One of the very first things I noticed the first time I met our March 2018 #CalyxtaGirl, Laura Lehmann, during our lunch interview at Village Tavern in Bonifacio High Street Central, was that she was completely makeup-free with hair still semi-wet. And despite the initial evidence in her low maintenance routine, which you’ll get a glimpse of in this week’s cover story, she was still as breathtaking as ever. Long and lean legs, an infectious smile, and very eager to share her stories, she began talking about her recent trip to Australia and getting an exclusive peek of the upcoming products that BYS Cosmetics, a beauty brand she proudly endorses, is launching.
For a beauty queen, she’s quite the unconventional one. Most people would expect beauty queens to step out of the house in full hair and makeup, but not Laura. She’s incredibly comfortable just going about her day wearing nothing on her face. And since March is all about embracing fresh skin, as mentioned in our previous cover story, it was only apt that we asked Laura about her skin care secrets and routine. Read up and be surprised with how this beauty queen takes care of her skin.
What’s your skin care secret? Or did you always have good skin? Was there ever a time that you struggled with your skin?
Yeah, of course. I think just growing up, girls always struggle because you get hormones, and all of that. When I started endorsing Facial Care, I think that’s when I really got into it, because they showed me the proper way of doing it. When you’re a girl and you’re not into that, you just think about washing your face and that’s it! But then, they showed me treatments like RevLight, and Diamond Peel, and all these things that I didn’t know, but it helped a lot.
How did you maintain your skin when you were playing sports?
Nooo. I don’t think you care when you’re at that level. You don’t really care.
What’s your skin type and can you share with us your morning and evening skin care routine?
I guess combination. But it’s hard also sometimes because of my color. When I go under the sun, I don’t get a nice tan. I get red, and then it gets freckly. It’s not like a nice morena tan, so sometimes I get worried about that. But I think my routine would be like any beauty queen—you have so much makeup on the whole day, so just making sure you take off your makeup before you go to sleep!
Have you ever tried the Korean 10-step skin care routine?
Nooo. I wish I could say that I did. I probably should, but I really don’t. Maybe when I’m in Japan next, next month, I’ll buy some products. (laughs)
What about during the day? What’s your usual routine like?
I put moisturizer. I use the La Mer Moisturizing Gel Cream, and it’s really, really good. It’s the best moisturizing cream that I’ve tried, I think. Because you know sometimes, like sunblock, moisturizers get all slippery. But the La Mer one, it really soaks up your skin and you can apply makeup on top.
How about for makeup? What’s your go-to makeup look on a regular day when you don’t have a shoot or an event?
I like to keep it natural. Not too much. I don’t like wearing too much makeup. I think I get sick of it because in pageants, you really have to wear heavy makeup. During the pageant, I had two layers of lashes on—it’s just too much, so you want a break from it. Usually, I always just curl my lashes. And then blush and lipstick.
Do you do your own makeup?
Yeah, I do my own makeup. When you compete, I think one of the really great things about competing in pageants is you have to learn how to do everything yourself, because when you go abroad, you don’t have a makeup artist or a hairstylist to help you. You’re just on your own with a hundred of other girls. So before I left, I was trained on how to put my makeup, and how to set my hair, curl, or whatever. So I know how to do all of it.
What’s your go-to makeup look on a date night or a night out with friends?
Just fresh. I think it depends on what event I’m going to. If I’m going to an event with other beauty queens, I kind of have to step up and try to look like them. (laughs) So that’s when I really get made up. But if it’s just me and my boyfriend, I look like this. Light or no makeup.
How different was your pageant look from your everyday makeup look?
It’s completely different. With your everyday makeup look, you just want to look fresh all day and not haggard—so just blush, lipstick, and mascara. With pageants, it’s a completely different level. You need a layer of foundation, you need powder, contour—everything you can imagine times two! So usually what happens when we have pageant makeup on and we’re like this having lunch, you’re going to probably think that I look so crazy made up, like a drag queen. But then, if it’s on stage, it looks normal because of all the lights, and from afar. So I think it depends on the event and the setting. You have to cater your makeup to that.
What’s the best beauty advice you’ve ever received? And from who?
The best beauty advice probably came from my makeup artist. My makeup artist who trained me how to do my makeup is actually Albert Kurniawan, he’s the makeup artist of Heart (Evangelista). He’s really into beauty pageants and he trained me for free. He would do my makeup for free. He’s just really passionate about it. He taught me how to do everything. He’s also the one who got me more into skin care because he would make me realize that it’s so much easier to do makeup when your skin is nice, because when your skin is not nice, no matter how many layers you put on your face, you’ll still see the bumps, you’ll still see the problems. Actually, when I’m with him, he’s the one that makes me do all the Korean masks, and that sort of thing.
What beauty advice can you give to Calyxta’s readers?
Aside from skin care, because I think skin care, when you have really good skin, you don’t have to put much makeup. But aside from that, because that’s what everyone says, I think less is more is also a good topic, because I like it when people look natural. I think the imperfections is what makes everyone look so cool and so unique. If you see it from that perspective, I think that your perception on beauty changes because being a pageant girl, I’ve seen a lot of people with a fake face, because you know sometimes they have everything (surgically) made, and it doesn’t look nice anymore because it looks so fake. But when I see someone who hasn’t had anything done, it’s just so beautiful because it’s refreshing. So I really like that less is more.
Text by: GRETCHEN GATAN
Art Direction: MING BAGAFORO
Editorial Assistant: MAAN FERNANDEZ
Videographer: RICHARD WEBB
Photographer: ERWIN CANLAS
Makeup: AMANDA PADILLA
Hair: MONG AMADO
Stylist: REY ILAGAN
Special Thanks to: ARUGA by Rockwell
