I was told, in my interning years, to never wear pink lipstick to work — by superiors, by magazines, by the voices in my head. They all agreed that pink, in whatever shade or intensity, will not get you the attention you want at work. Not even deader-than-dead Old Rose. It makes you look teenybopper, they said. They’ll assume you’re incompetent and incapable of performing tasks beyond filing and making coffee, they said. This wasn’t that long a time ago, too. This was Modern Age thinking. I blame Clueless.
A conflicting statement came up not too long after as I transitioned from intern to employee: chuck the matte maroons, as they make you look goth and undatable. Wear soft pinks; they make you look young and fresh. And so, a dilemma: pink lipstick makes you look amateur but cute, darker shades make you look like an unapproachable witch (I blame The Craft). Nudes were completely out of the question back then as the only ones available to us who started adulting in the mid-2000s made us look like we wore concealer on our lips and never looked back, Pamela Anderson-style. Hence why my generation, I think, never outgrew the very makeup-neophyte habit of saturating our lips in lip tint — lipstick was just so bothersome. Choosing the right one? Rocket science.
At around the same time, while I was #lowkey searching for the perfect nude lip color, Stores Specialists Inc. was on the road to making women’s lives a lot easier with a unique beauty retail concept: Beauty Bar. Headed by SSI Group president and EVP of Rustans Commercial Corporation Anton Huang, Beauty Bar commanded the attention of beauty junkies of all ages because it brought in brands that we only saw in magazines, or inside our jet-setter tita’s cosmetic kits. “Looking at Beauty Bar, we have the benefit of being the first on the market to really be a beauty destination for products that aren’t found anywhere else. We have cult brands as well as traditional brands that cater to a wide assortment of customers. It’s because of all those factors, plus the fact that we always have new items in the store, that makes it a successful destination,” Anton Huang says.
Fast-forward to 16 years later, I am a certified workaholic and Beauty Bar is still one of my favorite beauty stores; my happy place. Enlightenment came in the form of a nude shade I had never seen before. A rosy brown that made my lips look infinitely better. It was that Holy Grail in-between shade that will at once make you look competent and approachable, no-nonesense but not uptight, professional but not quite so incorruptible. It was a Happy Skin lippie. Yes, it took me that long to find a nude that suited me. The homegrown beauty and skincare brand has been partners with Beauty Bar for two years, and now the Philippines’ one and only specialty beauty retailer is launching its first collaboration with a brand. They chose Happy Skin because, not only have they been partners since the beginning, but they also believe in the product. Anton Huang says, “When we were approached by Happy Skin two years ago, we really loved the idea behind the brand and we felt very confident that the two people behind it were very capable and really knew what they were doing. Beauty Bar is part of the SSI Group and as far as SSI is concerned, it’s always been our objective to promote or bring the best of the world to the Filipino consumer. Looking at Happy Skin, we felt that we were doing just that. We love the idea behind the brand, we love the product that they sell. It’s definitely holding its own against international brands. It’s among our top-sellers and it’s doing well online as well.” That’s over 100,000 Happy Skin lippies sold at Beauty Bar, the go-to destination for beauty junkies in the Philippines. It only makes sense that two industry go-getters collaborate and create a collection for all the power women who have followed them over the years.
Recently, Happy Skin’s two power women, Rissa Trillo and Jacqe Gutierrez, were approached by Beauty Bar to collaborate for a new collection. The partnership resulted in a box-set that makes creating your work face (or is it “werk” face) much easier. They’re calling it the Work it, Girl! Collection, a limited-edition makeup collection in collaboration with Beauty Bar, that celebrates working women — Rissa notes that this includes not just those who work in corporate fields, but also women who work at home, building their own businesses, taking care of their kids, writing their first novel, etc. In this day and age, what woman doesn’t work, anyway? Which makes the collection a universal need/want.
Rissa says, “To a working woman, time is the most prized luxury. That’s why we developed tools that allow makeup to be effortless and easy.” Said tools include the Bullseye Perfect Brow Trio (P899), which is a three-in-one product that has pencil, powder, and brow brush in one handy pen. It's the first of its kind from a Filipino brand: Use the pencil to shape, your brows, the powder to fill them in, and the spoolie brush to create a polished look. The Bullseye Perfect Brow Trio also contains Argan oil to keep eyebrow strands nourished.
Happy Skin’s cult favorite Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippies are also taking on brown hues (read: Holy Grail shades) like Wonder Woman (P599), an espresso shade, and Slaying It!, a terracotta brown. Both shades are flattering and professional — promise you’ll look like a go-getter. They can be purchased individually or as a set in the limited-edition Work It! Girl collection (P1,099). Both are super moisturizing without the stickiness, but while they feel light, the colors are saturated enough for you to create a bold, power-woman look.
A lot of makeup artists have told me that makeup doesn’t follow any rules — you wear what you like and try to get away with it. Sadly (or rightfully, I guess), it’s workplace culture that has boundaries. I get it now. You can’t wear shocking fuchsia because it is distracting. You can’t wear vampy reds unless you counter its sexual undertones with a black turtleneck. You can’t wear black lipstick because it’s all people will see when they look at you. You can say some offices — like some minds — are still caught up with social constructs, or you can be reasonable and say it’s about balance and consideration. Anyway, there are so many options now: having to blend in doesn’t always have to lead to mediocre makeup.
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The Bullseye Perfect Brow Trio, individual Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippies in Wonder Woman and Slaying It, and Work It, Girl! Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippie Duo are now available at select Beauty Bar stores, at Happy Skin stores in Glorietta 3, Greenbelt 5, Power Plant Mall, TriNoma, and SM Mega Fashion Hall, beautybar.com.ph and happyskincosmetics.com.
Follow @happyskin_ph and @beautybarph or click the hashtags #HappySkinXBeautyBar and #HappySkinBeauty on Instagram for information.