The Nicole Files

1. hello!! what kinds of makeup do you usually bring everyday/in school? thanks!

Hi! Here are my current favorites: Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse Foundation (I use the shade natural beige), Revlon Nearly Naked Pressed Powder, Wet ‘N Wild Color Icon blush in Mellow Wine, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Beige, Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara and L’Oreal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Eyeliner :)

2. Hello there! I’m new to the blogging world and a friend suggested that I check out your blog for inspiration! Haha! And I must say, I totally love yours! I couldn’t stop reading through all your posts! You’re awesome. Hihi. <3 Btw, my name is Nicole too! Just saying. XD

Oh my goodness, I’m really really flattered! Thank you so much! Have fun blogging, Nicole!

P.S. I hope you could link me to your blog :)

3. Hi ate nicole :) i just want to ask, how did you put a logo/header on ate negene’s blog? :))

Just put this on top of your codes

<center><img src=”header url here”></center>

It’s that easy!

4. hi ate nicole! i always check your blog like seriously everyday before i sleep or when i wake up because i just love how you blog! can you give me tips on how to start my blog?

Hi, thank you so much! That means a lot to me <3 Well, I don’t really have specific tips to give aside from the typical “just be yourself”. Ok, I’ll be all cliche on you - “blog to express, not to impress”. I started blogging at the very young age of 11, and from then, most of my blog posts were pretty much all about my personal life, interests, hobbies and the like. You can put whatever you want on your blog because it will be a representation of who you are. You shouldn’t worry about how many readers or followers you have or how many hits your blog will get; just be yourself and the rest will follow :)

5. hi ate nicole! i’ve been reading your blog since morning and i really like the things you post here! anyway, can you please give me tips on how to dress up? cause i will also study in dlsu and i don’t know the dress codes etc. Thank you so much!

Hey, thanks and welcome to La Salle! Haha! I’m sorry for answering this late but I guess by now you have already gone through the LPEP and you already know the university dress code. I was pretty self-conscious when I was a frosh and I always plan my outfits ahead because I was afraid that people will call me out for being an outfit repeater. (Lame, I know!) But as the years passed, I didn’t really care much anymore! I usually just wore laidback outfits like skinny jeans (I almost always wear skinny jeans), a printed or a button down top and a trusty pair of flats!

Ever since I got into makeup, I didn’t really invest on brushes because I’d rather spend my money on different beauty products. The only brushes I had were the Marionnaud blush brush, Marionnaud foundation brush (which I eventually lost), Marionnaud crease brush, ELF face brush and ELF eyeshadow brush. At first, I figured that it wouldn’t really be much of a problem because I don’t usually put full on makeup, but as my fascination with beauty product grew, I realized that brushes were a necessity.

I then started researching on different brushes of great quality, and at first, I was set on purchasing a full Sigma Kit. I eventually changed my mind because I thought it was too expensive and I wasn’t ready to shell out that much money on makeup brushes alone. This lead me into purchasing Real Techniques brushes! They had pretty great reviews and my favorite beauty gurus loved using them. A single kit costs $18 which was pretty reasonable. I was about to purchase two different kits from the Real Techniques website when I found out that drugstore.com was having a BOGO 50% off! Great timing, right? So I bought two kits for $27.. Not bad!

These babies arrived a few days ago and naturally, I took them out for a spin as soon as I got them.

These were the brushes of the first kit: Core Collection. It consisted of (L-R): buffing brush, contour brush, pointed foundation brush and a detailer brush.

Buffing brush - This brush is pretty versatile. It can be used for powder or liquid foundation and pressed or loose powder. I personally use it for pressed powder when setting my makeup. This brush is so soft on the skin and it allows the powder to glide smoothly without messing up the foundation underneath. I have yet to try this with liquid foundation as I’ve heard it can make you look like you’re airbrushed. Ha!

Contour brush - I am not one for contouring, probably because I do not really know how (LOL) so I use this product for blushers. Although the bristles are soft, I don’t find it very effective in blush application so I guess I have to stick with my Marrionaud blush brush for now.

Pointed foundation brush - I don’t usually use brushes for foundation. I always opt to use sponges or my fingers, but this brush does the job better It’s a little small for my liking, but that doesn’t really bother me much.

Detailer brush - This one was meant to be used for concealers and it worked just fine for me! It can also double as a lip brush but I haven’t tried that yet.

The second kit I got was the Starter Set which contained the ff (L-R): deluxe crease brush, base shadow brush, brow brush, accent brush, pixel point eyeliner brush.

