Etude House Products

Now that I am working as a cashier at a restaurant, I feel the need to look good in front of the restaurant's customers. Thanks to my sister, I learned something about BB Creams, which got me really interested. The time I emptied my Mary Kay liquid foundation, I decided to finally give BB Creams a try.


There are three Korean cosmetics shop in SM Fairview (that I know of) - Etude House, Tony Moly, and Nature Republic. For some reason, it was the Etude House that I first entered, so it was where I bought my very first BB Cream. At 700+ pesos, it was priced okay; my Mary Kay liquid foundation was within the same price range anyway.

It was easy to apply, and I love that I didn't feel the need of putting foundation anymore. After days of using it, I felt a little tightening on my skin - something I appreciated.

The day I purchased this, they also gave a freebie - a sachet of Silk Scarf shampoo. I wasn't able to photograph it, but I loved how it made my hair bounce; even my sister who's having problems with limp, thinning hair said she felt her hair got a little volume after using the product.

Oh.. going back to the BB Cream - I have been using it for a month now and the tube is still half-full... a great value for money because I know it would still take time before I purchase my next tube.

Are you using BB Cream? What's your brand?
If you used different kinds of BB Creams... which one would you recommend?


Last Sunday, I went back to Etude House (Market! Market! branch). I own their membership card, so I felt a little partial to this store... but when sister finally get her Tony Moly card, I might start checking other brands, too.

Anyway, I bought the Code: B strong eyes cream liner. Even then, I have loved the look of my eyes with black liner (sister said it makes my eyes a little bigger), but I always struggled finding a good product that wouldn't smudge right away. I didn't make a mistake buying this. Not only that it didn't smudge after a few hours, it actually stayed the entire day! It's a bit expensive, but it is one quality product... I don't mind buying another one when I emptied this.

Just so you know, this dries quick, so close the bottle real tight and wash the brush after application.

I also bought a bottle of their nail polish, but we still haven't used it... I will just ask my sister to write about this because she had much prettier nails.

As a freebie, they gave me a sachet of Baking Powder BB deep cleansing foam, and I will talk about it as soon I tried it.

This were my only Korean cosmetics, but I think I am now starting to develop a love for their products.

A Week Recap

March is about to end...and yes, I still haven't fully got back. I got way too lost and I admit I became way too emotional this month, that I booked a little one-on-one with a friend just to vent out all my concerns and get a fresh perspective on things.

Anyway, here are some pictures from last week...


Day 168
17 March 2012

The start of the day should've been great, if only sister and I didn't get lost on our way to the Milk Tea sampling event cousin Marge arranged for some selected bloggers. Well, the day wasn't wasted really... because she and I had lunch together and I got to watch "The Lorax" on Tree-D IMAX, thanks to the goodness of USAID Philippines and the Climate Change Commission. It was my first time to watch IMAX and it was awesome!


Day 171
20 March 2012

Quite a drag day... decided to just play with the nail polish we have... tried to make a watermelon nail art because summer here in the Philippines just started, but I don't have a good nail art brush, so it didn't look that good. Guess I will just stick to the normal one color nail polish or the French style manicure. :)


Day 173
22 March 2012

Took a photo of my worn out pair of shoes. I am thankful to read an online contest raffling off a pair of Newton running shoes... hopefully this picture will be my ticket in owning a very expensive pair of running shoes.


Day 174
23 March 2012

I prepared my family breakfast today - Tocinokatsu with Cheesy Scrambled Eggs... but I forgot today's Friday, we shouldn't be eating any meat today. Toinks.


Day 175
24 March 2012

I met up with my cousin today because she's handing me some amount... and while waiting for her, I passed by Booksale to check some books and magazines. I got to see Bob Greene's "The Best Life Diet" book, but decided not to buy it anymore because I own the e-book version. Instead, I bought his other book - "Get With the Program." I still haven't browsed the book, but I think it's a good read. Also, I bought "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat" by Peter Walsh. It's not a diet/fitness book per se... but a book about how de-cluttering the home, the mind can lead to a better weight management. It's the book I am reading now, and I love how straightforward the book is.

For one it said... reality check: video yourself doing jumping jacks in the nude and watch the video. Remember that whenever you need a motivation.


Day 176
25 March 2012

I went to the NBC Tent (Taguig) with my sister and our friend Ria for the Best Food Forward event. We had an awesome time sampling food, but at the same time our legs and feet were too tired walking around. Add to that, we passed by three malls after we left the tent because Ria needed to buy a pair of shoes. Well, with so much food sampling, walking it off was a good way to ease up the guilt.

I now start to feel heavy. I don't know how much I weigh now, but I had a feeling I gained weight already. Time for me to really wake up.

Figaro (Glorietta)

Oh my dear! I forgot to update this blog for one week! Well, blame my overtime for it... but of course, I am very much thankful and blessed to have my job; I just have to find a little time to squeeze in a blog post at least thrice a week.

So okay... I was with my sister and our friend Ria yesterday. We were stuffed while at the NBC Tent, but after we left, we did nothing but walk around because Ria was looking for a pair of shoes.

By the time we reached Glorietta, we were all tired and our legs and feet were screaming for some comfort. Passing by Figaro, the couches were calling our names, so we decided to stop and have some snacks, which became our early dinner.


My short term memory forgot the names of our drinks, but I had the creamy strawberry one, sister had the taro, Ria had the strawberry-lemon drink. Ria and I loved our drink, but sister only drank half of her drink because it was way too milky for her liking. We still needed to travel 2 more hours before we could get home and because sister cannot tolerate that much milk (but of course she isn't fully lactose intolerant),it was best for her not to finish her drink.

