Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate Winner!

First of all, thank you so much for sending in all those wonderful entries for the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate Contest!  There are a total of  26 entries and me, together with the judges (2 of them who wants to hide their identity) <--- Hint: Family member, LOL.  Finally chose the winner!  All the touching stories are well written and I seriously hope I can give more prizes out there!  Here it is, the winner ---

Congratulations to
Ms. IYA CONSENGCO

Iya is a 21 year old model who is engaged!  Yes, she knew she's too young to be engaged but let's not judge her!  She's in love!

Iya used to be a model but gave this up to concentrate on her life being a married woman and of course, to finish up college.  

Just like a regular young girl, Iya is quite insecure as she may look perfect on photos because of makeup and Photoshop, she worries about her skin not looking good!  She's afraid that the "perfection" that people see in photos is not the real her and when people get to see the real Iya minus the makeup, people may judge her!  That's why she joined the contest to give Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate a try and see if it will help her current skin condition!  She wants to look good not only for other people but also for herself!  She wants to have a good skin even without makeup, without Photoshop.

Such a wonderful story!
Thanks Iya for joining the contest!
Again, congratulations for winning and for being engaged!

Before I end this post, we picked another 3 for Consolation prizes.  Each will receive 2 Full Size Bottles of SunSilk 200ml Shampoo and a pack of Rexona Naturals Bio Protection 1x Deo and 1x Roll-on.

 Congratulations to ---

Angelica Aragon

Bernadette Villanueva

and
Emiliana Sison

I will email you all for mailing information!
Again, Congratulations!  There will be more contests soon! 
So please do not feel bad if you did not win ok?

Huge hugs and love to everyone!

AMW would like to thank Kiehl's, Sunsilk and Rexona for wonderful prizes for my dear Readers :D

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

Salon Report: Straight & Smooth Salon

I have my fair share of  good and bad salon experiences.  I went through a stage where I love having my haircut at least once every 2-3 months, and I would go to different salons to try on different hairstylists,  if only I was blogging then, you'll see me reporting on different hair salons across the Metro.

First time I heard about Straight and Smooth Salon was from a fellow beauty blogger friend Tara, who had her INOA Hair Coloring Treatment there.  Factors I'm looking for in a salon:

• Friendly staffs - they don't need to be super friendly but are courteous enough to know your needs and make you feel comfortable
• Nice ambiance - a place where you feel comfortable right away once you step in the salon, I actually prefer not too bright lights as you get to have your hair wet, messed up and you don't want people to see you from outside.
• Prices not over the top
• Ample magazines to read
• Internet connection - isn't it great to check your emails and read blogs while someone treat your hair?

My requirements are not too high eh?  But over the weekend, I was able to visit Straight & Smooth salon at Amorsolo Street, Makati. Did they pass my requirements?  My watchful eyes?  Read on....

Before the Week Really Ends...

Hi everyone!  I hope the weekend was relaxing for all of you.  It really was on my part and I'm ready to face tomorrow.  Before we start another busy week tomorrow, here are some bits and pieces for my dearest Philippine Readers before I doze off gettin' ready for Manic Monday.

Our dear Philippine Bestfriends Representative for Top Best Friends Models Mariel Bitanga and Isa Palabyab  Clean & Clear Top Best Friends Models needs your vote to be the next faces of Clean & Clear Asia!

Voting starts on August 16, 2010.  You can starting voting once a day until September 13, 2010.

Random voters get a chance to win prizes from Clean & Clear just by participating.  

Smile and Click HERE to vote for them.  Go Pinays!

On the other hand, a new makeup brushes line called Megaga Professional has recently launched.  The makeup brushes are said to be made in Korea, Naturall Hair (Pony, Goat and Squirrel).  The brushes are available at ShopSui Multiply site and Dreamcollection Multiply Site.

If you prefer to see them in person, they can be bought at ShopSui in Tiendesitas, Pasig and ShopSui at Teen Zone, Glorietta 3, Makati.

The owner is kind enough to give a coupon code  for my blog readers who plans to purchase the brush sets, you can easily use the coupon code "ASKMEWHATS" to receive 5% discount on their makeup brushes.  The promotion is valid until September 12, 2010.  

That's it for now, I have to go get some rest...

Why am I still online anyways? *laughs*

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

P.S. I haven't seen these brushes in person, so much better if you visit their shop to check out the brushes.  Thanks to Charlene for the discount code for my readers.

Weekend Food Tripping at: Korean Village

My favorite Korean Restaurant of all time is located at Ermita, Manila.  Korean Village.  I've celebrated birthdays and "just because" days in this restaurant.  They actually moved to a different location which is a bit farther than the old address so I haven't dined in this restaurant for the longest time.  I have to set a special date to really take time and visit this place who serves one of the best Korean dishes I've tried.  (My opinion).

