Irisse Ju

Another rush to post this before the month ends.

Recently, A few weeks ago, we tried the new food service called Mr. Egg. Currently, they only accept take-out/delivery orders and hasn't had their physical place yet.

Mr. Egg specializes in silog-meals. Each meal is composed of fried rice, fried egg, and your choice of "toppers". And can you believe, their price range is only from ₱79 - ₱118?

We ordered a bowl of Cheesy Hungarian (sausage) and Chicken Poppers. BTW, for the Cheesy Hungarian, there's a regular and spicy variation to choose from. We ordered the spicy one.

I got the Cheesy Hungarian bowl.

They said it supposed to be spicy but it isn't as spicy as I expected it. What I like about their silog is that their fried rice isn't too salty. I'm particularly picky about fried rice as some tend to be on the saltier end, but Mr. Egg nailed my preferences. Fried rice is also fluffy for me. On the flip side, I'd rather have a runny sunny side up egg, lol.

My sister got the chicken poppers silog. This is chicksilog, right?

I'm actually got surprised when I saw her bowl. The amount of chicken poppers in her bowl is generous. There's 7 or 8 bite sized chicken poppers in it. Kinda wished I should have had ordered the same bowl, haha. There's a garlic mayo sauce too.

For it's price point, it's worth it. Actually, it's perfect for a quick fixes or when you suddenly crave such bowls on a late night while unwinding or binge watching your favorite TV series. I do wish they were open on earlier hours. Right now, they can only take orders and deliver from 6:00 PM - 2:00 AM. With it's cheap price, I think it can be a hit for students or those who need affordable lunch meals.

They also had fruit soda Refreshers. And someone told me that Mr. Egg is also planning to add new meal items to their menu. Definitely something to look forward to if silog is not your cup of tea.

To place your silog-fixes and late night cravings, head over to Mr. Egg's Facebook page.

This is not a paid for promotion post.

February is my birthday month and I love how it coincides with Valentine's season and aesthetics. Like, who can not associate this month with strawberries, cream, sweets, and chocolates?

To be fair, my birthday is just a few days after Valentine's but here I am trying to catch the time to make this post before the month ends.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take cute OOTD pics for my birthday this year. There were pictures but they weren't good at all, though I'm extremely happy to wear a Rojita piece that was lying around in my closet for a couple of years, I think. That Rojita dress made me dress like my age.

I had my mandatory curry udon from Marugame Udon. Didn't expect that their large serving, would be that much. The price different from the small serving isn't huge but the quantity is not something I expect because even I had a hard time finishing it. Now you know why there's no good-enough OOTD pics, haha.

And topping this all off with a strawberries and cream donut from Sweet Kitchen. Last year, I got a strawberry shortcake from them and it didn't disappoint. It has since become my birthday tradition to get something strawberry from them.

Hello. I guess I'm still alive.

For the past 3 years, I have been busy with life to the point that I can't really do much posting here or in any of my social media either. Not that I'm complaining about how or why I'm busy then, and not that I hate how they took much of my time even weekends. Let's just say I'm doing something else entirely then.

Then suddenly, around the middle of last year, life happened again. Instead of filling up my hands, it did free up some of my time. I'm then left with too much time that I don't know how to spend it. By the end of the year, the thought of going back to blogging popped in my head. But before I could even pen my first blog post after 3 years, I thought my blog site needed some work. I know I have a free custom theme, but I think a few sprucing up will make it look nice. Then, I've also came up with the idea of decorating the blog every month. I know it's a tedious work to update but even if I'm not able to post every month, I would be happy to just look at my blog site.

It's not that blogging consumes too much of my time, especially now that Tumblr's NPF wouldn't let me play around with the text post's HTML editor too much, but I would occasionally question myself as to why I would even continue doing it. I like blogging, I like to share about my life even if no one's interested to know. It's just that, I don't feel like, and I don't really think I'm doing interesting things in my life. Then add to that heap that there are times I don't feel like doing it at all, or life's pulling me in a different direction.

Right now, I want to try to blog again. I can't make promises that I'll update every now and then, but I would like to try.

Here's the current me taken before the year ended.

Also, remember that I mentioned that Tumblr's NPF wouldn't let me play around with the HTML editor like how I wanted to? Well, I just opened a blogspot account. It's a bit empty for now so I'll probably share the link here sometime.

I was so excited to blog about this experience but drafting and publishing this post took me a lot of time.

