Clean Girl Who? Meet 7 Filipino Creatives Making Makeup Their Art Form

The first thing people bring up when talking about Filipino talent is how our throat chakras seem to immediately activate the moment there’s a mic in our hands. And I agree—not a lot of nations have citizens who can casually belt out an A7 à la Mariah Carey in a shabby karaoke booth at two in the morning, three drinks in.

When it comes to creativity though—whether face painting, body art, makeup, and fashion—Filipinos are just as willing to bring their A-game, and the helm of creative makeup is just one place where this talent really shines. 

Beauty, after all, can be a little contradictory. While social media continues to churn out new versions of the same familiar aesthetics—shoutout clean girl—the spotlight is now turning towards creatives who are more interested in seeing just how clever they can get with it.

Think alien-inspired faces, surreal shapes, and color schemes that aren’t necessarily concerned with being conventionally pretty. In an industry that often rewards what is easy to understand and replicate, these seven Filipino makeup creators caught our eye with how far they’re willing to go against the grain.

Bianca Ferro

Bianca Ferro / IG: @biancaferro

Bianca Ferro / IG: @biancaferrox

Bianca Ferro / IG: @biancaferrox

Bianca Ferro has become something of TikTok’s most recognizable faces in beauty—as she never boxes herself to a single look. One day, she’s doing soft, sparkly glam; the next, she’s playing with a wash of metallic pink and pearlescent mint green across the lids.

With this sea-moss siren look, she also makes a case for taking your makeup a little out of this world. Her Issy x Slo Paint tutorial pairs concealed brows and face glitter with a gray-brown lip, topped with the shade Petrichor at the center. The result is both mermaid-core and mythical sea creature in one. 

Art Torrontegui

Art Torrontegui / IG: @alealejndro

Art Torrontegui / IG: @alealejndro

Art Torrontegui / IG: @alealejndro

“WTF IS CLEAN MAKEUP?!” Art Torrontegui asks on Instagram, and his feed is a pretty convincing argument, when it’s a photo of a papaya, a panda angelfish, or a neon tetra that are among the first images to greet you.

It’s hard to single out just one standout look from the Filipino makeup artist’s body of work—especially when his inspirations stretch well beyond beauty—so he saved you time by collaging his most picturesque looks throughout the years. Here are our favorites, though, from Yayoi Kusama-inspired circles, to texture and rhinestone galore.

Kylie Celebre

Kylie Celebrea / IG: @thekyliecelebre

Kylie Celebrea / IG: @thekyliecelebre

Kylie Celebrea / IG: @thekyliecelebre

While the clean girl aesthetic nearly made content creator Kylie Celebre quit creative makeup—thank God it didn’t—she persists and continues to bring the edgy agenda on the table, look after look. On Instagram, she turns to the greater blue-eared starling for inspiration as she blends deep blue shadow with metallic sapphire and teal shimmer, plus a flash of icy cyan on the inner corners. A glossy nude lip with her signature hot pink hair rounds out the creative look with both colors taking center stage.

Celebre draws from Filipino culture, too. A personal favorite is the familiar colors and textures of sapin-sapin: on the lids are ube purple, white, and langka yellow, as it sweeps along the brow bone. The most interesting part though, was that an actual green banana leaf took the place of her brows like the leaves used to line the kakanin.

Sophia Abarquez

Sophia Abarquez / IG: @mainbiss

Sophia Abarquez / IG: @mainbiss

Poolside makeup? Chappell Roan-inspired base? Sophia Abarquez, aka @mainbisss on TikTok, just tells you to get creative with it. For this phalaenopsis orchid look, fuchsia and orchid hues stretch across her eyes and the bridge of her nose, with fine, vein-like lines branching down her cheeks to mirror the orchid tucked into her hair. Iridescent gems and marigold-hued accents add contrast, while her deep magenta ombré lip gets a hit of gold on the cupid’s bow. 

Too complex? You better start blending now with this 80s pop-inspired color combo. Electric blue shadow takes over her lids, paired with inky liner and spiky lashes. And as if this wasn’t striking enough, a candy pink blush sweeps from just below the eyes down to the cheekbones.

Isabel Lim

Isabel Lim / IG: @showisabel

Isabel Lim / IG: @showisabel

This content creator and artist finds inspiration in the everyday Filipino things around them, even turning a beloved dessert like halo-halo into a makeup look. Her brows are decked out in colorful beads, pearls, and candy-like embellishments that recall the dessert’s mix of sago, gulaman, and sweetened fruits. Ube purple shadow and the slightest hint of gold carry the theme onto her eyes—while her lips get their own striped ube-and-cream design, finished with crystalline details reminiscent of crushed ice and pinipig.

Still, she can also go as easy as she pleases. For lighter inspiration, try her take on this joyous, whimsymaxxing look. Sage green is swept on the lids, topped with brown polka dots. Her lashes are also curled with some overly extended pink spikes—perhaps mimicking a petal—for a delicate and dainty look.

Noelle Neyra

Noelle Neyra / IG: @elleneyr

Noelle Neyra / IG: @elleneyra

Beauty content creator Elle Neyra refers to herself as a creative freak, and one scroll through her TikTok—with the full-on color fest drowning her feed—makes it pretty easy to see.

Take this moth-inspired look for starters: she transforms her eyes into the emperor moth’s eyespot pattern as she uses rings of amber, ochre, and white. A vibrant gradient magenta blush spreads across her cheeks and temples—much like the moth’s vivid wings. The look is finished off with a vampy, metallic magenta lip. 

Anything she puts on her face seems to turn into art, and apparently, even a cob of glass gem corn is fair game. If you’re looking for something, that, well, does not include a complicated moth, start with this color riot of yellow, emerald, teal, and indigo onto your lids. The cyan and hot pink upper lashes, marigold lower lashes, and a tiny rhinestone tucked into the inner corner add an extra zhuzh to your routine.

Orbiverse

ORBI / IG: @orbi.verse

“I’m an art,” reads the back tattoo etched on the creative Orbiverse—and this alienesque look is pretty much an extension of that sentiment.

With this Y2K-meets-sci-fi aesthetic, she turns makeup into art with a cyan star stamped onto the forehead. Some icy purple graphic lines are on the cheeks, and a floating white-and-silver line meant to mimic a spaceship light is set against the magenta and violet shadows. The lips morph in color, too, as it goes from violet to electric teal.

Top it off with a neon-blue fringe and futuristic hair accessories, and you’ve got a living, breathing alien avatar.