Wednesday, August 28, 2013

My Avon Story | Winning the Avon You Make It Beautiful Blogger Challenge

Last month, Avon Philippines held a contest for Filipina beauty bloggers to be part of the Avon Makeup Council. I saw different beauty bloggers joining and I was really interested so I read about the contest. After reading the details and all the benefits of winning, I immediately submitted my entry! Being a part of the Avon Makeup Council would be an honor for me. Come on guys, it's Avon! :)

So, the first thing that you have to do is to submit three of your posts --- may it be from your blog or your YouTube channel if you do video tutorials. I passed two blog entries and one video tutorial. You should also be a blogger for 3 months above to qualify so, yey! I'm already blogging for 2 years now. :) Among those entries from the first stage, Avon will choose semi-finalists and I was very lucky to be chosen along with my fellow beauty bloggers and blogger friends! Yey! :)

After that, the semi-finalists were invited over to the Avon office at Makati for the briefing of the next and final stage and to pick up the products that we have to use for the challenge. I was so glad to see my fellow bloggers there like Eyah Ballada, Clarisse Litiatco, Hazel Salcedo, Raych Ramos and meet a few of them whom I haven't met before like Sam Lanuza, Giezelle Uy, Jessa Roque, etc.

So, here are the products that I got. We really didn't have a choice nor a chance to pick out products because everything were randomly selected.



Avon Ideal Luminous Dual Powder Foundation, Avon True Color Eyeshadow Quad in Chocolate Sensation, Avon Ideal Luminous Blush in Rose Luster, Avon Super Shock Mascara, Avon Glimmerstick brow pencil in Soft Black, Avon Glimmerstick eye liner in Blackest Black, Avon Ultra Color Lipsticks in Knockout Pink and Hibiscus, and Avon Ultra Glazewear Lip Gloss in Mauve Movement


I was happy and satisfied with what I've got! The eye shadow palette is beautiful and I guess I got super lucky to have the neutral shades! :) We can choose to use everything from out loot bags or not. After brainstorming with myself on what look should I go for, here's what I came up with:



To know how I achieved that Sexy Smokey Eyes, watch this video:



After the semi-finalists submitted their entries, Avon Philippines collected all our final looks and posted it on their Facebook page so people can vote for their favorite beauty bloggers! I want to thank everyone who voted for me. After almost a week of voting, I'm glad, proud, and thankful to say that I did not go beyond the top 10. :) Anyway, the voting results are just 30% of the criteria but still, that's a big help.

I think all of the semi-finalists were excitedly waiting for the results. We waited for about two days before they announced the 20 beauty bloggers that will complete the Avon Makeup Council. Last August 22, they finally announced the winners and ta-dah! I GOT IN!!!



Isn't it awesome? Haha! Congratulations to my fellow beauty bloggers who got in, too! So happy we all got in, my fellow blogger friends. Y'all know who you are! Click here to see the other members of the Avon Makeup Council. :)

Because of getting in, we got the privilege of meeting Avon Global Celebrity Makeup Artist, Ms. Lauren Andersen, and the chance to attend her basic makeup workshop which happened last August 23 at Sofitel Manila. I was about an hour late because I had to take care of some school stuff before I went there but it's all good because meeting Ms. Lauren Andersen is just awesome! She's very professional and definitely a stunner! It's a shame that I wasn't able to see her makeup demonstrations. Boo me! Oh, by the way, she's best friends with JESSICA ALBA! Gaaaaah! I told her she looks like Parker Posey but I was really referring to Amanda Peet! Hay nako, mali pa! :)


Close talaga kami, sa totoo lang. Hahaha!



My certificate for participating in the Makeup Workshop

Winning the blogger challenge is definitely a huge factor for me! It's a great honor to be part of the Avon Makeup Council and the perks are just so awesome! One of that is meeting Lauren Andersen in Person and Ms. Lisa Lamberty, Avon Executive Director of Color Research and Development. Wow! Just wow! :) We even got to take home some Avon cosmetics from the makeup workshop. Look what I've got! I'll talk more about this in a separate post. :)



Thank you so much Avon Philippines and to everyone who supported me throughout the challenge! :)
Don't forget to like Avon on Facebook and follow them on Twitter and Instagram, @avonph.




