I'm Andy. I'm a 21 year old creative from the PH. I like taking photographs of people and places. This is where i'll be dumping my photographs, stories, and thoughts.
ALL THAT THRIFT: My love affair with thrifting, 2017 edition. I collected a bunch of outfit photos that i’ve worn throughout the year, almost a 100% of ‘em, thrifted. I’ve obvs worn a lot more but I don’t always get to document whatever I’m wearing so maybe that’s something I should be working on this 2018! Here goes!
Thrifted everything except my sneaks. (I almost never score shoes) One of my favorite thrift finds, that yellow jacket + those pinstripe pants. I’ve hoarded loads and loads of pants from thrifting too! I’ve always had trouble buying pants from thrift shop but i’ve finally combated my thrifted pants curse last 2017. LOL
1. ruffled longsleeves (which will appear again later) + one of the many pants i’ve scored throughout the year 2. One of my absolute faves too! I’ve looked for jumpsuits everywhere I go and that one day I went thrifting, I got 3!!!! I have no photos of the other 2 though. 3. 50 peso top + the comfiest cropped pants.
G200 pants + my 400 peso jacket! (Okay I didn’t get it at a thrift shop, but it’s second hand since I found it in carousel. I normally don’t buy clothes that’s more than 300 in thrift shops. Hehe)
Everything thrifted except that plain white shirt!
1. Vintage uniqlo polo + distressed pants with patches I only got for Php 50 in Baler! There’s a lottta cheap ukays in Baler with the cutest printed polos. 2. That yellow jacket again + my 10 peso beaded pants 3. Another ripped jeans + a kimono like top and a duo tone windbreaker
One of the things I always look forward to in thrifting is scoring cheap maxi dresses! They’re just too expensive in malls. Lol. Wore this one to Malasimbo!
Mustard turtle neck (which i’ll be selling in Fad Folly soon!) + my favorite gray cardigan.
Okay probably the best ukay find of 2017!! THE CUTEST TEN PESO JUMPSUIT!! Was supposed to wear this for Halloween but figured it’d be too hassle to wear my rollerskates the whole night so Mica and I used it for a shoot instead!
(photo by Mica Abesamis)
I’m not entirely sure but this is probably just a 30 peso outfit look ;)
Thats it for ALL THAT THRIFT! Definitely had fun compiling all of these photos and outfits! ‘Til next year ❤
I’m gonna be honest, I always find myself scrolling through beautyMNL, sephora, checking out second-hand shops on instagram, zalora and just constantly wanting to buy something I don’t really need. So I thought why not make a monthly faves post? This is where i’ll share my favorite beauty products, accessories, and clothing - yup just like a haul. I’ll also be sharing some shopping tips and tricks (where to score cheaper clothes etc) So here goes my September faves!
tasseled hoop earrings - i’ll let you in a little secret, this sells for about Php 100-300 on instagram shops but I got this in Divisoria for Php 35. I don’t exactly remember where and what stall but if it’s not in 999, it’s probably in 168! It’s 65 a piece but if you buy 6 or more, you get it for 35! This is my favorite out of all the earrings I got, I wear it every time I wanna feel extra. Heeh.
hoop earrings - I lost my favorite hoop earrings (which I also got in Divi for Php 50) during a night out with friends so I got myself another one in UP Town. I don’t exactly remember what brand, and it really doesn’t matter since you can find these kind of earrings everywhere! It’s my go-to earrings, always adds a little oomph to every outfit.
blush brush - another secret: I almost never buy branded make up brushes. I buy almost all of my brushes in Divisoria. There’s a particular stall in Divi, it’s called Gladking and if i’m not mistaken, they produce their own brushes. They also have fake brushes and I don’t wanna own those so I buy their unbranded brushes instead. Their powder, kabuki, blush, & contour brushes only cost Php 150! Their eye make-up brushes are only Php 50. So if you a cheap-ass like me, get yourself some gladking goodness. Trust me, they work just fine.
canmake pressed powder - (okay it’s actually marshmallow finish powder based on their website haha) I got this as a bday gift from Nisa. (She modeled for the brand) I’ve had this since July but i’ve been using it now more than ever. I used to carry a loose powder and a brush with me before for touch ups but I get too lazy to use it, which makes this product perfect for me. The powder comes with a mirror and a powder puff so it’s handy for touch-ups! ALSO makes my face very matte (i’m oily af) so it works for meeee!
eight mermaid swimwear - a.k.a my favorite swimwear brand. I got one for my birthday too (for a swimwear it’s too expensive for me so I handed Jimbo my money so he can purchase it for me hahahaha) but this! this was a lucky purchase! Haha! I follow their model and she sold this pair (which she only used for the shoot) so I got this for half the price.
