All the Beauty Boxes

OMG! Beauty boxes are finally in the Philippines. For those who are confused, beauty boxes are monthly subscriptions wherein for a certain set fee, subscribers receive a monthly box full of goodies. These goodies may be trial sized or full sized, and you never know what you'll be getting. 

Here's a list of all the subscriptions i know about. Don't know which one to subscribe to :(

• bdjbox.com - 480 for 1 month (until April 30), 580 starting May. Better deals for longer subscriptions, brands known.
• glamourbox.ph - 595 for 1 month. Brands unknown.
• saladbox.com.ph - 500. Brands known.
• Pretty Fix Collections -599. Found via FB. Newcomer.

I'm leaning to the bdjbox because I know which brands are coming, but since it's shipping next week, I don't know if I'll make it in time.

On the other hand, if you are interested in trying out new products and want to go a step further: try sampleroom.ph. Unlike Beauty Boxes that are simple pay and receive transactions, sample room works like this:

 Receive 100 points > Get product(s) > Review > Get points > Get product(s)

Latest Edit: April 15, 2014 (prices unedited)

Coke

Okay. I haven’t posted in 4 months! Studying is really taking a lot out of me. But I will try to make at least 1 post/month. Because I should have some kind of outlet, right?

Coke: the softdrink, not the drug. I’ve recently gone on a grocery run and bought myself a 2 Liter bottle for less than 50 pesos (that’s a bit over $1, maybe $1.25). I was gonna get myself 2 cans, but a can costs P19 (around $.50) in the grocery (much better than the P25 when I buy it outside). I decided that I might as well buy the 2L version since I’d be drinking it all week to alternate it with coffee. I know it’s unhealthy, but when I have to study, my body does take a hit when I’m on a budget.

 Actually, my wallet takes a hit too.

For me, it’s easy to make this decision during my hell weeks (def. a horrible time wherein I have to stay awake and active for long periods of time in order to complete an infinite number of tasks).

Given life on a student budget, I felt that it would be an acceptable trade-off. However, some people might think that it’s always better to buy something that will save you money in the long run. But what about your health? During 75% of the school year, I would prefer buying the 2 cans compared to the 2L bottle. Why? Because I wouldn’t need to drink 2L. I would have to think twice about opening that can (because I would have to finish that can after opening it) instead of just refilling my glass again and again and again. Cans actually end up staying in the fridge longer than I expect.

Heys

• Think twice about buying that jumbo sized something. Think twice about buying anything at all!
• Share with friends. A sneaky way not to drink everything yourself.
• Dilute with ice to drink less. You'd be surpised at how much space ice actually takes up.

Just a few things I found at the back of my bottle:

Coca-cola 2L

Serving size: 240ml

Calories per serving: 100

Total carbohydrate: 25g

Ingredients

Carbonated water, sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine.

Extra nerd stuff?

What I found really annoying was that the coke bottle gave something about needing X glasses of water/liquid per day and drinking coke to hydrate yourself.

First, there is no actual amount prescribed for how much water you should drink per day since there are many factors that affect how much water you actually need. Second,  coke will only make you more thirsty. Read the ingredients! Hint: one reason starts with an s and the other with a c.

Finally, How come making this stuff is so cheap, yet they sell them in restos for even 100% more than their market price.

Thoughts: A question about people

When is the right time to say those three special words?

I love you.

For some people, it is the easiest thing in the world. The sentence dropping from their lips nearly as often as they breathe. For some people, it is an impossibility.

Does the latter bother some people? The former?

It depends on the person. But can a relationship of one and the other survive, or is it an impossibility?

I guess what I wonder is: in relationships, is it better to be opposite or similar to your partner?

Review: Neutrogena Hydro Boost

This may be an older product, but I haven't been able to try it until recently. I've been using it for a month and I think I'm ready to review it. I have no idea what the price is. Sorry for the bad pictures....

