MANILA, Philippines - In the world of publishing, which, let’s admit, isn’t nearly as profitable as the showbiz engine, the market value of a celebrity is directly proportional to sales. I’ve seen magazine editors tear down potential cover girls, even though they appeared entirely deserving, just because their previous covers didn’t sell very well. The same goes for newspapers; it’s not uncommon for celebs to have columns, and we can’t stop talking about them here on Supreme. Recently, some well-known media personalities have dipped their toes into book publishing, namely, Bianca Valerio, Jenni Epperson, Sarah Meier and Vicky Herrera.
It comes as a relief that all of these newly-minted authors have considerable writing experience under their belts. Meier has been published in Esquire Philippines and Uno and her writing talent has been lauded by Palanca award winners, like Yvette Tan, Luis Katigbak and Erwin Romulo. Herrera is the features editor of Status magazine and later shared a newspaper column inspired by their radio show with Meier. Epperson maintained a popular column in another broadsheet before becoming a widely followed blogger. Valerio has contributed articles on occasion to broadsheets and has an online column on Cosmo.ph. In all cases, I’m happy to report that all authors chose to write about things that they’ve built their careers on. (Read: There are no attempts at god-awful fiction à la Modelland by Tyra Banks or L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad.) As packaging is everything, all three books take layout and design very carefully into consideration and feature great photography.
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Face to Face: The Healing Power of Makeup (P795) and Fashion + Food: Entertaining at Home in Style (P1,100) are available at all National Book Store and Powerbooks branches nationwide.
Unscripted (P998) is available at all Fully Booked branches nationwide. The book launch will be on Dec. 15, 6 p.m. at the Atrium, G/F at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City.
Face to Face: The Healing Power of Makeup
Author: Bianca S. Valerio
Overview: As a model and makeup artist, Valerio has spent most of her professional career either wearing or applying makeup and has witnessed its transformative properties or “healing powers.” The book delves into the basics of skincare and makeup and illustrates the uses of each tool or product by addressing common beauty problems, like frizzy hair, unsightly facial moles, dark under eye circles, facial birth marks, and of course, wrinkles.
Judging the book: The art direction and layout design is by John Lozano and main photography is by Ria Regino, though there are portraits contributed by Raymund Isaac, Sara Black, BJ Pascual, Paolo Pineda, Ronnie Salvacion, and so on. The product photography is spot-on with artful swipes of lipstick and concealer here and there — beauty editor Agoo Bengzon would be proud. There are helpful step-by-step makeup guides, though no page overwhelms with text and photos. “Before” photos are raw and truthful and “after” photos do justice to the intended makeovers and prove that false eyelashes (and really great lighting) really do make all women look better.
The verdict: As a basic makeup book for beginners, it works and at P795, it’s definitely a pretty good alternative to pricey manuals by Bobbi Brown. However, I must say that Valerio’s objective of demonstrating the ‘healing powers” of makeup gets a little too lofty at times. In the cases of “real women” subjects, especially with transgender Jeoff “Laetitia” Moran, some of the makeovers are truly impressive. But when it comes to subjects like Iza Calzado and Georgina Wilson, who admit that most of their insecurities and emotional wounds came from being a little pudgy in their younger years, to say that makeup played a significant role in their “healing” processes is a bit of a stretch.
Fashion + Food: Entertaining at Home in Style
Author: Jenni Epperson
Overview: Having been known mostly for her styling and shopping exploits, few are aware that Epperson is a dedicated homemaker and in this book, she brings both sides of herself together. The book is broken down into special occasions, like Christmas, New Year’s, Halloween, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and birthdays, with unexpected ideas like indoor picnics, tea parties, Sunday brunch, girls’ night in and date night. In each section, Epperson gives suggestions on table settings and décor, one recipe and one occasion-appropriate outfit.
Judging the book: Since she is married to photographer Tom Epperson, it’s comes as no surprise that he took all of the photos for the book. He succeeds in making the food look scrumptious, the table settings look fun, and his wife, lovely. The book’s clean, yet fun layout design can be credited to Dix Perez and all outfit suggestions by Epperson are beautifully illustrated by Soleil Ignacio and Kris Abrigo.
The verdict: Like Epperson in real life, the book is approachable, and you get the sense that she really is trying to be helpful, placing great emphasis on practicality in her suggestions and more importantly, thoughtfulness. Inside are recipes that are impressive, but appear doable to hopeless homemakers like myself (though admittedly, I haven’t actually tried). On the other end, if you’re a seasoned homemaker and are looking for something a little advanced, this book may not be for you. Epperson’s table settings inspire good excuses to break out the china that’s been stored in cupboards for years or else, serve as a good excuse to start collecting. Lastly, her outfit suggestions consist mostly of wardrobe staples that you can just pick out from your closet, which is great if you really do plan on investing on those china sets.
Unscripted
Authors: Sarah Meier and Vicky Herrera
Overview: Both successful models and television and events hosts in their own right, it made sense to put Meier and Herrera together on the morning radio show The Dollhouse on U92 FM. Though the show is long gone, it resulted in a happy ending with the production of Unscripted. The book’s premise is pretty straightforward: they’re transcriptions of their radio interviews with a wide variety of interesting personalities from different fields, like Imelda Marcos, Lourd de Veyra, Kate Torralba, Kuya Germs, Raimund Marasigan, Rico Hizon, Jeffrey Cariaso and Carlos Celdran.
Judging the book: Aesthetically, the book reflects Meier and Herrera’s love for urban culture and design. The book’s cover design — a dream collaboration between graphic designer Christian San Jose and illustrator Rob Cham — is a nod to French graphic designer and art director So Me who is best known for creating 500 T-shirt designs for Justice’s D.A.N.C.E. music video. The book’s photos were taken by Roy Macam, though it also contains photos in the Gallery section taken by Jason Magbanua, Kai Huang, Nick St. James, among others.
The verdict: Meier and Herrera take the backseat as they pick the brains of people who have shaped Philippine culture one way or another. Though their questions are insightful, they couldn’t make everyone talk, as seen in the one-liner answers of former E-head and Sandwich frontman Raimund Marasigan. Everyone else was pretty chatty, though. Conversational gems include an anecdote of Kuya Germs’ childhood as a bibinkga street vendor, Imelda Marcos’ reaction to the concept album “Here Lies Love” by David Byrne and Brian Eno, which was inspired by Meldy herself, and the moving reason behind Tessa Prieto-Valdes’ outlandish outfits. Though the book doesn’t literally teach you anything, there are lessons to be learned, and it feels like a privilege to know that these are priceless interviews that, were it not for their publication, would have been lost forever as soon as the interviewees went off the air.