More To Mica - Life & Fashion Theme Update

There was a time when I was at the stage of just shopping for dresses because I believed dresses were somewhat a solution to my 'I-have-nothing-to-wear' dilemma. Well truth to be told, when I had to attend events I just grabbed on to one of the dresses I had bought at that time.

Right now, I'm on the lookout for cardigans. The one's I'm looking for are those that are loose, they kind of give a more korean fashion vibe to the outfit (on my opinion).. and it just looks way cooler when it's loose compared to the body/arm hugging cardis.



For this look.. I wore this black dress which I bought for about 700+ or more I think from one of the shops in Paseo, name of the shop is Mic's. Paired it with an abstract/ethnic print cardigan bought from Robinsons. Necklace from a bazaar seller in Nuvali. For my shoes, I wore my go-to overused black flats.




Two wardrobe staples; a cardigan & dress makes up one easy well-dressed #ootd combination. Specially if you're lazy to dress up but you still want/need to look your best. It even brought out the best of my worn-out shoes.

I've always used the loose powder from Naturactor, it's been doing a wonderful job in setting my makeup and mattifying my oily face. Unfortunately.. after a few hours of work and play, my face would somewhat return it's a greasy state. Sad part is even though I wanted to stick and retouch with this powder, I can't bring it with me all the time because of it's bulky 1.5" thick 3" wide dimension. So I was on the lookout for a powder that I can bring with me almost everywhere I go. Since I prefer to test the product to see if it would blend well on my skin, I didn't bother to shop online. And because I'm part of the #Team-Bahay & #Work-At-Home-Club I don't get to visit the malls that much. I'm usually out only on Sundays (for mass & grocery with fam)...



That day at Shopwise we were on our usual Sunday grocery trip and while going through the supermarket I stumbled upon Maybelline's counter. I tested several of their powders and such... until I decided to grab on to this Dream Satin Skin in the shade Nude Beige.



The packaging is simple with an engraved logo of Maybelline NY on the case. I liked the specific shade of beige kind of nude they used for the case as well.



I skipped the sponge that was included and applied the powder to my face with this pink cosmetic sponge instead. It is true to it's claim of having satin texture. I like that it's light and it doesn't feel like I've actually applied powder on my face.




Here's a before and after. So there wasn't a big significant difference.. But I did notice my redness is tamed. My pores were still noticeable though it seemed smaller with the powder on even though I just applied a thin layer on my cheeks... Since hiding pores isn't the purpose of this powder I'm totally fine with it, that's more of the job of concealers and I think I didn't apply any for this review. It's just the Dream Satin Skin Two Way Cake on my bare cheek.



Maybelline's Dream Satin Skin Two Way Cake promises to bring out the best in you, Lol. It's unique one-film technology provides an ultra thin layer with refined powder that's extremely fit for a stretchable finish (okay, what does that mean exactly? lol). The powder is extremely thin for an ultra breathable finish. (That's why, as I've said, I didn't feel like I've applied anything on my face).



I have used this two way cake for 4-5 times I think? I was somehow glad that it's most suitable for oily faced ladies like me. I really am happy with it's thin formula and that it contains SPF 32 PA+++ (I swear by cosmetics with sunscreen). And when I used this, I was out to man our booth at a bazaar and there ain't no aircon whatsoever. Just natural (warm) air and the sun. I expected my face to be in it's usual greasy state like how it is after a long day but that time in that situation my face was less shiny and oily. To think I didn't retouched even once from the morning I applied it. I was home at around 9pm, btw. The only downside is (I'm not that sure yet though)... I think this powder was the cause of my breakouts. Huhuhu. I used the powder last Sunday.. the next day I noticed small bumps on my face. But I've also been lacking water and sleep at that time so I do hope it's not because of the powder because I think it's a great product for my oily skin.

I've finally taken this Fresh Cherry Tint I bought from Singapore out of the stack.  Somehow I regret not using it sooner.. I really love how it looks so natural, gives of a perfect no makeup makeup look plus I kind feel my lips become healthier after use. Keep browsing and see it on my lips, including two other shades of this Fresh Cherry Lip Tint.





Here's the two other shades of Etude House Fresh Cherry Tint I got as gift. I decided to include them in this post to compare the three shades and just check the swatch of each. (Tints was also first seen on product sample post here)



Freshly applied. Red is obviously more pigmented than the other two. The peach tone seems to be very light probably because it had been sitting in the storage for so long and had lost it's luster. Lol. The peach tint came out more of a pinkish tone on my lips compared to the swatch on my arm. (See below.)



