Crown Chakra

Crown chakra is a multimedia work using acrylic, fabric paint and fabric which tries to project the chakra or energy of the human body. Highlighted in this work is the crown chakra that honors intellectual connectedness and enlightenment. I understand.

Everything in this artwork was unplanned. I just went with how I feel and thought was right. The lotus crown here is inspired by mandala art and mehndi. Psychedelic colors were used because your chakra is simply made up of different colors. For some, they may interpret these colors as auras. (I still remember our humanities teacher, Ma'am Dulz describing my classmates aura's as rhedondron red! )

The creation of this work in itself was a form of meditation . I was entranced with the dots, lines and colors. (Just stare hard and you'll get cross-eyed!) The repetitive process was relaxing both to the mind and spirit.

If I could change a thing about this painting, I wish I could have painted the woman bigger, occupying at least 2/3 of the canvas. I would have dissed out the tacky pink frame and random gold swirls.

One thing I learned here is to make studies first to avoid fatal mistakes. For a newbie like me, experiment and research. It pays. just don't get too carried away by the new techniques you learned by putting them all in one artwork!

I find myself in the mehndi zone these past few artworks. I had a gothic art phase before. I'm glad I'm out of that phase because I'm loving the colors this time around!!!

Yumi find this beautiful so I guess we'll wait for Sir Louie's reaction. He was the one who gave me this canvas to play with for his YOGART project.

Namaste!
Vamoose!,
Ma.Diwata

Vaseline Total Moisture Cocoa Glow 24 Hr Nourishing Lotion for soft and glowing skin has pure cocoa butter and stratys 3 multi-layer moisture. It claims to leave your skin feeling healthy and glowing.

Its 24 hour nourishing formula that combines pure cocoa butter and stratys 3 multi-layer moisture infuse moisture at the top, core and deep-down layers of your stratum corneum, to ignite its natural glow.
I love the cocoa butter smell of this product. It lingers for a while. It claims to make your skin glow but I didn't notice any difference with my unlotioned arm. to keep skin moisturized I suggest you reapply in the afternoon and evening. It is non-sticky and non greasy.

Too bad this doesn't have SPF. So there is a need for you need to apply another layer of SPF.

Yes I'm definitely going to buy this product again but I'm going to use it for bedtime only. I need to buy myself one with SPF. I'll check out Vaseline's SPF variant soon.

Vamoose!
Ma.Diwata

I have always been fascinated with the different tribes in the Philippines. I loved reading Agoncillo's Philippine history book because it takes me to a culture different from what we have today. Among these are the Igorots and Ifugao etc. of Luzon.

Surprisingly, a friend of Dante whom I went to UP Tac with sent us a package with a Sagada weaved rectangular cloth, a choker and dangling earrings! Thank you Dr. Rochelyn Pagpaguitan for the wonderful surprise! It is rare to find a person these days who appreciates the culture of our ancestors.


In my excitement, I let Yumi wear her Igorot attire while I try to figure out what to do with the rectangular cloth. There was no string or button on the cloth so I decided to wrap the cloth around my waist and fold it down to my hips until it was snug and fit.Initially, I thought the choker was for my head.

Here I am with my ratty black shirt and Yumi in her ballet flats just because I don't know what shoes would match her outfit.

There was so much thought put into this garb and the effort to send it via parcel is very much appreciated Doc!

Now, my problem is when to wear this beautiful costume!

It is now raining outside. So glad I let my brother take the picture earlier.

Vamoose!
Ma.Diwata

Garnier Pure Self Heating Sauna Mask comes in 2 sachets in 1 package. (Does that make sense?) Anyways one package is good for 2-4 applications depending on how thick you apply the product or how large the surface area of your skin is. Jejejeje You can store it in the ref or in your kikay kit under room temperature for weeks and it will still work fine.


This doesn't smell citrusy like the other Garnier products. Others may find it strong but I love smelling it on my skin. It has a light blue tint like a baby's sclera. It is the right texture; creamy but not runny. It sticks to the face perfectly. Don't expect it to harden like other masks. It doesn't.

