5 Hotel Debut Venue and Theme Ideas

Hello, debutantes!

Have you found the best hotel debut venue in Quezon City and finalized your birthday theme yet? If not, then you’re in the right place! Here’s a rundown of debut venue and theme ideas to help you find inspiration.

Ballroom: Feel Like A Royalty

Are you longing for that Disney princess-themed birthday celebration? A grand ballroom can serve as your very own castle on your special day! Spacious hotel function rooms can be adorned with fancy chandeliers, elaborate woodworks, floral details, and crystal elements, then turned into a venue full of luxuriousness. Imagine feeling your best beautiful walking on the aisle with your elegant gown complete with a full skirt and overflowing train! It is your own royal feast!

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Garden: Be A Boho Chic

If you’re not into ballgowns and would choose laid-back and comfy party above anything else, throwing a Bohemian garden party would be your best choice! Most hotel debut venues in Quezon City also have an outdoor garden ready to accommodate your guests. Aside from the natural greenery, organizers use floral garlands, rustic woods, feathers, and succulents to bring you closer to nature. Floor pillows and linens are also available for you and your guests to enjoy an easygoing but elegant party. A relaxing boho-chic bash, indeed!

Roof Deck: Reach The Sky

Peaceful and quiet – that’s what an open-air roof deck party is all about! It lets you escape from all the stress on the ground while giving you a great view of the metro and the sky. The sunset, as well as the city lights at night, serve as beautiful backdrops for your debut! You can also hire your favorite band and enjoy a concert tailor-made for you and your guests. Complete it with delicious food and refreshing drinks for The Great Gatsby-inspired sky high birthday party!

Glass Walls: See Through The Walls

We can’t control the weather, and that’s the risk of throwing a debut party outdoors. We get too caught up in designing the venue that we forgot when the sunrays would hurt or when the rain would fall. Fortunately, other debut venues in Quezon City integrated glass walls. There, you can have an indoor party while having a view of the outdoor garden or cityscape. Glass walls fit a monochrome party very well. It’s sophisticated, classic and chic!

Pool: Enjoy A Movie Night

Skip the traditional program and have a movie night instead. Dip in the refreshing pools while your favorite movie is on! It’s easy and low-maintenance but enjoyable. The hotel staff serves fruity cocktails, yummy finger snacks, and other food of your choice. Plus, the venue also comes up with foam/bubbles, festive floats, and plush seating for a bright and relaxing debut party worth raving about!

Hotels in Quezon City are versatile and offer a wide range of setups and themes for your debut venue. Enquire today and find the one that perfectly fits your personality!

5 Cosmetic Sticks for Your Full-Face Makeup

Here comes the rain along with our hectic work schedule and worsening traffic. We seem to be pretty busier this season and maintaining a full-face makeup proves to be more challenging! If only we have the time and budget to visit beauty clinics around the Philippines and avail semi-permanent makeup services such as eyebrow embroidery, lip coloring, and water shine covered BB glow, enhancing our beauty and maintaining our camera-ready faces would be so much easier.



Fortunately, there are products available in stores nationwide that can help us outshine the rain. Nope, they are not the traditional powders and gels which are too messy to use, time-consuming to apply and wears off over a few hours. What are we talking about are creamy, long-lasting and handy makeup sticks! The precise and controlled application that cosmetic pencils offer lets you have a full-face makeup in just a few swipes! They are also easy to blend and apply on the go that you don’t even need a mirror once you’ve mastered how to use them, saving you serious time and more money!

We can’t deny that makeup sticks are perfect for busy people like us. With that, here are our best picks to let you know which product you may use for an easy-breezy makeup sesh before heading to work!

1. Fashion 21 Perfect Stick with Tea-Tree Oil (Price: Php195)

When liquid foundations are subjected to sweat or rain, they tend to be oily and wash off over time. Meanwhile, using powder foundations is difficult especially when you’re not a pro. It’s harder to achieve sheer coverage so you frequently end up with a cakey appearance. Luckily, the creamy formula of Fashion 21 Perfect Stick with Tea-Tree Oil blends perfectly to the skin and is ready to help you get that full coverage, natural look and long-lasting effect. Plus, it has tea-tree oil that effectively covers pimples, acne and other blemishes. No need for concealers! Not to mention that it also protects you from harmful UV rays with its SPF50+!

2. Maybelline Brow Define and Blend Pencil (Price: Php250)

Are you stressing on how to get that eyebrow embroidery effect? Worry no more as Maybelline Philippines brings you its Brow Define and Blend Pencil! Its slim and angled tip can help you draw hair-like strokes and achieve wispy #BrowGoals. Unlike other pencils, you don’t have to sharpen it. It is retractable and adjusts on how long and sharp you want it to be. Plus, it comes with a brush on the opposite end for blending purposes.

