Nicole Chen (<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thenictionary">@thenictionary</a>) and Sabrina&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sabrinalexandr">@sabrinalexandr)</a>&nbsp;bonded over their love for makeup during the&nbsp;pandemic. Before even getting to meet each other offline, they&nbsp;launched a collaboration with other beauty content creators for&nbsp;a makeup series on TikTok that quickly drew attention to their&nbsp;talent.

On the beginnings&hellip;
Nicole:&nbsp;I used to feel insecure about my body and I didn&rsquo;t like&nbsp;the way I look. When studying abroad in the UK, I started to&nbsp;learn makeup and it helps me feel great about myself &mdash; not to&nbsp;cover who I am, but as a practice of showing up for myself and&nbsp;exploring different sides of myself. It eventually evolved into a&nbsp;passion and endeavour.
Sabrina:&nbsp;I started just creating content. After some time, people&nbsp;came to me and asked if I can also do makeup for them &mdash;&nbsp;I was like, why not? When the pandemic hit, I noticed the&nbsp;audiences were more engaged with short-from videos that are&nbsp;less than 60 seconds. From there, I started to experiment with&nbsp;more bizarre makeup content on TikTok. Now, Instagram is&nbsp;more of a portfolio for me as a makeup artist, whilst TikTok is&nbsp;where I express and explore my creativity.

On finding one&rsquo;s voice..
Nicole: On TikTok, being talented and having your own style&nbsp;are not enough, you need to have a personality that people&nbsp;can latch on to. You have to carve a niche out for yourself.&nbsp;For me, being authentic to myself and my audiences&nbsp;without giving away too much of my personal life hasn&rsquo;t&nbsp;been the easiest, but I found humour a good way to give&nbsp;me sustainability over a long period. With that, I get to&nbsp;interject my personality, and at the same time, protect my&nbsp;own energy.
Sabrina:&nbsp;I&rsquo;ll be honest, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve found my voice yet. As an&nbsp;introvert, I still struggle with the fear of putting myself out there.&nbsp;But what I hope to get across with my works is that Malaysian&nbsp;creators shouldn&rsquo;t be afraid of expressing individuality and&nbsp;trying new things just because they aren&rsquo;t common in our&nbsp;country. Comments like &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ve never seen this before!&rdquo; and&nbsp;&ldquo;This is something new!&rdquo; are what keep me going.

On being a beauty content creator in Malaysia&hellip;&nbsp;
Nicole:&nbsp;Worthwhile. Receiving the products saves me a lot of&nbsp;money. [laughs] The Malaysian beauty community is very&nbsp;loving and supportive. Sabrina, other creators on TikTok and&nbsp;I have a group chat where we invite each other as plus ones to&nbsp;events and exchange beauty products.
Sabrina:&nbsp;Challenging as a Muslim. There&rsquo;s a stereotyped&nbsp;standard of beauty, and you receive judgements and&nbsp;doubts. And sometimes, we are too quiet about the&nbsp;range of shades. There could be a local brand who came&nbsp;up with just three shades and no one talks about it.

On turning passion into a career&hellip;
Nicole:&nbsp;Not as fun in the long term. There&rsquo;s so much room to&nbsp;grow with the thing you love to do compared to a nine-to-five&nbsp;job. But it&rsquo;s also turning what&rsquo;s supposed to help you escape&nbsp;from reality into a job. You need to accept that your hobby&nbsp;might not be as fun anymore because it has become a moneydriven&nbsp;career. My takeaway is to be realistic &mdash; if you go into&nbsp;it thinking it&rsquo;s the most ideal job, you&rsquo;ll be disappointed by the&nbsp;reality.
Sabrina:&nbsp;A journey that requires time and effort. It&rsquo;s also a fulfilling&nbsp;and sustainable profession if you do it right. And as Nicole&nbsp;said, you have to protect your safe space.

This story is originally published in our <a href="https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/issues/cover-story-ameera-khan-on-creative-process-work-life-balance-and-future">L'Officiel Malaysia August 2023</a> print edition.

Nicole Chen and Sabrina on being beauty creator in Malaysia

Tags

Related Articles

Beauty

Chanel Beauty's LES BEIGES Water-Fresh Complexion Touch is for those on-the-glow

Beauty

Doctors explain the different types of sun damage and how to pick the right SPF products

Beauty

Julie Anne Kang and Aina Syahirah on the change they want to see as beauty creators

Recommended posts for you

Beauty

All the winners from L’Officiel Beauty Absolutes 2024

Beauty

Beauty Absolutes 2024: Meet our judges Shiyo Joo, Julie Anne Kang and Arinna Erin

Fashion

Coach partners with Malaysian homegrown label INNAI for special collection

Beauty

Chanel unveils Coco Mademoiselle workshop in KLCC, Fenty Beauty drops new foundation

Fashion

Louis Vuitton introduced the Nautical 2024 capsule collection

Fashion

Everything you need to know about Jentle Salon and when it is coming to KL

Fashion

Fendi’s Selleria stitching regains spotlight in the brand’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection

Arts, Culture & Lifestyle

Celebrating World Earth Day 2024: Actions for a Sustainable Future