Finally posting what was supposed to be posted last December 20-ish.

Unfortunately no photos yet since my batteries had to be replaced.

Everything posted below are “googable”.

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Written on December 16, 2012:

I’m writing this in an vessel en route to Cagayan de Oro. As to when I’m posting this, depends on whether I get to my destination…alive. About 10 minutes after departure, the ship I’m on stopped then chugged on then stopped again 10 minutes after. The vessel then suddenly honked what seemed like morse codes as something else was honking back. I wish I could remember, no, make that I wish I took my Morse code lessons seriously when I was a Girl Scout back in high school so that I could understand and decide on whether I should have freaked out and made a scene and demand to be brought back to land. Unfortunately, I am braving with the vessel.
God keep us safe.

To take my mind off from worrying, Ammablog about what I got recently.

1. Garnier Light Visible Whitening Face Powder

While I was in Metro beauty department store to get my stock of St. Ives Apricot scrub and Lactacyd, I stopped at the Garnier counter to check out their stuff. I usually ignore Garnier since they’ve all been about lightening and whitening and I’m not really into that as I love my tan. Then I saw that their pressed powders had what looked like a shade that was close to my skin tone. I swatched a little bit, thought it was lighter but since it was a pressed powder I thought, this will be sheer afterall. What really caught my eye was that it claimed to offer “a long lasting shine-free effect”. Take note, it mentioned 6 hours of being shine free. And because it was cheap at 200, I grabbed it.

The shade I got was the darkest, 04-Beige. For reference, I am C40 in MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus(I don’t own one but I went to get matched one time). It obviuosly isn’t a match since it is beige. Beige and I don’t match exactly but everyone can get past the mismatch.

It came with a puff that I threw out because it was…the word is unfortunately “cheap”.

So onto the product on me. Honestly I wasn’t expecting anything much from this powder since I was already able to try their moisturizer that claimed to control oil but it disappointed alot. But you know in every purchase, there’s always that tiny hope that the product would work and even exceed expectations. Well, the powder, as expected, did not work. I put it on using the press and roll method as suggested by Wayne Goss but an hour after I see shine all throughout my T-Zone, mostly on my nose and cheeks where I have enlarged pores.

I’m not even going to head onto the lightening effects of the product as I am not interested in it.

So will I repurchase? No.

Next is Etude House Flocked Puff.

For 78PHP you get 2 pieces of flocked puff. As to what “Flocked” means, I do not know. I wasn’t able to test it out when I went to get it. I just needed a round soft puff that looked like a sponge but wasn’t really a sponge that could replace the puff the Garnier powder came with.
Oh how luxurious is this flocked puff!
It’s soft, smooth and addicting.
I think most Korean brands have this kind of powder puff. Long live Korean cosmetics!

If you are planning to get a local or drugstore powder, ditch the puff and get flocked puffs from Korean brands. They’re cheap, come in 2 pieces and are available in round and squared shapes fit for any powder compacts.

Repurchase? Yes.

The next product in line is the BYS Lipstick in Spiced Merlot.
I had tried this when my friend was looking for the ideal red lipstick and we were counter hopping until we got to BYS. While he(read: gay) was into red, I’m more into plum and berry lip shades since not a lot of girls wear them. Hehehe. But seriously, I like looking at them more than red. Ok, I will admit, red is just too common.

Spiced Merlot is a bright deep plum shade which is easy to wear during the day. If plum scares you, make that deep plum, Spiced Merlot is a good start. It has a matte texture that’s not too drying although I do recommend putting on a lip moisturizer beforehand.

Because it’s not creamy or rich and because it is a deep shade, it doesn’t disappear easily even after some eating or smoking. But just to make it last, I use a lip liner in between the BYS Spiced Merlot and lip moisturizer. I use CoverGirl Outlast in Nude.

It does have a smell, like that lime scent used in cleaning bathrooms. If you are too sensitive (read: OA) then skip this lipstick. The scent disappears seconds after applying it.

Priced at 229PHP, it’s a good start to plum lips.
Welcome to my plum word!!!

Repurchase? Yes.
Primer Time!
I’ve never really owned a primer(well there was that organic primer…whatever) so imagine my delight when I saw a stall in the IT Park Christmas Bazaar selling some Ellana Minerals. I immediately spotted the Ellana Mineral Make It Last Primer and purchased it without hesitation. I have tried Ellana Minerals before, it was the setting powder that I wasn’t completely blown away with it but it wasn’t all that bad either, ‘cept for the shade since it was the wrong undertone. So at 280PHP, I asked my friend to lend me some cash since I wasn’t bringing any at that time. Hahahaha! What can I do, she’s supportive of my addiction. I road tested it immediately when I got home. According to the product, it mattifies skin and makes make-up last longer and has natural SPF. No oil control claim right there. True enough, it doesn’t control oil. But I think my make-up lasted longer as there was no need to retouch, just some blotting to take away the oils. But honestly, when I road tested this for Friday’s Christmas party, I couldn’t really tell how long the make-up lasted on my face since I was getting my “drunk” on by 11pm that night. But when I was checking my face at around 2am, I didn’t look like I was a dead-beat drunk girl with mascara running down her cheeks.

Now the main question, repurchase? The answer is no. But I would recommend it to those with normal to dry skin. I could still use it but I’d really have to set it with a good setting powder (now officially lemming for that Ben Nye powder).

Last on the make-up list: CoverGirl LastBlast Volume.

I had no intentions of getting this mascara. But when I was about to get a new stock of my HG Max Factor 2000 Calorie, the Ayala branch’s stock (2 stocks left) had a manufacturing date of 2010. Hello? It’s 2013 anytime soon, I ain’t getting that. When I went to the SM branch, they only had brown black. L’oreal was my next option but they didn’t carry the L’oreal Voluminous. So my only option was CoverGirl Lash Blast since a)it seemed like a mascara favorite and b) it had the same maker with Max Factor, Proctor and Gamble or is it Procter and Gamble? So I went to their counter, and the SA was nice enough to apply the LashBlast volume and LashBlast Fusion on my lashes. Fusion was lengthening and volumizing at the same time while Volume only had volumizing properties. To be honest, there was no difference. So I decided to get the LashBlast volume. I do have to say that I wasn’t impressed with how it coated my lashes when both were tried on me. But I was dying to have my hands on a volumizing mascara so I went ahead with the purchase. Road tested on the night we had our Christmas Party, I was so disappointed with how it “volumizes”. It made my lashes look like hairy spider legs. When it comes to volumizing mascara, my preference is feathery lashes. One that screams SEX. And not hairy disgusting spider legs!

I could only come up with 2 good things about this product. One is, you don’t need an eyelash curler to lift the lashes as this mascara is able to lift straight lashes. And two, it’s not difficult to remove.

And since I’ve spent money on this, I’m going to have to settle for it until I find a fresh Max Factor 2000 Calorie in black.

Repurchase?No.

More to come when I find the time!