Did you grow up wishing you looked like Barbie? Many Asian Americans grow up confounded by our idea of beauty. We see girls with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pointed noses grace the covers of magazines and pick up roles for popular TV shows. For Alison Berlinski, author of A Beautiful Mess, the struggle was seeing beauty from an Asian American and Polish perspective. To her, being biracial was like straddling two worlds, never identifying with just one race.

Leave it to Korean cosmetic companies to be the pulse on beauty trends in Asia. The latest phenomenon: snail cream. Although this news isn’t earth-shattering—Europeans have used snail mucus in their products for years—snail cream has become ever popular in Korea and there’s a big reason why: the secret is in the slime. Korean cosmetic companies claim that snail guts contain skincare benefits, keeping skin youthful, soft, glowing, and dewy.

It’s been two weeks since Kim Jong Il died and a week since his fiasco funeral, but questions about what kind of man he truly was still remains. Like any rogue state, there is no way of knowing what really goes on in North Korea. A cultish nation driven by unrelenting admiration and devotion for their “Dear Leader” is all we know of North Korean culture. Unlike their southern neighbors, there aren’t any North Korean pop stars, models, or actors; we don’t know what kind of music they listen to, …

While international models grace the cover of the fashion glossies each month, our favorite cute and cuddly cat Hello Kitty shines in a double cover of this month’s ELLE Taiwan. The magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary. But why Hello Kitty? She may not be a model, but Hello Kitty is more popular than ever, teaming up with Sephora to launch a line of cosmetics and perfume and collaborating with Forever 21 to create a Limited Edition Super-Cute Girlie Collection of clothing, intimates, jewelry, and accessories. But that’s not all. …

Though it’s been three years since Mochi Magazine officially launched, the recent Faces of Mochi was our first social networking event, held for the release of our twelfth issue — aptly named the Pioneer issue. In many ways, Mochi is a pioneer in the magazine industry; little did our founders Stephanie Wu and Maggie Hsu know that their idea of starting a magazine would pave the way for a community of inspiring, strong, and successful Asian Americans. “You don’t see many Asians in magazines, especially in mainstream magazines like Glamour …