Beauty Matters: Let's get maoy!

Unhinged product reviews of *some* beauty products as well as other musings related to beauty

Look, another installment of Beauty Matters!

As you can tell in the title, this will be a writing exercise-slash-maoy take on doing product reviews. This latest entry was inspired by Arizona Brandy, my favorite drag queen on Drag Race Philippines Season 2. She’s known to get maoy (meaning: unhinged or rowdy) during her performances, as well as her off-the-cuff humor and spontaneous personality. I love her for that.

Anyway, I haven’t really written anything for the past month related to beauty, I’ve been stumped with work and personal matters.

With that out of the way, here are some product reviews of my current favorite products, written maoy-style.

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Eau Intense

As someone who grew up dealing with smell issues and who was bullied for B.O., I’ve made it my life’s work to smell good. I also happen to experience sensory issues, so anything that smells overpowering or gross will affect my entire disposition. Because of this, I tend to gravitate towards toiletries or perfumes that smell like a loaf of bread, a swimming pool, or a fresh garden.

Speaking of perfumes, a recent favorite of mine is Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue Eau Intense. It’s a fruity floral fragrance with notes of green apple, lemon, and musk. I know people are saying that this is a Basic Person fragrance, since it’s been hyped in the beauty community for a long time, but it smells so good and my body chemistry doesn’t fuck it up. It also lasts for around ~8-9 hours on me, which is wonderful for a sweaty person like me! My only gripe with this fragrance is that it’s expensive (not surprised). As a result, I would use borrow this perfume from my dad and use it on days where I feel like I’m going to encounter someone from a horrible stage in my life (read: high school).

Vice Cosmetics Perfect Kizz Lip Liners in Kizz Iz It and Kizz Me

What do you do when you buy a lipstick shade that looks awful on you? You buy lip liners that give you the Vape Lips effect, a.k.a. lip liners that give off a brown or a greigey tint. It makes a world of a difference by neutralizing or adding nuance to a lipstick shade that you dislike.

Speaking of lip liners that give off Vape Lips, these liners from Vice Cosmetics get the job done. Whenever I put on a true red lipstick or a lip color that looks garish on me, layering any of these liners is a must. It makes the unwearable shades look (AND FEEL) more wearable. I want more. Kung may Vape Couture, e di may Vape Lips din (If there’s Vape Couture, there’s Vape Lips too).

MAC Studio Fix Concealer in NW32

As someone who tests out makeup for fun, I can always count on MAC for makeup that’s high-quality and flattering. For the past year or so, I’ve been using my MAC Studio Fix concealer regularly for my makeup looks. It’s so good for spot-concealing and some mild color-correcting. Whenever I put it on, I look rested and fresh, instead of looking harried. It’s the type of concealer that doesn’t hide details about confidential funds, iykyk.

Zara’s Totally Terrific Perfume

This is an impulse buy that I do not regret. It has the bread-like smell of the old Glossier You with a hint of lemon, which I immediately associate with a Lemon Square cupcake. It smells so good, I want to bathe myself in it. However, the lasting power is not very potent. But for the price? It’s good enough for me.

If we’re looking at the bigger picture though, Zara makes amazing perfumes that are accessibly-priced. Applejuice was my bitch during the summer. I drenched myself in it after I got fired from my tech and design job as a way to cope with the pain.

Glossier is now shipping worldwide. This is my take as a magastos beauty girly:

I’m crying because I need to set better financial goals for the next few months and I have to declutter before accommodating this want in my life. I have to pay myself first instead of keeping up and healing my inner child from all the bullying I’ve received growing up towards my looks. But personal trauma aside, I’m probably gonna treat myself to this soon. Or maybe participate in a group order to cut costs.

The Never-Ending Pursuit of Fighting Frizz and “My Hair But Better”

As someone with wavy-to-curly hair (2B-3A), the pursuit of having nice hair has been a lifelong journey. The pursuit of sleek-ish, frizz-free waves feels Sisyphean at this point. I have attempted different methods to achieve it, such as getting a Keratin treatment and spending on haircare products that seem to exacerbate my hair’s rough texture instead of smoothing it out. The Curly Girl Method is out of the equation for me, since it’s too much and I hate the feeling of having extra weight on my head.

Perhaps I need to get something along the lines of a Dyson Airwrap. Or a cocktail of conditioners, masks, and serums that will give me a “My Hair But Better” look and feel.

Finding the Right Deodorant

I have a confession to make: I once wore the same deodorant for more than 10 years. It had that fresh, cucumber-y smell that lasted all day. It kept me feeling fresh, so I wore that in place of perfume. Years later, it ended up smelling like coconuts instead of that fresh smell that I yearned for. The brand of that deodorant released an alcohol-free version that smelled like the original, however, I ended up feeling and smelling like shit hours after wearing it.

Fortunately, I found a deodorant that I liked and resembled the fresh fragrance of my OG one. However, a huge part of me feels anxious since the deodorant that I’m currently using recently unveiled new packaging. I’m hoping that it still smells the same though. I’m also trying to entertain the possibility of reintroducing my old deodorant to my routine, but I have to incorporate my almost-daily routine of exfoliating my armpits with glycolic acid.

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And that’s it for my maoy takes on my current beauty trends and my favorite products! I tried to be as unhinged as possible and I hoped you enjoyed bits of my raw, unfiltered thoughts. Maybe I should do this more often?

Until the next brain dump,

Lea