The wind in my hair, a spring in my step

MANILA, Philippines – Nobody swipes hot crimson lipstick when they’re cruisin’ for some kissin’. Unless you’re slicking on lacquer of the synchronized swimmer variety, things can get messy if a steamy makeout session is in your immediate future, i.e. this Valentine’s weekend. It draws the eye, yes; it’s the symbol of symbolisms in the art of seduction, a tease that lures your prey in. You control what happens next.

A red lip — as with all bold looks — is something you wear for confidence. And it’s confidence that’s sexiest, irresistible — and maybe then, the inevitable mess can be forgiven.

Confidence and courage are the unromantic, mostly unspoken catalysts that propel relationships, not love nor romance, but if you play your cards right, you can have all four.

In college, I marathoned Princess Hours, a Korean drama series starring a young Yoon Eun-Hye as an average high school girl arranged to marry into royalty. Spoiler alert: she and the prince fall deeply in love in the face of their disparate lives colliding.

It’s not the K-drama trope of grand gestures, but the small, meaningful moments that bring them together, proving that some of the best relationships burn slow. It takes work, you have to both believe in it. And when it is kilig, you both earned it.

As far as confidence goes, I draw it from a fierce ‘do. If you’ve ever been transformed from demure and cute into a lioness with golden waves or a vamp with hair slicked back, you know it either entails or elicits confidence — whatever comes first.

Picking up from the product-free-looking, tousled looks spotted on the runways and heeding the requests of a majority of their customers from Seoul to Manila, L’Oréal Professionel saw many women gather confidence from a cut and blowdry that makes their face look slimmer paired with a dye that lights up their face. Such is the story behind the V-look, which gets its name from the coveted jawline that forms a letter V, a small face with high cheekbones and a narrow, delicate chin. Yoon Eun-Hye is now the face of the V-look.

The V-look plays with light and shade. The top of the head is given soft, bouncy texture through a layered cut, curling irons and volumizing products. Dyeing the top of the head in a lighter shade optically lengthens the face while face-framing layers soften the jawline. The hair around the face will be kept darker to introduce depth around it, while the rest of the hair is lightened through balayage, as highlights are painted diagonally to give hair touchable, natural-looking dimension.

I was invited to try it at Franck Provost Salon in EDSA Shangri-La, and saw that some steps can be either skipped or emphasized depending on the shape of your face. For instance, round and square faces will be given an airy, side-swept fringe to visually reduce the size of the forehead and draw the eye away from a severe jawline (or a lack thereof). Jeng had my hair blowdried and permed into loose, bouncy curls to smoothen my jawline.

The golden hues of Majirel — the L’Oréal Professionel color range with the widest spectrum of shades for brunettes — enhances this effect, like the champagne-colored highlighter you never knew you needed. It mimics how you look from across the table in a dark, candle-lit restaurant: leaner and glowing.

As there was no more than a coffee date with a best friend in my immediate future, I swiped on a dark berry shade. I walked out of the salon feeling like a modern fairytale was about to happen. In fact, I was so confident that I figured maybe I don’t need it. When love does happen, it’ll be true, not patterned after any drama storyline. It’ll be just for me.

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The V Look is available in Franck Provost Salons in Edsa Shangri-la Hotel, City of Dreams Manila, Alabang and The Peninsula Manila.