Many Pinays wear wrong shade of makeup

If there’s one thing that Lorena “Nena” Mondoñeda-Perez, a Filipino-American cosmetics line owner, has noticed about Filipinas, is that many of them wear the wrong shade of makeup.

 

“What I've noticed here in the Philippines is that a lot of women are so white. You could tell by their neck, all you see is make-up. They're so light because they have the wrong shade of foundation,” notes Perez, CEO of the makeup line “Nena” that carries her name.

 

In an exclusive interview with GMA News Online, Perez says women’s looks will improve significantly if they will only know the right shade of makeup powder, lipstick, or eyeshadow for them. 
 

A Business Management graduate in the US, Perez is a trained makeup artist and licensed esthetician. She studied Masters in Skin Care Therapy at the Skin Care and Spa Institute in the US.

 

Nena Cosmetics, manufactured in the US and Germany, are sold in the US, Philippines, Dubai, Spain, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Singapore. In the Philippines, Nena Cosmetics are available this September via zalora.com.

 

For Perez, the right makeup means a flawless look, “like you have no makeup on. I don’t like a lot of make-up,” she says. “I like something that looks pretty and something that just enhances.”

 

In many Filipinas, Perez says “all you see is makeup. You could tell the white here, and the dark there.”

 

She also observes that Filipinos don’t wear “a lot of eyeshadows. It's just usually brows, lipsticks and foundation.”

 

Makeup workshops

 

To know the proper makeup for one’s skin tone, Perez suggests seeking professional advice from store beauty consultants or attending a makeup workshop.

 

Perez’s brand, Nena Cosmetics, recently held a makeup workshop at the Buddha Bar Manila which was attended by around 150 people. Holding makeup workshops is one of the services provided by Nena Cosmetics, especially in the US. 

 

“Nena Cosmetics is all about enhancing the beautiful features of a woman,” Perez says, adding that, “just a little bit goes a long way.”

 

According to the Nena Cosmetics website, an individual makeup lesson in the US costs $100 per person while a makeup workshop is $225 per person.

 

The prices of her products in the US and in the Philippines are basically the same, ie. a BB cream is worth $39 in the US  and P1,800 in the Philippines.

 

Nena has a complete cosmetics line and some of the company’s products include a Baked Hydrating Powder Foundation (US$36), Luxury Lip Gloss (US$25), Mineral Liquid Powder Foundation (US$36).

 

Perez says she created a line that made applying makeup very simple for women. “I wanted to pick colors and lines that would fit with every skin type,” she said.

 

She observes that many women are afraid of wearing makeup. “They think that it's complicated and takes a lot of time. I wanted to uncomplicate things, I wanted to make it easy for women. I wanted to make it where it's 1-2-3-4-5, and you're out the door!” she says.

 

Nena Cosmetics is doing well in the US, Perez says, and she did not have to bring her line to the Philippines. However, she wanted to share with Filipinos what she created in the US.

 

So I didn't really need to come to Manila. I really don't need to bring the line here because it's doing so well in the States.

 

“It has an affinity reason for me. I wanted to bring something. This is where I was born and raised. I wanted to bring something that Filipinos could be proud of. I wanted to bring something and I am so proud of my line,” she says.

 

Starting the business

 

Perez, who went to the US for college studies after finishing high school at the International School Manila, says going into business was not difficult for her as she came from a family of entrepreneurs.

 

Her father had a successful mining company in the Philippines while her mother worked as a lawyer. 

 

How did she end up in the beauty industry then? Perez says she worked as an accountant for an upscale distributor of beauty products. However, after a few years of working as an accountant, she made a huge decision to leave her job and switch careers.

 

She recounts how it was tough to tell her father that she, who completed a full-degree in the US, wanted to become a makeup artist. “I was afraid but I told my father, ‘Give me 10 years and I will be not [just] a makeup artist but I will own my own company in this industry, owning my own line.”

 

She then worked as a makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics, saying it offers the best training for makeup artists.

 

“My business is three years old. I incorporated my business four years ago but a year of that was preparation of the product itself, the formulation and creating everything from scratch,” she says.
 

“I can't complain. We've really made a product that is high quality but affordable so the product sells itself,” she adds.

 

In the first year, she says her company earned US$500,000 and the figure has doubled every year since then. Nena Cosmetics has now gone public and she has agents across the US doing investment roadshows.

 

Asked about her secret to success, she says, “I think it's staying focused and knowing what you want to do. There's gonna be lots of hurdles along the way, lots of trials.”

 

“But if you know what you want and you go for it, that's half of the battle. I think if you know and you persevere and that you will just keep on tracking and keep on going, you're going to make it there.” – KDM/LBG/VC, GMA News 

Photo courtesy of Nena Cosmetics