive to smells just like me, you might have attempted several air fresheners, room sprays and fragrances, diffusers, and whatnot. Though I still have diffusers spread out around the condo and I spray the rooms from time to time, I have found great convenience from this little device right here. If you do go to the grocery, you might have noticed this already. I got a hold of this automatic spray from Glade in December 2016 and I'm on my 2nd can now.
Basically, it's an automatic, battery operated spray, which you can set to spray every 9, 18, and 36 minutes. The box shows a range of scents, but most groceries usually carry just 3 (lavender and vanilla, ocean escape, and morning freshness). The device comes in this kind of brown and a white. The set (device and can of fragrance) is less than Php 500, I believe. So, after finishing the can that comes with the set, you can just purchase refills. The first scent I tried was ocean escape, which I ended up giving to my mom (including the spray bottle) cause she wanted one too. I wasn't too impressed with that scent. I wanted the morning freshness scent, but it never came with the spray bottle, so I went for lavender and vanilla which I prefer more than ocean escape. After finishing the lavender one, I finally got morning freshness which is a bit lighter or more fresh smelling.
The bottle can easily be propped on a flat surface or hung on a wall. Ideally, I'd like to hang this, cause the mist (when it sprays) can be overwhelming, but I don't like drilling on walls.
So, those were my current lifestyle favorites. I'd be happy to hear about yours. Let me know.
Long time no post, but here's to 2017 and what's to come. I'll get right to it.
Last year has been a year of consuming and purging. I made a goal to buy less and finish first what I had before running off and buying the latest makeup item. I also wanted to have less things in general, which made me do some purging, selling, and giving. While some have been thrown out already, I managed to save some empties for this post. I'll be giving brief reviews of each too.
BIFESTA
I mentioned this makeup remover in this post. It's pretty much the first micellar water I've tried. Up to this day, it's still one of my favorites. Too bad, they don't stock it often in Watsons.
YES TO CUCUMBERS FACIAL WIPES
My sister and I bought these wipes while we were in the States. The scent is great and the texture is not as rough as other wipes. I'm not much of a wipes fan though so I don't think I'll repurchase often, but I guess it's still pretty convenient to have them around for traveling.
ETUDE HOUSE WONDER PORE FRESHNER
I think it took me a year to finish this bottle. It's the biggest one they have that you could actually refill. The pump is also super convenient; you don't need to lift the bottle to dispose product on a cotton pad. What's more important is that the product actually worked well on me. I didn't really notice a difference when I was using it, but I did notice that my skin wasn't in its normal state when I ran out of the product and had to skip toner or use another toner. So, it's probable that I'd repurchase this if I don't get too experimental on my toner. I'm using Clinique now. I'll let you know about it on another post.
LANCOME TONIQUE DOUCEUR
This was a toner I used alternately with the Etude House one and it's the first Lancome toner I've tried. It was given to me with a cream. Since it's more of a sample or a travel sized one, I used it more for travels and not daily. I didn't think it was particularly more special though than the Etude House one.
OLAY CC CREAM
I bought this CC cream after seeing a few videos online by some international beauty vloggers and because I was scheduled to go to Cambodia that time. I decided not to go for heavy foundation on that trip cause I'd surely sweat it off anyway. The tube states that it's a pore minimizing CC cream with sunscreen, but it had only an SPF of 15. So, I didn't really use this as my only sunscreen. In fact, the cream sort of stung when I applied it on my nose, probably cause I rub my nose often. Regarding coverage, it did the job of having minimal coverage (as in barely there coverage), but I'm pretty sure there are other products out there that would do a better job. I guess it'd be good as a base.
I've already talked about this product in
this post. I'm on my second tube now. It's pretty affordable too!
My shade of this product is W3. I did a first impressions of this in
this post. I can say now that I really like this. My sister likes this as well. It gives you a light and even coverage. I'm lucky to have guessed my shade at one go. I guess since it's not really a product targeted to Asians, it doesn't have that white or gray cast Asian cushions usually have. The only downside to this is that it runs out fast, especially if you use it daily (even after I've flipped the sponge). I wanted to repurchase this during our second trip to the States, but I wanted to try Asian cushions.
A BONNE SPA MILK SALT
This product is affordable and had good reviews, so I tried it out and it was mentioned in
this post. I'm not really keen on getting fairer, but I wanted a scrub that was straightforward and came in a tube. No matter how nice the packaging of a scrub is, if I end up leaving it in the shower, it's bound to be grimy and whatnot. I guess it does that job of exfoliating. I just don't do it often enough to see the whitening effects, I guess.
I hope this helped you. I actually have a lot more empties to share with you. So, keep checking. This year seems pretty promising for a lot of brands. I have a feeling I'll be leaning towards Asian brands this year.
At the beginning of 2015, my sister and I talked about going on a trip. Just the two of us. She was the type who really liked to immerse in cultural activities and I was too. In family trips though, we don’t really get to go around as much as we’d like. So, this time we went on our own.
A lot of people talk about how traveling really inspires them and how others even quit their jobs to travel full time. While that seems really appealing, it might not be feasible just yet for my sister and I.
We ruled out other Asian countries that we’ve been to, even if we wanted to head back to those places. We also didn’t consider those our family could possibly visit in the future. Of course, budget was another constraint. Since we were willing to spend almost 5 days out, we wanted to go somewhere where our relatively small budget would fit. We ended up with Cambodia as our 2015 travel destination.
Somehow, the beginning of this year came with much pressure to evaluate the previous year (2015) and set up life-changing goals. Though I'm all for that, I wanted to see how I'd actually fair for the first month of 2016.
My sister encouraged me to do a "Life Audit". We based it from her friend's post, which was actually pretty inspiring. At the same time, we also listed or highlighted goals for 2016. The Life Audit is a mix of long-term and short-term goals and actually figuring out what you want in life. I took a while with this.
At the same time, we got the Passion Planner when we visited the States. It was curated in a way that would make it easier to plot down tasks based on your "passion projects" or goals. My sister got me into this as well. But before getting this, I've already collected enough stickers for the Coffee Bean planner. I must say, they have a great website. I was satisfied with my 2015 Coffee Bean planner, so I pursued this year's one. Yes, I didn't collect for the Starbucks Moleskin planner. I think I would have gotten a better deal if I bought a Moleskin without the Starbucks branding, so I went with the Coffee Bean one instead.
So, I'm basically very much planned up. It won't matter though unless I actually do enough for me to at least have some progress with my goals. That though is the harder part. For me, January meant the start of another semester as well. I feel like it's only now that I'm getting settled in, now that the month's about to tend. And honestly, sometimes I just feel like keeping it simple with my goals.
How did I do for January? Well, honestly, I could have done better. Although, I think I'm off to a good start. 2015 was definitely something. It was hard. And I could see 2016 being the same way or even harder. But I welcome you, 2016, with arms wide open. It's my 25th year too, so I really want to do something great, come back to this post and be happy that I've actually reached a goal or completed a project, even if it's not the biggest one.
I wish the same for you. Let's do this.
"Either I will find a way, or I will make one" - Philip Sidney
