Going Beyond Beauty
Words / Nurul Shamsul
‘Beauty Queen’ was never a label I thought I would ever associate myself with. Growing up in a small farming town, I looked different from everyone else and even looking at the television screen, I never really saw anyone ‘beautiful’ that looked like me. Diversity wasn’t something I knew – only that I was different.
Since there were only a handful of girls in my year, we almost had no choice but to be friends with each other and I’m always grateful that I’m still close with the same group of friends from when I was five years old. The same group of friends were the very ones that helped me be grounded with my values and morals as well as encouraging me to embrace who I am. Although I was the only Asian in a group of Pakeha/white girls there was no given moment I can recall when I wanted to be the same skin colour as them.
Truth be told, I have always loved my skin colour but as I grow older and became aware that most beauty standards are westernised, I felt concerned. I was concerned because I noticed how my mother was affected by it when she wanted me to protect my skin as not to appear too dark. There were rules that I couldn’t go outside when it’s hot and sunny – something that other Asian girls might be able to relate to. However, this is the psyche from generations of women and young girls having gone through hundreds of years of colonisation or being taught that if you had darker skin it was because you worked outside all day or were in a lower social class.
I don’t blame my mother for wanting her daughter to be fair as it is a beauty standard that she has only ever known. But I knew that I had always wanted to make a change so that young girls can grow up and be taught something different and feel beautiful with who they are. This led me to compete in Miss Universe New Zealand 2018.
Not only did I look different, but I chose to be different by also wearing the hijab. Being the first hijabi to compete was not only a shock to the rest of the world but to my close family and friends and even myself. It was controversial as beauty pageants were known to be ‘demeaning’ in the past with the onstage bikini walks whereas Muslim hijabis are stereotyped to be oppressed by their modesty. However, I felt liberated and empowered during my Miss Universe journey as I was able to break those stereotypes. Therefore, it will always be an experience that I will forever cherish as it helped me realise my ultimate dream in life- to help change the world.
Being in Miss Universe was so much bigger than me as my intentions were to help break boundaries and stereotypes as well as redefining what true beauty is. I hope that from my own journey it inspires other girls to embrace and be confident with their uniqueness and differences because it’s what makes them beautiful. I also hope that girls will learn to love themselves and that no matter who they are or where they come from, they have everything within them to achieve anything and everything that they want.
The Miss Universe New Zealand journey was a once in a lifetime experience and I loved every minute of it. Admittedly, I am still at disbelief when I remind myself that I was in a beauty pageant. I would have never thought that I would compete in such a thing. Two years on and I still don’t consider myself as a pageant girl but I do know that Miss Universe will now forever be a part of my identity.
Nowadays we are seeing much more diversity, especially with the Black Lives Matter movement. Although as a society we had to face some ugly truths, the beauty in it is that we are all able to do our small part to help change the world. Because of our collective change, we see justice and a shift in our perspective with the products we are consuming and the people we are influenced by. As a beauty queen, in these ever-changing times, I find that it is still my role to help break those boundaries and stereotypes by continuing to encourage others to go beyond beauty by educating and empowering ourselves. This leads me to my current passion project called Beyond Beauty.
“I don’t blame my mother for wanting her daughter to be fair as it is a beauty standard that she has only ever known. But I knew that I had always wanted to make a change so that young girls can grow up and be taught something different and feel beautiful with who they are. ”
Nowadays we are seeing much more diversity, especially with the Black Lives Matter movement. Although as a society we had to face some ugly truths, the beauty in it is that we are all able to do our small part to help change the world. Because of our collective change, we see justice and a shift in our perspective with the products we are consuming and the people we are influenced by. As a beauty queen, in these ever-changing times, I find that it is still my role to help break those boundaries and stereotypes by continuing to encourage others to go beyond beauty by educating and empowering ourselves. This leads me to my current passion project called Beyond Beauty.
