I always make it a point to support homegrown beauty brands because if we don’t love our own, who will? Products from indie brands Zen Nutrients, Phina’s Little Factory and breathe.easy are some of my usuals. My favorite local brands include Moringa-02 (for the oil) and Gluta-C (for the soap and body lotion).
Two years ago, two lovely ladies introduced a brand called Happy Skin to the market. Among the initial offerings were a powder foundation, a tinted cream, a liquid foundation, powder blushes, blushes and a lip crayon called Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippie.
These “lippies,” very pigmented and reasonably priced, became very popular to the point that whenever I was entertaining a female balikbayan relative or friend, she would ask me to bring her to a store that sold Happy Skin.
Crushing on You is Happy Skin’s best-selling lip-color shade, based on reviews of family members and friends. This is followed by The Morning After, a brownish pink.
The brand has since expanded its lip-product arsenal to include Shut Up & Kiss Me Lip & Cheek Mousse, Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Matte Lippie, and Shut Up & Kiss Me Power Pout Moisturizing Lip Lacquer.
The brand’s promise is simple. Its products contain ingredients that are good for the skin.
For its second anniversary, Happy Skin did something even bigger than just launch a new product. It opened its first stand-alone store at Glorietta 3, Ayala Grand Mall. For the store, Happy Skin teamed up again with Heim Interiors, led by interior designer Rossy Yabut-Rojales. This was the same design firm that brought #HappySkinHQ to life. Heim conveyed Happy Skin’s fun and feminine feel in the interiors, and West Elm spruced up the space with its home accessories.
The boutique is divided into different zones: “What’s New,” for the latest beauty goodies; “Hall of Fame,” for best-sellers and beauty award winners; “Limited Edition,” for limited releases; “Take Me Home,” for treats and freebies; and the “Eyes,” “Lips” and “Face” sections, for area-specific needs.
There is a lippie service called “Lip-spection” that starts with a lip scrub, followed by the application of a moisturizing balm. While the balm sets, the guest is encouraged to answer a fun quiz that helps determine her personality and lifestyle. The Lip-spection finishes with the application of the perfect shade of lip color.
Happy Skin also introduced four beauty books, each containing some of Happy Skin’s most popular lip products.
“They’re the perfect things to stash in your purse—they never fail to give you that potent color in one smooth sweep, and the ultra-flattering colors make you instantly camera-ready,” explained Rissa Mananquil Trillo, who cofounded Happy Skin with her friend Jacqe Yuengtian Gutierrez.
Rissa and Jacqe revealed that before any product reaches the Happy Skin makeup shelves, they use it for several days to make sure that everything is perfect for the consumer, pigmentation- and formula-wise.
The How to Take the Perfect #Selfie Moisturizing Lippie Set (P1,499) contains three wearable Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippies, including Strike a Pose (a berry), Pucker Up (mauve) and Stay Happy (peach). How to Make Beauty Effortless Lip & Cheek Mousse Set (P1,199) has two shades—Fall In Love (a peach) and Laugh Always (a nude). The mousse’s lightweight formula has antiaging peptides and SPF 15.
How to Make a Statement Moisturizing Matte Lippie Set (P1,099) contains two new shades, a red called Heartbreaker and a nude called It Girl.
How to Conquer the World Moisturizing Lip Lacquer Set (P1,199) includes the red-orange Hear Me Roar and nude-lilac Royal Treatment. Power Pout uses a wax-free gel technology, so despite its intensely pigmented, high-shine formula, it still feels nonsticky on the lips.
Everyone in the beauty world is excited at what Rissa and Jacqe and the ladies at Happy Skin have in store for us in 2016.
- E-mail me at luckydinna@gmail.com.