AMW Family's Amari Moments

The last time we took a professional Family Portrait was December 25, 2013 (Kyle was less than a year old back then!)  

I clearly remembered that day because it was a random thought to have a professional photo taken for his first birthday invites.  For the next few years, we took amateur photos with the help of family members and friends!  But to be honest, I wished we have at least one family portrait a year!  Because this kid is growing so fast I can't keep track!  

When photographer friend Myra Ho messaged me inviting my family to have our portraits taken by her at Amari Moments Studio in Tomas Morato, who can say no to that?  I've met Myra on several occasion during The Body Shop events and she always takes great photos!  

And this is just ONE out of the many great shots she produced!

Well 2, actually, MORE!

The studio can be easily found at Waze (Type Winland Tower).  The tower itself do not have parking slots but you can easily park in front of the building or beside the building.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Dear AMW friends, I'll stop talking about food for the first time on a Sunday because today marks the first day of October.  As we all know, October maybe known for the month of Halloween Parties, or maybe, 13th month pay to some?  Or, a month that signifies how close we are to Christmas?  Or beer drinkers out there --- Octoberfest?  

For me, October is BCA month!  Thanks to Beauty Blogging I get to learn all these campaigns and one of them is from the brand very close to my heart because this brand heeled my crazy skin when I started blogging --- Clinique.

As we all know, Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women globally.  Thankfully, a beauty company Estee Lauder goes beyond physically beauty and approximately 150 million pink ribbons have now been distributed at the Estee Lauder Companies' beauty counters worldwide.  

This year is no different, but it is actually more iconic because The Campaign marks its 25th Anniversary #PinkRibbon25 (search them on Instagram for more information).   (Pink Ribbon 25 because 25 years ago, there was no Pink Ribbon,) 

With Kate Kathleen Reyes, Marketing Executive of Clinique Philippines.

I fondly call her my baby sister!

And what made this shoot even more fun?  When you do it with Blogger Friends who support the same cause as you!

NU Lady Bulldogs Photoshoot + How I Survive A Photoshoot Day Like This!

I choose to focus on Bridal Makeup Artistry especially now that I'm a mom.  Any other makeup jobs like Photoshoots always excites me!  But I choose to limit myself on that route because I want to spend more time with my toddler and you know how Photoshoots take up a lot of your time.  (Kyle Nash, if you are reading this in the future, you know how much I love you ha!) :P

But when my favorite photographer Mark Lao and Bestfriend asked me to be part of the Biogenic Photoshoot for the NU Lady Bulldogs Volleyball Team, how can I say no?  It maybe a full day away from my son but it was worth it!

Pack-up faces!

The shoot calls for very natural makeup.  There were a total of 17 girls and I partnered with fellow makeup artist Bing Castro.  (Bing, great job!)  Aeicy Cruz was the one who did all their hair!  All 17 girls!

Pet Angel x Purple Groom Shoot

Way before I became Kyle's mommy, I already consider myself a "mom" when I owned a pet.  The first time I took care of a pet is back when I was working in China.  A Dutch colleague planned a month-long vacation back in his hometown with his girlfriend and they have no one to leave their pet "Tee-Tee".  As I was jogging along the park, my colleague passed by with a bike with "Tee-Tee" sitting prettily on the bike basket.

I gave him a pat on his head and he nearly bit me!  (feisty!)  I don't know what my colleague sees in me but he exclaimed: "Can you be his mommy for a month?"  I was like, "Are you crazy?  Didn't you see the dog tried to bite my hand?" 

Fast forward to that "awkward mommy dog" stage which took a week or so, it was hard, yet it was the most fulfilling experience ever!  I treat "Tee-tee" like my own son and I literally had to run all the way home and rush up 6 flights of stairs holding with me canned Dog Food just because I missed him so much and I'm so scared he gets lonely!  We had our fair share of strolling along the park without leash and we instantly became best friends!  He sleeps inside my room and waits for me to wake up as I always give him a morning stroll!  I remembered once I got sick and he was just sitting beside me on bed for hours with a look of care and worry on his face!

