Keep Calm & Beautify

I don't know about you, but I really love online shopping. Especially this Christmas season, it is so much easier than braving the crowds and traffic. You have no idea how frustrating it is to be carrying several shopping bags only to find that there are no available taxis in sight and the lines are so long for both taxis and public transportation alike. Not to mention I am heavily pregnant!

I do this every year, scour the world wide web for places to shop for Christmas gifts. This year, I am fortunate to be handpicked by BeautyMNL to test run their shop. I thought, what better timing!

And I wasn't disappointed. I initially thought, seeing ads of BeautyMNL, that they only carry western products like Maybelline and Revlon, but I was pleasantly surprised that they have Korean brands like Innisfree and Cosrx. Those brands aren't easily available here in the Philippines so this is a great find.

I have also discovered they sell organic products, which they so handily categorized with its own tab by the header. You'd know from my previous post how I was looking for organic stuff now that I am pregnant. Their organics page have brands that I haven't even heard of before. I really had a fun time looking at everything. And yes, I want everything.

But I can't afford everything. So here's what I bought:

It's a mix of natural/organic cosmetics, skincare, bath, and wellness products, plus a couple of Korean items.

One of my favorite find is this Au Naturel box. BeautyMNL curated a few organic items into one beautiful box. They are from different brands so you get to try out new products and discover what you love. The concept is similar to subscription boxes but with this, you'll know exactly what you'll get and they come in full sizes. BeautyMNL also has other boxes/sets aside from Au Naturel, so best to check those out. They might have something you'd be interested in.

This box contains:

a hand sanitizer by Made By David in grapefruit and sage
a body bar by Be Organic in coffee and seaweed
a body scrub by Zenutrients in goat's milk and oatmeal
a lip and cheek stain by Skin Genie in cherry pink (freebie)

Should I dare mention that these are among my fave finds too? Hehe. I guess I'd rather say that these four are the ones I am excited to try the most. 😉

The Lip and Cheek Stain Alive by Skin Genie is one of their bestsellers and have been included in their 2016 BeautyMNL Awards. I picked Rose Pink and Creamy Peach because I already had an organic berry tinted lip balm and was looking for other colors I could wear.

This stain guys is only P80! No wonder it's a bestseller. Not only is it organic, it's also in a stain/tint formula (which is my fave among lippies) and it doubles as a cheek color too. Win!

No-Sedum Mineral Powder by Innisfree. Guys, if you've been following Korean beauty trends, then I don't need to tell you that this is a cult product, highly sought after by oily skinned gals like me. Only, this isn't easily accessible here in the Philippines because Innisfree doesn't have a store here yet (as far as I know). So I'm very happy to find this at BeautyMNL and so excited to try this.

Eyelash/Eyebrow Growth Enhancing Serum by Leiania House of Beauty. I'm so curious about this. I have neither luscious lashes nor normal looking brows (and I've made that known several times) so this is something I really want to try and work. I'm giving this away as a Christmas gift though, but I'm crossing my fingers it's effective so I can get one for myself. Nyahaha. 😄 Sorry I'm using you as my guinea pig *undisclosed name*! It's organic, so you can rest assured you won't damage your face.

These two I picked out to be given as gifts.

Papaya Kojic Soap by Be Organic. I'm not very particular with skin whitening, but I know of someone who is. I just want to introduce to her an organic alternative because I find the chemicals in store bought kojic soaps to be very drying.

Blackhead Silk Finger Ball by COSRX. COSRX is one of the Korean brands that many have been singing praises for. This item I picked is for blackhead removal. It is made of silk in thimble form, something I haven't seen before (Koreans are so innovative) and is said to be painless yet effective.

Packaging

BeautyMNL's package came in a transparent zip lock bag with gold foil insert. It looks pretty guys, I'm even tempted to give some of my gifts in this exact packaging. 😄

Payment, Shipping and Delivery

BeautyMNL makes it easy for you, they have payment methods in all forms. They accept Paypal (my preferred method), credit cards, bank transfers, bank deposits, and cash-on-delivery.

I was able to avail of their holiday free shipping promo, but their usual rates are P50 for Metro Manila and P150 for provincial. They also offer free shipping on orders P1500 and up.

Delivery was fast. I received mine right the next day after ordering (but I paid through Paypal, it might take longer if I paid through bank deposit since they'll need to confirm the payment first). This is the norm for Metro Manila orders. For provincial, the wait is between 5-7 days.

I hope you enjoyed reading about what I got from BeautyMNL, share down below what you got recently from them or anywhere online. 😊

Being pregnant really changes one's perspective. I have become more conscious of the things I eat and the products I allow my body to absorb. First on my checklist was the lipsticks, because we all know that we easily ingest them every time we eat or drink. I am a self confessed lippie addict, and I was sad to see them just sitting on my vanity untouched, more so when I have nothing to apply on my lips. But I have to make sacrifices, for the sake of this little human being I am incubating.

