Mary Kay One Woman Can Model Finale | Day 2 Model Training


I woke up to a somewhat gloomy weather of Hong Kong. A typhoon was looming (one that just recently visited my very own country) and chose to go to the direction of where we were. But that didn't stop stop us. Thank God that I was able to curl my hair the previous evening since my plush bed at Lanson Place had me oversleeping. Apologies to those who had to wait for me to get dressed.


We headed to the Hollywood Road up town (or is it downtown?) where the models and their Independent Business Consultants will be under going their training and photo shoot. I was so excited for them! Hollywood road is like an interior design mecca in Hong Kong with a few cafes and boutique hotel. That day The Space was converted into a training center for the second day of Mary Kay One Woman Can Beauty Contest.

Take a look at the behind the scenes and learn a thing or two about modelling from their mentors....



My role as a blogger for that day was to shadow one of the Philippine's finalist, Fatima Saquilabon (19) and Marilds Aperocho (20). The models where required to wear black shirts and a little bit of foundation while their IBC's wore white. Look how fresh our two girls were that morning. Despite the few hours of sleep, they were all eager to start the day.

To keep true with the concept that a Mary Kay woman can bring out the beauty in you, the IBC's will be doing their makeup instead of a professional makeup artist. I could already feel excitement as well as nervousness in some of the IBC's as it's their first time to do a full photoshoot kind of a makeover. All I can do was wish Marilds and Fatima good luck.

But Marilds is not new to makeup artistry. Ever since she was young, well she's just 20 now, she has always bee fascinated with makeup and have done faces for a few friends and of her mom's. She finds fulfillment in doing makeovers. That's the reason why she joined Mary Kay, not only were the products they offer were superior but because they provided consistent training to their IBC's.



Here they are, Fatima and Marilds with the Mary Kay Brand Manager for the Philippines, Fatima Lopez. Her cheerful smile and continuous guidance were a great help to these two ladies battling to impress the judges for this contest.


Lobby of The Space was turned into a Mary Kay lobby and brand wall for picture taking purposes.




Mary Kay's permanent and new cosmetic collections will be used on these girls. The look that they will be recreating is Hollywood Glam. Gary Chung was nice enough to share a few words about the look for the photo shoot. Listen to my short interview with him.



The Face Charts. On the left is for the final runway walk and on the right is for the photo shoot.


Here are the pegs for that day.


Don't you just love seeing makeup in makeup stations? It's true love for me.. :)





Fatima, ready to be made over by her Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant and friend, Marilds. Doesn't she look young and vibrant? :)



Gary Chung kept a close eye on the ladies. He served as mentor to all the IBC's guiding them as they completed the Hollywood Glamour look for the shoot. The focus was on the lips, creating that flawless base and perfecting the crimson cupid's bow on the lips. Marild's was praised for the base she did on Fatima.


Here is Jim Tse and the rest of Toni and Guy Hong Kong team to primp the finalists' hair to complete the Hollywood glam look. It's amazing how he can make the girls all look same and at the same time different from each other. For Fatima, he did a 50's inspired side swept hair that complimented her young features.



Here is Marild's retouching Fatima's vibrant red lips with Mary Kay's Nourishine Plus Lip Gloss in Mango Tango.


And here's the finish look. :)


Dom Lau was there to cover behind the scenes of the training day! He's such a character. A big hunk of a guy who has endless energy and quips.


Did you know that Cara G is 3 months pregnant? Yes, she is! And she's not even showing at all. I should hate her but having had the opportunity to sit down and listen to her, I can't help but adore her. She's soft-spoken but definitely full of advises for our model finalists. She shared nutrition tips as she is also a certified nutritionist and big fan of juicing. I listed a few here:
  1. Starving your self is a no-no. A model must be able to keep up with the rigorous demands of photography.
  2. Avoid processed foods like junk foods and carbohydrates.
  3. Pack nutritious snacks like carrots and almond nuts in your bag when getting hungry at a middle of a shoot
  4. Drink lots of water.
  5. Avoid late nights and get a full 8 hour sleep. 



