Check Out Yunqi Ying’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yunqi Ying.

Hi Yunqi, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a traditional Chinese family where my parents disapproved of my putting makeup on. I also grew up under a collectivist education system where all the students wear the same uniform and self-expression through clothes and makeup was punished. After I gained relatively more freedom to decide what I could do with my face after high school, I would do black lips one day and electric blue eyes the next, nothing too crazy to me because it was just lipstick and eyeshadow but people around me somehow took a teenage girl doing colorful makeup as alarming. My parents had talks with me about the way I looked (out of concern and love, of course) but I didn’t listen and kept going (thankfully).

I left home in China to go to college in the U.S. when I turned 18, which was also around the time I began to explore my queer identity more. I would research queer club scenes and what those kids looked like back then- NYC’s 90s club kids gave me a creative stroke in the best way possible. I still remember first seeing that Walt Cassidy portrait with the angry brows and even angrier braids; I gasped.

Around the same time, I got to know friends who are from different parts of China through the internet, who are into Chinese subcultures and clubbing scenes. Green eyeshadow, face painting, graphic liners, skinny red brows, etc., they did it all and it was their norm. I learned that it was ok and appreciated to look the way I wanted to, so I allowed myself to take the walls down.

It was a long and gradual process to expand my creative capability and grow comfortable with what I could present. During quarantine, I lived alone for around a year. It allowed for so much inner dialogue and little experiments. It felt like I was “brainwashing” myself telling myself over and over again that “I should be bolder with this look no matter how long it is gonna take” and that I could “just try the color combo of moss green. Baby pink and periwinkle, if it turned out to be ugly, I just had to wipe it off.”

Luckily, moss green, baby pink, and periwinkle worked. I moved to NYC after I graduated from college to start doing editorials referred by friends, and worked on my first NYFW show last year. Now I mainly do editorials and portfolio shoots, and I work a second job.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I am early in my journey compared to a lot of the MUAs I have worked with. It could be uncomfortable to put yourself out there, and there are months when I don’t get any gigs at all. I try to refocus on what I love doing and diversify my platforms.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a self-taught makeup artist known for doing creative makeup looks. I work with younger artists and designers. I think what sets me apart from others is my creativity, I could do multiple looks in a roll- all bizarre and complex in their own ways. I never went to makeup school and that means I need to put in more hours of practice and research, but it also puts me outside of the box and allows me to come up with really raw ideas.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I travel from NY to LA from time to time and I would love to work with creatives based in LA more.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/limbafterlimb/

Image Credits
Liyan Zhu Tiffany Nolasco