This led me to search for natural and organic products that are safe for pregnant women, as well as for babies. The earlier search was in vain since all I found were products from abroad and either they're not being sold here in the Philippines, or they are crazy expensive!

But I've finally found some that's all natural and/or organic. And they're locally made too! Score! They're less expensive than their foreign counterparts yet they're just as good.

Here are some of the brands I've found.

Phina's Little Factory

Phina's Little Factory or PLF is known for its handmade soaps, shower gels and body scrubs. Phina also makes lotions, face serum, toners, kitchen soaps and even candles. She boasts of hand making all her products and using all natural ingredients. That means no parabens, no sodium laurate sulfate (sls), and no artificial colors and fragrance, just all the natural goodness and benefits that using pure ingredients has to offer.

Phina's Little Factory Facebook Page

Image credit: Phina's Little Factory

Pili Beauty

Pili Beauty's core ingredients are pili oil and elemi oil. They incorporate both oils in their products which includes soaps, lotions, lipsticks, lip balms, lip and cheek tints, as well as deodorants, vapor balm, mosquito repellent, and essential oils. Pili oil is known to be rich in antioxidants, contain vitamin E and has moisturizing properties. Elemi oil on the other hand has firming and anti-bacterial properties.

Pili Beauty Website

Image credit: Pili Beauty

The Happy Organics

The Happy Organics' products are mostly bath, skincare and wellness products. They have handmade soaps, body scrubs, shampoos and conditioners, cleansers and toners, as well as healing balms, room sprays, and body oil. Among their varied products, and what I haven't found elsewhere, are whitening products such as a whitening bar, scar remover, underarm deodorants and creams. They assure that all ingredients are safe and eco-friendly and complements the skin.
The Happy Organics Website

Image credit: The Happy Organics

These are just 3 of the brands I've encountered on my research. I'll share more brands on my next post so stay tuned. If you have any recommendations, feel free to leave a comment down below.

Have a nice day!

It's cold season once again. We Filipinos don't experience autumn or winter but we definitely have a cold season we reserve for the -ber months and we usually exclaim out loud that the cold breeze is an indicator that Christmas is coming. That is probably why when the -ber months starts (which is September) people are already decorating their houses for the holidays. :D

But with cold weather comes dry skin. It seems like our sebum production has taken to hibernation and what we're left with is skin that lacks moisture. Our lips are no exception. The blasts of cold winds leave our lips chapped, cracked, and sometimes bleeding.

So how to combat this? I'll share with you 3 steps I take to prevent my lips from chapping.

Stop Licking.

First off, stop licking your lips. It is a common habit for chapped lips sufferers to constantly lick lips when they get dry, but this is only going to worsen the situation because the enzymes in our saliva break down the natural barrier of our lips. Control the urge to lick your lips when you feel they're dry. Instead, drink a glass of water to bring back moisture and hydrate you from the inside.

Moisturize.

Aside from drinking ample amount of fluids to hydrate yourself, another way to moisturize the lips is by applying lip balm. Not only will they add moisture, they also create a barrier between your lips and the cold winds. Some lip balms also have SPF to protect your lips from the sun.

Exfoliate.

You should never forget to exfoliate the lips. By exfoliating lips regularly (once or twice a week will suffice), the dry dead skin at the outermost layer is slough away to make way for the supple and healthy layer beneath. There are different ways you can exfoliate lips. One way is by scrubbing lips using an old toothbrush or a wet washcloth while in the shower. Another is by using lip scrubs that you can either buy at a store or make at home.

By following these 3 steps, you are guaranteed to have a radiant pain-free smile this coming holidays. :)

When I first heard about Garnier Fructis shampoos back the height of my beauty blogging (lol) it was on Jenny Ye's blog and she was talking about one for color treated / damaged hair. Her before and after photos were incredible and I thought to myself that when the brand brings the products to this country, I would be sure to try them out for myself.

I have never dyed my hair so I knew that variant wasn't for me, but I sure found something that would suit me better, the Sleek and Shine for frizzy and rebellious hair. I actually bought this more than a year ago (sorryyyyy :/ ) but just blogging about this now because: hiatus ---> trying to revive blog ---> don't have time to edit pics ---> looked at folder of old edited pics.

This one is really good. I love my hair when I use this shampoo. Although at first I was having dandruff issues, but later on realize that it was because I wasn't rinsing it well. So if you do try this out, be sure to rinse well. It actually takes longer than usual to rinse everything out.

My hair has become softer and smoother and more manageable. I didn't turn my hair into broomsticks nor did it become limp. There's actually a bit of body, volume that's just right in my opinion.

