Abi Balingit, the James Beard Award-Winning Baker
Adobo chocolate chip cookies, winged liner tan lines, food-inspired makeup, and tips for bleached hair.
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Ube Macapuno Molten Lava Cake, Spicy Bagoong Caramels, Chai Leche Flan, Halo-Halo Baked Alaska…these are just a handful of genius desserts dreamed up by Abi Balingit.
The James Beard Award-winning author of Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed possesses creativity in spades, and naturally, it extends to her beauty routine. Whether in bleached eyebrows, an ombré lavender-teal-blue bob, or colorful hot pink eye shadow, the Brooklyn-based baker isn’t afraid to experiment. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the creative mind that came up with Adobo Chocolate Chip Cookies.
“I think there's so much play that comes with everything in beauty and food,” Abi tells Pearl. “When I’m baking, what piques my imagination or piques my curiosity is when it’s like, oh, this is not conventional…I feel the same way about certain food-type flavors for makeup.”
Mayumu is not a conventional cookbook. In between drool-worthy recipes, Abi weaves in her family history, documenting her parents’ move from Pampanga to America, her childhood in the Bay Area, and all the sweet puzzle pieces that informed her tastes from Jollibee’s Peach Mango Pie, to Sky Flakes crackers, to Goldilocks cakes. While devouring page after page of her stories and desserts, a feeling of warm recognition sunk into me like butter on a slice of fresh pandesal. I’d never felt so seen by a book. Every page illuminated nuances of the Fil-Am experience I’d yet to see documented so vividly. This feeling, I thought, is why it is so important to have more Filipino voices published. See: Page 118 of Mayumu, where she recalls her mom warning her to “not get too dark” while at tennis practice:
“I loved my brown skin. Being morena, naturally having brown skin, was a constant reminder of where I came from. I was born with sun-kissed skin, which I didn’t need spray tans or extra-dark foundation to mimic. I never wanted to try any pseudo-remedies to make me whiter.”
When I came across this passage, I knew I had to talk to Abi. The fact that it was sandwiched between recipes for Roasted Kamote Scones and Buko Pie Lollipops made reading it much sweeter.
Ahead, I share my conversation with Abi, where we dive into the cult of Glossier, her top recommendations for keeping bleached hair healthy, “trad wife” bakers, and the indie fragrance brand that makes a pandan perfume.
Kristina Rodulfo: I reached out to you because of your cookbook and blog The Dusky Kitchen, but also because you have the coolest personal style. Let’s start from the beginning: What is your earliest beauty memory?
Abi Balingit: I feel like my earliest memory is Lip Smackers! My older sister was way more into makeup, especially in high school. I'd ask her to do my makeup.
Kristina: I used to love the watermelon Lip Smackers too! Do you remember any specific signature beauty look you had back then?
Abi: In college, my signature was doing winged eyeliner every day. The commitment to the wing was insane. Even as recently as six years ago, I did it so much that I got a tan from around the eyeliner. You could see under the wing, it's whiter than [my skin]. I remember the Sketch Marker from Too Faced was my holy grail eyeliner. I don’t know if you’re supposed to do this, but I [search on] eBay “Sketch Marker discontinued black eyeliner” and just hope for any resale of it.
Kristina: In your book, you described yourself as into Hot Topic and more of a “scene” girl. Did your beauty looks lean into that, too?
Abi: My side part was over here [gestures past eyebrow]. If you see my eighth grade photos, I can barely see my eyes. I do feel like I was such a late bloomer with makeup and beauty. I wasn't wearing too much makeup in high school–it’s what I talk about in my book, about not having disposable income. I prioritized makeup last. Once I started making my own money in 2017–I went to UC Berkeley, then I moved to New York right after college–Glossier everything was what I liked. I really loved it when they had the actual colorful line.
Kristina: Wait, Glossier Play!
Abi: Yeah, I’m bringing back Glossier Play!
