Pearl Profiles: Rachelle Facelo, the Makeup Artist Behind Sunnies Face's Campaigns
The Sydney-based MUA talks working with the buzziest Filipino brand, products she uses for a five-minute face, and Filipino vs. Australian beauty standards.
Welcome to Pearl, a bi-weekly newsletter dedicated to Filipinas and their beauty journeys. Read more about its mission here.
If you’ve ever seen photos from Filipino makeup brand Sunnies Face–with their signature glowy skin, bushy brows, and bold lips–you’ve likely seen Rachelle Facelo’s work. The Sydney-based, Australian Filipina makeup artist has worked with Sunnies for the last five years on everything from their latest Juice Tint launch to the very first Fluffmatte campaign. Her work is on their website, social channels, and even plastered across the flagship store in Manila. If you’ve ever been #influenced to buy a Sunnies product because of how good it looks on the model, chances are, you have Rachelle to blame.
I first met Rachelle when I traveled to Sydney in 2022. I was visiting my husband’s family and couldn’t resist the chance to learn more about the beauty landscape down under with a fellow Filipina. Rachelle was a wealth of knowledge, and over heaping plates of noodles at Chin Chin, we bonded over travel, makeup, and exchanging bridal beauty tips. On top of commercial, runway, editorial work, and doubling as a hair stylist, Rachelle is also a sought-after bridal makeup artist, the kind of talent who gets flown to Italy or ends up in Vogue. With a portfolio like hers, you’d be surprised to know her makeup career was accidental.
“I got my first job and I had all this money that I was making for the first time – and I spent it all on makeup!” she recalls. “I bought my first expensive foundation, my first expensive brush set, then I started doing makeup on myself. That branched out into doing friends’ makeup and their friends’ makeup, and I fell into it. I never expected to be a makeup artist at all.”
Ahead, we talk more about Aussie beauty brands to have on your radar, the makeup she uses to achieve a five-minute face, and her experience with Filipino beauty standards growing up in Australia.
Kristina Rodulfo: As a kid in Sydney, where you surrounded by a lot of other Filipinos?
Rachelle Facelo: I grew up always living in a Filipino community – there's certain suburbs in Sydney where it's heavily populated by Filipino communities, and when you go to school in those areas, everyone's Filipino. Their parents all speak Tagalog. It doesn’t feel foreign to meet each other’s parents and eat Filipino food and watch TFC. I learned Tagalog growing up in the household–and all of my best friends are still Filipino. That’s why I’m getting married in the Philippines!
KR: It’s similar to my experience. I grew up in New York City, which is super diverse, but the neighborhood where I grew up is especially Filipino. I mean, it was near a Catholic church, so that's why everyone lived near.
RF: Same as me! My school was just a couple minutes down the road and then the church was there. Everyone just knew each other. They picked each other's kids up from school.
KR: Who were your beauty influences growing up?
RF: My mom, first and foremost. She very much loves all things beauty. She had her Avon makeup in her makeup bag, and I’d dig through it all. She doesn't leave the house without an eyeliner, lipstick–she wears a full face makeup. Every single day. Even at home! So, I just would look at her and she would just wear it walking around the house, feeling pretty.
KR: My mom is the same – always wears lipstick and powder before leaving the house. How did you learn to do makeup?
RF: Throughout high school, my girlfriends and I would watch and bond over YouTube tutorials, watching It's Judy Time’s vlogs, and other Asian makeup artists on YouTube. Obviously having her similar complexion, it was fun to follow her makeup tutorials and have someone to look up to because everyone else that I followed were Aussie influencers or not Asian.
KR: How would you say that being both Australian and Filipino has influenced your beauty routine?
RF: The beauty standards here are very different to if I were growing up in the Philippines. When I would go back to the Philippines, everyone would always say, “Stay out of the sun! Don’t run around in the sun for too long, you’re going to get too dark!” Then working as a makeup artist [in Sydney], I saw everyone getting fake tans, always putting bronzing body products, bronzing face products, everything was about enhancing their tan. That's been a shift in my personal experience being Australian and Filipino: I definitely lean more into my natural skin tone, which is just tan.
