Showing posts with label Reviews & Recommendations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews & Recommendations. Show all posts

Friday, September 20, 2019

Review: Bioderma Sebium H2O Purifying Cleansing Micelle Cleanser

Selfie to prove my oily skin loves Bioderma Sebium!

A few weeks ago, I made my first IGTV video where I showed everyone how I remove my makeup. I used Bioderma Sebium micellar water to remove my makeup and clean my face. I didn't rinse since it was a no-rinse cleanser. And I thought that was the end of that.

Well, apparently, I was wrong! A few viewers told me that Bioderma Sebium is a cleanser, not a makeup remover. I should've used Sensibio to remove my makeup first then used Sebium to clean my face after. So that's why it took a lot of cleansing wipes before every bit of makeup was removed! Thank you to my viewers for telling me!

Since I don't have Sensibio, all I'll be able to review today is the Sebium. And that's okay because I love it!


Sebium is micellar water which is a special kind of water infused with micelles (cleansing oil in molecule form) that capture and lift away dirt and makeup. Sebium also has other purifying ingredients so that skin is cleansed without drying out. It's gentle for everyday use. Even if you don't wear makeup, if you use sunscreen, commute, or are oily-skinned, use Sebium anyway. It really lifts off everything—except moisture!—from your skin.

The bottle makes the liquid look blue but it's clear.

Now, even though I was told that it's not a makeup remover, when I do use it to remove makeup, it does remove makeup! Maybe it took me a lot more product than usual but it still did its job so I'm not complaining. 

I also like that Sebium is designed for combination/oily skin because that's my skin type. Bioderma says that Sebium is especially formulated to regulate the oil secretion with their patented Fluidactiv. It promises to normalize oil production. I honestly haven't seen any lessening of my oiliness. But at least I'm not breaking out either so I dunno. Maybe it works!


If you want to try Bioderma Sebium, it's available in a lot of places for just P518 for the 100ml bottle. Just click these links: Watsons, BeautyMNL, and Lazada. I also saw that Care to Beauty sells it at a discount—P274 lang! And please support my new IGTV channel although I still don't know what to do with it haha

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Roses in my beauty products (plus, a giveaway!)

All the flowers last Mother's Day reminded me that I have a giveaway for my blog's 13th anniversary! If you follow @topazhorizonblog on Instagram, you'd know I was giving this bottle of Jo Malone Red Roses cologne. I'm moved by all the entries and I can't wait to see your story there.


I also wanted to share that my skincare products since summer of last year have a theme: roses. I sometimes stray from these and try out new beauty goodies (because who can resist?), but I find myself going back to these rose-filled beauty products because my skin looks and feels amazing when I use them.


This is my super favorite: Pure Beauté Facial Wash in Rose. I use this every single day (except for those times I sampled new facial washes sent to me). My face is so fabulous whenever I use this!!! I also use a tiny amount of the Pure Beauté Body Scrub on my face. Yes! It's so gentle on my skin anyway so I don't mind using the exfoliant once every 2 weeks.

The packaging looks so worn out na! That's proof that I really use them! You can buy these from the Simple Mama online store. I love Simple Mama's products. They're clean, pure, fresh, practically homemade. Every product feels like love in a container.

Okay, here's the link to the Pure Beauté page but the Rose Collection is a limited edition. That stresses me out because when my facial wash is running out, I go on panic mode. I don't think I can live without Pure Beauté Facial Wash in Rose! I won't guarantee this but maybe if you ask nicely, Simple Mama will make a batch for you. Tell me so we can order together!


Next favorite: In Her Element Petal Skin Rose Toning Essence. It's beauty water. It sounds unnecessary but it does what it says it will: Its water will beautify you. You know that part in the title that says petal skin? Yes, that will happen. Your skin will feel like rose petals. So soft and velvety smooth. So perfect!

It's P875 and the bottle is small. It feels like a lot of money for what is essentially water but get it!!! You don't need a lot anyway. I just pump the dispenser once and apply the toning essence all over my face. Pat, pat, pat. I don't use a cotton ball because I want ALL the drops on my now smooth and petal-soft face. So worth it!


