Monday, February 28, 2011

Food in Vietnam, Part 2: Snacks et. al.

Hi everyone,

This weekend, I took an impromptu trip with my parents to Ca Mau. It is the southernmost area of Vietnam with a lot of delicious food. Since I arrived, I've been enjoying a lot of good food and accumulated quite a few pictures of snacks to make a nice post.

My cousin took me to Vincom Center: a place that sells expensive stuff I can't afford
Make Up For Ever counter is over there. Prices are the same as in Sephora whereas the MAC counter across the street charges double. 
But they do have nice ice-cream in the basement: Bud's of San Francisco



Before we ordered ice-cream, we went to Tous les Jours, a French bakery opposite to Bud's.
My cousin got a slice of coffee cake
It was nice but a bit dry
I got half of a piece of cake/bread with custard filling.
Delicious!
And now, ze ice-cream
Pretty please with a cherry on top :)
This two-scooped glass of ice-cream had strawberry syrup. 
Mine, with chocolate syrup
They actually switched our orders. This one was supposed to me my cousin's. We didn't know until we ate the second scoop!
And now, the very delicious part:

I CAN HAZ CHOCO-PIE!
AND CUSTAS!
YESH!
*Dance* Choco-pie and Custas, Choco-pie and Custas!
 If you haven't tasted them, Choco-pie and Custas are the snacks made from the hands of God. The previous one contains of marshmallow in between two slices of cake and dipped in chocolate. You bite into it and the whole thing just melts in your mouth. Custas are custard-filled cupcakes that are so YUMMY! Take that, Girl Scout Cookies!

For many many blue moons, I did not eat Choco-pie. Therefore, the first sight of this marsmallow-filled cake reached my eyes, I wanted the whole box. However, I had to share with my brother and the rest of the family. Sharing is caring, yo!

Coconut waffles 
One of my cousins made 2 lbs of this stuff before we left Mui Ne. These waffles are hand-made from scratch in iron pans. Despite their earthy appearance, the coconut waffles are muy deliciosos. They are crispy and have a hint of coconut milk. Yummy! The old me could have gone through a box of this stuff in one sitting but the new me is a lot wiser. Since they are region-specific, I slowly savor each one of them. Once they are gone, someone would have to make a trip to Mui Ne to bring them to me.

Last but not least, Tiger energy biscuit
My brother ate this thing. It's some sort of cracker, not biscuit. He seemed to enjoy it. It's funny to see a tiger playing soccer on the package. I hope those who were born in the year of the Tiger would get a kick out of this.

That's all for snacked food today. I hope to have "Food in Vietnam" as an active section while I live here. If you have any special requests on food blogs, please let me know. I'll do my best to make you drool :)

Also, please don't forget to join the Marie Louise Cosmetic February giveaway. Click here for more information.

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Friday, February 25, 2011

Giveaway: Marie Louise Cosmetics Cleansing Clear Gel

Hi everybody,

It's been a while since I hosted a giveaway to my readers. This time around, Marie Louise Cosmetics is very kind to sponsor our February giveaway. The prize is a full-size bottle of their famous Cleansing Clear Gel ($57 USD.) A lucky reader of My Makeup Blog will be randomly chosen as a winner.

Marie Louise Cosmetics Cleansing Clear Gel ($57 USD)
Wanna learn how to join this giveaway? Jump!

Ok, guys, here is how to join this giveaway. Please read the instructions from the beginning to end to ensure a correct submission.

1. You need to be a follower of My Makeup Blog: choose one of the three options below. If you are already a follower, please proceed to step 2.

  • via email: click here to get to the email subscription request page
  • via Google Friends Connection: it's the second box that said "Followers", just click on it if you are a Goggle user
  • via Twitter: follow @MyMakeupBlog
2. Once that's done, please fill in this form. The contest is over, please stay tuned for the winner's announcement!

Optional:
  • Follow Marie Louise Cosmetics on Facebook and Twitter (1 extra entry per following)
  • Sign up to become a MLC member (1 extra entry)
  • Visit Marie Louise Cosmetics website (1 extra entry, it's that easy!)

