MANILA, Philippines - Teen queen Kathryn Bernardo reveals what’s been making her blush lately.
Sometimes, you need to be reminded that the new teen princess, Kathryn Bernardo, is only 18 years old. Her name trends on Twitter. She’s a leading lady on TV and in cinema. She’s on the covers of magazines, even magazines that claim they can help you locate your “seven sex zones.” Her fans are upset when you say something offensive about her, and sometimes, they’re also upset when you aren’t talking about her at all. She sits there, captivatingly, in her throne as primetime royalty.
But then you see her walk into the room with a modest grace that cannot be perfected with rehearsals, and you watch her communicate to her personal glam team with a delightful candor, and you are reminded that indeed, this A-list celebrity is only 18 years old…and a damn hardworking one at that.
There is delicateness to her beauty and her allure is angelic. It is no wonder that Kathryn is the chosen new face of Avon’s Simply Pretty makeup line, a brand that Kathryn talks about with pride because it is something that she herself grew up with, and actually still uses today.
Cosmetic crew: The All Eyes on Kathryn Lip Balm and the Chameleon Cherry Magic Lipstick are just some of actress Kathryn Bernardo’s favorites in Avon’s Simply Pretty makeup line.
You would never think that the Kathryn Bernardo, one half of the undyingly popular love team Kathniel, would use a lipstick that’s only P135. But it’s true. “Noong bata pa ako, nakikita ko na ’yung mga brochures ng Avon sa bahay. Nakikita ko na ginagamit siya ng mom ko, ng mga tita ko, so happy talaga ako to become a part of the Avon family. I still use the Avon lipstick today even during my tapings,” she muses. Her former stylist for the TV series Got to Believe sits beside me in the audience and turns to me with a rigorous and reassuring nod, “Totoo yan!”
Kathryn endorses the new Eyes on Me collection, a makeup line doused in everything pink. The highlighted product is an everyday essential — a strawberry-flavored lip balm with Kathryn’s signature across the front (move over, Chapstick). But her personal favorite as a child, and something she still uses today, is the magic lipstick in chameleon cherry flavor. The magic lipsticks have odd colors: stormy blue, apple green and bark brown, but change into tints of pink, red and coral when applied on your lips.
Her personal philosophy on beauty is to look absolutely effortless. She says going over-the-top with coverage doesn’t allow for your natural beauty to show. “Guys most especially, ayaw nila ng masyadong makeup kasi nag-iiba yung face mo. Lahat naman ng girls pretty, so just use your makeup to enhance your features, pero hindi naman sana to the point na hindi na ‘ikaw’ ’yung nakikita nila,” she says. What Kathryn likes about the Simply Pretty line is that it was made with this philosophy in mind. She says it is light on the skin, able to do its beautifying magic without overpowering (or transmogrifying, at that.)
Although we know Kathryn as the lionized teen queen in Manila’s glamorous showbiz world, it is in trivial yet important details like what lipstick Kathryn likes best, or what her idea of beauty is, that we see facets of the simple Kathryn from Cabanatuan who would dream of one day becoming a star. The Kathryn before the blinding flashbulbs popped and the cameras started to roll, the Kathryn who would sneak into her mom’s closet and play dress up. It’s funny how we can find the truth of her beauty, in spirit and in person, in something as unassuming as makeup.