This Site Has Permanently Moved to erikadejesus.com!

Hi everyone! On the last entry about my blog undergoing site maintenance (that post may be found here, on my old WordPress.com blog at https://erikadjesus.wordpress.com), I mentioned something about finally making the switch from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress.org blog.

Well, the transfer is finally done—this will be the last update on https://erikadjesus.wordpress.com and all the new posts I will be publishing will be found ONLY on http://erikadejesus.com! Although the old posts may still be viewed here, I recommend you visit my new site instead since all the posts from before were imported there, anyway (plus the new site design looks so much better). 😆

There was a bit of a delay due to a bunch of technical things regarding hosting and Jetpack plugin connection (at one point I thought I lost all my blog followers from WordPress.com), but everything is supposedly all sorted now, except the new blog still can’t accommodate new subscribers using the embeddable WordPress “follow button” as of the moment. That will hopefully be fixed within the week, but for the meantime, new followers may opt for the “Subscribe via Email” function found on my sidebar—just enter your email address on the field provided and hit the subscribe button. Old followers from November 12, 2014 and earlier will have to do the same IF you want to receive email updates on new blog posts, but if you’re okay with being subscribed through just the WordPress Reader, then you won’t have to do anything.

Anyway, check out my new blog icon and layout! I worked pretty hard on it so I hope you guys like how it looks. Let me know what you think! Hope to see you all there! 🙂

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Blog Under Construction!

Hi everyone! My blog will be undergoing site maintenance as I’m currently transferring everything from my WordPress.com blog to my self-hosted WordPress blog (FINALLY, AFTER MONTHS OF THINKING ABOUT IT). 🙂 This website will still be *supposedly* accessible via http://erikadejesus.com, but in case it shows a bunch of errors during the transfer, kindly open the site through the old URL at https://erikadjesus.wordpress.com for the meantime.

Once the transfer is done (hopefully within the day), http://erikadejesus.com will be completely accessible again with all the old posts and content, including the comments that had already been posted. All my subscribers will also be moved to the new blog, so if you’re already following me, my posts will still be appearing on your WordPress Reader. If you want to receive updates via email, however, you’d have to input your email address in the “Subscribe via Email” widget of the sidebar regardless of your WordPress Reader subscription status. Sorry for the inconvenience!

I’ll make another post the moment I’m done with conducting the maintenance! I can’t wait for all of you to see the new layout I worked so hard on!

Hope you’re all having a great day! 🙂

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Mövenpick Hotel, Mactan Island, Cebu (July 8-9, 2014)

Photo taken from Travel Trilogy.

The Mövenpick Hotel in Mactan Island is a branch of the renowned Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts group, a tried and tested brand of hotels I have had the privilege of experiencing in a number of other countries when I was younger.

Anyway, I mentioned I’d make a review of our hotel stay on the blog post about our Cebu trip some weeks back, so here it is!

MÖVENPICK HOTEL MACTAN CEBU RATING SUMMARY
Price: 2.5/5.0
Accommodation: 4.0/5.0
Outdoor Facilities: 5.0/5.0
Customer Service: 4.5/5.0
Food: 4.5/5.0
TOTAL: 4.1/5.0

Travel Diaries: Cebu, Philippines (July 8-12, 2014)

Common notion is that traveling is a hobby of the rich and the affluent, of people who have nothing much to do but see the world with their surplus finances; that ordinary people can’t afford it, or can, but choose not to because there are much more important things to spend traveling funds on. I’d like to think otherwise. Don’t get me wrong—I agree that sure, there could be more substantial expenditures to use money on and I completely understand that each individual has varying sets of priorities, but I want to dispel the belief that traveling has to be expensive and extravagant.

Indulging in the cultures and places that the world has to offer is not an activity exclusive to the rich; it is a means to self-discovery and the introduction of change in one’s psyche—much unlike superficial material things that don’t have the capability to fill an aching void in a person, traveling is actually worth every cent you spend on it.

Contrary to a major misconception, although traveling requires a bit of a budget, you don’t necessarily have to bear a hole in your pocket for it. The essence of a trip lies in the venue-exclusive experiences you get to gain from it, not in the level of luxury your accommodation and transportation have.

It’s been more than three months since my short 5-day trip to Cebu, but when I look back to my overall experience—from the luxurious hotel check-in at the posh Movenpick Mactan, to the pocket-friendly but practical and decent stay at Express Inn, and finally the free stay at my travel buddy’s friend’s house—I realize that so much had changed within me since then.

