May 2013 Hit Listers

Hello! Just a quick post here. ^^ I'm taking a break from my take home work. ^^ May has been a little, let's just say food-filled. I took a little break from purchasing makeup but ended up eating a lot instead. Here are just some of the memorable stuff for the month of May.

1. Epicurean Cakes
-I will tell you now that you need to order from Epicurean Cakes. My family is seriously hooked with their cupcakes! We have tried their Kitkat and Red Velvet cuppies and we ordered another box for this week. Read why we love these sweets.

2. Etude House Sweet Recipe Baby Choux Base in Peach
-I love, love, love this base! Although balms work better for my oily skin, I like how light this feels on my skin. Plus, it has some coverage that allows me to rock it on its own. (Read review here.)

3. Maybelline Clear Smooth Shine Free Pressed Powder
-I understand now why my mom is so loyal to this pressed powder. Not the best for me, but definitely one of the good ones. Review here.

4. Etude House Baking Powder Pore Cleansing Foam
-I sampled the BB cleaning kind of this line last year and loved it. This is the regular one and so far, I'm loving it. Review to follow.

 5. Jocarste Nail Polish in A61
-As of this moment, I've finished half of this bottle. This is one of the prettiest colors of nail polish I've ever seen. Review here.

6. Maybelline Pure Liquid Mineral Foundation in #2
-I gave my sister my Maybelline Aqua Gel foundation because she likes taking pictures and BB Creams are not always the best bet since most of her BB creams have SPF. I chanced upon this liquid foundation, which was on sale, and it's actually pretty good. Review to follow.

7. Avon Mousse Eyeshadow in Rose?
- This one is my mom's and probably one of the oldest and most loved eyeshadows I own. When it started raining around May, I took this out for a ride again because the soft rose color just reminds me of spring. Well, rainy season is more like it.

8. Glen Necklace from Envy
-I've always been a fan of layered necklaces but it is hard to find individual necklaces that would look good together so when I finally found a pre-made layered necklace, I bought it without flinching. One of my favorite May purchases. Envy is available at the G/F of Trinoma. ^^ and in Zalora.



asianwiki.com

 9. Gu Family Book
-Most of the dramas airing now in Korea are sageuk or those that I know of anyway. Although I love watching dramas with historical settings, not all are, well, enjoyable to watch. That's what makes Gu Family Book so great. Lee Seung Gi (the lead of My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and King 2 Hearts) plays a half-human half-gumiho in search of the Gu Family Book so that he can become human and Suzy (of Miss A), well, she's just a badass sword-wielding leading lady and definitely not your ordinary damsel in distress. What I love about this series is that it has quite a heavy plot but there's still humor injected. And I love how Suzy and Seung Gi's characters in the story are starting to have well a stronger friendship. I'm hooked and I can't wait to see how it ends.

facebook.com

10. Get It Beauty
-When we lost our TvN channel *sobs* and eventually our cable connection *sobs again* about a year ago, I was really saddened because there was this show about makeup and beauty in Korea that I loved to watch every Thursday nights but then I found out about Get It Beauty, which has basically the same concept. Here's a screenshot of f(x)'s Krystal, one of Etude House's new endorsers, in an episode. Watch episodes of Get It Beauty on YouTube here and here.

Cheerio!

Food Talk: Epicurean Cakes

Hey! Am I the only one who thought today is Thursday? That's bad I guess since that means that I've lost track of time and it's seemingly slowing down. ^^

Anyway, let the cupcake testing continue! A few weeks ago, I came across Epicurean Cakes in Sumi Go's blog, The Purple Doll (Check out her entry here.) Yes, I do love reading food blogs just as much as I love beauty blogs and Sumi's blog is one of the awesome-st food blogs I've ever read. Let's just say I dare you not to get hungry while looking at her pictures or reading her entries. 

I was a bit hesitant to try these out, mainly because it was online and I have a thing about online purchases. I've only bought makeup online because I trust my color-instincts when it comes to makeup. But with food or clothes and shoes, my gut-feel falls down to the zero-range.

But being the pretend daredevil that I am, and since Sumi spoke highly of these babies, I immediately sent a text to the owner of Epicurean Cakes and braced myself.

I later on found out, a countless text messages later that is, that Epicurean Cakes is owned by blogger Kim Buenafe of kimiviajera and her sister. I actually read her blog and couldn't make the connection until I asked her about it. ^^She was really kind and patient enough to answer my questions and I had a LOT because it was my first time buying food online. Well, unless you'd count takeouts from McDonalds. After a few arrangements, I made my payment thru BPI and had my dad pick it up from BGC. (Pick-ups are available around Antipolo and BGC and delivery are for orders 12 pcs. and up)

Minimum order is 6 pcs./flavor. Each cupcake is 40 Php. Quite on the lower-priced side of the cupcake town. This one is called Kitkat Choco Swirl/Twirl, I forgot. ^^ I was having a KitKat episode when I ordered this, but I did ask for my family's opinion. There are other interesting flavors like Red Velvet, Oreo S'mores, and others. Oh,they also have Charlie's Chocolate cupcake, which is 200% chocolate. Maybe it's meant for me? *haha*

Each cupcake is placed in a royal blue tin paper-is cup and they are all housed in a cute blue box.

The Verdict:

 I must say that I expected it to taste like the run-of-the-mill cupcakes I used to have but I was quite impressed. A little blown away actually. For its price, the cupcakes were pretty good. The base was very moist. The cupcake itself had a great balance between the base and frosting and I loved the Kitkat. I mean, that's an entire Kitkat stick jammed into a single cupcake. And the frosting, and you know I have frosting issues, the frosting was really good. My sister found it a little to milk-y but said it was still good. My family enjoyed it too. Let's just say the three of us enjoyed it so much that my dad just had to take our word for it with the taste. Loved it. ^^

We'd definitely be ordering from Epicurean Cakes again. Actually, my dad just ordered 6 of their red velvet cupcakes when he picked these up. Visit Epicurean Cake's Facebook page here for more information.

By the way, Epicurean Cakes needs at least 1 to 2 days to prep before delivery and a 50% downpayment is needed. ^^ Totally worth it, trust me.

I'd always be a loyal fan of Cupcakes by Sonja, but I must say, these cupcakes may just be as awesome. ^^

Cheerio!

UPDATE (05/31/13)- Tried their Red Velvet cuppies. So good! The frosting almost seemed like pure cream cheese. It was so thick and creamy and the cupcake base was just as great. Next flavor coming next week! ^^