AMW Reviews: Kustie Strawberry Body Butter and Body Scrub

Good morning gorgeous people!  How was the weekend?  Mine, felt like regular weekdays because I have been out most of the days and I've been busy with makeup gigs, events and of course, gatherings!  I hope yours is as exciting as mine, and of course, let's not forget to give thanks to God for giving us such a nice week ahead!  Christmas is coming, I am super excited!

Recently, I got an email from Lance of LifeStrong Marketing Inc., to give their products a test!  I am usually uneasy to try on Body Scrubs as I try to pry away from drying out my skin furthermore!  After reading the product details, I've decided to give these a try for our lovely readers out there who may find these useful!  And of course, there's a special surprise after this review for one of our readers to try the set as well (in different variant).  Scroll down to read more about my experience on FDA approved, 100% Natural body  products! 

Kustie Strawberry Body Butter and

Kustie Strawberry Body Scrub

A closer look on the Kustie Body Butter in Strawberry

Kustie Strawberry Body Butter says ---

The creamy strawberry butter is rich in natural ingredients that nourishes and moisturizes the skin.

AMW says ---

Pros

• Sealed with freshness when newly purchased.

• Smells super good!  Best smelling strawberry scented body butter to date (in my opinion)
• Moisturizing enough that lasts the whole day!
• Does not feel heavy or oily on skin.
• Gets absorbed to the skin easily.
• Inexpensive for a good body butter.
• Skin looks healthy after prolong usage.

Cons

• The packaging makes it a bit difficult to carry around during travel.
• Unhygienic as you need to dip your fingers to get some products.  A bit difficult for girls with long fingernails like myself!

Tips

• Use a spatula to get product instead of dipping your fingers for hygiene purpose.
• Best used after a warm shower while skin is still damp.
• Re-apply on dry areas like your knees, elbows or heels during night time before you go to sleep.
• Wear socks at night if you choose to apply this on your feet.
• For better results, use both day and night after taking a shower.
• Great to be given as gift because the "presentation" of the product looks nice.

Will I repurchase?
Yes. 

To whom do I recommend this to?
Anyone who loves body butter!  This does not feel heavy on skin so it works to all skin types.  For strawberry scent lovers!

Where to purchase and how much?

Kustie Body Butter 200ml for Php299.00 (approx $7.00) available at Watsons Malls, SM Beauty Department Store, Ever Gotesco Department Stores and other major retail outlets.

Light pinkish color of the Kustie Strawberry Body Butter

reminded me of a whipped cream.

Texture is just right and easy to apply all over the body

Now let's proceed to their bestselling product, 

the Kustie Strawberry Body Scrub

Kustie Strawberry Body Scrub says ---

Strawberry body scrub is has natural seed granules that effectively exfoliate aging skin cells.  It has strawberry amino acids that moisturizes and smoothens skin.

AMW says ---

Pros

• Very nice packaging.  Sealed for freshness once purchased.
• Does smoothen out my skin after shower.
• Skin feels moisturized after shower even without following up with a lotion or body butter.
• Skin does not dry out!
• The strawberry seeds feels luxurious onto skin, imagine having your own expensive scrubs at the comfort of your own bathroom.
• The seeds does not feel painful against your skin.
• Inexpensive for a good body scrub.

Cons

• The scent!  Has a weird plastic-y strawberry scent. 
• Packaging, unhygienic as you need to dip your fingers again and again during shower.

Tips

• Use a spatula to prevent water from getting in the Body Scrub when you take a shower.
• A bit runny in texture so be careful not to waste the product while taking a shower.
• Gently rub the product in a circular motion against your skin, never be in a hurry when using this product to prevent from rubbing too hard.
• If you feel it dries up your skin a bit, then follow up with a "creamy soap" or "liquid soap".  
• Do this once a week or once every 2 weeks as needed.
• Follow with your choice of lotion or body butter after you get out of the bath.

Will I repurchase?
Yes!  As this is one of the few body scrubs that does not dry out my skin.

To whom do I recommend this to?
Oily, Normal or Dry skin individuals who like to have a nice, luxurious scrub at the comfort of their own home once a week or once every 2 weeks.

Where to purchase and how much?

Kustie Body Scrub 200ml for Php349.00 (approx $ 8.10), 450 ml for Php599.00(approx $14.00) available at Watsons Malls, SM Beauty Department Store, Ever Gotesco Department Stores and other major retail outlets.

