Carolyn (and why you should have your Tinghun at Edsa Shangri-la)

Carolyn is my good friend Joel’s fiancee. How he was able to bag a girl as beautiful and smart and nice as Carolyn is beyond me (kidding, mokmok!), but they do make a lovely pair.

We had our trial session on the same day of their engagement, aka tinghun in Chinese. Now, a word on tinghuns. I’ve done several makeup for such occasions and for some reason, they’re always held at Summer Palace in Edsa Shangri-la. Always. At 10am. Always. I asked Joel and Carolyn why is this, and they said that they were supposed to have their engagement at the Tan-Chi (Carolyn’s) residence, but Edsa Shang’s offer was too hard to resist. For an additional P5,000 (on top of your reservation at Summer Palace, of course), a certain Nancy will organize everything for you, no need to worry about all the details you need to remember regarding the tinghun tradition. For 5k, I think that’s sulit! And of course, let’s not forget the food. I’ve been dying to go back to Summer Palace, I want to eat their cereal prawns again!

Here are some photos from their engagement:

Airbrush makeup by Kris Bacani

Hair by Alex Leyson

Photos by Zeus Martinez

preps at the Tan-Chi residence

her mom looking on

I love this hair shot. Good job, Alex!

“Am I seriously marrying THAT guy??” (kidding again, Joel!)

“Honggondoh-gondoh ko!!!” Hahaha. Oh, and check out my branding

Gorgeous

I just have to include this photo, they’re Carolyn’s pamangkins. Chinese + American bloods = cuteness overload.

Congrats Joel and Carolyn! I’m looking forward to April 15

View more of my works here.

Urban Decay NAKED Palette

Again, something I discovered from one of my personal makeup students in Makeup Designory Manila. This palette caught my eye because of its elegant packaging, it’s actually so un-Urban Decay-like.

Since it’s called Naked, the palette mostly contains neutral/earth shades that could definitely be worn everyday when you want a natural look, and a few dark contour shades for more dramatic looks. There’s a good mixture of matte, satin, and shimmery shades here that you could easily mix and match. I’m happy there’s not so much uber glittery/frosty shades, as I’m not a fan of those when doing the natural look (blending them just makes one glittery blob). This palette is definitely something I would buy for myself, and put in my professional kit even. The 12 shades comes with 2 eyeliners, 1 brush and a sample size of their eyeshadow primer, so this is a steal at $44.

US based relatives, you know what pasalubong I want when you go back here!

10% off on all MUD Manila’s Professional Classes and 60% off on Personal Makeup Classes!

Cirque du Soleil Makeup for Varekai

I recently saw Cirque du Soleil perform Varekai in Manila last week with my family (thank you Mom and Dad for the free tickets!), and the show was simply breathtaking. Literally. You would hold your breath as the performers do their death-defying and back-breaking acrobatics, and the audience would collectively heave a sigh of relief and clap and whoop as they land safely on the ground. Another breathtaking thing to note though is their makeup, which is as theatric as their outlandish costumes.

I know they do their own makeup and that’s part of their training, but of course there must be a makeup designer  to do a template of the looks that the performers must follow. I stumbled upon the following photos online, see the amazing transformation:

before

such bright colors!

Makeup designer Nathalie Gagne does her thing. How I wish I were at her place!

finishing touches

ta-da! with the costume

before and after

finished look

Here are more amazing looks:

When will I ever have the chance to do this kind of makeup? Best thing I could do is be a Cirque acrobat this coming Halloween and do this to myself. Haha.

I want to watch Cirque again, so my friend Ajjie and I will watch the Zaia production 2 weeks from in Macau. Yahoo!

My sister and I outside the Grand Chapiteau