Liu spends much of her day preparing and applying her designs to be photographed—once spending five hours on a single look—only to take it all off after getting the shot, as it’s not practical for her to walk around in such an intricate look. “I take all photos on my phone, and I edit them myself,” she says, and only alters the contrast and shadows of her selected images. While Liu admits that much of the detail can be lost in a photo, she believes the photo becomes art in own right.

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She notes that the rise of beauty filters and other editing tools has created toxic expectations of beauty, particularly the illusion of flawless skin. “I don’t know where everyone got this idea that when you put on make-up, your skin will be perfectly smooth, with no wrinkles or texture. Skin moves! I have seen the most beautiful skin, but there’s still texture and there’s always going to be some level of imperfection.”

Liu has also noticed that while creative expression is becoming more acceptable in beauty, there are more conversations about what’s not acceptable. “I’d worn braided hairstyles before, but after the Black Lives Matters movement surfaced, I realised how important it is to respect culture,” she says. “It’s a similar thing with the appropriation of Asian eye make-up styles; the problem is that Asian people are still being judged.”

Since the boom of beauty influencers in the last decade, Liu has seen more young people take the lead on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. While they’re bringing a new perspective on beauty, creators tend to gravitate towards certain looks in an effort to become popular. Recently, it’s been adopting Asian make-up trends without acknowledging their origins, including straighter brows, ink-stained lips and the ubiquitous fox eye.

“I’ve been creating ‘fox eye’ looks far longer than they’ve been a thing. It’s diffused eyeliner,” she says of the viral trend that has piqued the interest of many influencers. But following suit goes against her personality and intent, and she says, “The last thing I want to do is what’s trending!”

The difficulty so many millennial artists face today is authenticity—and maintaining it. With only so many original looks one can create, Liu feels a duty to share her point of view as best she can, saying, “I feel like my youth is so short-lived, and that I don’t have a lot of time to make my mark, but there’s no way around it. As an artist, I have to say what I need to say.”

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