Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts

Monday, May 7, 2018

What I got from my First SampleroomPH

As a beauty & lifestyle blogger, I love to try new things whether high end or drugstore products. Whether international or local brands, I just loooove to try new things & like to share them to my readers here in my blog. 

It was my first time to be part of the SampleroomPh customer & hopefully someday, be a beauty insider (one of my wish)

They have given me 100 points upon registering so I immediately use it to try things I haven't tried out yet, you just have to pay the shipping fee. When I received the package I was so excited, the product was neatly packaged & they will give you an update of the delivery on your email once you have deposited your payment of the shipping fee.

The first samples that I got was the a small size jar of pond's age miracle day cream & 5 different scents from Bambini Cologne.


These are the things I got from SampleroomPh


The first product is the Pond's Age Miracle Wrinkle Corrector Day Cream. If you have read my morning routine, you know that the moisturizer I've been using is the Olay total effects before I apply my primer & foundation.


This has an SPF 18 PA++ which I always want in a day cream. It should have an SPF in it. 


Net Weight : 10g


As you can see the size of this moisturizer. It's so cute. This was also sold in stores everywhere for just Php 99.00. They have also a bigger size 50g which was priced at Php 499.00. You can also buy this online at Zalora.ph, BeautyMNL & Lazada.ph.


Pond's trademark cream color is a light baby pink - very feminine. It has this mild creamy scent to it which is been known even before.


The texture is very smooth & light which easily can be absorbed to the skin. I think it has more water base rather than a silicone one. Basically, it acts just a moisturizer. Because it's so light & it's like a gel like form that easily melts so that's why it easily absorbs by the skin, it can't act as a primer not like other moisturizers that are creamy in texture which it can act as a moisturizer & primer in one. Not that I don't like it, don't get me wrong. I also love this type of texture. 


As you can see the swatch above when it's blended. 


The next product that I got is from Bambini


It contains 5 pcs. of different scents in a 50 ml bottle encased in a pouch.


And look what it says on the pouch, how wonderful.


These 50 ml bottles are also sold in all nationwide stores near you. 


Sunny Playtime - light orange-y powder scent that reminds me of morning sunshine. Like you just an aftermath of taking a bath. Smells fresh & new.


Ocean Kisses - smells like ocean breeze that reminds me of seaside scents where you can feel splashes of ocean waves hitting the stones as if giving you lots of kisses.


Cotton Cuddles - smells like cotton candy berry flavored scents that makes me feel like being wrapped in a soft blanket while sleeping in my bed.


Starry Lullaby - a light sweety scent that imagined myself going to a very peaceful sound evening.


And lastly,

Morning Tickles - a sweet orange, lemony scent that ticklishly wakes you up in the morning which makes you giggle.


Overall, I love the things I got from SampleroomPH. The Pond's Age Miracle helps you to achieve a youthful glow while Bambini Baby Colognes brings you back to your childhood memories. 


Xo,

Mary Ann


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

25 Things To Do When You Are Angry

Have you ever experienced when you are angry, you are in a bad mood & seems getting more & more angry? Or sometimes you just want to shout or scream because you felt something inside you that wants to burst out uncontrollably? Yes, to others it's understandable when they you angry but not all the time they should understand you because sooner or later others would eventually be angry at you & before you know it, you are hurting each other emotionally or sometimes physically. In my previous post, I have tackled The Good, The Bad & The Ugly & Effects about anger. You can read my post HERE
There are things you can do if you are angry or getting angry. Here are some of my suggestions.



25 THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY


WATCH FUNNY MOVIES / TV SERIES

What are your favorite funny movies or tv series? An old saying "Laughter is the best medicine". When you are happy, you felt light & all those positive energies are coming out from your body. Your coming seems to flow smoothly right? Everything you do, you finish is quickly in a short span of time without errors or failures. 


EXERCISE

Go to the gym or do some simple stretching inside your room. This helps your minds to focus on other things rather than wasting all your energies to anger. You feel alight when you sweat right? Not only that, it also helps you to lose those excess pounds.