As for our snack, we shared this Garlic and Cheese pizza. I personally love Figaro's dough, but maybe because of the cheese, it was soggy and oily at the center. It had a lot of garlic bits, but what's impressive was that the garlic wasn't strong and it didn't "bite" our tongue. It also didn't leave a strong garlic breath smell, so overall it was a nice pizza to eat.

It had 8 slices... Ria and sister ate 2 slices each, I ate the other half. Hungry much? Maybe... but maybe it was that good I just didn't mind. Afterall, it wasn't a big pizza anyway.

Gong Cha (SM North EDSA)

Are you ready for another milk tea adventure? :)


I have heard of Gong Cha since last year, but back then I found their prices a bit expensive - maybe because there weren't that much milk tea places around and the few ones existing that time were much affordable. Now that there are more choices and prices of the drinks can go as much as 120 pesos per cup (depending on the size and the sinkers), Gong Cha suddenly became "affordable" for me.

One time maybe two weeks ago, I was able to take home my first cup of Gong Cha Wintermelon milk tea and let sister taste it. She found it really delicious, so for this week's milk tea adventure, I took her to Gong Cha in SM City North EDSA just so she can taste a full cup's worth of milk tea goodness.


I have already tasted their Milk Wintermelon Tea, but I wasn't able to photograph it, so I went for it again. This flavor is part of their house special, and what makes their "house special" line a stand out above the rest of the milk tea I have tasted is that it has this special milk cream at the top with a sprinkle of green tea powder. I always start my drink by sipping a little of that milk cream before I mix the whole drink. As always, I go for the pearls as sinkers (even asked for additional scoop of tapioca pearls). Like most milk tea places, customers can choose the amount of sugar and ice they prefer for their drink. I told the cashier I'd go for 100% sugar, but when I was handed my drink, I noticed that the cup's label indicated 0% sugar. At first I feared it would be tasteless or slightly bitter, but to our surprise it still had a little sweetness to it - I actually felt the sweetness was okay. Looks like I will go for 0% sugar the next time I order this.

Since I went for sister's initial choice, she just went for their newest flavor - Matcha Milk Tea. She just went for the medium sized cup, and she told me it tasted like any other matcha milk tea she tasted, though this one's much creamier. Somehow she felt her drink wasn't worth it because she paid 95 pesos for the drink (80 pesos for the milk tea + 15 pesos for the tapioca pearls - sinkers aren't included in the drink), while I paid 115 pesos for my drink (95 pesos for the drink +15 pesos for the pearls). The pearls on my drink looked 2x the amount of the normal pearls, so she assumed pearls were already included in the drink... and it made her feel she should've just chosen another flavor from the house specialty line since the large cup would also cost her 95 pesos.

Anyway, we both enjoyed our drink... but there are so many more milk tea places to try: TeaTap, Saint's Alp, Serenitea, Moon Leaf, and Happy Lemon. Sister already tried Tea-Riffic, and gave me great reviews about it, I guess I will go ahead and try it next time.

I hope you won't get tired reading about milk tea here on my blog; I really hope to taste as much as I could while the milk tea business is still booming!

Habit a Week 11: Find Alternatives to Eating

Last week, I introduced about "sleeping." I honestly still can't get myself to sleep by 10pm, but most days last week, I was able to manage my time well. This week, another habit will be added (thanks to Lyn's Habit a Week Challenge) - something I really need as I immerse myself back into my old fitness routines.

Find Alternatives to Eating.

Many years ago, when I went to the doctor after my bloodwork, she handed me a little booklet. First question on the booklet was, "Exercise makes you eat more. True or false?" My mindset at that time made me answer "true," and when the booklet said the statement is actually false, I sort of felt I wanted to trash the booklet.

When I started really exercising, I realized that it is actually true - Exercising curbs the appetite. In my case, I'd be a little tired exercising, I'd drink about two glasses of water and it would make me fell full. Some occasions, I'd feel so tired I'd just use the time to relax (not sleeping, okay)... or that because I exercised a good number of minutes, I'd just rush to freshen up so I can do the rest of my chores.

This week, I will use exercise to divert my attention, so I won't eat more than I should. This is a funny reality: I ate more on days when I don't exercise... maybe because not doing anything makes my mind think of food. Last time I stepped on the scales, I saw that I lost 1lb already... and since it's already the 18th and just two more weeks til the next weigh in, I really need to fully enter the zone and get back into the habit of making myself well.

While exercise / video workouts will be my main plan of action to build this habit, Lyn suggested a lot of activities so we won't think so much about eating. Among the things she listed that caught my attention was "meditate." Meditation is something I don't really know how to do, but I think I will read up about it, so I would know, too! :)

My kitty Moe-Moe is now a super hyper kitten. Mr. Pipoy actually told me things to help tame the kitten - exercise, discipline, affection. I noticed, the kitten would get so hyper before and after his meals, and he would chase me just to get my attention. Lately, I am seeing the two of us running around the house, and I think I will use that - not only do we burn calories, we will also bond and have a good relationship.


My goals for the week:

• No junk food / street food of any kind.
• Two kinds of vegetables everyday.
• Plan meals a day before so I won't have to resort to eating junk and/or unnecessary food.
• Food trips and / or blog events limited to just two for the week.
• Eat Fitnesse cereals for breakfast.
• Follow fitness schedule.
• 12 - 15 cups of water.
• Back to 1/2 cup of rice for lunch and dinner... meat to 50g per meal, fish/seafood at 70g per meal.

Huh... yep, it feels like starting over.

Let's go do it!