Oppo A57 - So I got this phone last last week and i’m not exaggerating when I say I was blown away with its camera. It has a 13 megapixel rear camera and a 16 megapixel front-facing camera (perfect for vain people like me YAY)!!! I loved the camera so much I prefered using it than my iPhone for my La Union trip! (click here to see my elyu blog)
W7 glowcomotion highlighter - okay last but definitely not the least! I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS HIGHLIGHTER! So I was scrolling through BeautyMNL’s anniversary sale and I came across this brand and this particular product. I searched it on youtube to watch reviews and TADAH! I found out it’s a Mary-Lou manizer (a.k.a my favorite highlighter, a.k.a the one I usually steal from my sister whenever she’s not around) dupe! AND I LOVE IIIIT! It’s originally Php 449 but I got it for Php 337. I love this because the highlighter I always use before has this strong yellow undertone. This one, however, it feels and looks like it’s just part of your skin. It’s so natural, I love it. (you can probably tell due to the excessive exclamation marks)
That’s just about it! I had fun writing this and I can’t wait for the next one. Hope you enjoyed reading this!
A few months back Jimbo and I made a pact that we’ll go to La Union together. I’ve never been there and I promised that I wouldn’t go to elyu without him. Last month, while Jimbo and I were having dinner with my family, Pau and Phil mentioned Baguio. I’ve been to Baguio thrice and I don’t think i’ll ever get tired of it so I asked Jimbo if he wanted to go to Baguio too. We originally planned to go to La Union and Baguio with Phil & Pau, but due to conflict of schedules, we weren’t able to go together. Luckily, my best friend, Aryne, and her guy, Mikki was game so I was extra excited!
We made our way to the bus station around 3 AM, only to find out that the next bus leaves at 4:30 AM. Our trip was a long one, but it didn’t feel like it since I was just sleeping the entire time. We arrived in San Juan around 2 PM and checked in at our hotel.
We were booked in Flotsam and Jetsam Hostel for 3 days and 2 nights. The front desk who welcomed us was one of the Roco twins, I thought it was Dominic a.k.a. Gibson of one of my favorite indie films, Ang Nawawala. I was so tempted to ask “WHERE’S ENID?” Heh.
I kid you not, I was wow-ing the entire time I was wandering around the hostel for the first time. I definitely wouldn’t mind spending weeks here! It has such a lovely vibe, I lost count of how many times I was telling Jimbo how nice the place is. However, to be quite frank, I wasn’t blown away by the beach. Jimbo, on the other hand, kept telling me how Flotsam has changed. We were just both mindlessly exchanging thoughts about how the place looked, but it only took a few minutes before we appreciated everything else.
After settling in, we walked around town to take photos and find good food spots. I usually just navigate through spot.ph or booky to look for recommended restaurants and whenever I find something I like, I ask Jimbo if he’s game and of course, he always is. As long as its food.
We had late lunch at Surf Shack. I got some kind of taco rolls. I forgot what it’s called but I remember it tasted real good! Jimbo and I wanted dessert so we got a chocolate cake from Moonleaf. It was disappointing. Hahaha. We went back to Flotsam and just lounged around to take photos and exchange stories.
That night, we had dinner at Flotsam. Their Holy Crab Wendelle is to die for. ACK. Obviously it’s not that hard to fall in love with Flotsam & Jetsam. The vibe is inspiring, and the food is glorious.
Later that night we also had a follow up dinner at Tagpuan. Place is really cheap and serves sulit food so you should definitely drop by if youre heading to San Juan! The following night Jimbo and I had our midnight snack here.
We ended the night drinking and having fun at Flotsam. The common place turns into a bar at night. It’s as if the whole town crashes the hostel to dance, drink and have fun.
For our second day, we went around town looking for food. We got shakes and coffee (I rarely drink coffee so that’s for jimbo), had a quick bite at Olas Banditos, played foosball, devoured some gooood good pizza at Flotsam, and just spent some quality time together taking photos and watching the sunset.
