Drugstore Wallflower: Bobbie Cosmetics Retractable Eyebrow Pencil

Bobbie Cosmetics Retractable Eyebrow Pencil in Medium Brown
PHP 119 at Watson's SM The Block

HI! Last week I roamed around malls for some errands and in between I checked out my ever reliable beauty hub, Watson's. I found good finds, but with the few loose change I have I can only spend as much. Screw sembreak. Hahaha.

I was already curious with Bobbie Cosmetics when I saw its cute pink concealer at a Mini Stop store near my place. But since the testers were not accessible (you have to get them from the cashier), I didn't take the chance to buy it. So when I saw a Bobbie Cosmetics counter (with testers, thank goodness), I went straight for it! But instead of the concealer, I ended up taking the eyebrow pencil because it looks like my HG eyebrow product, the Etude House Drawing Eye Brow pencil.

Curious, huh? I was too! Check out this new product after the jump!

LipsWatch: Fanny Serrano Luscious Lipstick in Creamy Fudge

Fanny Serrano Luscious Lipstick in Creamy Fudge
PHP 299
at The SM Store Beauty Section

This is my first post to feature a lipstick, so let me say a few words of apology: I'm sorry because I suck in describing color. But because I really, really want to feature this, I will bravely tread the waters of the world of lip swatches.

To compensate for my poverty of words, I made sure that the pics will be as true representations of the color as it can be in real life.

Moving on...

When it comes to lipsticks, the first thing that makes me fall in love with it will be its color, and then its finish. And then its lasting power. But I don't usually scrutinize lipsticks in terms of its feel on my lips - whether they feel heavy, or if it feels drying, or if it's too wet. And in the case of this lippie from Fanny, the way I fell in love with it was in reverse order - I loved how creamy and moisturizing it felt on my lips first before I got to appreciate its color. This is serious good stuff.

Check out this lippie after the jump!

DRUGSTORE WALLFLOWER: Quick FX No Shine Mattifier

Quick FX No-Shine Mattifier
PHP 49 at Watson's

If you wear makeup and have an oily skin like moi, for sure this sachet of gold will make your head turn. Big white letters saying No-Shine on it is enough to make me pick it up.

I was also curious with the words, "mattifier" and "matte wax". I mean, having wax in that packaging almost made me feel that it was meant for the hair! Hahaha. So yeah, needless to say, this product intrigued me. And I haven't been intrigued so much in a long time.

More on this oily-skin must-have after the jump! ;)

Loving It: ZA Perfect Solution Moisturizer

ZA Perfect Solution Moisturizer
PHP 300 (Sale Price)
at Beauty Scents, Paseo de Sta. Rosa

I was obsessed in skincare way before I got hooked into makeup. When I was in high school, I used whitening soaps and creams (Pond's, anyone?), while in college I was obsessed with anything that promises lesser oil production and finer pores. Ever since I've hit my 20s, aside from battling acne and oily skin (which still happens all the time), another need surfaced: moisture.

Find out why I'm planning to hoard bottles of this after the jump!

DRUGSTORE WALLFLOWER: Careline Oil Control Blush-On

Careline Oil Control Blush-on
PHP 90 at Watson's
PHP 99 at Mercury Drug

I admit, I perceive Careline's cosmetics line as toys, one that's catered to tweens and young adolescents who are taking baby steps in makeup. I think it's because I purchased my first eyeshadow palette from them when I was in high school. That palette had sky blue, pink, purple and gold eyeshadows on it - colors that a girly kid who has zero knowledge on makeup will like. I bought it because I liked the colors, but I never considered how garish it would look on a 14-15 year-old me. So I cluelessly used it for a couple of times, then I realized that it's something I shouldn't be using for school, and the palette ended up in the dark abyss of my dresser.

