Happy Memorial Day!

Hi everybody,

Today is Memorial Day, a day to remember U.S military soldiers who died in service. For us, we get a day off to spend time with families and do all the wonderful activities together. Memorial Day also signifies the start of summer shopping. I went to the mall yesterday and it was very crowded.

Arts et. al.

Recently, it dawned on me that I really could not shoot good pictures. The quality of the pictures at My Makeup Blog is not so wonderful and I really want to change that. My initial reaction is to blame my camera (Canon Powershot SD590 IS.) It's basically a dinosaur since coming to the market in 2007. Now, Canon probably already launched the Powershot SD-eleventy bazillion IS or something like that but the thing is, my camera still sells. It's a decent point and shoot for beginners and it does wonderful things to me and my blog. But God forbids, it's no D-SLR.

According to a whole lot of people on the internet who actually know a lot about digital photography, you should not blame your cameras because cameras don't shoot pictures. People shoot pictures.

Earth to Dao, duh!

And then, I received this newsletter from Etsy discussing about pictures and one thing sank: my lightning sucks big time! Since I need to use flash, and my camera doesn't have the best flash in the world, my pictures ended up with over-saturated lights.

But that's easy to fix: with proper lightning and auto white balance in the manual option, I got this picture:

No flash, just a little bit of cropping and a tiny bit of color correction to make it look like that. Nice, right? The colors are so true in this picture. What you see is what you get.

So, please don't blame your camera. Read the manual and play with lightning. And I know, I'm not an expert in this aspect. I have a lot to learn but just a small change makes such a huge difference.

Please enjoy the rest of your day. I'm sure I will :)

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

From Italy with Love FOTD

Hi everyone,

How's your day going so far? A while ago, my friend Gio and I did another swap. This time around, I swap my Formula D Minerals for some of her Italian makeup. Gio sent me a Pupa baked blush (pure love!), I Provenzali shea butter lip balm, Essence makeup (it's a German brand but you can find at Ulta.com), and some samples.

Here's the loot. Thanks, Gio!

I thought it would be nice to use all the products she sent me so far (swap 1 is here) and do a FOTD. Since she's from Italy, I named it "From Italy with Love".

From Italy with Love, a colorful neutral look

Products used:

* Pupa Luminys baked eyeshadow duo 02
* Pupa Luminys velvety baked blush 04
* Pupa mineral silk 03
* Art Deco eyeshadow primer
* Deborah lipstick 800
* Essence long lasting eye pencil in Hot Chocolate
* Essence kajal pencil in Cool Breeze
* Rimmel London Max Volume Flash mascara
* Formula D Minerals the Ultimate Powder
* Formula D Minerals foundation (coming soon!)
* Variety of brushes from ELF, EcoTools, and kabuki brush from Swirled Cosmetics

Are you ready to rock and roll?

Skin Saver: Avalon Organics Vitamin C Vitality Facial Serum

Hi everybody,

If I did not buy Avalon Organics Vitamin C Vitality facial serum back in February, I don't know how my skin would have become now. It was a moment of desperation when my skin just broke out uncontrollably. Regardless the amount of benzoyl peroxide I piled on my face, my skin still went ka-ray-zee. The more benzoyl peroxide I used, the more sensitive and red my skin became. And I could feel the sting on my face. Yes, it was very painful. When New Leaf market had a sale on Avalon Organics Vitamin C, I decided to give it a try and bought a bottle. It cost me 17 dollars and so far, that was the best 17 bucks I have ever spent. And yes, it was like miracle, this stuff actually saved my face!

Avalon Organics Vitamin C Vitality Facial Serum

This year probably marked the second biggest change in my skin. The first wave came when I was in 6th grade and started to have zits. Now, I still have zits but instead of having oily skin, now I am a proud owner of my own dry/normal and sensitive skin. Yes, and I speak about it very sarcastically.