Am I scaring you? Avoid the delicate undereye area please.

You can feel it heating up on your skin but this lasts only for a minute. No need to be alarmed. It is not actually like flaming heat but just a weird heat emanating from the mask.

After 3 minutes or so (just enough for me to write this article), I washed Garnier Pure Self Heating Sauna Mask off with a lot of water. You will notice that your skin is softer than pre-mask. After the water has been dried off, I feel that my skin is tauter.

It claims to purify the pores for 7 days in 3 mins. So I guess if you have black heads and white heads problem you can regularly do this once a week. But I still prefer iwhite to remove those pesky blackheads and whiteheads. Oh well for oily skin then. This one I believe keeps my pores taut and lessens my sebum production.

Will I buy this again? Yes I will because I am now addicted to Garnier products and I have seen how Garnier Pure Self Heating Sauna Mask improved my oily skin.

Vamoose!
Ma.Diwata

My 20ml L'Oreal Paris White Perfect transparent rosy whitening day cream is now empty.

These promises sold me out! They offer more than the regular brands that I use. Knowing that it is a tad more expensive than my usual Olay cream, I was expecting it to work better.

I don't know about the SPF part, all I know is whenever I use this cream my skin would really brighten up with oil from this cream. It doesn't easily settle on your skin unlike other creams. I personally think it is heavy and it also makes my morena complexion look ashen or gray.

If you have oily skin, don't buy this! I have a combination skin and this cream causes my skin to have that greasy look by lunchtime! I need two oil blotting films to matte my face. My aunt would often complain that I look untidy and that probably I am not washing my face. If only she knows that I'm trying to finish off this L'oreal White Perfect Day Cream so I could move on to another cream (I'm now using Garnier Light, it is cheaper but so far, so good).

I've been using this cream for more than a month. I am so happy I didn't buy the biggest bottle because this product doesn't match my skins needs.

You can buy cheaper day cream with SPF protection and moisturizer at a much cheaper price. It doesn't mean that if it is expensive, it is bound to be good. Scout around and don't be fooled by the words written in the packaging. That is my biggest weakness. I always fall for whoever writes best. The adjectives just keeps pulling me in!

Vamoose!
Ma.Diwata

Eiffel Tower and Audrey Hepburn are two of my favorite things.
Ate Leova, Emma, Liza and I share the same dream of having our photo taken with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I will be wearing a sleeveless below the knee dress with huge black glasses and an updo ala Audrey Hepburn.

Here is my birthday gift to you Ate Leova. Take me to Paris with you!

I'm starting to be a Garnier fan! According to their Garnier philosophy, they are the leading European natural beauty brand that uses whenever possible carefully extracted natural-based active ingredients that are designed for Asian skin.

Today, I'll be featuring the Garnier Skin Naturals Light with pure lemon essence and natural peeling fruit extracts overnight whitening peeling cream. It says on the front of the package that it will help in dark cell exfoliation and would eventually reveal a fresh and fairer skin in the morning.
I bought myself the small tube which contains 20ml. It costs around 90php at Robinsons, so that is around 2 US dollars. It has a skin tone meter at the sides and my skintone is in the range of 9. I have no desire to have whiter skin because that would totally look unnatural. What I'm desiring is to remove the dark spots on my face and have a glowing complexion. My skin is dull and oily at times and oily is definitely glowing in a greasy kind of way. Yuck!
At night, your skin is least exposed to dust, dirt and sunlight. This is the ideal time to do some skin repair. This cream "peels off dullness overnight thanks to an intensive exfoliating action to help remove dark cells". It also "whitens the skin to reduce dark spots and further skin darkening". Just spread it evenly on a perfectly(it says prefectly on the box, I wonder if this is printed in China) cleansed face, avoiding the delicate eye area.

I washed my face with Garnier light facial scrub before applying the peeling cream. It carries that Garnier lemony smell that I love-not too strong but a turn off perhaps to those who have sensitive noses and skin.)

