- Oh, gosh, I can't even turn off the camera.
Please, nails!
Hello, help!
(upbeat funky music)
- My name is Murphy,
I am a queer, non-binary Asian American person.
- What's up, you guys?
I'm Joelle.
And today we're transforming into ABGs.
- What I know about the ABG,
it is short for Asian Baby Girl,
a young Asian woman who displays stereotypical traits
such as enjoying clubbing,
wearing excessive makeup and tattoos.
- Often involve lots of drinking, now boba obviously too.
- Wearing revealing clothes.
- But also being extremely confident
and willing to throw hands
to defend yourself and the people you love.
- Some people might differ in their ideas
and their opinions about this.
But generally I think we haven't had the opportunity
to define who we are and where we are
in the vast landscape of the American cultural diaspora.
- Asian girls, such as myself far often bullied
and just like so easily reduced to being quiet
and submissive Asian girls.
And that was really frustrating,
at least for me personally growing up.
So seeing ABGs, it was kind of seen
as like a way to resist those stereotypes
and also defend, again, the people you love and yourself,
and just like not take (beeps) from anyone.
- So in terms of gender identity,
I identify as non-binary and lean closer to trans masculine.
- I look and express myself
as like a pretty stereotypical cis woman.
I honestly like really comfy baggy clothes.
I don't like to show off skin or my figure.
- I was raised to be a woman.
And then I have been reorganizing
my relationship with femininity.
So it would be interesting to try exploring
ABG presentation.
- I'm very scared to see what I look like as an ABG,
but it'll be good.
I know this will be a good growing, learning process.
(whimsical music)
- Here's my closet, kind of got rid of a lot
of my fem clothing, but I did keep some of them,
'cause sometimes, you know,
a person wants to dress like slutty.
I'm gonna look for some spaghetti top type things.
- All righty, welcome to my closet.
I really just rotate through T-shirts
and then my sweatshirt collection is pretty much all I wear
and I just sit at my desk all the time,
so it doesn't really matter.
- All right, I found one option.
Oop, here's another one.
This one is a crop, that'll be fun.
- I should probably push myself to do something
that's a little more feminine, a little more edgy.
I think it's time for me to do some real shopping
and see what we figure out.
(pop music)
- Let's Google ABG!
I'm getting results of either
chemistry equations or really hot ladies.
- I feel like ABGs wear a lot of black.
I feel like they wear a mixture of like sportswear,
but things that are feminine and kind of revealing.
- Fake eyelashes, really big earrings, tattoos,
ombré long hair.
- I like this skirt, I like the pleats, I think it's fun.
- I usually shop for clothes in the boys section.
I'm seeing a lot of like distressed mom jean type clothes.
Like high-waisted, I think it looks great.
This one with like a tiny top.
- I feel like I've always had this dream
of like stomping around in super platformed
black leather boots or something.
So let's see if I can find something like that.
- So I'm gonna get Glamnetic eyelashes.
Also it's Asian American owned,
which is great because I've always had trouble
putting on fake eyelashes because of my mono lids.
They're all very dramatic, I love it.
(Murphy gasps)
Baby girl!
That's the one!
- For wigs, I think I'm gonna go with the blonde wig.
I kind of like the bangs though
in a little bit of a shorter style,
because my hair inspo for this ABG video
is Blackpink's Lisa.
They seem promising, it's only $20, so that's cool.
- I like this one a lot.
It's very natural looking.
- I've never really worn long nails.
A lot of like ABG style that I feel like
is a really hard intense look,
but also like an air of femininity.
So maybe I'll just go super impractical
and get some intense nails.
- I haven't had long nails in a very long time.
I would say I would go with something more
maybe like monochrome black.
- Shoulder purses I feel like are really in.
Plus like you gotta have
a place to put your phone, your wallet,
your pepper spray, your Hennessy, who knows?
- Nice, I'm excited.
I'm excited to get hot.
(funky music)
It is ABG day.
I will be transforming today.
All of the things that we've ordered have arrived.
It's overwhelming. (laughs)
- This is literally the kind of thing I wear every day.
It'll be quite a drastic change
from where we're about to go.
- I have not missed performing femininity at all.
And this seems like very high level,
like expert level femininity, so we'll see.
- It's time to get into the makeup.
Okay, when I think of ABG makeup,
I think of flawless skin,
a neutral but still heavy smokey eye,
and I think of intense brows,
some bold lip, heavy eyelashes.
- Starting with some foundation.
- I'm just going in with some BB cream.
BB cream was an Asian thing for a very, very long time.
- I actually never figured out how to use a makeup sponge.
I think this is it?
- For an eye primer, I like to use a concealer.
- I've been doing a lot of like masculine contouring.
I think feminine contouring
is a little softer and like curvier.
Oh, okay, that blends pretty well, that's cool.
- For the neutral smokey eye
that I'm gonna try to achieve,
I'm using the OG, I feel like
every beauty blogger had the original Naked palette.
- I'm so nervous about the eyebrows.
I can do this.
I don't understand how people do it so perfectly.
- For some extra sparkle,
I'm going into this lovely Pat McGrath palette.
I'm gonna add a little more dimension.
I think I'm gonna take this like
holographic green red color.
- So much labor goes into being a woman.
I have a lot of respect
for people who can like do it perfectly.
- All righty, y'all, we have wings.
I think next I'm gonna do brows.
