Thursday, April 22, 2010

Your Every Woman Is A Year Old!


I cannot believe it! My blog is a year old now! And although not a lot of people get to read it from here, I'm still happy that I've posted a lot already. This may not be too useful for others, but I know it's going to be useful for my kid (/s) when she (/they) grows up. It documents everything I learned as a woman and everything else linked to being one. It also displays who I am, what I love to do and what I believe in.

I'm really happy and I hope I learn more enough to keep posted on this blog.

I'm sorry but I don't have a really cool blog giveaway on its birthday, but I'm very grateful. Thanks to the people who comment on my posts and to those who have followed me...you add up to the family that keeps this blog alive!

Going back, I was overwhelmed by the whole blogging thing that I even tried, at great lengths, to get others to read my blog. I posted ads on smartparenting.com.ph and my multiply site. I attempted to open a mini segment that I wasn't able to add up to -to date! I posted comments on other bloggers' websites and linked the comments back to me. Instant popularity from blogging is really tempting! Good thing I was able to remember what I started blogging for and stuck with it.

Now I laugh at the things I did and consider them embarrassing. The only thing I don't regret having done was commenting on other bloggers' posts because it is from them that I learned a lot, and even more when they answered my questions and reponses. Some of them even became Internet friends and advisors!

Moving forward, I already started manually updating Facebook with my posts here so that my actual friends there would have the chance to read my posts. Most of them don't blog and just rely on FB to get updated with me. It's the interaction that matters more now, 'cause these people already know me. I want to share my parenting advocacies and beauty enthusiasm with them and if it helps people they know, they can share it too...just like in the movie "Pay It Forward".

Here's to another year of learning!!! CHEERS!


your every woman,

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Make Up Play: Pat

To be honest, I don't really like applying make up on myself. If I have perfect skin, I'd probably not wear any make up at all. But I do love colors and where else is it better to look at than on my mirror? On other people's faces, of course! Here's another make up play on hubby's cousin, Pat:


I can't touch her brows, sorry...


Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Bare Naturals multipurpose minerals Apple Green over entire lid
Ellana multipurpose minerals Foxy on crease and lower lids
Ellana mutipurpose minerals Breezy on outer v
Ellana multipurpose minerals Raven on outer v and crease
Ellana multipurpose minerals Felicity for brow bone and tear ducts
Ever Bilena Advanced eyeshadow singles in Cleo mixed with BE Weather everything liner sealer to line and smudge upper and lower lash lines


Face

The Body Shop's Tea Tree Concealer in shade 02
Ellana mineral foundation in Macchiato
Custom-made bronzer for the cheeks

Lips

By Nature's Lippy Pot Balm
Luminare Lip Slim in Vino

You must've recognized by now that I've used the same technique in eye make up over and over. It gets a little boring, but then I have yet to learn other eye make up tricks for all eye shapes and colors.

I also use the same foundation and concealer on everyone. Good thing mine sort of becomes "pwede na..." on other people. I don't have a really big collection of make up. I wish I had, but I don't have the budget for it, at least for now....Would you like to sponsor for me? Just kidding!

I could also use some contour and highlight expertise, plus good highlighting and contouring colors. It helps shape faces.

At the end of the day, this is all just make up play for me. I hope that in the future, all that play would help me live the dream of prettying people's faces up. A willing participant, anyone?

your every woman,

Monday, April 19, 2010

Recipe of The Day: Chicken Carbonara

I love this variation of our regular Carbonara, hope you like it too!


Ingredients:

5 cups water
1/4 kg chicken legs
1 tbsp white pepper
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 pack of Knorr Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tetra packs of Nestle Cream (you can choose the new Dlite version for a healthier meal)
1/4 kg brocolli, cut into bite sized bits
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped

1. Boil chicken in water, pepper, salt and soy sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes and drain chicken. Let stock cool separately.
2. Shred chicken into bite size bits and saute in garlic and onion.
3. Mix Cream of Mushroom Soup and cornstarch with cooled chicken stock and cook soup according to package instructions.
4. Add Nestle cream and cook until boiling point. Simmer for 10 minutes with constant stirring.
5. Add chicken and brocolli and cook the sauce for another 5 minutes.
6. Pour over pasta and enjoy! :D

your every woman,

Sunday, April 18, 2010

A Shot at Two-Winged Lining + Rants on Etude House' Lip and Eye Make Up Remover

I was watching Michelle Phan's videos and got very interested with double-winged eye lining. I did it on myself with black eyeshadow and this is how it turned out:


Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Custom-made bronzer applied as eyeshadow over entire lid
Ever Bilena Advanced Eyeshadow in Cleo on outer v and mixed with BE Weather Everything Liner Sealer to line eyes

I liked the effect it did on my eyes because gap between the 2 wings made my eyes look bigger than they actually are. And from afar, other people could mistake the wings for thick and long eyelashes

I applied and wore the eye make up in an airconditioned environment from 12mn until 9am and a non A/C'd environment from 9am until 2pm. You can see how the primer and liner sealer kept most of it in tact. And then came removal time...

I bought Etude House' Lip and Eye Make Up Remover after running out of L'oreal Gentle Lip and Eye make up remover to save about half the price. Etude House' costs Php198 for a 100ml bottle while L'oreal's cost around Php400 for a 125 ml bottle. Are they comparable?

the cotton didn't absorb much of the color

almost 80% of the eyeliner was left


Hell no! I moistened the piece of cotton ball and placed it over my lids for about 2 mins and this is what I got. The product doesn't "dissolve" the make up, it just loosens it. I can get the same results if I used oil! And then I'd have to rub or apply pressure on my poor eyes just to remove all the make up.

That purchase was such a big dissapointment because the reason I buy make up removers is to keep me from causing premature sagging on my eyes while still enjoying make up on it. (If you noticed, I've already caused a bunch.) Etude House' just defeated that purpose.I should've shelled out more and bought L'oreal's which already worked for me, for Nikki of AskMeWhats and Jheng of IAmSutil's Abubots.

Is there something I liked about it? Yes...cute packaging and a sort of ylang-ylang scent. But those don't help in removing make up.


your every woman,

Friday, April 16, 2010

Recipe of the Day: Home Made Mashed Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes, especially the ones from KFC! But because I can't always buy from them, I researched on how to make my own mashed potatoes using real potatoes (although, you can always go for the instant version out of store-bought potato flakes...).


I got this idea from my mom's cookbook. And since I really don't follow measurements, this recipe isn't the exact version from the book. I'll be sure to update this with the book's title and author anyway, but not until after I visit my mom.


Ingredients:

1 clove of garlic
1 middle sized potato
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup Alaska evaporated milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp dairy cream butter
1/2 tsp white pepper


1. Grate potato and place it in a saucepan. Add water, salt, garlic and butter.
2. Heat saucepan to boiling point before setting stove on low fire to allow potatoes to absorb all the water. I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to time this. Just keep checking saucepan! ;)
3. Once the potato absorbed all the liquid, remove the garlic clove.
4. Add milk and mash the potatoes. Lightly sprinkle white pepper and mix thoroughly.

It's the clove of garlic and the butter that made all the difference! No wonder that without it, my mashed potato just tasted like something my daughter ate when she was about 6 months!

If you want to add gravy, you can use the gravy recipe I used in making home made burger steak, which is a dupe for Jollibee's gravy. I'll still have to find out how to dupe KFC's gravy, so stay tuned!


your every woman,

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Make Up Play: Camille

As you know, I love making people's faces pretty! As a matter of fact, if I have the time and money, I would go mainstream with it. But for now, I'm just enjoying playing with my make up on my favorite people and hopefully, I can continue doing this with as much favorite people as I can.

Here's how I did on Camille, my brother's girlfriend:

without flash and with flash

FACE:

The Body Shop's Tea Tree Concealer in shade 02
Ellana Mineral Foundation in Macchiato
my own custom made bronzer for the cheeks

LIPS:

By Nature's Lippy Pot Balm
Luminare Lip Slim in Vino



EYES:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primmer Potion
Monave Multipurpose Powder in Soft Fuchsia for the entire lid
Ellana Multipurpose Minerals in Orchid for Outer 3/4 of lids
Ellana Multipurpose Minerals in Laugh for Outer V
Ellana Multipurpose Minerals in Dove for tear duct and brow bone
Ever Bilena Singles Eyeshadow in Cleo mixed with BE Weather Everything Liner Sealer to line upper and lower 3/4 of lashline
Ellana Multipurpose Minerals in Wish to define the eyebrows
Cover Girl VolumeExact Waterproof Mascara in Brown (yeah, i don't have it in black, but am hopeful to get one, soon!)


