After all the health issues in the family I made sure we make it to the strictly formal affair lined up that weekend. I figured it would energize me. Some "me" time with the husband. Would allow me to get out from the sweat pants and into that long dress (thanks to the big mall who had a big sale that week...).

But don't get me wrong, Im not one to be spending a whole hour or more in front of the mirror just to put on make up. For one thing it now only takes me 20 minutes to do my hair ( if I shampoo the night before and condition on the hour...).

I have always been proud of my 7.5-minute make up. Ahihi (so is my husband, seriously). Doesn't take much really. What I have in my arsenal is just as simple. Must of them gifts, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford them.

The 7.5-minute make up. For my formal affair. 

  Two days prior I have already cleaned my face. A simple DIY facial at home, nothing complicated really. This would give any redness the chance to disappear two days later. Dark circles under the eyes are my worst enemies. Took me years and a lot of searching on the net what other ladies are wearing. And what I could afford. Two years ago a friend of mine from New York got me All About Eyes by Clinique. Luckily it works good for me. Lessens the puffiness and moisturizes the eyebags. I didnt have to look far for the cover up as I got the more affordable BB cream specifically for eyes by Garnier. But then of course knowing me, one must not presume I use it for my eyes alone. ahihihi.. works good for the eyebrow and nostril areas, corners of the mouth and under the lower lip, where shadows always form. I usually use my brushes to apply. I love the MAC brushes. But lately Ive been favoring dubbing the cover ups with my fingers. It absorbs and blends better that way.

One treasured possession is the Sheer Cashmere foundation by L'Oreal. It's matte and blends well. But  only apply it in certain areas which need attention. To set everything I love Covergirl's Trublend Mineral Loose Powder, applied with my Kabuki brush by Everbelena. 

Sometimes I like to play with colors as I have demonstrated in old entries of the blog but not during formal affairs. So I stick with the basics. You know the highlight on the middle of the lid and dark contours on the side of the lid routine.... I used to do a lot of winged-tip eyeliners but lately I've been favoring the more circular one. Wherein I just follow my natural curve of the lid up to the tip. I first saw it on Jinky Pacquiao on her controversial cover. No kidding. I said, "wow! Those eyes are not photoshopped. They're remarkably made up and lined! So I decided I like that..."

Gigi, my friend from Singapore gifted me with my now every-reliable color palette. I use them all the time. By Etude House.

Like I said, I always go for the more affordable stuff so I buy my stash at the Face Shop. Eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, the works...

It's a no brainer thing. I just go over some tutorials on Youtube and Im done. hehehe Seriously, 7.5 minutes. That quick. That easy...

It's been a quiet week leading up to this one blast of an event at Ayala Center Cebu. Took a few shoots with my ipod touch.

8am call time with us checking and cleaning up the artist's tent. Tracy, assistant director, came from Manila. Yeah, no matter how early call time is, we always get our faces made up. hehehe

...one reason being...you see people during the pre-prod briefing, hehehe.

...and during lunch. We had one hearty meal at Siam! Delicious Thai restaurant located at the Terraces. I would like to commend the very gracious attendants...

4 o'clock. 1 hour before the gates open. With all those preps (I sometimes help out aside from being the photographer), the heat, humidity and flowing sweat I always want to freshen up. But there was just not enough time to do everything over. And my smudged eyeliner was bothering me too much. Disappointing really. One of the pricey brands. Oh well. What better thing to do than run to the Rustan's (we were just outside the mall) make up counter. It was a quick decision when the girl at the Chanel counter smiled at me. Graciously pleaded with her she take out my smudged eyeliner. Aside from putting on fresh eyeliner on me she let me test a rockin' shade of red lipstick! Smudge proof liquid eyeliner and lipstick no. 28 (Romantic) from Chanel and a quick dash of powder, I was ready full-on!!! hahaha...thank you pretty lady at Chanel. They are always ever so pleasant. Sometimes you just have to trust the pricey tags. hehehe. Yep, when the heat is on, a 1700-peso Chanel eyeliner is your ammo!