The glass bottle with the pump, 1oz of serum goodness inside

To be honest, I would probably be the last person on Earth to use organic skincare. The thing is, I was quite happy with my regular, non-organic skincare products that I found no reason to switch at all. If it ain't broke, why fix it, right? Also, I always thought organic skincare products are expensive and maybe ineffective. Nuh uh, not this one. While it is a serum, it feels like a watery lotion to me. As I continued using benzoyl peroxide, I could not use vitamin C or any other antioxidants at the same time because they negate each other. So, I applied this serum in the daytime underneath my sunscreen and benzoyl peroxide at night.

After the first week, I noticed the amount of zits came down significantly. Also, the ones that were still there did not hurt me as much anymore. After the second or third week, I totally nixed benzoyl peroxide and used it as a day and night cream. The thing about this product is it absorbs quickly and made you think it does not moisturize enough. However, it does contain water-attracting ingredients such as glycerin to keep your skin moisturized all day. My skin did not feel tight or under-moisturized at all. After a month of constant use, I saw some glow on my face and the scars I had started to fade as well.

Since February, I've used about 3/4 of the bottle. The amount of serum I have is around the second line from the bottom.

Since then, I started using other products from Derma E and Lancer Dermatology but this is a product I go to whenever I feel like my skin is getting out of control. While it has other types of moisturizers in the jar, I prefer the pump a lot more. Air can oxidize the antioxidants and render them useless when you have a wide open jar. With them pump, you have an option to close it when you don't use it and it also minimizes air exposure as well. It's a tip I learned from my friend Gio :)

Ingredients (from drugstore.com):
Lavendula Angustifolia (Organic Lavender), Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomille), Camellia Sinensis (White Tea), Arnica Montana Extract (Organic), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Juice (Organic), Emulsifying Wax, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C), Vegetable Glycerin, Hyaluronic Acid, Panthenol (Pro Vitamin B5), Olive Squalane, Helianthus Annuus (Organic Sunflower) Oil, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Glyceryl Laurate, Lemon Bioflavonoids, Melatonin, Organic Borago Officinalis (Borage), Linum Usitatissimum (flax seed oils), Rosa Canina (Rose Hip) Oil, Soy Lecithin, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Laminaria Digitata Kelp Extract, Allantoin, Calendula Officinalis Extracts (Organic), Cetearyl Alcohol, Steareth 20, Glyceryl Stearate, Amodimethicone, Xanthan Gum, Phenoxyethanol

Last but not least: if you use vitamin C, you should use sunscreen on top of it when you go out. Otherwise, you may get sunburn. Also, I found this serum to temporarily change my skin pH and make my mineral foundation oxidize quicker. Therefore, most times my foundation ended up looking darker. A good primer will eliminate that.

That's all for now. This product is not that expensive ($19.99-$23.99 depending on where you get it) and it's available in a lot of places beside health food store. So far, I found it at Target and Walgreens but the price is cheapest at the local health food store.

Disclaimer for FTC et al: I bought this product for my personal use. I like it so much so I did a review. It's my own experience and what works for me may or may not work for other people. For other information regarding My Makeup Blog's disclaimer policy, click here.

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

Lancer Dermatology Giveaway Winner

Hello everybody,

How are we doing so far?

First of all, I would like to thank everybody for participating in this giveaway. Also, the extra thank you's go to those who took time to tweet. And you totally should, because the extra tweet earns you an extra entry.

I noticed none of you posted on your blogs about this giveaway and I wonder why. Can anybody who participated care to elaborate? I want to know so I can make future giveaways easier for the participants, while giving everbody extra chances to earn entries.

With all that said, I tallied up the result last night (or very early in the morning, depending on how you see it.) There were 17 participants with 1 repeated entry. I guess that person didn't mean to cheat, maybe said person's computer had a problem. Therefore, I deleted the repeated entry. After that, I added an extra chance for those who retweeted and five of you did (thank you so very much!) Therefore, the total came to 22. Since the header took 1 line, the contestants started in row 2 and ended in row 23 in the worksheet.

I used the magic of Random.org to pick the winner and...

Tada! We have one: lucky number 14!

Congratulations, BrooklyShoeBabe! You've been a long time reader and you totally deserve this! Please enjoy this skincare set once it arrives.

