What Filipino Celebrities Taught Us About Beauty and Wellness in 2025
Working closely with some of the most influential Filipino celebrities through interviews and conversations, Allure Philippines uncovered the beauty routines, wellness habits, and self-care philosophies or practices that guide their daily lives.
Here at Allure Philippines, we just love talking about beauty. We love talking about the latest beauty trends and celebrity beauty looks. We love talking about the hottest new color combinations—on our eyes, lips, cheeks, and nails. We love talking about the best, most well-performing products that deliver results. We love talking about our skin, and all of its intricacies—issues, conditions, solutions, and hacks included. We love talking about our hair, and the best ways to embrace it and keep it straight, curly, wavy, long, short, or what have you. We’ll talk about all of these to anyone—experts, celebrities, industry insiders, enthusiasts, and regular, everyday folk—who will listen.
But we also love talking about beauty that is not just surface-level, not merely about the pores on our skin or the strands on our scalp. We love talking about what beauty really, truly is—its core, its essence, and how these perceived definitions affect everyone in society, from little girls playing dress up to octogenarians whose wrinkles are glorious evidence of a full life. We love talking about the different ways that culture influences beauty—and how beauty influences culture. We love talking about change—not just trends and innovations, but changes in standards and norms that shape our identities, our confidence, and our concepts of self.
We will talk about this kind of beauty to anyone who will listen as well—but we also hope it lands in the ears of people who seem disinterested. The topic of beauty is always more than what it seems, and our thoughts and notions on the subject have the power to shape lives, ideologies, and yes, societies.
And because we talk about beauty all the time, we round up here the top quotes that we’ve gleaned from celebrities and personalities throughout the year—from thoughtful, insightful conversations on the topic of beauty and wellness.
“The mission is to not to let any other little girl experience what I went through. The point is to normalize, even for young girls, the importance of women’s health. I don’t want other children to lose their mothers just because women’s health care isn’t really understood. The purpose of me carrying this advocacy is because I want to live a longer life for my future husband and children. That’s my way of filling that gap. I’m going to be a mom to my children—I’m going to be the mom that I wasn’t able to have.”
Bianca Umali on the importance of women’s health care and regular screenings for breast cancer
Josh Tolentino
“Losing usually teaches me more about myself than winning does. It’s easy to be kind and gracious when everything goes your way. But your real character comes out when it doesn’t.”
Ahtisa Manalo on strength, and picking oneself up after a fall
Allure Philippines
“The more visible and vocal we are, the more it normalizes things for some young girl, somewhere, being bullied for being dark, so she doesn’t have to think na kailangan niyang magpaputi.”
Bianca Gonzalez-Intal on carrying the torch for morenas everywhere
BJ Pascual
“I travel a lot to surf, and I see mga Pilipina from all over the country and, man, ang ganda natin. Ang ganda ganda ng kulay natin. I really want more people to be proud of the skin tone that we are born with here in the Philippines. I wish more people would see the beauty in our color. I’ve always embraced being a morena. I am proud of my skin color—my Filipina color. And I am proud of all the morenas out there who are courageous enough to also be proud of their color. I think it’s so beautiful.”
Mylene Dizon on the beauty of her morena skin color
BJ Pascual
“We have to love our own color, sa fashion industry, sa commercial industry, sa movie industry. Tayong mga Pilipino, kulay brown tayo. We have to patronize yung mga tunay na kayumanggi. Ang wish ko ay sana ten years from now, wala nang mabubully na Pilipino.”
Wilma Doesn’t on loving the morena skin tone
BJ Pascual
“For me, it’s how you feel inside. That will always come out, will always translate into your eyes sparkling, kindness in your face. It’s really how you feel about yourself—if you feel good, you feel healthy, you take good care of yourself, you get good sleep. No matter how externally beautiful you are, if you haven’t been taking good care of yourself, you will feel sloppy, and people will see that.
Angel Aquino on what beauty means to her
I know this because last year, I had a very tumultuous personal relationship with myself. I felt so conflicted, I felt that there was something shifting inside me. I felt my body changing, and it was kind of messing up my psyche also. And so, I just prayed so hard. I started waking up early, getting into exercise. But it’s not just that. Beauty is your thoughts, your emotions—these things translate to a really beautiful you. It’s not just your face, skin, hair. It’s the whole package inside and out.”
