VOICES OF BEAUTY

MEGA gets up close and personal with the four of the leading local beauty content creators making waves at the moment

- STEF JUAN

MARJ MAROKET

"I always think I'm still kind of new to the industry, but five years is... well, it's a long time to be creating and posting," 30-year-old Marj Maroket muses when she realizes that 2020 is nearly five years ago.

Marj admits that making and posting videos about beauty products, makeup and airing her reviews and opinions is not as easy as many people might think. "But it was never a question of what kind of content I wanted to do. It has always been beauty for me," she says. "Because growing up, I was the kikay daughter, I was the kikay friend, the kikay cousin."

In college, she discovered her love for makeup and even took up a Basic Makeup course with the desire to do it professionally. However, it never occurred to her to be a content creator until she started making videos of her beauty reviews in earnest during the pandemic and posting them on Tiktok. People started following her for her honest and authentic takes on beauty products. Nearly five years later, it's still her love for beauty that keeps her going. "As cheesy as it sounds, because I love it, it doesn't feel like a job."

What makes Marj love doing what she does, no matter how challenging it gets, is it lets her be creative. "So, I hope people can be inspired and be creative. And to know that it's okay to want to look good."

ZAHRAA BANI

When you meet her, it's hard not to notice Zahraa Bani's hair first. It's just unapologetically and beautifully curly! It's no wonder that this 24-year-old model and content creator is also an entrepreneur with her own hair care brand specifically for curly hair.