Honestly I was really disappointed with this box. It was supposed to be an elite box with summer goodies for the month of May but we received it on June when it's already raining. Two of my friends ordered the box as well and it was their first time to try BDJ Box and probably their last.
It's a Revlon exclusive box following Revlon's campaign of #chooselove
Box costs PHP1482. Contents are supposed to be double the value (PHP3015 in total).
Tweezer PHP150
Nail Pile PHP150
Volume + Length Mascara PHP650
Photo Ready Kajal PHP575
Eyeliner in 304 Matte Marine
Ultra HD Matte Lip Color PHP575
Matte Liptint in 615 HD Temptation
Photoready Skinlights PHP825
Highlighter in 300 Peach Light
Nail Polish in Lavander and Silver Glitter PHP250x2
Hair Color in 42R Medium Auburn PHP450
Swatches from Uppermost
Pink Sugar lip tint for comparison
Revlon matte lipstick
Sky Blue Eyeliner
Highlighter
Eyeliner and Lipstick on.
It's veerryy retro and loud and I don't see myself actually using them. It's sad that I won't even be able to use most of the contents I paid for. Probably the hair color and mascara (which I somehow misplaced).
It has been a nice affair with BDJ Boxes. My monthly dose of surprise and cosmetics. Sadly #walangforever when expectations turn to dissappointment. This is probably my last BDJ Box as well. I think I'm moving on to Althea boxes. Something I personally picked and worth wait waiting for. :)
If you're looking for a quick getaway near Manila, you should consider going to Puerto Galera. It's located at Mindoro, just a 2 hour bus and an hour boat ride away. It's been a lot more crowded than what I remembered but still a nice place to visit.
How to get there?
1. Ride a bus to Batangas Pier (PHP167). Travel time is around 2hours from Buendia. It's quite easy to catch a bus to Batangas so no reservations needed.
2. Ride a boat to White Beach (PHP500 2-way ticket). Travel time is around an hour or so. Boat schedule is often late so plan accordingly.
One Way - PHP275
Two Way - PHP500
Boat Schedule is on first come first serve basis. They accommodate around 50 persons per boat.
We arrived at around 10am and the earliest boat schedule we got was 12:00pm.
We boarded the boat at 1pm. (An hour late from schedule)
You'll also have to pay a terminal fee of PHP30 at the terminal after you buy boat tickets and PHP50 environmental fee when you arrive at Puerto Galera.
Terminal Fee
The boat ride can get suffocating especially when the weather is too hot because they cover the sides of the boat to keep passengers from getting wet so you might want to sit at the front or at the back.
If you have a round trip ticket, be sure to secure a schedule for your trip back immediately after you arrive at white beach.
Accommodation? Getting a place to stay is no problem either. There are a lot of resorts offering rooms for rent at the pier and in Puerto Galera.
We got a room good for 6persons for PHP3000 a night from Agbing resort. Last time we stayed at White Beach resort. Both are just near the shore.
Activities? There are a lot of water activities you can try here. Banana boat, flying fish, snorkeling, jetpack, parasailing, atv, go kart, diving and what not. The jetpack thing is pretty cool but expensive as well.
Parasailing
Flying Fish
Jet Ski
Banana Boat
Jet Pack
1 hour whole body massage PHP300
Food? There are a lot of affordable restaurants along the beach that will suit your budget. But most of the time you'll have to wait really long for the food to arrive.
(that scene on "how to get away with murder" XD)
Nightlife? Definitely yes, the last time I was here, I don't remember much commotion at night. But now.. there are performances side by side as in literally.
I enjoyed watching fire dancing and just chilling out drinking with friends.
You should try their famous Mindoro Sling (PHP350 per pitcher) while you're at it.
Or you can stay on the other side of the beach, lay on the sand and star gaze or get a massage.
The shore has white sand but the sea bed is mostly rocks, but not the kind that hurts your feet. The water is also clear but there were these pesky insect bites every now and then.
