“Don’t try to fit to the mold, make your own.”
Over a year ago on a family trip to Scottsdale, I tried to visit a tea shop that I had bookmarked on Yelp. Unfortunately it was closed that day, but I was able to take a peek inside and I loved everything about it. From the marble counters to the hanging plants, it was the cutest little tea shop I’ve ever seen.
Since then, I’ve basically stalked Teaspressa on Instagram and have been following Allison, the owner of Teaspressa, on her journey on helping people live healthier, happier lives. If you haven’t tried Teaspressa yet, Allison’s tea blends have the consistency of coffee to create coffee-inspired lattes, cappuccinos, and macchiatos. Sounds delish, right?
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Her tea cafe, which is located in the Arcadia neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, is attracting millennials from all over who love tea and appreciate the power of a good ‘gram. Since launching her business in 2015, she appeared on Shark Tank, was named one of Arizona’s Most Influential Women by AZ Big Media, was featured on VOGUE for innovation and forward thinking, and is an inaugural member of The Tory Burch Foundation’s Business Fellowship Program. Watch out, because this girl has plans to open even more locations.
Last month, I finally stopped by Allison’s new Teaspressa location where we talked about makeup, skincare, and why growing up a mixed race was a struggle for her. Check it out below!
GROWING UP ASIAN AMERICAN
“I am half black and half korean. I feel like nowadays it’s really cool to be different but like growing up it wasn’t. I didn’t really have…a crowd per se that I did fit in which is kind of difficult growing up as a kid but…I think that kind of made me more persistent and more. I would say more persistent and more resistant — no one can just tell me NO. I’m still going to keep going and do my thing, kind of thing. So I think it taught me a lot. Before it was just hard as a kid. I moved around a lot too. My dad was in the Air Force and we kind of hopped around and did a lot.
I love meeting new people and I love doing that. I think if anything, it just made me worse at cultivating older friendships because I wasn’t used to that…And then when my dad retired in Arizona I was like, ‘oh that’s it?’ No more change.
So that’s why after college I think I just moved to New York because I just wanted to do something. Being in a place like New York where there’s so many diverse people and all this other stuff…it’s just very nice and refreshing. It’s definitely a different vibe.
When I was growing up, they don’t really promote that this look is beautiful. And the thing is, trends are always going to change like, ‘this is beautiful and this is beautiful.’ It’s like, who’s to say? Trends just change all the time. Like before, the thin brow was beautiful. And now the Cara Delevingne thick brow is really beautiful.
Foundation was really hard to find….they didn’t have the Asian undertones, which is more of a yellow [tone], so that was kind of a problem. I remember having all these zits…and I’m like, ‘it’s going to be a different color, like a brown or a pink brown,’ which doesn’t really match [me], so that was a struggle. I think it was just hard being different and being Black and Asian…
So growing up was kind of weird — like, ‘Who do I identify with? Who am I?’ And you know at the time, being mixed wasn’t really popular.
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Image credit here.
DAILY MAKEUP ROUTINE
I am so low maintenance. It’s actually on my wishlist to allow myself to give me some time for myself — for self care. As far as daily makeup goes, I just do mascara. Nothing crazy for the eyeshadow, just very neutral colors — warm tones because I’m running around a lot.
I put on blush and then I always have BB cream…I use Kjaer Weis Foundation which is like almond butter and then it has a little bit SPF to protect me from the sun. And then I just do a little touch up for my eyebrows and that’s about it. It takes me five to ten minutes.
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Image credit here.
MAKEUP BAG
I have KJAER WEIS’ foundation. I also have her blush. I also have mascara and Ecobrow from Citrine and then eyeliner. I like the marker one.
I’ve tried the [eye] pencil thing, but…I’m so low maintenance. I’m like, ‘boom boom, done.’ It’s clean and I don’t have to worry about shaving a pencil so it doesn’t get messy in my bag. So I go with that. I forget what brand but it’s one of [Sephora’s] top five eyeliners.
Most these things I get from Citrine and Melissa [the founder] is great. She has made it a mission to source green makeup products. It’s incredible stuff and she’s all about it.
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HAIR
My hair has not had a good week this week. But usually it’s just wavy and kind of beachy looking. So I don’t have to do much.
My sister has Victoria’s Secret model hair. She has big beautiful curls and looks like she literally curled it — it just looks perfect every day. It’s so full and voluptuous.
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SKINCARE
My mom’s Korean, so she gets all these different sets and so I just go through different sets as far as moisturizers go. She probably gets it from the Korean market.
And then there’s this new product I tried that I love. It’s actually a Korean product as well: the Onyx mask. It’s really cool, it’s like the magnetic mask — I don’t think I’ve ever felt the sensation of a magnet pulling stuff out of your skin. It’s kind of really neat and it feels tingly. It almost feels like you’re giving yourself spa treatment. And then afterwards, your skin is so incredibly dewy, like fresh baby skin.
If anything, I’m more concerned about skin care [than makeup]. The only thing I’m lacking on is drinking water.
HER ADVICE TO ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN
Don’t really listen to all the other noise out there — embrace what you have and that’s it. Just work with what you have and enhance it — don’t try to fit to the mold, make your own.”
