How did you end up as a makeup artist?

I am pretty sure every girl has snuck into her mum’s bedroom at least once to have a go at the brilliant red lipstick and paint her face with the eyeshadow palette “just like the adults”, and I am no different. My interest in makeup started at a very young age, but sometimes life has its prepared for us its own twists and turns. For me, I ended up spending close to a decade in the least expected industry ever – as an engineer – because I thought back then that all I needed was a stable job to get by. 

But that inner desire in me to wake up each day with a burning passion for what I do could not be quenched. And that was how I started Shino Makeup and Hairstyling – now known as Shino Beauty – back in 2014.

I worked my way up from an assistant makeup artist to managing my own beauty brand, and have travelled to various countries, including Korea and Japan, with the hope to learn from the best. The journey has not been easy, but the same burning passion has kept me going. Each time I receive a thank you text from my clients or capture the smile plastered on my clients’ faces when the job is done, I am assured that the effort has paid off. 

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.

— Coco Chanel

What is your beauty philosophy? 

Bringing out one’s natural beauty. I seek to leverage on the natural beauty that my clients already possess, and enhance it further with the experience that I have built up over the years, with an emphasis on a natural and clean look.

Ultimately, I believe that a makeup artist is only as good as what she is willing to listen to the client’s needs, whether it is to address a deep-seated fear or to accentuate a particular feature. We are all unique individuals, and the same beauty standard cannot simply be applied across-the-board.