The Most Heartbreaking Reality About Working in Makeup

Okay so my 30 day writing challenge was a bust, but a big chunk of it was because of this post that I've had on my heart for so long, and the thought about waiting until May to publish it really kept me from writing. Yet it's almost May. Woops. 

So anyway, as I've mentioned before, I work in a makeup store. It's called Gloss, and for those of you who aren't from Australia, think of it as a Sephora-meets-drugstore-brands. It means that you can test basically any product in the store, but the prices are ridiculously affordable. 
& of course, as with most makeup stores, we sell foundation. Sometimes I'll get asked to match a foundation for someone's face and it's actually one of my favorite things to do, because a well-matching foundation can do wonders for someone's overall look. Usually, these women aren't wearing makeup already (or they're wearing very little) so if this is the case, I ask if I can apply one shade to half of their face then we can apply another shade to the other side if it doesn't match perfectly. We also have face wipes handy so that they can wipe the makeup off their faces after. 
Sometimes, I'll match a person and they'll take every suggestion I give them in regards to the foundation, makeup, anything really. It makes me feel good because although I am no professional by any means, it's cool to know that maybe I actually do know a thing or two about makeup. 
However, many times we will also get many women of colour (usually Indian women) where I will match them to the perfect, and I mean PERFECT shade on them (it looks like they're not wearing makeup!) but they don't like it. 
*looks at other foundation colors* "Can we go lighter?" 
*looks at self in the mirror & turns to me while I am smiling at myself in accomplishment* "Ahh, it's too dark!"
It is usually at this time where I'll tell these women my honest opinion & tell them how amazing they look with the foundation & give them my honest opinion about what putting on the lightest shade of foundation (while they are my skin tone or darker) would look like on them. I try to be polite, but still brutally honest in saying that it won't look flattering on them. I then continue to try and encourage them in the way they look with the correct matching foundation. My coworker has even used powder highlighters on customers' faces to show them how these ladies can brighten their faces while still wearing the correct shade of foundation. 
Now look, I know that a woman should be able to look however she wants to look. BUT, if she is using makeup to hide behind it, it isn't healthy at all. Especially if the woman who looks perfectly beautiful & fine in her skin tone is saying, "I want to be whiter/fairer." 
This is a result of colonialism. 
Because in history Europeans have invaded so many countries, many of these people in these places see those with the lighter skin as those with power. They see the treatment that people who are darker get for no reason other than their skin tone, and they want to be lighter. 
In Asia, skin-lightening is a BILLION DOLLAR industry. Like what?! Even my parents have contributed to this industry by buying whitening products for my sister & I when we were younger so we could become lighter. I remember them coming home from the Philippines with whitening soaps, whitening lotions, whitening deodorants, anything you could think of for us to lighten ourselves with. If you look at media in Asia, most celebrities are really pale & with westernized features. Hell, people even get eyelid surgeries so they don't have the defining Asian feature of a monolid. 
& it's really so, so sad. 
So many women all around the world think that their value, their worth, their beauty is less just because of their skin tone. & it really frustrates me & breaks my heart when I come across these kinds of women at work. & it really sucks because many of these women are actually older than the age of 30. You would think it would be younger women but no, it's the older ones. So this mindset is engraved into their brains. 
What can we do about it? 

We are beautiful no matter how we look. Photo cred: Hannah Bernabe

We can start featuring women of colour in media, & a wide range of women (dark and light skinned Asians, dark and light skinned black women, etc). We can start with the younger kids, the younger cousins/nieces/daughters/students that they are beautiful just the way they are. We can start setting the examples ourselves by loving the skin we're in (or learning to do so if we don't already) so that other women can see that it is possible to be confidently beautiful even if you're not as white as a piece of paper. 
I've learned quite a few things while working in the world of makeup, but this, by far, has been the most frustrating & heartbreaking thing that I've realized. I can only hope & pray that someday women won't feel the need to use makeup to hide behind, but rather use it to enhance their natural beauty. 

Best Things About Being Raised by Immigrant Parents

I've mentioned before that the Fung Brothers are two of some of my favorite Youtubers because I like the way they talk about Asian American culture (and more recently, different cultures in general). They are able to educate people without making things too serious, which is always good with these topics that may be sensitive for some people. 
They released a video yesterday on the "10 Best Things About Being Raised by Immigrant Parents." I watched it and related to almost all of what they said if not everything because I, too, was raised by immigrant parents. 
Some of the things they said were being bilingual, getting to eat great food, knowing how to budget (because we all know how cheap our parents are haha), and more. 
Growing up, I actually didn't realize the difference of being raised by immigrant parents and parents that were born in America until maybe middle school or high school because most of my friends were raised by immigrant parents as well. When my friends with American-born parents would talk about how they were raised, I thought it was because they were white (because my friend I'm talking about is white) or because his parents had different personality types than mine. 

In high school and most definitely college, I was able to think more about how being raised by my immigrant parents in my home affected who I am. Coming to a school where most people were White and raised by American-born parents (white or an ethnic minority), it hit me in the face how my parents' parenting styles and their immigrant status (but they're American citizens btw) affected my habits. I had a white roommate my freshman year so seeing how her relationship with her mom was and how she was because of her parents really opened my eyes to understanding my relationship with my parents and how they've affected me as well. 
It's hard to be raised by immigrant parents when you don't live in an ethnic community or live in a predominantly white area, but learn to embrace it! Although there are negatives to it, there are also positives, and it helps shape our unique views on the world :] 

Your Story Blog Hop: Your Food

Welcome back to the Your Story Blog Hop, where you get to share and read about other peoples' stories! Here is this week's prompt:

This is more than your typical "what's your favorite food" post. What kinds of food did you eat growing up? Do you still eat it now? If you ate any cultural foods, what did you eat? Tell us about it!

