Behind-the-scenes: Pia ready for her Obagi close-up

MANILA, Philippines - “Hello guys!” Pia Guanio greeted everybody as soon as she entered the Quezon City studio of photographer Edward dela Cuesta. She just came in from the Saturday noontime-show Eat, Bulaga!, wherein she is one of the co-hosts. Wearing a green bodycon mini-dress, Pia didn’t look like she just gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter named Scarlet — looking gorgeous and super-sexy than ever.

We had a little chat and I explained to her the concept of the pictorial for the House of Obagi, the skin care medical boutique she’s been endorsing for the past three years. As the creative director, I had to show her the pictorial pegs and coach her in some of her stances. I led her to the dressing room to introduce her to the team and to show the beautiful clothes of Gakuya by Kim Gan, which she’ll be wearing all throughout the pictorial. While going through the rack of clothes, she quipped, “Good thing I prepared for this shoot. I didn’t know that I’ll be wearing fabulous and skin-revealing outfits! I thought that it would just be headshots (laughs).”

It’s been years since we did a photoshoot together and I must say that her body is leaner and her skin looks younger and healthier now than before.

The new mom attributes her healthy, glowing skin to sleeping early, drinking lots of fluids and the Obagi 360 treatment.

“I admit that my nine months of absence in the gym made me more eager to exercise because I’ve been a fitness freak even before I got pregnant,” she said. “I also got worried about having skin breakouts and the disastrous stretch marks! Good thing, I never had those.”

Make-up artist Gela Laurel immediately began her wonders as Pia sat on her make-up chair. I could see that it was such a breeze doing her make-up.

Gela said, “Her skin is flawless, it was so easy to put make-up on. I just used a thin base and some powder, and it’s picture-perfect already. When opting for a no make-up look, there’s no room for caked-on foundation.”

Incidentally, the make-up artist was on her eight-month of pregnancy, that’s why both women clicked instantly and chatted endlessly. They both shared pregnancy enjoyment and woes — from the time they knew they were pregnant, until the time they couldn’t wear their high heels anymore.

Pia changed into a silver cutout gown and silver platform shoes, right after the hair and make-up was done.

“I’m ready for my close-up, again!” she shouted.

After we finished shooting three layouts — Ricky Lo, another endorser of HOO arrived from his afternoon Startalk show. I showed him around and had him prepped up by the style team.

“I only wear light make-up when I’m on TV, I immediately take it off right after the show,” he said.

“I’m the wash-and-go type of guy. I just dab on my face some Obagi sunscreen before leaving the house, and that’s about it.”

He also said that he goes for the Obagi signature treatment to revitalize his skin and prevent it from aging.

It didn’t take long to finish the photoshoot. As in the past, we got good pictures already in the first few shots of every layout. That’s why working with them was such a breeze; both were fun and very professional. The billboards will soon be out, please watch out for it.