From commoners to supermodels, beauty queens to the blue blooded royal princesses, makeup artist Meenakshi Dutt in a career spanning 17 years has been trusted with the faces of the biggies of fashion and entertainment industry. Meenakshi’s glamorous career kicked off after she won two beauty crowns paving the way towards modelling and hosting a television show.
Switching gears to become a freelance makeup artist at first, she soon decided to take it up fulltime. In conversation with City Express, Meenakshi talks about her trajectory from runway to backstage and doles out a few tips as well.
The true calling
Working as a model in late 80 and early 90’s in Mumbai taught Meenakshi to do her own makeup and often help fellow models as well--since, she candidly admits, she was better than most others. “All models did their makeup but I never thought much about it until my son’s birth. I didn’t want to leave my family for extended periods in Delhi and work in Mumbai. So I decided to do something new but within my comfort zone. That’s when friends from the advertising and modelling world advised me to pick up the makeup brush,” Meenakshi says.
The road uphill
Meenakshi Dutt Makeover, one of foremost name in the bridal make up scene today, happened by chance. Lots of models and trainees who worked under Meenakshi would ask her to do their makeup for their wedding. This set the ball rolling and seven years after she took to makeup full time, the bridal studio was born. “Unlike models, these brides paid me. So, I couldn’t do the makeup that I wanted but what they wanted me to do. And more often than not, they would be confused about the look. I took time to accommodate their apprehensions as brides and make them understand they are in able hands,” she explains.
Devoid of Ambition
After beautifying faces of the common people for such a long time, Meenakshi feels it’s a different kind of satisfaction which can’t compare to a Bollywood job.
“It’s not like I didn’t think about Bollywood but it didn’t suit me. Delhi was my home and I was comfortable there. Besides, makeup artists were not allowed in the industry then, and I didn’t want to work on the sly or limit myself to being hairstylist only,” she quips. A self-admitted ‘not ambitious’ person, Meenakshi says makeup is her passion which is fuelled by the appreciation and satisfied looks on the face of her the clients.
Block your date
With high demand for her transformatory touch on the big day, bookings made months in advance ensure her roster is blocked during the wedding season. Though one has to shell out anything between `12,500-`45,000 for her beauty servces--Meenakshi says she is not going to open any new outlets anytime soon.
“I need to give personal attention to each clientele. I have to train each staff and all this requires time and energy.
And at the moment my hands are full with my two studios in Delhi,” she says, adding that she can’t let the quality suffer just for the sake for making big bucks. “Life is not just about making money, right,” she reflects.
Talking about the younger breed of stylists and makeup pros, the makeup veteran says that she doesn’t mind when she is copied or when others take her makeup look and recreate it as their own. “I see this as a sense of accomplishment that other artists are copying me,” she says modestly.
