Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Black Head Out Balm

Soap, foam, milk, cream, oil now balm~ my latest face cleanser is a balm which sounds really weird, it feels weird and overall I feel weird.  Mine is the Jeju Volcanic Head Out Balm from Innisfree.  Did this made a convert to balms like many famous youtuber's?  The answer is...I wouldn't be like others who would make read till the end to know the answer~ it's a NO.

While this is very friendly to my dry skin as it doesn't strip the moisture and natural oils of my face, this gives me a feeling that I didn't wash my face which is slightly my fault for not using warm water for rinsing or  take extra step in using foam cleanser as instructed but hey I thought this is a cleansing balm and it should already be as good as foam cleansers or cleansing oil.  But things usually don't work the way I think they should work (universe, please be more lenient to me!).

 So how to use a balm?  First get an ample amount of the balm slightly crumble it into your fingers.  Next massage it into your dry face until it turns into oil.  Third wet your hands, massage again and the the balm will turn milky.  Then rinse with water or wipe thy face with a washcloth or whatever cleansing cloth you desire or do another of your cleansing routine.

This balm can remove light make-up like lipstick but not those heavy ones, I use a black eyeshadow one time and it didn't do much in removing the shadow in my lids.  It makes the skin soft and so are my blackheads but it didn't make them disappear.

In the end I still prefer using a cleansing oil or Cetaphil as cleanser and make-up remover.  I wouldn't close my door though for balms, there might be a really good one out there!

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Toby's Estate. Coffee Roasters.

I thought that I have a photo of at least the paper "mat" but I must have deleted it after the embarrassing semi loud shuttering sound uttered by my camera phone so I only have the above indicating that I dine at Toby's Estate.

When I first entered the premises of this resto, I felt intimated at the same time amazed and feeling at home because of it's interiors:  communal and hydraulic tables, "Scandinavian designs", industrial but elegant and welcoming lights, succulents and cacti and coffee, sweets and food plus even though the crew is busy, they always flash their smile~ my favorites in one place but I feel out of place because it feels "sosyal" and I'm not hehehe.

I usually just order coffee or tea to go but the other day I got a little lucky (meaning I have excess money to be a little fancy), asked my sister to have a simple dinner date with me and I almost got all over the place and take photos of every corner of the place ahahaha.  Of course I didn't do the last thing I said :P

Let's get to the food!

I'm not a connoisseur, but I love cheese: cheese ice cream, cheese pop corn, extra cheese in my pasta and so on and so forth so it's natural for me to get a Grilled Four Cheese which has ricotta, emmenthal, mozzarela and parmigiano with garlic, thyme and pepper in ciabatta served with homemade potato chips and spicy tomato compote.  The cheeses are mild and the compote is actually not that spicy.  I wanted the ciabatta to be more grilled (as in I wanted the marks of the grill) but overall it's a perfect mate for the pasta we ordered.

Crumbled spanish chorizo with spicy tomato sauce and basil oil, that's Rigatoni.  This is a very flavorful meal, my sister said that it's too flavorful but it's perfect for me especially with the grilled cheese and the Iced Chai Latte that I'm drinking (first picture, and I'm very sorry about the photos~very low quality because of the downgrade of my phone but if you guys know where I can buy a battery for htc desire, let me know.  And I know that my HTC is an old model but it's takes great picture!) which I very much appreciate ever since I learned what it's made of and how it is made.  Main reason why I like going to Toby's for coffee and tea:  they are REAL not "overcoated" with sweetness and flavorings.

Last time I felt heaven with a strawberry cake, now I fell head over heels with Carmen's Ice Cream.

It's melting like a butter in my mouth, slowly making it's way to my taste buds~tinkling then attacking them like a machine gun.  We got the salted caramel and every teaspoon of it tasted and shouting SALTED CARAMEL, I wanted to have a teaspoon fight with my sister and be selfish but she's the one who paid for it.  After the experience, I wanted to try all the flavor's of Carmen's Ice Cream!!!

Will definitely date myself or someone here again :)

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Laneige Essences: Water Bank and White Plus Renew

This will be part 1 of the sample "series" because if you read my What Should I Call This? - Another Haul post then you'll know that I went overboard at hoarding sample size products.  First stop, Laneige essences.

Laneige is considered as a mid-range brand though for me, its price is already on the high end category.  Price is justifiable though, basing on the Power Essential Skin Refiner and Water Sleeping Pack that I tried.

One of the known range from Laneige is the Water Bank and I got 3 15ml + 1 10ml essence, that's already like a full size amount of product.  Water Bank Essence says that it's a long lasting hydration essence that provides clear and moist skin.

It's light, it makes the skin hydrated, smooth and moist and it has a nice refreshing smell so it hit all the things that is in the description (good job Laneige).  This is also a friendly product to those with oily skin type because it's moisturizing without being too heavy, it's even lighter than emulsion.

Full size of this Water Bank Essence cost around $30 to $40, in this Amazon link it's $37.04 free shipping but if you wanted a cheaper alternative then go for Missha's Super Aqua Essence which is around $20 I got mine before at a discounted price.

And here's how the essence looks like, it seems that it melts when applied on skin.  Next essence is a much more liquidy one, more like a very moisturizing lotion/toner and it's the Original Essence White Plus Renew which promises to mildly renew skin to be radiant and clear.

"in just 2 weeks, find solutions to 6 whitening concerns with gentle whitening that excludes 4 mild ingredients for a complexion 2 tones brighter." I don't want to have a lighter skin tone, I just wanted my blemishes like freckles and pimple scar to lighten.  The brightening part is a bonus and this essence didn't deliver.  Sorry Laneige but this essence didn't do any action that it promises and the only good thing that I can think about it is it's texture/consistency because its liquidy and can easily be spread to the skin so it is perfect for all skin types.

No brigtening, no lightening...just a mild kind of moisturization...boring... :)

The Water Bank Essence is really great in terms of moisturizing without being greasy and I'm glad that I bought sample sizes rather than a full size for the White Plus Renew Essence which is perfectly not for me.

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Mary Grace Cafe

I think it's the strawberry shortcake, chocolate truffle cake and the colorful teacups that keeps me from going back to Mary Grace Cafe.  Everytime someone wanted to catch up and have a chitchat and have no idea where to meet, my mouth just utter Mary Grace.  I've been to the North Edsa branch but I guess my favorite is in Greenbelt....just look at that...chandelier?

Home to the Ensaymadas and Cheese Rolls (making mental note to try them next time), is just a cozy place to chat and fill the tummy with warm and hearty meals.  Most of the time the cafe is packed with families and mature people but! there's always a place for a person like me who is very kiddish at heart but just wanted to thrive in some almost home cooked meals (nothing can beat mama's cooking) and delish strawberry shortcake plus I feel like I'm in a teaparty game when almost everyone is ordering a pot of tea...their tea sets are just so colorful and the cafe's setting is just so homey and dainty.

Of course, I didn't take much photos of the place but at least I have decent pic of the food (thanks to my friend's phone).  Let's start with pasta!

Pasta Amatriciana with Italian Meatballs is a tomato based pasta with meatballs ahahahaha, I don't know how to describe food I hope that from the pic above you already have a big idea of what it is.  I like that the meatballs are not the supersized ones, enough to be stuffed in my mouth and I can taste the different flavors of the herbs and seasonings and the meat (in the supersized meatballs, all I can taste is the meat) and also like that the tomato sauce is not too sour and just have the right balance of saltiness and sweetness (I like sourness in my tomato based pasta but I'm a Filipino and most of the time spaghetti is served sweet in our culture).  I also already tasted the Mary Grace Mushroom Cream Pasta and it's good when it's still hot but as it turns warm to cold, it loses it yumminess and creaminess (the cream sauce turns clumpy when already "cold").

Next, Pizza which is baked and served fresh from a brick oven.  Is it just me or the pizzas baked from brick oven have more flavor?  Probably because of the smoke and the wood used?  Maybe!  Aside from the slight smoky flavor, Mary Grace's pizzas are not super pretentious that I can taste every bit of the ingredients.  I can taste the sausage, olives, tomato and onion in The Italian Sausage pizza (above photo) and the crust is not overpowering (I mean some crust are just jampacked with butter, oil and some enhancers...I like them but sometimes simpler things are better).

And the cake that won my heart, Strawberry Shortcake which is heaven on earth!  The chiffon cake is soft and airy yet still moist and the strawberry and cream is light and just have the right sweetness...it's just oh my God I can eat a whole cake without feeling guilty (I hope I can have an instant 1K pesos right now and buy one).  The next favorite cake from Mary Grace's list is the Chocolate Truffle Cake which is more packed/dense and moist so even though I'm chocolate lover, a slice or two is enough for me.

I'm salivating right now and wanted to go out and dine in Mary Grace Cafe but self control must suffice...and I'm listening to The Killer's The World We Live in and Brandon just said "Pray for peace and SELF CONTROL".

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It's Skin Star Cream

I wanted to blog on a regular basis but heck I'm busy daydreaming about my good old job ahahaha.  I know I need to move on but anyway, since I'm not blogging as much like before (that I even share with you some grocery stuff) I've been choosing what to blog and deleting a lot of drafts since I'm just overcrowding not just my blog's space but also my mind but I think this one is a good one to share.

I ordered this It's Skin Star Cream via GMarket when it was release (whoah) because it's on sale and I'm glad that I got it even though I paid a gigantic amount of cash for custom taxes (I also got other stuff, but never again!).  It's cute, it shiny and got stars on it's packaging...what more can a girl ask?  But on the serious note, this is my "go to" face coverage because...

This stuff just do the the right things for my skin:  it has light coverage perfect enough for me to blur the imperfections of my face making it look smoother and it gives this glowy effect because of the "shiny pearl powder" ingredient which when hit by light kind of glisten so it's not proper to go overboard with this product unless you wanted to look like a glistening vampire.  Or if you wanted to highlight some part of your face then go ahead, double apply this cream it pretty much works like a highlighter in cream form.

Two more things that I like about this cream is that it has SPF25 so I don't have to apply a separate cream with spf and it's moisturizing: this one is definitely a makeup and a skincare product in one.

This can also act like a base slash cc cream though your foundation or bb cream shouldn't be too heavy specially those with oily skin since this cream is moisturizing.

See the "brightening" and "glistening" effect at the back of my hand?  Not too obvious so it's perfect because I don't want to be like a walking disco ball!

Despite it's cutesy packaging, this cream is seriously good.  It's like the better version of chin chan su that can work as a base, light bb cream or foundation, highlighter and a day moisturizer.

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