The world-renowned makeup artistry of Mimi Choi was borne of memories both beautiful and terrifying.

Beautiful: Choi’s memories of watching her mother apply makeup. “I have a very fashionable mother,” she says. “She takes pride in taking good care of herself, dressing nicely and wearing makeup.”

Terrifying: Choi’s memories of the visions she experienced almost every night when she awoke from sleep prematurely. Beginning at age four, Choi has been afflicted with sleep paralysis, in which the brain is conscious, but the body remains motionless. She hallucinated menacing creatures with multiple eyes or limbs and could only observe until she regained the ability to move.

“My mom has it, too, and she always told me, ‘It's normal. It's just a friendly ghost,’” says Choi. “That made it worse, because the more tired you are, the more likely you’ll experience it. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Her sleep paralysis continued into adulthood, when she began teaching preschool-aged children at a Montessori institute. She found the work unfulfilling but didn’t want to disappoint her parents, who had moved from Macau to Canada for her better life. “I was burned out,” she says. “I still have a strong passion for children, but it wasn’t the right environment for me.”

Her mother noticed Choi practicing nail art every night and asked, “Do you think you’re going to be happy being a preschool teacher for 30 more years?” She then urged her to take a year off and explore other vocations. One idea was makeup school. “I thought, ‘Is that even a possibility?’ That got me excited.”

Choi toured a Vancouver school. “They were teaching prosthetics and character makeup, and my mind was blown. Within four days, I quit my job and changed my life forever.”

Though she had always used makeup conservatively, she quickly realised she’d been suppressing her creativity. “As soon as I went to makeup school, I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, this is 100-percent Mimi!’ I could dress funky, wear extensions, curl my hair. I was just so happy, and happiness doesn’t lie.”

Choi credits her sleep-paralysis visions for inspiring her signature styles—particularly the repetition of facial and bodily features. “I used to see multiples of everything: eyes, hands, holes on the body everywhere. But the recurrence of eyes in my work isn’t just because of sleep paralysis; they’re a marker for improvement. If you look at my eyes from 10 years ago, they’re nothing like the eyes I draw now.”

Mimi Choi’s social-media presence exploded in the mid-2010s when NYX Professional Makeup shared one of her looks. Since then, she’s been hired by Canon, Samsung, Netflix, and major studios. She even created an OpenRoad 25th-anniversary look, painted on her leg and inspired by the “25” symbol celebrating the milestone.

“It isn’t automobile based,” says Choi. “It’s about the celebration of 25 years. It’s quite different and unique, and I had a lot of fun painting it.”

At the time of writing, Choi has over two million followers on Instagram and TikTok. Her work has led to commissions from global brands, and she now teaches masterclasses worldwide.

“When I began attending makeup school, I didn’t know where it was going to take me; I just wanted to perfect my skill,” says Choi. “But it became something I never could have imagined, and it’s better than I ever expected. It’s my calling, and I’m very grateful I found it.”

This story has been edited and condensed for clarity. Read the original version in the Fall/Winter 2025 edition of driver magazine.

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