Is it just me, or was January a crazy month? But you know what they say: there’s nowhere to go but up. Which is why we’re going to try and bring you good vibes with this week’s beauty roundup to perk up your spirits and get you excited for February! We’re talking about Happy Skin’s newest launch and blk’s insane stack of goodies, which are both testing our #nobuy resolutions. We’ve also got the latest from FENTY (yes, there’s more) and Glow Recipe’s baby step towards more “makeup-like” products!  

Are you a skincare junkie? How many skincare products do you currently have in your stash? I recently took stock of mine and found that I currently have 20 in rotation. It’s a lot more than I’d like, but in my defense, it took some trial and error for me to find the ones I like best. I’m finishing these purchases, then plan to edit down to only keeping my HGs! My downsized shelf will be composed of just 10 key pieces; that may still seem like a lot for some but it’s the routine that works for my oily-acne prone skin type.

Thanks to Project Vanity, I’ve had the chance to try out a lot of different skincare products but K-beauty has a special place in my heart! Learning about Korean skincare gave me my first brush with the Asian beauty philosophy, and it has truly been a game-changer for my routines. From chemical exfoliants and 7-skin application, to straight brows and just-bitten lips, so much of my beauty routine is Korean inspired! So I was really excited to learn that a new K-beauty brand just arrived in town.

I’ve wanted a tattoo ever since I was little, but even when I could already afford to get one, it took me a while to actually take the leap. After all, it was going to be a permanent mark on my body, so I needed to be sure about all the details. Where should I have it done? How much would it cost? Most importantly: how can I do it all safely?

We know that skin care is for everyone. But based on stories shared by members of the Project Vanity community, it seems like getting the men in our lives to use skin care is quite a challenge! It's especially difficult to get them to use sunscreen because of common complaints like “it feels sticky” and “it requires too much effort”. 

Kung Hei Fat Choi! We’ve got some great news to ring in the start of the lunar year! NARS offers a timely new collection while Revlon has unveiled a new celebrity face to front the brand. Haute couture meets beauty, and K-beauty gets a sugar rush. We’ve also got our eye on Sabrina’s makeup spell book, and the PONY x Morphe release that just dropped!

When I first heard of bakuchiol, I thought it was yet another skincare ingredient slash marketing ploy carefully crafted to draw in the “all-natural” consumer group. A plant extract that acts like retinol without side effects? It sounds too good to be true, and conveniently fits the bill for those looking for “clean” and vegan product alternatives.

With cosmetics becoming more accessible and more affordable, many beauty lovers have found themselves with collections bigger than they can use up before expiry. Hauls are fun, to be sure, but it’s also important to be wary of when our love for beauty and shopping at are unhealthy levels that negatively affect our finances and the planet. 

I have a confession to make: last year, I started teaching myself to buy less makeup. I unfollowed a lot of cosmetic brands on social media, and stopped consuming makeup content from videos to blogs, and even newsletters. When I see a sale, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and walk away. I still love makeup and that’s not gonna change, but I needed to stop an unhealthy shopping addiction that had me buying waaaay more than I need. What snapped me back to reality was seeing a drawer full of expired makeup that I hadn’t even used more than thrice. So this 2020, my New Year resolution is to stay committed to #ProjectPan and doing a low buy!

I was never really self-conscious about my teeth until I fell in love with orange lipsticks. The coral hues lend warmth to my pale skin, but they also highlight how yellow my teeth are! It’s just the natural color of my teeth, a dentist had told me previously, but I couldn’t help wishing for whiter teeth. I know that there’s a DIY hack involving baking soda and lemon juice, but the dentist warned me against doing it as the abrasive nature of both ingredients can strip the protective enamel from the teeth and make it more sensitive or prone to ngilo.

The last year of the last decade saw me having a baby. I knew this meant changes to my lifestyle, and I had to bid goodbye to my tried and tested routines. I cut out a lot of products during my pregnancy, and became conscious about avoiding certain ingredients. After I gave birth, I found myself with drier skin than usual ,and with significantly less time to devote to a skincare regimen.

There’s nothing like blush to instantly wake our face up and give it a fresh vibe. Cheek tints have become especially popular here in the Philippines because they’re so convenient to use, but honestly I don’t use them often simply because of the limited colors available! I personally love nude and coral pink blushes for my skin tone, and I can usually find these type of colors in powder blushes.

This week has been an extra crazy one for the beauty world, and we’re spilling the tea! It’s a mix of good and bad news, and some are still developing stories so we’ll probably be posting a part 2 (or more). Clinique has chosen a queen to be their first ever celebrity brand ambassador, while Ashley Graham has revealed her new babies (but no, she hasn’t given birth yet). We’ve also got the scoop on Too Faced’s two face firing, something new from Huda Beauty, Jeffree Star’s canceled tour! Happy reading!

Face masks are a great way to get bouncy, plump skin in 10 minutes. They’re like the first aid of skin care: affordable, easy to find in most stores, and quick to give your skin that extra TLC when it needs it. If you’re exhausted and your skin needs a pick-me-up, or you need something to make your skin look better ASAP, slap on a face mask! Even celebrities have been known to put on a face mask to get their skin glowing and red carpet-ready. 

When Erich Gonzales’s and Julia Barretto’s images hit the internet, people definitely took notice. No matter where beauty trends may lead, this classic look will never go out of style. Clean, fresh, and with just the right touch of pink, you really can’t go wrong with this “blooming” aesthetic. But because the look is simple and subtle, it’s doubly important for the makeup to be applied really well so that it looks perfectly seamless.

Want to master this look? Let’s break it down and help you achieve a fresh start this 2020!

In an ideal world, we get our beauty thing done and leave the salon with a glowing #FOTD, well-manicured nails,  perfect hair, and hair-free skin. But did you know that it's possible to go home with something extra and unwanted? Health hazards lurk everywhere, including in the various beauty rituals that we normally enjoy! 

Dirty tools and unsanitary work stations are obvious red flags that announce the risk of infection, but there are less obvious things that you should watch out for even in DIY procedures.

New Year resolutions often focus on adapting healthier habits, particularly a renewed vigor for exercise. While you can technically start that wellness kick anytime, there’s extra motivation for getting your body moving after all the holiday feasts, and before beach season starts! As Angela shared in her article, exercising regularly is one of the more difficult habits to build. I should know: I’ve been there! But I’ve also worked through that funk to finally go to the gym regularly for almost two years now, so if you’re struggling to stick to your fitness goals, I’m sharing my own story in the hope that it inspires you to stay on track.

Staying in cold, air-conditioned rooms are a respite from the normally hot Philippine weather but it also takes a toll on our skin. Facial mists are great for adding hydration back to our faces but what about the rest of our body? Along with my habit of sanitizing my hands throughout the day, ever so often, hand creams are a staple in my hand care routine. So I was quite surprised that few other people in my circle regularly use this! 

It took me years before I learned how to care for my oily skin. As a teen, I thought that frequently washing my face and using astringents would do the trick of banishing the grease. 15-year-old me had a lot of misconceptions about skin care, and I’m so glad that the internet and sites like Project Vanity made learning about proper skin care much easier! Of course, there’s a lot of misinformation online, too, so it’s important to be careful about which sources to trust and avoid the pitfalls of shady skincare hacks.

A machine that can formulate the perfect lipstick, foundation, and skincare for you with just an app and a picture? Is this the future? Get ready for a wicked beauty roundup because we’re talking L'Oreal’s BIG innovation, FENTY Beauty’s first ever mascara, as well as Kylie Jenner’s first collab with her daughter! We’ve also got the scoop on Charlotte Tilbury’s sneaky teaser via the Golden Globes.