I’m the biggest scaredy-cat you’ll ever meet. But ask me to try a product or a beauty service that my pocket and time can afford, and you’ll see how I can practice as much daring as any skydiver out there.

The past weeks were filled with firsts. I got a dye job with a color that many thought repulsive. I lightened areas of my body in unconventional ways.

I’m not telling you fables of my beauty escapades, there’s no lesson to learn here. If they taught me anything, though, it’s that there’s always a way to make you look the way you want to.

Trying ‘brorange’

“Blorange,” or blonde orange, has been a trending hair color abroad. The mix of warm and cool tones reminds people of sunsets, and wearing this delicate hue is like dragging along the sun.

I wanted to try this with my colorist at Vivere Salon, the only place I know that advocates educated hairstyling. I would have tried its Hair Contouring Service (starts at P3,357), which includes an assessment of my facial features and matching colors with them. But after being told it would take hours, I decide instead to change my hair color, choosing “brorange” (brown orange).

Orange is a tricky shade to pull. The wrong hue can make it look brassy, while the right one can make you resemble a K-pop star. The correct step for somebody yellow-skinned is to pick a deep brownish orange, not one with a vibrant golden sheen.

Since my hair used to be brown, the orange showed like a healthy tint that made my skin look warmer with a flush.

I’m still afraid to stand out in broad daylight with my hair color, but the compliments I’ve been getting tell me that orange can really be the new black.

Different ways to lighten

Months ago, my boss got freebies from a potential client who was selling Asian beauty novelties. One of the products was the Shills Instant Pink Lips and Bust Top Lightening Pack—a lip and nipple whitening cream. It came in two bottles and with a concealer tip: the Anti-Age Essence and the Lip and Areolas Tattoo.

I first dabbed on the essence before putting on the pink-colored tattoo. I expected swift change, since potent ingredients like tranexamic acid, kojic acid, mulberry root extract and shea butter were present.

It didn’t whiten anything. It merely colored my nipples like a bad, cheap lipstick that transfers to the next material that touches them. I’ve a question for the people behind this: Why can’t you just leave this area be?

Unlike my nips, my acne scars needed lightening. Even after my body got used to birth control, I’m still dealing with the aftermath of the horrible hormonal acne it induced.

Just when I thought my skin was ready for intense peeling, which was how most skin doctors addressed my blemishes, my dermatologist at Makati Medical Center suggested the VBeam (starts at P6,700). I was told I had post-inflammatory erythema, or reddish acne scars common in acne-prone people with fair skin.

VBeam is a pulsed dye laser used to treat dilated blood vessels, basically the redness caused by acne, rosacea or a birthmark. It breaks them down to restore your skin’s natural color.

Unlike chemical peels, my VBeam session hardly hurt. It literally felt like being flicked on the cheek by a five-year-old.

It has been three weeks since my session. Patience really does wonders, because now my scars are pinkish specks that could easily be covered by a layer of BB cream. Less time to pile on makeup, more time to sleep! —CONTRIBUTED