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Beauty secrets by Cheryl Chio of beautifulbuns

Each week, Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore profiles a beauty blogger that is based in Singapore. Get to know their beauty secrets and find out how you can improve your daily skincare and make-up regime. This week, we feature Cheryl Chio, who runs the blog beautifulbuns.

Singapore beauty blogger Cheryl Chio. (Photo: Ashley Mak)
Singapore beauty blogger Cheryl Chio. (Photo: Ashley Mak)

1. How did you start becoming a beauty blogger?

I was trying to make a purchase decision regarding a certain beauty product, and I realised that I could not find a decent, trustworthy and well-written review on any of the existing beauty blogs back then. Most of them only had multiple selfies, and merely mentioned niceties such as “thanks to the brand for inviting me to xxx event”, and were more of a self-created e-shrine than actually being useful to the reader.

Since I used to work in magazines as a writer and editor, and had chalked up about six years’ experience in women and lifestyle magazines before I decided to leave the publishing industry, I decide to set up my own beauty blog. It would be what I thought a beauty blog should be – useful, informative, helpful, useful to fellow beauty junkies, or even just your everyday consumer.

In addition, my friends used to ask me what products were good (because of my experience working in magazines), and I figured that a blog (or an online site) would be better and easier for them to access rather than having to listen to me ramble on and on.

2. Can you describe what a typical day is like for you?

I have my full-time job as an editor, and I work shifts. I start at 5.30am, finish my work at 1.15pm (I don’t get meal breaks), and then head out to attend events or beauty launches. If there are none, I’d be at home either resting, or taking photos for my blog reviews or Instagram posts, or doing up blog posts.

Occasionally, I do have freelance writing projects so I’ll be working on those. I sleep an average of four to five hours a night on weekdays, and then try to clear that sleep debt on weekends. That’s not to say I don’t have a social life – I catch up with friends over meals as well.

3. What’s your morning beauty regime?

Something simple – treatment toner, moisturiser, sunblock. Our little red dot’s humidity levels are a force to contend with. Apply anything more than that, and the make-up will slide off faster than Singaporeans congregating for good food.

4. What’s your night time beauty regime?

This is where I get more free rein to apply various products that attend to any accompanying skin concerns. I start with a treatment toner, followed by emulsion, serum, moisturiser, and then a sleeping mask. I rotate the type of products I use though – from hydrating, anti-ageing, brightening, to soothing.

5. What are your current favourite beauty products? Why?

Make-up:

  • Hera Black Cushion – The Koreans were the first to pioneer the cushion foundation product, with Western brands following suit several years after.

There’s been a variety of cushion foundations (and I must have tried more than a hundred), but this cushion has finally struck the right balance. It has the perfect combination of matte-dewy finish, high coverage, non-oxidisation, doesn’t get patchy nor cakey, and is buildable – tried and tested on my oily combination skin in this humid climate.

It’s great for carrying out to touch up, or even to apply onto freshly cleansed skin (if you’re going to meet friends after swimming or going to the gym). A close second would be Laneige’s Anti Ageing BB cushion.

  • Physician’s Formula 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner Serum – this is a long-lasting eyeliner that’s intense in colour and doesn’t smudge or run (so I don’t end up looking like a raccoon). It’s supposed to also contain serum that’s good for your eyelashes.

Skincare:

  • Kiehl’s Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque – helps to gently and yet effectively declog the pores without drying out your skin. I’ve gone through at least three to five tubs of this.

  • Laneige Water Sleeping Mask – Helps plump up the skin and surprisingly, does make my skin look less tired and more radiant (despite only sleeping for four hours).

Beauty blogger Cheryl Chio, popularly known as beautifulbuns. (Photo: Ashley Mak)
Beauty blogger Cheryl Chio, popularly known as beautifulbuns. (Photo: Ashley Mak)

6. What is the most common beauty mistake you’ve heard about or seen Singaporeans making?

Leaving on a face mask for a longer time means that you get more “goodness” absorbed into your skin. If this were true, we’d all be the local equivalent of the White Walkers after leaving on a whitening face mask for three hours.

Leave it on for the appropriate amount of time, say 15-20 minutes or so, and remove it. Also remember to not let it dry up completely on your skin – remove it while it’s still damp.

7. Is there a beauty secret that you swear by?

Skincare:

It’s not a big secret per se, but it’s definitely one that’s overlooked – always, always cleanse properly. I do several rounds of cleansing – with a micellar water-soaked cotton pad, with a cleansing oil/cleansing oil tissue, and then cleansing foam with a cleansing gadget (Clarisonic).

Once you rid your skin of the day’s buildup of dirt, grime and make-up, it’s easier for skincare to be absorbed, and you’ll get clearer, radiant and healthy skin. Vaseline is also great for dry chapped lips. Apply it before sleeping or before applying lipstick.

Make-up:

A tinted primer works great in helping to create that “good skin” effect. My current favourite is Cle De Peau’s UV Protective Cream Tinted – it works as a sunblock and a primer, and I absolutely love it. It evens out the skin tone, smoothens the skin so that your foundation can go on easily, and also doubles up as a sun protection product. Oh, and applying eyeliner and red lipstick always, always gives you an event-ready look.

8. How big is your beauty collection now?

Ummm. Huge. Hundreds, if not thousands of products? I think half my room consists of beauty products. My friends jokingly call it a mini Sephora, like a mini beauty emporium. I’ve got two chests of drawers (chest-level, eight drawers in total) filled to the brim with make-up, sorted by category, and the entire area under my bed is filled with boxes of beauty products too.

I shop too much for my own good – I’ve once purchased so much from Korea’s Sulwhasoo beauty counter that they gave me a gold card, literally. It’s made of gold. It’s not too thick though – probably the thickness of our Transitlink card from years back.

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