My Colors of Summer with Wish Nail Polish

Before the school year ends, my eldest had this project with their TLE (Technology and Livelihood Education) former H.E. (Home Economics) about nail polish. Yes, not like before that only girls gets to know the art of nail polish, boys are now required too.

And since he would just definitely just pick any color if he would be the one buying the nail polish, I went ahead and volunteered. Though I have my own, most of them are on shades of red, so he won't be able to follow the pattern that was given to him if he is just using the same shades, right? But before I bought the set, I called first if he needs to bring the nail polish at school or the project needs to be done at home. Of course, I am worried about spending and just loosing them after doing his project. When he confirmed that the said project needs to be done at home I went on checking the nail polish section at Watson's SM City Fairview Department Store.

I first saw a glittery set of nail polish by Wish. But he doesn't need something glittery, just plain colored nail polish. After removing some in front I was able to grab this other set of pastel colored nail polish by Wish, all four for only 75.00 PHP.

My favorites were the pastel pink and purple. The pastel blue is too bright for me, and the green is quite a bit dark for a pastel shade.  Expecting it to be a bit brighter. 

Below are the pictures that I took, sorry for the mess, as I still need a lot more practice.

You love pastel colors? Try it now! 

Geeking Tom Shirt Wars

Founded on July 2013, a group of obsessive nerds that love cool shirts based on pop-culture decided to make their own brand and show off their love for all things geek - Geeking Tom was born. Their tagline, "Levep-up your t-shirt game" because the goal is to stop t-shirt mediocrity and promote originality.

They are all about being proud and showing off things that geeks love - comics, games, fandoms, and more - through awesome shirts. Their shirts are 100% cotton, thick and durable, yet comfortable to wear. The designs are screen-printed to ensure the best quality for every shirt printed. Currently, Geeking Tom shirts are available online and through our retail partners Dyce and Dyne (Pasig), and Parafreaq (San Juan).

What sets them apart from other geek apparel is that all their designs are original and you won't find them anywhere else. They believe in the talent of Filipino graphic artists and their works deserve to be seen by all.

Since they pride on being original, they came up with the concept to hold a shirt designing contest for the entire month of October called, "Geeking Tom Shirt Wars". The contest is a tribute to the upcoming release of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. The winner of the contest will be printed and sold by Geeking Tom, the winner's name will be included in the t-shirt's tag, and the winner will receive a 40.00PHP royalty (commission) per shirt sold, not bad.

How to join? 

The artist must submit his/her original design via e-mail to geekingtomshirts@gmail.com with the subject, "Geeking Tom Shirt Wars". Each entry must include the participants full name, e-mail address, contact number and the title of their entry. Multiple entries are allowed, but must be submitted separately.

And not only that, readers who would provide my promo code will have a chance to purchase their shirts online with a 15% discount. What is my promo code? KikayDragon.

Join now, who knows your shirt design might be the next best seller on their online store. 

MICHAELA, Celebrating 10 Years of Providing Quality Bags

What is one accessory that women would always have? A bag of course, be it a hand bag, shoulder bag, back pack or a sling bag. Name it and one store definitely has it. I admit that I am a bag addict myself, and have given some away to relatives since my closet has been occupied more on bags instead of clothes.

10 years and counting!

Last September 4, 2015 at SM City Novaliches, MICHAELA, one of the well known stores in the metro when it comes to bags and accessories opened their new branch.

In line of their 10th year anniversary and as part of their appreciation to their first 50 customers from September 4 to 10, MICHAELA had given out (and still giving out) 100.00PHP worth of Gift Certificates, 1 Tote Bag and 1 special tumbler at SM City Novaliches.

And the ladies from students, employees, wives and business women visited the newly opened branch and got the best deals, especially with items that are on a 50% discount. Actually some men were also there and I saw one who purchased a purse as a gift for her girlfriend (that's one lucky girl!)

A photo booth was also available for guests to take their pictures, including me!

Their latest product welcomes you as you enter their branch at SM City Novaliches.

As part of their 10th year anniversary, MICHAELA is giving away 10 iPhone 6 and 100 pieces of MICHAELA Limited Edition bags! For every purchase of 999.75PHP single receipt purchase, a customer is entitled to 1 raffle entry. You may visit their branches until September 30.

Check out the nearest MICHAELA branch near you.

1. 1st Floor, Riverbanks Center, Marikina City
2. 2nd Floor, SM Valenzuela
3. 3rd Floor, East Wing, Robinson's Galleria
4. 3rd Floor, Farmers Plaza, Cubao
5. 168 Shopping Mall, Sta. Elena St., Binondo, Manila
6. 999 Shopping Mall, Sta. Elena St., Binondo, Manila
7. Center Pavilion, Mandaluyong City
8. Fisher Mall, Quezon City
9. SM Novaliches
10. Greenhills Shopping Center, San Juan

Watch out as they prepare for their upcoming 10th Year Anniversary Celebration, and the best part of it, EVERYONE IS INVITED!