Deluxe crease brush - This one is a bit oversized to be used on the crease but that isn’t much of a problem for me as I don’t really have a crease. Haha! My eyelids are weird. This brush is really good for blending though.

Base shadow brush - This brush has everything that I could ever ask for in an eyeshadow brush. It picks up shadow really well with minimal fallout. It’s really soft on the lids too!

Brow brush - I don’t really fill in my brows often so I won’t have much use for this one. It can double as an eyeliner brush though!

Accent brush - This one is perfect for smudging especially on areas that are hard to reach like the inner corners of your eyes. 

Pixel point eyeliner brush - Like all the brushes in the set, this is really soft. At first I was pretty hesitant on using this because I like my eyeliner brushes to be stiff. It’s actually very easy to use although it makes quite a thick line.

Overall, I feel like these brushes will last for several years because of their great quality. And because I’m super impressed with Real Techniques, I’m planning to pick up a few other brushes from their line in the near future :)

P.S. These brushes are still on BOGO 50% off at drugstore.com! They can also be purchased locally in online shops like Carefree Shopper and MakeupHOLICS.

Date a girl who blogs. Date a girl who finds solace in sharing her most private letters to the noises of the world. She has a rhythm to the writing, as the sounds — the tap-tap-tapping — are touched with every bit of emotion she can muster. She’s writing, ignoring the 9% battery warning as she tries to add a little more perspective to your world.

Date a girl who blogs. Find her that new restaurant and wait for her, patiently, as she skims through the menu, to cherish the Serifs and italics of the posh, and the Arials and doodles of the diner. Watch her order, and question the waiter, and then the head chef to hear a story you’ve never cared to hear before. You will learn. Watch her envelop her tongue at the morsel awaiting judgement, then chew, her face barely betraying a smile as she takes down notes on a torn paper napkin. She forgot her notebook. Buy her one. And seal it with the URL of your new blog.

Today she’s doing more than just writing. She’s moving the widgets, repositioning the ads and maybe doing a bit of SEO. Help her. Buy her a new domain — buy it for 3 years with a promo code — and then maybe configure a forwarding email address, because you know deep down that self-hosted email servers are a thing of the past.

Share her posts on Facebook. Like them. Create a hashtag for your affection to her and let her come to this knowledge through the Internet, but follow through in real life. Your story deserves to be written down.

Suggest her for #FollowFriday.

Go out on dates. Let her heart open up to you and digest these memories into a single post which will be remembered in the archives of our search engines. Kiss. Change your relationship status. Kiss some more. Add her friends. You now have more mutual friends. Tag your photos together. Add her on Farmville. Harvest her farm. Poke her.

You are no longer forever alone.

Marry a girl who blogs. Propose to her by making a website with animated gifs and MIDI background music; she will show you the secret journal she’s been writing for years for you, and you alone. You will find that it comes with no ads, no links, no page rank. Only her trust rank. You will be overjoyed to read the fondness she has had of you, and realize that this, and this alone is the memory she chose to keep from her readers.

Have kids with a girl who blogs. Let her post photos and status updates about your children. Share them with your friends. You will see that she has saved everything onto a USB drive and printed the most fond ones for a real family album because the grandparents are not on the Internet.

Date a girl who blogs because she will find interestingness in the most uninteresting of things. You deserve to be interesting and that this life you live, though monotonous in its day to day is the perfect testament to why she loves you.

If you’ve been following my blog for quite some time now, you should know that I have become quite a makeup junkie. Drugstore makeup are my favorite because they fit my student budget and most of them are of really great quality!

Anyway, since I got here, I’ve been taking quick trips to our local drugstores (CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid) to pick up the products that are on my wishlist. I have built up quite a few, and here they are!

FACE PRODUCTS (L-R): Revlon Nearly Naked foundation in True Beige, Revlon Nearly Naked pressed powder in Medium, Wet N Wild Coverall Coverstick in Light and Wet N Wild blush in Mellow Wine

EYE PRODUCTS (L-R): Maybelline The Rocket Mascara in Very Black, NYC IndividualEyes in Smokey Charcoals, NYC Browser Brush-on Kit in Brunette, Maybelline Master Duo Glossy Liquid Liner in Black Lacquer and Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded

LIP PRODUCTS (L-R): L’Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Stick in Rose Taffeta, Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie, Nivea Lip Butter in Caramel Cream Kiss and EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm in Summer Fruit

NAIL PRODUCTS: Sinful Colors nail polish in Hazard and Sinful Colors Shine with Gel Tech in Rendezvous

MISC: Studio 35 Beauty cosmetics sponges with Vitamin E and Maybelline Clean Express Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover

I haven’t had the chance to try them all yet so I can’t make a proper review. But if there’s anything in particular that you would like to know more about from this haul, just let me know! :)

I am not a picky eater, I can eat half the world and be happy about it, but know this: I never eat spicy food (except for spicy tuna rolls because those bad boys are the bomb). Buffalo wings are obviously not a part of that exception as most of them tend to make me want to cut my tongue off. That all changed when my cousin, Stacy and her boyfriend, Jose treated Negene and I to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings last week.