So now you know my cleanser, exfoliant, and toner. Now check out my moisturizer: The Ordinary Rose Hip Seed Oil. This oil is pressed from the seeds of a rose plant. Oil is great for trapping moisture in skin but rosehip oil is also amazing for its anti-aging benefits. I added it to my skincare routine when I found out that Miranda Kerr, Rose Byrne, Cara Delavigne, Victoria Beckham and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, use it.

It's P900 from Calyxta and though it's a tiny bottle, you only need 2 drops for your entire face. You just warm up the oil in your palms then press, press, press. it's one of the best things I ever got for my skin. It smells like cooking oil, though, but the smell goes away soon enough. I love that the oil is quickly absorbed and so my mug doesn't look like a greasy frying pan.


My last rose-infused product is this super sulit Heritage Store Rose Petals Rosewater Mist. I use it for a ton of things! I got it from Calyxta for just P600 and I'll copy-paste na lang my review below.



So there you have it! My complete skincare products that all happen to have roses as its main ingredient! Have you tried roses in your skincare?

Now remember: I have a giveaway!

Friday, May 03, 2019

Unboxing the secret to how mommies can truly beat worries

Unboxing post! I only do this on Instagram (and not even often) but the Best Ever Joy press box called to me because it said it will help me lead a zero-worries life. Considering that my life has been a little crazy recently, I felt compelled to finally open the big yellow box and see the secret to a life free from worry!



So Joy, the trusted dishwashing liquid, recently introduced its new Best Ever Joy. I'm sure you're aware of this because of the dancing moms and Michael V ads everywhere!

Anyway, this latest formula is the biggest innovation in 10 years. It has the new powerful ingredient HOD, an amphiphilic polymer that locks in grease better and prevents it from attaching again to dishes when rinsing plates, sponge, sink and hands. So now when you wash dishes, you literally have "zero sebo"*  because the new Best Ever Joy breaks grease faster and more efficiently, keeps grease suspended in the wash solution, and rinses off more quickly. And because Pinoys like suds, they created the Best Ever Joy to have longer-lasting suds, preventing the need for more product on the sponge. Mas powerful na, mas nakakatipid ka pa!

Six bog bottles yes!!!

So paano naging #ZeroWorries ang life kapag zero-sebo sa kusina? I know. Medyo far-fetched but Joy believes that Filipino parents are always worrying about the quality and quantity of time we spend with our kids. And if we're just stuck sa kusina, washing dishes, what a waste of time!

Actually, when I talked to Pinoy mommies, hindi nila concern ang time sa kusina kasi majority of Pinoy households have kasambahays. Parang ako lang ang kilala ko na walang kaambahay! So at least sa bahay namin, issue siya. Husband ko ang taga-hugas ng pinggan (ako ang nagluluto kasi) and sobrang happy siya when he saw the Best Ever Joy box hehe

May P21 savings pa!

Anyway, if most Pinoy parents don't worry about dishwashing time, sama-sama naman tayo sa pag-worry about germs and if malinis ang baunan ng mga bata.

With the new Best Ever Joy, all those worries can be washed away! Moms and dads are assured of "zero sebo" — even though they used less product and spent less time washing, the plates are still completely clean of grease and germs. That means #ZeroWorries over time, energy, cleanliness, and budget. Moms and dads can focus on living the Best Ever Life because of the new Best Ever Joy! Hooray!

May hand-painted plato and sponge pa!

But let me share with you my powerful secret in beating worries: GOD!

Totoo yan! I am the worst worrier in the world. Hindi naman ako ganito dati. Naging ganito lang ako nung naging nanay ako. My worries manifest as a horrible itch sa legs ko (gross, I know), so if you look at my legs now, puros peklat. I tried meditation, exercise, breathing exercises, journaling, etc. Nothing! What helped was going back to God's Word.

There are many verses in the Bible telling us to not be afraid and to not worry at all. God is in control! He is Sovereign! No matter what happens, "we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28). Everything is going to be okay, mamas!

Matthew 6:25-34 says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God cloths the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Such a beautiful promise from our Heavenly Father! Blessed assurance talaga! So let us not worry, mamas. Yes, life is hard and it is full of sadness and pain. But God will see us through! I really believe that! And now, when my worries start creeping up on me, I just take a deep breath and repeat, "I am valuable to God. He will take care of me. Worrying won't add to my life. God will! So don't worry, mama. God is in control!"

So now you know my secret! God bless you all!

Anyway, back to Best Ever Joy! Thanks so much, Joy, for the gift! I'll review it soon. I want to see if it really works.