I finally hit the pool again just last May. Can't remember much when was the last time I swam or even dipped in a pool. That's probably around 7-5 years ago, not counting the few hours my high school classmates invited me to their pool and my aquatics class in PE during college.

Just a backstory, my family has planned this event since 2019. It was originally scheduled for the summer of 2020. But the pandemic happened and our plan was pushed to the following year. Unfortunately, Manila is still in the "bubble" at that time. Many of our relatives were coming from Manila to Bataan so we can't proceed with our family event. By 2022, our 3-year-old reservation expired without our knowledge. Our swimming should have been around the Holy Week but the pool manager/owner said that specific date was already reserved (I don't know much about the mishap as we already paid a downpayment way back in 2019) and thus we were re-scheduled on the next available Saturday when the whole family could attend. It fell on May 21, which coincided with my aunt's birthday. Stuff happened before our swimming day. I honestly thought that maybe we wouldn't be able to go again this year, but I'm glad we were able to work it out.

We rented an overnight stay in Pine's 2 Private Pool located at Sitio Alikabok, Orani Bataan. The place has 2 pools (a kiddie and adult), 2 rooms, a CR and a KTV bar (which we fashioned as an extra room). All rooms are fully air-conditioned and the 2 bedrooms have a king-sized bed each. Outside, there's a large banquet table, a cooking grill, a washing area for food and cooking utensils, and 2 more shower areas. Bear with me on this one as I'm trying my best to describe the place because as much as I am excited about this much-awaited event, I forgot to take photos of the venue and ended up with a bunch of selfies (only a handful is deemed okay for posting on social media, and some videos). Arrival/Check-in time is 10 AM and check-out is 8 AM of the following day. The pool is open from 10 AM to 2 AM.

Luckily, it's cloudy but didn't rained the whole day. The past few days it has been raining hard!

Here's what I wore that day. I fashioned my mother’s sunhat the night before (peak procrastination moment) with a pink satin ribbon wrapped around the base, some plastic pearls and a bijou bow.

: : handmade : SNIDEL : off brand

: Liz Lisa

And as for my swimwear, I ended up wearing this pink ruffled one-piece swimsuit that I bought last year from an Instagram shop called @/seashells.collections.

: : handmade

: Esowell

No forward-facing photo(s) with my swimsuit on at the moment. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. Haha. Truth is, I gained a lot of weight during the pandemic. Remember that we have to wait for 3 years for this family swimming event to happen, right? Before that, I bought myself a two-piece bandeau-style bikini as a college graduation gift for myself. If we were able to proceed with the first scheduled pool day in March/April 2020, I would wear that 2-piece. I still look kinda cute on that. However by the summer of 2021, I could no longer fit into that, and if I would force to fit myself in, I look very awkward with my newly gained body fats. That's why when I saw this pink OP swimwear for sale via Instagram Ads, I know I have to get it and wear this one (or something similar to this) whenever our swimming plans will finally push through. This OP swimwear is pink and in my favorite shade! Overall, the design is very cute and does not give off sexy or daring vibes. The ruffle details on the bust and especially on the hips are very playful. I just dislike the ruched part on the sides as it creases the fabric (am I properly understanding the purpose of the ruched design or not?).

A few weeks ago, I found a similar-looking OP swimsuit from a different IG seller. This new one has modest frills compared to mine and features asymmetrical ruffle frills on the bust part (which I don't like, honestly), but in deep red or maroon. Unfortunately, someone beat me first in placing an order for that item, haha.

I know its silly for me to be looking out for swimwear to buy when the summer season is almost over in the Philippines. Recently, I've been listening to HKT48's newest single, "Biisan wa naze naru no ka?", on loop. That song makes me feel nostalgic for a summer I never or have yet experienced. I even wish to make a song or dance cover of it, both of which I don't have the decent talent for, lol.

Anyway, the song already has subconsciously made me buy a OP swimsuit online a month after our swimming day. It wouldn't wait until the next summer in my closet though, as my family decided to rent another private pool area to celebrate my grandmother's birthday in November. From now on too, we'll make one swimming day an annual even every summer. This time for sure, I'll write a better blog for that.

With love, bows, and frills,

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels by (in alphabetical order)

,

Pixels sourced from

, pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

Once I laid my eyes on that pink long-sleeved top, I know I had to get it. Paired with a white skirt with a mesh or tulle-like material, it'll make a cute casual coord. I just knew it would be. I ended up getting the pink top, a beige mesh skirt (not white), and of course a pink vanity mirror. That's the only thing I intend to buy in the first place, lol.

