We spoke to celebrity makeup artist, Arti Nayar about all things makeup in this interview as well as her new venture, Easy Beauty and here's what she had to share!
How many times have you tried to ace that dark lip and it overspills or an even eyeliner on both eyes only to look like a raccoon in the end? It's safe to say that we've all struggled with makeup and its complexities, sometime or the other and sadly, all we've mostly had until now is Youtube tutorials to bank on which don't quite help, tbh! It was either that or going to a professional to learn these skills. Thanks to MUAs like Arti Nayar, we have easy-to-follow tutorials on Instagram now about the most basic things like 'how to do a smokey eye with kajal' and how to play with color.
Having worked in the industry for over 15 years, Arti Nayar works as an MUA for celebrities, models, and brides to create award-winning looks. And today, Arti is all set to launch her brand 'Easy Beauty’ that brings together two elements - content and community. We spoke to Arti about all things make-up, what she enjoys the most about her profession, how Easy Beauty was conceptualized and so much more.
And this is what she mentioned!
What kind of looks do you create with makeup?
The kind of looks that I like to create of course vary because that’s the beauty of makeup, you can go from a no-makeup makeup look to a bold eye and lip, you can do glitter, dewy and so much more. I love the fact that makeup pushes me to create different kinds of looks but personally, I love the no-makeup makeup look. I think less is always more, I’ve always been that kind of person when it came to my personal style. But I love creating makeup looks with different types of products, textures, powders, and cream. It could be color or it could be black, anything inspires me when it comes to makeup. Sometimes you don’t know what you want to create and you come across all these beautiful products in front of you and you have this stunning canvas and you’re just inspired to create! Makeup at the end of the day just pushes you to be creative. For me, my makeup is very simple, natural and I like my skin to shine through because I feel like it's so endearing and beautiful to allow your skin to breathe through makeup.
How does makeup make you feel?
Makeup makes me feel very confident and good about myself, even when I put a little bit of kajal it just changes my entire look. It opens up my eyes and helps me look less tired on some days. I feel confident, empowered, motivated and determined when I put myself together. Sometimes when I’m sitting at home, I wear lipstick, and even during COVID-19 times, I just wanted to dress up and wear a bold lip and be around the house and it just made me feel great, it would literally lift my spirit.
Which looks do you enjoy creating?
I have a lot of fun with color. I love creating looks with color, whether it's a colored liner or playing around with glitter.
What can one expect from Easy Beauty?
You can expect to be part of a community where we're all in it together. It's not super complicated, it's like the name suggests. Easy Beauty embodies my makeup ethos, we’re a community who's going to celebrate being a part of a community, being women, pushing each other to pursue our dreams, claim what is rightfully ours. We'll create looks that are easy, very doable and that is what you can expect from my brand. It gives you a platform where you’re more than the marks on your face, where perfection isn’t chased. It breaks different makeup looks down for you and makes your life simpler. This is like your one-stop-shop. If there’s anything you’re looking to buy, or answers that you need about being an MUA and how to go from being an assistant to an independent artist, this brand has all of this covered! I'll be talking about my experiences on this page with simple unadulterated information. I’ll be sharing my knowledge, everything I’ve learned over the years, and I'm going to give you easy access to tools and resources related to makeup and the profession. The aim is to try and make your life as easy and simple as possible.
Do you also host workshops for people wanting to learn this skill? Is there anything in the pipeline?
Workshops are in the pipeline where you can learn these skills. I’ve conducted two and I'll be talking about that aspect of Easy Beauty very soon. Keep an eye out for the announcements on this page! This year hasn’t been easy and we’ve all had to do things to keep ourselves busy and try and make money and everyone's had it tough. And in such circumstances, it's nice to give people a break and that’s where the idea of workshops came in. Very soon, we’ll be sharing deets about workshops.
What do you enjoy the most about your profession?
It teaches me to be inspired by everything, it teaches me discipline, passion, and to value handwork. It changed my life in every aspect and not just professionally but even personally. It made me humble and appreciate everyone including all my assistants and their hard work. It's all about giving back and sharing what we learned and what we keep learning and how we can provide this knowledge to newer people in the industry. I'm grateful to this industry and this profession that took care of me. I've learned so much from all my mentors and everyone I've worked with to this date. I learn something new every day and that’s what I love about this profession.
What was the concept behind Easy Beauty? How did you decide on this?
Easy Beauty is very close to my heart. I have a very close set of girlfriends who I've been friends with since kindergarten and one day one of them just looked at me and said, "We need to push each other." We were all lazy during the lockdown, scared and there were so many mixed emotions. She said we need to come together, push each other and motivate each other, for whatever ideas and passion projects we have, put pen to paper, and make it happen. The ideas just kept flowing after that and I knew what I wanted. I wanted to give back to the industry and the audience and the people I've interacted with over the course of my career. I was doing videos and workshops. The one thing that resonated through it all was everyone kept telling me they’ve watched my videos and found it very easy to try my makeup looks. And they were like you make it look simple, easy and something we can do at home using a kajal pencil and everyone kept talking about this. One day I wrote this idea down and my friend motivated me to go ahead with this! I wrote down my thoughts and ideas and that’s how I came up with Easy Beauty. I interacted with so many women online during my workshops and classes, and they were wonderful. They’d say that we feel so confident now that we know how to do this makeup that you did on Sonam and Sara and it looks so beautiful and we always thought we can’t do this and now you showed us an easier way to do this, how to achieve this look at home. They were so happy and they were celebrating themselves getting ready. It was very encouraging to me, it helped me see that I was giving them confidence and empowering them with this knowledge and these tools and the rest was done by them. That’s when I knew this is what I want to do.
Being a makeup artist means long unpredictable hours. How do you look after your skin on the go?
The kind of hours I've had are crazy and there are some easy things you can do like drink a lot of water like all the time and ice your face. There are rollers and gua shas and so many tools but if you don't have them then just take a bowl of water and ice and dunk your face in it. It helps tighten your skin and reduces puffiness and fine lines easily in the morning and takes care of your skin during the day. Try out easy DIY packs at home when you can’t buy masks and sheet masks. I've learned to make masks from my mom and grandmom and I still continue to use them and that’s the same knowledge I want to impart to everyone through Easy Beauty, make it easy when it comes to makeup.
Want to know more about Easy Beauty and Arti? Click here!