Asian Allure : Enhancing, Not Hiding, Ethnic Features Creates a High-Style Look
SUNNY LEE of Los Angeles works as a hairdresser’s assistant at Joseph Martin, a trendy Beverly Hills hair salon. Until recently, however, she had a no-makeup look and shoulder-length straight hair with a tired perm--entirely out of character with her career in the beauty industry.
Lee, who was born in Korea, didn’t want to risk that a makeup artist or hairdresser would try to Westernize her distinctive ethnic looks. She rejected makeup tricks designed to simulate deep-set eyes and make her look more Caucasian. It was safer, she decided, to take a natural approach.
Mitsu Sato, artistic director at Joseph Martin, says that, like Lee, most of his Asian clients have been wearing conventional, shoulder-length bobs for years. But in the past year, he says, they have been asking for shorter cuts “to take advantage of the thickness and weight of their hair--and to call more attention to their eyes.”
When Sato persuaded Lee to be a model for a makeover, Lee voiced only one stipulation: “I want to look like me only better.” To give some depth to her dark brown hair, Sato applied deep, berry-colored highlights and then trimmed off about 6 inches, getting rid of the old perm. The result was a dramatic, geometric shape that Lee can wear parted or slicked back off her face.
“The point is not to make a woman look ‘more Asian’ or ‘less Asian’ but rather to make the eyes look bigger and to enhance other ethnic features,” says Renee Parenteau, who works with celebrities such as Ally Sheedy and Rae Dawn Chong and applied Lee’s makeup for her makeover photo. Parenteau avoided using heavy eyeliner, accentuating Lee’s lashes with a fine black line of cake eyeliner. “Sunny’s eyes look sleepy because her lashes grow down and straight,” Parenteau explains. “To make her eyes look brighter I used an eyelash curler, some mascara and neutral shadows on the upper lid. Any color becomes too obvious on a flat, small lid.”
Since full lips are the current fashion, Parenteau emphasized Lee’s with a matte red lipstick outlined with a slightly darker shade. She recommends that Asian women select custom-blended foundations, such as those available from Prescriptives or Visage Beaute, to get the most natural looking color. When selecting a ready-made foundation, Lee Okumoto, an independent makeover specialist based in San Carlos, advises avoiding shades with rose tones, which emphasize the sallowness of the skin rather than counteracting it. Okumoto says she often suggests products by Shiseido or Pola, which offer a wide selection of shades appropriate for Asians.
Parenteau, who does makeup only for films and photographic sessions, says consumers should rely on the advice of makeup artists who work in “top-notch beauty salons. If the salon caters to an Asian clientele, the makeup person will, too.” Joseph Martin and Hiroshi Hair Designs, both in Beverly Hills, and Zoom for Hair in Monterey Park all have makeup artists on staff who are familiar with the needs of Asian women.
Sunny Lee’s makeover gives her a polished, sophisticated image that makes a bold and positive statement about her ethnicity. And that’s satisfying, she says. “I can still look in the mirror and know it’s me.”
