Mineral Makeup Find: Ellana Minerals

I swear I’m not a makeup person. But you’ll forgive me when I rave about this blush-on that makes my pale cheeks look dewy and pinched. So you ask, what made me, once and for all, give in to slapping on rouge on my face? Mineral cosmetics.

I’m no expert to give you a lowdown on mineral makeup. But here’s my take:

Pure. Natural. Affordable. Aside from skin care benefits, these are the claims being made by the hodgepodge of mineral makeup brands in order to make their products stand out against tested, traditional makeup.

Is it really pure and natural? It’s been around since the 1970s, when Bare Escentuals unveiled its line of foundations made from crushed, pure minerals. Debunkers insist that the supposedly pure makeup contains the same minerals that compose conventional makeups. But I think the more important point to highlight is this—mineral makeup doesn’t contain chemical irritants. Non-comedogenic and hypoallergenic, it gets rid of all the harmful stuff that tend to irritate the skin: parabens, mineral oils, talc fillers, or bismuth. The lack of these ingredients makes mineral makeup come so close to being 100% natural.

Is it really affordable? Speaking from experience, which is scanty at best, it should be when compared to traditional makeup. High-end brands most people are familiar with—MAC, NARS, Urban Decay—have prices that range by the thousands.

But my mineral makeup find? P100. Just a scratch in your pocket. I currently have a 1g mini tub of fulfillment from Ellana Mineral Cosmetics, a loose soft-toned powder blush of watermelon peach with gold satin finish.

I stumbled upon the brand a year ago when my thesis was driving me to the brink of insanity. Kidding. But really, I needed something to distract me. So I peeled myself away from MS Word and hopped on the pages of the internet. One of the things that lured me into further click-clicking in Ellana’s website is its infographic guide to determining your own skin undertone so that you can match it with the selection of foundations and powders being offered.

Skin Undertones:

1. Warm—People who fall in this category have dominantly yellowish or golden skin tone. If you look under your wrist, your veins are mostly green.

2. Cool—People who fall in this category appears to have pink or beige skin tone. If you look under your wrist, your veins are mostly blue or violet.

3. Olive—Olive is a neutral tone. This skin tone has a hint of bronze or green in daylight. If you look under your wrist, your veins are mostly blue and green.

Helpful much, isn’t it? I soon learned that I have an olive undertone, so I got for myself the toffee mocha foundation, which is the darkest shade among the recommended ones for my tone… morenas reprazent! Sad to say, I wasn’t happy with how the powder caked on my skin so I got rid of it. Maybe I’m just a makeup noobie and I was applying it all wrong.

Buuut. The fulfillment mineral blush saved me. Even though I fall in the medium to deep skin tone category—for which the recommended blush shades are wines, bronzes, and tawny browns—I dared to try the nifty peachy blush meant for medium light to medium skin tones. I think it worked and so far I am loving it.

Ellana Minerals also offers primers, concealers, bronzers plus other makeup essentials. If you are a makeup skeptic like me, Ellana brings you good news as it still offers free samples. The pack consists of 3 little sachets of mineral foundation, mineral finishing powder, and mineral powder blush. It’s required for you to fill-out a contact info form, also stating your skin tone and skin undertone. You only have to shoulder the P50 delivery fee for Metro Manila areas.

Ellana Mineral Cosmetics is available presently online, and distributed through a network of direct sellers and at 4 weekly SM Bazaar locations in Metro Manila. Download their latest brochure here.

Going Japanese: Omakase

Wasabi, anyone?

Just kidding. Don’t hit the panic button just yet. On the brighter side of life, who wants some California Maki? Thereyago. Merely typing those words already fires up my craving for a serving of scrumptious, flavor-packed sushi rolls. Images of rolled up sushi rice hugging that teensy little yet striking piece of yellow at the center come rushing back, and I distinctly taste mango and crab meat and soy sauce swirling in Japanese mayo. And then I die and resurrect right back.

As I write this, excuse the word but I really am salivating at pictures upon pictures of every sort, size and shape of sushi rolls that ever existed. The culprit: Fuckyeahhsushi. I have been eating them as far back as I could remember, but it was only last year when I found a place that’s worth raving about—Omakase. Its Ayala Triangle Gardens branch is where I’ve been formally introduced to the epic goodness that is the sushi roll.

On a recent trip to the Ayala Triangle branch, le boyfriend and I decided to order some of the menu items that we haven’t tried yet, but we still ordered our staple American Dream (P180), which is his favorite.

It’s deep-fried sushi with (cooked) salmon, cream cheese and kani (crab meat), and comes with a Japanese mayo and Kikkoman soy sauce dip.