READ BOOKS 

Another to distract yourself from anger is to read books, what books do you love to read? Romance novel, horror, suspense or thriller  or  fantasy? 


TRY SKETCHING OR DRAWING OR DO SOME MAKEUP


Are you an artist or just your hobby? When you try to sketch or draw you think of things with colors in your mind. Or try playing with your makeup collections by mix - matching. Who knows you might discover some application techniques a thing or two. I usually do this whenever I am angry or stressed. trying some color combination of eye shadows or blushes or trying experimenting on application on eye shadows. This really relaxes me a lot. It helps!


DO CALLIGRAPHY

Calligraphy is so an "it" these days. It also brings the artistic inside you. If you are not into sketching or drawing or doing make up. This is an alternative.


SING HAPPY SONGS

Whether you are a great singer or not. Don't mind it, this helps in distracting you from focusing on anger instead.


TAKE A WALK

Another distraction is to take a walk. Helps releasing that negative energy from your body. By walking, you sweat & then you want to drink a cold beverage which in turn refreshes your body & then you realized you're not that angry anymore right?


CALL A FRIEND

And if the things mentioned above doesn't work, try calling a friend. Tell him/her why you're angry. He/She might help you realize what triggers you to get angry & he/she might give you some solutions too!


DRINK YOUR FAVE BEVERAGE(S)

If you can't reach your friend, try drinking some of your fave beverage(s). Either you go outside drink a cup of coffee or cold refreshments or try making some of your own. 




MEDITATE

Try practicing meditation while listening to music use for meditating, or by humming. This helps a lot in relaxing your mind & body. 


BREATHING RELAXATION

Breathing slowly helps your body to relax This also helps your body to cool down, did you notice when you're angry your body heats up? Breathing helps you release those heat emanating from your body.


SNAP A RUBBER BAND

What do you feel when you try to snap a rubber band to yourself? You felt pain right? Now, your mind suddenly focuses on the pain & you forgot about being angry in just a split second right?  One way of distraction from anger.


LISTEN TO MUSIC

Whether a happy music, rock or pop one. Listening to it would make you happier, elevates your mind aaand an added bonus helps your verbal intelligence & memory. Wow!


REDECORATE YOUR ROOM

Another distraction from getting angry, a feeling of accomplishment sounds great when you try to redecorate your room it makes it more lively don't you think?


GO TO SLEEP

If you don't want to do anything or you can't focus your mind of other things than being angry. Then try to go to sleep. Sleeping also helps ease your mind & relaxes your body. Don't you feel energize after getting some sleep?



PLAY WITH YOUR PET

Don't you just feel happy when you see your pet doing quirky things or cute pose?


PLAY SOME GAMES

Either with your friends or in your computer. Your mind would definitely focuses on the game(s) that you're playing.


EAT SOME SNACKS

Not junk foods guys! No! But veggie salads or oatmeal cookies paired with real fruit juice.


SOLITUDE YOURSELF

If you just can't concentrate on focusing your mind from anger & want to burst it out, try to go inside an empty room & there let it all out.


GO TO A QUIET & SUNLIT ROOM

In connection to "Solitude yourself", lock yourself in a quiet but sunlit room. Sunlit room changes your mood because it gives positive aura. They say weather influences your moods right?


COUNT TO TEN

Sometimes counting eases your mind & relaxes your body. It also helps you breathe slowly. Remember in The Big Bang Theory when Leonard was angry at Sheldon's remark, he immediately counts before he snapped, if you're watching.


WRITE IT DOWN

Writing it in a journal or diary helps you think what really triggered you to be angry. It will also help realize what are the things you should to solve it or before it triggers.


DANCE

Dancing is like exercising especially when you listen to upbeat music. It tones your muscles & improves your heart & lungs condition.


Hope these helps. Do you have other ways to do when you are angry? Love to hear them.


