July 27-28's island living

(photos by @michisings)

top, bench. shorts, vintage/thrifted.  

Sometime between July 28 and 29. I know...a very, very, veeeerrryyy late post. But this is because my computer is acting up and I cannot borrow anything from anyone so my only course at the moment is to save up for a new one. I'll try my best to keep this space alive as much as my powers allow.

Yes, beach makes me happy. Beach is LIFE. Beach is EVERYTHING and I miss it. This was Agutayan Island off of Jasaan, Misamis Oriental's coastline. A super raaaddd place. There were three of us that went there with two other groups through Sophie Red, a hotel that looks quite tacky by the way thanks to the name and color combination (tooooo red...not that good to loo at...). We ended up paying only the 50 Php (1 USD) fee a piece or per person because the bigger group has paid for the ride which should cost about 1200 Php so...yay~ Lucky~ 10 to 1, it's a 10 and so worth going to and probably is the highlight of our Jasaan overnight stay that weekend after the pool dip the night before that ended only at 9 in the evening because...you know...hotel management sucked and limited swimming at the pool to only 9 in the evening. 

Next beach trip will be...hopefully on the 21st as it's a holiday here. Also, I would, I so would travel to San Isidro, Initao for this. Cagayan de Oro is surrounded by awesome beaches I could never get tired of this place. 

....and as for today, which is a Saturday...I was busy running errands and stuff for...well...real life stuff. Also, I found a mini supermarket-type South Korean store close to home. I ended up buying 2 kinds of seafood ramen and a pack of nuts. My next target? A box of their brown rice green tea and maybe a card case I may need and a passport holder if I can't get the other one from Human Heart Nature's Mori Notes partner seller. Hmn...I have some decisions to make...somehow.

Terranova here in Cagayan de Oro's Limketkai Mall went on sale. Hopefully it still continues after work's payday because I have a few things I'd like to look into there though buying anything for myself is a bit iffy because I feel like I hardly really need anything yet outside of white shirts and tanks at this point. I'm yet surviving with my bunch of clothes to use for work (we have a loose clothing policy, yay~) and a few others. If you're anywhere in my city for this one, DO GO NOW. I went yesterday, Friday and there weren't a lot of people compared to the last few days or when the sale started, I guess so I was able to take a good look around it while shopping for some gifts four two cousins who are celebrating their consecutive birthdays from August 17 to today, August 18. 

Note that I hardly shop for anything because I want to stay minimal when it comes to dressing up and fashion and style in general. Also, really cozy and comfortable so yeah, this was a once in a lifetime thing. After the next payday, I'm only spending sparingly for things and saving as much as I can for other things. I notice that nowadays, I take a super easy going and chill approach to shopping especially sales. It's an improvement from my shopaholic self from years and years ago. 

And this is it for me. Until the next post...whenever that may be... 

for the weary and everything, I bring something cute and fun in the music section, yes. yay!

tank, bench ph. skirt, vintage. boots, rubi by cotton on (they're gusset boots long gone from last season or two but this is similar. bag, giani bernini (via macy's). cat ear ring & arrow necklace, f21.

It's been a crazy few weeks at home and out and thus the reason for not much updates since the 9th of this month or so. Personal and family life are insane right now. This, I won't go indepth with. I want to keep real life drama as far away from this escape pod/space of mine as much as I can to keep my sanity in check.

Anyway, a couple of things I've been playing non-stop via youtube:

Yes, I'm aware I've been blogging one too many things on kpop. I've been trying to avoid this one but in the end, I couldn't. Now, I find myself addicted to anything cute from Infinite (Man In Love is old being from 2013...), cute and sunny and cheery from their younger boy group siblings Golden Child (Sea fits the bill! I could lose myself in this for quite a long time...putting it on loop. lol.) and all things cute, positive and fun from Highlight as well as their really pretty ballads. I also like some of Infinite's Sunggyu's solos. I've been a casual Nell fan since stumbling on Ocean of Light from a favorite actor's trip to Hawaii music video thing. Nell is right up my alley as I am a fan of american bands with a similar vibe, OneRepublic and The Fray, as well as a lot of European (mostly UK?) alternative rock. 

The past couple of weeks have been so crazy these two music videos or songs have been my respite from it. Gotta keep oneself sane and happy somehow with everything gloomy happening left and right. This is one of those times in life where I'm really thankful for being a kpop and jpop fan. Pop music is life and love! *insert heart everything/emojis here...*

As for everything Jpop: Da-iCE is releasing a single in January 2018 (yaaayyy!!! It's so close already!) and lol's Nanana is about to be released early next month. Avex Japan never fails to give me something to look forward to when the year comes to an end. This was the case last year and 2017 stayed pretty bright for me despite well, my personal issues here and there among others.

