Beauty In Love: Jess Wilson On Married Life And The Next Step For Sunnies Face

The beauty boss and newly-wed back to foster an inclusive beauty community.

Related: Jess Wilson Wore A Custom Filipiniana With A Detachable Skirt For Her Civil Wedding Ceremony

Whether she’s modeling, coming up with the next raved about product, or walking down the aisle, Jessica Wilson—or Jess, as many call her, exudes a beauty that simply captivates. Bare faced for our early morning shoot, she’s still radiating the bridal glow from tying the knot with her long-time partner Moritz Gastl in an intimate civil wedding held at Palawan. When I asked what her secret was, she reveals that it was just the joy that they were able to pull off the wedding after two postponed attempts.

“Every bit of the weekend from seeing the plans actually coming to life to everything going better than what I could have envisioned. It was just the overall feeling of happiness that it was happening,” she shares fondly. Even when she was stung by a stonefish, one of the world’s most venomous fish, a day after the wedding, Wilson remained grace under pressure. “I just tried to make more sense out of it. I’m not the type to look more spiritually at things but for this one, I don’t see it anymore as a negative thing and rather, just a reminder of how important it is to not take anything for granted and appreciate every moment in life.”

Though she’s taking a break from wedding planning in no means has she been idle since her return. As a bonafide beauty girl with an impressive resume, it was only a natural evolution that she’s one of the creators of Sunnies Face—the globally-recognized brand that made the it-girl look relatable. “We’re not one specific beauty style. Similar to us, the founders, we like to travel and even just with our backgrounds, like Martine [Cajucom] is from America, we’re half British. We all have different things to bring to the table,” Wilson explains. As a brand manager, she is hands-on with her work, even multitasking by attending a meeting with her team as she prepares for the shoot. “The way we do our color, the way we portray our campaigns… We shoot a lot in L.A., but the team is Filipino. So, there’s always a good blend of different cultures that come to the products and even just with that, the origin is never one place.”

While her famously striking features spill through every photo, behind the scenes her quiet confidence and the palpable passion for her work proves what a true beauty Jess Wilson is.

Beauty Talks

FROM SKINCARE TO FITNESS, HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR WEDDING?

A month before I did facial treatments, specifically the Skin Reboot by BELO which is amazing but I didn’t do anything different from my usual skincare routine. For fitness, I do a lot of yoga and I started training with my boyfriend’s trainer with the goal to tone my arms. So, Moritz and I trained twice a week together. It was fun because we encouraged each other to get up every day and we also needed that energy since it’s very exhausting to have a wedding.

HOW WAS THE COLLABORATION LIKE FOR YOUR CONVERTIBLE WEDDING DRESS WITH VANIA ROMOFF?

I’ve loved Vania’s work since the day I met her and for anything romantic we always asked her to help come up with something. Since we still have our wedding next year, which I already have a dress for that’s romantic, feminine and a bit grander, I told Vania that I wanted to wear a Filipiniana with big sleeves but make it fun and young. So, I went to her studio two weeks before the wedding to see the dress and I was in tears. It was everything and more I could have ever imagined. She patterned it after a design within her family and she wanted it to look like it was restored from the past. The whole story is just so beautiful, and she made the overlay skirt because I wanted something easy to reuse. But we weren’t sure if I was going to walk down the aisle with the skirt or put it on after dinner and so, literally just 20 minutes before walking down the aisle, I decided on the short dress!

WHAT IS YOUR BEAUTY PHILOSOPHY?

YOU HAVE CULTIVATED A VERY MODERN AND CLOSE-KNIT WORKING SPACE WITH SUNNIES FACE, WAS THIS A CONSCIOUS DECISION?

When you think of family, it’s with respect and everyone’s treated equally. And I think what’s funny is it’s just something that we naturally cultivated because everyone’s young. It’s so inspiring seeing such young talents come to themselves in the company. It’s almost a mentorship program and so for me, I love how people come in so shy and unsure but within months, they learn what it is they’re good at and what they love to do.

YOU’RE NO STRANGER TO THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY FROM WORKING AT L’OREAL TO CREATING A BEAUTY LINE, DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO PURSUE A CAREER IN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY?

Even before I even joined L’Oreal, I already told my sister, we should do a makeup line but then she was so busy. Nonetheless, we kept planning it for three years over several dinners, from mood boards to packaging but nothing concrete. And then one day I said to them I’m going to leave L’Oreal and I want to do a makeup line, if you guys want to join me you can, but if not I’ll figure out a way but they were like it’s the perfect time to do it and so that’s kind of how the brand started.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AND ANY MOVEMENTS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE IN THE FUTURE?

Not seeing a perfect model as the face of a brand is normal these days and I love that. You don’t have to cast someone with this crazy paycheck and it’s completely acceptable to even cast anyone on the street who you think fits with your brand. I think that’s so much more fun and exciting to see new faces. I just love how open and inclusive the beauty industry has become.

For future beauty movements, I would love to see more male users. I want to know what they want, and I think in a few years from now, we’ll look back and think like wow, guys had no makeup before but now they have these different tools. I also want to see more emphasis on color representation. Everything from the models, product range, to the product itself because we all have different backgrounds with specific needs.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JESS WILSON AND SUNNIES FACE?

Well for Sunnies Face, we will be celebrating our third anniversary and I think what you can expect from us is that we’ll be moving into more face and complexion products. I’m excited for that to happen because since day one, we’ve been working on this but we’re just making sure that we launch the perfect product.

Personally, we’re moving houses and it’s just becoming so real all our post-marriage life. But what I’m focusing really on is the brand because last year was such a shaky time, and I’m so happy that we were able to come through.

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