I have bought several bottles of this shampoo already. I even tried the conditioner counterpart (because I did like the formula but don't want to deal with the dandruff - but that's changed when I realized my mistake). I do try other shampoos too, because this one doesn't exactly fit my average-priced shampoo (and my sis already thinks I overspend for it --- she's a sachet girl ;) ). The well known brands in the country are less than P100 per bottle, and this one from Garnier is priced more than P100. The ones from Suave and White Rain are in the same price range but they contain more product than this. That's why I try not to over-indulge and try to switch up every now and then.

Several years ago using another shampoo

Last year, using Garnier Fructis Frizz Tamer shampoo

PS. I never style my hair. I'm a wash and wear gal. :) I know you must think that if I have unruly hair, why don't I just style it, blow dry it? Well, this is a tropical country, extremely hot most days. When I've just taken a shower, do you really expect me to blaze my scalp with hot air so I'll end up sweating within 30 minutes of being refreshed? I think most Filipinos think the same way since I always see girls and guys leaving their houses with damp hair. :D Hehe

Hair products are also a no-no for me because I have oily skin and scalp and they'll just create one icky mess.

So that's it for my review. Try this out if you're looking for a shampoo to tame your unruly hair. :)

When the snail slime filtrate trend hit two years ago, I jumped on board and bought this online. Snail slime is known for having amazing skincare benefits such as lightening hyperpigmentation and scars, reducing lines and wrinkles, and improving the texture of the skin. Who wouldn't want that in their skincare? So I was on board!

Mizon is one of the brands well known for their snail filtrate line. Although there are more heavyweight products raved by many, I chose this small tube of snail filtrate gel to test how it would fare for me.

Korean labeling

I first started using this on my entire face, because hey I want the benefits on my face, but my face didn't fell in love with it. It kind of just seated on my face without being absorbed. Or maybe I was just putting on too much? Not to mention that I have extremely oily skin so I really didn't like the extra layer on my face.

Don't get me wrong, it was an nice gel - texture-wise. It's not gooey like you would have imagined. Nor does it smell gross. It actually smell quite nice.

Repurpose

Anyway, after several months of just keeping it in the drawer, I found another use for it. Wounds! Which have very recently turned into scars, just right after the scabs got peeled off. And it's a wonder using this snail gel on them! It doesn't take long before the scars lighten and/or disappear completely.

My sister also got a wound/scar on her shoulder after a fall and hitting a furniture and she thought she will be scarred for life! I let her use this and we could literally see a huge difference in the scar's color and prominence within weeks. :D

Repurchase?

So will I buy this again? Definitely. I also want to try out the cream formula in case that would suit my face better.

That's all for my review. Thanks for stopping by! :)

And I also want to announce to the world that I recently opened an Instagram account solely dedicated to my beauty blog. :) I would really love for you to check it out. And maybe follow? :D

How about you? Have you tried snail slime in your skincare yet?

There will come a moment in every beauty enthusiast's life when she will allow herself to look like an alien --- all for the sake of beauty. That moment for me was a few months ago when I first started using Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque. I should have taken a picture of my family's expression when they saw me with this mask on walking around the house. Haha! I deserve an applause for this milestone fulfilled. All I needed were cucumber slices and I would have graced my niece's instagram account for being a sight to behold.

Anyway, green alien or not, I jumped at the chance to try out this masque when I saw this at Healthy Options. I've been hearing good reviews on Youtube about this, and this being targeted to oily skin gals, I think it's just the product for me.

I've tried other types of masks before - peel off and sheets, but I've got to say that I enjoy the wash-off type best. It's easy to apply because the consistency is like paste, and it dries up fast so I can go walk around and do chores even with this on.

Washing up is easy too. It doesn't take up too much time unlike with peel-offs which doesn't peel in one go so you have to spend time peeling each piece.

The scent when you first put this on is like toothpaste. But after a while it smells like swamp. It took me a while to figure out the scent. Mud... Clay... Until it hits me - a swamp. And the scent lasts too, even after you rinse off. That is the only thing I don't like about this mask.

It says on the label to leave this on for 5-10 minutes. I usually go beyond that. Other reviews online says they do so too. I don't apply this regularly though. Once every two weeks or once a month, because I forget. :) Sometimes when I feel like I have gunk on my face - clogged pores, whiteheads, oil - I put this on to suck out most of it then use a gentle scrub afterwards on the nose and cheeks to really get all the gunk out. That pretty much makes it smooth again. :)

And yeah, don't forget to moisturize afterwards because that combo can be so drying.

Overall, I am happy to have tried this mint julep mask from Queen Helene. It serves its purpose of removing excess oil and drawing out impurities.

Would I buy this again? Definitely.

That's all for my review. Thanks for taking the time to read it. :) Let me know in the comments if you have tried this mask before and your thoughts about it. :)

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