This hits close to the chest as I use about…one, two—twenty cosmetic products for today.  That begins from the moment I wake up, brush my teeth, shower, and head out of the door.  TWENTY!  Imagine that.

Before anything else, I think a background on my skincare routine is necessary. If I had to describe it I say it’s semi-strict. That means I will experiment and try products but once I have found any of them to work, they become part of my preferred brands.  The strict part comes in that I hardly miss using them daily.

Photo from makeupstash.com

From much experimentation and self-knowledge, I am not afraid to moisturize even in this humidity. If anything, moisturizing actually balances things out.  Although I do know that with the wrong product, it can get annoyingly sticky.  Fortunately, the Neutrogena Hydro Boost range didn’t stress my skin out even during the first few days of use, which I took as a good sign to continue.

What I really like about the Hydro Boost range is that it goes on lightly.  I was hesitant in the beginning, thinking that it won’t be able to deliver in the moisture department but, surprisingly, it did.  It didn’t cause any breakouts either, which was another good sign.  I guess with Neutrogena’s dermatologist-tested, oil-free, and non-comedogenic formula across all its products, it was a given that it wouldn’t cause breakouts at all.

In fact, there’s nothing negative to say about the Hydro Boost range.  If anything, I am kind of “in like” with it already.  Allow me a suggestion though: sunblock for the Hydro Boost Essence and/or Hydro Boost Water Gel, preferably at sPF 50 or higher.  I thought it was too much for my skin when I had to slather on sunblock on top of everything else.

But what really takes the cake, for me at least, was that the Neutrogena Hydro Boost range is affordable.  I mean come on, I’m only in my early 20s and not exactly raking big bucks here.  Ever since I began my skincare routine, specifically to combat premature aging at the age of twenty, I am spending more and more on skincare products.  Neutrogena doesn’t blow my budget at all.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost range includes:

• Hydro Boost Mousse Cleanser
• Hydro Boost Clear Lotion
• Hydro Boost Essence
• Hydro Boost Water Gel
• Hydro Boost Mask

Okay, so maybe they’re not that awesome but they will surely attract weird stares or at least garner myself a bit of a head scratch when people start noticing why two of my digits are in dusty pink.  Well honey, there isn’t any reason really but if you need one, you can say that I needed a break in the sea of blue. There.

[UPDATE: I was drinking water from the bottle and noticed that my nails are actually Flickr-inspired.  Get it?  Haha. I cannot believe how much of a nerd I am–subconsciously too! 05/10/09]

Monday’s going to consume us soon. Let’s console ourselves with some good tunes, yeah?
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]Mr Universe by Aqualung

Here’s what lack of air conditioning does to me – night time showers become a must.

I enjoy showers a lot simply because it’s the only time I could actually focus on myself without having to overthink things. Bath time routine has been so ingrained in me that I go on autopilot once I step into the showers.  That’s twenty minutes of ‘me’ time.

Since I’ll be doing a lot of nightly showers from now on, I’ve decided to make it rewarding and more enjoyable by changing my body wash to something more apt.  Everyone, meet Johnson’s Baby Bedtime Bath.

It wasn’t hard choosing which brand to get as I had probably already made up my mind even before I realized I wanted a night time body wash.  I’ve been using Johnson’s products ever since I could remember (who could forget their No More Tears campaign) and I’ve also been a big fan of Aveeno, which is by Johnson’s too.  For more than a year now, I’ve been enjoying the Johnson’s 24 Hour Moisture Body Wash.

Anyway, I should be getting ready for bed. Off to the showers I go!

Well, the result of my well-deserved haircut isn’t as shocking as most people would have done it.  I sported a bob since I was young and only had a chance to grow them out about three times in my lifetime: when I was 9, 16, and 21. So you can say that I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my long, almost mermaid-like hair yet.

For this momentous event, I enlisted the help of the people at Toni & Guy and wasn’t disappointed.  I definitely enjoyed the attention to my head shape, hair texture, and facial features, to come up with a style that would suit and flatter me.  The entire process took two hours but I definitely enjoyed every single bit of it, especially the little techniques and hairstylist jargon I picked up along the way.

Basically my hair’s been bombarded with layers to remove the flatness and heavy feeling.  The back-top part of my head’s a bit flat too so they had to shape it to make it more round and such.  The fringe was made to draw the attention to my ‘expressive eyes’ (their words, not mine) so they cut it just below my cheek bones.  They didn’t really want to give me bangs because those would only cover my face, which is a good call since I didn’t really want them short.

Anyway, here’s my new ‘do.  What do you think?

Click to view larger

Oh, and it isn’t my birthday yet. I just wanted to get a haircut now so my new hair would have enough time to settle when I turn a year older.  Heh.