Made a quick run to Makai Bowls to try the talked about acai bowls during our last day before we headed to Baguio. Definitely had a good time in elyu and already planning my return.
xx, Andy
PS.
Haven’t been able to post process photos from my camera so all photos here are taken using an Oppo A57. Impressive quality.
It was back in April, just weeks after finishing college, when my good friend, Tracy, and I decided to celebrate and have some one on one girl time at the beach. She suggested to stay in Board Culture at Liwliwa, Zambales. The moment we arrived in Liwliwa, I instantly fell in love. It’s a quaint little beach town that makes you feel isolated yet at home. Pine trees everywhere, beautifully crafted nipa huts, and a loooong stretch of sand. What I loved most about it is its accessibility. It’s just 4-5 hours from Manila and the bus ticket doesn’t even cost more than 300 pesos. I left Liwliwa knowing that I’d find my way back to its soft sand and stunning sunset.
A few months after, Shillary, one of my closest friends from high school kept bugging me to plan a beach trip. We’ve always wanted to go to the beach together along with our other friends but it just never happens. However, the universe decided to give us a chance. I created a group chat with my high school girlfriends and miraculously, we were all available for the long weekend. When I was in Liwliwa for the first time, I saw a resort that was still under renovation. I knew it was going to be lovely so I looked up the place and booked for two nights.
Dundundun, the long weekend came. We all gathered in QC and was disheartened to find out that there was a storm. (which led to Nicole having to back out since her parents won’t allow her anymore) We stayed up ‘til 4AM trying to create a backup plan but we all ended up sleeping. The morning after, we decided we’d let the storm pass and just go to Liwliwa Sunday morning (since it was already flooding in Zambales.) So we got up, decided to go to trendsetter’s bazaar and pick up a few stuff. Moments after arriving home, Shillary & Aryne asked if we wanted to go to Black Market. Everybody said yes and in just 2 hours, we all were done taking a bath and putting on makeup. LOL. Three hours later we were all drunk and having waaaaay too much fun. (we even have embarrassing photos but let’s not talk about that) It was as if we didn’t have a bus to catch at 5AM. Jimbo also followed in BM and my friends dragged him to join us in Liwa. We were back home around 4AM and whaddaya know, Shillary even almost burned the house because she was trying to reheat some twister fries.
5AM and holysmokes, finally, we were off to Liwliwa!!!
The beach was not much of a sight to see because of the damage that the storm has done. I was actually looking forward to surfing but our local friends said that it wasn’t safe due to the debris in the water. We didn’t even get to swim in the beach cause of the dirt!! Good thing the place we stayed at had an amazing pool.
We were all in awe of our room! I’m a sucker for minimalist designs and our room was all white. The place was also surrounded by a lot of plants, which I also really love. We only paid 5,500 for our room, which if you ask me, is already super worth the money. The people of Surface was really accommodating, they even gave us free merienda! Hehe cute! Definitely going back here.
Shillary and I’s little hubadera moment
I was really glad that despite the odds and all the misfortune that we faced, we were able to push through with our plans. I had a really great time with my friends and I’m glad we finally got to go the beach together!!
Hey ho! It’s ya girl Andy G and I’m back! I’ve been dying to go back to blogging but every time I try to, I fail. It’s probably because I get too pressured to come back and this time with my own domain, all polished and really LEGIT looking. But what the heck, whatever. I’d have to just make do with what I have. I just really miss the ~diary style~ blogging and some of my friends reached out to me that they miss it too. I recently visited my old tumblr and I had a load of fun laughing and “aww!”-ing at my own posts. I guess I miss documenting my life too. So here it is! My first attempt at going back to documenting my life. No pressure. Just a lot of stories and photos.
I just recently launched an online shop! It’s full of thrifted, hand-me-downs & pre-loved clothes. I’ve been meaning to do this too for the longest time and now that I have all the time in the world (icymi, I graduated last April and I’ve been bumming around ever since) I finally worked on it! I really like thrifting and sometimes I tend to hoard a lot so this is my way of cleaning my closet. It’s also where I get to practice taking photos, styling and making collages. Everything’s cheap and no item is more than 350 pesos so if you wanna cop some dainty lookin’ clothes, check out Fad Folly’s No.1 Collection at IG @fadfolly! I plan to change themes every collection so watch out. Heehee. This is also a sort of ~practice~ for me as I’m planning something bigger, something I’ve always dreamed about.