This is not only a birthday gift for me but also to reward myself for being productive somehow earlier this year (but that didn't end well, that's why I was very silent for a month). I'm very well aware of how late this post is, but yeah, better late than never?

While mindlessly browsing Instagram Stories, I came across an online selling account, @cherrymall0ws, doing some clearance sales for some cute room items including this pink vanity mirror among others. I'm quite tempted to buy an extended mouse pad and a milk box-shaped humidifier but settled on this vanity mirror alone because it's the most practical and will be useful for my current circumstances.

I was planning to bring this cute mirror when I move out (but that didn't become reality, yet). The other aesthetic items could wait, I said to myself. Then after a few days, the seller announced that they'll do a clearance sale but this time it'll be clothing items. I asked the seller if they could put my item on hold as I may buy some more from their next clearance sale if I can find something that I'll like. And there were!

I'm being drawn to long-sleeved tops recently and there are 2 for sale that I can't resist not walking away without at least one of them. And a cute skirt that might go nicely with them. Plus, a good long-sleevd top is a versatile fashion piece, right? Makes it more convincing for me to buy it. However, for fortunate or unfortunate reasons, I could only get the pink long-sleeved top

and a beige mesh skirt (plus the pink vanity mirror

and a pink pen with a unicorn topper and some chocolate candies). I didn't reserve the white knitted top (which is better looking and long-sleeved too!) for size reasons, and someone had already beat me in getting the white mesh skirt (way cuter). I would love to have them otherwise.

But when it arrived and tried it on, I was shocked to realize that I could no longer pull off the cute, girly look I visualized for that outfit! Maybe I put more weight or something. To my surprise, I did fell in love with the pink top!

It's now my favorite item in my closet. No hate on the skirt though. When I wore the pink long-sleeved top, I feel like I'm Barbie. No joking! And for reals, something like this

or maybe a cute turtleneck top are what I imagine Barbie would wear.

Wore this to my birthday dinner. Not my best, but I was glad that I bought this top. If not, I wouldn't probably realize how much I would like such a clothing style. I usually stay away from such because they look daring and sexy on other people but not for me. My body frame doesn't suit those styles. And the neck part doesn't flatter me at all! But I love the neat and simple of a look a plain long-sleeved top can give. Gives me the freedom to layer necklaces. Playing with textures would be fun too.

I'm currently on the lookout for more tops like that. I didn't expect that I would love it this much because the only reason I bought it is I thought that I can also wear it for work, besides that it's cute. My fashion preference has been changing these past 3 years very quickly unlike when I was still in college.

Adulting maybe? Before, I like casual cute clothes and dreamed of wearing Lolita fashion one day. However, when that chance finally came when I got a lolita dress from Diamond Honey, I immediately realized that it's not that easy to wear Lolita Fashion in the Philippines and I don't even have enough pieces for a proper Lolita silhouette. I think it was around 2021 when I noticed that I'm leaning more into girly fashion - not cute "childish", but a casual, romantic look that is still a bit playful, if that makes any sense. To be a bit descriptive, I prefer the fashion styles of ROJITA, a little bit of Honey Cinnamon, mille fille closet by LODISPOTTO and melfy memory

. It's like I want to embrace a look and style that is more suitable for my age but still retains the cute aesthetic without being too childish.

With love, bows, and frills,

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels sourced from

, pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

Would definitely hoard but unfortunately, I was only able to get my hands on 2 jars of Dear Face’s Rosy Night Cream, a.k.a. my go-to pimple treatment, on my favorite local shop. This is also finally the chance to check out Dear Face’s Drunk Skin on my cart (and eventually on my parcel), as I’ve just ran out of face soap (well not really, I still have a a bar of Dear Face’s Radiant Glow Soap left) too.

Before anyone points out, YES! My skin care routine is 90% Dear Face!

Dear Face had a price increase in some of their items this earlier month. Planning to stock up on my acne saver, Rosy Night Cream, but I only managed to snag 2. But since there's a sale before the price change, I bought a bottle of Drunk Skin. It's price is unaffected though. Still at ₱299 per bottle.

I've already made a review for Dear Face's Rosy Night Cream which you can read here. Now, unto the main part!

