Ayesha Gilani, SAPNA’s resident beauty expert, shares her philosophies on beauty and art in her column “Steal the Limelight”. Learn more about the columnist in her own words

Hair glistening in the sun. A swish of the hips. A walk that draws every eye curiously to it. A bat of an eyelash. A glisten of the mouth. The glowing sheen of smooth skin. Hair blowing flirtatiously over mesmerizing, sultry eyes.

Like the light a diamond catches in the sun, she catches the eye of her onlookers, and trust me, there are quite a few. They want to know her, imagining her sweet voice falling upon their ears like a Mozart piece, to fill their noses with the intoxicating scent every woman carries with her, to know what she is doing here, the events of her day. Anything, just to embrace her being and coincide with her existence for one small moment in time, if only to brighten one’s own day with a pleasant acquaintance.

A confident well-groomed self-assured woman is a debilitating sight. She can conquer the world. The first thing the world notices is the exterior appearance of a person, and when it draws the onlooker closer, her inner beauty and strengths are revealed. It is, therefore, vital that woman reflect her inner beauty on the outside. A walking advertisement, in a sense, proclaiming, “Yes, I am soft and sweet woman. I am sexy and confident. I am intelligent and determined. I am multifaceted and unpredictable. I am gorgeous and I know it. Now stop drooling.”

Why Take my Word for it?

An authority on beauty, I come to you to share the secrets and tips of the trade of the beauty industry. As an insider for ten years running the successful makeup artistry business of Limelight Beauty Artistes (www.mylimelight.com), as head makeup artist (catering to all ethnicities, with a special interest in Eastern, Middle Eastern and African American skin tones) trained by celebrity makeup artist, Debra Macki, wardrobe stylist, hair stylist, eyebrow specialist, model and DC representative in the Miss Pakistan World pageant ’09, I have a wealth of information I’ve been itching to get off my chest and share with the divas of the world. I’ve dedicated this first submission to introducing Sapna readers to the essence of beauty, in order to understand its true role and significance in our lives – to share my passion for beauty with anyone who can lend an ear, eye, or glossed lip.

What is art?

An expression of the artist and the displayer, purposed to evoke some feeling in the originator and the viewer. It is the love child of knowledge and practice that is accrued to a pure and incapacitating love for art. It consumes the artist and viewer. Beauty is art in its truest form. Unlocked by an artist, a visionary, it is displayed to the world in all walks of life, literally. Only in this case, the canvas speaks its mind and desires. What does that mean? An experienced makeup artist is the Michelangelo to the canvas of your face. What the average person doesn’t realize is that there are simple tips and techniques we artists have up our sleeve you too can utilize to emulate the work of art that is a beautiful woman or man.

Did you know that in the sixteenth century, women downed poison in order to achieve a paler complexion, which was then regarded as beautiful? Nowadays, a beautiful complexion is not that difficult to achieve, nor is it that painful! (Don’t get me started on the age old war between the beauty of pale skin as opposed to dark skin. Skin’s beauty is accrued to its clarity and glow, not shade! Rest assured I’ll expand more on that in later issues.)

Back in ancient Egyptian times, people rubbed soot on their eyes to obtain that timelessly sexy cat eye. Then Cleopatra brought us kohl, or kajal, also used to lessen the sun’s glare, and rouge for the lips and eyes. As time went on, women changed, and beauty tactics progressed accordingly to suit the modern woman’s lifestyle. In this day and age, the modern woman possesses her own individual style to suit her personality, be it a funky retro look or a streamlined minimalistic look. The key lies in searching her inner self to discover what the right look for her is, and respecting her natural strengths to tailor it to achieve incapacitating beauty. That being said, there are beauty tricks and techniques that apply to everyone. I am here to share those, as well as personalized techniques suited to different skin tones, textures, and complexions.

Catch Ayesha’s Column.

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Posted on 16 April 2009
Tags: steal the limelight