Pretty Subjective: Beauty standards from different worlds

I started to apply makeup when I started university at 18. Like most girls, I taught myself how to “glow up” through youtube tutorials. Different from other girls, I often face struggles when following those YouTube videos.

As a woman from East Asian descent, I have a very different face from most beauty bloggers back in the days. My monolid did not have much space for me to play with different eyeshadow colours and pigments.

But that didn’t bother me too much, I quickly turned to Korean beauty tutorials, where tons of the tricks are tailored to my facial features.

Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the solution once for all. As Korean and Asian beauty emphasises on natural beauty without heavy layers and bright colours. It also tends to go for a cute and youthful look, looking younger than your actual age.

It’s not rare to see Korean makeup tutorials with titles such as “how to get teen skin and baby doll eyes”.

Credit: Kamilah.Blog Beauty standards from the East are often very different to what we see in Western magazines.

When those techniques translate to my face, I looked like a schoolgirl. I liked the way I look, but among my uni friends on a night out, I look like a minor illegally consuming alcohol.

But it’s not just simply putting on different styles of makeup techniques, the undermining issue is the crush of beauty standards from the East and West. Moreover, it’s about fitting in while keeping yourself.

At the end of the day, beauty is PRETTY SUBJECTIVE, a different matter to everyone’s personal choice.

Originally on: http://cityjournalism.co.uk/prettysubjective/what-is-pretty-subjective/beauty-standards-from-different-worlds/