TOPAZ HORIZON

Little fairy lights aren't just for Christmas. They look romantic strung over your bed or magical as pretty outdoor lights.

Your chair doesn't have to match your desk.

Beautiful fabrics add drama to simple shapes.

A fresh coat of paint, preferably in bright colors,  gives new life to old furniture.

Blue on blue isn't boring. Same colors can actually unify a space.

You may have a lovely house but if there's no love in it, it's not much of a home.

Heima is on the second level of LRI Plaza along N. Garcia St., Makati.

Forgive me for being boring but I am seriously in love with these basic black bags:



I think P43,461.60 is waaaaaay too much for a bag as simple as the Bayswater, and yet because I'm sure I can wear it every single day till forever, the cost per wear definitely makes it very cheap.

Now the Marielly was just love love love. And when I found out that it was selling for $145 last Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, I totally freaked. Sadly, a zillion women must've felt the same way because it was sold out within hours. I found it on eBay but it was sold out within hours, too. I guess it isn't meant to be. Well, P12,885.47 for a simple black bag is a bit too much, no? Yup. Wasn't meant to be!

*photos from Net-a-Porter and Kate Spade

Vince: "Hey, did you cough up a hair ball?"

Me: "Waaaaaah! I'm sorry my hair's all over the place!"

Every morning, I wake up to this. More fall off in the shower!

And when I say it's all over the place, I mean, it's EVERYWHERE. It's embarrassing. My hair line's receding and I have little bald spots by my temples and the crown. This postpartum hair loss is alarming. I know I already talked about this a few posts ago but there is no happy resolution anytime soon. Even my beloved hairstylist Louis Phillip Kee told me while we were lined up at the Zara sale, "Women really do lose their hair from 12 to 16 months after giving birth." Great. That's just great!

Meanwhile, P&G Beauty sent me this little package:

News of my hair disaster must have reached them! And I quickly picked up this bottle:

That bright golden sticker just yelled at me, "98% less hair fall within 14 days!" Aha! I knew it. I knew it. That mystery shampoo I was talking about in my previous post on the same unfortunate topic is indeed Pantene Pro-V Hair Fall Control. Well, I know I didn't put my guess in the post but the blindfolded woman looked exactly like Claudine Barretto and that just gave it away.


So I just wanted to tell you that if you're also suffering from hair fall, maybe you'd like to give Pantene a try. Who knows? You just might win a trip for two to Boracay!!!

First, you have to try out the shampoo. Second, you have to take a photo of your transformed hair (yep, the Pantene promise is transformed hair in 2 weeks!). Third, like their Facebook page (it's here!). Fourth, upload that fabulous photo of yours so that other girls can see how gorgeous your hair is (that photo to the left was my glossy hair when I was pregnant. Sigh.). And last, cross your fingers and hope you win a trip for two to the absolutely amazing Discovery Shores Boracay!

Contest mechanics here: I Commit to Change.

*The Pantene promise of less hair fall is for those who lose hair due to breakage. If you are suffering from hair fall due to stress and hormones (like I am!), we’ll just have to wait it out. 

Post-partum update: It's been three months since I gave birth. The skin discolorations have nearly all faded away. The tummy is still a bowl of Jell-O but smaller and firmer now. The stretch marks are there (forever) but I find that I can live with them after all. What's freaking me out is the dozens of hair strands on my pillow, in the shower drain, on my brush, at the back of my shirt, and once on poor breastfeeding Vito's face! I hate post-partum hair fall!

Then again, even before I got pregnant, I've always had a problem with my flat, thin, prone-to-falling hair. Stress! As Claudine Barretto complains, "Hate na hate ko talaga yung nakikita ko ang buhok ko kung saan-saan nakakalat!" Claudine, I feel ya.

Now because of my job, I get to bring home dozens of haircare products. I've tried a lot of shampoos targeted towards hair fall but so far none has helped. Well, L'Oreal's kiddie shampoo Tendresse did but it's such an expensive shampoo that I don't think I can use that again. Inquirer's beauty director Ria Francisco Prieto says someone sent her this icky black herbal soap that helped with her hair fall but since it didn't have a name, she doesn't know where I can buy it.

Vince and I have our haircuts done at home. Call Shuji Kida-trained Michael at 0939-888.7860.

Sigh! My fellow women, especially mommies, how did you deal with your post-partum hair fall? Did you cut your hair really short, take supplements, eat something different, get scalp treatments, use a fabulous shampoo, or did you just cry it out???

I know that hair fall is a common problem with us women because I came across this website, BlindTest.com.ph, that reports a survey on women's hair problems. Nearly half of the women said that it's hair fall that troubles them most. The site also says (teasingly and maddeningly!) that there's a shampoo that can prevent hair fall (yep, 91% of the women surveyed said so!) but that the big reveal will be on Nov. 28 and that we'll have to wait to find out what this mystery shampoo is. Meanwhile our hair will keep falling!

Hmmm... I think I already have an idea what the shampoo is, and I'm just basing it on the blindfolded woman's nose and half-smile, but I won't put my guess here because I may be mistaken (although I'm pretty sure I'm not!) and then I'd get embarrassed. My fellow blogger friends have the same bet. How about you? What do you think this amazing hair-fall solution is?

I'm losing my hair. Just look at the top of my head!

I hope it's a real solution. The amount of hair I find everywhere is alarming. Even my yaya says to my son, "Hay naku, si mama mo nakakalbo na!" Cry cry cry!

Well, will commence as soon as we pick up our Rock Band 3 cymbals and keyboard this weekend! Oh yeah. The Third World Nerd and I have been haunting all the gaming shops for weeks now and they all have no Rock Band 3 instruments! Major fail! So we bought ours online.

Soon after that purchase, I got tons of Black Friday sale emails. Argh! Black Friday sale is a huge electronics sale in the US of A right after Thanksgiving. What's Thanksgiving? It's an American holiday that involves turkey, pumpkins, pecan pie, cranberries and, oh, thanksgiving! So anyway. The huge sale. Maybe we should've waited? A little itsy bitsy part of me wished we had waited until I realized that Rock Band 3 is super new and no way would it ever be on sale. So I'm happy!

I may be gone from the blogging world for a while, okay? It's time to rock!