And You Will Know Me by The Trail of Blog: Domesticity's Greatest Hits

Above: a parade of the most insidious earworms to infect me in the last six months, delivered in flash-mob form.

For those of you who are just catching up to Domesticity now, here are some classic entries from the archives.

• You know, after reading this 2006 entry about pretentious critics in the Philippine press, I've realized that I probably could've used a tad more perspective. Personally, I now find that Filipino fashion designers have started to leave the sporty-conservative designs behind in favor of post-modernist inspiration from Europe, Japan, and Korea - a wise move, considering that retail behemoths like Gap, Forever 21 and Topshop have started invading our malls. The same cannot be said, however, for art and music critics in this country... and unfortunately, I am not getting paid to fight them off, letter by letter. Oh well: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.


• And if any rant-happy souls would be interested in telling me off on this blog, they should take a page from TV reporter Cedric Moon, who still found time to write me back after all the horrible things I've called him in this space. Classy, polite, and humble = game, set, match. (Alas, as far as I know, Cedric no longer appears on-camera at the Honolulu station where I first spotted him; don't know if he moved or not.)
  

• Enough rantiness for now; how about a little nostalgia for the most interesting videos from the Summer of '06? Because nothing says "timeless" like jokes about Charlie Murphy, Sean John Unforgivable, and pantsless C-listers. (Whatever happened to Jenn Cuneta, by the way? Did Lady Gaga just render her career obsolete?)
  

• Since we're on the Summer of '06: a retail roundup. And because we've all been good, here's a quote from my review of Miami Vice: "Colin Farrell may look hot when he's dirty, but here he desperately needs to be reintroduced to the concept of Soap and Water."

• Going back a little further: Relive my ongoing love affair with red lipstick, beginning with this entry on the power of a red lip and continuing with a list of commendable reds. The more things change, the more they stay relevant. Heck yeah.
  

Trendwatch 2009: More Blouses, in a Formal Vein

One of my many sorry attempts to copy pay homage to Cecile Van Straten on this blog.

Like the little blousie I'm wearing in this picture? I also got that from X-Quisite.


I just fell in love right away with the color and the material which reminded me a lot of the colorful rice-paper leaves that usually come out during Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon (still in Southern Tagalog, but a little further south from Hacienda de Meimei - click on the image on the right to see more detail). I was surprised at how the translucent fabric worked so well with the conservative cut of the neckline and the detailed embroidery on the hem.

Unfortunately for me and this blouse, we ended up running into a little problem concerning the hem, which - upon close inspection - wasn't exactly as well-embroidered as I thought it was. Now, before you folks lecture me about buying my clothes at the mall, I must remind you that I still have some sewing and embroidery knowledge knocking about in my pretty little head, thanks to my home-ec classes in fifth grade. Long story short, I was able to reinforce the ends with tiny whipstitches, and do away with the excess backing material that was coming off the back of the blouse in such grody chunks.

Anyway, back to the blouse. Embroidery problems aside, it was still super pretty, and I couldn't afford to see all that gorgeousness go to waste. In fact, considering the shorts that I'm wearing in the photo above, I immediately realized that it was way too pretty to wear out and about on a regular day. I'm planning to wear it as part of my "Sunday best" repertoire, with my usual dangly earrings.

And here's another blouse that I'm saving for an inevitable special occasion...


I bought this Maxine cotton blouse from Landmark during my last trip to Makati - that place, BTW, is another great resource for the curvy gals among us - and, like the pink blouse above, it has puffy short sleeves: yet another Filipiniana-inspired detail. It also shares a similarly smock-like V-neck with my blue Micronesian blouse from X-Quisite, although this looks more like a formally pleated front panel. Either way, I've decided that this is going to be the top I'm wearing to an upcoming wedding with a plum-colored embroidered Laura Ashley skirt (which would've clashed with the pink top) and the sunset-colored wrap from Bangladesh (pictured here), along with some nice shoes and formal jewelry. Ladylike, yes, but also a bit edgy... and dare I say it, still within appropriate bounds. :)

Trendwatch 2009: Easy, Breezy Blouses

Remember this bright yellow blouse from Michael Kors that I spotted in Nordstrom back in Spring 2008?


Well, I never got to buy that cute little blouse after all... but it did jump-start my affinity for roomy, candy-colored cotton blouses that I can practically wear everywhere. And luckily for me, I managed to find a couple of Kors-esque blouses during my last trip to SM Mall of Asia - and at X-Quisite Boutique, which usually features more mature and conservative fashions in larger sizes.

(Pardon the photography; I had to make the best out of an economical sitch here.)

I passed up the usual stretch-jersey blouses (on the clearance rack, not surprisingly) in favor of this gorgeous yellow number, which struck me as a mad combination of Michael Kors and Hilo Hattie. I love the combination of the yoked collar with the pan-Pacific print - there's something very Fijian about the brown tint used in the tribal detail and the big, Hawaiian-inspired hibiscus flowers, which also repeats in the back. Not to mention that it comes in a breathable cotton fabric, which is perfect for the hot climate we've been having lately.