Who doesn’t love cheese? It’s been a long time since I had my cheese floss fix from BreadTalk, so we decided to order the Gyu Chisu Maki (P150). It may not taste as heavenly as my beloved cheese floss, but for its very reasonable price, it certainly delivers. Plus I got a kick from making papak the mayo + soy sauce + sesame seeds dip, yo.

And my current obsession? The Tofu Steak (P220), which is Japanese tofu wrapped in beef. I’m crazy for tofu. And this crumble-in-your-mouth goodness reminds me of taho and leche flan, but with savory taste instead of sweet. I was seriously tempted to sip the beef oil bathing the tofu pieces. That’s how good it tastes to me!

I first had the chance to try this dish in their Alabang branch in the past long weekend. Q and I, along with his college friends, were invited to the place’s blessing. Omakase Alabang has two floors and the same Japanese minimalist interiors as the Ayala branch, but it’s not exactly the Kawaii type. Too bad I wasn’t able to take any picture from that weekend.

Of course, let’s not forget the drinks. We each had bottomless Panama Orange and Wild Raspberry, both at P65. Trivia token! Do you know how the waiters figure out if they are supposed to refill your drinks, and whether your empty glass contained orange or raspberry? Q said the answer lies in the color of the straws: white for Panama Orange and black for Wild Raspberry. And if your glass has a lemon wedge, then that means you ordered bottomless.

Now that I’m done with the food porn, let me talk about Omakase’s minimalist interior design that I find trippy. There are Japanese Kokeshi dolls everywhere! And they are huge. There’s a gargantuan pair at the front, there are smaller ones lining the wall niche, and there are even smaller ones greeting you by the bathroom door.

Kokeshi dolls bear names that stand for their character. Ages ago, Q gave me a little Kimmidoll® named Satomi, which means sincerity. I wish I knew the names of these two dolls. Next time we go back, I’ll make sure to ask the staff.

Omakase Japanese Restaurant

(Makati)

Ayala Triangle Gardens

Makati Central Business District

Tel no. : 467-3150 / 964-5798

Open daily: 11AM—2:30PM; 5PM-10PM

 

(Alabang)

Molito Mall

Madrigal Avenue, Alabang, Muntinlupa MM

Tel no. : 403-3279 / 771-1443

Open daily: 11AM—2:30PM; 5PM-10PM

Sonic Boom Shockwave 2010 Nostalgia

Tags

Enemies of Saturn, Franco, Gloc-9, Kjwan, Malay, Salamin, Severo, Sonic Boom, Taken by Cars, The ButcherCons, Typecast, Urbandub

This year’s Sonic Boom Shockwave kicked off successfully last August 24 at Craft Pub & Grill at the Fort, and culminated the following day at Area 05 Superclub, Tomas Morato. Last year, they had three venues and, although I wasn’t able to attend, I’m pretty sure both events went owzumly well. It had to be. The Sonic Boom Shockwave 2010 was such a blast that I’m feeling very, very nostalgic right now.

I tweeted a couple of weeks ago that it’s been months since I last attended a gig, and that I miss the peaceful feeling I get from hearing live, full-blast music. Folks like me frequenting gigs would know, just being in there gives you this queer feeling of escape. It’s ethereal. Escapists like me would know. Have you tried shisha? Yeah? Then you’d know.

20 bands. 2 stages. Versus mode. There was never a quiet moment. The three of us had our eardrums abused for hours on end as band after band rocked it out onstage. It was the usual mosh pit. We sat far from the stages to get a good view of the whole thing.

The whole night was worth more than the P350 we paid to get in. I like this idea of including a complimentary drink for the tix, as downing one bottle would not get you tipsy and nowhere near drunk, but it would certainly set you up for the mood. Booze is freely available for those who do want to get wasted.

But I didn’t need the help of mister liquor. Sonic Boom’s entire production roster was enough to get me stoked. Among others, 2010′s lineup included: Urbandub, Typecast, Kjwan, Taken by Cars, Salamin, Franco, Gloc-9, Enemies of Saturn, Severo, Malay and The ButcherCons. 

Plus, there were freebies! I’m a sucker for freebies, in the same way that I’m a sucker for hugs.

Being a trigger happy kid, I went cray cray over this free CD they handed out. There was also a mag and stickers of all sorts. But I didn’t get to take a snapshot of them and they’re all lost by now.