For more details you may visit their website at http://www.michaela.com.ph or their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MICHAELA.Philippines.  

Pardon My Nails 4: Luxe by Girl Stuff

Since I was at SM Megamall last Saturday for an event, I just can't help it but to drop by at the stall of Girl Stuff located at the fourth floor.

Their staff are really very accomodating, and would even introduce their new shades of nail polish, and Luxe Nail Lacquer was introduced to me.

Only 150.00php.

Would you believe that this is a two-toned nail polish?

Applied two coats on my toe nails.

It is initially in a shade of gold when you apply it on your nails, but when light hits the nail polish it turns into a shade of silver,due to the glittery effect of the nail polish. cool isn't it? And you don't need to apply any top coats for nail polishes from Girl Stuff, it doesn't leave a yellowish stain either after you remove it. And it really stays on your nails for two weeks! I even experienced having it for three weeks, no chips, after I decided to remove it myself.

I love it, and hoping I could apply it on my finger nails soon!

Pardon My Nails: The Collection That I Gave Away

I’ve got these beautiful nail polishes from Caronia at the Blogapalooza Event last October 2014. Aside from the usual giveaway that I’ve got, which is the Blue Moon Collection, I also got another set from their on-the-spot Instagram contest. 

Caronia nail polishes

The colors are just so divine, and I love them. The problem is, I felt that I’ve got a lot and can’t even use all of them. Aside from the regular job that I have, my travel time from work to home, my chores at home (talk about hectic schedule) and including the bonding time with my kids when I got home, I hardly had time to try all of them.

I was thinking of giving it to one of my friends, or divide it to them so there would not be any hard feelings. But I was thinking, they can afford to buy one, or a set or two. Then I remembered an old friend, who is now a beautician near our place. We used to play volleyball every summer during college years. Surviving with three children alone is really not that easy. So, I thought I’ll just give all these nail polishes and the other stuffs to her. She would be able to use it as part of her profession. At least something that would help her out, and for her customers to choose from when she does home service.

Tried them before giving it away. On my thumb Bouree, pinky- Eternity, ring finger - Avant, middle finger - Orange Pop, pointer finger - Butterscotch.

I’m sorry Caronia, I really love all of them, but I just felt that a friend needed it more than I do. As they say, “Share your blessings.”

The Pardon My Nails series (?) will not end here of course, there would be a lot more nail polish trials and color experiments that I would still be sharing.

Pardon My Nails 3: Toe Version

And I'm back! :)

Already a month and am still adjusting with my normal life on a morning shift. This is what you got for being used to the graveyard shift for the past three years. :)

This is one of the products that I've got from the Blogapalooza event last October, the Caronia Blue Moon Special Collection.

I tried the Chasse, which is under the shade of blue, and this time on my toe nails.

(Nail polish For Today) NFTD Chasse

Looks good! And this is after cleaning the excess nail polish that went across the borders. :) Still messy even on applying nail polish on my toe nails. Especially with that very small toe nail that I have.

The nail polish will definitely last longer with a base coat to protect your toe nails or finger nails, and a top coat to protect it from chipping off. 

I'll be using the other two colors soon, Avant (green shade) and Bourree (orange shade) and see if they would also match my skin. I just felt that any nail polish should compliment your skin too. It's like an accessory, everything should go along with your outfit. 

Then after trying the Blue Moon Collection, i'll be trying the other nail polishes that I've got as a prize from Caronia.

Party, Costumes, Trending on Halloween

It was last month when I join in a new company (this one will be on a separate blog).

Malls and offices have their own Halloween events like costume parties and trick or treat for the kids, sales on costumes, pumpkin baskets, even face paint supplies got sold out!

And they had this announcement of having your best scary costume contest for the halloween party. Tenured employees there said that this is the first time they would be having this kind of event in their office.

And I thought I won"t be able to do any crafting in this new work place.

I decided to be the black angel, since I had this feeling that everyone will turn out into zombies just like in The Walking Dead series.

Just made my black wings with one of my leftover cartoons, then used some of the supplies that I still have from the previous decors that we have used. Lucky me, for I was able to find a black cartolina and crepe paper for my wings. I placed the cartolina for the innner part of the wings, and the cut-out feathers from the crepe paper for the outside part of the wings.  I also used wires to make the wings sturdy. And just colored the masking tape black with a pentel pen. And of course I can't wear the wing without a garter and used some velcro to support the wings from my back.

My second props was my bloody sword, it's made of wood (palo tsina). Got it from our dirty kitchen and carved it into a sword. Went back to my supplies where I still have a silver and gold poster paint which I used to paint the wooden sword. And to make it bloody, I used red poster paint. 

