Trust is something that you don’t easily get but something that is earned through time. Just like the brand that we truly trust… the Uratex brand. Since the day that we've known Uratex it has been our tradition to look out for the name of the brand, especially on beds, pillows, chairs and tables.

To know more about Uratex we did get a chance to visit their plantation in Alabang. It is a learning experience for us who loves the brand very much. During the tour we learned so much that any ordinary individual would only think of. What’s more interesting with the plantation tour is that we've learned that the products produced by Uratex came from quality materials. They are really providing the best product for their customers.

Kwento Ni Toto enjoys a night of new style as BUM Unleashed their latest line of clothing and of course their newest brand ambassadors.  As the season change from cold to vibrant colors as so is BUM.  We all know BUM as the mysterious and dark side look of every personality, for this collection BUM engaged in something new.  It is a big change for BUM, as the it ushers in the hottest season of the year, the "rebel of fashion" is making huge leaps by welcoming into its fold four new, young brand ambassadors who best embody and reinforce BUM's street-cred, namely Ella Cruz, Nash  Aguas, Jane Oineza and Diego Loyzaga and with Bea Binene.

For those who loves Rock 'n Roll very much here's something that will entice your eardrums more as the No. 1 Music Company in the Philippines, MCA Music (Universal Music Philippines), is very pleased to announce the release of GRRR! by The Rolling Stones which is available in a three-CD 50 track collection that tells the fascinating ongoing story of the Greatest Rock ’n Roll Band In The World, from their high octane version of Chuck Berry’s “Come On”, their first single issued in June 1963, via the thrilling chart-toppers “The Last Time”, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “Get Off Of My Cloud”, “Jumping Jack Flash”, “Honky Tonk Women” and the perennial juke-box and concert favorites “Brown Sugar”, “Tumbling Dice”, “Miss You” and “Start Me Up”, all the way to the present day with the inclusion of “Doom And Gloom” and “One More Shot”, two new studio recordings recently completed by the group in Paris, France in August 2012.

Anna’s passion for the environment blossomed with her first child in 2005. Together with her husband, Dylan, the successful British multi-millionaire who gave up his fast cars and wealthy lifestyle in England to work for the poor in the Philippines, the couple decided to use cloth diapers after reading that it takes 500 years for disposable diapers to biodegrade and that many of the chemicals in them are toxic. Anna struggled with the decision (especially when washing squishy nappies!) but initial reluctance became a conviction that their inconvenience was a small price to pay for their kids to know a world that is still intact and beautiful. Their desire to live a more sustainable and ethical lifestyle extended to the products they used on their children and themselves, opting for fewer chemicals and less stuff in general, resulting in less waste and a smaller carbon footprint.

Camille, on the other hand was already experimenting with cosmetics as early as elementary school! She eventually became a freelance make-up artist and joined a cosmetics company after college. However, her longing to merge her passion for cosmetics and her conscience to help the country was still waiting to be fulfilled. 

Anna and Dylan spent a year in the US between July 2007 and June 2008, where Dylan was setting up a network of volunteers for Gawad Kalinga. Whilst in the US, Anna observed a growing trend of natural and ethical products penetrating the mainstream market, making them more accessible to ordinary Americans instead of just being products for the wealthy and the elite. They were now present in supermarkets and drug stores at more affordable prices. She wondered whether this phenomenon could be replicated in the Philippines. Were Americans the only people who could have the privilege of enjoying a healthier lifestyle and saving the environment? 

Camille joined the couple halfway through their US assignment. Soon the sisters started doing more research on how to bring affordable, natural products to the Philippines, work that they continued even after coming home to the country. Their persistence finally paid off and the Human Nature brand was born. 

Human Nature was launched in November 2008. Today, it has become the country’s leading and trail-blazing social enterprise, hailed by Entrepreneur magazine as “the game-changer of the decade,” and studied as a successful working model for a social enterprise by students at Berkley University, California and Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. It has sold almost 3 million products through its network of16,000 dealers and its 19 branches all over the country. This year, it started selling its mineral makeup line Love Minerals at Beauty Bar, the only Filipino cosmetics brand carried by the premiere personal care chain. A selection of Human Nature’s best-selling products is available at Rustan’s Supermarket and Shopwise. Human Nature is also distributed in the US and Singapore, with more plans of expansion on the way. 

