Dinner w/ Ms. Earth 2008 winners

Ms Earth 2008 winners and (ME)

Ms Earth 2008 winners w/ Mother Ricky, Me & my Mom



Ms. Earth 2008 Karla Paula G. Henry of the PHILIPPINES

Ms. Tanzania, Miriam Odemba was Ms. Earth Air (1st runner-up)


Ms. Mexico, Abigail Elizalde was Ms. Earth Water (2nd runner-up)

Ms. Brazil Tatiane Alves won Ms. Earth Fire (3rd runner-up)

We were in Guangzhou, China during the 2008 Ms. Earth Pageant Coronation took place. at Clark Pampanga. The Ricky Reyes chain of salons are the official make-up artist for the prestigious international beauty pageant with a cause which is hosted by our country. So, mother Ricky invited the winners of Ms. Earth 2008 for an intimate dinner at his famous house. Me and my mom was also surprised when he invited us. His words were Evelyn, kelan kayo uwi ng Davao? then my mom replied, sa 19th pa mother then he said: papasundo ko kayo sa 17th dinner tayo sa bahay with Ms. Earth winners picture taking tayo OK? As i heard him saying that i got super excited.

We arrived at his house at 7:00 pm because the traffic was worst for the holiday rush and all. It was not my first time to go to mother Ricky's house, we spent one New Year's Eve there back when i was 13 years old. Minutes after we arrived the Ms. Earth beauties arrived. Mother Ricky introduced us to them and i thought to myself my GOSH they are all so pretty and Ms. Mexico is so tall. I got intimidated at first (sino ba naman hindi ma insecure noh?) but when they started talking to me i was surprised because they were all so kind and accommodating. They started sharing their unforgetable experiences here in our country. Ms. Brazil shared a filipino word she learned from the make-up artist staff of mother and it was "bongang bonga" and "magaling magaling." We all burst into laughter when she said that in the dinning table. Ms. Tanzania eventhough she was black she was very pretty i almost mistaken her for a "bratz" doll. And Ms Earth was very friendly and talkative.

After dinner we did not waste another minute, we went straight to the enormous and ever famous christmas tree of mother for our picture taking. A once in a life time experience. :)

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.