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Maxine Marcelino

Food, Lifestyle, Travel

Baguio: My Happy Place

11/12/2012

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When I was younger, I spent almost all of my summers in the country’s summer capital, Baguio. My childhood best friend’s parents are super close to my parents and our families used to spend countless summer, Christmas and semestral breaks in their lovely home. I remember going around the huge village discovering secret shortcuts, hiding around in vacant parking spaces of empty houses, and picking sunflowers (they were so abundant then!). I haven’t been back to Baguio in the longest time so when my parents asked me if I wanted to go, I agreed right away! When I arrived at the once vacant and peaceful village, I was faced with newly built apartment complexes and houses everywhere. :( Anyway, I didn’t take photos of the village anymore because it didn’t look like the way it used to. :( Good thing I got to do something I used to LOVE doing when I was younger: Horseback riding! My dad always made sure to accompany me and my lil brother to go horseback riding on our Baguio trips. :)

Here’s my first day in Baguio in photos….

Me wearing the my newest fave red lippie from the MAC Marilyn Monroe Collection! <3

My best gay friend in the whole of Ateneo, Martin Tuanquin with his super gay horse!! Martin is a Baguio Native (he’s secretly an igorot! chos) and he was my prettyful tour guide (more of like food trip tour guide) during my entire stay in Baguio!

We went around Wright Park and I saw this super pretty church so I asked the guide to take out photo! Too bad the whole church wasn’t able to fit the frame. :(

YUMMY DOLSOT BIBIMBAP!!!!

I LOVE korean pop culture (i know, shocking! I try not to show it much. ha ha ha). Ove the years, I’ve grown to love even Korean food! For dinner, Martin recommended Korean Palace also known as Kung Jeon. The place is a house converted into a restaurant! What I love about the restaurant is that all their side dishes are refillable so I got to eat as much odeng as I wanted! :)

Korean Fried Chicken!

I really liked their korean fried chicken! The chicken had the right amount of crispiness, was perfectly coated with a well seasoned sauce and the serving was really huge! We ordered a lot more food but I was so hungry that I forgot to take photos of the other food we ate. And this is why I fail as a food blogger! ha di ha! Good thing I’m not really a food blogger! :)

I was detached from the world for less than a day and I already needed to find a place with internet connection to do my org work and other personal work so I asked Martin to bring me to a coffee shop! After dinner, my parents dropped us off at a super cute and cozy Korean owned coffee shop! I forgot the name of the coffee shop but I’ll ask Martin when I get the chance to!

They had reaaally yummy coffee! I ordered the normal brewed coffee but the coffee had a hint of cinnamon which was lovely! Martin and I kinda overstayed and were asked to leave by the Korean owner. My dad was a bit late when he picked us up so we had to wait in the nearest sari-sari store outside the coffee shop. It was around 10pm already and I was a bit scared then Martin started telling ghost stories! Thank God I arrived home safely! hehehe

This was my first time to actually explore and see Baguio as an adult! It’s so nice to be able to go to places that you feel like you already know and still discover new things about the place!

xoxo,

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Food, Lifestyle, Random

The Sembreak That Was

11/11/2012

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Hello everyone!

I’d just like to share some photos that I’ve accumulated in my camera over the break! This was one of the most memorable semestral breaks I’ve had! I met new people, caught up with friends, worked on my bag biz, bonded with friends from my org and shot a gun for the first time!!!!! :)

Here’s my sembreak in photos…

I was a facilitator in my org’s team building and one of the highlights of my break was being able to facilitate the team, Ninjajma Turtles, that won 2nd place overall! My co-facilitator and I got awarded the “stage-parents award” too! *kilig*

My breaks aren’t complete without a visit to Taft to visit my high school friends! We never called each other best friends but I feel like we don’t need that label anymore because they’re all likes sisters I never had! I wouldn’t have gotten through high school and the first few years of college without these girls!!! <3 Three of the people in my group go to La Salle so my other friend and I usually get forced to go to La Salle! :)

Can you see how happy and kilig I am to see my girlies?! :)

Mini outfit post: Top from Hong Kong, skirt from F21, shoes from Payless, bracelets from Mia Casa, Watch from Michael Kors, Necklace from Robinsons Department Store.

