Thursday, October 20, 2016

Is Your Morphe Brushes Palette Authentic?

While I was in 168 Mall in Divisoria the other day, I saw a lot of fake cosmetics and how crowds are totally digging those products. I can't blame them, I know how tempting it is to buy fake makeup. Just imagine having that cult favorite Nars Orgasm blush for a fraction of a price? Sounds like heaven for us tipid girls. 

I never patronize fake makeup, not because I can afford the real deal, but because buying counterfeit cosmetics is always a bad idea. Why? You don't know where they come from and what ingredients they contain. Some may even contain carcinogenic and other harmful ingredients like arsenic, lead and mercury.

Morphe is a popular brand among makeup artists and makeup geeks. They offer gorgeous eyeshadow and blush palettes as well as makeup brushes. So for this post, I am not gonna tell you why you shouldn't buy fake cosmetics. Instead, I'll share what to look for or how can you check if a Morphe palette you've been eyeing is the real one.
Morphe box (front)
First, the box itself is sturdy and not flimsy and is almost 1 inch thick. The color of the box is matte black and letters in the "MORPHE" (aside from the "M") and "www.morphebrushes.com" are written in gray and not white. At the back of the box, the letters in the ingredients section are also written in gray. Font style of looks like Times New Roman. 
Serial number at the lower right of the box (back side)
The serial number is printed in the box and is not a sticker. There are no stickers whatsoever on the box of an authentic Morphe. The square of the serial number is in white. Letters and numbers inside are written in black. You can also see the variant of the Morphe palette. Here I have the 35N which is an all-matte palette.
When you open the box, flap of authentic Morphe should face away from you and not facing you.
Morphe palette when you pull out from the box
 When you pull out the Morphe palette, it will be covered in bubble-wrap.
Bubble wrap of the Morphe palette inside
 The bubble wrap is a double layer. Most fake Morphe palettes only have 1 layer of bubble wrap.
Morphe palette (front)
Morphe palette (back)
Sticker of the Morphe palette
The sticker is a glossy grey and the text is in black. Font style looks like Arial Narrow.
The clasp or closure of the palette looks like the photo above. It's square-ish, not round.
Morphe brushes 35N Palette (top view)
You can see that the palette is symmetric and perfectly aligned. The 35N palette is arranged in 5 pans per column or 7 pans per row.
Clear film covering the eyeshadows
The clear film is very thin. In fake Morphe palettes, the film is quite thick.
Close up of the eyeshadow pans
Since I bought the 35N palette which is an all-matte palette, I believe it is common sense that no eyeshadow should have shimmer or glitter on them. Also, the eyeshadows are flat and not in concave shape.
Morphe brushes 35N Palette
If you are really tempted to buy fake cosmetics, step back and think, "Is this really worth it?" "Am I willing to risk my health?". If you can't afford high-end or pricey makeup, just do your research and you will see tons of results for dupes of different makeup products. In fact, there are lots of good drugstore makeup, so better pick that than fake makeup. I hope this post has helped you! :)

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Diet Delivery: Plan Eat Review

I live in Manila and work in Makati so I commute an average of 3-4 hours everyday. With that, I barely have time to cook meals for myself . Now, my office relocated in Makati Ave so its even more difficult to buy affordable and good meals. So in my search for a food delivery service that will suit my needs, I came across Plan Eat.

Plan Eat offers 1200, 1500, 1800 and 2000 calorie meals. The different meal plans contain the same set of meal, they just vary in quantity. I order the 1200 calorie per day set since I haven't been visiting the gym lately, my only exercise perhaps is when I'm malling haha :) The set is worth Php1,200.00 which is good for 5 days plus Php 100.00 for the delivery. They deliver the food on the day of consumption so when I get to my office building at around 8:30AM, my food is already waiting for me.

This is not my first time to try diet delivery. I have tried Dear Diet before (failed to do a review) but they charge Php1,700.00 (inclusive of delivery) for 1200cal meal. It's still cheap compared to other diet delivery services but with Plan Eat, I get to save Php400.00 more.

So for my first week with Plan Eat, below are the meals that I received from them.
DAY 1
Breakfast: Green Tea Chocochip Muffin
AM Snack: Apple
Lunch: Sausage, Lettuce and Tomato Pasta
PM Snack: Cassava Cake
Dinner: Grilled Oriental Chicken with Red Rice and Cucumber Coleslaw

What I Love: The Green Tea muffin, sorry I am sucker for anything green tea/matcha.

DAY 2
Breakfast: Tocilog
AM Snack: Banana
Lunch: Chicken Raisin Pomodoro Pasta
PM Snack: Chia Pandan Pudding
Dinner: Thai Patties with Cream of Spinach and Bun

What I Love: The Tocilog made me sing with glee, I feel like I not on a diet because I get to eat tocino. The Chia Pandan pudding was also very good.

DAY 3
Breakfast: Chicken and Egg Arrozcaldo
AM Snack: Banana
Lunch: Pesto Burger
PM Snack: Coffee Flan
Dinner: Swedish Meatball with Mushroom gravy, veggies and brown rice

What I Love: The Coffee flan, it was sooo good. I am really loving their snacks!

DAY 4
Breakfast: Tuna Wild Chestnut Breakfast rice
AM Snack: Apple
Lunch: Chicken, Sundried Tomato and Eggplant Angel Hair Pasta
PM Snack: Mango Curry Pande-Pizza
Dinner: Beef Stroganoff with veggies and Dinner Roll

What I Love: Again the snack won, the Mango Curry Pande-Pizza. It was just genius! I love the curry and mango combination.

DAY 5
Breakfast: Chicken Caesar Wrap
AM Snack: Apple
Lunch: Tilapia Fillet with Lemon butter sauce, veggies and brown rice
PM Snack: Pinoy Ensaymada
Dinner: Mom's Baked Mac

What I Love: The Baked Mac, it was tasty and has a generous amount of cheese.

Overall, I am pleased with my meals with Plan Eat. I am also glad that the set comes with 1 sachet of instant coffee so I still get to enjoy coffee everyday. I would recommend Plan Eat to those who are interested to try calorie counting and are looking for affordable meals. Having food on delivery certainly was convenient for me since I don't need to worry on my meals plus I get to be surprised what will I get everyday. Some people may find the meat servings quite small but hey that's what calorie counting is about right?

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Uniquely Singapore 2016: Haw Par Villa

Not your usual theme park, Haw Par Villa at Pasir Panjang is the kind that can give you the creeps.
One of the main attractions here is the Ten Courts of Hell, which showcase gruesome and graphic exhibit. 


Turtles living in the water that surrounds the pagodas.
For good luck :)
The Tiger Car
Entrance to Ten Courts of Hell


Monday, September 5, 2016

Uniquely Singapore 2016: Cloud Forest and Supertee Grove

After the Flower Dome would be the Cloud Forest. If I were to choose between the two, I would choose the latter. Perhaps this is because of my Forestry background that the Cloud Forest has piqued my interest. Nonetheless, both are equally fascinating. Here are more photos from the Cloud Forest so you would know what to expect from this attraction.
The Skywalk
Lego exhibit. My brother would surely love this.
Rafflesia made from Lego
After our tour of the Cloud Forest, we were just time for the Supertree Show. Free and totally a must-see when you visit Singapore.
What a magical and light-ful evening!