XoXo,

Mary Ann





Sunday, May 7, 2017

7 Reasons Why You Should Watch Goblin



A lot of you probably heard the success of this Korean Drama TV Series "Goblin" or also titled "Guardian : The Lonely & Great God". Aaannnd you probably watched on Channel 2 (ABS-CBN) the commercial of it. In this post I will be giving you 7 reasons why you should watch it. For those who have watched it through cable, you already have an idea but to those who are just curious & interested do be warned, there will be some spoilers here. ;)

The Cast . . .

It has 5 main characters consists of :

Gong Yoo who plays the immortal goblin Kim Shin that lives for 939 years with a sword stuck in his heart. It is his first time to star in a small screen for almost 5 years since his success movie "Train to Busan". He had been doing mostly movies & his last tv series was "Big" but he is also known for the series "Coffee Prince". 

Now, the only one who can remove the sword so that the goblin can finally rest in peace is his bride played by Kim Go Eun who is known for playing in "Cheese in the Trap".

Next cast is Lee Dong Wook who is the grim reaper or the one who collects & assists souls to their afterlife. He lives with the goblin & his past life is the emperor who decrees to kill Kim Shin - the past life of the goblin who was a great warrior. He is best known for the role in another Korean TV series "My Girl".

Yoo In Na who plays the sister of the goblin & wife of the emperor in her past life & the present boss of the goblin's bride. She also plays a supporting role in the Korean series "My Love from the Star".

Lastly, Yook Sungjae who plays the nephew of the goblin & sometimes the lead god in the series by sort of possessed. He is the member of the boy group BTOB.

The Series . . .

It's a fantasy, drama, comedy, romance series. It's like a tv series of the movie Twilight or Vampire Diaries but talks of gods, grim reapers & goblins.  It has 16 episodes plus 3 special episodes which is the behind the scenes & boy, each episode is jam packed with magic, action, rom-com. 

The Story . . .

It started out with a goblin who lives for 939 years, wow, immortal being who only his bride have the power to remove the sword (which is a curse because he can't rest in peace if the sword is still stuck in his heart). 

The Main Topic . . .

It deals with life & death of a person. How he / she will deal with it. The intervenes of each god to human beings & what it tells to us in facing our struggles in life & what should we do if an opportunity knocks. How do we repay the goodness of a god. It also tells us that if one of our loved one dies, it's the end for us, there's still hope for us.


The Soundtrack . . .

The songs being played in the series have their distinct sounds to it. Consists of 14 parts with instrumental sounds included. It includes some music in english words too! Each of them will remind you of some of the highlights of the series like when the two lead actors would walk side by side like models on a runway & the song "Round & Round" would be playing in the background. Or when the goblin & bride would have a moment with each other & "Beautiful" would be playing or when Sunny & the grim reaper would have their talk & "I miss you" or a light happy song "You are so beautiful".



They are like models on the runway

The Bro-mance . . .

There are some scenes featured only the 2 lead actor of the series, their funny antics & arguments you will really laugh at them.















The Cinematography . . .

There are 2 locations in the scenes of Goblin, one in Korea & the other is in Canada, Quebec to be exact & boy, they shot their scenes with beautiful backgrounds of the country. 










Well, that is it guys. Have you watched this series? I highly recommended.

DISCLAIMER : I don't own the pictures & gifs. They are owned by their respected copyrights.


Just some nibbles to chew :

Did you know that the writer Kim Eun Sook is also the writer behind the other KDrama series "The Heirs", "The Descendants of the Sun", "Secret Garden" & "Lovers in Paris". She also won in recent 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards.

Gong Yoo won as the best actor for this series in the recent 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards

Another funny scene from Goblin - Enjoy! 





Saturday, May 6, 2017

Anger - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly & Effects

Anger, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary is a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism. To Wikipedia, it is an intense emotional response. It is an emotion that involves a strong uncomfortable and emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat. To us, it is just a simple meaning of strong emotion towards a person or uncontrollable situation. But nevertheless, we feel this kind of emotion often which is normal. But, do be careful. Anger is not just normal anger. 
In this post, I will tackle the different kinds of anger. 


Anger - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. . .

The Good . . .

