ENGAGEMENT : Jake and Kathleen

If music be the food of love, play on ~Shakespeare 

ENGAGEMENT TEASER

Couple  : Jake & Kathleen

Location: Terra Mana, Badian, Cebu, PH

MUAH    : Cliff Racuya

PH        : Mae Alturas , PJ Cadungog 

JESSA

Women's eyes have pierced more hearts than ever did the bullets of war. -W.S. DOWNEY

Annebisyosa: No Other Woman World Tour

One of the things that Filipinos proudly claim is the fact that we are a country of great singers. A bold claim, but we Filipinos have proof that our fellow country men were able to make it big all over the world. Filipinos will always boast of Lea Salonga, who played Miss Saigon 1989 & is a Disney legend; Charice, who rose to popularity through Youtube and is now collaborating with David Foster & duets with international singers like Celine Dion; Arnel Pineda, Filipino singer-songwriter who has served as the lead singer of the American rock band Journey since 2007. Please note that I've listed just a few accomplishments of these professional singers.

Filipinos generally have this immense love for singing which is very evident with the numerous local singing competitions, the karaoke, and even actors trying their talents in singing. Piolo Pascual, Nora Aunor,Jericho Rosales,Diether Ocampo, Donna Cruz, Sheryl Cruz to name a few.

Lately, one ambitious and bold lady came out, tested the music industry and let's say tried her luck in singing. People in showbiz can say that she does love to sing. Although her love for singing is oftentimes a subject of criticism, she just has that certainty about herself that her stardom won't be fazed by her singing. True enough, she was very lucky to be given a break, was granted an album "Annebisyosa",a nationwide concert called "No Other Concert". She has indeed commanded a great following among Filipinos. The Waterfront Hotel, Cebu was jam-packed with her fans and followers.

She is no other than Anne Curtis Smith.

Above shows the description of herself from her twitter account. Apart from being gorgeous. I really love that she has that fun, wacky side to her persona.Did I mention that she is a credible and an amazing actress. She won Best Actress for her movie "Baler" with an equally great actor Jericho Rosales. During her concert Anne mentioned that she had to show off beautiful costumes to make up for her singing, really funny. 

Sue, Up for it! blogger and I took a few pictures as best as we can from where we were seated. Why I was able to sit VIP at her concert?Read here. 

Enjoy the pictures =)

Anne Curtis-Smith

singing "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang" with Luis Manzano

Luis Manzano dancing to "I'm Sexy and I Know It"

Anne Curtis singing "Alone"

Anne performing rock alternative songs

Anne singing "Super Bass"

Mark Baustista, one of her guest performers

Anne singing "Someone Like You"

I am not much of a concert goer but if I were to write a review about her concert. This is not that kind of concert that would be musically enriching but this however is the kind that would simply entertain you and would love her even more. Ironically, professional singers would be applauded when they would belt their heart out and not miss a tune but when Anne Curtis misses a a few notes she would be cheered on by her fans. An absolute confirmation on how her fans couldn't care less about her imperfections they just utterly love her to bits and pieces.

It has been reported that she would be giving up her singing career after her Cebu and Middle East concert tour. More details here.

Professional and amateurs alike share a passion for music on different levels. And, some will have the God-given talent while others can keep dreaming about it. Well, Anne is an epitome that there are things you can get away with pure charm and confidence. Don't get me wrong only a few people can get away with that! That is power! 

A special special thank you to this person who made this happen. She did this  to make my golden year a memorable one. =) Oooh a little trivia about us, we are both Geminis and are born on the same date May 27, cool right?

Sue is the author of Up for it! blog a.k.a @LilyZeta on twitter

Sue and me

ANNEBISYOSA No Other Concert

I have a couple things to share that made me ecstatic & jump like a crazy fanatic.

I just didn't not score a concert ticket, I'll be sitting VIP, watching Anne Curtis performing LIVE on stage at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

I have to thank Sue Caballes, "Up for it!" blogger http://sclilyzeta.blogspot.com/ and Katrina from Davao for the tickets.

Another thing today that made me jump for joy was Anne Curtis-Smith replying to my tweet. 
How cool is that! =) 

The concert's tomorrow but I am already starstrucked. Super excited!!!  

Will be posting updates soon

0;-)

Samsung Wave: Upgrading to Bada 2.0

I had my Samsung Wave GT S8500 for 1 year and 3 months, boy can I still remember how amazed I was when I first laid eyes on it. It was really too much for what I was willing to spend on a mobile phone but I had to replace this phone. For some odd reason, the back casing melted after about 1 month of acquiring it. 