People always ask about your favorite food, but this post is meant to be more than that! You can tell me what your favorite food is, and if you do, tell us why or how it became your favorite food. It can be a specific dish or a certain type of food, like Mexican or Russian food. 

If you grew up eating cultural food, whether of the country you live in or wherever you trace your ethnic background to, do you like that type of food? What kinds of food did you eat? Tell us all about it!

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Growing up, I mostly ate Filipino food. If you're not Filipino, you're probably thinking of Lumpia (egg rolls) or Pancit (noodles), and although I ate all that growing up, it's more reserved for parties instead of daily meals. 

If I wasn't eating Filipino food? Well, I was still eating rice with it! Other than burgers or if we were at a restaurant, my mom made my sister and I eat rice with everything, whether it was bacon, steaks, or fried chicken. 

Sinigang na baboy: the ultimate comfort food. #filipinofood pic.twitter.com/34FAo8dvbx
— Kriselle Mendoza (@krisellerhiax) May 26, 2014

One of my favorite Filipino dishes ever is sinigang na baka (see-nee-gahng nah bah-kah). In English it's tamarind stew with beef. If you're Filipino or grew up with Filipino friends, you are probably familiar with this. However, a stew that is so near-and-dear to my heart that I definitely don't eat enough of anymore is a lesser known dish called sinampalukang manok (see-nahm-pah-loo-kahng mah-nohk). In English, it's a tamarind stew with chicken. (Note: I made a mistake and put baboy (bah-boy // pig) in the tweet above, but I meant to put baka!)

The two have very different names but seem very similar according to the English translation, but there are, in fact, a few differences. The biggest difference is that sinampalukang uses tamarind leaves and ginger, while the sinigang is just a tamarind-based stew. And the words at the end of each stew are the types of meat used in it. Baka is beef, and manok is chicken. If you change the meat, then the stew changes too in smell and taste, like if you use hipon (hee-pon // shrimp) or isda (eess-dah // fish). 

This is what Sinampalukang basically looks like.
Source: Kawilang Pinoy

Posts to Read (and Watch)

So today I decided to write this post for you guys because other than my lovely sponsors on the sidebar (you can be on there too if you click here), I definitely don't talk as much about what stands out to me in a blog post or Youtube video. I will occasionally post something on my personal Facebook or twitter, but not always.

That being said, here is a list of a few links I think you should at least check out! I'll divide them into different categories so that you can easily find what you're interested in.

Asian-American Culture, News, & Media

Angry Asian Man Links to other Blogs - Angry Asian Man is a blog I recently discovered and started following that talks about anything happening in the Asian-American community, and no that doesn't just mean Chinese and Japanese people. They talk about EVERYONE who is considered Asian, even lots of South Asians (Asian Indians, Indonesians, etc). I like that because people tend to think only about people with chinky eyes when they think of Asians. Anyway, this specific post links to other news currently happening concerning Asian-Americans, including the new tv show set to premiere this fall, "Fresh of the Boat."

Fung Brothers - This is a Youtube channel that I've been following for a few months now and I LOVE their videos! They do videos about Asian culture in a way that is both entertaining and informational. If you ever wanted to learn more about Asian culture in a light-hearted but non-offensive way (aka no having to ask awkwardly racist questions to your Asian friends), then I say check these guys out! And if you are Asian and want to watch a video and point to it and yell "OMG, THAT'S SO ME!" then I also say check these guys out! Here's one of their videos on what Asian girls like below: (it's funny but it also has a lot of truth!)

Fashion & Beauty

Source

Harper's Bazaar's 16 Makeup Tricks Every Girl Should Know - Found this through Pinterest and felt like it was really useful for me! When I pin tips and stuff like this, I normally do actually revisit the pins later. I know some people pin just to pin, but when I pin something, it actually is of use to me in the future.

How to Assess the Quality of Garments: A Beginner's Guide - This post is SO useful in helping to figure out how good (or bad) quality your clothes are and to help you decide how much you really want something based on the quality. The blog that wrote this, Into Mind, is my favorite fashion blog ever and it is the most underrated but well-written fashion blogs that I have ever seen. Anuschka (the girl who writes the blog) is so detailed and so knowledgable in wardrobe building, wardrobe organization, and minimalist style. I love it. Please check out her other posts, besides this one.

Stylish Ways to Style a Skater Skirt - I love my skater skirt, so I am always looking for other ways to style it! (Photos above show a couple ways I've styled mine!)

15 Booties to Rock this Summer - I love shoes. As much as I love clothes, I'd go more crazy over shoes, in my opinion. I especially love booties. And dresses. And booties with dresses and shorts where the leg is exposed but the foot isn't just gives off such a cool vibe that I love.

Health

Tame the Tum: Spare Tire or Stress Bulge? - I randomly came across this through Pinterest, and I actually really liked it because I, myself, have a bit of a tummy, but it's obviously not because I'm fat. I know that I have a very thin frame, but my tummy makes me look pregnant at times. So this post was really useful for that.