TOPAZ HORIZON

So have you gone over to Beauty For A Living? It’s my new baby, a blog dedicated to all things beauty! Lofty as it may sound, it actually serves a practical purpose—I need a place to put some of my thoughts on the tons of stuff I get from beauty brands.

While I initially thought of putting those opinions here on Topaz Horizon, I very quickly also decided against it because I want this to remain my personal diary. The new blog can be the place for my honest reviews of products—from cheap drugstore finds and expensive luxury brands to the most out-of-this world treatments and services like a Colonix review!

Anyway, Beauty For A Living was supposed to be an anonymous blog but so many people recognized my profile photo—even if it was a heavily made up me! Oh well! As Vince said, “If you want to remain anonymous, take down your photo. It’s logical.” I guess I’m not prone to logical reasoning!

Do head on over to my new blog. I’m giving away fabulous prizes: a Shu Uemura makeup brush kit, a Jurlique facial care set and a Shu Uemura lipstick case. I announce the winners on Friday!

Vince fell in love with the Philippe Starck Louis Ghost chair two years ago. It's a simple chair made of polycarbonate and it's famous for melting into its surroundings and standing out at the same time.


He asked if he could buy one. Two years ago, it cost P12,000 each. I said, "No, let's wait for a sale." Last year, he asked me again. This time, the chair was P14,000. Again I said, "No, let's wait for a sale." A few weeks ago, while we were at Rustan's, the price tag on the Ghost was an eye-popping P16,000 (USD 332.55). Vince said, "If we wait for a sale, it will just get even more expensive. Let's buy it while we can still afford it."

So we bought two. I know that's a lot of money for an invisible chair but to get just one seemed incomplete. Now, twin Louis Ghosts sit in our house. They are stark and simple and elegant. We are in desperate love with them.


Today I found out from Real Living magazine that Dexterton in Greenbelt 5 has a sale on its home and office furniture. The Louis Ghosts were marked down.

I sat down on one of my beloved Ghosts and allowed one frustrated tear.

*images from Marley&Lockyer, PointClickHome, StyleAtHome

End of April. This time last year, the sun was blazing down in unforgiving rays--no surprise since April is always the month we fear our eyeballs would melt from the heat. This year, however, it's raining buckets. Global warming indeed.

This time last year, my husband had just left Playboy Philippines because he realized that if he was going back to the magazine world, he might as well do T3. He had just begun settling back in when we were all told to pack up and move to our new digs.

At last, we were leaving our basement office in Robinsons Galleria! Good-bye to the rats, the cockroaches and the strange dust that coated our desks and computers. And hello to the new home of Summit Media!

For security reasons, I won't post pics of our new office. I will, however, show you my table. It's all cluttered with memos, drafts, press releases, page plans, signature proofs (that's the test magazine pages), invitations and bags upon bags of beauty products. I'm very cluttery. So embarrassing! But I can always find something in that awful mess!

And this is my favorite place: The library. Don't mind the empty-looking shelves--we've got tons of magazines from all over the world!

So a very happy anniversary to Summit Media's lovely new office! I love working here really. Oh, let me rephrase that... I love playing here. Yep, I feel like I'm paid to have fun and that's why this is the best gig in the world!


P.S. Grab the April issue of T3 (it's the bikini issue!) with this remarkable-looking woman on the cover. This is the result of that post I wrote about the yacht and the helicopter. Click here if I don't make sense.

And have you gotten yourself OK!'s April issue? It's our special 4th anniversary issue! It's our best issue yet--anti-aging secrets of Jennifer Aniston and 8 other stars, 69 of the best gowns this year, an exclusive interview with Wolverine star Hugh Jackman and MORE! Be a good Topaz Horizon reader and get a copy now!

Yesterday, the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual was launched at a chi-chi brunch at Mag:Net Cafe at Bonifacio High Street. Bubbly was served, which felt decadent to drink when the sun is so high in the sky. Here are the other things I loved: 1. How cute Sebastien Tardif is! Bobbi Brown's makeup artist is gracious and friendly. He's so passionate about makeup and so eager to share all these tips and tricks. I just love passion and generosity. 2. Girls who look great! I like a woman who takes care of herself because that shows she has self-worth. I like people with big smiles, too! Beauty editors Eunice Lucero of StyleBible.ph, Cindy Go of Preview and Nicole Delos Angeles of Cosmopolitan show us how it's done. 3. Designer bags all in a pile. I appreciate how they're thrown so carelessly on top of each other. People shouldn't treat things too preciously. Precious is how you treat people, not things. 4. Eunice's orange nails. My regular readers will know that I love orange and I love how Eunice can pull them off. This girl is utter perfection. All. The. Time. 5. The color purple. Check out the shoes and Goyard bag of Agoo Bengzon, beauty editor-at-large of Preview, and the dress of Rorie Carlos, fashion and beauty editor of Town & Country. What I didn't love? It was a Fat Day for me. Sigh. So despite the heat, I pulled on my long black cardigan. I think it slims me but Vince says it just makes me look like I'm hiding something unpleasant. My husband is a big believer in flaunting--not hiding--beauty. I can use some of my hubby's gung-ho attitude really but, unlike me, he doesn't have PMS bloat! Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual is available at all Bobbi Brown counters at Rustan's.

Jennie, author of Kikay Corner, is one of those who responded to my call for beauty reviewers. Why did I choose her? First, because she's a beauty blogger so I know she's interested in beauty stuff and, more importantly, she can write. Second, well, because she's my dear friend so I know I'd feel very comfortable with her when we went to The Spa at The Fort to review a treatment for OK! magazine's June issue.
The lobby is filled with the sound of cascading waterfalls. That entire wall is shimmering with falling water, which then gathers around a pool (the black part at the bottom right). Quite lovely actually. The picture doesn't do it any justice. Oh, can you see me?
Up the stairs to the foyer, which has these amazing steel sculptures you can sit on. They're quite comfy, too.

Jennie checks in! The staff of The Spa are quite courteous. And I love how their voices are so melodious that just listening to them is enough to relax you.
This is the lounge. Jen and I part ways at this point. She went off to try the Infrared Sauna and then an hour-long massage. The treatment is supposed to detoxify your system. I hope she took pictures because I hear the private villa she was ushered into is fantastic!

I had a delightful 60-minute foot spa in this super relaxing room. It's actually very dark in this room but I opened the aperture of my Sony Cybershot camera to capture more light or else you won't see anything. Anyway, those chairs are unbelievable. Sooo deep and heavenly. Now, when I do a review, I always have to stay awake so that I can observe every detail of the treatment. But the foot spa was so fantastic, I fell asleep! And when I fall asleep during a treatment, then believe me when I say that that's the best thing I can say about it!

The best thing about my day, however, was spending it with a dear friend... in a world-class spa no less!

The Spa at The Fort
Bldg 8, 908 Bonifacio High Street
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel no. 856-5858 / 6868 / 1818