Mom leaves twins in hot car for 39 minutes while she shops at a beauty store --

Okay, so this is a rant-ish post. I came upon this article which reports how a mom of 3 1/2 year old twins (very very close to my own boy's age!) left her children strapped inside the car for almost 40 minutes while she did a beauty run at Ulta. I mean, even if you lost your entire make-up stash, is that really such a dire emergency? And setting aside the fact that a lot of children had died from dehydration and metabolic imbalance because of the extreme heat that can build up inside the car once you turn the air conditioning off, what about the greater concern of security? Any stranger can break in and harm or steal your kids while you are gone.

The children have been rescued by child services and the mom arrested. And I hope other moms know better than this.

I ♥ Philippine Drugstore Makeup Tag (and a lot of blah-blah on why I buy high-end makeup)

Maica over at PinayBeautyinaBudget tagged me in this series months and months ago! I've been owing her this response for ages, and it feels good to finally get around to it. First of all, I found it difficult to answer because she specified that the products I have to answer will have to be local drugstore brands, and I don't have much experience with those for several reasons.

Okay, here's where I warn you that the blah-blah starts here. If you would rather, just scroll down to the actual questions-- I won't mind.

First, I'm a self-confessed makeup snob. I would rather have one Guerlain lipstick than ten Wet n' Wild ones just because makeup is my indulgence. I don't shop really horde clothes or shoes anymore like I did when I was younger because I'm trying to keep my life and my closet as simple as possible. I don't get to wear makeup everyday (I say this a lot on this blog, no?), so on the few occasions that I do, I really long for a more luxe experience. 

Second, I do most of my beauty shopping online, or from trusty direct sellers from Avon, Mary Kay, etc. Whenever I go to the mall, I take my little boy with me (sans yaya!) and it takes a lot of things to go right before I can have time to loiter at a local beauty counter. I never really stay long enough to get tempted by an impulse purchase! And well, online sellers mostly carry non-local drugstore brands e. 

Third, I usually check reviews and blogs before I buy something-- and search engines usually point to non-local brands. Which is why this tag is a really good idea, IMO. So finally, here are my answers below. Take note that given my limited experience with Philippine drugstore makeup, I have to modify the rules a bit: when I don't have a suitable answer in the Pinoy-made local drugstore category, I add some non-Pinoy drugstore brands but only the ones that I know are locally available.

One of the requirements I have for makeup shopping is that there must be space and a seat so the Boy can plunk down while I go a-swatching. Even then, I only get like a ten-minute window before he gets bored and asks for ice cream.

1. What is your favorite local drugstore makeup brand? That will be Nichido and Fanny Serrano. I like Nichido for their cheap lip liners and eye pencils. They're like e.l.f. -- their products can be a hit or miss but they have good prices. Aside from the pencils, I would recommend their loose powder (decent) and this green pancake foundation which is only about P150. If you have redness that you would like to neutralize, apply this wet on your face and then top off with a color-matching face powder.

As for Fanny Serrano, the brand is just amazing. It's actually my favorite local brand as of now. I have a Fanny Serrano lipstick (which I reviewed here) and their compact foundation in Rajah which I use as a matte bronzer. I look forward to buying Organza once I make a dent in the many compacts that I still am trying to use up.

2. What are your favorite face, cheek and lip products? For the face, I love Ellana loose mineral foundation (review here). Up to now, I still use it as part of my everyday simple look. It doesn't break me out and it's very light on the skin, plus I found a good shade match because they send you samples so you can try the powders at home.

For the cheek, I'm a Benefit and MAC girl actually but for local brands, I would say Fanny Serrano again. They have a peachy pink shade that I thought looked a bit like Benefit Bella Bamba (don't know the shade name though, sorry).

For the lips, MAC and Guerlain, but Fanny Serrano did impress me again. Also, I have swatched lipsticks by M&Co which I think is by Mikee Cojuangco and they had great pigmentation and staying power-- my arm was still stained the next day!

3. Least favorite product? I don't like face bases by Ever Bilena because when I swatch them, parang wala namang coverage then it had an oily feel.

4. What is the best makeup bargain? I don't go by sales and markoffs when it comes to makeup e. That's another reason why I buy trusted brands like MAC, because it really comes down to cost-per-wear. For example, a powder foundation only costs P200 per pan, but since you have to retouch several times a day, you use up two pans every month so it's just the same as buying a nice powder that has better staying powder-- less hassle pa. 

