MY BIG&BAD BLOG GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!!

Less than a month ago, I decided to host a blog giveaway for my then-50 followers. That was actually already a big accomplishment for me, but now, I am very proud to say that my blog has reached 128 followers *woot woot*.

So before anything else, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone reading this for following my random ramblings about fashion, beauty, movies, giveaways, and life - whether you are merely following me for the freebies or actually like what I have to say. Lol.

Now, without further ado... the winners! (Chosen by random.org)

1. Amanda Paredes gets the Accessories goody bag.

2. littlemisspoleng gets the Clothes goody bag.

3. Maricar Rillera gets the Beauty goody bag.

4. Jane gets the Eye Candy goody bag.

5. Tommy gets the DVD goody bag.

The happy news is that everyone got their first choice. :)

To all of the winners, congratulations! Please comment on this post with your respective sizes (if applicable) and let me know whether you want to meet up to get your prizes or have me send them to you.

Everyone else, thank you for joining. :) Don't unfollow me just yet, though, because I have more giveaways coming up - starting with a mini giveaway tonight! Stay tuned! :)

Blog Giveaways Ending Today!!!

Happy October everyone. My, how time flies. To start the day, here are some giveaways that are ending tonight. Make sure you join before it's too late! :)

Des is giving away a Sigma F45 Buffer here.

Emily is having her first giveaway here with the following prizes:

And Lita is giving away two lots of prizes here. Good luck everyone! And have a great October! Those in the Philippines, stay safe from Quiel, okay? :)

How My New Blackberry Cured My Jetlag

True story.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you should know by now that I've been suffering from jet lag ever since I got back from Ireland (read: tweets at 4am, complaints here and there, etc.). Well, it's gone! I am cured! HALLELUJAH!

And all thanks to my new Blackberry Curve 9300, Troy. :) (Yes, I named my new BB after Zac Efron in High School Musical. Stop laughing.)

Anyway, ever since I got back from Ireland, I couldn't help but fall asleep during Syrena's afternoon nap. After all, that was around 6am in Ireland - and what mother can stay awake until 6am without a good reason for it, right? So, by the time S woke up and it was actually time for bed in Manila, I could never fall asleep.

Well, yesterday, after buying a cute rubber cassette-themed case for Troy, I decided to activate BBMAX for a day and download all of the interesting free apps I could find - and there were a lot. They even had apps for babies that teach kids their first words - CON. VE. NIENT.

I swear: I don't even remember why I switched to a Nokia after my brother's hand-me-down Blackberry died on me. Blackberries are the way to go.

Before I knew it, Syrena and I were lying in bed playing with the baby apps for hours and it was getting dark outside. Boom. Jet lag cured! :)

Moral of the story? Join a Closeup Philippines contest before going on a long trip to Europe. Good things will happen when you get back. ;)

Blog Giveaways Ending Today!!!

A ton of giveaways are ending today, including mine. Here they are:

For this cute set of sunflower Plants vs. Zombies earphones, join The Average Jane's giveaway.

For these Pure Mineral eye shadow and brush sets, join Bec's Beauty Buzz giveaway.

For pretty nail polish sets, join Polished Momma's giveaway.

And for H&M leather bands, join Not Your Ordinary Beauty Queen's giveaway.

Phew! Good luck to everyone joining! :)

Love, Bayo + Bayo Online Shopping

Bayo has recently launched a new line - with a new face.

Love, Bayo is a line meant to attract fashion-forward young ladies who are up-to-date and in-touch with fashion. It is there to address the need of the ever-changing world of fashion.

Jasmine Curtis is the face of Love, Bayo because she embodies what a female teenager should be: a young lady who enjoys her youth and her fashion.

And, oh, in case you didn't know yet, Bayo now has online shopping available!!!

So, if you were at the store, saw something you liked and decided not to get it, just to wish you had gotten it after all when you got back home... just get online and order it here. Wish granted.

