‘It’s the Eyes – They’re the Most Important. I Want to Make Them Look Alive.’

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A wedding gown costing millions of rupiah won’t do you any good if your face doesn’t look just as enchanting on your big day. This is where a professional bridal makeup artist comes into play.

Kay, 28, has helped numerous brides look their best, although she herself doesn’t plan on having her own wedding anytime soon.

A film graduate from the Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ), Kay decided to set aside her passion for producing movies and make a career out of her junior high school hobby instead. Now she has gone from bonus makeup kits from teen magazines to using high-tech airbrush technology.

And listen up, ladies: this expert warns that women who indiscriminately pluck out their eyebrows to have them penciled in — well, they just look weird.

Which part of the face needs the most attention when doing bridal makeup?

It’s the eyes — they’re the most important part, and eye makeup happens to be my specialty [smiles]. I want to make them look alive, both in the wedding photo albums and in the wedding ballroom venue with that lighting. We can make big eyes look smaller and vice versa, and use shading to make your face look leaner.

What about the trend where some brides pluck out their eyebrows and draw them on instead, even though some people think that it makes them look like aliens?

I agree, they do look weird [laughs]. That’s why I prefer a more natural look, so I don’t pluck eyebrows unless I really have to, I only improve their natural shape with a pencil. But if someone has very thin eyebrows or eyebrows that are a very unusual shape, I have no choice but to pluck them or draw them in with an eyebrow pencil.

Did you take any courses on bridal makeup?

No, no, I fell in love with doing makeup when I was in junior high school. At that time, I loved to collect makeup that came with teen magazines. I learn my basic skills from those magazines and experimented on my friends’ faces. It’s so fun to play with colors and see the amazing results that makeup can create. I’ve been in love with makeup ever since.

And how did you make a career out of it?

After high school, I continued my studies at IKJ [the Jakarta Art Institute]. I really wanted to be a film producer. But the fact was that no one on my campus really focused on my works as a producer [smiles], but they all knew that if you needed a makeup artist, then you contacted Kay. They asked me to do the makeup when they wanted to shoot a short movie or stage a play.

Word-of-mouth marketing made my work known to other people and they started to use me as a makeup artist.

So you had a change in your career path, then?

It seems that way [laughs]. After graduating from IKJ, I got a job working in a bridal house as an assistant makeup artist. That was when I learned how to do special bridal makeup. After working there for about a year, building connections and improving my skills, I quit and opened my own bridal makeup service. I also do makeup for photo shoots.

How do you determine the most suitable makeup for your clients?

There are three steps for deciding what kind of makeup will be applied. There is an initial meeting to get to know the couple. We talk a great deal at that time, going deep into their personalities, and identify the characteristics of the bride’s face. The second meeting is when we do the makeup test. And the last meeting is on their big day.

I can say that doing makeup truly is an art form. We need people to be confident enough to try something different. Most of my customers don’t mind trying something new, but some of the grooms may be more than a little bit surprised to see their partners look different.

Are there any customers who ask for very light make up ?

Yes, of course, I do makeup based on my customers’ request. But most of them choose me because they already know my ‘touch’ and believe that it is the most suitable for their face.

How much do they pay for a makeup session with you?

From Rp 4 million to Rp 6 million [$445 to $665]. It depends on the details of the service that they choose. Some prefer traditional makeup, which uses a conventional brush, while others may choose the airbrush makeup application.

On your wedding day, which makeup artist will you use?

Thanks but no thanks, I think I’ll do my own makeup [smiles].

Kay was talking to Mulianingsih Kurnia.

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