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Jay E. Tria

Healthy Living Makeup and Skincare

Review: The Best and The Meh of Serums

Posted on October 5, 2013

I admit I gave in a little late to the magic of serums. Well, late at least in the beauty industry timeline where serums are pegged to be that miracle formula that repairs and brightens skin, and overall, stalls its aging. The marketing blurb these days is not even to start using serums as early as age 25, but to start investing on one in your 20s. Simply, to start as soon as you can afford it.

Obviously I am not one to condemn this, having spent a dominant chunk of my disposable income on skin care and cosmetics. Besides, I can testify that serums are hyped for good reason. They are concentrated versions of the different promises your creams give you, thus seeping into the skin deeper and delivering more obvious and lasting results. The quandary then, if finding the serum worth the price tag (and they can get hefty).

I humbly provide below my personal list of the best and the meh of serums.

Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum

Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum

Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum. I’ve always been intrigued by the organic, cruelty-free brand offered in Beauty Bar, and even more so when it launched Alicia Silverstone as brand ambassador (she’s Cher and Batgirl, you guys!). But then this particular serum hit 50% off in Taste Central, and I knew it was a sign. Made with organic juice base (not water), this serum is packed with antioxidants and vitamins to nourish the skin (think organic aloe, Vitamin C, CoQ10) and salicylic acid to slough off zits, blemishes and clogged pores. My sister can attest to how only a few days of using this cleared her spotty face. We use it over zits and spots and on the nose to rid off blackheads before massaging on moisturizer. Pimples die a quick natural death without the harshness of drugstore zit creams that usually leave dark spots. Totes a winner. Never buying anything with benzoyl peroxide ever again. Originally P1,675. Only P838 in Taste Central. Also available in Beauty Bar.

Estee Lauder New Advanced Night Repair

Estee Lauder New Advanced Night Repair

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair II. This serum had the most scientific marketing blurb of all. Usually, this is a turn off to me because it seems like a marketing ploy of these big companies to bombard customers with statistics and techie beauty jargons to just scare them into buying. But a good word from Caroline Hirons was enough to push me to at least try a sample. And let me just tell you: that bit about ANR2 having captured the science of sleep? No kidding. Whatever is in this tiny powerful bottle definitely hydrates and softens, evens out skin tone and lets you wake up to plump, happy skin. Only the red drooping eyes would show proof that you had a long night. Definitely one of those beauty investments with a hefty price tag, but if you can afford it, buy it. About P3,000 for 30ml and P5,000 for 50ml in Rustans.

Clarins Lotus Facial Rebalancing Oil

Clarins Lotus Facial Rebalancing Oil

Clarins Lotus Facial Rebalancing Oil. I wanted to love this, I really did. Having a perpetually oily face, I was iffy with facial oils, but enough reading and research was enough to convince me to at least try a sample of this from the not-very-friendly lady at the Clarins counter (Powerplant Rockwell branch. Yeah, not coming back to you). Boasting of 100% pure plant extracts, I was expecting miracles from this. So I guess this was a classic case of expectations over reality. The oil had a strong but relaxing scent that flits off in moments. You are left with a non-greasy moisturizing oil that you massage gently all over the face. The Clarins lady does not recommend nightly use because although non-sticky, the oil is rich and oily skin needs to slowly acclimate to it. I experienced the expected little itty bitty zits in the first week. I kept going and they eventually disappeared. But were my pores tighter? Not so much. Skin rebalanced as promised? Erm. Not very sure. I would probably purchase someday, just to give it a chance to redeem itself. About P2,500+ at Rustans.

Venus and Mars Total Potion Serum

Venus and Mars Total Potion Serum

Venus and Mars Naturals Total Potion. This was my very first attempt at a serum, used during my very first attempt to go 100% organic in my skincare. That did not go very well. Oily and acnaic skin seems to need a good ol’ hashing of gentle yet effective chemicals in the mix with the organic natural options. Anyway, Total Potion is one of the product staples in the proudly Philippine-made organic brand Venus and Mars, and is pegged to be as effective as the more costly international brands. Now I feel this product is a meh only because I was using it at a time when my skin was rebelling against me and the rest of the V&M anti-acne line were too gentle to win the war. But the serum is really meant to be a “multifunctional power serum” and “youth potion” with its straightforward cocktail of Vitamin C, E and Collagen, and for this the skin does feel plumped up and nourished. Will probably give it another go now that my skin is more behaved. Only P585 at the brand’s website, at Mod Lei spa and through your friendly V&M sellers.

I have a short list of serums I want to try soon. If you’ve used any of the following, I’d be happy to know how it went for you:

MyChelle Serious Hyaluronic Firming Serum and Clear Skin Serum

Human Nature Overnight Elixir

Derm E Hydrating Serum with Hyaluronic Acid

Photo credits to owners.

If you found this helpful at all, maybe share a coffee?

Music Dance and Lyrics

LSSing: The Way it Was

Posted on October 3, 2013

I don’t think Brandon Flowers has gotten more honestly sentimental than this. The track starts will the type of easy beat you twirl your prom date to, then Brandon lays down the scenery of a lonesome thoughtful drive through the desert. Elvis joins the song as the doubts are told, and the song builds — as Killers songs only do —

If I go on with you by my side

can it be the way it was

when we met?

Did you forget about those lonely nights?

The drum slows down and you twirl again in a slow dance in the endless Mojave desert.