Beyond Beauty started when I competed in Miss Universe New Zealand 2018. During the pageant, I originally hosted a women empowerment event called ‘Beyond Beauty’ (Editor’s note – we met for the first time in real life at the event as I was a guest speaker). Then when I went viral, netizens started labelling me as ‘biase je’ which translates to ordinary or average in Bahasa. However, I wanted to claim power over it and own being ‘biase je’ as I wanted normal everyday girls to relate to me and feel beautiful themselves regardless of who they are, where they come from or what beauty standard they should conform to- something I wish I had when I was growing up.
Nonetheless, I envision Beyond beauty as a journey towards self- love to inspire and empower growth with confidence and resilience so that women and young girls realise their unique beauty and their worth. This is because it is our differences that makes the world beautiful with its diversity.
Nurul Shamsul is a blogger, poet, and the first Muslim hijabi Miss Universe New Zealand Finalist. She juggles her time between Jakarta and NZ and is passionate about redefining what it means to be beautiful.
Beauty product you can’t live without?
Dr Dennis Gross Daily Peels is a beauty product I would recommend to everyone. Just before an important event or photoshoot, I would use them for a couple of days and I am ready with glowing, clear and smooth skin. My tip is that you cut the pads in half so that you can get twice the usage. Also a friend of mine has a PhD in chemical engineering and when I recommended it to her she said that it had some really good chemicals. After using them for years I really can’t live without them- my skin loves it too much.
What’s your top tip for facing one of those blah days?
Take a walk and get some fresh air. Clearing your mind and being in nature can help lift your mood and make you more present. If it is a really blah day I would purge-write or talk to a trusted friend to release all the feelings out of me as I know that bottling it all up makes it worse. Personally, a quick pick me up is having ice cream, chocolate or a hot bath/shower. Another tip is to always make your bed in the morning and to keep your room/space tidy, that way, even if you do have a blah day, at least you have a nice bed to get into.
What’s been the ultimate ‘pinch me’ moment so far?
Alhamdulillah, I’ve had so many ‘pinch me’ moments but the ultimate one would definitely be placing in the Top 5 for Miss Universe New Zealand in 2018. Never in my life had I thought I would ever experience such an amazing memory.
Complete this sentence ‘The world would be more beautiful if…’
The world would be more beautiful if we all learn to understand one another.
Advice to anyone feeling insecure about how they look or how they fit in in the world?
Learn to love yourself. Loving yourself can help you go a long way with everything that you do and the opportunities that you take. When you love yourself it shows with the way you hold yourself, the boundaries that you set and how you can be resilient with whatever life throws at you. Ultimately you will feel secure about yourself and you wouldn’t have to worry about what others think of you. Remember, what makes the world beautiful is how diverse it is. Your uniqueness adds to the beauty of the world.
What do you love most about yourself?
I love how I am always optimistic. One thing that Jess has taught me and has stuck with me is to never be afraid to ask. Since then there have been many times where I took a leap of faith and approached people or people have approached me about exciting opportunities. Do not be afraid to ask. The worst thing that could happen is that they say no but don’t think of it as rejection, rather, think of it as a redirection to something even better.
If you could film a beauty tutorial with anyone in the world, who would you want to do it with?
Jhene Aiko — she is, like, the goddess of perfection. I love her beauty, style, authenticity and aura. I would imagine it would be such a chill and fun vibe to do a beauty tutorial with her. I would also want to learn all of her beauty secrets and the wisdom she has.
What’s your go-to lipstick?
Persistence by MAC. I had a heart attack when I found out that it was discontinued. It is a warm-toned medium brown that you can use for day and night and is really flattering for girls of colour.
When did you start writing poetry?
I started writing poetry when I was around 17 years old. When I first came to New Zealand I actually learned English through poetry but I first started writing poetry in English classes during high school. During my final year of high school, we had to write a poem of our favourite item- I chose to do it on a wine red scarf. When I was away sick my teacher actually read it out to the class (which I was shocked about lol) and then it was later on published in New Zealand poetry- it’s also how I got my original blog name from.
Where do you get writing inspiration from?
I get inspired by faith, beauty, love, happiness, pain, bliss and everything in between. I love how with poetry, there are no rules, you can write whatever and however, you want. Currently I’ve been on a very long writer’s/mental block but I would love to publish my own book one day, InsyaAllah (God Willing).