Friday, December 20, 2013

Topaz Beauty: Happy Skin review plus an interview with Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez

Happy Skin is the cutest makeup ever! The makeup line was launched recently and I'm sooo happy that I was one of the lucky few who got to try out the products when the new beauty brand came out.

Here are the products I got: SS Créme, Don't Get Mad Get Even Liquid Foundation, and two chubby sticks of Shut Up & Kiss Me Lippies. I also got Get Cheeky With Me Blush but I can't find it! My kids must've played with it.

What's so special about Happy Skin? It's makeup that actually cares for your skin! The products are infused with skin-caring ingredients like hyaluronic acid (brings up moisture from the deep layers of skin to the surface), shea butter (for healing and moisturizing), Japanese tea leaf (antioxidant that lightens, heals, and reduces inflammation), cherry blossom (locks in moisture), and more.

Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez and Rissa Mananquil-Trillo are the women behind these fabulous prettifiers that pamper skin. Rissa, who's one of the country's supermodels, says, "I've been modeling for more than a decade and I have had every imaginable makeup brand on my face. Many of them instantly prettify you, but the biggest makeup woe is going home with ruined skin."

That is true! That's why I only learned to apply makeup when I was in my 30s (yes, I only learned a few years ago!). Every time I tried makeup when I was younger, my skin would break out in a rash or I'd get pimples! Makeup was never fun for me.

Rissa adds, "Truly good makeup should be your ally—not your enemy—in making you look and feel beautiful."

I think Jacqe and Rissa achieved that with Happy Skin. My ultimate test? I applied the makeup one evening and went to bed without washing my face. Big skin no-no! Whenever I forget to wash my face, I always wake up with a pimple. Always! This time around with Happy Skin? Not one zit. I looked so pretty pa!

Here's my mini review report:
Shut Up & Kiss Me Lippie, P499.

Sorry for the yellow light! I took these photos in the dining room. The colors are not right. Anyway, the Lippies are fat and cute and so deeply pigmented, you only need a few swipes to get your puckers pretty. My lips also didn't get dry. This kinda feels like lip balm actually!

Second Skin Créme, P1,199.

The SS Créme is a liquid foundation that I use when I'm just at home. I use it as my BB cream. I actually use Bobbi Brown BB Cream but ever since I got Happy Skin, I find myself grabbing this tube more!

Don't Get Mad Get Even Liquid Foundation, P999.

This, my friends, is my ultimate favorite Happy Skin product. I use liquid because I'm old. It's kinder on skin that has fine lines and wrinkles. Anyway, again, my liquid foundation is Bobbi Brown but since I tried Don't Get Mad Get Even Liquid Foundation, I've been loving this Happy Skin product instead.

Wanna see me without makeup, just with a sheer layer of Don't Get Mad Get Even Liquid Foundation? Tada!!!
I look perfect!!! And my skin is never perfect! All the years of pimples and scars and freckles and sleepless nights have taken a toll on my skin. Granted, my skin is better now ever since I started using Shiseido Ibuki (review next week) so it's not like my face is super bad. But I am never this flawless looking! And this is just foundation! No concealer! No Photoshop! 

Don't Get Mad Get Even Liquid Foundation, I love you!

I'm featuring Happy Skin founder Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez on my Manila Bulletin column today, by the way! I ran out of space so I'm putting the rest of her interview here:

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Topaz Fashion: Karimadon online shop

My dear friend Kat Dy is getting married in exactly 3 weeks. Vince and I are ninong and ninang!!! We're just a few years older than Kat and Pat so we were really surprised haha, but the couple explained that they got people who are happily married. Besides, if they got old people, by the time they might need guidance in their marriage, the oldies would be dead!

So the motif colors are gold, blush pink, navy and cream. I don't have dresses yet (there are two ceremonies). I'm putting off shopping because my pregnant shape is changing. I'm always heavily bloated during my first trimester, then weirdly enough, when I hit the 4th month, my body becomes nice and shapely. The bloat goes, the boobs come, the fat transfers to where curves should go. So weird.

While I may not be getting a dress yet, I'm definitely buying my gowns from Karimadon. I've always shopped at Karimadon for special occasions, beginning with my high school graduation 19 years ago. Thank goodness for online shopping, I've checked out Karimadon's online shop and narrowed down my choices to these lovelies:
Say hello to Felicity. This is my top pick! It's so goddess! Of course, I don't look anything like Marian Rivera but this is just so gorgeous! It comes in many colors but of course I'll get royal blue for the wedding. Only P2,499!

My second choice is Rose. I love the soft drape, the simple embellished belt, the exposed shoulder. Available in red and black, too, for only P2,999.

If I'm not too big by next week and if I can squeeze into this corset gown, maybe I'll get Juliet. But this one I actually want to check in the store first. Kat wants gold or cream. I have to see the color in person to see if it's just what the bride wants. This is also available in teal for P4,999.

