I've always loved runway makeup—sometimes, even more than the fashion that's actually on display. I love how unpredictable it is; how it can go from looking like it isn't even there to looking completely outrageous (Vivienne Westwood, anyone?). High fashion makeup plays with colors that you would probably never (or if not never, rarely) see on the street. No matter how bare or how bold, it's out-of-this-world, it's in-your-face, it's cutting edge. It's unapologetic in its statement, "Here I am, look."

Part of me fell in love with it because I've always been an artist at heart. I'm out of practice and I've never been particularly good, but as a younger girl I loved to draw, sketch, and paint. Now I channel my artistic side and my love for colors into photography...and my makeup.

But what I really love about high fashion makeup is its transformative power. It can make a beautiful model look like a fierce bird of prey, and it can turn a fresh young face into a femme fatale. It can harden soft features and soften hard ones. It can brighten, it can subdue. It can turn you into somebody else—or even better than somebody else: your best self.

That's something I love about makeup, period. Not just high fashion makeup. It can change your mood as quickly as it changes the way you look. On low self-esteem days, I swipe on some deep red lipstick and instantly feel more powerful. On sleepy days, a coat or two of mascara after curling my lashes "wakes up" my face. Fabulous makeup can make a shy girl feel like a total diva. I would know; I'm a really shy girl!

And on fun days, on my "experimental" days, I pull out one of my Fashion Week lookbooks, pore through the pages, and look for that one statement-making look that I can tone down for Manila-wear. Yeah, you can't strut your stuff down the city streets looking like you stepped right off a high fashion runway, but you can take what you love about an avant garde look and make it your own. (Check out our beauty editorial for March, "From Studio To Street: Summer Makeup Comes Alive", if you don't believe me.)

I'll be rocking my orange lipstick like nobody's business this summer. What about you?

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