Photos of the Month: January 2013

Hi! It's been a while since my last blog post due to my laziness and of course i'm always tired and sleepy after 5 days of work during weekdays.

But i promise myself that for this year, one of my goals is to be active in blogging. So here are the things i've been up to for this month.

College Reunion

Finally we are almost complete when we have this reunion (after a long time). Nothing changed between our friendship and we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning because we definitely need more time for our stories. It feels so good to spend my Saturday night full of laughter, new updates and gossips with these girls :). 

Birthday Month

Surprise Tous les jours cake from my Niggas (my  previous work colleages
turned friends  for life) and advance bday dinner at Gerry's Grill.

January is special because it's me and my sister's birthday month. And despite feeling anxious that i'm still living the not yet successful life/career,my mindset this time is to be thankful for any blessings i get to receive and to have a positive outlook in life.

Actual birthday dinner with the fam at Ang Mo Kio, Podium. Love the singaporean dishes! 

I really love the cakes and pastries of Tous Les Jours, which is a korean pastry shop. And good thing they opened another branch at Greenbelt makati (which is closer to us). So this time my family bought a cake for my sister's birthday. 

Favorite hauls

V&M smooth lip detox, V&M mineral e/s in Halo, Mir & Ryvi papaya soap

I signed up with Sample Room so i can try out sample products before buying them on stores/online shops. I'm currently loving Venus & Mars lip butter balm for my dry chapped lips. I will give reviews in their website after a few days.

Missing u 'I can fly' hand cream Cerulean Warbler, Moringa O2 herbal lotion

I'm also addicted to scented lotions so i bought this cutie patootie missing u hand cream from Etude House. Scent is sweet cotton candy and it's just mild for me.

And i get to order another product from Sample room which is the Moringa-O2 Herbal moisturizing lotion since i still have enough points to purchase this. The website restocked this product because everyone is already raving about this lotion. A must try product because it smells like Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume (fave scent) so i have a cheaper alternative!

Camwhoring with my sister, i so love my off white blouse (Mom's gift) <3

So that's it folks! See you in my next post and hope we all have a memorable time this February.

xoxo

Steph

NOTW: Revlon Whimsical

I've been lemming for Revlon's whimsical nail polish for the past few months because it's known as a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's glitter in the air. According to some blogs and reviews, this nail polish is very hard to find and obviously it will take longer to bring this line to the Philippines.

Then luckily while checking out stuffs at the pcx store in Greenbelt, i saw whimsical nail polish together with Revlon's other new shades (red sticker ones) at their counter.

  Revlon whimsical is a light blue jelly polish with pink and blue hexagonal glitters. I'm really happy that i bought this immediately.

The only problem is that because this nail polish is almost transparent, the glitters would look noticeable if i put this on top of an opaque color. So i road tested it using a turquoise and gray nail polish as base.

Revlon whimsical over Elianto Turquoise

Revlon whimsical over Caress Diamond Gay

I actually love the combination over the Caress nail polish.The base color doesn't have a washed out change color effect like the one i tried with Elianto. Next time i'll try to pair this up with a pastel blue polish.


This color is also perfect for the rainy season.


PROS:

• Application is easy
• Pastel glitters over jelly polish is pleasing to the eye
• A good dupe for GITA and some says that whimsical has more glitters in its application

CONS:

• Effort to dip more glitters in the brush to make it visible in your nails
• This polish is better paired with pastel opaque colors 
• A bit expensive although i wouldn't mind shelling out money just to have this dupe.

WHERE TO BUY?: Revlon counters (i found this at Greenbelt). I'm not sure if this is available already to all their outlets

HOW MUCH?: Php 225.00

WILL I BUY AGAIN?: Yes, i would love to buy other shades in this new collection.

Till my next NOTW post :)

Last Minute December Update: Nuvali, Sta. Rosa Laguna

On Christmas day, me and my family visited Nuvali at Sta. Rosa Laguna hoping to have a short peaceful excursion. But we are not suprised to expect that the place is super crowded with all types of people. All the restaurants around Solenad I are full of customers but we manage to find an available slot at Uncle Cheffy's.

Uncle Cheffy specialty pizza good for 2.

this pizza is similar with Yellow Cab's Dear Darla hehe

Uncle Cheffy cheesecake - super yummy!

After lunch, we just visited the bazaar near the area and window shopped at Solenad II where there are a couple of high end branded stores and few restaurants. So many people flooded the park due to the nice ambiance for a picnic trip and weather is great since it's near tagaytay. 

me and the kois

You guys? Where did you spend your Christmas Day? :)

Last Minute December Update: Jamba Juice!

Last December 15,2011 is the date where me and my officemates finally finished our curiosities regarding Jamba Juice. This smoothie/yoghurt store is originally located in U.S. and they are now here in the Philippines, located at Bonifacio High Street as their sole branch.And we're proud to say that we're now Jambafied! hehe.

I tried Strawberry Wild which is their bestseller and my other officemate tried Banana Berry. Their fruit juices & smoothies are 100% healthy and delicious. We also bought california flatbread and chips. I will definitely go back here next time with my family.

Strawberry Wild FTW!

California Flatbread in Smokehouse Chicken

Too bad our pictures at their photobooth is not yet posted in their facebook page and i still haven't got the ones we sent to my officemate's email.

me and gara (my officemate/friend) chilling

Me and Annie posing! hehe

After that, we also took time to hang out outside the store as there's an ampitheatre like place and fountain. Later on, i learned that this is the venue for the first shadow play that opened last December 25.

I figured these are seats for the shadow play.

Hope you also visit Jamba Juice and you'll definitely enjoy the atmosphere of the place.