And continuing with the pan-Pacific influences at X-Quisite, I also fell in love with this blue number, which I wore to church this Sunday. The two-tone treatment, plus the embroidered appliques, reminded me of the full-length church dresses worn by Samoan and Micronesian women. (This blouse also comes in black and white with red flowers.) Apart from the embroidery and the neckline, I also love the dolman sleeves, which provided the extra comfort factor on a hot Sunday morning. My Mom suggested wearing these with blue earrings, so I chose a dangly turquoise pair that I purchased at City Buddha in Cleveland - adding to the already-flattering effect of the pleated V-neck.

There are a couple more blouses in the same thin cotton fabric as these ones - one from X-Quisite and another one from Landmark in Makati (another excellent resource for the curvy gals among us) - but they follow a more formal vein, and will be featured in tomorrow's entry.

I *Heart* Watsons

Photo of Watsons at the ground floor of SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City.

You don't need me to tell you that Watsons is the best store in Southeast Asia for drugstore makeup and personal-care stuff. What you will find here is a virtual bounty of treasures: a great selection of local and global cosmetic brands, plus nutritional supplements (glutathione, anyone?) and other assorted drugstore-type merch.

What you do need to know about Watsons, however, is this: They've actually gotten a head start on Pond's Big Beauty Sale.

Yes, my dear readers in the Philippines (and those of you who probably would know people in the Philippines besides yours truly), you can now get Pond's skincare for as low as 70% off! And Watsons just got ahead of the bandwagon by offering Pond's on sale as early as August 9 - less than a week before the official launch on August 15.

Now there's an affordable Pond's product for every need, whether you're looking for "whiteners" to take care of hyperpigmentation on Asian skin, or some oil-controlling products to take care of acne and shiny faces.

The best offerings in this sale, though, are the super-affordable prices for the Pond's Age Miracle line of products, which have been - no joke! - featured recently on The Tyra Banks Show.

I'm currently testing both the Daily Resurfacing SPF15 day cream (featured above) and the Overnight Treatment - both of which are rich and buttery, and really nice for my AC-parched skin. Two jars of cream cost me PhP725 - roughly US$14, which is what I usually pay for just one bottle of moisturizer at Wal-Mart. I sometimes mix the Overnight Treatment with - shhh! - a bit of Pond's whitening cream, which I purchased as a tiny sachet from the local supermarket to help me even out the sun damage and age spots on my face.

(Fine, so I'm using a "whitening" cream, after years of swearing up and down that I'm too proud to use one. In my defense, it has niacinamide and no hydroquinone, so I use this more as a night serum. More on the "whitening" issue in another post.)

Anyhow, if you haven't tried any Pond's products yet, now's a good time to do so! Get thee to the nearest Watsons (or PCX, or Rustan's, or SM, wherever - check ponds.com.ph for details on participating merchants and products) and start saving up.

What's Your Fantasy: Bada Bing, Bada Boom

First up: This.

1) Hot diggity, this movie looks good. (Or at least more watchable than The Ugly Truth... sorry, Gerard.) I don't care if this never gets released in Manila until the next presidential administration, especially if it means I will never have to buy the pirated version. Really.

2) The Sarsgaard + uncanny British accent = YOWZA. Well done, my OG blog-boyfriend, and Maggie is a lucky lady to have you. (Also: Young British actors who are currently practicing American accents and are not named Orlando Bloom/ Robert Pattinson/ Ed Westwick, start taking notes now.)

3) Yes, my ovaries are doin' great, thankyouverymuch. ;)

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Also, I have to mention this, because I have this story about how I was watching an old Dave Matthews Band video on TV the other night and thinking, "WTF is Roger Federer doing in a music video?" before realizing who it really was...


Good Lordy, that Johnny Galecki must be a hot number in real life, ain't he? No wonder the producers of The Big Bang Theory have refused to let him take his shirt off for the last two seasons. (And in that case, I'm already holding out hope for Season 3.)

Classy, Not Cheesy

Zhang Ziyi, photographed by Mario Sorrenti for Omega Watches.

I just love the smoky eyes paired with the rosy pink lips and clear skin. And I love how the big, messy hair is a far cry from most Asian celebrity ads, where they usually keep their hair neatly combed and conservatively styled - like this early photo of Ms. Zhang on Omega's website.

Just gorgeous.

(Photo credits: Zaobao and WatchproSite.com Forums, via Google Image.)

Obligatory Picture of Lady Gaga at the Airport

I kid you not: This was on the front page of the Philippine STAR this morning.

(Photo credited to Rudy Santos.)

I know, I know - she's a great performer and all, and she obviously abhors pants. (Although she might want to consider them, if she is paying attention to that hole in her fishnets.) I just can't bring myself to hate this picture, though, because... well, when it comes to the front page of any Pinoy newspaper, Pantsless Celebrities >>> Political Shenanigans and Sex Scandals.

Also, I hear that she put on a great show last night at the Araneta. Mabuhay ka! Gaga ka talaga!