As a big skincare enthusiast, I try to “influence” my family and friends to take better care of their skin. It’s not a frivolous pursuit - after all the skin is the body’s largest organ! It can be difficult for a complete newbie to buy into skincare though because there are so many products available now. Even I sometimes feel a bit intimidated and confused by all the options you can find in stores! This is why I am a fan of skincare sets - they usually cover all the basic steps, are united by a common effect or ingredient that can make them more effective, and are often cheaper than buying products individually!

What could be more fun than going beauty shopping? Why, shopping with gift certificates, of course! More than getting a straight-up discount, there’s something very satisfying about handing over a bunch of GCs to pay for your purchases. This is the experience that four Luxasia Philippines brands try to recreate with their first ever Beauty Shopping Wonderland in Mega Fashion Hall!

Last November 23rd, Human Nature celebrated their anniversary with a bang at the PICC Banquet Hall. In attendance were hundreds of their employees and advocates. The positive energy was palpable as the husband and wife tandem of Paolo Abrera and Suzi Entrata-Abrera introduced themselves as hosts for the night, as well as long-time supporters of the proudly local brand.

I purchased the Urban Decay Born To Run Palette at the Sephora SoHo branch in New York. I didn’t enter Sephora with intention to buy ~a lot~ of makeup, but I ended up spending quite a bit inside! The hysteria is different inside a US Sephora store. I’ve been inside the stores in Singapore and Malaysia before, but the level of shopping energy is so different in New York. It’s like…ubusan ng makeup levels of excitement. It does catch.

My patron singer Santa Mariah, along with Tita Whitney, once sang that there can be miracles when you believe. TBQH, I immediately ignore any product that claims to be miraculous. But thanks to all the persuasive marketing and my insecurity of having adult acne, I volunteered my face to try the Some By Mi AHA BHA PHA Miracle Toner.

When the new PV team was first assembled two years ago, I was surprised to see many familiar names. Pretty much everyone, including myself, had “met” Liz through Project Vanity. We were all active commenters so it was really nice to meet the real people we’d interacted with online.

K-Beauty has taken over the local beauty scene with so many Korean brands that have washed up in Philippine shores. There is one brand, however, that many have been pining to see here and now it has finally arrived. Innisfree just opened its first branch at SM Mall of Asia and boy, is it huge!

Happy weekend, PV readers! Now I know you are all still trying to recover from the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness, but this week’s roundup might make you want to shop just a little bit more. We’ve spotted new shades from Generation Happy Skin, a K-Beauty collab with a huge fashion house, the iconic ABH highlighter, and your new YouTube channel obsession. Plus, there’s a new celebrity makeup artist collab that got us giddy with excitement! Are you ready? Let’s go!

There was a time in my life where I went for a foot spa sesh every two weeks. It was my refuge during a particularly stressful time and in those sessions, I always felt pampered and relaxed. A staple I had then, aside from the insanely bold polish shades, was a pair of slippers from Brazilian brand, Havaianas.  The soft slippers with a ton of styles and designs to choose from thrilled the picky twenty-something me and I slowly built a small collection flip-flops.

Slippers are more than just a necessity - a well-chosen pair can also showcase your personal style! Havaianas celebrates this with the annual Make Your Own Havaianas (MYOH). Here’s a peek at my #MYOH2018 experience!

Makeup sponges are some of the most universally recognized tools in beauty. Remember your first foray into makeup? Did you immediately go hunting for a brush, or were you first acquainted with the humble sponge applicator of your powder foundation compact? Mine was the latter, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this!

As November comes to a close, this week’s roundup is making us even more excited for the Yuletide season! Start marking your calendars cause we’ve got new collections and products that are sure to make your wallets cry out for help, lol. Sorry but we’re not sorry; these goodies are bringing in some early holiday cheer!

It’s a great time to be a makeup junkie. The past few years have witnessed the birth of several new local makeup brands, and each one of them has been bringing their A-game to the table. One of these new players is Vice Cosmetics, which just launched last year. With the success of several lines of lipsticks and their first collab, Vice is upping the ante with a range of powder highlighters, blushes, and contour called the Aura Collection.

There’s a foundation war going on in drugstores right now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but affordable foundations have gotten better this year! Big brands are finally responding to our call for long-wearing, easy-to-blend foundation that won’t cost a ton of money while still performing close to a high-end foundation. Leading the charge is the latest from Revlon, just out this month: the Colorstay Full Cover Foundation (P825 for 30ml).

My average week can get pretty intense. I get asked about how I do it all and where I find the time to run a company (with different verticals - retail, PR, media), attend speaking and hosting engagements, and still do a little sports or art in between.

When I first started seeing anti-pollution skin care products a few years back, I thought it was just another skincare gimmick - yet another “concern” concocted by the beauty biz to get people to buy new must-have products. I dismissed it as a marketing shtick targeting the urban consumer. After all, shouldn’t I care more about how smog affects my lungs and other vital organs? I already had a reliable skincare routine, so proper cleansing should remove all the grime my skin accumulates through the day.

With December fast approaching, it definitely feels like the holiday season is upon us! Have you prepped your party looks yet? Before going full on with the holiday glam, we’re taking a look at five fall makeup trends that can be easily incorporated to our FOTD repertoire. And one of the easiest ways to spice it up for our theoretical fall season? Focus on the eyes!

After the boom of clay masks late last year, I thought that sheet masks would soon lose their popularity among skincare enthusiasts. But. I. was. dead. wrong. I’ve noticed so many new sheet masks cropping on up on Watsons’ shelves, and it made me realize that what started as a K-beauty trend has found a permanent spot in our routines. It makes sense though: it’s an easy and often affordable way to indulge in 15 to 20 minutes of pampering and me-time. With so many new variants to choose from though, which one do you start with? I tried out a few so you know what to try for your next self-care sesh!

When I was first started out using makeup, I would always check out the Wet n Wild counter because it was easy to find and had budget-friendly prices. Drugstore makeup may have a reputation for having poor quality products but Wet n Wild has always impressed me with the performance of their products. Even now that I’m better versed with beauty, I keep an eye out for WnW’s latest releases and find new faves to add to my collection! The quality is comparable to high-end makeup, and it’s cruelty-free, too! If you’ve never tried anything from the brand, you’ve been missing out, so I’ve put together a wishlist of my Wet n Wild favorites that you shouldn’t sleep on.

K-beauty has given rise to some pretty strange and interesting trends like applying 7 layers of toner, dunking your face in ice water to set makeup, and the use of bubble cosmetics. The last one particularly sounds like pure skincaretainment, which simply uses carbonization to create a fun and fizzy experience. But does it actually do anything for your skin?