I can't wait for them to get PayPal set up!!! What about you? And what do you think of the new line? :)

Sale Alert: Mega Brands at Megamall

Are you ready for a shopping spree this weekend?


SM Megamall is holding the 2nd Mega Brands sale this weekend from September 30 to October 2, 2011 in Megatrade Halls 2 and 3.

Whether you simply need some retail therapy or want to get some early Christmas shopping done on the cheap, you can shop at up to 70% off some great brands, like Tomato, Levi's, Guess, Nokia, Gap, Guess, Manels, Triumph, Guess, Prada, D&G, and did I mention Guess? :p


Plus, if you sign up for an RCBC Bankard credit card during the event, you will get free giveaways. But even if you don't, daily raffle prizes will still be up-for-grabs.


And the best part? FREE ADMISSION. (Can I get a 'woot woot'?)


Also, ABS-CBN Foundation's Bantay Kalikasan serves as the event's beneficiary, so part of al of the proceeds will go towards saving the environment. :)


So, are you ready for a shopping spree this weekend yet? I know I am. Let me know if you're going! Maybe we can meet up. :)

Blog Giveaways: Nail Polish, Lip Balm and Shop Credit

Ahhh. The new nail polish lover in me loves hermetic's current giveaway and I'm sure you will, too:

That's right. Five different shades. *faints* Click here for more details.

As for Ashley, she's giving away store credit and this awesome lip balm!

Want it? Join here! :)

Win a Blackberry Curve 9300 from Closeup Philippines

I've been using Closeup Fire-Freeze ever since I got a sample of it at the Glam Camp bazaar a few months back. Before that, though, the baby daddy had been begging me to try it out coz it sounded cool. :p What I love the most about it would definitely be its unique fiery and minty taste - it's really undescribable.

Anyway, if you read my blog post on Monday about my first day back from Ireland, then you should know that I don't just get to keep my breath fresh with that yummy toothpaste now; I was also able to win a Blackberry Curve 9300 from Closeup Philippines. :D I know. Surreal, right?

Well, I decided to pick it up at Tiktite Tower today and because of Pedring and my usual bad luck with taxi drivers, I was honestly a little worried.

Fortunately, God was on my side again today and I didn't just get honest taxi drivers who used the meter, but the sun shone almost the entire day, too. :)

Syrena and I arrived at Tiktite tower right before 11, where I was asked to sign a certificate and wait for my Blackberry. Surprisingly enough, we didn't to wait long at all. Yup. Just a few minutes later, I already had my new Blackberry in my hands. See how happy we are? :) (Okay. S just looks tired.)

(Photo courtesy of Closeup Philippines.)

And this was my winning entry, once again:

See what a little creativity (and geekiness) can get you? :)

If you want to get the chance to win a Blackberry Curve 9300 of your own, then you still have time to join the same contest that I did.

Just visit Closeup Philippines on Facebook, click on The Fire-Freeze Experience tab under their profile picture, read the mechanics and click on "Join to win". It's that easy!

Of course, you're going to have to put some thought, creativity, intrigue and uniqueness into the mix, too. Remember: you only have 140 characters to use for each entry. (You can submit as many entries as you want, though.)

So, what are you waiting for? Get those entries in. The contest only runs until the 22nd of October. :) Good luck! If you win, we can BBM. ;)

Blog Giveaways: More Beauty Loot

Beauty lovers, you're absolutely going to love these two giveaways from Rinny and Dinah.

Rinny's giving away a wide array of NYX items, as follows:

Click here for the full mechanics.

As for Dinah, she's giving away other beauty items, including theBalm Overshadow, Essie nail polish, a Sigma brush and Laura Geller lipstick. Just click here to see the items and find out the easy mechanics.