Human Nature employs Gawad Kalinga residents as part of its full-time staff and has started work on a Human Nature Organic Demo Farm at the GK Enchanted Farm in Angat, Bulacan. Guided by the principles of being PRO-PHILIPPINES, PRO-POOR and PRO-ENVIRONMENT, the company continues to strive to provide prosperity to the Philippines through successful and sustainable social enterprise and quality natural products for all Filipinos. 

Philosophy 

Gandang Kalikasan, Inc., the company that brings you the Human Nature range of natural personal care and beauty products is founded on three core principles of being PRO-PHILIPPINES, PRO-POOR, & PRO-ENVIRONMENT. 

PRO-POOR
From the beginning, the company was set up with the goal of providing more livelihood to Gawad Kalinga residents and communities. The dream is to set up GK communities as globally certified organic farms which can produce world-class raw materials for Human Nature products. Work has already started on the very first Human Nature GK Organic Farm in Bulacan in partnership with NGOs that specialize in organic farming and processing. As firm believers in fair trade principles, Human Nature buys raw materials from its community-based suppliers at fair trade prices, and sometimes even above market prices if the market price is not enough to provide a good quality of life for the farmers. 

The company employs GK residents from nearby communities in Quezon City and provides a fair living wage which is much more than the minimum wage required by law. It also provides warehouse staff with full benefits and overtime pay in order to promote dignity of work. 

PRO-PHILIPPINES
Human Nature products are 100% made in the Philippines. It sources as many raw materials as possible from the Philippines and will only import if there is no local availability. All too often, multinational companies (or even Philippine-owned ones) will source their products and raw materials abroad if the price is cheaper by even a few centavos, costing Philippine jobs and sending that money out of the local economy forever. Human Nature wants to invest in Philippine-made products because it believes in the country and its people. 

During the product development stage, potential raw materials are evaluated based on two criteria: Can the plant/herb/raw material be sourced locally? If not, can it eventually be grown in the Philippines so that the company can find ways to start an industry producing it? Only when an ingredient meets these qualifications is it used. For example, Tea Tree Oil is a very popular ingredient but it can't be grown in the Philippines so it is not used in Human Nature’s formulations. Lemongrass is widely grown and produced in the Philippines so it is in many Human Nature products and the company continues to seek ways to use it. 

Human Nature believes that Filipinos can produce world-class finished goods. Other countries have reached prosperity by buying raw materials cheaply from poor countries and turning them into expensive finished goods. Think of Switzerland – they produce some of the finest chocolate in the world, yet not a single cocoa bean grows naturally in Switzerland. They buy cocoa from around the world, turn it into chocolate and sell it back to the country that grew it for many times the price! The only way for the Philippines to become prosperous is for it to produce not just raw materials, but world-class finished goods and for Filipinos to start buying Filipino products. 

Let’s face it, the Philippines will be mostly agricultural for a long time to come and for as long as they only grow rice, its farmers will always be poor. But other countries have developed first-world economies from agriculture. Think of France – what do they produce? Fine wine, champagne, the best cheeses, expensive natural fragrances... some of the most valuable natural products in the world come from France. If our farmers grow okra, they can often only get 50 centavos per piece or less. But by switching to, say, organic aloe vera, they can earn as much as P50 per leaf – a hundred times the value. This is how Human Nature aims to help the country – by sourcing locally at fair trade prices, producing world-class finished goods and exporting them around the world. 

PRO-ENVIRONMENT
Human Nature takes its responsibility of being nature’s steward very seriously. It carefully deliberates on the impact of all its business decisions on the environment. For example, all raw materials are thoroughly researched to ensure that they are naturally derived, are not processed using environmentally toxic processes and do not become toxic when released into the environment after the user has finished with the product. It also uses recyclable bottles in its packaging to minimize its impact on the country’s overburdened landfills. 