Not bad eh?! More pics on my Facebook Page! Thanks!


your every woman,

Monday, April 12, 2010

Conversations with Ella Part 1

In these series of posts, I will be documenting some conversations with Ella so we can all follow through how her comprehension improves...



I noticed that I had several grammatical errors here, so please excuse me...hahaha! I just wanted it to be as candid and impromptu when I recorded it because it's a mother-daughter conversation after all!

Wouldn't it be nice to see something like this when you're all grown up?! Mom and Dad must've been so proud!

your every woman,

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Ella's Potty Training Part 1


I understand how toilet training can be a crucial stage in our child's development. But what actually led me to proactively toilet-train my daughter are 2 things: 1. The unbelievable rise in cost of living, not only in the Philippines but also around the world and 2. The natural calamities that caused increase awareness in protecting the environment. Disposable diapers are getting more and more expensive these days and they take about 450 years to decompose! (source: http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/apr/17/break_it_down_how_long_does_trash_take_degrade/) I wouldn't want to add up to all the environmental pollutants! However, I think it's a little late to start with cloth diapers now, not to mention it's inefficiency for my family set up during sleep because of my work-sleep prohibitions.

Anyway, so I introduced Ella to toilet training when she reached her 1st year and got a potty trainer as a present. I didn't force-train her that early though. I just taught her what her pink seat was for and waited until she clearly showed feelings of pee or poop. That happened a few months before her 2nd birthday. Since then, I have been instructing everyone in the house to encourage Ella to go to the potty every 30 minutes to sit down, even though she isn't feeling anything. When she pees successfully, we give her a variety of rewards: a kiss, a hug, a "very good" clap, sweets, juice, etc. Training for number 2 had been more difficult. She knew when she felt like pooping because she was always constipated (something we just recently found an effective remedy to...). But she didn't want to do it without a diaper because she thought it was yucky! That was our fault, by the way, because we started out telling Ella that her poop is yucky when she was younger and I found out that it's not supportive for toilet training. Parents and caregivers should educate children that peeing and pooping is the body's way of getting rid of waste and it's just normal.

Now that Ella is 2 years and 4 months, I'm proud to say that she doesn't use diapers during the day anymore. She has accidents, which we very lightly react to, whenever she's too preoccupied with play or tv. But she's getting better. She had also tried pooping in the potty about 3 times, but she's still grossed out about it and would rather not. At night and during her afternoon nap, she still needs to wear diapers. I was told by another mommy that training during sleep would mean having to break the sleep cycle to go to the toilet. I believe Ella is too young for that and we'd more likely get into a tantrum fit than get her trained. So I'm parking that for Toilet Training Part 2...and hopefully voluntary potty pooping.

You can also learn more about toilet training from these links:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T106600.asp
http://www.parenting.com/article/Toddler/Development/Potty-Training-Guide

Tell me about your toilet training experience with your kids! It would help us a lot!

your every woman,

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Winning Over Eczema

I am very happy now that I'm winning my 6 year battle with eczema!

When I was in 2nd year of college. I noticed that the skin on my ankles are developing a callous, which was odd because I don't constantly rub my ankles on anything (Who does anyway?). So when my brother introduced a chemical callous remover he bought from Quiapo, I immediately agreed to become his quinea pig. He said that on the demo, results were seen just after a minute of applying the product. With that statement, I assumed that if it worked in about a minute, it would work better if given a longer time. I placed it on a cotton ball that I taped to my ankles for 30mins.

And whaddaya know, I was wrong! It turned out to be acidic chemical that's supposed to burn the callous for removal and 1 min is the max wait time. When I removed the cotton ball, it brought layers of epidermis with it and left me with red, raw and gooey exposed epidermis that never healed! My immune system reacted to the chemicals and I was left with crusty skin on the ankles that itched like hell and gets red and oozy when irritated.

I was sooo embarrassed to even go to the dermatologist for it. But when I eventually had the guts to consult specialists, I always left their clinics disappointed. Why? Because they don't help me. I had about 3, and all of them were more concerned about making money out of my dilemma instead of actually helping me out. They prescribed me with expensive products they formulated on their own and can only be bought at their clinic. I gave in and actually bought the prescription on one occasion only to find out that the products were just hypoallergenic moisturizers comparable to Cetaphil and did nothing for my condition. I didn't want to consult any derma after that. I was traumatized because having to share the appearance of my ankles to 3 strangers was a big shame swallowing experience for me!

