Pretty Peepers

I guess I’ll be crossing over to the wild side once I put this pair of heart-shaped Lolita sunnies on. I’ve always been on the safe side as far as choosing the right pair of sunglasses is concerned. Sunglasses would always give that make or break impact, trust me. Take the round shaped Baroque sunnies from Prada as an example, I mean, have you seen them on Kryz Uy? One word: perfection! So the next day, I found myself in Greenbelt trying them on. BWAHAHAHAHA! One word: tragic! I looked like a Willy Wonka impersonator gone horribly wrong.

After my streak of consecutive losses over at the Chictopia redemption corner, my sister saw it as an opportunity for a serious intervention. Judging by Isa’s past record, I knew she was the right person to trust. When we were kids, we’d send letters and join contests in Disney Channel, MTV Most Wanted and even Candy Magazine. Guess who won a very cool Disney Buzz package? Isa. Guess who got a huge gift pack from Candy Magazine.. twice? Isa. AAAND THE then-most coveted MTV Most Wanted Request of the Day prize? Isa. What’s really interesting is her perfect aim for the bongga contests, all the above mentioned contests and corresponding prizes were literally of gift packs, no less! Not to mention the numerous blog contests we’ve been joining: Little MissDress Up Jetset Style Package, Patty Laurel’s Belle de Jour giveaway, Vern’s Lucy Hale presscon tickets, Yup, Isa bagged them all! And to top it all off, during the last Bloggers United Bazaar, she was one of the lucky recipients of a huge purple and gold tote that was raffled off. Seriously, someone must’ve slipped a vial of Felix Felicis in her infant formula, she’s always been so lucky!

I didn’t write that long introduction for nothing; it wouldn’t be fair if I don’t give proper credit to Isa, the redeemer. (HEEH I’ve always wanted to use that, profanity aside.) Okay, I’ve been on Chictopia since December of 2009 and though I haven’t fully navigated through the site, the Chic Rewards corner was something I’d always ogle on. You know, it’s one of those someday-maybe moments; like a little girl admiring the display on a [virtual] window. Some years, three hundred friend requests approved, forty posts and thousands chic points later, I was finally qualified to redeem an item. I didn’t know redeeming an item was serious business. Lucky for you if redemption hour falls on a conducive time in your country; you really gotta set your alarm if you want that pair of glittered Litas in your size or that most coveted H&M Garden Collection Kimono dress. I redeemed a top last year just ‘cause no one has redeemed it yet and to test if it’ll ever reach my doorstep. (I live by the mantra everything free has a tradeoff somewhere, some time. ) Somehow it did, 3 months later. The thing about redeeming an item sitting on the gray area of your badly want-want list is that it gives you less to worry about (--if it'll ever reach your doorstep).

As for the sunnies, they weren’t really my first choice. I had my alarm set in time to redeem the Navajo printed skirt but my clicking reflex was anything but reliable. I knew my sisters had a penchant for quirky sunglasses bordering cute so the red version of that pair was our second choice. Besides, I’m a pair of sunglasses shy to finally complete the Kylie Jenner look! (see photo below to appreciate) BUT it was another failed mission so we had to wait for another day to try our luck with the black sunnies. Isa was set to claim it as ours; she was strategically synchronizing Chictopia’s crude countdown timer with our own clock to determine the perfect timing to refresh. My brother and I were laughing at how determined she was in making sure she clicked the refresh button in perfect timing. Ahh you know what happened next, she was laughing her way into Jamba Juice the next day! Okay, I totally sold this deal over a tall serving of Jamba Juice. 

One of the best habits I’ve picked up from home – apart from the use of bathrobe (and not towel as tapis) every after bath time, is the use/abuse of sunglasses. My dad can no longer stress how important these are to our health (more so, our appearance. Heehee ). Apparently, you develop wrinkles around your eyes by squinting too much. I may not have a scientific explanation to back this up, but it makes sense to me. So dear friends, always always protect those peepers ;)