The contest is running from today until 11:59pm EST (GMT+5) Sunday, March 6th, 2011. U.S residents 18 and older only. One entry per email address and please be honest with the bonuses that you did. Once the contest is over, I will tally all the entries and choose a winner with Random.org. If you are the winner, please contact me within 48 hours with your mailing address. Otherwise, your prize will be forfeited and I will choose another winner for the contest.

Good luck, everyone!
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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Get Supple Skin with Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture Lotion

Hi everybody,

When winter comes, our skin flashes the S.O.S signal to us. In this case, S.O.S stands for "Save Our Skins." Two years in a row, the U.S has experienced extremely cold winters. Since I went through the Bitter Winter of 2010, this year I wised up and lotioned up until I left for the tropical country of Vietnam. But for two months, my skin was in a state of bliss thanked to Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture Lotion.

Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture Lotion ($4.49 for 10 fl. oz.)
 Wanna know more about it? Jump!

First of all, the Vaseline Intensive Rescue line belongs to the regular line-up of Vaseline lotions. The price ranges from $4.50 to $8-10 USD depending on the size. Now, Vaseline came out with Sheer Infusion in 2009 which contains light-weight lotions with more moisturizing properties.

The claim
The ingredients
 Since it contains petrolatum, an occlusive, this body lotion can seal water to your skin. It also contains glycerin, stearic acid, glycol stearate, and glyceryl stearate, which are moisturizing ingredients. While it is labelled as fragrance-free, this lotion has a nice soft scent to mask the actual scent of the ingredients. This is a practice in body care formulation to add some fragrance to mask the scent of the product. The scent is very mild and evaporates after a while.

I squeezed a small amount of lotion on my palm for demonstration...
...then rubbed it in and waited for it to dry. Can you tell the difference?
From the two pictures above, you can see how better moisturized the palm of my hand was after I applied lotion. Although I did not use Vaseline Intensive Care lotion for a while, I remember liking the watery texture very much. You see, I am not a fan of thick, buttery lotions at all. I prefer my body lotion to be light, yet moisturized. Unlike the Intensive Care lotions, this Intensive Rescue one is both light and moisturized. It absorbs fast to my skin and does not leave a greasy, filmy feeling. The only downside is I have to use about twice the amount of product to moisturize my body, compared to when I use Sheer Infusion. However, the size of the bottle is quite generous and should last for a while.

Share the Joy

Since I became a beauty blogger, I have accrued quite a lot of bottles of lotion. Whenever I visited the local library, I always saw the hardworking librarians wearing disposable gloves to protect their hands. Yet, their hands are still wrecked from the dryness. So, before I left the States, I packed a couple of bottles of unopened Vaseline lotions, including Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture, and sent them as a gift to the librarians. Needless to say, they were very happy and the next thing I knew was a librarian showing me her soft hands.

Vaseline Intensive Rescue set up a website with information to help people with dry skin called dryskinrescue.com. They also have a team called the Dry Skin Patrol consists of Dr. Jessica Wu, a celebrity dermatologist, and some beauty bloggers. This team travels around the country to see how Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture Lotion fare out. Below is a video of the Dry Skin Patrol in Coney Island. I salute their bravery as I would pretty much prefer the warm and sunny weather :) You can also follow the Dry Skin Patrol on Facebook to see where they are going next.



So, what do you think about Vaseline Intensive Rescue Repairing Moisture lotion? Please let me know in the comment section, ok?

Disclaimer: the product was provided for PR purposes. The opinions and experience, however, are mine.

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Kiss Me Heroine Make Long&Curl Mascara is a BaAad One!

Hi everybody,

Remember what my Secret Santa gave me during Christmas? Yup, I'm talking about the Kiss Me Heroine Make Long&Curl mascara set. It took me a lot of willpower to finish up the previous mascara (L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes) before I began using Kiss Me Heroine Made mascara. And boy oh boy, this Japanese mascara ain't playin'. It is the real deal. I'm talking about non-smudging waterproof mascara in its finest.

How can I begin with this review? Let's start with the packaging:

Kiss Me Heroine Make Long&Curl Mascara set
It contains a mascara remover (left) and a mascara (right)
See how cute the packaging is? Want to know more how awesome it is? Jump!