Don't forget to join my giveaway, either. It ends in a couple of days already! :)

F-Stop's September Collection

The first time I found out about F-Stop was when I went to the Glam Camp bazaar the day the -insert bad word here- P&P tattoo guys messed up my new tattoo. That bazaar was exactly what I needed (read: retail therapy), but I loved F-Stop's stuff so much that I ended up buying three of their items! Lol.

Since then, I have been a loyal buyer from F-Stop. So, it only makes sense that I am very happy to announce that a new collection is coming out on their website this Friday, the 30th of September. The best part is that you can get awesome discounts for it, too!

How? Well, you can either blog about the new collection before October 4, email the link to melanie_entuna@yahoo.com and get 10% off of your order.

Or, you can just like F-Stop on Facebook (if you don't already) and get an instant 5% off. Awesome, huh?

(Please take note that you can only use one of the discounts, though; you can't combine them.)

Here are some of the items that will be up for grabs from the new collection:

(All photos taken from F-Stop on Facebook)

Gah. I personally love the last two. Hope I beat everyone else to them! :p

Lookbook.nu Look: Life at Its Best

God has thrown a lot of beautiful surprises my way recently and I am very thankful for all that He has done for me. Now if only I had a church close by, I could actually get back to going to church on a regular basis... Does anyone know of a church near Sucat's East Service Road, by any chance?


Anyway, here is an outfit post that has been on my backlog for a while now. This is the kind of style that I usually wear on a regular grocery-shopping day:

silver hoop earrings from Manels

black see-through top from FQ&L in Bangkok

green silk skirt from Marc Jacobs

pink star bag from Manica

beige ballet flats from Janylin

Hype this look on Lookbook.nu!

This outfit post is especially special because my daughter Syrena decided to join me during the picture-taking process:

She's in her copycat stage, so she always stands in front of the door when she wants to have her picture taken. :)

Fixing her hair

"Mommy, mommy. Let's take some together."

Our pa-cute pose

Our fierce pose

Haha. Any fellow mommy bloggers out there have fashionista kids, too? Share some links of your pictures together, please. :)

My Blog's Facebook Fan Page

Apparently, every blog needs a Facebook fan page to succeed, so please like mine here. :)

You can follow me on Twitter, too, if you'd like. Just click here. :)

If you want me to like your Facebook fan pages or follow you on Twitter, too, just leave your links here. Thank you, lovelies! :)

Blog Giveaways: Beauty Loot

Popblush is giving away some awesome beauty loot over at her blog and if you hurry, you might still be able to make the cut today. Here's what's up for grabs:

Click here for the complete mechanics. :)


There is also another one going on over at Chanel's blog, which is ending tomorrow, and here's what you can win there:

Click here to find out more. And, oh, happy birthday in advance, Chanel! :)


Don't forget to join my giveaway, too, guys. It ends in a few days! :)

My First Day Back

My first day back didn't start out too well.

First of all, I was jetlagged like no other and while Henry and Syrena were both snoring their brains out next to me, I decided to go online - just to find out that Sun had terminated my account because I had gotten a bill while I was away and hadn't paid for it yet. So, I ended up cleaning up the house.

Then, in the morning - still not feeling sleepy since it was only night time in Ireland - I went through a much-needed laundry session, only to be greeted by rain, rain and more rain.

When I finally did get to sleep, Syrena woke up. So I decided to get some errands done and bring Syrena with me. While walking to get a jeep, it started pouring like never before. And that's when I realized that there was probably another typhoon going on.

After a whole day of running errands - picking up my ASOS orders at the post office, trying to send off clothes that I sold through Air21 (the closest one of which is closed now, btw, so that was a waste), paying for my Sun bill and reactivating my USB drive, doing grocery shopping and oh, having a late, late lunch - I ended up back home around 7p.m. With Internet.

That's when I discovered I had won two awesome things:

The first thing that I won was a colorful mug from Stabilo Boss - something that I got just by playing one of their fun games several months ago. This automatically gives me the chance to win a trip to Misibis Bay Resort, too.