The new Best Ever Joy comes in a limited offer of only Php99 for the 495ml bottle. Joy is available at all supermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores nationwide. Joy is a quality product of Proctor & Gamble. For more information and updates on promos, follow their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/JoyPhilippines.

*ZERO SEBO claim is based on technical and quantitative tests with 300 consumers in Metro Manila vs previous formula

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

My favorite pink prettifying products

As I was washing my face last weekend, I noticed my bathroom counter and shelves had a dominant color scheme. Black. It was all black.

Hehe! With pink. There was a lot of pink, too. Kaya na-inspire ako to share with you a few (yes, just 10 out of many haha) of my pink prettifiers. Look at them!


Okay, I need to improve my flat lay skills.

From left, clockwise:
1. Simple Mama Pure Beauté Facial Wash in Rose
2. Girlstuff nail polish in Pretty in Pink
3. Solique by Girlstuff gel nail polish in Just a Fantasy
4. NYX Angel Veil primer
5. L'Oréal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise mascara
6. L'Oréal Paris Infallible Lip Liner in Rose
7. Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink in Lover
8. L'Oréal Paris Colour Riche Metal Addiction in Rose Champagne
9. Maybelline lipstick in Almond
10. In Her Element Petal Skin Toning Essence.

Let's start with the skin lovers...


Pure Beauté Facial Wash in Rose is a limited edition product so it's not available on the Simple Mama website. But I think if you send them a message, you can ask for them to make you one. I did and my request was granted. I was soooo happy, I cried! Why??? Okay, the start of summer 2018, I ran out of my usual trusted products so I started using the stuff in my blogger giveaway box. Big name products, too. My skin wasn't happy. I started breaking out again.

For Mother's Day, Simple Mama sent me their limited edition Rose Geranium line. By this time, I had stopped using anything on my face. But I still needed to wash my face, right, so I used this facial wash and only this facial wash for my skin care regimen. Plus sunscreen, of course. In 2 weeks, my skin cleared up and was rosy and glowy and just damn gorgeous! I was stunned! I can't live without this facial wash!!! It's the only facial wash I've been using since May last year. I'll do a more in-depth review next month. You deserve to know this amazing product! Meanwhile, you can browse the other Pure Beauté products in the Simple Mama shop.

In Her Element Petal Skin Toning Essence, P875, literally makes your skin feel like rose petals. I bought the rose products of In Her Element because of Pure Beauté. I figured if the rose facial wash is amazing then I'm hoarding every product that has roses in it!!! This has rose water and aloe vera as its major ingredients. Mamas, my skin after using this feels soooo nice. I keep touching my face because it's so soft and velvety! I use it twice a day, every day. Buy this!!!

NYX Angel Veil Skin Perfecting Primer is what I apply when I'm going to be out all day or if I'm going to an event or meeting and I'll be commuting. I don't use primer every day, just on those aforementioned days. Primer helps keep my makeup from sliding off my face, and since I'm very oily, this is necessary! I like Angel Veil because it's super light, feels like nothing, fills in pores and acne scars so I have a smooth surface, and leaves me matte. Oh, big plus: It doesn't make me break out!

Now let's check out my pink prettifiers for my puckers...


I have a LOT of lipsticks in all colors—from essentials like nude and red to wild ones like green and blue!— but these are the ones I wear nearly every day. They're all a wearable pink!


Well, I don't really wear this metallic lipstick every day. But I do love it because nearly all my lipsticks are matte and this adds a sheer metallic sheen on my lips that isn't wet like a gloss. I don't like moist mouths.


Here's a sample of what it looks like. The left is a swipe of my Maybelline Almond lipstick. The right is the sheer champagne lipstick. The middle is what it looks like together.


Lash Paradise is probably the best volumizing mascara I've ever tried. My oily skin loves it because it doesn't budge at all. It stays on your lashes all day long without smudging, smearing or flaking. Lashes stay thick and gorgeous! That said, it's extremely difficult to remove.

There's your sneak peek! I can do more thorough reviews if you like! But for now, just know that these are my reliables and my face is so happy I found these pink prettifiers!


Friday, March 15, 2019

Freelancers, professionals, small business owners: Let Taxumo manage your taxes!


