Thursday, June 30, 2011

S'mores cuppycakes


I swear we're creating a separate blog/website for our Skinny Sweets Line soon...

Just can't wait to start selling these yummies next week!


Skinny Sweets- S'mores cupcakes
They're low-sugar & vegan (no dairy and eggs in the recipe)


Skinny Sweets- S'mores cupcakes
Skinny Sweets- S'mores cupcakes
Skinny Sweets- S'mores cupcakes
layer 1- graham crackers
layer 2- hidden marshmallow
layer 3- chocolate cake crumble
layer 4- just a bit more grahams
and a marshmallow + homemade chocolate ganache topping


Skinny Sweets- white chocolate-coated red velvet cake pops
I also just HAD TO take a photo of these nicely lined-up white chocolate coated red velvet cake pops. Freshly baked and delivered just yesterday. (Cake pops are Php 50 each)



Order now to reserve a box and avail of the introductory price of Php 450 for 6 cuppycakes!

We'll be sending out the first few batches on Wednesday (I'll be out of town from Sunday to Tuesday for work).


send us an e-mail
SkinnySweetsDesserts@gmail.com









Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Cake-poppin'

Since we don't have a budget for any of the graphics and logos, Essa and I decided to do the logo and promotional material on our own. We work by sending each other direct messages on Twitter. :))
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The tiny leaf at the tip of the "y" on skinny is present in the vegetarian/vegan symbol. Being a vegetarian myself, I made sure that one of our goals was to provide options for vegan and vegetarian foodies. Our cake pops are vegan (soy-based/dairy-free, no eggs) and for our upcoming desserts, you can choose to have them vegan or not. Of course they will all be low in sugar OR sugar-free (we cater to diabetics as well).
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I personally love the semisweet dark chocolate coating, but a lot prefer the white ones, too! The white chocolate coating is a bit sweeter...
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Essa's 9-year-old niece Allyson helped us in our kitchen last Sunday and we just had to take photos of her right after! She's such a cute & confident girl in front of the camera! Even better at posing than most of the girls I've shot before... I didn't have to direct her! :))
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Some more cards I made for our packaging :)
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Some shots of our tasty cake batter:
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We also made this cute stand for our pops! It'll help us during our Market Avenue stint this July 17!
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We want to keep that home-made look so we concentrated on keeping our packaging simple while keeping our cake pops fresh and tasty. The shelf life's 2 weeks.
Some BTS pics from our first shoot:
Photo by Bong of Heima. Thank you for letting us shoot at your Makati branch!
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I've been juggling product testing, food tasting and baking for Skinny Sweets because July 17 is fast approaching. We have to make sure that our products are ready and perfected in time for Market Avenue this July 17 at Megatent. It's going to be open every Sunday from 7AM to 2PM and the vibe is sort of like the Salcedo Market at Makati.
I'm glad that it's something other than industrial/interior design, and I'm able to practice graphic design as well. A lot of my friends were surprised that I could actually bake! A lot don't know that along with my regular modern jazz training, I took a couple of baking and cooking courses for summer back when I was in high school. I know I can cook and bake well, it's just that when people know, they start forcing you to cook for them. HAHA! I always thought that a food biz would just add more stress in my fun but TOXIC lifestyle, but lately I've discovered that it's actually therapeutic. And it's not a reason for me to add more cheat days- we actually have Riz or other family members to try out our recipes for us. Yes, I am rediscovering the Martha in me.
Setting up Skinny Sweets has been pretty hard on my part most especially because I have school and I'm only final terms. Thesis, meetings for our exhibiting committees, meetings for the officers... Add that to all of my side-jobs and the fun bloggers events, I'm happy I can still have some time for myself to run and do yoga/pilates (that's my idea of me time).
I have a couple of exams and requirements to pass for this term but we're technically doing our thesis and preparing for our 1-month exhibit. I'll blog about that soon!

For now, please help Essa and I by supporting Skinny Sweets! We're so overwhelmed with the orders we've been getting! It's hard, but we can divide the work on most days when we can't meet up at my place. We're developing a system! Woop!
Details from our Facebook page:

For orders and inquiries, please send us an email: skinnysweetsdesserts@gmail.com


MEET-UPS:
Bonifacio High Street
Shangri-la Plaza mall
Promenade/Greenhills
Powerplant Mall Alabang Town Center
De La Salle University
Eastwood Mall

DELIVERIES will be entertained depending on the area and quantity of your orders. (Please send us an e-mail)


PAYMENT METHODS:
-Cash
-Checks made out to RALEENE.COM CORP.
-Bank deposit
(Please e-mail or tweet us for the bank account number once you're sure to order)


Oh, and our next desserts will be sugar-free ice cream mochi and s'mores cupcakes!!! Excited? I sure am!!!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

We are weekenders.





Friday night- Republiq
Went to Republiq for KC Montero's birthday right after dropping by Fiamma for Joe's bday.
Sam wasn't supposed to go but Pao was able to drag her out of her house. She was supposedly my "surprise".
I saw so many people but I decided to enjoy the night-- I don't have a lot of photos.



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Okay we clearly didn't agree on what look to go for- friendly or fierce?




My thesis groupmates/Skinny Sweets models are so pretty!



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Apl.de.Ap! I was a foot away from him but of course I didn't want to show that I got a bit starstruck... I know he's filo and all, but c'mon, he's known all over the world! Still trying to figure out why he's in the country.



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Saturday- June's EP launch at the Collective
Skinny Sweets debut. June's HEAVY EYES EP. Lots of CSB friends. Plus some hipster kids.