Luckily, there's the Internet. I Googled life experiences of people that had the same symptoms as what I was experiencing and found out that I have a case of stasis dermatitis -eczema that occurred in the lower extremities, where there is poor venous return. From the articles that I read, I learned that to treat my skin condition, I have to break the itch-scratch cycle. Of course some articles suggest modifying diet, maintaining moisturization, and regular excercise to keep a healthy blood flow as the primary remedy for eczema, but there's a percentage of people who simply can't resist the urge to scratch the "deadly" itch. I even reasoned out to my hubby that scratching had become involuntary...I'm sure eczema sufferers can relate to me.

So I followed their advise and started applying a topical steroid called Dermovate. What I liked about Dermovate is that it comes in a thick balm-like consistency that moisturizes the affected area while making sure that active ingredients are being absorbed by the skin. It acts to stop the itch while the skin's healing. After 2 weeks of constantly applying the ointment on my ankles, I finally got the courage to show this to everyone!


my healing ankles now...It's got a scar similar to burnt skin, but that's better compared to how it was before!

And due to the "yuckiness" of before photos, I'd rather not post them here. But if anyone is interested enough not to be grossed out by them and would like to know how grave it was before the "after" photo above, just please send me an email and I'll be more than happy to share more.

I'd have to reiterate this disclaimer though, that TOPICAL STEROIDS ARE NOT TO BE APPLIED ON A WHIM! One should only use it if all other remedies don't work and must be used sparingly. It cannot be continuously used for more than 2 weeks without the advice of a dermatologist. It can be dangerous and cause side effects, you know! Make sure that you follow the instructions given to you by your dermatologist if it was prescribed, or the instructions on the enclosed package insert.

Now that my ankles are healing, I make sure that I take care of my skin daily. I'd rather go through the tedious routine of applying moisturizers than go through that eczema ordeal. Here are a few good products I keep:

drugstore beauty buys...Some said fragrance in Olay Body Butter Ribbons isn't good for eczema, but my skin is benefiting from the product!

goodies from By Nature's 100% Natural Products...

*Trivia: There's something called Lip Licker's Dermatitis and although kids are the one's commonly diagnosed with it, adults can get it too! That's when BN's Lippy Pot Balm come in handy! It's unscented and unflavored, meaning it won't post the temptation to lick lips!


'Hope this helps!

your every woman,

Friday, April 9, 2010

I Draw For A Living: Korean Beauty Products Giveaway

Watching Korean artists invade our tv screens everyday makes one wonder "How do they maintain their porcelain-like skin?!". No wonder Korean beauty products have become such a hit in the local market too!

If you want to try some of their products, then this is a great time to join my friend Lizz' April giveaway!

What to do?

1) Blog about the contest and answer the following question: "What is the one skin care product that you can't live without?"
2) Follow her blog using Google Friend Connect! (Click on the "follow" button on the sidebar to the right).
3) Drop a comment on the post with the URL of your entry and your Email Address. This is so she can contact you if you win! :)

If you want to double your chances at winning:
*Tweet (or plurk) about the contest and drop another comment with the URL of your tweet (or plurk!) so she can double check.

The prizes are stake are the ff:

Etude House nail polish in her favourite pink shade; Etude House Total Age Repair Toner, Emulsion and Essence (travel sized); Innis Free Green Tea Pure Essence and Serum (2 vials each), Innis Free Green Tea Cream and Cleansing Foam (1 trial pack each), SkinFood Wipes, a gorgeous Nature Republic 2010 calendar (it's got Rain on every page!), an Etude House fan, Tony Moly BB Cream (2 packs), Missha BB Cream remover (2 packs), and some lovely Sooyohan face cream (3 packs)

And as a bonus, the winner will also receive 4 travel-sized bottles of Johnson & Johnson lotion, a full-sized bar of Glutamax soap, and Emotibles earphone charms!

The winner will be picked through random.org on April 28, 2009 at midnight. Goodluck!

For me, the one skin care I can't live without is moisturizer. I have very dry, reactive and eczema prone skin. If I don't moisturize my skin, chicken skin and eczema are most likely to occur. And I would NEVER want it to happen again (more on my battle with dry skin problems in succeeding posts!).

So what are you waiting for? That's a whole lot of a giveaway, so join now!!!

your every woman,