I contacted Vipul Bhagat a while back and he was incredibly nice and helpful. He has over 14 years of experience in the industry and has a large celebrity following, among which are Svetha Jaishankar, Malaika Arora, and Madhu Sapre. Here are a few pics from his portfolio: pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4, pic 5.

Me: Are there any products that always feature in your kit?
Vipul Bhagat: MAC and Kryolan products.

Me: What brands do you rely on for foundation? Which brands do you prefer for darker skin tones and which would you prefer for lighter skin tones?
Vipul Bhagat: MAC for lighter skin tones, Bobbi Brown and Kryolan for darker skin tones. I don’t like MAC foundations too much for darker skin tones because they can go on a bit grey on the skin.

Me: For a professional look for work, what are the products and what kind of a look do you recommend?
Vipul Bhagat: I would do a beauty-shot type look where the skin is central. Or western dark eyes and pale lips.
Note: I’m guessing he means a smokey eye. Just making sure make-up jargon is universal.

Me: For weddings, what are some products you feel a bride should look into?
Vipul Bhagat: For weddings mainly the foundation, lipstick and kajal pencil are important. If you can, try to make all these things waterproof as Indian brides tend to cry after their wedding they become emotional. MAC Blot Powder is also good to keep your skin matte and looking good in photos.

Me: What are some mistakes you see women making with regards to make-up and what would you suggest as opposed to what they currently do?
Vipul Bhagat: They don’t cover their dark circles, they use kaajal pencil which at the end of the day is spread all over the eye region and looks like dark circles, and always carry a chapstick and then their lips become very dry and cracked.
Note: I am so guilty of doing the last thing.

Me: What are some of your favourite MAC products that you use often.
Vipul Bhagat: Stripdown and especially Spice lip liners. For lipglosses I like Lust, Love Child, and Chai. Blushes like Pink Swoon and Peaches are wonderful.

Me: Are there any specific creams you like using to prep skin for make-up?
Vipul Bhagat: I use MAC Studio Mositure Fix. I use other creams from the Body Shop and MAC

Me: And last but not least, can you name any of the products you used on Shveta Jaishanker for her wedding?
Note: If you have no clue who she is (which I didn’t, I had to Google her), she is a former Miss India and is a model.

Vipul Bhagat: I used Kryolan foundation. Then, I used Spice lip liner to outline and then filled it in with Cosmo lipstick. I lined her eyes with Smolder eye kohl and finished with a L’Oreal mascara. For blusher, I used Pink Swoon.
Note: except the foundation, they’re all MAC products in case you were feeling lost. Also, this is my personal recommendation since he doesn’t specify the exact mascara, try voluminous. It is my all time favourite mascara.

Edit: I got an email with a breakdown of Emmanuelle Chriqui's look from a rep for Shalini Vadhera. I asked her to keep me updated with such breakdowns and hopefully I will get a chance to talk to her and bombard her with questions. And yes, I'm still trying to finish my huge 25-page long single spaced paper tomorrow (just reread the page length again and imagine what kind of a state I am in now). Also, it feels great not to be known as the 'crazy make-up breakdown stalker lady.' For once, I didn't hound anyone until they cried.

I know Emmanuelle Chriqui isn't technically desi, but her make-up would look beautiful on a lot of desi ladies. Also, she is of Moroccan Jewish ancestry. I guess if I can get asked what part of Saudi Arabia India is in, she can qualify for being brown too (I'm being sarcastic, but I have been asked this a few times).

As the weather warms up I am sure you’re considering makeup looks for spring & summer! Shalini Vadhera, celebrity makeup artist and author of Passport to Beauty, recently created a stunning beauty look for actress Emmanuelle Chriqui (HBO’s “Entourage”) before she walked the red carpet at a Beverly Hills event.

Shalini Vadhera calls this look "a chic, natural but sexy." Here's how to get the look.

Step 1:

Shalini prepped and brightened Emmanuelle’s skin with Global Goddess Beauty Upgrade Complexion Face Primer and then applied Complexion Perfection Foundation to give her skin a flawless finish.

Step 2:

South Pacific Shimmer Bronzer served a dual purpose as an eyeshadow base and to warm up her cheeks. It’s one of Emmanuelle’s personal faves!

Step 3:

The Sizzling Serengeti Tribal Quad Eyeshadows in Mombasa helped to make her eyes pop. A layer of black and shimmery brown Cairo Eyes Liquid Liner and Exotic Eyes Blackest Mascara set the look.

Step 4:

Lastly, Shalini applied Sandstorm Lip Veil to gloss up Emmanuelle’s lips and Floating Diamonds Face & Body Shimmer for an all-over glow.

Follow these simple steps and you too can achieve Emmanuelle’s gorgeous Global Goddess look!

I'm not sure I can walk within a 50 km. radius of Mumbai after bugging the make-up artist I got on the phone when I called the MAC store in Mumbai. However, here's a brief look at some of the products customers seem to love at that location.

