Why 30 is not the new 20 + The Winner!

The other day, one of my most admired women, Daphne Oseña-Paez tweeted about one thing we can only dream about:

If you could start your adult life over, what would you do differently? #deepthoughts
— Daphne Osena Paez (@DaphneOP) May 23, 2013

There are many things, if you ask me. I wish I studied more. I wish TEDtalks existed when I was in my teens. I wish I didn't sleep so much. I wish I wasn't such a bad decision-maker. I wished I focused on quarter life capital instead of quarter life crisis. I wish I spent afternoons going out of my comfort zones instead of sulking myself to sadness. I wish I studied more. Read more, traveled more.

Last weekend, I spent the weekend with my favorite cousin -- whom I treat like a little sister. We spent the weekend treating ourselves to a spa day and eating Razon's Halo Halo because it was sweltering hot. And of course, talking about trivial things. 

Without giving much away, I told her all of my life's regrets -- and that hopefully, she doesn't have to go through them too. If you're a twentysomething who always think that things won't get better --- well, they do. Someday, you will wake up and realize that the time you spent obsessing over a job that never happened / a failed relationship / a failure / anything that gets you down --- you'd wish you just sucked it up and moved on. You are who you think you are --- those days will make up for your lifetime. Make every day count --- take it from me. I wasted so many years crying over spilled milk. To be more precise, I spent a good number of years crying over a guy who doesn't like me.

Please don't be like the younger me.

And if you don't believe me, here's a wonderful, wonderful TEDtalks video by Meg Jay. I promise you, that you will feel better and empowered as I have been.

Do not waste your 20s. Let's not.

Much love,

Tara

PS: Congratulations, Mela Sy, for winning my Ultimate Diamond Facial giveaway! =)

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You'll Come

Here's a thing: I add random songs into my three four year old iPod, play everything in random shuffle and let whatever song that comes up underscore whatever is happening into my life.

Yesterday, as I was cleaning my bathroom, recounting the funny, serendipitous details of my day, this song, a recommendation from my friend, Sophie, came into play.

You'll Come | Hillsong United

Unlike my other favorite Christian songs that hinges on humble forgiveness, this one resounds of pure joy and acceptance of Jesus into life. Neither is better than the other but yesterday, as I reviewed the state of my life, my personal instances, it was a perfect fit.

Everyday is a new day to start all over again, was what I thought. Every day is a new day to hold on to Christ's hands, to faith.

I have decided I have resolved

To wait upon you Lord

My rock and redeemer shield, and reward

I'll wait upon you Lord

Prechorus

As surely as the sun will rise

You'll come to us

As certain as the dawn appears

Chorus

You'll come let your glory fall

As you respond to us

Spirit Rain, flood into our thirsty hearts again

You'll come.

Verse 2

We are not shaken we are not moved

We wait upon you Lord

Mighty deliverer triumph and truth

We wait upon you Lord

As surely as the sun will rise you'll come to us

Certain as your word endures. 

CHORUS

Bridge

Chains be broken

Lives be healed

Eyes be opened

Christ is revealed

It's amazing how Jesus works wonderful ways =) Have a blessed Tuesday!

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Why Monday mornings are sacred

I came to work today bounding off the walls --- you can tell I am happy. 

Today, I'm grateful that I had my morning to myself, attending to chores and eating a healthy breakfast and most of all, devoting precious hours to learning. When I moved closer to where I work, people who knew me predicted that I would coming in earlier than I usually did. And I did.

Until I realized that I wasn't the type. I felt like I was being robbed off of something every morning and felt empty in the evenings.

Then I reverted to my best routines -- that is, I wake up, pray {most of the time at least}, fix my bed, clean, prepare my breakfast, brew my coffee and read. I read about two to three chapters of business books {right now it's Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In and Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Workweek} and watch TED.

I am truly grateful that I had the pleasure of watching these videos this morning and I am blessed with the beautiful knowledge imparted to me.

Especially you, Matthieu Ricard. You've made my day.

The Habits of Happiness by Matthieu Ricard

Why we make bad decisions by Dan Gilbert

Sending you lots of love and happiness!

xx

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Chronicles of Cream Blush: Bobbi Brown Sheer Cherry Cheek Tint

For so many years, I have shied away from anything cream, liquid or anything that needs to be blended. You see, growing up, I had the most hideous acne – which produced the yuckiest scars. Surely, they’re still there and my cheeks have scars but I guess aging has a way of making things seem better.

