A Day in the Life of Elva Hsiao

After a month long of promotion in Taiwan, Elva arrived in China last Saturday to promote her latest album, 3-Faced Elva.

“She had only ended her last promo event in Taiwan late last night, and she flew to Guangzhou at 4a.m. without much sleep at all,” her manager revealed. Elva’s schedule for this promotional trip in China is packed to the fullest. For instance in Guangzhou alone, she has to attend a press conference,2 TV shows, 2 radio interviews and 1 online interview in one day!

Her record company expressed that because this is her first album since returning to EMI, and the album is also one of the most important one for the first half of the year, the company and Elva are putting much emphasis on the promotional events.

To understand what is in a day of Elva’s work, we followed her in Guangzhou from the time she stepped out of the airport till midnight when she ended her work.

Makeup and styling

Without any makeup, Elva is beautiful like a girl next door. Her ability to shine on stage attributes to both her personal appeal and the skills of her makeup artist. During her makeup, her makeup artist Cher and hairstylist Ethen took time to talk more about Elva.
Because Elva has small eyes, her eye makeup is the main focus of her makeup. Cher said that doing a good eye makeup takes up to an hour, the most time consuming part of the whole makeup process, “I would give her a dark eyeline and fake eyelashes to make her eyes stand out. I would also use coffee colours for her eye shadows to make her eyes shine. It is not exaggerating but more natural.”

As for Elva’s lips, Cher would use a concealer to shape her lips before applying lip balm and lip gloss, “Light colours suit Elva’s skin colour. It makes her lips look supple and natural.”

Cher said that Elva does not need much foundation because of her good complexion, “She only need to apply concealer in some areas and it will look perfect.”

Ethen revealed that Elva’s favourite colour is linen, which makes her hair look more natural. “After dyeing, Elva frequently does treatment for her hair, like about once to twice a week.”

Many of Elva’s outfits that she wore for many public events were designed by her, “Normally, I like hippies and rock style. I like to try different styles and colours. Last time I did not like coffee colour, but I have slowly accepted it.” As for this year’s fashion, Elva shared: “This year, Bohemian and tribal styles will be in fashion. Also, hippies and punk will be popular too. Bell bottoms look good too if you pair them with loud-coloured clothes. Other fashion essential items include shoes and other accessories like toggle bracelet.”

Thoughts
R: The promotion for this album is pretty large scaled, are you more tired than before?

E: It’s really more tiring because the schedule is very packed. But it’s alright. There weren’t many online interviews previously, but there’s more now.

R: Since you are so busy now, do you have time for dating?

E: No. But I would love to, because I’m a girl.

R: Have you ever thought of dating someone in showbiz where after work, both of you can spend time together?

E: I think it’s difficult to find someone from showbiz, especially when both of us belong to different company, there would be many problems between the companies. So I would not specify that my other half must be someone from showbiz. As long as the feeling and time is right and we can talk about anything under the sun, that’s most important.

1200hrs | first stop: airport

After half a day of travelling, Elva reached the airport at 12p.m. Wearing shades sans makeup, Elva wore a plain T-shirt and jeans, looking much like the girl next door. But she was soon noticed by her hordes of fans who came with banners and flowers.

Her manager revealed that they were unable to buy tickets for a direct flight to Guangzhou, so they had to stopover in Hong Kong and left for the airport at 4 a.m. Elva’s promo event ended late last night and she barely had any sleep. Looking pretty wore out, she walked straight to her van without stopping for photos. With her in Guangzhou are her team of hairstylist, makeup artist and assistant.


1300hrs | second stop: hotel

3 hours before her press conference at 4p.m., Elva did not have much time for a good lunch and rest. Her manager said: “Time is tight. Just makeup alone takes 2 hours, so she could only have her lunch and makeup at the same time.”

1600hrs | third stop: press conference

Elva arrived at the press conference looking totally different from how she was 2 hours ago. Dressed in Bohemian style, she oozes her diva appeal effortlessly.

Next, she attended an hour long interview by the media, patiently answering every question that they had. She was professional throughout the whole process, but her weariness is evident, holding a cup of coffee constantly. She would occasionally lower her head for a small breather to energise herself. Fielding numerous repeated questions, she said: “How I wish I could have a replay function so that I do not have to say the same things all over again.”

1730hrs | fourth stop: Renminbei radio station

After the press meet, Elva hopped into her van and rushed to the Guangzhou radio station in Renminbei road. “I try to replenish my energy on the van,” she said. At the radio station, Elva voice became a little coarse from the non-stop interview. During the recording, she even made 4 mistakes in pronouncing her words.
Except for her manager, her hairstylist and makeup artist have fallen asleep on the sofa. Her manager explained: “For this album, Elva and her team have been travelling around Taiwan for a month. We usually end work around 11 to 12 a.m., with about 4 to 5 hours of sleep.”


1830hrs | fifth stop: Nanfang TV station

After her radio interview, Elva zoomed to Nanfang radio station to record 2 variety shows. After a brief makeup session, Elva entered the recording studio. Compared to the radio interview, this TV recording is more taxing. Besides standing throughout the show answering questions, she has to sing a few songs too. When asked to perform her songs, Elva had to drink cough syrup to relief her throat.
In the show, Elva had to learn how to speak in Cantonese. For someone who does not know the language, Elva was unable to catch up because of her fatigue. Out of the ten phrases that she had to guess, she only managed to get 1 correct answer.
After the first recording has finished, Elva quickly settled her dinner in half an hour before going for her second recording.
2230hrs: sixth stop: Keyun road

Her last stop of the day was an online interview. Due to the lack of time, Elva did not have time for touchup or change of clothes. Wearing an additional black jacket, her stylists managed to style her up while waiting for the interview to be prepared.
The interview lasted for an hour, ending around midnight. Within 12 hours, she has successfully completed 6 rounds of promotional event. Back at her hotel, Elva was dead beat, “It’s alright. I’m used to it. What I want most now is a comfortable pillow.”

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