I love reading Cosmopolitan Magazine because of all the beauty tips and pieces of advice on other girly stuff that one could pick up there. That’s what’s useful about magazines, they give you some tips on what to buy.
But the problem is, how do you know which ones are actually true? I mean, some of them could have been paid advertisements. So it’s still best to ask your friends or those who are non-biased.
Now me, I’m no celeb and no beauty either, but I do get the occasional compliment on my skin and makeup. So let’s pretend I’m writing a Cosmo article. Here are my top ten tried and tested beauty products.
1) Loads of water (free from the office cooler). I gulp up at least 2 liters of water every day. It flushes out the toxins and gives your skin a healthy glow. Seriously.
2) St Ives Apricot scrub (Less than P150). Any variant would do, but I prefer the anti-blemish one (white and blue container), to prevent pimples, even though I rarely have any. I use this once a day, in the mornings. Don’t just lather it on but scrub hard, to get rid of the dead cells on the surface and show the new skin.
3) Maybelline Clear Smooth Aqua Gel Foundation (around P300). Even if you already have smooth skin, this helps even out your skin tone even more and will act as the base for your other makeup.
4) Bodyshop Lip and Cheek stain (around P600 a bottle unless you buy it on sale where they sometimes go as low as 50%). Dab a little of this liquid on the apples of your cheeks and rub into the skin using your beauty fingers (middle & ring fingers). This will give you a natural looking blush unlike the powdered ones that obviously look like makeup. Also, this lasts longer, giving you a natural looking flush even at the end of the day.
5) Max Factor Lipfinity Lipstick (P650). The lipstick for people like me who hate retouching. The lipstick that doesn’t kiss or smudge off. I apply it only in the mornings and I could eat meals and brush my teeth and it would still be painted on at the end of the day. Only makeup remover could get rid of this, so be sure to buy a bottle. A warning, though — it dries lips, so lather on petroleum jelly before going to sleep at night to combat this side effect.
7) Avon Multi-purpose Lip and Face Tint (P99 lowest discounted brochure price). Bodyshop is kinda expensive so you could also make do with this less malapot version from Avon. It has a similar effect, though Bodyshop is darker and longer lasting. But it’ll do.
8) Nivea Velvet Rose Lip Balm (P100 or so). It’s pretty easy to get chapped dry lips, so if you wanna soften them up, lather on some of this on your kissers. This variant is so much softer than the other ones, plus it has a light pink color so you won’t even need lipstick if this is the color you like to wear.
9) Maxipeel (Below P50). No, I don’t use it on my entire face. No way! But I keep a small bottle around in case of emergency — in the rare event that a pimple breaks out. A trick I learned from my mom is to squirt a little bit of this onto the tip of a cotton bud and then dab it on the pimple to dry it overnight. It’s less painful and less damaging than using the new Eskinol zit zapper (whatever it’s called) which I tried recently. The latter reddens the zit and makes it stand out even more.
10) Watsons Hair Shine (2 bottles for P129, lasts a year). After drying and combing your hair, pour a teeny portion on your palm, rub it with your other palm so that the stuff is evenly spread on both hands, then run your palms all over your hair. What’s so great about this stuff is that it’s not heavy and sticky and has a nice faint scent unlike Suave which is greasy and smelly. It also doesn’t give you a wet look nor harden your hair like gel or leave ons. Just don’t put on too much unless you want people singing “Shine” whenever they see you.