After washing and rubbing my hands.. The red and pink shades kept it's stain. The peach one was almost invisible. Huhu.

Fresh Cherry Tint - Peach

Wearing the peach tint. I really bought the peach one instead of the other two because I'm more inclined to coloring my lips with coral and orange tones. This shade is actually a tiny bit more orangey in person but as I've said earlier it came out a bit more pinkish than expected when applied to the lips.

Fresh Cherry Tint - Pink

Personally, I find the pink & peach lip tints having a similar effect/tone on my lips, both also gave me naturally coloured looking lips. I like em both actually. Hahaha.

Fresh Cherry Tint - Red

Oh my g! What can I say? The moment I applied the red one on my lips, I felt empowered (what?). Lol.. Hahaha. Hello red lips. It's absolutely gorgeous. I kind of wished I got the red one instead but bf isn't into red lips so I go for muted colors instead... Trying this one on makes me want to shift to red lipsticks... I like that it had a more berry tone to it. Too bad it isn't showing much in photo but ughhh.. so pretty in person.

 I had to use my fingers to apply the pink & red tints since they were just in a sachet form and didn't have the doefoot applicator unlike the peach tint. Just look at how red and messy my fingers were below.



Okay so, despite my inclination towards the red cherry tint.. I still like the other two and been using the peach one, hoping I would empty the bottle one day. Hahaha. Before I forget to mention.. after taking photos for this post, I had the red tint last and after drinking and eating.. nothing changed my lips were still stained. Came dinner.. I ate and drank again, the tint started to fade a bit on the edges but the stain is still visible. The next morning, my lips were still stained. I guess these tint may pass as long lasting. Though I've always thought that lip tints are originally the ones to last longer than lipsticks. (JMO - just my opinion).. Also, the scent of these tints do give a bit off a cherry fragrance and for me it's more of sweet candy, something like that scent.

After all those positive feedback with the tints, what I don't like about it is it's a bit sticky on the lips, probably for moisture (which is great if that's what it's stickiness is for) coz' a winning lip product for me is the one that's light and something that doesn't feel like you've applied something on your lips.

Will I buy again? I would absolutely get one again if I've got extra cash. Andddd..I've just purchased a number of lip tints from Althea (will share soon!!) and some lipsitcks from US (so excited to get my hands on em)... Plus, I have another pending lipstick post that needs photos (haven't even opened the lipsticks). It breaks my heart when my lippies expire and I don't get to use them as much as I'm supposed to.. If I can't empty them might as well use more than half of the product.. So I'm trying my best to empty/make most of the lippies I currently own (and I'm probably failing, Lol) and storing some in the fridge too. So best of luck for me on that.

I'm actually tempted to try the Dear Darling tint from Etude as well but maybe next time. Boo! Haha. Anyway, that's it loves.

I'm in dresses & skirts (fancy stuff) in most of my ootd's. This time I dressed down and plain jane to the last summer series of Trendsetter's Bazaar. I'm in my most basic and comfy clothes, I don't mind dressing this way any time, anywhere.

Pieces in white, cream and other similar shades are absolutely the first thing I would always go for when shopping, but would put them back in the rack and get the darker colors (black, navy blue) instead. You know how it is.. Kapag puti dumihin. But I've been wanting to gradually increase white/light toned clothes in my wardrobe. Despite my concern with stains, yellowing and such.. I'm in love with an all-white ensemble. Nevertheless here's a light, cream, ivory and white ootd.

The weather had been crazy this year, that day it was still extremely hot but it also seemed to rain, they sky was about to go gloomy. I was somewhat glad that it was windy but that made it difficult for an ootd. Atleast, the wind worked it's magic in some of the photos...

These brush sets were actually bought way way back. I saw them being sold by Be.You.Tiful shop at a pop-up bazaar in Glorietta. I knew they weren't the real thing but I still bagged these brush sets because they were in mint color. At that time my addiction with mint colours were at it's peak and somehow I wanted to fill my room with mint colours at that time.. Who knew it'd be a scavenger hunt to find items coloured in mint. Anyway, here are two of the brush sets snagged from Be.You.Tiful.

Get Rid Of Dinosaurs Blush Brush Set 12 pcs - Tin Can

The brush set contains 12 pcs of brushes in tin can packaging.. I don't remember how much these brush sets cost but its definitely not higher than a thousand. They remind of the 3CE brush sets, that I really want to own, saw one from Sephora.. if only it wasn't as expensive. I've also seen Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Naked 3, etc. versions of this rectangular tin can brush set.




