Lady Danger and the MAC Shadescents Launch in Cebu

March 28, 2017 posted by Vicki in Style

When Stephanie called me and asked if I would like to be her companion for the MAC Shadescents Launch and MAC SS17 Pro Tour to be held in Cebu, of course I said yes. “It will be a fun Gypsetter trip together!” she said.

MAC Shadescents inspired by cult MAC lipsticks

Stephanie had been chosen as one of the ambassadors to represent one of six new MAC Shadescents to be launched in the Philippines, all named after cult MAC lipcolors. Stephanie for Lady Danger, Tessa Valdes for Ruby Woo, Megan Young for Creme de Nude, Karylle for Candy Yum-Yum, Bianca Manalo for Velvet Teddy and RB Chanco for Heroine.

Personalized notes and pillowsIn our room

Our view

Once we got to our room MAC surprised us with these personalized pillows and complimentary MAC products. After lunch, Stephanie went downstairs to get her make-up done by MAC’s Senior Artist Gregory Arlt who flew into Manila from Los Angeles  espeically for this event.

What a beautiful day!

Meanwhile, I did some work on our balcony with this amazing view. Our country is totally blessed with beautiful beaches and balmy weather, and though the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu might be an older resort on the island, its five-star facilities and service make it ideal for both business travelers and families. I’ve stayed here before on several other occasions – with friends and our small families overnight before leaving for Bantayan Island, as a home in Cebu for visiting Oslob to see the whalesharks and for an Omega watch launch when I was still working with Philippine Tatler.

Photoshoot for MEGA

Steph was taking so long downstairs I decided to go visit her. She was still waiting in the make-up room but I must have had great timing because as soon as I arrived, the crew from MEGA was ready to shoot her for a feature to come out in April 2017. We went outside to catch the Golden Hour and I took some behind-the-scenes photos of her. It was fun pretending to be media again!

Dinner set up at the Ocean Pavilion

That evening everyone made their way to the Ocean Pavilion for the welcome dinner and introduction of the MAC Shadescents ambassadors. Each table was gorgeously decorated with flowers in the colors of the six scents. Steph and I were seated with young bloggers who we later found out had hundreds of thousands of followers! These pretty young ladies have made blogging their business and are so darn good at it. They too were surprised to find out we both had kids. Surprise, surprise all around.

Since we were in the ‘hood of our friend Kate Anzani, we invited her to come over to the hotel and have some drinks with us after dinner, too. Kate and her hubby Marco own the beautiful Anzani group of restaurants in Cebu with several more opening so she has been a very busy bee.

Ready to hit the beach but first, let’s enjoy this foilage

The next day, Stephanie and I made the most of our day as we were to fly out that night to see our kids and attend to work engagements. But first, beach!

It was quite entertaining people watching at the beach. Everyone – as in every single adult – had their mobile phones taking selfies or jumpshots on the beach. Some of them just took their photos on the beach then left to find another spot to take another photo. What have you done to us, Steve Jobs? We caught Greg walking on the beach and we invited him to sit with us and chat. He is so funny and down to earth. To think that some of his clients include Angelina Jolie and Gwen Stefani!

TGN with the Sea Princess. Photo from her Instagram

When Tessa Valdes came to the beach to swim we told her to leave her stuff with us. She is a triathlete and after her laps in the ocean can you believe that her Ruby Woo lipstick was still there! MAC lipstick is awesome! After lunch Stephanie had to disappear again for more make-up duties. This is a MAC event after all, and our girl has to werq it! I made my way to the beach to listen to the SS17 Trend talks whihc was held in a tent especially erected for MAC. It was freezing inside, to the happiness of Greg who was still acclimating to our humid Philippine climate. It was a lot of fun to hang out with media friends on this trip – reminding me of the good old days.

Media friends

Dubbed MAC SS17 Pro Tour, we watched a short video about MAC doing runway show make-up for Spring-Summer 2017 and then Greg spoke about the different SS17 make-up trends. On the models he demostated the trends of Real on Stephanie, Free on Karylle, Wet on Megan and Warm on Bianca.

MAC SS!7 trends on Bianca, Megan, Stephanie and Karylle

After the presentation we had to get our stuff and go to the airport to catch our flight. But before that we were able to catch one last awe-inspiring sunset in Cebu, reminding us of what amazing country we have and how #blessed we were to be alive to experience it. Such is the beauty of travel.

Goodbye Cebu!

It was a short yet very sweet gypsetter trip and I am so proud of Stephanie for being such an awesome ambassador, fully representing Lady Danger complete with the lipstick from the time we arrived at the NAIA 2 airport, to all the events, to the beach, until she took it off at night. Thank you MAC Cosmetics Philippines for  the products and the experience to go gypsetting with Stephanie again despite our very hectic schedules!