Western and Eastern Makeup Talk

by Penny Lai

        Whether it is a regular day that calls for a light makeup or a crazy night out that demands something enchanting, makeup plays an important role in quite some girls’ lives. People might think doing makeups is no more than dashing powers onto one’s face, but the styles and techniques can be widely diverse. With two examples, we are comparing and showing the difference between western and eastern style.

Eastern (modeling: Joyce Wu)

      Joyce would describe her style as more of a Korean style. Before she applies her makeup, she would simply use toner, essence and lotion, respectively. For the foundation, she applies some concealer before using cushion foundation compact, which is the trending makeup product throughout Asia in these two years. Compare to normal compacted foundations, the cushion foundation compact is moister and it gives the skin a silk-like effect.

Western (modeling: Vanessa Jao)

      Vanessa prefers the western style which she pulls off perfectly. She describes her skin condition as oily, which is why she only applies toner and a bit of eye cream before putting on the makeups. And a bit of light consistency lotion on dry areas for the winter. She uses liquid foundation and some concealer afterwards for her daily foundation.

             

Eyes: Eastern

     One of the most obvious difference between western and eastern makeups is the shape of the eyebrows. Joyce tends to draw her brows flatter. She uses eyebrow pencils to draw the shape first and enhance the color with eyebrow mascara. As for the eyes, Joyce prefers to use brighter colors such as pink, red or orange. And eyeliner is not her choice for a daily look.

Eyes: Western

     The part Vanessa cares about the most in her makeups is her eyebrows. She’d spend most of her time on the brow shaping. And her sharp-edged eyebrows characterize the western style perfectly. Moving on to the eyes, she prefers dark colors like gold or brown, which enhance the overall look. Vanessa does not wear eyeliner very often, but she uses two layers of mascara, first black then brown, to go along with the eyeshadows.

Lips: Eastern

     Joyce enjoys using colors such as orange or peach for her lips. The light color lipsticks give her overall makeup style a young, vigorous and fresh look.




              

Lips: Western

     For Vanessa, red or nude are always the choice to go for. She feels that brighter colors like pink do not suit her well. And she has a thing for matte lipsticks. Matte-effect lipsticks are a huge trending style in western world in these few years, it is also the iconic look of the reality show phenomenon – the Kardashian sisters.

     Both girls have their own styles and both are comfortable with how they present themselves to the world. With this comparison, the differences and some trending makeup trivia between the two parts of the world can be seen easily. All styles are good, and every style is better for a certain group. It is also very important to be confident and proud of who you are and what you represent for.