Saturday Favorites 004

Photo Credit

1. Boss wasn't around most of the time the whole week. Whaddup! :D

2. Katy Perry California Dreams Tour Live in Manila concert videos

Well, if you've been reading my former entries, you know how I enjoy watching concerts of singers/musicians that I listen to. I love Katy Perry and when I learned about her tour in Manila last year, I was ecstatic! But surprisingly enough, I didn't watch her concert. Yes, you read that right. I. DID. NOT. For the sole reason that I am saving up for school (Yes, this is me trying not to splurge impulsively and to save for more important things. But trust me, I really, really, really, badly, very badly want tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahaha!). And for Madonna. Just in case. (Mr. Marvin Agustin, you better get her to come here!!!!!!!)

So thank God for YouTube. This YouTube user, vinceme29 was the first one that I found because his (or her? I'm not sure. But I have a feeling he is a he. Anyone, correct me if I'm wrong.) most-watched video of Katy kissing a local actor here in the Philippines is on YouTube's home page.

3. Fourth collection release!

Almost half of the collection were already sold! Yippee! :) I got more potential clients as well. And more orders. Keep it comin' to make people more fabulous, shall we? :) And oh, thanks to my cousin for taking the photographs! :)

4. Holiday on a Monday! Enter Year of the Dragon! :)

5. Family Bonding on a school/work day

6. New website I found: http://vi.sualize.us/

I was searching for random photos I can add here in this entry and I found this site. It's a social bookmarking site for photos. Something like Pinterest. Or Tumblr. Or weheartit. I found a lot of cute and creative photos (examples are above, see what I mean, now?) and the site where you got it automatically gets linked. Cute lang. :)

Color blocks! :)

I'm baaaaaack!!! :)

 I was on hiatus during the holidays since my mom and brothers 'hired' me to make Christmas gifts for their friends. Sooooo basically, my collection for the holidays were exclusive for them. Buuut I included some of those in this collection that will be released tonight. :) You have probably seen some of my items for this collection in my recent outfit posts like this one and this one.

Visit:

Jana Kathryn's Facebook page

Jana Kathryn's Multiply page

Most of the items are one stock only! :)

Baby, let's cruise.

I've had vouchers for this cruise, which I got through a deal site, since September. It was my first 'major' treat for my family since I got a job. My mom told me that we should use it after the holidays so we could have a family activity by the start of 2012. First week of this month, I had already booked for this cruise on a Friday night. However, that night didn't happen. Of course, it was a Friday and we were badly stuck in traffic (because my brother went home late! My parents were so mad. Haha.) so we decided to go home instead. 

Unfortunately enough, when I rebooked for Wednesday night (because my brother does not have a class on that day so he does not have a reason to be late. :p), all the upper deck slots were already taken. Even for the rest of the following days. Grar. Left with really no choice, I just went for the lower deck slots. 

Wednesday night came and we were on time. We were actually the first group to arrive. I asked if there were still upper deck slots but the girl in the registration area told us that there were no more available slots for that. She assured us though that if ever there would be a vacancy, she would give it to us. 

Registration and boarding time came, we were the first ones called. To our surprise, we were given upper deck slots! YAY! It really was my lucky day (Apart from that, I found a 100-peso bill in my bag that morning). Stinky garbage/fishy smell (but tolerable, at least for me) in the docking area aside, it was a good night. 

They served good food; the city lights were very nice to look at. I love looking at city lights kasi. It was a good place to relax and just stare at the water or the night sky or even the city lights. :) There were two acoustic singers on the upper deck, too. :) People from the lower deck can go up, listen to the music and watch the view after dinner.

On to my outfit for the day:
I went for something relaxed and easy. Something 'effortless' but still chic (or at least presentable to look at. Haha!), you know what I mean. I didn't want to look too lazy so I pulled a red blazer over my long, black tank top and black tights to add a pop of color and to protect me from the cold, night air over the bay as well.

 I wore my current favorite sneakers that night -- my snakeskin, Cole Haan sneakers to add more statement.

The bag that I used was a crocheted shoulder bag from Papua New Guinea, which was given to me by my uncle years ago.

