By Marane Plaza
Filipina actress and singer Lovi Poe is ringing in a new phase in her life as an entrepreneur, with the launch of her very own filmmaking house C’est La Vie Productions, as well as her first beauty enterprise in partnership with cosmetic brand Ready Set Glow: the ‘Love, You’ by Lovi makeup collection.
Growing up as women, we’re allusively expected to learn to make ourselves look pretty or at the very least, physically presentable. There are no formal classes in school that explicitly told us to do so, but societal pressures and cultural norms inevitably ingrained in us early on that association with attractiveness can result in being valued more and accepted more, which can lead to social benefits.
In the Philippines, the beauty standards growing up during my time were more insane, I think. There were no loud campaigns yet about diversity in beauty. Fairer skin was just deemed superior no matter what, and having dark skin meant you’re not as pretty. You could see it in the way big TV commercials would sell whitening lotions, or in the way silly jokes in comedies would poke fun of brown skin. The ironic thing is, the same media that taught me to keep up with unrealistic beauty ideals were the same media that brought me to discovering songs that made me look at life beyond physicality. My mother, a music-lover through and through and a very intellectual woman, exposed me to American singer Whitney Houston and her music so early in my life (You know from her song what the greatest love of all is). So for me, Whitney was my first beauty icon. Comments about my dark skin color didn’t bother me as much because as a little girl, I wanted to look like Whitney. The Filipino beauty standards didn’t define nor impact me as much as how I personally see my own skin. Also furthermore in my teenage years, it was the song ‘Unpretty’ by American girl group TLC that made me open my eyes that I am way more than my appearance and perceived beauty.
Locally though, there were rare gems on Philippine TV that made me feel finally represented and seen. Morena actress Lovi Poe was one of them. In the early 2000s, her presence on my small screen made me feel connected with the Filipino media for the first time ever. During my teenage years, seeing Lovi looking so confident, sexy, stunning and assured of herself in TV series, movies, music videos and stage performances made me feel like my brown skin color could be considered beautiful in my very own culture, finally.
“Growing up in showbiz, everyone had a different opinion of you, especially when it comes to standard of beauty or what type of person you should be. And so all these voices sometimes could get to you. They would tell me, ‘You would not make it in the business because you’re morena and flat-chested’. When I was starting out, a lot of people were telling me to do things to look a certain way. There were people telling me, ‘Have your skin lightened, or get a boob job’. Basically telling me things that I should do to meet the beauty standards in the Philippines,” Lovi shared during our cover shoot interview.
“I was only 15 years old when I started in showbiz. So to be told those things, it was hard for me to really look at myself in the mirror, and think like, do I really have to change who I am? Or do I really have to do certain things to make other people happy? There were struggles, definitely.”
“I didn’t wanna do the skin whitening stuff, probably because I was young and stubborn so I was going the opposite of what everyone was doing. During that time, I just thought to myself, ‘If I’m not going to be appreciated because I am morena and I have dark skin, then I would just do the best I could do with my art, and just have fun while doing it!’ And I did have fun. I found myself eventually.”
Today, Lovi is one of the most influential and most successful actresses in the country. She is also well on her way to representing natural Filipina beauty in Hollywood with her upcoming movies in the States. Even more impressive, her very own makeup line with Ready Set Glow called ‘Love, You’ by Lovi, launched a couple of months back, puts the spotlight on morena beauty, and self-love from within. A real flip we all need.
Khaki Suit and Pants : Ken Batino and Jevin Salaysay
One of the shades of her Me, Myself and I lip gloss from the collection is called “Moreyna” – a combination of the words ‘morena’ (a girl with dark skin in local language) and ‘reyna’ (or queen in Tagalog).
“The term ‘morena’ is very impactful to me. It is a very positive thing to me now. What’s something that people deemed to be very negative in the past, means something completely different and positive now. It is indeed very empowering for me, personally.”
Proud Morena Queen
As a morena who’s very vocal about overcoming her own challenges with keeping up with Westernized Filipino beauty ideals, Lovi sees her new beauty business with Ready Set Glow as a real full-circle moment.
In 2022, Lovi was first introduced as the endorser of RSG. This year, the actress introduced the ‘Love, You’ by Lovi makeup collection, her business partnership with the makeup brand. This new special edition collection marked her new phase as a lady boss in the field of beauty.
“Being a beauty entrepreneur is something I did not expect at all. Because right from the start in showbiz, people would comment about my dark skin, that apparently it made me not pretty enough. So never in a million years had I thought that it was possible for a morena like me to have my own beauty brand or makeup line. When I walked toward the launch event of our ‘Love, You’ makeup collection, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, my 15-year-old self would’ve never believed this is happening to me now’. So this partnership with Ready Set Glow just made me realize all the more that embracing what’s unique about you is what will make you stand out in the end,” she said.
The ‘Love, You’ by Lovi makeup collection by Ready Set Glow is centered on the theme of self-love.