The new location is more spacious by the way and they divide the place into smoking and non-smoking.  Well ventilated and air-conditioned. 

Boy am I glad they serve cold tea now for free!  Imagine drinking hot tea while munching on spicy food?  My tongue won't like that!

The appetizers served for free!  My favorite goes to Kimchi, Anchovy and BeanSprouts.

Pork Bulgogi

(uncooked)

Cooking Pork Bulgogi

You can order lettuce for less than Php150.00 (approx $3.00) 

and you get the freshest lettuce servings to wrap the Pork Bulgogi with!

My favorite Bibimbop

I like the fact that their red paste is served on ketchup tube

You have control on how much red paste you want to use!

Chicken with Mushroom Dish

Eat now, allergies later!  I bend the rules when it comes to yummy dishes

There's always anti-histamine anyways :D

Free dessert

Healthy Fresh Pineapples

Korean Village

1738 M. Adriatico St.,

Malate, Manila

The restaurant is always packed.  Parking is available in front of the restaurant plus there is a nearby parking space for customers as well.  The restaurant has good servers and they've been there forever so they know the dishes by heart!  Great customer service, wonderful ambiance, price of the food?  Very inexpensive!  

Everything above costs less than Php500.00 (not more than $12.00).  No service charge included so please give them the tip the deserve!

Have a wonderful weekend food tripping!
Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

Something New: Pond's Pure White Deep Cleansing Foam with Activated Carbon

Happy Saturday everyone!  I will be off for a different hair treatment this afternoon.  I am quite excited as that will be another report for you. For now, I will show you what I learned last week.  I was one of the bloggers invited for an intimate dinner and talk about the new Pond's Pure White product that has been causing a stir after the commercial was launched this month.  Have you seen the commercial of Pond's Pure White Deep Cleansing Foam with Activated Carbon?

Carbon on my face?  But why???

Pond's reveals its little black beauty secret with the new powerful Pond's Pure White Facial Foam!  It has the technology of activated carbon that attracts deep-seated "black" dirt caused by impurities, oil and make-up to reveal a pure white you.

And if you're still confused how carbon, shall I say, activated carbon could help us, here's a shot taken to show you...

Carbon, when "heated" or they call it "activated" become 8x  more porous, which gives space for it to absorb more dirt and oil thus leaving a clean and clearer skin.  (You can view and enlarge photo below).

And what's more exciting?  Science laboratory time!  It is quite difficult to understand how such "black" product can help remove "black", thus, our friends from Pond's showed us visibly for easy understanding for non-scientists like us!

A dark water, that looks like grape juice, was right in front of us.  We were asked to filter the water with only the dark water and one mixed with "activated" carbon.  Each glass has 2 filters. 

Top view to show you how the water looks like.  Left beaker has Dark water + Carbon, right beaker consist of only Grape Juice dark water!

Check out the color of the water on glass after filtered.  As seen on photo below, the dirty water mixed with carbon was filtered really well, dirt from the dirty water was said to be absorbed by the carbon!  Amazing right?

Fellow bloggers enjoying the experiment!  

Looks like the product is super promising!  I haven't used Pond's for quite some time, my mother-in-law is helping me test out Age Miracle, my sister is loving her Flawless White series, with this?  I am so intrigued I will test this myself!  I am just done with my sample of EcoBeau Cleansing Foam and I'm ready to use "activated carbon" on my face!!!  I'll definitely report back.

It's not difficult to give this product a test as the introductory price isn't bad at all!  Check out pricing details in local currency (Philippine Peso)

   5g -  Php5.00 (approx $0.10)

 10g -  Php15.00 (approx $0.30)

 50g -  Php80.00 (approx $1.78)

100g - Php150.00 (approx $3.33)

To those who want to give this a try and loves Cosmopolitan Magazine Philippines.  I got a copy myself for the month of August and they have the sachet version of this attached for free!!!

Actress Maricar Reyes looks gorgeous in this cover, and I love her assymetrical dress made by Czarina Villa! 

There's also the yearly Best Beauty Loot 2010 and I can see Pond's Pure White Deep Cleansing Foam with Activated Carbon included!  Yayness.  If you purchase this magazine, you also get the chance to win all of the beauty loot featured in this magazine valued over Php100,000 (more than $2,000).  Isn't that great?  You get to read magazine, you get the free Pond's Pure White sample, plus you get the chance to win prizes!  Good value for your money!

Before I get all excited, I want to thank the people from Pond's for the invite and for trusting Askmewhats to be part of the beauty blogging community to always be "in-the-know" for new products to be launched and to share good finds for my dearest readers.

To my valued readers, have you given this product a try?
Are you intrigued with the product concept as much as I did?

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!