Human Nature is about loving the Philippines, loving the environment and loving people as it provides only the safest and purest world-class ingredients for them. These are effective AND affordable organic and natural personal care products that feel as good on your skin as they do in your heart. We hope that you will find a sense of peace and purpose knowing that your everyday choices have a positive impact on the poor, our country and our planet. 

Advocacies 

Gandang Kalikasan Inc was created by Anna M. Wilk and Camille Meloto, two of the daughters of Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga (GK). GK has already transformed more than 2,000 slums in the Philippines into beautiful, peaceful communities that are on their way to becoming productive too. 

Gawad Kalinga is recognized globally as a world-class Filipino movement for nation-building by everyone from Harvard University to the National Institute of Education in Singapore. In 2006, GK won the Magsaysay Award, Asia’s Nobel Prize. Human Nature’s vision is that as soon as GK villages are capable of producing its ingredients to the highest standards, the company will equip and empower them to grow and process the raw materials needed for its products. 

Beginning October 2010, 100% of all profits earned by Human Nature from the sales of its best-selling Citronella Bug Spray have gone to the farmer’s cooperative in Labo, Camarines Norte, Bicol, which supplies the organic citronella oil used in the product through thePhilippine Federation for Environmental Concern (PFEC). This contribution has not only funded new extractors to improve their production, it has also uplifted their community by funding a school renovation and providing healthcare for the farming families. 

Human Nature’s certified organic lemongrass essential oil is sourced from the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc.(AIDFI) in Negros Occidental. AIDFI provides renewable and cheap technologies to rural folk to help supply the basic needs of water, sanitation and energy. In 2010, AIDFI won the BBC World Challenge with its perfection of the hydraulic water pump that provides water to remote villages. With this technology, the lemongrass farmers in Negros were able to produce organic lemongrass essential oil for Human Nature.

Through its partnerships with these noble organizations, Human Nature hopes to bring sustainable livelihood to Gawad Kalinga communities to fulfill its vision of creating hundreds of world-class community organic farms in the Philippines, providing livelihood for thousands of its poorest people. 

Human Nature is available through Human Nature dealers and branches. The Flagship Store is located at 463 Commonwealth Ave., Quezon City. To learn more about Human Nature products, contact a Human Nature dealer, or find out how to be a Human Nature dealer, visit www.humanheartnature.com, your nearest Human Nature Branch or call (02) 931-5787.

June 8, 2012, Manila, Philippines – UNIQLO is finally opening on Friday, June 15, 2012 at the SM Mall of Asia. UNIQLO is a global apparel brand and number 1 clothing company in Japan offering wide array of simple, timeless and functional apparel for men, women, and kids. In support of the first store opening, in Manila its Chairman and CEO Tadashi Yanai is visiting FROM TOKYO TO MANILA on Wednesday, June 13. Yanai will meet with members of Philippines and Japanese media to share his economic vision for UNIQLO in the Philippines.

The opening of the first UNIQLO store in Manila, in the SM Mall of Asia, makes the Philippines the 12th country outside of Japan where it has presence, after opening stores in the US, UK, France, Russia, China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. UNIQLO also operates stores in Southeast Asian countries like, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

With the vision to improve people’s lives through the power of clothing, UNIQLO is seen as an innovator in the apparel industry. In its product lines are highly functional clothes like AIRism, an undergarment that provides cool comfort to the wearer, Dry Pique Polo Shirt, a polo shirt that quickly dries body sweat, and UV Cut apparel, a clothes line with SPF protecting wearer from harmful sun rays.

UNIQLO promotes its “MADE FOR ALL” Philosophy, which captures the company’s vision of providing casual clothing that is made for all people regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or any other ways that define an individual.

As UNIQLO opens its doors to the Filipinos on Friday, it marks the official day of the brand’s landing FROM TOKYO TO MANILA.

The UNIQLO store at the SM Mall of Asia is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

While sales have become synonymous to long weekends, Marithe + Francois Girbaud shows that you don’t have to wait for the next long weekend just to get a great deal! Girbaud offers a 50% discount on its best-selling accessories and all basic jeans and knits for men and women, exclusive to the members of its loyalty program, Club Le Jean.

Make your Thursdays to Sundays count by visiting any Girbaud branch from April 19 to 22, and April 26 to 29, and simply present your Le Jean card and rewards booklet to avail of the discount.

