Sunkissed in Boracay Island

It really is summer now in the Philippines! The scorching heat of the sun didn't stop us for playing all day under the sun and the on shore. Last April my family, friends and I went to the most beautiful beach that ever existed in my country: The Boracay Island. With it's true blue sea water and fine white sand, it really attracts thousands of tourist all over the globe. You'll always bump into foreigners having a good time whether it's day or night. I'm jealous of their gorgeous sun-baked tan that gives them a peachy glow and I was already imagining what makeup hues could definitely flatter their post sun-tanned skin. I wanted to bake myself but since my baby's with me and he sweats a lot just by walking on shaded places I couldn't really stay near the shore even if I want to.

Boracay Must Haves & Must Try:

Braids

It looks fun to get one but I think the Iverson-type of braids for me is a bit No-No so I just let my husband try it since he has long hair. It took one hour to finish the whole look and it costs 300 pesos. He was sweating the whole time (though it was done at night) and he said it's a bit painful (but I think it really is painful) because of hair tugging and pulling, but it's definitely worth it and it lasts for a week. He even said it's easier to swim coz his hair's tied pretty neatly and not a single strand blocked his eyes.

Henna Tattoo

This I really want, price available upon request. However I couldn't really sit still because my son couldn't even stay still on my lap. They can make bigger tattoos on your back, chest, shoulders and even the one that I fancied: Indian henna artworks for my hand

Massage

I've seen a lot of foreigners getting a massage but I don't have any idea for it's price. Most masseuse will offer you a message then maybe you can negotiate with them if you're for whole body or half body (either lower or upper) massage. 

Mojitos

This I missed in the island, coz I wasn't able to get one. It's available in Station 4 Beach Bar. It looks quite good and tempting but that night that I saw mojitos my tummy was so upset due to hyper acidity.. I should blame the watermelon-pineapple shake I had that afternoon.

Fire dance

You have to buy a bucket of liquor to sit down and wait for the fire dancers to perform in front of you. The blazing Boracay Phoenix Fire Dancers will entertain you all night long dancing to the latest dance craze in the country, and you can take pictures with them... and try not to look scared. Don't worry coz they're pros, they won't burn you..

baby's up all night long, watching the fire dancers and eating all the chips on our table.

Water Sports and Activities

Para-sailing, banana boat, helmet diving, and more.. they're all in Station 4. Though some were costly for just a few minutes of thrill and happiness, just think of the famous saying money can't buy happiness. I actually haven't tried it, still coz of my kid.

my best friend having the time of her life in the water.

Calamansi Muffin

Calamansi Muffin's really famous even online as some tries to wait for their turn and it takes a week just to get their order. I've tasted it in Real Coffee and Tea Cafe thanks to my former classmate in college named Kaine. He's now a lifeguard in Boracay and it was his treat. It was deliciously baked muffin with a strong taste of calamansi. The tanginess is just right and not overwhelming. My son likes it, to think he doesn't like sour-tasting food.

What  you should bring for your beach trip:

Watching the sunset with my bffs

- bikinis, maillots, bathing suits, rash guards, swimming trunks.. any type of swimwear you're comfortable in. As a typical girl I got 5 pairs of bikinis with me for just a 2 days (whole day stay) and can you imagine I wore all of those? Everytime we go back to our room and decided to go out after a few hours, I change my swimwear. 

In Boracay they actually care less of what you're wearing, or even body flaws or body issues. Be confident and hit the waves.

- comfortable summer outfit for a nice walk along the beach like sun dress/maxi dress, sando, sleeveless shirts, tank tops, spaghetti tops, bustier (like what I wore) or just cover ups. 

To add extra style to an ordinary summer outfit I wore barefoot sandals that I've bought from Sapphire8. Everybody likes it! It's pink.

- sunblock. Lots of it. Be sure to apply more of it on the bridge of your nose, cheekbones and shoulders. They're the part most prone to sunburns.

- plastic bags for your wet clothes.

- Every girl's must have: Kikay kit. Few days before our trip I've packed this summer must have essentials for me. I chose all the peachy toned and earth toned makeups I have coz I'm ready to pair it with my sunkissed skin. But just when I also thought I could bring up few I ended up bringing more than what I need.. just in case.

Avon Smooth Minerals Foundation in Beige, Makeup Geek Eyeshadow in Badabing (inside Mac's single e/s pan) Maybelline Baby lips lip balm, MAc Sheertone blush in Springsheen, Mac Lustre Lipstick in Flamingo, Nichido mineral/precision eye pencil for eyebrows and Dolce & Gabbana The One Desire miniature perfume

- If you're bringing your babies with you, bring LOTS OF DIAPERS. We ran out of it, and sadly most diapers we've bought from those stores in Bora were all expired! (Exp date: Sept. 2012) OMG it's 2015 already. Good thing I immediately saw the expiration date.

