Janeena

I met Janeena last year when she modeled for a cosplay shoot I did with Jay Tablante and Tricia Gosingtian. Since then, she has referred several clients to me. I barely know this girl, yet she keeps on referring me! So when she asked me to do her makeup for the Star Magic Ball (she’s a VJ for Velvet and starred in Gimik before), I happily agreed to return the favor. Here are some photos from the shoot we had prior to the ball:

Airbrush makeup by Kris Bacani

Hair by Alex Leyson

Photos by Zach Ballaran, Vahn Mendoza, and Daniel Tan

 

putting finishing touches on the hair and makeup

while Alex fixes the hair

in the dressing room

Gown by Jerome Salaya Ang

View more of my works here.

Les Femmes Fatales: Cosplay Photography

Last year, ace photographer Jay Tablante got me to do makeup for some of his cosplay shoots, which were then made into an exhibit entitled Les Femmes Fatales. I’m not a fan of cosplay, but it sure was fun doing these! There’s a lot of post-processing after we’ve done the shoot, and the final output always looked surreal, like the photos are lifted from a graphic novel. Good job, Jay! 🙂

Make-up: Kris Bacani
Styling: Raffy Tesoro
Costume Production: Badj Genato
Art Direction: Angelo Lico
Model: Alodia Gosiengfiao

 

Alexandra Trese

Make-up: Kris Bacani / Bianca King
Styling: Hannah Kim
Costume Production: Badj Genato
Production Design: Raffy Tesoro
Art Director: Angelo Lico
Digital Imaging: Angelo Lico
Models: Bianca King, Tiffany Alejandro, Philip Arca, Sassan Shohouki

 

BB Hood, from the 90s video game Darkstalkers 3
Make-up: Kris Bacani
Costume Production: Badj Genato
Art Direction: Angelo Lico
Model: Cheska Ortega

 

I forgot who this next character is, but the model is Kirja Parcell.

 

Silk Spectre, from Watchmen

Make-up: Kris Bacani
Styling: Raffy Tesoro
Costume Production: Badj Genato
Art Direction: Raffy Tesoro / Jay Tablante
Digital Imaging: Ghani Madueno
Model: Ariana Barouk

Project Level Up Part 3: NEW MAKEUP GEAR!

After finishing my logo and website, I was also itching to upgrade my makeup gear. I have been canvassing around and asking other makeup artists for months on what I could buy, and I finally settled on these three:

1. MAKEUP CHAIR

I bought a wooden makeup chair from Quiapo before for around P3,500. It’s ok, but I realized that not anyone could really sit in it, especially if my client is a bit on the heavy side. After over a year it’s now a bit rickety, so I stopped bringing it with me. I’ve heard of horror stories from other clients where the chair broke apart while someone is sitting on it, and I would definitely not wait for that to happen. I was searching for a chair with sturdy aluminum frames but I can’t find any available locally. Good thing my good friend and makeup artist Faye Young showed me her aluminum makeup chair when I visited her in her makeup studio. She ordered it online from Amazon and had it shipped here. The inggitera that I am, I ordered mine that same night! After 1 1/2 months, it finally arrived at my house =)

The height is perfect! I have scoliosis and my back hurts easily when I bend down a lot, so this is really heaven sent.

I like  this foldable thing at the left of the chair, I could set up my makeup here. No need for a table =) The chair also comes with a detachable canvas pouch which you could attach at the right side of the chair and a net that you could put below the seat if you want to put some stuff there, but I decided to remove them so it won’t be too bulky.

Of course it’s foldable so you could easily bring it anywhere. It’s also very, very lightweight, much lighter than the wooden one. I could carry it effortlessly with just one hand.

COST: $60.000 (P2,580.00) plus $30 (P1,290) shipping to New Jersey (because the store can’t directly ship to Phils so I have to have it shipped to my tita in New Jersey, who will ship it for me here) plus $50 (P2,150) shipping to Philippines.

