Hairstyle Tutorial: Half-Up Half Down Braided ‘Do (Boho Made Simpler)

 

Boho hairstyle made simpler!

That is really my focus as a beauty content creator!  I want YOU , my dear readers to learn something and learn it as simple as possible.  These styles may not be as perfect as that done by professional hairstylists but nice enough to be able to look good even if it’s imperfect.

Imperfection is still beautiful!

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If you search the internet, there’s so many BOHO-inspired hairstyles and some are quite difficult to do especially if you are not used to creating your own hairstyles!  

With that in mind, as a newbie in mind, I’ve decided to create this simple hairstyle for you to practice and want to create more!  

I am trying to get your interest there if you know what I mean!

How do you like this simple hairstyle?

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

 

3CE Velvet Lip Tint in Daffodil Review

 

Have you been seeing a lot of 3CE raves on all social media platforms?

I have seen a lot!  On Instagram, Tiktok and Youtube!  I mean what’s so unique about them?  I have used and tried so many lip products and things are getting better even for drugstore brands like Maybelline - they are lightweight and long-lasting and transfer-proof!  What’s there to love more for brands like 3CE?

To try is to believe!

After getting my own 3CE Velvet Lip Tint locally from BeautyScout.ph , super floored!

3CE Velvet Lip Tints

Shade: Daffodil

Price: Php950.00

Available at BeautyScout PH

Housed in a nice packaging with the same shade as that of the lip color!  I like the doe-foot applicator and how easy this is to spot in my dresser!  The shade I got Daffodil is close to Brownish red on a warmer side.  Some call this dirty red —- RED + BROWN (kind of soil-like).  I like this shade!  You pick this shade if you cannot invest on a bright red lip color but you want to stand out in the most subtle way possible!  

If you like to stand out on parties (if parties are back!). This may not be your choice of shade as there are other brighter shades available in the Velvet Lip Tint Line.

NOTD: Golden Glow Nails

 

The rainy days are really here!  It has been raining nonstop for good 6 days to almost a week and the Philippines is suffering in terms of Flood and extreme traffic.  I wish things will be better soon not only for our nation but also for other countries.  

Since I am still stuck at home - PANDEMIC + STRONG RAIN

I don’t want my home life to be “shi**y” as they say, so I’ve decided to pain my nails quickly and do a simple nail art.  I am inspired by the dainty pieces I own (rings!)  so here you go.

Base Color: GirlStuff nail lacquer in Fresh

Gold tip: Girlstuff Nail Lacquer in Vibe with Me

Sparkles: Orly Kick Glass

Base and top coat: Barry M

I am happy with the result!

What’s your next nail art request?

Any theme in mind?

For other gold nail art designs/tutorials: 

Etude House Party Queen

Classy Nails

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

 

Live the Life Of Your Dreams Home Edition

One major thing I missed during pandemic is our yearly hotel stays whenever my brother visits.  It was actually my responsibility to book at least 2 hotel stays a year for the whole family!  My brother’s requirement?  To step into a grand hotel lobby and entering a luxe hotel room that would bring a special kind of magic for both my parents and the kids!  But imagine doing that on a daily basis as your home!  That’s why I told him about investing on a residence that has this magical moment. 

Turns out, it was already part of his plan and he was actually set for several oculars last year.  Since pandemic happened, everything was put on hold as my list of places to visit goes longer.  But I’ve found one that I’ve decided to put on top spot!  

 

RLC Residences, property giant Robinsons Land Corporation’s Residential brand, has made this lavish hotel-like lifestyle possible with Marriott International, Inc. by bringing to life The Residences at The Westin Manila Sonata Place. Located at the heart of Ortigas Center, this luxurious condominium development is a prime example of the brand’s thrust to Raise, Live, and Connect Filipinos lives. 

The Residences at The Westin Manila Sonata Place is designed with RLC Residences’ mindset of raising the standards of living by providing state-of-the-art amenities and services and units designed to suit Filipinos like you at any stage in your life.

Ootd: K-Fashion

 

If you love KPOP and Korean fashion, you have probably seen this style of clothing!  

Short skirts - I changed it to skort because I want to move around freely.

A light sweater top and I had to go for the one with heart on it!  

Since my hair is long and not as layered as before, I can finally do pigtails without having flyaway hairs!  Okay, don’t bash me, this is an oldie trying to look like a teenager…why can’t we right?

As I stated on my IG Post, no rules in fashion, hairstyle and makeup!  Just choose to feel good and be YOU.  

By the way, I got my top HERE and my skort from Hong Kong.  

What’s your current fashion style?

