The Hindu Business Line : Colours & shades...

There is no dearth of good quality local products as well as foreign ones in the market, when it comes to colour cosmetics. Here's a look at the various brands and products doing the rounds.

In my wanderings around departmental stores to study cosmetic counters this past week, I received first-hand experience of the buzz around beauty products that I've seen reported in glossy fashion magazines, and TV spots: the two hours at a Lifespring branch in the Capital, getting genned up with the help of an enthusiastic store person, were also spent dodging customers who streamed in to check out new launches.

A couple of inescapable conclusions: the Indian woman in the metros is evolving very rapidly into an exacting consumer because she is clearly keeping abreast of the latest trends; and also, for her, things have never been better.

Even 10 years ago, the average make-up kit of smart young ladies consisted of the standard compact-lipstick-kohl. If you were brave, or out to make a statement, you'd dabble with mascara and eye-liner and rouge, and even this would have relatives clucking to your parents about having an incorrigible fashion plate for a daughter. Women, who used foundation and other forms of war paint, were beyond-the-pale models and out-of-reach screen divas, not people like you and me. Those days might well have belonged to the dark ages: there are no dearth of good quality local products as well as foreign ones, legally imported, available on our shelves, and the pattern of usage has changed drastically. Now, your next-door middle-aged aunty could teach you a thing or two about face-paint, because, it is literally that: a vast colour palette is squeezed into a number of products, which cater to each part of your face. Make-up currently reflects the international penchant for all kinds of colour, glitter, and shimmer: I browse through almost the entire range in Lakme, Chambor, Revlon, Loreal, Maybelline, Jackelin, and the recently launched Pierre Cardin, as well as Street Wear, Revlon's `affordable' line for young women, on the lines of Elle18, and what strikes me most is the preponderance of products which make your face a shimmery, multi-hued zone.

Take your eyes, for example. Mascara comes in variation: there are brands, which can make your lashes curlier than others, there are water-proof mascaras (you know, good for brides who might need to cry on their wedding days, says Lifespring's extremely helpful Upasana, as she unrolls a Maybelline tube); and there are in-between mascaras which will resist moisture. The latest is coloured mascaras, in auburn and blue. Then there are the eye-shadows, to be used on your lids, pencils, to outline your eyes: these products, both powder and cream-based, are enhanced by additives which have a cooling effect.

Lips can now be adorned with colours unheard of till very recently: blue and lilac can be seen on mouths as well as nails. Colour-stay lipsticks from Revlon, and a couple of other brands, lock in colour in 60 seconds, and keep it intact for hours. As an experiment, I tried on a Loreal liquid colour-fast, and I can safely say that over seven hours, three meals, and several beverages later, the colour looked pretty much as it did when I put it on. New additions use a lot of gloss, and shine to keep lips supple: according to fashionists, powder mattes, which show up the colour but also serve to dry up lips, are not so hot these days.

Nail varnishes also come with a 60-second dry-fast time, from Revlon: here again, across brands, the range of colour is quite astonishing. And finally, the ubiquitous `foundation and compact powder' combo has undergone a revolution: multipurpose single products act as `concealers' (to hide blemishes, dark circles and other unsightly spots), `blushers', and `face powder', all the things that old-style foundations were supposed to do. Face powders have metamorphosed from the round cakes, into loose particles, and the most recent ones have, right, stuff that makes your cheeks shimmer and shine.

These are a few of the popular, fast-selling colour cosmetics (available in stores across the country; some, like Pierre Cardin, might have a presence in high-end stores). A Pierre Cardin lipstick will set you back Rs 325, mascara (water resistant) Rs 385, lip pencil (Rs 210), fluid foundation (Rs 795), compact powder (Rs 410). It is also the only one, as a salesperson demonstrated, which has a lip-liner you twist back in (all other revolving lip-liners stay out, once out). Chambor and Loreal have comparable prices: the former has a duo-stick (lip-liner and lipstick) at Rs 425, and a liquid lip colour-fast at Rs 375, the latter has lipsticks and eye-wear at Rs 300 plus.

Just below are Maybelline and Revlon: Maybelline has some great eye-wear (water-proof, and lash curling and thickening mascaras between Rs 119 and Rs 179), and Revlon specialises in colour-fast make-up (lipsticks between Rs 160 and Rs 175, eye shadows at Rs 225, foundations Rs 299, liquid eyeliners at Rs 155, and nail enamel at Rs 55). Then there's Lakme, the country's best-known beauty brand, which is busy re-inventing itself these days (lipsticks at Rs 89, blush-ons at Rs 110, and the new `brilliance line', which has face highlighters at Rs 125).

Some new-concept products from Jackelin, a US company: hair-glitter in shades such as red, silver, gold at Rs 175, ideal for party-wear, a duo-stick, with transparent gloss, which doubles up as a lipstick and lip-gloss, and a triple crayon, which can be used as lipstick-blusher-eye-shadow. Also cheery, youthful colours in Street Wear, Revlon's `young' brand, priced between Rs 75 and Rs 110: a `mix-it-up' lip kit with a couple of shades and a brush, comes for Rs 85.

The nice thing about prospecting for make-up in departmental stores such as Ebony, Shoppers' Stop, and Lifespring, which is looking to spread soon countrywide, is the convenience factor: cosmetic stations next to each other facilitate comparison between brands, before you zero in on the one you are looking for. Says Aravind Nagarajan, CEO, Lifespring, when I ask him his criteria for choosing products: "we believe in delivering a reasonably wide range of products, at a range of price points, of a high quality. The plus factor at Lifespring is the availability of personalised service and guidance: we are loyal to our customers, not to a brand, so what you get on our shelves reflects consumer preference and popularity."

The author can be reached at Shubhrag@vsnl.com

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