She also gave a lot of modelling tips, from posing to walking. She nicely corrected the walks of the models and boosted their confidence. She even noted how impressed she was with the quality of the finalists given that majority of them didn't have any modelling experiences.


Here is Cara G with Fatima as they look for her best angle and which smile lit up her face better. :)


We all agreed we love her smile when her teeth showed. :)


Strutting her stuff in front of Cara G. Fatima wowed everyone as she took in all the tips that Cara shared to the girls when she walked down the make shift ramp.


Even the IBC's got to strut their stuff. Marilds was shy at first but she admitted that it was fun to feel and look like a model for a few minutes.

Cara G has trumped all the things I thought models were. She's incredibly down to earth and vibrant at the same time.  She embodies what I think what everyone woman should be: lovely, able to care for herself and pursues her dreams. She became a great role model to all the ladies of the One Woman Can Beauty Contest that day. And I'm sure that all the things she imparted to the girls will be taken to heart.


In between shoots, Dom Lau interviewed the ladies for the BTS. And to show you what happens during a shoot, take a look at the photos below. :)



The gorgeous Sean Lee Davies, renowned filmmaker and photographer in Hong Kong and overseas, took the lovely photos of each finalists. He easily brought out the confidence and relax smiles that made all the finalists instantly looking like winners and covergirls.

Sean thinks of photography as a psychology where in he tries to bring out the beauty of the person not only on the outside but as well on the inside. It's making them comfortable, relax in order to accomplish the goal of the shoot. Ever since he was young, the lure of photography was strong and he pursued it and that led him to different countries and now in Hong Kong, made a name for himself and hailed as one of the best in the industry. Looking at him work, I wasn't that surprise with how well each photograph of the finalists came out. Sean Lee Davies, suffice to say, is probably one of the nicest most gentleman photographer I and the ladies have come across with.


Here's Fatima enjoying herself as Sean Lee Davies snaps countless shots of her.




And last for that Training Day was the styling session with Christie Simpson. She's celebrity to the stars in Hong Kong and did styling for Victoria Beckham during her Spice Girls days. Her style was very fashion forward and she styled each of the girls with the help of her staff. She also imparted a few styling tips to the finalists, specifically learning one's body shapw in order to choose better clothing that will flatter them.




Amazing transformation indeed when Fatima stepped into this lace tube dress that Christie assigned her. She blossomed into womanhood and took everyone by surprise.


I felt like a proud ate after when I took this photo of hers!


Another highlight for me that day was the chance to meet Mary Kay Global Chief Marketing Officer, Sheryl Adkins-Green. I wanted to ask her how they were able to conceptualize the One Woman Campaign and she told me that they wanted to celebrate the message of One Woman Can and inner as well as outer beauty and so they conducted a contest during the Women's Month last Marsh. Each country celebrated their own way but in Asia Pacific they took it to another level and they had this beauty contest to further celebrate transformation of both inner and outer beauty.

She also shared with me that being a Mary Kay Woman is all about enriching women's lives and that she's humbled to be a part of that proud tradition.



Enriched is definitely the word of the day of our Day 2 in Hong Kong to celebrate the One Woman Can Beauty Contest. The finalists had an amazing experience learning all the things they would need for the finale while the IBC's got to test their skills that Mary Kay training has afforded them. I was not a part of the training but I did feel enriched myself. Meeting these women, learning about their culture, their reasons for becoming a Mary Kay IBC and how they improve their lives. It's a great group to belong to. It's fun, emotional in a good way and there is sense of pride in me (even if I didn't go through it) after seeing them all finish all the sessions.

It looks to be that the girls are ready, albeit still nervous, for the finale the next day! Find out all about it on my next post on the conclusion of the Mary Kay One Woman Can Beauty Contest.





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