This is definitely a new platform for me…blogging. Thanks for all of the Toronto Beauty Bloggers out there that have encouraged me to blog.
Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be leaving the YouTube community anytime soon. But with my current work schedule, sometimes, it’s a bit easier to type out my thoughts, edit it, insert a few photos, and post versus spending time filming and editing. I’m quite meticulous when it comes to editing my videos. So I’ll spend hours on it until I’m happy with the final product, causing a lot of sleepless nights and dark circles.
This past year and a half has been a whirlwind for me which explains for my lack of activity on YouTube.
What have I been doing?
1) MAKEUP ARTISTRY
I was blessed with the opportunity to be mentored by the talented Rhia Amio. I truly admire her work…it’s absolutely flawless. I’m amazed by how quick she works and how effortless she makes everything seem. Every time I would get a chance to assist her, I would learn new tips and tricks. Without her, I wouldn’t have gotten into makeup as a job.
How did I meet Rhia? Well, it was all thanks to my elementary school friend who happens to be a wedding photographer, Chris Luk. He saw that I was into makeup and showed me Rhia’s blog. After clicking on that link, I knew I was in love and had to get in contact with her.After a year of assisting Rhia, I met Stephanie who not only is a Toronto Beauty Blogger, but owns BlushPretty.
What is BlushPretty? It’s an agency comprised of makeup and hair artists and offers services throughout the Greater Toronto Area.When Steph found out that I mentored under Rhia, she asked if I would like to assist on some BlushPretty weddings. Soon after, she started booking weddings for me to take on by myself and even photoshoots!
Both of these women are truly people I aspire to be. Their talent, passion, organization, communication skills, business ethics, and willingness to teach others and push them outside their comfort zone.I still remember the first time I got pushed outside my comfort zone by Steph. I never knew how to apply false eyelashes before. Being graced with longer lashes than most asians, I never needed to apply them on myself. To get me to start learning, Steph threw me right in and told me to start applying individual lashes on clients. She showed me the basic technique then I was off on my own. Beads of sweat were coming down my back but the end result turned out great. From learning how to do individual lashes, it really gave me a great foundation on applying strip lashes.Since you’re on my blog, you can definitely view my portfolio.
2) MACARONS
I’m not sure when macarons became a fad but I remember hating it. How is that possible? Well, I went to a friend’s house for dinner and she bought macarons from this Jewish bakery whose cakes I adore. When I took a bite out of my first ever macaron, it just tasted like rotten egg whites.
When I was given the opportunity to go to Paris Fashion Week to assist my sister, she told me to go to Ladurée & Pierre Hermé for some macarons. I clearly obliged because of my bad experience. She bought some and I fell in love. It didn’t taste like the ones I had in Toronto. The shell was light, airy, had a bit of a crunch, followed by the soft filling that complimented it so well. I was in love!
I came back to Toronto with a goal to learn how to make them.
My first attempt was a COMPLETE FAIL! I was so angry with myself that I just threw it right in the garbage. The filling was so liquidy & the shell didn’t have “feet” and looks like a random blob…it was a hot mess. I pretty much had given up on making them until one of my friends convinced me to do it together at her place.
Using another recipe, it was a success!! I now knew the fundamentals and technique. That set me back on the right track in perfecting the macaron.
Fast forward a few months…with extensive YouTube watching, blog reading via Google Reader, book reading, baking, and using friends as guinea pigs, I found the perfect recipe. One of my best friends, who I have deemed the VP of Marketing, actually got me my first wedding gig. It was for her cousin and I had to make 250 macarons. I like to give products to people that are freshly out of the oven, not a day old. But in retrospect, it was not smart to me to bake all 250 macarons plus the filling in one day. I spent 9+ hours in the kitchen and submitted the order very late at night. But the key thing is that I learned my lesson.
From that first gig, I started selling macarons and create a company called MANcarons Inc. No, it’s not macarons made into the shape of a man, like one blogger thought. But, it’s a play on the food item and my last name. Check out my Facebook page to see my portfolio!
