Martine Ho has always lived in the in-between. Born in Manila but raised in Southern California, she grew up straddling cultures, identities, and expectations. “I’ve always been very in between being American and Filipino,” she reflects. “That mix has shaped not only who I am but also the kind of beauty I believe in.”

That dual perspective would later become the foundation for Sunnies Face, the cult beauty brand she co-founded—now a household name in the Philippines and rapidly gaining global recognition.

The Early Spark

Martine’s love affair with beauty started early. As a child, she delighted in experimenting with makeup counters, painting her face with whatever she could find. In high school, she boldly declared during career day that she would one day launch her own beauty brand—a vision inspired both by her mother’s daily rituals and her family’s immersion in the entertainment industry.

Her godmother was an actress, her aunt a beauty queen, and her brother—briefly an actor before switching to interior design. “I call him the Joey Tribbiani of my life,” she laughs, referencing the lovable but often hapless character from Friends.

From LA to Manila: A Leap of Faith

After college, Martine built a career in Los Angeles, starting with an unlikely break at American Apparel. Hired for her early internet presence, she quickly learned the power of brand identity, though not without hiccups—like being publicly told by the CEO to wipe off her purple eyeshadow. The experience sharpened her instinct for authenticity, something that would become central to her later ventures.

In 2013, when her friends launched an eyewear line in Manila and needed help marketing a spin-off, Martine reluctantly agreed to return home. It was a risk she hadn’t anticipated taking. “I never imagined I’d move back,” she says. “But looking back, it was one of the best decisions of my life.”

That spin-off became Sunnies Studios, which soon expanded beyond sunglasses. The constant challenge of finding flattering lip shades for Southeast Asian skin tones during campaigns sparked a new idea: why not make them themselves?

Building a Beauty Revolution

Sunnies Face launched with Fluffmatte, a collection of matte lipsticks fine-tuned for the spectrum of Filipina complexions. The team tested more than 300 samples before landing on the shades that would define the brand. The gamble paid off—launch day saw customers waiting up to eight hours for a single lipstick. The initial six-month stock sold out in weeks, with some resellers flipping products at triple the price.

“It floored me,” Martine says. “Even to this day, I think back and wonder, how did that happen?”

The runaway success confirmed that women in the region were hungry for products that truly saw them, colors that felt made for their undertones rather than borrowed from Western standards.

Beauty as Healing

For Martine, beauty has always been more than surface. That belief deepened in 2020 when, while pregnant, she was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a form of facial paralysis triggered by shingles. Half her face was immobilized. The pandemic lockdown gave her privacy to process the physical and emotional toll, but the experience was harrowing.

“Suddenly, I had to face the world with a face that wasn’t the one I had before,” she recalls. Over time—and with a mix of medical treatments, lymphatic massage, and rituals like gua sha—she rebuilt her relationship with her reflection. Makeup, once just a passion, became a form of healing. “As trite as it sounds, putting on makeup made me feel good,” she admits. “It helped me feel like myself again.”

A Philosophy of Care

Despite her role in the beauty industry, Martine’s personal routine is refreshingly straightforward. She avoids overcomplicating skincare, relying on hydrating serums, lightweight moisturizers, and diligent SPF. A favorite ritual: freezing green tea bags to depuff tired eyes—a remedy she swears works better than most expensive creams.

She also embraces wellness practices, from dry brushing to herbal tinctures, but her guiding principle is balance. “I’m not into 15-step routines,” she explains. “For me, it’s about rituals that make me feel restored, not overwhelmed.”

The Bigger Picture

Whether in skincare, makeup, or wellness, Martine’s approach is rooted in intention. Her work with Sunnies Face is about representation and accessibility; her personal rituals are about resilience and healing. Even her investments—like supporting a Filipino sexual wellness startup—reflect her belief in breaking taboos and broadening conversations in conservative contexts.

And through it all, Martine’s bicultural background continues to shape her perspective. Living between two worlds has given her both the drive to build something distinctly Filipino and the insight to connect with audiences globally.

What began as a childhood love of makeup counters has grown into a movement, one that celebrates Southeast Asian beauty on its own terms. For Martine, it’s proof that risks—whether moving back to Manila, mixing lipstick shades on a photoshoot, or rebuilding after paralysis—can pay off in ways more powerful than she ever imagined.