The BOOM Brigade CD track list:

1. “Tunnels” by Faspitch

2. “In Between” by The Line Divides

3. “The Pill” by Gasulina 

4. “This is the End” by The Ambassadors

5. “Anaranjada” by Severo

6. “Clenched Fist” by Intolerant

7. “Unlearn” by Enemies of Saturn

8. “He, the Anchor” by Tonight We Sleep

9. “Moving” by Malay

10. “Patay Sindi” by Subscapular

11. “Hard to Fit” by The ButcherCons

12. “Love is Only a Word” by Switch

 

 

Mini photodump below!

 

 

Photodump pics are from my friend, A. Pamintuan. Edited by yours truly.

If I would pick one song from the track list above, it would be Malay’s Moving. Allow me to leave you with this lovely line from the song:  “Bless you memory / Oh, you keep haunting me / Felt eternity in every scene you play/ Moving far away from here”

 

Sonic Boom Facebook page

http://www.sonicboomph.com

@sonicboomph

Bed Head Diaries

Tags

braid, Brandon Boyd, Derek Sanders, Incubus, Mayday Parade, messy bun, messy hair, Saab Magalona

Stick-straight hair in a boring cut doesn’t frame my face well. In high school, my default hairstyle was a layered shaggy with side bangs—99% of every school girl back then had bangs! I had that hairstyle for the entire four years. Talk about boring. I’d show you my graduation picture, but on second thought, never you mind.

When I went to college, I never quite outgrew that hairstyle but I did contemplate countless times about getting a digital perm. But I was scurred. I have virgin hair, you see. It has never undergone any treatment, not even coloring. So you can imagine my hesitation at subjecting it to alien-looking equipment taking the form of an inverted pasta strainer with all these wires and stuff. One of my biggest issues re this was the uncertainty of maintaining that kind of an effortless-looking but really a cumbersome-to-maintain hairstyle. Why? Because I haz no moniez (Read: No budget for vanity).

Then came the employment stage. I succeeded in convincing myself to set aside enough moolah to burn for prettyfying my mane. Yet I still didn’t want to color my hair; I still didn’t want to perm it. So about a year ago I decided to buy an 8-set soft foam curlers by Goody, plus a Suave Shaping Mousse (extra hold 7).

Tools of the trade. I don’t know why they’re both in pink.

The look I was trying to achieve was bed head—the mussed-up, sexy type I adore to the bones, both on girls and boys!

Here’s Nicole Richie with her naturally curly hair that she fixes to look like she just got out of bed.

Saab Magalona with her awesome hair, not to mention her equally awesome, unofficial boho-chic style (not shown here).

Everyone’s crush—I believe—the Brandon Boyd of Incubus. Forget the abs; I crush on his hair.

And let’s not forget, Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade! I talked about him first here.

Enough about the faces and the hair. I really wanted to just focus on the hair. I got myself interested in having bed head because aside from it suiting my facial frame, I can style it in any way I like. Last year, I patiently grew my hair to its longest length ever so I can finally style it this way, with the bonus of being able to braid it and put it up in a messy bun. I loved it while it lasted. But I got lazy. So I stopped curling it every night and putting on mousse to style it every morning, and went on to cut my hair to shoulder-length. But recently I was being plagued with this longing for messy hair again—to put it in a top bun and try out YouTube tutorials for braiding it.

I was addicted with the fishtail braid and the side-french braid, which I taught myself though YouTube videos. I also learned how to curl it without the help of curlers, thus no heat! Among the things that I’ve tried on my hair are socks, bits of rag and of course, the soft foam curlers. You can also use paper bags! I’m serious. You are free to surf the intarwebz for more options.

Also, photos are not mine, except for the first one. So click the photo to get though the owner.

Feel free to comment below if you have website suggestions or hairstyling tips and ideas.

Bazooka Rocks! First Indoor Rock Festival in Manila

Tags

Mayday Parade, MOA, Salamin

Official event poster courtesy of Pulp Live World

Experience the first ever rock festival in an air-conditioned mosh pit this coming September 30 (Sunday) at Bazooka Rocks 2012! Set to be held at the SM Mall of Asia’s SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, eight international bands together with three Filipino front acts will pump up 12 hours of live music. Gates open at 10 AM, as per the official poster, so you can head over to the arena as early as 12 NN without worrying about sweat and rain.

The 8 international bands include:

The Pretty Reckless
Mayday Parade
Marianas Trench
The Maine
Forever The Sickest Kids
A Skylit Drive
The Wonder Years
Avastera

plus 3 local acts:

Salamin
Robin Nievera
Penguin

To be honest, I’m not really familiar with most of these bands but I’m going anyway simply because Mayday Parade is going to be there. They’ll probably sing at least three songs, but what the heck, I’m not gonna miss this one for the world. They were here just last year. But yeah, you guessed that right: I missed it. Sulking aside, I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with the rest of the international bands’ music. Shout out to le boyfriend for downloading their discographies, which have been on loop in my music player for the past few weeks.

