A FORCE OF NATURE

Los Angeles-based Orcé Cosmetics takes on colourism in the beauty world through its make-up formulated for Asian skin. Founder YU-CHEN SHIH tells Nafeesa Saini how her diverse upbringing guides the brand’s mission of dismantling biases.

The beauty industry is saturated with Asian names, but there remain gaps in representation – ones that Yu-chen Shih seeks to fill with her brand, Orcé Cosmetics. Born in Taiwan and raised in Singapore, she advocates for more inclusivity within Asian communities and combats Western stereotypes.

The daughter of a Taiwanese mother – who fed her whitening treatments growing up – and a Malay father from the Melanau aboriginal tribe, Shih was bullied for her deeper skin tone growing up. These experiences, along with never finding a suitable foundation, inspired her to create Orcé (pronounced or-say) for Asian skin. The cult favourite of Hollywood make-up artists is now available at Tangs Singapore. Here, she tells us more about it.

What inspired you to start your brand?

I was in my final year at university and also in my second year at an advertising agency in Los Angeles. I was working on the account of a global Japanese beauty brand. I thought to myself, “What if there was a brand that actually spoke to me?” That was when I conceptualised Orcé. It stems from the word “force” because I want to portray Asian women as a force to be reckoned with. Asians are more than Chinese, Japanese or Korean. We’re also Southeast and South Asian. We come in all kinds of colours, and deserve shades that work for us.

What issues did Orcé experience when tackling colourism?

Ads today rarely depict deeper-skinned Asian models. I want to show that Asians are multidimensional. My creative team then was casting for our photo shoot in New York City and could not find a model with a deep enough skin tone, so we flew one in from Indonesia. Prior to that, they suggested hiring a model of a different ethnicity and making her look Asian. I was offended as it’s against everything we’re doing.

When we launched the brand, people asked why Asians needed their own when they can use ones made for Caucasians. A lot of education had to be done. I once believed that everyone has the same skin, just different colouring. The industry wants us to think that, so they can sell one thing to different people without understanding each group’s needs.

So how is Asian skin unique?

I consulted with my dermatologist then, who is Chinese American with a specialised interest in Asian skin. I learnt that Asian skin is structurally different: The topmost layer is thinner than other ethnicities, and is sensitive to external elements. We’re also losing moisture throughout the day and have active sebum production. Our skin is oily, dry and sensitive.

What was the process of creating the foundation like?

A chemist had handed me a Pantone skin colour book and asked me to pick the shades. I disagreed with creating products for skin without involving real skin, so they told me to pick foundation colours from a beauty store for copying. To me, this is perpetuating the cycle of recycling shades that aren’t working for us, so we found another manufacturing partner. Every single shade of the foundation is based on real women I know. We’ve now ramped up this process by involving our followers and customers, and have a Facebook group called the Orcé R&D panel.

Tell us how it cares for Asian skin.

The foundation contains three ingredients that address major skin issues faced by Asians. Hyaluronic acid hydrates our skin without triggering blemishes, while Tahitian Pearl extract accelerates wound healing. The antioxidant Chinese herb of the evodia fruit boosts radiance.