Shu-per Star

It all started when my mother came home from L.A. and brought home with her a new toy, a Shu Uemura eyelash curler. I asked what was up with that contraption and she just ignored me. She put her silver gizmo in the middle of her boudoir and stared at it like it was the Shroud of Turin.

It was only years later that I understood why my mother had that look of gratification on her face. On my way to a party, I decided to do my face on my mom’s dresser, and almost thoughtlessly I used the eyelash curler, which, by the way, she still has up to this day. It was like seeing Miro in action. My lashes shaped themselves into a flawless curve, not quite Liza Minelli, but a sort of transformation that was subtle yet stunning. There was once a famous tale of a king who asked an artist who called himself a master to prove his skill by drawing a perfect circle on the spot. The artist drew a faultless circle and proved his dexterity in the realm of artistic genius. Well, imagine an eyelash curler doing just that, well, actually a half circle at that.

The Japanese Invasion has begun but they have come in peace, as Shu Uemura’s elixirs and cosmetics began to occupy my own boudoir and bathroom. From the Shu Uemura skin purifiers, to the Cicica water, to the face paper (highly recommended you really see all the junk on your face) to their avant-garde color range for cosmetics (I was the only one in high school who wore yellow eye shadow and orange lip gloss which was prescribed to me by my Shu Uemura adviser and up to now I’m still a sucker for color.) So thrilled was I to receive the good tidings from Tina Tinio, brand manager for Shu Uemura, that the rumor was true: Shu was coming to town, bombings or no bombings.

Hope this article does not sound like an instrument for self-promotion, not that there is much to promote except for me being a beauty junkie. I was even more thrilled to be asked to be one of the Shu girls along with fight women I admire like my favorite beauty of all time Susan Reyes, one of my fave gal pals – super fab Hindy Weber-Tantoco, the seamless Rosanne Prieto and the sugar and spice glam Kit Kat Zobel. I figured that I could only be a model if my face was deconstructed which, of course, was the apt title for my portrait – "Deconstruction." I was actually hesitant to include my photo because despite everything – I’m shy. However, the work Henri Calayag did was just amazing. His work was impressionism at its best – like Matisse doing a painting on a happy day. I couldn’t believe it that what I was seeing was me. Tim Yap, our team stylist, on the other hand, didn’t even give me time to internalize my disbelief as he cloaked me in his own Paolo Raymundo clothes.

Xeng Zulueta, along with stylists Tim Yap and Leica Carpo, did a marvelous job in doing a Rosanne redux of glam and roll, highlighting her already unbelievably perfect features in her portrait "Eye Candy." Susan Reyes’s guileless beauty was brought to light in her portrait "Ageless" as Jing Monis and stylist RC maximized the effects of minimalism. Kit Kat, on the other hand, was always one that I viewed as a true beauty, exuded by her simple nature and palpable grace. Refreshing it was to see that her beauty had a more seductive tone to it which Jing Monis brought to the fore, along with the incredibly talented Tracie Anglo, who is also the creative director of Preview and its special issue "The New Society", in their take of "Raw Glamour." It’s hard to fathom how to make Hindy even more gorgeous than she already is, but Lala Flores, along with Lotto, brought out the gold that Hindy is made of in her portrait "Light Years."

Shu Uemura is a brand that does not hide behind fancy packaging and hardsell ads. It’s known for its uncompromising use of only the best ingredients and its products are shelled impressively with high-tech materials for packaging: what you see, the more you get. The acme of pulchritude is found indeed in the simplest of things.