1. How were you introduced to makeup? When did you fall in love with it and why?
A very warm thanks to Ms. Toya for this opportunity. I can safely say that my mother played an instrumental role in my introduction to makeup. Her role is only highlighted by the fact that I have spent my childhood in a secluded area of the island of Mauritius, which is a fairly well-developed country but access to cosmetics, of the drug store variety or high-end, was limited. Thus, the only makeup I was first exposed to was really a collection of cosmetic knick knacks from different parts of the world, purchased by my parents on their travels abroad. We’re talking about anything ranging from l’Oréal to Estee Lauder to Chambord to Lakme to Shahnaz Hussain to Constance Caroll to Revlon. While I did not enjoy watching my mother cake her skin with all the wrong shades, I relished as I watched her apply her lipstick, always a dark burgundy and always with a lipbrush. Unlike most women of south-east asian descent, she did not line her waterline with kohl. My mother was not about kohl-rimmed eyes but about sinewy lines barely touching the outlines of her lashlines. I believe that colour/makeup is in my blood and have loved it ever since I can recollect my earliest memory. As far as I can remember, I was six years old when I had my mom first apply makeup on me for the Diwali (Hindu New Year) festival. There I was in my yellow outfit, bangs and two ponytails with blue eyeliner on as well as red lipstick, very drastic for my age. Looking back, I can honestly say that I did not look as good as a teenager as I did as a six year-old. My next tryst with makeup was another 6 years later, at a wedding when I loaded my lashes with blue mascara. I’ve also had my share of makeup mishaps : I only remember too well the snickers and remarks my bright, fuschia lips brought on. As the years have gone by, I have come to appreciate makeup first and foremost as a tool of power, as I’ve observed the changes in how people react to me, depending on whether I did not have makeup or had it on and on the style of the makeup. The ability to control how people view you is without a doubt an empowering feeling. Hence while many may argue that makeup is for the vain and/or insecure, the intrinsic therapeutic qualities of makeup is one of the best kept secrets known to makeup mavens. Makeup as a form of therapy is not unidimensional, it is empowering but also fun; it’s not just about colour therapy but also about geometry. Thus a person may use certain colours to reflect her or his perception of a particular season or trend, as well as using specific tools and techniques to play on one’s ethnicity or gender.
2. What do you love most about makeup?
Interestingly enough as I answer Ms Toya’s questions, I realize that while I appreciate the aforementioned features of makeup, I truly appreciate the virtual friendships I have formed with fantastic people who share my love of makeup. I can honestly say that of my trysts with makeup, this is one unique end result that I will always cherish.
3. Do you tend to be traditional/classic in your makeup styling or are you more experimental? What are your favorite techniques or looks? What are your favorite products/beauty lines?
-I tend to experiment with both classic looks and more colourful looks. In fact, I believe that the classic look itself has so many interpretations, that one can spend hours creating different classic looks. Whether I sport an over the top look or classic look, depends on my mood, whether it’s a ‘devil-may-care attitude’ or ‘I want to look natural today’ attitude. The important thing is to carry both looks with confidence and not feel like one has too much makeup or that one should have put more makeup to feel beautiful for the day.
-My favorite techniques:
a) manipulating the application of the eyeliner to give myself a range of different looks: from innocent, doe-eyed to a vampy, sultry look, to a natural look to a Cleopatra look to the cat-eye look etc.
b) applying my NYX highlighter around the dark eye circle area, sort of a in semi-circular manner, this gives me a more awake look.
c)applying white liner only to the outer third corner of my eye and softening the look with cotton bud for an awake, diffused look.
-My favourite beauty products/lines:
-NYX: cannot love this one enough, amazing quality, amazing prices
-Annabelle:this is a Canadian brand, I love their lipglosses, , eyeshadows, blushes and eye pencils the poor man’s version of mac’s powerpoint. Drawback: not enough diversity colour-wise.
