The butterfly effect

Before this makeover tradition began at YStyle, the closest thing we experienced to makeovers were the fashion shows we held as kids in our homes for fun, doing each other over in my friend’s older sister’s underwear. We’d cover each other with so much glitter and blush, we looked like Amanda Leopore’s flat-chested little sisters. Or Rupaul’s Asian relatives. When The Body Shop arrived sometime in high school (you may snicker, but the arrival of major fashion and beauty retail outlets was a major event for teenagers – and for the older chicks who won’t breathe easy until Zara finally opens – for women too), they offered free makeovers to anyone who wanted them. Getting someone to give you the full treatment – and tell you what worked and what didn’t – for free was totally alien. Like the little mini-cracker they serve at supermarket taster booths with barely any pate on them, our little 12-year-old souls couldn’t help but wonder, what’s the catch? Will they tax us when we leave the store?

Then Oprah came along and suddenly, with an army of stylists and hair people, a 50-year-old schoolmarm could look like a sophisticated 30-plus-year-old. It was all magic and flash. And it was fabulous as hell.

To say that the YStyle makeover madness began with a bang is to call Mr. T a fashion icon. Let’s just call it a fizzle. But we got the ball rolling and our makeovers have improved with each feature (at least, we like to think so). We pat ourselves on the back each time people text and e-mail us to tell us how wonderful and giving we are.

Seriously though, the number and styles of clothes for our makeovers have increased. And people have been taking notice. When the last feature was published a couple months back, tons of people wrote in eager to be part of this little experiment – this compared to the meager crop we had to deal with the first time around. But who can say no to free makeup and clothes?

While the past makeover girls had to make do with a few gift certificates, this batch got an armload of clothes all for free from Robinsons Department Store (which has got an amazing selection of clothes and accessories, I kid you not), along with a starter makeup kit from MAC (which included lipstick, lip liner, blush, eye shadow, lip gloss and mascara). That’s merchandise in the millions, kids. OK, maybe thousands, but still.

We’d like to mark this batch by saying thank you to our sponsors who were generous enough to donate their time and money to a little cause we like to call fashion. (Robinsons Department Store, you rock our socks off!) And we’d like to thank the readers, who always keep us entertained with stories about how desperate they are for our help, their e-mails peppered with strained, overeager compliments. (We know you’re just sucking up for the freebies! But it’s OK. We understand the power and allure of a free makeover). But most of all, we’d like to thank ourselves. Because without us, none of this – the amusing little anecdotes, charming before and after shots, cute segue stories and bossy but necessary advice – would be possible. So, thanks YStyle! We rock.

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Seriously though, check out Robinsons Department Store at Robinsons Galleria, Ortigas and at Robinsons Ermita, Manila.

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The makeover girls had their hair cut and colored at Prive Salon, which is located at the fourth floor of Makati Shangri-La Hotel, Ayala Ave. corner Makati Ave., Makati City. For more information, call 813-8888 or 374-6846.