In the past four months she's taken steps toward becoming part of an international makeup artist service group, relocated from Okinawa to Southern California, found a job (and in this economy that's saying something!!), unpacked an entire household...and unless I'm mistaken, she's done most of that on her own, while her husband was deployed. Dominique of Aijuswhanakno showcases an amazing range of looks from not-quite-subdued to whimsical to colorful and vivid. She was so busy with the trans-Pacific crossing that she missed her first blogiversary (January 2) - so everyone mark the date and we can all remind her next year :D Here's my Beauty Blogs Backstage interview with Dominique!

1. Have you finally gotten all of your stuff from The Great Trans-Pacific Move? What beauty item that you unpacked, had you missed the most (and maybe not realized it)?
   I have finally gotten all my furniture and everything back, and in perfect condition. I wasn't missing any of my beauty products though cuz uh......I refused to part with them. ALL of my makeup, except for my kit foundations and eyelashes, went into a medium sized suitcase and onto the plane with me. As HEAVY as that suitcase was, it was still miraculously somehow under the weight limit. I barely used any of it in transit though. Trying to find one specific thing in that suitcase was a herculean feat.

2. Do you remember how you first got into makeup?
   I got into makeup.........I dunno! I remember playing with my mom's here and there in middle and high school, and I thought that most of it was boring (she was into neutrals). I remember though that she had this amazing Revlon cheek color (or maybe bronzer?) that was so beautiful and looked great on my skintone for a "sun kissed look" . I don't know if it was just me being young and exaggerating the color, but I have never found an exact match for that color again. I didn't REALLY get into makeup though, until my husband deployed in '06. I remember he wanted to see me do this sort of "china doll" look to go well with a Mandarin themed halloween costume I had found (Fredricks......*ahem*), and I had no clue what to do. I went to MAC, and the rest is history.
3. You've been blogging for just over a year now. Has it been like you thought it would be? What's the most interesting thing you've learned? (About blogging, about a technique or a product or a brand, anything you've learned while blogging about beauty.)
   Blogging is NOTHING like I thought it would be!!! I thought I would just start a blog, get people to follow, and get constructive criticism here and there. I didn't expect to make actual friends doing this, let alone friends with their own cosmetic companies, or in different countries. The most interesting thing I learned is that there is a world of people out there that you can actually take the word of. That, and the fact that you DON'T have to be restricted to the makeup that you find in brick-and-mortar establishments. That MAC is NOT the be all end all when it comes to colors (actually, they are far from it.)
4. Have you had a chance to do any of the freelance work you were going to launch, now that you've touched down in SoCal?
   I have not :( I have yet to figure out the best way to advertise my services, and I have been more focused on finding a job with a steady paycheck (which I have finally found.) I am still open to anyone that wants me, though.
5. What are some of the Japanese beauty brands that you'll miss the most? Are you glad to be able to get MAC Fluidliner again? :D
   Gosh, ALL OF THEM! I miss going to Jusco or drugstores of the like, to browse the Japanese cosmetics. I could spend hours there, and have a little mini collection of it. I actually haven't even gotten around to buying more fluidline, because I made sure I had a new container of KATE's gel liner for when I ran out! I don't know, I might just re buy that instead of going back to MAC, lol.
6. "Mistakes", "regrets", "wow that's just not going to work on me"...everyone's had them. What are some of your more memorable beauty busts?
   Um.....thinking that my eyebrows didn't need to be filled in. Now that I do fill them in, I see how atrocious I really looked in some of my earlier photos. I used to think that since my own eyebrows are naturally thick and shaped well, I didn't need to do anything to them. Yea, obviously that was wrong!
7. You love using brighter, bolder shades and 80s-reminiscent looks. Has there been a bright color that you've really wanted to wear, but just couldn't (or it was a real challenge to get it to work well?)
   Hmmm.....as far as eyeshadows, yellow tends not to work on me. Thanks to my extremely golden skin, almost every single yellow turns gold on me. Some even turn lime green! I'm not the sort of person that has the patience to lay down a colored base everytime I do my makeup, so I tend to not use yellow very much (even though I like it.) For the lips, I struggle with them constantly. I'm in the process of accepting that my big honkin' lips actually do look good with lipstick on, and that I actually can wear a lot of different shades of lipstick. To try to make myself wear lippies more, I bought Vegas Volt, Impassioned, and Candy Yum Yum. So far, I'm loving it!

Like this entry? Check these out:

or look at other entries tagged with

Share This Page

Comments