I need some strong ABG brows.
- I am about to put in my contact lenses.
Wow, I already look so different, this is insane.
- This is a Shu Uemara eyelash curler.
I remember people saying
that they were great for Asian girls,
because it's designed in a way
that's for less deep eye sockets
made for people like me
by people like me, which you know, we love to see.
- So this is the Glamnetic liquid magnetic eyeliner.
Just like a beauty blogger with the hand.
- Little contour kit.
I like going a little bit cooler with the contour.
And then I take a warmer bronze color
to just like warm everything up
- 45 minutes since I first started getting ready.
Man, it's so much work.
- We love some good Becca Cosmetics.
I want my highlight to be visible across the street
- I'm gonna do some smokey eye.
There's actually a Korean,
would I call it a ghost or a monster?
It's like a nine tailed fox,
and she goes out and seduces men and they eat their livers.
I aspire to be that.
- And you know that it's no ABG look
without an intense lash.
Is she on, is it on?
Oh my God!
- Oh my God, this is insane.
- Gotta have a nude like more brown lip color.
(high-pitched sparkling)
- Oh my God!
I look so straight.
I'm gonna put on the earrings.
I gotta do the nude lips.
Oh, it's so appropriative.
- Last, last part is a little bit of lip gloss.
(loud whooshing)
- About to put on some tattoos from Momentary Ink.
- I kind of am down for this tiger one.
- So these two, I'll put one on this shoulder,
and then I have one more.
It's like a little cute little lotus flower thing.
- I haven't done one of these since I was a little kid.
- And then I'm soaking it in water.
(whimsical music)
(Joelle laughs)
- No way!
Also I will say that I was predisposed to choose a tiger,
because the tiger is the national animal of Korea.
I am half Korean and I feel like, you know,
ABGs are once again here for the culture,
stan the heritage, and I love that for us.
- Got the second tattoo on, amazing!
- Oh my gosh, you can do a butterfly
as if it's landing on the flower!
Oh my goodness.
- Not bad.
- ABGs are known for having bleached hair,
and I decided to opt for my blonde wig.
I am so nervous about this.
I've never worn a wig before.
We're gonna see what happens.
Admittedly, not feeling it.
I feel like bootleg Barbie.
I ordered a bucket hat
and I think she is going to save the day.
(upbeat piano music)
- Here are the nails.
I'm gonna put them on right now.
Left it 'til the last minute,
because, you know, claws make everything harder.
- I got these cute little decals as well,
because they're like cute and Asian.
How do people live like this?
- Ready for the full reveal?
Here we go.
This is the look.
(pop music)
- This is so trippy.
I don't know who I am.
(Joelle screams)
This is super, super freaky right now.
I feel like I'm wearing a costume.
I lowkey feel like I could roll up into
you know, the "Kill This Love" music video
as a backup dancer and, you know, crush it on my own.
- This is very glamorous.
Wow, I'm hot.
I would go dancing, paint the town red.
Is that what party people do?
- Let's go see some reactions from my family.
Oh gosh.
So what do you think of my new look?
- It looks good.
It's just, it doesn't look like you. (laughs)
- [Joelle] What do you think of my --
- What in the world are you doing, Joelle?
That is not you.
(Joelle laughs)
It's a good Halloween costume.
- I'm excited to go get some boba,
'cause I'm also really hungry.
I really hope I don't get cat-called.
I will scratch a (beeps).
- I'm here at the boba place
and I'm nervous about like going outside
and I don't know, interacting with people.
We'll see if they treat me differently.
- We're out and about.
We're going to get some boba.
My sister here is thankfully accompanying me,
so I'm not alone.
And she's gonna help me get some photos and stuff,
and we're gonna get boba, and it's gonna be delicious,
and it'll be so fun.
- I got my boba.
I got strawberry matcha with cream cheese.
I'm really excited, I lost two of my nails now.
It wasn't that bad.
I may have made the person behind the counter,
like the cashier a little bit nervous,
which is kind of cute, but you know,
I might be reading into it, I don't know.
I'm like wondering if people who see me,
I mean, of course they think this is me.
They're not gonna look at me and go,
"Oh, that non-binary person is really dressed up."
No, they're gonna think that I'm just this person.
It's just surreal, I don't know.
- I'm back from getting my boba,
and literally the only thing I wanna do
(Joelle sighs)
is peel that off.
(pop music)
- I thought I would feel a lot more dysphoric than I do.
I think I feel fine.
It's a performance.
I mean, all of gender is a performance anyways.
I really like the tattoos.
It really makes me want to get a tat sleeve.
I might actually bring this look back at a drag show.
I think that'd be kind of cool
- Going through the whole transformation.
It's something that's crazy different
from what I normally wear.
It didn't make me feel more confident,
but it reminded me of where my confidence comes from.
I'd like to be able to walk with confidence,
and knowing who I am internally,
and being good and happy with where I'm at.
- I wanna see what it looks like without my wig.
Now I'm just like ready to fight.
- As ABGs are known for being confident
and known for defending themselves,
repping the people they love, repping their culture,
that is absolutely something that I would like to
continue to walk in throughout the rest of my life.
- I'm getting like Margaret Cho vibes.
Such a badass
like she's like one of the coolest people alive.
I kind of love this look now.
- Thanks ABGs for lots of wonderful life lessons today.
(pop music)