Here's a shot of the concert:

And the eyeliner? Yep, it was definitely smudge proof. Got home after midnight and eyes were still rockin' !!!

I usually use BB creams sparingly. Just because it makes my routine longer and I feel a bit uncomfortable with lots of stuff dabbed on my face. In this unpredictable (tropical) weather of ours.

But again, marketing does get me sometimes. Ehem.

And a roll on bb cream is just too hard to resist. It's affordable too.

The Garnier BB Cream for the eyes.

I prefer using make up brushes for applying anything. The roll on cream for the eyes, no exception. It promises the usual bb cream magic: smoother skin texture, radiance, reduced redness, the works. During normal days I don't do make up, except for a little powder and blush. Yesterday's meeting was a chance to take the bb cream for a test drive.

The "before" photo. Uneven skin tone indeed. Dark circles around the eyes.

The "after" photo. One go across the darkened portion of my eyebags. I decided to blend the cream up to the upper lid and down to the cheeks. Plus a single pat of loose powder. You be the judge.

The redness seemed lessened. Skin lightened, yes. A little bit of magic on the eye area I agree. For it's price of under Php 300, I think I could keep and play with it day to day. Not bad actually. I am naturally (plus the age factor) dry around the eyes up to my brows so I am thankful for the dewy look and feel of the cream . The effect lasted 6 hours. In my book, that is commendable.

I am toying with the idea of using it around my nose, smile lines and chin... we'll see.

I used to favor wearing false eyelashes on special occasions. But somehow I have developed some kind of "allergy". I get a headache whenever I wear them. The last time I wore falsies was last January at a wedding. By the middle of the mass I had to go to the bathroom to take my falsies off as they were really giving me a terrible headache. Good thing I had my dark black eyeliner in my purse!!!That kinda bummed me out. How could I do without them falsies?

My answer: a really good mascara.

But which one?

False eyelashes was a no brainer. I always went for the natural looking kind.

With mascaras there are just too many choices. But then of course, I automatically eliminated the way too pricey brands.

It didn't make the choices easier though...

Then I bumped into Maybelline Magnum Volume Express.

Affordable at P399!

But would it deliver?

Today's errands was a good excuse for a test drive...

For it's price it is indeed a good mascara. As like any other mascara (expensive or affordable), you would need to do 2 to 4 applications for the result to be evident. That's fine by me actually. I judge a mascara on it's smoothness. The less clumps on application, the closer to an approval. By habit I always manually separate the lashes after the application of the mascara with a toothbrush for a more pronounced result.

It does deliver! I love it! Affordable and sweet indeed.

Mascara and eyeliner are pretty much what I have going during meetings and events. I almost always never put anything on the lower lid. I just want everything heavy on the top.

I love the sleepy heavy darkness of mascara and eyeliner on the upper lids.

As inspired by Ms Sophia Loren.

Have you decided what to wear yet?

Me, not.

Mother's Day is hours away. But at least I have my nails done already. Ahihihi...let's say we stacked up. Let's also say I got inspired by a royal bride.

For once I painted my nails pale pink. Dainty, pretty, cool!

But my toes are still hot pink.

These days I have embraced tradition in our country to wear either black or white or any color you might want to honor the deceased with. It be in one whole year or 40 days. I have not decided for how long yet. You will be seeing me in dark colors this summer though in respect to my late father who passed away almost a month ago. So what do I play up? It's the eyes. Or the lips that gets the color treatment. Lately, it's been my eyes. I play up with just about any color. Usually when I'm most lazy, which is most of the time by the way, it's just one stroke of a vivid colored eyeliner and the usual winged black liner to seal it.

It's been my uniform of late. As you might have guessed, cheapskate that I am, I have stacked up on them very affordable colorful eyeliners. Sometimes I combine 2 or 3 colors at a time. Especially when Im in an all black ensemble.

