June 2013 – Page 2 – Eliza Victoria

nyx soft matte lip cream

I don’t own a matte lipstick. The closest would be my Snoe Rouge Deluxe in Vintage Rose, which has a semi-matte finish. I also suffer from perpetually dry lips, so I just stay away from them, no matter how gorgeous MAC Ruby Woo looks. I’m not even sure I can apply a matte lipstick properly.

I was browsing Digital Traincase last week when I saw this product on sale: Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream.

Neither lipstick nor lip gloss—this is matte lip cream. A new kind of pout paint that goes on silky smooth and sets to a matte finish. Soft Matte Lip Cream is surprisingly durable and, unlike some matte lipstick formulas, also moisturizing. Available in 13 lip colors.

• What it is: Highly pigmented, matte lip cream

• What it does: Creates various matte lip looks

• Why we love it: Delightfully creamy and lightweight, our award winning line just expanded with two captivating new shades.

• How to use: Apply directly to lips, or over lipstick. Apply with lip liner to define outline of lips.

Sold! That solved my problem with application and dryness.

I ordered Addis Ababa (described by Nyx as bright fuchsia) and Amsterdam (pure red). Great packaging for a tube that costs PhP 280 each.

I immediately swiped on Amsterdam. They weren’t kidding about pigmentation – I was so shocked by the red on my lips that I wiped some color away on a piece of tissue.

Stealth office shot! This is one (very light) coat of Amsterdam.

20130611_133021 — It looks brighter in person.

It’s such a pretty shade, and I’m now in love with matte finishes. I will definitely buy more of these matte lip creams. (And maybe the Ruby Woo?)

I’m also loving Addis Ababa. Look how the shade makes my teeth appear whiter than they really are.

If you’d like to order, do contact Digital Traincase. Ordering from them was a breeze.

Digital Traincase Makeup Boutique & Studio

Email: sales@digitaltraincase.com

Phone: 0917.565.0265/02.9642144

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/digitaltraincase

Follow us on instagram: www.instagram.com/dgtaltraincase

Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/dgtaltraincase

reviews from home

I went home to Bulacan this weekend with J. It had been incredibly humid this weekend! And the heavy rain at night was insane. I wasn’t able to relax as much as I wanted, but still had fun eating proper home-cooked meals.

20130607_215430 — Brought home some sweets (peach and tamarind) and coffee from Vietnam and Thailand.

20130608_223235 — Binalay! My favorite dessert from Cagayan Valley.

20130608_223300 — A drunk J eating binalay.

20130609_182222 — My brothers in Yellow Cab. We had dinner there before heading to our respective rented apartments.

Let me go through some films I’ve seen a while ago (but forgot to review):

I saw Casino Royale and could now understand why fans of the James Bond franchise didn’t like this new version. Bond seemed too bitter here. There is a better balance of grimness and Bond-playfulness in Skyfall. I enjoyed watching Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen), though.

Oz: The Great and Powerful has great effects, but lacks charm. It feels like the producers are holding a checklist and going, “So here’s how we get Elphaba, and here’s how Glinda will meet Oz, and here’s Oz giving gifts – not granting wishes, mind you! – to his friends.” I like origin stories, but this one just drags us from one scene to another. There is a sense of wonder in the beginning, with the huge, tinkling yellowbells and the water fairies, but this amazement soon deflates. James Franco, who is supposed to be wicked but is simply not wicked enough, gets swallowed up by the special effects. Maybe it could have been solved by a different lead? Johnny Depp? Robert Downey Jr?

Anyhoo. Rachel Weisz as the Witch Evanora looks absolutely stunning.

Star Trek: Into Darkness. Everyone’s having a nerd boner, I know. The opening scene is a winner, with the team struggling to deactivate a raging volcano, and Benedict Cumberbatch looks incredibly bad-ass in his fight scenes. BUT, the conflict gets resolved so abruptly that I literally sit up, surprised. That’s it? It’s still a good watch, but the plot unravels as you look closer post-viewing, and the resolution doesn’t feel as satisfying as I have hoped.

Still, bad-ass Cumberbatch.

