Is Elvin Ng The Vainest Of Them All?

There’s no denying that Elvin, Desmond and Romeo are pretty good-looking. Some call them pretty boys; others swear they are devastatingly handsome. There are currently no three better guys to front an 8 DAYS cover about male grooming and male vanity. Not that we’re calling them vain. We don’t have to, ’cos they would happily do it themselves. Asked to rate how vain they are on a scale of 1 to 10, Romeo said 8.5, Desmond said 8, and Elvin gave himself a 7.

He admits that he’s vain.

“I’m vain lah. I can say it myself, but I don’t like it when people say I’m vain. (Laughs) I think the idea that it’s okay for a man to look after his looks and be a little vain is fun, but there’s also an irony about it. Girls expect their boyfriends to look good, but don’t want them to look like they try too hard. Beauty is definitely not just an external thing. It’s also the aura that you give off. You’re born with certain things, but there’s also character and confidence. I actually feel that I’m not confident — I’m constantly characterised by the lack of it. I feel like I have to face up better to certain things and just be the man.”

But he hates using foundation…

He skips a heavy make-up base and just uses concealer and powder when he has to put on make-up. In fact, Elvin prefers to do his own make-up. “It’s ’cos I’m too lazy to queue at the MediaCorp make-up unit,” he says. “Sometimes, my female co-stars say I look in the mirror more often than them, but I’m justchecking my make-up, as I’m responsible for it.”

And his skincare regimen is “very minimal.”

“I believe if you have no problems, you shouldn’t do too much. In the morning, I brush my teeth, use Shokubutsu face wash and put on sunblock. At night, I’d use an oil-based make-up remover and a face wash. If I remember, I will use moisturiser. I’m now 32. When you reach 30 years of age, you have to watch out a bit. Sometimes, I feel like a cloth that’s been wrung dry, so it’s good to have some moisture to nourish your soul.”

He’d ‘steal’ these body parts from Desmond and Romeo if he could…

“I’m okay with my own features, but I would take their best features away so that they look worse! (Laughs) I’d take away Desmond’s nose. Romeo… very hard to say leh. There’s no exact feature — it’s just that when it’s all put together, he looks like that. Maybe his eyes lah; the feeling that he gives from his eyes.”

He eats like a pig, then makes up for it by hitting the gym.

“I am unable to watch my diet. I think my metabolic rate is still okay, so I can still eat whatever I want. I’d drink diet Coke and eat less rice, but replace that with cakes and dessert. I’d rather get fat on fried chicken than bland rice! To make up for eating a lot, I work out in the gym for one hour, then jog for one hour after that, three times a week. I also play five-a-side court soccer with my friends, two or three times a week.”

But his strangest beauty secret is…

“I use a lot of toilet paper. But not in the toilet. I use it to pick my nose and wipe my sweat and stuff. In the toilet, I actually prefer to use water. I think it’s cleaner.”