Overall, I am quite impressed with the products!  I love the fact that they are 100% made of natural ingredients and of course, they are FDA approved and the price isn't expensive so it gives people the chance to try on good products at a not so rocket-sky high price!  I love the Kustie Body Butter a lot and the Kustie Body Scrub could be a cult favorite of mine, I guess the downside is just the scent!  The strawberry scent itself is wonderful, but my nose just can't understand the "plastic" or "chemical' smell!  Could be from the packaging or some of the ingredients included I won't be able to understand.

For it's price, it's worth to give these 2 products a test!  Very luxurious indeed!   You can click photo below to enlarge to see their other product offerings and variants.

Here's a good news to Philippine readers, one reader will get the chance to win the Kustie Cucumber Body Butter and Body Scrub!  Kindly wait for instructions on my next post!  I do apologize that this is only open to local readers due to shipment restrictions!

Thanks LifeStrong Marketing Inc. for giving me the chance to test these products, and thanks for agreeing to give a set to my loyal AMW readers!

Have you seen this brand around?  Oh, I've been around Watson's over the weekend and I've seen so many new stuffs around!!! So many things to try!!!

Have a great week ahead!
Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

(Note from Author: Product was sent by company for review purposes.  The writer did not receive any kind or form of payment for positive reviews.  The review has been done base on personal experiences.  Please purchase at your own discretion.)

Nail Art Tutorial: "Confetti" Nails

Hi everyone!  I have bombarded you all with yummy dishes on my Saturday Weekend Food Tripping posts!  Well, to stop you from craving...I will show you my fingernails instead because it tastes nothing but nails!  *laughs*

I've been super busy for the past days but that does not stop me from changing my nail art!  My last nail art has been there for 2 weeks and I can't seem to bear looking at "chipped" nail polish!  I only have less than 30 minutes to do my nails so I've done the simplest one and here's the final outcome!

I call this Confetti Nails because it does look like Confetti!  Let's party because Christmas is coming up soon!!!

Step 1:

Apply your favorite base coat, let dry and apply 2 coats of your favorite base color.  In this tutorial, I've used ELF Polish in Berry Pink. 

Step 2:

White polish is semi-wet, create "snow-like" effect and "texture" with sponge method.  I used a sponge and applied ELF Polish in White

Gently dab the white polish on top of the base color creating a bit of texture as the base color is not completely dry!

Step 3:

Using Barry M Polish in Once Upon A Time, dab on the "confetti looking" sparkles on the white gradient polish area.  If you don't have a similar polish like this, here's a D.I.Y. tip for you...

• purchase your choice of clear polish
• purchase silver dusts or any sparkles with designs and pour it on your clear polish, gently shake it to create your own unique glittery polish
• if the sparkles you purchased are too big to pour inside a tiny polish bottle, you can apply a coat of clear polish, while wet, pour in sparkles of your choice on top of your nails.  Do not worry about the mess as you can tidy it up later on.

Step 4:

Apply clear coat on top.  I am using a top coat from Elianto.

Voila!  Easy nail art I created in less than 30 minutes!  There's no right or wrong as it'll end up looking festive!  Give it a try yourself before the year ends! 

Now chant with me:
"I can do it!"
"I can do it!"
"I can do it!"

Now move that butt and start doing your nail art and tell me how it went!

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

Winners: "Give and You May Receive" Contest!

Dear AMW Readers:

First of all, I am very sorry for announcing the winners of the "Give and You May Receive" contest so late!  I don't have any excuse but I am just swamped with work!  Not that I'm complaining, being swamped with work is good because that keeps me going!  It makes me grow and learn so much more!  Would you believe that up to this very moment, I get to learn so much and my brain is nothing but a sponge!  It just kept on absorbing new information and I am very happy with it!

Anyways, I want to thank everyone who joined my recent contest!  It was a fun one and I hope the "Doing Random Acts of Kindness" won't end!  Sometimes, we need to just take a breather, stop from all the things we are doing and just look back on how lucky we are to even log on the computer and read blogs!  

I want to thank everyone who joined in the contest and shared the good deeds they have done!  I want to give something to everyone but you would understand that it is quite hard right? :)  But I promise more contests coming up soon! 

Here are the list of winners, all names and email addresses of joiners have been listed to MS Word, from the list, I have attached the entries at Interactive Fruit Machine and clicked on the fruit machine for winners!  Fruit machine has been clicked once only for each prize! 

