Ong Bee Yan
“My grey hair identifies who I am,” shares 65-year-old entrepreneur, model and grandmother, Ong Bee Yan who runs a blue pea flower rinse through her hair to keep brassiness at bay. “It represents freedom, wisdom, contentment, accomplishment, self-expression and happiness. My grey hair has become a conversation starter and gives me the opportunity to share my mission about empowering and encouraging mature men and women to get out of their comfort zone, challenge themselves and learn new things.”
“Inner beauty is ageless. It attracts people like a magnet. When you are comfortable in your own skin and accept who you are, you feel liberated, confident and empowered,” says Bee Yan.
“As I grow older my skin is drier and begins to sag, more wrinkles appear and my metabolic rate slows down. So I pay more attention to what I eat and exercise to keep healthy and fit. I use sunscreen to prevent pigmentation and dark spots. In fact, I look after my physical and mental health now than when I was younger. My job keeps me mentally alert as I am constantly learning and interacting with young people. My spiritual wellbeing: reading my Bible every morning keeps me grounded and focused on my values and existence.”
“Being 65 does not stop me from constantly exploring, challenging myself and learning new skills. It may or may not take a little longer to learn and overcome these challenges. I may not excel in everything, but at least I make an effort to try and this to me is a victory. I want people to know that you can teach old dogs new tricks.”
Lakshana and Lara Kumar
“Social media sets such warped standards of beauty for women and makes it impossible for them to be able to accept their physical appearances because it is not in-line with what social media deems ‘ideal’,” shares 20-year-old model and medical student, Lara. “Having darker skin has always made it harder to find the right foundations and concealer shades that don’t end up looking ashy. It is also sometimes difficult to buy make up from local drugstores and even bigger stores as a lot of Asian brands also aren’t inclusive enough and do not cater to us darker skinned girls. My advice would be to have colour corrector on you always such as peach, orange or red, this will neutralise pigmentation on darker skin.”
“Beauty and self-love are complex ideals when you’re a set of twins,” shares elder twin, Lakshana Kumar. “You would think that looking completely identical would deter comparisons but that can never be the case.” Weighted against each other in everything from academics to hobbies and battling self-identity challenges in between, Lakshana shares that she and sister Lara have “learnt to embrace the complexity of it. We’re different in many ways. Self-identity and self-love is very something for you to establish for yourself, and is unique to you and alone.”
Gegee Gonchigsumlaa Lkhundev and Alexis
“My earliest memory of my mother is of her giving my sister and I milk baths once a week,” says model and mother of two, Gegee Gonchigsumlaa Lkhundev. Lkhundev’s upbringing in the Mongolian countryside meant an emphasis on skincare. “My mum was a police woman, so she didn’t wear much make-up—sometimes just red lipstick. She always said to wash your face before bed and would put on blue Nivea cream.”
“Alexis my little girl is a tomboy, in part thanks to having an older brother. The only beauty habit she’s learnt from me so far is applying sunscreen before going outside.”
“Becoming a mother the first time was so overwhelming. You are doing something so amazing yet you are worried if you’re doing a good or bad job. Everyone will have a different experience, so my take-away was that it will all take time. Be gentle with your body and remind yourself that you are doing something amazing.”
Photographer Sayher Heffernan
Beauty director Alli Sim
Make-up Bobbie Ng / The Make-Up Room
Hair Marc Teng
Beauty editor Dana Koh
Art director Henry Thomas Lloyd
Models Ong Bee Yan, Gegee Gonchigsumlaa Lkhundev, Laranya Kumar and Lakshana Kumar / Mannequin Studio
