I'm back! And here are my blog resolutions!

Of my three blogs, this beauty blog is the hardest to update. It should be the easiest because I get so many beauty products! But here are my reasons for not updating as often as I should:

1. I get too many products. I only have one face and one body!
2. I tried giving the products to other people to review. They didn't write the reviews. Or by the time they did, there was a new collection/improved product out.
3. I didn't really want a press release-y blog. And of course, the products came with lengthy press releases!
4. At the events I attended, I didn't look too nice. Haha!  

So I'll make new changes in this blog. From now on, you'll know from the title if the post is an event, a press release or a review. I'll try to minimize the PRs and do more reviews (good luck to me!).

See you around!

Frances

Need to know more beauty and style blogs!

I just noticed that I really don't have a lot of beauty and style blogs on my blog roll. So to those of you kind enough to drop by, will you please tell me what your favorite beauty/style blog is and why? I want to discover more of these gems! Thanks!

Johnson's & Johnson's and Bayo: Show off soft skin!

Okay, picture-heavy post up ahead!

Recently, I was invited to the fashion and beauty collaboration of Johnson's & Johnson's Body, Bayo and Preview. Bayo was tasked to create clothes to show off lovely skin--courtesy of J&J, of course!--to be debuted in Preview and to be sold to the public this summer. I got two invitations, as a magazine editor and as a Nuffnang blogger (photo above stolen from Nuffnang!), which makes it hard now for me when I'm at the registration table since I want to register as both... but I always register as media; it is, after all, my job!

Me and Lee Shen Gee of Shen's Addiction

Just Jewels presents its celebrity-designed wedding rings (plus a little chatter from me)

Dreaming of your wedding or already planning the big day? Then this news is for you!

Just Jewels just launched their Rings of Promise, wedding rings designed by actress and brand endorser Dawn Zulueta, TV host/society columnist/interior designer Tessa Prieto Valdes and fashion designer Debbie Co. The rings are part of Just Jewels' Made-to-Order Wedding Rings service, which promises good quality and customized design fit for any budget. I think it's a lovely idea! 

The event was held at Enderun Colleges at McKinley Hill. It's a nice place! Though it did remind me of a church. Anyway, the event took a while to start so I spent the time taking pictures.

WHILE WAITING...

Look at that blue sky! The red brick facade sure looked stark against that expanse of perfect azure.

Inside, the afternoon sun streamed in through the big windows. This would be lovely for an intimate  wedding reception.

I think the table arrangements are elegant and simple. I quite adore the flowers spilling over our heads. So pretty yet unobtrusive.

With me at the event was Mica, an intern for Cosmo.ph. She's so terribly young, it's almost painful. She's adorable, don't get me wrong, but she's all wide-eyed with wonder at the glamorous side of the magazine industry and when I told her that events are work not play, and that we usually spend our days hunched over a keyboard, typing and editing away, and negotiating with brand managers and advertisers, and worrying over circulation and advertising profit... well, she didn't believe me. She just thinks it's all fun, fun, fun! Sad to burst her bubble but it's more of stress, stress, stress!!!

Anyway, I was also there with bloggers Earth of Earthling Gorgeous and Jennie of Marriage and Beyond. They're power bloggers! Blogging is fast becoming (if it isn't already) the new important media, and Earth and Jennie are two of the few who know how to do this blogging thing well. I'm a blogger, too, but I'm still very entrenched in traditional print media. I do want to learn more about blogging because times are changing for print!

Join the Shen's Addiction Fantabulous Big Beauty Giveaway!!!

My beautiful blogger friend Shen is celebrating her blog's second anniversary with an uber fabulous beauty giveaway and a new blog called Manila Beauty Blog! The new blog is supposed to be an extension of her beauty blogging but, so far, it has posts on fashion--which, in increasingly stylish Manila, is the industry to watch!