Also, this begs a point: when you have a chance to earn an extra entry to a giveaway, please take it! A retweet takes you less than 5 seconds and it earns you an extra chance. You don't even have to follow me on Twitter to do that. Ms. BrooklyShoeBabe had two chances to win and she actually won in one of her chances. It's totally worth it, y'all. And if I haven't convinced you yet, in one of the giveaways I won, I actually won on my second chance (the retweet.) So please don't underestimate an extra chance (or two extra chances in this case.) You will never know how helpful they are. It's not like I want to advertise my blog (ok, I do, a little bit), but the truth is I want you all to win something from this blog. I know it will make you happy. And knowing that will make me happy, too!

Ok, guys, thanks for participating. Again, congratulations to BrooklynShoeBabe. More giveaways are in the horizon. And don't forget we have a blog anniversary next month, meaning a hopefully big giveaway/reader appreciation is on the way.

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

Stay Cool as a Cucumber

Hi everybody,

Happy Monday! Did you guys stayed up to watch "Lost" series finale last night? I did, although I am not a "Lost" follower. I tried to watch for a couple of episodes in season 2 and well, I got lost! The series finale was awesome, all the things from this series make sense to me now. And I want to watch the whole series from beginning to end now, but that may be something to do after May.

Lately, my neck of the woods has been hotter than hot. I bet Hades probably is a bit cooler than the Seven Hills. Yesterday, the temperature was 97 degrees F and by the time I went to bed, outdoor temperature was 78! Needless to say, all day I marveled around town to find cool places to stay because the AC in my apartment would not cut it. And yes, driving in sweat is not a lot of fun, although Christina Aguleira made it sound like something else, you know "sweat dripping over my body, gonna get dirrty" ect.

She can be dirrty but I want to feel dry and cool, cool as a cucumber in 97 degrees F! While I didn't feel so cool, at least some parts of my body were dry, because of this guy:

Dove Clinical Protection original clean, image credit: Amazon.com

Belly at Large: Cat vs. Snake, an Epic Battle

Yo, home girls! Belly's here with a Hollywood action story for you. Have you watched "Snake on a Plane"? Well, forget about it. We have a new snake story called "Cat vs. Snake: an Epic Battle" starring Mr. Belly.

Forget Will Smith, y'all! I'm the star in this movie. Kitty Power, roar!

Well, it happened like this. On a hot spring day that felt like summer, the mamarazzi went outside to get a newspaper and saw this giant black snake chilling right in her front yard. The snake looked like this:

Of course, the mamarazzi didn't take this picture. She was too scared to even move! The picture came from this site.

The rat was making some rattling noise and the mamarazzi had no idea if it was poisonous or not. Also, she did not come close enough to see if it had a split tongue. She came back and forth around the door area about 5 times before she remembered I am the snake slayer.

She called "Belly, Belly" for some couple of times and there I was, her feline knight in stripped fur armor came charging in.

"Belly, get the snake," she said.

I moved a step closer, the snake coiled and hissed.

"I am Bellywulf!" I roared before leaping forward.  The snake ran away. But immediately, it ran back! This time, the snake coiled tightly and its tail rattled. It was kinda fierce and freaky at the same time.

"Belly, tell the snake to go away!" the mamarazzi said.

Lancer Dermatology Giveaway ($200 worth in prize)

Hello there, my beauties!

How's Monday going for ya? Me, I wish I slept early last night. But let's put sleep aside, shall we? Today, I'm so excited to announce the biggest giveaway My Makeup Blog has ever hosted. The generous folks from Lancer Dermatology and their PR sponsored a set of skincare products I reviewed last week (click here for the review.) This means one lucky reader will get a chance to win this trio of products worth $200! No, I'm not kidding, the combined cost is 200 bucks! How swell is that?

Wanna know how to enter this contest? Jump!

UPrinting.com Business Card Giveaway Winner

Hi everyone,

It's time to announce the winner of UPrinting.com Business Card giveaway. As usual, I use the true random number generator at Random.org to pick a winner and...

