Meet Yu-Chen Shih, the 28-year-old entrepreneur and beauty maven that is singlehandedly changing the makeup industry with her makeup brand, Orcé Cosmetics. She grew up in Singapore and was given her first makeup palette when she was just 10 years old. After her mother saw a few too many heavy-handed blue eyeshadow masterpieces, a la Ursula from the Little Mermaid, she was enrolled in her first makeup class. Following a few initial lessons, the self-proclaimed ‘makeup addict’ consumed hours of YouTube tutorials and saw the transformative power that foundation and makeup can really have and her hunt for the perfect foundation ensued. After attending Pepperdine University in California, still unable to find the perfect shade and formula for her sensitive Asian skin, she took matters into her own hands and decided to become the change that she wished to see in the makeup industry. The beauty industry has overlooked real Asian women for far too long, but not anymore, not on her watch.  

“I would go to drugstores and department stores to shop for makeup and would always be disappointed in my options. Even if it was an Asian beauty brand, their foundation color range would be so limited and their spokesperson was, 9 times out of 10, an East Asian with very fair skin, large eyes, and a tall nose. I didn’t look like those models, and most Asian women don’t; they were picking Asian models that had Western features. The message I got from that as a young girl was that I needed to whiten my skin and change the way that I looked because I’m not considered beautiful and my skin tone isn’t accepted within the range that is available. It had a massive impact on myself and my self-confidence.” 

The frustrating cycle of trial and error with mainstream beauty products, on top of not finding her color match, she realized that the products would cause her skin to break out or be irritated. After researching and learning more, Yu-Chen found out that Asian skin compared to other ethnicities tends to be very sensitive, oilier and more acne prone, and yet no brands or products were keeping that in mind. 

Yu-Chen had always been puzzled that brands would make foundation to perfect the appearance of your skin, yet in doing so it would actually harm the skin itself. When she went to create her own formula, her first concern was to develop a product that was actually good for the wearer, a product whose side effects wouldn’t be a cause for concern. “I started studying Asian skin and myself and my team began to develop our foundation formula, with the help of a dermatologist and a top chemist. I wanted to lead with science by creating a foundation that would not only look amazing on your skin, but also be beneficial for your skin, and then I focused on having a wide range of colors to ensure that no one would feel left out, and all skin tones were represented. Good coverage shouldn’t come at a price.” All Orcé products are free of talc, paragons, oils, sulfate, gluten, and are cruelty free and dermatologist-tested to be safe for sensitive skin. 

As a young girl, Yu-Chen did not see herself represented in pop culture or the mainstream media and was often made fun of by other children. She is half Taiwanese from her mother’s side, and half Malaysian from her father. She and her sister had darker skin, and frizzier hair compared to her Singaporean peers. Her role model was her mother, a beautiful light skinned East Asian woman representing everything Yu-Chen didn’t see in the mirror, but served as her initial inspiration for expanding beauty norms. “It is important to me to show the wide range of Asian beauty, from pale to very dark because we are all beautiful and if Orcé can help one person feel seen then I have done something right.” 

Unfortunately, change doesn’t come easy. “One of the first and hardest lessons I learned when I was launching Orcé was that people are not going to respect me because of who I am, a young Asian female. I saw the challenge to prove myself, but it was and is not easy to be an entrepreneur when you are dealing with mostly older white males.” Yu-Chen had a horrible experience at the beginning of her Orcé journey when she was looking for a manufacturer. “I walked into a conference room and I sat down at the table. I was meeting with a father and son duo who were both on their phones. When I sat down, I said, ‘Hello,' and neither of them looked up at me. Then a couple minutes later I just went, ‘Well, I’m ready to start whenever you are,” and finally they looked up at me. When they did, they asked me when the decision maker would be arriving. I had to explain to them that I am the decision maker and they proceeded to ask me if this was my father's company or my husbands. Naturally I went with another manufacturer and never looked back but this was in 2017, not very long ago!” 

Despite speed bumps along the way, Yu-Chen continues to build her empire and revolutionize the makeup industry for people across the globe and emphasizes that while her products were created initially with Asian skin in mind, that everyone and their skin would reap the benefits from Orcé products because it is not just makeup, it is skincare. In terms of her Recreational Habits, she grew up a competitive swimmer but now enjoys scuba diving and spending her free time exploring the reefs. Outside of the water you can likely find her in the aisles of Sephora swatching eyeshadow palettes and lipstick. 

Be sure to check out Orcé on Instagram here and Yu-Chen on Instagram here!