Shen and me at a Body Shop event last November

First, let me tell you about Shen. She's one of the sweetest, kindest, smartest and friendliest people I've ever met. That doesn't make her a doormat, by the way. Personally, I don't like the simple sweet kind. She isn't like that--she's sugar and spice. My kinda girl!

I'm baaaaaack, beauties!

I haven't blogged here since forever! Beauty blogging is hard, folks. I thought it would be easy, given how many products I get as the editor of OK! Philippines. But the beauty industry is beyond huge! Every week, there's a new product launch, a new innovation, a new technology, new stuff to review... and I just can't keep up. The products and press kits have made mini-mountains at my desk at work and at home. My bosses and my husband are complaining!!!

Here are just some of the lovely boxes I've been getting from...

Olay
the new Regenerist Cream

Lancome
Magnifique perfume and body lotion 
with a tiny tube of mascara

Bobbi Brown
lip glosses and an eye shadow palette
with a personalized pot of lip color

I have a lot more. You won't believe how many more I have--boxes and crates and cabinets of this fabulous stuff! I almost posted photos of my office and my overflowing product cabinet but I got embarrassed at my mess. So I'm finally going to blog about the stuff I've been getting--for the sake of my marriage and my job!

I do want to say that the beauty industry's been pretty exciting this 2010. So many new things for primping and prettification! So do visit this blog soon as I have a lot of things to tell you about--all of them beautiful!

This New Year, use Kerastase--and only Kerastase!--for your hair

I love Kerastase. I use the Resistance Bain Volumactive line for my flat lifeless hair. Of course, with Kerastase, my hair is revived and bouncy and beautiful! I also use the Reflection Bain Chroma Riche line when my hair's newly colored, to keep my hair looking redder longer. I cannot emphasize just how much I love Kerastase for my hair! Even my husband is spoiled rotten--he loves it, too, and switches between his Phyto shampoo and my Kerastase bottle because this stuff really works.

Now, Kerastase is not cheap. Why, it's the hair care line used by Hollywood celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston and Emmy Rossum! So I'm so happy I'm friends with Kerastase's Senior Product Manager, the affable and totally wonderful Birdie Salva--he sends me my bottles and jars for free! Thank you, Birdie!

Birdie's so generous, he's extending his offer of free Kerastase products to YOU! Look at what he's giving away on his fantabulous blog, Hair in Manila:

My darlings, that is one box of beauty! Hop on now to Hair in Manila for details on how you can win that fab box!

P.S. Birdie, thanks for my Kerastase Resistance Bain Volumactive shampoo and conditioner and the yummily scented candles, too!

Halloween glamour!

It's Halloween this weekend! And with the second Twilight franchise coming to theaters in a few weeks, everyone's going crazy over Team Edward and Team Jacob. Well, at this year's Halloween parties, why not show whose side you're on by donning these glamorous looks?

Vampire

Werewolf

Fantabulous beauty blog Hair in Manila details how you can look like a sexy she-wolf or a sultry vampire in its Halloween Glam series. Hop on over there now for inspiration!

Please send me an email

Yedy, Nina, Teeyah, Twisted Halo, Fish and Kae!

I have some beauty stuff for you girls. Yey! Sorry it took me a while but I've finally done my inventory for your requests and for helping raise money for Mio's leukemia chemo (please scroll down--I posted new products!).

Kae, I'm giving you an extra product because I saw on your blog that it's your birthday!

The email is frances@topazhorizon.com. I'll be waiting!

To the other ladies, sorry I didn't have the ones you wanted but do watch this space!

Lancome sale!

Remember my rave review on Genifique? Well, this July, make sure you visit the Lancome boutique in Greenbelt 5, Makati, because there will be a big sale. I'll be dropping by. Need to get a new bottle of Eua de Bienfait Clarte 3-in-1 Cleansing and Toning Lotion for Face and Eyes. It's my makeup remover and I love it super duper!

Hmm... my blog is turning into a Lancome review site! Just so you know, I am not getting paid for any of my reviews and promotions. But when I get free stuff, I will obviously blog about them more, and Lancome has been very very generous.

