Ellana pressed mineral foundation

The first time me and this brand met was back in 2009. It was during my second job at a new company. I noticed having bad breakouts and I remember using the new Maybelline mineral foundation at that time. Loose mineral foundation was slowly becoming the next best thing. Maybelline didn't have the widest range of shades available and it was frustrating and I was suspecting the product is not pure mineral. So on  to multiply shopping! That where I first found out about Ellana and that's when my love affair with this brand started. They have come a long way and I'm like a proud mother standing by the sidelines witnessing her child grow :)

One of the things I loved about their mineral foundation is the coverage. But one thing I also hate about mineral foundations, in general, is that it is messy to take anywhere. My makeup bag would be in a complete mess once I forget to screw on the jar's cap properly. Quite frustrating. I researched for pressed mineral foundations and the only ones I could find is available in the US and is expensive.

Fast forward a couple of years later, Ellana finally came out with pressed versions of their mineral foundation. and eyeshadows. I was elated.

Wrapped properly to prevent breakage

Double sealed for assurance

I got myself one. I ordered another set of their free sample because I had no clue what my present shade was.

Samples! Samples!

Last time I checked, I was a hazelnut latte(warm undertone). But then, I contemplated into getting one with a more neutral undertone. 

Based on the description on the site and after a round of guessing games, I went and got Almond Latte.

It was a miss. Turned out, this was too dark and too orange for me.

Ellana pressed mineral foundation in Almond Latte side by side with my Maybelline White
Superfresh cake powder in 05 Sand Beige

Thoughts:
The packaging is great. The compact is enclosed in sealed acetate for protection. The pan had a magnet stuck on the back so you could stick it on a Z-palette or the generic one Ellana also sells.

But one thing I noticed when I first used it, though, is that it's not as pigmented as I remembered it. I'm not so sure if it being pressed somehow affected the formula or what but I remembered how impressed I was before as buffing it onto the face was enough to cover acne marks but now, coverage is leaning more into light to medium.
The pressed version is also more expensive at Php 599.00 per pan with 11 grams of product compared to the loose version at Php 499.00 with 8 grams of product. But come to think of it, taking the grams into consideration, price is almost the same.

I've stored this in my drawer for now as it is too dark for me to use. I would only take it out once in a while and use it as bronzer.

Convenience-wise, this is a better option for travelling but you have to be careful though, even if it is pressed, it shatters rather easily when dropped. Mine did and had to repair it with the old alcohol trick.

They also have a new refurbished website. It is now http://www.ellanacosmetics.com not the old ellanaminerals.com.
Also, the new pans, I believe, is now square rather than the round one I was able to purchase.

Have you tried Ellana's pressed minerals? What are your thoughts? Kindly share it with me and let's start a conversation!

Till then,

Go back in history with Malens

Food tripping is fast becoming an "in" thing with today's generation but usually, the crowd come in troves towards Quezon City, Manila, Makati, and other places around North. Little do people know, South, specifically Cavite, is just as food trip worthy as any other place. Heck, even Aguinaldo's house becomes a huge food mercato during the weekends complete with colorful and plentiful string of lights.

Nowadays, we are plagued with food trucks and fastfoods that an honest to goodness plate of classic home cooked meal becomes a welcome treat once in a while.

Located at Noveleta Cavite just across Puregold is a place called MALEN's. 

Upon entering this establishment, you're easily transported to the old Spanish era with it's interiors. Visitors are greeted by a huge wall sculpture of Gabriela Silang on a horse.

A cake display chiller is located near the entrance door boasting of their different baked offerings. They can also customize a cake for you should you require it for your events.

A function area is also available for reservation. 

Solid wood dining tables and chairs fill the entire floor and waiting for your order will never be a bore for there's a vast display of pasalubong goodies you could check out while waiting.

A wooden rocking horse is a big hit for the kids. My niece had a rockin' time with her new friend! :)

Malen's menu also have that rustic feel to it. Each dish has a corresponding history attached to it. Though, this same menu is the reason why part of our whole Malen experience almost turned into a disaster. We were not aware that only selected items on the menu was good for sharing and the rest already is a meal for one person and their server, one in particular, did not tell us that our orders already came with rice (we also ordered a separate order of rice, which is indication we are clueless). When we found out and asked if we could cancel the other rice order because we were not aware, the server, a male, that could totally pass as bouncer for a club, "apparently" told us that he informed us while we were ordering that our meals already came with rice! Hello?! Tulog ba kami kuya nung nag-oorder kami? That totally put us off and we did not enjoy the food as much as we wanted to due to poor customer service from this waiting staff who completely turned it around and lied up front.

We ordered a couple of things to try but please excuse the poor food shots as lighting inside the restaurant is pretty dim.

Sungay Green salad is your basic green salad paired with honey mustard dressing

Nothing too fancy, just your regular unbreaded fried chicken

This was my order. I was disappointed with it. Clearly, sandwiches wasn't their strong point. I almost cried at how lonely and sad this sandwich looked. A couple of roasted beef slices in between COLD, WHITE bread slices. Fries is cold and tasted generic. The salad siding is too little to save this sinking ship.

Ordered fresh buko to drown my sandwich disappointment.

The beef is surprisingly very tender and tasty.

I'm a baker, so normally, I gravitate towards baked goods. I checked out what their resto had to offer. In the end, we decided on the chocolate crinkles. Theirs had additional cashew nuts mixed in to make it a bit different.

More items they offer. The baked chicharon is a must. 

My experience here was so-so. It could have had good potential had it not been for the whole rice debacle. Some of the food were good like the caldereta but serving was a bit steep for the price. I advise you to veer away from their sandwiches not worth your buck.