Besides launching an online shop, above are some photos of what I’ve been up to from the month of September.
Chasing sunsets and hanging at rooftops. That’s me with my automatic film camera that Jimbo got me for my birthday! He also owns one now so whenever we travel, he’d have a camera with him too. I just started using film back in March I think! And I couldn’t be happier. As far as I can remember, I’ve also been wanting to try film photography. AND oooh lala, writing this post is making me feel giddy inside. Apparently, I’ve been slowly doing what I’ve been dying to do. Guess being unemployed is doing me gooood.
Daz me hanging out with strangers! JK! That’s my high school barkada. SO last April my family threw me a celebratory party because I graduated and none of these fucks went. And of course that saddened me! I was mad at them, especially those who committed but flaked out. (that’s why I keep referring to them as strangers) So they were scared to invite me for Rommel’s despedida. LOL. But being the good friend that I am, of course I had to see Rommel before he leaves for New Zealand. Everyone was apologizing when I came. But iz all goooood. I love them. And oh, this was such a fun night. Made us realize how old we were getting too. Half of us are graduates already, some are starting work soon.
For the last four photos I really don’t have much kwento. Those are just some stuff I ordered from Sephora because I’ve been dying to try Mario Badescu’s Rose Water, a trip to the thrift shop, Jimbo after playing a set at 12 Monkeys and a photo of a sunset.
This month I also got to, finally, hang out with Jasmine! I fucking love this girl and I missed her so much. She was away for, I’m not really sure, 3 months? For her OJT and I’m really glad she’s back. Although she’s less fun now because she’s serious with school. JK. Get that diploma girlfriend! Last year we spent a lotttaaa time together when we were both single and we mostly just reminisced about the good ol days. (Not saying I miss being single, I love my bebeshka, I’m super fucking in love if you can’t tell)
This month, I also got to visit Bicol for the first time. (TY Ballecer & Alarde family! TY Sud!) For this trip I only brought my Pentax k2 and my automatic film camera, and mostly used my phone for taking videos. I’ve decided to just bring my film cameras whenever I travel because the last time I travelled, I had my Pentax k2, Nikon d5100 and a mirrorless camera with me and boooooooooy was it exhausting! Jimbo and I spent a lot of time switching cameras and taking photos and I must admit, it was pretty tiring. So I thought, why not get rid of my slr whenever I travel and just use my phone (since I like posting right away) and my film cameras so I can enjoy the moment? Heehee
I’ve also really been enjoying creating short films about my day, or in this case, our trip to Bicol. The idea of creating short films has always been in my head but filming with my camera and editing with premiere was too much work for me! So I’m glad that I found apps that really worked for me. I received a lot of questions regarding those so for everyone asking, I’ve been using the apps 8MM and InShot for my videos!
OKAY going back to our Bicol trip, it was pretty chill. The last time we were all together for a trip was in July for Kohl and I’s birthday and that vacation was preeettty hectic. Lotsa touristy stuff. But this one, we mostly just hung out. We ate a lot of good food, drink, listened to Sud play the guitar while everyone else sang along, and oh, we finally surfed again! BUT MAN, I’ve tried surfing several times and this one was the most exhausting. Besides the fact that it was the 2nd day of my period, it was a day before the storm hit so the waves were crazy strong. I was so tired I had to stop even though I had 15 minutes left. We also played a lot of Secret Hitler (a board game you should definitely check out!) and when I say a lot I mean A LOT. We stayed up ‘til 3AM playing (which meant we couldn’t wake up to surf the next day). Jimbo and I got the board game a month ago I think and we couldn’t be any happier that we finally got to use it! It’s such a good game and I’m such a good player. HAHAHA. But no, seriously, I’m good.
We ended our trip hanging out around the empty beach watching the beautiful pink sunset. We even caught a glimpse of a few lightning strikes from the horizon as our afternoon descended into night. It was all sorts of colorful lovelies.
I’ve also been bugging my boyfriend to take photos of my outfits whenever we’d go out! So here are two of my outfits from last week! First one we just went thrifting (naka aura pa ako, ang arte ko) and the second one we went to UP Town to buy some stuff before we travelled to Bicol!
So yup, that’s all. That’s a lot of kwento. I just really missed doing this.
Hope you enjoyed reading this really lengthy post!