I saw my photo on the Taxumo website. I didn't know it was there, dun sa may reviews section. And yes, it's a real review and a really positive one pa. Sobrang happy ako as a small business owner (writing services so freelance writer and editor, editorial consultant, PR consultant, and professional blogger). In the two years or so I've been using Taxumo, wala talaga akong problema sa kanila. And I'm even happier now because dumami na their scope of services. Kung before monthly percentage taxes lang and a bit of accounting, ngayon they are offering to file more tax forms and even take care of your business registration and renewal. And more!

For example, it's only March but I'm already done filing my 2018 income taxes. I AM DONE! No hassle, no lines, no stress. I practically didn't do anything except click, click, clicked and yet I feel so accomplished. Thanks, Taxumo!


If you're a business owner like me, a freelancer, a professional, a doctor, a blogger, please do check out Taxumo. And sign up (use my code: FRANCES)! You will love it! This is not a sponsored post but—full disclosure—I do get a little commission for every sign up (so use my code: FRANCES!). I'm just really happy with how Taxumo has helped me and I want you all to experience what I've experienced, too.

By the way, if you also want Taxumo to file your annual income taxes, today is the last day to reserve a slot. You also get a discount in filing your BIR Form 1701 but you have to reserve a slot TODAY. Good luck and enjoy!

Click here to pay your taxes easily: TAXUMO

Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Review: ProLon diet

Happy New Year, mamas! This 2019, I'm going to call every Wednesday my blog's Beauty Wednesday. I'll write about beauty products, beauty tips, fashion finds, style inspiration, health and fitness (whut!), and salon and spa reviews on this day. Anything and everything that will make us beautiful people! Today, let's start the year with the ProLon Diet System.

The ProLon Diet is a 5-day meal plan designed to mimic intermittent fasting (IF) without you starving. The photo below is a sample meal for one day. Yes, it's basically soups and protein bars and a whole lot of tea and glucose water. All your meals for the day come in a box so you get 5 boxes. I'll be honest: It can be alarming to see all you'll eat in 5 small boxes.


I'm planning to try IF this January. Fasting has so many benefits to the body, and I'll get to those in a bit, and if you're also going to try IF, I recommend easing your body into it with the ProLon Diet. You see, IF is you eating just 2 meals within an 8-hour window and going without food for 16 hours. Some people can even go beyond 18 hours. ProLon is you eating 3 solid meals a day, plus a snack, but you get the same benefits as a fast.

I can do 14 hours without food, easy. I eat my last meal at 8pm, sleep, eat breakfast at 10am. I eat lunch at around 2pm, have a small snack at 5pm, then dinner. But those 14 hours are sustained by the 4 (or more) meals I eat throughout the day. So to do real IF, I just skip breakfast and go straight to lunch at noon, then eat dinner at 8. Easy! Haha, cockiness goes before a fall, my friends. I honestly don't think I can do it because I know my body. My stomach starts screaming at 10:30am and I'm so active throughout the day that I need food to see me through. So we'll see how this IF goes.   


Anyway, I tried the ProLon Diet in October, during my kids' sem break. I wanted to see if I could live on drastically reduced calories for 5 days. As you can see from the above photos, breakfast is just a protein bar, tea, and oil. The oil is fat and that's where I'll get my energy. The bar of nuts and seeds with honey isn't so bad. It tastes like Christmas, like a fruit cake but without the cake and gooeyness. Not very satisfactory especially since I always start my day with a creamy latte. So this day was hard.

By the way, I specifically chose the sem break to do the diet because I was afraid I'd faint if I did it on my regular, chore-and-errands days. On hindsight and based on the reviews I found online, this was not a good idea. When you're just at home with your kids, you're (a) bored, and (b) you're constantly making food for the family—the perfect recipe for you to overeat! Try ProLon when you're busy so you get distracted, but not on days you have physical exertions planned. Yep, no exercise, no marathons, no thorough house-cleaning, no big party at home where you'll be cooking and entertaining all day long. You'll get dizzy.

Here's lunch.



The soups are really good! They're so good I wish I had a huge bowl of it haha. The kale crackers taste like cardboard but I found that if you toast them first, the kale and seeds develop a nutty flavor, making them taste so much better. The olives are nice and salty, and just what my body needs—salt!

