How to enroll in Cream Silk's **Free** Online Short Courses

Cream Silk is a brand that had been working to empower Filipinas way before the pandemic. And right in the midst of it, the brand continues to initiate causes to help women become #ConditionedForGreater.

In partnership with Edukasyon.ph, Cream Silk launched an online program where women can enroll in certificate courses. These courses are specifically designed to help displaced workers, young students, and full-time mothers to upskill for work and entrepreneurial opportunities. 

There are three options, and anyone can sign up for free for all three of them: Sales 101, Communications 101, and Project Management 101. These are 1-hour courses that once earned, entitles participants to learning badges that can be displayed on Cream Silk's resume bank for a chance to be interviewed by hiring partner companies. 

Sales 101 is recommended for women who are looking into learning selling skills such as marketing techniques and negotiating strategies. This course is co-presented with FWD Insurance, and there is an option to sign up to become a Financial Wealth Planner with FWD after earning the certificate. 

Communications 101 is for women who are interested in the field of customer service. Participants will learn how to prepare presentations and communicate effectively in the corporate setting. This course is co-presented by [24]7.ai, and there is an option to apply as a customer service executive. 

Project Management 101 is geared towards women who would like to improve their skills as virtual office workers. This is co-presented with CloudStaff, and there is an option to submit a resume for openings in Outsourced VA posts. 

To sign up, simply create an account on https://creamsilk-conditionedforgreater.edukasyon.ph/

Choose Create Account. 

Register your name, mobile number, email address, and password. 

There is a short survey by the end of the Registration form.

Once you click Register, you will receive a confirmation email with your log in details. You can then start your online classes and earn your certificate in one hour.

The quizzes are easy and the lectures are enjoyable. The skills are pretty basic for those who have been working in the corporate setting, but can still be worth the while to upskill and earn a new certificate for resumes. Those who can benefit the most from these courses and fresh grads, workers who would like to try new fields, and mothers who would like to work online.

Dropping the link here again so you won't need to scroll back up: https://creamsilk-conditionedforgreater.edukasyon.ph/

Top 15 Fragrances for Women 2021

My hoarding problem isn't exactly limited to skin products. As of this writing, I have nearly 2 dozen bottles of perfume, and only a handful are empty. I buy not exactly to use them, but to smell them when I need a mid-day energy boost, night-time relaxation, or when I'm bored and I feel like getting reminded of random memories. 

This article from LiveScience explains how strong the connection is between scents and memory. Scents are my drug of choice. Which is sad, because my TMD problem has affected my sense of smell in recent years and I need more than a few spritzes just to be able to smell stuff. 

Let's start first with my personal favorites:

CK One Summer

The current version is in a blue packaging, but back in the early 2000s, this was how summery it was. The colors also mirror how it smells: oranges, pineapples, lilies, with just the right amount of woody musk scent to balance the floral fruitiness. I don't know why they changed the bottle to blue, the scent is nowhere near calm, serene blue. It's fun, fresh, energizing, and youthful. I wore this in high school, and the scent reminds me of fresh air and sunny days. I recommend this for pre-20s to early 20s women who do not want ultra-feminine, seriously elegant scents.

Tommy Girl 

I loved this scent in college and I still love it now. It's a sporty, casual fragrance that's light and with just the right blend of citrus and floral notes. It's a young girl fragrance, and can smell very powdery and cologne-y. I remember how this smelled so much like my Nivea lip balm in Velvet Rose. I don't imagine this being worn by a grown woman. There's just something about it that reminds me of soccer fields and lemonade and grass and laughing without a care in the world. 

Versace Bright Crystal

I received this as a gift on my 19th birthday. Back in the day I wasn't exactly into luxury brands and only knew Versace as something career women wore. I was reluctant to wear this to school because the scent was too strong and it just grabs attention and just lingers. It smells like nothing I've used before. No shampoo, soap, lotion, or any perfumed product smells like this. It has this air of exclusiveness that it has its own scent category. But it's a scent that you eventually get addicted to. Like its packaging, it smells ultra feminine, luxurious, with a strange clarity to it, like... bright, sparkling crystal, like you're bathing in pink and white roses, like you're spraying cold, expensive air, if that makes any sense. I recommend this for women in their 20s who want to smell and be treated like a princess. 

Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue

This scent is so so so versatile and wholesome and beautiful that it's everyone's favorite. In fact, when I wore this in my early 20s, I smelled like my boyfriend's sister, and the girl who wanted to snatch him from me. LOL. Everyone was wearing this that it's annoying. I took a whiff just now and all the annoyance came back. Anyway, like the packaging and its name, this scent is reminiscent of clear skies and calm waters. It has an interesting mix of apples, lime and cedar with a breezy, sparkly, lingering scent. I recommend this for... no one, everyone has practically worn this at some point in their lives, I feel. It's a tired scent. Or I probably just associate it with too many bad memories. LOL. 

And before we get to my perfume recommendations, let me get this out of the way, so you can gauge if you'd like my recommendations. Fragrance I do not like:

Victoria's Secret Love Spell

People who love this fragrance, you may now stop reading. I never understood the popularity of this scent. It's too dark, too heavy, too artificial. The first time I heard someone talk about this was when a friend was trying to get me to buy this lotion that according to him, smelled exactly like VS Love Spell. So I was under the impression that this was a popular scent that people were actually replicating it in other products. Imagine my disappointment when I first caught a whiff. I literally got dizzy. It's just too strong. I normally can tolerate masculine scents, I love musk, so it isn't that this is not light and feminine, it just tried too hard to smell seductive and powerful that it ended up smelling stinky and overpowering. I hate it. I hate it. It reminds me of dizzying car rides - that's exactly what this smells like, it doesn't smell like a girl or a woman, it smells like a car. 

Now that that is out of the way, let me present to you my top recommended fragrances for women. 

Victoria's Secret Bombshell Seduction 

Recommended for: Bombshells

Where VS Love Spell failed, VS Bombshell succeeded. Victoria's Secret, this is the right way to seduce, the right scent to draw a lover in. Much like Versace Bright Crystal, this scent grabs attention, scratch that, this scent demands attention. This can only be worn by alluring, fun, confident women who want to cement their sexy status. The notes are jasmine, tangerine, vanilla, strawberry and musk. 

DKNY Be Delicious Apple 

Recommended for: The Au Naturel, Effortlessly Pretty Girl

I first saw and smelled this on a US magazine. You know how they have testers of perfumes printed in between ad spaces? The photo accompanying the tester was enticing, I remember it was of a pretty girl in a green dress, biting into an apple. Like the packaging, this smells like green apples. It has a refreshing mix of cucumber, grapefruit, lilies, and roses. This is perfect for girls who want something light, fresh, and delicious. This has zero sexual undertones and can be perfect for daily, casual wear.

Paris Hilton Heiress

Recommended for: That Sickeningly Sweet Princess

I mean no malice. There are girls who take pride in being sickeningly sweet and this is just the perfume for them. This smells like candies and glittery unicorns. The notes are champagne, peach, orange and a whole lot of jasmine. The champagne scent is the redeeming bit in the mix. Reminds me of pink kisses aroma beads in the 90s. Nonetheless, I wear this with pearls when I want to feel extra pretty. It's an addictive scent, so beware if you want to steer clear of that sickeningly sweet image.

Kenzo Flower

Recommended for: Adult Sickeningly Sweet Princesses

If you still want to smell sweet but do not wish to be seen as juvenile, this is the scent to wear. The unconventional bottle mirrors its scent: rose, black currant, opoponax, vanilla, and incense. It's very wearable and the sweetness is forgivable. The balanced mix of serious and sweet - which before experiencing this scent was not even imaginable.

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea

Recommended for: Simple, Fuss-Free Women Who Want to Smell Fresh

This smells exactly like how you imagine it would: Green Tea. Why would anyone want to smell like tea, you ask? I don't know. But this is a surprisingly beautiful scent that leaves you calm and centered. The notes are, well, green tea, jasmine, fennel, cloves, and mint. Another Elizabeth Arden fragrance I love is Red Door, which did not make this list because I currently do not have it and can only imagine what it used to smell like. Nonetheless, if you happen to be in a store that carries Elizabeth Arden, then these two are worth checking out. 

Estee Lauder Beautiful 

Recommended for: Mature Women Who Find Chanel No. 5 Just Too Much

This scent was launched in 1985 and so has reached hall of fame level of popularity. This surprisingly does not smell dated, you won't smell ancient, just romantically beautiful as the name suggests. It's marketed as the perfume that smells like a thousand flowers, and looking at the loooong list of notes, it does look like it was formulated with dozens of flower scents. It smells like an entire garden with jasmine, marigold, rose, lilies, magnolia, lilac, freesia, geranium, and all of 'em flowers.

