April Favourites!

After almost a year of doing this, I've finally decided that the video-favorites thing just isn't my thing. Imma stick to writing this shiz down. :) This  post will cover everything from beauty to music to film to books I've been liking a lot.

If you guys enjoyed this post or have comments about these products/things and/or have some favorites of your own that you want to share, please leave me a comment below! :)

For Beauty, I've been using this BB Powder Formula foundation powder by 4U2 (Dream Girl collection) over my BB Cream because of the added SPF benefits and because I have pretty oily skin. The packaging of this is super girly andI never would've bought this on-sight but I was looking for a gift for my mom--who turns out, doesn't like the matte powders because she has dry skin. This was around P250 at SM Makati and this is in the shade 02.

 One very subtle but extremely important part (to me anyway) of the make-up routine is the filling in of eyebrows. I'm a big fan of full brows and lots of subtlety (even if those two seem like contradicting ideas, I know), so I stopped using eyebrow pencils because they just absolutely fail at the latter. This eyebrow kit from ELF is perfect, I swear. It does the filling in, without being cakey or rubbing off or making you look like you have Sharpie eyebrows. This is P249, bought from PCX.

 And of course, like all good drugs (I kid)--you need paraphernalia to use these things. :)) And I love that inexpensive, quality brushes are now available pretty much everywhere. I've been using this Jenny 109 countour face brush for the BB Cream powder thang and this angled brush/spooly combo brush from Marrionaud for the ELF eyebrow kit. :D The face brush was (believe it or not) P39 from PCX and the marrionaud brush was P120 from SM Makati.

 On the lip spectrum, I've been wearing these lipsticks a lot: Rose Garnet by Avon (P249) and Amethyst Ablaze by Maybelline (P399). :D The thing I like about both these lippies is that they're bright without being too much. Also, they don't get caught in the weird cracks in dry lips so they don't make me feel ridiculous.

 Also, even if I'm not really a lipgloss person (I just don't get it), I realized that I can't wear lipstick all the time because it takes a toll on the (this is going to sound dirty) moisture of my mouth, especially in this weather. So I bought these Dewy Kiss Lip Tints from Avon (P99 each) in all the shades available. I forgot the names (they came off when I peeled off the plastic seal) but one is very peachy, the next a mid-tone pink berry shade and the last, a darker plum-pink. These are great because they're halfway between a lipstick and a tinted lip balm, so they give you moisture but still leave you with a sheer wash of color that dries into a tint so it isn't sticky or slimy.

And that's it for beauty! I don't have anything for hair, because it's mostly the same stuff I've been using forever. So. Onto books!

First off, I've really been liking this series of comics by my friend Josel Nicolas. I always feel a little hesitant about writing about work created by people I know or people who know people I know because I'm afraid what I have to say will make them uncomfortable, but I figure it isn't fair not to talk about something just because it was written or drawn by someone you know or someone who knows people you know. :)) So.

 That said, I really loved this series. Basically, they revolve around the adventures/musings of a humanoid (biped) bear--to be honest, given that description, this isn't the kind of thing that I would go and pick up on my own (something about humanoid animals freaks me out), but I'm really glad that I got these. This series is funny and sad at the same time: a combination I am a little too fond of, I'd say. 

 The Windmills series is able to capture something true about the joys and sadness of living in a place like Manila, where the Uncertainty Avoidance Index is so low and where you are always being in a position to say good-bye to everything. The Bear is such an endearing character. More than anything, I like the evolution of the language and the "blurring" of the narrative as the series progresses. Also, I like how the narrative folds in on itself in the last book. I think that the more you write about things that surround you and the more you take from real life, (ironically) the less you know about yourself and the character and the last book (Windmills V, It's About Time) contains a certain desperation, a discontent with sadness that made me fall in love with this series even more. 

This is not to say, of course, that I like the series because of that desperation--lots of things are desperate without being beautiful but the reason why I think I liked Windmills so much was that I could feel the restraint coming up off the page. The way the narration and dialogue are written is so that tension is constantly being created between wanting something bigger and falling into a cesspool of despair. 

I wonder what Josel is going to come up with next. If you guys want a copy of Windmills V and IV, (I'm not sure if III is still in print) you can order one here or contact Josel over on his blog

 The next book is one that I've been wanting a copy of for a long time. This is Elsewhere, Held and Lingered by Conchitina Cruz. I first stumbled upon this book around three years ago, at my friend Ron's apartment. He had the first edition of this (the one with circles on the cover) and I remember reading this poem called A red dress and that got me hooked. I bought her other book Dark Hours the next day. 

I asked Ron where he got this book and (of course) his answer was at UP, in QC. See, I live in Alabang and so things like "I got it in QC" rings almost the same as "I'll make a short trip to the moon" to me. But last weekend, Trizha and I went to the High Chair booklaunch (ironically enough, this was pretty damn near QC) and I finally got me a copy!

The thing I love about Conchitina Cruz's poetry is that she is so skilled with language. She's able to evoke emotion without the evocation of emotion ever being the point, if that makes sense. I think a lot of the time (especially when we learn to read poetry, for the first time) a huge emphasis is put on looking for metaphors under the text, but that becomes problematic because you start to ignore the form and just find yourself digging for "meaning". This never happens with Conchitina Cruz's work because the form is always so tied in with the meaningfulness of the piece. There isn't one poem on here that I don't like. A couple of favorites are A red ress, The Marriage and Address to the body in the room. I bought this for P295 at the High Chair event. You can check out more work from them here.

 Lastly, we have music. I recently got me a copy of Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon. Prior to this, my favorite album of theirs was Only By The Night and while the songs on that album were definitely catchier than the ones on this album, there's a certain heartfelt quality to the left-of-center-ness of this record.

 My favorite tracks are The End, The Face and Back Down South. This goes for P425 at Odyssey. It also comes with a bonus EP that has 3 tracks on it. Unfortunately, that doesn't have a track list so I'm not sure what on earth those songs are. :))

And that's it for April! Please hit me up with your own favorites posts! :D