As you can see, there's not a lot of food. And this is the first day, the day you eat the most food! As the diet progress, there's even less food to eat. The ProLon Diet is low in calories, protein, and sugar. Yes, you'll still get sugar and it's from the water you'll be drinking. It's high in good fats, too, because we need fat to survive! Fat isn't wholly bad, people!

The ProLon Diet is 100% plant-based. So if you're vegetarian or vegan, you can be assured that all the soups, protein bars, energy drinks, herbal teas, and supplements are okay for you. If you're a carnivore like me, don't worry—the soups are soooo good, you won't really miss meat (but you will haha). The quinoa soup below is especially delicious. You have to prepare the soups in a pot on a stove. Some you can microwave but I found they don't taste as good if you just microwave them so best to cook. You also get that satisfying "I cooked my food" feeling.


The proprietary formulation was created by Dr Valter Longo, who's devoted his research on how fasting affects our bodies and even how it makes us live longer. Yep, ProLon is not about making you lose weight really. It's about making us live longer through fasting! Fasting helps the body shed fat, yes, but it also lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol levels, reduces inflammation, and triggers cell regeneration.

Actually, the important thing for me there is it reduces inflammation. Inflammation causes a lot of problems in the body, like diabetes and cancer. Both diseases are in my family history.

Anyway, here's dinner!


That minestrone soup is my favorite soup! I can have that all day long. Preferably with buttered garlic toast and a stick of pork barbecue haha

You can tell I missed food when I was on the ProLon Diet! In fact, I failed on the 4th day. Like I said, being on vacation with the kids wasn't a good idea after all. I kept preparing food for them, which meant I was in the kitchen a lot and finally my resolve died. While I wasn't exactly hungry, being exposed to lots of food didn't help. Then on the 5th day, I decided to clean the house. I almost fainted so I ended up eating. I'm so disappointed in myself!

Why? Because I saw a lot of good changes in my body:

1. I lost 5 lbs. in 3 days! Maybe I'd have lost more if I stuck to the diet!

2. I was burping and farting a lot on the first day (sorry TMI) but by the second day, my stomach had deflated. I wasn't bloated anymore!

3. I felt so light and clean!

4. My poop didn't smell bad. Sorry TMI again but this really convinced me to eat more plants. Maybe even become a vegetarian one day. I mean my poop didn't smell bad at all! It was like cow poop or rabbit poop. It smelled like grass! I was so amazed!!!

5. After the diet, my stomach (and by stomach, I meant the organ) had shrunk so much that I didn't eat a lot anymore. I quickly felt full. In fact, I only started eating like a pig again this Christmas. But for a good few weeks, I didn't.

And that's why I think it's good to start on intermittent fasting with the ProLon Diet! You condition your body to consume less without starving. I want to do this again. I was miserable the whole 5 days, I admit, but that's because it was my first time to go on a diet ever. Seeing the results made me resolve to do better next time!

If you're interested in doing the ProLon Diet, too, you can learn more about it here: Just 5 days a month to weight loss and better health.

The ProLon Diet is available at the BioBalance Institute at Shangri-la Plaza (Unit 1014, Lower Ground Level, East Wing, Shangri-La Plaza, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City). It's around P15,000 last year but with the rising peso-dollar exchange rate, it may have changed. Call (02) 650-4858, (63917) 521-4860, or e-mail info@biobalanceinstitute.com for a consultation.

Very important: Please consult with your own doctor if you can go on a fasting diet!

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

I love my new Electrolux Nutri-Fresh Inverter ref! Here's my review!


New baby in the house! It's so sleek and chic!

I have a new ref!!! It's my favorite new baby and I'm going to do a little review of my fabulous Electrolux ETB4602AA Nutri-Fresh Inverter refrigerator today and another post next month on how I organize my ref shelves.

For today, let's do a review! I've had my new ref for about a month now so I can do a good review. I really waited to check all its features, and if the food really stays fresh longer, and if it's a good fit to my lifestyle as a working mom of three little boys. Here’s what I found:
  
Such a big freezer!

What I love

1. It's so compact and yet so big!
It occupies about the same space as my previous ref but it can hold double the stuff! I can't understand the math of it! I have so much space now, I don't know what to do with it. The freezer is huge! I used to tell my husband and kids when we do the grocery, "Choose: more ice cream or meat for real food?" Because if I buy a tub of ice cream, I can fit just a week's worth of meat for cooking. Now, we can have up to 3 tubs on top of that meat!

