Fighting Against Fugly Asian Makeup

In keeping with the beauty roll we are on...

..Is it just me, or does no one have any clue how to makeup Oriental faces? Look at the below picture from Sephora.com, as an example of what I imagine they think looks very dramatic and sexy...


Well, they're wrong.

Am I the only person who thinks that looks HORRIBLE?An otherwise pretty Oriental girl looks like a bloody panda bear. How the hell did this get published anywhere? On a website as reputable as Sephora, that sells beauty products, no less?

On the flipside, the actress Nan Zhang from the TV show Gossip Girls looks awesome here:

(even though it is tellingly obvious that her nose has been contoured to death... still, better than Ms. Punched-Out above)

What's the deal? It's the 21st century. You'd think that people would have figured out how to work with Oriental faces by now right? It's really not that hard. We need to quit waiting around for a way to copy Occidental styles verbatim, and switch them around to suit our own needs.

Here's a couple of tips from yours truly, especially for girls girls who are either heavy lidded or monolidded..... after years (and I do mean years) of trial and error, and with no help at all from any books/magazines/websites...!

Color Rules

+ In general, purples and greens looks incredible on Oriental skin, which usually have yellow-undertones. Gold and bronze tones are great for a neutral look and are virtually idiot-proof.

A Window Frame

+ Eyeliner should be your best friend, starting now. I suggest gel liners for beginners, because pencils usually smudge everywhere on Oriental eyes, whereas gel liners are smooth to apply but not as tricky as liquid liners, and have much better staying power. If you find that a lot of your lid 'disappears' under your eyes when you open them, then I strongly suggest lining as far up as you dare. This can slightly alter the shape of your eyes, giving it a rounder, almond appearance, rather than a sleepy, squinty look (i.e. my face in the morning)

The Art of Blending

+ Mad-ass smoky eyes with a defined 'crease' line do NOT suit all Oriental eyes, especially girls who don't have a crease (ie monolidders). The higher you apply your shadow, the more blending you need to do. It's a skill you should probably start cultivating now, if you haven't already. I suggest starting out with neutrals, fading from dark to light from the lashline to the browbone (bottom to top), or from the tear ducts to the outer corners (left to right and vice versa).

When you get used to it, start experimenting with colors. As shown in the picture below, I've created the illusion of a 'crease' even though I don't actually have one at all, and it still works a lot better than Sephora's nightmare face... why?
1) Complimentary colors: Dirty slate-grey/muddy blues don't look good on anyone's skin...generally. Especially in such great quantity. Using a bright color that plays up my natural skintone is much better.
2) Adhering to the Natural Eye Socket: Poke around your lids and feel where your natural brow bones an eyesockets are, and follow that. Nature can't go wrong. Creating an artificial crease that's too high or low or wide will look weird.
3) Blend, Blend, Blend! : Needless to say, blocks of color look unfinished and clownish. Girls with deep creases might be able to get away with it a little better, but not me! By carefully blending out colors, the eye is given the illusion of shape, dimensions and depths. I hope you guys found this useful! Remember to keep experimenting until you find what works for you!