Samsung E1080

At that time, I was just really shopping for an andriod phone, nothing very pricey but still packed with the right functionalities that any person in this day and age would want to have. I left that Samsung store will a very big disappointment to myself for not owning my limits. I already sold the idea of buying a Samsung Corby but OH BOY! did I splurge. I was splurging on impulse, if you know me, I usually do several trips to a store before I make a purchase. I didn't even know what BADA OS is. BADA? have you even heard of that. 

After owning it over a year, I would definitely say that it's hardware is a strong selling point, but I can easily say that its waterloo lies on the built-in OS, limited availability of apps & the time it took for them to develop a firmware fit to utilize the horsepower of the phone. Without the upgrade, this phone is just as good as that Samung E1080. So okay, I'm exaggerating but that is how dissapointed I was over the years. I have been patiently waiting for an upgrade from Samsung so I can proudly say that I have a smartphone.

Now, the long wait is over!

Samsung Wave GT-S8500

I've looked into Bada forums and the internet and I was very lucky I stumbled upon this on Youtube.  

"Tutorial - How to install Bada 2.0 (flashing)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbACmM-9RcA  


His Youtube video is easy to understand and the description is complete with the initial checks you should do with your phone, the disclaimers, the download links for the app and the bada files and the step-by-step guide on how it is done. The disclaimer states that this is to your own risk but I'll say that this is fairly simple. Just make sure that you have gone through the video and have everything ready in one place before you start flashing. 
 I came across a "Serial port open error" after the "Wait Reset" stage but that was because I previously had used an external drives on one of the USB ports. After restarting my system and re-executing the steps on the video. I finally got it to work and the whole process took less than an hour.
After the finger-biting experience I had flashing my phone, it's like owning a new phone. I am playing with it a lot now and I can honestly say that I kinda like what I am seeing. 
I now am a proud of owner of a smartphone =)


Here is a comprehensive look at the new features BADA 2.0 comes with. 
SO COOL ;)
BADA 2.0 SDK features
leads you to a .pdf file


The instructions on how to flash the phone are found below. 
Credits to GamingMause of Youtube for the instructions and the video. 

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a woman's rant

Although I would want to have some downtime on my rest days, I can't seem to find any of that lately. I half-blindedly signed the terms and conditions. What was I thinking?!? Now, I can see "sleep deprivation and wrinkle-bearing stress" right there on the fine print. That item has always been there and it will forever be; so ladies beware; I was just not paying much attention. Forgive me for taking this out on my post but this has been an ongoing feeling I have had and just didn't have an outlet. An outlet that won't talk back and say things to shut me down and ask me to suck it all in. Then I realize that I do have an avenue, I have been turning into blogging to put all my experiences in writing. This may probably cause some people to react negatively, pass bad judgement or hopefully understand where I am coming from but I really couldn't care less. The point of all this, is just really to channel my frustrations. I can certainly bullet them all out in this post but my mind is restraining that thought, for now. To those women who single-handedly raise their kids, wives under appreciated by their husbands and to all other forms of oppression you are undergoing, consider this a toast. I'm just saying! it is crazy balancing career, being a mother and etc...  To those women that are able to hold things together and carry on with life with lesser visible emotional scars, my respect goes out to all of you.

Scott Kelby Photowalk

There's this photo walk I joined back in October 15, 2011. I was no ordinary photowalk because it was one of Scott Kelby's. Here's a little fact about Mr. Kelby.

Scott Kelby (born 1960 in Lakeland, Florida) is an American photographer and an author and publisher of periodicals dealing in Macintosh and Personal Computer software, specifically for design professionals, photographers, and artists.  - Wikipedia

I'm pretty sure it was a well-organized event but hmmmm let's just say I was a non-conformist. They had organized a mini amazing race within the event; unfortunately, me and the group I was with didn't join. It could've been fun and exciting. Maybe another year? and possibly a new set of guts to join a group of competing photographers. 
Well here it goes, I just want to share it, I am no professional photographer, I am a hobbyist to be exact. Sharing with you a few of my shots. If after seeing my amateur shots LOL, I want to invite you to view my Flickr account where upload most of my pictures. I would really appreciate any comment you would leave here or on my  Flickr account. =)

http://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/cebu-city-central-visayas-philippines-3/

Hello Blogger!!!

