Getting ready for 2012 summer haul

I know it is only the beginning of February but I could not help myself from going out and do some shopping in preparation for summer. We had this little anticipated bonus in January so it gave me an excuse to reward and indulge myself in shopping.

First I got two versatile shawl for those chilly nights at the beach. I hate being cold and it can get really windy in the evening at Boracay, a famous summer destination here in the Philippines, so I got these to keep myself warm. It is so versatile it can be used as a scarf and shawl, I can be worn in many ways as you would a scarf.



Beach top cover-up from Cocobana. I love this cover-up since it is chunky loose knit three quarter sleeves. and it would look really cute over a two piece bathing suite.


Since we are travelling I got a couple of essentials. I was looking for a good summer foundation because I have really bad hyperpigmentation on my face I don't really like going out without foundation on. I was looking for a light to medium coverage foundation with a tube packaging since it is easier to travel with than bottled foundation. I decided give these two foundation a try, the Loreal White Perfect Pearl and the Maybelline Clear Smooth Aqua gel foundation.



Then I got waterproof mascara for those days at the beach. I got the maybelline magnum volume express mascara in waterproof. I have had a good experience with maybelline mascaras before so I have high expectation for this mascara.



Then for skincare, I just got some Watsons wet tissues to remove my make-up and Garnier facial scrub.


I will be testing out those products and see if I like them or not. It is good to try out products now so I would be prepared for our summer trip this coming 22nd of March.

Get to Know me Tag

Vital Stats:


Name: Christine Joy
Nicknames
: I have a lot of nicknames - My friends call me "Cj", family members call me "Joy", "Tirang", "Marika", My closest cousin call me "Monster" and my boyfriend call me "Mui".
Birthday
: August 29, 1986
Place of Birth
: Cagayan de Oro Philippines
Star Sign
: Virgo
Occupation

: Accountant

Appearance:


Hair colour
: Black
Hair length
: At the moment it is short
Eye colour
: Brown Black
Best feature
: My lips or mouth. It is quite small for my face.
Braces
: I've had one when I was in my first year of Post Graduate Studies and I had it removed after my graduation. So I had my braces on for over 2 years but, no more than 3 years.
Piercings
: Only on my earlobes.
Tattoos
: None but it may be interesting to get one.
Righty of Lefty: I'm a Righty



Firsts:


Best friend
: I don't really recall, but my cousin Charissa Kay aka "Monster" is one of the people I consider my best friend and also my boyfriend Colsid-Rey. Me and my boyfriend were best friends before we became boyfriend and girlfriend.
Award
: I've won Miss Love, She's got the looks and best in casual attire in a beauty contest at my elementary school. I've also received a silver medal in my computer subject in elementary.
Sport
: I play volleyball and table tennis but I'm not very good at it though.
Real Holiday
: My first holiday with my family is going to Camiguin Island here in the Philippines and my out the country holiday with my friends is in Hong Kong.

Concert

: Never been to any concert.

Favourites:


Film
: The Bucket List
TV Show
: At the moment I'm loving the Vampire Diaries and America's Next top Model.
Colour: Red, Black and Purple.

Song
: At the moment it is "What do you want from me" by Adam Lambert and "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" by Kelly Clarkson.
Restaurant
: I love Sentro, it is a local restaurant here in my area where they make the best Pork Kawali.
Store
: National Book Store. I simply love buying books and school and office supplies.
Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Magazine: I love reading a local magazine called Meg and Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Shoes: I love love love high heels.
But for days that I feel not dressing up I go for my trusty black converse.
Scent: I love the Burberry "The Beat" perfume. It is just a clean and fresh scent that can be both a day and night scent. You can't go wrong with the Burberry Beat.


Currently...


Feeling: Ill, I just had a vaccine shot early in the day so I'm feeling like I'm coming down with a fever. 

Single or Taken
: Taken
Eating: Barbeque and potato salad.
Listening to
: Kelly Clarkson "Mr. Know it All"
Thinking about
: Not getting ill. I'm staying positive because I have big day tomorrow at the office.
Watching
: Anime series called "Skip beat", because the plot is so interesting and the characters are great. I highly recommend this series.

Wearing

: Pajamas

Future:

Want Children: I want them but not until I'm at least 28 years old.

Want to be married: Yes
Careers in mind
: I'm an Accountant so anything related to Finance, Banking and Business.
Where do you want to live: Somewhere where there is snow and a lot of malls. We don't have snow here in the Philippines and I really want to wear cute winter outfits especially boots.