Prize #1

Purederm Products

CONGRATULATIONS TO ---

LISA

Prize #2

Revlon Customs Creation 020 Light

CONGRATULATIONS TO ---

Cymbelly Marzan

Prize #3

Paul & Joe Protective Foundation Primer UV SPF40 PA++

CONGRATULATIONS TO ---

 Bachuchay

Congratulations to the winners!  Kindly email me ntiu1027 (at) gmail (dot) com.  To the rest, you are all winners for doing good deeds to the people around you.  Please, let's not stop the love!  

More contests soon!!!

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

Manila's Signature Dishes 2010: Chef Robert

I've seen a lot of restaurants popping up nowadays with the Chef's name which I think is a very good idea because it does not only identify the Chef, but it just proves that the food served are of best quality for Chefs to be confident enough to put up their name!

Here's another Food Tripping post for Manila's Signature Dishes 2010

Chef Robert restaurant is located at the strip of restaurants at Banawe Street.  Since we usually pass by the area on our way home, we're always on a hunt for good restaurants within the area, we haven't seen Chef Robert until recently and it wasn't a surprise to know the restaurant just started its operations July of 2009.  The owner Chef Robert Tan is a graduate of business and found his calling for cooking and went to Singapore for his culinary degree at The Global Chef Academy.

At first glance, the restaurant looks like a cafe place but once you check out their menu, you know that you can never judge the book by its cover!  The restaurant serves Asian dishes ranging from Curry to Korean Beef Stew to Filipino Beef Tapa!  I call this variation at one stop!  The 2-storey restaurant can accommodate approximately 30 people on the first floor and around 20 something on the second floor.  Though the place is small, it doesn't look crowded at all!  Probably because of it's tastefully designed interiors with mirrored walls! 

Caesar Salad

with home made Caesar Dressing

With Chef Robert's Caesar Salad you won't go wrong as the salad includes everything you want in a salad!  Fresh green vegetables, slices of egg, crunchy bacon bits and Caesar dressing tossed just right with all the ingredients!

Lengua ala Pobre with Casillero del Diablo

According to Chef Robert: "This was just added to the menu earlier this year.  This recipe was developed as a result of a request by one of our regular guest.  Ox tongue cooked in long hours to make it tender My team and I made this dish very tasty so everyone can enjoy eating such delicacy"

I love mushrooms!  And this dish definitely had me covered with the mushroom department!  The ox tongue was actually hidden under the mushrooms and sauce!  I am a fan of sauce-y dishes so I enjoyed this with half cup of rice!  Bits of crunchy garlic gave a nice texture to a very tasty dish!  Definitely taste like home made cooking!

A closer look on Ox Tongue Strips 

Blueberry Panna Cota

I have to admit, I am not a fan of blueberries, you will only see me take a bite of blueberries once they are on top of cheesecake!  When Blueberry Panna Cota was served, I had a good stare at it for 5 minutes before I've decided to dig in.  It did not give me much of an impression at first bite, but as I dug in to another spoonful, I am starting to taste the milky taste of the creamy Panna Cota perfectly complimented by the Blueberries on top!  The dessert actually tastes like Blueberry Cheesecake with a lighter tummy-feel!  I am glad this was served to me for the night!  I believe Mango Panna Cota are also available at Chef Robert!

 The perfect marriage of Blueberries and Panna Cota

Overall, it was a wonderful experience at Chef Robert.  The servers are very attentive with your needs!  After a nice chat with Chef Robert, I will definitely go back to the restaurant to taste their other bestselling dishes!

Dish prices includes VAT and no service charge.  The restaurant accepts cash and credit card transactions.  Ample parking space within the area and best of all?  FREE WIFI!

They have dessert specials by the way during nighttime!

Chef Robert

847 Banawe Street, 

Corner Linaw Street, Q.C.

Tel. no: (632) 740-9330, (632) 413-0674

Opens Mondays-Sundays 7:00am-10:00pm

I look up to entrepreneurs who follow their dreams at a young age, and Chef Robert Tan is no exception!
Have you tried this dining in this restaurant?
What's your favorite dish?

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

Unilever Foodsolutions (UFS), being the preferred foodservice business partners among restaurateurs, felt the need to acknowledge notable restaurants who are developing Manila as a culinary city.  They have partnered with select restaurants within the metropolis in coming up with signature dishes.  UFS has synergized with these restaurants, both through dish development and promotion campaign for these signature dishes, in achieving one common goal: coming up with a different culinary experiences that provide value for money and culinary memories for diners.  

If you're a restaurateur (or an aspiring one) and in need of help in coming with your signature dish, call (632) 588-8855 or email at foodsolutions.philippines@unilever.com.