Anger helps us express what's really inside us. It is somehow a way to show or tell someone of your feelings towards them. Anger is also a way of motivation that something needs to change. What's good about anger is that we can easily express our feelings. Do you remember that time when you have a hard time telling to a person or persons exactly how you feel that it builds up inside you & when you can't control it, it suddenly bursts open & that's when that person (s) realized how wrong he/she towards you?



The Bad . . .

Anger, when letting yourself control it, can stop or prevent your mind in thinking reason like, how can you move on or forgive yourself or someone if you are angry at yourself/someone? Or how can you think straight when you let anger control you? It also can be used by manipulation strategy. Like, someone would use your anger for his/her purpose to get what he/she wants. If you also use anger, you would end up hurting not only physically but emotionally to someone or to your loved one(s).



The Ugly . . .

Anger, when lost in control or you let yourself be controlled by anger is also not good. It leads to more serious situation. Violence, hatred & feeling of revenge came from anger. It can hurt the people around whether they are your loved ones or friends - either emotionally or physically that later on you felt remorse. 

Some Effects . . .

This also leads to illness because it releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol from our bodies. Have you experienced headache or backache? Or sometimes high blood pressure after getting angry or feeling of tiredness or stress or simply feeling all of your energies been drained down? These are some health problems affected by ANGER.
Psychologically, it dramatically changes one's behavior like drinking problems or confidence or self-esteem, depression or worse, substance abuse or self-injury because when angry it reduces your threshold of pain.
So, when you feel anger better calm yourself down before you let it control you.




Sunday, February 12, 2017

What's in My Everyday Makeup Bag & Loving Lately? A 2 in 1 post. . .

Hi, everyone! It's been a while since I have been an MIA lately. And now, I'm trying to at least do a blog post every other day. 
Now, I would like to show you the makeup I've been using at the moment. So, let's get started shall we?


What's in My Makeup Bag?


Here's the makeup bag that I have. A collegue of mine gave this to me as a Christmas gift last year.


Here are the makeup products that I use everyday as of the moment. A mixture of cream & powder  products. Sometimes I use powder products, sometimes just cream products or sometimes both (cream first then set them with powder products).




First off, my face is already cleansed so, I toned my face with my favorite toner - Eskinol with a cotton square pad.


Then, with my moisturizer Olay total effects, a two pumps & a pump & a half of the MAC face & body foundation. I love this foundation, it has a light to medium coverage - it's a build-able product. 


I applied Nivea lip balm to prepped my lips before applying my lipstick of the day.


On my under eye, I applied my Egyptian Magic & ELF daily moisture stick for more moisturizer because I do have a very dry under eye area.




On my eye lids, I prepped it with NYX eyeshadow base in white. I love this so much, it helps my dark eye lids to brighten my lids up hence, you see my much love of it sad to say NYX discontinued this :(


Since, I do have a very oily eye lids I applied my eye primer either the Urban decay primer potion that you can check my post HERE or Jordana eye base which I did a review HERE


Sometimes, it depends on my mood & how much time I have or if I am in a hurry, I would apply MAC paint pot in Soft ochre which I have posted in My Top Fave HERE.




Next, I will apply a highlight on either a cream highlight which is ELF Shimmering facial whip in Spotlight (guys, this is freaking FAN-TAS-TIC drugstore product. A little goes a long, long way with this gem!) or powder highlight which you will see later on this post.


Then, for my blush - cream blush in MAC creme blend blush in Something Special. This have a beautiful soft coral shade, this is so pigmented. I use a stippling brush to apply this on my cheeks.


For my cream contour, I love this bronzing cream from Bourjois, aside from being pigmented it has a chocolate scent - yummy! I also have a post on this HERE & HERE.


For my under eye corrector because of my dark under eye areas, I use City Color Photo Chic Dark Spot Corrector which I have a review post HERE.


For my facial concealment, I use one of my favorite concealer that I lately I just discovered a few months ago. Catrice Cover Stick Concealer that I have done a review HERE.


Then, I set my under eye corrector with Ben Nye Banana powder that I put some on a little jar so save space on my makeup bag.