Dear Face's Drunk Skin

A "rejuv" in a bottle. "One-step rejuvenation." It really works wonders! I love how my face felt after washing it with Drunk Skin. It's not too drying but it did remove traces of oil on my face. My skin feels tight and smooth after rinse and in the morning. Scent is subtle and not too over empowering.

One thing that surprised me (because I'm ignorant ) is that I experienced some micro-peeling on the sides of my mouth and nose on the second day I started using Drunk Skin. As I think about it now, that should be Drunk Skin doing its job of sloughing away dead skin cells, because how else should it be done without micro-peeling? Now I understand why a patch test is suggested before use. Though I didn't have any painful nor any stinging reactions compared to other drying soaps and products I've used before like the Rosy Night Cream and the Radiant Glow Soap from the same brand (both packaged under the Glow Rejuvenating set). Even if I left Drunk Skin's foam on my face for a minute, there's no hot or stinging sensation. Now that's rejuvenation is possible without any stinging effect, why would I try another when painless skin care is available? Good-bye, tiis ganda!

What can I say, after a week of washing my face with Drunk Skin, I can see how it cleanses my oily face after a long day. I have yet to notice if it can lighten my acne marks too, but so far I like that there's micro-peeling to "reset" my skin but without any pain involved (before trying Drunk Skin, I was using Dear Face's Radiant Glow Soap but after finishing 1/4 of it, I decided to give my face some rest from the drying and peeling effects of the soap. That's how I was able to squeeze in some time for Drunk Skin. I'll go back to Radiant Glow Soap on April 1 and Drunk Skin on the next.)

This Drunk Skin I received is in it's temporary packaging. But just like the original, the bottle is equipped with a built-in foamer pump. Not only it is hygienic but it saves me from using too much product. No need to pump out a lot of foam to create a nice lather. Pictured above is just 1 pump, but even half of it is already enough to cleanse my face and neck. Saves me precious money!

free gift

Local Bellas included a face mask sheet freebie on my parcel. Goods arrived without any damages, spills and leaks - secure packaging.

So my overall verdict for Dear Face's Drunk Skin is 100% would definitely buy again. Who knows, maybe Drunk Skin is the product that I'm looking for my face woes all along.

With love, bows, and frills,

This is not a paid promotion post.

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels by

,

Pixels sourced from

, gaysweaters, pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

Hello guys! Guess who's back?

There has been some happenings on my private life last month. Those are big events that requires my full time and attention. For them, I have to close down my blog and I was radio silent too for the meantime. Though I will not talk about it here, you can read more about it on my second blog through this link. It happened so suddenly that I was not able to finish fixing up my blog and then I also have to close it down. Now, everything is back just like how it was before.

Because I was gone last month, I was not able to make a birthday post nor a Valentine's Day-themed nails just like I mentioned in my previous blog posts. Now that I'm back, I have 2 or 3 blog posts prepared in the works for you guys. Starting the list with another nail art post. It should be for Valentine's (but that was around the time I was so busy) but I recently did my nails to look like strawberries as a support for my friend from high school who took his board licensure exam 3 days ago.

I call this design, "Strawberry Dream Nails".

Of course, this is partly to boost his morale (sent him my strawberry prints OOTD through Facebook Messenger!) and a joke at the same time.

So why strawberry, though? First of all, he took his exam on Baguio City (known for its strawberries). Second, I asked him to buy me some strawberries (the fruit). If he'll be able to buy some strawberries, then third, I promised him that I will make him a strawberry shortcake or a strawberry sandwich when he gets back in Bataan. And lastly, red is associated with good luck to pass the exam. Strawberries are red so doing a strawberry-themed nails meant I'm wishing him good luck and also to remind him of our promise (I told you it was a joke!)

Even though I've painted my nails several times last year, I don't seem to get any better in it. I still couldn't apply nail polish smoothly or without any air bubbles forming. Thanks to the deep red color, my mistakes couldn't be seen easily unless you examine it very carefully.

For this design, I used a single coat of Chic Nail Color's Siam. This particular nail polish has shimmer on it hiding the air bubbles. Those pesky bubbles seem to only form once I applied the colorless coating. Maybe I shopuld probably invest in a proper top coat instead of using a regular colorless polish, hmm? Or is it because this nail polish is already getting old? The liquid's texture isn't that smooth like when I first opened it.