The place was relatively huge with televisions everywhere airing every game you could possibly think of. I am not a huge sports fan so I didn’t really care, but for everyone who are, this place is perfect for you!

Moving on to the food, we first ordered The Sampler which consisted of nachos, onion rings, mozzarella sticks and boneless wings served with marinara sauce, southwestern ranch dressing and bleu cheese. We devoured this in seconds except for the nachos cause they weren’t exactly the easiest things to eat. I liked the mozzarella sticks best! They were really crunchy and the cheese inside were hot and melty.

Their table napkin which was obviously where I got my blog post title

After a few minutes, our order of 50-pc boneless wings arrived which came in a variety of different sauces and dry rubs of our choice: parmesan garlic, lemon pepper, sweet bbq, carribean jerk and buffalo.

I personally had the lemon pepper wings and they were just okay. They were pretty crispy but it lacked the lemon-y favor that I am looking forward to. I had some of these to-go though, and when I paired them with some cream cheese at home, they tasted heavenly!

I liked the parmesan garlic variety the best because it was full of flavor and was made especially for those who didn’t like the spicy kind (aka me).

Out of curiosity, I tried the wings with buffalo dry rub and it was the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life (well, not really, but you get my point). It was extremely spicy and it didn’t even belong to the bottom part of their hot meter! It was like consuming a big spoon of chili powder.

Here’s Jose and my ate Stacy. Thank you for treating us! 

And here’s their daughter, my niece/godchild, Illsa! She happily ate a fruit cup full of oranges while we’re busy eating.

Overall, my first Buffalo Wild Wings was a good one albeit my poor choice of dry rub. I’m definitely coming back to try the other food in their menu (they have quite an extensive list, by the way) and I highly recommend this place for everyone especially the wing junkies out there!

1. Are you planning to stay in Cali for good after graduation? :)

Mmm that’s the initial plan! I still don’t know how it will all work out though.. Wish me luck!

2. Hi! Im really a fan of you and your sis Neg. :) I love your clothes and your styles. Even if you only wear simple t-shirt and shorts, you still look elegant. :) Can you give me some tips n how to dress up and where do you actually buy your clothes? Love them all. :)

Wow, thanks! This is really flattering! :) I actually don’t have a particular way of dressing cause I usually just pick pieces (usually basics) that I like! And I buy clothes from everywhere! Thrift stores, department stores, boutiques (except expensive ones lol), it doesn’t really matter as long as I find something I like :-)

3. Hi ate Nicole! I’ve been on your blog since lunch time and I couldn’t stop reading your posts, it’s not a bad thing though hehe. You’re lovely, I hope to meet you one day! Bye :-)

Aww, thank you so much! I hope to meet you someday too! <3

4. how did you apply for the california id thing and what is it for? are you moving? :) and is that PAL’s first class? :)

I applied for a California ID last summer! It’s basically just an ID :-) I’m not moving yet, I still have to go back to Manila to finish my thesis and OJT. Plus, I’m graduating (hopefully)! And nope, that we were just in the economy section :) We don’t usually upgrade to first class, unless we know someone working in the airline that could upgrade us for free! Hehe

5. hi! you have such a lovely blog <33 and i really like your post about your divisoria shopping. most people would say wearing clothes from divisoria is like kinda being poor but your post kind of turned the world upside down. idk what i’m saying but i hope you get it. haha

Hello! Thank you so much, that means a lot <3 And ya some people are narrow minded talaga for thinking that buying stuff from Divisoria equates to being poor and cheap. It’s actually really fun to shop there! And there are a lot of good finds as long as you’re patient enough to look :)

1. On Top of the World - Imagine Dragons
2. Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson
3. And the Birds Sing - Tyrone Wells
4. You and I - Ingrid Michaelson
5. You Make My Dreams - Hall and Oates
6. Patient Love - Passenger
7. Older Brother - Pepper Rabbit
8. Awkward - San Cisco
9. True Romance - Motion City Soundtrack
10. Valentine - Kina Grannis

Listen to it here: On Top of the World on 8tracks ♫

I’ve been meaning to post a mixtape for a while now but I never got the chance to do so cause I was preoccupied with a lot of things. But now that I have time, here it is! :) It’s basically a bunch of chill and feel good songs that I often listen to (and maybe dance to, lol). Enjoy!