Chanel No. 5

Recommended for: Mature Women Who Do Not Find Chanel No. 5 Too Much

This was launched in 1986 and like Estee Lauder Beautiful still gets included in lists of top perfumes year after year. I used to not like the scent, I don't know why I find it beautiful now. The first time I smelled this over a decade ago, I was reminded of my mean-spirited wealthy aunt and her equally mean-spirited wealthier friends. Jasmine, vanilla, patchouli and vetiver grass make this one strong, statement-making perfume. It smells like wealth and traditions and haughtiness. I bought a Chanel Mademoiselle thinking I'd ease my way into Chanel territory, but Chanel No. 5 is a pleasanter snooty scent, so I took the plunge and committed to Chanel "Too Much" No. 5.

Anna Sui Secret Wish

Recommended for: Women Who Like D&G Light Blue But Associate It With Bad Memories

Okay, so from two classic, haughty scents to a charming, light-hearted scent. Secret Wish smells like lemons, melons, pineapples and peaches, balanced out by musk and amber. This smells a lot like D&G Light Blue but lighter and does not remind you of your cheating ex boyfriend. The bottle looks juvenile, but the scent is versatile and is still wearable for women in their late 20s. The problem people have with Anna Sui scents in general is the lack of longevity, so I guess we have no choice but to go back to D&G every once in a while. Or just maybe move on from past heartbreaks. 

Clinique Happy

Recommended for: Androgynous, Happy Women

LOL. I write my captions and I go wtf. So anyway, this is a rather popular perfume. Especially in the early 2000s. Clinique has since produced variations of this that smell nicer (Clinique Happy in Bloom, Happy Summer, Happy Smile - all happy smelling things) but this remains to be cult favorite. I now find it smelling like glue for some reason, this smells like glue on me, but smells okay on other people, for some reason. This is also very versatile that even the variation for men - Clinique Happy for Men - can smell good on women. Notes are orange, apple, lilies, freesia, rose, and orchids. 

Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey

Recommended for: Women In Their 30s Who Like Fruity Scents

This smells like every fruit-smelling shampoo I've ever used. So If you like smelling like freshly washed hair, this is the fragrance for you. My older friends love this and they tend to have a couple of things in common: a career and family to juggle and a fascination with all things American. This is from London but it does smell American for some odd odd reason. So I guess it's for family-oriented but still ambitious women with Western tastes? It's very fruity and green and organic and... fruity. It reminds me of Jessica Simpson for some odd odd reason. IDK with my mental associations. Bottomline: I don't personally like this, but most late 30s women I know love it. I don't really know why. 

Lacoste Love of Pink

Recommended for: Women in their 20s Who Enjoy Warm, Fruity Scents

This smells like mangoes despite it not having mango scents in it. The notes are passionfruit, lemon, magnolia, vanilla and musk. It's fruity and fun but the vanilla and musk balance it out and make it smell wholesome and warm. It is not too sweet, despite the name and packaging, which makes me wonder why it's called Love of Pink at all. The only fragrance I know that fully embodies the color pink is Gucci Pink, which Gucci has sadly discontinued. This fragrance from Lacoste is wearable for days on end and does not overwhelm with saccharine aromas. I suggest they rename it Love of Fruit. Or Love of Mangoes. No, okay, I now understand why they chose Love of Pink. 

Oh hey

Yeah so I promised to update but didn't. I'm working on a new blog but will most likely have it go live mid-January.

I created this blog as a space for testing the waters. I have been writing for almost a decade now and meant to make blogging my main source of income. I have put it off for years and years, trends have come and gone, bloggers I looked up to have gotten married and either settled down to a quieter life offline or branched out to expanding their personal brands to grander commercial ventures. Only recently did I have this nagging desire to finally do something about my writing. Because hey, when am I ever going to do it?

I have lost all my excuses. This just has to happen already.

