Make Me Gorgeous by Ashmi

Recently, I was organising my photos from the past decade and realised that after my daughter was born, I had little or no makeup in most pics. I had proper makeup only at big events. That got me thinking and I remembered growing up, the only makeup I saw my mom wear was a lipstick and a bindi. Sometimes, she would dabble the same lipstick on her cheeks for a bit of colour and on very special occasions like weddings, karwachauth and Diwali, her trusted Lakme compact came out. Honestly, she didn’t need any more makeup but she never experimented and had fun with it either. As she got older, her makeup remained the same, it only became less subtle. Now my air mum is someone who loves to dress up, she does care about her appearance. But she does not look at makeup as a tool to enhance her age related issues. I tried to get her started with BB cream for skin and she rejected even that. While I am not experienced enough to understand her psyche, I have observed around me that as women my mum’s age get older, they do the same makeup they did in their youth or give it up altogether. This makes me sad because makeup is not just for your young and carefree days. All women can enjoy it. As we grow older though, the need is for us to learn to work with the changes on our faces and learn a new trick or two. Where would we turn to for this info? We could try the internet. But then, have you looked at the tutorials available online these days? Am not judging but the Kim Kardashian style of over contoured, over highlighted makeup is not really everyone’s cup of tea. Apart from a few gurus like Lisa Eldridge, not many are doing fresh faced looks or even those for mature skin. This was my belief and so when I met Ashmi, I was pleasantly surprised. Four months back, she left her 7-figure investment banking job after a 9 year stint, out of lack of work life balance, lack of social connect and their process oriented nature with a complete absence of creativity and launched Make Me Gorgeous. Ashmi says

“Since childhood I had an inclination towards creative arts and beautification. All through my banking career, my friends and colleagues encouraged me to carry out something in the field of fashion and beauty, Hence I took up a short course to hone my makeup skills and started MMG”

In her venture MAKE ME GORGEOUS (MMG), she tells women about their beauty strengths and areas of improvement. She helps them with the knowledge of right products and brands for them. She teaches correcting techniques to hide or enhance their natural features.

For years, Ashmi used to teach and encourage her friends and family to groom better. It always quite disturbed her how women in other parts of the world took so much effort to look young and attractive as opposed to Indian moms. She felt that once they mother a child, most give up on using mirrors and appreciating their own selves. Ashmi said a lot of them believed that once they aged, makeup does not look good on them or makes them look like a wannabe. She thinks, and I have to agree with her here that it is lack of awareness about products, their usage and techniques that is the reason for such apprehensions. In fact, Ashmi claims that if women agreed to spend less than 20% of their clothing and shoes budget on makeup and grooming, they will look 200% better! She told me

“According to me, there is no such thing as an unattractive woman. From the depths of my being I would like to help out women who think they look unattractive. Most importantly I would like them to be experimental, bold, confident and rekindle their desire to feel attractive. All one needs to be is willing to take little effort. Feel like a woman!”

What do you guys think about it? Do you think we do the same makeup after becoming a mom as we did before? Or do you agree we shy away from it post maternity? I’d love to know your thoughts. I have often blogged about makeup. I shared my thoughts about appropriate makeup recently. Have a look and let me know what you think 😀