This is an excerpt from April 2025 Beauty Op-Ed
I stand at 168 centimeters. My waistline is 25 inches. Memorizing numbers has become compulsory to me. I am not tall for a model, nor am I the unattainable size 0. Just a week before a hopeful booking in Hong Kong, I lost the job because the jacket fit was lousy on my shoulders. “The clothes were too long on her,” they said. At an ungodly hour, I Google these keywords: “Monica Vitti” AGE “La Notte”. I measure the timeline of my youth against hers.
I take the Kwun Tong line of the MTR to Ngau Tau Kok. Most castings are in the farthest places of the city—I can’t remember if it was Industrial Building No. 4 or 5. “Celebrating Asian beauty”—what does that even mean? I feel betrayed that I am rarely cast as “Korean-look- ing” in the Philippines. While being away, I questioned if I was too dull for the East Asian market. I was never considered to look Filipino to begin with. It’s a complexity that puzzles me—like coffee. I yearn for the brightness of lychees, a dash of oolong tea—but sometimes, the beans are scorched due to the water past its boiling point. I feel like bland, burnt coffee.
But if beauty trends insist on being diverse, who is orchestrating the facade? To faithfully observe and learn, I spoke with the people leading these conversations— beauty founders, formulators, and digital voices reforming the industry.
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The Nuances In Formulating Products For Asian Skin
There is a distinction between a product made for Asian skin, and a product merely distributed to an Asian mar- ket. More consciously, products that cater to the humidity of a climate. Max Cañega, founder of Klued, explains: “Products for Asian skin need to be lightweight and non-clogging.” Foreign products, he notes, often fail to address concerns like sensitivity, hyperpigmentation, and acne. This gap allowed Klued to focus on balancing efficacy with gentleness, delivering results to an audience that had been overlooked for too long.
With a stroke of luck, I was able to connect with Olivia Chan of BeautyFact Hong Kong. She tells me that: “Brands should approach product formulation for Asian skin by focusing on gentle yet effective ingredients that cater to diverse skin types. Prioritizing skin sensitivity and sustainability can better meet the evolving needs and values of Asian consumers.” That word—evolving. It stains. Because beauty isn’t static, yet it is still treated like it is.
How Beauty Narratives Are Shaped Towards The Height Of Representation
I am greeted with a targeted ad, the vibrant and free-spirited Ikit Agudo, running into the ocean. The Sun People, a sunscreen brand that actually prioritizes what sun care should be. “You see a lot of ‘tone-up’ or ‘brightening’ sunscreens that are made for this specific purpose. Some Asian sunscreens leave a white cast because they are intentionally designed to lighten the skin.” as told by Rachel Ang, one of the founders of The Sun People.
There’s a gap between what’s marketed as universal and what actually works in our climate. I think about my castings: the silent verdicts, the scrutinizing gazes. I walk out defeated, comparing myself to someone with my features—but five inches taller. The requirements: youthful, but not childlike. Marketable, but never generic. Similar contradictions apply to beauty. Some formulas are tweaked for the Asian market, yet white-cast sunscreens still prevail, catering to a Western gaze.
Rachel expands on this: “It’s important to recognize the diversity of Asian skin. Filipino skin, shaped by a unique mix of ethnic influences and exposed to our highly humid weather, has distinct characteristics compared to other Asian skin types.”
Arianne Amante-San Luis, founder of Clocheflame, echoes this sentiment. Her presence is warm, a figure of trust and openness. She adores the color orange—reminiscent of a sunset, a hue her brand proudly embodies. “Clocheflame actually started as my journal when I was 15,” she shares, “and that essence remains today. More than selling products, our community is at the heart of everything we do. We’re not just another corporation—we’re redefining beauty together.”
Read more about Selina Woo Bhang’s story on Asian Representation in the Beauty Industry in MEGA’s April 2025 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, Press Reader and Zinio.
IMAGES FROM: MEGA ARCHIVES
