Identity

[asterroc]

Or, An amusing incident in race identification.

A few days ago I was killing time at the Mall while T$ was getting fitted for a tux, so I decided to pop over to Sephora and pick up a new powder foundation since my old one was almost out. (I don't wear a lot of makeup, but towards the start of the semester especially I do wear just a little bit, intended to give a natural but nicer look, so I'll be a bit more respectable looking. On those days I generally wear foundation, a subtle eye shadow, and lipstick.) I wasn't sure which of two colors fit my skin tone best (I thought Light or Lighter, though they had other fancier names), so I went over to a couple of assistants and asked them. The first woman said she thought Lighter (in a thick French accent), but the second woman said Lightest. "No no no," interrupted the first, "she's not White." "She's not?" queried the second with a puzzled look on her face, swinging her gaze between the French woman and my face, looking for signs of non-white-ness. "Nope," I interjected, "my mother's Chinese." "She is?" the second woman asked again, apparently stupefied, continuing to search my face. "Yep, you can tell from my eyes," I added, grinning, which emphasizes the tilt on the sides of my eyes. "You can? I can't tell," the second woman said again, and ended up leaving me to the French woman's care in her confusion.

I do have the eyelid folds that all Caucasians have, I wonder if that was what was throwing her. And I wonder what signs specifically the French woman saw that triggered it for her. And interesting that the Lightest shade is apparently only appropriate for full Caucasians - though the photo they show of a woman appropriate for that shade is always a freckled redhead (of Irish descent), so I would think that most Caucasians shouldn't even be using that Lightest shade.

Okay, enough procrastination. Time for power cleaning since the house looks like we're in the process of moving (we are rearranging furniture) and we have two people sleeping over tonight.

Comments

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

I hate shopping for makeup and wearing makeup, partly because I'm very lazy and cheap, but also because of all the racial identification stuff it brings up. None of the options ever feel quite right...

Btw, not all Caucasians have visible epicanthic folds, or at least I've met some who don't. I pay attention because the fold of my left eye is hidden, as many Asians' are, but the fold of my right eye is visible. Eye makeup tends to make me look lopsided...

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Oh huh, I didn't know that about the epicanthic folds on some people. I heard quite some time ago that some Asians were getting cosmetic surgery done to create the fold!

From what I've seen shopping for makeup they're often trying to portray it as "color undertones" rather than race, so you could have a pink or yellow undertone (rather than being Caucasian or light-skinned Asian), but of course I'm somewhat in between. :-P

[blahblahboy.livejournal.com]

I've actually heard, from more than one unrelated source?!, that the way to probabilistically tell a Korean from the other two major Asian populaces is that Koreans do not have folds in their eyelids, whereas most Chinese and Japanese do. Though to be fair, I think some northern chinese mainland people may not have the fold. I'll have to check.

[meleah.livejournal.com]

The problem with the lightest is probably that its got a pink undertone (especially if they're marketing it to the irish redhead type). I have similar issues as my coloring is very pale/light but has yellow underneath it - is charitably 'olive' I suppose. Make-up counter ppl tend to look at me and attempt to give me medium-darker shades and then express surprise as we work up to the lightest-that-isn't-pink.

Very difficult to find shades - I thought Shiseido was one of the best, partly b/c it is an Asian product so prepped for light-but-not-pink skin.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'm lighter skinned than most Asians, so cheaper makeup brands that have just one Asian color don't work for me.

Edit: I've had good luck with L'Oreal's True Match line.