Also, AAA's New Year Party will be done jointly with Da-iCE this year. YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!! I'm PSYCHED FOR THIS! It's things like this that I'm still basically alive and breathing for~

On a rather different note (but still connected to j- and k-pop), Infinite's Man In Love is a reminder to myself that my sunny, cheery, fashionisto(?) type of guy is quite a very rare pokemon to find. I might as well marry a k- or j-pop male idol star...haha. I can only wish...

I'm not going to lie, I'm not really fond of the time when a year is about to come to a close. Something about it is always gloomy although ideally, it should be pretty festive. Also, fall and winter in places around the world with four seasons...ugh...nope. No, thank you.  I need sun 24/7, 365 days a year. This amoeba needs life under the sun to thrive or else dim things happen... (also, the hotter, the better. I can live, then. Haha.) Then again, I also need pools and the really beautiful beaches and island paradises like plants need water and sun so...yep.

post-storm...literally.

tank, bench ph. shorts, secondhand lowry's. bag, vintage. boots, rubi by cotton on. bangles and cat ears ring, forever21.

It's been one week after another of intermittent all day rain and just all around gloomy, cloudy days thanks to typhoon Lan that hovered close to the Philippines' area of responsibility. It's course was different and soon moved away to Japan so there wasn't much damage (flooding, etc) much to all of our (here in the Ph islands) collective sighs of relief. Still, it's the wet season in this area so I'm expecting more typhoons coming our way. Hopefully, they just don't become as scarily devastating and damaging as category 5 ones similar to typhoon Haiyan way back in 2013.

 

Anyway, yes, sun! I miss this kind of cheery sunny day that makes me want to go to the beach and just be a bum or something else there... 

 

I've currently taken to starting my day with streaming Highlight's Can Be Better MV from their official youtube channel. The 1theK upload is getting more attention but the official Highlight youtube channel one, I feel, needs more of the attention from us fans. Hmn...I don't even stream Da-iCE stuff much and this one has a Vevo account on youtube... Either way, both are fandoms I discretely belong to so that explains this portion of this post. Haha. Can Be Better by Highlight just is such a relaxing and fun song that it's great to start the day with it and with their Pls. Don't Be Sad, as well. Both just are now my happy pills and they tend to set the tone of the day for me nowadays. I'm falling deeper into the Highlight fandom, I suppose. Mostly, it's because of their music which is a 360 from their regular dark, all-about-heartbreak-and-everything-grim ones back when they were under Cube Entertainment as Beast. I like this 360 degree turn they took in the direction of their music and all. Like, I really, really like it to the point I'm in love with it. This is the same feeling I had when Da-iCE came out with their debut album as then-indie artists way back in 2011. Beast debuted earlier than Da-iCE, though...around 2009.

 

 

 

keeping the heat and humidity away sans the intermittent rains

tank, bench ph (similar). lace shorts, tally weijl. denim vest, old navy. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora. bag, kohl's.

A white tank or t is default wear when I'm at a loss as to how to style highly detailed bottoms. I'm currently thinking of stocking up on more basics from Bench...sometime soon, I guess.

Here in the Philippines, there are two giant clothing companies that are competing: Penshoppe and Bench. It's easy to spot chains of these two in malls and in small, quaint city centers. They are just everywhere here. When I was younger, say, around late grade school to early high school and with not much knowledge of fashion and styling I used to prefer Penshoppe. I noticed more people I came to know preferred Bench then so I'd go the other way and choose the one people don't pay much attention to which was Penshoppe. There's just so much fun in going the opposite way from what most people go to or for. But having grown older now and at the same time, growing to love basics more than the frivolous non-basics, I've grown to appreciate Bench more. Nowadays, Penshoppe does seem to get more of the notable faces in the fashion industry, however. I saw on instagram in passing last night that they were able to get Kaia Gerber---yes, that Cindy Crawford's daughter---to endorse them. This is when they've had Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and even Cara Delevigne among a few others as their pretty recent past faces or endorsers. I'm notorious for sticking with brands that aren't overly endorsed by such well-known people so as of the moment, I'm enjoying all the basics that Bench offers. I might be the only one though...I don't know. It doesn't matter. It's more fun this way.

two favorites

tank, bench ph. skirt and corduroy jacket, vintage. heels, zalora ph. clutch, gifted by aunt.

Two favorites are in for today's outfit: the corduroy jacket and the skirt. These two are the most reached for items in my wardrobe. As in, I reach for them and a plain top when in a hurry to go out at night or on some cloudy and a tad bit colder days. Hence, why the jacket is seen almost all the time on this blog.