5. What is your favorite underdog product? (Something you love that often gets overlooked?) Does it have to be a brand? Because my answer would be a brow spoolie brush-- the ones that is mostly called "mascara brush". Newbies often just throw it out when they buy brush sets but it can really help give you well-groomed brows if you know how to use it.

6. A local drugstore product that is overpriced? Most drugstore products, for me, are overpriced. See #4 for the reason. Especially those poor quality eyeshadow palettes and chalky blushes.

7. Local drugstore product that isn't worth the hype? The copycat BB creams that are nothing but watered down versions of crappy liquid foundation.

And because the purpose of a tag is to keep it going, I want to tag

Shayne of Queen of All You See -- we seem to have the same makeup brand loves, I wonder how she would answer these questions.

If you would like to participate in this tag, just go ahead. I'm really just shy about getting initiating connections with fellow bloggers, not snobbish :)

Quick Tip: How to make your Clarisonic look almost new again

I'm on a roll here, posting two consecutive days in a row. This is, frankly, what happens when I don't have to produce or edit pictures for a post. I have no problems coming up with words-- it's really the photography that gets me behind. Anyhow, today is something that you are bound to find useful if you have a light-colored Clarisonic that has been looking dingy now.

My Clarisonic is a boring white, which really shows every bit of dirt on it.

I have had mine for a little over a year now (read my review here) and I still love it. I've changed my brush heads twice and I pretty much use it everyday. As you can see, my unit is white and since it gets wet, it has started to look grayish and a bit moldy. Gross, I know, but there was nothing I could do about it. I tried scrubbing it with shower gel, even tried diluted bleach but the grayish grime was still there. I didn't dare try harsher cleaning agents because I didn't want to risk damaging it.

You know what surprisingly worked? Plain white toothpaste.

I discovered this by accident; I dropped a gob of whitening toothpaste (mine was Arm & Hammer, but I suppose any brand would do) on the back of my Clarisonic one morning and didn't notice it until I needed to use it that evening. I just wiped off the toothpaste when to my surprise, the spot where it sat on was back to its original pristine color! I excitedly slathered toothpaste all over (without wetting it at all) and when I wiped off the toothpaste, the stains were gone. So now I can bring it again on overnight trips without being ashamed of other people seeing it.

So that's it. If you do try it out, do let me know how it works for you!

2 Firsts for me: a Farah Abu bangle and Shopping at AVA.ph

I know, I know-- it's been a couple of months since I posted. I would like to thank a bunch of you who still visited from time to time just to see if I have something new here. I am sorry that you have been disappointed and you won't believe how thankful I am that I still get traffic even if I am remiss. As for the hiatus, I would like to write a separate post for that-- for now, I am thinking of taking this blog in a slightly different direction. Yes, I still intend to blog about beauty stuff, but so far, the Kikaymom has been more kikay than mom and I suppose that's what lies behind the lack of blogging mojo. You see, although makeup and whatnot are things that I care about (and spend money on), my life is so much more. Maybe it is time to share more about the different aspects so that this space, my own corner of the web, can feel more like home where I can just kick my heels off and spend time with friends.

And anyhow, online shopping is one of those things. July is actually my birthday month. I'm not really the type who likes to throw parties or go clubbing for special occasions; I prefer purchasing items that I know I will be using and keeping for a long time. And a piece of chunky handmade jewelry is what I had in mind: a Farah Abu bangle.

Chunky is so pretty :)

Farah Abu is a Pinay architect-turned-jewelry designer. When I landed on AVA.ph, her chunky handmade pieces really spoke to me and I ended up getting my very own bangle. I figured that I could wear this with everything from cocktail dresses and tshirts. You can take a look at her other pieces here. Like most handmade jewelry, there are other bangles that look quite similar to mine, though not exactly alike. I love my bangle so much; it's not too heavy and it feels so comfortable on my arm.

And hats off to AVA too; I ordered this in the very early morning and by afternoon, I received an email notifying me that it has already been shipped (I paid online using DragonPay). Sure enough, the next morning, it arrived at the house. A good thing too because I was really excited to see my bangle in person.

Farah Abu pieces are also sold online at Lazada and Zalora but the nicer pieces are, I think, the ones listed in AVA.