A couple of weeks ago, I was checking my metrics, some technical aspects of online publishing, and I was shattered by what I found. A seasoned beauty blogger, someone I don't necessarily look up to in terms of taste, beauty or skill, but envied nonetheless because of rankings (she must be earning bajillions by now), seemed to have copied my work. I was surprised because the contents of this blog are shitty. LOL

That's not a flimsy attempt at self-deprecation. The shittiness of this blog is intended. My goal with Live It Pretty has always been to test what works in the Philippine beauty blogging space as far as SEO, advertising, virality and organic readership is concerned. I tried writing about CELEBRITIES, ONLINE CELEBRITIES, PEOPLE I WANT TO BECOME ONLINE CELEBRITIES because I believe in them that much, some random MUNDANE THING WITH A VIRALISH TITLE, reviews of CHEAP MASA PRODUCTS, a philanthropic guide for people who can't afford WISDOM TOOTH EXTRACTIONS, another philanthropic effort to shed light on the beauty black market (I HATE FAKE PRODUCTS, IF YOU BUY FAKE BEAUTY PRODUCTS, PLEASE GO AWAY, YOU ARE KILLING THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AND YOU ARE KILLING PEOPLE AND ANIMALS AND MY HOPE FOR A BETTER WORLD), and another random philanthropic initiative to unite people who have been scammed by the E-HAPPY TV SYNDICATE. The things I wrote about are things I would never want to be read by people who know me. That's how shitty I intended this blog to be.

Shitty work and a seasoned blogger still bothered to copy it. It broke my heart because where is this industry headed if the top performers are recycling half-assed shitty work from those at the bottom?

So I thought to myself, alright, something has to be done. If people are making money by spitting on the industry, someone's got to start making money by doing honest work and turn the tide. Please bear with me as I lay down the foundation of what I hope to get huge someday. The beauty blogging industry is so much more than fake products and dishonest sponsored reviews and influencers selling their souls in the name of virality. (A beauty blogger I do respect and admire recently downgraded her taste and attempted to go viral by going the Madam Kilay way. Ladies, don't do this to yourself. What is up with making awkward silly faces on makeup videos?)

I'm excited and at the same time exhausted from all the anxiety. I have been working obsessively, gauging if an honest, personal voice still works. So much needs to be done and I'm crossing my fingers for a receptive readership.

Dear beauty bloggers, this is our bread and butter, let's work together to raise our level of collective discourse. (Don't judge by my website's content - these are shitty by design.)

Still alive yo

So, I'm posting just to make sure this blog stays active. Also to remind myself that I have dozens of products to review:

- Thai soaps (alpha arbutin, tofu, snail, snail white)
- local soaps (likas papaya, block and white intensive whitening, belo whitening pink)
- alpha arbutin serum, also from Thailand
- face masks (from the face shop, watsons, farmstay)
- 3W clinic powder
- shiseido medicated powder
- missha pore cover powder
- missha bb cream (hot pink and gold)
- the faceshop dual veil concealer
- oral skin whiteners:
   - rose C white
   - shiseido purewhite
   - kb glutathione
   - carica gluta white
   - aura bio C
   - daiso beauty white
   - avon grape seed 
   - usana proflavanol C
- AP24 toothpaste
- lipsticks (mac pink noveau and half a dozen dupes)
- false eyelash glue (etude house vs ever bilena)
- makeup removers
- the face shop aloe vera gel
- rmk whitening deo
- skin whitening lotions (nivea, gluta wink, watsons)
- naturactor

see how much work it's going to be?

I'm also currently on a long-term project: DIY microneedling for acne scars, enlarged pores, undereye wrinkles and uneven skin tone. I have the MYM dermapen, and have had 3 sessions so far, and things are looking promising.

Another project, which I have postponed after a bad backache from carrying a heavy gym bag full of pageant props lol, is a 30-day body makeover program with just dumbels, a yoga mat, and the stairs. Considering buying an ab machine, but hesitating because of how overdevelop my thigh muscles have been after getting abs at the gym, ack. So that's what have been keeping me busy the past, oh my gosh, has it really been 8 months now? Horrible.

I'm going to get this blog project finally overhauled after a "test run" of 2 years. lal. I seriously need to get my sht together.

Posting a photo of my current girl crush just because:

Sulin Ip from Macau. Too pretty. Why?