“I chose to advocate self-love talaga, because I know that journey toward real self-love. In the beginning of my career, it was difficult for me to fully embrace and love myself for truly what I am. The industry could sometimes be cruel. But I have learned to overcome my struggles with self-esteem. It was a lot of work definitely, but I truly found my way toward being comfortable in my own skin and having that authentic self-love,” she said.
The ‘Love, You’ by Lovi collection is a testament to that, a celebration of a very special message on beauty and self-acceptance that she wants to impart with women.
“I’ve been with my Ready Set Glow family for many years now. And what I love about them is we share the same mission, which is for women to feel beautiful in their own skin and for who they truly are. In our campaign during the launch event, we featured real women with different beauty stories and struggles growing up. It was so inspiring and it was such a beautiful way of telling everyone who faces struggles, that, ‘Hey, you are not alone’. A lot of us are going through the same thing, and that’s why we have to be kind toward each other. Especially since in our society, we women get pitted against each other a lot,” she said. “When I started with Ready Set Glow as an endorser, we were about being badass. With the ‘Love, You’ collection, it is about self-love. Combining those two, it just works well. Because it is such a badass thing to do: to truly love yourself.”
The ‘Love, You’ collection is composed of five practical and topnotch makeup products a beauty girl truly needs and uses in her daily life. Like the ‘Me, Myself & I Lippie, for example. It is a multi-use lip product, as it is a soft balm, a high gloss and a plumper all in one chic tube. It comes in six shades: Moreyna (nude brown color), ‘In the Flesh’, an (nude pink shade), Smitten (pink) Plum Pout (purple red) and Resolute Red (classic red shade, and Majestique dark red).
Aside from the Me, Myself & I Lippies, the Ready Set Glow ‘Love, You’ collection features the Heart in Bloom Cream & Powder Blush Duo, Love and Light Contour and Highlighter Stick, Statement Setter Brow Trio, and the distinctive Skin Poetry Scented Body Shimmer.
“It was a tough process choosing the products because there were a lot of really, really great options from palettes, textures, down to formulations. And the Ready Set Glow team members were real experts when it comes to makeup, so they already had amazing products as it was. It meant double efforts to come up with a new collection that is really me, really Lovi. But we got to narrow it down to five makeup products that we know everyone can really use. The collection is meant for every type of beauty. We wanted to offer makeup products that can be used on a daily basis, but also can be used for when you feel like you wanna level up your look. I love traveling, so we made sure that everything is travel-friendly.”
For the Heart in Bloom Cream & Powder Blush Duo, the blush-on product that offers the velvety texture of cream blush and the radiant finish of powder blush, the inspiration came from looking for a solution to a real beauty dilemma.
“I remember we were still taping ‘Batang Quiapo’ that time. And in my scenes, I was doing a lot of running and fight scenes. I remember my makeup artist would do a lot of retouch, retouch and retouch. So I thought, we needed a good solution for that. So that’s how we came up with the blush-on product.”
The cream and powder blush duo comes in four shades: Blossom (pink); Fine Wine (purplish); Flourish (coral); and Rosebud (red).
“With Ready Set Glow and ‘Love, You’ line, we just wanna make sure that women know that they do not have to put up with what the world says is what only considered beautiful. You can set your own beauty standards, and be happy with those. At the end of the day, if it makes you feel good, if it makes you happy, then that’s what is important. The world can tell you that the prettiest girl is the tallest girl, or maybe one with the 36-24-36 body measurements even. But for me, the most beautiful girl is the happiest girl. So stay true to what makes you happy from within.”
Badass Boss
Aside from her new beauty business, Lovi also launched her very own filmmaking company this year, called the C’est La Vie Productions. From being an actress, she also wears the producer’s hat this time– starting with her recent local film project, ‘Guilty Pleasure’.
In Guilty Pleasure, Lovi is Alexis, a fierce attorney caught up in “the complex relationships and personal struggles as they navigate their way through love, betrayal, and ambition.” The movie tackled sensitive topics such as rape, and the integrity of lawyers amidst the fight of justice and morality.
“I was playing the role of a lawyer in the movie, so there was a lot of memorization. The movie also tackled a sensitive topic, so we had to make sure everything was well-thought out and handled with care, as support for those who are going through the same thing,” she explained.
Her passion for behind-the-scenes work in movies started when she wrote the plot concept of her 2023 Netflix movie ‘Seasons’ –which she also starred in alongside Carlo Aquino. The project was the first time she was credited as a screenwriter. The story is about two best friends Kurt (Aquino) and Charlie (Poe) who may or may not find true love with each other.
“I’ve always loved the creative process of filming. I came up with the concept of ‘Seasons’ on Netflix, and I was credited as a screenwriter. It made me so happy to be given that movie and opportunity. I have so many ideas when it comes to movie storylines. And that was the first time that I actually pulled the trigger and did behind the scenes work for movies, aside from acting in it,” she narrated.
