Advice on Blogging

Hi everyone,

Today's post is somewhat personal to me. As much as I try not to write a blog about blogging, through the years I have people asking me for advice about this particular topic. However, in light of the fact that I just spent 2 days renovating my blog, I believe it is apt to write something about blogging with hope that it answer some questions that you may have about blogging.

1. Take money out of the equation

Believe me when I say this: a lot of people blog but not many people make money out of it. Therefore, don't blog with hope that it will bring you money. Instead, write because you want to and you love to. Your passion will shine through and it is better that way in the long run. Also, when you do something well enough, people may want to pay you to do it again and again. Just think of money as a reward, not an incentive for blogging.

2. Write what you love and love what you write


Before I ended up being a beauty blogger, I had a couple of blogs. All died because I was not focused. On top of that, I was not invested in blogging as I am now. The lifestyle blog came to an abrupt end as I realized how boring my life was. The crochet and knitting blog also died because it cost so much to buy yarn. In the end, beauty blogging stucks with me: I love makeup enough to write about it and after all these years, I still love it.

3. Invest in a good camera

Looking back at the earlier posts makes me cringe sometimes. The quality of the photos were abysmal. I didn't even have my own camera back then and I didn't know how to do a white balance for the photos. As a result, most of my photos looked yellow due to the fact that I used light bulbs in the bath room to take pictures. Then, I graduated to my Canon A590 camera. It was a low-end point and shoot that required flash in order for things to show. I got so many wash out photos out of it. It was until I finally braved up and paid for my current camera, the Canon G12, that blogging finally looked beautiful again. Therefore, I highly recommend a good camera that can take pictures in low light and in the shades during cloudy days. Investing in your camera is a good way to boost the aesthetic aspect of your blog.

4. Grammar and punctuation

While there are many aspects about this particular subject, to me it all boils down to how you show your respect to the readers. Do you want to incur them into posts full of grammatical errors and punctuation mistakes? It's like a torture when that happened to me. While I don't ask you (or force myself) to be a prolific writer with a tendency of being a grammar and punctuation purist, I do believe to keep the posts as clean as possible.

5. Engage with your audience

The blog can be a busy business sometimes with so much planning and orchestrations. However, whenever I receive a comment or a question via email, I would do my best to reply. I guess it's just better that way because I know it always makes my day when one of my favorite bloggers replies to my comment.

6. Grow with your blog

Looking back at the 4 years I have been blogging, I have come to a conclusion that the blog is a good opportunity for me to learn. Back then, I knew nothing about HTML/CSS/XML. I remember it took me a very, very long time to change my blog skin and it wasn't nearly beautiful. Also, I relied heavily on Paint for all things and everything related to photo editing then. Now, it's Photoshop, baby! (Although I am still in my learning stage.)

The same thing happens to photography, too. From a person who knew nothing about photography, I am now proud to say that I can take some decent photos. With a lot of blessing, I am going to get my first D-SLR by the end of this year.

Yes, I have had a blast with my blog during the last 4 years. I have come to know you guys and learned so many things from this blog. Of course, there have been ups and downs but knowing that's how life is makes it easier to get through.

I hope today's post answers some of your questions about blogging. It took a small push from a friend back in 2008 to make this blog a reality. I hope this post is a gentle push to those who always want to try their hands in blogging but are still afraid. Come on, just go ahead and do it already! Blogging is fun!

With love,
Dao xoxo


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The Tale of Two Deodorants

Hi everyone,

Perhaps one of the categories least reviewed in this blog is deodorants. It's not like everyday that I run out of deodorants and have the need to get a new one, you know. But it's been hot lately and those who are following me via Twitter know I have been lamenting about it. The heat brings sweats, which may or may not give the body a certain type of unpleasant body odor. On top of that, I am now exercising more frequently and rigorously, which means only one thing: I stink louder than a locker room after a football practice.

The Nivea Extra Whitening anti-perspirant was something I used for almost a year. The only reason I bought it was the two words written in pink. Yeah, the promise of having extra-whitening armpits got me. It claims to have cell repair properties and can make darken armpits a lot lighter with the help of licorice extracts, witch hazel and avocado oil.

The Rexona Skin Light anti-perspirant is a recent purchase. This claims to also lighten the armpits with the help of sunflower seed oil. All whitening, all giving a 24-hour of stink-free armpits with almost the same prices. Which one comes out on top?

First of all, let me talk about the Nivea Extra Whitening deodorant. It was the first of its kind in the market and I loved, loved, loved the glass jar. It felt cool and solid in my hand. Also, Nivea has a good reputation for making affordable and reliable products. And it came with a free scarf, too. Sold!

I must have bought it before the heat came last year. The first few days were fine as I smelled nice and dandy, like a flower almost. Then, the heat came and that was when the Nivea deodorant showed its true color. It was gentle and felt like a lotion to me. Because of that, it took forever to dry. Usually, I would put on my deodorant after showering with hope that it would work better. Well, it did while I was sleeping. But when I was awake and kicking some kempo ass, the efficacy wore off. I stank even worse than before I used it with a mixture of BO and floral fragrance, yuck!