Yesterday, Negene and I decided to participate in Long Beach Bixby Knolls’ First Fridays just to see what the hype was all about. The First Fridays event is described as a way to “ promote and support local artists and musicians by providing them with an outlet to showcase their work. Every first Friday night of the month, participating Bixby Knolls businesses will unite to promote local artists and musicians through extended operating hours”.

My sister and I basically walked the portion of Atlantic Avenue where the First Fridays event was going on. It totally killed our legs and feet but it was worth it.

Say hello to my First Fridays buddy! 

I took pictures of the establishments I would love to pay a visit soon.

We passed by an art expo where they were selling paintings and all sorts of crafty things. Everything looked amazing!

There was a double decker bus around the neighborhood and Negene and I was planning on getting on it but we were afraid of getting lost! Later that day, we found out that it’s actually for free and it only drove around the whole of Bixby Knolls. What a bummer! I hope I can give it a try next time!

There was a small booth of beekeepers where they were showcasing tiny beehives and selling different flavored honey sticks for a quarter each.

After an hour or so of walking around, mom finally joined us! 

The best thing about First Fridays is getting stuff for FREE.

There was a stall giving out free plants. We got a marigold. 

Then there was this store giving out chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven.

Free chili dogs!

And my favorite, free books!

I didn’t find a book I liked but I went inside the store to check their stuff out. They were selling second hand books and most of them looked like they were brand new! I can’t wait to go back to hoard!

Check out these cute little boys drawing on the floor. I think they were twins, or brothers? I don’t know.. But they looked identical.

Porky’s Pizza were selling slices for a dollar each.

And then there was this store, ‘Reptiles Unlimited’, where they were showcasing the snakes they were selling. It was terrifying cause the head of this snake was directly on my index finger. I genuinely thought I was going to get bitten.

We spent the rest of the night walking some more, checking a couple of stores out and watching street performances. My first First Fridays was lots of fun and I hope I could catch the next one! :)

Last week, I found out that one of mom’s good neighbors, Carmen, is a professional makeup artist by profession. I also found out that she sells MAC products for cheaper prices and of course, the most obvious thing to do is to take advantage! She’s selling MAC lipsticks at 13 dollars a pop (roughly around 500 in Philippine pesos) and now I’m six tubes of lipsticks happier :-)

I didn’t really get out of my comfort zones as I still picked shades that I could use on a regular basis.

Top: Impassioned - This one’s an amplified creme lippy in a bright pinky coral shade | Bottom: Pink Plaid - It’s a sort of muted mauve-y pink that is perfect for everyday use.

Top: Creme D’Nude - My first ever nude lipstick. Fortunately, it didn’t look so bad on me! It’s the first nude lipstick that didn’t make me look super pale. | Bottom: Girl About Town - The lighting is pretty bad so you can’t see the color properly but it’s a bright fuchsia pink. It’s actually my sister’s choice so you wouldn’t see me wear this often!

Top: Russian Red - This one is a popular MAC shade cause it’s the perfect shade of red. It’s really pretty and I’m so excited to wear it on a night out soon! | Bottom: Coral Bliss - This has been part of my wish list for quite a while now and I’m so happy I finally have it! It’s a gorgeous shade of soft pink coral <3

I’m planning to buy a couple more soon but I haven’t decided on which shades yet. If you know of one that is worth trying, please please let me know (LOL, that sounded so redundant).

1. Sobrang ganda mo ngayon, Nicole, nakakabighani. Haha! I meant, pretty ka naman taaga highschool pa lang tayo, ibang level lang ngayon. Super bagay pa kayo ni Ice foreverrrrrrr talaga. :)

Oh my goodness, I’m super flattered! Thank you so much, my friend <3

2. Hi, I’ll just ask how does charlotte russe do their shipping? Do they ship here in the PH? Thanks :)

I haven’t tried ordering from Charlotte Russe online! I don’t think they do international shipping, but maybe you could try Johnny Air’s services? :)

3. hi! :) i was backreading ur blog then i saw your post about what’s in your bag. i was just wondering where do you put your papers and all? i would want to minimize din kasi the things i bring to school :) thank you so much! and i love your blog! x :)

Hello! I don’t usually bring paper cause most of our readings are on my laptop. But if we do have readings on paper, I put them in a plastic envelope together with my yellow pad (which I rarely bring. Hehe!) Thanks for reading my blog, love!