ME: What colour lipglosses do you sell often?
Make-up Artist Who Now Hates Me (shortened: MAWNHE): Revealing and Lust definitely.

ME: What colour lipsticks are very popular at your location?
MAWNHE: Umm, Hug Me, Taupe, Touch, and Double Shot.

ME: What colour blushes do people tend to favour?
MAWNHE: Well for fairer complexions it's something like Sincere and for darker complexions I'd say blushes like Coppertone.

Hope you enjoyed this and found it entertaining.

I recently emailed celebrity make-up artist Lippi Lal with some questions and she was kind enough to answer them for me. Instead of me thinking of a witty and clever introduction riddled with my horrifically lame sense of humour, I'll just let her official profile and photo do the talking. After that read on for the interview (by the way, I love her sense of humour in all of it).

Profile
Lippi has over 14 years of experience in the luxury brands business specializing in prestige fragrances, skincare and makeup. During this time she has worked with some of the leading brands in the business such as Nina Ricci, Shiseido, Versace, Escada, Burberry and several others.

As a trainer for these brands she has their trained frontline staff across the country and conducted scores of Fragrance appreciation and Beauty workshops for the media and customers. Her workshops have been written about in leading publications like the Bombay times,Midday and several others.

She has also appeared on prime time television as a presenter for beauty workshops. Currently she is working as a consultant within the industry, conducting Training Programmes for leading luxury brands Max Factor,Azzaro,Thierry Mugler,and Cartier and using her makeup skills to create magical looks for brides,models and beautiful women across India.

Me: Are there any products that always feature in your kit?

Lippi Lal: Yes. I always have to have my Max Factor mascaras as they are the best, especially Masterpiece which is a work of genius. It is a defining mascara that creates a natural false eyelash effect. My Shiseido Corrector Pencil which is another fabulous invention that I can use to “mop up” make-up mistakes without wrecking the while look. My MAC pigment in Silver which I can use as highlighter and eyeshadow is also an absolute must.

ME: What brands do you rely on for foundation? Which brands do you prefer for darker skin tones and which would you prefer for lighter skin tones?

Lippi Lal: Depending on the texture I want MAC, Max Factor, and Shiseido are my hot favourites. Age Renew from Max Factor gives the skin a candlelit glow but I sometimes have difficulty finding darker shades in the brand. Shiseido's stick foundation gives the most natural finish and actually contains natural shading powder which naturally contours the face. I use it for a variety of skin tones (they have a special technology that has red pigment in the darker shades and green pigment in the lighter shades, therefore making it suitable for a range of skintones). MAC Hyper Real is also a favourite; I love the sculpting effect it has on the face.

Note: I believe the Shiseido foundation she is talking about is the Shiseido Foundation Control Color.

ME: I read that you specialize in corrective make-up. What are some things women do to minimize flaws but end up accentuating them instead and what would you recommend doing instead? Do you have any favourite products that you feel help minimize flaws.

Lippi Lal: Ah! My favourite topic! I think the worst thing is watching women deliberately choosing a lighter foundation to look “fairer.” Yuck! They look more like they have fallen into a flour bin or a la Michael Jackson. Even if your natural colour is midnight blue, you have to choose a foundation to match that. Trying to change your skin colour makes you look dated, older, and, worst of all, scary. So have mercy on your fellow beings and pick a suitable shade.

Another trick I have seen a lot of make-up artists do in India is contouring the nose to make it appear slimmer. It actually does the opposite and brings attention to it saying “Hi there! It’s me, your bulging nose.” A better way is to take attention away by enhancing a more desirable feature like the eyes or mouth.

I do have personal favourites for corrective make-up. Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat for sure and also Lash Lift mascara from Max Factor which makes nonexistent straight lashes magically reappear. I also love a good eyebrow pencil and lip definer to enhance the shape of the eyebrows and lips. Both are very important elements of corrective make-up.

ME: Do you have any favourite blush shades from specific brand that you like using on indian skin?

Lippi Lal: Indian skin has a variety of tones ranging from light to very dark and undertones could vary from red to yellow depending on the region the person comes from. For instance, Punjabis who have lighter skin will have a red undertone but Bengalis with lighter skin may have a yellow undertone. Some North Indians with darker skin may still have red undertones. Keeping this in mind, I love Max Factor Flawless Perfection bushes. They have a variety of shades that work beautifully on Indian skintones.

ME: I love the following look you did on the model. Can you name any of the products you used to recreate the look?

Lippi Lal: Yes. Thanks! The look was created using Mac Hyper Real foundation, MAC pigment in Silver as highlighter, Elizabeth Arden eyeliners (I love Arden liners), and Chambor Moisture Lipstick in Maroon Plus.

Hope that answers all your questions.