When I would go back to the Philippines, everyone would always say, “Stay out of the sun! Don’t run around in the sun for too long, you’re going to get too dark!” Then working as a makeup artist [in Sydney], I saw everyone getting fake tans.
When I go to the Philippines, I notice everything's “brightening,” everything's “whitening.” It's such a funny thing growing up in Australia and going back to the Philippines in my teens and as an adult, noticing all of these differences in beauty standards there. I love being tan. I love my makeup looking bronze and sun-kissed. That's what I love growing up around here–that’s what everyone loves around here, too.
KR: The sun is so strong in Australia.
RF: You cannot avoid the sun. Even just driving, my arm is tanning in the sun! My arms and hands are all tan just from my drive to work you cannot avoid it.
KR: When I would go for a walk in Sydney, maybe only 30 minutes, I came back two shades darker even with sunscreen! I have a similar skin tone to you and came back the tannest I’d ever been. But being there made me just embrace my golden skin. I love it.
RF: I love it! Because it is my natural skin tone, I like enhancing that feature. I look good with my body glossed up in a bronze, shimmer body oil sort of thing. It’s nice growing up in Sydney with everyone appreciating tan skin, embracing that golden complexion and not being afraid of the sun growing up in Australia.
KR: I saw that you visited the the Sunnies Face store in the Philippines and saw all of your work on display! I’d love to hear how you started working with Sunnies?
RF: I had a shoot with them yesterday, actually! I’ve been working with Sunnies for five years now and they’re one of my favorite clients. We first started working together when a few friends tagged me in an Instagram story of Martine [Ho, co-founder and creative director]. At the time, I didn’t follow a lot of Filipino beauty brands. My friends loved following Martine’s life and career, and she was looking for Australian creatives to work on a Sydney-based Sunnies campaign. My friends said, “Rachelle, you need to email her. Reply to her right now!” They were all rooting for me to work with her.
I thought they were looking for a makeup assistant. At the time, I was assisting a lot of Sydney makeup artists. She replied straight away, started liking all my Instagram makeup photos, and confirmed they’d love to have me. When I got the call sheet, it said I was the makeup artist – not the assistant. I’m like, what is going on?
Straight away, we got along. We just started messaging on socials, got the mood boards for our first photo shoot, and then on set Martine was there along with the Sunnies team who had flown in from the Philippines. It was the first Filipino brand that I'd ever worked with. It was very much like a bucket list moment, working with an international brand as well. For the photos to be then used in the Philippines was just so cool to me. Since then, I’ve gone to their HQ, I’ve gone to their office in the Philippines, we have each other on WhatsApp. We’re all good friends now! When I go to the Philippines, they ask me to stop by the store.
KR: What's your favorite campaign that you've worked on, if you could pick one?
RF: It would be the most recent one, the Juice Tint campaign. I feel like through the years of working together, we've just really nailed the aesthetic.
KR: It's very distinct, the Sunnies Face branding.
RF: Actually – it's an even tie between our very first campaign for the Fluffmatte lipstick campaign. It was just so beautiful and I landed so much beauty work from that job because the photos turned out so beautiful. I’d say my very first one and my most recent one are equally my favorites.
KR: Visiting Australia recently, I was so impressed with the local brands. Do you have any favorite Australian beauty brands?
RF: Lano is Australian, that’s my go-to for lip products for my clients. MECCA Max and MECCA Cosmetica is Australian as well – their sunscreens are in my kit as well as highlighter products, cream blushes, eyeshadow sticks. Bangn Body as well! That’s a good Australian brand. But my kit is a mix of all international brands right now, like NARS and Charlotte Tilbury.
KR: If those are products that you use on clients, what are some beauty products that you're loving for yourself?
