Since the onset of this insane heat, I've received a few questions about the kind of beauty products one should take to a beach vacation. Sunscreen is, of course, SOP, but you have a little more freedom when it comes to makeup. There are only two things to keep in mind: don't wear a lot, and make sure it will melt beautifully or not at all!

I followed these two rules while I was packing for El Nido a couple of weeks back (was it only two weeks?). Anyway, here's what I brought with me to the beach. You'll notice that I didn't bother with powder, instead going for cream or liquid colors. Why? Because cream/liquid makeup looks more natural, more "one" with your skin. Powder makeup looks off in the beach, since it can look thick, cakey, and overdone in such a casual setting. It's best to go with wet formulas to achieve a chic summer-at-the-beach look!

I packed everything in my Happy Skin brush bag. It's so cool no? I get to take these neatly-packed, travel-sized brushes and fit a whole face of makeup in too. The brushes are handy (my favorite is the flat top, sold separately as it happens), but the bag is really something else. It's compact but roomy, and I love the two-level arrangement for the brushes.

I brought my favorite bases from Shiseido: the Sun Protection Liquid Foundation SPF43, White Lucent Brightening Spot-Control Foundation, and Natural Finish Cream Concealer. Together, they're long-wearing and provide a good amount of coverage + sun protection. I used the Sun Protection foundation while swimming and it stayed on fairly well. I mean, it faded of course, but there were still some left over when I washed my face. It's very water-resistant!

The Fairydrops Platinum Mascara is still the best for extreme humidity, I think. It won't stay on after swimming but it will not fail you under the heat.

I was thinking of putting this off since I have a few looong overdue beauty posts, but I figured, if I don't write this down now, I'll never get around to it. It will probably suffer the same fate as my Boracay trip last year - I have dozens of photos, even a video of us helmet diving, but I never blogged about it. And now I just have a hazy memory of a vacation to show for it since I left all the photos in my old Macbook.

So! Last weekend, Marco, Luis, Vanessa, and I went to Marinduque to visit Elefante Island. The solitary island houses a beautiful, Satorini-inspired resort called Bellarocca. To say that I enjoyed my stay there is an understatement! The place was breathtaking, private, warm (in terms of service), and just perfect. I am obviously running out of adjectives so it's time for a photo dump.

The only airline service that flies to Marinduque is Zest Air. It's a 40-50 minute flight from Manila.

We're here!

Bellarocca provides a 40-minute van transfer to their jetty

I am off to Boracay next week! Yay. It's my first time to visit so I'm really excited to do all sorts of fun stuff with my family. I bought a couple of bikinis, a lovely hat from SM, all the sunblock I need from Nivea (they gave me two of everything), have two new lovely flip flops courtesy of Ipanema, a weekender bag from Avon (which is nicely huge, by the way). I'm all set! 

These beautiful flip flops are from Ipanema's newest collection - the Gisel Bundchen Colorful Sea Collection. I got the Sandal Star Fem. I hope to get more pics of this in action while in Boracay! The picture up there featuring the black Ipanemas was taken in Batangas.

Sun protection at its finest. I've been using the sunblock spray everyday! Love it to bits since it's not sticky at all and the sunblock-y smell dissipates as soon as it dries, which is pretty fast.

Swoon-worthy hat. Got this for only P250 at SM Department Store.