Three plus two words. I like this…a lot. When Myra’s minions sent me an email last December, which was a frantic month for me, I couldn’t work around my schedule to pick up the batch of Myra VitaGlow Tinted Moisturizer press samples they set aside for me.
I finally managed to pick them up yesterday, quite delighted to see how generous they were with sampling. The Myra minions gave me 6 pairs (two shades) of these tinted moisturizers so I received 12 in total. Stay tuned for a Valentine Giveaway coming soon with more products in addition to this. Ok, back on Myra, I insist that you read the full post, because, although I never tend to be pushy I will this time because these Myra VitaGlow Tinted Moisturizers exceeded my expectations BIGtime. The product considerately comes in two shades, Ivory – a yellowish medium to fair shade, and Beige – a slightly more pink but deeper medium to medium deep shade.
The formula is thin, thinner than a Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer, but not watery, so it isn’t runny either, (make sure you shake a bit before use). When I first received the email and did a quick look about online I suspected that Beige would probably be my shade, but I was mistaken, since Ivory turned out to be closer to the M.A.C. NC family of shades I was certain Beige would be just a little bit too pink for me. Read more to see me put it on!
Danica Magpantay was announced Ford Supermodel of the World 2010 in January of 2011. It’s now 2012 and the friendly Filipino supermodel is happily getting busier week after week.
On top of that she’s now onto bigger things, apart from flying in and out of the country as a professional model her endorsement of Tattoo Home has just made waves on national TV. That’s this one here.
At the end of this post I’ve included/embedded the behind the scenes video of the making of that commercial. I got on set and shot a few behind the scenes photos of her print shoot for the Tattoo Home campaign by Globe and Harrison Communications which was shot by photographer, Xander Angeles. Danica represents and projects the brand excellently.
Highlights for me were meeting both Danica, stylist Jenni Epperson who recently won for best style blog in the Nuffnang Asia Pacific Awards, and Danica’s mother, the makeup artist for the day, Lala Flores. Lala has been doing professional makeup for roughly the last 12-13 years she says and ever so slowly she hopes she can dedicate her time more to motherhood, but for now the artistry continues. I was quite inspired and trying too hard not to say anything silly (out of excitement) around people who serve and perform in the industry so well. I kind of had butterflies in my tummy while having a chat with Lala and Jenni with some pan de sal and pancit on the side. I didn’t take as many shots as I’m normally able to because I borrowed my Dad’s camera and the memory card was acting up after I had taken several. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the brief stream of on-set photos.
Read more to see the full post and all the photos.
Mom shared that she was going to Hong Kong for an overnight work trip and she asked me four magic words “What do you want?”. I could only hope for one luxuriously fragrant thing, my very first Diptyque candle. If there was going to be a scented candle featured for the first time on BlessMyBag this would have to be it, Diptyque’s highly in demand, best-selling Baies Candle.
What better way to light my Diptyque Baies candle than with these pretty in pink Langham hotel matches? They’re not just pretty, they strike a flame in a half-second. Diptyque are French purveyors of some of the finest scented candles in the world and the business actually began with 3 artisan colleagues who partnered in 1961. They opened shop at 34 boulevard Saint-Germain to showcase their avant-garde fabric designs and then introduced candles with perfumed wax as an accompaniment to their original wares.
Photo Credit: Chic-cityrats.net
Customers are then smitten with the candles which are an instant olfactory hit. Diptyque showcased the first official Diptyque candle in 1963 and their first range of fragrances were released in 1968. They’ve been in the business for 51 years now. The Diptyque Boutique (repeat 5x if you can lol) in Hong Kong is located at the International Finance Center (IFC) mall.