What to expect if you visit Boracay during the peak of Summer:

- algae. They're everywhere. 

- scorching heat of the sun. Yes I know why summer's called summer, but knowing how hot it is in our country, you won't bake yourself under the sun, you'll toast yourself rather. The heat can be annoying.

- though most stores and restos were open, brace yourself for the slew of tourists and vacationist. Kaine told me that the best months to visit Bora were from October to December.

- most stores and restos were open, so night parties were everywhere!

Photo Flood! More pics that I would like to share with you during our  Boracay Vacation:

Thanks for reading and have a happy summer! xoxoxoxoxo

Kiss Me by Isehan Eye Jewelry Launch with Miss Sayuri Igarashi

Hello lovelies how are you? Today I would like to share with you my happiness and excitement when Mandom Philippines Corporation invited me for the launching of Kiss me by Isehan Heroine Make Eye Jewelry. Mandom Philippines offer products both from Indonesia and Japan. They're also the producer of Gatsby so aside from Japanese makeups they also offer products for hair. They also have another makeup line called Pixy.

This is actually the first big event I've attended and it has exceeded my expectations. The products that were introduced to us were really good, a makeup line that's definitely something that I like since I love Asian-produced cosmetics, not to mention they're long lasting and most were waterproof. Since I'm a makeup addict, I was so engrossed and I even wanted to buy every products I encountered there. I met a lot of beauty and lifestyle bloggers, supervisors and managers from Mandom Phils. and Mr. Noel B. Orsal from Philippine Entertainment Portal. Of course, what I really look forward to that day was the makeup workshop from a Japanese makeup artist and beauty counselor Miss Sayuri Igarashi.

The workshop started at around 1:00 pm hosted by Miss Mica Javier. All cameras and smartphones were ready and we immediately started posting on our Instagram with the hashtags #kissmeheroinemake and #kissmejewelryeye. Penser Q multimedia company even printed the pictures from the hashtags and the winners were announced in between workshops. Miss Sayuri Igarashi's very cheerful, sweet and accomodating. She brilliantly responds to every queries we have and I learned a lot of techniques and tricks that's very helpful for my career as a makeup artist. I'll share with you lovelies everything that I learned from her later on. Miss Sayuri asked for two volunteers so she can do the makeover and demo, one for the daytime/natural makeup and one for evening/party makeup using Kiss me by Isehan Heroine Make products.

She introduced first to us the newest addition to the Heroine Make Makeup line and they're the alluring and long lasting Kiss me Jewelry Eyeshadows. They're available in four shades: Yellow Sapphire, Beige Gold, Pink Amethyst and Rose Garnet. I'll be doing my own makeup look and try different eyeshadow combinations using these eye jewels soon so please look forward to that!

Now let's proceed to the workshop/makeup demo proper. Miss Sayuri started first with Miss Rowena a.k.a Animetric for a daytime look and she used the combination of Yellow Sapphire and Beige Gold to compliment her hair color and skintone. She gives a lot of  tips while doing Ms. Rowena's makeover and I'm honestly in love with the final look. She gave her a glamorous neutral makeup paired with peach blush and peach lips. If you still remember neutrals and peaches were my favorite makeup look of all time.

Second makeover is for an evening/party look and the Rose Garnet palette was used to Miss Ehya of ehyanism.com

Here are the things I learned from Miss Sayuri. In my 8 years in the beauty business and vanity world, I've learned a lot from her more than those tips I've heard from other MUA and beauty counselors. Since I have no official training or certification as a Makeup Artist, I need her workshop in my life!

• Fair skinned girls should wear eyeshadows in lighter colors like pastel pink, because when we're tired our eye areas become darker. For older women, eyeshadows in lighter hues will definitely make them look younger as brown and earth colors will make them look more mature. 
• The arch of your eyebrows are very important. Draw on a good arch that complements your face as they also move when you make facial expressions.Make the end of your brows longer as it gives the illusion of smaller face (model like). Darker eyeshadow application depends on the eyeshape and the emphasis that you want for your eyes, to make it look longer or bigger still depends on your eyeshadow application technique.
• For fuller lips, and to avoid lipstick bleeding or sliding off your lips, use lip liners. If not or for natural looking lips, lipstick alone will do. Lipgloss were optional.

Here's me and Miss Sayuri Igarashi. 

Now for the official photos taken by Mr. Noel B. Orsal from Philippine Entertainment Portal. Thank you sir for sending me these! :)

Most of my fellow bloggers have gone home and I was still left in the room chatting with Miss Sayuri, Ms. Jackie and Ms. Charm. Being left inside the room just to ask questions was never a habit of mine when I was still a student. If only my mom sent me to a makeup academy then I'm pretty sure I'll be more excited to go and attend the class, or should I say maybe I'll strive hard to become cum laude?