Anyway, I only applied a single coat for this design. Double coating it will make the red more deeper and darker. This is what I like about this nail polish. It is buildable, depending on your preferred look. Applying only a single coat is already okay unlike other polishes that you have to double coat to even the colors on your nails.

For the leaf part, I cut my algae green star decals in half and placed two or three of them on the base of my nails. I ran out of nail glue. As a quick fix, I only used a clear nail polish to secure them in place. Black or white dots would complete the look for the strawberry seeds but unfortunately I don't have those colors currently on my little nail polish collection. The overall design is partly inspired by my Christmas nails wherein I tried to make a mistletoe using the same colored decals against my red thumbnails. The end result was good! I thought of doing it again. Luckily, a strawberry-themed nail art would let me play with those colors again. Any regular red nail polish would look nicely for this design, but I prefer Chic Nail Color's Siam's red.

With love, bows, and frills,

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels sourced from

,pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

Throughout my teenage years, I never got into skincare and make-up just like most teenagers do. Others my age would have already tried rejuvenating sets or have a skincare routine that they religiously follow. I remember several occasions when my college friends would inquire what skin products they use on their faces, or what they use to maintain their complexion. It was only last year (and I was already about 21) that I started to one-up my game and be serious about "skincare".

After seeing all the hypes, raves, and testimonies of the brand, I thought that using peeling or rejuvenating sets might "reset" my skin, and consequently try the newly launched Dear Face for that very reason. Last February I had a minor breakout in my cheeks and chin, adding more to my already distressed appearance. Nothing serious though, but I just dislike the dark marks left on my face, especially since I don't wear make-up that often to conceal them. Furthermore, the marks look uneven! There are more pimple marks on my left cheek than on my right one and it's bugging me.

Just last month, I finally decided to try some Dear Face products after a bit of hesitation. The main reasons being I have non-existent knowledge and experience with using rejuvenating sets, and that I still have a lot of stocks that I bought during last year's holiday sales. I only bought the Dear Face toners, Radiance Toner and Poreless Toner, and the night cream, Rosy Night Cream; since the first item I had run out of is toner, followed closely by the sleeping cream. I purchased the said products from Local Bellas via Shopee.

Dear Face's Radiance Toner

Let me say this first, this toner is so beautifully clear! Feeds my aesthetic. But don't let this toner fool you, it can do its job. When I first used it, I experienced some mild stinging sensation. This is the main reason why I'm hesitant to buy any rejuvenating products. I want to experience the glass skin result they claim but I'm scared of any burning sensation and the peeling effects. But this toner is the exception.

The effects are only mild. I even used this for 5 and 10 days straight without any major or very obvious peeling on my face. Some areas of my face had micro peelings like in the lower sides of my right cheek and the areas with pimples. But nothing tragic - no redness, no puffiness, no irritations. I stopped using this for 3 days (notice the gap between my 5 days and 10 days use) where I switched to the Poreless Toner in the beginning while my skin is adjusting. Now I'll be using the Poreless Toner for a whole month to restore the nutrients and moisture my skin needs after some micro-peeling here and there. Dear Face suggests that you use the Radiance Toner (or the Radiant Glow set) and the Poreless Toner (Facial Whitening Set) alternatingly for one month each. However, I feel like my face is "crying" if I continued to use the Radiance Toner for 1 month straight. So I'll lessen the intervals to 2 weeks instead so that my skin can rest with Poreless Toner for a month.

Dear Face's Poreless Toner

Opposite to the Radiance Toner, the Poreless Toner of the Facial Whitening Set has a very thick consistency. After applying it for a couple of days, I feel like it's giving my skin a pampering break after using the pink micro-peeling toner. I like how my skin feels after applying it and after washing my face in the morning.

Dear Face's Rosy Night Cream

I'm not yet sure about its smoothening and brightening capabilities but I'm very certain of its pimple drying ability. I only have used this for a couple of nights and my pimples dried up. That fast! Now that I have moved on to using the blue toner, I'm only using this cream as an acne-spot treatment. There's some slight stinging (it also feels like drying) effect when I applied it on my skin for a while. But as seconds passed, it vanishes so nothing serious about it. I think it also lightens some of my dark pimple marks from years ago, but I'm not sure about it as they haven't lightened completely yet. Maybe with continued use? This is one major factor that prompts me in trying out Dear Face products. I wish Dear Face would release a bigger amount of this cream. 10 grams would last for only a little bit over a month for me.