Till next,

Product Review: Hard Candy Mix-in Pigment Drops

Aaaaahhh...music to one's ears when we see the word "DUPE", atleast for makeup. :)

The Cover FX custom cover drops had been gaining popular reviews from beauty gurus the world over and us, mere mortals, have been salivating over this wonder product ever since the rave reviews came out.

What's not to like? The promise of full coverage with the power to take that "foundation you've accidentally bought in the wrong shade" out of the waste bin, is enough to make any makeup junkee swoon.

But, as spiderman would put it, with great power comes...a hefty price tag! Yes, this much talked about product from cover FX retails for US$44 a pop! As much as I long for it, I don't have that much blood and enough kidney to sell for it.

So, when Hard Candy released something of the same nature with a US$7 price tag, I forgot to breathe, went online and scour Walmart's page for this product. As expected, it went flying off the shelves as I've been reading about certain shades selling out and some not finding stocks of it in Walmarts around their area.

So when it actually became available online, I HAD TO GET IT. Luckily, a friend of my friend who currently resides in Los Angeles, was coming home to the Philippines. He was kind enough to agree to bring me some things from the US.

This was one of the things I ordered off of Walmart's page. I got two shades, Light4 and Medium3 because I thought I could just mix them together to achieve the right shade or so I could have options to use for foundations I have that are too dark and too light for me.

Like the one from Cover FX, this too comes with a dropper (hence, the name mix-in drops).

Now, I don't own the custom cover drops or have yet to try it but based on reviews I've seen from other bloggers, that one has a thicker formula than Hard Candy. Ingredients list of the mix in pigment drops are as follows:

One of the product's claim is full coverage. So why don't we test that out shall we? (I also did the same test with my first ever product from Hard Candy here)

I went ahead and drew lines using a waterproof black eyeliner and the lip ink in the shade red. Then, I used two equal drops of both shades to test out the extent of its coverage.

First layer was not able to totally hide the marks. They still seep through and you could still distinguish them both underneath so I went ahead and did another drop.

With the second drop you could now see an improvement coverage-wise. But still nothing too impressive.

Now let see what will happen if we mix it in with two different foundations.

I mixed the Light4 to my Milani conceal+perfect foundation in medium beige since it has become a bit darker for me every since I started on the Benzoyl Peroxide treatment.

And the medium3 with my revlon photoready foundation which is a bit light and too yellow for me.

I took a drop each and place it on a dish to mix.

I drew another red line on my arm using the lip ink smear proof lip product for the coverage test.

Here's the result:

At a drop each added on both foundations, there's only a minute difference on the coverage but the shade of the foundation you can clearly see a difference. The revlon which was a bit lighter and yellow for me became a bit darker more beige now. The milani one became a little bit lighter.

Conclusion:

Though both Hard Candy and Cover FX have the same purpose and objective, each one is a league on their own.

In terms of price, I believe you get what you pay for pigment-wise. If you're looking into just altering your foundation shade which already have a light or medium coverage and want to amp it up to a full, then by all means try the one from Hard Candy it'll get the job done without breaking the bank. You just have to put in more drops than you would with Cover FX.

The bottle with the separate dropper I'm not too fond of. It can get messy if you are not too careful and you get the dropper neck to touch the mouth of the bottle. I prefer a bottle with a dropper spout instead.

Another factor to consider, after swatching the Hard candy mix-in pigment drops, I took a bath but did not scour my hand with the swatch. I only let the suds drip over it then took a photo after.

Notice how it got darker? It somewhat oxidized on my skin. I Have no clue what happened. It is not waterproof either.

All in all, if the price points weren't that far apart, I would go and save up for the Cover FX custom cover drops instead. But the Hard Candy Mix-in pigment drop is worth trying out and experimenting with.

Have you tried this one out? What are your thoughts? Share it with me please. :)

Till then,

Bobbie Cosmetics: A new budget-friendly brand for students.

Every time I pass by malls, It's always a must to drop by the beauty counters to check for new stuff that might hold a promise. This particular brand caught my eye because one, it is already an established brand. And two, cosmetics is not what it's known for.

Chic Centre Corporation is the one responsible for the brand "Bobbie" which we all associate with Nail care products. It has been around since 1977 and is an affiliate of JG Summit Holdings (a big conglomerate here in the Philippines).

Browsing thru their display, one single item caught my eye.

This product right here pretty much reminds me of the Anastasia brow wiz. It also has a spoolie on one end for grooming your brows.

But the main difference between the two? This one is only Php145.00! It is even Cheaper than the NYX one they are comparing the brow wiz to.

This brand carries all types of cosmetic products. Complete enough to do a full face makeup using only this line.

They have eyeshadow quads, blushes, and face powders.

Eyeshadow palettes and cream concealers.

Powder foundation.

Face primers

They also have metallic eyeshadow/eyeliner pencils. Though based on the swatch above, the glitter particles in the product is not that fine. Younger gals could gravitate to this kind of formulation, but not really my cup of tea.

I was impressed when I checked their BB creams. It says made in Korea and it even includes familiar ingredients you'd commonly find in Korean skin care and cosmetic products such as Niacinamide and Adenosine.


They have this DUO Lippie for only Php115.00! You have a regular lipstick tube on one end and a pigmented gloss on the other. Now that is a big bang for your buck!

If doing that cat eye is your guilty pleasure, you might want to check out their felt tip liner priced at Php190.00

They even carry brushes and tools to help you in your makeup application! And guess what? They are affordable too!

So if you are on a tight budget, this brand is worth checking out. They have kiosks at Watsons and SM beauty dept.

Have you tried anything from this brand? Please do share it with us down on the comment section below.

Till then,