Ga Ga, Drool-La-La

Via the Fug Girls and Craft Magazine:

You've read that right, folks: LADY GAGA COOKIES. (Detailed descriptions can be found here, in the original Flickr set.)

Wonder if somebody has already told Ange de la Cruz (currently the "it" girl of Manila's pastry world) about this yet? Because I'm sure she'd love to make this happen. :)

Ange's "couture cupcakes," as pictured on the banner for her blog

(ladycupcake.typepad.com)

EDITED (7:10 PM Philippine Standard Time) to add this bon mot from my actual inbox: 

 

Perez Hilton-style paint job, mine. ;) Seriously speaking, though: do check out these babies below and throw a little coin into your mama's Amazon Associate account!

Fairytale Brownies Valentine Sprite 24

Fairytale Brownies Valentine Keepsake Dozen
Fairytale Brownies Valentine Truffles
Fairytale Brownies Valentine Dozen

Is This the Holy Grail?

Taken from (where else?) the official Bumpits website.

I just love the note on the end that says "Bumpits are not edible."

Also, I've heard from folks who have Bumpits (and have owned them way before Jersey Shore started airing) that they're actually not that bad. I'm just holding judgement until I'm quite sure that the results will not make me look like I'm suffering from a massive head tumor.

My Current Work Uniform

Yay, new Polyvore set!

And since I'm newly employed as an ESL teacher (okay, temporarily as of this writing, but at least newly employed) I might as well share with you a few elements from the current looks that I've been rocking at work. Now, my current workplace is a little more relaxed, but it's the kind of "casual" workplace that has a lot of unspoken rules regarding the existing dress code, so I thought I'd share my own tips for dressing up in that kind of environment.

- Dress for authority. The ESL program I'm working with is part of a sociocultural exchange program at the university, which means that there's already a built-in expectation to stay on the conservative side, fashion-wise. Our "kids" may show up for their classes in trendy, fashionable items - like, say, ripped denims and bright off-shoulder tops - but that doesn't mean their teachers should show up for work likewise without getting the stink-eye from one of the higher-ups during the day. The Gap camp shirt shown here, for example, is a tad rugged, but it still has a little more structure and polish than your average polyester blouse, and easier to dress up than a jean jacket.

- Dress for comfort. Like the majority of female staffers at this job, I too would really like to show up for work in a dress, at least for one day. And while that thought may sound nice, it's actually impractical in real life, where we have to do a lot of walking - uphill walking - just to get to our classrooms. Add to that the fact that a few of us have to take the jeepney to work, and you're looking at a major comfort issue at hand. Long story short, pants and sensible shoes (like the Privo wedges shown above and at left) are an elegant, work-friendly solution for both comfort and respectability.

- Match the bag with the shoes. This is one of the biggest Unspoken Rules of the Workplace, since it shows a sense of consistency regardless of how "casual" everything else turns out to be. I lucked out because I have a red bag that matches my favorite red flats, but if I were starting over again I'd go with something in the neutral family. Here, the Fossil bag is in a warmer caramel shade than the suede in the Privo shoes, but the structural details in the bag match the sporty geometric lines in the shoe straps.

(Unpopular opinion: Real leather makes all the difference here - and even if you're not wearing actual cowhide, then at least make sure that the material in question holds up like the real thing. The loafers I wore on my first day at work got so much work from all the walking that they came home looking beat-up and shredded at the end of the day. As much as I make fun of the "fake" "leather" on my red flats from SM, at least they've survived the daily hike!)

- When the whole look is conservative and neutral, you can go wild with everything else. This weekend, our weather shifted drastically from sunny to stormy-ish (high winds, cloudy skies, occasional rain), so I started wearing my long scarves to work. Besides keeping me warm, the scarves provided a much-needed hit of color close to my face while putting a bohemian-preppy spin on my work look. (See: Lauren Conrad, right.) I also started wearing a turquoise bracelet on my right hand - partly as a conversation piece for my students, partly to spice up the more conservative elements of my work outfit, and partly because I like to have something sparkly to look at during the moments when I'm feeling quite stuck at work.

Last Song Syndrome: Marry Me, Neil Finn

I've been listening to a lot of Crowded House on my iPod lately... and what gets to me is that, despite the fact that most of these songs were released (and became popular) during my angsty teen years, the lyrics speak more to me now that I'm much older.