Tbh, I am no makeup expert/guru of some sort. I don't even know how to use most of these brushes I bought. In fact, all those months I've had these two brush sets I've only used one.. and that is the angled liner brush. I'm not sure if it's more suitable to use for the brows but I prefer using them to line my eyes with gel eyeliner. Lol.

Get Rid Of Dinosaurs Blush Brush Set 12 pcs - Pouch

Okay, moving on to the other roll/fold type pouch brush set that I kind of regret purchasing, feels like I don't really need another one yet. But of course I bought it because of the pop of mint strap of the pouch.. These brushes don't actually have any mint color in it, which is quite disappointing. Lol. The brushes were also a duplicate of some of the brushes from the tin can set. But the bright side is... it had some brush tools I need which isn't included on the kit earlier - Eyebrow Comb, Spoolie, Eyeliner Smudger & Fan.



The kit earlier and this one both contains 12 pcs of brushes but 3 or 4 pieces are different from each other. I have to say, both are not travel-friendly/portable since the tin can is hard cased & quite bulky, while the pouch is quite big, and would take so much space, it's 6.5 inches x 4 inches approximate. But then I can always pick out the essentials and place them in a smaller pouch.




Even though, these aren't products released by the brand Too Cool For School I'm still happy I got these. Yes, all because of the pop of mint in the packaging. I did wish the brushes itself had some tiny bit of mint color in it too but oh well. Haha. I've heard from a beauty & makeup Youtuber that for brushes, it's okay to use dupes but never on the actual makeup products - foundation, lipstick, creams, etc.



I hope I could master using these brushes someday. Haha. I guess the reason for this post is also for me to label the brushes and have a document, something to check back on as to what these brushes are particularly for. I know I can be adventurous with these brushes and use them wherever I want to but at least I know which brush is particularly for what and to know what it's called.

Previously I've shared an Aliexpress review & experience on the blog, this time as promised, I'll be sharing some Aliexpress guide & tips. Do note that this isn't the ultimate Aliexpress guide or something, as I haven't tried purchasing products aside from clothes, bags, wigs and small camera accessories. Everything is solely based on my experience. Some people have asked about shopping for gadgets and I really haven't shopped any of those because I'm afraid of customs and taxation but I do have some suggestions that might be helpful if you really want to purchase gadgets and similar stuff. Heads up: *Long post ahead!*



Before I start with the actual guide, I'd like to share a short introduction about Aliexpress.

Aliexpress is a giant online market from China. It was launched in 2010 and had grown a huge visitors worldwide since then. It's very popular in Russia, Brasil and Baltic countries.

How to Order?

For the guide I've purchased one particular item to feature so I can show you the basic process from browsing, ordering, paying, etc. blah, blah... you'll also get to see the actual product which I'll have it attached below. Before anything else create an Aliexpress account (Check out: How to create account here). You can also do this later at checkout, I think.



I was looking for something cheap and something I can wear, so I searched for hats. As you can see, they provide a drop down function with a series of similar keywords to help you search and make it easier to find the closest of what you're looking for.



Here's a cropped screen grab of the search results. The white Anti Social Social hat on the right most is what I had purchased.



After choosing the item you want to buy from the search catalogue, you will be taken to a product preview page with all the details, specifics, more product images and such. In this page you can also add it to your Wishlist.

Shopping Cart

Here's my shopping cart with the pink and black hat. Check your orders and click the 'Buy from this seller' button to proceed to checkout.



Since I've already shopped and entered my shipping information before, Aliexpress had already saved this information for me. If you're a new buyer you'll be asked to fill up your shipping info. Proceed with payment by clicking 'Place Order'

Payment

Next, fill out the payment form with your chosen payment method. I pay thru my SmartMoney which is a MasterCard. Click this link for list of payment methods. I actually paid thru mobile.. Because there was a discount for the products I ordered. You can check from the product page if the shop is offering discounts. Below the posted price you'll spot a QR code which you can scan via Aliexpress mobile app to see if there is extra discount when you shop mobile. On my case, there's a 0.12 extra discount, and I will avail that one so I paid via mobile. Hahaha. More about payments, click here.



The discount was a pretty small amount.. I saved like 0.12 hahaha, but since I will still be paying for Philpost handling/fee.. that small amount matters to me. Lol. Saving is good thing no matter how small the amount is. Yes!



A successful payment notification will be sent to your email address.



After payment you may now check your latest (even previous) purchase on 'My Orders'. From here on you will have to wait until the seller has packed and shipped your order. Your transactions will now be saved and you can look back on the items you've ordered on Aliexpress.


