With a top notch team of beauty experts, it was easy to execute the vision of Amaterasu Founder and Creator Sara Au Yeong for our Soul in Bloom photoshoot. For the beautiful makeup looks that complemented our models and theme, we had Vancouver-based makeup artist Heidi Cheung to thank. We were lucky enough to speak with Heidi, so keep reading to learn about her experience working with Amaterasu and much more!
Sara: What do you enjoy most about being a makeup artist?
Heidi: It might be cliché, but painting faces is a great creative outlet. There’s never a shortage of new products and different textures and colours on the market. Sometimes even just a new eyeshadow palette containing colours I already own, but are arranged differently, is enough to inspire a look.
Sara: What was your experience like working on this vision with the Amaterasu team?
Heidi: It was amazing! Sometimes shoots with new teammates can be scary because you don’t know what to expect, but we had a great shoot with great energy. I have been a big fan of the brand since the beginning of my career when I first discovered it as Geisha Ink, at Westcoast Beauty. The products have only gotten better because the shade ranges have expanded since the name change to Amaterasu.
Sara: How easy was it to incorporate your signature makeup style into the theme for this shoot?
Heidi: Oh, it was a breeze. I’m more of the “enhance your own beauty” type of makeup artist to begin with and the theme of this shoot had a carefree, not “trying too hard” type vibe so it was right up my street.
Sara: As a makeup artist, what are some of your favourite Amaterasu products? Why?
Heidi: The Liquid Brow Liners. They have been my makeup kit staples since the beginning of my career, since before any mainstream brand made brow liners, before any mainstream brands even cared that much about brows. I remember the first time I did makeup for a regular male client and I used the Brow Liner. He felt me going over his brows a few times with what looked like a liquid liner (he’s quite beauty product savvy), and when I gave him the mirror to look he was so surprised his brows looked so natural and immediately asked what I used. Personally I love the Eye Pencils, too. If anyone has tried Japanese eyeliners and mascaras, they would know they DO NOT BUDGE AT ALL. The Amaterasu Eye Pencils are the closest thing I can get locally. I also love the fact that the brand is locally owned by a woman. It feels extra special.
Sara: What does empowering beauty mean to you?
Heidi: It means having the clarity to know who you are, to not be shy or apologetic in feeling and saying “I am enough. I am not everyone else and I don’t want to be.” It means not always going with mainstream “beauty standards” because you know who you are. If you happen to be the mainstream image, fantastic! If you are not, that’s cool too! You have the power to keep being you.
Our beauty journeys all started somewhere and most of us started by copying what was shown to us. In my early beginnings, I was reading Vogue magazines and watching videos of fashion shows. My eyes were trained for clean editorial beauty and that’s what I copied. Nowadays mainstream is about drag-inspired makeup, and that’s what a lot of people copied. The trick is to take what skills you have learned and make them your own and to me that is empowering because, at that point, you are no longer copying or trying to look like everyone else, you’re just being you.
It was wonderful having Heidi as a part of our team and we hope you enjoyed getting to know her, just as much as we did. It’s easy to forget that no one has to meet mainstream “beauty standards,” but it's important to remember that it’s best to just be yourself and be confident in yourself.
