The face of beauty and glamour

After 20 years in show business, Regine Velasquez’ career remains as luminous as ever. She continues to triumph in the fields of recording, television and film (all her movies are box-office hits).

At the moment, Regine is also a much sought after endorser, except that from what I know she can be very selective and choosy about lending her face and image to just any product.

Apparently she has complete faith and trust in top hairstylist Celeste Tuviera because the songbird has just agreed to be the face of Symmetria Salon, which is owned and operated by Tuviera.

It took just one phone call and all Regine said was: "No problem. Let’s do it." The rest of the conversation was just chitchat — basically insignificant girl talk.

Regine and Celeste actually knew each other from way back. This was in the latter part of the ‘80s — when Regine was hosting an ABS-CBN musical called Tin Pan Alley, along with Janno Gibbs and Bing Loyzaga, and Celeste was a regular dancer with the Hotlegs.

The daughter of esteemed Eat, Bulaga! producer Tony Tuviera, Celeste clearly has showbiz inclinations, too (brother Michael Tuviera is now one of the country’s most promising young directors), but decided to give in to her first love: hairstyling and enrolled herself at the prestigious Vidal Sassoon, the Harvard of beauty schools.

After completing her degree (it was tough getting it — just like going to an Ivy League school), Celeste returned to the country and put to practice everything she learned at Vidal Sassoon.

Around this time, Regine went looking for a hairstylist who could do hair extensions on her. She was doing a concert at the Araneta Coliseum with Martin Nievera and wanted to look different for this show. Bong Bella, who does Martin’s hair, knew the right person to do the job. Hair extension that time was practically unheard of in the Philippines, but Bong was aware that Celeste had taken a special course on hair extension in Los Angeles and could help Regine.

The two women were just too happy to reconnect and became very good friends from that time on. They had to be — for they were spending long hours with each other. For that hair extension project, Celeste had to work on Regine for six hours straight.

But Regine felt it was worth it and was happy with the job. From that time on, she became a regular at Celeste Tuviera’s Symmetria Salon (it’s at 59 Connecticut, Greenhills and it’s tel. no. is 705-1375) and has everything done there: Haircut, hair color down to her nails.

And what a dream client Regine is — so swears Celeste. "She is simple, patient and appreciative — not at all demanding."

For Regine, Symmetria is paradise because it is here where she relaxes. She goes there all by herself — often just dropped off by the driver and to be picked up later.

It was also without fuss that they went through the photo shoot for Symmetria — at Jun de Leon’s new studio at The Fort. With the help of another one of Celeste’s good friends, Marlon Rivera, president of the advertising company Publicis Manila, they worked around four layouts in four hours — which was fast. The photos show Regine sporting "sexy hair that moves."

During the shoot, Celeste couldn’t help but tell herself how she made the right decision to ask Regine to be the face of her Symmetria Salon. "She epitomizes my style, my work and carries it well," declares Celeste.

Regine is just as pleased and flattered to be the face of Celeste Tuviera’s Symmetria Salon. She certainly made the right choice about lending her face and image to an establishment that serves her well, especially in a profession that is defined by beauty and glamour.

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