3. Happy Skin Eyeshadow Stick (Price: Php399)

If you’re a fan of warm eyeshadow shades such as peach, orange and gold, you will love the hue of the Happy Skin Eyeshadow Stick! What’s great about its crease-proof formula is that it doesn’t weigh down the eyelids, gives a full eyelid coverage and lasts long. Unlike traditional eyeshadow powders, it promises a smooth application and blends on the eyelids without the trace of chalkiness. It can be your best makeup buddy the first time you use it!

4. Careline Multi Sticks (Price: Php205)

When deadlines pile up, stress shows in our faces. Eliminate the haggardness with a strobe of Careline Multi Sticks (Rose Blush). It instantly adds a rosy glow and eliminates paleness. When applied, it quickly melts on the skin and makes the cheeks appear perky. Plus, it has a powder-finish that gives off a weightless feel. Say goodbye to the stickiness of tints and liquids, and feel fresh and beautiful despite nerve-wracking tasks!

5. The Face Shop Creamy Touch Lip Liner (Price: Php220)

Complete your look with The Face Shop Creamy Touch Lip Liner! It’s a retractable cosmetic pencil with a creamy formula perfect for lip contouring and coloring that you might not want to put lipstick on top of it anymore! It also has a matte finish and prevents lipstick bleeding (which you usually get from traditional, glossy and liquid lipsticks). The brand also has six colors to help you easily match with your skin tone.

Don’t be sad if you can’t have eyebrow embroidery, lip coloring, and water shine covered BB glow treatment for now. These products around stores in the Philippines can give you the look just right! Try them now!

5 Makeup Ingredients Brides Should Avoid

Hello June brides!

As your wedding comes nearer, jitters are going to be a thing. But worry not; as long as you stay in love with your husband-to-be and stay organized every step of the way, your big day will be a success! We hope that you've got everything planned especially the venue, theme, gowns, food and rings. However, one thing that is equally as important as those is your makeup! 

Have you found your wedding makeup artist yet? 

If not, don't panic as the Philippines has plenty of talents that can give the look you want, be it dramatic, classic or natural. With today's technology, you can browse the internet or ask for referrals, and you’ll be good to go. But even though finding wedding makeup artists can be easy and instant, we highly suggest you be meticulous in choosing who to hire. Your artist will be your all-day fairy godmother on your wedding. 

Therefore, you might as well choose the best! The same goes for cosmetics which will be used and applied to your face. 

Remember, knowing the ingredients first before agreeing to use it is very important, as ignorance can mainly affect your health and in case you are pregnant, your baby too!


Here, we have listed the 5 cosmetic ingredients you should avoid:

1. Parabens

Parabens are widely used in cosmetics as preservatives. They come in many forms such as propyl and butyl (including their counterparts: isopropyl and isobutyl) parabens. In several studies reviewed and acknowledged by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), parabens are linked to various health issues. These can cause different types of cancer, endocrine system disruption and reproductive system toxicity.

2. Mineral Oil/Petroleum Distillates

This ingredient is commonly found in mascara and liquid foundation. It is used in cosmetics to add moisture to the skin and add volume to hair stands. However, it clogs the pores, suffocates the skin and promotes sun damage. Products formulated with this element cause burns, discoloration and irritation.

3. Fragrance/Phthalates

According to wedding makeup artists, cosmetics that come off with a strong smell usually have fragrance/phthalates. Even some of the organic and local brands in the Philippines have these compounds in their formula. Exposure to this ingredient induces headache, respiratory problems, allergy and hormone disruption.

4. Dyes/Lead

Artificial colorants are the common source of hues of different cosmetic products. Study shows that these elements are toxic and contain high levels of carcinogens. People who use these products report cases of acne, allergic reaction, headache and skin irritation.

5. Retinoids

Cosmetic products with anti-aging properties might have retinoids in their formulas. These elements are also used to treat severe acne and other skin issues. However, if used while pregnant, the risk of birth defects for developing babies is significantly increased.

To ensure you and your baby's health, coordinate with your wedding makeup artist. Inspect his or her cosmetic products and read labels. Discuss your allergies, pregnancy and other health conditions for them to know the right products to use. More importantly, keep in touch with your dermatologist and OB-Gyne here in the Philippines to learn more about the makeup ingredients you should avoid. Doing so will help you be your best beautiful on your wedding day without compromising your health.

Hot and Dry: The Manila Water Crisis

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There is no doubt that if there is anything that is all over Manila news today, it would be the current water crisis now affecting the lives of the residents of Metro Manila. The water debacle was triggered when water services went down on March 7, 2019 and the days that follow. Initially pointed to sheer lack of water supply coming from Angat Dam, the Manila water crisis has now become a staple talk of the town, taking its own spotlight among the ranks of primetime drama.