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

 

Le Couleur Professional Hair Steam Iron Review

 

I love all sorts of hairstyling tools!!!  You could see that interest whenever I post hair products/hair related stuff here on the blog!

From my first Hair Straightening Iron in 2008 (JML for the win! Still working until this very day!) to purchasing a MINI Hair Iron for the bangs (Shoot, I never get to use it until this very day!).  I love my heating tools so much I even purchase a Hot Iron Holster!

I even bought my first curling iron and had to purchase a separate Transformer because I can’t wait for the Asian version!  

My hair tools and hair stories could go on and on but I’ll spare you for that!  What gave me the inspiration to talk about my hair past is because of my newest hair tools addition to my humble family!  The Le Couleur Professional Hair Steam Iron!

Le Couleur Professional Hair Steam Iron Details (Taken from HairMNL.com)

High performance shine for your hair without the damage.

Vapor infused, allowing water ions to penetrate into the hair, from the tip to the roots, locking 90% of the moisture and adding 50% more moisture to the hair. 

Innovative straight hair hydration technology for silky-looking natural and healthy hair.

I have done research before doing this blog post, I have been searching high and low about this brand and this specific model and found not a lot of reviews online!  But when you check out the website, you would be surprised with the wide range of (not only hair straightening) but salon tools!  They even have their own brand of Barber’s chair!

So back to this product which is priced at HairMNL for Php8,800.00.  Not the most expensive in the market but you’ll definitely find something cheaper.  So I would put this under mid-range and I am ready to spill the beans after using this for almost a month!

AMW says—-

Pros

• Love the sleek look and color of this Hair Steam Iron.
• Comes with steam so hair is not as hot to handle while using.
• Easy to use.
• Has digital screen making it easy to see and control the temperature.
• Comes with 3 buttons at the side so lesser accidents while using.
• Hair indeed looks smoother and silkier even after use.
• The steam that comes out goes straight to the hair, never on the direction of my hands or fingers so I don’t have any burn or accident so far.
• Swivel cord. 
• The steam container is placed at the right position so it isn’t hard to use the hair steam iron.  
• Maximum of 230 degress which is just the right heat without damaging hair.
• Can straighten and curl the hair.
• Iron can be used with or without steam.  There is an on/off switch for that.

Cons

• It is very difficult for me to fill up the “steam” container.  I am unsure if I should put the whole iron directly to fill up the water container but I worry about it being broken so I used a syringe in filling up the container with water.  
• The container cannot be removed so if you feel like you don’t want to have this extra plactic container while you use the iron, well, you have to live with it :)

NEW! Piattos Supersized Chips

 

Guys!  The whole lockdown, I have been stuffing my face with CHIPS!  I am serious when I have a whole  big box of “ALL CHIPS” and snack (3 boxes TBH).

People would think I buy chips for my son, he does eat chips but he eats only a few!  We, as parents are actually big on chips!  After our son goes to bed, our tired selves would enjoy movie night, Korean Variety Shows binge-watching or wathever we do from 12mn onwards with chips on hand!  Ahhhh, don’t judge me, that is why I still have this happy face amidst being locked at home for a year and a half.

We usually open up a bag of chips and share, even with Kyle sleeping, we always keep a portion for him because we want him to be included with whatever we eat!  Unfortunately, with the previous packaging of Piattos, we always end up….well..sorry Kyle, finishing up a bag without leaving some for Kyle!  Kulang naman kasi talaga!  So hearing about the Supersized Piattos version is a great news!

Available in 2 flavors for now - Sour Cream and Onion and Cheese.  I wish they would also supersize their other flavors like Roast Beef!  Don’t worry Piattos, I will be waiting patiently!

Subtle Eyelining Tip

 

Hi AMW Friends!

Today, I will share a quick subtle eyelining tip that most Korean Drama stars do that ends up looking like they are not wearing any makeup at all!  I have studied and tried this tip so many times and decided to share this after (finally) perfecting it! 

All you need to do is 1 product - a good Eyeliner Pencil that is smooth and pigmented yet waterproof and smudgeproof.

I can tell you off the bat a higher end brand and a drugstore brand that works.

Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes

And a new found drugstore brand which I used in this tutorial.  REVLON Cream Eyeliner Pencil.  I used the Brown shade for a more natural effect.

Tightlining is key for natural-looking liner but it is really scary to do so especially when you watch tutorials done by professionals!  I put myself in the shoes of someone who isn’t a professional and are scared to have sharp pencils poking in their eye and finally made this.  See the effect?

Left eye facing you with Eyeliner, right eye facing you is the bare eye!

Please watch this video and see if this is workable.  I would love to hear from you!  Thanks for watching and visiting this post!  