The joys of owning a pet!  I'm sure fellow pet owners can relate!

One month went by pretty quickly and I had to return him to the couple owner, I was devastated!  I called my mom crying (I never cry over the phone) and I told her how I missed Tee Tee!  My mom, just to console me, promised me I'll get my own dog once I get back home!

And she kept her word!  1 Pomeranian was gifted to me by my uncle and I named her Lucky (indeed, she's a Lucky Angel to us!)  She gave birth to CharChar and Pudding and to cut the story short, I was the one who took care of both dogs!  I wake up an hour every night to feed both "babies". So yes, I had practice so I wasn't at all surprised when Kyle was born!  (those sleepless nights? I'm an expert!)

Due to unfortunate events, Lucky (the mom) and Pudding passed away!  We had to get CharChar a partner so off we got ChinChin (yeah, we love names with double syllable I even call Kyle KyleKyle!)

So yeah, I can go on and on about my love for dogs and how the dogs helped me through homesickness and how they lifted my mom's spirit when she went through depression (story HERE)

So no matter how busy my schedule was, I had to clear it up when I got an invite for a Pet Angel x Purple Groom Shoot.

If Purple Groom sounds familiar, well, it should be!  I had my first shoot with them 2+ years ago when I was just pregnant with Kyle!  (story HERE)

AMW Reports: My First Family Portrait with Pampers

Can you spot the familiar-Family portrait that I grabbed from Pampers website?

Yes!  The AMW family!  You also get to see Shen's family too! (upper right hand side).

You know how I am so into taking photos on my phone on Kyle's EVERY move!  As much as I have all his facial expressions saved in my laptop, I always choose the best ones and have them printed out and displayed in our living room and bedroom.

I'm a Matrix Girl + Giveaway!

CONGRATULATIONS TO --- Ms. Nadine Diamante!!!

After I gave birth to Kyle, I never thought I would immediately get projects because seriously, who in the world would get someone who looked "Hagardo Versoza"?  (Sorry international readers, just a funny Tagalog way of saying "stressed")

Thankfully, my Matrix Family didn't think so!  They just probably took one good look at me and say: "She definitely needs a new hair color!"  True enough, this was the first ever hair coloring treatment I've done after learning I was pregnant!  And it has been almost 2 full years of messy long regrowth!

The shoot was fun and....super fun!  We went to the L'Oreal Academie to have our hair color treatment and for the first time in my life, I've finally decided to go for highlights!  They call it the Dual Colors Service using Wonder.Brown Gold and Wonder Light Gold! 

And here's the outcome of my hair and the shoot itself!  Thanks to Jim Ryan Ros for my makeup!

 

Up until this very day, I still have beautiful highlights because I've taken care of my hair using Matrix Biolage products for color-treated hair!  Though regrowth is quite long and though a Matrix Brand Ambassador, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still a very busy mom who juggles work, blogging, make-up gigs, make-up workshops, wife duties, etc...!  So please, don't judge my not-so-pretty hair color anymore but I'm definitely going back for my next color treatment!  

And because I am proud and happy to be part of Matrix's Family, I am sharing my joy and happiness via simple giveaway!  I was sent some Biolage products to use and I've found my favorites!  

The Matrix Color Bloom Masque which is meant to protect the radiance of Color-Treated Hair and the newest Biolage Exquisite Oil which I love to apply on my hair after every shower as it makes my hair soft, silky and the added bonus?  Smells so good!

And yes, I'm giving 2 of these products to ONE LUCKY AMW READER :D

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!

AMW Reports: Blow-Up Belly Shoot

Happy Mid-week AMW friends! 
Wow, time flew by pretty quickly for me now!  I used to dread each day because of my "lack of sleep", difficulty in finding the right position during sleep and in between pee-ing in wee hours of the night!  Ahh..the joys of  pregnancy!  I'm not scaring you single girls out there but these are some of the experiences (I'm sure most moms would agree) I won't forget for the rest of my life!