 

Video credits to TheKillersVevo, YT

Music Dance and Lyrics

Music Inventory

Posted on September 29, 2013

CD Inventory

So I was looking at my brand new, post-concert Battle Born CD — the first one I’ve bought in years –, and one thing led to another, as they are wont to do on a rare lazy Saturday afternoon. I found myself squatting in front of our CD/DVD rack and there they all were: physical, non-digital, non-iTunes Compact Disks with actual cover art taking up actual space. The covers were not dusty because someone actually took them out for a good wipe, but the labels were upside down and the order was all wrong. OCD and fuzzy sentiment kicked in. I plopped on the floor and took inventory:

Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm Remixed

Brighter – 16 Killer Tracks from Today’s Hottest British Bands

Chicosci – Chicosci

Coldplay – Viva La Vida

Defiant – Kerplunk CD Sampler 2009 (Kjwan, The Ambassadors, Faspitch, Angulo, Beach Head, Menaya, Enemies of Saturn, Blue Jean Junkies, Subscapular, Astrojuan, Favored Enemy, Sinag)

Eraserheads (complete) – Ultraelectromagneticpop, Circus, Cutterpillow, Fruitcake, Stickerhappy, Natin99, Carbonstereoxide, The Reunion Concert

Fall Out Boy – Infinity on High

High School Musical OST – 1, 2-Disc Special Edition; 2, 2-Disk Collector’s Edition; 3, 2-Disk Premiere Edition 

John Mayer – Room for Squares, Continuum, Battle Studies

Justin Timberlake – Future Sex Love Sounds

The Killers – Hot Fuss, Day and Age, Battle Born

Maksim – Variations Part 1 and 2

New Moon OST

Norah Jones – Feels Like Home Deluxe Edition

Sandwich – Grip Stand Throw, 4-Track Mind, Thanks to the Moon’s Gravitational Pull, Thanks to the Moon’s Gravitational Pull (Deluxe), Five on the Floor, <S> Marks the Spot

Silent Sanctuary – Fuschiang Pagibig

Snow Patrol – Eyes Open

Spongecola – Palabas

Sugarfree – Tala-Arawan

The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing

Twilight OST

Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want

It was a nostalgic activity, to say the least. By the time I had money to buy my own records, MP3 players and free downloads were the thing. So I took to buying only the music I knew I would love forever and happily install in my future library with the books that I will likewise love forever. (My future kids are going to hate me, getting moldy paper and scratchy disks for inheritance) The inventory revealed not a fool-proof list, and definitely not a complete one, but it’s a solid start.

I have to deal though with the itchy side effect of wanting to jump into a good gig right this moment.

Music Dance and Lyrics

‘Battle Born’ Tour 2013: Sa Wakas, the Killers are Here!

Posted on September 28, 2013

“Thank you for not giving up on us,” charmingly begins the Killers‘ front man Brandon Flowers when he finally stopped dancing for an intro and a hello. I had the graciousness to feel guilty because I kind of did give up on them, nursing a hurt spot for when they cancelled the Manila leg – among others – of their Day and Age tour last January 2010. There is no pain like an excited fan returning a worthless ticket. After waiting in vain for “further details on tour scheduling”, I had to let go of the dream since the next few months saw the band taking a hiatus, Brandon launching his first solo album, followed by the band’s latest outing, Battle Born, records that I both ignored (out of revenge? ignorance? K-pop persuasion?). But then a new album means a new world tour, and hallelujiah, also meant that the Killers were (as Brandon said,) “sa wakas, finally” in Manila. A butt hurt fan cannot stay butt hurt for long.

No hosts, no gimmicks, and a bad ass opening act Continue Reading

Book Review

19 out of 100 as of 9/2013

Posted on September 14, 2013
Mia-Wasikowska-Jane-Eyre Michael Fassbender

Mr Rochester pleads his damned cause with Jane Eyre, breaking the good reader’s heart in the process.

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. I don’t think I will be able to finish this list. A lot of the material honestly seem to be beyond my depth and (to be completely frank) my interests. But I’ve gotten through 19 as of this month, so I guess at the very least I am not most people 🙂

Besides, I also feel that other worthy books are not included in the 100 must-reads. To be fair though, the literary world is an ever changing, evolving space and no list will ever be complete. The magic of books, I daresay, is that the story never quite ends.

Check the list and see how you fare.

1 Pride and Prejudice – 1 

2 The Lord of the Rings –

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte – 2

4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling – 3

5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee -4

6 The Bible – 5

7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte –

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell –

9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman –

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens –

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott –

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy –

13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller –

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare –

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier –

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien –

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk –

18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger – 6

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger – 7

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot –

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell –

22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald –

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens –

24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy –

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams –

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky –

28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck –

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll –

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame –

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy –

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens –

33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis –

34 Emma – Jane Austen – 8

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen – 9

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis –

37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini –

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres –

39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden –

40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne –

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell – 10

42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown – 11

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez – 17

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving –

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins –

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery –

47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy –

48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood –

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding – 12

50 Atonement – Ian McEwan –

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel –

52 Dune – Frank Herbert –

53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons –

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – 13

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth –

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon –

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens –

58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley –

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon –

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez –

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck –

62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov –

63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt –

64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold –

65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas –

66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac –

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy –

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding – 14

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie –

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville –

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens –

72 Dracula – Bram Stoker –

73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett –

74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson –

75 Ulysses – James Joyce –

76 The Inferno – Dante- 15

77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome –

78 Germinal – Emile Zola –

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray –

80 Possession – AS Byatt –

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens –

82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell –

83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker –

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro –

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert –

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry –

87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White –

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom – 18

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle –

90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton –

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad –

92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery –

93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks –

94 Watership Down – Richard Adams –

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole –

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute –

97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas –

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare –

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – 16

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo – <photo id=”1″ />