An Instagram fashion and beauty expert who lights up people’s Instagram feeds with her vibrant and colourful looks has shared the secrets behind her work.
Rowena Singh, 23, from Sydney, has built up a steady following of 56,000 followers through her unique make up and fashion looks.
‘Everything I do is self taught but I was hopeless with make up to begin with, I didn’t know a single thing,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It was frustrating to begin with because I couldn’t do something as simple as winged liner or put mascara on properly.’
Rowena Singh , 23, (pictured) from Sydney, has built up a steady following of 56,000 followers through her unique make up and fashion looks
She ights up people’s Instagram feeds with her vibrant and colourful looks and has shared the secrets behind her work
‘I’ve had zero training, I’m not a qualified make up artist and I don’t even watch YouTube videos because I find them annoying.
‘It’s definitely one of those things where you have to practice, practice, practice every single week until you get it right.
‘You also need to learn how to work with your face shape and pick up on trends.’
Rowena said that she started experimenting with her make up two and a half years ago while she was in her first year of uni.
It was festival season, particularly Splendour in the Grass, and she was wanting to channel her creativity and passions into make up and fashion.
‘I’ve had zero training, I’m not a qualified make up artist and I don’t even watch YouTube videos because I find them annoying,’ she said
Rowena said that she started experimenting with her make up two and a half years ago while she was in her first year of uni
For one ‘full on creative look’ it can take Rowena up to two hours to finish.
‘Sometimes I’ll put an hour of planning into it and draw it out and plan every minute detail, sometimes I’ll just start playing with colours and have a look on my hands, it’s a bit of both.
‘Instagram is an amazing space for inspiration but it’s never one person I take inspiration from, I more take my inspiration from colours and patterns.
‘I’ll see something and think, “cool I could turn that into a make up look” and a lot of the looks I do don’t already exist which is where I think I’ve been successful, they’re quite unique.’
For one ‘full on creative look’ it can take Rowena up to two hours to finish
‘Instagram is an amazing space for inspiration but it’s never one person I take inspiration from, I more take my inspiration from colours and patterns’
Rowena also understands that not everyone has the time or the skill that she has taught herself over the years.
‘Before anyone can dive into doing a look it’s definitely really important for them to know their face and their eye shape because what might work for one person can look quite disastrous for another.
‘For example I have quite hooded eyes so that took a lot of learning about how my eyelids sit and how the eyeshadow works into that,
‘A big part of a look is having the right products and a good base so having a good foundation, primer and knowing how to work with colours and knowing how to blend definitely helps.’
Rowena also understands that not everyone has the time or the skill that she has taught herself over the years
Rowena told FEMAIL that all of her looks involve up to five eyeshadow colours, even if the end result looks like it could only be one or two.
‘That’s another key, if you want to do a pink look you can’t use one solid pink colour because it won’t come out the way that you hope, it needs to go into a gradient.
‘I split my eye into three: I work into the crease first which would be the base colour.’
Rowena told FEMAIL that all of her looks involve multiple eyeshadow colours, even if it looks like it could only be one or two
‘If we’re doing pinks that would be a dark magenta and then that gets blended up to the brow bone and you get the gradient from the crease to your eye brow,’ she said.
‘To work that up I would use a highlighter or a really light pink and then the last step is filling the lid and that can be either a lighter colour or a darker colour.’
Rowena explained that she tends to go from dark to light, starting at the lid of the eye and working her way up to the eyebrow.
Rowena explained that it’s all about experimenting and sometimes a certain look might look good in her head but could end up being disastrous
‘Sometimes it works out and sometimes its disastrous. It used to be such a frustrating process for me, I would do something and if it wasn’t right I would have to rub it out and redo it.
‘If I had a dark colour because I was doing a smokey eye and I messed that up it would be such a process to remove the make up and apply the primer and foundation but now I don’t mess up I go with the flow.
‘I haven’t made a mistake on a look in a while and even if i do I use that to my advantage and work into the mistake.’
‘I haven’t made a mistake on a look in a while and even if i do I use that to my advantage and work into the mistake,’ she told FEMAIL
If you’re looking at these images and want to try create one for yourself, Rowena’s number one tip is to moisturise your face with a good moisturiser.
‘Then use a really good primer because it transforms the make up and make it look glowy and then I pop on my first very thin layer of foundation.
‘Then I contour under my eyes to get rid of bags and contour the rest of my face as well as highlighting on my nose, forehead and chin
‘My eyebrows normally takes half an hour because I sculpt them, fill them in and highlight the brow bone and after eyebrows I’ll prime my eyelids with my concealer so it’s more of an even tone.
‘Then I’ll start applying the eyeshadow in those three places, the crease, the brow bone and the lid and then I do under the eye as well.’
‘My eyebrows normally takes half an hour because I sculpt them, fill them in and highlight the brow bone’
These steps are all then followed by Rowena curling her eylashes, putting on her fake lashes and then applying mascara.
She then goes in for a final round of contour and touches up areas that may need it.
‘I then contour and highlight my cheeks pop blush on, do my lips and then the very very last step is all the gems, the sparkles and the sequins.’
Rowena recommends that those wanting to experiment with make up and wanting to learn more techniques and ideas should watch 30 second sped up make up videos on Instagram.
Rowena recommends that those wanting to experiment with make up and wanting to learn more techniques and ideas should watch 30 second videos on Instagram
‘You get an idea of how other people are applying products and you can copy that technique.
‘Once you know your own eye shape and understand how your face works you can adjust accordingly.’
She never intended for beauty and make up to be her main passion, she went into Instagram wanting to create eccentric looks that make people double take.
‘There’s definitely a lot of passion and work put into it, I definitely don’t sit back with my Instagram, I reach out to brands, I email people constantly looking for new opportunities and collaborations.
‘I’m creating looks on the weekends and in my spare time, it’s definitely a huge amount of time and dedication put into it.’
She never intended for beauty and make up to be her main passion, she went into Instagram wanting to create eccentric looks that make people double take
Her advice for others wanting to start a beauty based Instagram? Find your niche.
‘I came into the market quite late but I leveraged my culture and heritage, I fuse my Indian culture into my looks which definitely helps resonate with people.
‘My modern easthetic mixed with my heritage inspires other brown girls to create and do their own looks as well – it’s about finding that niche and building that skill up over time.’
Rowena also told FEMAIL that if you don’t put time and effort into your Instagram account then you’re not going to see results.
‘My planning into each look is quite extensive and a lot of people don’t see that.
‘It”s a lot of brainstorming, coming up with these looks and picking up on those trends and seeing what works and what doesn’t but time is a big one, you definitely need that time.’