The New Indian Express ·
Beyond the brush: How makeup is becoming a form of storytelling
Makeup once came with a fairly straightforward brief: look better. Even out the skin, conceal what needed concealing and accentuate what was considered beautiful. Today, that brief has been rewritten. Flowers, butterflies, abstract forms and cultural motifs are finding their way onto faces, while festivals such as Bonalu, Janmashtami and Durga Puja turn colour, symbolism and adornment into part of the visual celebration. On International Makeup Day, CE explores how makeup has moved beyond mere enhancement, becoming a language for mood, memory, identity and storytelling.
For Hyderabad-based cosmetologist and makeup artist Ananya Rao, the growing popularity of face art is rooted in expression. “The face art trend that has recently started is all about expressing oneself through art. It can be a form of emotion,” she says.
She has also observed artists using face art to make stronger social statements, particularly around issues affecting women. “When cases of abuse and other crimes are increasing, I have seen people doing really strong makeup on the face to put forward a statement that this is not working out for us,” she shares.
Ananya recently created a colourful look inspired by the peacock, embellished with colourful stones around the eyes. “I feel like makeup also inspires me according to my mood. Since Janmashtami was around the corner, I was thinking about what to do, and somehow the peacock theme was on my mind. From there, I went ahead and created this very colourful look filled with colourful stones,” she recalls.
One of her recent projects, featuring rusty tones and tear-like details, drew inspiration from Met Gala look but was ultimately rooted in a more local observation. “When I go to clients for bridal makeup, what I see is that people can be really racist about complexion. They want even people with dusky skin tones to be made fair, and sometimes relatives specifically tell us to make them fair. I find it so strange,” she points out. The project became an opportunity to celebrate darker complexions rather than conceal them. “Through this, we wanted to showcase that when it comes to dusky tones, the shine and the glamour is beyond what words can express,” she adds.
The face, for makeup artist Akansha Kachhawa, however becomes a stage for character. Her approach begins with the concept, allowing the makeup, hair, styling and setting to collectively build a visual narrative. For one of her recent looks, Akansha saw the model’s all-black outfit, wings and immediately knew the makeup needed something sharp and commanding. “I created the look with one thing in mind — she needed to look sharp and strong. I felt a graphic liner was the best way to portray that, along with a striking burnt-maroon lip to make the look more visually intense. I wanted the moment someone saw her, they would immediately understand the brief: she’s the devil,” she shares.
Yet for her, makeup’s artistic value lies in more than creating a visually arresting image for Instagram. She says, “With a few strokes and a clear direction, you can completely transform the way a person looks and, in turn, how they are perceived. When you’re creating a character or a concept, you’re not just making someone look a certain way; you’re making them look like the story they are portraying. I think that is what makes makeup so exciting to me.”
The beauty of such work, she believes, is that the artist does not always control what the audience sees. “I personally look at the concept first. To create any work, I feel we need to establish the mood and the theme we are going for. From there, the story can develop through the makeup, hairstyle, outfit and even the set — everything works together,” she explains.
At Vurve Salon, salon director and makeup artist Sumitra Rai approaches artistic makeup through another lens. “The human face is far from a blank slate; it possesses its own inherent structure, movement and distinct character before a brush ever touches it. A single concept transforms based on how it interacts with individual features, making the result entirely unique to the person wearing it. We aren’t just applying colour to a surface; we are engaged in a dynamic collaboration with a living, breathing canvas that brings the vision to life,” she says.
That philosophy informs how she translates ideas from traditional art into makeup. “For us, makeup becomes art when it moves beyond enhancing someone’s features and starts expressing an idea or emotion. Occasionally, we get the freedom to forget the usual rules of beauty and experiment with colour, texture and form. That’s when the face becomes a canvas, and makeup becomes a completely different kind of creative expression,” she concludes.