Being Made Fun of By Your Friends Can Actually Be a Good Thing

I used to HATE being laughed at. And I'm saying that I couldn't discriminate between someone ridiculing me, and friends just poking fun at me out of pure love and and "celebrating" my quirks and mannerisms -- and my goodness do I have a lot of them. I walk into poles, crash into people in NYC all the time (irritating my boyfriend all time to no end) I'm the hugest clutz muffin, and well, I guess I in general seem to have no regard for physical objects around me. Not sure how it all happened.

Whatever the case, for most of my life I had a huge defense line around me. NO one could make fun of me. I got horribly offended and couldn't take a joke. I also tend to mispronounce things, get well-known phrases wrong and say them, well crookedly or in reverse. I really am born to be made fun of, but now I get it. Among friends, it's okay to poke healthy fun at each other, as long as it's well-meaning. I have no idea why it took me so long to realize this, as I'm 38 years old! I guess I was a very serious kid! Ask my mom :-)

And maybe my great friends, and what I've been through in life have helped me to understand that life's better with a belly fully of laughs (and maybe an accidental snort)!

And once I started laughing at myself, smiling more, interestingly enough, all my friends said I had a glow about me. My skin improved - acne vanished. NO KIDDING. So beauty wise, it's good to stay on the light side of things. So take some jokes. Make some jokes! I highly recommend it. It's a true beauty serum that's free and fun.

I swear, the inner shits & giggles can add years to your life. You'll be looking ten years younger without even trying. xoxo

--N.C.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the companies I write and vlog about. My picks and decisions are always editorially and artistically-based and independent.

Why I've Committed Myself to Makeup: The Way It Was

Chloe Sevigny in Dazed & Confused, March 2013 - Makeup by Nuy Cho

I started doing makeup when I was in junior high on all my friends, hosting slumber party makeover shoots (usually five girls at a time in an average evening) to my mother's chagrin at my parents' house. Makeup would always run like my life-blood through my career, through multiple countries, as I trained my hands through classical piano, jewelry, drawing, pottery, painting, and later entered the fashion world in NYC.

I was conducting my own photo shoots and testing colors, lines, and textures on the face and body wherever I was -- in moving vehicles, in public restrooms, in airless basements -- wherever someone asked me to do makeup, I did it, no matter what the circumstance. I always had new colors/products (which I went majorly broke for) in my bag, and I didn't care if I got in trouble at my jobs. And trust me, I did. At Issey Miyake, I personally got in trouble for looking too "disco" while working at the showroom. And I got busted for looking like I was slacking off at another b/c I was trying to practice  a look w/ new shades, and was not looking present with my other tasks (even though nothing else was going on). I prioritized makeup for my "client." even when it wasn't my primary job, because ultimately makeup has always been No.1. I collected makeup - did it on everybody I could. Paid or unpaid, I just wanted to paint the face. I loved the way the color absorbed and reacted with skin.

My work can be seen on Chloe Sevigny, Leelee Sobieski, Laura Kampman, Missy Rayder, Zuzanna Bijoch, to name a few and publications like Vogue China, Dazed & Confused, Pop, 032c as well as others.

-- N.C.