Opinion / Emma Watson and Kendall Jenner’s celebrity make-up artist, Alvin Goh, on why men shouldn’t shy away from beauty products – and 4 practical tips to getting it right
More used to styling the likes of Emma Watson, Kendall Jenner, Tilda Swinton and Uma Thurman, Alvin Goh says men should employ some of the same techniques to improve their appearance – in his first exclusive column for STYLE
This is part of Alvin Goh’s Look Good, Feel Good column for STYLE.
Growing up, I was never the sporty type playing basketball, or the one hanging out with the rest of the boys. Instead, I was the inactive one who hated sports and did not really have a lot of friends. In fact, I am a serious introvert with a bit of an inferiority complex (I know you won’t believe me!) that has plagued me for a good 20 years.
I hated the way I looked when I was younger. I even remember a year of not looking in the mirror because I was struggling with self-esteem issues. One feature in particular made me feel super lousy – my “grass-patch” eyebrows. It literally looked like a patch of grass that I was unsure where to start mowing.
I had my eyebrows tweezed at the age of 12 and even so, I detested it so much that I decided to get an eyebrow pencil and start fixing it myself. The rest is history.
As they say, “everything in life happens for a reason”, and sometimes you know the reason right away, but sometimes it takes years for you to understand. Being a celebrity make-up artist wasn’t an accident, it was me giving back to society.
In other words, whatever obstacles I overcame, it is now my calling to share. Especially in this industry, we are taught to amplify the glitz and glamour, but I’ve had enough of this fakeness.
I’ve been preaching superficial beauty for the last 22 years and I am still very superficial, but the difference between then and now is that I am able to differentiate what is real and what is fake. By all means, indulge in superficiality as long as you are not blinded by the smoke and mirrors.
So in this debut column, I am going to talk about all of the things I know that can make one beautiful – not just on the outside, but from the inside out too!