Stay awesome and accomplish your mission! :)
-ivsc-

♥ Korean Haul (Eyelash Adhesives, Double Eyelid Tools and, more!) ♥

During my Meet and Greet last August 3, the owner of MyrSkin, Ms. Myra, handed me a bunch of Korean cosmetics. Most of them are eyelash adhesives. I was supposed to give away some of it during the event but there were too many prizes already so I just decided to give it away on other events. I might include this on my 3K+ subscribers giveaway which I will announce soon! *wink*

I will keep some of it and I will give away a few of these Korean cosmetics. :) So, what are those things that I'm talking about? Read further.



1. Darkness Eyelash Adhesive
- comes in a squeezable tube with applicator stick



2. Darkness Eyelash Glue and Gel
- another eyelash glue with applicator stick. Reminds me of the Nichido eyelash adhesive but this is way bigger



3. Darkness Eyelashes Whole Aspect Adhesives (Premium Eyelash Glue and Gel)
- another eyelash adhesive, same as the Darkness Eyelash Glue and Gel on number 2. However, this is from their premium line so I think it is more heavy duty. It also comes in a tube which is stored in a black pouch. This eyelash adhesive is black unlike the other eyelash adhesives which are just transparent.



4. Darkness Double Eyelid Whole Aspect Adhesives (Premium Eyelash Glue and Gel)
- I was a little confused with this product because it says on the box that it's a double eyelid adhesive but it also says Premium Eyelash Glue and Gel. It also looks the same as the Darkness Eyelash Whole Aspect Adhesives, even the packaging. They just differ in color because the eyelash whole aspect adhesive is in black while this one is white. Also, it comes in a silver box with a maroon pouch. Hmm... I think this is also for your falsies because that's what it says on the instruction at the back or maybe both functions? Oh, well! :-D




5. Blue Magic Oil Control Film
- Hope it works great!

6. Secret Magic Double Sided Tape
- This is for those who have monolids/Asian eyes. I actually don't know how to use it and I don't think I'd be comfortable wearing them.



6. Préta Compact Powder
- This powder broke my heart! I was so excited pa naman about this product but when I opened it, it was broken! :-( I didn't know what happened. The powder's texture is very silky and the upper part looks like a highlighter. The shade is a tad lighter than my skin color so I think this would be perfect to use as a highlighter for me. Still sad about what happened to it. It looks really pretty pa naman! *sigh*






Stay tuned for my review of these Korean products and of course, for my upcoming giveaway! Giveaway na naman??? YES! :)

Thank you, Ms. Myra!

Please visit MyrSkin on Facebook for more info about their products and you can also find them at PureBeauty stores.



Stay awesome and accomplish your mission! :)
-ivsc-


Monday, August 26, 2013

♥ Gift Haul! ♥

Hello everyone!

I feel like I'm neglecting my blog so much because I haven't blogged for almost a week now! Well, these past days were like "low days" for me and maybe it's just that time of the year or month or whatever. I'm sure we all experience that so I'm not really stressing myself out why I was feeling that way but it doesn't matter anymore! I'm okay now and I'm back on track! This is just going to be my first of the many lined-up haul posts that I will share with all of you. I'm starting with this because this is way long overdue!

Okay! So the things that you're about to see are the gifts that I received on my Meet and Greet last August 3, 2013. Gifts were not really necessary that's why I am very thankful for those people who still bothered to give me gifts. Facebook status update: feeling loved. LOL!

Thanks to Ms. Larissa of GNY Philippines, my sisterette Joyce of Candyloveart, sis Lean of Makeup & My Life, sis Gina of Ginaholic, and sissy Raych of The Beauty Move for all your gifts! 


Gifts from Ms. Larissa 


Look at these super stylish jewelry holders!!! Ms. Larissa said she love dolls that's why she likes the mannequin-like necklace/bracelet holder. I love it, too and I even love its color because it's red! Hehe!