There's just actually no reason to go drab this summer. Gotta lighten up, especially I dont think I have gotten the life back into my eyes yet...

And to those in the same boat as I am these days, I hope I answered your questions.

I have always loved you all for caring.

Another one from the MAC Wonder Woman treasure chest.

The Secret Identity Lipglass.

Orangey, rusty.

Simply all make up counter ladies has tagged me 'the one who doesn't like orange'. In anything.

Except for this one. hehehehe

It is more dark rusty on my lips and I like it! It has become my alternate for nudes.

After 5 hours of wear, this is how it looked:

MAC Wonder Woman Lipstick in Spitfire.

I had been wary about this actually. Wasn't too sure if I could get away with a fuschia shade. So I figured, I can't carry it, oh well, at least the packaging is cool. It is afterall my bestfriend, Wonder Woman...

Speaking of Wonder Woman...Diana Prince? IS THAT YOU? Ahihihihhi... I'm so sorry to DP fans, I was working and had my "work" eyeglasses on, I couldn't help but chanel the mild manner secretary of Lt. Col. Steve Trevor. ahihihii...

So I was looking at my make up photos and noticed I'm always serious. Why? I really don't know. So I decided I should be at least smiling a bit on this review. Well, sort of anyway. Hehehehe...

Me, wearing the Spitfire on my lips. It is a rich shiny fuschia pink color on the tube. On my lips, it depends on how many layers I wear. One layer on bare lips gave me a matted hot pink shine. Two layers gave me this richer shade.

I simply love it!!! I had my photo taken outdoors to see how the shade looks while I'm actually out and about, the shade that people talking to me would see.

Awhile back I was looking for my magic lasso. But alas, I don't have a magic lasso. Tried my luck if I could still find my gold cuff. I only have my ring. And for the past months I had been wearing a different kind of bracelet. hahahaha...

Incidentally, it matches my current nail polish.

I love it. I will wear it often.

Hot pink fuschia.

Thank YOU, Boss.

Finally...

Just one of things that got me stoked the past week!

Mailman came knockin' yesterday and VIOLA:

One of the 3 MAC Wonder Woman items I got my hands on. They are pretty limited. So hard to find. Out of stock in Hong Kong and Canada I finally found someone kind enough to brave the crowds...hehehe. Thank you!

Lipsglass in Emancipation.

I was just so excited. Great timing as I had somewhere to go that night. Everything in the WW Spring 2011 collection is jumbo sized! Not bad for it's price tag. SRP published in their website obviously jacked up while being shipped overseas. hehehe...but I'm not complaining. For the same price I'd be paying for something smaller in size.

I decided to break this down to:

When I first applied it. It is pale pink. With hint of pearls. It applies on smoothly and thickly, you would have to dab progressively.

Although it's jumbo applicator allows you to cover your lip on one swish...but I still liked to apply bit by bit just like I would a moisturizer or foundation.

First time I opened and pulled the wand out it got stock. Jumbo sized. I figured if I force it out, some of those precious gloss would go flying all over who knows where, worst unto my shirt! I tried many hand positions and came up with this:

It lets you control both wand and cylinder. Slowly slowly...

I took my now "Emancipated" (HAHAHAHAHAHA) lips out to the sun to have a better look at how my lips are reacting to the pale pink. I have never really tried this pale of pink before. But this I'm definitely lovin'.

I went, had a sandwich (carefully...just the way Hollywood stars eat at parties) and had my caffeine. This is a photo of the color 6 hours later...

It had stayed on, a little lesser on shine but the color my lips are still pale pink.

I love!!!

Now I feel like I need to find my magic golden lasso... hehehehehe!

Enjoy everyone! I hope you got your WW loot!

If you're interested I can get you in contact with someone hunting Hong Kong for this collection. But you gotta do it soon...

KAPAW!!!