Confessions Of A Late Bloomer: January 2014

, by Unknown

Bellabox Singapore: JANUARY 2014 CNY BEAUTY PACKET

Hi everyone! I have an unboxing post for you today. I just got this baby last night and I thought that since I haven’t been blogging that much lately, at least try to put up my unboxing post on time. And so, here it is!

And oh! I just would like to mention that it was my husband who opened this box last night. It's crazy! But you know what? He looked so cute while opening this box and checking each item, haha.

Anyway, This month’s box is themed after Chinese New Year and Bellabox called it “Chinese New Year Beauty Packet”. And with just that title alone I was already expecting some great stuff in my loot and good thing Bellabox didn’t disappoint.

So! First two items on the list are these (original) shampoo and conditioner from Mane N’ Tail. The full sizes of these (355ml) retail for S$14.90.

Widely loved by celebrities and the public alike, this iconic formulation is created with an exclusive micro-enriched formula that fortifies the hair shaft and prevents breakage and split ends, leading to longer, stronger, fuller and frizz-free hair!

MY THOUGHTS: I’ve known this brand since high school and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Now, my hair issue has always been hair-fall, so I’m hoping that these two products can help me on that area. I noticed that it doesn’t have that perfume-ish scent that other typical shampoos and conditioners have but it really smells clean which I think is very nice. Aso, the sample bottles I got both came with 60ml (2 fl. oz) of product inside, how awesome is that! I think I really could tell after using this if I would buy the full size or not. I’m really excited!

Next up is this Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S. Morning Eye Rescue which retails at S$40 for 15ml. And I got a 7ml sample, a really good size for a sample, don’t you think?

Find yourself waking up in the morning with puffy tired-looking eyes? This gentle eye cream hydrates, de-puffs and contains anti-oxidant rich grape Polyphenols to combat against premature wrinkles. Ideal for sensitive skin.

MY THOUGHTS: Well, well, well! How can I not like an eye cream? Eye creams always do wonders to my eye area however they're pretty expensive. Good thing, I got a sample eye cream this month and it’s from Caudalie, so how can I complain?! Caudalie is a really great brand. I’m just so thankful that I got this in my loot this month. Since I’ve been subscribed to a beauty box, I’ve never been without an eye cream and I’m just so grateful.

Moving on, I have a sample perfume here called Tous Rosa EDP which retails for S$69 and S$119 for 30ml and 90ml respectively.

Blended with a musky floral scent of rose absolute, violet and raspberry notes, Tous Rosa EDP is created with the sole purpose of inspiring happiness and fashioning each womn’s drem world. Delicately and specially concocted for the brand’s co-founder and creative director, Rosa Oriol, this is the latest and most personal scent of Tous.

MY THOUGHTS: I’m not really good at describing scents so let’s just agree with this product’s description, haha. But seriously, it really smells wonderful. Floral and girly I should say but I don’t think I’d be purchasing any perfume anytime soon coz I received some new bottles as gifts last month. So…yeah!

Another item I’m so excited to try is this LANEIGE Snow BB Soothing Cushion, although I’m not so sure how much coverage I’m gonna get with this sample which contains 0.1 oz of product inside. Its full size (2 sets of 15gs), by the way, costs S$59.

Head out in the morning and come home at the end of the day still fresh-faced and flawless with this unique cushion-type BB cream. Available in a compact that uses a cushion and puff for skin – friendly and easy application, this BB liquid formulation contains 5 in 1 benefits – it brightens, contains SPF 50 PA+++, cools, tones and is long-lasting with sweat-proof technology!

MY THOUGHTS: Every time I’d pass by a Laneige stall in the mall, I could only think of one thing, “I wonder how good their BB cushion is…” But I can’t get myself to purchase one at the moment because I still have like two or three unopened BB creams and I think it’s impractical for me to buy a new BB cream just for the sake of trying it. Don’t I have a point? I’m glad to have received this sample and I’m already thinking when I should use it.

Second to the last on my list is this ESLOR Introductory Collection.

Treat yourself to this true-blue comprehensive and naturally based skincare treatment! Start by refining and cleansing your skin, followed by a re-energizing scrub. Refresh with a comforting mask and finish off with a soothing cream. A complete course of comfort food for the skin!

MY THOUGHTS: Hmmm… a set of skincare goodies. While I appreciate the thought, I’m not sure I’m that interested in trying any new set of skincare items at the moment because my skin has just gotten back up and is in the process of recovering from a terrible breakout. And I think that whatever skincare products I’m currently using could be the culprit behind my skin’s recovery. So, no matter how tempting these products look, I might park them for the meantime.

And last but certainly not least, I received a bonus item and that is this Home Secrets Shaping Smoothie in Peach flavor, which retails at S$11.90 for a pack of 5.

Curb your hunger pangs without depriving your taste buds! Delectably blended with 100% natural fruit pulps and juices from Lemon/Peach, this delightful drink is enriched with fiber-dense Konjac and Basil Seeds.

MY THOUGHTS: Interesting! You know what? I gained weight during the holiday season and can this be the sign that I should seriously go on a diet? And wait! Don’t tell me I’m the only one who forgot to observe her figure during the holiday season? Let’s all be honest here, okay? Hahaha.

Anyway, those are all the items I got in my box for this month. If any of you are from Australia or Singapore, you can check Bellabox websites below especially if you found any of the above-mentioned items interesting:

http://bellabox.sg/

http://bellabox.com.au/

***

My dear readers, which of the items above would really excite you the most? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and may we all have a wonderful week ahead.

2 comments

, by Unknown

2014

BACK TO SCHOOL 2014: Easy Makeup Look For Teens!

