I spend quite a lot on makeup. To exercise a sense of control, I limit myself to buying just two products every month (one per pay day). That’s why when my previous company succumbed to the pandemic, I instantly worried about the makeup I wouldn’t be able to buy. Talk about priorities, right?

Of course I still worried about the bills to pay and sending my younger brother to school, but on a personal level, I thought about makeup. We all have different ways to motivate ourselves. Mine are makeup and books!

It was the bold claim of a mask-proof glossy lip that intrigued me enough to want to try a Korean brand that has been getting consistent buzz within the local beauty community. Bet I got an eyebrow raise with that one. Rom&nd is the brainchild of Kbeauty guru, Saerom Min. (With the “Rom” taken from her name + a stylized version of “and”.) The brand features makeup with minimalist packaging that manages to represent color range well, peppered with some trendy collabs in between.

If you’ve been dealing with acne for most of your life like I am, you’re probably looking for new products for both acne and its ‘souvenirs’ – hyperpigmentation and post-acne marks.

I’ve been looking for a good acne treatment to add to my current regimen when I found out about Oxecure, a skincare brand that focuses on acne-control for the face and body. I was instantly intrigued by the brand’s promise to deliver results in six hours.

The Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion is something I grew up with. I remember when I was in high school, my Titas in the US sends us the brand’s 3-step Skin Care routine with all the travel-sized GWPs (they have the cutest pouches!) and that yellow bottle was quite memorable. I liked how simple and effective it was but as with all cult classics, sometimes, they need a bit of an update for new users to take notice.

You might be thinking, “Oh great another lecture on common skincare mistakes.” Excessive cleansing, overexfoliating, not wearing sunscreen, blah, blah, blah - you might know all those already, but are you aware that taking care of your skin is more than just doing each skincare step properly? Here are some skincare mistakes you might want to correct.

I was able to interview Heart Evangelista-Escudero last 2016 when she launched her first ever makeup collaboration with Happy Skin. I came into that interview not expecting much - I have met and interviewed celebrities before, and while they were pleasant, they are usually very bland. They don’t like to say anything that might be even remotely misconstrued in a negative way. But Heart? Oh, she was fabulous! She was smart and eloquent and a joy to speak with. Read my interview here!

I heard about LOOK early this year and was psyched when I saw some of their initial plans. The launch I believe was originally scheduled in May but with the pandemic and all, they just officially opened last Friday, October 30. The massive beauty concept store is inside SM Aura. Since it’s in my neck of the woods I decided to visit it despite the fact that there’s a raging typhoon outside (well, I was doing groceries anyway).

SO! I was able to take a lot of photos. I also took a video (I posted it on IGTV) which you can watch if you want to see the exact store layout.

My friend, AJ,posted on Facebook a throwback photo from our college days and, boy, I didn’t realize I looked so different back then. No wonder a former high school classmate said she heard a rumor saying I must’ve had stuff done to my face. Well, I did. I got braces to straighten my teeth, a dermatologist to address my cystic acne, a hairstylist to give me fabulous cuts and colors, and the best skin care products and makeup.

One of the more amusing side effects of the stay-at-home order is our collective renewed interest in K-dramas and, subsequently, Korean cuisine and K-beauty. The demand for the latter is so that a lot of us are blind buying our Korean products straight from the Land of the Morning Calm.

When it comes down to it, we have to accept that the new normal makes acne management a little trickier. The hulas mode of the daily commute and exposure to the elements have always been challenging, but we now also have the threat of maskne to contend with.

It’s about time for a refresher on how to treat acne, and we’ve got some solid tips to take to heart!

Hi everyone, today I’ll be discussing some skincare myths I’ve come across my practice or from people I know. There’s a great deal of misinformation being spread from one person to another about skin and skincare thru either word of mouth or from skincare forums. There are a lot of myths out there but here the ones I’ve read and heard recently.

Asian beauty is rich in ingredients derived from nature. Here in the Philippines, coconut oil, aloe vera and papaya are used in a wide array of products. K-Beauty products, which are also widely available, contain a lot of green tea, ginseng and centella extract.

The Japanese love their skincare too and it shows. Their secret ingredient? As it turns out, it’s rice! You might be familiar with sake-infused skincare. There’s also rice oil, which is produced by extracting oil from the hull of rice grains.

Collaborations have been the name of the game in the beauty industry lately, so a lot of people expected one when Detail Cosmetics (formerly Detail Makeover) teased an upcoming launch on Instagram. What took everyone by surprise, however, was how the collaboration was with 12 Filipino beauty gurus!

Called Powder Pout (P199), the newest lipstick line of Detail Cosmetics features 12 of the biggest names in the local beauty community scene with their respective signature lipstick shades. I have a lot of things to say about this collaboration, so let’s go straight into the review and lip swatches, shall we?

Doing my makeup on a day to day basis is a breeze. I can do smokey eyes in less than ten minutes, and I have even mastered the art of glamming up inside a moving vehicle. I love the art of putting on makeup, like buffing foundation to make my skin look seamless, concealing my eyebags to hide yesterday’s drama, drawing my brows to make it go wow, flicking that wing liner oh-so-perfectly, or blending eyeshadows layer after layer like there is no tomorrow.

Is there a star ingredient that you always look for when shopping for skincare products? As soon as I heard about the hydrating capabilities of Hyaluronic Acid (HA), I wanted it in as many of my skincare steps as possible. I find that specifically having Hyaluron in my serum gives me a more potent hydration boost (and gets me one step closer to my glass skin goals). So I'm thrilled to share that the #1 serum sold in the US is finally coming to the Philippines on October 21!

I try not to write overly personal posts here on Project Vanity. I’ve moved most of it to lizlanuzo.com, my personal blog, because I wanted to separate my thoughts about my own life from Project Vanity’s stories about beauty. Today I was going to write about another beauty story here, something about my current skincare routine or my thoughts about wedding makeup, perhaps - but I couldn’t. Instead I want to talk about the beauty of grief.

If you’ve been reading Project Vanity for a while now, then you know how we stress the importance of good skincare. We’re always looking for ways on how to get smooth skin that is also bright and firm. Smooth and firm skin are pretty self-explanatory, but what does bright skin mean and why would you want to achieve it?

As a dermatologist, I come across patients seeking consult for brighter and smoother skin. More often than not, they would ask me what I think of rejuvenating sets and which one I can recommend them. If you’re not familiar with these, rejuvenating sets are skincare products that are grouped together as a set, usually containing a cleanser, toner, bleaching/whitening cream, and sunblock gel/cream. Here’s my take on them - they’re not meant for every skin type, for every skin concern, and for long-term use.

Beauty fridges started popping up on everybody’s Instagram feeds about a couple of years ago. It’s not that we can’t - or didn’t - use to store our skincare and makeup in an ol’ regular fridge, but there’s just something so luxurious and thus covetable about having a mini fridge specifically made to house our prized beauty possessions right on our desk. But do we really need it aside from the pretty IG content that we can get out of it?

Having a Zoom Makeup Kit at the ready eliminates the stress in deciding what makeup to put on for your online meetings. Trust me, I’ve been there. There was a time when I was informed about a meeting just three minutes prior. I wasted the entire three minutes rummaging through my lipstick stash. And yes, I ended up attending the meeting with no makeup on.