Kristina: I remember it! I was working at ELLE at the time, and I remember Glossier anything we would always have to write about because they had such a chokehold on all the millennial girlies. I think I still have that glitter gel from Glossier Play. The whole line's discontinued, and I held onto that glitter gel. It was the best glitter gel!
Abi: It really was. I feel like the pigmentation of everything in the Play line was just so nice. It was easy to opt into Glossier because I was like, this is my beginner's everything…for someone who doesn’t have a lot of brushes or equipment. I was like, okay, I need my Glossier Lash Slick. I remember buying all the Skywash–all the shades–just if I wanted to switch it up after I left my all-the-time-winged-liner era. I still wear Cloud Paint! It has a lot of control.
Kristina: What other makeup were you wearing at the time?
Abi: ColourPop was big, too! I have a bunch of palettes that I still use: the Lizzie McGuire palette, the Sailor Moon palette. Those are still ones I turn to. It's nostalgic, one, and, two, I love the oranges and the deep pinks and the glittery everything.
Kristina: They're super, super pigmented and also a really great price point. It’s funny that moving to New York would influence your beauty routine so much. I guess this is really a big city for beauty – so many beauty brands are based in New York. Glossier is a New York brand. I feel like you would just get surrounded by that: “All the cool girls are wearing these colors from these brands.”
Abi: Exactly! Have you heard of Filipinta? Their packaging is so good. I know I have a couple of the eyeshadow palettes. One I have is the one that's all sorbetes.
Kristina: Oh my God. Yeah, I remember that! They even had an ube palette too.
Abi: I don’t have that one, but I’ve definitely experimented with their stuff–it’s really called to me. The more niche, independent brands are really cool, too.
Kristina: One passage in your book that really struck me is when you talk about putting on sunscreen for tennis practice and your mom's remarks about not getting too tan, because this is something I feel like every Filipino girl has heard growing up, including myself. Have you ever experienced colorism?
Abi: My mom, specifically with using the whitening products, I just ignored. I opted out of that feeling of, “If I'm darker, I’m going to be lesser.” For me, my skin color changes a bit. I’m brown naturally. But, because it’s winter, I’m so pale. I like a tan! I embrace whatever I am naturally.
But, having that “tennis tan” was rough. Sometimes conditioning happened in August, and you're in the sun every day. I just remember from my uniform, my body was two different skin tones. All I cared about was more the evening [of my skin tone] rather than it being completely white again. I’d rather just all be brown. [The tan] felt like a badge of honor to play sport and to enjoy it. That's kind of my philosophy with that time of my life.
Kristina: I noticed that your hair is different colors right now–I love that! When did you first start dyeing your hair?
Abi: That happened in 2020 as everyone was home. For a long time, I was so anti-dyeing my hair. I was just scared of it getting super damaged. But, my boyfriend was like, it'd be really fun if we bleached your hair and I dip-dyed my mullet at the time. It was kind of a baby step. Eventually, we went all the way to the scalp. Sometimes I have an undercut, so it's not as much hair to dye. My hair is naturally very thin, so it's not a lot of volume either. We would just do this in my bathroom! Now that we live together, he's still shaving, coloring, bleaching, and touching up my hair every few weeks! All the colors that we've done are Manic Panic or Arctic Fox–the temporary dyes that eventually wash out.
Kristina: I had no idea you were doing it all DIY at home with Manic Panic! How does switching up your hair so frequently make you feel?
Abi: I like changing up my look a lot. It feels freeing to do that. And, I think I didn't realize that's how I could feel from my hair. I would always have very long hair in high school. Then, I chopped it off in the middle of college and I was like, okay, now, it's bob or nothing. Bob with baby bangs, no bangs…I’ve shaved my head, bowl cuts, I’ve done it all. It's just really fun to see time capsules of every month. I feel like everyone in New York is very chill, and I think that's helped me feel good about not really adhering to whatever. Except for my mom, she does not really like this hair, to be honest. She always wishes I had my long black hair again. But, I'm like, I don't care!