At NAIA Terminal 4 with my travel buddy and childhood friend, Joy (check out her travel blog).

Site Update!

My apologies for my extremely long absence! I had been feeling completely uninspired for any blogging activity whatsoever these past few months. 😦 If it’s any consolation, I have been doing a bit of traveling since then—I’m currently writing this post from Cairo, Egypt—and I can’t wait to post about all of my trips! I also have way too many new makeup purchases (that I’ve already taken photos of) to write about, so here’s to actually sharing my thoughts on them (I will be prioritizing the new travel section of my blog for the meantime, though).

To all my followers, both new and old, thank you SO much for sticking around! ❤

P.S. I made a bunch of modifications to my website layout just recently (check out my header image, navigation menu, side bar, footer, and very subtly modified background). I hope you like them!

MAC Alluring Aquatic Collection: Photos, Swatches, and Reviews

The MAC Alluring Aquatic collection is the summer 2014 MAC product line released in the Philippines last June. It comes with lipsticks, lipglasses, lip pencils, Extra Dimension Eye Shadows, Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners, bronzing powders, Extra Dimension Bronzers, Extra Dimension Blushes, nail lacquer, makeup brushes, and a makeup bag. Pretty extensive collection, if you ask me, not-to-mention aesthetically pretty too because of the limited edition teal packaging!

I got just a lipstick and an eyeliner, however, because the other products were either similar to a bunch of makeup I already have or just plain uninteresting to me. Scroll down to read my reviews!

MAC Mystical cremesheen lipstick and MAC Black Swan Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner

So I’m High-Maintenance… So What?

A few days ago, I came across a number of articles on low-maintenance women and how much “better” they are compared to high-maintenance ones, and even though I agree to some extent, it’s kind of getting on my nerves already. Why, you ask?

Well, obviously I belong to the latter group—I have all the traits that are the complete opposite of those used to describe a low-maintenance woman, as found online. Let me lay down a list for reference purposes…

iCove Beach Hotel, Subic (May 19-20, 2014)

This site has permanently moved to erikadejesus.com. The exact same post you are currently viewing may also be viewed on the new website by clicking this link, so please head over there instead as I don’t maintain this website anymore. Thank you very much!

Okay, I know I mentioned writing about having gone on a trip during my long absence from blogging on my previous post, but this is *not* it. This one’s a really fun summer getaway I had with my friends, Nikita, Kat, and Javier last May 19-20, and even though it’s been almost 3 months since then, I can’t let that experience not be commemorated through this blog post!

Like my old post on Club Balai Isabel, this was supposedly just a photo post of our trip, but again… there’s no harm in writing a review, right? Especially if it could be of help to people who are looking for places to go to in Subic! 🙂

iCOVE BEACH HOTEL RATING SUMMARY
Price: 5.0/5.0
Accommodation: 5.0/5.0
Outdoor Facilities: 5.0/5.0
Customer Service: 5.0/5.0
Food: 5.0/5.0
TOTAL: 5.0/5.0

Guerlain Météorites Perles Light-Diffusing Primer: Pictures, Swatches, and Reviews

First and foremost, I have absolutely no excuses for abandoning my blog for more than a month. I just wasn’t feeling it, I guess? I wasn’t in the mood to take photos of my makeup; I wasn’t in the mood to write about makeup… heck, for a period of time I wasn’t even in the mood to put on makeup. You could say I was going through some stuff (disclaimer: I still am, but I just don’t want to neglect my blog any longer). Damn, I am horrible at this. 😆

On the plus side, though, I traveled a bit during my blog absence and it was an amazing experience. I’ll make sure to write about that, because I’d be dumb not to!

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Anyway, here’s a makeup review I had been putting off for so long already—the Guerlain Météorites Perles Light-Diffusing Primer, a.k.a. the BEST makeup primer I have ever used!

On Working Out and Staying Motivated

A little more than a month ago, someone from Healthline contacted me, asking if I was interested in publishing an article of my choice by one of their authors. During that period of time, I was around a month into working out and going to the gym, but knowing myself I knew that in around two months’ time I would probably be lazing around already… and to my dismay, I was right. To think I actually thought I was making progress to a better, healthier lifestyle! 😦

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A few of the many workout gear I splurged on. Team Nike!

Thankfully, the article on “staying motivated to work out” was sent to me right on time. I should really resume eating clean and hitting the gym again (besides, I can’t let all my pretty workout clothes and shoes go to waste—plus I’m going to Cebu in around 2 weeks)…