4. PRAISE TO YOUR BLOG AMEN

Praise to people like you, amen :p

5. what photo editor do you use to adjust curves on your phone?

Afterlight and VSCOCAM are my current favorites :-)

We went to a local Salvation Army today to do some thrifting. Everything was 40% off so our timing couldn’t be any more perfect! What I love about this particular thrift store is that they sell literally everything, from clothes to furniture to even cars! Plus, the proceeds go to charity which makes it even more amazing.

They have a pretty swell vinyl record collection.

And their selection of books made my jaw drop. You could really find a couple of good titles if you have the patience to look.

Anyway, I was able to pick up heaps of stuff but I’m only going to show you my favorites. 

Here are a couple of knitted sweaters for two dollars apiece. I was able to score two more but I couldn’t find them at the moment.

Flannel shirts <3 Surprisingly, I found two of these at the men’s section.

A girl can never have too many pairs of high-waisted shorts. I think these were 4 dollars a piece.

A brown crossbody bag that I got for 5 dollars

A pair of studded loafers! I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced pair for so long; I knew I had to have it the moment I saw it! It was fate, really.

And my favorite purchases - books! :)

Mom will bring us to Goodwill next week, and we’re probably going to a couple of garage sales as well. I hope I score good finds then!

Hi everyone! I’m currently blogging from a place 7307 miles away from Manila, in the best county in the world called Los Angeles. My sister and I arrived here a couple of days ago, and this is where my summer vacation kicked off!

Based from the point of view of this photo, you may notice that I’m sitting in a middle seat. Negene and I weren’t actually sitting beside each other cause there weren’t any good seats left! Fortunately, she was placed right in front of me.

PAL always serves the most unappealing food! This is what I had for supper. Fish fillet and rice, penne pasta, a piece of bread and a fruit cup. My breakfast was a little better though; I had ham and sausages!

This was my view when the plane was about to land.

Side note: we were seated towards the tail of the plane so it was a really bumpy ride! It was super scary!

Finally reunited with my mom and my baby sister, Nadine! I missed them so much! :)

We got off of LAX at around 9/10 pm. There weren’t many restaurants open so we opted to grab a bite at In-N-Out instead.

I also got my California ID that night! We applied for this last year but it came in the mail weeks after we left for the Philippines.

The next day was rest day as Negene and I were suffering from intense jet lag. The day after that though, this little cutie had her first birthday party + baptism!

Everyone meet Illsa Rose! She’s my cousin’s daughter, making her my niece. She’s also my godchild cause I was one of the ninangs in her baptism.

My gramma nicknamed her “GG” because she’s her first Great Grand child, lol! Everyone calls her GG now.

GG’s pastel colored party loot bags that day

Alice in Wonderland themed cake! So cute!

She even had this party floater on! My cousins and I went inside it when everyone else was gone, LOL

GG about to “blow” her cake

And here are her parents! My cousin, Ate Stacy, and her boyfriend, Jose.

The best part of this party is having to see my cousins again! This one is Steven.

And this one is Camille.

The rest of the week was spent on bumming around the house, babysitting GG, eating my face off and going to random places with the family.

My favorite thing is going to drugstores because I could get the makeup I want that aren’t available back home!

Take a look at this random car I saw outside of Target (I think). Lucky person went to Coachella!

Oh I’m in love with this city <3

1. hi ate nicole :) i really love your blog :) can i ask what condo do you live?

Giving out which condo I live in in public is not my favorite thing to do! But I’ll give you this, it’s located in the beautiful city of Taguig :-)

2. Hey Nicole! I love how you take pictures. What camera do you often use?

Aww, thank you! This means a lot to me! I only use an entry level camera: Nikon D3100

3. So in a few weeks, I’ll be going to grad ball and I need your advice! Remembered you posted something about underarm bleaching before. Do you remember how much and where was it? Plus is it recommended? Oh and do you know of a nice place not too expensive where I can get my hair and make-up done as well? :) Thank you so much! I’m a loyal follower of your blog!

I am so sorry for answering this late! I hope you had fun at your graduation ball! I bet you looked stunning :) Anyway, for your future reference, I had the bleaching done at a spa called Sweet Nails. And for your hair, I recommend having them done at Blowout Bar in Makati :) I can’t really recommend salons that do makeup because I do mine on my own.

4. what app is the heart shape border? :)

I used Afterlight for that :) 

5. Hi ate Nicole! I’m really curious, How did you father died? If you don’t mid me asking thought, thanks anyway! Really loooooooooooooove your blog! You’re the best! <3

It’s okay, I don’t mind! My dad died because of cardiac arrest. Mm thank you for being so kind! People like you always make my day :)