I can't stress enough how space is such a big deal for me. I have three growing boys who can't seem to stop eating so I must always have food in the house. So I needed a big ref. The problem is I live in a condo so I can't get a ref bigger than the space allotted to it by my small kitchen. I just really accepted that this is my fate—to do weekly groceries because my ref is small. But more trips actually makes grocery shopping cost more—on the wallet and on my time. But with my new ref, I have all this space so I can really stock up, saving me lots of time and trouble. If you're a busy working mama like me, that's the best news of all!

With my new Electrolux Nutri-Fresh Inverter ref, I have soooo much space inside even though the outside is essentially still the same size! I didn't need to renovate my kitchen because I didn't need to give up more kitchen space for this ref. I super love it! So if you're a mom like me who has a small house but a big family, this is the ref for you!

Clear glass spill-proof shelves make everything visible. Good-bye, forgotten leftovers!
Adjustable shelves and clips for opened bags of food.

2. It literally keeps everything fresh longer.

It's not called Nutri-Fresh for nothing. I actually didn't really put much stock on this feature. "All refs cool food," I said. And as a busy mama who sometimes runs out of time to cook, there have been many sad instances when my fruit and veggies dry up or rot in the crisper. Not anymore! My fruit and veggies really do stay crisp far far longer than before (vs my previous ref) and they look and taste like I just bought them even after a week. No kidding!

Now I also have a pet rabbit who loves her green leafy veggies. Before my Electrolux ref, I literally had to give her more than her allotted ration of veggies because the leaves wilted fast. Now, because my veggies are fresher longer, I can feed our bunny more healthily! Hooray!

3. The temperature is even throughout the ref.

My previous ref kept everything cold alright. So cold, they froze. No matter how much we tinkered with the controls, some shelves had frozen food, some shelves got warm and the food stored there went bad. With my Electrolux Nutri-Fresh Inverter ref, the temperature on each shelf is constantly cool because of the 360 Air Cool feature. The air is circulated properly so no shelf gets too cold or too warm. I love it!

Check out this link so you can be impressed with all the superior technical features of the Electrolux ETB4602AA Nutri-Fresh Inverter ref!

It's so high-tech, mamas! I was sobrang nagulat! Hindi fake reaction yan!

It's safe to say I'm sooo in love with my new ref! When my old ref conked out a few months ago, I didn't know which brand to get as a replacement. I asked my friends and they recommended this and that. Finally, I decided I wanted to check out Electrolux, pretty much because almost all my appliances are Electrolux. Plus, I grew up with the brand. And when I tried other brands, I just got disappointed (for example, the previous ref).

Now household appliances are not cheap. So when they don't perform well or they don't make my life easier, then I just wasted a lot of money. For me, Electrolux has made my life consistently better. Always worth every centavo! So we got an Electrolux ETB4602AA Nutri-Fresh Inverter refrigerator and I'm soooo glad we did!

Even the baby approves! Good job, Electrolux!

If you're shopping for a new ref now that you have your bonus (congrats! Freelance me misses that!), Electrolux has amazing Holi-deals! You can get up to 25% discounts and/or freebies with each purchase. That's my public service announcement, mamas. I don't get any commissions—I just really want you all to have an Electrolux home like me!!!

Check the Holi-deals Sale here:
Washing Machines and Dryers (Mine is a front-load washer/dryer and it has made me enjoy laundry so much - Electrolux Ultramix Time Manager Washing Machine review)
Stoves, Ovens and Range Hoods (I have a range hood and it really sucks up the cooking smells. Very powerful!)
Vacuum Cleaners and Air Conditioner (My vacuum is the silent one—Electrolux UltraSilencer Green—click that link because there are cute videos! I plan to replace all my A/Cs next.)

Happy shopping!!!

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

Peek inside my 2019 Essentials blog planner from BDJ

Hello, fellow mama bloggers! I'm showing you what's inside my blog planner for 2019. Yes, a planner exclusively for blogging! Because I'm a blogger—and a professional blogger at that so I really ought to take blogging seriously next year. I'm hoping a planner will keep me on top of things. Here's a peek!

The rabbit in the lower right corner is my stamp. Essentials Planner covers don't have rabbit holes. 