free gifts

And lastly, Local Bellas even included some free items on my parcel. They sent 3 pieces of stickers and a Serum Foundation from Rosy Skin Essentials for 3. Considering that I only bought 3 items from Local Bellas, I thought they had accidentally sent me something that should be for another customer, at first. I mean, sending this make-up foundation for free is already too much when I didn't bought a lot. Anyway, I thanked them for that and the secure packaging of my orders. I asked them to tightly pack the toners as I don't want them to spill during transit. I had an experience from a different online shop before when almost half of my ordered toners leaked. If only the toners didn't come with a plastic wrap, they probably drenched my other stuff. But with Local Bellas, I didn't have to worry about that because they carefully packed each item with a plastic wrap, placed them inside the blue Dear Face box (also with a plastic wrap) for added protection, then into a pink heart-shaped bubble wrap to secure my order.

While I had already noticed some change after using the Radiance Toner plus the Rosy Night Cream on my entire days for 5 and 10 days, I'm not so sure if using Dear Face products, in the long run, would do the trick. But- here's to hoping that it would.

Thanks for taking care of my order Local Bellas. Your bubble wrap is so cute!

A little bit of note, the seller, Local Bellas, is so kind to include a thank you letter and some freebies (more of that later). This just shows how they appreciate and value their customers. 100% will try the other products that they're selling. 5 stars for customer service as they will also update you about shipping and will even send you a photo of your orders before they packed them.

Overall, my shopping experience with Local Bellas has been great. I might try to buy some of their products in the future as they are also selling other local products that I wish to try. *hint hint: Babe Formula. And as for Dear Face, so far I liked them. I'll try their newest addition to their line, the Drunk Skin facial wash, once when I ran out of the face soap that I've been using, haha.

Shameless plug, I made an unboxing video featuring this purchase from Local Bellas.

With love, bows, and frills,

This is not a paid promotion post.

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels sourced from

, gaysweaters, pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

Last Tuesday, me and my mom went out for the national ID registration. Because we need to bring other valid IDs and other pertinent documents like birth certificates, etc. (which isn't really needed by the registration officer except for one valid ID but just to be sure) I took this chance to use my Angelic Pretty 3-Way Book Bag which I only used once before since I got it back in 2018.

From left to right, upper row: Angelic Pretty 3-Way book bag, a blue face mask case, a Dorotee Sweetlips' face mask. From left to right, lower row: an A5 sized water flask, a light blue colored wallet, Etude House Secret Beam Powder Pact, Fresh Baby Little Twin Stars Alcohol-Free Hand Sanitizer, and a blue plastic fan. Not pictured: a blue-colored A4 sized document case, a gel pen, a pack of biscuits, some tissue and my phone.

I bought this bag while I'm checking some thrift shops before going to my classes. Because I thrifted it, the strap is missing. I could only carry this bag using the top handle. In my case, it wasn't really a 3-way bag, lol.

This has been in my possession for the past 2 years and I had only worn it out when I tried going to uni for a meeting with my group for some sort of a class presentation, because it's not suitable for carrying bulky stuffs. Furthermore, it would be impossible to use this as a daily school bag unless you intend to only carry a text book and your phone and wallet. I rarely go out without carrying a foldable umbrella and a bottled water. Those two would take up too much space for a book bag with only a 6 cm/2.4" for it's width.

I'm really happy that an opportunity to use this bag again came, haha. I placed all my documents in a plastic document case I got from Expressions. Luckily, the A4 sized case fits perfectly in the book bag! Other than that, I still have to bring health essential items such as a spare face mask (which is inside the blue plastic face mask case), an alcohol and some tissues. And because we're going to line up as early as 5:30 AM, I also brought my water flask and a pack of biscuits. I also packed my plastic fan and a compact powder for make-up retouches. All in all, everything I have to bring to the registration fits inside my bag, or should I say, I managed to fit them all in!

Little bit of a story here. I've always wanted to try out these "what's in my .." types of posts or challenges on different social media so I thought if ever I started my own blog, I'd definitely make one too. So here it is- my first ever "What's in my bag?" blog post! Actually, I think I want to expand on that and make other "What's in my .." posts. I guess such blog posts or vlogs would be so fun to do and makes a good content filler as well. I would obviously do more posts like this in the future.

I'm currently bursting with ideas on what to write about in my blog so check my tags page for more of my adventures (and mishaps), though it's not really sorted out yet. There's tags for item reviews, cooking, eating, going out (not posts yet on the latter 3), etc. etc.