The second thing that I won was… A BLACKBERRY CURVE 9300 from Closeup Philippines. No joke.

This just goes to show that geekiness does have its perks. ;)

So… who wants to buy my perfectly decent Nokia N97 Mini? :p Oh, and it's the last few days for my giveaway. Don't forget to join and double-check your entries! :)

The Nestle Fitnesse Diet

A lot of people have been asking me about the Nestle Fitnesse diet that I went on. I lost 2kg on the first two weeks of following it and I still follow it as much as possible to this day - though not as strictly anymore unless I need to lose weight for something.

Please do keep in mind that results may vary, though, depending on how seriously you take the program and what your metabolism and activity levels are like.

Here is a simple breakdown of what my daily diet consisted of:

Breakfast:

1 bowl of Nestle Fitnesse cereal with low-fat milk

1 piece of fruit

1 cup of coffee

What I usually do is change things up during the week. I chop up a banana and put it in my bowl of cereal, for example, or I simply munch on an apple or have a cup of sliced pineapples. Sometimes, I even splurge on a peach or an apricot if I feel like I've been following my diet well.

As for the coffee, Starbucks counts, but it has to be a tall non-fat iced drink. No frappuccinos. No cream. Did you know that a regular frappuccino can have up to 650 calories in it, while an iced drink only has around 90? Chyeah.

Lunch:

Rice or bread

Some vegetables

Some dairy

Some meat OR an egg

Since I don't eat rice, I opt for whole wheat bread everyday. As for everything else, again, I change things up during the week depending on what I feel like. The key is to stay away from anything fried and to try and not count ice cream or chocolate as the dairy bit.

Dinner:

1 bowl of Nestle Fitnesse cereal with low-fat milk

Some vegetables

1 cup of non-fat or low-fat yogurt

Dinner is supposed to be the lightest meal of the day anyway, so depending on how lazy I am, I sometimes scrap the vegetables and the yogurt altogether. Or, when I run out of yogurt, I have some fruit instead. :)

That's it! Easy, huh? And, as you can see, it doesn't really skimp on anything so you won't end up craving random things.

Now that I have reached my ideal weight, though, I only follow this diet one to three times a week and just make sure I watch my calorie intake for the rest of it. If I follow it for three to five times a week, I end up giving myself a cheat day or even a cheat weekend where I can eat practically everything I want.

Again: it all depends on you and what works for your body. Feel free to ask questions if you have any. :)

Blog Giveaway: Sophie's Turn (E-Book)

Have you ever had to make a difficult decision in life?


When I got pregnant, I was in my senior year in uni - a Catholic one, at that - so my choices were: get married and finish senior year or leave. I left.


Now, I know that the "Catholic thing" to do would have been to get married, but the thought of getting forced into marriage just to finish my studies was so... not romantic. Plus, the vain part of me didn't want to get married with a huge belly. :p


In all seriousness, though, I do not regret my decision. I am hopelessly in love with my daughter and I have a great job - one that allows me to spend as much time with Syrena as I want and one that has a lot of perks.


Although I do have to deal with relatives on my side and the baby daddy's side when it comes to the "why aren't you married" and "why didn't you finish uni" questions, I don't regret a single thing. Judge if you want to judge. What matters is that I'm happy and that I can provide for my family and be there for them as much as possible. Isn't that what's more important?


Have you ever had a difficult decision to make? Well, Sophie does in the book "Sophie's Turn", so if you want to win a copy of the e-book and find out how she deals with it, click here. Hurry - today's the last day to join!

Ireland vs. Manila

So, I am currently at Abu Dhabi international airport on a 7-hour(!!!) stopover on my way back to Manila from my short yet seemingly never-ending Ireland trip. I know: that sounds like an oxymoron; but, hey, there's only so much of rain and coldness and walking I can take.

As beautiful as everything was in Ireland and as nice as it was to bundle up and be in the cold and snuggle in the sheets and actually get drunk without having to worry about being home early, it got old pretty soon for me.

