Cosplay Girls

I recently became acquainted with Chai Chen (pictured at left as Silk Spectre II from the popular comic book Watchmen), who's been into cosplay just little more than a year but in that short time, she's become one of the most well-known cosplayers on the Philippines' cosplay scene. Chai belongs to an online cosplay community based in the Philippines called "Filocosplay" and she often attends events and conventions where she and her fellow members interact in costume as some of the most popular comic book, anime, and game characters.

Chai was a little reluctant when I first approached her about doing an interview, citing some more popular and seasoned cosplayers I should try for instead, but after some gentle persuasion (and flattery), she obliged.

Asian Makeup Gurus

Until several months ago, the only Asian makeup "gurus" that I could name were two that had been featured at Asian Sirens in the past. Those two ladies being; Elessa, aka Pursebuzz, who actually works in the video game industry and does hair and makeup tutorials as a sideline, and Michelle Phan, aka RiceBunny (pictured at right), who these days, occasionally does tutorials on how to become likenesses of pop icons such as Lady Gaga, Sailor Moon, Snow White, and (one of my personal favorites) a Tim Burton movie character (shown here).

After mentioning these ladies' names to a professional makeup artist friend, she informed me that they are just two of the many Asian girls who have Youtube channels dedicated to hair, fashion, and makeup tutorials, and proceeded to name several more (most included in this entry) right offhand.

Motivational Posters

Since the original "hang in there, baby" image of a kitten struggling to hold on to a tree branch, started appearing on walls over 40 years ago, motivational posters have been created to inspire us to persevere when the going gets tough. Demotivational posters have since shown up as a parody.

Either way, I've noticed that quite a few photos of well-known Asian ladies have appeared on Internet versions over the last several years, such as this famous shot of Sunghi Lee (above) from her 1996 milk photo shoot that she did for Playboy's Book of Lingerie.