There seems more than just lack of water supply.

Manila Water, the private concessionaire under fire in the news today for the crisis, claims that their company’s allocation from Angat Dam is no longer sufficient to cover the demand, posting a deficit of around 140 MLD. The deficit is said to be being filled by La Mesa Dam, but the water levels in the La Mesa Dam is already insufficient. When they issued an initial service interruption bulletin on March 4, 2019, Manila Water claims that even the residents of those not covered by the interruption went on to store water, further adding stress to the decreased water pressure. The surge in water demand caused further depletion of water supply and pressure across distribution networks, even areas not initially deemed to suffer lack of water supply.

Of course, the issue boils hotter on social media.

A former employee of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System or MWSS named Angel Salazar claims that the water supply crisis could easily be resolved by just opening the by-pass facility that would send water from the Angat Dam directly to La Mesa Dam instead of passing through Ipo Dam, then to La Mesa Dam. MWSS denies the allegations of the by-pass facility closure. Moreover, there are speculations that this water crisis could be staged in order to provide justification for the construction of Chinese-funded, albeit through loan, Kaliwa Dam. This angle caused so much furor, especially when the Secretary of the Department of Finance Carlos Dominguez III claimed that the Kaliwa Dam project would indeed solve the Manila water crisis that is almost always in the news today.



In the midst of all this, both houses of Congress would want to initiate separate investigations relative to the water crisis. As congressional investigations are being done in aid of legislation, no one can pin any hope that this would actually solve the problem.



The crisis is not yet over and may even get worse in the days to come, given that it is the dry season in the Philippines and, not to mention, the new twists to the unfolding drama people still get to see on a daily basis. At the end of the day, people affected by the crisis could only hope for the best; that people who are in the position to do something about this would actually do something in order to at least bring water supply to households during this excessively hot and unusually dry summer season.

Why Travelers Should Get a Prepaid Health Card

They say jobs fill your pockets while adventures fill your soul. That’s why people leave their homes and voyage all over the globe. They go from one place to another. They search for adventure. And they have their reasons why they love to travel. If you’re one of them, you can surely relate to these:


1. Pleasure

May it be a break from the stress or just a holiday vacation, conquering a fresh territory is exhilarating. Isn’t it that you deserve to relax and feel the good things in life? 

2. Strengthening bonds

Through traveling, you can see your loved ones who are living far away. It’s an effective way to deepen relationships between family, friends and couples. 

3. Religion

Here in the Philippines, Visita Iglesia is popular. To strengthen their faith, devotees take their time and effort to join pilgrimage trips. 

4. Soul-searching

Traveling gives you the opportunity to reflect on your life. It also helps you have fresh insights about yourself. 

5. Celebrating

There’s always a reason to take a happy trip to beautiful places! It could be a birthday, anniversary, graduation or whatever the occasion is. 

6. Learning

Going to other places lets you learn others cultures and experience unfamiliar things. It expands your perspective. 

Indeed, traveling is a part of life. But before it takes place, preparation comes first. You start to pack your bags, organize your itinerary and buy your transportation tickets. You make sure that you’ve got everything covered to have a hassle-free trip. But still, you’re missing something. What is it? It’s a prepaid health card! 

Most of the time, a prepaid health card is something that travelers never thought they needed. On the latest report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Department of Tourism (DOT), three out of five Filipinos who are 15 years old and above travel within the country. Meanwhile, about 245,000 Filipinos 15 years old and over went outside the country. Unfortunately, travelers aged 30 and under are more likely to travel without insurance cover than any other age group. Plus, young men are more likely to refuse insurance than women. This is alarming because young men are more likely to engage in risky recreational activities, such as riding motorbikes, trekking, skiing, bungee jumping, swimming and skydiving. Plus, the peer pressure to take a dare remains strong. 

That is the very reason why travelers should get a prepaid health card. Injuries and accidents are unpredictable! No one knows when and where an emergency situation might happen. With that, it’s better to be prepared. One must choose a prepaid health card that fits their needs as a traveler. For example, some HMO companies in the Philippines offer substantial medical coverage. They generally provide cover for any illness or accident experienced overseas and locally. This includes the costs of treatment, hospitalization, medication, surgery and, if necessary, evacuation or repatriation.


Not only it protects travelers from the impact of poor health or an accident, but it also protects people from unexpected expensive medical expenses can quickly drain savings and other assets. These are also: 

1. Convenient

No need for paperwork and interview since these cards are open to everybody.

2. Handy

One can bring them wherever they go. 

3. Cheap

Unlike expensive health insurance policies, these cards help cover health needs for as low as Php549.

You see, having a prepaid health card has a lot of advantages. Though it is something that travelers thought they never needed, it is one that they would surely thank for when the time comes.