MANILA, Philippines - “Everybody deserves to be loved. Everybody deserves to be a star. When you look at the mirror, you have to believe that you are somebody worth more than anybody can ever say. Beauty is not just aesthetics; it’s also feeling a power from knowing that you are a survivor.”
This is the gist of Bianca Valerio’s best-selling book Face to Face: The Healing Power of Makeup. This, too, speaks of her life as a model, host, columnist, personality development speaker, makeup artist, book author and a single mom all rolled into one.
People ask her why she wants to do so many things. Brave Bianca answers, “Every day, I get to discover more things I want to do. Even if I’m afraid to try it, I just do it. If I fail, that’s my failure. At least I tried.”
Her life, no matter how busy it is, revolves around her little Natassia. She believes that God gave her a daughter so she can see that, at the end of the day, there is no greater gift than having her own child. “It makes everything that you do worth so much more. It really makes you push. You won’t settle for mediocrity,” she says. Playful Bianca even thought she’d be a cool mom. Apparently, she has become much of a disciplinarian.
Other than her family, what makes Bianca happiest is, actually, getting older. In her book, she wrote: “What I hate about getting older is aging. What I love about getting older is growing up.” (She is donating all royalties of her book to the Philippine Red Cross.) For her, growing up means one step closer to finding a lot more inner peace, a lot more contentment, “and the best part is you begin to realize that you have so much love to give.” She says she is in a point in her life where she is more than happy to give all the love she can give to whoever is willing to accept it as sincere.
“People will try to pull you down,” she laments. “People will always talk. People will make you feel like you are not worthy, that you have no right, that you are so ambitious. But it will only be a liability if you allow it to affect you.” Instead, Bianca submits to reciprocating any undesirable nuance with love — genuine love.
She shares, “One of the most beautiful things in life is to give love. When you have love for your job, it shows. When you have love for your family, they feel it. And when they feel it, you feel good. When I put makeup on people, there’s a lot of love that goes into it because it’s very therapeutic for the both of us.”
For Bianca Valerio, amidst everything that life has to offer, love will always be the biggest gift and the biggest inspiration.
Photography by RITA MARIE ABIOG • Creative direction
by LUIS ESPIRITU, JR. • Styling by RUDOLPH LEONOR •
Ivory long dress with appliqué detail by JOEL ESCOBER for MYTH (2nd Level, Greenbelt 5); orange long dress
by NOEL CRISOSTOMO for MYTH (2nd Level, Greenbelt 5) •
Jewelry by MILADAY JEWELS • Shot on location at the DIAMOND HOTEL PHILIPPINES • Special thanks to the management and staff of Diamond Hotel Philippines