From Theater Actress To Microblading Expert: Nikki Guevara-Perez De Tagle Uncovers And Shares The Beauty Of Permanent Cosmetics
Dominique Guevara-Perez De Tagle, or “Nikki” as she is best known, was living the theater dream. After a few years doing stage acting and television in the Philippines, she packed her bags and went to New York, with a goal to study musical theater and get into Broadway. Opportunities were coming left and right; she was even offered the part of Kim for “Miss Saigon” in North Carolina. It's a role that every aspiring Broadway star dreams of. It was very difficult for an actress to survive and thrive in New York, but she did it.
Then, one day, Nikki just woke up and realized, “I’m chasing the wrong dream.”
It was a bold decision to make, a lot of hard work and years to be left behind, to turn her life 360-degrees. But Nikki realized that dreams will stay as dreams until you wake up. And so she did.
Nikki Guevara-Perez de Tagle
“When I was a kid, I grew up with actors and celebrities; my sister (theater actress Carla Guevara-Laforteza) did 'Miss Saigon' in London, and that’s the thing that made me want to be an actress," Nikki looks back on the years she worked between Philippines and New York. “[But] I woke up one day with a heavy heart. I was just praying: ‘Lord, help me with this journey because I’m no longer happy with this dream that I’m trying to pursue.'”
So Nikki stopped and evaluated what she was doing with her life, what she loved doing. She realized, “When I was doing theater, I was doing my own makeup. So, why not just do makeup?”
In an instant, Nikki zoomed in on that one thing she did every day, something she thought was just one facet of her life. Filled with newfound energy and excitement, Nikki then enrolled in a makeup school. It was as if the beauty industry had been waiting for her for so long; immediately after she started her trade, opportunities came rolling in. She was doing magazines, photoshoots and weddings back-to-back. She was even invited to work on the famous New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. That was when she realized she has found her true calling. “I was so happy. I’m so fulfilled now,” she says.
Beauty is not just skin deep
Although Nikki was enjoying her newfound path, she would always take a step back and evaluate her life choices, the forks that would emerge in her road. That’s why when she moved to Los Angeles, to accompany her husband in his new job, she realized she can do much more than the typical beauty quick fix.
“Being in LA, beauty is such a big thing. It’s very superficial; everyone wants to be beautiful and that’s not necessarily bad. But my dream just kept getting bigger and bigger. I just don’t want to do makeup anymore. I’m not getting younger, I want to do something bigger. I want to touch people’s lives in a deeper way,” Nikki says.
Permanent cosmetics was something that was already in the beauty industry for a long, long time; but the kind of techniques and materials that experts were using just didn’t click right away with some people. However, technological advancement has refined them over the years, and the permanent cosmetics industry has since found a fresh way to do their services. When Nikki saw the growing potential of permanent cosmetics, and the innovative beauty solutions it could provide, she knew it was what she was looking for.
Under the tutelage of world-renowned microblading specialist Daria Chuprys, Nikki began fine-tuning her skills and even gained the confidence to start her own permanent cosmetics business, Dominique Permanent Cosmetics, LLC in LA.
Brow microblading requires skill and tact to determine the best look per customer.
Her young business, which is only a year into existence, was a life-changing service for clients—just like she hoped it would. Nikki recalls one of her most memorable clients who had alopecia areata, a condition where hair is non-existent or scarce in some areas of the body.
“She had no brows, it was very challenging,” Nikki recalls. “[But] at the end of the session, when I gave her the mirror, she literally cried. It was just tears of joy. She was like, ‘I’m so happy, you gave me hair on my brows!’ Because it was such an insecurity of hers, she rarely went outside of her house. She made me love my job even more. For me, it’s not working; it’s what I love to do.”
“I’m kind of proud of myself because I never thought I’d be a business owner,” Nikki gushes about her new journey. “I was just so happy that God gave me a second chance at a career and that I’m doing it for myself now. Because when I was acting, I was doing it for my family, too, because I was proving something to them. But right now, this is just for me.”
Even though Nikki is now making it big in Los Angeles, she reveals how the Filipina in her still wishes to go back and set shop here in the Philippines. “That is my dream. I do want to establish my own permanent makeup studio here, eventually. I do want my kids to grow up here. Eventually, God willing, we move back here.”
Nikki is all set to bring her expertise and the permanent cosmetics industry to the Philippines. But are we ready? Have we moved on from the horrors of the past, which was filled with tattoo brows that looked like they were printed onto the face (and fades into horrific blue-gray tints)? Nikki thinks we are, and microblading is just the start of the exciting, new world of permanent cosmetics.
Produced by Jenica Chuahiock
Photos and video by Paper Lens
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BEAUTYMar 14, 2023