Taipei '11: Of Dried Goods & Vegetarian Fare

Royal Palace Hotel: clean, compact and convenient with free wi-fi and flowing coffee

Neighbors: Hello Kitty Sweets

The Natural Ideas vegetarian restaurant

Locally grown fruits and vegetables are abundant and, more importantly, sweet and juicy.

Minder Vegetarian have branches in most malls. Choose from a buffet of vegetarian options. Food is measured by weight.

Easy House Vegetarian Cuisine: naturally tasty vegetarian meals in a relaxing atmosphere 

 The new: Xinyi District

 and the old: Di Hua Jie

 

Favorite find: multi-purpose French soap with olive oil from Sogo grocery

Ah Yuan: local organic soap shop

Happy Holidays!

Santa and mallows from Le Gouter Bernardaud

Flowers and breakfast at L'Hotel J

Topshop Vectra studded slippers

Best sansrival, King Oscar from Peninsula Boutique

A newfound interest in small, feminine bags. Longchamp Planetes handbag

Required reading from JGR

Night drive mix tape by JGR

Hair by Ito-san of AR Salon. 11/f Golden Bloom Centre, 25 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay, HK (beside 7-11 across Bee Cheng Hiang). Tel 22414600

Dita, Empollon eyeglasses from Berlin Optical in IFC HK

Achieve That Dewy Look with Guerlain's L'Or Radiance Concentrate

It's that coveted, glowing look that gives your makeup a well-blended, natural feel. Often seen on models and stars, the dewy look can be easily overdone with bronzers, which only emphasizes oily skin. For a more natural glow, try Guerlain's L'Or Radiance Concentrate with Pure Gold Makeup Base before applying your usual makeup.

Unlike other makeup bases which have a powdery finish, L'Or Radiance Concentrate resembles a light moisturizer. It spreads easily and one to one & a half pumps of it is enough to cover the entire face. Wait 5 minutes to let your skin absorb the product before putting on your makeup.

Some comments: 

It has a slightly sticky finish that needs getting used to, but this easily goes away once foundation/powder is applied on top of the base.

During the first few times I used the product, it felt a little hot on the skin, although it's something that I've gotten used to and don't notice anymore.

Ingredients: AQUA (WATER), GLYCERIN, ALCOHOL, BUTYLE-NE GLYCOL, POLYSORBATE 20, PEG-8, SORBITOL, PHENOXY-ETHANOL, GLYCERYL ACRYLATE / ACRYLIC ACID COPOLYMER, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, AMMONIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYLTAURATE / VP COPOLYMER, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), POLYVINYL ALCOHOL, METHYLPARABEN, IMPERATA CYLINDRICA ROOT EXTRACT, CELLULOSE GUM, GOLD, BUTYLPHENYL METHYLPROPIONAL, PROPYLPARABEN, LINALOOL, CITRONELLOL, ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE, BENZYL BENZOATE, GERANIOL, CARBOMER, ROSA CENTIFOLIA FLOWER EXTRACT, HYDROLYZED RICE PROTEIN, ASCORBIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, BHT, BUTYLPARABEN, ETHYL-PARABEN, ISOBUTYLPARABEN

Oh, Girl..

When ballet flats became popular, I quickly outgrew my wear-flip-flops-with-everything phase. I rarely wear my n pairs of Havaianas now as I prefer the more feet-friendly Birkenstocks. But when Havaianas go on sale, it's still hard to resist getting new ones. After all, I never got around to getting myself a pair of plain white ones.

Havaianas (in all shops, available at Rustan's, All Flip Flops, and other shops) is on sale until November 30. Get one pair for 20% off, two pairs for 40% off, accessories at 10% off.

 When do we become too old for cute printed shirts? I'm not quite sure. Tell me, do you think these doggies look a little sad?

Revive Tired Skin with The Body Shop's Blue Corn 3-in-1 Deep Cleansing Mask

Blue Corn 3-in-1 Deep Cleansing Mask

Description: Cleanse, exfoliate and purify with Community Trade Blue Corn powder for normal/oily skin.

With kaolin clay to draw out impurities, moisturizing corn oil and uplifting bergamot, geranium and ylang ylang essential oils.

Directions: Apply to wet skin, leave for 10-15 minutes. Massage to exfoliate, rinse. Use once or twice a week.