For my blog planner, I chose the Essentials planner from the BDJ Power Planner roster. I like it because it's a super flexible format. There are pages for the months and weeks, but the weekly spreads are just dotted so I can bullet journal my weeks.

The Essentials planner is super minimalist. It doesn't even have a personal information page. That's why I've been a bujo planner for a few years now. I want to customize my planner and design every spread the way I feel that week. Some days I feel like drawing and doodling. Some months I'm too busy and I need all the space of my pages to write down my To Do list.


One thing I don't like is daily inspiration. Okay, sometimes I like inspirational quotes, like maybe once in a blue moon. I resent being "inspired" every day, if ya know what I mean. I'm already too busy with work and motherhood. Please don't tell me to "design a life I love" like my life now isn't enough!

But I did concede to posting these two encouragement cards. Because I really ought to be more passionate about my blogging in 2019 and I should never stop believing in myself. But that's all the scolding I'll allow in 2019 haha


Here are the annual and monthly calendars. I plan to blog MWF next year, hence the lines on said days. I'll put the blog posts under the lines. Events, meetings, etc go above the lines. On the notes section is my list of "must blog" topics. That just means sponsored posts! The press kits list is the stuff I regularly receive. I always forget to post them on Instagram or Facebook! Sorry, PR agencies. Hopefully, listing down the PR kits you send me will remind me to talk about them this 2019!

Wish me luck with this MWF schedule! I've been meaning to follow it for 3 years now and it's not been happening!


Here's my first week in January! Monthly goals is listed here. That will mostly be me aiming for higher stats, more followers, more sponsors. Battle plan will be maybe advertising my blog and social media accounts on FB and IG, doing giveaways, sending proposals, etc.


You can see that my MWF blog schedule has a theme! Yes! On Mondays, I plan to talk about motherhood, marriage, home finds, recipes, household chores, family holidays, etc. On Wednesdays, I'm going to do beauty reviews, share my beauty regimen, maybe do fitness updates (if I finally exercise this 2019 haha). On Fridays, I'll talk about the working mom life, shopping finds to make our work easier, career tips, blogging tips.


Under each blog post, you can see I put circles to check. These are to remind me to promote on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Then the empty space under is for blogging ideas, doodles. Also, if I have a campaign from a blog sponsor, this is the space where I put down the details (agency contact, duration of campaign, fee, deliverables) so I won't forget.


For the last two weeks of January, I left it mostly blank. I figured I should wait to see if those previous layouts will work. If they do, I'll continue using them.

As you can see, the Essentials planner has dotted weekly spreads that allow you so much flexibility. I really like it! The rest of the planner looks like this—just dotted weekly spreads encouraging creativity or simplicity or... productivity, which is what planners are supposed to do really!

By the way, the big spots design is mine. It's just washi tape. For February, I'm thinking of going more colorful. I always go pink on February. And I always go flowery in summer. My June-September are usually no design at all. I'm just too busy! Around October, I start decorating my planner again with stickers, doodles, and washi tape. My spreads are never gorgeous like the ones on Instagram's #bujospreads but I aspire to be that talented.


The last few pages of the Essentials planner are plain dotted pages for notes and whatever you like. This is what's in mine: Check out my income tracker! I've always had something like this in all my planners. I actually don't necessarily need this because I have Taxumo which tracks my income and expenses online. But I like having this table in my blog planner so I won't need to go online to check how I'm doing or who needs to pay, etc.


Aaaand my 2019 blogging goals are at the back! Ya, maybe the Essentials planner should have a few of these plain dotted pages at the start of the book so I can do goals, bucket list, and personal information there. That not being the case, I put them all in the back. It's okay, I think. What do you think?

So there you have it! My 2019 blog planner! I hope it helps me become super successful next year! Do you have one like this, too? What does yours look like and what do you suggest I should include in mine?

*The 2019 Essentials Planner is available at all leading bookstores and from the Belle de Jour Power Planner online shop [click here to buy]. It's just P300! So affordable! I LOVE IT! But if you want a planner with more flair, color and inspiration, BDJ has a lot to offer. Yes! There's not just different kinds of planners, there are journals, stickers, stamp sets, and calendars, too. Click here to shop.

Friday, November 30, 2018

Review: Flawless Biotulin FNT facial

Exactly one month ago, I tried the Biotulin FNT facial that's exclusively available at Flawless Skin & Body Clinic. So today I'm writing a review. Spoiler alert: I love it! I look sooo good!

