Beauty Splurge

Sephora Haul

It's been a while since I last visited Sephora because every time I bring the kids to the mall, I end up getting stuck at the toy's section and dash along the grocery aisle before heading back home. I really think Sephora should just open a stall on the same area as the Toy department for mommies like me!

It's been a while since I bought beauty stuff, the skincare products and makeups I've been using are still the stuff I bought from Seoul and sent to me by friends in Japan. When I was given a good reason to shop at Sephora, I grabbed the chance to buy my longtime wishlist: Clarisonic Mia, SK-II, Origins Intensive Overnight Mask and Benefit How To Look The Best At Everything.

I must say, this is the best beauty haul I've had! None of them will go to my beauty graveyard.

1. Clarisonic Mia - My pretty hair stylist/colorist told me a year ago that if I have to invest on only one thing on skincare, she strongly recommend the Clarisonic Mia. She swore it made a big difference on her skin. I've only used it 4 times but I already saw great improvement on my skin. It's smoother and clearer now, the small bumps and blackheads are getting less, my acne scars are becoming less visible too. I own a spa in Davao and I have the Ultrasonic facial machine that helped clear my acne-prone skin through sonic frequency the same way Clarisonic is working on our skin. The cheapest is $99 but with how it's working on my skin I don't think I will still need to spend $68/month on facials anymore. *to avoid over exfoliation, it's not recommended to pair this with other exfoliation system like Retinol, Glycolic peel cream, etc..
   
   
2. SK-II Facial Essence Set - It includes the Facial Essence Toner, Lotion and a facial mask. Well I don't need further explanation here, SK-II is SK-II. It's said that your moisturizer works better after you use the Clarisonic Mia and so I paired it with the best Japanese skincare. For mommies, I recommend you keep the bottle away from the kids, I tuck mine inside the bathroom cabinet after every use to secure the glass bottles and my heart from being broken! Que horror! 
   
   
3. Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask - I really didn't know about it until I googled for "overnight mask" and it came up with good reviews. I don't have time to do the facial mask process regularly (mask-wait-rinse) so I thought I needed something that can work while I sleep. The lovely fruity smell is a good bonus while you apply it but the best part is you wake up with that dewy, fresh look in the morning! No need to rinse it because it doesn't harden, it's like your skin just drink the moisture while you sleep! 

   

   Origins Drink Up Overnight Mask
4. Benefit How To Look The Best At Everything - YouTube beauty gurus rave about Benefit's the Pore fessional pore minimizer and I wanted to buy Benefit Hello Flawless Brightening Makeup too. Both are kinda pricey so I had to decide between the two fortunately, I stumbled upon this Sephora exclusive set. It has the sample size of both the Porefessional and Hello Flawless, with two shades of concealer and powder. I've tried many pore minimizers before but nothing worked for my large pores but this one from Benefit is an exception! True to its promise, my skin looked poreless (well I can't say flawless because nothing can be done with my acne scar pits anymore, but if you don't have deep scars like mine, it will surely make your skin look FLAWLESS!), I'm so glad I tried this one. I'm sure it would work better with a good foundation or concealer brush or the Beauty Blender but this is just how far my beauty budget could go. If you have extra moolah I highly recommend this set with the Beauty Blender! 
   
   

   

   Benefit Cosmetic: How To Look Best At Everything

I know I splurged this time but when I look at my beauty graveyard (that magic bin where you keep all your unused beauty products), I realized I was just wasting money on buying cheaper versions of what I really wanted. The key is to buy less frequently, and save up for the exact item you want. Make sure also that it's something you're going to use. In reality, I don't get to wear makeup at all, so even if it's tempting I just stay away from buying more eye shadows, blush-ons, and more face powder. As a result, I get more buck for the big purchases such as this and I'm happy.

Note: this is not a paid review.

Curly Hair

According to my husband I have the most curly hair he's ever seen, he's even promised me that he'd one day fund a research about changing curly hair to straight forever by tweaking the DNA structure. 

During my childhood I'd be teased as Sto. Nino or during my adolescent years, classmates especially the boys would compare my hair to a pubic hair, they'd tell me "pantihan mo buhok mo oi!" (you should wear a panty on your hair). It wasn't traumatic, I didn't take it as bullying because I agree with them. If I could tease myself without risking looking like a schizo, I would. I hated my hair. While the other straight haired girls could follow every hair trend there was, like layers and Demi Moore's bob, I was stuck to one hairstyle. Rebel as I was, I tried cutting my hair from bra line to ear-length! just imagine how epic fail that was so I gave up trying to style it and just settled on growing my hair long and tie it in ponytail forever.

That's my hair story. Fast forward to 20 years, I met a filipina hair stylist from San Francisco. I introduced to her the miracle of collagen powder and in exchange she invited me to visit her salon and she'd fix my hair. 

Before starting to do anything with my hair, she asked me what I want and how I wanted to cut it. It was refreshing because normally when I sit on a salon chair the stylist won't ask me anymore because with my curly hair it seems like there's already two template for that, either to just trim it or straighten it thru rebonding. But she was different so I confessed to her that I've always wanted a bangs ever since the Duran Duran era and I want a wash and wear hair style but still looking beautiful. AND I didn't have a budget for $$ hair rebonding. She was honest and shared to me a helpful wisdom, "girl there's no such thing as wash and wear and beautiful. If you want to look good you have to give time for it!", followed with "listen if you want bangs, you have to promise me first that you'd give 5 minutes for your hair before I cut it". She's a mom of two kids too so she understood me and taught me how I can fix my hair in max 5 minutes. We agreed and she started doing highlights on my hair, she cut the rebonded parts to define my curl better and for the first time ever, I had a side bangs! OMG! for the first time ever I left a salon feeling great and new without killing may hair's keratin. As an added bonus she taught me how to groom and shade my eyebrows and assured me that when I became an expert with my 5 minute routine, I'd be able to squeeze in that eyebrow grooming in that limited amount of time.

The 5 minutes routine includes blow drying my bangs, ironing it straight, putting some curl booster cream on the rest of my hair and I just leave it wet. If I'm pressed for time I just clip my bangs with a tiny hair clamp, put some curl cream and go. Since then I've said goodbye to my ponytails, if you ever see me in a ponytail now, it's because that's the style I like and not because I have to.  I'm loving my frizz-free hair now and started paying attention to the many available hair creams for curly hair. I didn't know that there were creams for activating curls and to loosen curls for days when you want beach waves.

I never thought that having a curly hair is actually an advantage because you can change hairstyle any time you want. If I have time I can straighten my hair with iron, or I can be super curly or I can have beach waves if I want to!

with the curl booster

my version of beach waves

I'm loving it! with only 5 minutes tops needed, I still get to prepare my kids without looking losyang. If you're a curly sue like me, you don't need to go hair rebonding every single time. Get the right cut and color. But first, embrace your curls and give a little time for yourself.

before, I manage my frizzy hair with stick straight middle-part and ponytail 

after, now I just blow-dry my bangs, and with curl cream for the rest, it's all set

when there's no time for blow dry or any kaartehan, just put curl booster on wet hair, when it's dry tie your hair up on a high ponytail. The curl booster will create that messy, curly ponytail. If your hair has highlights, that will give spunk to your drab hairstyle.

Now my husband can keep his money he's planning to fund his silly research.