Plagiarism is Foul Play

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Brides, be warned. A blog on a plagiarizing makeup artist has gone viral and we just wanted to let you know that that certain person has a fake portfolio. She combined assorted photos of other makeup artists to pass up as her own. While she may or may not have the makeup skills, we are just wary for future brides on choosing a supplier who is capable of doing something like this. If a supplier is capable of faking credentials, how can you possibly trust them?

We just recently posed an entry on manners for brides, now, we're doing a reverse to tell suppliers to have the decency to post their OWN work.

I know of a similar case done against bridal event stylist Michael "Badang" Rueda. A photo of his work was also posted by another stylist claiming it to be his own in his website. Brides, be vigilant and do background checks on your suppliers. Ask other brides. Research. Do not be a victim and end up booking lazy suppliers that resort to plagiarism just so they can instantly beef up their portfolio.

As a makeup artist and wedding supplier, it is my duty to be truthful in my credentials. There is simply no way I would post a photo of someone else to pass up as my work. That is just plain foul! 

Going back to the said plagiarizing makeup artist, here's an excerpt on the said blog by makeup artist Kris Bacani:

A single photo was stolen, but this photo speaks volumes of the hardwork put in not just by me, but by all the artists who collaborated to produce this photo. Heck, I even have a whole blog entry to prove that this is my work and to explain the process on how this photo came about. So for DF to simply pluck this photo from my site  and to Photoshop it under her fancy logo was not just an insult to me, the makeup artist, but also to photographer Stan Ong, model Barbie Salvador, and hairstylist Dimple Callada, all of whom allotted their expertise for a day to pull this off. Even though this just took a day to do, expertise comes with years of experience, and years of experience means years of practice.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell introduces to us the 10,000 Hour Rule of practice. This rule states that success in any field is a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of 10,000 hours. I roughly calculated, and I probably have almost 5,000 hours tucked under my makeup brush belt. After reading this book and learning of this rule, it just made the perfect sense to me. I am a fan of practice. No, I am obsessed with practice. I think my 16 years of experience in dance taught me that there are no short cuts to practicing to perfection, you have to clock in your hours, day after day. This mindset of doing things obsessively over and over again carried over to my work as a makeup artist, where I need to do things obsessively over and over again on an almost daily basis to produce quality work.

So going back to that plagiarized photo, seeing that felt like someone snuck off a few hours from my hard earned practice. How dare this DF steal and profit from my 10,000-hour goal easily? It took me a year and a half since I first studied makeup before I plunged into bridal work. Why? I wanted to be sure that I have practiced enough, such that I can guarantee my bridal clients will definitely look and feel their best on their big day. So even though it’s just one photo, I am definitely not taking it lightly. It speaks of almost 5,000 hours of makeup practice for me as opposed to the 15 minutes DF spent on comfortably browsing thru my website and picking this photo to peddle her services.

A shot of the plagiarized work from a certain DF and Kris' actual work on her website.

If you want to know the real name of DF, just let me know. I would gladly tell you so that she does not get booked by a bride who assumes her credentials are real.

And if you are a wedding supplier with the same experience, do let us know. We are here to warn our brides and to help fellow wedding suppliers (yes, you, our dear industry friends), so that no one will fall victim to this foul play that is plagiarism.

<3<3<3 Mica

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