The Power of Makeup - Paul Unating

There's a local make up artist I've been following lately. He is a miracle worker. To say he's amazing is an understatement. He understands beauty more than the veterans in the field, you don't need to be an expert makeup artist or a pageant judge to be able to tell - one look at his portfolio or at a single photo of his work and you'll know he's a genius.

That nose line! So immaculate! So divine!

It doesn't look like a floating bridge - something MOST Filipino makeup artists need to be told

 NOT to plaster on people's faces!

I first learned about him at a Facebook make up group, possibly The Make Up Revolution (I'm not quite sure, I'm a member of a dozen beauty-related groups). They were raving about this untrained child prodigy, who was 17 at that time, this was just a couple of months ago, he's now 18 - still a child. His works put the works of learned, experienced, moneyed, Europe/US-trained makeup artists to shame. I was instantly hooked. What this loud, flamboyant, young thing has is TALENT. Raw, pure, unadulterated talent.

His name is Paul Unating.

You can follow him here: Paul Unating's Personal Facebook account.

Photo from Paul Unating's Instagram account

He started as a hobbyist. A typical millenial who lived on social media. He shared his works, some on his own face as he transforms ala Nikki Minaj. Soon, and by soon I mean just a matter of a few months, clients started pouring in. I was about 3 weeks into following him when he shared his humble bewilderment when these two sisters booked him:

Yep. That's Kristine and Kathleen Hermosa. The literal muy hermosa sisters.

Paul Unating, being hermosa himself.

These are some of his best works:

Photos from Paul Unating's Facebook.

As you can clearly see, this guy's born to do makeup. He's an artist, not just some trained dude with a signature brush and an expensive palette. He found himself in hot water lately as several Facebook groups started using his portfolio to make fun of women who wear makeup: 

Screenshot from Talk Shit Facebook page.

What made me admire Paul is this:

In spite of the vicious intentions of the admins of the page, Paul, in his humility, chose to not take it against them and thanked them instead. You may say he knows that bad publicity is still good publicity. Or that he could have at least defended his models. But you see, from what little I know of Paul from months of following him online, he's a meek sheep who only wants to do what he does best, which is to make women pretty. He knows his limits and he knows where all his blessings are from, he has no time to waste on internet crap.

Now, now, something for the rest of us internet users. Here's the thing - Before and After Makeup Transformations are marketing tricks. The "Before" photos are strategically shot to make the models look plain and unattractive. Often, when women, even models or especially models, are not wearing makeup and are asked to pose for a photo, they start to shrink and their lack of confidence translate onto a bad photograph. Ask any woman, even the prettiest you know, to remove all her makeup, get her hair off her face, to pose for a photo under lighting that highlights every bump, every line, every scar, let's see how prettily and confidently she'll be smiling.

The goal of every "Transformation" photo is to widen the gap between the Before and After. An artist can either exaggerate the After or exaggerate the Before. Exaggerating the After can often look... well, too good to be true. Filters and Photoshop are discouraged in the makeup industry. Therefore, to give a Transformation more impact, artists have no choice but to exaggerate the Before - something not a lot of models know. Most of the models who agree to pose for Transformations are newbies or Class Bs (please do not take offense, model classes are usually mobile, Class As usually begin as Class Bs) and are not all that informed that their Before face might be used against them.

Also, what is up with people actually thinking that beautiful women are ALWAYS always flawless and plakado? Men do not suffer from monthly fluctuating hormones, they do not deal with period acne, hairfall, rashes, bloating, eye bags, hormone-related allergic sensitivity, etc., that women have to deal with all the time. A woman who's flawless last week can be pizza faced this week and be normal next week. Same woman can take a picture last week, post it this week and have men calling her names for "pretending to be someone she's not." LOL no, seriously, what is up with men and their ignorance? Women have existed for as long as men have, how can men miss this vital information about women?

That being said, I am yet to truly have a conviction about how much "transforming" makeup is dishonest makeup. I think there truly is a fine line between putting on makeup to cover blemishes that would otherwise not be there if not for an unfortunate food sensitivity or a thesis all-nighter, and putting on makeup that makes you look like someone you're not. I think the first one is fine for as long as you still look like yourself, just healthier and better-rested and better-nourished; and the other borders on blatantly lying to the world about who you truly are. My problem is in locating where that fine line is. I think it's blurred for the most part. I think it's also highly subjective. There are people who are intolerant, that no matter how little makeup you put on, you are, in their minds, a big fat liar. And then there are people, usually from the transgender circles who believe you can put on as much makeup as you want, how you want to look is how you truly look. It's rather sad how much hatred is being spurred when we can all just be happy and pretty.