Also, I'll finally post the wardrobe (basics?) dissection tomorrow. I was supposed to do a double post today but I haven't even fixed the photos on the folder I've designated for this one. I also have not finished taking photos of other items to be included in said post. 

Meanwhile, here's something I'm addicted to, music-wise:

On some parts of the song (the lyrics, that is), it gets emotionally heavy but otherwise, I love the tune. It's really groovy and the music video is epic. 

mood/currently listening to: Love Coach by ZE:A (kpop)

two days worth of outfits

photos 1-3: button up shirt, vintage. cutoffs, gap. bag, ninewest. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora ph. photos 4-5: tank, bench ph. shorts, mags. wedges, CLN. clutch bag, gift from aunt. blazer, vintage. 

Yesterday and today's outfits. 2 days worth of outfits for several days' worth of going missing from the blogosphere from some time last week. There's really not much to share about this week and last week either. At least not a lot of good news to share. A lot of things going on this side of the world is bad news, instead. Let's not dwell on that however. It's just...all bad and depressing. National and inside the island issues, yes. You'd think Mindanao Island in the Philippines is sunny and warm and paradise-like but at this time, it's really not...that...much a paradise.

It's around 30 degrees and up, 33-36 to be more specific, Celsius here so it's definitely hot. Very hot. It's close to the regular body temperature, even. Yet, the weathermen on the news say the rainy season is upon us. I definitely hope it cools down a little more. Otherwise, I'm happy being mostly in shorts and mini skirts until then.

back to the white

 tank, bench ph. skirt, vintage suede. boots, rubi by cotton on (via zalora ph). bag, gifted by aunt. arm bangles/bracelets, vintage and souvenir shop.

I suppose it's time to break out this tunic skirt...thing and I think...I have quite the thing for button-front skirts as of late. Little details make what is a boring army-green-ish bottom look all the more better in photos. I actually like little details. The belt is inseparable to the skirt so it's a fully equipped little thing I'll probably be obsessed with for a while right after the vintage light brown skirt I also keep wearing when in a hurry to go out for stuff. Anyway, I think I'm going back to the skirts+shorts and tops formula. It's a tried and tested one that guarantees me minimal melting in the summer heat whether it's late afternoons or mid-afternoons or really sunny mid-mornings.

Sort of a new skin care/beauty obsession now that I've run out of the Coast to Coast serum is this arbutin thing. It's my second day using it and though I'm not really seeing any effects yet, I might as well keep using it with the lady housemate until it runs out. I do like me some Japanese skin care products right next to French, some American and the local organic ones from my favorite, HumanHeartNature. I'm the kind who's usually more into skincare than make-up though I do have my go-tos for the latter from time to time.

South Korean beauty products are the ones easily accessible from here/in this side of the world considering we have Etude House and the Face Shop among others but something about this just doesn't seem to sit right with me so I stick to the ones I'm more familiar and am more at ease with (American, French, local (Philippines-made), Japanese). I think the fact that a lot of them use some extract from snails scare me away and put me off them quite indefinitely. Plant-based things are just more my thing, I guess---however much a struggling vegetarian (currently succeeding as a pescetarian at the moment) I am. This doesn't mean I'm writing off South Korean skin care+beauty products however. I think SKII for one is good and worth it using or trying. Consider me out of the loop on beauty/skin care trends but I'll stay away from these skin care products for now, thank you. But outside of this, I kind of do want to try the precise liquid eye liner from Etude house...and, well...one day I will. Well, you can say I don't really frequent those shops in the city's malls and online a lot. And in relation to South Korean beauty and skin-care matters...I think Get It Beauty in TVN is getting too tiring for me to follow as of late, I've been skipping it lots when on a TV binge. I'm crossing it off of my regular watch list on local cable tv subscription list...

On the music fandom front...I've been listening non-stop to Tove Lo today. Lady Wood is such a good, good album but Queen of the Clouds will always have a special place in my heart for me, after all. I am this insane slash mad for everything Tove Lo's songwriting and music/beats making. From Lady Wood, Cool Girl and Imaginary Friend are the two tracks that speak the most to me. Meanwhile, Queen of the Clouds is just love all around from The Sex (Intro) to Habits (Stay High) (Hippie Sabotage Remix). Love Ballad, from there is especially the most special to me. So...in line with that, here's the track I love so much:

 

skirt on repeat

 tank, bench ph. skirt, ebayed laundry by shelli segal. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora. clutch, gifted by aunt.

It's long been established I'm a repeat offender. A chronic repeat offender to be exact. At least when it comes to pieces of clothing I get obsessed with or too attached to at some point. This skirt has been on rotation since what...? Last week? I'll retire it sometime this week somehow. Went with this for something simple today while working on the previous post and some other things...