3) NEW JOB
Contrary to popular belief, makeup artistry and baking are not my fulltime jobs. I actually get bored very easily and always need to be busy.
Graduating straight out of university with life sciences and economics degrees, I didn’t know what to do with my life. All of my friends ended up going to Medical School but I knew that it was not the path for me. Through volunteering, trial and error, I found Project Management and knew this was for me. I’m very organized and anal retentive when it comes to planning. For example, for a trip from NYC to Toronto, I came out with a projected costs spreadsheet, itinerary, and backup plan in case any of the activities didn’t work out or we ended early. Then after the trip, I would put in the actual costs to help me better forecast costs for future trips.
A year ago, I switched jobs. I decided that I couldn’t be a contractor anymore and needed a fulltime job with benefits and pension. I need some sort of security in my life and don’t like the unknown, especially if my contract would get renewed or not. I love my current position and more importantly, my team! They are so entertaining to work with…even during the most stressful moments, we can have a good laugh to keep us sane.
People often ask me “if you could do makeup fulltime, would you give up your current job?“My answer is NO.
My fulltime job challenges me mentally whereas makeup and baking challenge me creatively. What can I say…I love variety. I recently attended a beauty event hosted by Essence Cosmetics & Faulhaber Communications. Special shout out to VerveGirl for inviting me! At the event, there was a lip & palm reading. Even the reader’s comments said I love variety!
4) BOOTCAMP & KICKBOXING
My friends will never say I was “fat” but my family will. Having parents and siblings that grew up in the Hong Kong culture where girls are stick thin, they always called me “fat’. I contribute most of my weight gain from eating and hibernating in the library while in University. I’m known as a “stress eater” and love love love CHIPS (any flavour but regular). Also, in High School, I trained for field hockey and tennis for an hour everyday. So that helped speed up my metabolism and allowed me to eat anything I want.
In the beginning of 2012, I knew enough was enough. I was carpooling with my friends to work so I never needed to walk up and down the subway steps or run to the GO Train. Instead the most exercise I would get was walking into a car and going to the printer.
When I started my new job, I was no longer carpooling and realized how uncomfortable I was in my current clothes. A deal soon came out for a bootcamp nthat incorporated kickboxing. $20 for 20 classes and the fact that it was close to my house! Even if I tried one class and didn’t like it, there wouldn’t be a major loss. Like every item posted thus far, I fell in love.
The workout aspect was definitely new for me and I figured out how out of shape I was. Don’t get me wrong, I did have an active lifestyle. I played and trained every week for indoor and outdoor field hockey. But it was only once a week and games were another day. I also trained for a 10km run but soon realized that I had to stop running after the race due to my knees. In between, I would go to the gym but soon found out that the monotonous routine had little to no change to my body.
So bootcamp was perfect! I loved the workouts, the change of pace, and the people. The people there are very close to my age group and are super supportive in weight loss and a healthy living. There’s a sense of “family”. Everyone invites one another to events like Christmas dinner at the house, skydiving, birthday parties, etc…
After my coupon ended, I started doing regular membership. After about a year, I have lost close to 20 pounds all thanks to Fight Fit Bootcamps! The Master Ninja, Joe, has become a great friend to me and without him, none of this would have been possible. He actually has a YouTube site and you might notice some of the videos have a similar editing style to mine…just saying 😉
After class, one of my friends and I decided to practice some elbows, here’s a video of us:
What can you expect from this blog?
– clear & concise reviews of beauty products that I haven’t had the chance to make videos on
– posts that are supplements to my videos
– weddings, bridal trials, & photoshoot experiences
– mouth watering food posts
– random ramblings
Sorry for the long post. I promise that going forward, it will not be like this. I’m just posting this as a “get out of jail” free card on why I’ve been MIA.
I was blessed with the opportunity to be mentored by the talented Rhia Amio. I truly admire her work…it’s absolutely flawless. I’m amazed by how quick she works and how effortless she makes everything seem. Every time I would get a chance to assist her, I would learn new tips and tricks. Without her, I wouldn’t have gotten into makeup as a job.
