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Rowena Lim Lei celebrates her first anniversary as a blogger today and she’s giving away prizes sponsored by some of the brands I swear by. Ro’s  rules say “one entry per prize” but I was in a hurry and I (rather excitedly) posted about all three of the items I wanted in one comment. LOL.

Anyway, I’ve decided. Here is my first choice.

Celeteque Advanced
It’s true! This moisturizer is so light-weight, I could hardly feel like I have anything on. I tend to have oily skin so I really dislike putting on gook that feels like grease. Especially since the SPF I put over moisturizers also tend to be greasy (the higher the SPF, the greasier it gets; and that’s a fact). I also love the idea that it can be used as an eye cream so I don’t have to buy so many products.

UPDATE (March 13, 2010): I put this to the test when I went on my birthday trip to Boracay recently.  It was my first Bora visit — yes, I know, I’m such a geeky loser that I have never gone to this Philippine heaven that foreigners keep raving about.  I did not expect the sun to be ultra powerful in Boracay.  It was beyond comparable to a very sunny day in L.A. (the only other place I’ve experienced heat so strong I thought I would faint from it).

I brought along my Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream with SPF42 (PA+++) for sun protection and coverage. This product tends to grease you out, given the wrong weather conditions, so it was imperative that I choose the right moisturizer to pair it with.  I brought two brands, just in case. Olay Regenerist, even without the Missha BB cream, proved too thick to be comfortable — and I hadn’t even gone under the Boracay Sun yet at that time. As expected of Celeteque Advanced, well, it worked its magic under my BB Cream.  I almost couldn’t feel any weight on my face besides the sunscreen and despite the light feeling, I never felt I was drying up.

Here is a picture of me and my dearest friend Cris at the end of our 3-hour morning sail. Loved this little expedition! But…

While we really enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smell of the sea, we were actually being battered by the wind and the sun.  We also encountered a slight mishap, with another boat colliding into ours, causing my hat to fly off into the sea. The only tangible protection I had left after that were my pair of sunglasses. Unfortunately, those weren’t enough to keep the onslaught of sea water from splashing into my face.

By lunch time, I was already worried about looking dugyot. Good thing that our next activity was a visit to the market, also known as D’Talipapa, where it shouldn’t matter if I looked haggard or not. Quickly got myself a new hat, bought lobsters and prawns at the palengke, and had them cooked. Cris took a snapshot of me and I was surprised at how I didn’t seem like I had gone through a 3-hit combo of sun-wind-sea. Again, I secretly thanked Celeteque Advanced. The photo says a lot about its staying power.

I’m also thankful for not needing an extra eye cream since I was on travel mode. I always make it a point to travel light: one backpack and a body bag; no huge luggage-on-wheels for me.

Here’s also a little tip for traveling Celeteque fans out there. If you want to maximize your baggage space, you can also look for the “Celeteque 3-Step Skin Care” package. It’s a small travel kit that contains mini versions of their facial wash, oil-free toner and their regular water-based oil-free moisturizer.  I took the facial wash and toner with me, along with my Celeteque Advanced. Now isn’t that ultra convenient?

My “Runner-Up” Choices:

The Yummy Cookbook Set – Since I live on my own, I super need to learn how to make a variety of dishes. I am tired of eating the same old cardboard-tasting wheat bread for breakfast. This should help me soup up my fridge. I love experimenting with dishes, too, especially when I have the time.

Starbucks Clean and Green Tumbler – I use organic products for my bathing needs and try to eat healthy as much as possible (except for occasional bouts of instant pancit canton cravings), so the idea that having one of these could also help save the planet is very appealing. Whenever I go to Starbucks, I would usually have my drink in their “for here” mug just to lessen the carbon footprints. I heard that bringing your own mug — and this one would be perfect — entitles you to a discount? Sounds good to me! It doesn’t hurt that it looks very pretty, too.

The rest of the prizes can be seen in this picture:

If you want to win these fabulous items, all you have to do is pay tribute to Animetric…and of course, read the contest rules, which could be found here:
http://animetric.blogspot.com/2010/02/animetrics-favorite-things-year-1.html

Happy Anniversary, Ro! So very glad that you went blogging. You’ve actually embarked on a very exciting adventure. Hope this keeps up. Best of luck and more power to you! Mwah!