All in all, it was a lovely family bonding. The only bad part of that night were my contact lenses. They were starting to dry up by halfway of the cruise and I couldn't see clearly! Yeah, I should have removed them when I got home and used my specs instead because it's windy out there. But whatever. :)

Artwork. :)

Yesterday, I remembered doodling my supposed-to-be blog header from last year. I wasn't able to color it until this morning because I changed my mind and didn't want to use it before. I got the idea of drawing my own banner from Danika Navarro. Initially, I thought she was making it through the computer since she's an art student and has a background in graphic design. But no. So the "feeling artist" in me grabbed the sketch pad and pencil to see if I can make one. Just a pretty or cute one. Hahaha.

After two or three or four hours, I suppose...

... here's what it looked like.  I used my Unipin 0.3 pen for the outline of letters and the background patterns and fine point black pentel pen for the shaded part surrounding the letters. Remember the patterns? This was inspired by the portfolio I submitted last year when I applied for fashion school scholarship.

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I rendered color to the background using my watercolor pencils.

Then, voila! :) The final look. 

I know you've already seen it on top before you even scrolled down to read this one.

I also decided to update the thumbnails for links that you can see on the right side of my blog.

I missed one more link thumbnail!!! Well anyway, I might change all of these later. (So pagkatapos mag-effort, papalitan ko rin lang naman pala.) Gusto ko terno sa drawing ko. Hehe.

Monday Goodies 002: The Moon and Self-esteem

I've been meaning to write an entry about this last month but I just couldn't find time to sit down and really gather my thoughts since I was pre-occupied with the merriment of the recent holiday season. I've seen this report on Yahoo and just followed the links on the article and found her on YouTube. It was about an acne-stricken lady that does amazing make-up and has awesome make-up skills, hence, she was able to cover up the unwanted and "unnecessary objects" in her face and be a model. Yes, she is a model. Click here on how she does her make-up ritual and to find out more of her videos.

With her case, I can actually relate. I, too, had been hit by badass acne when I was in college. I had little and few ones occasionally in high school though, you know, the normal type for teenagers.

This was me at 13. Notice my forehead? Holy moly, don't mind my face. I look... Hahaha!

But the worst had arrived in college. I've been to 4 dermatologists for four-five years and still, nothing changed. It actually got worse. To the point that my Mom can't even look at me. There were days, weeks and months though that it became better or were lessened; there were days that were just gruesome and my acne was just raging mad that they keep on appearing! It affected my self-esteem because I can't stop looking at the mirror or any reflective surface. Until I stopped looking because I can't fathom how bad my face was. I'm not a make-up fan type of girl. I'm a lippie type of girl and I'm contented with just that on my face. I don't even possess make-up skills to save my life so the girl on video, Cassandra Bankson, was very lucky enough to have a skill in covering her acne. In junior year college, when we had hospital duties already, our dean instructed us to wear simple make-up so we wouldn't look very haggard when facing patients. Well, I know how to use a blush-on and an eyeliner but that's all. When I feel like adding color, I do eye make-up (which I don't know if it looked good, but I didn't get any weird looks from anybody at that time so maybe it was okay. Hahahaha!) But it wasn't enough to conceal what needs to be concealed. Here are some proofs:

2005 was the start. 2006-2007 was probably the worst! 2008-2009 was better. 2010 was the recurrence.

I didn't want to share this because it is too embarrassing (but I still liked taking photos of myself back then.Yes, with a face like that! What in the freakin' world was I thinking, I know!!!)

To make up for the horrendous photos, here are some photos on miraculous days that my skin was helluva lot better.

2005: Before I went to college. All the while I thought my skin couldn't take Manila dirt. 2007: Thank God my skin cooperated in time of my capping. 2008-2009: Read on below. 2010: ALLELUIAAA!!!

