Pretty face

Roseanne Tang is Meld Magazine’s new beauty columnist.

CONFUSED was probably an understatement. My first brush looked like a balding parrot and I couldn’t tell the difference between a foundation and a powder. In short, I was a makeup disaster.

But I think I’ve become living proof that no one was born with the skills. You just need to work on it, and it’ll come. Practice does make perfect in the beauty world and I haven’t stopped learning.

I was the eight-year-old who sneaked into mum’s closet to rummage through her makeup bag, swatch everything and then place it carefully back so she wouldn’t ever know.

Makeup in my hand glows. It makes me deliriously happy to get my hands on a powder, blush, lipstick or anything that can go on the face that makes you look hot.

Though mind you, the transformation didn’t happen overnight.

I was never Miss Beauty Queen in high school. I ruined my prom makeup enough to not want to put Facebook pictures up, and my first coveted makeup item was a no-name liner from a little stall in Hong Kong.

But the experience changed the way I thought about who I was as a person. I wanted an immediate outlet that was about me.

A pretty bad breakup dealt a big blow to my self-confidence, and I turned to make-up to find myself. I was a very involved student in high school, and my makeup routine in the morning was my only solace – where I wasn’t running errands for people, wasn’t doing schoolwork. I was doing something for myself, investing in me.

Putting on make-up in the morning was ‘me’ time. You might scoff at this, but it gave me hope and sometimes that’s all you needed to feel better.

So I learned the ropes, learned the basics from beauty gurus online and gradually developed my own opinions about how I saw products and how I liked to use them. I shared it with the world and here I am now.

How you look and feel about yourself matters. No one can convince you of your beauty if you don’t believe it yourself.

It’s exactly why I think beauty, make-up and cosmetics empower women. If walking out the door with a bit of eye-liner makes you feel powerful, then wear it. Being ‘Pretty and Powerful’ is one of Bobbi Brown’s campaigns and something that I’ve always believed in. You’re pretty but with make-up on, you’re powerful.

Roseanne Tang is Meld Magazine’s new beauty columnist, keeping you in the know on the hottest new looks, products worth trying, and make-up tips through online tutorials.