Ain’t no party like a YStyle Christmas party

MANILA, Philippines - This year, we pulled out all the stops for our guests at our annual Christmas party — or rather, our sponsors did. The soon-to-open Century City Mall in Makati graciously opened their doors for our party, and even provided valet service to all our guests. "We were ecstatic to host the YStyle party as our maiden event at Century City Mall,"  said Century Properties managing director Marco Antonio. "We feel both thankful and enthusiastic to have created a festive ambiance where fashion and lifestyle trendsetters could celebrate their achievements for 2013." From the swanky new VIP cinema to nearly P500,000 worth of raffle prizes, as Mich Dulce yelled right before we began our private screening of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, “Everyone’s a winner!”

The night was young, or so hair stylist Alee Bengzon thought — he was the first to arrive at our party at 6 p.m. sharp. And just so our guests know that we reward promptness, the first 30 guests to arrive received special giveaways from Y-3 and Fred Perry, along with limited-edition YStyle tote bags by Bleach Catastrophe and shirts designed by Proudrace. As the VIP lounge filled up, dinner was served by Roots Bistro and Amici, while dessert (and late night snacks, as Instagrammed by stylist Ryuji Shiomitsu) was courtesy of Bronuts and Vanilla Cupcake Bakery. To keep our guests appropriately buzzed as we tallied the final count of raffle prizes, we had booze and juice (not the kind Anne Curtis swigs) from San Miguel and Magnolia, along with some good, strong Australian coffee by Toby’s Estate Coffee, which will be opening soon.

When everybody had their fill, they took their seats (or beanbags) inside the VIP cinema of Century City Mall, which, according to Antonio, was equipped with automated reclining leather seats, world-class acoustic engineering, fully-digitized projection with 3D capability and top-of-the-line Dolby Atmos 7.1 surround sound. As everybody began to chant “Raffle! Raffle!,” YStyle editor Bea Ledesma took out the neon green shower caddy containing everyone’s names (since I forgot to bring the fish bowl!) and inducted a new set of people into the “Winner’s Circle.”

The first round of prizes were courtesy of Tripologie, Urban Ashram, Third Eye Wellness, Komono watches, Messy Bessy and San Miguel, who also contributed gift certificates to the buffet at Diamond Hotel. Samsung gave out four resin plates by Impy Pilapil, Adora raffled off three fragrances by Commes des Garçon and Etro, while Jerome Lorico came through with three gift certificates for custom jeans by Viktor x Jerome.

Rustan’s Department Store, however, went all-out with the prizes this year with several makeup palettes from Estée Lauder, Stila, MAC, Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown, skincare by La Mer, Mario Badescu, Clarins and Murad, nail polish by OPI and fragrances by Coach and DKNY, plus charms by Thomas Sabo. Their sister company Stores Specialists, meanwhile, contributed a pouch from Tory Burch and a wallet by Marc by Marc Jacobs — both of which went to frequent YStyle contributor Geolette Esguerra.

Several of the guests, however, looked on jealously as Joey Samson, Cholo Dela Vega and Jojie Lloren took home gift certificates for Fred Perry, Y-3 and Comme des Garçons, while Rxandy Capinpin won a gift from Pylones. Those weren’t the only retail prizes up for grabs as several gift certificates from Plains & Prints, Bleach Catastrophe, Artwork, Sanuk, Aldo, Charles & Keith, Bench, Folded & Hung, Famous Salon, The Ramp Crossings, Kamiseta, Marks & Spencer, Rustans Department Store and SM Store were up for grabs.

However, the major prizes went out to just seven lucky people: a shagreen belt by Janina Dizon went to Ivar Aseron, while YStyle contributor September Mahino won an iPad mini and call cards from Globe. John Pagaduan and Angie Cruz each got Sony Xperia M cellphones, while Ria Bolivar took home the same prize, plus a pair of Sony headphones. Model Chelsea Robato won a coveted piece of jewelry by Jul Dizon, but it was photographer Tammy David who won the biggest prize of all: a full laser light package worth P75,000 from Facial Care Center, plus gift bags from Moringa-O.

And just so everybody would go home with something, we also gave out five headphones from Sennheiser and two skincare sets from House of Obagi, along with giveaways from Unilever and Rustan’s. Hey, when Mich Dulce says everybody goes home a winner, she speaks from experience!

Happy holidays, YStyle-ers!