Well, since it was not such a good deodorant, I was hoping it would lighten up my armpits. That was the reason that kept me from chucking it. I kept on applying and applying on a daily basis and saw almost no change at all. So I did a test: I stopped using the product and to my surprise, my armpits actually became lighter from the scrubbing I did during showering.

To my discourse, I kept on using it while looking for a replacement. Then came the Rexona Skin Light deodorant. Have I told you Asians have a thing for lightening skincare products? While I may not approve the use of skin bleaches, skin lightening deodorants are the necessary evils. I want to be able to put my hands up while wearing tank tops, ok?

The Rexona Skin Light was a new product as Rexona, a brand from Unilever, only had regular non-skin whitening deodorants before. I have to admit buying this product because of the cute lilac color and the weird egg-like packaging.

This product has everything that the Nivea deodorant lacks: it actually keeps me smelling fresh for 24 hours while manages to whiten my armpits. I ain't gonna lie, I was surprised that the wings beneath my wings got lighter, too! The only downside is it tends to cling on to the skin and I have to scrub it out harder than usual. Maybe that's how I lighten up my armpits? But anyways, it works under extreme heat and P90X. I have to give it credit for that.

In conclusion: buy Rexona, not Nivea. Also, if you have Dove Clinical Care deodorant, buy that one, too. It's a good anti-perspirant without the skin lightening property. Also, while writing this, I realized these deodorants are available at Amazon.com but at marked up prices. Here, I got them for less than $2 USD but at Amazon.com, the Rexona one is on sale for 9 bucks!

Change-change-change!

Have you noticed some changes around the blog lately? Well, I am in a slow and painful process of giving the blog a different look. The last time I did a new banner was last year and that was it. No changes in the structure of the blog at all. Now that I am in a different part of my life, I think this blog should reflect that as well. From now on, there will be no more ads on this blog. I don't see a point of doing so. The ads only clutter up my blog and I don't earn a lot of money from it at all. Without them, my blog loads faster and looks less cluttered as well.

At this point, it is still a work-in-progress. I have a few ideas to do with the blog and hopefully, it will come together soon.

Also, and this is a major also, I am not going to blog as often. With all the assignments I have, once a week is all I can do without feeling like I'm killing myself. Those deadlines do run fast and some articles require research as well. So please don't miss me. I'm sure there are interesting things you can find in the archives as well as in my friends' blogs.

Love y'all!
Dao xoxo


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What Really Happened at MMB Testing Center

Hi everyone,

For the almost 4 years since I started blogging here, I have tried countless products before reviewing them and only the ones that meet my standards get to be showcased here. Like many aspects of my life, I'm quite picky when it comes to posting product reviews. After all, you read the review, you buy the product, you end up not liking it and who are you going to blame? While it's not likely that the blogger gets the share but somehow, I do feel responsible for my reviews and as the years go by, I thrive to do my best to give you the best sense of how a certain product is going to work.

With all that said, sometimes you need to kiss a gazillion frogs before finding a prince. And then hoping the prince doesn't turn into a frog. Yeah, yeah, it's all metaphorical but here's what happened during my latest test drive, aka Frog Kissing number one bazillion and fifty three (ok, I didn't actually keep track of how many products I've reviewed but it's been a lot!) This involves a rather famous product from Japan: the Biore Pore Strips. And here's how I got Frog Kissing number one bazillion and fifty three stuck on my nose.

Biore Pore Strips, Vietnamese edition

 Actually, the only thing Vietnamese about this is the packaging. The rest was hailed from Japan. I remember using the pore strips for the first time when I was 19. I was too chicken to peel it back so I let my friend do it. Then, we were fascinated at the gunk pulled out from my nose. I remember stroking at them and cooed, "Ooh, look at the gunk, look at the gunk! You wanna touch it?"

Yeah, that was fascinating indeed! But then, that was a long time ago. Back then, the thing was dry and hard and felt like papier mache on my nose. When I saw the new and improved pore strips at the supermarket, I had to buy. Surprisingly, this stuff is cheap over here ($1 USD for a pack of 5 strips.) They also have the scented version and male oriented for men as well. I went with the regular unscented version.

Good ole direction

Pore strip looks like so

Me posing with the pore strip. Hand placing in an artsy position to cover the zit :)

I followed the instruction to a T: wet nose slightly, peeled the strip, placed on nose, check internet for 10-15 minutes for the papier mache feeling to kick in. And then, Murphy's law happened. That feeling never came! So I waited longer. Nope, still no crunchy papier mache on my nose.

At this point, I got anxious. I mean, this was the last strip I had in the box. I used 4 of them before, the all worked and gave me the pleasure of cooing at my gunk. So why didn't this one work?

With one swift and painful move, I tore off the strip and it felt like me tearing a wet bandage of my skin. Painful. No gunk came out and lots of gluey residues on my nose. What had happened?

