"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ~Voltaire, War"

A soldier carrying a lifeless little girl's body

When was the last time you've given a good thought about the wars over Iraq and Israel? Honestly, all I did about it was to plainly know that people there are fighting over things they can't agree upon. I knew there were military funding, bombings, children forced to learn about guns, and a whole lot more of depressing things unimaginable.

Today, I stopped plainly knowing about it. I stopped the less needed sympathy and started empathizing with Iraq's and Israel's respective gloom.

I pray to God for strength to be patient with the meanest people I encounter in places. I ask God for prudence with the choice of words that comes out of my mouth. I ask God to bless me with the will to be as loving as Christ, especially when He faced those who hated Him.

It's a tough commitment to make, but I'm happy to be taking these few steps in my mini-contribution to world peace. It may not be as glorious as what other people can do to stop the war, but I know that I'm putting my heart into it. It will be hard and it will be a huge struggle for me (I'm soooo inclined to be mataray, maybe because of too much stress), but I am putting my heart into it with God's help.

If you are crushed by the little girl's lifeless body above, I hope you can be convinced that there must be something done to end the war. I hope that, rather than plainly sympathizing, we can empathize like the soldier. That we can choose to carry and hug the helpless child, rather than muttering, "Poor kid", and walk away.

Royally yours, Bleak

I'm so wistful thinking about:

1) Sigma Brushes - I've watched good reviews about it on youtube. Cheaper MAC's? Perhaps, even better!




2) Skin79 Shiny Pearl Water Drop BB Cream - see how cute it is! it really sparkles! LOLz. If you can refer me to a review on this prod, please do so. *hugs!*


Are you lemming on some stuff, too? C'mon, tell me! I'd love to know.

Royally yours, Bleak

Skinfood's Pineapple Hand Cream perfectly fits the summer season mainly because it smells like real pineapple. Before you get freaked out by the scent, let me tell you that it smells like pineapple... IN A VERY POSITIVE WAY. Everytime I put this on, my folks would tell me how nice it smells.

Skinfood Pineapple Hand Cream, 45mL
Around 600+PHP (~ 13)

The Edge:

• scent spells out summer: it's pineapple right at your fingertips! (pun intended)

• moisturizes the driest hands

• small amount should do; product goes a long way

Uh-ohs:

• feels kinda greasy if you accidentally put on too much

• tends to make the hands too shiny instead of moisturized-matte (perhaps because I don't have dry skin type)

• it's too liquefied. it should be a cream, duh!

Less is more: a little amount is good enough to minimize the ugly lines on your hand
and moisturize it!

(L): I accidentally squeezed out too much product
(R): Too flowy. I sort of expected a creamier prod

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ROYAL RATING: Spend-worthy? Not really. There are cheaper alternatives. I just use this product during special occassions, say, holding hands with boyfie *royal chuckle*. No, really. That's when I use it coz he loves the scent on my hands.
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Hands are so precious that it needs to be pampered after a long day's work. Why not try giving your hands some massage using a hand cream/lotion? It's a stress reliever for me!

Royally yours, Bleak

My very own dermatologist is my dermaroller! Yep, she does my dermaroller-ish treatment manually as she deems it more suited for my acne scars.

Dermarolling treatment promises a lot of beauty benefits such as finer pores, deep scar treatment, improved skin elasticity and diminished fine lines. You pay for a dermaroller kit (dermaroller plus the topical anesthesia) and you're off to around 5 to 6 sessions (depending on the gravity of your scars) of skin puncturing.

Dermaroller pics, choose your variant!
Outer two rollers offer a bigger area of dermarolling
Middle roller is a three-liner variant
Price range: 14,000PHP-40,000PHP (kit plus doctor's fee)

My procedure mimics dermarolling, but is a whole lot more tedious. Collagen induction or subcision is the hard (and meticulous) way of getting dermarolling's benefits. Thank God for such a passionate and honest dermatologist, she offered this taxing treatment (on her part) despite the fact that she can just mow my face with that dermaroller! She has this needle that she pushes onto my severely diffused acne pits. This technique allows scarring and eventually, deposition of collagen fibers above the scars.

Three hours post-subcision/collagen induction
Look at those huge pores!!!
Costs me: 1,oooPHP (suki price. LOL) along with glycolic and DP treatment


One week and 2 days after: still with scarring
Do not force the scab to get off your skin; don't even help them get loose

It took me a week and five days before I went back in action. I don't know but my scars take up so much time to heal. Some of those who undergo similar treatment take a week (or even less) for complete healing.

I noticed significant results when my scars healed completely. I had less obvious pores and the pits were more shallow this time! These pics were taken January 2009... my second session for subcision. The first treatment was last September 2008, where I noticed impressive results as well.

I hope I could afford fraxel (my derma tells me that this is the best option for me). But she doesn't offer this treatment just yet (imagine that! she was honest enough to recommend a treatment she has yet to offer) and besides, fraxel is waaay too expensive and I don't have the money for it (if I had the money, I'd go for it).

My MD, a fellow Thomasian: Sixta Foronda , M.D.

6F Aesthetic and Anti-Ageing Center
14/F Medical Plaza, Amorsolo St., Makati City

Treatments I avail from her: DP, Glycolic treatment, collagen induction, TCA, steroid injection for major zits

Royally yours, Bleak