Jeanette Aw’s makeup artist, Elain Lim, creates paintings from expired makeup

Makeup artist Elain Lim has gone from painting women’s faces to painting faces on canvases. And here’s the kicker: Lim doesn’t use regular paints in her art works. True to her day job, Lim paints with makeup. Expired ones, to be exact.

“During the pandemic, I couldn’t travel, I stayed at home and I needed something to do – and there’s only so many hours of K-dramas I could watch. So I turned to painting. I wanted to do something productive. It was a way for me to slow down; like a reset that allows you to re-evaluate what’s important to you.”

Turning to painting as a way to destress wasn’t something new for Lim. Having studied fashion illustration in school, she was always sketching but she only started painting socially from 2016.

In fact, you might have seen Lim’s watercolour prints at actress Jeanette Aw’s patisserie, Once Upon A Time; not surprising since Lim is Aw’s long-time makeup artist.

TURNING THE OLD INTO SOMETHING NEW

“I’ve always been interested in social issues, even the K-dramas I watch focus on social issues. It’s why I feel that using expired makeup in my art is giving a voice or greater awareness of what can be done. It’s my small contribution.”

When CNA Lifestyle visited Lim at her cosy studio, there was an overflowing array of expired eyeshadow palettes and liquid eyeliners neatly arranged in boxes. According to Lim, she’s been very fortunate to have supportive makeup artist friends who regularly share their expired makeup with her.

“Clarence (Lee) is a big proponent of sustainability so he’s the biggest donor. He even sent me a YouTube video of a girl making paint out of crystals and flowers.”

And as not all makeup are made equal, Lim admitted that some perform better than others, with her go-tos being eyeshadows, blushers and liquid eyeliners.

“Powders are the easiest to convert to paint – just add modelling clay to thicken to ‘paint’. You’ll also need to spray a fixer over the painting when it’s completed – this acts like a makeup setting spray, to prevent the colours from rubbing off," she said. 

"Lipsticks and foundations, on the other hand, are difficult, because the pigments don’t stick to the canvas. It doesn’t dry despite using a hairdryer or being placed under the sun.”

But the path hasn’t been without its challenges and Lim has had to experiment with different eyeshadow powders to get the exact colours she wants.

“You have to play around with it because what you see in the eyeshadow pan may not necessarily be the same colour you get on the canvas. And this also differs from brand to brand. It can be very hard to find the specific colour you might have in mind.”

It's also one of the reasons why there is a gradation of hues in Lim’s art pieces.

“You’ll notice that the background isn’t always one single tone or shade. This is because I have to paint over the canvas in many, many layers to get this kind of saturation. And I don’t always have the same eyeshadow pigment to use for all of it.”

A SPACE FOR ART  

After the pandemic, Lim found a studio at 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace (195PHT, an independent arts cluster where art and music studios are housed) where she could paint in comfort. She even ran intimate art workshops to teach people how to paint using expired makeup, too.

“I would teach the participants how to create paint from the eyeshadows, give them a mixture of paint brushes, palette knives and let them go to town. Some will paint flowers, some will paint portraits, some will even use their fingers. It’s very meditative and you might discover new things about this form of art work that you didn’t discover before. It’s like a mental detox,” Lim said.

Sadly, due to rising rent, Lim has had to move her studio home. Though she shared that she is considering to re-open classes if she finds a suitable space or a collaborator.

INSPIRED BY HER FASHION BACKGROUND

Looking at the Lim’s paintings in her studio, one thing stands out: They make you smile.

Her most recent series features animal portraits with a twist – they’re wearing clothes and jewellery. There’s a Siamese cat decked in Van Cleef and Arpels Alhambra necklace and a bunny in Dior jewellery.

“I didn’t start out thinking I wanted to add jewellery. I usually let it develop as I go along. For instance, I wanted to paint a cat. And as I painted my cat, I thought that it looked like Audrey Hepburn, so I decided to add jewellery from Tiffany & Co,” said the self-taught painter, whose favourite artists include Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Gustav Klimt. 

Lim’s education background and time spent at photoshoots for work also served as inspirations. “I used to do illustrations of models wearing designer outfits so I thought ‘Why not put them on the animals too?’. It’s like how a fashion stylist fits a model during a photoshoot. I like to look at what’s on the canvas and see what could match with it.”

HOW EACH SIDE INFLUENCES THE OTHER

Interestingly, Lim’s first portrait done using expired makeup was of Kim Go-eun, her favourite actress and the female lead of the K-drama, Goblin: The Lonely and Great God.

In fact, she only paints portraits, and usually of women’s faces.

So has being a make-up artist helped?

Lim admitted that she naturally gravitates towards faces because she knows them well. “Maybe it’s because I paint women’s faces with makeup as a make-up artist, it’s easier for me to do the eyebrows or add hair on the head. I’ve seen a lot of portrait painters who are not very good with the hair. It often looks very hard and harsh,” she shared.

Though the 51-year-old also shared that painting has influenced her approach to makeup too; seeing different colour combinations in a new light and painting daily has helped her hands become steadier during makeup application.

“It also reminds me take a step back and look at the overall image, something which as a makeup artist, I didn’t do often as I was always focused on the minute details.”

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT AND COLOURFUL 

Despite Lim’s painting journey being less than a decade, she’s already made great headway.

Not only has she done two exhibitions – her first was a self-organised one in 2017 and her second was during the pandemic in 2021– her works have also showed at Art Busan.

The opportunity came when Lim’s niece, a freelance art curator back in 2017, happened to be bringing art works to South Korea for Art Busan, reached out to her. “She asked me to send her one of mine so that she could add it to the mix, so I did.”

Currently, Lim has three of her art pieces at Mr Lim’s Shop of Visual Treasures, an art gallery at Haji Lane. Interested buyers can also check out her website, Luluel art store, for more paintings.

And now that she’s completed her animal and jewellery series, what’s next for the sustainability painter?

“Women and animals, but without the jewellery” she laughed. “The one I’m working on right now is of the Greek goddess, Athena, but I’ve added wings to her.”