Beauty Lies in the Eye of the Beholder; Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant 2017

by JASMINE CHYE - September 14, 2017

August came and left like a gust of wind. I haven't had time to recollect my thoughts yet!

The inaugural Miss Singapore Beauty Pageant 2017 took place on 25th August this year, and once again I was fortunate to be on the committee board in guiding and mentoring the young ladies. We had a series of events which took place months before the Grand Finals, one of which drew many attention of the public.

It was a photo of the ladies at OneKM mall, after their talent and swimwear showcase. Many criticized the photo citing that the girls looked ugly, not prepared, why are they even on this competition, are the organizers blind etc etc. Well, this is the brutal fact of being in the spotlight, caught by the media's attention. These ladies plucked up their courage to step out of their comfort zones, took a leap of faith and joined a pageant. It takes a great deal of courage to be able to stand that stage, receive all the harsh critics thrown at you and still smile and look fly. I applaud you, ladies of #MSBP2017 !

Critics aside, I think the ladies went through quite a transformation! I am so happy to see them grow, learn from negativity and draw energy from their supporters, and never to feel ashamed of who they are. That is the spirit. Take it as a learning experience and embrace it... Trust me, it's 10x worse on an international platform. But, you get your fair share of fun times overseas too! #prosandconsbalanced

I shall move on with details of the Grand Finals! This year, the pageant was held at Concorde Hotel, something different from the usual Orchid Country Club where the pageant was held for 2 consecutive years. Concorde is indeed more accessible for us, but then again traffic kills! :(

Thankfully my trusty hair salon is just around the corner from Concorde. Yes, my hair styling for the evening was done by none other than Su Kim, of Hair Plus Korean Salon at Far East Plaza! If this is your first time chancing upon my blog, I've been sponsored by Hair Plus Korean Salon for the past 2 years. Su Kim has always been my designated hair stylist, and she is superb! I've gotten my hair cut, dyed, treated, permed by them for the past 2 years, and not once have I regretted my decision. Speaking of which, I think my hair is growing a tad too long now, time for another visit soon. Anyway, this is my first time getting Su to style my hair for me as she has always enjoyed cutting my hair. hahaha!

Final Look!

Arrived at the salon at 2pm and Su quickly got to wash and touch up my roots. As you can see, my hair is not in the best condition (bottom left photo) when i waltzed in to the salon. Furthermore, I was a tight time constrain as I had to get my make up done after the hair styling, and reach Concorde by 6pm sharp. Thank you to my trusty hair stylist team at Hair Plus Korean Salon, it was an awesome job done!

Left - Before

Right - After 2.5 hours! No cutting involved, just touching up of my hair roots, lots of hair spray and pins. I didn't have super long hair to begin with, and my hair was super out of shape. Luckily with a small bunch of fake hair underneath, it helped my hair to look voluminous.

As I was wearing a strapless gown (sweetheart cut), I knew I wanted my hair to be somewhat up. Su suggested for me to have some fringe in front so my forehead/front view wouldn't look too bare with the crown on top. The hair style had to suit the crown as it was slightly bulky and it had to sit on my hair, therefore the styles were quite limited. They did a half up-do for my hair and some side fringe which i adore soo sooo soooo much!

Side view of my hair with my crown

Back view of my hair (this was taken at the end of the day)

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Arrived at Concorde Hotel at 6pm, caught up with some of my queen sisters and the cameras started snapping away! It's always a delight to catch up with the sisters and exchange travelling or life stories; a good break away from the daily hustle bustle :)

A shoutout to Ishardi, who has always been so supportive of the pageants that ERM hosts. Ishardi was always around to attend these pageants, and snap photos for us all the time. He's never shy to ask for photos and was always friendly too :) Some photos of the evening are captured by him.

Queens with Mama Queen

Miss Singapores with Ishardi

Myself and Hash (my successor as Global Beauty Queen 2015)

The evening started with a bang with the contestants whipping out sexy dance moves on stage. I can't even dance with my two left feet! hahah

I was busy Insta-videoing the segments that I forgot to take photos/videos for my own keepsake. Guess i'll just have to depend on my own memory and photos from others to remember. After their opening dance, the girls gave their self introduction before leaving to prepare for swim wear and talent segment (for those who were shortlisted for talent round).

This year, Inner Desire was the official swim wear sponsor for MSBP2017. Coincidentally, inner desire was the sponsor for my year's swimwear round too! We had white bikinis with embellishments on top. I really think their swim wear this year is much more vibrant and eye catching than ours back in 2014. But, hey, we change with time and fashion trends right? So jealous of the girls in their swag bikinis! (how i wish i had one too!)

Queenie bagging home Miss Body Beautiful title from Inner Desire

And finally here comes the most exciting part of all! The announcement of Top 8 , followed by Q&A segment and the reveal of the title winners. I remember during my pageant, my name was the last to be called during the announcement of Top 8. I was sooooo nervous at that time as I looked around me and thought I had no chance since there were other girls whom I thought would definitely be one of them. To my surprise, my name was called and i was overjoyed!

Congrats to the Top 8 finalists!

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Your new Miss Singapore 2017 title winners are born!!!

Miss Grand Singapore 2017 - Crystal Lim

Miss Global Beauty Queen 2017 - Amanda Li

Miss Singapore Chinatown 2017 - Christina Cai

Miss Singapore Tourism Queen 2017 - Tricia Koh

1st Runner up - Queenie Sia

2nd Runner up - Katelyn Tey

They will all be representing their respective titles for their international pageants in 2017/2018.

Miss Grand Singapore

Miss Singapore Global Beauty Queen

Miss Singapore Chinatown

Miss Singapore Tourism Queen

Yet another successful ERM event comes to an end. Big kudos to the ERM team for working so diligently to bring this pageant to greater heights, and to fend off negative comments that came their way during this whole pageant. Cheers to more successful pageants in the future!

Jacqueline! ERM's right hand (wo)man. Great job done!! Saranghae!

And of course, who can miss out the ever dashing Paul Foster, who was our host for the evening. I'd always see Pauly at the Miss Singapore's pageant, doing a fantastic job as usual and being so friendly to everyone. I vividly recall during my international pageant at Sri Lanka, you could imagine my surprise when i saw Paul walking into our hotel on the morning of our rehearsal and to find out he was going to host the finals too! All the way at Sri Lanka, i was so happy to see a fellow Singaporean! We'd always share good memories we had at Sri Lanka, hahaha it was so much fun!