Yes, poster paint is not for wood, but if you are not into spending for just a one day event the poster paint will be just fine. The paint wears off easily with water.

my black wings and bloody sword.

I was just wearing a black spaghetti strap blouse, black skirt and shoes, and used Caronia's Black Velvet Nail Polish.

me, my zombie friend and my angel of death friend.

Did not put on any make-up, just powder, lipstick and eyeliner. A lot of competitors in this office though. Everyone really participated. Who would not like a 1500.00 php for the grand prize? Yes, you might say the prize is not that extravagant, but hey! Anyone can add it up on their savings or allowance, right?

And of course, what is a party without food! 

Not expecting to win this one, but if I could get the consolation prize, it's fine with me.

Note: Photo Credit to my office mate Job Tulan (for the last pic that I posted).

Pardon My Nails 2

And I have been trying to put nail polish on my nails perfectly for the past few days. And I have been combining different brands of nail polishes.

The first one, OMG Sunset Nail Polish and Girl Stuff spotted nail polish. The OMG Sunset is more on the orange shade (good thing one of my best friend was not able to see this shade on my nails, or else, friendship’s over. Lol! She just doesn’t like orange). Then I saw the rest of the girls using a different color on one of their nails, specifically the one on the ring finger. But since my imagination is working and I wanted to be different, I topped a spotted Girl Stuff nail polish on the nails of my pointer finger.

Still messy on putting nail polish on, but I’m not giving up. I know I can do it (someday).

 And since I loooooove pink, I tried the OMG First Date nail polish (a baby pink one). But obviously, it is not blending well with my morena skin. And yes, still messy on applying this one too.

 The one that I tried recently was Sparkling Maroon and Electric Blue of Girl Stuff nail polish. And I thought blue would not be a good shade on my nails, but It looks very nice.

And I am proud of this one, not so messy on applying the nail polish! And of course, don’t forget to apply a top coat.

So, what shade of nail polish have you tried recently?

Pardon My Nails

I am not really into nail polish, but I think I am starting to like them, or should I say love them now.

We are not quite busy at the office lately and the rest of the girls were busy doing their stuffs, yes! - the nail beautification. What else do you expect from an all girl team? Well, we do have a male though, our  supervisor. 

I can't remember who bought the first set of nail polishes in our team, at first there were only like 3 colors available, and as the days passed by more shades were provided, including those with glitter effects and polkadots.

The shade that I used is Bikini by OMG (Oh My Golly). I really loved the red and pink colors on my nails. And obviously I am a certified newbie on the art of coloring nails, see how messy I have applied the nail polish on my picture. :)

One of these days I'll be able to do it perfectly, as the saying goes "Practice makes it Perfect".

Kasalang Bayan 2014 (sa office)

25th of June 2014 when the event “Kasalang Bayan” was held at the office. No, hindi po siya totoong kasalan, isa nanaman siyang theme day na naisip ng aming mga bossing.

And the criteria for judging are:

- most creative team

- originality and resourcefulness

- relevance to the theme

Ang prize?

- 2500.00php for the winning team and 1500.00php for the runner-up.

Again, it’s a competition accross all accounts being handled by our Senior Operations Manager, kaya eto nanaman kami. Research nanaman ng magandang wedding theme with our very reliable bestfriend G (a.k.a Google).

We originally planned for a Black Wedding Theme, kagaya ng wedding nina Jay Contreras ng Kamikaze and Sarah Abad (sister ni Kaye Abad). Since along the planning stage, di sinasadyang narinig namin ang plano ng kabilang team (no intention talaga, lakas kasi ng boses nila, nalaman tuloy namin. :D). So, we had a sudden change of plans. At dahil sa malilikot naming imagination we came up with a Luau/Shot-gun Wedding Theme.

Now with the needed design, ang mga dating diy (do it yourself) paper flowers na nakalagay sa arko na ginamit namin sa Santacruzan theme day ay ginamit namin uli. Well, di naman lahat. Only those na maayos pa tignan and I made a bouquet out of it, and added more for the additional bouquets, assorted colors naman ngayon. And of course, hindi mawawala ang ibang props like the wedding invitation, garter, floral headdress, bouquet ng bride, wedding cake (from mamon and cupcakes), wedding cord, arrhae at wedding ring! And ang frame para sa aming photo booth. Our teammate Marichie even had some summer hats for an additional props.

We even had a pre nup pic ng groom and bride and the colorful toy gun. At mawawala ba ang wedding souvenirs? We had munchkins in plastic shot glasses na nilagyan ng mini umbrellas.

Good thing nakisama ang queue. Halos wala kaming nakukuhang emails so we had most of the time preparing, di pa kasama iyong mga naging homework namin.

This time ang outfit namin ay floral dress with matching white slippers, ang guys naman nakafloral polo and shorts.

The other two teams from our account had the traditional wedding theme with the brides wearing white gowns.