Fast forward to August 2014, when school has just started, and I was longing for an innocent-looking powder pink blush like Pony uses in most of her makeup tutorials. But Pony's blushes were usually from Shu Uemura's, and I simply do not have a budget for that! So when I saw this at Mercury Drug near my place, I immediately got it.

Read on to find out more about this blush that I love!

Drugstore Wallflower: Ever Bilena Advance HD Concealer Pencil

Ever Bilena Advance HD Concealer Pencil in Warm Honey
PHP 100 at Watsons

This isn't a wallflower, this is more like a hidden gem. I first saw it while I was lining up at the grocery counter this weekend and I thought, "Ever Bilena actually has this?". I was almost always lining up at that particular counter every Sunday yet I only saw it that time. I ended up purchasing it at Watson's later that evening and even at this store it is quite hard to find. Maybe because the pencil is short.

Continuing my new found pencil addiction, here's my review of the Ever Bilena's concealer pencil.

Review: Rimmel Stay Matte Primer

Rimmel Stay Matte Primer
PHP 400 at Love Manila

I have combination-severely oily skin, thanks both to my parents' genes and to my polycystic ovaries. So no matter how drying and oil-free my skincare products are, my face will still be oily and acne-prone particularly on the T-Zone. And the weird part is, there's really dry patches of skin mixed in between. 

Base makeup becomes a challenge both in applying it and in making it stay put. And despite being contraindicated for my skin type, I still prefer cream/liquid type of base makeup, as I find them easier to work with and delivers a more natural finish. So unless the makeup is oil-free (like the Revlon Colorstay), there is a big chance that oil will seep through my makeup in a nick of time. 

The answer to my problem came when I found out about primers. 

My first primer was Etude House Dr. Oil Solution Dual Primer. My cousin gave it to me when I was in college and I really felt the difference in terms of ease in applying makeup, blurring of pores, and oil control. Now I had an event to attend to so I felt the need to purchase a primer again, but now I realized that they really don't come in cheap. 

That is, until I saw Rimmel Stay Matte Primer.

ALL ABOUT BROWS Series: REVIEW on NYX Brow Gel in Brunette

NYX Eye Brow Gel in Brunette
PHP 400 at Love Manila

When the various online makeup stores that I was following on FB started posting preorders for the NYX Brow Gel, a lot of makeup lovers went gaga over it! After all, it was a brow product in a very different form, and even I got curious with this brow-in-a-watercolor-tube.

ALL ABOUT BROWS Series: REVIEW on Browhaus Lucky Chinatown

I can't remember when I first started to mess around with my brows. Maybe it was in my Senior Prom, because when I was a Junior my Dad was inside the salon when I was being made up, and he stopped the beautician from shaving my brows at that time. (Way to go, Pops. Hahaha.)

Even after that, I didn't get to care about how they looked or how they were shaped. I didn't even give a hoot if my brows looked like that of a caveman, like this:

Sometime in 2012, when I was growing my brow after
neighborhood beautician shaved it waaaaay too thin. :/

 But in the recent years, the more that I learn about make up, the more that I got conscious with my brows. But then I just I wanted them to be neat, so off I went to neighborhood brow salons and soon I sported brows that were dangerously thin, or too arched, or not pantay (symmetrical) and I never knew the difference. Hahaha.

My (recent) brow history. The best looking of the bunch, (Mar 2014 photo)
was all thanks to Benefit Brow Bar. After that I tried Cara Delevingne's caterpillar brows. :))

Then one fine August day, I noticed that something that was terribly wrong with my brows - one was arched way up high, while the other lay flat. I don't know when it started to happen, but the last time I had my brows threaded was at Bench Fix before my classes started last July.

Right brow was flatter and fatter compared to my left brow,
which had a really defined arch. Also, my left brow is shorter than the right. Got too tweezer-happy, I guess.

At first I didn't mind it because on most days I wear my hair down and so my flat right brow would be mostly out of sight. So I gave my brows time to grow and hopefully find one salon that can fix this anomaly.