While you can get the mascara by itself, the set does not cost a lot more and you get a mascara remover. Believe me, you are going to need it!

(Top-bottom): Heroine Make mascara remover and Long&Curl mascara
The design has a retro feeling
Heroine Make Long&Curl mascara by itself
The curved mascara wand is small and thin. It can reach to the corners of your eyes while the middle part gives your lashes a lift.
Heroine Make mascara remover
The wand has ridges to get into the lashes and soak it with the liquid mascara remover
So, how well does it work?

At first, when I opened the tube of mascara, the liquid was thin and took a while to dry. However, after a week or so into using, the juice began to thicken and this is when the mascara started to become really good. The thin brush is small enough to get into the corners while the curvy part gives a lift to the middle part of the lash line. I can turn it curvy side up to add an extra lift while zig-zagging the wand from root to end.

As the name indicated, this is not a volumizing mascara. When I started using it, the juice was so thin that I barely saw any differences, except for one thing: my lashes became really long! After a reader informed me that the Hard Candy lash primer works well with nylon bristled mascara, I gave it a try with Long&Curl and oh my! Just take a look at the pictures below, I used 2 coats of mascara after the deed and my lashes actually touched my eyelids!

My sad lashes are not sad anymore. They are visible now :)
I mean, look at the length and the lift. Amazing, right?
Sideway shot: Ahmazin'!
While I'm all in for mascaras that make my lashes look fake *ahem Voluminous ahem*, Kiss Me Heroine Make Long&Curl made me change my mind. Coupled with Shu Uemura lash curler and Hard Candy lash primer, my lashes look long and clean for up to 8 hours. And I mean 8 looong hours in heat and humidity. Told ya this mascara ain't playin'! Also, the curl lasted for the whole time. It was as if my lashes were temporarily fixed in resin or something. I felt awesome and scared at the same time.

Now, here comes a tiny problem that makes me feel really bad for writing this review: if you live outside of certain Asian countries, you can't buy this mascara. I know, I know. I'm in the same boat here. So far, I haven't found it in Vietnam and I really love it. My friend and Secret Santa Dreezy sent this set to me from Singapore and I believe it's also available in Japan and Taiwan.

Regarding the remover: unless you have some eye makeup removers called Clinique Take the day Off or Lancome BiFacil, you are better off with buying the mascara and remover set. Ye ole watery eye makeup remover would not do. That's how tough this mascara is. With the remover, I comb the lashes with the applicator and leave it for 3 minutes. Then, I wipe everything off with a wet baby wipe. Everything came off but guess what? The curl is still there!

Instructions
Cautions and ingredients
In conclusion, this is one baAad mascara. And by it, I mean Michael Jackson's "Bad" badness. Not only it is an awesome lengthening mascara, it also keeps the curl incredibly well. I am very thankful that Dreezy gifted it to me!

You can get the mascara by itself at Sasa.com for $12 USD and the mascara remover for $10.10 USD. If you want to skimp, you can use olive oil to remove this mascara instead. It works, too!

So, what do you think about it? Please let me know in the comment section.

Disclaimer: I received the products as a gift. Also, I am not affiliated with Sasa. The opinions in this review are my own and they truly reflect my experience with these products.

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Music: "Pretty Girl Rock" by Keri Hilson

Hi everybody,

I've been listening to Keri Hilson's "Pretty Girl Rock" with a certain degree of obsession. I mean, who did her makeup in this video clip?




She was transformed from Josephine Baker to Dorothy Dandridge to Diana Ross to Donna Summer to Janet Jackson and finally, to T Boz in TLC. In each transformation, she actually looked very similar to these famous female entertainers to the point that's quite scary! Her makeup when she is Keri is simple, yet flawless. I'm very tempted to recreate it. What do you think?


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Monday, February 21, 2011

The Skinny Skin Skin

Hi everybody,

Since I came back to Vietnam, I got a huge crop of zits on my face. I know, tale as old as time but acne has been a big problem since I reached puberty. As I became older, my understanding of how my skin works has become a lot better, too. The main reasons for the huge breakout of 2011 are: (a) the extreme heat and humidity in Vietnam, and (b) pollution. When I was in Mui Ne, the air was clean and my zits actually calmed down. But once I reached Saigon, they came back. To add to the insult, I forgot to pack a tube of zit cream with me while I thought I did. Shame on me!