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Mousse Cleanser (left), Clear Lotion (middle) and Essence (right)

Mouse Cleanser Ingredients
Glycerin, magnesium aspartate, zinc gluconate, copper gluconate, Olea europaea (olive) leaf extract


Essence Ingredients
Sodium hyaluronate, glycerin, cetearyl olivate, sorbitan olivate, magnesium aspartate, zinc gluconate, copper gluconate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone


Ingredients list taken from thefilipinodoctor.com



Clear Lotion Ingredients

Aqua, dipropylene glycol, glycereth-26, butylene glycol, glycerol, dexpanthenol, benzyl alcohol, sodium benzoate, tween 20, citric acid, magnesium aspartate, zinc gluconate, parfum, sodium hyaluronate, Canarium album Raeusch, copper gluconate

Ingredients list taken from cosdna.com

Serenitea

Serenitea is one of the more established milk tea shops out there. At P95 for a medium, cold classic milk tea including one sinker (this is a pudding) it's neither one of the cheaper nor more expensive places out there. 

This is one of their bestsellers, Nagoya, I  think.

Serenitea: M Nagoya Milk Tea

I included the chair because I loved the design. I found it very cute :)

Review: Dove Damage Therapy Intensive Repair Shampoo and Conditioner

Have you tried Dove Damage Therapy Intensive Repair Shampoo and Conditioner? I had several sachets of these I'd been using for a while.


Shampoo Ingredients
Water (Aqua), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Ammonium Chloride, Dimethiconol, Glycol Distearate, Glycerin, Fragrance (Parfum), Carbomer, Ppg-9, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Amodethicone, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Poloxamer 217, Glyceryl Oleate, Tea-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Tetrasodium Edta, Dmdm Hydantoin, C11-15 Pareth-7, Laureth-9, Peg-180M, Trideceth-12, Lysine Hcl, Silk Amino Acids [ Alanine, Glycine, Serine, Arginine, Isoleucine, Cystine, Histidine, Glutamic Acid], Borago Officinalis Seed Oil [Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Oleic Acid, Eicosenoic Acid], Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Ext. Violet 2 (Ci 60730).


Conditioner Ingredients
Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteryl Alcohol, Dimethiconol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Quaternium-18, Fragrance (Parfum), C11-12 Isoparaffin, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Poloxamer 217, Disodium Edta, Meroxapol 311, Quatenmium-18, Amodimethicone, Tea-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Dmdm Hydantoin, C12-14 Sec-Pareth-5, C12-14 Sec-Pareth-7, Lysine Hci, Citric Acid, Silk Amino Acids [Alanine, Glycine, Serine, Arginine, Isoleucine, Cystine, Histidine, Glutamic Acid], Borago Officinalis Seed Oil [Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Oleic Acid, Eicosenoic Acid], Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone


Ingredients list taken from Amazon.com


The conditioner helped tame my hair and kept it soft and shiny without the weight. It did not, however, prevent split ends. On the other hand, the shampoo was a big no-no for me as it aggravated my dandruff. I did not try the two separately.


Yays

• Keeps hair soft and shiny
• Affordable, though not cheap, this is not an expensive life

Nays

• Did not prevent split ends (despite product claims)
• Made my dandruff worse

Okays

• Those who don't have dandruff may have better results

Buy Again?
The shampoo is a definite no. The conditioner is a maybe. I'd rather try other lines for now.

So long Slippers!

My favorite pair of slippers are these green slippers with gold accents from iPANEMA. Bought at a sale for around P400 ($10), these have been with me for around 2.5 years. I've used then 3-5 times a week for some heavy duty walking. They were with me in the USA and in Japan. Though these slippers are not the best for your feet, these were one of the best slippers I've ever had for comfort and fashion.

 Unfortunately, my slippers now have to be retired due to the cracks that I've noticed on both sides of my slippers.  They're both pretty big and I don't want to risk getting de-slippered at a bad time.

Goodbye slippers! I think it's time for me to find a new pair and concentrate on closed-toe shoes for now!

Sun Broadband Sim Experience

Sun wireless broadband prepaid sim experience

Price paid: P50

Frustration level: high

Objects used: sun cellphone, sun wireless broadband stick, laptop

Satisfaction: 5/10

Since I no longer had access to a PLDT modem + router during the weekdays, I decided to use my dad’s old Sun Wireless Broadband USB stick. I bought a prepaid sim for P50 which came with 5 hours free internet, consumable in 5 days. I plugged it, installed the software and pressed connect and got the ERROR 619 message. Repeatedly. I also got a text in my dashboard saying that my sim wasn’t activated and to activate it by calling 220. I tried it, also repeatedly. Didn’t work.