My travel buddy!

My handsome lil brother all dressed up for a school dance! He finally cut his hair cuz i told him he looked like some guy from eraserheads! ha ha ha. Every time he goes to a school dance, my girlfriends and I have dinner somewhere near the location of the dance because 3 of the people in the group have siblings from the same batch! :)

Me wearing one of my favorite bags from Curated Manila, the Rowling Satchel in leopard and studs! Dress from f21, shoes from payless, watch from Casio.

Had dinner at cafe Juanita then Mad Marks for dessert!

I forgot the flavor but it contains candied pecans! YUMMMM. <3 I like artisan ice creams/gelatos. heehee.

my sunny sunshine, teddy bear, driver, cheerleader, and friend, Nikki. <3

My future accountant/economics expert friend, jemmy! <3

That was my sembreak in photos! I didn’t add photos from my Baguio trip because I’ll be doing another post for that. ;) My sem break was nothing short of amazing and it’s something I’ll definitely not forget! <3

Love and lipstick,

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Reviews

Marilyn Monroe Collection Review: Legendary Powder Blush

11/07/2012

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Hi everyone!

I’m back with the part two of my review on the two items that I purchased from the MAC Marilyn Monroe collection! I talked about my whole experience in purchasing the two items here. Part one of my review where I talked about the limited edition lipstick can be found here.

The collection featured 2 powder blushes: Legendary ( a peachy blush with a satin finish) and Natural Pink Beige (a pink shade with a matte finish). I felt iffy with a matte finish blush so I went for Legendary. Don’t you think the name Legendary is more catchy than natural pink beige? :)

What I Love:

the limited edition packaging (SUPER PRETTY!!!)
the peachy shade with a super subtle gold sheen
gives off a very naturally flushed finish
does not look frosty when applied
shade is a bit light (you can build up the color though!)
lasted all day on me

What I don’t like:

the plastic packaging is prone to fingerprints
not as pigmented as I want it to be
slightly chalky
a downside for some: these cost a bit more than the regular powder blushes (it didn’t matter AS MUCH to me though since I still purchased it. haha)

Swatches

The color’s very subtle on me. :)

Me with the breakout of all time!!!

Overall Recommendations

I really like this blush and it’s something that I can use everyday. For those who have a lot of blushes already or for those who prefer to save, I would not recommend them to purchase this. Although I do not regret buying this product, I do not find anything special with the blush shade-wise. Of course for the die hard MAC fans or Marilyn fans, or for those who like collecting makeup like me, this isn’t a bad buy. The only thing that would make this appealing to people is probably the packaging and the prestige of it being a limited edition product. Overall, it’s not a total let down and I’m still glad I bought it. Of the two products I got from the collection, I like my Marilyn Monroe lippie more! <3

Availability

Available in MAC counters. Try going to the SM MOA branch because they were the last branch to launch and chances are that they still have stocks.

did you purchase anything form the collection? :)

Lifestyle, Random

Curated Manila: Never Before Seen Photos

11/06/2012

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Hi everyone!

Recently, we’ve been launching different collections for my bag line with my friend Daryl, Curated Manila. For those who haven’t heard of Curated Manila, it’s a proudly pinoy made bag line. My partner and diva in crime Daryl and I picked out the designs and swatches ourselves!! :)

For the first shoot of our collection, I was the producer, stylist, “alalay” for the day! It was a bit tiring but fun and the feeling was undescribable when the photos were released. It wasn’t a vogue-esque shoot or anything like that but it was something that I could be proud of. Hee Heee!

Here are the photos that weren’t used in our online look book! I proudly present beauty blogger and singer, Ericka Villongco as our first ever model! Doesn’t she look like a doll? :) As a fellow beauty blogger, she did her own makeup!

L’engle Clutch

Rowling Satchel

Dahl satchel

This shoot was so much fun especially because Erick, our model, a dragged our friend Kally to Co-style! Thanks so much to Jonas Tamayo for the gorgeous photos and fabulous art direction! <3

Grab your own Curated bag now!

