Ace Waterspa Experience

I promised the little girl we'd go swimming once I find a new job. I invited a couple of people to Club Manila East but nothing came out of the plans. Not losing hope that I can still fulfill my promise to my toddler I asked my aunt if the pool at their village is open to public. When she said it's not well maintained and would advise me against going there she also suggested we head to Ace Waterspa and even offered to join us and have my uncle drive us to and from their Pasig branch. So off we go. I just packed a change of clothes and the little one's milk as well as a towel each.  Upon reaching their driveway, an usher/guard opened the car and assisted us. Nice touch. It IS a hotel after all. The lobby is quitr small BUT very welcoming and clean. The staff were attentive and courteous. Everyone greeted us with a smile as we went up to the changing/shower room.  This is by far the cleanest shower room I have encountered probably because of the indoor facilities. Goodbye putik moments. You have tk check in your shoes/slippers so I'd suggest to wear the inexpensive types "just in case" it gets lost or mixed up but I highly doubt that. On the way to the pool we were greeted by a cold wave of air. Not sure if it's from the airconditioned lobby or what. But being already wet it sure sent chills down my body. The little girl started shivering so had to force her to jump in the heated water.  The water is heated just right, the jets and whatnots are heaven sent. I didn't get to try everything because the little one doesn't like it and would rather "surf" through the flowing river. Yeah, such wild imagination. Nakatuntong lang sa float, surfing na daw. The kiddie pool was her fave. The water stops around her chest area and she can walk aroubd by herself. Such a happy 3 year old.  We decided to leave after 2 hours mainly because we're all hungry!!! We ate at S&R before heading there so we were surprised at how famished we were just after 2 hours of making lublob (not even swim ha). After cleaning up we went to the cafe/resto. I ordered the beef gyudon (if I remember it right). The taste was good BUT they put too much sauce on the rice that everything became salty. Sayang!  Anyway, overall we had a pretty good experience and I'd like to come back soon by ourselves. I just don't know where to park since we got dropped off and picked up on our last visit. I can always give them a call to inquire.

Review: HMH 100% Natural Day & Night Moisturizer

I'm going to do a double review this time because I have the same comments for both products. First, I have emptied 2 bottles of this line (1day and 1night) and I'm unto my 3rd bottle. I don't use them in tandem, meaning, one for night and one for day since I personally don't see the difference aka no sunscreen to differentiate day use. BUT reading through the formulation I was under the impression that the night formula is more for restoration with ingredients meant for the skin to be soaked longer on.  I love that both formulas are really light but not greasy. Normally, my experience with moisturizers is that it would either be heavy and greasy (think 80s Pond's cold cream days and your mom's soft skin in the morning) or its the matte finish but your skin ends up feeling tight and dry (I like tight but not dry, what's the point of using a moisturizer?). You'd experience neither here.  Both are mildly scented. I kept on thinking whether I prefer one over the other but I actually like both scents. Also, I don't mind using it on my neck when I wear perfume since its scent isn't strong enough to create a reaction THOUGH it could be that my perfume just goes well with this product. This, I can't verify with absolute truth as I've only tried it with my usual scents. The have a 50ml and 100ml bottle which gives the users options - small and portable or something that would last longer. I have bought the 100ml ones and from experience with daily use of 2-3 pumps, it would last me 5-6 months. Not bad for the price. I'd go and say, it's actually cheap. One caveat though is if you ordered this online you might get the older stocks with just a couple month's worth of shelf life. So my suggestions for first time users is buy the smaller bottle and guage how long you'd be able to empty it.  Regarding the bottle and the pump mechanism, all the ones I have recieved are in perfect condition. None broke or got cracked even with multiple accidents and collision with the floor. The packaging design in itself is very clean and straightforward that I feel confident with bringing the entire bottle with me on trips (yes, nakakahiya minsan magdala ng personal products when people are rummaging thru your bags).  Overall, for me at least, whether you choose the day or night moisturizer you get a good product for a good price. No extras in this packaging, just a simple moisturizer with no special tricks but good enough to say it deserves a place in my dresser. Here are my scores: Packaging - 5 out of 5 Scent - 5 out of 5 Price - 5 out of 5 Efficacy - 4 out of 5 (only because its all basic, would love some spf in the future) Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Review: Human Heart Nature Sunflower Beauty Oil