The Beauty Writer

And the winner is...

Kristine of A Piece of My Mind

Prize: P10,000 worth of face and body treatments
from Aesthetic Science Clinic Makati

Congratulations! Please email me at frances@topazhorizon.com so we can discuss how I'll be sending your gift certificates.

I'm super excited for you, Kristine. I just had a lovely lunch with Dr. Yanee Vasquez-Santos. She is the prettiest doctor I've ever met! She's really hot, too. So when she showed me around the Makati clinic, I was looking forward to getting some treatments because I want to be as pretty and sexy as Dr. Yanee!

The Aesthetic Science Clinic at Jupiter St., Makati, is also spankin' brand new with fabulous facilities. I'm going to be having some slimming treatments done there, too. Maybe we'll see each other there!

To everyone else who joined this contest, thank you! I'm already cooking up another contest (but in a couple of months--I'd really like to focus on reviewing beauty stuff instead of me looking for stuff to give away!). I hope you'll still join in on the fun.

The Beauty Writer

WIN! Gift certificates for face and body treatments at Aesthetic Science

CONTEST CLOSED

I promised my readers a giveaway and here it is!

Sitting on my desk are fabulous gift certificates from Aesthetic Science Clinic for Cosmetic Dermatology and Plastic Surgery.

I am giving them all away to ONE LUCKY READER!

Here's what the winner will get:

• Diamond Peel worth P1,200 - This innovative non-chemical exfoliation treatment corrects the signs of aging and sun damaged skin with no downtime at all. It also helps in the improvement of acne scars and stretch marks. For optimal results, a series of treatments is advised. It is a safe and therapeutic approach to skin care when done in combination with other facial treatments.
• eMax Skin Rejuvenation worth P3,500 for face - uses combined energies for effective and gentle restoration & rejuvenation of skin appearance
• Body Scrub with Bleach plus Massage worth P1,400 - A 2-hour relaxing body treatment for softer, smoother and lighter skin. A rich sea salt is blended with the finest oils that has exfoliating properties and is used to remove dead and unwanted skin. A bleaching agent is then applied all over the body.
  
• Reshape worth P4,000 for abdomen/butt and thighs - employs cutting edge RF technology to heat the inner layer of skin to achieve a Total Body Reshaping and sculpting. This revolutionary heat wave therapy will improve your body contour and skin texture to give you that toned, firm look without aggressive exercise or dieting.

That's a total of P10,000 worth of facial and body treatments!

Want to be pampered? Here's how you can win:

1. Write about the contest in your blog.
2. Make sure to link your post to this post.
3. Leave a comment informing me of your post.
4. Wait for 7 days. Contest ends on July 3 midnight and I'll announce the winner the next day!

The winner will be drawn randomly. Of course, I'll be checking if he/she also did a post on his/her blog first! I will then send the fabulous gift certificates to the winner--shipping's on me!
Gift certificates are valid until August 31, 2009. Winner may claim the treatments at:
Aesthetic Science Clinic
G/F Jupiter Place, Jupiter Street
Bel-Air, Makati City

Good luck! Spread the word!

The Beauty Writer

I know I promised a giveaway...

... and I do have one, too! Just finalizing the details with the medical spa that's giving away the prizes. I'll post the details on that one as soon as this beauty giveaway is done! It's over on my other blog, Topaz Horizon. It's just a fun little contest. Hope you hop on over there. Enjoy!

The Beauty Writer

Prize winners' thanks

I'm already planning my next beauty giveaway. It's not going to be as spectacular as the first contest (I don't have any Shu Uemura makeup brushes anymore!) but it will be just as fun anyway so I'm hoping my regular and fabulous and beautiful readers will still join.

Meanwhile (just so you know I really do send out the prizes!), here's the thanks of the three winners of my first ever blog giveaway:

Ekimura from the USA
Daphne's Diary from the Philippines

Dunibagz from Germany

It is so much fun to make other people happy. So let me make you happy, too. Check this blog in the next few days because I'll have another lovely giveaway!