Blogger Inspiration: Kristine Roces (Real Asian Beauty)

Photo from her blog

I first stumbled upon her work in Youtube through my toddler. She was watching Hello Kitty videos and Kristine's Hello Kitty-themed birthday sparty popped up. What got me interested was her sense of style. I used to wear my hair like her, and dress like her in pink and pastels and skirts and dresses. My style's a little subdued and safe, and hers a bit more Barbie-like and statement-y, but she reminded me so much of how I used to dress up. I saw her again when Preview or Cosmo featured her Fake Divisoria Makeup Review on facebook. It was only in that video that I noticed that she has problematic skin like me. So I did a bit of googling to see how she deals with it (I'm desperate!) and discovered her blog. I read a couple and then some more and now I'm a fan.

I used to keep a personal blog which featured my daily life in college. You know, typical teenage-early 20s stuff: out-of-town trips, food, relationships, family life, dreams and goals. And then adulting happened and I just couldn't write anymore. Buuut this is a different blog post altogether, I'm saving this for when I'm inspired to give my thoughts justice. I interviewed Kristine Roces via email and her responses reminded me so much of my blogging days.

She's very kind and humble. I think that's something that is often unappreciated. Kindness is something we should put back up on a pedestal. I read about other bloggers/fake accounts ganging up on her, commenting the meanest things about her looks, and she always has the nicest responses. When I interviewed her, she didn't disappoint. Her answers were genuine and sincere. If you want to read more about her, here's her blog: Real Asian Beauty

The Interview

1. How did you first get into blogging? 

I started blogging in 2009.

2. What inspires you to keep blogging? 

My readers, viewers and followers inspire me to keep going. Whenever I get messages from them, they inspire me to do even better and improve my craft.

3. What were the challenges you faced during your first year and what kept you going?

It was getting my name out in the blogging world and gaining traffic to my blog. At that time, only my friends and family members read my blog. Hehe

4. What is your blogging routine? How often do you write? How do you overcome writer's block?

I usually don't have blogging routine as I tend to follow my YouTube posting schedule more. As you know, editing a video is not easy. So I want to allot more time making videos. :)

5. What do you think are the five skills that bloggers need to succeed? How would you define blogging success?

   1. Passion    2. Talent    3. Sincerely    4. Good communication and writing skills   5. Honesty

6. What strategy worked well for you to get more traffic to your blog?
It was to write about things that matter, things that more people would be able to relate to and write about trending topics. 

7. What areas would you like to improve in?
I would like to improve in posting regularly. :)

8. What was your greatest blogging failure and what did you learn from it?
Everything comes with the risk of failing. But if you truly love what you do, bad things that come would just be considered trials but not failures. These are just stepping stones to the final destination. I think bloggers and aspiring bloggers should never consider anything as their "FAILURE". Always be positive. :)

9. Who do you look up to in the blogging world?
XiaXue and Cheeserland. I read their blogs often. Camille Co is also a good local blogger. I also used to read a lot of Saab Magalona and Divine Lee posts. 

10. What advice would you like to give to aspiring/newbie bloggers?

Always be passionate, honest and humble. I think these three things will always matter, no matter how small and big of a blogger you are. And last thing, blog for the right reasons. Don't start a blog because you want to be famous, you want to get sponsors or you want to earn money. Those 3 things were honestly never my goal when I started my blog. I think it pays to always be honest and humble. Because when you are, your readers will see those traits beaming from your blog straight out of their screens. Hehe To the aspiring bloggers, always do what you are passionate about. Never mind money, never mind popularity and never mind competition. :)

She recently wrote about something I've been thinking about lately. I initially got back to blogging because I needed to finance my schooling. I didn't want to go back to the call center industry because I wanted to stay at home and take care of my child. So I thought I'd do something I've always loved to do which was to write about my experiences, and entertain and inspire people through blogging. It's perfect because I'd earn enough to survive school while at the same time be with my child. But post after post after post, I started to lose interest in writing. I was drowning in self-doubt and insecurities, I told myself, heck this isn't a decent way to make a living. So I decided to take an actual job which required me to be away from my child often. My interview with Kristine made me realize how making money out of something that gives you joy and a sense of purpose isn't always a good idea. Heh. Now I won't be quitting my day job any time soon, but I'm committing myself to improving my blog and going back to my reasons for why I even write in the first place.

To Real Asian Beauty,

Hi, girl! Thank you for taking the time to reply despite your schedule. It's really nice to get to meet someone *famous* (whether you admit it or not! Haha). I would like to let you know that you are an inspiration. I know you'll make it even bigger someday soon. Hugs.

XX