As you see, By 2008, my skin got better. Decent enough to look at. That was the time I had been to the 4th dermatologist I had. He gave me loads of antibiotic that I took for months. Being a nurse that I am, I know that antibiotics should not be taken longer than 14 days! But I didn't care because I wanted to look pleasant enough to look at, if not pretty. Eventually, I got scared because too much of the drug might not make it effective for me later on, if ever I need it for its infection and not just plainly for vanity. So I was on antibiotics on and off and just relied more on my dermatologist's injection. I totally stopped taking them by late-2009. At the same time, my acne were starting to spurt back again little by little! By mid-2010, I met my heaven's sent dermatologist. Her team was just very rigorous in cleaning my face up. My dermatologist makes facial washes and creams for her patients and that's what I used. I swear, in 6 weeks time, my face got a whole lot better (Okay, I sound like a home shopping TV ad. Haha!). It was a 6 once-a-week session actually, including that 2 once-a-week gruesome facial cleaning for me, which I will never forget. In the middle of the treatment session, she made me take Isotretinoin, an anti-acne medication which has teratogenic effects (so my doctor requires me to take pregnancy exams and sign waivers monthly) and its dosage is computed according to your body mass. (NOTE: Isotretinoin is not an OTC drug! So you really need to consult a dermatologist about this. Your skin problem might be different than mine and you may not need to use this. However, once you start using this drug, you'll have dry skin and lips as side effects. I didn't experience any more side effects other than that but still, side effects are not one-size-fits-all kind of thing.) After that rigid weekly treatment, she instructed me to stop taking the medication and to come back only for maintenance sessions that happens every month. By early 2011, these unwanted objects were starting to recur again! My dermatologist wasn't surprised because she had a hunch even before that I have a hormonal problem. All of my dermatologists before actually said the same thing but they didn't do anything about it (or probably I was too young to be treated 'hormonally' though). Middle of last year, she referred me to an ob-gyne, a former classmate of hers from med school. (I told that OB story here. You can read my diagnosis there, too.)

To cut the story short, I was under hormonal therapy and my dermatologist made me take Isotretinoin again. As of now, my dermatologist instructed me to stop taking the Isotretinoin. My hormonal therapy would still continue until February though, as instructed by my OB. Since I started these hormonal therapy, my face actually got a whole lotta better. Loads. Gazillions. You can see that even on close-up. Although I have some little marks on my cheeks but I can get rid of it with Dermaroller later on. :) And some large pores which I don't know how I can make it smaller. Can Dermaroller do that, too?

I feel more confident though and I can go out now without needing to even at least use a powder. :) Ha! Dream come true. Hahaha! I know my skin will go through a lifeloooong maintenance since my problem has something to do with hormones. I might go on and off with my meds. But for now, I'm happy with it. :)

So, to all those who has this same problem, I have a few things to say:

1. I wouldn't be too preachy with you. Even if I tell you to "never lose the confidence" and "don't confuse yourself with the real essence of beauty," and all that positive shit, you probably wouldn't listen whole-heartedly. They are cliche advice, yes, and you need not to hear that from me. I think I know what I am saying because I had been there myself for almost 5 years. Although I stayed positive (and annoyed) because it's the only way to be for me (I'd rather not be depressed, hello!) on the days that I just feel awful. I still hold on to the idea or belief that other people might still see me for who I am, with acne or without.

2. I wouldn't be so much of a hypocrite because at one point or another, we all really want glowing, pretty skin. So get your ass off that chair, move and get yourself treated! Go to my dermatologist -- if you're from the Philippines that is. (Yes, plugging! Hahahaha!) Find Dr. Clarissa Villarama-Cellona in St. Luke's Global City or in Don Santiago Building in Taft. I still think it's better to consult a dermatologist early on and spare yourself from constantly raging acne and the tons of products out there that might actually do more harm. Ask your dermatologist what specific products you can and cannot actually use and if there's a specific skin regimen you should do.

3. After treatment (No, not during. AFTER THE TREATMENT. When all is well.), learn awesome make-up skills through bubzbeauty and these Fowler sisters, Elle and Blair. They are my personal favorites. :)

4. While you do all the prior things I said, listen to these songs to make you feel better and make you realize that there's more to us that has been covered by these cruel acne.

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful

Pink -Raise Your Glass

India Arie - I Am Not My Hair

Corinne Bailey Rae - Put Your Record On

Phil Collins -True Colors

Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Sugababes - Ugly

Pink - F*ckin Perfect

TLC - Unpretty

5. Lastly:

HERE

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