These Makeup Brushes Were Designed for the Way Filipinos Actually Do Makeup

“I am so much of a beauty girl,” says Alex Javier. “Sobra.”

The founder of Dala Global makeup brushes says that she loves looking at different collections, what’s new, what’s trending. “I love local, I love international. Even if it’s not known, I’m willing to try.”

She shares that her love of makeup began in 2013. That year, she started an online business reselling imported makeup purchased abroad, an enterprise that lasted for five years, before, Javier says, going bankrupt. “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was basically me just loving what I was doing, but it wasn’t really profitable in terms of the business model.”

But when you’re a beauty girl, you’re usually willing to give a seemingly unbecoming shade of lipstick a second chance. And when you’re entrepreneurial at heart, your instinct will tell you when an endeavor, just like the lipstick, is worth a second shot. In Javier’s case, what was worth another try was another beauty business: makeup brushes. 

But these brushes were not named Dala. They were called Kind Beauty Brushes, locally made, with a cult following that grew organically from word of mouth and good online reviews. However, the pandemic hit, and the marketing push that Javier says Kind Beauty needed never materialized, so she was forced to put the brand on hold before rebranding as Dala Global in 2024. This time, she was determined to do things the right way.

After tripping several times, she just had to stand up and try again. “It’s my first love,” Javier explains. “There was a part of me that didn’t want to do it out of fear, but I just faced my fears. And then I called it Dala.”

Grant Babia

The name comes from the Filipino word meaning “to bring.” Alex says that she started with “travel beauty” in mind, which led to her first collection, their travel line: the dual-ended Two Easy Travel Brushes that allows you to have several brush functions at once on a trip. “The intention is, regardless of where you are physically, dala mo kami wherever you go,” Javier explains. “We want to be able to be part of that journey wherever you find yourself, or whenever in your life you find Dala.”

But Dala Global brushes weren’t just created for the traveler; they were created for the Filipino. “Filipinos have a different [beauty] routine,” Javier clarifies. ”If you tell me that Korea has great brushes, how is that going to work out for us, when we know that they like really light makeup or a light touch of blush? What about us?”  

For Javier, if there’s one thing that Filipinos need in their makeup brushes, it’s versatility, the need to be able to adapt to different kinds of products and techniques. “Here we have such humid weather. It’s so hot, so we love a lot of creams and liquids,” Javier says. “But we also like powders, kasi we need to set [the creams and liquids].” To address this, a Dala brush, then, according to Javier, is not a typical kind of brush. Instead, “the brushes can be used for liquids, powders and creams.”

As Javier shares, a Dala brush is handmade by artisans in a small village in China, using a technique called the Cloud Bristles technology that utilizes a secret blend of synthetic fibers. “With makeup brushes, it’s a lot like bag making,” Javier says. “It’s actually a generational skill passed on, others to daughters, grandparents to granddaughters. It’s a very high-level skill.”

Grant Babia

For any beauty girl (and truthfully, any travel junkie) this is the kind of little tidbit that tickles your senses. Yet it also speaks to the business side of Javier, who shares further that she’s always felt that international makeup brands do beauty tools better. “I don’t like the plasticky, low-quality feeling of brushes. And I hate that when you want a good brush, it will cost you Php 1,800 or Php 3,000 each,” she says. “I wanted the middle ground, where average Filipinos can work around their budgets [and still have] a versatile makeup brush that just works with their routine, and with every makeup brand that’s available here.”

With F-beauty booming today, and new brands and products mushrooming left and right, Javier, as an industry insider, brings up the responsibility to address the gaps, the beauty needs of Filipinos, something she’s charged herself with shouldering. It’s apparent that it’s one of the tenets that powers her.

But something else that keeps her going is, quite simply, herself. Javier, who graduated with a degree in nursing on a scholarship and then went into corporate while building her businesses, is not merely just a beauty girl. She’s a girl on a quest. “This has been a personal journey for me. I love it, but I’m not confident about doing it,” she says. “I was insecure growing up. I was never, like, the person that people gravitate towards. This beauty business has done [a lot] for me, in terms of character development, and in terms of creativity.”

Dala Global makeup brushes may be part of Javier’s own personal journey for beauty, but it’s a voyage she takes every other beauty girl on as well. With several double-ended makeup brushes stashed for good measure.

Grant Babia

Photography by Grant Babia, assisted by Gabriel Olmillo and Onel Gesulga. Makeup by Angeline Dela Cruz. Hair by Aica Latay. Styling by Gee Jocson, assisted by Lyle Uy and Kassandra Gandionco. Art Direction and Beauty Direction by Mikiyo Ricamora.