And of course the gorgeous sunset. I love taking pictures of sunset.
I would love to try all those activities when I get back. Before I forget, there is an ATM on the island but either you have to go to the town proper or you have to pay an extra 200 charge per transaction. Very few restaurants accept cash and with additioanl 3.5% charge so I suggest to bring cash. There is a Security bank ATM at the pier but don't take chances and just withdraw before going there.
I'm not ready to give up the summer heat just yet. And when I say summer I mean the beach, sunblocks, swimsuits, definitely swimsuits. Unfortunately my beach body isn't ready just yet (or ever) so I can only show these lovely pieces with miss pillow here.
But it doesn't mean I can't wear one. I saw these cute tops from my facebook page and checked them out.
They are available in different colors. And you can get creative and style them in different ways too.
it's called the 9 ways bikini wrap.
What surprised me is the price. They are very affordable. The top only costs PHP135. So yep guessed it right, I bought one. The material is flexible and clings to your skin when wet so you don't have to worry as long as you wrapped it nicely. I did change the pads though (yes they're changeable) since the one that comes with it was too big for me.
They also have other swimsuits too but they run out of stock pretty fast. They just uploaded new stocks and I was checking out colors, when I wen't back some were already sold out. Check it out at ilovedeepee.com.
A place 1-3 hours away from Manila which makes for a perfect summer get away? Where would you go? It can be as relaxing as going on the beach at Laiya Batangas or Potipot Zambales for example or something as extreme as going hiking at the creaters of Taal or Pinatubo. There are really quite a lot of choices. We originally planned on going to Laiya but then given the short time frame we had to plan, resorts were already fully booked. And with the hot weather we were not to keen on going hiking.
Then my team mate suggested going to the hotsprings in Los Baños Laguna. Splash Mountain is a pretty popular public hotspring destination but then their rooms are quite expensive and we didn't have the budget to rent private pools. While searching on the net we came accross with La Roca de Trinidad resort which is located just beside Splash Mountain. It's also a public hotspring resort but is less crowded compared to Splash Mountain and has much cheaper overnight rates.
We rented one of their attic rooms. We were stuck in traffic on our way and it was so hot ouside we were all tired and sleepy. The airconditioned cozy looking attic room was really inviting that you wouldn't like to leave the room.
On the ground floor you have the shared kitchen where you can prepare and cook food. There's a gas stove which you can use for free. You can also borrow cooking utensils and such provided you'll clean them before returning. There's also a grill near the nipa huts. No corkage fee for food and drinks.
On the second floor you have a shared veranda with chairs and tables and a videoke which you can rent for PHP1000 for 24hours. There's also a refrigerator and water dispenser which you can use for free. 1gallon of mineral water costs PHP85.
On the third floor you have the shared bathroom and shower which was small and cramped so we used the one for day visitors.
And lastly the attic rooms. There are 2 rooms. We rented attic room A which was more spacious and 'maaliwalas' than the other room. We arrived first so we were allowed to choose.
Overnight stay for 12persons in the attic room costs PHP5500. It can accomodate up to 15persons with additional fee per person in excess of 12. Checkin is at 2:00pm and check out is at 12:00pm the next day.
They have 2 pools, one for kids and one adult pool. The adult pool has a mini slide and a mini waterfalls.
We had a small misunderstanding with the ones renting the other attic room since they claim the videoke was too noisy and they were trying to sleep at the 'shared' veranda. Why the @#$& would you go on an overnight outing to sleep? The management talked and apologized and refunded our payment for the videoke which was nice of them but still....
If we're going to go back here we're going to rent 'Sa Dulo' because they have their own 'babaran' and even a jacuzzi its as if renting a private place.
If you want to check out the place, here is their website.
http://www.larocaresort.com
PS: Use the mobile number. Their phone number is not updated.
There are 2 Puregolds nearby for your groceries. For pasalubong there's The Originals Buko Pie PHP180 and Rodillas Yema Cake PHP200 nearby.