Exhibit A: This one.

(Don't mind the freaky video, people - just tune in for the music.) 

Domesticity Reviews: The Products That Could Possibly Save My Life This Year

Powder: L'Oreal Infallible Never-Fail (in Sun Beige). I'm still bummed about this powder getting discontinued - well, not as bummed when you consider that I bought this last summer before The Big Move - but as you can see in this entry, the coverage is pretty thorough, almost like a powder foundation. I personally don't have any problems with cakiness - or putting on powder with a sponge, which I always do - but that's partly because I live in a very humid climate where makeup has a tendency to melt as soon as you put it on. That's obviously not the case with the Infallible powder: even after a day's worth of humid environments and some inevitable teary-eyed moments during Avatar, the coverage of this powder remained even-toned and smooth. Bonus points for the improved throughout the day, too, because it really did look and feel like my own skin at the end of it all.

Mascara: Maybelline Unstoppable Curly Extension. My current go-to mascara of choice at this point. (Check out the pre-bent angled brush here - nifty, eh?) The bad news is that I do have some major smudging issues with this one, which means that I still have to wipe that brush down with a tissue before I apply a single coat. The good news, however, is that it does give me a lot in the way of definition and curl, plus it stays on with the tenacity of an ABS-CBN field reporter. (No five o'clock raccoon eyes here!) Not to mention that it does wash off effortlessly with water and a little face wash.

Sun Protection: Beach Hut Clear Spray Sunblock. A surprising find, courtesy of the in-house store at Plantation Bay Resort in Cebu. (Again, no Fresh here - but they do have a nice selection of Human Heart Nature body butters and insect repellents, so there's that.) I bought this mere hours before we were due to go snorkeling off the coast of Mactan Island; apparently I was in a state of panic, because the last time I went out snorkeling resulted in what could be best described as a (supposedly) "Waterproof" Sunblock FAIL. This stuff, however, was a flat-out revelation to me - even after hours of swimming in blue ocean waters, with UV rays bouncing off every conceivable direction, I came off the boat with not a single burned spot on my skin... and this is after frequent standard re-applications of the stuff at every turn! Much credit goes to the genius spray bottle, which gets to those hard-to-reach crannies on my back without missing a single spot, and to the truly lightweight formula that goes on clear and sheer. Did I also mention that this product was developed in the Philippines for the Southeast Asian market? And how cute is it that their website is called LotionSucks.com? (Heee.)

Eyeliner: Ever Bilena Dual-Ended Eye Pencil. And speaking of Filipino products... well, I can be quite unapologetic when it comes to Ever Bilena eyeliner. It may have only cost me 1/10th of what I would've paid for MAC or Revlon over here, but nothing else comes close. The texture is soft and powdery - no harsh Amy Winehouse batwings of kohl here - and the staying power is amazing. The pencil shown here is black on one end and brown on the other... but I'm planning on getting the one with black and blue eyeliner, just for kicks.

Lip gloss: Maybelline Fruity Jelly lip gloss (in Creamy Guava). Oh, how many ways do I love thee, Fruity Jelly? You're one of the two bargain-priced Maybelline products in the Philippine market (the other one being the Clear Smooth powder), so you really don't cost an arm and a leg. You go on smooth like a balm but never stay sticky; you're glossy, yet you have the right balance of sheer color and shimmer to make me feel like I'm wearing something of note. You're a creamy peachy-pink with flashes of gold, which makes me look and feel like I'm wearing something more luxurious. You barely rub off on my glass whenever I drink, and you come in a tiny tube that's handy to tote around town when I need to touch up. See? LOVE.

Public Service Announcement: Haiti

If you read my blog back in late September and early October of last year, you may remember that I was tireless in blogging and flogging ways to help the Philippines out after our back-to-back typhoons. Now it's my turn to blog and flog for charity and awareness, in honor of our other brothers and sisters in need across the globe.

Currently we have Filipino peacekeepers working in Haiti; we're still waiting for word on our boys who remain trapped under the earthquake rubble, and it looks like we're sending more of them over there, too. I'd like to ask you to please pray for our soldiers, and their safe homecoming, in any way possible.