As a birthday gift to myself, I decided I needed a more intensive facial. Because Flawless had taken such good care of my skin, my terrible acne has disappeared and I've been getting just a simple facial every 6 months or so. As in wala na talaga akong pimples so mga once a year na nga lang ako bumisita sa Flawless, just for cleansing my pores of whiteheads and blackheads. But since I was turning 42, I wanted something more powerful, more anti-aging, something that would really brighten and perk up my middle-aged face.

Pasok: Flawless Biotulin FNT facial!


Biotulin Supreme Skin gel is an organic and plant-based gel that promises hydration that plumps up skin and relaxes lines so that skin looks smoother and firmer. You can buy Biotulin but I like how Flawless administers it—through their Fractional Needling Therapy (FNT) method. 

FNT is also called microneedling. This treatment entails piercing the skin hundreds of times with tiny needles to stimulate collagen and elastin production. The tiny wounds trigger the skin to heal itself resulting to plumper skin, with dark acne marks fading and/or filling up. It also makes it easier for products to penetrate the skin. 

My Flawless dermatologist has been recommending FNT to me since 2016. She says that now that my acne has calmed down, FNT can fade my scars fast. I always say no, however, because I'm scared of needles. But when I read that Biotulin is popular among Hollywood celebrities, like Madonna and Kim Kardashian, and that Michelle Obama's makeup artist revealed that the former First Lady uses it upon the advice of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, then I HAD TO DO IT!

Here's what to expect from the treatment:

Face is cleansed, steamed, and pricked. I find this part very relaxing and usually nap while this is happening.


Next, a topical anaesthetic cream is applied all over the face. This is necessary because FNT is a treatment using tiny needles to break the skin, infuse the serum into the deeper layers while also stimulating collagen production. So masakit siya kung walang anaesthesia.

I wait 40 minutes for my face to go fully numb. I should've brought a book or checked Facebook. Well, I napped again. I'm a mommy. I nap whenever I can! So if you're a mom who wants to sleep, magpa-facial ka. Guaranteed nap na, maganda ka pa pag gising mo haha

Anyway, when my face was numb and ready, the dermatologist applied Biotulin serum all over my face and used the FNT needle-tipped wand to puncture my skin. Because of the anaesthesia, I didn't feel any pain. Just pressure from the wand. I do feel something when the derma works the wand around my eyes, like my eye areas are being scrubbed by sandpaper but hindi naman masakit. Then when she did my nose, nakaka-sneeze yung vibrations ng machine. Other than those feelings, nothing much was remarkable.


After my whole face was done, I asked, "When will I feel my face again?" I was told mga 2 hours. I was glad. I was scared I'd feel pain if the aneasthesia wore off too soon.

At home, I stared at my face. Well, I was no beauty queen. My skin was really red and a bit puffy especially my eye areas and cheeks. My kids didn't notice anything was amiss, though, so I figured I either don't look too bad or my kids never look at me haha.

Over the next week, the irritated skin and red pinpricks faded rapidly. And despite those, I could already see my skin was starting to look plump. By the end of the week, my laugh lines had disappeared and my crow's feet had softened. My dark acne scars also faded and my ice-pick scars didn't seem so deep anymore.

Day 1 - Red marks all over my face and a bit swollen.
Day 4 - Red marks have faded, no more swelling. 
Day 6 - Pores have all but disappeared! But I still have red marks around my eyes so I wore shades.
Day 15 - My face is slimmer, firmer, poreless, even toned. Even my racoon eyes have disappeared!

Every week, I looked better and better. Skin was tighter, smoother, plumper. My pores have all but disappeared (meron pa rin but lumiit sila super). I also have a radiance that made everyone say, "You do NOT look 42!"

Now, a month after, I love my face. My 42-year-old face! I think I look younger today than I did a few months ago! Also, when I look at just my face—parang pumayat ako. And I know from the weighing scale that hindi ako pumayat at all. I'm guessing this slimmed face is the lifted results from Biotulin's Botox-like ingredients. 

I was told I can do the Flawless Biotulin FNT facial every month but may kamahalan siya at P12,900 so baka twice a year lang ito magaganap, mga friends. Or maybe every birthday! I wish I could do it every month, though. It's so nice seeing my face like I've never seen it before—truly flawless!