John-Paul Pietrus
The Filipino model shares her beauty tips and skincare journey
London-based model Brea Umali is certainly making it big on the global fashion stage. Besides gracing the pages of Vogue Philippines, she can be spotted walking for London Fashion Week or at shoots for top publications and designers. Besides keeping her growing following on Instagram updated with her fashionable exploits, she also posts makeup and outfit videos on her TikTok.
Signed with various agencies between Manila, Hong Kong, Milan, and London, the stylish young personality is constantly on the go between cities—though you wouldn’t know it from her fresh face. She often rocks her blunt bob with thick brows, taupe lips, and glassy skin.
Vogue Philippines speaks to Umali to find out how she approaches her beauty and skincare routine:
The Model Beauty Routine
Umali explains how, as a model, good skin is a must. Back home in the Philippines, she describes loving her skin despite not having much of a beauty regimen and was even the brand ambassador of Bella Beau Medical and Aesthetic Clinic. However, that all changed the moment she moved to the United Kingdom.
She recalls beginning to notice how sensitive her skin was getting in the colder climate, “The skin on [my] face changed, and I started to have breakouts that I hadn’t experienced before,” she says. The model tells us how she tried to remedy the problem with a salicylic acid cleanser, but that it ended up making her skin worse.
Umali recounts how she began researching possible causes, trying to get to the route of the problem, from the weather, to what she ate, and how much she slept. She eventually discovered The Ordinary Daily Set, which involves a three-product routine for both morning and night.
“[The] first is the Squalane Cleanser that removes my makeup and cleanses my skin. It also supports my skin’s moisture barrier through hydration. The second one is the Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 which is for hydration too and the last one is the Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA,” she continues, remarking how daily moisturizer helps revive her damaged skin and hair.
“Last but not least, I’m using [the] La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo (+) for the closed comedones or the tiny bumps I have and I can see that it’s getting better,” Umali says.
The Filipina notes that thanks to positive lifestyle changes like yoga as well as a healthier diet, her skin has finally settled to the point that she doesn’t need as many products as she used to. Beyond beauty, she says she’s also learned to accept herself as she grows as a model, and that having flaws doesn’t detract from one’s beauty.