After two weeks of figuring out a skincare regimen to fit this weather scenario, I finally bumped into something that works. My Baumann skin type is OSPT (oily, sensitive, pigmented, tight) or skin type number 5. It does not change when I move to Vietnam, it just gets oilier. I am thankful for being able to figure out my skin type so I can customize products to fit it. The things that work so far are:

1. NeoStrata Foaming Glycolic Wash

Since I had weight restriction on my luggage, I had to pick and choose the skincare products to bring with me. Luckily, I brought NeoStrata Foaming Glycolic Wash with me and it was one of the best decision I made for this trip. While it was too drying to use on a daily basis in the winter while I lived in the Sunshine State, it is golden in this hot and humid weather. Not only it washes away the oil and dirt, the AHA and PHA in this face wash also helps shed away dead skin cells. Since I started using this product again last week, my skin has been less bumpy.



2. Physical Sunblock

Since I use the Glycolic Wash, I don't want to get sunburn on my newly exfoliated skin. I do wish that I brought something like Blue Lizard sunscreen with me. The one I use has both chemical and physical sunblock. I forgot to test it before I left and this thing left a rash on my neck. Now, I'm on a search for physical sunblock in Vietnam while covering myself with a hat wherever I go.

3. Prescription Acne Cream

After suffering over zits for the first week, I started going from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for products that contain tretinoids (Differin, Tazorac, Retin-A-Micro.) Since Vietnamese pharmacies do not need a prescription to sell these products, I can get them there the same way as buying over-the-counter medicine. Sadly, they don't sell Differin and Tazorac anymore. The new anti-acne product is T3 Mycin, which contains 1.2% clindamycin phosphate. A lot of medicines are released first in Asia and I'm not surprised to see T3 Mycin available here. (It was the same thing with Differin: I actually used it in 1998-1999, before it was prescribed in the U.S by dermatologists.)

A day into the T3 and my zits came down. The nascent ones disappeared overnight and the fully-bloomed ones shrank significantly. Except for a few that I needed to extract, T3 took care of the rest of them. I would expect it to show up in the U.S market in the next 5 years or so. Right now, there is not a lot of information about this product online.

And now, for the things that would not work:

  • Heavy creams and lotions: I basically don't use any skincare products beside those three since there is a lot of moisture in the air. The best anti-aging method is prevention and I cake on as much sunscreen as possible before heading out of the door.
  • Non-waterproof products: right now, I am scared of using mascaras as this humidity can really melt them off. As a matter of fact, I haven't used any makeup at all since I arrived. I prefer to let my skin adapting to the new environment first.
  • Heavy makeup: I start to believe that I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool when it comes to my skin. Vietnamese girls do have really nice skin that do not need foundation at all. I am so jealous of them. How they do that is still unknown to me and I'm determined not to cover myself up with makeup since I know they will be melted right off.

Yes, this is a tricky situation. I could barely deal with my skin during the summer when I lived in the Sunshine State. It's barely summer here in Vietnam but my skin already acted out. I will keep you updated of how my skin behaves in the next few months. In the mean time, if you have any tips to deal with OSPT skin, please let me know. I really appreciate it.
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Friday, February 18, 2011

Belly at Large: No, I Won't Hold It Against Britney

Hello humans,

Wow, yours truly is exhausted! Since la mamarazzi went to Vietnam, I've been so emo. To cheer myself up, I decided to read some Naruto. So far, I'm at volume 27. I think the whole story was based on my young life as a kitten. After all, I'm so fierce and handsome. Am I right or am I right?

I stayed up all night reading Naruto :)
And then, guess what? Britney's new music video "Hold It Against Me" was released yesterday. I waited and waited to take a crack at it but then I fell asleep again. It's so hard out there for a cat who reads Naruto, yo! But la mamarazzi, being a tiger mom that she is, had to tweet about it. The woman wanted my opinion, for Heaven's sake!