I have been using this for over a year now and have gone thru at least two large bottles and a small bottle. I wasn't too keen to try this since I hate the slimy feeling of using anything oil based on my skin. But alas, all the good reviews and my continued search for the perfect moisturizer pushed me to try this.
For quite sometime I have known I have skin asthma and have been keen to keep my skin moisturized as best as possible. After the usual OTC lotions which left me feeling like there's a plastic film on my skin I have tried HMH products. I thought it's time to take it a step further and use oil vs just plain moisturizer.
At first I only used the Sunflower Beauty oil to protect the usually scuffed areas like my elbows and knees. I noted that it doesn't feel greasy at all and does a good job of keeping my skin soft and supple. I then tried it on my feet and legs and it's the same effect.

Eventually I started using the oil for my toddler since I stopped using it (it's a whole different story and has nothing to do with the product). I read it helps lighten the skin and since my daughter had a lot of nasty scars from scratching bug bites I thought it wouldn't hurt to let her try it. I wasn't afraid to use it on her because of how pure the HMH products are. So at age 2 I started smothering my toddler's legs with the Sunflower Beauty oil every night. I saw great improvements in her darkened scars and overall skin in the legs. I have kept using it before she sleeps to help the oil soak more since she's not running around too much and I will continue to use this for her.

(Photo of my almost empty bottle)

Overall, this is one of my favorite product from HMH. Heck, it's one of my favorite product ever. Period.
BTW, I used to use this to lock in my normal moisturizer. Meaning after bath I'd slather myself with a body lotion THEN I'd layer this on. Works best during cold weather when you need some extra protection on your skin.

So here's my review for HMH Sunflower Beauty Oil:

Packaging: 4 out of 5 (only because I wish there's a bigger bottle hehe)

Price: 5 out of 5

Smell: 5 out 5 (I don't think they used any scent additive but it's almost without any scent by itself)

Effectiveness in lightening scars: 3 out of 5 (takes time because it's just helping ones skin heal naturally vs for example some chemical peels)

I am now a Virtual Assistant

I have been looking for a new job for quite sometime now and when I couldn't get hired for the ones I liked and applied for I thought I try one of the "offers" a LinkedIn contact gave me. It was for a work from home job which would require me to review website search results. Doing my due diligence I found out this was a legit company (which I won't name because this post is not about them) who pays its work from home employees in the Philippines around $3/hour. While doing the research I came across another possible job. The world of virtual assistants. I was wary at first. Of course, there are scams everywhere and since you're working from home how do you ensure payment? So I went about reading a couple of blogs and reviews.  I stumbled upon OnlineJobs.ph which is very similar, from my POV to oDesk or eLance. I signed up last Tuesday, made sure my profile is complete with photos, a copy of my resume linked to dropbox, online tests results etc. By Thursday I got a message from a possible employer. We chatted a couple of minutes on Skype and voila, I was hired as a VA manager for 400usd/mo. He has around 30+ VAs working for him and 3 managers overseeing everyone. I was hired as the 4th manager. Based on my conversations with the group, some guys have been working for him full time for the past 2 yrs so I'm not afraid of getting scammed at this point. To add, from Thursday until today (Monday) I had 2 other job offers from the website. I am not saying this is a lucrative 100% done deal job or site but if you want to work from home, save money and time from commuting and you have a very reliable internet connection you might want to try this out. **Note: I am not connected to any of the websites mentioned above other than as a user. I am not guaranteeing any jobs or positions from any of websites above. This is a personal review based only on my own experience.