#MaybellineSquadPH

I've told this story countless times to everyone who would care to listen and I've already shared this several times here on this blog, but allow me to tell you once again how I first started blogging legitimately.

Circa 2008. I was working at a BPO and with all the extra time I had I decided I wanted to learn how to do my own makeup. What you need to know about me is that when I become interested in something, I get fixated on it and stop at nothing to learn everything I can about it. The first thing I figured I had to do was read up on makeup, preferably from women I can relate to, so it follows that I should look for local beauty reviews and tutorials. That's when I found the blogs of Shen, Nikki, and Phoebe, among others. Product seeding and events weren't popular yet those day so all the reviews and tutorials they shared, they wrote using products they bought with their own money. I was enjoying my (now defunct) Multiply Journal then and its readership, but exploring Blogspot opened a completely different world for me! I signed up, and the rest was history. 

To be completely honest with you, I've been feeling down the past few weeks and it's so difficult to find joy from things I loved doing before ⎼ reading and writing included. Me? Dislike reading? Amd writing? Why?? Believe me when I say I'm as baffled as you are. That lack of enthusiasm and time is one of the reasons why I haven't been able to blog as much.

And so this couldn't have come at a better time. 

Maybelline chose me to be part of the Maybelline Squad, a group of bloggers they recognized for continuously supporting the brand. ♥ There are a lot of perks for being part of the squad, but my favorites are being given sneak peeks and a chance to try the products even before they get released in the country! 

Sometimes I wonder if the things I do and spend time on are worth it, sometimes I don't get recognized for going out of my way to do a better job, and sometimes it feels like mistakes get magnified and fixated on. Sometimes I think I don't have as much clout as I did before, and that the people who used to read my blog have all moved on. I can't dwell on those, though. Instead I'm going to play with all the new makeup I got from Maybelline and revel on this award because, really, what a great honor to be chosen alongside beauty bloggers I look up to not only for their blogs but also because of who they are as a person, like Nikki and Phoebe ⎼ beautiful inside and out!

One more time, with feelings!

This award is very well-received! Let's go back to the perks. As I said, we'll be given early access to new products before they even hit the market, and I was sooo excited that I wanted to do a twirl then and there!

Here are just some of Maybelline's newest products for this year:

Super BB Fresh Matte Cushion, Hyper Ink Liquid Liner, Powder Matte Lipstick, and Master Strobing Stick!

They're even releasing a Strobing Cream! Of these, I'm most excited for the Powder Matte Lipsticks and Strobing Stick and Cream! A+++, those two.

Thank you again for choosing me, Maybelline! I'm looking forward to a Maybelline-beautiful year ahead!