I got married! (plus reviews)

I'm back! I can't believe that my last post was more than 3 months ago. I'm so sorry, guys... I just got so busy preparing for my wedding then of course I went on my honeymoon then I needed to complete my requirements for immigration so I can follow my hubby in Canada... so yeah, I lost track of time & wasn't able to blog for so long. =(

As I've said, I got married! yay! I have been waiting for that time to arrive for so long. Me & hubby had been together since we were in college and we were a couple for 13 yrs & 7 mos to be exact before we got married last April 14. God is good because everything was perfect... well almost perfect... but I am still happy with everything. :)

It was actually a budget civil wedding and I can't believe that I was able to pull it off with just a month of preparation & with a limited budget. We were both able to get our dream wedding-- hubby wants it to be intimate & an eat-all-you-can buffet while I wanted to invite all of my closest family & friends with a garden set up. I was also able to achieve the white & blue motif which are both my fave colors. 

My wedding was held in an enclosed space in Dads World Buffet (Dads, Kamayan, Saisaki) at West Avenue. I was able to get a 30% off discount for my 110 guests, so that's only around Php50k+ for an eat-all-you-can buffet! Everyone is full & satisfied because there's around 300 dishes to choose from & everyone will definitely able to find something they like to eat. This is way cheaper than if I went the route of hiring a catering service because 7 dishes may cost me Php700/head plus the rent of the place. The staffs of Dads are all very friendly & accommodating. It was a really hassle free transaction since everything was pre-paid (you need to pay in full at least 3 days before the date) so I just need to pay any additional corkage on the day of the wedding itself (we brought wine). There are also a lot of freebies-- setup & decor plus sound system -- and are all done by them, they just asked me what is my motif & if I have special requests (I needed an altar for the ceremony & an isle to walk). There's also no corkage for my cakes & cupcakes, no corkage for the flowers, no corkage for the sound system like in other establishments.

I arrived there on the day of my wedding & got floored because everything was so beautiful & perfect...I got my wish of the garden theme with blue accents on all white. I didn't even need to think how to set it up/decorate coz they did everything. They were also able to give me an isle to walk with which made me so happy.
 

DADS WORLD BUFFET: 5/5
Perfect place to held an event - hassle free! The food are great & the price is affordable.  Plus, no one can beat the happiness of being able to feed everyone up to their hearts (or stomachs) content hehe :)

My wedding cake is a gift from my sis-in-law Steph, so I don't know where she got it. All I know is that it was home-made & designed by a very talented tattoo artist & it tastes superb. The sweetness is perfect even though it is made of fondant & the chocolate cake inside is moist and very delicious. This is also 5/5 :)

The chocolate cupcakes that I gave away were made by Baked!. I asked for it to be not too sweet since a lot of my guests doesn't have sweet tooth & Ms. Heidi created a cream based icing for me (it was really light & fluffy...and very pretty!). All of my guests have commented that they loved the cupcakes because they were moist & is not overly sweet like others in the market. Also, I was able to bring home a couple extras at home & I stored them in the refrigerator. It became hard but if you let it stay in room temperature for a couple minutes it will thaw & become moist again which is awesome!  I'm just sad that I wasn't able to put all of the ribbons that me & my sis made coz we lacked the time haha. I will definitely order from Ms. Heidi again since the quality & price is really good. :)

BAKED! 5/5 - Aside from the fact that the cupcakes are perfect in look & taste, I love the fact that I know she used good quality fresh ingredients. Plus, Ms. Heidi was able to get the perfect shade of blue.

My bridal car is our Land Cruiser 60 series & my dad placed a bouquet of peach carnation in front. This is such a sweet gesture from my dad since I forgot about it. My bouquet is a gift from my Ninang Mayet. She made my wish come true because I wanted a simple bouquet & we have chosen plain white stargazers that is just simply tied with a ribbon. They are so pretty. The flowers are from Dangwa & are not expensive.