The pink shoe ring holder is the girliest thing that I've ever seen! Haha! I'm not really that super girly person and I love pink but I'm not crazy about it but this ring holder is just too adorable! Thank you so much, Ms. Larissa! As if what you've done to help me out with everything is not enough, you still bothered to give me these gifts. THANK YOU, PO! :)


Gift from Joyce 



I wasn't really expecting a gift from Joyce nor from anyone that's why I was so touched when my sister from another Mother handed me this Nice perfume! It was so sweet of her plus I love the fruity scent, too! It's as if she really gets me! Thank you, sis Joyce for this and for everything! :)


Gift from Lean 


It was actually surprising when Lean handed me this gift because it was very random! Haha! We were having our late lunch on my Meet and Greet and while we're on break, she got up from her seat and approached me and my sister to give us her gifts. Yep! She also gave my sister, le Queen B., an accessory as a gift. Haha! It was really cool and sweet! Thank you so much, Lean! Now, I can use the necklace holder from Ms. Larissa. Haha! :)



Gifts from Gina ♥ 


I was really glad when I saw the Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea lotion because Sweet Pea is my favorite BBW scent from their perfume line. I also love the scent of the Avon JF perfume that she gave me but my favorite part is the letter! It was short but very sincere and heartfelt! Thank you so much, sis Gina, for the kind, sweet and encouraging words! ♥ 


Gifts from Raych ♥ 


Oh, the excitement and joy that I felt was unforgettable when I saw Raych's gifts for me! She was really generous to give me a lot of things! Thank you so much, sis and for your sweet message as well! ♥ 


I am absolutely happy for all of this because, first, receiving gifts is so cool, isn't it? It's really one of the best feelings in the world especially when it's unexpected! Second, feeling appreciated and loved by your friends is priceless. I wouldn't care if you give something that costs 1 peso or 1000 pesos. Heck, I don't even care if I receive a gift from you. Sharing love and friendship with me is more luxurious than anything in this world! Well, receiving gifts would be awesome, too but you know what I mean! Hahahaha! :)


♥ ♥ ♥ 

Stay awesome and accomplish your mission! :)
-ivsc-



Thursday, August 22, 2013

Leopard Print Lip Art | First Ever Lip Art!

Lately, I've been watching a lot of professionaldq's nail art videos with my sister and nieces at home. The typhoon Maring caused huge destruction here in the Philippines and the weather was absolutely insane leaving every city Mayors no choice but to suspend classes. I don't want to talk about the pain and the damage the typhoon brought to our beautiful country so I'm just going to continue my story.

As I was saying, we've been watching a lot of nail art videos by Beth of professionaldq in YouTube and we were just amazed in every nail designs that she created. She is absolutely amazing and I think her crazy humor is what also made us fall in love with her. I got so inspired and I wished I have her beautiful, big nails. Unfortunately, I'm not good in doing my nails. I suck even at applying a coat of nail polish. Sometimes, I succeed in doing something artistic on my nails but I usually end up doing just my left hand because I can't do my nails on my right hand using my non-dominant hand! Garsh! Beth is just awesome! :)

Since I can't recreate her art on my own nails, I thought, why not try it my way! I love makeup. I love art.  love creative looks. And boom goes the dynamite! I decided to do my very first lip art! I chose to do a very basic design because I was still testing myself if I can do art on my lips since it was just my first time. I did leopard prints with colors gold, black and brown. The leopard print is pretty common in lip tattoos and nail arts but I wasn't really that interested about it until I watched Beth of professionaldq!

Okay, enough mumbling! I present to you my very first lip art!!! :)




Oh, you don't think that's me, do ya? Okay, here you go:



Hahaha! As you can see, I have no makeup on. I have nothing but the leopard print on my lips! I did this very randomly. I got inspired and it was just one of those moments when I wanted to do something and I should do it right away! I was actually just watching my favorite TV series, How I Met Your Mother, that time when I remembered Beth's nail arts and I just suddenly felt the eagerness to recreate it using my makeup. I HAVE TO DO IT! NOW NA!!! :-D So, I quickly sat in front of the mirror and start doing the magic tricks and voila! :)



To achieve this lip art, I used a very sheer white lip cream as my base. Then, I applied gold eye shadow all over my lips, trying to have a very crisp edge. To create the leopard prints, I used a black liquid eyeliner and a brown liquid eyeliner to fill in the prints. And that's it! Oh, I also used a foundation/concealer to clean the edges so that the shape of my lips would really stand out.

