Preparing for a career as a makeup artist requires a combination of technical knowledge, hands-on experience, and interpersonal skills. The scope is vast, and with dedication and continuous learning, you can turn your passion for makeup into a thriving and rewarding career.

What’s this career about?

Makeup artists are no longer people who run a beauty parlour. Nowadays, the makeup industry is a major industry. There are several different types of makeup artists, each with their own specialties and areas of expertise. Here are some of the most common types of makeup artists:

Makeup artists in the beauty and cosmetic industry work with brands, cosmetic companies and beauty salons to provide makeup services and promote products.
Bridal makeup artists focus on creating beautiful and long-lasting looks for brides, and members of the bridal party.

Fashion makeup artists specialize in creating makeup looks for fashion shows, runway presentations, and editorial photoshoots. These artists may also be involved in product development, testing and advising on trends. This career option requires a strong understanding of products, techniques and the ability to connect with customers. They may work as brand ambassadors, conducting makeup demonstrations, providing education and training and creating makeup looks to showcase the brand’s products.

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We often blame God for sicknesses, not realizing that we bring them on ourselves. I am thankful to my daughter, Minal, who brought to my attention the hidden cost of cosmetics and beauty aids. Minal and I have switched to soaps and shampoos made by cottage industries. It is back to nature for us.

According to azchemistry.com, the highly toxic chemical mercury is found in some skin-whitening creams and mascara. It causes allergies and damages the nervous system. Beauty isn’t skin deep, especially when cosmetics contain laboratory-made chemicals slowly and steadily go through the pores of the skin and attack our vital organs. Imagine a stone placed beneath a tap that keeps on dripping one drop at a time. The water is slowly but surely wearing away the stone until there is a dent in the stone.

Talc used in eye shadows, blush, deodorants and soaps is carcinogenic. It is a mineral often found along with the deadly carcinogenic chemical asbestos. Hence, talcum powder is sometimes contaminated with asbestos. Talcum powder and foundation also block the pores of the skin, thereby accelerating aging. Aluminium found in some cosmetics could cause breast cancer and Alzheimer’s.

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She is like a dewdrop on a leaf,
Dancing lightly by the edges of time.
No corals, no reef,
But an ocean full of pain.

Can you see her tears?
Can you see her pain?
She hides her fears,
Just like tears in the rain.

They fail to see how beautiful she is,
They judge her by her face.
Her feelings are what they miss,
And what lies in her heart is a different case.

In this fake world where everything lasts for a while;
Where others put on make-up,
She puts on a beautiful smile.

Sometimes beauty lies deep in the eyes,
But in this world full of lies,
Beauty is defined by the length of your skirt
And words kill more than they hurt.

Still waters run deep,
You might find beauty where you never thought it to be.
Sometimes her tears flow in the form of ink,
And words search for ears more than lips…

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Man is the only creature who can perceive beauty and create beautiful things. A sense of beauty is one of the choicest blessings given to man. “Beauty is the gift of God,” says Aristotle. There is always the possibility of beauty where there is a perceptive human eye; of music where there is a sensitive human ear; and of inspiration where there is a receptive human heart and soul. Love of all beautiful, exquisite, wonderful things is indispensable for our growth and development. It brings a reverence and a sense of transcendence into our personal life, and indeed into all of life. Those who contemplate the beautiful things of this world find fresh reserves of strength that invigorate their minds and hearts. The following lines of John Keats succinctly capture the quiet power of beauty on us:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams and health and quiet breathing.

What is beauty?

Beauty can be defined as that which pleases the eyes, delights the mind and endears the heart. Thomas Aquinas, the great philosopher, speaks about the three components of beauty: splendour, harmony of proportions and wholeness or integrity. Plato speaks of beauty as the splendour of truth, and 2200 years later, Keats articulated this Platonic vision of beauty in exquisite poetic lines:

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Beauty is in uniqueness, in extraordinariness, in being exceptional. Similarities become prosaic and monotonous. The Himalayas are beautiful because of its exceptionally lofty grandeur, majesty and magnificence. The Ganges is beautiful because of its unique sanctity associated with it. The Taj Mahal is beautiful because it is a tear drop fashioned out of white marble falling on the cheek of time.

Body beautiful

When we think of the goddesses of beauty, we look at the crop of beauties in Hollywood and Bollywood. These days we have more of ‘hotties’ than beauties. There are any number of spectacularly glamorous ladies floating around in even more spectacular couture — but show us a Vivienne Leigh, an Elizabeth Taylor, a Marilyn Monroe. Bollywood too is no exception. Show us a Nutan, a Vaijayanthimala, a Hema Malini or a Madhuri Dixit.