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Maybelline New Fit Me Review

 

Maybelline gets my thumbs up on their lip products, mascaras and foundations.  They could be inexpensive but I always recommend this brand especially to girls who are just fresh out of college and are on a budget while looking for a job.

There’s one thing I find a bit mind boggling with the brand though!  They revamp and improve their products so fast I can’t seem to keep up —- well, I CAN, but I can’t keep up in a way that there are some great products I don’t want to let go of and they just poof and disappear!  —- HELLO MAYBELLINE MASCARAS!!!!  

So back to this story, if you love the old FIT ME Powder foundation, well, this could be a great news for you (if you ended up loving this), they did some changes and call this NEW FIT ME with 2x Powder Power!  

I will give it to Maybelline for the super nice packaging, very classy and sleek and not the cheap plastic type!  I love the colors used - it just screams CLASSY and nice.

The Maybelline New Fit Me is honestly NOT my kind of product because for the fact that I have combination NORMAL/DRY skin.  This product is meant for oily skin because of the Oil Control properties so I am not doing a detailed review about this product since I won’t be using these as much as I like to.  

Priced at Php249.00 available at SHOPEE. There are a total of 8 shades available locally but when I took a look at their online selling site, there were only 2 shades left - Warm Nude and Soft Tan.

The shades are a bit darker and more apt for most Filipinas to be honest.  Their lightest shade Natural Ivory is 1 shade lighter than Classic Ivory (on swatch below).  So if you are super fair, you may not find the right shade for you.  Considering I am using a BEIGE person in most Maybelline products, Natural Beige turned a bit dark on me (swatch located at jaw area) and I turned out to be the shade of 2nd to the lightest which is CLASSIC IVORY as you can see below.

But here’s what I like about Maybelline’s New Fit Me, it has better coverage.  It does not only serve as an oil control powder, it gives a decent coverage as seen on my before and after photo below. 

Nars Orgasm Month

 

Hear ye! Hear Ye!

It is the month of ORGASM, MULTIPLE ORGASM —— NARS Orgasm!  

(What are you thinking?) :P

We all get to know more about Nars with its’ famous Orgasm Blush and this shade expanded to several more product line -

The Nars Afterglow Lip Balm  and The Original Multi-Purpose Stick.

If you can’t visualize how Nars Orgasm would look on my skintone, well, I solved your problem.  I wore everything NARS product on photo above translated to a look below.

Nars Orgasm Multi-Purpose Stick for Eyeshadow
Nars Orgasm Blush on Cheeks
Nars Afterglow Lip Balm in Orgasm on lips 

The Afterglow lip balm gives hydration on my lips like crazy!  I find myself applying and reapplying for so many layers not because the color was gone - it felt right and addictive!  So if you have dry lips like me, you have to invest on this!

And here’s a cool news for you, July is Orgasm Month!  So from today until July 31, you can customize your own Orgasm Cheek, Lip and Eye set for Php4,500 (Valued at Php6,050) in all NARS Counter and Online!  That’s a great deal and a great way to start learning about the power of Orgasm.

Available in all NARS boutique and counters near you.  And if you use code NARSNIKKI for your first Purchase at the Beauty Butler, you get 15% off !

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

 

FOTD: Back to 90’s

 

When Permission To Dance from BTS dropped, I was addicted to their newest All-English Single.  I love it so much I got inspired to create this hairstyle and makeup look!  Adding up to the overall look, I also wore my all denim number which you can see after the jump.

I ironed my hair giving it a sleek, straighter loook but didn’t go overboard, ruffled the roots of my hair and used Dry Shampoo spray and used a dainty headband that screams —- 90’s!  

I also cut my own hair giving myself some wispy bangs!  It is hard to manage but still made me look at least 2 years younger so I’ll go for the scarifice!  *laughs*

Have you listened to the single Permission to Dance? 

What are your thoughts on my look?

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

 

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Cocobelle Brush Cleaner Review

 

Before the official launching, Cocobelle PH reached out to me to review their brush cleaner!  I, for one, will always support small businesses and local manufacturers for products that REALLY WORK!  

Considering this was featured on my Instagram, then my Blog, you know that this passed my OC-ness in makeup brush cleansing with flying colors. 

Cocobelle’s Makeup Brush Cleaner cleans, conditions, and extends the life of your brush. Not just that! It helps protect your skin from irritation because it’s made of all-natural quality ingredients!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The 250g is priced at Php600.00 available at Lazada while they also have a travel size for Php250.00.

To be honest, even the travel size bottle will ggo a long way!  I have a LOT of makeup brushes to clean every single week!  I have a whole set in my room and another set in my work-room.  I test a lot of makeup products thus I use a lot of makeup even if I am staying at home!