Do you believe in:
God
: Yes, I do
Miracles
: Everyday is a miracle.
Love at first sight: No I don't. You cannot love a person that you do not know. It may be attraction and infatuation but I don't believe that it is love.
Ghosts: I do, but I have not seen one in person and I do not wish to see one.
Aliens
: I do. The universe is big and it is so selfish to say that we are the only living intellectual beings in the whole universe. I know there is something out there.
Soul Mates
: Yes I do.
Heaven
Hell
: Although I'm Catholic I'd like to think that all people will find peace in the afterlife regardless of the life they live.
Kissing on the first date: If it is just a peck on the cheek then it is acceptable but if it is full on kiss on the lips then definitely not.
Yourself: I try my best to constantly believe in myself and not give-in to insecurities and doubts.

Mix and Match foundation

I have been using drugstore foundation ever since I have started wearing make-up because I can't justify paying a huge amount of money for high-end foundations that I would consume in less than a month. I have tried many drugstore foundation and I have found out that I like Revlon foundations the most. I am not saying that will I stop trying new foundations, its just that I find myself always going back to my usual Revlon foundation.

Like most drugstore foundation, Revlon foundations have limited color range and I really don't fit in any of then so I mix my own with a couple of Revlon colorstay foundation and photoready foundation. After considerable amount of trial and error, I have found the perfect foundation combination that match me. At the moment I'm mixing Revlon colorstay in 01 Ivory, Revlon colorstay in 200 Nude and Revlon photoready in 006 Medium Beige.

I like the color stay foundation because it has a matte finish and it is medium to full coverage. The photoready however is more shimmery and of light coverage, this would be perfect for night events that you would want to have extra glow to your skin. The downside of the Revlon foundation is the smell. It has a very chemically smell and at first it was really offensive but I have gotten used to it after all this time. With the colorstay foundation it also does not come with a pump, unlike the photoready one, so it is very difficult to get the foundation out without being messy. Nonetheless I still like the coverage and the finish that it gives when these foundation are mixed together. It is not too matte and not so shimmery, it is like having another layer of skin which is not heavy and greasy at all. I do recommend wearing primer under the foundation for special occasion to help the foundation last longer.

Here is a photo I took while wearing my special mix of foundation. I think it just matches my skin perfectly.

Hair-tastic Haul

It is not even a week since my last shopping trip, yet again I went on another shopping trip now with my boyfriend to purchase tons of hair products. This trip was triggered by these pictures that I found whilst I was looking for a some hairstyles that I could do for an upcoming wedding event that I'm attending.

I love the scrunchy and somewhat curly and spiky part of these hairstyles. I have almost the same haircut minus the fringe so I really want to try and re-create it.

As soon as I saw the pictures, I felt a desperate need to get styling tools and hair products. So my boyfriend and I went to our local mall and picked-up some hair tools and products in our drugstore.

I got a Turbo Hair Dryer 1000 in the color red for about ($10). It has two heat setting, low for styling and high for drying. I like it because it is inexpensive, can run with 115/230 V (1000 watts), compact and lightweight really good for traveling.

I got Watsons slim ceramic hair straightener for ($18). The styling tools I got were inexpensive drugstore ones because I'm just starting to get into hairstyling and if I get the hang of it then maybe I'll get the expensive ones. It would be bad if I get expensive tools when I'm crappy at doing hairstyles.

For hair products, the choices at the drugstore is quite limited and they don't have heat protectant so I just got some hair styling products and haircare products.

For styling I got a Bench FIX professional clay doh (Molding clay) 25g for ($1). I only got the small tub to try out and it says it is for matte and tousled look. Molding clay are great for doing the spiky hairstyle.

I also got FINESSE Self Adjusting Extra Hold Hairspray 7 OZ for ($7). I picked this hairspray because it does not smell offensive unlike other hair spays and it is also not sticky. This hairspray also contains Silk and Soy proteins that protect hair with a coat of conditioning and shine.

I got a couple of Hair Treats hair shine for shine and silky smooth hair look. It was also on offer when I went for check-out for ($5).

Since I am going to apply heat and other styling products on my hair, I decided to get some haircare products to somehow lessen the damage of my hair.

I got the Ellips Hair Vitamin with jojoba oil for ($1). You use one capsule after you take a shower and apply it to half dried hair and let it dry. It has UV protection, vitamins A, C, E and Pro vitamin B5 that helps damaged hair structure and reduces split end caused by hair blow drying, color dying, and hair styling.

Last is the Pantene Pro-V Night Miracle leave on creme serum for ($7). It claims to give 8 hours continuous repair as you sleep. First impression of this product is not greasy and it smells amazing. It has a lightweight formula that is quickly absorbed by the hair.

I'm excited to try out these products and see if the products is as good as what they claim to be. Upon first impression of the items that I bought, I think some items are promising enough that it will maybe make it to my IN list for January 2012.

January 2012 Shoe crazy haul!

I admit that I have a shoe addiction problem. I should not be allowed to go into malls unsupervised because I will usually come out with an insane amount of shoe purchases. It happened again yesterday as I went to the mall to buy a couple of things and I came out with 4 pairs of shoes.

