Nila Haran: A Unique Story About Beauty and Makeup

Nila Haran always loves the art of makeup, however, to be a makeup artist wasn’t her dream when she was young.

Nila always wanted to be a therapist, but after she started doing makeups for part-time in university, she discovered that makeup is something she’s really good at. People loved her makeup skills and philosophies and her work became more and more popular, that’s why she finally decided to choose to be a full-time makeup artist. “A couple of months ago, I was speaking to a client of mine, a psychotherapist. I was like ‘Oh, that’s so cool to be a therapist, that was one of the things I wanted to pursue as a career.’ But she said ‘No, it’s exactly what you do in your career now’,” Nila says.

Makeup artists and therapists do have something in common: They help people to feel good about themselves. Nila never agrees that people should treat makeup as a mask or something they can hide behind. In her perspectives, putting on makeup should be a way that helps people to build confidence and discover the best part of themselves.

Despite Nila’s love on doing makeup, bridal makeup was not an easy job for her at the beginning. After she started working as a full time makeup artist, she realized that there was a need for more modern, more fresh perspective on bridal make-ups. Nila is able to look at makeup from a very creative and daring angle since she spends a lot of time doing special effect makeups. The most importantly, the brides need to have a great companion on their special day who respects their preference and takes the job very seriously.

“There are make-up artists who don’t take professionalism very seriously. I’ve heard horror stories about make-up artists who don’t appreciate their clients and cancel the appointment the day before the wedding,” Nila says.

The good news is, such thing never happen to Nila. She enjoys listening to her clients, understanding their needs and giving her best suggestions. Nila always encourages her consumers to do a free trail before the official service. Even if the customers completely trust her and choose not to do the trial, Nila meets the brides ahead of time, talk to them and find out what their makeup philosophy is. When asked about if there’re any clients that are unsatisfied with the service she provided, Nila says at least she haven’t received a single complaint so far.

Tharsi Senthil is one of Haran’s customer who chooses Nila not only for her wedding day but also birthday parties and other events. Tharsi really loved the makeup Nila did for her wedding.

“ I loved it. It was very good and stayed very fresh on my face for the entire day. I’m really glad that I chose her to be my make up artist for my wedding, Tharsi says. “ I feel really comfortable with her, she has good taste and she really takes her time to understand the needs of her clients.”

Even though Nila enjoys her job very much, she admits that to be a bridal makeup artist can be very stressful. It means you’ll have a very random sleeping schedule and you’ll be dealing with many kinds of people and chaos. Especially when it comes to Indian weddings that respect and emphasis family values significantly, you’ll have to listen to the opinions of every family member instead of the couple themselves.

“A lot of people says ‘Oh you are a makeup artist, it’s so cool’, it’s really not like that, I’m not gonna lie, it’s very very stressful,” Nila says. The good thing is, Nila is good at dealing with stress. People are always surprised by how calm she can be in the middle of chaos. “I literally turn on my ‘Ninja mode’,” she says. “ The entire world can be falling apart, but I’m gonna be clam for my bride. I think it’s really really important for makeup artist to take stress under control.”

There is no doubt that the stress a bride is dealing with on her wedding day is far more than her makeup artist. When talking about suggestions for brides to look stunning and amazing on their big day, Asha Umesh, Haran’s partner and assistant says that the only thing they need to do is to believe their makeup artist has the ability to enhance their beauty---which they already have.

Nila also suggests the brides to start doing skin care 6 months before their weddings because it’s something that will make the biggest difference on their makeups. Other than that, all they need to do is to communicate with their artists and give their complete trust.

“Everyone is an artist, I always believe that,” Nila says. “ But not everyone knows about color theories, skin tones and many others things that can help you to do a good makeup, that’s why we are here to help.”