When Bobbi Brown came out with a Pink + Red collection, I was iffy to try out the red stuff because a) I am almost never a red lipstick kind of person and b) I hadn’t worn cream blush in a long, long time.

Bobbi Brown’s Sheer Cherry cheek tint comes off as a scary, intimidating true red at first. When I first opened the fab twist cap, I was thinking all sorts of ways to tone down the redness of it so I could wear it everyday. Upon swatching on the back of my hands, it was just perfect.

The Good:

Where have I been all this time? Cream blush is perfect, especially if you have dry skin. Of course, I don’t have dry skin (combination) but I make it work instead by patting Bobbi Brown Retouching Powder in Yellow most days. BB Sheer Cherry makes it impossible to look over-flushed because you can always blend with your fingers once you’ve swiped your cheeks already.

No scent. Goody.

Blendable.

Natural. Can’t get over the fact that for once in this lifetime, red looks actually good on me (walang kontra! =P)

The packaging. Bobbi Brown, hands down, is the topnotcher when it comes to classy, consistent packaging. Love the elegant black casing of everything.

Wear it everyday. This has been my consistent blush for daytime --- and in case I need something stronger for nighttime, I highlight it with BYS Bronzing Powder.

Not bad at Php 1,350 a pop.

Bobbi Brown Sheer Cherry Cheek Tint is available at all Bobbi Brown counters at Rustan’s.

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Chronicles of the Eight-Hour Sleep: The Fake Up

One of the truly good things about my life is my ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime and up to eight hours or more. When I hear about my friends and their sleeping patterns, I sometimes get envious that I cannot sleep in the wee hours and wake up looking like a fresh daisy at 7 AM. If I sleep at 2 AM, I would much rather not sleep at all than wakeup at 10 AM.

If you’re any of the Team E (hullo, girls!), you would know how “mantika” I sleep, too. Throw in an angry dog, noisy neighbors and morning chika and you would find me still in blissful sleep. I don’t know where I get that.

Now, as we grow older, I find that even with good sleep, our undereyes develop so much more baggage than it did when we were in our teens. It used to be that we had zero to minimal eye baggage – and now, even with eight hour sleeps, we look a bit haggard and worn out. And when it does happen: there’s always the concealer.

There are only a few concealers I tote around everywhere with me. Let me introduce to you the newest one in my stash, specifically designed to hide eye bags and fine lines AND moisturize those areas, too.

In real life, faking it may sound like a bad idea but when you’re sad and you try to fake happiness, it does come true! It’s a personal belief that if you see yourself eyebag-less and with healthy vibrant skin, it will eventually happen, too!

Anyway, here’s a short and sweet lineup of good and bad:

The Good:

Hydrating. There are only a few creamy concealers in the market and Benefit’s Fake Up tops that list. This fact is due to the addition of Vitamin E and appleseed extract to the semi-transparent external portion of the stick as you can see in the photo. It’s truly a treat to swipe the Fake Up stick onto the under eye and pat gently with the ring finger because it glides on ever so smoothly!

Perfect for touch ups. There was a day in my working life that I had spent the entire day crying in front of my computer --- I just had such bad day I couldn’t stop crying but I needed to work so I had been doing a strategy deck while crying my eyes into puffiness. By end of day, I had a dinner to go to so I swiped Fake Up very quickly in the car and during dinner, no one could tell I had been crying all day. True story.

Once you go Fake Up … Prior to using Fake Up, I used a drugstore brand which delivered but lacked in the brightening department. After using Fake Up (which I mix with High Beam and It’s Potent), I was spoiled silly by the way the concoction lighted up my face (yes, feeling!). I have stopped feeling dry under my eyes, too. Guess the apple seed extract and Vitamin E worked!

The packaging! I love that it’s like a lipstick and fits my makeup bag perfectly.


The Not too good:

This product, in my opinion, is designed for the undereyes. It has a bit of tendency of slide off if applied in oilier areas like the chin. You may have to turn to powder and/or matte concealers for those.

If you live in an area more humid than Manila (now, how is that possible?), it might not stand the test of weather. Then again, if it can withstand Manila weather (which it does), then you’re in good hands.

Other than that, there is nothing I can think negative of this product. Hooray for Benefit’s Fake Up!


Benefit Fake Up is available at Benefit stores in Greenbelt 5, Shangri La Plaza and soon in Trinoma at Php 1,300.

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