Click here for ingredients.

Review:

A product that delivers on its promise to exfoliate and moisturize skin, The Body Shop's Blue Corn Mask is the most effective cleansing mask I have used so far (pitted against Clarins Pure and Radiant Mask with Pink Clay and Kiehl's Rare Earth Pore Cleansing Mask). After washing off the mask, I can see the dirt peeking out of my pores, which can then be easily extracted with the help of a steel blackhead remover. 

Some tips for using the mask: 

While it says on the package to apply the mask onto wet skin, I find it hard to spread the mask when applied that way. Instead, I pat my skin dry after washing before applying the mask. 

The mask dries after about 10 minutes. Before completely rinsing off the mask, massage it first, like you would with a facial scrub, to exfoliate skin.

Comments:

During the first few times I used this cleansing mask, I felt a cold and slightly stinging sensation on my skin. My skin is not very sensitive, so it didn't result in any breakouts, and I just kept on using it.

An option for those with normal to dry skin is the honey & oat 3-in-1 mask.

Both the blue corn and honey & oat masks are not available in The Body Shop Philippines. The mask is available in Hong Kong for HKD 209.

Like Indian Food? Try Legend of India

Spicy mixed chips for appetizer. Also sold in takeaway bags along with other chips and desserts.

Their samosa is a winner. The skin is thin and slightly crispy and not greasy at all. Php 120 for 3 pcs and comes with mint and tamarind dip.

Tandoori roti, Php 80 for 2 pcs

Clockwise from top: Paneer butter masala (Php 280), basmati steamed rice (Php 80) and aloo gobi (Php 260) for the main course

Their menu has an extensive selection of vegetarian dishes. Jain dishes (no garlic and onions) also available. (Click to enlarge)

Legend of India offers buffet at Php 650. Buffet on Tuesdays and Thursdays come with beer. Set meals for Php 200-250 are also available during lunch (12nn to 3pm) from Monday to Friday. No service charge.

Legend of India is located at 114B Jupiter Street, Bel-Air II, Makati City. (632) 836-4232.

What's Up, BPS?

I am coming out of hibernation.

After my last scheduled trip for the year was over, I felt that a cleansing was in order. Aside from indulging in lots and lots of fruits, I also took stock of the things that I did during the first half of the year and decided to just sit back and take a breather. These are some of the seriously mundane stuff I've been up to so far.

I became hooked on Booksale and scoured their shelves every week for "new" cheap books I could add to my pile at home. I'm slowly going through my takeaway at the rate of one to two books a month. Also, I finally shook the nine year old layer of dust from my LOTR series and found the series enjoyable.

Some good reads that I walked away with from Booksale are The End of Oil by Paul Roberts, The Last Empress by Anchee Min, The Gospel of Food by Barry Glassner, and The Best American Non-required Reading 2007.

I cleaned out my closet but then realized that I am left with very few normal, everyday clothes, so I set off to find me some new ones.  

Shopping for good quality, well-fitting clothes can be a real chore. There is almost always something wrong with the fit, fabric, color or cut in the clothes I pick out even in usually reliable Zara and Mango. I had to get creative, taking into consideration the very limited retail options here, and walked away with these from Gap, Promod and Bayo.

These flared, stretchy Gap jeans were really hot when in the store because they gave the illusion of shrunk thighs. I was worried that they might shrink further after washing as is the usual case with new pairs of jeans. These, however, expanded, so worry not when you have to jump up and down a couple of times to get into these jeans when trying them on in the store. Chances are, they'd fit just right after they've been washed.

My youthful godfather who has very good taste in bags, shoes and everything fashion-related gifted me with this printed tarpaulin shopping bag from Marni. I haven't said Thank you! yet only because he's so far away. So I'm saying it here and now: Thank you, Ninong, I looove it.

I'm trying out a new look. I haven't had the chance yet to give the maxidress and sneakers look I last posted here a try, but I've already worn my Chucks with other outfits and I'm pretty pleased that they look quite worn now, just the way I want them to be.

And lastly, my big news (my friends would know that for me this is worthy of the terms "big" and "news") is that I'm finally roaming and endangering the (back) streets of Western Metro Manila with me behind the wheels, of course.

New Retro

Look that I'm looking forward to try: jumper over maxi dress/skirt worn with sneakers

Topshop ad from British Vogue September 2011