I love this! This is Alexia. I need to see this in the store, too, because this is actually violet (the other colors are black and red). If it's a blue violet, I think I'll get this. It's just P3,299! Plus, the V-neckline will make it easy to breastfeed Iñigo.

Thanks, Marian, for modeling these lovely gowns. You are quite fetching yourself!

Go check out Karimadon's online shop to see more fab dresses. Just please don't buy all the ones I like! I'm shopping next week!

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Happiness is one, two, three!

Proud daddy Vince said, "Why are you still keeping it a secret?"

Why indeed? So here goes:

We're pregnant again! We are so thrilled and happy and so excited!

We've known since my birthday a little over a month ago so that was the best birthday gift. Then we waited for a new ultrasound to check if Baby Chicken has a heartbeat and, hooray, the baby's heart is beating strong so the baby is the best Christmas gift, too!

Baby Chicken is the nickname of the baby now. We named our baby-in-the-tummy after candy (Vito was Jelly Bean, Iñigo was Wiggle, you know, like the sour worms) so this third baby was supposed to be Gummi Bear. But Vito took one look at this, saw the egg shape, and promptly said, "Hi, Baby Chicken!"

Hi, Baby Chicken! We can't wait to meet you! Be strong and healthy in Mama's tummy! We love you!

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Friday, December 06, 2013

Good-bye, perfect girl. Hello, me. Which is perfectly fine!

Have you watched Frozen? We watched it last week and now the whole house is reverberating with the soundtrack with everyone singing, "For the first time in forever," "Love is an open door," and of course, "Let it go! Let it go!"

Between Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, I relate to Elsa more. Maybe because I'm the eldest sister, maybe because we also have a family secret, maybe because I ran away from home, too.

Yes, I ran away. But it didn't start with me. The situation at home was so bad that my parents were the first to abandon ship. One day, they just packed up their clothes and our 10-year-old sister and they left. They left me, my younger brother, and my older brother and his wife and three kids. Yes, my parents left first but that's okay since we were all adults. I can't explain how bad things were but if it scared off my parents from their own house, then you must believe me when I say it was bad. I actually wish they had stayed away. Maybe my mother would still be alive today if she hadn't come back.

Anyway, I was left to carry the burden of that household. My sister-in-law helped but she had four other mouths to feed. She left soon after, too, but while I understand why she left, I do not and will never agree with parents abandoning their young children, and that's all I'll say about that.

Vince saw how my soul was slowly being crushed and he told me repeatedly, "You have to leave that place," but I was scared. "What would people say? I have no money. How would I live? Don't bad things happen to girls living on their own? My parents always said good girls only leave home if they have a husband. I don't have a husband. What would people say?" But the situation at home was getting worse and finally, one dark and terrible day, I packed up and left, too.

It was so sudden. There was no plan, no place to move into, no nothing! I had no money when I left and I took just a bag of clothes, shoes and books. Funny how when you need to leave, you suddenly realize you only really need a few things. I had no money at all but I had a job that paid just P8,000 a month (and my rent was 4K!), friends who helped me look for a place to stay (and it was actually a really nice place, too!), and of course my lifesaver Vince.

I lived hand-to-mouth for a while, often the electricity was cut off, sometimes I relied on my friends to feed me, sometimes my roommate and I scraped the sauce from a tin of tuna and laughed at how poor we were, and sometimes (not all the time!) when Vince and I ate out, I stuffed all the tissue paper in my bag because I couldn't afford to buy toilet paper! Haha! But I was finally having the time of my life. There was no money but, wow, I was alive! No fear, no guilt, no shackles, no pretense. I was free, I was happy, I was finally me.

Whew! Funny how a Disney movie brought me back to more than a decade ago! I'd actually forgotten that I ran away from home! But when Queen Elsa unleashed her power finally, I was just transported to that 24-year-old me, afraid at first then getting stronger with each day of freedom!



Not a Demi Lovato fan but I think this song is perfect for her and vice versa. She also broke out of that "perfect girl" image and I think she's much much happier now. Like me! Go watch the movie and tell me who you are: Elsa? Anna? Neither? Both? Have fun at Frozen this weekend!

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Monday, December 02, 2013

Juice cleanse + alcohol consumption = Anne slap fest!

I was too focused on Paul Walker's sudden death yesterday that I totally missed local celebrity news. Alam niyo naman ako, Hollywood forever! But here's what happened:



Wow! Wala akong opinion on the matter. I've never done juice cleanses, I've never gotten drunk senseless, and I've never slapped anybody. However, nangyari na sa akin yung nasa banyo ako and then there was someone banging on the door. Let me tell you, nakaka-stress talaga siya! Hindi ako kumakampi kay Anne but... nakaka-stress talaga yung nakaupo ka sa toilet tapos may kumakatok nang wagas sa pinto!

So dahil wala akong opinion, tawa na lang tayo!


Katakot!

Great idea!

Oy, si KC, maldita!

*all memes from Facebook, screencaps from Twitter and Instagram 

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