So I called up the hotline at 333. I was unable to talk to anyone for 1 hour: I only got female voice recordings and bad music. Thank god for loudspeaker!

Finally, I got connected to a tech support guy. For this final call, there was a waiting time of 5 mins and a talking time of 15 mins. While I must complain about how long it took me to get through to someone, I must recommend this person for being patient and professional.

What I learned from the call:

• To activate sim, text BALANCE to 2225. This was not in my prepaid booklet: it stated that the balance inquiry is for balance inquiry, not for activation. It may have been in the USB booklet, if ever, but I didn’t have it. Why in the world would I get that stupid text then?
• Blue is best. Check the color of the connected stick. This is the faster of the two. Try getting the blue by using the WCDMA only settings and manually searching for 3G. If not, you’re stuck with 2G, which is pretty much crap on laptops.

So I guess, for my area, I wouldn’t choose sun broadband since I can’t connect to their 3G network. It’s prepaid so it’s okay with me, and it’s a bit expected. If only the hotline didn’t take so long, I’d give this experience a 7.

Does anyone know if I can use a Globe/Smart sim with the sun stick?

Happy Fathers's Day!

I am so tired right now because of all the changes going on in my life. I definitely know that my blogging will be affected by it. This is just a quick post to make sure that I keep posting (at least once a week, I hope).


Thank you fathers of the world! Thank you specially, papa, even if you will never read this :P


On another note:


Uniqlo is open and will be on sale for some items until the 21st. Jeans are on sale until July 5.


Do not use the turmeric mask unless you are 100% awake. I tried it when I was super tired yesterday and ended up making a big, permanent mess. *sigh* It looks like I'm back to other, less messy, masks now.


SM has this butterfly app that allows you to get discounts in SM, as long as you have a smartphone. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've not had internet this past week, so I'm even more sympathetic to those who do not have smartphones and internet access.

Computer Maintainance Tips

I am a student with a 4-year old laptop that was bought during a time when the unit was low to mid-range (definitely state of the art). For four years, this laptop (that has no name), has been my loyal companion through a billion hours of coursework. Unfortunately, maybe due to age, misuse or generally bad technology (as compared to now), I've had several problems with this laptop, including but not limited to:

• low battery life
• overheating
• slowness

Since I cannot afford other gadgets such as tablets, much less a new laptop, I've had to figure out ways to care for my laptop. Hopefully, it'll last another 4 years. Some tips I've found that help preserve my laptop:

• Do not overcharge your battery. As with all gadgets, once it reaches high 90s, unplug it. You should also allow your battery to drain, so don't start charging until the battery is low.
• Use a cooling fan. Additionally, make sure that air can circulate underneath the laptop. Unfortunately, my cooling fan is not enough: I have to use a real electric fan and make it face my laptop to keep the temperature down.
• Make sure your laptop is well-wrapped during transport. You never know when an accident could happen.
• As much as possible, let your laptop rest. If you're not using it, shut it down or at least put it on standby. Make sure that when you let your laptop idle, it automatically engages a low-powered screen-saver or goes to sleep on its own.
• Clean your laptop regularly. You can use special wipes to wipe down laptop screens and keyboards. Make sure that your computer is turned off while cleaning.
• Protect everything. Always have anti-virus software and scan everything that enters your PC. Don't click anything without scanning.
• Keep your e-space neat by deleting unnecessary files and defragmenting regularly. Don't allow your computer to enter low memory territory as it makes them run slower.

Are there any other things that should be done? Hmmm....I can't think of anymore right now, but I can stress that it's important to be prepared for the worst. Thus:

• Back-up! Use an external drive of some sort to back-up your files. If possible, have at least 2 just in case one of the hard drives fail.

There are enough horror stories as it is about unsaved files, natural disasters (such as drink spills) and even theft! Keep your back-up(s) and laptop in different places if possible.

Let's hope my laptop and yours lasts a long time.

Review: Matsuri at Tomas Morato

Matsuri is an order-all-you can restaurant that charges P495 for lunch Mondays to Fridays and P595 for dinner Mondays to Sundays and weekend lunches. It's located at Tomas Morato, Quezon City.


