Love Chic

Just of those days when our planners are all filled in save for a couple of breaks. Feeling-paparazzi shot by Janine. Haha.

We decided to make use of our short free time to go to Nail It! salon in Katipunan to get our paws pampered. We’ve been hearing about how fast and pleasant the service is at Nail It! for a while now and we thought we’d check it out for ourselves.

The interiors are a clean purple and white, which coincidentally is one of our favorite color schemes. Seph’s bedroom is actually purple and white!

I opted for a mani-pedi with paraffin.

The warm paraffin and cotton gloves felt as comfy as a baby’s mittens that I actually fell asleep, after which my girls thought it would be funny to put floral shades on me and take a picture. (Okay, it is funny lol)

I want these “mittens” at home! Along with the paraffin, it does feel nice and soft on the hands.

Meanwhile, we didn’t really take a break from work. Mobile devices are both boon and bane, we find.

Shai: I was asked to choose from a variety of nail art and nail colors. But being a girl who’s constantly running errands and doing my own housework, fancy nails wouldn’t be practical. I chose this nude color called “Silk Stocking” by Orly. It’s a pastel barely-there shade that makes nails look simple and clean.

We were done in about half an hour, just in time for our next appointment. As refreshing as taking a power nap! Thanks, Nail It! We will definitely be back.
 
Check out Nail It! branches, website, Facebook and Twitter.

Guess who just dyed their own hair ombré?

The term is a French word which means “gradiation” or “shade.” Instead of one color throughout, you’ve got a darker shade on top that gradually goes lighter down the tips, usually ending in blonde.

We didn’t find any salons that offered this, so we thought we’d do it ourselves.

We’re glad we did; not only were we able to save money, we were also able to pick up a few self-reminders from the experience.

Lesson 1: Stand on your own two feet. We’re firm believers that nobody is self-made; whatever form of success we currently enjoy, people along the way helped us get to where we are. However, being dependent on others is a different story. If you always need people to do certain things for you, what happens when they leave, turn their back on you, or worse, demand repayment and rub in your face all the good they’ve done when things go sour? Do things yourself. If it works, you’ll have leveled up and won’t have to drown in debts of gratitude. If it doesn’t, you’ll still have learned and have no one to blame.

Lesson 2: Dare to be different. Just because everybody’s doing this or wearing that or getting hooked with this app or going to that hip-happening place doesn’t make it imperative that you should, too. Au contraire. Dare to be a starter, not a follower—and dare to stand by your own choices and preferences.

Lesson 3: Experiment. Take risks. Whenever hesitation or fear strikes, ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen. What have you got to lose? Will it matter in the greater scheme of things? Will it matter three, five, ten years from now? And even if the answers to these are bleak, well, sometimes the best way we can truly learn and grow is through our mistakes and failures.

Lesson 4: Be yourself, always. In this day and age more than ever, this seems to be one of the simplest yet most challenging things to practice. With everyone so inevitably connected and perennially updated, it seems to have become so important to be who we are expected to be: edited, curated, censor-approved versions of ourselves, rather than who we are happy to be: just ourselves! How can we be true to other people if the person we see everyday in the mirror is fake?

On Shai: Forever21 embroidered dress, Parisian at SM Department Store booties, SM Accessories bangle, Fidelity necklace and rings. Hype on Lookbook here.

On Seph: Forever21 blazer, Topman shirt, Bench jeans, Aldo socks, Adidas shoes, SM Accessories necklace and wristband, Timex watch. Hype on Lookbook here.

   
…All this from three tubs of hair color. Who knew? Haha. Tutorial, anyone? Tell us what you think—use that Reply button on your Tumblr dashboard or leave a Disqus comment :) Hope y’all had a good start for the new year!

An invite to try out Freyja Day and Nail Spa couldn’t have come at a better time: with everything so hectic at work, we both needed a quick relaxing break. And so we happily went. We were welcomed by a clean, invigorating scent and cozy interiors.

Freyja is the Norse goddess of love, beauty and war. Cool, huh? You’ve got to check out their Facebook page to see the many pampering services they offer for both guys and girls. We were both treated to Vana-goddess Whitening Hand and Foot Spa, plus Reflexology for Seph and Nail Art for Shai. But first…

Tacos! And Sola! How did they know we love munching on these?

Om nom nom

Time to take off those shoes (Adidas Porsche sneakers, Asian Vogue pumps) and wear these cutie booties!

The booties are snug and warm, and they vibrate to give your feet a massage. So awesome.

And then there’s this. Our feet have been thanking us all week.

Shai’s musical nail art in turquoise and pink. Neat, isn’t it?

This October we’re holding a ton of giveaways. Two Love Chic readers will be treated to a blissful “Mellow Me Out” package. Open to both guys and girls. You must be following us on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook to join.

To join, reblog this post on Tumblr, share on Twitter (+ tag @sephshai and @FreyjaDaySpa) and Facebook (+ tag @Love Chic and @Freyja). You may leave a Disqus comment to let us know you’ve joined. We’ll be choosing winners via randomizer and announcing them on November 5. Yay!

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UPDATE: We have a winner! See here.