Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Kim.
Hi Christine, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a 23-year-old Asian American who has a passion for beauty. I was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised by my Korean immigrant parents and my older brother. I moved to Duluth, Georgia, when I was seven years old and have stayed in this suburban area as of now. When I moved to Georgia, I noticed a big Asian American community and became very fond of my culture. I grew up as a small Korean girl and experienced many different appreciations along with insecurities towards my identity. Being a minority made me feel somewhat different growing up amongst the people around me. It made me realize that I had some of my insecurities with the way I looked.
I remember wanting blond hair and blue eyes when I was in elementary school then wanting double eyelid surgery by the time I got to middle school. It was normalized to see other Asian girls getting eyelid surgery as gifts from their parents in Asian culture, which there is nothing wrong with getting surgery. It simply was the Korean beauty standard to have double eyelids. The lack of representation of Asian features in Western media and the lack of makeup creations even in the Asian beauty community. I started noticing the lack of appreciation towards Asian beauty, especially with monolid eyelids. Monolid eyes are a type of eyelid shape without a visible crease which is a common facial feature in East Asian people. I, too struggled with accepting my eyelids but eventually learned how to embrace them through makeup. In high school, I started wearing eyeliner and completely fell in love with it. At first, it was difficult doing eyeliner on my nonvisible eyelid crease and hard to find the right products and techniques that worked best for me. I just simply lacked knowledge on how to wear makeup on my East Asian features.
By the time I got to college, I had started practicing significantly on my makeup skills. I wanted to try eye makeup looks that weren’t commonly done on monolid eyes, like cut creases and colorful rainbow eyeshadow looks. I became more confident in my skills and started posting my makeup looks online to the world. I wanted to show people that you don’t always have to conform to society’s beauty standards but instead embrace your features and identity through your art. I was finally able to fully embrace and enhance my monolid eyes through makeup and doing creative makeup looks online. Ever since then, I’ve been connecting with my followers, community, and even beauty brands through makeup. I’ve always had great gratitude towards art, fashion, and beauty and with the help of the Internet, it makes it a lot easier to showcase my passion for makeup. The beauty community is welcoming and has inspired me to grow. I hope to inspire the girls who want to learn makeup and embrace their beauty.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
At first, it was so much fun doing makeup. It was my therapy and my escape from reality whenever I was stressed at times. I would just turn on some music and start putting on some makeup. I would look through different makeup looks on Instagram and Pinterest to find some inspiration. I first started posting makeup on makeup community groups online like Facebook and Reddit. You start forming connections, encouraging each others’ makeup looks and seeing everyone’s improvement.
I started facing some struggles along the way, like busy scheduling, lack of motivation, perfectionism, and insecurities. I’ve always had a shy and reserved personality throughout my childhood, so speaking up was very difficult for me. It was challenging on how to speak up on what’s on your mind without harsh judgment from other people. Once you start letting go of your ego, you realize that your insecurities are just mere projections of your illusions. Passion and love are what make the world go around and help bring people closer. Sometimes it’s best not to care what people think about you and just speak up on what you believe in.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am mostly just a makeup content creator. I do some sponsorships and brand deals whenever they come across. So far I’ve worked with Revlon, Juno Co., Boxycharm, and Eyecandys. I also like to do makeup on other people. I’ve done a few girls’ makeups for their graduation photos, formals, events, and photoshoots when I have the time. It took an unexpected turn that I was able to grow my hobby into a small side hustle, but my main goal is just to inspire and post makeup looks whenever I can. I like to showcase editorial, glam, natural monochromatic looks, and graphic makeup looks onto my East Asian facial features. I am proud to represent my culture with my monolid eyelids through my makeup looks. I feel confident and empowered to showcase my skills by wearing my looks. It sets me apart from beauty gurus in America because of the Western beauty standards with more Eurocentric features. It also shows that anyone can wear unique makeup looks rather than the simplistic, everyday looks to spice things up and show a bit more personality with makeup.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Passion is most important to success, but also effort and consistency are important following that. I feel passion is what made me start this makeup journey, to begin with. Once you find that spark that fulfills you, you’ll feel so content and confident within yourself. You just want to connect with the world and spread love and awareness.
Contact Info:
- Email: coufe.collab@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coufe/
Image Credits
@coufe, @ckp_photographs