Also, finished another book! (Apologies to the books I have abandoned.)

The Dinner by Herman Koch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two couples are meeting up for dinner in a high-end restaurant. One couple – a famous politician and his wife – is used to a life of wealth. The other (we don’t know much about them at this point) is not.

‘What is it?’ Claire asked.
‘Did you see what it says here?’
My wife looked at me questioningly.
‘It says: “Aperitif of the house, ten euros”.’
‘Oh?’
‘But that’s insane, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘The man said: “We’d like to offer you the aperitif of the house,” right? “The aperitif of the house is pink champagne.” So what are you supposed to think? You think they’re offering you the pink champagne, or am I nuts? If they offer you something, you get it, right? “Can we offer you the this-or-that of the house?” Then it doesn’t cost ten euros, it’s free!’

It is clear, however, from the second couple’s circuitous discussion before entering the restaurant, that this is not just an ordinary dinner. They’re there to discuss something. Something important. Something big. While reading the protagonist’s long, meandering descriptions of the food and the place, I wondered to myself if this novel will just end on a lame reveal.

It doesn’t.

I was attracted to this novel because the entire story is told over the course of a single meal – aperitif, appetizer, main course, dessert, digestif. It was stylistically intriguing, but I didn’t expect to be blown away by how dark it is, by how brilliant Koch was in setting up the big reveal by giving us the details in small morsels, until we choke.

You know how dinners with people you don’t like can be more suspenseful, more nerve-wracking, than any thriller? And we haven’t even started on the secrets.

View all my reviews

how to order ‘unseen moon’, and other updates

So I’m finally done with the posts about my trip. Moving on!

These Tweets from my friend Kate cheered me up this gloomy Friday morning.

Intrigued? I am done with shipping all of the pre-ordered copies of Unseen Moon, and I’m back to accepting orders. There are two ways you can order:

Email me – victoriaeliza [at] gmail [dot] com – if you want to order, and I will ask Books on Demand Philippines to print you a copy and ship it directly to you. Pro: You’ll get a copy of the book hot off the presses! Con: I won’t be able to sign it beforehand.
Books on Demand Philippines will print you a copy and ship it to me. I’ll sign it, package it, and I’ll ship it to you. Pro: I will be able to sign it beforehand. Con: You will need to shoulder the double shipping fees, which can amount to more than PhP 100. Note: Each copy costs PhP 450.

Either way, if you’re interested, just email me and let’s see what we can do.

Each copy comes with a small gift:

Cards shipped from London, printed by Moo UK (Note: I only have 50 of these.)

If you live outside of the Philippines, you may want to try the ebook version, or the print version via CreateSpace.

Thanks for looking!

Here’s J wearing the shirt I got him in Bangkok:

He celebrated his birthday recently, so we got some cupcakes!

Salted caramel:

Pistachio sans rival:

On our way to meet with friends, we passed by a Japanese-Korean grocery store and got these:

kitkat — Strawberry, Matcha, Sakura Matcha, Blueberry Cheesecake. The cheesecake is the best!

J ended up on Rada St. for work, and we found Mondo Juice + Sip. Try their green tea drink and Caramel Cheesecake.

20130603_202145 — My hipster sense is tingling.

Instead of a straw, they give you a tiny wooden knife to cut the plastic cover. The place is called Sip, after all.

Butchie of Filipina Explorer has included me in her “11 Essential Blogs (And Bloggers) You Oughta Read“. Honored! Thank you very much!

And here’s a recent title consumed, which kept me company from Hanoi to Bangkok:

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The novel Into the Darkest Corner opens with a transcript of a hearing, followed by a third-person narration of a murder. “As far as days to die were concerned, the longest day of the year was as good a day as any.” I was hooked already at this point, intrigued by the technique of detailing the events through the dying/dead woman’s perspective.

The novel switched to first-person and introduced us to another woman afflicted with a severe case of OCD. “Here I have to check and re-check the flat door properly six or twelve times, and then the communal front door as well.”