The Beauty Writer

Getaway for the weekend

Hi! I'll be going away for the weekend so I'll be posting stuff again next week (and, boy, do I have some new beauty loot to talk about!). Meanwhile, here are some beauty-related things you might want to read from Topaz Horizon, my personal blog...

My spa day with Jennie, author of Kikay Corner
I cut my hair! So short, so chic! Yey!
Inside SkinLogic, my go-to derma clinic

The vain complains. Maybe you won't?

Red is my hair color this year.

And here are some things you can do...

• Join Makeup in Manila's contest! She's giving away a P6,000 discount voucher for a beauty school.
• Shop for Organic Thanakha products at Kikay Corner's online shop.

See you all next week!

The Beauty Writer

Beauty For A Living now owns its own domain!

I just bought this baby a gift--its own domain. Please update your links. We are now...

www.beautyforaliving.com

I love the way it looks!

The Beauty Writer

And the winners are...!

Okay, that was one crazy contest--So many people joined my first ever blog giveaway!

Sitemeter says that bloggers from all over the world blogged about my giveaway

Thanks! I'm so encouraged by the enthusiastic response that I plan to do this regularly!!! I have an unbelievable amount of yummy beauty loot for you! Next time, though, I'll just assign numbers to people and then throw dice. Writing down blogs on pieces of paper seemed like a good idea until the entries approached 100.
And now, without further ado, here are the winners!

1st Prize
Shu Uemura Mika Hearts Shu Portable Makeup Brush Set
Winner: Ekimura from the USA

2nd Prize
Jurlique Moisture Balance Introductory Set
Winner: Daphne's Diary from the Philippines

3rd Prize
Shu Uemura Lipstick Case
Winner: Lovely Purses from Germany

Congratulations to the lucky ladies! Please email me at frances@topazhorizon.com so we can talk about the details.

Thank you to everyone else who joined (I linked you up as my thanks!):
A Girl Should be Two Things: Classy and Fabulous, A Life Without Love is No Life At All, A Piece of My Mind, Accidentally In Love, AhCapp, Akisalove, All the Vanity, Amanda's Sunshine, Anything & Everything, Baby, You Make My Heart Beat Faster..., Be Happy, Beautification, Beauty, Life, Love and Many More, Beauty is Within, Beauty Moogle Zone, Beauty Reviews, Beauty Snap, Becoming a Yummy Mommy, Bienvenida A Mi Pagina!!!, Bunnie, Cake, Cherrie Bosa, ChinkyMel's Corner, Chomfifi, Cogito Ergo, Scrap!, Confessions of a Makeup and Fashion Lover, Confessions of a Soapaholic, Crazy Mama, Dazzling..., Documented Days, E.motion in Motion, Enfant de L'Amour, Enjoying Life as I Live It, Facets of the Fire Fairy Princess, Fly. Soar. Land., Fully Awesome Babyy, Goddess, I Am, Hello, 'moto, Her Royal Bleakness, I am Kaith, Innovative Essence, Invisible Pathos, Just Another Day, Kikay Corner, KXY, Kylie's Blog, Laugh and the World Laughs with You, Le Miroir de Wanderita, Lights and Shades, Life is Full of Beautiful Complications, Life with Jemboy and Joyce, LipstickFever Makeup Blog!, Little Miss Julienne, Living Life to the Fullest, Lost in the City, Love Eve Beauty, Lush Angel, Make My Not-So-Interesting Life Interesting, Makeup in Manila, Maldeetuh Ramblings, Mango Pepper, Me You and a Dog Named Boo, Miss Girl Interrupted, Mrs. Dumpling, Ms. Giling's Spot, Musicalfan Loves Minerals, My Blog, My Life in This Wonderful World, My Lucid Intervals, My Own Spot, My Place Under the Sun, My Soap Opera Life, My Wonderful World of Colors, Naturals and Minerals, Nevergirl's, Newbie to Beauty, Nling*Star House of Collection, No, I am not a Genius, Not Enough Hours in a Day, On Beauty Stuff and What Else's, Pensieve, Pinay Mind, Pinkfish Pie, Plan B, Popcorn <3>, Quarter Life Chronicles, Sanniet, Science's Box of Nice Things, Shan Shan Style, She R0XX, Sh0be, Siamese, Simply Glamorouxx, Simply Susie, Sippinslow, Sneak In, Somekinda. Aliw., Spoiled Rotten, Still Life, Sweet Hopia, Sweet Lisi, The Drama Queen Can Tell Stories, The Grazing Land, The Journey Continues..., The Mystery of Me, The Soundtrack of My Life Now, Thinking Out Loud, Time Outs, Tournesol, Twenty-Four Periwinkle Street, Ugly is In, Vanity Kit, Vintageday Blog, Voodoo Dolly, What Have You Learned Today?, Where Air Time is Free, Will Work For Shoes, Xtine, Yen <3, You Lite Up My Life