TOTAL COST: P6,020 (not bad, considering that this would definitely last for years. Instead of buying branded, high-quality wooden makeup chair like the one from Makeup Forever which costs P16,000 plus, this one’s worth the price)

2. MAKEUP TROLLEY

I have separate makeup boxes for traditional makeup and airbrush makeup. Whenever I do weddings and other projects that require airbrush makeup, it is quite a pain to carry all of them because both kits does not have wheels. So I was looking for something with wheels that could fit all my stuff.

When I visited makeup artist Gold Magtoto at her condo (she wanted to buy some of the Makeup Designory makeup I was selling), I found out she’s also selling makeup kits, malettes, trolleys, and chairs. I have this particular trolley that I was eyeing for weeks now and when she said she has that model and showed it to me, I bought it on the spot! Here’s what it looked like:

The good thing about this is that it could be divided into two!

I bring the smaller one when I go to magazine shoots and other projects which just require basic makeup, and I attach it to the bigger one if I need to do airbrush makeup.

You could open up the bottom compartment like this:

It’s actually quite spacious and I could still put a lot of stuff there, perhaps my hairstyling equipment. Below that is where I put my air compressor.

And the smaller kit/upper compartment opens like this:

Again, no need for a table, I could work out of the kit. It’s stroller-type so no more lugging around heavy bags!

(without the upper kit)

It’s the ultimate Transformers makeup kit. I like how it’s so versatile, I could just carry the upper kit, the lower kit, or both!

COST: P6,800 (much lower than if you buy this from Suesh, which sell it at P8,500)

Gold has other makeup kits such as malette with stand and lights (P14,000), wooden makeup chair (P3,800), small makeup kit (P2,800). Her prices are definitely lower than most suppliers.  You could contact her at 0918 941 4529 if you’re interested to check out more of her products.

3. MAKEUP MALETTE WITH STAND AND LIGHTS

I already have a small malette with lights that I bought in Quiapo last year, but I wanted to buy a bigger one with stand for the sole reason that it looks more bongga in wedding photos. Haha.  I was telling makeup artist Denise Go-Ochoa when I met her again in a wedding (she did the bride’s makeup and I did the entourage’s) that I wanted to buy a bigger one, and she told me she’s selling hers already. I don’t mind buying a 2nd hand makeup malette as long as it’s in good condition, and I said I’m very interested to buy hers. This is what it looks like:

it’s also stroller type, and it opens up to this:

COST: a steal at P5,000!

Denise also sells TSZ Airbrush Makeup, so if you’re interested in buying or trying out TSZ (this is what she uses for her TVCs such as Pantene and in magazine covers such as Preview and Metro), you could contact her at 0917 320 7500 or check out TSZ’s Facebook page.

I’m so happy with my new makeup gear. Now this is quite THE set up!

Tricia

I can’t quite comprehend how Tricia Gosingtian can command such fanaticism among, well, everyone who adores her. Case in point: My two 2nd cousins (ahem, Rosy and Trisha), both studying at Ateneo, asked me when they saw Tricia’s photos of this shoot in her Tumblr— “How did you know Tricia? We LUUUUV her.” Barely an hour after she posted these pics, one of her 20,000 plus followers booked me for her graduation pictorial because she liked the smokey eyes I did. Few days after that, yet another one of her followers emailed me asking if I could pretty please do a video tutorial on how I did her smokey eyes. Can someone please explain to me how this could happen?

This is my 2nd time to work with her, the first time she was the photographer, and now the model (I guess you have to be specific when booking her, she’s the ultimate slashie– photographer/model/stylist/she could also do hair and makeup). Photographer Edric Chen organized this shoot with other lookbook.nu contributors.

Makeup by Kris Bacani

Photos by Edric Chen and Tricia Gosingtian

Shot on location at Pioneer Studios

with CoExist‘s Camille Co, her makeup also done by me =)

PROJECT LEVEL UP Part 2: The Website

So after having an official logo, I wanted to develop a website next. I have Multiply and Carbonmade sites that serve as my online portfolio, but having my very own website that’s really built for me adds more credibility to the service I’m offering. Also, I think I’ve built a pretty strong portfolio already that’s deserving of a website. And, well, isn’t having http://www.krisbacani.com just too freakin’ cool?

