MY IOPE FACE POWDER

Photo taken by: Agatha Maruyama

“Beth, I will buy you some cosmetics when I come back. What do you want?”

This was my boss’ message when he was in his home country in December 2017. Before he left for Korea on December 27, he asked me what I wanted. I said, anything. “I would appreciate anything that you would give me.”

While he was in his country, he sent me the message asking me about a compact powder. “There are two kinds. One is wet, and one is dry. Which one do you like?” I did not even know the wet and dry he was talking about, so I just said, the dry one. Who would want to have something wet on her face, anyway?

After a few minutes, he sent me a message again.

“I bought both the wet and the dry one. The salesperson said that the wet one should be applied first and next, the dry one. They also gave me some free cleansers for your skin.”

When I met him again in January 2018, I was very happy to have my IOPE foundation.

Wonderful gift. I’m not so much into makeup that’s why I really appreciate it when somebody introduces a cosmetic product to me and tells me how each product works, or how each product affects the skin.

I concluded that yes, the wet one should be applied first, giving the face a solid foundation so that the powder won’t fall off, and then the dry one, and the effect was smooth, matte, fresh finish.

In May of 2018, I was having my usual breakfast in McDonald’s near my house when the delivery man from the Philippine Statistics Office called me and informed me that he was already at my gate, delivering the birth certificate that I applied for online. I was pissed off because I sternly gave an instruction that I should be called first before the delivery man would come to my house so that I could prepare and not go out. Anyway, in haste, I left McDonald’s holding my cup of half-consumed black coffee, and leaving behind my pancakes.

The delivery man got impatient probably and there, in front of McDonald’s, under the huge balete trees, I received my birth certificate.

I immediately ran back to McDonald’s hoping that my pancakes were still there but… when I got there, my table had been cleaned. I went home half hungry and very angry.

Later that day, I wanted to use my dry IOPE powder. I could not find it. I searched high and low. And then, it struck me. When the delivery guy called me, I immediately brought out my IOPE compact powder from my bag to dab some powder on my face in case it was oily. In confusion and in haste, I just ran out of the store, leaving my IOPE powder there with my pancakes.

I went to McDonald’s to check if a kind soul happened to deposit it in the Lost and Found section (I was not even sure if they had this section). After some minutes of asking around, I found out that the crew who was on duty at that time threw it away, thinking that it was an empty box of chocolate. What the…?!

So there… that was the end of my IOPE dry face powder.

I still use the case of my IOPE wet face powder. I just squirt some BB cream in it. The sponge has been replaced a lot of times.

It was my very first IOPE powder and it was given to me by my boss when I least expected it so yeah, this will always be special to me.