The Writings of a Book: My Memoir

Me, Age 4

I've been toying with writing a memoir for years -- since my days at InStyle. So that makes it about a decade I have been digesting words, stories and building a platform through this blog to finally start the big story.

This isn't your ordinary memoir about why my life turned out the way it did, and who did what to influence my life. This is a story about how I learned my life through my blog posts, about learning who my father is and was (a person of some mystery to me while growing up), and how I came to understand that as much as I love beauty and makeup -- my primary goal is to provide health and wellness information as I suffer from chronic medical conditions that effect my ability to mother, interrupt my daily life and have made me the strong survivor I am today.

So this is where I turn the corner in NuyBeauty.com and go from providing easy beauty service for busy women and mothers, to sharing my life as beauty expert who for the first time in my life is finally embracing the disabilities of my illnesses as POSitivies and to share the experience within my writing as I look back a little further and reflect on how today came to be such a beautiful day.

I'll share passages of my book as I blog and keep you posted. And don't worry, the beauty tips, makeup up know-how, parenting venting and sharing will always be there! Maybe even a recipe ;-).

Now, wish me luck...

First Share:

My father traveled a lot from when I was first born. He was gone on average two weeks out of every month. The story goes that I always had tummy aches and got belly sick when he left for his exotic abroad work trips. I missed him dearly.  But my family also had no idea also, that years later I would be diagnosed with a very rare liver disease contributing to this medical situation.

The concept of Dad is so important to the little ones, no matter how small. I admired and adored my father, even though I had a very limited understanding of what he did until my early teens (he is a demographer, social scientist, economist and political scientist). 

When I was old enough to be able to stand up in the car behind him as he was driving us somewhere in Honolulu, Hawaii where I grew up -- this before child car safety rules became much more heavy handed -- I would hold tightly to any part of what was available to me to reach that I could. His jacket shoulder sleeve, his shirt sleeve; I'd stand very officially behind him on the middle bump of the back seat foot bottoms and be proud that little me was attached in my own strong and balanced way in our 1970s roaring Dodge Dart. 'Daddy is close to me now,' I remember thinking, no matter how rocky this ride.

--N.C.

My Neccessities for Surviving Fashion Week

Within hours of returning from my blissful summer in Hawaii I was thrown right into covering the frenetic but yes, fun (I'm not complaining, trust me!) fashion week. It's exciting and filled with people I adore and great fashion, parties and whatnot, but party after show after event, it takes a lot out of you. And as a beauty and style influencer, a mother and someone, and just a health-conscious person, you've got to be smart about conserving energy and skin-conscious. This means lots of rest in between, good hydration and saying no to things when you're feeling run down. A lot like parenting, no? Here are some of my top items that kept me picture perfect and got me through the lights and brilliant whirlwind that is NYFW.

Nuun All Day Vitamin Enhanced Drink Tabs for All Day Hydration To prevent dehydration and getting sick, I carried these cool tablets around, conveniently packed in a small tube. They're packed with electrolytes, potassium and calcium and were designed for professional athletes -- and have no sugar! They also save plastic b/c you just slip them in your water bottle! (4 tubes/$24).

The contents of my vintage Hermes canvas bag dumped after NYFW finished: Key survival items were bandaids for ouchy heels, my favorite MakeUpForEver rouges, my new favorite BB Cream from Korean brand Skin Food (Peach Sake Pore BB Cream SPF 20 PA+), sticker rhinestone bindis for spicing up your makeup, Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage concelear, my Muji multi-color pen, Hello Kitty bubble gum handwipes, TicTacs :-) extra earrings, and my vial of Kai Perfume Oil fragrance.

My new favorite toothpaste: Colgate Optic White; Makes your mouth mouthwash clean w/out the harshness of using one, + it whitens your teeth! I also carried the handy Colgate Optic White Wisps ($8/16) in my bag for the in-between moments when I needed a quick no-sink cleanse. They're a l'il toothbrush with a dental pick on the other side. What's not to love? Fresh breath is important!

--N.C.

Disclaimer: Nuy Cho has no affiliation to any of the beauty companies mentioned on www.nuybeauty.com.