-Jamieson Laboratories: this is also a Canadian brand. I use the Vit E Cream (2000 IU) during the day and a combo of vit A cream and Vit E (30,000 IU) during the night.
-Pure luxe: HG oil cleanser. PL offers the perfect balance of essential oils and rinses right off, you don’t even need a face towel!
-MAC: I will be lost without the studio fix concealer and I just love the uniqueness of the tinted lipglass as a product.
-Mad Minerals: great deals for gel liners and paint pot like products. I also love their anti-aging mineral powder.
-Everyday Minerals: my HG foundation, minimal ingredients, caters to my dry skin, even my blemishes look beautiful with this on.
-Any peach/orangey/apricot –coloured blush and lipstick or gloss, which I think is a must for any woman of colour.
4. Which products do you think every woman should have?
-Some form of sunscreen (traditional ones or mineral makeup)
-Your choice of moisturizer that works best for you
-Your choice of concealer that works best for you
-A good soft kohl-type liner, slightly jumbo-ish in size with a tip that can easily be softened or sharpened, in brown (the darkness and undertone of the brown will depend on your skintone) would the tool to have if one did not have any other kind of makeup. Brown is fairly neutral, so you could use it to line your eyes, contour your face and blend it in to act as a blush and use it as an eyebrow filler as well as a lipliner or lipstick by ‘spreading and blending’ the liner.
-NYX mosaic blush in ‘Highlighter’, the highlighter to end all highlighters. This baby goes with every skin tone, just make sure to really blend, blend, blend to avoid a chalky appearance. I’m not talking shimmer or glitter, I’m talking real “éblouissance” – light from within, saintly halo.
-A good quality lip conditioner: guaranteed to keep the need for botoxed lips away. I speak from experience, because I have very schizophrenic lips, one day, they want to look full, one day they look like they’re ‘a- twenties lips’, à la louise brooks. Applying lip conditioner (I used NYX lipspa during the day and night or sometimes I’ll slather on vitamin E cream on my lips before bedtime), ensures they stay full and plump.
-A stress-free environment
-Sleep
5. What do you think about the beauty industry and its relationship to women of color?
As a woman of color, one has to be wary as one is exposed to the messages sent by big beauty companies. One has to always question: what is the message they are trying to send me? Why is it that they want me to believe that message? The beauty industry is global and in today’s world, as different ethnicities populate different parts of the world, one has to go back to one’s roots and really examine how consistent is a company’s stance towards its consumers of color. For example, many have appreciated and applauded Dove’s “Be yourself, love yourself” echoed in its newest ads, here in Caucasian-driven North America. However Dove is a brand owned by Unilever, the very same company that manufactures “Fair and Lovely”, a fairness cream, marketed in African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, capitalizing on the populations’ unfortunate obsession with being light-skinned, an obsession stemming from the legacy of colonialism. The mainstream beauty industry is getting more and more aware of its consumers of colour, however not because it sympathises with the lack of options but to squeeze out, buck-wise, all it can from this segment of the population. Sure enough, marketing is a big part of it and the models chosen to represent the company are what I classify as “borderline”.
One such illustration would be for example l’Oréal’s choice of models to appeal to different ethnicities, Beyoncé, and …. are partly of African descent but were most probably chosen for their light-skinned appearance, similarly Aishwariya rai was chosen to represent the south-east asian segment of the market, and she definitely ain’t representative of the average Indian/sri lankan/Pakistani/ west- Indian Indian. Aish could pass more for a Russian/Slovakian model. Sure, well-noted personalities are a necessity but why not Alek Wek, the gorgeous Sudanese model or Ujjwala Raut/ Vidisha Pavate, the true Indian supermodels.
6. Share anything else you'd like to share: info about you, your business (if you have one), what area of the country you live in, etc.
I am a law student at the University of Ottawa, happily married to the partner of my dreams and the author of the following blog www.goldengluteus.blogspot.com . Though I am training to be a lawyer, I secretly dream of being a magazine editor and a successful writer. Thank you once again Toya, for this opportunity and thank you for reading.
