A lunch date with Vicki Belo is something I always enjoy. Because she is such a beautiful person. And I’m not talking about her well-cared-for pretty face and her gorgeous body, which make her a walking advertisement of her Belo Medical Group. Yes, she has become an industry leader and an icon symbolizing beauty and power.
I’m talking about the beautiful things I learn from her every time we lunch at her favorite Tsukiji Restaurant. She orders her favorite kirubi steak; I order my favorite crab salad and grilled hamachi. Together we talk about the most mundane things: life and lifestyle stuff; love and loved ones; fashion and what’s not in fashion; people, but nothing destructive or mean about other people. (Yes, Vicki has what is called breeding, but I would rather call it nobility of heart.)
Together with a few friends who mean a lot to both of us (mainly her husband, Atom Henares, whom I still can’t call her “ex” because they still look good together, and there is still so much love and respect between them), we laugh and eat as if eating indulgently were not dangerous to one’s figure.
We talk about our favorite stories.
This is Vicki’s favorite story about her first job: She loved baking cakes, and she would work hard all day to produce cakes ordered by friends and people in the neighborhood. Her delivery boy was Atom (this Harvard-educated messenger would bring the cakes to customers in a Benz). Atom laughs when he recalls that they probably spent more money producing the cakes than they ever earned. “But it was fun,” says Atom. “That early, I realized that Vicki was such a hardworking person who enjoyed making people happy.”
This is Atom’s favorite story about Vicki: Once, they both took a speed-reading course. Vicki topped the final exams; she was even offered a scholarship by the school. Atom recalls: “My father (veteran journalist Larry Henares) once showed Vicki an article to read. She took one quick glance at it, and my dad was amazed how she was able to digest everything so quickly, being able to answer his questions with amazing perceptiveness. Vicki is so inherently intelligent, but on top of that, she is always asking questions, always eager to accumulate new info. Her mind is constantly clicking away data in her brain.”
This is my favorite story about Vicki: There was this teenage boy so smart yet with so little self-esteem. He had this excess skin dangling from one ear which Vicki noticed and quickly offered to remove by surgery. No, she didn’t charge him a cent, saying she was just so happy to make the boy feel more pogi and confident. Yes, being the country’s most prominent cosmetic doctor is not just about making money. It is about making people happy.
Success is about having passion and it’s nice to see beautiful women having a sense of purpose in what they do. There is Angelina Jolie, for instance, who is obsessed with saving the world, one child at a time.
Vicki Belo has her own passion: “I want to make the Philippines the most beautiful country in the world, one person at a time,” she says.
Truth is, Vicki pioneered laser-assisted liposuction and other high-tech beautifying procedures in the Philippines and is one of the Department of Tourism’s major assets in boosting Philippine medical tourism and turning the country into the beauty capital of Asia. Her 17 years of delivering the most advanced technology in skin and beauty care has made the Belo Medical Clinic a popular destination of tourists and balikbayans.
Vicki spends much of her time traveling — whether attending seminars on the latest techniques in cosmetic dermatology and the latest medical breakthroughs, or speaking at seminars abroad as a resource person on Asian beauty.
Last week, Vicki issued an invitation for lifestyle editors to enjoy lunch at her nice home. The invitation was tucked inside a pot of full-bloomed hydrangeas. It was a hint of a beautiful launch to come. Events manager Joji Dingcong brought a CD of Pablo Neruda’s poetry readings just in case the harpist came late. But Holly Paraiso was on time, strumming the harp and looking so angelic in her blue gown, some guests almost mistook her for a mannequin. Two long tables in pristine white were redolent with delicate white bone china bowls by Baby Girl Fricke of Artemis, filled with casablancas, sampaguitas and lisianthus. The only whiff of color came from glasses of gumamela iced tea which was quite refreshing.
