By Jessica Brite, Beauty Columnist | Featuring Sydney Tan

Like the sun rises every morning, second-year student and makeup connoisseur Sydney Tan goes through her makeup routine each day like clockwork.

Learning how to treat your skin is a key tip in Tan’s book, which is why she starts off her day using the Morning Face Mask from Japanese brand Saborino. As it sits on her skin, which lets the serum soak in, she wets her Beautyblender. The damp Beautyblender allows Tan to seamlessly blend the foundation into her skin. Next comes filling in her brows with the L.A. Girl Brow Pomade and carving with concealer to get the precise shape she desires. Setting her face and under eyes with loose powder is a must before moving into eyeshadow.

When it comes to utilizing colorful pigments and liner with varying techniques, Tan likes to try out different styles and looks depending on how she is feeling that day. Once she completes her artful eye design, she curls her lashes as far up as they go and swipes on mascara. False lashes are important for Tan’s signature look, which she rocks seven days a week. Bronzer and blush rosy up her cheeks, while highlight adds just a bit of shine. To wrap it all up, she uses her favorite Milani lipstick in Terracotta.

Though this routine is set in stone most days, it was not developed overnight. For Tan and many others, finding a makeup routine that works perfectly for her, suiting all of her skin’s needs and her personal style, was a process of trial and error.

Tan entered the world of beauty in eighth grade with a chunky black liner and orange-toned foundation.

“It is nice to look back and see the improvement I guess,” Tan joked. “The experiment and learning phases of makeup are just so awkward.”

Being Filipino, Tan faced not only the learning curve of finding the best techniques and products, but also the additional problem of not really having anywhere to turn to for help. Though there was no shortage of beauty influencers and tutorials on Instagram and YouTube, they mainly catered toward one audience.

“I don’t have traditionally Caucasian features and the beauty community content, especially early on, I felt like it was not meant for me,” Tan said. “I remember watching and trying to find someone with my eye shape to copy because there was not a lot of Asian representation in the beauty community at the time, so it was hard trying to find someone to relate to.”

Makeup is already such a hard thing to navigate because of the seemingly infinite product catalog; a lack of influencers across different races and ethnicities only hinders young people in the community who are trying to learn. More than that, accessibility to makeup for everyone is something that the industry needs to work harder to achieve.

“I remember [my best friend] could never find a shade match foundation correctly until Fenty came out. It sucks that to get an accurate skin match, especially when you are just starting out, you have to spend all this money. It should be more accessible,” Tan said.

Like in any form of media, representation is important. However, it impacts the beauty community in an interesting way because of how unique makeup is to every individual. Thinking about facial features, skin tone, and texture are all important.

Tan grew into her true self, makeup and all, during a high school study abroad trip to Paris. Being in a new city filled with art and strangers, Tan was inspired to go out of her comfort zone and to play with makeup in the way she wanted to at home in New York but felt like she never could.

“Suddenly it didn’t matter,” Tan recalled. “I went to a small high school, which is part of why I did not want to take risks with makeup. I was in a foreign country with people I didn’t know and I realized, ‘I can do whatever I want.’”

She toyed around with colorful eyeshadow daily and started wearing lashes every day of the week, getting “really good” at doing her makeup.

With her newfound abilities, Tan returned to school determined to continue her learning and understanding of the art of makeup. Yet she still found herself playing it generally safe, sticking to graphic liner and some creative eyeshadow looks. Fast forward to senior year of high school, where a breakup served as the final tipping point for Tan.

“I started doing crazy looks and just, even more, crazier things,” she explained.

Through the help of tutorials and inspiration photos, Tan began to use her face like a canvas — painting on her face with small detail brushes, dabbling in SFX, and just wearing looks with fun colors. She is constantly testing out new techniques and recreating looks from some of her favorite makeup influencers like Ponys Makeup, Mikayla Nogueira, Mei Pang, and Olga Dann.

Today, Tan faces a different challenge, which is learning when to pull back. Although she always hopes to creatively express herself, she knows that stepping into the professional world also means finding what is appropriate.

“Makeup is very much an our-generation thing. It is just now becoming more than something you wear at only special events, you can wear it every day now,” Tan said. “Trying to find those [business appropriate] lines is really hard especially when I wear more makeup than the everyday person.”

As her archive of looks continues to expand, Tan finds herself questioning more about what held her back in the first place — the stigma surrounding the implications of women and young girls wearing makeup.

“I would’ve experimented earlier if I knew it wouldn’t change the way people thought of me,” Tan said. “I was taught that people associate caring about appearance as being high maintenance, but there is nothing wrong with caring about how you look.”

Tan expressed her disagreement with the fact that society has always been quick to judge those with makeup, whether it’s through backhanded compliments like “you look better without makeup” or telling young girls that it signifies insecurity.

Tan looks back happily on all the significant life events that happened during her makeup journey.

“I got some really good skills and generally things that make me feel confident,” Tan said.

Aside from being able to express herself artistically, Tan really appreciates the lines of communication that makeup opens up. Because she is always wearing bold looks, it is not infrequent that people approach her.

“It is really nice when people come up to you and just say ‘I like your makeup.’”

In college, especially during COVID-19, makeup became a way for Tan to foster connections in her community. In her first semester abroad, Tan became the group’s unofficial-official makeup artist, doing girls’ makeup for nights out and offering makeup advice to those who asked. Here in Boston and at home, Tan has been involved in photoshoots because of her looks.

“I just love it,” Tan said. “It gives you an opportunity to actively do something with people.”