CBTL acoustic tour (2nd performance) + my bare-faced self

Robin Nievera played first. And ended with the best impromptu mash-up ever!

Robin brought his own mic- which is the same Shure mic that Riz uses for our videos... Coolio... You guys think Rob should cut his hair??? He was talking about doing that... LOL

I'll say it again and again- Julianne never fails to give me that giddy feeling when she starts singing!!!

Red's one of my best buds and we've been classmates since the first grade... I can't believe that I rarely get to see my best buddies nowadays... We live in the same city and yesterday was his first time to see me with my ~~not-so-new~~ hair!

Some of the guys from Audioclef

I painted her nails yesterday and Mewa placed small black dots on them the next day... Judging by the expression on her face, I think she's never been more excited to sport her nails.

If you're wondering why we sang at different Coffee Bean outlets, it's to promote the "Are You Listening" CD that's being sold at the CBTL branches for quite some time now... We're part of the upcoming Christmas album and it's packed with songs by AWESOME local artists, and most of them also attend Church Simplified with us...

We sang with Salamin on Friday at Ortigas Park, then got a call to join Robin and Julianne for the one on Saturday at Bonifacio High Street. We really enjoyed performing and eating tons at CBTL!!! And lemme just say... You'll prolly find us nommin' there for the next couple of weeks (yes, more than the usual amount of time we spend eating frozen swirls, sippin lattes and enjoying the free wifi).

Get a copy of the Are You Listening CD for only Php 250.00! The Christmas album will be out by December so watch out for it! Trust me, you'll love all the tracks!

♥♥♥

Obviously cheated on this first one... Added effects to hide the discolorations but that ended up emphasizing my pores. LOL. At least it in my head that made it look edgy. *whatevs!!!

Really thin brows

I have really big pores... But I don't care about them anymore as long as I don't get too many zits as I used to when I was younger. I literally had bumps and craters on my forehead and chin! Oh, and excuse the redness around the bridge of my nose. I wore glasses just before I popped my contacts on before leaving the house.

My brows are incredibly thin when I don't fill them in. I am happy with the arch, but I can't let it grow out totally since my natural brows are super straight.

♥♥♥

I was thinking of doing an updated beauty/makeup loot post but I thought posting photos of myself sans makeup would be better. I think it's rare that I post those types of photos here on my blog since I usually upload the ones of me during events, gigs and parties, which requires me to look a bit more presentable than the usual face I sport when I run errands, hit the gym or go to school.

As I'v mentioned in my older entries, I used to be troubled with acne when I was in grade school up until college. Tried a lot of things, and they would work really well until my skin would get immune to the chemicals. I won't mention the long list of products I used before any more...

What works for me now is the simplest skin cleanser out in the market, which is Cetaphil (the one for all skin types). I don't even use a facial scrub unless I go to my mom's place in Cebu and use whatever she has in her bathroom. That means I exfoliate at least thrice a month, but I think I have to do it regularly, like once or twice each week...

As for my maintenance/acne medication, I'm sticking to a simple one from my dermatologist (Dra. Nellie Yu). It's just Clindamycin lotion and Salicylic acid in the morning, then Erythromycin gel and 2 other creams at night. The liquid medications are in small dropper-like containers and the creams i use at night are in small plastic pots... They're very easy to pack when traveling since they're all so tiny and a little product goes a long way! Even if I get tempted to go to Dra. Yu for a monthly facial, this skin regimen keeps me from having the need to do that. I HATE facials but the one she gives me is super gentle and I think I'm never going to try any other facials out there after my first 2 traumatizing experiences. Do you ladies seriously endure the pain of having your pores extracted and pinched that way? I think your skin deserves to be treated gently, no matter what condition it's in. I used to poke at my zits or apply so much product on them before, and I think that's the biggest reason why my acne never went away. The more irritated your skin is, the more it'll try to produce oil/dry out/get filled with even more acne.

I have the combination skin type, by the way. I used to slather on moisturizer on the dry areas before, but I think I'm better off without that. I think it's mainly cos Cetaphil tries to balance the PH levels of your skin. Which is great for me!

My skin will never be zit-free on all days of the month, but I'm so happy that I don't suffer from a face full of craters, bumps and blemishes anymore... I do get the occasional breakout on that time of the month and when I don't get to sleep for how many days, but it's nothing major. The medication helps a lot to treat it overnight or in less than 3 days as well...

My advice to girls suffering from acne is to be gentle to your skin... Use products with the least amount of chemicals. Let your skin breathe (I've been trying to reduce the amount of "everyday makeup" I use, and only pile on or experiment during events) and make sure to invest on good quality makeup when buying any. You only have once face to work with! Cosmetic procedures will only make you look so unnatural. Aging gracefully is the only way to go, and the best way to look good when you're older is to be good to your skin now. That's the advice I always get when asking my older titas (who look awesome without any makeup)what their skin care regimen is.

Lastly, I think the change in my diet helped so much as well... Won't deny that I used to eat so much processed foods when I was younger, so I'm sure that contributed to my acne problem. As with beauty products, eating well helps since that would entail eating home-cooked/clean food. The less preservatives/chemicals, the better.

Nothing's easy, but remember- an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.