I’m in the mood to celebrate Asian-owned beauty brands. It’s a little contribution to the influx of support to defeat stereotypes. It’s also fitting to give credit to these brands, as many trends and secrets do come from Asia.
We benefit from Asian innovations and ingredients on a daily basis, many of which are seen all over the globe and have paved the way for new discoveries. It is also part of what I believe in when it comes to beauty: It’s not about fitting into one definition, but celebrating and empowering every definition that’s unique to our individual taste, mindful that we live in a shared community.
Japanese-inspired wisdom
One of the most celebrated luxury skin-care brands in the industry is Tatcha. The success story started when Victoria Tsai quit her Wall Street job, sold her engagement ring, and started everything from scratch in a San Francisco garage.
Tatcha carries Japanese-inspired beauty knowledge in its beautiful lilac packaging and has been seen in the beauty routines of Kim Kardashian and Meghan Markle. Of the founding principles of Tatcha, it says, “Victoria learned classical Japanese beauty secrets passed down to generations that took a different approach to skin care—that less is more. This skin-care philosophy and time-tested ingredients were captured in an ancient text widely considered to be the oldest beauty book written in Japan, and perhaps the first such work of its kind.”
Bestsellers include The Water Cream, The Silk Canvas and The Luminous Dewy Skin Mist.
Fun makeup options
As one of the original content creators in the then-relatively new platform YouTube, Michelle Phan has inspired many through beauty tutorials. Before the common viewer knew about AdSense and affiliate links, Phan was there eagerly sharing her story with everyone who could relate.
Her public journey is reflective and refreshing. Nothing is overproduced, nor has she been branded as problematic—a rare feat these days. This sincerity has paid off with the support to Em Cosmetics, which is all about the fun of using makeup as a form of self expression.
Favorites from the brand are Color Drops Serum Blush, Pick Me Up Volume + Length Mascara and the Soft Blur Velvet Lip Liner.
When it comes to makeup, everyone gets excited when Patrick Ta drops a new release. Ta is makeup artist to Shay Mitchell, Gigi Hadid, Olivia Munn, Adriana Lima, Jessica Alba, Joan Smalls, Ariana Grande and Chrissy Teigen. It’s not hard then to imagine how a makeup peg we’ve liked is a Ta creation. So the next step was, of course, a beauty brand.
In 2019, Patrick Ta Beauty launched, and is now available at major beauty hubs like Sephora and Cult Beauty. Starting with the Major Glow line of highlighting mists, body oils and lip shines, the brand now carries Major Headlines’ matte lipsticks, Major Brow and Monochrome Moment—blushes, lip creams, and lip crayons in varying shades of nude.
Fruit-based skin care
There’s also Instagram’s favorite Glow Recipe. Founders Sarah Lee and Christine Chang created the skin-care brand from their platform that first carried Korean beauty products from various labels. They harness a star ingredient in each of their lines, including watermelon, avocado, plum, pineapple, blueberry, banana and papaya.
What you get is a range of products so every other person can find something exactly for their needs and packaging that fuels beautiful #shelfies.
Hollywood-worthy nail polish
When it comes to Hollywood-worthy nail polish, there is JINsoon. The brand is by Jin Soon Choi, who immigrated to New York City from Korea with only $400 in her pocket. Her brand is the pioneer when it comes to exciting polish colors and a formula that is 10-free.
JINsoon offers colors like Cachet, Keppel and Nostalgia under their Award Winning category and now has a new HyperCare Collection, a line of nail tools and formulations that nourish your tips. INQ