It is only the 14th of January and I have already broken one of my new year's resolution which is to shop smart. Before I went to the mall I had already prepared a list of the things that I needed to buy and a couple of things that I might possibly buy and a pair of black boots is one of those things listed as a possible buy if I found a good pair. So once I spotted the boots that I liked one thing let to another and I don't know what happened but I walked out of the mall with 4 pairs of shoes, anyhow here are things that I bought.

A plastic water bottle for my Herbalife shake that I take every morning. ($4)


I also repurchased my beauche toner and clarifying lotion. This toner and clarifying lotion are my savior when I was plagued with acne. The beauche skincare line is a bit tedious in the application of the various products but it is worth it. I keep going back to these products when I have massive breakouts. ($12 for both toner and clarifying lotion)


Since I have been taking Herbalife in the morning I have been eating less during lunch because I still feel full from the Herbalife shake. My cravings for snacks and junk food has also been controlled. I needed a smaller lunch container because with my existing lunch container I could not finish my meal and I am just wasting food. ($5)


Technically this bag was not part of the purchase that I made for the day but it arrived in the mail so I decided to include it in this haul. I bought this convertible brown faux leather bag in a site called DinoDirect after I watched a video from HelloBombshell7 on youtube when she went to Thailand. As soon as I finished watching her video I placed an order because I am also going to Thailand this year so I wanted a bag that I could carry around that could be multipurpose. I am very pleased with bag, it is inexpensive and the quality is better than I had expected. (Left: Tote style, Right: backpack) ($11 with free shipping)


Gray high-waisted skinny jeans by Wranco ($18)


Portable laptop cushion with LED light and cup holder. ($8)


On to the shoes...

Cream peep-toe shoes by Privilege with chunky heels. It is so cute and comfortable to walk on. I wore this right after I bought it and I got a lot of complements. ($23)


Black and Cream peep-toe shoes by Privilege with chunky heels. The black is suede and the cream is leather. ($23)


Black ankle boots by Rusty Lopez. It has part suede and part leather portion with zipper detailing at the back and side. ($25 - on sale)


Cream strappy heels by Rusty Lopez. This is really gorgeous on. ($30 - on sale)


I am really happy with my purchases and I vow to abstain from shopping for the rest of January and February to save up for my holiday with friends at Boracay this coming March.

New Year and I'm feeling out of it

Its 2012, a brand new year and I'm ill. I've spend a lot of time cooped up in my room trying to recover from a massive headache that seems to invade my solitude every minute and I mean literally every minute. I have been experiencing throbbing pain the front right part of my head at it occurs every minute. I called in sick for work and I have been spending my time here at home sleeping, surfing the net, eating and sleeping some more.

This post is going to be so random but anyhow, I found this really cute dress on a magazine and I decided to hunt it down once I get to go on a major shopping spree. I usually do this when I really feel out of it, I usually go and look online or some of my old magazines and cut out things that I love and I put them together in a binder/book. Once in a while I will look at the book to get inspired on what to shop for next, or get outfit ideas. I'll show you my book once finish organizing it. So in the past 2 days that I have been in isolation here in my room I have made a pretty long shopping list which makes me want to get better quicker so I could do some retail therapy sooner.

I hope that everyone is healthy unlike me and enjoying the new year. If I do get my shopping done expect a haul.

Here is a picture of the dress... pretty right?

Glitter Polish for 2011 Holidays

During the holiday season I was mostly wearing Glitter nails because they looked so pretty and festive. Here are the nail combination that I was wearing over the holidays.

This is my favorite glitter nail combination because it is so classy and festive at the same time. (Revlon's creme brule as base then gold glitter on top)



My second favorite nail combination. I like to call "midnight sky".



Used the Silver polish in the right



Revlon's Fire Fox - bright red with subtle gold sparkles

December 2011 IN and OUT

IN

♥ Christmas Sales

♥ Opening Christmas presents and spending time with family


♥ My silver locket that I got from my boyfriend
♥new tripod that my boyfriend got me

♥Palmer's body lotion

♥ glitter nail polishes
♥new nephew named Daniel Andrew - my cousin gave birth last December 28, 2011

♥ LA girl professional concealer

♥ Revlon translucent powder

♥baby wipes for removing my make-up because I'm so lazy

♥Gray little organizer


OUT

☠ Typhoon Sendong - the typhoon that hit my city a week before Christmas that killed thousands of people and destroyed millions worth of properties. People in my city was not in a very festive mood after that incident.

☠ Stila smudge pot - I was trying to revive it as part of my project 10 pan but its just so hard to work with the product after it started drying up.

☠No water - since the typhoon we haven't had water for weeks so we had to line-up for water supply every time a firetruck would come to deliver water which was a total chaos.