I'm actually happy with this seller, my order was shipped just a few hours after payment. Usually, other sellers would take 2 or more days to ship the item. By the time the seller had shipped the item you may go back to 'My Orders' menu and track the shipment.

Tracking

You may click the 'Track Order' button to open the tracking page, or just hover like the image below for a quick view. Do note that it would take 5-10 days before Aliexpress would flash the status of the order. Sometimes there is no status posted at all. So what I'd like to do is check through Phlpost Track & Trace or Chinapost if you don't live in Philippines.



Here's what you should see when you click the 'Track Order' button. You can check the status from here if Aliexpress was able to post a tracking status of your order. Sometimes Aliexpress can't fetch your package status like I've said earlier.. You might be worried/wondering that you're package is lost.. So better check Phlpost/Chinapost... Check my Phlpost Track and Trace screen grab below.




The status you're waiting for is - Enroute to delivery office. This means your package is on it's way, either delivered to your doorstep or you'll get a notice to pick it up at the post office. On my experience, all my orders were delivered to our home, never have I picked up an item at the post office, i don't even know were it is so I'm lucky. My bf tried.. he had to pick up his first order, which was kinda small compared to some of most of my orders, at the post office. He lives in Las Pinas, fyi.

Here's the actual photo of the baseball caps ordered from Aliexpress. I bought one for me and one for my beau. Haha. Since, we're both kinda shy we kinda belong to the ASSC club.

Extra Tips

That's basically how you buy products from Aliexpress. Now, I'd like to share a few tips, things I check whenever I'm shopping at Aliexpress.

Feedback

It's best to look at actual feedbacks from previous buyers. You'll find it next to the product details tab. If you're lucky some buyers will share actual photos of their orders from the shop. It's really handy since you'll get to see the actual photo instead of the advertised photos posted of the seller. Make sure to weigh in the positive and negative comments. Sometimes buyers would expect too much, forgetting that they bought the product at a cheaper price, and would say very negative comments but the product they got are actually okay and passable. So just make sure to read the comments...

If there are no comments, but you really want to the product.. This happened to me... I ordered the product from the seller because I couldn't find other sellers selling the same product what I do is check out the seller rating and the overall store feedback - includes all comments of different items from the buyers. If the store is new usually they haven't accumulated enough comments so I put my faith forward and pray that the product is good enough.

Seller Rating

As mentioned above, always check the seller rating. Let's do this by comparing the stores below.

Ganssia has earned a total of 6,288 sales (check with diamond icons/medal) and 99% feedback, while Bag Best had sold 538 with 98.5% feedback. Both are actually great values, I'd say these are 'Safe-to-Shop' stores. Most stores would actually have 90%+ of feedback. You'd think that's good but personally anything below 97% feedback is on the 'Not-So-Safe' to shop stores.. Anything below 95%, be careful... quality might not be as great as the picture.

It's a bit tricky but just check the years they've been open (if there is), total sales and read feedbacks.

Wishlist

Don't really think this would fall as tips but anyway one of the things I like with online shopping is the Wishlist function... Aliexpress has an enormous catalogue and once I find an item I might not be able to find it anymore. Plus, I like that you can categorize your list. Like what I have in mine.. Shorts, Shoes, Skirts, etc.

Disputes/Refund (Buyer Protection)

I have to say the dispute/refund feature made me trust and shop at Aliexpress. There's this one time.. I ordered a wig but when I got it, it came in a bad quality. An area of the bangs were unevenly cut off.. It was tangled.. So I escalated a dispute.. and to cut the long story short, the seller was kind enough to give me an almost full-amount refund. I felt relieved... I had sent evidence photo of course.. You can check more about the Buyer Protection feature by clicking this link.

Shipping

I've already mentioned above how you can track your post, via Aliexpress My Orders page, Phlpost & Chinapost. Most items sold in Aliexpress offer free shipping via China Post Registered Mail usually it would take approximately 20 days. It's actually faster now compared to my previous orders 2 years ago where it took 30+ days to arrive. If you want to get you're orders faster (3-10 days) you may opt to have the items shipped through EMS/DHL, quite pricey though. If you live in the Philippines and plan on buying gadgets I suggest you have it shipped thru DHL so you don't have to worry about customs as much. Know more about shipping and delivery, click here.



I guess that's all I'd like to share for now. You can also read Aliexpress' New User Guide to help you through their site, which makes this post sort of pointless. There are many helpful guide/faqs on Aliexpress site actually, just head to the footer section. Haha... Feel free to comment/send me a message if you have questions I might be able to help you with.