RF: I've been loving the Pat McGrath Rose Essence after cleansing, then the moisturizer I’ve been using is the Laneige water cream. I've been loving that recently. My skin's quite sensitive, so whenever I try something and I don't break out from it, I'm like, you are staying with me! We're not switching products around!
KR: I’m the same – whenever I have product that doesn't irritate my skin, I stick with it for a very long time. How about your makeup?
RF: My everyday makeup has always been NARS Sheer Glow Foundation I just feel like it sits well, the color, the tones are perfect for my skin tone.
KR: What's your shade?
RF: I have always have two shades in my kit. It's Stromboli and Tahoe.
KR: I use Tahoe, too!
RF: Tahoe is when I'm in Hawaii and my peak tan. Stromboli is me in winter, so I always mix the two. I also use the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard. Then, my favorite blush of all time that I use every single day is Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush in Virtue.
KR: I've tried a couple of different shades of that one–I just find it SO pigmented, it can be hard to blend!
RF: I literally put one spot and then that's enough for me to look super sun-kissed. Blend it out, and that’s all you need! The shade Virtue on tan skin is a very warm, peachy tone. It looks like you went for a walk and you look sun-kissed, it’s super pretty. That’s what I’m wearing on the daily.
KR: What about any eyeshadow or highlighter?
RF: I picked up the Hourglass limited edition holiday palette [Ambient Lighting Palette – Diffused Rose Edit]. It’s such an easy bronzer, blush, highlighter combo in one. That's the only palette that I bring in my personal kit.
KR: What’s your favorite lip combo?
RF: Morphe Sweet Tea is my favorite lip forever. It’s a deep sort of warm, brown lip liner. Then, Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb in RiRi, a pretty multi-shade.
KR: Gloss Bomb is still my favorite lip gloss. I like the original, Fenty Glow.
RF: Original is always in my kit, but when I’m tan RiRi is golden and plummy, so pretty on tan skin. These products are what’s on my passenger seat in the car. I’ll slap on a full face when I’ve parked my car right before I’m entering a photo shoot. I put it on in five minutes – that’s my everyday face of makeup right there!
KR: What's sunscreen are you currently using?
RF: It’s an Australian one from MECCA Cosmetica. It sits really well under makeup and it doesn't leave the white cast on my face even when I’m tan, which is the most important!
KR: I still need to try that one! This was such a fun talk – I so admire your career and excited for you with your wedding planning, and everything! This interview could’ve been 500 hours long.
RF: 100 percent, we could talk forever!
KR: Thank you for taking the time to chat with Pearl!
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Links I’m Loving:
ICYMI, I reviewed Tower 28’s new ube vanilla(!) tinted lip balm:
My alma mater NYU has a Phillippine Studies initiative called Sulo, and they created a FREE syllabus to examine Here Lies Love, the Imelda Marcos-inspired Broadway musical, in critical historical context. I wish I knew about this sooner! Even if the show closed last Fall, it’s an amazing resource to dive into.
Speaking of NYU…one of my best friends from college, Marie Mercado, happens to be the owner of Sampaguita, a popular Filipino ice cream shop in Orlando. When we met in 2010 she was studying opera, so how delightful is it to see her singing opera in her ice cream shop, as captured by one of my favorite follows @filipinaontherise!
If you want some chuckles, watch Bretman Rock trying to open a Chocnut without having it fall apart into powdery pieces (an impossible task)!
Hearing Rachelle talk about meeting Sunnies Face co-founder Martine Ho made me come across this Into the Gloss feature on her entire beauty routine. The entire story is a great read, but my interest was particularly piqued at the mention of Jellytime, a Filipino sexual wellness brand that sells lube and sex toys. “I’m a big believer in changing the conversation around sexuality, especially in a more conservative country like the Philippines,” Martine said. Hear, hear!
How can I support Pearl?
If anything you read resonated or you learned something new, please share this newsletter with a friend. Forward the subscribe page, post an excerpt on IG stories and tag me, and make sure you’re following me over on Instagram and TikTok.
With Love,
Kristina