I was approached by 88DB.com with a package that’s hard to resist. They offered a priority ad listing in the wedding category of their website (which I have already subscribed to before and it has given me lots of wedding clients), plus design, hosting and maintenance of my website, plus SEO support for both (if you don’t know what SEO or Search Engine Optimization is, just Google it. I will bore you to death if I’ll explain it here). Those 3 for a price that’s within my budget =)

So after that was settled, we proceeded with doing the initial design. I wanted a no-nonsense design, very much like how the Carbonmade template looks like. Just clean, simple, and very easy to navigate. I asked Rocky, the web designer assigned to me, to come up with three studies for the homepage.

Here’s what he came up with:

The first one looks like it’s http://www.candymag.com. Haha =)

Eeeep! One word: TACKY!!!

Wait, this one almost looks like the 1st one, so it’s not considered as another study. I asked Rocky to come up with a completely different one:

Yikes, tacky again!

Hmmm, so this first set doesn’t look promising, but out of all of the above, I’m going with the 1st design. So I asked Rocky if he could make the background darker so it looks more sophisticated, and also to lessen the use of color. Here’s the second batch:

Looking better now =)

Black really does make everything look more sophisticated. I liked the 2nd one better, but my concern is that the color of my logo was a bit altered. What if the background will have a gradient from light to dark instead of  just solid black?

LOVE IT! This is THE ONE!

I though that it’s going to be an easy ride after we’ve finalized the homepage design, but I was very wrong. I think it took us a little less than 3 months to complete all the content, and I was very careful not to have any typos, all the links and animation were working, and the quality of the photos weren’t sacrificed.

After all that work, I must say it’s definitely worth it! Thanks so much Rocky for bearing with me, and thanks also to Rosey, my ever trusty account executive, for bearing with my OC-ness.

Check out my spanking new website here! =)

PROJECT LEVEL UP Part 1: The Logo

A year into doing makeup full-time, I just noticed that there are more and more people that are getting into makeup artistry. So to set myself apart, I decided to do a bit of branding work for myself. And what brand doesn’t have its own logo? I wanted a logo that would reflect my personality, and would also instantly reflect the service that I’m offering. I actually had a sort of logo 2 years ago, which I just tweaked from my calling card design done by my friend Khai. This is how it looked like:

I really liked it before, but two years after I found it too… cute. If you saw my calling card but didn’t see me, you’d think I was some sort of high school kikay kid who knows how to do cool makeup. Not really the image I’m going after.

So I asked my good friend Jan (check out his works here), a former officemate who does great graphic design, to tweak it for me. I want something that would look professional, modern, but still fun. I also asked him to retain the dots/circles idea to represent colors in a palette. Lastly, I said maybe he could just use at most 2 colors, and the rest would be done in black/grayscale.

These were his first studies:

I liked how the dot of the “i” is in the empty space of “s”. He also got the silhouette of the girl from one of my makeup works.

I’m not feeling this second one too much…

These were all nice, though I was looking for something that’s a bit more horizontal so that I could easily insert the logo in calling cards, presentations, website, etc. So I asked Jan if maybe he could do more studies with a more horizontal orientation. Also, I liked the font of “Kris Bacani” in the third one that he did, so maybe he could develop that.

So here’s the second batch:

I asked a gay friend what he thinks of this 2nd logo. He said, “Teh, ‘pag yan yung ginawa mong logo mo para kang nagbebenta ng tsupon.” Hahaha! I guess he’s right. It’s cute and all, but it certainly looks like a logo for a company selling baby products =p

I like this third one, but my eyes seem to just focus on “Bacani” since it’s has the biggest font and it’s all caps.

Hmmm… I think this last one may be THE ONE. Though I think it’s still a bit too colorful. Perhaps my name should just be in grayscale?