Uncategorized

Review: David’s Salon Hair Color Treatment

11/04/2012

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David’s has always been my childhood parlor aside from Ricky Reyes. ha ha! My grandma used to bring me there and get my hair cut. As I grew and became more girly, I’ve been going to different salons all over the metro. Forgive me for this but I’ve always had this impression that David’s Salon was a “pang-masa” salon.

I haven’t been back here ever since I was a kid but I have to say that I was really impressed! My friend Krissy and Ericka treated Kally and me to a treatment of our choice at David’s Salon Greenbelt 1 and I’m really glad that I was able to experience the services of the salon once again!

My parents HATE my super light hair color so I decided to use this opportunity to darken my hair a bit. I loove my light hair so I couldn’t go back to my old black hair. I went for a compromise and chose something two shades darker. I’m glad that the hair stylist was very knowledgaable and helpful because I initially wanted to get just one shade darker. He advised me to take two shades darker because my hair will eventually turn lighter after 2 weeks meaning that I’ll just be a shade darker after 2 weeks. I went for a shade that had a hint of red. My old hair used to have a hint of blonde. :)

What I Love:

The place looks new and the overall aesthetics of the place doesn’t make it look “pang-masa” at all (so different from what I imagined it looked like based on my past experience).
The shampoo section is covered. (if you’ve read my past posts, I value my privacy and privacy usually contributes to the overall comfort of the experience).
The stylist is professional and well trained.
The service is inclusive of a consultation with the stylist. The stylist was patient in answering my questions.
The salon offered a wide array of colors to choose from.
The person who applied the color on my hair briefly massaged me while waiting for the color to set in.
The outcome was fabulous!!!!! :)
The service is affordable at around PHP3500 ish. I forgot the exact cost but my hair is extra long and it only costs around that price. :)

What I don’t like:

nothing much. I can’t recall anything bad to take against them. haha!

My Before and After Photos:

This is how light my hair used to be.

After the procedure.

I really did not expect the salon to look up to par with the high end salons in the Metro. I didn’t want to visit David’s salon because it is a franchise and there are a lot of branches all over the Philippines. I used to prefer going to one-of-a-kind salons like Indigo Salon, Bench Fix by Alex Carbonell, Emphasis, and the like. These are all one of their kind and chances are each stylist is handpicked and the services should be exceptional compared to franchises. I was really impressed with the David’s Salon Greenbelt 1 branch and now I’m more open to maybe going back there and get my hair colored again. I said maybe because I like trying out new salons and I don’t really stick to just one. :)

I wanna thank Ericka and Krissy once again for treating me to a lovely dye job! <3

Thanks for Reading!

Ciao,

PS: I’m wearing the same outfit as the one from my last post because I had my colored right after I got my brows done. ;)

Reviews

Review: Browhaus Brow Salon

11/02/2012

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Hello everyone!

I’ve said this before and I will say it again for my new readers: never underestimate the power of nicely groomed and shaped brows! Brows are like “picture frames” for the face! Beautiful photos don’t like good without frames, right? During the days when I go out sans makeup, I try to at least fill in my brows! I tell you, it makes a huuuuge difference. ;)

A few months back, I was able to purchase a voucher from Browhaus, one of the high end brow salons in the metro. I immediately bought the voucher and I finally got to use it recently! I purchased the eyebrow shaping service with semi permanent brow coloring.

Procedure

The brow architect let me lie down on a reclined couch. She applied some sort of cream and then left me alone for a while. She then wiped it off and started threading my brows. It was a teeny bit painful but I noticed that the procedure was a lot less painful than in other salons. The technician then started tweezing the small hairs that weren’t be removed by the thread. She chose a brow color that matched my hair color and applied the die. I waited around 30 minutes until the brow architect rinsed the die off.

I don’t know what happened to my photo. :(

What I Love:

efficiently trained brow architects
friendly and knowledgeable brow architects
fairly quick procedure
procedure wasn’t very painful
super nice result from the procedure

What I don’t like

the cubicles didn’t have doors so anyone passing by can see you ( i value my privacy)
the cubicle setup kinda ruins the whole experience. the voices of people in the store can be heard from inside the cubicle
the service is quite expensive at 1295.