The novel, Elizabeth Haynes’ debut, was well-written and tightly paced. I was intrigued, and despite the one-dimensional antagonist (his motivation is plot!) and the not-so-explosive reveal, it kept me reading until the end.

I’ve read many thrillers about escape, but this one is a good, hard look at an escape’s aftermath.

View all my reviews

siem reap, cambodia – day 2 and departure

Good morning Cambodia! Free hotel breakfast, at long last.

Cambodia was a former French colony, hence the baguette.

We got two tuktuk through Bou Savy and a tour guide named Sen for our trip to Angkor Wat.

Wheeeeeee.

This is Sen.

You can actually rent a bicycle to go around Angkor Wat, but are you kidding me. (I’m not an athletic person, as you can glean from my posts.)

The stone structures and engravings are incredible.

Apsara!

These huge tree just grew around the ruins.

Lunch! I had this yummy lychee-flavored soda.

Here we are, entering the main temple. Angkor Wat is the largest religious (first Hindu, then Buddhist) monument in the world.

This post has hardly any words, but words and even these photos are inadequate. You have to be there, to fully appreciate the scale of this complex.

Heaven and hell.

We planned to wait for the sunset at Angkor Wat, but we finished the tour at 3 PM, and I personally couldn’t wait three hours under the hot sun in my sweaty clothes. So off we go to Bou Savy to freshen up and fix our things.

Look at the chandeliers in Cambodia’s airport.

We boarded the 10:30 flight and arrived in Manila at half-past two. Home. :)

Total expenses for Cambodia is USD 206.

Total expenses overall: USD 898.58 or around PhP 42,000.

You may download our complete itinerary here:

Hanoi-BKK-SiemReap_Final

Thanks to Grace for making the Excel file. :D

I almost didn’t go on this trip, but I’m glad I did.

My thanks to my friends, especially to June, who painstakingly read every blog post ever written about trips to these countries, and so I pass on this information to you. :)

siem reap, cambodia – day 1

I fell asleep on the bus! This was an achievement.

If you’re traveling by land from Bangkok to Cambodia, it is important that you have luggage small and light enough to lift over bumps, because you will be walking from the bus stop to the border.

The phrase “the border” has such dark connotations, thanks to Hollywood portrayal of the Mexican border, but our crossing over to Cambodia was rather uneventful. We walked through a dusty road and entered the Immigration Office, with wooden floors and creaky wall fans. Immigration officials were jolly. This office, strangely, was not located directly on the border, so that means you would be walking in the Kingdom of Cambodia visa-less for around five to ten minutes, passing by casinos and souvenir stores.

After having our passports stamped, we were given a free ride to the tourist lounge in Poipet.

The lounge looked deserted.

We hired a van to take us to our hotel, Bou Savy Guesthouse.

My friends with cold towels, writing their names in the tourist registry.

I like Bou Savy. It’s homey, the people are nice, and the food is affordable. Order their curry! It’s so good, and not very spicy, perfect for spicephobes. (I made that word up.)

Iced coffee! Finally!!!

Thank God for this quiet first day. We just stayed indoors until it was time to go to the night market.

We also tried their sidewalk massages.

See the fishies in the aquarium there? That’s a Happy Feet station, except that tilapia ‘ata yung kakain sa dead skin cells mo. (Seriously, the fish were big.)

Sarap.

I would have wanted a longer back massage, but I didn’t have any more dollars.

bangkok, thailand – day 3 and departure

On our last day in Bangkok, we visited its two well-known tourist attractions: the gigantic Reclining Buddha, and the Grand Palace.

We went to Saphan Thaksin station via BTS, and took a ferry to N9.

The Grand Palace, a golden complex located on the banks of the Chao Praya River, was the residence of the Kings of Siam from the 18th century until 1925. Though the King no longer lives there, it is still the site of some of the royal offices. Gatekeepers are pretty strict, so no sleeveless tops or muscle shirts, no shorts, no skirts. I wore a dress with black leggings underneath but still got questioned. (A “safe” attire would be a shirt with sleeves and pants.) No worries, the Information office lends proper clothing to visitors. You just need to give a deposit of 200 THB, which you’ll get after you return the garments.

