Post by admin on Aug 29, 2005 11:53:07 GMT 8
The Price of Beauty
By Dinna Chan Vasquez
So you want to look like Asian beauty Angel Locsin, whose seemingly ordinary features are enhanced by her luminous skin?
For P20,000 or even a little less, you can look like the young actress, assuming that you already possess a whistlebait figure.
Use Shiseido Whitess, described as a “scientifically advanced brightening essence Arbutin to reduce visible signs of sun aging and bring a more luminous, evenly balanced tone to skin,” for two weeks and see visible results (depending on the degree of the skin’s darkness). It costs at least P6,700 and is available only in Japan but it really works and results are visible in just 7 to 10 days.
After two weeks, you won’t look like Snow White but your skin will be glowing and young-looking, just like Angel. Just use La Prairie Rose Illusion (more than P5,000) cream on your face and a few swipes of Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Calypso Coral on your lips and you’re all set. Don’t forget to use a hair iron to achieve that plantsado look but prep your tresses with Kiehl’s Silk Groom.
That JLo glow
For P200,000 or even less, you can actually be a respectable lookalike of Jennifer Lopez and the process does not even involve surgery.
Spray Tanning to give your entire body the JLo glow costs P1,800 at the Belo Medical Group while a butt enhancement job (injection only) costs P30,000 to P50,000 also at the Belo Medical Group. For hair extensions to give you long, honey-colored tresses, be prepared to spend anywhere from P30,000 to P120,000. For the final touch, you can spend another P5,000 (or a little more) for a makeup session with Krist Bansuelo, who is known for perfecting the so-called “natural” look that Jlo has made famous. Or if you’re already scrimping at this point, use Lancome’s Fluide Illuminateur (P2,250), a foundation to give you that coveted bronze goddess look and Shu Uemura Lollishone #132 (a little more than P1,000) lipstick, a sheer lip color with just a hint of orange.
These days, nothing is impossible anymore. Anyone can look like a star...for a price.
From hair extensions to liposuctions (a surgical procedure to remove fats using a high-powered machine) to eyelash perms and extensions to laser removal of unwanted hair to high-end makeup and skincare, beauty is just a checkbook away.
In Pinoy showbiz, tweaking nature’s gift is so accepted and public that client-entertainers are divided into two major factions—the Calayan group of Drs. Manuel and Pie Calayan of Cosmetiderm Aesthetic Surgicenter and the Belo Group of Dr. Vicky Belo.
Belo’s girls include Kris Aquino (liposuction and breast augmentation); Zsa Zsa Padilla (MesoLipo); Cherie Gil (laser hair removal); Katya Santos (liposuction and butt augmentation); Aubrey Miles and Lorna Tolentino (skin treatments) and Anne Curtis (for whatever work she needs done). Other Belo celebrity clients include Gwen Garci (LipoDissolve); Toni Gonzaga (skin care) and many others. Kris Aquino’s fiancé, cager James Yap, has admitted that even he has gone to Belo for skin care treatment to remove two unsightly pimples on his face one day before a television show guesting.
Among the Calayans’ clients are Patricia Javier, Carmina Villaroel and Raymart Santiago (LipoDissolve); Claudine and Marjorie Barretto (laser hair removal); Dingdong Dantes and Tanya Garcia (microcrystals facial treatment) and Pinky de Leon (fotolaser facial treatment). Priscilla Almeda underwent a tummy tuck and liposuction after she gave birth to her daughter Tiffany and wanted to stage a comeback. Later on, she went back for facial contouring.
Rosanna Roces, at the height of her popularity, admitted that she underwent breast augmentation and three liposuctions to get rid of unwanted and stubborn flab.
Bargain prices
US-based Filipinos consider cosmetic enhancement a bargain here. Consider this: A facelift with a reputable doctor costs only P100,000 or a little more and this includes everything. I know of a US-based doctor who had her eyes done here and is already thinking of getting a facelift and maybe liposuction.
The greater acceptance and growth of cosmetic surgery among the general public has encouraged more doctors to enter the field. Unlike in other countries, any licensed medical doctor can perform cosmetic surgery without legal impediment. This has resulted in cosmetic surgeons with no formal training at all except for short courses and seminars. Some cosmetic surgeons even trained in nonsurgical specialties, including internal medicine and dermatology.
To differentiate, a plastic surgeon is a licensed doctor with formal residency training in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Any cosmetic surgery performed by these doctors are more expensive because it is done inside a hospital and under the supervision of a licensed anesthesiologist and other medical personnel. A plastic surgeon should be able to perform both aesthetic and reconstructive surgery.
It is in the interest of the public to be able to distinguish between the real plastic surgeons and nonmedically trained personnel passing themselves off as doctors. For example, some patients have suffered complication from having silicone oil injected onto their noses for P7,000 to P10,000 as opposed to breast augmentation which costs so much more. But as former starlet Janice Jurado has found out, silicone oil can harden into cancerous lumps.
Another practice labeled as anomalous is the injection of paraffin wax on the nose. This costs less than a surgical nose lift, which is priced from P20,000 to P30,000. But the nose lift is more effective and safer in the long run and in the end, this is all that matters.