Modesty aside, I am more than satisfied with the result! At first, I was thinking, maybe people wouldn't appreciate it that much but I knew I nailed it when my friend asked me where did I buy that "lip tattoo". Hahaha! Thank yooooooou! I'll take that as a compliment! ;-)

Thank you so much to Beth of professionaldq for inspiring me! She even commented on my post on IG! Yipppeeee (fan girl moment)!!! You guys should watch her nail art videos. She's amazing! I just wish my lips is big enough to recreate her epic unicorn stories and psychedelic pianos! :)

Sooooooooooo, what do you think about my first lip art? It's my first time and I know I still have to practice more. Though, I'm telling ya, this leopard print art is very easy to do! It's actually a no-brainer. Trust me! :) I hope you can suggest what other lip arts you want to see next. Oh, I am just so happy that my creative senses are back on track! Can't wait for my next lip art! :)

I actually have a new makeup series entitled Disney Princesses and their Villains. Click here to see the first part. Talk soon!





Stay awesome and accomplish your mission! :)
-ivsc-

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

♥ My First Ever Meet and Greet! ♥

Photo credits to Glory of New York Philippines | Mree and Jackie Manzano

A few of my friends and followers kept on suggesting for me to do my own meet and greet. I was hesitant at first because I thought I'm not really in "that" place yet to hold a meet and greet. Nakakahiya! Haha! And also, I thought no one would attend! But then I met awesome friends and people months ago and they pushed me to create my very first event, my very first meet and greet. Thank you so much for believing in me and for your trust in me that I can do it and I already have the "K" to do this. You all know who you are. :)


I actually planned to hold a free basic makeup workshop/meet and greet on October for my birthday celebration but those people who love me so much and believe in me said that I should do it IMMEDIATELY and just hold another event on my birthday! Haha! It was insane and awesome, at the same time! I felt really flattered and thankful. Long story short, I followed their advice and decided to hold my very first meet and greet ASAP.

One of the best things about this is that the event was sponsored by a lot of amazing brands and companies. It's just so cool! I'm very thankful for all of them, seriously! :) The primary sponsor of the event is Glory of New York Philippines. The event wouldn't be that big and special if not for their support. As their brand ambassador, I really feel blessed because they treat me in a very special way like I belong in their family and they always think of me and my career and help me out in almost everything in any possible way. So, thank you so much for your trust in me and for your love and support! Especially to my second Mother, Ms. Larissa. :)



Of course, the event wouldn't be complete and my guests wouldn't be that happy without my other 11 sponsors! Thank you all so much for your support to The Project Awesome! :)













My meet and greet happened last August 3, 2013 at the Bauhinia Tower Penthouse, Tivoli Garden Residences. I was originally planning to just have a maximum of 50 guests including friends and family but, modesty aside, on the very first day that I announced the details of my meet and greet, 25 people had already RSVP-ed! It's just so awesome! So, we decided to move into a bigger place so we can accommodate more people. Tivoli Garden Residences was the perfect place! :)

Before I show you the photos, I want to let you know that I wasn't really planning for a huge event complete with catering service and all! But God blessed me, hence, a big and successful event! :)

I really asked for colors orange, black, and white as my event's motif because those are the colors of my blog, as you can see. :)



Prizes were all displayed, including the prizes from my 20 GAMES/20 WINNERS gimmick on my Facebook page which was a part of my Meet and Greet party.



What's inside the bags? Here are some of the prizes from some of the sponsors. I wasn't able to take photos of the prizes from other sponsors, I'm really sorry. :-/

1. ELF Cosmetics from The Primp Pad



2. More ELF Cosmetics from Lipstick All U Can



3. Wet N Wild and Revlon Lipsticks from Stuff N' Shop



4. Mineral Eye shadows and coupon cards from Virginia Olsen Minerals



5. Loot bags filled with awesome cosmetics from Kering Keri Store



6. 40 bottles of perfumes in 4 different scents from BC Fragrance!



