@Kickiyangz Is The Instagram Artist Is Turning Her Face Into Beautiful Works of Art

Welcome to #FollowFriday, a Teen Vogue column where we speak with the founders of some of Instagram's coolest style accounts. This week, we chat with Kicki Yang Zhang of @kickiyangz.

Kicki Yang Zhang’s face is a blank canvas where there are no limits. Using face paint and a range of beauty products, she adds waves, metal studs, tear drops, butterflies, and so much more, sharing her creations with her nearly 230,000 followers. Considering herself “a girl with a lotta hobbies & a lotta clothes”, according to her Instagram bio, Kicki, says she likes to create things, whether that’s putting together a new outfit, creating an experimental makeup look, or doing intricate, hand drawn illustrations.

However, these aren’t surface level artworks, as sharing these creations is deeply important and personal to Kicki who is a third-culture kid. Born in Western Germany, the influencer spent time in Shanghai for a few years before moving back to her home city, and now in her twenties, resides in Berlin. More than just a lover of beauty, fashion, and art, Kicki says she also uses her social media platform to be honest and talk about real things like growing up around racism. It is her hope that she shows her followers they’re not alone in their experiences and can do anything they want in life.

Teen Vogue spoke with Kicki about her upbringing, how her understanding of beauty has shifted overtime, and her favorite products.

Teen Vogue: Can you tell me a little more about your background?

Kicki Yang Zhang: A lot of people think I was actually born in China, but I was born in Dortmund in Western Germany, but we moved back to China right away because my dad worked for a German company and they opened their branch in Shanghai. So, I lived in Shanghai for five years before coming back to Germany. From age five until 21, I lived in Dortmund, and then I moved to Berlin by myself, where I still live. I’m 23 now and I’ll be 24 in September.

TV: So, how did you start getting into makeup?

KYZ: I was always into painting and drawing and then I realized, makeup is similar to that, just you do it on your face. I started to first experiment with makeup when I was like 12, 13. But my only source of inspiration was Youtube, so I would watch Youtube tutorials but what those girls were doing didn’t work for me because I have monolids. I'm Chinese, so I had to experiment on myself and try out different things. I spent a lot of time just putting different eyeshadows on my eyes.

TV: When did you start kind of sharing that journey online?

KYZ: My Instagram wasn't always so focused on beauty, but I was always trying out different looks. It was more for myself instead of for the Internet. But when I moved to Berlin, two and a half years ago, I started sharing my makeup more.

TV: What did beauty mean to you when you were younger versus now?

KYZ: When I was younger, I always thought that makeup was something that makes you prettier, so you use it to cover up certain things like imperfections. But nowadays I have learned that it's more like an art form and also it's more for enhancing what's already pretty on you.

TV: Tell me more about your process for doing your beauty looks? Where do you draw inspiration from?

KYZ: Most of my inspiration I get from social media. I spend quite a lot of time on there because it's also my job. I love inspiration from nature. I love to put part of my culture into the makeup looks I do. A lot of people think I plan everything, but most of the time I just improvise. And sometimes I need like two or three tries. Sometimes the first is already perfect. I usually don't have a specific plan or something specific that I want to do at the moment. Unless it's for client of course, because then I have to do sketches and get them approved.

TV: What are some of your favorite products right now?

KYZ: I usually go for Chanel’s UV Essentials product as a base. I’m really into Fenty’s lip glosses because they’re very moisturizing and eyeshadow palettes by Morphe.

TV: So, do you wear any of these more experimental looks outside or are they just things that you wear at home to take a photo?

KYZ: Occasionally I'll go out with it on, but because I feel like you're not really used to having so much paint on your face, so sometimes I scratch my face or I touch a certain part of my face and I'm kind of a perfectionist, so whenever this happens I just completely wipe it away. When I do wear it out, most people are curious and ask “Why are you wearing that?” People think it’s for a German holiday called Carnival where people put on costumes or clown’s makeup, and they will say, “Is it already Carnival?” And just make fun of me. So, unfortunately the response is not really positive, but people just aren’t used to it. But for me, it's also a way to work on my self-confidence because I feel like you need to be really confident to not let these words get to you.

TV: How have used your platform to build a community?

KYZ: I have a lot of followers who have similar background as me. They're Asian, but they were born in a Western country. I think my account helps those people see that Asian girls can, you know, do whatever other people can do as well. The age range is a little bit younger than me, so I always feel like I'm a big sister to them. I try to talk about my experiences about growing up around racism, about how to be a more confident person, and try to have a positive impact on the people who are following me.

TV: What do you love most about Instagram?

KYZ: I love Instagram because I because I'm the one who is in charge of everything. I decide what to share. I love to show different sides of me because I want to inspire people to try out different things because it took me a while to find out what I really want in life. I hope people feel motivated and that they see it's worth it to work hard. I also want people to know they’re not alone in their problems. Some people have gone through similar stuff and talking about it really helps.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue