You will blush, literally!

Manpriya Singh

Conversations with a make-up artist can never get boring. Heck! They can’t ever come to a pause too. Adrian Jacob is ever ready for the volley of questions, from the elementary ‘what to do’ to slightly insightful ‘what not to do’.

After all, it’s just a warm up to the workshop he’s about to take with Tricity women. “I have been to this region several times, right from while working on the cast of Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana to during the promotions of Hero,” the celebrity make-up artist from Mumbai talks of his fascination for Punjabi brides and what brings him here. “I’ll be teaching three different styles, an Indian wedding look, a natural day make-up look and your personal party make-up look,” he shares of the workshop organised by Midnight Pumpkin.

Secrets of a make-up artist

Before his upcoming projects, comprising Robot 2 or his past work BaahuBali (he looked after Tamanna Bhatia’s make-up in the film) takes over, there’s no escaping without letting us in on some secrets. “Always strive for what suits, there are no rules in make-up. For instance on Athiya Shetty, I don’t use a foundation at all. All I put on her is a BB cream.” Then there’s Amy Jackson, one of his favourite artistes to work on. “I first worked with her for Singh is Bliing and I know her face inside out. The best thing about her face is that she is a firang and yet is olive toned.

Brides, keep it light

Quiz him on the bridal trends and he is immediately put off. “There is no such thing as bridal trends.” If possible, he’d like to dissociate the two for all times to come. “I believe the beauty of a bride lies in gorgeous eyes. I love to work on a bride’s eyes.” He adds, “It is a wrong notion that bridal make-up has to be thicker. In fact, the thicker you go the more you have to maintain. The idea is to camouflage any imperfections if required. Otherwise, it’s better to keep it light.”

Working on Aishwarya

Before we come to her purple pout and what does he have to say about it, a few words on how easy or difficult it is to work on already beautiful faces. “Aishwarya is the only actress who just doesn’t interfere or even so much as suggest to the make-up artist on what to do. She completely trusts a professional and is the coolest person to work with.”

Little wonder, he refrains from commenting on her latest Cannes outing. “We must not forget that she is there as the ambassador of a make-up brand. Sometimes it is the make-up artist’s decision to launch a new colour, or a range. I don’t know whether it was her choice or the artist’s so I can’t comment.”

The ouch moment

Some of the most common mistakes I see women make in make-up is using highlighter as an eye shadow. Then they also go wrong with eyebrows. Without a good eyebrow, you cannot have good make-up. Women almost invariably either go overboard with their eyebrows or leave them under defined. Then the blush has to have a base to be applied. I can go on and on...But these are pretty much the most common and also the most fatal mistakes.

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The workshop is on May 29, The Taj Chandigarh from 1pm to 6pm