The scent of this Baies candle dispels any doubt one might have about Diptyque’s preceding reputation. A waft of this Baies candle bears notes of roses in bloom embraced by the deep warmth of black currants. In my mind it’s the perfect waltz of fruity and floral. When Mom, Dad and I smelt the box as we opened it, eyes rolled back. My dad is a hygiene freak and loves strong fragrances. Having lived as the son of a Vatican Diplomat in Rome for 3 years he’s sampled some of the best and he loves smelling lotions, salves, and colognes in bottles and that’s an added bonus to me as a beauty blogger. To me, it smelled like Christmas but not in a stereotypical way, it’s a more refined sort of scent and it also brought me back to the time when Baguio didn’t smell like diesel fumes, when the hints of pine in the breeze still hit you if you had your car window open. I don’t think this candle actually contains notes of pine but it brought me back to that time in my life and the Christmas accent in the fragrance combination isn’t overwhelmingly Christmas-y. Mom says she paid roughly Php1800 for this mini candle here which is a bit bigger than a shot glass. Your jaw dropped, yup, they’re expensive but undeniably memorable and they come in a bigger standard size which would cost about Php2100 (or more in Rustan’s) as I estimate from the Diptyque website. This Baies candle and the Langham pink matches have reawakened my childhood joy of lighting candles.
My mom also bought Diptyque fragrances for both herself and Dad, more on that next time.
“One Candle lights one candle, Two Candles light four, and when they shine there is no darkness anymore…” – Everlasting Light music album
I think I know what I want on my birthday, 1 more Diptyque Candle in a different scent (I’m eyeing Feu de Bois which is a “sophisticated accord of woods”) or one of their scent ovals which is a fragranced oval you keep or hang in drawers, wardrobes, baskets, bags or wherever to keep a scent going in the area. A limited range of Diptyque products is available at Rustan’s Makati and Rustan’s tower Shangrila-Plaza mall. Diptyque products are expensive but they’re made with love and are an absolute delight to own.
These Furla Candy Satchels aren’t mine. I don’t really obsess over bags because I’m too specific about what I like in a bag and because…they’re bags. As long as the ones I have still work, most of which don’t have designer names, I pile stuff in and work them till they look weary and loved. I don’t like bags over-sized because I’m not that huge and I want to be the star, and I don’t want a bag too small because I won’t be able to survive the day.
The colorless one I find gives me a lot of ideas for customization, that bag in a shade of zero might get more use from me than warranted. And how bout one in Pantone’s luscious declared color of the year Tangerine Tango? I wish I could say the first photo is mine but it isn’t, I simply spotted these Furla candy bags for the first time so I’m just linking to them. These Furla candy satchels may not be the newest IT ladies in the scene, but I quite admire their size and shape, and since brights are practically back I don’t mind the neon shades either, and I do believe these are water resistant and beach worthy. Furla Candy Satchels are also available in beautiful finishes of patent and aren’t all neon colored.
In exactly 7 days, if all is well, we’ll be having a hyper and happy Pinoy boy visitor come over to our home for breakfast (probably also to sample Mom’s highly acclaimed cooking). He also wanted to just chill, hang out, and explore the area for native ant species since we live out of town. Who knows, he might even help me improve on my authentic Filipino accent. Have you guessed who yet? Btw, I didn’t take this photo, but it’s one of my favorites of him kasi simple lang and my friend, Rita Abiog, was the one who designed the Choose Philippines campaign shirt. Photo Credit to juanmanilaexpress.com Yeah, you got it, our Pinoy boy Mikey Bustos will be here. And I’m eating Chicharron ni Mang Juan as I eat this seriously, I grabbed a bag semi-unconsciously before writing this. Below this post send in your questions for Mikey making sure they’re decent and in-line with the 5 topics I mention at the bottom.
I tweeted Mikey bout an idea for indirect interaction between him and my lovely blog readers, he consented, YEY.
Mikey and I have planned to video ourselves pulling 10 or more questions out of “a hat” or whatever is available (hopefully all goes as planned, please don’t kill me if it doesn’t succeed) and he will read out the name and question and answer beri sincerely, right Mikey?
QUESTION TOPICS FOR MIKEY (We’d appreciate it if you put your name, age, and location)
1.) Personal Care and/or What’s In His Bag
2.) Girls and their hair and makeup
3.) Mikey Recommends (Ask Mikey for advice, man to wo-man)
4.) Mikey’s Favorite _________ e.g. “What’s your favorite…”
5.) Mikey Act 1 (Get Mikey to act it out in 1 minute) e.g. “Be a guy late for his date because a flat tire blew out”
I think this is going to turn out really funny if we get it right. I might use our family’s Flip HD to video the whole thing so that it’s crisp and high quality and then will post that video for all to watch! Please keep the questions easy to read and understand Post those questions as comments below and I’ll be writing/ printing out the first 50 (if it reaches that many) for Mikey to pull and answer. Let’s make this happen, girls…
Alright, permit me to still do my Best of-s of 2011, it’s still January ok? It’s a no brainer when a cosmetic campaign grabs us visually, they’re supposed to, but it’s a rarer occasion when a cosmetic campaign grabs you by the heart and selects its campaign models without even seeing them first, yes, I know you’re confused. Bare Escentuals, the mother company of mineral makeup, launched their Force of Beauty campaign 4 months ago and focused on the championing of inner beauty which pervades and supercedes any physical form of pretty we ever behold. Pretty is simply not enough.
