Travel: Packing your Toiletries

Preparing toiletries is one of my favorites when packing for my trip. I enjoy putting up all my essentials in small containers knowing that I can bring everything I need packed in small bottles.

Among all the things that one must pack, toiletries are also very important on the hygienic side. Well you can always buy your toiletries once you arrive to your destination or just use the complimentary ones from your hotel. For backpackers like me, I always think that it is cost saving and is very convenient if I bring my own toiletries with me during my travel. I find it very useful on emergencies, an overnight stay and even during car trouble and you need to temporarily stay on your friends house.

So let me share my perfect set of toiletries when I'm out on travel. I usually travel light and these kit works well for me. I have 3 compact sets that I'll be describing later on. These are what I usually bring with me when I travel. I've tried a lot of travel kits before but these ones are my favorite.

To start, the main toiletry pouch is this purple toiletry kit that I got from SM a few years back. It has a detachable pouch were I put all of the remaining stuff that won't fit on the main pouch. One thing I liked about this is that it fits easily on my luggage and won't take much space. It's space efficient and very compact and convenient to bring.

 

Here's how it looks when I have all the bottles in place.

As for the small containers, I made use of my Human Nature (HN) sample size bottles to fill my bathroom essentials.  You can always use any other bottles but what I like about the HN bottles is that I don't need to label them anymore and they are of the same height and size so they fit perfectly inside the kit.

This one contains my Dove Body Wash.

I use these two bottles from HN and refill them with my favorite shampoo and conditioner everytime I travel.

 

This is the small version of my facial wash from HN.

This as well is a smaller version of my HN feminine wash in Powder Coral.

I'm reusing this lotion bottle (still from HN) and refill them with my favorite lotion.

This is a smaller version of the Sunflower oil. And what I did was I bought a small pump bottle and remove the sticker from my old Sunflower oil bottle and stick it on the small one.

My mom-in-law gave me this sample bottle which I refilled with the same Cetaphil cleanser after using all the contents.

My deo spray from One Earth Organics is on this small spray bottle.

I placed the cotton pads and cotton buds on these small boxes I got from Gaisano.

Here's what's inside the detachable pouch - nail cutter, dental floss, small toothpaste and a lens compact kit.

I got this kit from Japan Home a few years back. I refill the lens container with my day and night face moisturizer and labeled them on the bottom as D and N respectively. For the solution bottle, I filled it with my face toner.

Now on to the 3rd pouch - the brown polka dotty pouch. This one contains all my make-up. I don't really wear a lot of makeup when travelling - just the basic ones will do.

- Clinique Parfum on the gray atomizer

- Clinique Lipstick

- Clinique CC cream

- Clinique Eyeshadow

- Clinique Mascara

- VS Eyeliner

- VS Lipliner

- Etude Eyebrow Brush

- VS Cologne

- Everbilena Eyelash Curler

- Tweasers

All these in one tiny pouch. Isn't it amazing?

So that's it for my Toiletry Essentials. I hope somehow this blog post have given you an idea on how to pack your toiletries efficiently.

Until my next post. Ciao!

Xoxo,

Lheyvens <3

Harbour City, Centrio

Ayala Centrio recently opened its newest fast food chain called Harbour City located at the 2nd floor just right beside Hukad.

As their slogan says "We bring Hongkong to your table", Harbour City brings its customers to a new and different way of dining. From pushing food carts around and from the clapping of each crew to get another crew's attention gives us Cagayanons an unusual dining experience. We were actually confused on how to get our order the first time. The crew who led us to our table did not quite explain that there will be pushing carts around that will be getting our order. The clapping can be annoying too at times. I've been to Hongkong though but I haven't witnessed such scenario. Maybe this is just how it is when dining in Hongkong food chains.

Their menu is limited only to a variety of dumplings (see picture below). They will not give you a separate menu immediately like those of a chinese reataurant. So better check their menu first outside before dining.

When we went there last June 27, there were a lot of people on the waiting list. Even so we didn't wait that long. Wait time was just around 5-10 minutes and there was already an available table for us. Another observation that I have here is that aside from the fast pace, you can't really stay here for long to chat with friends since there are people outside waiting for their turn to dine. I wouldn't recommend it for groupies though who would like to stay long and chat. I recommend this to people who want to dine instantly and will leave after dining.

Now for the food, Boo and I ordered their rice toppings. We were given an order sheet that lists all our orders.  The crew takes the sheet and record what you've ordered. This guy over here is the one serving the rice toppings. 

We got our drinks from another push cart.

The Siomai's are on this push cart.

Pork Siomai

Quail Egg Siomai

While you can get dumplings and spring rolls from this push cart.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Basically the push carts just roam around to give customers their orders. You can get as many dumplings and siomai as you like. So here's us on our Harbour City moment.

In total, we paid Php450.02 for the entire meal. Not bad though. The food was just right for our hungry tummies.

So here's my review:

Value for money: 9/10

Ambiance: 8/10

Food Presentation: 8/10

Taste: 7/10

Customer Service: 6/10

xoxo,

lheyvens <3

Tonkatsu by Terazawa

We dig in to our Tonkatsu cravings at the last week of May when Elena, Maezy and I had our after-work bonding session. This is another gastronomic experience for Boo and I. Tonkatsu by Terazawa is located just right beside Italiannis at the Ground floor of Centrio, Ayala.

I'd say the ambiance gives you a feel of Japanese cuisine. Tables are usually good for four people but can be arranged if you're dining with the family. We got the ones at the side as we want to sit at the cusioned sofa. Here's Maezy and Elena.

And Boo and I.

We also got our complimentary tea while waiting for our order.

Tonkatsu sets start at Php 295 and above with unlimited sidedishes. 

Elena got the basic Tonkatsu dish at Php295. 

I got the Pork Katsudon at Php375 

while Boo got the Chicken Katsudon at Php330. 

These sets have unlimited sidedishes as well. Sidedishes are the following:

Misou soup

Sidedish of the day

Cabbage

The condiments:

Now how to enjoy your Tonkatsu is as easy as 1,2,3.

1. On this mixing plate, add salt, add tagarashi if you want a spicy sauce or you can skip that step if you want the sweet sauce. You mix the condiments here.

2. On the Tonkatsu, grind the sesame seeds into the meat.

This is the traditional way of eating Tonkatsu.

For the cabbage, choose between their salad dressing - sweet or sour.

We paid Php1089.29 in total.

So far we had our stomachs full and indeed their Tonkatsu sets make a balanced meal.

So here's my review:

Value for money: 7/10

Ambiance: 8/10

Food Presentation: 8/10

Taste: 8/10

Customer Service: 10/10

xoxo,

lheyvens <3