Kristina: That’s a very Filipino Mom response. What products do you use to maintain color or what's your hair routine for someone with colorful hair?
Abi: We have Olaplex at home. I definitely put in a leave-in conditioner. Then, I have this coconut oil spray foam to keep the hydration in. Then, I have hair oil, either Moroccan Oil or Kérastase. They’re both really, really good for rehydrating hair. I try not to shampoo as much, because that washes the color out a lot more.
Kristina: Do you use any hair masks?
Abi: I actually just tried K18. I really, really liked that product too. I was like, if I could afford this, I would do that more. I felt a difference using it in my hair in addition to everything else I listed. But again, that was really tiny.
Kristina: They come in tiny bottles! But the people who I hear love tend to bleach their hair or do a lot of coloring. I use their dry shampoo, and it's one of the best dry shampoos I've ever used!
Kristina: I'd love to talk about how the beauty world is obsessed with food, and particularly with the dawn of TikTok, I feel like every other trend is “Strawberry Girl,” or “Tomato Girl.” I'm starting to see it now in the launches, right?
Abi: I’ve tried the Tower 28 [Ube Vanilla] Lip Softie. My hot take there is, I love the shade–it's a nice darkish, almost brown–but I think it's more vanilla than ube. I appreciate the trying of it!
Kristina: Yes, I like that one! It’s definitely more vanilla. Huda Beauty just came out with an ube collection. She has this ube powder. I recently wrote about my thoughts about this because I don't think it was 100% executed the right way.
Abi: Does it smell like ube?
Kristina: No, it doesn't. But also, there's no mention of the Philippines. The powder is like a setting powder. It has a purple tint to it and, funnily enough, she calls it “ube birthday cake.” On that note…how do you think that beauty and baking are similar?
Abi: Oh my God. There's so much overlap. As a Glossier girl, I love the Birthday Cake Balm Dot Com.
Kristina: It's so good!
Abi: Balm dot com was my holy grail. Fragrance, makeup, food – there’s a venn diagram of all these things. I think there's so much play that comes with everything in beauty and food. Even Rhode’s lip peptide shade names–like “Espresso”–really do stick. When I’m baking, what piques my imagination or piques my curiosity is when it’s like, oh, this is not conventional.
Kristina: I feel like both–whether in the kitchen or doing your makeup or hair–is so much about self-expression. Right? It’s a way to be creative.
Abi: The overlap that I see of what is exciting in food and what's exciting in beauty–especially fragrance–is just thinking how does this translate for me? I'll blind-buy a lot of things. Even though you can't eat it, I think the allure is imagining, and hopefully, it matches your expectations. That’s the same kind of marketing, in a way, I did in my brain with my biggest recipe, Adobo Chocolate Chip Cookies. If these were just “Bay Leaf Brown Butter Cookies,” no one would think anything of it. I think it’s the extra connection of oh, you’re layering information about savory food and a dessert. There’s so much play there: The psychology of, oh I want to know what an adobo cookie would taste like. I feel the same way about certain food-type flavors for makeup.
By the way, do you remember Jessica Simpson's old beauty stuff where they were edible?
Kristina: Oh my God. Wait, you've just unlocked this memory. I didn't, it was called “Cake”? [Editor’s note: It was called Dessert Beauty]
Abi: I felt like that was maybe unsafe.
Kristina: Who knows!
Abi: I think that if something feels edible, even though it's not, it’s your imagination working over time. What you build up in your mind with these associations that aren’t supposed to coexist but do – Hailey Bieber, again, with the “Glazed Donut” nails. There's a Vietnamese brand, Level 1 Studio, that sells a Jasmine Rice scent and a Pandan scent that I’ve got recently. Those are the things that I gravitate towards.
Kristina: For 2025, a lot of the big fragrance trends are gourmand. Gourmand is all sweets, desserts, vanilla, sugar–it’s very popular right now.