Before

After

After

Overall

I really enjoyed my experience! My eyebrows look super nice after the procedure! I don’t know how I will be able to sustain this kind of brow maintenance on my lowly student budget. ha ha ha. I’ll probably look for sponsors (mom or dad?) teehee. I’m definitely going back! I might try their Greenbelt 5 branch because the cubicles there are private versus the kinda public cubicles in the Serendra branch.

Have you tried Browhaus’ services? Tell me all about it in the comments section! :)

Love and Liptick,

Reviews

Marilyn Monroe Collection Review: MAC Charmed I’m Sure Lipstick

11/01/2012

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Hi everyone!

I’m back with a review about my newest HG (holy grail) red lipstick, MAC’s Charmed I’m Sure from the Marilyn Monroe Collection.

The Collection featured 4 reds: Charmed I’m Sure, Deeply Adored, Love Goddess and Scarlet Ibis. Charmed I’m sure is a true red similar to Russian Red. Deeply Adored is a dark brownish red. Love Goddess is a pinkish red while Scarlet Ibis is an orangey red similar to Lady Danger. I’ve been looking for a true red so I purchased Charmed I’m sure. I also wanted to get deeply adored but it sold out so quickly. :(

What I love:

a TRUE RED!!! my gay friends would call this p*ta red. HAHAHA.
it’s a matte finish lipstick. Matte lipsticks tend to have a longer wearing times.
I LOVE the packaging. I’m so torn between using the lipstick and preserving it! Also the box comes in another slidey box thing! Talk about bonggels packaging! haha. sorry. I’m being such a baklita right now.
it’s limited edition meaning I’m one of the few in this world who has it! :)
red tones like this with blue undertones make teeth look whiter! :)

What I don’t like:

it’s limited edition meaning I won’t be able to get another one when I run out.
it’s a bit drying because of its matte finish. make sure to exfoliate and moisturize your lips before you apply!! :)
quite pricy at PHP1100 a pop

Swatches

Final Thoughts

Even if it’s pricey, I love it nonetheless!!!!! I’m so happy I endured the strict purchasing procedure of MAC cosmetics! I appreciate their strict purchasing procedure because it made the whole event organized which was nice. :) The suffering I went through to get this lippie was so worth it. hee hee. If you guys already have Russian Red and are not a fan of Marilyn Monroe, you can pass on this. :) For the die hard MAC and Marilyn Monroe fans, this product does not disappoint! :)

Availability

These are available in MAC counters nationwide.

Ciao!

PS: I’m in really thick makeup because I filmed a tutorial where I recreated my litte red riding hood for halloween! :)

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Events, FOTD, LOTD

Happy Halloween!

10/31/2012

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Hello everyone!

I’m sorry, this post is a teeny bit late! Most of you are probably partying the night away as I write this! I just got back from Baguio for a family trip and I was basically under a rock there. ha ha!

Anyway, this is actually my first time to actually dress up for halloween! I never knew it was such a big deal to people until i met my friends Kally, Krissy and Ericka! It was so much fun getting my costume made! Kally would pick Ericka and Me up to go to Kamuning every morning just to get our costumes made! I went as little red riding hood. hee hee. I wasn’t able to take a decent outfit photo with everyone so I’m grabbing Ericka’s!

Ericka as wonderwoman, Kally as Alice, Me, Krissy as Little Mermaid and Tori as a fairy!

Ericka being such a cutie, photobombing my photo! haha

Ericka did my makeup because I wanted to get someone else to do my makeup for a change! Will try to recreate the look in another post. ;)

Joe, Fred, Yela, and Me

Joe goofing around! hehe

I had so much fun in my first ever halloween party! We started getting ready at 5. I know, crazy right?! I left my red cape in the car. Ha ha. People thought I was a pirate. :( Oh well! I might recreate this look for a makeup tutorial and you might be able to see my COMPLETE costume. hahaha!

This year is full of many “firsts” for me. :) What or who are you guys going as? oops. Who/what did you guys go as?? :) Tell me in the comment section below! :)

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