Thanks for joining my giveaway. My new blog got a ton of traffic! Yey!

The Beauty Writer

WIN! A Mika Heart Shu Makeup Brush Set - UPDATED!

CONTEST IS CLOSED.

NOTE: Contest ends on May 7, 6 PM. I'll announce the winners on May 7, 11:59 PM. Manila time!

UPDATE!!! MORE PRIZES BELOW!

To celebrate my entry into the beauty blogging world, I am giving away this limited edition Shu Uemura Mika Hearts Shu Portable Brush Set!

The brush set is a collaboration between the Japanese beauty brand and photographer Mika Ninagawa. (Here's what Vanity Fair has to say about the partnership.)

Shu Uemura describes this super pretty set: "Carry your brushes in a portable Mika Ninagawa work of art! Purple on the outside with a special Mika red rose photograph lining the inside, the limited-edition brush case includes a set of four Shu Uemura brushes, each handmade in Japan by professional artisens for optimal makeup application for the face, cheek, eye and lip."

The set includes 4 brushes: goat brush for the face, pony and squirrel brush for cheeks, sable and kolinsky brush for eyes, and sable brush for lips.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Write about the contest in your blog.
2. Make sure to link your post to this post.
3. Leave a comment informing me of your post.
4. Wait for 7 days because I'll announce the winner on May 7!

The winner will be drawn randomly. Of course, I'll be checking if he/she also did a post on his/her blog first!

MAY 3 UPDATE!!!
I love the response! My page rank went up dramatically! I thought that maybe only 2 or 3 people will join but now... I've decided to give away more prizes!

2nd PRIZE: Jurlique Maintain Balance Introductory Set. This is actually more expensive than the brush case above! This is about P4,000 from Jurlique Greenbelt 5. The kit contains a Balancing Foaming Cleanser, Rosewater Balancing Mist, Daily Exfoliating Cream, Herbal Recovery Gel and Balancing Day Care Cream.

3rd PRIZE: A Shu Uemura Lipstick Holder. This is a super cute case that will hold 2 lipstick tubes. Specially designed with delicate artwork, it also comes with a little mirror for quick touchups wherever you may be!

Good luck! Spread the word! And thanks for joining!

P.S. Yes, I will send the prize anywhere in the world (shipping's on me!) so this is open to everybody in the world. However, if you aren't from the Philippines, I'll have to use regular post which can take up to a month in transit.

The Beauty Writer

I live for beauty!

Hi! This blog is dedicated to all things beautiful--if it looks good, smells good, feels good, makes us look good, then it's bound to end up here!

You'll also find honest reviews of products and services, which I hope will help you in your quest for good buys. In this crunch economy, we all need to know what's worth our peso!

So thank you for dropping by and I welcome all tips, tricks, reviews and opinions because I write beauty for a living!

The Beauty Writer - that's me in the photo getting color and highlights at the Louis Phillip Kee Salon!