Pictures credit to @ehfiiie & @fahadiman

Afie Rohim, a makeup artist who is never described as either basic nor monotonous. The 27-years-old Malaysian self-made woman also has a history in fashion design and has developed makeup looks for conceptual art, magazine, and even cosplay. 

If you navigate through her beauty brand, Strangerous, you will be astounded by the precision with which the makeup artist created her eyeliner using the brand’s palette. Each touch of her small brush appeared easy, yet the features she created were crisp and exquisite. 

The Mata-Mata Liners Essential Palette, which was released in February 2022, is a water-activated palette with nine brilliant colours including white, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, green, and black. These are the colours that Afie considers to be vital when it comes to eye makeup looks. So it is safe to say that the talented Afie Rohim goes beyond merely clothes to display her masterpieces—from becoming a goth to flaunting vivid colours.

Ahead, Beauty Insider speaks with the makeup artist who always sparks attention on social media with her stunning looks and her journey with Strangerous.

Tell us a little bit about how you started Strangerous?

I have always wanted to create a make-up brand since I started my make-up journey, especially a brand that is very into the more artsy and creative side of make-up. I started to create Strangerous when I was having lunch with a friend and told them I wanted to create a brand but maybe in like 3 years time and they just told me, why not do it now? And there’s where it started.

How did you go about deciding on the current products that you have? 

I always knew I wanted my first product to be water activated liners. During that time, it was so hard to find those eyeliners in Malaysia. The only one available was an international brand that cost a lot especially shipping wise so I wanted to make my own and eyeliners have always been my thing since I was 18. I’ve always loved wearing eyeliner and doing a lot of other designs with it. It is a way for me to express myself and I want to give an opportunity to others to not be afraid and express themselves in the art of make-up.

We’re kind of curious on why you decided to debut your brand with eyeliner range first, while most beauty brands choose to focus on other areas such as foundation.  

Eyeliners have been my thing since I was young. It always resonated with me and I just knew I wanted to come out with liners and I could give my all to them. And as a brand who focus on artistry and creativity, eyeliners are definitely to me the best choice for a first product.

What do you hope your customer feels when wearing the liners?

Like a piece of art. I believe that our face, skin is a canvas that we can paint on. Just create and wear colourful liners. I want people to not care so much about what other people think and just wear our liners however they want. Express themselves truly.

You’re so passionate about advocating cruelty free and vegan through your products. Why is this important to you?

Rather than being passionate, I think it should be normalised. It should be a normal thing that products are cruelty free and vegan. I truthfully find testing on animals is ridiculous when humans are wearing cosmetics.

What’s the best beauty advice you’ve ever received?

Well so far I have never received any but, practice do make improvement when it comes to liner and when you want to do liner on someone else, it is best to not overthink and over guess yourself. Before applying the liner, always ask the client to look straight so you can see which part of the eye lids you can place the liner without it being hiding. 

What can we expect next from Strangerous and Afie Rohim herself? 

We will launch something new for Strangerous very soon. I’ve been doing some research on a few new things to come out with and I hope it goes well. As for myself, I’m currently taking a break from being a make-up artist and focusing on Strangerous. I would love to be more in the creative director seat and just have more great ideas for products and photoshoots. I would love to see Strangerous take a fashion turn for it and create clothing as well. 

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