Bea Alonzo is turning 38 on 17 October, and for her upcoming birthday, she had no plans yet.

“As you get older, you lose all the plans for your birthday,” she quipped at her launch last week as new endorser of local jewelry store chain MyDiamond. “But I prefer to just celebrate with my closest friends and my family.”

Her wish, she told DAILY TRIBUNE, is not only for herself but for everyone.

“My wish is for everyone to enjoy every moment. I’m very grateful for everything that I have right now and, as you know, like I say, life is full of ups and downs.”

A stellar showbiz career, a business venture and a new love life with supposed billionaire Vincent Co — what could Bea ask for, right? But according to the actress, whose two movies with then love team partner John Lloyd Cruz were the highest-grossing films of all time, she is currently wearing her entrepreneur hat and has no plans of returning to showbiz soon. For now, she is focusing on business and personal life.

“Because I just realized, I’ve been in the business for almost 25 years, February of next year, and I examined that I haven’t really given for myself that freedom to just know my schedule, what I’m going to do for the next week or next month. Not that I resent it because well it helped me a lot and I mean in the beginning, positive things, but also I think I owe it to myself because I need this one. So, I also need to give it to myself to be able to have that small freedom to choose what I want do next month and not have to like ask anybody for today.”

“There are still offers, talks about going back to showbiz,” she declared. “But right now, I’m really enjoying my life!”

Basha, the traveler

Whenever Bea Alonzo would go to a mall then, it was to promote a movie. But recently, she is happy that her return to the mall marks the promotion of something new.

“It’s so refreshing for me to go to a mall and promote my very own brand,” Bea shared to DAILY TRIBUNE and select press at the recent pop-up store of her travel bags label Bash in SM Mall of Asia.

While for others, “luxury” is defined as having material possessions, for Bea, it means “being able to do what makes you feel good and whatever makes you happy.”

“And freedom is a luxury — like financial freedom,” she stressed.

She took note, however, that coming up with her own brand and promoting it are not a walk in the park even for a celebrity like her.

“As an entrepreneur, like in every startup, in the beginning, there were a lot of challenges,” she admitted. “But eventually, I know we were able to like power through all the challenges and I’m very proud of that. It makes me feel very confident to be able to do what I really want to do and to really cater to the market that I really want to.”

According to her, instead of coming up with a fashion or beauty line, like many celebrities do, she chose to come up with a bags brand since she loves to travel. She named her brand “Bash” not only after her iconic One More Chance and A Second Chance character Basha, but since it also means “celebration” or “like a birthday bash” — which she would definitely have this month.

At the pop-up store, Bea personally toured her fans to the brand’s new “Aftergloss” collection, inspired by deserts and mirages. From toiletry bags, the brand has now expanded to include backpacks, tote bags and pieces of luggage in cabin-size, medium and large sizes and in colors such as Terra (chocolate brown), Dune (sand) and Carbon (black) for the “Aftergloss” collection.

But from purely travel, Bea envisions the collection to evolve to also fit into daily life — through features such as water-repellent exterior and many hidden pockets and zippers for the Weekday Tote and Backpack; and other thoughtful elements such as foldable cover to easily slip in laptops, separate gadget compartment, USB cord and even a retractable cup holder for the signature luggage.

According to her, all the features she wants in a bag whenever she travels, she made sure were all included in her line of bags.

Apart from getting yourself a good bag as a gift for yourself — whether it is for your birthday like Bea or even if there is no occasion at all — the actress shared a number of travel packing hacks.

“Number one for me is, whenever you are packing, is to pick three colors, like the colors in the ‘Aftergloss’ collection. If you are going to live in like neutrals, the three colors, and then pair these with different things and then the shoes I should match your different outfits or accessories. And another thing is to bring travel organizers to save space in your luggage.”

When asked for her Golden Visa experience so far, Bea told DAILY TRIBUNE: “Good! Like, I don’t get to visit my Madrid apartment as often as I want to visit, but so far so good!”

Bea’s best friends

For the holidays, another good gifting option is jewelry, said Bea.

“Well, first of all, jewelry, I think is like a branded investment. It makes you step into the moment and at the same time, it’s something to invest in, especially for the first timers. Just make sure that the color of the diamond is good and that it would last you a lifetime, meaning, it’s something that you could pass down from one generation to another,” she advised.

“For gifting, well, it depends because it’s so hard to make recommendations. It depends on the personality of the one you’re giving it to. I feel like when it comes to girls, you can never go wrong with diamonds.”

Besides diamonds, Bea is also into rubies that could instantly make her feel “sexy” and “empowered.”

“I also like sapphire. I love to pair it with a white jumpsuit perhaps or pantsuit and with emerald, I think that would really go well with like an emerald dress as well so it’s wonderful.”

For her holiday outfit, she said: “I usually bring my red dresses for the holidays just because it’s the color of the season. Also, I like wearing sparkly dresses or sequin dresses. And when it comes to styling, it depends on where I’m going and what the event is. So if it’s casual, I could wear something sparkly as a top and then I could pair it with denim jeans or if it’s really a dress-up occasion, I would wear a red dress that’s a bit sexy that would show a little skin.”

When asked for the things she is grateful for and would like to celebrate for as the year nears its end, she affirmed: “Everything actually — all the lessons, everyone around me!”