DIY RingLight

We always have a bunch of unused boxes stacked around the apartment and since I was inspired by so much DIY stuff circulating online I knew I had to something from scratch. So my DIY moment came at 1:30am, a very conducive time for making things. I was feeling kinda like Alodia G. not sleeping until something gets done except it was not a cosplay costume. Photography is one of my "on and off" hobby, I mostly like doing portraits which mainly displays headshots with makeup. So I am hoping that this might be a good addition to my tools or this might be a fail who knows HA! But it is worth a try considering the success rate and almost no cost investment these DIY stuff promises.

So, I have decided to built a ring light. I built my ring light from cardboard boxes, a car reflector and a bunch of different tapes and of course the light source; a ring-shaped fluorescent w/ ballast. Lesson learned on tapes, use

Smokey Cat Eyes

Nikki 

Here is my take on the smokey cat eyes. First off, let me just say that Nikki has very mesmerizing eyes, I was excited to make her up because I know it would compliment this look. Plus this lass knows how to "work it" in front of the camera. Let me ask you, who doesn't love smokey eyes? A lot of girls are intimidated when doing this look. This smokey-eyed look has grown into massive popularity as it is no longer limited to the blacks and greys, it's neutral counterparts have become widely used. When done right, this can be a very sexy and flattering look; when done wrong, this can look like a big black eye or you can end up looking like a raccoon 8-)

Did I mention that there are over 100,000 (bit exaggerated number) how-to-videos on Youtube, to aide you in getting the perfect smokey look for your eye shape.

The trick here is to know how to blend and smudge! 

I won't bore you with the details on how to get this look, I personally prefer to watch video tutorials rather than read the steps on how to get this look. ( LOL ) The trick here is to know how to blend and smudge! Use a primer to make sure that the product adheres to your skin better.

Use a concealer underneath the eyes and over the top of the lids. The tone under and on the eyelids tend to be a bit dark than the rest of the face. A concealer is a very powerful product for everyday use to give you that rested look even when you just woke up from a hangover.

Do remember to curl your eyelashes, apply a generous amount of mascara or apply some false eyelashes to complete the look. 

I will soon be posting the products I used for this pictorial. 

Red Lips

This was quite a shoot! It has been quite sometime that me and my officemates have been planning to do a glamour/ fashion shoot just for the heck of it. We are still new to planning photoshoots and there we're quite a few things that had gone wrong =D hahahaha but it was well worth the experience. Jona, had two costume changes but had one look all throughout the pictorial. I personally pick these headshots for you to see the effect of the products used up close.

I chose neutral colors for the eyes to compliment with the strong red lips and used some lush false eyelashes to add something extra special to this shoot.

Here, I used Stila Cosmetics Surprise and Shine Record a Message Palette (hahahaha quite a long product name). The kit itself comes with three eye shadows Nude, Wheat and Espresso and a Convertible Color in Peony which can be used for the cheeks and lips. These compact type makeups are very practical for those that are always on the go but don't want to sacrifice their look. It can be your one stop shop to looking fabulous.

To start, I used a combination of cream and liquid foundation. I kept it very minimal because I wanted her skin to show through and a bit of concelear to hide imperfections. On her eyes, I used Wheat as base on her eyelids, swept some Bronze from Loreal's Beige Harmony quad on top of the base and used Espresso on the Stila palette to draw in some contour. For Jona's lips, I used Revlon's In the Red matte lipstick and  some VS lip shine to do away with her lips looking flat. 

photo courtesy of sephora.com

Stylist: Dan Malinao http://iamdanny-girl.blogspot.com/

Make-up: Aura Mae Alturas http://www.flickr.com/photos/maealturas/

Co-photographer: PeeJay Cadungog http://www.flickr.com/photos/tirapasagad/

Happy Valentines Day 

~Aura~

Party Rockin'

The product used on Angel's eyes is the Open Eyes Pro: Eyeshadow Quads in GREY HARMONY 

Open Eyes Pro is L’Oreal Paris’ new technological breakthrough for creating the perfect eye look. Created using the wet process technology, colors now adhere better to the skin. They now last longer and have a better shiny effect.

Photo Credit :goayjl.files.wordpress.com

I liked how this turned out on the picture especially the translucent effect on the highlights. The intense colors will transform your eyes dramatically. The quad that I picked out for this shoot is a gradient of grey tones. I also like the fact that this has a step-by-step guide at the back of the product to help you use it. I got this at Watsons Ayala Center Cebu and is available with different set of colors to choose from.

I want to thank my hubby for taking this shot and for volunteering his sister Angel to be my canvas.