I haven’t been using gel liners until recently because I remember them having a really short shelf life which is why I was discouraged from buying them for quite some time.

The other day, I was shopping for some basic cosmetics on a rush at Watsons and came across the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner and I decided to give it a try in black 01. They claim for it to have a “new improved formula, more intense, upto 36 hours lasting, smudgeproof and waterproof“.

I had the first Maybelline LAsting Drama Gel Liner but I already tossed it out because it dried up already.

What I love about the product:

• The formulation is wonderful! The gel liner is so smooth, creamy and easy to apply.
• Pigmentation is excellent. It comes out as a true black. It didn’t have a gloss of any sort.
• It comes with a small flat dome-shaped brush. The brush is small enough to line on small asian eye like mine but I feel like it could appreciate the brush more if it was an angled brush just because it would be easier to wing out my eyeliner with one. The brush is also stiff enough to create lines.
• Nonetheless, the brush is useful because it is long enough to fit my hand and allows me to comfortably line my eyes.
• The packaging is so much better in my opinion! The old one had screw type lid as well but the lid itself is so much different from the old one. The new and improved lid suits my taste a lot more.
• It’s very affordable! It’s about 500 pesos give or take.

What I don’t like:

• As much as I wanted this to last, it started to smudge throughout the middle of the day. I has semi raccoon like eyes by the end of the day. (You can still make this work by patting on some black eyeshadow on your eyeliner to make sure it stays in place though! :) )

Hi guys!

I’m back with another review on a bronzer called Bahama Mama by the Balm. My favorite bronzer, NARS Laguna broke when I dropped it during one of my makeup gig. <////3 So I brought out a new bronzer from my stash of unused makeup! It was a gift from my uncle and his wife on my 18th birthday (thanks auntie Javi and uncle sean! :) ).

Product

The product is a magnetic compact made out of cardboard and is encased in another cardboard with the same print and design of the actual product. You simply slide out the compact out of the thin cardboard case. The design is so lovely! The Balm always comes out with products with the prettiest designs! :)

What I Love

The bronzer is matte bronzer which I LOOOVE. It has an ever so subtle sheen to it but has no chunky shimmer whatsoever which is something I look for in my bronzers. Shimmery bronzers tend to not be able to do the job of contouring. This is because the shimmer further enhances the part that you want to hide via contouring.  It doesn’t look orangey when applied as well. It suits my skin tone nicely. :) The product is very finely milled and you can see that it really has excellent quality and is really easy to blend. I was very loyal to my Nars Laguna bronzer but this Bahama Mama bronzer by The Balm is soo good that I don’t feel so bad about losing my Laguna bronzer. It’s everything I want in a bronzer. <3

What I don’t like

I have no complaints about this bronzer! :)

Swatches

the bronzer did not show up so much in the camaera but it really looks nice in person! <3

Final Tips and Recommendations

I likes using this with my flat top brush from Sonia Kashuk. I use the side to draw a line on my cheekbone then i use the flat top side of the brush to blend everything out.

I really love this bronzer and I can totally see it becoming a regular product in my makeup kit. I highly recommend this to those who like using matte bronzers. For those who don’t, this is definitely worth a try!! :)

whats’s your favorite bronzer? :)

xoxo,

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I had the opportunity to let Mr. Alex Carbonell touch my hair back when I was in high school. I remember fondly how the whole experience was a stress-free experience.

I’ve had my fair share of bad haircuts which is why I think I always get anxious when I get a haircut. I guess it’s because I often get attached to my hair and I always say that I’ll be embracing change right before I get the haircut. But I almost always feel bad right after my haircuts. *yikes*

I considered some salons for my new haircut and color because I honestly could not recall the last time I had my hair cut. I remember Sir Alex asking me if I wanted to get a dye job then but I had virgin hair then so I refused the offer. Now that I’m all grown up and addicted to getting my hair colored, I decided that maybe it was time to revisit Bench Fix by Alex Carbonell salon. I did my research as always and found out that sir Alex is an expert in doing makeovers and hair coloring as well. At the end of my research, I knew that going with sir Alex was a fool proof way to make sure my hair would be in good hands.

A strong sense of familiarity hit me as I entered their branch in Greenbelt 5. Everything looked the same except for some minor changes in the colors of the interiors. I was led to my chair and after a few minutes, Sir Alex sat on the chair beside me as if we were girlfriends and asked me about my concerns. Despite that fact that he’s made a name for himself in the beauty industry, he made me feel so comfortable talking to him. I told him some of my concerns. His first comment about my hair was that it was a bit to “warm”. He suggested that I could “cool” it down with a “matte” hair color with a dark blonde/light bron shade. He then showed me some examples and I immediately agreed.

After he cut my hair, I kind of got stunned at the sight of my new bangs. I did say earlier that I have some attachment issues to my hair so I asked about his thoughts and just having my hair color retouched. That way, I could keep a part of my old hair. He thought that it wasn’t a bad idea so he instructed his junior stylist to mix the colors for me. I had a total of three people who worked on my hair. Sir Alex for the haircut, his junior stylist for my color, and a shampoo-ist (haha i don’t know what the right term is).

What I Love:

The whole experience was really relaxing and at one point, I was falling alseep and my head kept on moving so my stylist offered me ice coffee. haha! The shampoo-ist massaged my hair for quite sometime while she was rinsing it.  I also love how they only charged me for the hair coloring service despite the fact that they had to mix some colors to get my shade right. Sir alex went back to me after my hair was rinsed and my hair was blow dried and inspected everything. I also like how professional everyone was in the salon. The stylist assigned to me ligned up some products in front of me but never pushed me to buy any of them. I looked to the customer beside and noticed that the stylist only told her about the hair products when she asked the stylist about them. I really admire their system because no one likes to be pushed to spend tons of money on hair products. I LOVE how my hair looked so much healthier and vibrant after the cut and color. Sir Alex even said that I looked liked I had highlights and I agree!

What I don’t like:

This isn’t something that I hated but I always enjoy reading the latest fashion magazines in salons and I wish they had more magazine selections to keep customers occupied while waiting for their treatments. :)

Before and After

huhu i super dread this photo because I look DEAD but I was too shy to ask for retakes. <//3

The stylist offered to curl my hair and I gladly accepted. :)

selfie at home. hehe.

after my hair settled down. :)

Final thoughts and Recommendations

My blog followers might have noticed that I wrote this review differently than how I normally write my reviews. However, I felt like writing my whole experience in a narrative style of writing so that I could adequately describe my whole experience. I really enjoyed my entire experience and of course, I loved the outcome of my look. Aside from skill, I value professionalism and I feel like I saw both in all the people who handled my hair that day. The whole vibe of the salon is cleans and refreshing to the eyes too. :) I spent PHP1,200 for the hair cut and around 2,800 for the retouching of my hair color. Their services are bit on the pricey side but I feel like the outcome was worth every peso. I recommend the salon to people who want to make sure that their hair is in good hands. :)

Studio Fix Salon by Alex Carbonell

xoxo,

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