Joce Yang Blends Beauty and Humor

Joce Yang‘s content creation journey started with fit checks. “It was my last year of college. My school had no dress code, so everyday, I tried different outfits and I would post them on TikTok. It was just for fun,” she tells Allure Philippines.

Eventually, Yang, who was then studying Industrial Engineering at De La Salle University, also decided to shoot videos of her makeup routine. Those posts proved to be popular. “After two or three videos, one of my ‘get ready with me’ videos blew up. I think it’s because it was relatable. It was my school makeup routine.”

She continued shooting videos and sharing them online. But with graduation getting close, Yang had a big choice to make. “I was super lucky. It was perfect timing. My TikTok boomed when I was about to graduate. I was torn. I was thinking about going corporate—could I balance both? I was asking people for advice. But then I got really, really busy with my content and I wanted to take advantage of the momentum. If it dies down, that’s when I’ll go corporate. But it’s worked for me until now and I really, really enjoy it. I feel like it’s meant to be.”

The 25-year-old is enjoying her life as a full-time beauty content creator. “I try my best to really show them my personality talaga. Whenever I talk on camera, I just pretend that I’m talking to a friend. That’s how I keep it authentic.”

Yang posts makeup tutorials, product reviews and recommendations, unboxings, “get ready with me” videos and other beauty content. But there’s something else she hopes people would get to see and enjoy: her humor. “When I meet my followers for the first time, a lot of them say, ‘You’re so funny. I watch your second account on TikTok.’”

On her second TikTok account, she leans fully into that side of herself—having fun and not being afraid to be silly or goofy. She called the account Joce Rizzal. “That’s double’ z’ for rizz,”she says with a smile.

Kim Santos

What does your face card say about you right now?

It’s actually my signature look. My makeup style is more of C-beauty, K-beauty. It’s that same look but more OA for the shoot. I made it like, boogsh talaga. I asked help from my best friend, makeup artist Jasmin Lao. She helped me with my look today. And then, for my hair, I just wanted to go for something very ‘me,’ which is, like, ‘sweet girl.’

What products, techniques, or signatures define it?

The whole look is very matte since I have very oily skin. Every day, my makeup base is matte. With the Philippine weather, we want something that’s going to last the whole day. We used a lotof powder for my base so it would stay intact. My skin is hard to deal with, it’s thin and sensitive so what we did was mix our base products—we used Estée Lauder foundation and the Korean brand Glow.

As for the eyes, since my eyes are really small, we just put a wash of color. Then weemphasized the lashes which made a really, really huge difference. Without the lashes—upper and lower lashes—my eyes are really small.

What’s one beauty detail you never skip no matter how minimal your routine is?

The lips. Because without any lip tint or color, I look really, really pale.

Growing up, what beauty standards shaped the way you saw yourself?

I used to really hate my nose. You would see all these artistas, maganda yung nose. So every night, before I sleep, I would pinch my nose—and it actually worked. I would even include it in my prayers, “Sana tumangos pa nose ko.” I was like 9, 10.

How has your relationship with your skin tone, your features, or your body changed over time?

It’s really more of my body because I was super thin. I got called payatot. No matter how much Iate, my body didn’t change. I was pretty insecure about that. I gained more confidence when I started going to the gym. You really tend to compare yourself to others, but, eventually, with the help of people around me, I got to accept that okay, this is me.

Kim Santos

What role does beauty play in your life? Do you see it as expression, protection, power?

For me, it’s something which makes me feel better about myself. For example, if I’m having a bad day, I just do my makeup and then, “Oh, I feel a lot better now.”

How do you stay relevant in an industry that moves so quickly?

It’s hard. I think it’s really more of giving them what they want, which are the trends. And also,having a community. You really have to connect with your community and make your content relatable.

How do you protect your sense of self since you’re in a space that’s built on visibility?

Can I say this? I went through a public breakup. My ex and I were very public on TikTok, we were doing couple content, we were doing beauty content together. Then, we broke up inOctober. We had a following, we had a community as a couple, so I made a post about it. It went super viral—millions of views. Everyone knew about the breakup and it was kinda hard to move on from that, to separate my own identity from that. I had to take a break. I had to plan in my head how I was going to move forward after that. It’s been challenging. I felt down but I still wanted to continue giving people content that would bring them joy. That’s the hard part—you want to be alone, you don’t want to do content muna, but people are waiting for you. So I still try my best. I just continue being myself. I still try to be myself even though it’s hard.

What keeps you going as a beauty creator?

It’s really the community. There are days when I don’t want to do content but I think of the people who comment, “Ate Joce, can you make a tutorial for this?” Or “Can you teach us how to do this?” That’s what really keeps me going.

Kim Santos

What’s one thing you wish you knew when you were getting started?

Contracts. And negotiations. All the technical stuff.

What does your audience not see about the day-to-day life of a beauty creator?

For me—and it has pros and cons—it’s having your own schedule. It’s nice because it’s very flexible, you can do anything, anytime. But at the same time, it’s so hard to separate work from your actual daily life.

What’s your relationship with perfection when it comes to beauty content?

I don’t think there’s perfection. I just show whatever I want.

Is there a beauty myth that you wish people would stop believing?

You don’t have to buy every product that’s trending. If I weren’t a content creator, I would just have one or two products for each step. You don’t have to buy everything. You have to stick to what works for you. Less is more. Even when it comes to skin care, especially. I used to think that more products meant better skin. But now I keep it really, really minimal. That’s what works better for my skin. It’s about identifying what works.

Kim Santos

How do you decide which products or brands are worth sharing to your audience?

I share what works for me and I tell them why it works for me. If it didn’t work for me, I wouldn’t post it. If I don’t like it, I don’t talk about it.

How do you approach brand partnerships while staying authentic to your audience?

When brands start offering you collabs, you’re going to be like, “Woah, I’m earning money.” It feels good. But for me, I stick to the principle that if a product doesn’t work for me, no matter how big they offer, I’m not going to take it.

How do you represent Filipino beauty in your content?

It’s more of supporting Filipino brands. Most of my makeup routine and the products that I feature are local.

What’s something you’re obsessing over right now that you haven’t shown on your feed yet?

It’s a C-beauty product—the concealer from Joyce Beauty. I have a lot of products so I tend to rotate but I’ve been using this concealer every single day. I feel like a lot of people are still sleeping on C-beauty.

What’s a beauty habit you’ll never give up?

Lashes… and concealer. Because I do get lots of breakouts.

When do you feel the most beautiful?

When I have makeup on.

Kim Santos

Art direction by Nicole Almero. Photography by Kim Santos. Makeup by Jasmin Lao. Hair by Khel Delo Santos. Outfit by Moulin Rouse.