Normally, I don't do this kind of thing. I am a cat, not a consultant. And I <3 la Britney. But as a cat, I'm also curious. It's my nature and I can't ignore new things. So I went online and took a look at the vid. If you haven't watched it already, I embedded it for you. See, humans, I do love you and I do care about you. Although it's so hard to type without opposable thumbs.



You want to hear what I think? Jump, humans, jump!

First of all, I'm Team Britney all the way, y'all. It's so hard to believe Brit-Brit has been around for 11 years already. "Baby One More Time" still puts a bounce in my steps. I've browsed Twitter extensively for the last 24 hours and there are mixed reviews of "Hold It Against Me." It's hard to hate la Brit-Brit. She's so pretty and precious at the same time. I almost forgot The Dark Age, aka the Blackout album. But "Gimme More" is so addictive, though.

But again, this is about "Hold It Against Me." With my lack of opposable thumbs, it's going to be HIAM from now on.

My short and final answer is: No, I won't hold it against Britney. And let me tell you why:

1. Home girl has a new perfume coming out
Wanna smell like Britney? Buy Radiance
and Curious
and Fantasy
and Hidden Fantasy
and Midnight Fantasy
and Circus Fantasy
and Believe
Yes, buy them!
 Why? Because she has children that she needs to feed! Them Cheetos don't come for free! Which is why I don't hold it against her for these activities.

2. She likes Make Up For Ever, so what?
Product endorsement, Schmoduct endorsement
You know she looks pretty and you want to know the stuff she used.
RIGHT? *nod heads*
 After doing some research, my suspects go to:

  • Foundation: MUFE HD foundation
  • Lipstick: Rouge Artiste Intense in Matte Bright Red (the red lips look) and a (maybe) combination of Rouge Artiste Intense Satin Bright Pink and Salmon Pink Shimmer Super Lipgloss
  • Eyes: Aqua Cream waterproof cream color in Taupe (the thing in the pot), Aqua Cream Liner in Matte Black, and Color Liner in Marine Blue, and a pair of Très Vichy eyelashes
3. Brit-Brit hearts Sony. What's the big deal?

Some people said Brit Brit didn't do any product placements. Maybe they missed this shot and I don't blame them. It was only 1/10 of a second and her wrist kinda covered the brand. But then, later on...
This thing was in yo face!
Personally, I prefer a big Mac screen but la mamarazzi's HP is pretty good, too!
As the video progressed, I realized: maybe la Britney is politically confused. I mean, look at this:

The battle of red and blue. Are we in the middle of another presidential election campaign?
And why did the Republican Britney kicked the crap out of the Democratic Britney?
I don't understand. This is music. Britney is not supposed to be political *scratch head with paw*
And why did the Republican Britney landed on top of the Democratic Britney?
Also, why did the Democratic Britney look like Lady Gaga in a dress that did cover her woo hoo?
What is going on? Britney, you confused Belly!
 But I kept on watching and I saw White Britney. What the meow, Brit-Brit? Make up your mind already! What kind of political affiliation are you in?

White Britney in a dress that looked like a long version of what Madonna wore in "Like a Virgin."
Whatever it is, that dress is expensive and I hope those spray paints are washable. Otherwise, yours truly would have a hissy fit. *hiss*
 And then, the last few seconds of the video, I saw this. It made me happy.
Britney may be a Democat after all.
But that dress looked like something Madonna wore back in the late 80s. Britney, did you raid your Auntie M's closet again? Srsly!
One last thing: did you notice the white bra Britney wore at the beginning of the video? It may be a reconstructed version of the sports bra she wore in "Baby One More Time." She needs to. That woman has two kids after all. She needs all the help she can get.

Now, although this post may sound catty (and I, el Gato Supremo, am a cat,) I love Britney from the bottom of my heart. Girlfriend still can move it move it like it was 1999 and I give her a lotta credit for that. Back then, there were Britney and Christina and many other pop singers. Now, there are still Britney and Christina. The others,  you don't know about them anymore, do you? That's how important Britney is. Christina is important, too, but her style is totally different now.

So yeah, this has been a long post and I love Britney. I don't hold it against her and I wish her the best.

Love, peace, and tuna fish,
Mr. Belly (aka Bel-Bel)

P.S: I miss la mamarazzi!
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