Lanikai Beach: Hawaii's best-kept secret

Throwback Thursday today! Lanikai Beach has got to be one of my favorite beaches of all time. I won't ever forget how the first time I saw it, it took my breath away. These are some photos from my trip to Hawaii back in May 2011.

Last hike in Hawaii: Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail!

OMG, I gained a total of 10 pounds in my one month of staying in Hawaii! No regrets though, the food was amazing and the locals really know what things to put in their mouths. The local cuisine is amazing! Hungry tummies + Japanese culture = AMAZEBALLS. Haha! I noticed this trip that anything filling can be characterized as Hawaiian cooking. Fried chicken and/or burger steak with two huge scoops of rice, spaghetti with beef stew and the all-famous spam musubi (spam on top of a brick of rice and fastened together with a small strip of seaweed) all have one thing in common: that they can fill a hungry tummy! I really loved all the food. :)

That was a mouthful about the food! Now on to the highlight of this entry: my last hike in Hawaii!

Chronicles of Hawaii: The Great Hike up Koko Head

Heads up for a pretty photo-heavy post; I'm pretty sure I won't be going up there ever again so my dad and I made sure to take as many photos of each other. Haha!

I would say that I'm a pretty fit person. I was an athlete in high school, being varsity of my school swimming team and even captain of my local club team. When I went to college I went on a 2-year hiatus from exercising because I got so burned out with all the requirements for swimming. It was no joke! But early this year I started going to the gym almost every day, and since Christmas I have lost about 13 pounds. Only 5 more pounds away from my thinnest weight EVER since I was 13!

But in Hawaii, at first I was dieting, not eating so much. Now I eat like a baby dinosaur! HAHA. I figured I should just worry when I get back to Manila. But in the mean time, my dad and I have found a new way to try to keep off those extra pounds, and it's through hiking! Click on the jump to read more about this. :)

Mika Ninagawa for Shu Uemura

Last summer, I had a major tan from all the beach trips that I was going to with friends and family. So all of a sudden when I had to go to a wedding, I was fixing my makeup and aaaah! My foundation wasn't my shade anymore! I survived that day with my mom's foundation, but the next weeks I searched far and wide for the perfect shade for me.

I tried Maybelline, Loreal and even Shiseido, but wasn't happy with them! Something always bothered me: some went on too thick, some made me look too yellow and even too white. People say that in love, it is when you're not looking when you find, and wow this renders true for me even when it's not about love! Haha :)

I actually fell in love with the compact before the actual powder. Yes, I am a sucker for super cute packaging. Aside from Shu's limited edition guest artist collections, I love Benefit's cheeky names for their lines and hollywood packaging. So anyway! I bought the compact case along with my mom's cleansing oil, and just carded it without asking her so that she would get me the refill! Haha. The powder itself isn't cheap, and what sucks is that you have to get the case individually as well. The case costs 700 Php at Rustan's and the refill is 1800 Php.

What I love about Shu is that it's an Asian brand, so what company would know better about Asian skin tones than ones that were based here? :) Plus because I'm one of the lighter skin tones, but with yellow as my base, it's often hard to find a powder with my exact skin tone. So yeah, this one impressed me very much!

My shade is no. 764-described as a warm undertone. Since this is a powder foundation, I pat it on lightly with the sponge and it gives me minimal coverage. Just what I need for sunny hawaii! And a good plus is that it's SPF 26++! So yay for that! I still put on sunscreen moisturizer daily though. :)

Greetings from sunny Hawaii, by the way! Will get back to blogging very soon. I apologize for the huge, unannounced hiatus as to I was a working girl for the whole month of April! But now that that's over, I've been able to settle down and relax. Back to la dolce vita! :)

Will keep you posted!

xx Saira