Pacific-Style.com was really a wonderful opportunity that came so unexpectedly. When Vicky relocated to Europe, she found herself struggling to find information on cosmetics that suited her Pacific Island skin tone. Most information out on the web for darker skin tones were mainly for African American skin tones which was not the same as Pacific Island skin tones. And even then, women of African/ African American skin tones weren’t being fully catered to in terms of products and information on cosmetics.
Vicky found herself experimenting with various brands and products (mixing products to get the right tones which we’re sure many of you are familiar with!) to find ones that could work, and this involved a lot of research and expenses. In a moment of frustration, she vented a little to her other half saying, “Wouldn’t it be convenient to have some sort of place online where Pacific Islanders could go to find all this information? To share what products worked for them, what didn’t, what places to go to find the right products etc."
He then asked why she couldn’t make such a place.
We can say that in that moment, Pacific-Style.com was born.
A chance conversation with her sister, who has long been an avid makeup lover and a budding makeup artist, led to Lucy joining Pacific-Style.
When we started, we didn’t have some grand plan or even an idea of where we were headed. It was simply a place where we shared what we learned, what products worked for us, what didn’t, where we were buying the products that worked, anything to do with cosmetics that we felt others might want to know. We tried to share the information that we ourselves couldn’t find at first.
But along the way on this unexpected journey, we came to know so many of you. Whether it was meeting you or simply corresponding with you, we got to know so many personalities, so many unique individuals.
And this shared hobby/passion of ours broke barriers in that we found ourselves chatting like close acquaintances, even friends. And as we became more real human beings to each other, we got to know another side to this makeup community, a deeper, more profound side. We got to know you as people going through things, trying to make your way through the maze of life, going through highs and lows, joy and pain, everything we as human beings go through.
We reached a point where we wanted to re-design the website and make something more organized than the original page which we created out of necessity. We felt we were at a place where we could make something more suited to what we had become.
But getting to know you all, and growing ourselves and seeing so much of what is happening around us, made this transition become so much more.
In this past 5 years, we feel like we got so much clarity. We have a better idea of who we are, what we are and what we want. And equally important, who and what we are not and what we do not want.
So here we are, the new website. We fondly let go of the old one, which served our basic needs of the time and which was the bridge that led us to you all, and now we embrace this new chapter.
At this point, we would like to thank you all, particularly those of you that have grown with us and communicated with us. You have been the reason we have continued this journey and we feel so privileged to have encountered so many wonderful individuals and honoured that some of you have chosen to share your ideas, experiences and just parts of your life with us. For all that you have shared and for being who you are, Vinaka Vakalevu.
Our motivation is still the same: To be a place where those of Pacific Island origins can find a wide range of information on makeup products and techniques from both experts and fellow users.
And as we go forward, we will be trying to serve that main purpose in all the ways we can best do so. Of course, we will be constantly tweaking and improving as we go along, aided by your invaluable suggestions and requests.
And more importantly, we will be trying our best to encourage this sense of community that you have all helped to create. And in this community, we ask that you continue to appreciate beauty in all its forms, all its facets. That you continue to see the beauty within yourselves, in each other, each other’s talent, each other’s efforts, each other’s uniqueness, in the world around you, in both the simple things and the big things, in growth, in learning and in just being.
Be joyful, be grateful, be kind and be that which uplifts, never that which seeks to keep others down.