Congratulations, Stephanie! 

You are the third participant since the giveaway started. I'm sure these business cards will be useful for your business. I will let UPrinting.com know and they will contact you shortly.

For other readers: there are other giveaways coming soon. In fact, I will announce the Lancer Dermatology skincare giveaway next week. Please stay tuned for that one.

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

Peach & Cream FOTD

Hi everyone,

Last week, I realized my passport was about to expire. After filling what seems like a million pieces of paperwork, I was ready to submit them to get a new passport. However, I still needed one thing: passport photo. From past experience, I realize doing a smokey eyed look with nude lips for passport photo is not a good strategy. The photographer is no Richard Avedon and most of the time, you get florescent light instead of studio light. So if you do the smokey eyed, your pictures may end up with you looking tragic in it. And I am not even kidding you, I have proof. But to save your soul, I am not going to share :)

And this was what I came up with:

Peach & Cream FOTD

The players: MAC Blacktrack gel liner, Studio Sculp NC35 concealer (it's too dark for me!), Formula D Mineral's eye shadows in Bella, Quirky, Peach & Cream, and Granite, MAC lip glass in Sock Hop, Rimmel London lipstick in Crush, various brushes, (not shown) Formula D Mineral's foundation, The Ultimate Powder, (not shown) Flushed blush, various pencils

Eyes

• Apply Peach & Cream on the inner half and Quirky on the outer half of the eye, using ELF eyeshadow brush. With EcoTools shading brush (the chubby one), blend the two colors together where they meet.
• With EcoTools crease brush, contour the outer-v and half way to the crease with Granite. Since it is a dark color, use as little as possible.
• With the same brush, pick up Bella to highlight the brow bone and inner corner of the eyes area.
• Using MAC 266, apply Blacktrack liner and wing it out at the end.
• Fill in the brow with an eyebrow pencil and smooth it out with the eyebrow/lash comb.
• Curl your lashes and apply mascara.
• Optional: apply a silver or white eyeliner to the lower lash line to make your eyes look more wide awake.

Neutral but not smokey :)

Face

•  Apply The Ultimate Powder as a primer to your skin, using ELF Studio powder brush.
• With the same brush, apply mineral foundation
• With a concealer brush, apply MAC Studio Sculpt concealer to the under eye area and blend well.
• Set the foundation and concealer with The Ultimate Powder.
• With Sonia Kashuk flat top blush brush, apply Flushed to your cheeks.

Lips

• Apply Rimmel London Crush to your lips and top it with Sock Hop lip glass.
• Use NYX lip liner in Natural to line and define the shape of your lips.

Another shot of moi :)

 It was so hot that day, my face almost melted. My passport photo came out all right. It could have been a lot better but heat and humidity almost melted me away. Anyways, I got my passport back super quick because I spent extra money to expedite it. You will never know when you'll need your passport so please keep it as current as possible.

 That's all, folks! I'll announce the winner of UPrinting business card giveaway later today. Please come back to see if you are the winner.

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

Belly at Large: Debut Video

What's up girlfriends?

Do you miss me? Well, you don't have to miss me no mo'. Yours truly, el Gato Supremo, grace you with his first video. La mamarazzi (aka Dao) decided to branch out to new things. It's annoying, yo. It's like having a friendnemy that won't quit on you, regardless of how awesome you are.

She filmed this video to submit for the VW Punch Dub commercial. They said it's not long enough but can you imagine how fabulous it would be if yours truly made the cut?

Anyways, enjoy! And don't go too hard on the mamarazzi. She's still green in this thing.

Love, peace, and tuna fish,

Mr. Belly, aka El Gato Supremo

P.S: If you like my blog (yes, it's mine! Dao just fills in for me on the day I don't blog), please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot! Also, UPrinting.com giveaway ends at 5pm EST today. Please join! I wanted to make some cards to give out to fans but Dao said no. I'm smad at her!

