The Face Shop FACE IT Velvet Skin Primer Short Review

Based on my previous beauty posts, I guess you could say that I'm a fan of Korean beauty products, and I sure am! That's why when I was deciding where to purchase my first ever primer, I checked out the Korean beauty shops here, like The Face Shop, Etude House, and Nature Republic. The one that impressed me the most was The Face Shop's FACE IT Velvet Skin Primer.

It gives your skin a matte finish and based on the times that I tested it before the purchase, I saw that it really makes the skin look smoother and almost pore-less. It weighs 30 g, pump-type, and priced at PHP 895. It's expensive but I think it's worth the pay. I'm so excited to use it!

Bulgogi Brothers for Sunday Lunch Date with Mommy!

My mom and I are avid Korean cuisine enthusiasts and so we decided to have our Sunday Lunch Date at Bulgogi Brothers, a Korean restaurant. It was our first time there and we are sure to go back again and again!

The appetizers were quickly served and consisted of mostly vegetables: kimchi, anchovies, fermented radish, lettuce and carrots with some sweet & spicy sauce, corn, and sweet potatoes. Everything was really delicious but the ones I really loved were the kimchi and the sweet & spicy lettuce. They also have Tea of the Day. We were offered a whole thermos of Barley Tea which is good for digestion! 

After the appetizers, we were served the Bulgogi Bibimbap that I ordered. It was really good!! Every ingredient in it was served in huge amounts. There were various vegetables, lots of beef strips, and the spicy sauce was unforgettable. 

A short while after, our Beef Belly Barbecue arrived! We ordered it with lettuce instead of rice because we wanted to wrap the beef slices in greens. Our very nice server volunteered to cook the meat for us. But before that, she grilled the sweet potatoes and onions first. Korean barbecue restaurants usually serve their meat unseasoned. They give their customers the option to season their ordered meat and in Bulgogi Brothers, they gave us 3 types of flavoring for the beef: their original/signature spicy sauce, Ssamjang sauce which was my extreme favorite because it tasted sweet, spicy, and garlic-y, and salt. 

Our overall first dining experience in Buglogi Brothers gave us a really good impression of the restaurant. The service was excellent (server was attentive and nice, dishes were served very quickly) and the food was A+ in taste, variety, and quantity. The prices were reasonable and affordable too! I now have an addition to my list of favorite restaurants and we will definitely go back!

*Pardon for a lack of photos because my camera died halfway our stay in the restaurant :(

Nature Republic 92% ALOE VERA GEL Review

Nature Republic is one of the popular beauty brands in Korea. Just by hearing its name, one can already assume that their beauty products are made from natural ingredients. They use natural substances like fruit and tea extracts. 

I bought their 92% Aloe Vera Gel a few months ago, mainly because my favorite Korean boy group was endorsing it (yes, celebrity endorsements really work on me). But besides that, I also knew that Aloe Vera offers a wide range of benefits. 

When I entered the store, there was an infographic near the entrance that showed the different ways of using the Aloe Vera Gel. It was similar to this one:

It was a really effective in-store ad because after seeing it, I was even more convinced to buy the gel.

The gel is transparent, thick, and easy to apply. It smells good too!

Following the infographic, I use it to moisturize any dry part of my body (lips, skin, face). It gives a cool sensation as well so whenever I feel hot, I apply it on my neck. I also use it to grow my eyebrows. I apply it on my brows twice a day: after taking a bath and after washing my face before bedtime. It was effective in the beginning but now, the effects have slowed down. 

Besides using it for skin care, I also use it as part of my make-up routine. I was watching a Korean beauty program and the make-up expert said that mixing your moisturizer with your foundation/BB cream is better than putting your moisturizer first. So instead of using it as a make-up base as suggested in the infographic, I mix the gel with my BB cream and put them as one on my face. With this, the Aloe Vera Gel moisturizes my skin and at the same time makes my face look dewy/luminous. 

Nature Republic's 92% ALOE VERA GEL (recognized by California Certified Organic Farmers) works well both as a skin care and as a make-up product. For skin care, it moisturizes my dry body parts instantly. As for make-up, it works very well with my BB cream. It is priced at PHP 250 which is very reasonable and cheap. Overall it is an effective product and it's honestly one of the best beauty purchases I've ever made! 

The Happiness Project and Why You Should Read It

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin is the book I'm currently reading. I got it as a gift from a friend whom I had a deep hear-to-heart talk with. A few weeks after our talk, she gave me the book with a short dedication written on one of the first pages. It was so sweet and I couldn't be more thankful.

In the course of the book, Rubin was researching and testing the different theories of political dignitaries, philosophers, scientists, writers, and religious figures about how to achieve happiness. It was like a journey on the road to happiness which made reading it amusing and fun. The book also discusses different aspects of life and how we could improve each through resolutions relevant to it. These life aspects are: Vitality, Marriage, Work, Parenthood, Leisure, Friendship, Money, Eternity, Passion, Mindfulness, Attitude, and Happiness. These 12 aspects are discussed per month.  Even though you find some aspects not applicable to you (Parenthood and Marriage in my case), it's still good to read the chapters dedicated to them because there's so much to learn. Overall, the book is filled with theories, ways, and tips on how to be happy.

The Happiness Project is a self-help book, and this is my first time reading one. However, it doesn't have the imperative or know-it-all tone at all. It's just like reading the diary of Gretchen Rubin. It's really authentic and full of her own experiences, insights, and emotions. I can read it for hours without stopping because it's just like listening to a friend telling her stories. Reading this book made me add Gretchen Rubin in my Favorite Authors list, actually. Also, I seriously learned a lot about life and how we could enhance each aspect of it by coming up with our own resolutions. This book really emphasized the importance of goal-setting and monitoring our own behavior, which I liked very much because even before I read this book, I'm already the type of person who loves setting goals and keeping track of my progress. 

This book is for those who want to be as happy as they can be. So if you're on your journey towards achieving HAPPINESS or want to start one, or you think you're already pretty happy but still want to make the most out of life, then this book is surely for you. Go to your nearest bookstore or just click away on Amazon!

Official Blog of Gretchen Rubin

Buy it on Amazon

The Best Eyeliner

All of us who love wearing eyeliner only want one thing: we want it smudge-free. Having a sharpener is also a plus. The Face Shop's Face It Styling Auto Gel Liner has these features, which makes it the best eyeliner out there. 

It's a retractable gel liner that doesn't smudge even after several hours of using, unless you have so much sweat. And even if it smudges, it's not obvious at all. It also comes with a sharpener:

With the help of the sharpener, you can let it stay thick or make it thinner, depending on what look you want to have. 

I think it's pretty easy to use, but there are a couple of DON'Ts in order to use it perfectly:

1. Do not let the stick go out too much or it would break. 
2. Don't leave it without the cap and avoid it exposed to air because as a gel liner, it can get dry quickly. When it does, you'll have a hard time drawing the lines.

It's priced at PHP495 and I honestly think that it's cheap, given its features: long-lasting, smudge-free, has a sharpener. This is one of the best beauty purchases I've ever had and I'll definitely buy this again.