Her new endeavor in the entertainment business was also inspired by her husband, a film producer himself: Monty Blencowe.
“Monty pushed me to really pursue this, and told me he really could see how passionate I am when coming up with movie concepts and storylines– so basically, writing. The thing is, he is the producer. He basically influenced me, and he teaches me how to do things. I mean, how amazing is he to name the production house after me, which is C’est La Vie Productions.”
Her “very simple” meet-cute story with her hubby in itself is like fresh off from a romantic movie.
“He was introduced to me by a common friend of ours, who was his half-Filipino childhood friend in England, and now happens to be living here now in the Philippines. And then after that, I flew to LA and stayed there for two weeks, and that friend of ours told Monty to show me around LA. So at first, we were just hanging out as friends. It was nothing at all. Then I came back here in Manila and that’s when we started texting and calling more often. So six months of texting and calling, then we decided to meet up again in New York for New Year’s celebration. It was New Year’s Eve, and it was one of the most romantic evenings for me. The New Year’s Eve kiss sealed the deal. It was very movie-like actually,” she said.
Lovi is cooking up a lot of upcoming film projects under her own production fit, and she admitted it could be quite interesting to run the business with her real-life love interest.
“As a married couple slash business partners, it is hard to separate the two sometimes. It is hard to separate the conversations about business, and then about our relationship. But you just have to see it as, we are both growing together in both aspects, which is really great.”
“It’s true when they say that when choosing a life partner, it is not just about the romantic side of things. It is about your partner bringing out the best in you, for you to blossom as a person, and for you to reach your fullest potential. And for me, that’s exactly what he has been doing. Of course, he is sweet and romantic but then again, most people are. So it is very rare to have a person like that in my life. The things that we talk about, are the things that are the truth about me, the real me, you know what I mean? There’s no filter.”
Filipina Beauty in Hollywood
From being insecure about her brown skin navigating the local showbiz industry, to now bringing that same Filipina beauty to Hollywood– we can indeed say, Lovi has come a long way.
She just finished filming The Chelsea Cowboy, an upcoming British gangster biopic about John Bindon directed by Ben Cookson and starring Alex Pettyfer and Poppy Delevingne. She plays the role of legendary blues singer Dana Gillespie.
She also wrapped up filming Bad Man, an action-comedy indie feature starring William Scott (American Pie), Johnny Simmons (The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Jennifer’s Body, The To-Do List), Rob Riggle, Chance Perdomo, and Andre Hyland.
“In Bad Man, I play the role of Izzy, the love interest of the character of Johnny Simmons. It’s a story in a small town, and how they’re figuring out a situation, and the bad man came into the picture and that’s where the comedy set in. The comedy of the situation made the town even more colorful,” she said. “My character is sweet and romantic, but all of the castmates are funny. During filming, I had to fake it ’til you make it in a way, because I didn’t want it to be obvious that I was actually so starstruck. I mean, some of them were actors I was just watching in movies before.”
Lovi noted how different it was to film in Hollywood.
“In America, we kept doing the same scene over and over and over again. They wanted to see if you had a different take on (the scene) every time. At first I was conscious like it made me think, was I doing it wrong? Then I realized, that’s just how they do things,” she said.
With many achievements under her belt, Lovi is still in search of things to explore and learn.
“I’d describe Lovi Poe now as a student. As time went by, I became more teachable. When you’re younger, you feel like you know a lot of things. The truth is, the more you grow, the more you’d know there’s a lot more to learn.”
“I used to think that if you’re talented, when you have real, natural talent, then nothing could beat that. But the truth is, hard work always beats everything,” she said.
“Things don’t happen overnight, you know? You have to work hard for it. To know the value of something, you really have to work hard to get it. Like for me, I’ve been in the industry for a long time, but I know that I have to remind myself that I still need to be more teachable, to work on things, and always be ready to listen. You will always learn something from every single one person or situation.”
“I am still a work in progress. I believe that we should always try our best to be the best version of ourselves, and part of that is to always be teachable. I aspire to always be teachable, ” she said.
In spite of her impressive milestones thus far, this star is still open to further learning, more possibilities and deeper growth. That’s what makes Lovi a real epitome of unapologetic self-love, as she embraces her journey toward constant self-betterment, and raw self-acceptance.
With what Lovi represents, now I can let out a sigh of relief and beam a sense of pride that little Filipina girls of today can look up to a genuine global beauty icon, and she’s a beauty inside and out. She kicks ass here in the Philippines and in Hollywood, and she glows with her bronzed, sun-kissed brown skin, and proudly from my very own Filipino culture, too. Lovi is a glow-getter anyone can be proud to emulate.
Shoot Producers: Marane Plaza & Aiza Gaufo
Photography: Advan Ramirez
Words & Shoot Concept: Marane Plaza
Art Direction: Kathrina Vapor
Styling & Creative Direction: Ken Batino and Jevin Salaysay
Makeup: Gery Penaso
Hair: Mark Anthony Rosales
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