7. A mix of natural and synthetic blending brushes from Beauty Cosmetics



8. 20 tubes of Encara BB Cream and tons of sachets of Cara Air Fit BB Cream from MyrSkin!



9. 2 awesome palettes from Props Tools and Cosmetics



PhytoPharma also sponsored three bags of their healthy products and A LOT of free heart check-up gift certificates! It was insane but I wasn't able to take photos anymore because of lack of time. Sorry! :-( Of course, tons and tons of Glory of New York products and Iris cosmetics from Queen B. :)

I started the program with a little bit of introduction of myself and history of my blogging/vlogging career. I was so happy when I entered the venue because they were all staring at me with excitement and joy in their eyes! I felt so happy and nervous at the same time! Very overwhelming! ^_^

After our little chit-chat, I shared with them my skin care regimen and gave them a few tips and tricks on how to take care of skin. I even tackled about the basic makeup brushes which they say is really helpful and it was actually super nice because I get to share with them some product recommendations and advice about makeup brushes.





After that, and to pause from talking and talking in front (haha), we took a break and let everyone eat their meals first. The food were delicious, by the way! AWESOME!





While resting our filled tummies, I decided to visit their tables to ask how they are doing which is so much fun because I got the chance to talk to them and see them in a closer view! I enjoyed talking to my subbies! They are all very nice and just fun to be around!




After enjoying delicious foods, we had the first game! Oh! It was amazing and so much fun! I will never ever forget that day!!!




To keep the suspense of the other games, I continued the program and started the highlight of the event first - the basic makeup demo. Thanks to my classmate, Ruth, for being my model! :)








The makeup workshop took most of the time of the whole event because I kept on talking and talking in front as I do the makeup demonstration! I apologize for that but at least I got to share with them my knowledge about makeup. Kulang pa nga e! Hehe! Anyway, I think it's okay because after that, we continued the games and giveaways!!! Yey!!!






Oh, everybody had so much fun, I can tell! Haha! The games were super fun and prizes were just overflowing that we already ran out of games to play! No one went home empty-handed. Thanks to the awesome sponsors for making my subbies super happy! Hahaha!

Other than that, I realized that one of the best things that happened during my very first meet and greet is the fact that new friendships were born. Most of my guests came there not knowing anybody else but at the end of the day, they were all already friends! Isn't that sweet? I couldn't be any happier for that! Finding new friends is so cool! :)

What I've written here is just a minute part of the event. I could tell you everything that happened but it would take me forever to finish typing. Hehe! If you want to see more happenings during my meet and greet, watch my vlog about it:



I want to thank everyone for making this event possible! To my subscribers, friends, family, and all the sponsors! That day is absolutely one of the best days of my life and the highlight, so far, of my 2013! You have no idea how happy I was, and frankly, I am still happy about it whenever I remember that very special and awesome day with all of you!!!








With THE Joyce Sola of Candyloveart!!!!! Thanks for the support, sis!!! :)

To my awesome subscribers and followers, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your undying love and support for me, for my blog and for my YouTube channel. Thank you so much for your appreciation in my works and everything! Thanks for sharing that very special day with me. This event wouldn't happen without you! A meet and greet is not necessary without the amazing followers so thank you so much x infinity!!! I can't thank you enough! It's just surreal! I hope you'll continue to watch my videos, read my posts, support me and join me as I continue my journey. Thanks for being there especially to my loyal readers and subscribers. YOU'RE ALL AWESOME AND BLESSED! :)






I hope to see you all again on my future events! I LOVE YOU, GUYS!!!


P.S. Thanks to my sisters Joyce, Raych, Gina, and Lean for your gifts! I'll be posting a separate haul from this event soon. ;-)


Stay awesome and accomplish your mission! :)
-ivsc-


Photo credits to Glory of New York Philippines | Mree and Jackie Manzano