Most of the leading ladies in Bollywood today are interchangeable — they look the same, dress the same, sound the same, are the same. Their success is determined more by their SQ (Sizzling Quotient) than their acting skills. If they can set the screen on fire with their high voltage looks and seductive movements, they are a hit with the audience. Looks matter, but not real beauty.

But things are different in Japan. The Japanese culture is known for its great sense of beauty. The celebrated writer Nina Epton made an insightful observation about the elegance, grace and simplicity with which the Japanese ladies walk the streets of Japan: “If flowers could walk, they would no doubt walk like Japanese ladies in kimonos, who give the impression that they have been plucked off a stalk and are still a little unsure how to advance.”

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The Oxford Dictionary defines beauty in nine words: the quality of being very pleasing to the senses. But beauty is this world, it’s this universe, it’s you and me, it’s everything that surrounds us. So how can something so huge, so important be defined in those nine words? Beauty cannot be defined. The way a person perceives beauty is different from others. Maybe that’s why love is something unique, something rare to find because when one finds love, he has not only found beauty in another person but in himself too.

Beauty is not the cover of a fashion magazine. It is not a face. It is not high cheekbones, thick lips and soft skin. It is the eyes that help us see the soul. It is the touch that comforts us. It is realizing that home is not a place. Beauty is confusion. Beauty is not only straight lines but circles too. It’s thinking and being out of the box.

Beauty is the person that makes us feel like music does or music that makes us feel like nobody does. Beauty is the fact that there are millions of possibilities. It’s making new colours out of the ones that already exist. It’s invention. It’s imagination. It’s finally completing a thousand-piece puzzle. It is the face of a father when he sees his daughter after a tiring day and even though he does not have the energy to move a muscle, he smiles. It’s the happiness of giving something. It’s a sky full of stars. It is knowing that no one is ever alone, that the moon will always follow you and protect you. It is hope. It is a single ray of sunlight in a dark room. It is knowing that every cloud has a silver lining. It’s equality, at the end of the day we’re all under the same sky. It is being able to cause a ripple in this world.

Beauty is doing the impossible. It’s rebellion. It’s art. It’s love. It’s an idea. It’s a feeling. The best thing and the worst thing about beauty is that it can be anything that you want it to be. But one thing is for sure; when one understands beauty they discover fire for the second time.

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India is a nation with the second largest population in the world. The cosmetic and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry in India is set to reach USD 104 billion by 2020 and is growing exponentially year on year. There are hundreds of products bought off the shelf every day and the major contributor to these spends are the incessant marketing and promotional campaigns on television and outdoor media. They say “Out of sight is out of mind” which is why every brand tries to ensure the biggest share of mind on media. But there is an issue which we should carefully look at and address. It is silently cropping up and affecting hundreds of youngsters in the country.

It is a known fact that India is a nation obsessed with fair skin and beauty products. Every person is supposed to look “Fair and Lovely” which in itself is degradation to the concept of beauty. Beauty is a concept which we, as a nation, usually misinterpret. Because beauty essentially is not supposed to be put in boxes of fair, thin, slim or tall. It is supposed to be diverse, vibrant and universal. So a particular skin colour should not be taken as ideal or a particular body type should not be taken as the benchmark of perfection. But we do realize now that we have failed in keeping a tap on the perceptions being built by these brands in the minds of people.

These days kids as young as twelve are visiting cosmetologists to get their skin colour a few shades lighter or to correct a certain feature of their face. They are so overwhelmed by what they see on television that they begin to take their appearance a little too seriously. So much so that when they look in the mirror they see everything that is not “perfect” according to the set standards of the society and look for ways to enhance or change it. But a lot of this is also happening due to peer pressure.

Fat shaming or skinny shaming is a common phenomenon these days which pushes kids to look a certain way. If they do not fit into the set shape or size, they feel low on confidence. This affects their psychology and makes them feel that they are not perfect. They try everything that their young mind can decipher to change the way they look and in most cases end up harming themselves and doing more harm than good.

Firstly, nobody is supposed to be perfect. We all are blessed with different skin tones, body types and features in order to enjoy this diversity. Take a minute and join me in imagining that we all looked the same. As bizarre as it sounds to you, you need to also tell me, would any of us really like it that way? We all are different and that is the best way to be.

I urge you right now to stop treating yourself like some model you see on television. Let me also break a myth for you. Most of the pictures that you see on billboards and your television screens in advertisements are Photoshopped and colour corrected. So trust me; you are trying to achieve something that is not even real. The same goes for social media platforms. They usually tell you to not believe everything you read on the internet.

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