Thanks Miss Charm and Miss Jackie! It was so nice to meet both of you.

Lastly, makeover compilation!

I also went home with a huge smile on my face coz I can't wait to open up and test the goodies!

What I got inside my bag were four wonderful products from Kiss Me Heroine Make. The mineral powder, liquid eyeliner and two Kiss me Heroine Eye Jewelry in Yellow Sapphire and Pink Amethyst. 

These are basically the things I need to learn in my life and in my career since I always provide service to my fellow Filipinos who all have the same feature and skin tone like I do. I must say my daily makeup routine will start to change now. I'm so thankful I became part of this event and I'm planning to attend more workshops in the future. Pursuing a career like this needs a lot of help from professionals and successful people. Listening is the most important part of learning process, but then since I'm a  visually-stimulated person, Miss Sayuri's demonstration really made me focused.

What products from Kiss Me Heroine Make have you lovelies tried? Any HG products from them? Please look forward to my next post, I'll be creating makeup looks using Kiss me Heroine Eye Jewelries! I hope y'all excited as I am!

For Kiss Me Heroine Make Philippines page, click here.

Makeup Demo & Mini Workshop at Mac Cosmetics Glorietta

Hi Lovelies! How have y'all been? April has been a busy yet a good one so far. 

I was actually busy making myself busy. lol. I've been to Boracay with my family and friends and two makeup workshops. I'm honestly more excited to share with you those workshops more than our bora trip, so maybe I'll blog about that next time.

Last Friday my husband and I went to Makati for an ocular visit of 6788 tower for another upcoming makeup workshop and later that night we'll be watching The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. Since it'll start late I went to the Mac Cosmetics store in Glorietta 3 since it's the only therapy I got to maintain my sanity. A young Mac Artist named Marcky assisted me and we had a conversation. For the first time in my makeup career and addiction, I met a very humble and accommodating Mac Artist. We talked about the upcoming collections and more. He invited me to come over and watch a makeup demo/mini workshop for the next day with another Mac Artist and store supervisor  Ms. Del Anthony. I was even introduced to her and just like Marcky, she's very accommodating.

I came by the next day and I was late, they actually started 2 hours earlier, coz Marcky told me it'll start around 3pm and they started around 1pm. Though I missed the first demo for the first model I was able to observe how Ms. Del applied Mac Rebel lipstick with the second pretty model and seal it to avoid bleeding. I've also seen how the face should be set and how mists can freshen up the face and even the whole makeup applied will look fresh as well.

Ms. Del even encouraged us to ask questions. Most of the techniques I also learned were all about concealing facial flaws like blemishes and correcting dark under eye area.  

These are the Mac products used for the models. I really wish have them all! 

For blemishes Mac Studiofix Fluid Foundation does the trick, even without using a concealer.You just have to pat it on top of blemishes using 190 and 187 brush then set it with Mac Fix. According to Ms. Del Mac Fix is the most used Mac product by Makeup artists backstage. I have to agree coz most models from any fashion show have dewy fresh skin while doing their catwalk on the runway.

After the workshop I tested almost all the products and as always I'm in love with their lipsticks. Here  I am wandering around. Testing products and having short conversation with other Mac Artists.

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My hand after swatching all the lippies from frost, matte, luster to creamsheen finish. Me want some Razzle Dazzler,Sushi Kiss, Sweet and Sour, Kinda Sexy and finally I think I've found a lippie that has the same shade and finish like my first ever Mac Lipstick named Gliss that's already discontinued. I just forgot the shade of that particular lippie. I also like their lipglass in Angel and Oyster girl.

Soon I will join again their next workshop the next technique that I want to learn from Ms. Del which is the "no makeup makeup". Just glowing skin and healthy looking complexion. Ms. Del told me on my IG they'll have one this weekend but I have a makeup gig in the morning so maybe next time.

I swear I was dying that day to get Mac Studiofix Fluid foundation and Mac Studiofinish concealer but I think I better save up more coz come May and Mac is beauty collection will be launched.

Meet my cousin Kim. She was with me the whole day yet she doesn't want to have her photos taken.

Lastly for my ootd. I went for a punk rock chick look, which is my all time favorite.

Though my face is painted with makeups, I love it when I wear gender bender clothes.

It brings out the rebel in me. By the way, I've received a lot of personal message asking me about my Barbie wants to be me tee, and the Mac artists love my spiky high tops! They said it'll also look great for their uniform that is black ensemble. They're very stylish and they didn't fail to accessorize the outfit.

I hope to see you lovelies on their next next workshop! Please look forward for my upcoming post for Heroine Make Kiss me by Isehan Event. Adios Beybeh!