Mall Makeovers: The Trans-Siberian Railway
In DepthThis July I hopped on the Trans-Siberian Railway and traveled from China to Russia via train, with a few stops along the way. I got makeovers in malls in Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, and Moscow. The following details three makeovers from three wildly different cities, and also the progression of my bang growth over three weeks.
Beauty Routine: My beauty routine is a bit of a crapshoot, depending on how lazy I’m feeling. The one thing I am religious about is washing my face twice a day, but other than that it’s a toss-up. A lot of days I’ll either wear no makeup or simply a quick foundation and blush/highlighter combo. When I go out, I like to add some dark eye shadow and vibrant lips.
BEIJING
Beijing Trends: The short description of Beijing makeup trends is: K-pop star. I saw a lot of flawless matte skin, going for very heavy coverage with a dewy finish (often in a few shades lighter than what seemed to be someone’s natural color) with just a hint of very well blended rosy cheeks. Sensational skin is the only priority for many women, but if they are wearing any other makeup, it’s often very thin black liner, sometimes painted into a cat eye, and maybe a neutral lip color. In the evenings, I saw a lot of younger women with some brighter matte lipstick in summery shades.
Process: For the makeover, I headed to the China World Shopping Mall in Beijing and after doing a lap around the mall settled on the Sephora store. I don’t speak Mandarin, and the women in the store seemed embarrassed speaking to me in English or interacting with me at all, and confused as to why I wanted a Beijing-style makeover. After a lot of sign language and awkward smiling, I sat down with a makeup artist who seemed nervous to have been assigned the job. She was polite and even a little apologetic but worked quickly and silently on the makeover, giving me the basics – some foundation, a few quick swipes of blush, cat eyeliner like I had seen many Beijing women wearing, and a bright lip.
Outcome: I was pretty meh on the makeover. The only product she put on my skin was a Make Up For Ever liquid foundation, which I also use sometimes, but she went two or three shades lighter than I usually go, and I was expecting more use of a primer or a moisturizer. My eyeliner was a little haphazard, and although I loved the lipstick in the tube, after looking at the pictures afterwards I’m not sure it was the right shade for me. To be fair, I have a feeling that the makeup artist might have taken more time or put a little more effort in had we been able to communicate freely, but alas, there we were. I got a “Yeah, you look nice, can we go now?” from my travel buddy, so – relatively meh all around.