In the meantime, don't forget to be a Hero for Haiti. (source: Television Without Pity)

Also, Life of a Ladybug has more links for donations.

Thank you!

Face of the Moment: It's Wearable, All Right

The inspiration:



(Is it me, or has Lady NoPants gotten much hotter lately? As much as I don't want to like "Bad Romance" and "Videofone" - and their respective videos, for that matter - I have to admit that whoever's doing her makeup now is doing her a lot of favors. Well played, Miss Germanotta.)

The interpretation:

...And the funny thing is, if you take out the eyeshadow, you've got my regular face for work this month. My excuse for the makeup in this shot, however, can only be summed up by three words: Avatar, in 3-D.

(Aside: Why, hello, Sam Worthington! I would have easily put your name on the Boyfriend List, if it weren't for THIS. For crying out loud, what were you thinking?)

Movie critiques aside, all I really wanted on that day was to look and feel put-together, even for just a weekend. Besides, I was test-driving this whole thing to see if it really was wearable for work... and it all turned out great on that end.

Face: L'Oreal Infallible Never Fail Powder in Sun Beige. (I just found out on the L'Oreal site that it's been discontinued.... WHY? And here I was, ready to review the darned thing. Oh well.)

Eyes: Stila eyeshadow in Icon (light nude) on inner corners, lid, and browbone; Stila e/s in Barefoot Contessa on the other corners. Eyeliner is by Ever Bilena.

Lashes: Maybelline Unstoppable Curly Extension mascara. Again, another review is forthcoming - so far so good.

Cheeks: Everyday Minerals blush in Salon Fun. (Yes, folks, this Everyday Mineral stuff can last you for ages as long as you keep it properly.)

Lips: Maybelline Shinylicious lip gloss in Banana Pudding.

Blog Schedule Alert

Due to the fact that I am, in fact, fully employed for the next four weeks, I have decided to impose a blog schedule for Domesticity until further notice.

The schedule is as follows:

- First new post of the week will be up on Friday night, Philippine time, which would count as Friday morning on most parts of the United States. (A fun way to calculate Philippine Standard Time based on the time posted for each entry: For the continental United States, it's -12 hours EST and -15 hours Pacific Standard, give or take 1 hour for daylight savings; for our Hawaii-based readers, a whopping -18 hours, regardless of season.)

- There will be at least 2 to 3 new posts every weekend.

- Entries written outside of the blog schedule will be scheduled for posting over the weekend. For example, if I write anything amusing on Monday, I will have to go to "Post Options" and change the posting time from Monday to the following Friday or Saturday.

- There will be at least one Face of the Moment post per week, since I am wearing makeup on the job.

- Most of these posts will be image-heavy, but from my own camera or image archive. This means I'm laying off on themed posts that require Google Image Search for the time being. (Translation: All you bloggers with pictures of hot men, you can rest easy for now.)

- Speaking of images, I am planning on setting up a Flickr account as a way of archiving images used in Domesticity as of this year.  More details to be announced.

- That said, there is a Polyvore post in the works... but that will have to wait until my work schedule settles down.

Here's hoping it all works out from here; until then, see you next weekend!

Face of the Moment: The First Real Smile of the Year

Forgive the terrible lighting on this one; as you can see, this is an amateur photo, and my only regret is that I didn't have Mr. Scribe around to fix it. ;) 

So: I put this face on for a presentation that I did yesterday at the local university. I am not at liberty to disclose the details of said meeting, except to note that there were times when I did ask myself, "Well, how did I get here?"  (Forgive me.) I am however, more than willing to tell you about the excellent makeup that I did for this particular day; it's not every day that I feel sad about scrubbing off my makeup, but this was just so beautiful that I wished I could look like this every day.

Face: I started, first, with concealer - a blend of Max Factor Erace in Natural around the eye area, including lids and browbone, plus Cover Girl CG Smoothers in Dark to blend around the under-eye circles. The foundation is my usual L'Oreal Bare Minerale in Sun Beige, and the contour is Maybelline's Mineral Power in Dark. On the cheekbones, however, is the most excellent BeneFit Dallas, which comes with the Celebutante kit that I got last Christmas. I say this because I believe that Dallas has all but replaced BareMinerals' Warmth as my go-to bronzer - excellent for that "went on holiday at the beach" glow, but not too orangey as to look sunburned. Seriously, it just turns up as a healthy glow on me, and I couldn't be more pleased with it. 