Gaita Fores served one of her best meals ever; I even kept the menu card. My favorites were the appetizers which looked good and tasted good as well. There were squash flowers stuffed with ricotta, taleggio and black truffle paste. Crisp parmigiano-reggiano cups with mascarpone clouds and caramelized pink peppercorns. Green gnocco squares with Norwegian salmon and garlic chive flowers.
Specially hand-carried from Rome were the tomatoes used for Gaita’s bruschetta which had Laguna cheese with crystallized sun-dried tomatoes, and beside it, a sorbet flavored with extra-virgin olive oil. While meat eaters surely relished the pan-seared wagyu sirloin, I chose to take only the other main course of pan-roasted lapu-lapu, Capiz scallops, Bulacan river prawns, Negros cross-crabs with avocado-garlic on a bed of miniature greens. Dessert was lavender panna cotta with jasmine flower honey and sampaguita petals. What a treat for the palate and the senses!
But the main treat of the lunch was a launch — that of Vicki’s latest beauty products called Belo Essentials, a line of skin-whitening products consisting of body soap bars, face washes and lotions, all priced between P38.75 and P167.75. When Vicki Belo says she wants to make the Philippines beautiful one person at a time, she knows how to make it doable: these beauty products are well within the budget of the average Filipina.
Why a whitening product? In the Belo Medical Group’s 17 years of clinical experience, skin whitening has always been the most requested procedure. Beauty industry experts worldwide know by now that while Caucasians crave a golden brown tan, Asians want to have fairer, clearer skin.
Focusing on the unique skin care needs of the Filipina, Vicki created Intelligent Skincare Inc., headed by her daughter Cristalle Belo Henares, to handle the brand, product development and marketing of Belo Essentials. “In our effort to deliver only the best products, we conducted various dermatological tests. Because my name is on these products, I have made sure these really work.” says Vicki.
After tinkering with dozens of skincare formulations and holding clinical trials for years, Dr. Belo and her team of experts conducted a two-week user test with 110 participants. The results were excellent. The Belo Essentials achieved beautiful, whiter skin in just seven days.
What makes Belo Essentials different from other existing products today? Cristalle explains: “We use the unique Dermlight Skin System, a two-way whitening system that controls melanin production and prevents melanin transfer to the surface of the skin, resulting in beautiful and radiantly whiter skin.” She adds that it is safe and natural, as it uses a combination of alpine plant extracts and California prune fruit pulp and other skin vitamins.
The Belo Essentials Line, now selling so fast in drug stores, supermarkets and groceries nationwide, is composed of the following products:
•Whitening Body Bar: Ideal for daily use, this soap bar cleanses gently and effectively whitens by inhibiting tyrosinase, reducing skin darkening. It has vitamins D and E to prevent dryness, and chamomile extract to soothe skin without irritation. Price: P38.75 (90 g) and P54.75 (135 g)
•Smoothening and Whitening Body Bar: With its microbeads it also gently exfoliates to reveal newer, smoother skin. Price: P40.75 (90 g) and P56.75 (135 g)
•Whitening Face Wash: This is the perfect facial therapy for faster whitening results. Price: P78.75 (50 ml) and P125.75 (100 ml)
•Pore Minimizing and Whitening Face Wash: Daily use of this product ensures skin rejuvenation. Price: P82.75 (50 ml) and P131.75 (100 ml)
•Whitening Lotion: This is also prefect for hydrating dry skin as it easily permeates the skin’s surface. Price: P80.75 (100 ml) and P147.75 (200 ml)
•Whitening Lotion with SPF 15: Your skin’s perfect shield against the sun’s harmful UVA and UBV rays, with its reinforced sunscreen and whitening power. Price: P91.75 (100 ml) and P167.75 (200 ml)
I remember how years ago, during one lunch, Dr. Vicki Belo opened my eyes to the wonders of the Obagi line which she introduced in the Philippines in the year 2000 (it has worked wonders for women worldwide since the late 1980s).
Now, with her very own Belo Essentials, I am ready for my next beauty epiphany.
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For more information, call the Belo Essentials hotline at 889-4724.