I got my dress from Landmark for only under Php3k! It's a mermaid cut white dress with gems on the neckline. Very classic & it fits perfectly as if I had it made for me. Very flattering on my figure too which is always a plus. I also didn't need to wear high heels so I just wore a jeweled silver sandals haha very comfy. ^_^

My hair & makeup was done by Angelica Amante which is also affordable since her rate is way cheaper if you go to her studio (which I did since it's just near my place). I received a lot of compliments that I looked beautiful & that my makeup was perfect. I opted for traditional makeup & not airbrush because my wedding w/reception will only be 3 hrs max & it was air-conditioned so i really didn't need to have it last long. She was also on time & very professional. I will definitely recommend her to anyone who is looking for a good makeup artist that has a more affordable rate. 5/5 too :)

Overall, I think we just spent around Php80k for everything from the marriage requirements to the food & cupcake souvenirs & our wedding attire. And since we have 110 guests, I believe that is an achievement to be proud off :)

Meet my hubby! :)

Thank you for reading this personal post. And now that everything is back to normal, I am hoping to be back in posting weekly again. I have also been reading a lot of books and I'm guessing i will be uploading a couple of book reviews soon. Also, there's a lot of great dramas that has or will be aired so watch out for more drama reviews too.


Till next time! 

2012 Hits and Misses

Check out my "Hits and Misses" for 2012! 

I'll put a link if I have done a review for them already...BUT if there's no link, it means I will be reviewing it in the near future :)

*in no particular order*

BEST PRODUCT FINDS OF 2012

1. Google Nexus 7 

This is the best 7 inch tablet ever! Super fast and responsive since this contains the latest android (Jelly Bean 4.2) on it's purest form. It can also play full HD videos, pictures and music plus i'ts a good ebook reader. There's also a lot downloadable applications (games, programs, etc) at Google Play. 


2. Allue Lip Conditioner

This is one of the best finds I had this year because it is very affordable and it works!


3. Artist Studio Brushes

Again, you can never beat the affordable price of these brushes AND you are getting high quality product at the same time. Definitely the best makeup brush to start your collection.


4. Payless "Lower East Side" flats

*sorry about the dirty appearance of the shoes*

These are my favorite pairs of flats. They are really comfortable and is built to withstand everyday abuse. Full review to follow as these babies need more attention :)


5. Lush Hair Duo: Ultimate Shine Solid Shampoo + American Dream Conditioner

These combination is absolutely divine! Long lasting cleanliness and your hair will definitely smell great until your next wash. I will post a full review soon :)


6. Laser Hair Removal - Underarm

I got a gift coupon from Ensogo that entitled me 8 sessions of UA LHR for only Php3,000! I am done with my 8th session this month and I am just waiting for at least 5 weeks to gauge the result. Will post a more in depth review :)


MISSES OF 2012

1. Bench Jeans

Definitely poor in quality especially for the price.


2. The Face Shop eyelash curler

Oh my, I can't use this even if I have all the time in the world to be careful. The shape of the curler is definitely not a match for my eye-shape as it keeps on pinching my lids.


3. Skin Food Black Bean Eyeliner

This liner sucks big time! It is too creamy that even if you wait for it to set, you'll still get panda eyes after 1 minute. 

4. My Phone Cellphone

This has low quality...It's definitely a waste of money because even though it's cheap, it gets broken quite easily.

5. Lush Soak & Float solid shampoo

I can't get over the smoked scent and it didn't work for me either in controlling my dry scalp.

5. Ipanema FlipFlops

It's too flimsy to be comfortable to use for walks. It makes my feet hurt after an hour of walking so I still prefer my Havaianas over this one. 

6. Styli-Style 24hr Liquid Liner Pen

This dried up very fast. I believe this just lasted me 2-3 months..That's too fast and it's quite pricey too at Beauty Bar. 

Those are my Hits and Misses for the year 2012. All of these items are purchased and used this year and were tried extensively by yours truly before I decided which should go to which.

Thank you for dropping by!

Review: Allue Pretty Cheeks Blush in Pink Delish

Hello everyone! It's now time to share my thoughts about the blush I got from HBC. I have tested out the product for a couple of weeks just so I can give a good review for you all :)

photo credit: HBC website

ALLUE GIRL NEXT DOOR PRETTY CHEEKS BLUSHER in PINK DELISH 
(whew! what a very long name for a product)

 INGREDIENTS:

NET WT: 0.19oz / 5.5g
PRICE: Php85

It also comes with a brush:

Here's a swatch:

Natural lighting:

Indoors:

MY REVIEW

PROS:

- Affordable. This blush duo only costs Php75 or Php85. As usual, I lost the receipt :(

- 2 shades that can be mixed or used separately. Very natural peachy-pink shimmeryblush.