Eyes: More Celebutante goodness here - this time with the super-versatile Velvet Eyeshadow in Leggy, which goes over the lid. (BeneFit describes this as a "pink nude satin"; feel free to sub with the pinkish-nude eyeshadow of your choice.) For the darker shadow, though, I skipped the other BeneFit shadow and went with two shades from ye olde MAC Colorforms Warm Eyes x5 palette: Fertile (brown satin) on the lower lid, and Rustic (rusty, reddish plum veluxe pearl) on the outer corner, contouring with a very fluffy (and full-sized) eyeshadow brush. The eyeliner - on the top lid and outer corners - is actually the black end of an Ever Bilena duo-pencil that I bought from the local Mercury Drug. (Bargain tip: Ever Bilena eyeliner pencils are the bomb.)

Brows: Smashbox Brow Tech - this time, blending together Brunette and Blonde to come up with a softer brow. 

Lashes: ...Why, hello, tube of Maybelline Unstoppable Curly Extension mascara! I'm actually going to run a more comprehensive review of this later on, but for now all I can say is that this new mascara excites me. What's not to love about a mascara with a pre-bent wand, a full brush, and a long-lasting formula, all in a gorgeous pink tube?

Lips: Here's where things get interesting. Instead of a lipliner, I used my CG Smoothers concealer in Dark, which I blended out with a brush. Over this I layered (and blotted) a brown NYX lipstick, followed by Maybelline's Shiny-Licious lip gloss in Banana Pudding. Quite nude and neutral, as you can see, but it's one of those moments when I didn't look - or feel - washed out. I think it compliments the neutral makeup nicely.

Hair: Bench Fix Clay Doh. Amazingly, it held every hair in place, and I didn't need any hairspray to keep it that way. 

The rest: Black-and-red shirt by Old Navy (with the Australia cufflinks); trousers by Marks and Spencer; 1440 sports watch by Timex; earrings by Minicci; red flats by SM Parisian. A few spritzes of Chanel Chance, and I'm up and running.

Best. Christmas Gifts. EVER.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for the iPod Touch. And thank you, SisMei, for adding the BeneFit Celebutante.

There's a Face of the Moment entry attached to this. More later!

Pink Jasmine

Here's a sign I found at Plantation Bay Resort on Mactan Island, in Cebu:

To quote:

Most Filipinos are not aware that their national flower, the Sampaguita, is in reality jasmine. Strung on a thread, sampaguita is the Philippine version of a lei for welcoming visitors. Jasmine flowers tend to be tiny but highly scented, and they are used not only in the making of tea but also perfume. Chinese Jasmine Tea is really a green or oolong base with jasmine flower added for aroma. One of our shareholders is very partial to Pink Jasmine by Fresh (which is made with, of course, jasmine). Fresh also makes Cannabis Rose (which is made with - oh, sorry, just rose).

I haven't owned any Fresh bath products since college, but I can attest to the gorgeousness of the Pink Jasmine fragrance - sweet, classic, feminine, never too stodgy. I can also vouch for Cannabis Rose, too, which isn't as bright as the Pink Jasmine, but just as intriguing nonetheless.

The Mogambo Springs spa at Plantation Bay is also home to boughs of actual pink jasmine plants, such as this one below.

Fresh, however, is not sold at Plantation Bay... but that doesn't mean you can't get your pink jasmine fix in any way possible. A little clicky-clicky on the Amazon links below should be a good start. :)

Makeup Piracy: Don't Do It

Will somebody please tell me what these fake MAC products are doing at Mactan International Airport in Cebu?

(Besides being cheap, of course. I'm not against cheap, mind you, but I am against cosmetics of dubious quality... and slapping a fake MAC sticker on it just makes things worse for everyone involved. Especially since the Cebu airport has a gigantic Duty Free store across the street from this terminal.)

(Disclaimer: All pictures in this entry are mine. Please do ask for permission if you want to use them somewhere else; similarly, please do let me know if I've broken some law regarding taking secret photos of airport-store merchandise. As they say in Cebu, daghang salamat!)