Last Minute December Update: U.S. gift goodies

This is a late update as i haven't had time to blog for a long time. Lola Baby and Auntie Tita sent us (family) a balikbayan box full of our requests as christmas gifts from them. I actually waited too long for this as we gave them our requests last September and the package arrived around first week of December.

Goodies for me :)

Among the items are the ones i requested. I specifically liked the candies black shoulder bag, rimmel nail lacquers and the maybelline colorsensational lippie in pinkalicious. And never will they forget to buy stuffs from bath & body works.

I'm kinda surprised they bought more than what we've asked for, maybe they got these from a sale as they have lots of buy 3 get 2 something like that promo :). Anyway all of us (4 girls in the family) have a bath & body works request so everything here is shared among us.

Specific favorites are: Charmed Life lotion, Sea Island cotton mist, White citrus mist and Star Fruits sanitizer.

Anti- bacterial hand gel in Star Fruit, Snob Berry, All-Star Apple, Hip Hop Plum

I'm really fascinated with these 4 limited edition hand gels. My favorite is Star Fruit and i love the cute dog in the cover. My sister has Hip Hop Plum but somebody stole it from her anti-bacterial holder so she also got Snob Berry.

Thanks again to my Titas for their generosity and for giving us a very merry christmas this 2011.

Teaberi, Our Lady of Manaoag

Last friday me and my workmates went to mass at St. Andrews Church and to visit Our Lady of Manaoag. But before that, we just had late merienda first and ordered Mexicali through delivery. And the best part, we were able to try a new Milk Tea discovery located at the A.Venue Mall in Makati as well. Our office is just walking distance from the place and you won't have a hard time looking for it since it's located outside the mall.

The place looks so inviting and cozy even though the small space is just their counter and a few dining chairs.

 I also love the interior design of their dining area. Their flooring is made of grass. I'm just not sure if it's real or synthetic. =)

 I ordered Green Tea with Cheese Froth, sounds familiar right? Most of their beverages have similarities with Happy Lemon. Well almost all Milk Tea stores have the same kind of drinks but i haven't tasted the Happy Lemon version of this yet. Since this is one of their recommendations, why not experiment and give this a try?
My verdict: the cheese froth of this drink is thicker than Happy Lemon even though i ordered a regular size. But i feel that this green tea is too strong for me, it tastes so bitter as the cheese froth lessens. I will order the same version at Happy Lemon next time to see the difference.

L to R: Green Tea w/cheese froth, Passion Fruit Green Tea, Green Apple Green Tea, Black Tea w/cheese froth.

 All four of us ordered recommendation drinks. Black Tea w/cheese froth has a cinnamon flavor on top of the drink. And the two green tea drinks in between are like fruit juices. But still there is a distinctive tea aftertaste and good thing we requested normal sugar. The cool thing with passion fruit and green apple is that you can add a free topping and the barista recommended putting Bubble pop to it. Bubble pop looks so similar with sago but with a sweet liquid filling inside once you chew it. It's so fun eating this topping and we had a good laugh after because of our curiosity with it. I'm definitely going to order drinks with bubble pop toppings next time.

 Then we ended our day by going to mass at St. Andrews Church in Kalayaan Avenue. It's a good thing we've been given the chance to see Our Lady of Manaoag here in this church and it's also accessible to our office. The statue originally came from Pangasinan and they're taking rounds of visit within luzon. I heard that they will transfer her next in Batangas and she will only stay here until October 9. The church is not that crowded when we arrived and we didn't have a hard time taking pictures and holding her wardrobe at the back of the statue to pray. I also got blessed rosaries after the mass as their giveaway.

Hope you all have a blessed and fun weekend ;)

Week Happenings: NOTW, Happy Lemon, NYX

Hi! Just want to share some interesting events for me this week:

My Thai, Venice Piazza

Lunch with Family last Sunday (Sept.25) at this Thai Restaurant. Love their appetizer, noodles and thai iced milk tea. Yum!

Appetizer, forgot the name =)

Thai milk tea

Love their rice!

NOTW: Funky leopard nails. Base polish is San San in Sandy Brown. Pink and lime green spots are from Caress. And i used sassy black nail polish to line the spots for a leopard design.

Friday Night Out: Me and my workmates went to Rockwell for a movie and to visit again our new favorite hang-out..Happy Lemon! Milk teas are getting popular already here but this is still my favorite among the rest. We ordered different beverages for the 4 of us. Love to drink this when you're enjoying a nice chat with your colleagues.

From L to R: Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese. Lemon Pineapple with Nata de Coco (with add on pearl sago). Deluxe Cocoa with Pudding and Pearl sago. Crispy Cocoa Milk Tea with Brown Sugar Jelly.

NYX Lippies: I love NYX! although looking for their cosmetics is a hassle since some stores inside malls sell these stuffs more expensive than when you order them on facebook and multiply. Bought the soft matte lip creams at Somera Glorietta 5 for Php390. While i bought the matte lipsticks at Digital Traincase' booth inside megatrade hall (weekend sale at Megamall) for Php300. If you want to try these make-up it's best to buy them at Digital Traincase' multiply site or through the owner's ortigas store.

These lippies are so amazing. All of them are pigmented and vibrant on my lips. Their matte lipsticks are easier to apply than my EB matte lipsticks. You just have to apply lip balm first to avoid having chapped lips after. Definitely a great find and i want to get their other shades.

Swatches L to R: NYX matte lipstick in Angel and Strawberry Daiquiri. NYX soft matte lip cream in Addis Ababa and Antwerp.

Hope you had a Happy Weekend!