Tips and Inspiration
From Unilever Beauty Experts
Every Filipina who loves fashion knows Laureen Uy. One of the most popular content creators in the country, Laureen’s unique voice and endearing personality carry weight in the industry. Her former blog Break My Style introduced her signature bold style: a mix of urban, glam, and girl-next-door. Here, she offers styling tips and features her everyday life. Now, as an influencer for influencers, Laureen continues to always be ahead of trends.
Team BeautyHub.PH talked to the 33-year-old digital creator about self-love, getting camera-ready, and living a colorful life.
BeautyHub.PH: What's a simple act that you do to help you start your day and love yourself more?
Laureen Uy: It’s the little things that make me happy, like getting iced coffee in the morning or listening to good music. You want to start your day with good vibes. Also, extra points for me would be grooming myself even if I’m just at home. I still put cheek tint, do my skincare routine. I make sure that I take good care of my hair and all those things. Taking good care of myself really makes me happy even if nobody will see me for that day. To me, that’s an act of self-love.
What self-care routines do you have to keep yourself motivated and centered?
When you know you are having a good hair day, super nakakadagdag siya sa confidence. You feel more empowered. I make sure that I shampoo and condition my hair every day, and if I know that I have a meeting or an online event, I style my hair. I use TRESemmé, which has Hair Protect, so you know that your hair is extra protected and you’re not damaging it by using hair products. So yes to hair care.
Can you describe your self-care routine?
A must for me is to shampoo and condition my hair. Since my hair is colored, I use TRESemmé Blonde Brilliance Shampoo and Conditioner. It takes out all the brassiness of my hair. Right now, my hair is grayish purple, so it helps a lot. Another thing I like to do is to leave the purple shampoo for about 30 minutes on dry hair. After I rinse it, super ganda na ng hair color ko.
When I’m styling, I use TRESemmé Keratin Smooth Flat Iron Smoothing Spray before I blow-dry and style my hair, so it’s extra protected from heat damage.
Who is your biggest influence when it comes to beauty?
I attended New York Fashion Week a couple of times, and I’ve met Justine Marjan. She is incredible at hair tricks and how to take care of your hair. When I got to talk to her, she gave me a lot of amazing tips as well as a few hairstyles that I could try myself.
Do you remember the first time you experimented with beauty? What was that adventure like?
The first time that I really wanted to color my hair, I was in London in Shoreditch. I was walking down the street, and everybody there had colored hair. At that time, I had already dyed my hair, but it was always just dark brown, never really extreme bright colors. I got inspired by everyone around, and I booked a salon appointment on the spot and colored my hair blue-green the very next day. It was definitely an adventure.
I’m not the type to make spontaneous decisions, but right then and there, I wanted to get instant hair color, and I loved it. For me, it was kind of brave, kasi I was always just used to having brown or black hair. That was the start of my love for colored hair. After that moment, I’ve tried gray, pink, purple, blue. I tried a lot of different hair colors.
Growing up, did you ever have insecurities about yourself?
I had a lot of insecurities growing up. I was bullied when I was in grade school. When I was in high school konti nalang, but that did play with my self-esteem a lot. I was called a lot of names. I was too skinny for my age. I was too small. I also had a different skin color compared to my classmates. Eventually, I found a strong, supportive group of friends, and I also have my family reminding me how beautiful and well-loved I am every single day.
When I reached college, I interned for a fashion magazine, and of course, you couldn’t help but compare yourself to models. Why isn’t my height like this? Why am I not skinny enough? Why does my skin look like this? But as I grew older, I learned to love myself more and embrace all my flaws. The more that you do that, the more you get content. I think I’ve reached a point where I’m just all about self-love. I love every single thing about my body and my appearance.
If you can advise that old self, what would you say?
Never let anybody dictate who you are. You do you.
What is a beauty stereotype or standard in our society that you think should be redefined?
I think it’s really about being perfect. I used to think I have to have this hair color. I have to have this skin texture. I have to look a certain way. But we realize that nobody is actually perfect, and we’re all imperfectly perfect in our own way.
How do you see yourself evolving as an artist or content creator, and what else do you want to achieve in your industry?
I’ve been in the fashion industry for more than 15 years. I started interning for a fashion magazine when I was 15 years old, and I started blogging when I was 21. So much has happened since then. I feel like we all need to have that drive to keep learning because once we stop learning, we stop growing.
Every year is an opportunity for me to learn something new and stay inspired. There are still a lot of things I want to do. I don’t know what it is yet, but for sure, I’d still like to keep growing, and I still want to keep inspiring.
If you could have any superpower to help boost confidence, what would it be and why?
It’s not so much a superpower because you can do this every day, and I do this to my friends. It’s to send them a text message or send them a letter and tell them that they are beautiful. I think that’s one way to say to them that they matter.
Different gender identities are becoming more visible when it comes to beauty. Given this, what do you think is the future of the beauty industry?
It’s actually the start of a more beautiful beauty industry, in my opinion. Gender identities aren’t just a trend. It’s a representation of who you are as a person — and understanding and allowing room for people to explore, evolve and grow, is a beautiful thing.
What are advocacies you'd like to continue fighting for to help empower more people?
So many!!!!!!!!! But really, it’s just to hate less and love more. Love people around and the world will be a better place.
How do you feel after undoing your hair at the end of the day?
It feels amazing, TBH, but I also can’t wait to style my hair again the following day, so it’s kind of a cycle [Laughs].
How do you feel about sharing a photo of your hair in its natural state?
I’d love to show my hair in its most natural state. I do post photos on Instagram Stories. The more real I get, the more I feel that my followers can relate to me, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I feel like I don’t need to look perfect all the time because I am not perfect. I’d rather show my real self.
Inspired by Laureen Uy’s colored hair hacks, impressive career, and message of self-love? Share this article and spread the word: You do you.
