Asian women, they have flawless skins, along with their straight, thick, bright hair. So, what are their beauty secrets? Are they born like that? Genetic reasons? Or there is something more?
After talking to my very dear friends Emly, Mika and Sienna, I realized that everybody can do it, you just need to be very committed to this long-term investment. I remember some Chinese celebrity once said “there is no ugly woman in this world, only the lazy ones…”. So, girls, stop being lazy from today. Beauty is hard work.
I asked my gorgeous friends, Emily (Chinese), Sienna (Korean) and Mika (Japanese), what are their secrets that make them look fabulous all the time? They have very different beauty styles, but they do have something in common. They all have flawless skin, very fit figure and very nice and long hair. Also, they grew up in their home countries, but for studying/ travelling purposes, they lived in Europe/US to experience.
So, now I will reveal their beauty secrets with a little bit introduction.
Emily (Chinese, now live in Houston, Texas)
I met Emily in Boston last year, my first impression on her was her adorable look with her long dark hair. When I got to know her more, I realized that we actually have a lot in common, both lived in Paris for a while, both Fashionista, both talkative…
Sienna (Korean, now lives in Seoul, Korea)
I met Sienna when she did her exchange study in Paris, and my first impression on her was she looked like a Korean celebrity, flawless skin, with a doll-looking face. Very slim figure with her killer smile… She has a very nice personality as well, I learnt some Korean dishes with her and her Korean friends, great memories…
Mika (Japanese, now lives in Menton, France)
I met Mika in Monaco, where we attend the same university. My first impression on her was that she is a typical Japanese beauty. Her eye shape, a little tanned skin… Perfect makeup and hairstyle. I guess most of you would be familiar with her, since I did two shootings with her (A Romantic Japanese Rencontre 1 and 2)…
So I narrow down the questions to 7, Let’s get started…
Question1: what’s your daily morning routine (including skin care and makeup) please share with me some of your secret tips?
Emily: I shower every morning after I get up. Wash my face in the shower, then tone, put serum, day lotion and facial sunscreen. I normally have breakfast before I do makeup to let the face breath for a little bit. I use tinted moisturizer/CC cream most of the time. If there is a special event or occasion that I need to attend that day, then I will use foundation. Because the foundation is too heavy for the face for daily use, the skin won’t be able to breath. If I need to use foundation, I would prime my face before. After applying tinted moisturizer, I will use loose powder swirl all over the face and neck. Then do the eyebrows, eyeliner, lash, blush the cheek, and lastly the lip. I don’t wear eyeshadows, because I’m still learning, haha… My eyes are very tricky when it comes to eyeshadow, I haven’t mastered the right way to do it yet. So I will keep you updated on that 🙂
Sienna: I take a shower every morning and wash my face with facial pore brush which is made of very soft fur. I didn’t use a towel to clean my face because it can hurt my skin. Instead of using the towel, I let my face dry naturally and it takes about 5 mins. After I dried my face, I put organic skin toner, lotion, and moisture cream. While waiting for it dry up, I pack my bag. When I think those are completely absorbed into my skin, I apply sunscreen on my face and other body parts.
Mika: I take showers every morning, and I wash my face and neck together in the end during the shower. After that, I apply a milky kind toner (the gesture is very light), and then I put on moisture cream (in order to lock the water in my skin). I am trying to simplify my skin care routine since I moved to France. I don’t put separate sun cream, since my foundation has SPF already. Before I go out, I put on Sun Gel on my neck, and hands. Depending on the makeup, I may slightly change my routine.
Question 2: what’s in your bag now?
Emily: phone, wallet, car key, makeup bag, period bag (if I’m on my period).
Sienna: Sun screen, compact, lip care, lipstick, mascara, wallet, mobile phone, earphone, sunglasses, and tissue.
Mika:
Question 3: what’s your nightly skin care routine?
Emily: I take off makeup immediately after I get home, then shower. Like in the morning, I put on toner, then put serum, night lotion. I exfoliate and do facial masks twice a week – Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Sienna: I take off my makeup with makeup remover oil right after I come back my home. And I take off contacts from my eyes. I wash my face with facial pore brush to remove the dust that may leave on my face during the daytime. After I wash my face, I put on , lotion, and the moisture cream in a same order of the morning. In addition, I put whitening cream and anti wrinkle cream in the night only. I try to go to bed around 12pm because the skin is renewed from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. So that I’d like to sleep during that time.
Mika: I remove my makeup with my “secret weapon”, which you can only get in Japan, I actually got it from my mom (she bought it in a beauty clinic). With this product, it removes heavy makeup easily, and I don’t need to rub my face hard. Then I apply for the same products like in the morning.
Question 4: What’s your secret “beauty food”?
Emily: Papaya. I make papaya milk smoothie at home. It’s pretty delicious comparing eating papaya itself.
Sienna: My beauty food is vinegar with fruit squeeze. I make a drink with that. I mix the vinegar flavored pomegranate and water in the ratio of 1:3. The drink is well known in my country because it reduces the tiredness, prevent the obesity and is good for the skin. I drink it on a daily basis in the morning.
Mika: I eat a lot of fruits, all kinds. Especially if I eat a lot of snacks like chips, I will try to balance my diet with fruits.
Question 5: You had lived in your home country and western countries, what’s the biggest difference you found between Asian girls and western girls?