Today's post will be a bit personal for me!  Before I got pregnant, I told Mr. AMW how I would like to embrace the digital age and document my pregnancy as much as I can!  Why?  Well, since I'm the youngest in the family, my mom doesn't have a pregnant photo carrying me!  (Truthfully, it wasn't a trend then to be photographed while pregnant!) Oh!  The old age!

Surprisingly, with the daily busy schedule, I wasn't able to really look into photography studio for pregnancy shoot!  I was almost in daze when I realized I'm down to my last trimester and I haven't really fixed my hospital bag yet!  As panic struck me, I got an invite to be photographed by Blow-Up Babies at Serendra!  It was an invitation I can't resist, but....the sudden bloating, pain at the back and listlessness, nearly stopped me from doing this shoot!

I only had a week or less to prepare!  As I was browsing through their Facebook page and read this ----

"We started it. And now everyone is doing it. But no one does it like we do. We won’t be cheesy about it either. A "soon-to-be mama" can be totally hot on camera! So if you’re keen on capturing the belly on camera, stop by Blow-up babies. You’ll see that we can make it a comfortable and totally cool experience for you!"

"Totally Hot On Camera?"  COME ON!  I nearly fell off my chair and cancelled my appointment!  No matter how confident a woman can be, pregnancy hormones can bring you down I tell ya!  *laughs*  

Thankfully, Blow-Up Studio's Photographer for the day Ms. Tabitha emailed me a couple of days before the shoot to let me know some of the things I need to bring for the photoshoot.  The super kind and supportive Mr. AMW helped me pack my clothes (mostly Bandeaus) and all I need to do that day is to feel good and prettify myself! 

The reception area is bright and cheer-y.  The "Grinch" in me was gone in an instant as I comfortably relax and wait for the studio set-up!  

By the way, it was an early morning shoot so I've decided to drag that lazy bum, bloated fingers and feet of mine and prettify myself --- yes, both hair and makeup!

Blow-Up Studio has 2 studios.  One studio is for their baby shoots with loads of backdrops, costumes, props etc...!  

 

I can't wait for Baby AMW to have his first pictorial here!

Some of the sample baby photos I've grabbed from their Facebook page in which I'm excited for Baby AMW to try!  

 

 

Okay, back to me!  *laughs*  I was ushered to the next studio.  The studio has its own door and dressing area so I'm quite comfortable here!

 

Let's talk about showing off my belly!  To be honest, even before pregnancy, I'm not comfortable showing my tummy because....I guess I just grew up in a no-showing of belly (a.k.a. conservative) family!  Thankfully, I felt at ease right away with Tabitha and I was able to do some serious shots I normally can't do! 

Photo taken with me holding an ultrasound photo of Baby AMW

The studio also have some drapes of cloth for me to feel like a "pregnant Goddess" for the day! :P  Tabitha was also kind enough to help me fix my "costume".

Okay, obviously, I'm starting to have fun and feel super comfortable!

We do have some couple shots in which I will show you guys once I get the original copies!  While Mr. AMW waits, Baby AMW's socks has its own photoshoot!  *laughs*

This, is definitely more photogenic than me! :D

After the shoot, hubby and I have decided to pick 2 photos to be printed out to be displayed in our room!  Because I'm too lazy to go back to Serendra, they also offer delivery service with soft copies of all our photos for the day!  

AMW and Tabitha (Photographer)

Thanks for making this shoot fun, comfortable and unforgettable!

Check out some Blow-Up Bellies Shoot done by Blow-Up Studio by smiling and clicking HERE.

Blow-Up Babies, Inc.
2nd Floor Shops at Serendra,
Bonifacio Global City 1634 Taguig
Tel. nos: (632)909-7998 / (632)909-7999
website: http://www.blowupbabies.com 

Once the official copies arrive, I'll definitely share them to you! :)
Would you go for pregnancy shoot? 
If you're a mom, have you gone through pregnancy shoots?  How does it feel for you?   

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Stay happy!