The winners were announced the next day, (pero nalaman na namin bago pa naiannounce, not sure how my team mates found out) and the winning team is…

Yes! The ECare Team wins again!

The other team from our account with the Black Wedding won as Best Groom and Bride with a 500.00php worth of Starbucks GC.

As of the moment nag-iisip nanaman ang mga bossing ng bagong theme day. But my teammates wanted to rest muna. Give chance to others daw muna, lagi na lang daw kami nananalo. :)

photo credit to my teammate Rau. :)

Santacruzan sa Office

And here we go again, another theme day sa office.

Bakit may “Theme day”? This is sort of a stress reliever for the employees. Minsan compulsory, minsan it’s up to you if you wanted to join. There’s the wear anything red, minsan shorts day (pero iyong decent shorts ha, hindi super short shorts), flip flops day, at marami pang iba (kung ano maisip ng mga bossing).

And since May is the fiesta month, a competition in regards to the Santacruzan theme was announced across all accounts being handled by our Senior Operations Manager.

A little trivia:

The Santacruzan or Flores de Mayo (Spanish for Flowers of May) is a month long celebration of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was held in honour of Helena of Constantinople (known as Reyna Elena) and Constantine on the Great finding of the True Cross in Jerusalem.

And of course the winning team will get a free a free lunch as their prize. And the prize is…. Shakey’s Monster Meal!

But it’s not all about the prize (well, partially), its more on the prestige. It’s more on how ECare team (our team) and our effort would be recognized. Sa madaling salita, we are after the popularity! Hahaha!

Our team already won two theme days, the Pyjama Theme Day, where I won a gift certificate from Starbucks and shared it to the rest of the team (kung saan nag share ng additional 500php ang aming ever supportive Coach Vince. Actually, plano kong solohin yung GC kaso nahiya na ako kasi nga nagshare na si coach. Hahaha! Selfishness!). The other one was the Mother’s Day Event, just submit a mom and daughter/son pic with a heartwarming quote, our teammate April won this one (GC din ata ng Starbucks prize niya).

So, if we get to win this Santacruzan Theme, it’s the third straight win!

And now the exciting part (exciting nga ba? parang mas nastress ata kami, hahaha!)… we need to decorate our bays (or stations), and make a floral arc. So, we need flowers to set things up. No, we are not going to purchase any flowers from the famous Dangwa market in Manila. Instead, it is all going to be DIY (do-it-yourself) paper flowers. Thanks to Google and YouTube I was able to search for some easy patterns.

One of our teammate, Jecille, did a little research on the characters of the sagala. After selecting our characters, our next problem… the gowns.

Oh, yes! It’s not that easy looking for one. Our first option, manghiram sa mga friends or family ng gown. Unfortunately, none would fit to some or talagang walang maipahiram.  I decided to rent for my gown. A red and black combination with 3 black roses as a highlight along the waist line and a spiral glitter design along the black tool fabric of the gown’s skirt. How much did the rent cost, 1,400.00php with the 700.00php will serve as deposit and will be returned to you once you return the gown. Not to mention the dry cleaning cost of 350.00php, and you would get the gown after two days (it will double the price if you would like to have it rush). It’s really quite expensive, but I’d rather rent than buy one. Besides, its only for a one day (or should I say night) event, so renting, if you were unable to borrow one would be preferred. I would not be wearing the gown everyday anyway.

And of course hindi pwedeng mawala ang props! (Effort kung effort! Career mode ang peg! Hahaha)

May floral headdress, keys made of illustration board, flower bouquet, pati wooden sword!

My headdress

Rau's Headdress

Actually, suggestion ng kateammate naming si Rau ay gumamit na lang kami ng broccoli for the bouquet, tapos lutuin na lang daw niya after the event. Kaloka di ba? Hahaha!

Up to the day before the event gumagawa pa rin ako ng decors, wala na akong plans gumawa ng arko, kaso gumawa iyong ibang team kaya gumawa na rin ako. Hindi puwedeng wala kami!

At eto na, May 28, ang araw (or gabi) ng theme day. Bihis ng gown (pero mga naka-chucks. Hehehe!), ayos ng buhok, lagay ng simpleng make-up and after a few hours, pumarada na ang mga sagala. Not once, but twice for the judges to decide kung sino ang dapat maging winner.

gowns and chucks

After a few hours they have announced the winning team. And yes, we made it! The ECare Team wins! We got our Monster Meal (though the next day na namin nakain dahil may free food din ng mga panahong iyon. Sayang tuloy ang mga pasta, napanis lang.) and a treat from our Coach Vince days after the event (promise niya iyon, manalo, matalo treat niya kami).

It was fun, lumalabas ang pagka-creative naming lahat. Another theme day is coming up and we are looking forward for it!

photo credit to my teammate Rau.  :)