PERFECT! I love it. It didn’t veer away too much from my initial logo, it just became more professional looking. It looks definitely more modern too. I think Jan and I did this for less than a week, I doubt it would be as fast if a complete stranger has done it for me. Thank you so much Jan Sanchez / Sanchez Creatives! I owe you makeup for your future bride (our ex-deal =p).

Up next, Project Level Up Part 2, my website! =)

Rainbow Transmission

I collaborated with Edric again for another shoot, and this time I was able to stay to change looks. I’m so happy with the beauty shots he took, you could really see the detail of the makeup. I’ll take this opportunity to tell you how I did the makeup and what products I used to achieve those looks (since you could now buy it from me! =))

Hair and Makeup by Kris Bacani

Styling: Nina Gatan

Model: Raleene Cabrera

Photos by Edric Chen

How I did the eye makeup in above photo using Makeup Designory products:

1. I used Black eyeliner as eyebrow pencil to fill in the brows. I wanted to make them bold so I exaggerated the shape a bit.

2. For eyeshadow, I used Sunset and mixed it with a bit of Sunflower for the base, and contoured the eyes slightly with Firebrick. Now I have this golden-orangey color =)

3. I lined the eyes with Black Cake Eyeliner, and extended the wing way up almost to her eyebrows.

4. Last but not the least, I added false eyelashes to enhance the eyes more.

For the second layout, I wanted to retain the bold eyebrows and the winged eyeliner, so instead of removing makeup (with the exception of the orange eyeshadow), I just added more makeup to change the look. Here’s how I tweaked it:

1. Using an angled liner brush, I dipped it in the eyeshadow color Ice and made a thin line under the eyes and winged it up also.

2. I made a really thin black line underneath the white line using the Black Cake Eyeliner again. What I like about the Cake Eyeliner is that you could really control the thickness or thinness of the lines (with the help of a liner brush), as you could very well see in the photo above.

3. For the lips, I used lipstick in Ladybug shade. Your lips couldn’t get any redder than this!

That last photo is my fave =)

If you are interested in buying any of the products I featured or knowing their prices, get in touch with me 0917 629 3303 / 577 02 55 / makeupbykrisbacani@yahoo.com. I could also do meet ups so you could test the products. Check out www.mudshop.com for more awesome makeup products! All stocks on hand =)

On My Way Back

I always find time to do test shoots and work with new photographers. Two weeks ago, photographer Edric Chen invited me to do makeup for his shoot, and I agreed right away because I liked his previous sets. Too bad I wasn’t able to stay for the duration of the shoot since I had to rush to my makeup studio to do makeup for a client.

Edric showed me a makeup peg with burgundy smoky eyes, and I instantly remembered the makeup in Prada’s Spring/Summer 2008 ad.

Of course I wouldn’t exactly copy the style, but I wanted to do the gold shimmer in the inner corner of the eyes just like in the ad. So here’s the outcome:

Makeup by Kris Bacani

Styling and Model: Domz Tiu

Photos by Edric Chen

Gothic

I needed a break from doing natural makeup for weddings and editorials and it came in the form of this fun shoot. Kim, the model, invited me to have a gothic-inspired shoot with photographer Louie Araneta in this place along Libis where you could play airsoft. The place is actually just one big empty lot with ruins of an old house; it’s perfect for our concept.

This is one of the few shoots where I didn’t use mascara, eyeliner, and false eyelashes on the model. Normally whenever I do makeup for photography these three are always in use, because you really need to exaggerate the eyes or else it would look washed out in photos. But for this one, I wanted the emphasis on the lips. Also I sort of wanted to try out those looks that you normally see on European models in fashion shows– no eye makeup, just contoured cheekbones and great skin.

Oh and check out the loka-lokahan hair by Dimple which completed the look. After we did the hair, makeup, and styling, the two kids who were observing us do the whole thing asked, “Ate, bakit niyo po siya ginawang aswang?” Kim said, “Dadalawin ko kayo mamaya!” Hahaha!

Makeup by Kris Bacani

Hair by Dimple Callada

Model: Kim Castro

Photos by Louie Araneta