Become a Club Le Jean member today and enjoy rewards on every purchase, moneyless shopping using your gift points and stamps, and the chance to swap your old pair of denims for a brand-new pair of M+FG jeans!

For more details, visit any Marithe + Francois Girbaud branch today. Girbaud is available in SM Supermalls, Robinsons Malls, Ali Mall, Duty Free Philippines Fiesta Mall, Festival Supermall, Gateway Mall, Greenhills Shopping Center, NE Pacific Mall, Pavilion Mall, Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, NAIA Terminal 3, and now in Robinsons Tacloban, KCC Mall General Santos, and Robinsons Calasiao.

Spectators and skateboard enthusiasts round up at the event area of Converse Asia Crown at the Mindanao Parking Area of Trinoma. It is said to be the first and biggest skateboarding event. It aims to promote skateboarding as a thriving sports in the Philippines.



I remember during my early days that I also tried skateboarding, unfortunately the skateboard went rogue on me and made me met a mild accident. Though I want to try it again, the board was my main problem because I don't have any and having one is somewhat hard during my time.

Anyway this event really bring backs memories and youthfulness.


As Converse aims to give Filipino skateboarders the chance to show off their dope moves on the board and compete with the best of the best skateboarders across the country to vie for the title of being the first official skateboarding ambassador of Converse Philippines who gets to compete internationally and is also set to compete in the upcoming skate event in China.


I was glad that I made it to the event just in time for the interview with the top US-based pro skaters Kenny Anderson and Mike Anderson who set a show to Filipino skaters on how skateboarding is really done with their extremely polished skate tricks that are seems effortless.


After the interview it was time for the skaters to get busy and do their tricks. This is their chance to be crowned as the local Asia Crown champion. Winners received a year worth of Converse skateboarding goodies, Php50,000.00 cold hard cash and plane tickets to all official Converse skateboarding events worldwide.

It was a whole day event of physical and creative recreation where different activities was held, though it did rain and made some areas of the event wet and not conducive enough to roam around. Bands like Paraluman, Gracenote and 6 Cycle Mnd were also there to fuse a bit of music.



Converse Philippines also featured their Spring Summer Collection with an added shoe display that embody Converse's mission of giving people the freedom to make a statement by “continuing to adjust with time giving a great variety of styles, color, becoming more creative evolving to what they will become.”

Does anyone want a limited tumbler?  I'm sure tumbler collectors will sure dig in to this.  BUM is giving away limited edition of BUM Tumblers.

Here's their simple mechanics on how to score the limited edition tumbler.

BUM Purchase Card Mechanics

For every P400 Single receipt purchase of, get 1 card plus automatic 1 sticker at any BUM Boutique or SM Dept. Stores nationwide. Collect all 5 stickers and get the limited edition tumbler for free.

Promo Duration: March 1 to April 30, 2012.

Tumbler Redemption: For completed cards, claiming of Tumbler will be at our Promo Staff at any BUM Boutique and SM Dept. Stores nationwide. Redemption is untilJune 30, 2012.

Here are some of their control measures to avoid any problem with the promo.

• Customer can accumulate/earn a sticker for every P400 single receipt purchase in any BUM Boutique and SM Dept. Stores nationwide through our Promo Staff.
• Each card has a control number and must be distributed in an arranged series per outlet/store.
• Each completed card must be surrendered to the staff and stamp it with “CLAIMED”.
• Combination of 2 cards is not allowed.
• Uncompleted card after the duration date will be mark as void.
• Customer must present card and receipt to get corresponding sticker at our Promo Staff. Each sticker and receipt must be signed and dated by the staff and the receipt must be stamped “CLAIMED” as well.
• Each outlet/store will be provided with a number of cards and stickers.
• This cannot be used in conjunction with other promo.
• The free Tumbler cannot be exchanged for cash, other products or discounts.

I know this is kind of late but I still want to share this for those who don't have their tickets yet for the BIG OUT & TRAVEL SALE 2011.

I'll be giving away four (4) tickets!  TWO WINNERS of TWO TICKETS EACH.

Just simply like this page





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