BDJ-Shiseido Beauty Soiree

I've been joining contests left and right the past few weeks. It's kinda spammy but it does pay off eventually :) Aaaand most of my winnings come from BDJ so I'm kinda their groupie right now :P

• I tried joining the live, noontime raffle for a BDJ box. The mechanics are simple: lurk on the page and answer the two questions they'll be posting. By a certain cut-off time, they'll tally and raffle all the names' of the participants.

The first question was tough. Usually these things go by so fast that you have 20 replies in under a minute. I was the first to answer correctly, 3 minutes after the question was posted. And for that, I got myself a lime green BDJ Forget-Me-Not Meetings Journal! It's so cute, it has all the fields you need to note down when you have a meeting. And I got it just two days after the contest was held, whoo!

The answer is: SPOTS and MELANIN

• I kicked my own ass joining the Shiseido 7-Day Challenge at the last minute, doing it on the 21st and finishing on the 27th, with barely enough time to blog about it and submit it by the Feb. 28 due date.

I did score an invite to my second chioce event, Sun Care and Summer Makeup, thank God! Unfortunately, I missed this talk 'cause I came from a long overdue reunion with my college friends in Makati. And I suck at directions so I had to take the long way back to Eastwood. But no worries because...

• I joined the beauty raffle too.  All I had to do was resend my 7-Day Challenge entry (or my Shiseido Voucher promo entry or Light it Up entry, had I done them) and I can qualify for a raffle of the invites.

I scored an invite to the Day to Night Transformation event, which I was thankfully just in time for. Basically, the point of the Day to Night talk is to teach us how to transform our day makeup to night makeup without having to remove the day makeup and using as little additional products as possible.

I came in at the last event and apparently, everyone has been to at least one other talk.  Everyone got an ideas journal, so that brings my total BDJ journals count to three. The other one came with my December-January box. Some girls were carrying Shiseido bags and I don't know how they got that and I was so jealous :( Lesson learned: be a better navigator :(

The view from the seats

Event setup in New Eastwood Mall, 2/F

Our lovely and lively host, Karen Bordador

Karen is such a hottie it was making me uncomfortable. Yeah I'm sorry I took a photo of her when she had paper over her generous cleavage, but let's not be pervy. This is a beauty blog and I was attending a makeup event.

Beauty Minister Tara Cabullo gets made over! This is her day look, tres chic!

This is the day look of Beauty Minister Tara Cabullo. The colors are so fresh! The look is very healthy and natural-looking.

Audience member doing the other half of Tara's eye.

Another thing I loved about the talk was that audience members were invited to do the other half of Tara's face. Not only does it show that these tips are easily done even by non-professional makeup artists, but it also makes the talk more exciting and interactive!

Tara's night look

I believe the makeup artist used only one small eyeshadow palette, an eyebrow pencil and a new shade of lipstick to transform into the night look. I wish they did more product highlights 'cause I liked some of the makeup used, especially on the day look.

It was a short, no-nonsense talk with a lot of useful tips. It doesn't go on and on endlessly about godknowswhat and before your mind can even wander off, it's done. Questions are highly encouraged and it's great seeing everyone pipe in with their makeup concerns while the experts skillfully address them.

After the talk we were all invited to hang out in the lounge and get makeovers and skin advice.

Skin analysis at the Shiseido booth

They had this really high tech booth with a skin analysis thingamajig. It shows you the super duper close up of your pores and based on that, the makeup artist will help you build the proper skin care plan. Their basic deal is a 1-2-3 shebang, or cleanse-soften-moisturize routine. All Shisiedo lines have these three and I guess they'd just recommend a proper line for you. I didn't get mine done 'cause I didn't want to remove my makeup for the machine, teehee!

Jen Yalung, Product Manager of Shiseido, Luxasia Philippines and meee!

Here I'm sporting my redone eyes, care of the Shiseido team. I told them my concern over my uneven eyelids and they fixed it!

Now, I normally wouldn't, but I asked for a photo with theeeee Ms. Jen Yalung. I was a little shy and intimidated at first, because!!! She is just so kickass, and I think I may have a little girl crush, I swear! I met her in my previous work and she's just so WOW. She's so pretty and fierce and ferocious but super duper  kind. AS IN! She's got BRAINS too! She's smart and incredibly capable in the work she does. *le sigh*

I can't believe how well she pulled this Shiseido thing off. For weeks, people wouldn't shut up about Shiseido and White Lucent! And that deal with BDJ and Sample Room was just genius. I'm sooo attending the next event.

In the end, I walked away with my own certificate of attendance and a 20% today-only Shiseido discount (which I wasn't able to use.) Overall, such a fun and well-organized experience. I can't wait for the next!