It is a white cream that is more on the liquid side. It doesn't run though and doesn't harden on your face. Initially, I thought it will harden like mask and I would need to peel it off in the morning. Well, it just feels so light and natural that you don't need to peel it off. It is easy to wash off. I haven't noticed any peeling on my skin too.

 I wonder what the "peeling" part on this product is.

I read in another review that I would need to use this for 28 days to see visible results. I'm on my second day and so no breakouts so far.

I will keep you updated!

Sincerely,
Ma.Diwata

CNNgo dubbed Manila's streetfoods albeit the rest of the Philippines as one of Asia's best in an article titled" Asia's 10 Greatest Street Foods" written by Lina Goldberg.
The foods featured in this article are:

1. Tsitsaron

2.Taho

3. Balut

4. Kwek kwek

5. Silog

6. Isaw

7. Kikiam

8. Sago't Gulaman

9. Banana Cue

10. Fish balls

Some streetfoods are eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Some are for merienda and as pulutan or finger foods during drinking sessions.

BREAKFAST

TAHO This is a combination of bean curd, caramelized sugar and sago best sipped warm through a straw in the wee hours of the morning!

TAPSILOG (TApa, SIningag at itLOG) This is a heavy typical Filipino breakfast consisting of tapa or fried beef jerky heavily  seasoned with banana ketchup, sinigang or garlic fried rice and itlog or egg cooked sunny side up. TAPSILOG is just one of the many variations of SILOGS. Examples are: TOSILOG (tocino, siningag, itlog) ADOBOSILOG (adobo, siningag, itlog) SPAMSILOG (spam, siningag, itlog) LITSILOG (litson, siningag, itlog) FRIEDCHXSILOG (fried chicken, siningag, itlog) LONGSILOG (longanisa, siningag, itlog) BANGSILOG (bangus, siningag, itlog) and the list goes on and on.... PULUTAN (to be eaten while drinking beer, tuba, lambanog etc.) CHICHARON - Bite size pieces of deep fried pork fat dipped in vinegar! Yum! There is also CHICHARON NA MAY LAMAN and CHICHARON BULAKLAK from deep fried pig's small intestine! CHICHARON BULAKLAK - Deep fried pig's small intestine served with vinegar.

MERIENDA (snacktime)

KIKIAM A Chinese dish (Que-kiam) adapted to fit our Filipino palate. It is ground pork and vegetables wrapped in bean curd. You can have your choice of sauce- either hot and spicy, sweet and spicy or just plain sweet.

BANANA CUE It's plantain usually deep fried with either/or kalamay or brown sugar. Once  the sugar caramelizes  it is skewered  with bamboo sticks. I love it when you could still crunch the caramelized sugar or when you can see the kalamay forming a spider web!

KAMOTE CUE

TURON This is plantain wrapped in lumpia wrapper and deep fried with caramelized brown sugar or  kalamay. You can also add langka and sesame seeds. Some restaurants even add ice cream to this delicious desert.

DIRTY ICE CREAM Peddled on the street this ice cream usually comes in three flavors: cheese, mango and ube. Yum!

ICE CANDY Comes in different colors and the flavor depends on what fruit is in season.  Some popular flavors are mango and milo+red beans.

ICE DROP

NIGHT TIME FARE
Anything sold at night is good for pulutan!
Almost every part of the chicken is barbecued and almost every street corner in the country is filled with smoke from the barbecues at night time.

ADIDAS Grilled chicken feet.

BETA-MAX Grilled coagulated chicken blood

ISAW Grilled chicken intestine.

HELMET Grilled chicken head.

BARBECUED CHICKEN SKIN This is my personal favorite! The chicken skin is so yummy that it just slides through my through! This sells fast!

IUD OR ISAW Grilled chicken entrails.

WALKMAN Grilled pork ears

To be updated later....

Fish balls
Balut
Kwek kwek
Sago't Gulaman