Cocobelle also sells silicone Brush Egg which is a perfect tool to use durin brush cleaning.

I like to swirl a wet brush directly on the Cocobelle Brush Cleaner bottle and do a gentle swirl, you will definitely see all sorts of makeup from the brush coming off without much pressure!

Maybelline x ITZY Supermattes by Colorsensational (Swatches + Review)

 

How in the world I managed to swatch all 10 shades of lipsticks in one go?

Beats me!

I get surprised myself!  But thankfully, it wasn’t hard with the new Maybelline X ITZY Supermattes By Colorsensational.  In swatch made me go OOOHHH and AHHHH.  Maybelline, you never fail to create wonderful shades apt for Filipinas!  I just can’t get enough of these!

The TIU Household has been on a KPOP craze for almost 2 years now and we have been playing non stop music including ITZY songs for their catchy beat!  So it wasn’t a surprise when this girl group that debuted 2019 called ITZY is the newest global spokesmodel!  Members are Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yuna!  They are the first K-pop stars to represent Maybelline and first music group to ever do so!

I am way past KPOP star era but that does not mean I can’t enjoy the benefits of it!  Are you ready for 10 shades from this collection?

Before you say anything, I am sure they have their own names but all I see on my tubes are numbers (I got a PR KIT for this but please note all opinions and reviews are MINE.)

Shade 199

AMW Cooks: Pad Thai

 

Hi Everyone!  Happy Sunday!

I will be sharing a new recipe, the most tedious I’ve done to make!  There wasn’t a lot of techniques going on but more of chopping of ingredients and making sure each ingredient are cooked correctly.

Here’s what you need —-

• Pad Thai noodles/Rice noodles
• Onion/Shallot
• 4 Garlic Gloves
• 2-3 Eggs
• Firm Tofu sliced in cubes
• Chicken Thigh fillet
• Shrimps
• Salt and Pepper
• Beansprouts
• Peanuts
• Lime
• Chives

For Pad Thai Sauce

• Fish Sauce
• Tamarind Paste
• Soy Sauce
• Sugar 
• Honey

Watch this quick video!  Enjoy cooking! 

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Newly-Opened Sales Hub to SYNC Your Life with Your Dreams

 

My brother, who is an architect in China wants to stay updated with residences offered here in the Philippines!  I’ve said it a couple of times in my blog about our journey around the Metro looking for a nice place to be called Home and a place for investment!  With a top-notcher Architect Brother on my side (Top20 in the Philippines) whenever we do some oculars, I get some ideas on what to watch out for.

Since RLC Residences was officially launched to the public, I already put this on our list-to-visit when my brother comes home for a visit after the pandemic! 

 

SYNC, is an uban oasis along C5 Road by RLC Residences.  Officially opening SYNC Sales Hub are key executives from RLC Residences.

Leading the ribbon-cutting ceremony and officially opening the Sales Hub are Head of Raise Sales Channel Ms. Cecille M. Mozo, Senior Director for Business Development Department Engr. Edgardo Samson, Associate Marketing Director Ms. Kristynne B. Tan, and SYNC Project/Site Architect, Arch. Roquelle Joy Egagamao-Batocabe.

From left to right: Associate Marketing Director Kristynne Tan, Head of Raise Sales Channel Cecille Mozo, Senior Director of Business Development Department Edgardo Samson, and Project/Site Architect Roquelle Joy Egagamao-Batocabe.

 

Update: Nose Contour Technique

 

I wish I could get a nose surgery…seriously…if that’s one thing I can get to do on my face….nose it is!

I mean obviously, there are several parts of my face that I want to change….(just being honest here) BUT, I can do away with false lashes, to make my eyes appear larger, I honestly like my one-liner eye whenever I smile but there’s nothing I can do to change my nose unless I use makeup.

Obviously, even when I get to be offered with free NOSE surgery, I will NEVER take the offer —- for so many reasons.

1. I’m a scaredy cat.

2. I have many allergies so beauty enhancements with surgery will NEVER cross my mind.

3. My husband loves my nose as it is….he’s fallen in love with me since Senior High ok? :P  (Haba  ng hair ko I know! :P)

So through the years, I almost perfected nose contouring especially my own!  So please…don’t judge me when you see me in person —- it’s not the filter…it’s always the makeup for me! :P

Can you spot the difference in both photos? 

If you have to look closely, that is a compliment for me, that means, the change is subtle you have to look closely to see the change! 

A quick video shared on my Instagram account using Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Concealer Duo!  The easiest tool to use not only to conceal but to contour and highlight.

What do you think?

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