Emily: when it comes to makeup, I just think foreign ladies have a natural advantage. They don’t need to do much to highlight their features since they naturally have them – long lashes, beautiful big eyes, dark eyebrows, high nose bridge, pretty much everything that we, as Asian ladies want. Another interesting fact on the different view of beauty, which is originated from two different cultures, is that foreign ladies perceive tan or a little darker than their fair skin is natural beauty, not white or pale. Asian ladies thinks vice versa. In Western culture, being tanned means you have the time and means to do outdoor activities, to travel, to enjoy a sun bath. Whereas, in Asian culture, tan or being a dark implies your profession might be working on the farm or spending most of the time working outdoors, for example, on a construction site. It has been amazing how these two cultures shaped my view of beauty when I encountered them and started to learn more about these two cultures. I love travel, and I sun bath on the weekends. So my body is fairly tan. However, I want to keep my face bright and not so tan. And I feel comfortable this way. I think every lady should feel comfortable about the way they look, and feel good about themselves. What the Western or Asian media tells you the perfect look you should have, it just doesn’t exist – all photoshop and computer generated of way too skinny professional models that work their butt off to keep looking skinnier. Healthy? I don’t think so.
Sienna: In the case of makeup the western girls are more natural on their face. A lot of western girls I know are not putting too much make up on their face. They prefer to show their natural look. However, in my opinion, many Asian girls including me try to make their face more bright and want to be more westernized. For example, they put highlighter to make their nose be shown higher, and use eyeliner and eyeshadow to make deeper eyes. I think it is due to not only enthusiasm to the western beauty face but also the Asian culture. Many Asians are afraid of being beneath their dignity. And sometimes they think that their makeup reflects that kind of dignity so that they try to make up their face as close to a westernized beautiful face instead of taking natural make up.
Mika: So, the difference between European girls and Asian girls…. A LOT!!!!
In terms of beauty (since it’s about beauty, right?), euro girls don’t care much about it (this is completely my view). They don’t do much makeup, I assume they don’t care much about skin care as well. They also don’t care about hair (except bikini wax probably!). And if I do care the same way as in Japan (makeup, hair-removal, skin care, nails, body etc.), I think people think it’s too much. (Euro guys like it though!)
Question 6: what’s your haircare secret?
Emily: I only use shampoo at night when I shower, and when I shower in the morning I use conditioner. I learned this from my mom, and yes, she showers twice a day. I also use hair masks to moisturize and soften my hair every Saturday.
Sienna: Like many Asian girls, my hair is very thin and easily damaged. Therefore, I’m interested in finding the perfect hair-oil to care my hairs. “Argan oil” is famous for protecting and renewing hairs. I use the serum and oil that contain “Argan oil” and it makes my hair softer and protects from being damaged by sunlight or other factors.
Mika: Actually very regular way, like shampoo, conditioner and then once a week I make a hair mask.
Question 7: How do you keep so fit? Do you do a lot of sports?
Emily: I have to thank my parents for the great genes. I wasn’t active back in high school or college, I was a complete nerd – class, library, then home. Gym just wasn’t part of the routine. And luckily, no matter how much I eat and how inactive I am, I don’t gain weight. But that’s not healthy. A year ago, I read a book on effective and efficient sleep, I realized how unhealthy I was and the importance of exercising every day. So I swim pretty much every day now, and before I swim I do a lot stretching, which helps me relax and relieve the pressure from working the whole day. I also do yoga twice a week, and when my period comes, like now…what a pain, I substitute swimming for yoga. I also enjoy playing racket ball, badminton, and waterfall. However, one problem I have is that my right arm has become so muscular, haha…
Sienna: Exercise is one of the most important factors to keep fit and maintain a nice skin. Every day, I go to the gym to do exercise for about an hour. Firstly, I do muscle training for 20 mins and then I move to treadmill to run. It is important to stretch body before and after exercise. I also play squash three times a week for an hour. It is good for developing my leg muscles and helpful to get rid of my stress.
During the exercise, I sweat a lot and I guess it is good both for keeping fit and staying in beautiful skin condition because it increases metabolism system.
Mika: First of all, I think I’m not that fit, haha… But besides that, especially these couple months since I started to try eating healthy, I feel sick and bad when I don’t eat veggies or fruits at all. I always eat veggies in every meal even just a bit. And I sometimes work out, when I feel like doing or when there is some occasions LOL I really love treadmill so I want to join a gym but there is no nice one around my place. Oh well, many trainers and nutritionists are saying that eating 70% and exercise 30% so for now, I focus on eating part.
So that’s it. Guys I hope you will memorize some skin beauty secret tips from my friends, and if you have any further questions for my friends or myself, please leave me a comment or email me. Hope you enjoy reading it…
PS: I actually started this post about a month ago, but due to long distance interviews and different schedules with my friends, making it very difficult to finalize it. But finally, I can share this with you guys now, and considering to the replies I got, I think it’s definitely worth waiting… (I learnt a lot 😉 ). I want to thank my lovely friends again for doing this huge favor, regardless of their busy schedules from school and work. Love you all xx
Jenny xxx
22/06/2013 in Paris
LA MODE À MONACO 
thank you so much for that wonderful tips you’ve shared for us, it really answer my questions..God Bless!
Thanks Wendy, if you’ve gotten other questions that you would love to know leave me a comment. 😀