It's an order-all-you can restaurant, which is good because:

1. You don't have to leave  the table
2. Food is served freshly made

Matsuri serves generally good food. There also weren't a lot of people when I last went, so I didn't have to wait long for my orders. My water glass wasn't empty for very long, and the plates were cleared very quickly. It was very clean and well lit, though I wondered why they still seemed to have Christmas decorations.


I forgot to take pictures, as usual.




Must Try:

• Gyoza
• Ushi Ebi Tempura
• Matsuri Salad
• Creamy Chicken Mushroom Ragout

The biggest surprise for me was actually their salad. I'm not a big fan of greens, but I ended up demolishing this salad. Maybe because it had a lot of fruit? Anyway, I didn't find their sashimi or miso spectacular, but was decent. 

Since there's a leftover charge of P250, it's best if you avoid the horrible things in their menu too.

Must Not:

• Chawan Mushi
• Creme Brulee

I've been to Matsuri a year ago, and I am disappointed at my latest experience with their chawan mushi. It was definitely not the same one I tried a year ago. This version of the dish was the  most horrible one I've ever tasted. It was way too dry! After one bite, I had it sent back. When I complained, I was told that "ganyan talaga siya." As someone who loves, chawan mushi, I'd have object! Although it is type of egg custard, chawan mushi should not taste and feel like badly cooked scrambled eggs.

I was hesitant about trying their creme brulee because of this, but I ended up ordering it nonetheless. It was also on the drier end of the creme brulee scale. You're much better off with the leche flan which was not amazing, but much better in comparison.


I did not try any of their tofu dishes, nor their skewers (which I wanted to as I remembered they were quite good a year ago, but was too full to try).


I like this restaurant, but it's a bit out of my way. And while they're food was good, I'm not over the way they murdered one of my favorite dishes. I'll probably go back in another year if they're still there.

News: Uniqlo is Coming to the Philippines and Review: Uniqlo Lightweight Pocketable Parka

Uniqlo, which is like the Japanese version of GAP, is coming to the Philippines this June 15 at SM Mall of Asia. I'm excited about it, especially with their Vote and Win application on facebook which gives voters the chance to win free shirts and a trip to Japan(ends on June 10, so vote now!).


While I am excited, I am not as excited as I want to be: I'm expecting a drastic mark-up in price compared to that of Japan like what happened to Muji (Mujirushi). Something to look forward to: they will be having a promo on their Barbie UT shirts for women at P590; shirts like that cost 1500 Yen (P833) normally.


On the other hand, maybe it will be much cheaper: they will be having a Jean sale (P590 instead of P990) as soon as it opens. However, UJ's in the Japanese website cost around 2,990 - 3,990 Yen, making it much cheaper!


What I did end up buying while I was in Japan was their Light Pocketable Parka ($50 dollars in the US catalog or around P2200) I bought for around 3,000 Yen (P1700). I bought this jacket because 1) it was unexpectedly colder and rainier in Japan than I expected and 2) I could still use it in the Philippines (especially underneath my white uniform). I bought the M size with pockets on both sides of the jacket and on the inside two plus the pouch pocket. It's very light and surprisingly strong.

Lightweight Pocketable Parka by Uniqlo (White)

Tutorial: Turmeric Mask

Turmeric isn't just for curry and other foods, it's for your face and body too. I use it to help prevent acne while preserving the contents of my poor wallet. 

Ingredients:

Powdered turmeric

Calamansi juice (or lemon juice)

Honey

Powdered turmeric can be bought in a supermarket very easily and cheaply with the spice selection (at least in the Philippines, you may have to go to an asian food store). For the tutorial, I used half a singles sachet or 1.5 grams of ground turmeric by McCormick. The 36g - 12 sachet pack itself costs around P40 (around $1 dollar). While there are cheaper versions available, the packet is less messy and allows me to better control the amount of product i put in.

Calamansi, being native to the Philippines, is easier to find and far less expensive than lemon. I used only 10 drops of freshly squeezed calamansi juice on this mask. I've forgotten how much the honey costs but you'll need 1-2 tablespoons. I started with 1 tablespoon's worth then added as I went.

Here's one way to use turmeric as a mask: