Inspiring Practice.

The Maria Sofia Love Alien Panda Inspired Eye Makeup Tutorial

If you don't know who Maria Sofia Love is, you better Google her or search for her videos on Facebook. I can't really say that I know a lot about her but here's what I got off of her Gandang Gabi Vice interview and her videos:

Pros and Cons of my 180 Eyeshadow Palette (Deck 1 Swatches)

180 Palette Deck 1 - Neutrals - 700Php

Decisions, decisions! If you're a practical beauty enthusiast, like me, you've probably kept your eye on good makeup bargains online. I know I have which is why I decided to buy a generic 180 Eye Shadow Palette. 

You've probably seen eye palettes like this online. If you're thinking of buying one, you're in the right place. Here are my PROS and CONS to help you decided if you really need one or not:

Deck 1 - Top most row - R-L

PRO: You get a great selection of colors. CON: Some eyeshadows don't give you much of a color pay-off.

As you can see on the picture, the first 3 colors don't show up well on camera. You'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next few photos. The upside, though, is that you get a lot more colors to choose from.

Deck 1 - 1st Row - L-R on Swatch 

PRO: You won't need to buy more eyeshadows. CON: You won't need to buy more eyeshadows.

You already have 180 colors and you probably won't need more. That's great from a practical stand point but shopping for eyeshadows is fun. It may take a while for you to experience the fun again - unless you're a hoarder.

Deck 1 - 1st Row on the Picture - L-R on Swatch

PRO: The color is build-able. CON: You'll need to put more of the product on since the color doesn't show up well.

Surprisingly, for a generic eyeshadow, the color is pretty build-able. Build-able meaning that you can apply more color so you get the vividness you want. Of course, it won't be as vivid as high quality eyeshadows but it's acceptable nonetheless.

You can also use eye lid primers so the color shows up better.

Deck 1 - 2nd Row - R-L

PRO: Some colors do show up well. CON: The colors that do show up well are brighter which isn't really my cup of tea but it could be yours (mostly oranges and some browns show up well).

Oranges aren't really my thing so I put it down as a CON. I don;t wear makeup everyday but when I do, I go for more natural looking colors - mostly browns.

Deck 1 - Last Row - R-L on Swatch

PRO: You get a lot of eyeshadows  for a lot less. CON: You get what you paid for.

If you don't adjust your expectation, chances are you'll be disappointed by a generic palette like this. I can't really say that the eyeshadows are of low quality nor can I say that they are of high quality. They are somewhere in the middle which should be good enough for everyday use or for weddings.

After Swatching

Observation: This is what the eyeshadows look like after swatching.

They got a little dusty or chalky after I swatched them. I do notice this with my other eyeshadows (Victoria's Secret ones) but the dust isn't as much.

Shapes After Swatching

Observation: The eyeshadow is a litte concave at the top. There were some eyeshadows that sort of deflated after I put my brush/finger in despite me not putting a lot of pressure.

Some eyeshadows do feel softer than others which is probably why their shape changed easily.

Final Thoughts

When you should buy a generic palette:

• When you're practicing
• When you're saving up money for better quality eyeshadows
• When you're being practical
• When you absolutely need it
• When you want to be creative with your eye makeup

When you should NOT buy a generic palette:

• When you don't  have a purpose for it
• When you don't have the budget
• When you already have the eyeshadow colors you need

I'll definitely continue using mine. For a blogger like me, who loves doing different makeup looks, I'll probably use up most of the colors on the palette or I'll die trying (50 cent reference). So, with you, have you decided on buying one for yourself? I'd like to hear what you think!

The One Lesson we Usually Forget to Teach Our Kids

Before reading any further, know this: I am not making a generalization but rather an observation - there's a difference. I can absolutely say this with confidence because, I, myself, as a parent, forget to teach this to my child very often.

Most of the time, we forget to teach our children the most important lesson in life which is to be happy.

POST LUNCH PLAYTIME

My story starts here.

Every weekend, my family and I would go to the Farmer's Market near Golden Fields to have lunch with my parents. They have a spot there selling juice, desserts and native Filipino foods. We're glad to go because, aside from getting tons of free taste samples from neighboring vendors, we get to spend time as a family.

This is what we would do ever since I was little: spend time with each other, catch up, talk about nonsense while eating. Doing this is like the hallmark for my side of the family because, as a child, we would linger at the dinner table just to talk and eat - myself, my mom, my aunts and my cousins (the adult males in my family did not care much for this tradition). This was my happiness as a child.

MY REALIZATION

One weekend afternoon, my son decided to play football after eating lunch. The market has an open field with a ball and a net to play with. His dad joined him shortly after I took this photo. I decided to document the whole thing.

While watching my son fix the net, I remembered a video I watched on YouTube. It was a TEDx Talks video with Logan LaPlante (a very cool kid). He was talking about hackschooling - happiness and education - in the video which, for a mom with a son, was both interesting and insightful. Among the things that he talked about, one thing struck me the most:

"Much of education is oriented, for better or worse, towards making a living rather than making a life."

I agree with that 100% but I didn't think much of the whole educational system in the Philippines. Rather, as I was watching my son kick the ball around with his dad, I thought to myself: Am I teaching my child to make a life? Am I teaching my child to be happy?

My honest answer is: Not all the time, which shouldn't be so. I get wrapped up with working, checking off items in my to-do list, doing errands, cleaning, sleeping, Facebook-ing and so on that I don't always teach him this valuable lesson.

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

I started asking myself what happiness meant. For my son, it meant playing Mine Craft, spending time outdoors, being with mom and dad and just doing stuff together (I asked him myself). While I am not about to let my son play Mine Craft 24-7 for the sake of his happiness, the next 3 things he mentioned were not bad ideas at all.

You see, happiness could be subjective but, most of the time, it can be fundamentally broken down into items. If you watched the video with Logan LaPlante, it comes down to 8 things. As a family, we really needed to work on a couple of things from among the 8 and I made the conscious decision to do so.

MORE PLAY

We'll be doing more of play time, quality time or nature time for sure because, while our life is pretty good as it is, it could be better, it could be happier, especially for my son. I want him to have a life - a happy one, that's not all about making money and spending money. I want him to have tons of happy childhood memories similar to my memories of my family around the dinner table.

I always say that things have to change - like less malls, less phones, less TV and so on. This time, I really mean it having seen how happy my son was playing a quick game of football with his dad.

It's ironic because it's actually the little things that we think nothing of that have the highest potential of making us the happiest.

Bacolod Food Adventures (Ep1): Xin Chao Vietnamese Restaurant

If there was ever one thing that I love doing more than painting people's faces up, it would be eating. I, my husband and the rest of my family do it quite often so why not make a series out of it, right? So, now, i'm posting my pilot episode for: The BCD Beauty Bacolod Food Adventures (a mouth full, I know).

A VIETNAMESE INVITATION TO LUNCH

About a month ago, at the Negros Farmer's Weekend Market, I had the chance to taste a Vietnamese sandwich. Xin Chao newly opened their booth there and it was too interesting to pass up.

Php55 for 1 tasty sandwhich

I ordered one sandwich (delicious) and I asked the owner and her partner: Ms. Libby and Ms. Elizabeth, if they could grant me permission to take photos of their stand as well as the sandwich making process. I told them that it was for my blog. They agreed and the whole thing turned into an invitation for myself and a plus one to come to their restaurant and have lunch. I accepted, of course (who wouldn't).

I think she wants a bite of my Xin Chao sandwich.

I walked away with a smile on my face and a sandwich on my hand. I even took a photo of myself enjoying the sandwich because it was so tasty.

THE DAY OF THE XIN CHAO FEAST

Invited fellow mom and blogger Sigrid Says (Sigrid Lo), to come along and taste the Vietnamese goodness with me. We both had "Moms Working at Home Without Yayas" Starter Pack outfits on - t-shirt, hair up, glasses, jeans, flip flops/sandals, no makeup (can you relate).

Menu and Ordering

I understand why most people don't really step out of there comfort zone when it comes to new tastes and flavors. One reason would be the menu. I figured that most people think that they have to pronounce something unpronounceable, shaming themselves and their whole party in the process. Though this is not the case at all with most Asian restaurants, you don't have to worry about this when eating at Xin Chao.  

Like: The menu has pictures with names of the dishes which help the customers decide on what they want faster.

Ordering was a breeze since we knew what the exact dish was. There were moments when we had to ask the waiter what's in a specific dish or if a certain dish was spicy or not. He (I forgot our server's name) answered with knowledge and appropriate gusto.

Like: The servers are very helpful. Ask and they will answer and deliver.

THE MOMENT WHEN OUR DIETS BECAME NON-EXISTENT

We ordered about 5 or 6 dishes which was tragic for our diets but what the hey - #YOLO. 

We didn't have to wait that long which was excellent and surprising (please remember this word). I'll explain a little later why I used the adjective surprising to describe the food preparation and serving time. Anyway, back to the best part.

Bánh mì Việt nam

This was the sandwich I ordered at the market. It has pâté, carrots, cucumber (maybe zuchini), ham, chicken and (I can't tell what the other ingredients were). I like that it's served with a baguette which, I just now found out, is a popular type of bread in Vietnam.

Recommended. You can choose to have this one spiced up if you're feeling a little adventurous.

They sell their delicious baguettes for Php12 a pop.

Spring Roll

What's different about this (for me) is that it's wrapped in rice paper. If you haven't tasted anything wrapped in rice paper yet, this dish could go either way for you because the wrap has a different type of texture and stickiness (one level above from what we Filipinos are used to).

Bún BBQ

This is grilled pork with noodles underneath which I think is Bún chả in Vietnamese. What you have to do is mix the sauce, all of it, into the bowl with the pork and the noodles. The taste is a bit different from what you would expect - it's more sour than sweet.

Phở

You cannot fully say that you've experienced the taste of Vietnam without tasting Phở. Ours was served with mint leaves and chili pepper slices.

Recommended. Phở is best eaten when it's still hot. This is a great dish for when your good, old friend hunger comes knocking on your door, on a rainy day.

Viet Balut

You know what balut is. We asked the owner, Ms. Libby, if this was a traditional Vietnamese dish and she said that they do have balut in Vietnam but it was eaten similarly to how we eat ours. She recreated the dish, adding in sweet chili sauce and bread.

Highly recommended. It was a crime not to eat the balut with the bread and the sauce, combined. You may find it difficult to picture the taste out but it'll make sense when it actually touches your taste buds.

Sea Food Sate 

Now this is a dish that I can eat all day long - it's full of squid pieces, some shrimp and a whole lot of vegetables. When you eat this dish piece by piece, it'll feel and taste like you're eating chopsuey.

Highly recommended. You have to eat this differently, though, according to Ms. Libby. You take a piece of sea food, a piece of vegetable, dip both into the sauce (which is spicy) and then put everything together in your mouth.

Xin Chào Drink

Next up is the Xin Chào drink which is full of secret stuff. I'm kidding. It's tree saps, chia seeds and a whole bunch of other jellies. This is the restaurant's signature drink. Both myself and Sigrid were impressed that it had chia seeds in it while only costing Php50.

Tree saps added to the Xin Chao's signature drink.

Recommended. It's good for you and it's fun to eat. Try this if you want to try something different.

Tamarind Drink 

I forgot if this one was called tamarind juice or tamarind drink. Either way, I can describe it as a snack and juice in one. The taste of it is very different because of the blend of unexpected flavors.

Highly recommended. You have the coconut chips on top (favorite), followed by the nuts, the juice itself and then tamarind pieces at the bottom which you can also eat one by one.

Vietnamese Iced Coffee 

Php60

Do you love coffee? I know I do. What they do in Xin Chao is they place the grinds inside the drip which is that silver thingamajig on top of the glass, add in hot water and leave it there until the drip stops dripping. That's when you know that it's ready. Here's a video:

Sigrid told me that the Vietnamese take a while before they get to the coffee stage of the meal so they make their coffee slowly by dripping (correct me if I misinterpreted this, Sigrid). I love me a good cup of coffee and this is on my top 10 list. They even sell the drip as well as the grinds at the restaurant so you can make your own at home. I just had to bring one along with me because one cup was not enough.

Highly recommended. The taste is very rich. I'm not sure if I will enjoy it hot but, for me, this coffee is best served cold. 

"SURPRISING" + SUMMARY

While we were eating, Ms. Libby was there to explain the love that goes into making all of her dishes. She explained that Vietnamese dishes are healthy and colorful - most are made with vegetables which won't make you feel "heavy" and they are made with the freshest ingredients. They don't cook the veggies for too long because she said that it'll decrease the nutritional value - I agree. She wants her veggies crisp in most of her dishes.

She also explained that one dish could have 2, 3 or even 4 people preparing it so the effort that goes into cooking just one dish is enormous. She, by the way, has her Vietnamese cooks who are in charge of the taste and proper cooking procedure as well as Filipino employees who help in the preparation process of the food. And, this is why I was surprised that our food came out quicker than expected.

I WOULD DEFINITELY GO BACK TO THIS RESTAURANT TO ENJOY MORE OF THEIR MEALS AND DRINKS.

 There's still a lot more that I want to taste so I'm definitely going back.

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 4 out of 5
• Cleanliness - 5 out of 5
• Pricing - Affordable
• Waiting time - Short

Visit Xin Chao Restaurant at Hi-Strip 4, East Area, Bacolod City. They're on the groundfloor, at the same side as Sofia's, Sander's, Nonna's and so on. You can't miss them. They're open from 9am or 10am up until 12mn and they also have sandwich carts at the Negros Farmer's Market and Lopue's East.

Connect with them on Facebook.