Beauty Tour w/ Mother Ricky

Nanyang Hotel Guangzhou, China delegates from the Philippines

Evening Make-up Philippine entry 2nd place

Champion Evening Make-up Philippine Entry

Champion Bridal Make-up Taiwan Entry

Fantasy Make-up 1st Place China entry

Last November 2008 i had the privilege to go to Guangzhou, China & Hongkong together with Ricky Reyes (which in our industry we all call Mother Ricky) as one of the Philippine delegates for the 12th APHCA Hair & Make-up International Competition.

In the 1st picture are the delegates of the Philippines for the said international competition wearing "barong" and "filipiniana." The ones wearing black are the competitors representing our country. The rest of us are assigned to judge specific categories that do not have Philippine competitors to avoid bias. Mother Ricky is the current President of APHCA (Asia Pacific Hairdressers & Cosmetologists Association). All the four competitors gained awards and we brought with us home the Champion for Evening Make-up Category by Stephanie a renown make-up artist in Cavite . And Joveth Pichon who is an owner of a salon in Davao also got awards for his entries on Evening Make-up and Bridal Make-up.

It was an eye opening experience for me because there I saw a lot of people from different countries and we were all connected on one thing the "beauty industry." I met delegates from Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, China, Korea, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Taipei and Japan. Here in the Philippines the beauty industry are dominated by "gay" hairdressers and make-up artist but in different countries as i have proven by that competition are straight men and women. Guys there looked like anime characters but they were not the models they were the competitors themselves.

Our hair style and make-up are not far away from that of the other competing countries we have the trophies to prove that. But by attending that international event i gained new and interesting knowledge about our industry. I have learned new techniques in hair extension and eyelash extension that i brought back here in our home town General Santos City.