- Buildable color.

- Hypoallergenic according to the packaging. This is meant for teenagers so it has less irritating ingredients.

- Available locally in all HBC stores

- The color lasts a good 4 hours on me (I have dry cheeks, though) and the shimmer stay until you remove it.
   It fades gradually and become a light flush of color after 3 or 4 hours.


CONS:

- It lacks pigmentation. I need to pile it up in order for the color to show.

- It is powdery. A lot of products "fly" whenever I sweep my brush on the blushes.

- I hate the brush that it comes with. Super small, stiff and useless.

- There are days that it makes my cheeks itch and irritate my pimples if I have one at the time.


OVER-ALL RATING: 3/5

It gives a pretty flush of color and lasts a good while on me but it takes too much effort to build the color so I will definitely use this up pretty quickly at this rate.

WILL I REPURCHASE? No. I would just go and look for other affordable blushes that are more pigmented and less powdery.


Thanks for dropping by!

Review: Allue Lip Conditioner in Berry Blast

A rainy Wednesday everyone! The weather is so cold the whole night and even this morning so my skin is really loving it. I don't like going out when it is raining but I like the coolness it gives to the air. I ended up cuddling Hershey under my blanket while we were sleeping :)

Today, I wanted to share with you a good find that I encountered last week. I don't know what came into me but I got attracted to enter HBC at Trinoma before going home. I don't usually look around there because I believed they sell cheap products and it might cause me some allergies. This belief changed when I used their Body Recipe foot balm (I reviewed it here) which was given to me as a gift. That worked great and it was so affordable too. I started looking around and I remembered that I needed a lipbalm since all of my lipbalms at home doesn't work on my very dry lips. I got attracted to the packaging of the Allue lip conditioner so I got that one :)

ALLUE is an HBC brand that targets teens and has a slogan of "My First". The packaging is cute and girly to attract little girls and a lot of times this line is hypoallergenic to suit younger, more sensitive skin. Their price range is also very affordable so that students can afford them.

This photo is courtesy of the HBC website.  

I wanted to take a picture personally but I can't seem to get a good quality one so I ended up borrowing this picture from the website and I believe they haven't updated it yet since it's still in pink packaging.
Mine is in a baby blue packaging and the flavor I got is called Berry Blast :)

INGREDIENTS: (as written at the back of the packaging)

Ttriglyceride, Ceresine, Polybutene, Beeswax, Theobroma cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Propyl Paraben, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate (Cl 15850:2)

AMOUNT OF PRODUCT: 0.12oz / 3.5g
FLAVORS AVAILABLE: Berry Blast, Orange Fizz and Vanilla Surprise
PRICE: Php45 / $1


WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT:

- It worked! I can't believe that it gives long lasting moisture to my dry, chappy lips. I don't need to reapply frequently because the moisturizing effect it gave my lips linger even if the product itself is already gone. 
I guess my lips absorbs the product well that's why it's a good treatment especially before going to bed since you will wake-up with soft lips.

- It says to have some sort of sunscreen to protect the lips from the UV rays.

- I like the fact that it doesn't leave a waxy texture on my lips. I really hated that sticky feeling.

- I liked the scent too. It's just the right hint of berry which doesn't overpower my nose. It actually smells like candy, in my opinion.

- It applies clear so it won't affect the color of your lipstick. It also gives a little shine so you can skip applying lipgloss if you're looking for a natural look.

- I love lipbalms in a tube. It is very sanitary and I can use it without needing to wash my hands.

- The packaging is very eco-friendly. It is made of carton and can be recyclable. 

- The design of the tube is very girly and cute. I wouldn't be embarrassed to use it in public.

- Very affordable. This costs Php45 ($1) only and it works better than most of my expensive lipbalms.

- Readily available in all HBC branches. They also ship internationally I believe.


WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

- They didn't specify the SPF and PA protection so I'm not sure if it's true or not.

- This contains paraben.


OVER-ALL RATING: 5/5

I am so in love with this product! I definitely recommend it to any one even for kids because ALLUE is actually meant for younger customers :)


WILL I REPURCHASE? Definitely! Why would I buy something more expensive if a cheaper one works the same or even better? ^_^


I have actually bought an Allue blush duo but I am still testing that out so I'll do a separate review on that one after a couple more days :)


Thanks for dropping by!