Abi: I literally was susceptible. I feel like I’ve been watching a lot of TikTok–fragrance TikTok is so crazy. I got an ad for the Magnolia Bakery Boy Smells Banana Pudding candle. That was a really fun one!
Kristina: Speaking of TikTok, I feel like we're in this weird era of this performance of femininity, where it's like–between the Martha Stewart documentary, all these trad wives trending–baking is now associated with these TikTokers in prairie dresses.
Abi: The cottage-core.
Kristina: Yes! I feel like we're in this weird era of performing traditional femininity, and obviously, that's all tied into beauty. What are your thoughts on that as a baker?
Abi: My go-to cake style that I decorate in is the retro heart-shaped cakes and shell piping, all the very feminine coquette-type accents. I still find them really fun. I understand the rise of trad wives sometimes coexists with homemaking and homesteading–and baking and cooking included in that–but, I do feel like there's a separation from people who are earnestly playing around with flavors and having fun with them. I think it kind of sucks when the conversation gets blown out of context by people [saying], “Oh, this sounds so disgusting, gross.”
I feel like it’s a tough situation where sometimes the world is so ironic now. There's a problem with everyone either not taking themselves seriously enough or not being compassionate enough while pulling things out of context on the internet. I've been noticing this. There's this discourse about how bakers nowadays are very maximalist–me included as well–with flavors. There’ll be a cinnamon cake with brown sugar butter frosting, and rosemary and sugared cranberries on top. And people will say, “Why is every cake now I picked this from the grass of blah, blah, blah?”
I think that the frustration, as a baker, coming from the people that do this unironically, is that these are flavors that just make sense. It’s racially-coded as well–that's where I always have felt annoyed with my own baking, especially when you’re baking Filipino-specific flavors, or you’re inspired by cultural foods. It's hard. It’s sexist and racist.
Kristina: You've hit on so many good points–let people have fun with flavors! Let people make a heart-shaped dessert! Listen, I also love a retro cake. I had one for my bridal shower that was super girly. It was so cute.
Abi: I think there's nothing wrong with wearing makeup. There's nothing wrong with baking cute cakes. There's nothing wrong with all those things. It just feels like the conversation about femininity is if the performance of it is bad or good? Just let people do what they want! Bahala ka sa buhay mo! is truly the heart of the conversation.
Kristina: That is what every parent has told us over and over again–it's honestly a great motto. Thank you so much for chatting with me, Abi!
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Inside Abi’s Beauty Bag:
EADEM Le Chouchou Exfoliating + Softening Peptide Lip Balm: “This is a lip softening balm with a little bit of a gloss, and it's just so luxurious. The applicator is not plastic. It’s silver and feels really nice. I have the Bissap Glaze, which is more plum. Again, it’s like food!”
Enkō Beauty Aradia Iridescent Eyeshadow: “It's another independent brand I think I found over Instagram. The eyeshadow is really good, and it's just very glittery and iridescent. When I'm really lazy, and I don't want to do my go-to eyeliner look, and I just want to put on something that makes it feel more put together slash fun, I'll put on this. And that's the only thing I wear on my eyes.”
Saie Beauty Glowy Super Gel in Starglow: “I use a lot on my collar bone area if I'm wearing something showing it.”
Rhode Barrier Butter: “I really like that as an overnight night kind of thing, because it is so hydrating, especially in the winter months.”
Clue Perfumery The Point: “It's such a good boutique independent perfumer. I got their sampler set and the scent that got me was Warm Bulb, which is supposed to smell like a light bulb burning. That's a really fun one. But, my favorite wine of all of them is the Point. It's like sea [water] and jasmine. I ran out of the scent the fastest. It’s very long lasting smell and just really, really good.”
Mooncat Holographic Nail Polish in Moonflower: “In the light, it kind of reflects more and looks holographic. This is my go-to [nail polish].”
This is a fantastic interview!! The Eadem balms are a must have for me as well!
I’m gonna have to drive up to BK to try these pastries!!