Ever wondered what a geisha would look like under all that makeup? I did.

I’ve always wondered what a geisha would look like under all that makeup. Would she look any different from a regular Japanese lady?

Would she, perhaps have this inexplicable aura around her that would instantly make her stand out from the rest? Maybe her skin would be flawless and glowing? Or maybe just flawless?

It was with all these questions swirling around in my head that I attended a press event on January 21. The event was held at the Luxe Art Museum where we were promised we could see real-life, modern day geishas all the way from Kyoto.

The invite mentioned, “Japan’s No.1 makeup remover brand”, so I put two and two together and figured I would probably get to see a geisha removing her face paint.

At the event two geishas from Japan performed a number of traditional dances, and then it was time for the makeup removing demonstration.

Finally I would see a geisha sans her thick makeup.

A third geisha appeared on stage, but where the first two had been dainty and petite, this one was tall and stick-thin. As “Oka-san”, a matronly ex-geisha, removed her makeup with Biore makeup removers, my suspicions mounted.

It suddenly hit me that this “geisha” was no such thing; she was actually just a Japanese model made up to look like one.

You could tell it was hard work removing all that makeup but the Biore hydra-clear makeup remover clearly worked; I could see the model’s skin appearing with each wipe of Oka-san’s cotton pad.

Looking back on the event, I realised I never did get to see a real geisha without her makeup. I only got to see the very shy and tiny geishas walking daintily around in their wooden platform clogs and smiling bashfully while they posed for photos.

But there was indeed an aura that surrounded the geishas, and I have a feeling that even without their makeup on, I would be able to pick them out of a crowd.

I guess this answers my question, but I really wanted to see a makeup-less geisha. I still do.