Bobbi Brown On "Asian Beauty"

I'm involved in my company's latest project: project website update. I'm the point person, contact person, touch-base person or whatever-other-business-type jargon person for our graphic designer/brand builder/web genius woman. As a result of my working with her and of listening to and taking notes while everyone on the web committee picks apart our site (and other sites, for comparison and contrast), I look at websites in an entirely new way. I scrutinize. I wonder about code. I hate their flash animation or love their flash animation. I want to barf when I read their copy.

I've long toyed with the idea of blogging all things related to being an Asian American woman, especially since I'm insulted, assaulted and annoyed on a daily basis by all the ways Asian American women are stereotyped, maligned, advertised to, belittled and just generally fucked with in the media - and heck, I don't even watch TV. But usually I think it's just not something I want to devote myself to - it's an exercise in frustration, and not a very pleasant pursuit.

In my insomniac listless web surfing and online shopping fest, I clicked my way over to makeup slinger Bobbi Brown's website; I purchased two cream blushes from this company several months ago and also heard about some kind of magical tinted moisturizing balm I wanted to read about. Behold: Bobbi Brown's photo! Hey, I knew she was into "natural" ... but I didn't know she was this natural. I'd really rather buy makeup from someone who looks like a drag queen (regardless of sex and gender). It's just more fun.

The Bobbi Brown website also has a drop-down menu for special looks, or special "problems" to overcome with makeup.
"Ageless" is a category, you know, to combat the problem of aging. She tells you what to use to look "ageless".
Oh, and Hispanic is a category, you know, to combat the problem of, uh, being Hispanic, I guess. "HISPANIC WOMEN HAVE AMAZING SKIN AND HAIR COLOR" reads the blurb, and yes, this rather patronizing and meaningless sentence is written all in capital letters. Never mind that "Hispanic" is a controversial and political term, but would we expect a big cosmetics corporation to know anything about the history of "Hispanic", "Latina", "Chicana" and "Xicana"? Well, no.

The statement on "ASIAN BEAUTY" reads as though someone wrote it after a few gin martinis. All I can say about Bobbi Brown and her strong beliefs about my yellow skin is I think she should mind her own business, talk about color and features without grouping them by race and ethnicity, and, uh, try not to sound like an ignorant whitey.

And I wish Kevyn Aucoin were still alive and working.