Manila's Signature Dishes 2010: Metro Cuisines

Living far from work, we usually dine out before we head home because it's just too late to cook!  There are days we long for home-style cooking and I'm glad there's a restaurant conveniently located along Amoranto St. (formerly Retiro) called Metro Cuisines.  To the Weekend Food Tripping readers out there, I've dined in this restaurant June of this year and I'm quite happy the restaurant is part of Manila's Signature Dishes 2010.

Metro Cuisines

Metro Cuisines started September 24, 2009.  A restaurant inspired by a family member, that's why it's not surprising to see the restaurant attracting a lot of family gatherings!

The size of the restaurant is a bit small serving approximately 20-25 customers at the same time.  I was able to have a quick chat with the owner Chef Marco Tan and I was told the restaurant's mostly packed and there's a lot of take out orders and catering services.  With regards tot he menu, they try to add up approximately 5 new dishes quarterly giving customers new dining pleasure each time to go back.

Here's what we had for the night...

Metro Iced Tea

The Metro Iced Tea has always been my favorite iced tea ever since I've dined in here.  The extra kick of calamansi (local lemon) refreshes me after a long day at work!

 

Soup of the Day (Spinach Soup)

The soup varies daily.  I am glad we were served with authentic Spinach Soup because I want to steer clear on cream based soup that day!  To vegetable-phobic out there, Spinach soup isn't as scary as it sounds, there won't be any distinct spinach taste and the blend of spinach, egg and ginger reminded me a lot of my mom's cooking!  If you're not a fan of ginger, this may be  a bit overwhelming for you but to those who wants to have a relaxing feel, this is the best ginger is good for the throat!

The consistency of the soup is leaning on the "clear soup" type and there are tiny bits of shrimps.

Mushroom Aioli with French Bread

Uncut button mushrooms cooked with roasted garlic and olive oil.  It's not as spicy as the color implies!  Paprika was used to make the dish looks a bit reddish.  This dish is a good appetizer for mushroom lovers!  I am glad the chef added a tiny bit of cayenne pepper to spice up the dish!  I can request for a spicier version but I am sharing this dish with Mr. AMW who perspires a lot with spicy dishes, can't be selfish!

Bake Herb Salmon Set

served with Casillero Del Diablo

According to Chef Marco Tan, the owner of Metro Cuisines: "It's a family recipe. One of our grandmother's famous dishes which we all grew up to love and this was usually served in all family gatherings.  When we open up Metro Cuisines, we asked our Chef to recreate the dish because we missed it so much.  Chef Archie was able to recreate it perfectly and we've decided to incorporate it in our  menu..."

Herb salmon served with fresh tomatoes, Caesar sauce and a lot of herbs and spices on top of the fish baked in perfection.

I actually like the crunchy texture of herbs and spices combined inside your mouth with the freshness of the salmon!  I have to quote Mr. AMW "The crunchy part tastes like sisig" *laughs*  The 2 types of sauces all together gave a nice contrast that even I can't explain!

Panna Cotta

A perfect dessert after a healthy meal!  Panna Cotta is an Italian dessert Filipinos love as I've seen restaurants offering this nowadays.  The texture of Metro Cuisines' Panna Cotta is smooth and the blend of cream, milk and sugar tastes just right.  Not too sweet! It was served chilled.

2 layers of milk and chocolate milk gelatin+cream like texture with chocolate syrup on top reminded me of how it feels like to be a kid again.

Metro Cuisines
Sundays to Thursdays 7:00am-10:00pm

Fridays and Saturdays: 7:00am to 11:00pm

Unit 1C 410 N. S. Amoranto St. (formerly Retiro)

Quezon City

Tel. no: (632) 731-1062

Great customer service not only to us but even on guests coming in.  I can see that the owner is very hands-on in making sure to serve the customers' needs.  They also serve buffet dinner for only Php250.00 (approx $4.00) Mondays-Wednesdays-Fridays but you have to call them for reservations as they're always packed.

Have you tried Metro Cuisines?
Any favorite dish from there?

Keep smilin'
Stay happy!

 Unilever Foodsolutions (UFS), being the preferred foodservice business partners among restaurateurs, felt the need to acknowledge notable restaurants who are developing Manila as a culinary city.  They have partnerered with select restaurants within the metropolis in coming up with signature dishes.  UFS has synergized with these restaurants, both through dish development and promotion campaign for these signature dishes, in achieving one common goal: coming up with a different culinary experiences that provide value for money and culinary memories for diners.  

If you're a restaurateur (or an aspiring one) and in need of help in coming with your signature dish, call (632) 588-8855 or email at foodsolutions.philippines@unilever.com.