3 comments

, by Unknown

beckaroopresents

Serenity Sunday: New Year, New Beginning! (12th January 2014)

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!

It’s been a while since my last post. I have to admit, the holiday season has gotten into me and I guess I just didn’t want it to be over so soon that’s why I slacked on posting here. No? Alright! Yeah, I just got lazy as usual. But hey! Don’t tell me I’m the only one who got lazy after the holiday season. C’mon! I’m sure some of you also went through this same phase, but enough of this. It’s Sunday today and I want to share with you what’s running on my head…

** WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG POST. **

New Year, new beginning! So what does that mean to me? Well, I probably haven’t told you this yet, but for the longest time, I’ve been struggling with this what-do-i-really-want-to-do-in-my-life dilemma. And it’s tough! Here’s the problem: there are a lot of things that I want to do and accomplish but I don’t know how I’d be able to do “all of it” with the time I have. Good thing, I learned a very important lesson last year which I would like to hopefully apply this year. I know this is a popular saying but it’s only when I heard it on TV that it stroke me: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

My biggest weaknesses are setting of priorities and time management. There are a lot of things that I thought I love equally and my mind is just always racing with ideas for each of these “things” that I love to do. However, I find it difficult to put all these ideas into action with the time I have and with my current level of skills. To give you a more vivid picture of what I’m going through, let me take you back to my childhood days.

Ever since I was a kid, I love drawing. I drew and drew endlessly when I was young. Whenever I drew something, I always had a story for it in my mind. It’s like I was creating a comic book with no texts because the story was just running in my head and I was too lazy to write the dialogues down as I drew the characters. I also thought, “What’s the point? Nobody’s gonna see and read it anyway?”

When I was 12, that’s the first time I started literally writing down my stories. I wrote them on an old notebook and passed it to my classmates for them to read – for free of course! That was fun and I thought that's what I could be when I grow up: either a writer or a comic book illustrator. I didn’t stop with that cool hobby of mine until I graduated high school.

Yeah, I took up BS Architecture in college but that's different. I never liked to draw houses and buildings when I was young, and you know what? Those are exactly what drawings are like in the archi-world. If not for God's grace, I wouldn't know how I'd be able to finish college, haha. Whew! It's probably why I decided to change path after graduation - another long story which I'm not gonna bore you with today.

So! A decade and two years later, I decided to pick up a pen and paper and started drawing again. That’s when I realized how much I’ve missed it and that my skills didn’t change. A good thing? Nope! Yeah, my skills didn’t change which also means they didn’t improve either. And before I stopped sketching/drawing years ago, I already knew that I still have a lot to learn and improve. And now that I’m back, it seems like I’m starting all over again.

The good news is: I found a platform where I can share my drawings and stories to the world. And that platform is no other than YouTube. I have created a channel last year for this hobby and it’s called “BeckarooPresents”. Beckaroo by the way is one of my nicknames. I actually have an ongoing story there right now, but just a heads-up, it’s in my native language: Filipino/Tagalog.

The thing is I have so many great plans for that channel and I know it will take so much of my time. Why? Well, I need to improve on my drawings and I also intend to do animations very soon. In order for me to do all of that, I need to practice more each day which means I might need to sacrifice other things that I love. And what are those other things? One of them is blogging. Oopps! RELAX. I’m not gonna leave this site and give up blogging completely but I’m thinking that I might lay low a little bit, because blogging is not just about writing. It requires a lot of work too. You know – taking photos of products, observing how a product works, jotting down your observations, writing your conclusions, post-processing photos, etc-etc. And while blogging is really fun, I realized just very recently that I love drawing and writing stories more than I love blogging.

Is that it? No. Aside from drawing and writing stories, I also love music. I started composing my own songs when I was in college (2^nd year). Since then, I fell in love with the idea of creating my own songs. The problem is, I was never confident with my voice and my songs that I kept all my compositions buried somewhere in my treasure room. After I graduated college, just like what I did with drawing/writing comic books, I also shelved my passion in writing songs. It’s only when I started being active on YouTube that I decided to give it a try again. And because my husband is a really good writer, we decided that he’d be the one in-charge of the lyrics while I’m the one responsible for the tune. Our first song is called “There’s Never You And Me” and I used it as the closing song for each of the episodes of my first Love Story on YouTube. Here’s the complete song, by the way.

Unlike with drawing/writing stories, I have given up on the thought that I’d go far with song-writing, so I’d probably just do it whenever I have a spare time and whenever I need a specific song for my stories. But you know what, last year I thought differently. I was struggling so bad about setting my priorities, because I couldn’t decide which among the things I can do (and love to do) would be okay for me to either give up or lay low on. And that’s when the saying, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” really had a big impact in my life.

It made me realize that being able to do all those stuffs doesn’t always mean I have to do all of them. I need to decide which one I should focus on. Even though it doesn’t necessarily mean I have to give up the other things I like, it also doesn’t mean that I should give each of them equal time and attention. Yeah, maybe others can do it smoothly, but I have to accept that I obviously can't. It is only in choosing what I really want to do in life that I could give my 100% time and effort to it and could actually get better in it.

So, for this year, I am looking forward to leveling up my drawing skills and writing more stories. It may sound easy but I'm telling you, it's really not, haha. By the way, I’m sorry for the long post. *shy grin*

How about you? What are you looking forward to this year? Happy New Year again and may we all have a blessed Sunday ahead!

***

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

4 comments

, by Unknown

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The Common Filipina Girl Tag!

Bellabox Singapore: JANUARY 2014 CNY BEAUTY PACKET

BACK TO SCHOOL 2014: Easy Makeup Look For Teens!

Serenity Sunday: New Year, New Beginning! (12th January 2014)

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