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I missed Inez



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First time to sell our cake pops. WOOHOO! Still happy that everyone who bought from us kept raving about how good they were... :)



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June before her performance



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Just found out that Vanessa's staying here for good and she's now under Elite Manila! Damn, Miss Cebu! :))



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Sunday @ High Street
Father's day surprise. RAIN. RAIN. RAIN. Led worship (Church Simplified) at 2nd's with Riz, Bebo and Joe. Met up with Steven. More rain.



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brother: "Why do you always bend your left knee when someone takes your photo?"



gotta pee
me: "That's the I WANT TO PEE pose."
And oh hey, I am flashing my biggest smile. Still no gums. FML.









Raleene x Watsons contest winner




Thank you to all those who responded to my blog contest!

As you all know, Watsons is the world's largest health, beauty, cosmetics and perfumery retailer. It's the go-to brand of shoppers for total care products at a greater value.

Watsons prides itself with its range of exclusive house brands made with the latest technology. With the help of beauty experts and medical consultants, they are able to make high quality beauty and personal care items but at much affordable prices.

Even if they carry other products in their branches, I focused on their house brands so I could avail of their cool promo.

I knew it was going to be a challenge for everyone since Watsons recently came up with this amazing promo - buy one and get one for only P 1.00!




That means my beauty stash originally costs twice as much without their promo!

So again, here's the list of what I got last week:

1. Two (2) pieces of Dermaction by Watsons gentle skin cleanser

2. Two (2) Watsons moisturizing cream bath- Php

3. 2 pcs. of Watsons moisturizing facial mask

4. 2 tubs of Watsons repairing treatment wax

5. 2 Watsons volumizing treatment shampoo- Php

6. 2 Watsons mint dental floss



This all summed up to a little below Php 1,000. Nobody got the exact amount but the one who had the closest answer was



MICHELLE TIU


Congratulations!


Please e-mail me your contact details.


Thanks again to all those who sent me their answers!






Saturday, June 18, 2011

Skinny Sweets


Tonight, Alessa and I are debuting our new biz called Skinny Sweets at June's EP launch.


Skinny Sweets
Skinny Sweets


Drop by Yadu at the Collective tonight for the Heavy Eyes EP launch- we will be selling our RED VELVET CAKE POPS!

They’re super moist, rich and guilt-free. You won’t even know that they’re sugar-free, low-calorie and vegan (soy milk-based and cruelty-free). Get one for only P50!


photographs by yours truly
models- Julienne Templonuevo and Jennifer Cederstam
taken at Heima Makati




Tuesday, June 14, 2011

basics + a contest- CLOSED


I get asked so many times about the different brands I use for my toiletries or bath products and I think I've disappointed quite a lot of people by saying that I only use the simplest ones. I use an unscented soap for my body, Cetaphil for my face and ANY shampoo my mom buys for my hair. I'm pretty blessed with hair that doesn't need to be treated every month and it stays alright as long as I use a shampoo with conditioner. Before I decided to cut my long hair a year ago, I did so many things to it (permed, colored x times, straightened, colored again), and I never followed mum's advice about having some sort of hot oil or hair spa treatment.



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I know I have to start taking care of my hair or it will rebel against me, so it was very timely that Watsons invited me to shop at their SM Megamall branch with a chance to give one lucky reader a gift pack!!!

To win the gift pack, all you have to do is:

GUESS HOW MUCH MY ENTIRE WATSONS LOOT COSTS

either by

1. COMMENTING ON THIS POST
State how much you think my loot costs, and include your NAME and E-MAIL.

OR

2. by TWEETING ME @raleene
Guess the amount and include the hashtag: #raleeneXwatsons


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Here's a complete list of what I got:

1. Two (2) pieces of Dermaction by Watsons gentle skin cleanser

2. Two (2) Watsons moisturizing cream bath

3. 2 pcs. of Watsons moisturizing facial mask

4. 2 tubs of Watsons repairing treatment wax

5. 2 Watsons volumizing treatment shampoo

6. 2 Watsons mint dental floss


This contest ends on July 18!
Won't be publishing your comments but will send you an e-mail if I've gotten your entry.

The first to guess the exact amount (or the closest to the amount) will win a HUGE gift pack from Watsons!

Who knows, you may even get the chance to win my faves from their line. The Dermaction facial wash is just like Cetaphil! Oh, and their shampoos smell AMAZING.


GOOD LUCK!



P.S. Selfy at the start of the post was an obligatory shot because I just got my hair lightened at Color My Hair today. Tryin to grow my hair (just a TEENSY bit) and was itching to do something new to it so I turned to coloring. Thank you to Ianna Hortaleza and the nice peeps at CMH! :)



Saturday, June 11, 2011

Inca museum plate for Interior Design 4



Poster i made... Credits to the owners of these photos I found through Google!!!


Get ready for some RUSHED rendering.








We were assigned to Anthropological Museum: INCAS for our Interior Design 4 class and spent days working on this... We sorta crammed but thank goodness our concept and floor plan saved us! Our professor was in a good mood and didn't mind our rendering...

AND we gave up on calculating the lux/lumens for each room til the last minute... So happy that we weren't asked that question anymore! Pia, Toni and I got a 98 for this... WOOPWOOP! Not sleeping at all paid off!






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Protecting myself from second-hand smoke.


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Confused brothers


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UMM what's with the face, Pau?! :))


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Sami looks super tall here!



Take my piccha


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Pia's found herself a new friend! And is super clingy :))


WHO ARE THESE POSERS???


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My beau's airsoft team went out with us last Saturday and it was a big RIOT! 20+ guys went out and we caught up to them after going to KYSS and Attica to see friends (congrats to UA&P graduates!!!).


None of these photos were taken by me! I'm SO glad I didn't lose my camera that night thanks to our big group and those hidden drawer things on each table at Republiq where we could keep our bags...


This night was so fun... Our little random crew's the best even if we don't go out regularly...



A repeat is in order!