I hunted down Bollywood make-up artist Shalini Vasisht and she was kind enough to email me back questions I had asked her. You can view her work on her website. For those of you who'd like a bit more of an introduction here is an excerpt from her profile on her website:

"Shalini Vasisht is a renowned celebrity Makeup Artist and the lady behind many glamorous and beautiful bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Sharmila Tagore, Pooja Batra, Mallika Sherawat, Neha Dhupia, Udita Goswami among others. She has held grooming sessions for the Miss India Pageants and personally groomed Miss India World 1993 and Miss India Pacific 1994."


ME: What are some of your go-to products?
Shalini: MAC Prep+Prime, MAC Brow Finisher, Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss Palettes, Bobbi Brown Moisturizing Cream Compact Foundation, Lancome tinted moisturizer, Kryolan Derma Colour Camouflage System.
Note: Lancome has 3 different types of tinted moisturizers Aqua Fusion Teinte, Bienfait Multi-Vital Teine, and Imanance.

ME: What are your favourite brand/type of concealors and foundation? What products/shades from a specific do you like using on fairer skinned women and darker skinned women respectively?
Shalini: MAC and Bobbi Brown have great foundations for darker skintones and L'Oreal for fairer skintones.

ME: What is the one make-up no-no you see women doing?
Shalini: A foundation lighter than your skin tone is a big no-no. The base should match the skin tone.

ME: What is your idea of a basic face?
Shalini: A basic face would have make-up that brings out the natural tones and colours on the face, lips, and eyes.

ME: What are your favourite bronzers and/or blushes?
Shalini: MAC iridescent powders are nice bronzers, I also like Estee Lauder and NARS blushes.

ME: And last but not least, can you name some of the products you used on Neha Dhupia in the following photo:

Shalini: On Neha, I used the MAC Paint in red on the eyes, Lipglass in Rose on the lips, NARS Orgasm blush, and Bobbi Brown Cover Stick as the foundation.
NOTE: The paint and lipglass she is referring to sounds like Flammable paint and Flusterose lustreglass.

image source: www.shalinivasisht.com

I regularly look at the online portfolios of make-up artists for inspiration and guidance. It's the make-up equivalent of going to the top of a hill in a storm, raising a lightning rod with your bare hands, and then finally being struck by lightning. One of the Indian make-up artists whose work is great to get ideas and make-up inspiration from is Clint Fernandes, whose online portfolio you can view here.

Shilpa was so sweet as to post links to his tutorials at www.indiwo.com and I figured what the hey, why not contact him. So I send him an email and didn't really expect much of it. I think it is Santa who ruined my psyche and made me this pessimistic (I used to write to him regularly and refused to believe he wasn't real, but that's another story altogether). Much to my surprise, I found a reply from Clint Fernandes in my inbox this morning. How awesome is that? Much better than Santa (seriously, all those handwritten letters, not a single reply).

So here are my questions and Clint Fernandes' corresponding answers:

Me: Finding out what products were used on Indian celebrities with varying skin tones seems to be a formidable task. What are some of your favourite products and colours for Indian skin.

Clint Fernandes: Revlon skin lights system works well with Indian skin tones. As well as the Bourjois Chocolate blush. In foundations I trust Chanel as it is colour adaptive and elastic.

Me: I was also wondering if you could tell me what products you used to achieve the following look on Lisa Ray.

Clint Fernandes: This image is very old maybe around 4 years or so... I did use MAC liquid Face and Body foundation along with Shiseido cream concealor. The blush would have been Chanel and for the eyes Nars matte taupe with lots of Rimmel Kohl and mascara.

I just checked out the products he mentioned and here they are:

Revlon SkinLights

I can't find them on Revlon.com so I'm not sure whether most drugstores carry them or not. However, I saw a bunch at Big Lots (great for make-up bargains by the way) and you can also order the SkinLights make-up online at places like www.drugsture.com.

Bourjois Chocolate blush

I believe this is the bronzing powder by Bourjois. You can order it online at www.sephora.com or you could find it in the Sephora store itself. I am probably going to check this out soon. It looks yummy and edible.

Chanel foundations and blush

A lot of department stores carry Chanel and you can order shades on various websites. I always believe that for foundations and concealors it is best to go to a counter so you can see the colour and try it out as some textures and ingredients might not work with your skin but be perfect for others. As for the blush, the Irreelle blushes are quite beautiful.

Mac Face and Body foundation

This seems to be a staple for a great many people. You can order this online at www.maccosmetics.com or other sites, or go to a counter at a department store.

Nars matte taupe eyeshadow

I believe what Clint Fernandes was referring to was either Nars Bali or Blondie. I believe Blondie is slightly cooler in undertone and lighter as well. I don't quite remember which of the two is matte though.

Shiseido cream concealor

I think he may be referring to the Corrective Cover concealor, which has been discontinued. However, Shiseido's The Makeup Concealor Stick is very similar in formulation.

images taken from: www.clintfernandes.com, www.sephora.com, www.maccosmetics.com, www.nordstrom.com