Since we are all wearing masks for the time being, beauty trends have been focused on eye and brow makeup. Sometimes, though, we want to wear more face makeup, but then it would just transfer to our masks instead! As a PV girl, I still sometimes wear makeup under my mask and have learned a few tricks to help my makeup stay put on my face and not turn my mask into an icky mess. Here are some of my tried-and-tested tips to make my makeup more mask-resistant!

Like a lot of Pinays, I like to grow my hair long. I have curly hair and I love the layers that my stylist can create when my hair is at a good length. I also like to color and highlight my hair, which I think emphasizes my curls even more! All that processing is very damaging to my hair, though. It also doesn’t help that I like to wash my hair frequently to keep my hair clean, which can also add to the damage.

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.

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?

When our skin is dry, our first instinct is to reach for the richest, heaviest moisturizer we can find and apply generously. However, this is not always the best solution, because we can just end up looking greasy and possibly clog our pores. Instead, we’ve talked about layering our skincare with lightweight, moisturizing products. The same goes with our hair.

Don’t you just wish you could go to the salon to have great hair everyday? Well, achieving salon-ready hair at home is easier than you think. We asked Francis Guintu of Culture Salon Manila in BGC for some tips on how to achieve salon-looking hair in your own home without your favorite hairstylist’s help!

Skincare is a huge part of my beauty routine. Beyond the basics, I feel that it’s important that my chosen products contain active ingredients as part of my quest on how to get smooth skin on my face! On the other hand, my body care routine is kind of boring. I use moisturizing and scented body washes in the shower, but I don’t get any added skin benefits. If I were a billionaire I would buy face care for body use, but sadly I don’t have that kind of money!

As the old saying goes, “Your hair is your crowning glory.” So naturally, we want to take very good care of our hair by cleansing it well and using conditioner to keep it in tip-top shape. We even style it, use heated tools, or have it colored, permed or rebonded. These things can damage hair but even little things like too much sun exposure can be damaging too.

Recently, I noticed my skin changed dramatically. My previously oily, acne-prone skin is now a lot more sensitive than it used to be. The dry skin on my face was red, flaky and itchy! On my body, I started to develop itchy rashes on and off. To make matters worse, I recently found out that sensitive skin is also more vulnerable to germs because of a weaker skin barrier. This pushed me to switch my routine towards more gentle products and mild soaps.

A member of the PVC Facebook Group recently raved about a hack that we'd never heard of before. Instead of the usual hair gel, Katrina used water-based lubricant as a styler for her curly hair and got great results! We were definitely intrigued and had to test this out for ourselves. 

One of my favorite parts of the holiday is shopping for presents, and as a PV girl, I love giving gifts of beauty and wellness. Because I’m pregnant, I have to be extra careful of the products I use. I’ve also become extra sensitive to the scent of a lot of commercial brands so I’ve had to make a lot of changes to my routine. Zenutrients was one of the first brands I turned to for their naturally-derived ingredients and non-synthetic fragrances. And it looks like I will be gifting them this Christmas, too!

Have you listened to the Project Vanity Podcast yet? ICYMI, Project Vanity has made it easier to learn about beauty via this new medium! If you don’t get the chance to read PV as much as you’d like, this is a great option to get your beauty fix while you’re on the go. Tune in as you do your skincare routine, or make the most of being stuck in traffic by listening in. 

Whether you’re putting together your first makeup kit or a seasoned pro stocking up on work essentials, Maybelline is a reliable go-to drugstore brand for beauty fans. They recently launched three new products that claim to be long-wearing and more, so we tested them to see if they actually deliver.

As PV’s resident beauty gadgets girl, I have a mini collection of beauty devices that have helped my super oily skin keep clear of acne. To be honest, I’d probably purchase more, if not for the prohibitive price tags on these electronics. I’ve always stuck with established high-end brands like Foreo and Clarisonic so I had to wonder: would cheaper ones work as well as my favorites? 

While many bloggers have released their own makeup lines or collaborations, it’s not often that they venture into scents. It is an especially bold move to do so locally! Vv and Co. is a relatively new brand by local bloggers and real-life sisters Vern and Verniece Enciso. The brand currently offers three perfumes: Vern, Verniece, and Cat, the product of a collaboration with fellow blogger Cat Arambulo-Antonio. The bottles have a premium look and feel, and each scent contains 30ml.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics arrived in the Philippines late last year at the freyja concept store in Glorietta. If you don’t frequent Makati, though, the brand has opened a branch at SM Mall of Asia and another inside SM Beauty in Megamall!

Raise your hand if your skin is so oily that you wake up every morning with enough grease on your face to fry your breakfast in! I know this; I’ve been there. Over the years, I’ve learned how to better manage my extremely oily skin, but I still find myself waking up with an oily nose and chin. During the daytime, I also still have to blot my face every few hours, as the Philippines’ heat and humidity can make our skin glands produce more oil. Recently, Den challenged me to make certain changes to my skincare and to see if those changes will help my skin become less oily. I was very curious if it could make a difference so I modified my usual skincare routine and products to give it a try.

I’ve been a fan of Colourette Cosmetics ever since Liz gave me a Colourtint. Now, I have a small collection of Colourtints, and a few more lippies from their different lipstick lines. I find their lip products to offer great quality at a very affordable price so when Colourette released these limited edition matte lipsticks called Christmattes, I just had to try them out! This post is a bit late considering this was released during the holidays, but I hope to give you an idea of how Colourette bullet lipsticks perform.

With so many face masks in the market, it’s become daunting to find the best face mask for me. There are just so many options, at different price points, with Western brands catching up on the trend started by Asian brands. I think it’s a welcome development, as we benefit from different beauty philosophies and gain access to a wider array of formulations. I recently had a good experience with Olay’s Power Duo, so I was eager to see what their just-released Magnemasks Infusion face mask sheets could do for my skin.