With love, bows, and frills,

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels sourced from pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

I'm not really planning to buy a make-up product but while I'm looking for products to soothe my very irritated pimples, I bought this quad eyeshadow from Squad Cosmetics in Lazada during their 3.27 birthday sale. This eyeshadow is called Squadlet Mini Palette and it comes in 6 variations grouped into browns, pinks, and peach/orange. The one I got is Serene from the pink series. Since this is an unplanned purchase, I only bought this one item. It is also my first time buying from the brand Squad Cosmetics as I'm not personally sure of the brand's quality and safety yet. Snagged it for only ₱88.00 (regular price is ₱99.00), very cheap!

I know this is really an overdue post but I waited until my pimples had finally calmed down and dried before I went on to apply make-up on my face again. I had a bad acne breakout by the end of February. Can't risk getting more pimples or have it worsen.

This is my first time making a product review so please bear with me.

Definitely worth the wait! I only used this eyeshadow with a full face make-up on last Thursday and I'm very much pleased with this product.

Squad Cosmetics' Squadlet Mini Palette in Serene

The pink shades in this quad are my ideal colors. They're all cute and pretty. I'm not into vibrant, bold and nude colors for I think they don't suit my skintone. The shades in Serene are just what I like for natural or subtle looking make-up, but honestly, they don't look stunning or noticeable on me because of my darker skintone even if there's a good lighting on me. It's not that the product is faint, they're highly pigmented actually. I've swatched each of them for 2-3 times but that's far the colors can go on my skin, except for the shimmer one. Maybe Serene would look good for those with fairer skintones instead. Nevertheless, I still like this eyeshadow palette.

Another thing that I liked is that despite of it's cheap price, is the product's quality. It doesn't have a powdery or chalky texture so when I applied the products on my lids, it doesn't fall off or stick together in clumps. The formula is smooth and it is easy to combine and blend colors. Squadlet is also perfect for make-up beginners like me! I know I should have shared how the product looked like on my lids but I'm not that confident in my eye shadow application, haha.

And because I'm still new into make-up, I don't know much about make-up. For now, the only cons for this product that I could say is it's packaging and shades. Well of course, you can't expect more for a quad eyeshadow that is less than a hundred pesos. The product doesn't even came in a box! It is only covered in a thin sheet of plastic, and for added safety, wrapped snugly in two sheets of bubble wraps. Fortunately, the package arrived safely to me. The product's casing itself is very thin and isn't on the sturdy side so be careful in handling it. One drop and I'm sure that the palette will break. The second thing that I don't like is that between the 6 variants, they don't really have any variety. I mean the shades looked the same in each palette except for one or two. I even had a hard time choosing, lol. Well, what's important, despite the product's shortcomings. is that it isn't itchy on my lids and when I took my make-up of, my lids doesn't feel patchy or rough.

Overall, I like this product. I might try the other variants soon, probably Sassy, the other one from the pink group, because of it's darker pinkish-reddish shade. But other than that, the only difference between Sassy and Serene, is the shimmer eyeshadow, based on their stock photos and some on reviews I've seen on YouTube (when in doubt about the stock photos, I check other people's review on YouTube, haha). I might be mistaken, of course, as I haven't really seen the other palettes in person so I can't really compare, but if you look at the stock photos on Lazada, Shopee or BeautyMNL, it seems like the shades are very similar to each other. I usually stay at home these days so there's not a lot of chances and reasons to wear make-up yet I'm pretty much satisfied with this product. But once I have the resources, I might try on their other variants too, afterall Squad Cosmetics' Squadlet Mini Palette didn't disappoint for its price.

With love, bows, and frills,

This is not a paid promotion post.

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here.

Pixels sourced from

, gaysweaters, pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary.

Photos edited on Line Camera. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

I'm Irisse Ju, a 20-something years old girl from the Philippines. I mainly post item reviews, shopping hauls, some life experiences and remarks and observations from my favorite anime, Sword Art Online, here. I also have a side blog where I write more about my everyday life and is written in a much more intimate style. Go give me a follow on both of my blogs to have a peek of me trying to live an aesthetic life.

With love, bows, and frills,

For the full disclaimer of the web materials used in this blog, click here. Pixels sourced from pixel-soup, and The Pixel Diary. *Send me a message for proper credit and/or removal.*