Here’s an interesting bit about Mayday Parade: The oft-mentioned place in some of their songs called Tallahassee (Florida) is where this pop-punk quintet, fronted by Derek Sanders, hails from. Check out Your Song (acoustic, from the Valdosta EP) for a sample. I am tempted to include the lyrics, but I’d like you to listen to the song and wait for this magic word to be mentioned!

Salamin, meanwhile, is a proud Filipino band with the main man being Paolo Valenciano, son of Gary V. Is it just me, or does Mr Pure Energy’s singing-dancing combo of a talent seems to have been split between this son and the other one, Gab? Anyway, guitarist Sho Hikino, bassist Mikael Bersales and drummer Eo Marcos complete this rock ensemble. A few of their songs that I’ve listened to, in their sophomore album Hello Anxiety, touch on spirituality and faith. I’ve read somewhere that they don’t fancy being branded a gospel band, but I believe their faith is an inspiration and an influence to them—an observation that is apparent in their song Crusades. I’ve seen this band perform live maybe once or twice, and I have to say their kind of music is promising, if I do say so myself. Think Deftones featuring Switchfoot themes and then add in screamo.

We bought our tickets as early as June so we could avail of the cheapest price, at P3k. The ticketing system utilizes progressive pricing, increasing by P500 a month so the ticket would already cost P4.5K by September. SM Tickets outlets’ charges apply.

Going American: Dillinger’s

Tags

American, chicken wings, Dillinger's, Greenbelt, Makati

You wanna know where the best dish of buffalo wings in Manila is being served? If you trust SPOT.ph lists like I do, then I encourage you to try Dillinger’s Buffalo Wings, which is one of their specialties. This American bar and restaurant is located at the 3rd level of Greenbelt 3, Makati, and is open from 11 AM to 4 PM.

Aptly named Dillinger’s 1903 Steak and Brew, this resto has the bragging rights for topping the Top 10 Buffalo Wings in Manila list by SPOT.ph. Aside from their sinful steaks, I would really swear by their heavenlicious buffalo wings. DUDE IT IS TO DIE FOR. Here’s one proof!

Dillinger’s heavenlicious 42-pc Buffalo Wings with bleu cheese dip

Can you see the glaze streaking some of the chicken wings? Well, sir, that marinade provides the spicy-but-not-too-much taste laced with just the right amount of tang that makes you want to maybe just do away with the bleu cheese dip. Actually, I did. The creamy texture of the cheese didn’t sit well on my tongue. I would have preferred a ranch dressing.

At P995 for this party platter, they didn’t skimp on anything, I can tell you. Hungry as we were, coming in at around 12 NN on a Saturday, we were unable to clean off this plate so we took the rest home. It was the only thing we ordered, by the way, and we spent just P500 for that order because we used a coupon! Haha yeah I’m a cheapskate like that.

Ooh you might have wondered why up until this point I’ve been prattling about the buffalo wings when it didn’t even grace the title of this post… So here’s your four seasons! I was too distracted by the chicken wings so I can’t say anything exciting about the drink, sorry! But I don’t remember being unhappy by it so it should be fine.

Pineapple + orange + mangoes + grapefruit. Usually.

You know how most food posts end with the bloggers swearing they would definitely come back because the food was just too awesome to be tried just once? I think I’m doing that, like right now. But next time I would want to sample more stuff from the  menu, particularly their other best sellers: the rib-eye steak and the fish and chips.

I think a budget of P200-P500 each would be enough to sate anyone’s hunger. Try to come in at lunch time or early in the afternoon so there’s not much people yet. That is, if you don’t really like crowds, like me. They do have a website, but I don’t think it’s being updated, so you won’t find the menu there. Anyway, check ‘em out at their official website and Facebook page.

Dillinger’s 1903 Steak and Brew

3rd Floor, Greenbelt 3

Makati 1226, Metro Manila, Philippines

Tel. (02) 621 6790

11AM-4PM

Hello world!

Tags

random

WordPress said I should delete this once I publish my very first post. But I’m feeling quite stubborn right now, so I won’t. I’m not even changing the title post. Hah. Besides, I can’t think of anything sensible to post yet. But my blog is just so bare and I can’t bear to leave it in such a state. So there. Maybe I’ll post something worth reading over the coming days. Ciao.