I love to shop especially here in the USA where items are easily bought, exchanged, returned ,and refunded. Online shopping is easy too. Most of American retail stores have websites which make it very accessible and convenient to shop. No wasted gas money when you know which store carries the item you are looking for. Tandem with shopping is the use of credit cards.  Consumers ready their cards to be swiped at the signal of the sales associate.  Only a few here pay in cash.When they do, the sales associate becomes flustered because they don’t carry change.

However you can’t easily get credit cards. The card company actually needs the consumer to have a good credit history before they can issue the person a credit card. This has been my dilemma for the past 4 years. I really don’t like to apply for a credit card. I don’t like putting myself in debt. So I always use my parents’ credit card and pay them afterwards. When my bank introduces a debit card mastercard, I am impressed because now I can purchase online items with the mastercard feature in my debit card. However I get envious sometimes on those credit card users. They get free stuffs, discounted stuffs just because they have credit card especially when they have a retail store credit card. Whenever I shop, the cashier will ask me if I want to apply for the store’s credit card to avail of the extra 15-20% discount on all the items I have bought. Of course I’d like that! So I go through the process of applying for one right there in front of the cash registry only to find out that my application has not been approved because of lack of credit history. This goes on for 3 to 4 more times in different stores until I stopped trying and just forewarned the cashier that I don’t have credit history to be accepted.

My dad suddenly opens a joint credit card account with me. I have my first credit card finally! My dad says that I will be the only one to use and pay for that account. I am able to enjoy the reward points of using the credit card. Because of the reward points I find myself often using the card then later to discover that my billing statement is so high! After 2 months of being like this, I have become prudent on which cards to use. I switch from credit card to debit card or to cash. Then my dad terminates his other credit cards and decide to use this card he has with me. This presents a little problem of who’s going to pay what items.

When I return from the Philippines recently, I of course am in a shopping mode. I need to buy some essential skincare items. Having no cash in hand, I have taken liberty in using my credit card again! I have been looking for Clinique moisturizer and knowing that some stores give free items when purchasing a beauty product, I am drawn to Bloomingdale’s promo. Purchasing a Clinique item worth 21.50USD or more will entitle me to a beauty bag  with 8 Clinique items in it. The sales associate starts ringing my item and she routinely asks if I have their credit card. I answer no and I immediately tell her that I cannot be approved for any credit card because of lack of credit history. She tells me that she’ll just try anyway, which I agreed.

It’s like winning a lottery or getting a surprise gift or getting to travel to an exotic beach. The sales associate inform me that I’ve been approved for a Bloomingdale’s credit card. Woot! But I immediately sober up and ask if there are any extra fees I should pay and she negatively answers. Coolness! With opening an account, I get to have 20% discount off my items and a special gift from Bloomingdale’s. So it has been a fantastic shopping day for me! I have bought 2 items and come out with 3 gifts, 20%off, and a new credit card! What more can a girl ask?

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I believe au naturel is still the best form of beauty. In the Philippines, it is accepted and common to go out or work without having make-up on. I believe that that makes us look younger than our age. We don’t put lots of chemical in our face hence our skin remains youthful looking. However it doesn’t hurt to put on make-up once in a while especially to parties, gimiks or dates.

I’m very conscious on the choice of my make-up. I have somewhat sensitive skin, my face gets a little bit oily sometimes and I’m prone to break-outs. I also don’t want to spend too much on makeup especially if I haven’t tested it first. And many times I read a lot of reviews before purchasing a product.