Entrance to the Grand Palace is 500 THB.

I was overwhelmed by the volume of tourists who visited the complex that day. Divisoria-levels ito. While queuing up for the entrance, a group of tourists practically plowed into us. We almost landed in the plant box. It was chaos, and the weather was hot.

Anyway. Grand Palace was a beauty and a great display of Thai artistry and the kingdom’s grandeur, but I would have enjoyed the sights more if the weather was better and there were less rude tourists around.

If you’re going to visit the palace soon, please be kind to other visitors.

Look at the detail:

I look tired here, haha.

Panoramic view:

Look how the gold in the painting glows as it catches the light:

Gorgeous!

The Reclining Buddha in Wat Pho is adjacent to the Grand Palace. It was such a long walk under the hot sun that I had to buy a pair of slippers (40 THB) to replace my shoes and free up my poor toes.

This statue is massive. I was blown away.

A closer look at the symbols on his feet:

We walked around to look at the Buddha’s pillows:

The temple itself is breathtaking.

Details.

I was so tired and sweaty I completely forgot we had to stop by Siam Ocean World before heading to Sunflower Place. (I needed a bath!)

I’ve never been to Manila Ocean World, and I don’t dive nor snorkel (and it was air-conditioned), so this was a treat:

Great color!

I love this.

A fleeting view of a hammerhead shark. I love hammerhead sharks. I wished one stopped long enough for a photo-op. LOL.

Nemo!

A pass also gives you a chance to enjoy some activities, like the glass-bottom boat ride, and the infamous Happy Feet. You submerge your feet in water, and these little fish will nibble on your dead skin cells.

Eeeeeeeee—

—eeeeeeeeeeee

It’s not for the ticklish.

We had dinner in a small eatery and visited the night market, where I realized that I only have 30 THB left for shopping. So I went home ahead of the others, rested my legs, and took a long, cold shower, and lamented the fact that I was not able to buy Thai Iced Tea or Pad Thai or a key chain.

We left Sunflower Place before 6 AM the next day and took a cab to Lumphini Park. From there, we got on a bus (after a confusing “conversation” with a conductor who kept speaking to us in Thai, insisting via gestures that all six of us would still fit in a bus that had only four available seats) that would take us to Cambodia.

Goodbye Bangkok. You are a charming city. I will see you again soon.

Total expenses for Thailand is USD 446.63 (including downpayment and shopping).

bangkok, thailand – day 2

Temple Tour day for Day 2, so we were up early to get from the hotel to Victory Monument via BTS. From the Victory Monument, we walked to the station of parked vans that would take us to Ayutthaya, the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam.

The six of us hired a tuktuk (auto rickshaw) for the entire tour.

Some snapshots of Ayutthaya’s splendor. Imagine how the kingdom looked before it fell into ruin.

Gigantic Buddha.

Exquisite detail.

Inside Wat Mahathat.

I felt bad for these elephants, so I just decided to split a basket of fruits (50 THB) with a friend and feed them.

See how close they were tied to the pole. :(

This tourist stop also sells ivory products. They claim that the ivory used was taken from a living elephant.

On with the tour:

A panoramic view of the original Reclining Buddha at Wat Yai Chai Mongkol:

Lovely colors and architectural design.

A closer look.

I can’t remember the name of the place, but all of the statues there – like this one – are asking visitors for donation.

We went back to Victory Monument, and from there took the train to National Stadium to visit MBK (a shopping mall; we didn’t stay long, but I managed to buy a small bottle of Evian facial mist) and Siam Paragon.

Chicken satay for lunch! It was delicious, but I went overbudget.

After using up all our Baht inside Platinum Mall, we had dinner at a sidewalk stall:

Yum.

We went back to the hotel, and I finally had my shower! A glorious, glorious shower. I can’t stand the heat, and this is coming from a girl who lives in a tropical country.

I slept late because I had to wrestle with my damn luggage, now filled to the brim with pasalubong. You know how it is. Pinoys love buying gifts for the entire barangay. I don’t know why we do this to ourselves.

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