You might have come across Marj Maroket on your TikTok feed, and she might have convinced you to buy a new beauty product, too! No budol here, because Marj is the real deal. We spoke to one of Manila's hottest beauty content creators and TikTok star, and asked her our burning beauty questions. Keep scrolling to find out more about this month's Metro Beauty Insider!

Marj Maroket

Metro.Style: Tell us about yourself.

Marj Maroket: I'm Marj Maroket, 28 years old and I'm a full time beauty content creator and influencer. I took up Business Management in De La Salle University. Interests include beauty (of course!), dancing (not professional dancing haha! more like happy dancing when I'm out with friends lol), creating content, trying out new restaurants and traveling.

MS: How long have you been in the beauty biz and what got you started?

MM: I started taking an interest in beauty when I was a freshman in college. I was a cheerleader for the Animo Squad and for all our performances, we had to do our own makeup. I learned to love it while learning to put it on myself. I was also an avid watcher of beauty gurus on Youtube, which helped a lot too. After college, I worked for a beauty e-comm company. We were all female there. It was so fun, we even called it a sorority house. Lots of beauty products in our office that we could try on. While working, I enrolled in Center For Aesthetic Studies (CAS) for makeup artistry. I never really got to pursue it after because I had a full time job. Fast forward to the pandemic in 2020, I decided to get over myself and just put out content on Youtube. I put a lot of effort into it but my videos weren't doing as well as I'd hoped. I downloaded Tiktok and decided to post a couple of videos and one of them kinda went viral so I decided to do more! Can't believe it's been a couple of years already!

MS: When did you first start your TikTok account and what made you pursue to do it full-time?

MM: I started in January of 2021 then decided to do it full time August of the same year. When a few brand deals came in, I thought, okay maybe I could do this full time! I just told myself I had to be consistent with posting and just figure it out from there.

MS: Who are your beauty inspirations?

MM: Top of mind goes is Rihanna. I've always found her makeup looks so good even before Fenty. She's brilliant for building an empire from something she actually loves and knows about. And aside from genuinely loving a lot of her products, I love seeing a fellow brown girl own the beauty space.

MS: Describe a day in your life.

MM: I wake up around 9 or 10am to respond to work messages and go over what needs to be done for the day. 11am, I go to the gym in my building to work out for an hour. Have my first meal of the day after then I shower to get ready to film content for the rest of the day. I end in time for dinner then unwind by watching Tiktoks or any of my shows. Oh, cleaning is also a way for me to unwind. Love to clean. But I also love making a mess. I sleep very late so I do a little bit of work and unwinding in between!

MS: If you had to live with just three beauty products forever, what would they be?

MM: A hydrating sunscreen, tinted lip balm and a full coverage concealer.

MS: Have you ever been a beauty victim in the past? Are there beauty mistakes you committed?

MM: OMG, yes! I was asked to be someone's date to the Ateneo HS prom back in junior year of high school. This was during a time where there weren't a lot of accessible makeup artists yet so I went to my neighborhood salon to get my hair and makeup done. I remember seeing unsanitized sponges and brushes being used on my face ack! Digital cameras were also really big then and I was horrified to see my face looking so white in photos! It looked like I was wearing a mask because my face was significantly lighter than the rest of my body.

Beauty mistakes I've committed in the past is not using the right shade and undertone for my base products and not doing proper skin prep for makeup!

MS: What's next on your beauty wishlist?

MM: I want the Riki Tall mirror for my beauty room!

MS: What do you love most about what you do?

MM: I love that it doesn't feel like work sometimes and that I learn or rediscover something everyday. I could talk about beauty all day, everyday. A friend said that I've found my ikigai and I really did!

Follow her on Instagram @marjmaroket