To date this has to be the most iconic blog post ever to appear up here. Last December 23 I announced in this blog post that I had placed 3rd in Lisa Eldridge’s #MyLisaLook online makeup contest via Instagram. I screeched like a bloody fan girl because Lisa Eldridge is one of my ultimate role models career-wise, so is the case for thousands of us out there. At first, shortly after rejoicing I cynically refused to consider the win itself a HUGE anything, I was even beating myself up over the fact that I didn’t take a closer more high-resolution photo since Lisa put it on her website. My family, the dear souls that they are, kept telling people I won when I actually placed 3rd and I was a stickler for correcting them. When I think “Instagram contest” I at the onset began to whittle it down to a mere nib and I wouldn’t dare use the term “competition” for it, it was hardly “The Hunger Games” or something you signed up for with a stern panel sitting across from you. While happy but temporarily belittling the whole thing I was stubbornly forgetting the bigger facts, that a celebrated makeup professional whose clientele include Kate Winslet and Keira Knightley actually saw my “work” pixel for pixel. She approved of it, contacted me, placed me on her website, handpicked some luxury beauty prizes and had them sent halfway around the world just for me. I wasn’t imagining things. Thank you so much, Lisa 
Dior Show Mono Backstage Wet & Dry Eyeshadow in 453 “Spencer”, SUQQU Balancing Eyebrow/Eyeshadow palette in 02 Brown, Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof Eyeliner in 88 Noir Intense (black), This Works skincare 100% Natural Turbo Balm
When the cancer, that is your lack of esteem, tends to eat away at any triumph you blind yourself to facts that you can be proud of. To stay grounded you just always need to move forward and take what is positive with you. I strongly believe in not resting on your laurels (you know, what Roman emperors rest on the heads of champions) but I also tend to forget you should take a moment to put yours on and have a good satisfying look at yourself in the mirror to charge yourself for what’s next. My family countered me to pieces on my self-deprecation. They said I shouldn’t make myself see this as a small thing and I should just do something with the knowledge of Lisa’s approval because it’s real, I didn’t dream it up, she picked me, so I should do something. So it is true, and on top of that these have arrived. The handwritten card she included with it was what mattered more than anything else in the package. And yes, I know you guys want a closer look at what I won. Read more to see the rest of the post!
I find it cute that Lisa sent me four items in total, after all the blog turned 4 last March 10, I plan to truly celebrate the blog anniversary on its 5th year instead next year :) I love Lisa’s calm-under-pressure personality and how big she is on sharing no-nonsense professional tips that truly work. Please take note, no reviews here, this is simply just show and tell.
A Dior single eyeshadow that can be used wet or dry. Gray and glittery but super sophisticated and glamorous.
This SUQQU Balancing Eyebrow/Eyeshadow Palette in 02 Brown I am dedicating to Mom and giving it to her. This is a Japanese luxury brand, something like a Japanese version of Tom Ford. It goes to Mom because if it weren’t for those Makeup Holiday Saturdays once a month when she would break out all her makeup for me to play with in the bathroom (1-2 hours play, then cleanup and wash off) I wouldn’t be doing it professionally today and enjoying it in the process.
This automatic black waterproof eyeliner by Chanel is a straightforward product that’s a red carpet staple for a handful of A-list ladies because of its intensity and longevity and how it tastefully smudges out gently after several hours of wear.
This balm by ThisWorks reminds me of a lip balm I loved before, Jurlique’s love balm, hydrates lips with a balmy texture and is 100% natural.
The most important part of the prize is now heavily guarded by the Cloudmeister.
There was a huge delay in my being able to pick this package up simply because the postal notice did not arrive at all so I had to go directly to the post office to find out what happened because Lisa Eldridge’s team were prepared to send a second package out if the first one was truly lost. For over a month I was beginning to get extremely annoyed but I’ve just seen how terribly in need of maintenance the Taguig post office is and my heart went out to the people faithfully working there who were still smiling at me. I paid just Php50 as a presentation fee. They’ve got genuinely helpful staff but imagine peeling ceilings, where you can see the roof, exposed electricals and a messy, dusty storage room with roughly carpentered wood shelves where all the packages are just piled in a somewhat organized mess. A dim fluorescent light shines over a guy at a desk and aging logbooks. The guy in charge had to go through four books with my help going through two (scribed in doctor-worthy handwriting) page by page for nearly 30 minutes (my finger tips turned grey eek) before he spotted my name in one of them dated January 28. Then in what felt like a Big Bang Theory sitcom moment after pouring over pages he reached over to a shelf behind my right shoulder and pulled out the dusty parcel. Their effectiveness is limited in a workplace like that so hopefully that Post Office gets tended to soonest. I was fairly surprised at how unbelievably far and small it now is considering that BGC Fort is practically their center of modern commerce now. I need to mention this to people who might be able to help fix that situation. I’ll soon be shooting a video response for Lisa to thank her for all this which eventually turned up. I just want to shoot that video when I’m through with PMS and that time of the month is over so my face is completely spot-free. I’d also like to warmly thank her staff person, Joy, who kept in touch with me via email and reassured me as I waited for my prize. I’d just like to thank my readers as well, to some degree you guys are part of this since you indulge my makeup passion and Instagram looks, I might not have taken the winning photo (see here) without an audience to cheer me on :).