BJ Pascual
“I’ve been asked this question several times in my 23 years in this industry. My definition of beauty now is really what’s on the inside. I think real beauty is really energy. It’s the energy that emanates from you, that radiates from within. Beauty is also from within, because it’s also about embracing your shadows and imperfections, and you have to be ok with all of it—your shadows and your light.
Iza Calzado on the definition of beauty
Beauty is so hard to define, because people will have their own definitions, but to me, as I’m getting older in life, you really understand that beauty is that energy and power that radiates from within. When the energy is not good, then it’s not beautiful.”
BJ Pascual
“I’m so tired of thinking that what made me different were setbacks. I have influence, because I am gay. I have influence, because I’m brown. I’m moreno and I’m Filipino. Those are my superpowers.”
Bretman Rock on where he has learned to draw his strength from
Mark Nicdao
“We have to use our voice every single day of our lives, to show who we are, to ask for what we want, to fight for our rights. We have to use our voice every single time.”
Jervi Wrightson on why need to use our voices to speak up for causes and advocacies
Jerick Sanchez
“[I’ve learned] that beauty and strength go side by side,” she shares. “When you have a certain inner strength, you are beautiful. Women in Sulu who normally don’t have a mirror at home, because they live in a tent city or they are displaced—you meet them and they have so much grace, in the way they carry themselves, and the stories that they carry with them,” Alindogan says, her own eyes shining with all the stories she herself carries within. “That, to me, is the definition of beauty.”
Jamela Alindogan on how her experiences as a journalist have shaped her views on beauty
Jerick Sanchez
“With all the news that we receive today—heartbreaking, nakakagalit, nakakadisappoint—gusto lang namin magdagdag sa mga parts that make you happy and laugh. Comedy has saved us during a lot of dark days. When you smile, when you laugh, you become lighter, you heal a little better, a little faster. It is truly the best medicine that there is.”
Macoy Dubs and Baus Rufo on the power of laughter
Jharwin Castañeda
“Put your phone down. You’re looking at pictures na naka-edit or perfect kasi shinoot so may glam team ‘yan. [You have to] look at real skin texture, look at real bodies, look at real legs with cellulite and hair. You gotta be able to catch yourself. You have to know when it’s feeding into the negative self-talk.”
Pia Wurtzbach-Jauncey on breaking the cycle of comparison and negative self-talk
Betty Uy Chan
“When I was younger, surrounded by beautiful clothes and beautiful people, I thought beauty was very physical and very material. [By my 50s], I met a lot of people who were beautiful, but unfortunately, not so beautiful inside. That changed my perspective. I started to put that beauty inside me. It’s more inward, it’s more experiential. I try to make myself the best I could be, not only for myself, but maybe for the world.”
Tina Maristela Ocampo on how her definition of beauty evolved over the years
Mark Nicdao
“I can’t control everything. It’s normal. At the end of the day, what’s important is you have a genuine heart.”
Dustin Yu on dealing with hate and letting go of what he can’t control
Borgy Angeles
“With great power comes great responsibility. I’m dedicated to be a role model, to be a good example, to still make people happy, [and to] uplift their spirits. I would say, I found my purpose.”
Shuvee Etrata on using her platform with a purpose
Borgy Angeles
“The moment you explain yourself once, people will expect you to keep doing it. And when you don’t, they’ll assume it’s true.”
Mika Salamanca on setting boundaries and protecting her inner peace amidst the noise
Borgy Angeles
“May innate pressure na sa aming mga bakla, kasi feeling namin, mapapansin lang kami o matatanggap lang kami pag mayroon kaming mapapatunayan. Walang mali sa pagiging bakla. Sana hindi sila mapressure na patunayan ‘yung sarili nila,”
Esnyr Ranollo on unlearning the pressure queer people feel to prove their worth
Borgy Angeles
“When I do well, I say, ‘As you should.’ If I don’t do well, I beat myself up for it. But now, after PBB, I have gentler and more self-assuring words for—not [just] myself now—[but even for] my younger self. I’m sure I made him proud.”
Brent Manalo on rewriting his inner dialogue with compassion after PBB
Borgy Angeles
“The moment you look at yourself in the mirror, that’s you. That’s your own beauty. It’s not me. If you want to be me, be better than me,”
Chelsea Manalo on owning your beauty
Jerick Sanchez
