Jessica Yang

Today, I got to meet and work with Jessica Yang! She's currently one of the Philippines' "it" models, gracing the cover of the latest issue of Sense & Style, appearing on numerous magazine editorials and walking the runway for various fashion designers. So imagine the pressure I felt while doing her makeup, me being a 'newbie' in the industry and all. However, part of that pressure got thrown off the window because she is really down-to-earth and easy to talk to. On top of that, she is indeed very professional and excellent at what she does! She needed very little direction because she easily translated what we had in mind for the layouts. It was such a pleasure working with her.


As for the details of the shoot, I still am not at liberty to reveal it yet, unfortunately. All I can say is that the team I worked with today and I are keeping our fingers crossed!


Let me just share with you a photo I took with Jess. (Forgive my tired and puffy eyes as I had very little sleep the night before)

In the Land of Cosmetics

I was over the moon when we booked our tickets to Seoul last February. Every year, during Holy Week, our family would try to make it a point to go on a trip since it's the only time that my dad can be free from work and my brother from school. We went to Korea during the beautiful April spring weather and it was just about right, not too cold, but still permitting of trench coats, scarves and boots (I always take advantage of wearing these as I live in a country where it is impractical to do so). During our very first night, we immediately feasted on authentic Korean BBQ since we got in late and way past dinner time already so just imagine how hungry we were! It was so good, their meat was so tender and the vegetables were so fresh. We had Korean BBQ around 3-4 times for the entire duration of our trip! YUM! But enough about the weather and the food. We all know what it is about Korea I really intend to talk about...


Korea teems with cosmetics stores!!! My eyes went ga-ga and my heart jumped for joy as I saw cosmetics stores left and right. The most popular shopping district in Seoul called Myeongdong houses all the famous fashion and makeup brands. A day isn't enough (in my opinion) to weave your way through this district, it just isn't!


Here are some snapshots of the popular brands and some beauty products. There aren't that many because the sales associates gave me weird looks whenever I would bring out my camera and snap photos inside their stores and of their products. Some even told me directly that it isn't allowed. Oh well, I tried my best!

And my personal favorite. *drumroll please!*

So much beauty products in all shapes, sizes, kinds and forms!

Leighton Meester endorsing Espoir!

After Myeongdong, we went to Hyundai department store and I was fortunate enough to catch a makeup demo held by Lancome.

Of course I had to visit the counter of one of my favorite makeup brands! They have the most attractive display ever! It's really sad not having this brand in Manila, we're missing out on all their fantastic products (and cute packaging)!

I also chanced upon this line of Shiseido called 'Integrate' that's pretty good and not so expensive! I got a foundation and an eyeshadow palette. =)

Lastly, I want to show proof of how BIG cosmetics are to Koreans. They even have a cosmetics store at a theme park! My brother and I went to Everland and on our way out we saw this huge Etude House boutique! 

There you have it! Hope you enjoyed snippets of cosmetics land that is Korea! I'm going to share with you the products that I got from my trip but I suppose that deserves a separate post. =)

XO,

FIN

Soul Glow

Through my friend Cheek, I was given a wonderful opportunity to work with or should I say work for 2 students of a styling class at SoFA. They hired me to do makeup for their finals portfolio project last March and we did a whole day shoot at Manila Polo Club and Forbes Park. The look that they wanted was a carefree and romantic feel and so the pegs for the makeup were all natural and breezy looking.


Here are some of the photos from the shoot.

And here's a post-processed photo grabbed from the photographer's online portfolio:

And as the tagline for the concept of the shoot goes, 

"It's the little things in life that make us happy." =)

Photography: Allen Wee and Audrey Binay

Styling and Art Direction: Tricia Lopez and Audrey Binay

Models: Judy Ann Saril, Roxanne Siccion and Vince Igno

Hairstyling: Ingrid De Lara Cua

I would also like to share with you some of the BTS shots.

The cast and crew for the day 

(minus Judy and Ingrid because they had to leave early)