BTS: Ladies of Benefit Lane Photoshoot

Happy Monday dear readers! :)

Today, I will be sharing a BTS (Behind The Scenes) of a project I've been excited about!  The Ladies of Benefit Lane Photoshoot!  As you all know, I've been doing quite a number of projects with the brand (Staff workshop and Benefit Fine One One Workshops at Greenbelt, Glorietta and Shangri-La Mall) and I've always enjoyed each and every project with them.  That's why when I was contacted by Benefit Philippines' Marketing Manager Aubrey to do a photoshoot for the 2nd Ladies of Benefit Lane, I immediately said YES and thankfully, the schedule was perfect!  It was a month after I gave birth!

Though I've reviewed a lot of Benefit cosmetics, I still prefer to arm myself with more knowledge about the products, I borrowed a whole traincase of Benefit goodies and studied and played with each of them!  As you know, being a makeup artist, I like to spread my wings and not enclose myself in using only products that I am comfortable with!  In the shoot, I am allowed to use ONLY Benefit products and thankfully, they have complete range of products even for makeup professionals like myself. 

On that day, I happily piled Benefit products in front of me before the models arrive.  Doesn't that look AMAZING? Looking at makeup and colors make me feel so good! Hooray if you feel the same!

Weekend Food Trip at: Movie Stars Cafe

Rewind to a couple of months ago!  I totally forgot about my first Movie Stars Cafe visit!  It was after my sister-in-law's graduation and we went out to celebrate!  She picked the restaurant Movie Stars Cafe just because it is a newly opened restaurant around Macapagal area and we heard the restaurant looks great on the interior plus the servers are superheroes!

The place was packed even on a weeknight, upon entering the restaurant, the ambiance didn't fail!  So many flat screen TV and characters and posters. 



We went for dinner buffet for a price of Php699.00 (approx $17.47) per head.  Was it worth the price? 

AMW Bulletin: The Power of the Sea - H2O+

Happy first day of June! 

I'm not sure if you've heard about H2O Plus but I definitely knew about the brand a decade ago when I was working in China.  I used to visit high-end department stores and stroll along their beauty section (imagine Rustans locally) and check out how women would spend hundreds and thousands of RMBs (Chinese Yuan) for skincare!  One of the many brands that caught my attention is the lovingly blue-packaged skincare  brand called H20 Plus.  Why?  The fact that the products are marine-based and way back, I already have this habit of reading online reviews. According to users, H2O Plus products are lightweight and works for most skin types!  

Unfortunately, I didn't purchase any full sized H2O Plus products back then as I was busy trying out samples SAs gave me (It helps to be friendly you know!) :P  The first and only H2O Plus skincare I've tried is the H2O Plus Face Oasis Hydrating Treatment and this product is indeed lightweight and very soothing to dry skin!  The product reminded me so much of my favorite Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Skin Relief!

Fast forward to today, my brother (in Shanghai) swore on their men's skincare line and I'm happy to share to him that the brand is finally HERE!  And when I read about this wonderful news online and received a lovely H2O+ pack from our friends from Scent and Beaute Concepts Inc. (thanks Ems!), I had to blink twice as the brand went through a lovely makeover!  They are not the "plain Jane" marine blue colored packaging that I knew as the products are now housed in colorful, better looking packaging!

And here's a lovely news that I want to share to readers who had to travel or ask their friends abroad to help purchase H2O + products.

AMW Reviews: Zenutrients Face & Body Bath Gel in Vanilla Milk & Melon

It's Friday peeps!  I can't believe time flew by so fast I'll be back at work in no time!  I am praying hard my body clock, or shall I say, baby's body clock gets back to normal (yeah right! :P)  so I can be back in my old Nikki self!  (can I just add another yeah right?)  

Now that Baby AMW is 5 weeks old, I am trying to get back to my old regimen on health and beauty.  Because I still don't have "yaya" for now, can you imagine how busy my life is 24/7?  Don't get me wrong, I love every single minute of it!  I feel really close to Baby AMW I want to cry when I'm away from him!  Anyways, now that I'm getting the "hang" of being a mommy, I want to get back on taking care of my body and I'm really interested with natural and organic products nowadays!  Thankfully, a lot of local brands are creating good and inexpensive gentle skin care products with no artificial colorants or additives --- that's Zenutrients.

Via friends from Sampleroom, I got a nice loot a couple of weeks before I gave birth and I can't wait to give all the products a try!  

As for the first product I picked out of the bunch, it's the Face and Body Bath Gel!  After 2 weeks of continuous usage, I'm ready to share my thoughts.

AMW Reviews: Block & White Pearly White UV Natural Pearl

Good morning!  Today, I will be reviewing my first Block & White experience!  When it comes to body lotion, I am not really looking into "whitening" but more into moisturizing. The thing though, I always ended up using body lotions with whitening agent because of the scent --- Silka, Vaseline, Jergens and now Block & White. 

Last year, I was invited to an intimate dinner to get to know more about the "repackaged" Block & White (read post HERE).  At first few uses, I've given my first impression on the said product --- smells wonderful, lightweight, no heavy or sticky feel and better packaging.

When I got home, I picked Pearly White UV Natural Pearl variant and immediately tested it out because the scent is my favorite among the bunch, at the same time, I am a strong believer on the lightening and brightening properties of pearls!  My sister and my friends take powdered pearl during pregnancy for their babies to have whiter and brighter looking skin!  (I wish I did but there are so many fake powdered pearls out there!)

Let's get back to the product, after a couple weeks of usage, I actually finished more than half of the product before I stopped using any whitening products during pregnancy, I stand by my first impressions and read on for more!