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We all need salon day—be it once a month, every other month, every quarter, or heck, even every week if you wish. You just need to make time for it.

I’ve been stuck in a farm in Iloilo, so I haven’t been to a salon in a while, but if I get the chance to fly to Manila, I’ll probably visit one of the three branches of Bianca Festejo’s Beauty Lounge—there’s one in Taguig (which I’ve been to), Quezon City (the newest), and Las Piñas (the first branch).

The last time I was there, it was to get a total makeover for my bachelorette party. I told Bianca this, so she pulled out all the stops and treated me to a head-to-toe makeover: Keratin Blowout for my hair, gel manicure, foot spa and pedicure, and my vampy makeup look for the night’s partying with my girlfriends at a rooftop bar in Poblacion.

Bianca Festejo’s Beauty Lounge

Bianca intended her Beauty Lounge to be an “all-in-one beauty shop.” “No need to go to different places for different services, so you save time, and no hassle. We offer everything, for skin, hair, body, permanent makeup. And what sets us apart is our customer service.” And I have to agree. Everyone at the salon is nice and warm, making clients feel at home.

Bianca trains her staff to sincerely take care of clients and make them feel great each time they visit any of their salons. I was at the Taguig branch for almost an entire day, so I saw the rapport they have built with their regular clients—it’s like they are all long-time friends! And they really went out of their way to make me, a newcomer to their salon, truly comfortable, at ease, and welcome. They chatted me up but also knew when to just leave me be. They asked and accommodated everything I needed. Everyone is genuinely friendly—not just to me, a blogger trying out their services, but to everyone who came in, regular or not.

Bianca also told me they like to keep the salons family friendly. Moms and daughters can get pampered together, and dad can even get a massage while waiting (they have treatment rooms). I did see at least two families come in for services while I was there.

Signature Services

Bianca’s Beauty Lounge offers all the beauty services you could possibly want and need: They have hair color and rebonding, skin treatments, nail services, waxing, diode treatments, non-invasive anti-aging procedures, microblading, and eyebrow embroidery. They’ve been trying to specialize in Keratin Lash Lift and permanent makeup services, which Bianca does herself, having been trained abroad for them.

I didn’t get to try any of these procedures because I was not up for experimenting with beauty services before my big day, so I just asked for some of their basic hair and nail treatments, plus my makeover for my bachelorette.

Keratin Blowout

I got their Keratin Blowout (price starts at P2,500), which is meant to give me smooth, healthy, frizz-free hair with radiant shine. It makes hair look more naturally healthy, unlike rebonding which totally straightens hair—I didn’t like this because I don’t like my hair looking flat. I want my locks to look healthy and full of life, and the Keratin Blowout gave me that. In fact, I asked the salon to give me soft, big waves. I liked how my tresses just naturally got blown by the wind and then got right back to looking gorgeous, giving me this effect at my bachelorette (complementing my beauty queen crown, heehee):

Keratin blowout can be done as frequent as once a month, since it’s actually good for your hair. Keratin tames and smooths frizzy hair, and while it doesn’t really straighten hair, it removes the “buhaghag” look we all abhor. It constructs hair from within to become smoother, bringing it back to life.

Beauty Lounge uses the Italian brand Alfaparf, which has zero formaldehyde yet still gives the same outcome of softer, shinier, more manageable hair that lasts up to 1-2 months if maintained with sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner. Since I only used ordinary shampoo and conditioner after, which easily washed off the product, the effect lasted shorter than that, but enough to get me through my wedding and the holidays.

The treatment started with shampooing, naturally, but they used a special Keratin shampoo to open hair cuticles and prep them for the treatment.

The second step is the application of a smoothening fluid.

Step three involves the application of detangling cream to protect hair from split ends. Both treatments were left on my hair for 20 minutes. After that, they ironed my hair to set the treatment and help it work better, followed by a cold blower.

For the final step, they applied smoothening cream that sets everything in place. It was left on for 15 minutes before being rinsed. After this, I was given a va-va-voom blowout that I would wear to my bachelorette party, ready for my crown.

Other Services

To complete my bachelorette look, I got a gel manicure (price starts at P550) and foot spa with pedicure (you get both for P650). Their nail technicians were thorough, and my nail color lasted a long time. I liked the leg scrub and massage I got from my foot spa, too.

I also super love the makeup Artistic Director and Head Makeup Artist Jay-R Tuliao did for my bachelorette! Everyone complimented me on my hair and makeup all night, so it really was worth spending almost the entire day in the salon. When I have another occasion to get overall pampering and primping again, I’ll definitely go here. So should you! Tell me about your own experience when you do, I always love hearing from readers.

Bianca Festejo’s Beauty Lounge has the following branches:

Petron Square 2nd Floor, C-5 Road Corner Diego Silang Ususan, Taguig
(02) 8280480 or (0917) 8325631

SM-Cherry, Congressional Avenue East, C-5 Project 8 Bahay Toro, Quezon City
(02) 6164339 or (0917) 5505631

Starmall Las Pinas 2nd Floor, CV Starr Avenue, Philam Village Pamplona, Las Pinas
(02) 3584761 or (0917) 8473531

Salon hours are from 10AM to 9PM daily. For the full list of services, check out her website.

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