Clear Skin with The Lancer Method Skincare

Hi everybody,

Hope you don't mind a late post today. Remember my worst breakout of the year? At the beginning of this year, the insanely cold weather triggered something I've never experienced before: dry, sensitive, and acne-prone skin. Now, I'm used to the oily and acne-prone combo but remove the oil, add dryness and sensitivity on top is something new to me. Immediately, things that worked for me in the past went to the trash bin. Either they were not moisturizing enough or soothing enough. I needed something new and I need it fast.

Then came an invitation for me to join a new skincare line from Lancer Dermatology. After reading the information in Dr. Harold Lancer's website, I thought I should give it a try. The Lancer method is quite simple. It only involves 3 steps: polish/exfoliate, cleanse, and repair.

Lancer Dermatology products for acne-prone skin (L-R): Repair, Polish, Cleanse

I gave these products a month-long trial. Want to know if it works? Jump!

May Agenda

Hi everybody,

Wow, I can't believe almost a week went by without me blogging! Unbelievable! If it were last year, I would have freaked out. Back then, I was very into blogging and if I didn't blog, I would have felt empty. Also, back then I didn't have so many things on my plate.

Now, things look like this:

but without the nice desk!

Let's see what's in store for May:

1. Study GRE: I need to ride this bad boy hard to get 1200+ GRE score. My math is good but my vocabulary is horrible. I need so much work to improve my vocab. However, to think of it, my vocabulary is not that bad. Actually, it has been improving significantly since the last time I took the test. Of the 600 words in the list, I already knew 2/3 of it. So I only need to study around 200 new words (or words I don't have clear definitions.) It's not easy but it's doable.

2. Apply for PhD programs: I already narrowed down the programs I want to apply. Now it's the matter of soliciting recommendations and go through the application process myself.

3. Take the GRE test: please God, make this the last time I take this test! I don't do so well with tests, especially the ones on the computer. The last time I took the GRE, my score was about 70 points higher than in the practice test. Also, I got the perfect score for math part. I pray my math score is going to be as good :)

4. Blogging: as much as I can. Please don't pressure me!

5. Running Formula D Minerals on Etsy: so far, business is slow. I had 3 purchases during the last two weeks and it seems like Etsy has a problem with Canadian customers. And I know Canada loves me! Argh!

6. Writing that book: yes, I have a book I want to finish. And I think each and every single one of us wants to write a book one day. My mission of this year is to actually finish writing a book and cross it out of my "To Do List for Life." Now, getting it published is another thing. And I do want everybody to read my book. With this rate, I might finish it this summer and we will see how things go.

So yes, my plate is full at this point. The one thing I want is to get a job that pays well. The economy is tough right now and my field is even tougher to get hired. I just need to stay afloat in 2010 because I know 2011 is definitely going to be a lot better!

Also, if you haven't checked out UPrinting.com giveaway yet, please join it. Can't beat 500 free business cards, can we?

If you have any tips in acing the GRE, please share! I want to get the highest score I can and I'm studying my butt off right now :)

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!

UPrinting.com Business Card Giveaway

Hi everybody,

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Life has been so busy for the last few days but that's not a bad thing. Today, I would like to announce a business card giveaway from UPrinting.com, an internet company that allows you to print online many things from posters to brochures to business cards. For those of you who wants some free business cards to promote your blog, business, or yourself, this is a great opportunity for you!

According to UPrinting, their cards can be really useful: from the classic business card, to blogger cards, designer cards, and so much more. Business cards have evolved from the classic rectangular shape, to more edgy and modern square and slim cards. They offer them all!

Giveaway Prize:

• 500 Business Cards for One (1) Winner
• Sizes: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (slim card)
• Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
• Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; Offset Press; 3 Business Day Printing
• Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping
• Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

To enter, simply leave a comment in the comment section of this entry with a valid email address so I can contact you in case you win. This contest continues until 5pm EST Thursday, May 13th, 2010. Winner will be announced on Friday, May 14th, 2010. If you are a winner, please reply immediately so I can forward your information to UPrinting. Otherwise, a replacement winner will be chosen.

This is a very generous offer, guys! You get 500 cards plus free shipping and other cool stuff like full color on both sides. So please join! I wish you all the best!

P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!