See, whenever I got the chance to go online on the bus's and airports' Wi-Fi (like now) and saw my friends' updates, my little girl's pictures and all of the awesome events and sales I was missing in Manila, all I could think was "I can't wait to get back home".

I guess Manila really has become my home now. I did enjoy Galway and Culture Night in Dublin immensely (free entrance to every big museum and touristy spot) - especially since I got to see the cliffs from Leap Year, hump David Bowie's leg, learn about leprechauns and fairies, and meet Gollum in person (pictures on that soon).

However, I wouldn't want to stay there for too long. I belong with my lil girl, the baby daddy, cheap clothes, cheap shoes, cheap movies, shorts, sunshine and tank tops, I've decided. I just wouldn't trade Manila for the world right now, even if that meant running into Colin Farrell in Dublin someday.

Looks like I've finally become a real Pinay. My dad would be so proud. :p

Anyway, just a few more hours and I'll be home, sweet, home - and I'll be blogging properly again. I promise. :)

Sunshine Award 2011

I would like to thank Kath for giving me this award. :)

It really made me smile because when I graduated from high school, I got the exact same award from the lower batch mates. :)

The rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award and write a post about it.
2. Answer the following questions.
3. Pass it on to ten fabulous bloggers and send them a message to let them know.

Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Animal: Icebear
Favorite Number: 8
Favorite Drink: Starbucks Grande Non-Fat Hot Caramel Macchiato
Facebook or Twitter: Twitter (I hate the new Facebook!)
Your passion: Hating the new Facebook. And writing.
Giving or getting presents: Giving!
Favorite pattern: Polka dots
Favorite day: February 8 (my daughter Syrena's birthday)
Favorite flowers: Sunflowers
Since I'd like to think that the Sunshine Award exists because of bloggers who make people smile, I am passing it on to the top 10 bloggers whose posts never fail to make me smile with their positivity, optimism, colorfulness and mere happy tones:

Kat, Ava, Kawaii Barbie, Jana, Anagon, Des, Rovie, ohmisselle, Blue Vanilla and Kileen. Keep blogging, girls! :)

Lookbook.nu Look: Luxe Grunge

Alright, alright. So the Mango F/W 2011 Fashion Show was ages ago. Still: better late than never, right? Here's what I wore that night for the theme Luxe Grunge:

black tank top from Cebu

purple lace skirt from Forever 21

leopard lined black leather jacket from Bangkok

black tights from SM Department Store

black leather bootie heels from Nine West

big butterfly necklace from Chick Flick

pop art Kurt Cobain / Nirvana stud earrings from Bangkok

Hype this look on Lookbook.nu!

I thought I'd give my Luxe Grunge look a bit of a girly twist with the skirt and pay homage to the king of grunge, Kurt Cobain, with my pop art earrings. How did I do, in general? :)


Also, have you tried out the Luxe Grunge trend yet? I'd love to see your take on it! :)

Blog Giveaway: DE Big Birthday Blowout

Trust me, ladies. You won't want to miss this giveaway. I can't even begin to explain how awesome the prizes are - but, hey, what else can you expect from Pax, right? :)


Just click here to see the full mechanics and the list of items you could win by joining! You won't regret it. TRUST ME.

Trend to Try: Detailed Romantic Gowns

Check out what these ladies wore to the Venice Film Festival. Don't they look gorgeous?

Jessica Chastain in Elie Saab

Keira Knightley in Valentino

Elie Saab has always been my favorite designer when it comes to gowns (in fact, all of the gowns that I have looked at for my future wedding are by Elie Saab), so it only makes sense that I fell in love with the sweeping Elie Saab lace and brocade gown that Jessica Chastain is wearing in this picture.

However, I also like the golden details on Keira Knightley's sheer Valentino gown. Not quite sure I'd be able to pull anything like that off, though. Lol.

Who's your favorite gown designer? :)