By Dinna Chan Vasquez
So you want to look like Asian beauty Angel Locsin, whose seemingly ordinary features are enhanced by her luminous skin?
For P20,000 or even a little less, you can look like the young actress, assuming that you already possess a whistlebait figure.
Use Shiseido Whitess, described as a “scientifically advanced brightening essence Arbutin to reduce visible signs of sun aging and bring a more luminous, evenly balanced tone to skin,” for two weeks and see visible results (depending on the degree of the skin’s darkness). It costs at least P6,700 and is available only in Japan but it really works and results are visible in just 7 to 10 days.
After two weeks, you won’t look like Snow White but your skin will be glowing and young-looking, just like Angel. Just use La Prairie Rose Illusion (more than P5,000) cream on your face and a few swipes of Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Calypso Coral on your lips and you’re all set. Don’t forget to use a hair iron to achieve that plantsado look but prep your tresses with Kiehl’s Silk Groom.
That JLo glow
For P200,000 or even less, you can actually be a respectable lookalike of Jennifer Lopez and the process does not even involve surgery.
Spray Tanning to give your entire body the JLo glow costs P1,800 at the Belo Medical Group while a butt enhancement job (injection only) costs P30,000 to P50,000 also at the Belo Medical Group. For hair extensions to give you long, honey-colored tresses, be prepared to spend anywhere from P30,000 to P120,000. For the final touch, you can spend another P5,000 (or a little more) for a makeup session with Krist Bansuelo, who is known for perfecting the so-called “natural” look that Jlo has made famous. Or if you’re already scrimping at this point, use Lancome’s Fluide Illuminateur (P2,250), a foundation to give you that coveted bronze goddess look and Shu Uemura Lollishone #132 (a little more than P1,000) lipstick, a sheer lip color with just a hint of orange.
These days, nothing is impossible anymore. Anyone can look like a star...for a price.
From hair extensions to liposuctions (a surgical procedure to remove fats using a high-powered machine) to eyelash perms and extensions to laser removal of unwanted hair to high-end makeup and skincare, beauty is just a checkbook away.
In Pinoy showbiz, tweaking nature’s gift is so accepted and public that client-entertainers are divided into two major factions—the Calayan group of Drs. Manuel and Pie Calayan of Cosmetiderm Aesthetic Surgicenter and the Belo Group of Dr. Vicky Belo.
Belo’s girls include Kris Aquino (liposuction and breast augmentation); Zsa Zsa Padilla (MesoLipo); Cherie Gil (laser hair removal); Katya Santos (liposuction and butt augmentation); Aubrey Miles and Lorna Tolentino (skin treatments) and Anne Curtis (for whatever work she needs done). Other Belo celebrity clients include Gwen Garci (LipoDissolve); Toni Gonzaga (skin care) and many others. Kris Aquino’s fiancé, cager James Yap, has admitted that even he has gone to Belo for skin care treatment to remove two unsightly pimples on his face one day before a television show guesting.
Among the Calayans’ clients are Patricia Javier, Carmina Villaroel and Raymart Santiago (LipoDissolve); Claudine and Marjorie Barretto (laser hair removal); Dingdong Dantes and Tanya Garcia (microcrystals facial treatment) and Pinky de Leon (fotolaser facial treatment). Priscilla Almeda underwent a tummy tuck and liposuction after she gave birth to her daughter Tiffany and wanted to stage a comeback. Later on, she went back for facial contouring.
Rosanna Roces, at the height of her popularity, admitted that she underwent breast augmentation and three liposuctions to get rid of unwanted and stubborn flab.
Bargain prices
US-based Filipinos consider cosmetic enhancement a bargain here. Consider this: A facelift with a reputable doctor costs only P100,000 or a little more and this includes everything. I know of a US-based doctor who had her eyes done here and is already thinking of getting a facelift and maybe liposuction.
The greater acceptance and growth of cosmetic surgery among the general public has encouraged more doctors to enter the field. Unlike in other countries, any licensed medical doctor can perform cosmetic surgery without legal impediment. This has resulted in cosmetic surgeons with no formal training at all except for short courses and seminars. Some cosmetic surgeons even trained in nonsurgical specialties, including internal medicine and dermatology.
To differentiate, a plastic surgeon is a licensed doctor with formal residency training in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Any cosmetic surgery performed by these doctors are more expensive because it is done inside a hospital and under the supervision of a licensed anesthesiologist and other medical personnel. A plastic surgeon should be able to perform both aesthetic and reconstructive surgery.
It is in the interest of the public to be able to distinguish between the real plastic surgeons and nonmedically trained personnel passing themselves off as doctors. For example, some patients have suffered complication from having silicone oil injected onto their noses for P7,000 to P10,000 as opposed to breast augmentation which costs so much more. But as former starlet Janice Jurado has found out, silicone oil can harden into cancerous lumps.
Another practice labeled as anomalous is the injection of paraffin wax on the nose. This costs less than a surgical nose lift, which is priced from P20,000 to P30,000. But the nose lift is more effective and safer in the long run and in the end, this is all that matters.