There's not much up today but the final game between Far Eastern University and National University on tv for the UAAP Men's volleyball event. The team that wins this now-5-set game faces off my favorite team of the event. Ateneo de Manila University blue spikers (or eagles? ....whichever works, I guess...) on Saturday for the first game of the finals. And I am highly thrilled for this one. I'm definitely clearing my saturday schedule for this game, gotta cheer for my boys somehow. Their 14-0 sweep of the two elimination rounds of this season shouldn't be all for naught...at all, after all.

 

not the manly pinstripes i hoped for but close

 bench tank, secondhand trousers, primadonna wedges

Two thrifting around trips with the shopaholic aunt resulted to the acquisition of this pair of trousers that could be as close to the pinstriped manly trousers I'm forever on the lookout for but still not quite. I figured the latter would be perfect with pretty, loosely draped tanks. Sadly, even this Bench tank isn't the right draped one of my dreams. I'm still mentally beating myself up for not getting a large or an extra-large (if the latter existed) variant of this thing. Suffice it to say, I'm pretty...not so into this outfit combo I have on today. 
As for the Primadonna wedges...a quick, random story: I've come to the conclusion they're not the most comfortable for long walks when I used them to tromp around the Ayala mall area of Cebu City with family and friend/s last year. Never. Again. The wedges are just too thin so the stable support just isn't there. I wasn't able to last minute-ly pack a pair of flats on a bag (I think I only had a clutch back then) used to dress up fancily for a graduation ceremony of a family friend/foster older brother that was followed later, post-graduation ceremony, by cavorting around Cebu's massive Ayala mall...
Ah, I promised myself, mostly that I would be sticking to a light and airy mostly white and pastel----dusty rose/pink, blush or the lightest of pinks and maybe some peach is mostly my limit where that color palette is concerned but I'd bring in a few orange, yellow and icy blue from time to time---but the really moody weather hasn't been permitting me to do so. We've been dealing with some rain and mostly cloudy days since two weeks ago around here and mid- to late- March, all of April and even May are supposed to be sunny, really dry and humid summer months. I'll...work on that when the weather permits, but for now, I'll still be wearing some blacks and charcoal from time to time.
....and I finally have something I can alternate with an age-old pair of trouser-like-leggings from SM Department Store's GTW line. GTW does really functionally good pieces that are pocket-friendly for the fashion forward/fashion conscious frequently. It's a local line I can easily count on. I'm sure my local country(wo)men would pretty much say the same. I'm really more of a trousers/leggings/skirts person than a jeans one, evidence being that I have very little of the latter in the wardrobe. I blame the local climate and recently very moody weather.

dainty pink ribbon choker

 

Bench ph tank, forever21 shorts (they really do resemble hotpants now that I see it here but it looks longer than those...? yep, this should be noted here), verano.ph c/o zaloraph Maica wrap choker, Primadonna ph wedges, ninewest bag

The Maica wrap choker, daintily tri-strand, baby pink or close to blush in color and beribboned by zalora third party seller, Verano (they are on instagram, it seems, here: @verano.ph)came to me yesterday and thus how I ended up building today's outfit to wear with it as base. Experiment done and done, I found that it would work better with anything minimal such as this pair of shorts found on the sales bin on a Forever21 shop...I don't remember which south california mall it was between Long Beach and Los Angeles, however...and the favorite tank from Bench. Heeled gladiators would probably look better but alas, my last pair in white from the favorite local store, What a Girl Wants, that shut down around late last year or middle of it had broken down eons ago. I need a new pair somehow or some 100 and more of them because they're great in messing up any minimalist outfit for any occasion. It's either that or more ankle boots.

Ugh. It looks like the Ally dress my eyes went to when browsing their page on Zalora are out in my size. Hopefully they make more of it or something resembling it in that black color---but then again, admittedly, I already have a ton of black dresses in the wardrobe almost rivaling the fairy-ish white ones---and white. Bonus points if said dress also turns up in blush. This is so something to wear on weekend night outs and the beach. 

The package from zalora, by the way came with their cute tag/card that ended up making me miss cavorting in the beach... 

And this is how it looks like up close

Now I feel more like the typical someone who grew up in the 90s because honestly, I did...one decade of my life anyway.

flared skirt

American Sports hat/fedora & sunglasses, dad's; f101 skirt via zalora.ph; bench ph tank; bag from kohls (a gift); vintage, local bangles; shoes from Mags

Easy basics for a lazy Wednesday. Zalora stuff is becoming a constant lately. I don't really shop a ton in real time unless maybe it's an uncrowded mall or something similar so rarely am I seen frolicking in malls which now includes coffee shops. Hermit-ing in at this time, yes.