For my bronzer, I use The Body Shop baked bronzer in warm glow, putting on the top of my cheek bones, across the nose, across my forehead or where the sun would hit for a beautiful healthy glow.


Physician's Formula Happy Booster in Natural which sad to say, I accidentally dropped it & it cracked to pieces so I had to depot it & put it on a sifting jar :( for my blush powder.




For my contour & highlight I use my Sleek Makeup face contour in Light. 


For my eye lids I either use Catrice Single Eyeshadow in My First Copperware Plate (shown above, which by the way a good dupe for the famous MAC Satin Taupe) or Maybelline Silken Taupe (shown below).




Then, because I want my eyes to stand out behind my glasses, I need it to be brighter so, I add Essence eye shadow in Party All Night which is a shimmering gold taupe-y shade that has a beautiful pearl finish. 


Then, I applied with a fluffy brush the mid-tone grayish brown in the Maybelline Trio shadows in Almond Truffles to smooth out the edges & as my transition shade.


I have a very scarce, thin eye lashes & I don't wear mascara often because when I try to remove it with my eye makeup remover, I have a lash or two fall outs & I can't risk losing more right? So, I use a gel liner that makes an illusion of dark & thick lashes. *wink, wink* I love using MAC fluidline in Local Wares - a dark olive brown shade which I love! A perfect shade for an everyday use. 

 

Now, I want a more brighter eyes behind my eyeglasses & this eyeliner also added a bonus for more brighter eyes! I use this two (2) eyeliners, first I applied on my water line is Tony Moly Perfect Eyes Eyeliner in Tear Beige. Oh, how I love this champagne shade, it really makes your eyes brighten that an officemate of mine ask me to buy one for her. See how I love it? How short it is now & I am planning to buy a back up it's about to die hahaha.


Onto my brows, first I applied with Maybelline great lash clear mascara to tame it. Been using this for years I don't remember how many of this I have used up. 




Then, my all time favorite brow gel, one of my holy grail Anastasia Beverly Hills dip brow pomade in Dark Brown. I do have a blog post of this beauty of a gem HERE.


After my brows, I like to but an under eye brow highlight & that is Catrice Eyebrow lifter, which is like the Benefit one. 


To set that, I applied NYX single eye shadow in Highlight which sad to say too, it's discontinued. Oh, why do my favorite beauty products being discontinued?! It's so stressful right? Just when you find your holy grail & then, BAM (!!!), they would remove it from their line.


For a more brighter under eye & to wipe off some eye shadow fall outs, I applied one of fave concealer, Revlon Age Defying in Pale, which I think Revlon have re-formulated it into Revlon Age Defying Targeted Dark Spot Concealer Treatment (click the name to show you how it looks like). 

What I love about this is, it's pigmented & it has an SPF on it & when in photo it doesn't give a white cast to it too! I wonder about their new formulation? 

I guess I have to set aside a budget on that one for comparison. 


Then, to set everything, I use ELF complexion perfection. Love it hence, you see my hit pan on it.


Then, setting my makeup with my holy grail setting spray The Vanilla & Co. Witch Hazel Beauty Tonic. 

Some beauty tools added in my makeup bag.


A stainless spatula


Another, a makeup sharpener that I bought from Nature Republic for my eyeliners.

And of course, in case of sudden events, for a more full coverage foundation - I have the sample size of Estee Lauder Double Wear which I got.


The next three (3) products are just a back up in case I finish up my setting powder for the under eyes & face.

The MAC MSFN in Light Plus.




And Collection (formerly called Collection 2000) lasting perfection in Light.


Everyday Minerals Finishing Dust in Sunlight. This is a dual purpose to me, it can be a setting under eye powder or a setting corrector.

So, it's been a long post but those are the things in my makeup bag. From time to time, I kind of change my cheek products & eye shadows but I guess it would be for a while because those are what I'm loving at the moment too! 

Wow, a 2 in 1 one blog post right?

What's in your makeup bag? Are they what you're loving lately too?

Thank you for dropping by!


Xoxo,

Mary Ann