So here are my beauty picks:

1. Facial Cleanser – I finally found compatibility with Cetaphil Facial Cleanser. Its advertisement is really true: it’s a really gentle cleanser! I don’t use make-up remover and just use this to totally clean my face. It’s not harsh on the skin and doesn’t dry out the skin. My face feels supple after washing.
2. Facial Moisturizer – I always go for moisturizer with vitamin E because the extra vitamin is a good antioxidant and will make my face healthier. I’m satisfied with Myra E facial moisturizer. It’s very light and easily glides on the face. Although it doesn’t do much with keeping the face hydrated. My sister introduced to me Clinique moisture surge extended thirst relief. I really love it because it’s cool and refreshing on the skin and it does keep your skin hydrated. I just started using Myra E with SPF. I always go out without putting sunblock on my face. I know it’ll give me brown spots but I’m just so lazy. So Myra E with SPF solves that problem for me.
3. Face powder – face powder really gives me hives and breakouts so it was a long time before I found one that is really light on my skin. Clinique Superpowder Double Face Makeup combines both pressed powder and foundation powder into one. I like using this because it’s a combo already and it’s also noncomedogenic. But I think it’s really important to change the powder sponge every once in a while to prevent any break-outs.
4. Concealer – the best concealer for my dark circles and blemishes would be TheBalm. It’s cream based so it glides smoothly and blends well with my skin. It’s not messy to apply unlike some concealer sticks that I’ve used before. It’s cheap and a pot can last me months. If I want a flawless concealment, I would combine it with Clarins Instant Light Perfecting Touch. I hate using Clarins because it’s wand-type and it’s messy to apply. It’s also liquid based and after a few hours my face gets extra oily from it.
5. Make-up Primer – I’m glad that I discovered that it’s really important to use a primer before putting your makeup. I’m happy with Smashbox Photofinish Color Correcting (Blend) Primer. It makes my skin tone even, makes applying makeup easier and makes my face look flawless. However I only use this when I want to do some serious make-up. In ordinary days I would just use concealer and face powder.
6. Eyes – eyeliner, eye curler and mascara are the basic eye makeup for me. The best eyeliner for me would be Ulta automatic eyeliner. It’s so easy to use and doesn’t smear when applying. I also have Prestige liquid eyeliner which I use when I’m not feeling lazy. It has great color, doesn’t smudge or streak and gives a fine uniform line. I use Shu Uemura for eye-curler. I just joined the Shu bandwagon even though after years of using it, it still doesn’t curl my eyelashes really well. I have short Asian eyelashes and  Shu has a wide clamp which has hard time curling my eyelashes on both sides of my eye. The best mascara for me would be DiorShow Blackout. It totally makes my eyelashes look longer and fuller. A cheaper but good mascara is Maybelline Lash Discovery which has mini brush to get even the shortest eyelashes without smearing.
7. Eyeshadow – I like BareEscentuals Bare minerals eye shadow because it doesn’t wear off easily and gives a vivid color. But I use this so seldomly because my face gets allergic with Bare minerals.  I often use drug-store eyeshadow products which wears off easily so I just compensate it with using basic color like black, silver, and different shades of brown.
8. Cheeks – I haven’t found a good blush-on make-up. Before I used WeiEast blush-on powder which blends perfectly with my skin tone. But I find it too harsh on my skin. This goes the same for Bare minerals. I tried the Smashbox O-Glow Intuitive Cheek Color and it has avery nice tint. I was hesitant to buy it because I have a problem with blending cheek stain/tint properly. Sometimes it makes me look like a porcelain doll because there are 2 pink spots on my cheek. Right now I’m using Covergirl blush-on (Rose Silk) which is still kinda harsh on my skin, it wears away easily and it needs a lot of application before the color pops out.
9. Lips – if my lips are too dry especially in cold weather, I just use vaseline petroleum jelly. I like Burt Bees lip balm too because it’s soothing to the lips. Then I put lipstick or gloss over it. A good lip plumper would be BareMinerals Buxom Lips.  I feel the tingle which psychologically convince me that my lips are getting plumper. When I’m too lazy to put lipstick and balm I use the Body Shop Born Lippy Strawberry lip balm because it gives color and a little bit of moisture to my lifeless lips.

I still believe that the important things on how to keep the face healthy are to minimize the use of make-up, drink lots of water, take Vitamin E supplement, clean and moisturize the face and get a goodnight sleep! Well that’s how I do it anyway.

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