Then, I remember the weather. I was sweating profusely and the sweat kept the strip moist all the time. No wonder why my last pore strip did not work. Stripping unaccomplished!

So, the lessons learned from today's episode of MMB Test Kitchen are: (a) the pore strips work, but not in extreme humidity; (b) covering the zit with your hand is the best option when it comes to picture taking time; (c) as tempting as it sounds, don't go around showing people the gunk from your nose. It's disgusting!

That's all for today's broadcasting on My Makeup Blog. I know the blog doesn't look good right now as I am finding ways to make it look gorgeous in the near future. Also, thank you for your support!

Love,
Dao xoxo

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New Mineral Cosmetic Company: Pink Blossom Cosmetics

Hi everyone,

In February, Lilly Yang, the owner of Pink Blossom Cosmetics, contacted me and asked me if I wanted to review some products from her mineral makeup line. As a mineral makeup lover, I jumped into the bandwagon and after some emails, Lilly sent me a package to Vietnam! I appreciate that she took a risk to send her products because at that time, Pink Blossom Cosmetics only served domestic customers. Lucky for us, the transition time was short and I received the package about 2 weeks later.

Lilly was generous to send me 4 full-size eye shadows and 2 samples in clam shells. The packaging was beyond gorgeous as the products were housed in a beautiful box that I get to keep for display in my vanity table.

The box plus full-size eye shadows I received

The full-size eye shadows

Size comparison: full-size (left), sample (right)

 The full-size eye shadow is housed in your typical 5-gram jar with shifter inside and contains about 1.5 grams of material  whereas the sample has 1/8 teaspoon of mineral product in a clam shell pod. The full-size product is priced at $5 USD and the sample costs $1 UDS a pod.

The samples I got are Shimmering Sapphire and Jaded Away

See how finely milled they are

The swatch
(L-R): Chocolate Brown, Chocolate-tier, Sultry Taupe, Pink Blossom, Jaded Away, Shimmering Sapphire

 Here are the breakdown of the colors:

• Chocolate Brown: this is the most pigmented color of the bunch. It's a matte brown color that can be used as an eyeliner and eye shadow. You only need to use a tiny bit of it as it is extremely pigmented
• Chocolate-tier: this is a shimmering brown eye shadow with a touch of taupe. At first, I thought it would be darker than Chocolate Brown but it is actually lighter and sheerer.
• Sultry Taupe: I wanted to try a taupe color as I pretty much don't have a lot of luck with it. However, Sultry Taupe does not have a lot of purple as it veers more toward pink and brown. It is shimmery and sheer like Chocolate-tier and reminds me a lot of MAC Shroom and Stila Kitten. In fact, it might be a darker cousin of the later one.
• Pink Blossom: this is a color I specifically request since it is a multi-use pigment. I tried it as a lip, eye, and cheek color and it worked well. This is a shimmery hot pink pigment and like the other ones with the same texture, it is sheer but has stronger pigmentation than the other two.
• Jaded Away: is is a light green pigment with yellow shimmer. I was interested in colorful pigments to try at this was one that I like. It is very flattering and not so colorful since it is not a loud color. Like Pink Blossom, I like that it has more pigmentation than the neutral colors I tried.
• Shimmering Sapphire: while it looked dark and shimmery, Shimmering Sapphire is a matte dark blue pigment with micro-glitters so fine that you almost don't feel it. It reminds me of MAC Flashtrack.

The biggest surprise I got out of these pigments is its clinging power. After I did the swatch, I wiped arm with a piece of dry tissue and look at the result:

The thing did not come off completely! Then, I washed it with water and still saw some residues. Only after I washed the swatch with soap that the colors completely went away. To those who are afraid that mineral makeup might bleed or migrate, fear no more. The pigments from Pink Blossom Cosmetics did not budge when I wore them.

The ingredients are labelled in each jar or pod and if it is not lip safe, it would be stated so there. Also, the ingredients are pretty straightforward (mica, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, magnesium stearate for more binding power.) Out of six, only Pink Blossom and Chocolate Brown are safe to use everywhere on the face where the other four are not lip safe. These pigments do not contain dyes or bismuth oxychoride, which makes my skin itch.

While it's nice that Lilly offered generous size and relatively inexpensive samples, I do find the clam shells to be hard to close. When I close them, pigments that are around the rim tend to fly out. Also, when I open them, I have to be careful not to overextend the halves of the shells so I don't lose pigments, either.

I'm so thankful that I got a chance to review this new mineral makeup company. Right now, Lilly does ship internationally. She also has a blog and Facebook page for Pink Blossom Cosmetics that you can come and read more about her company.

Disclaimer: I received the products from Pink Blossom Cosmetics to review. This review is not paid and the opinions are my own.

That's all for now. I hope you will support Pink Blossom Cosmetics.

Love,
Dao xoxo

P.S: Please show your support by following my blog and  subscribing to my feed. Thanks a lot!