Bare Escentuals spearheaded a selection process in search of 5 wonderful resilient women to herald their Force of Beauty campaign without any idea of their appearance. They researched, listened, and then later, they saw . My mom and I fell in love with the idea of the campaign and the testimonials of the women who ultimately became the five Bare Escentuals’ Force of Beauty faces. Watch the casting here and I’ve posted below the casting video the video testimonial of my favorite Force of Beauty lady, Lauren, with links to the other women at the bottom . When watching, it’s best to have some tissue nearby, I got so touched.
The internet is peppered with Marilyn Monroe video makeup tutorials, but most of them only skim the surface of an art-form mastered by a makeup artist that was close to Marilyn’s heart, Allan “Whitey” Snyder. In this video, Lisa lifts the bar with a quality tutorial appropriate for the legendary screen icon.
In UK Makeup Pro Lisa Eldridge’s newest video posted below, she drew me in, getting down to demonstrating and discussing every detail surrounding the craft of Marilyn’s iconic makeup look and taking time to properly explain the purpose behind almost every stroke. Don’t expect to hear lots of product brand mentions as Lisa goes along transforming her model into a believable image of Marilyn because it’s really all about remembering this gone-too-soon beautiful woman and the makeup artist who knew her well. Watch this video.
The packaging is cute but a bit gimmicky, what you’re able to see at the bottom is a nifty type of smudger tool, that I don’t use at all.
The only thing particularly irritating is the cap of the smudger always falls off inside my kit. The product itself though, I likey very mucho. Voila, mild and intense swatches. The color is spot on for me and doesn’t come out ashy since it’s not a cool toned highlighter, it’s a pretty neutral champagne beige which I believe will suit most skintones.
Read more to see the full post with the product applied on my face.
I know, you can’t stop staring can you? I saw the first news of this via BritishBeautyBlogger and I’m excited to share that the word out is these new NARS Tinted Moisturizers will have skin renewing ingredients, UV protection with SPF30, and 9 shades to suit the NARS needs of many.
The product description shrieks “BB Cream” to me and these have got me all excited. I love a good, tinted moisturizer. I prefer tinted moisturizers in contrast to full cover liquid foundation since I’ve got clear, sensitive skin. Tinted moisturizer topped with pressed powder is also a good option for older women with drier skin.
It’s not a wonder that Clinique’s classic vintage lippie, their Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, is one of Elle’s Hall of Famers in the “Best Beauty Products since 1985″ feature. You first look at it and your mind screams “No Way” because of the assumption that what you see is what you get, but Black Honey’s sinister dark color is not what it seems once you apply. It’s products like these that get people who hate makeup to actually consider makeup.
With Black Honey, Clinique created a natural “Your Lips But Better” shade for everyone regardless of their skin color. Black Honey is a universally flattering sheer but not too sheer lipstick that hundreds of fashion and beauty editors, models, and natural look lovers have kept in their personal kits since the 1980s. Campaign image for Black Honey:
With the recent success of Revlon and their drugstore delight, the Colorburst Lip Butters, it’s not a surprise that Clinique’s Almost lipsticks (I had a pink one as a teen in the 90s) have had their share of fame preceding all the other sheer products we have on counters today.
Just last fall the popular shade expanded into a black honey makeup collection called The New Black.
The set includes an eye palette, long last glosswear, mascara, brush on cream gel liner, and an ombre blush all in celebration of Clinique’s well loved shade, Black Honey. I purchased my Almost Lipstick from ebay.ph, there was only one in the listing. Read more to see the full post swatches and application.
Noelle De Guzman (3)
rOxy (3)
sweet (3)
April (2)
Jel (2)
Juan Manila (2)
Rae (2)
Amelia (1)
Anina (1)
