What inspired you to start Makeup by Wardah Usmani, and how has the journey been so far?
Okay, so I’ve loved doing makeup for as long as I can remember. I was always doing it at my friends’ weddings, and I was that designated makeup artist friend, you know? But I never thought of pursuing it as a career because I was never confident enough. When I did my own wedding makeup, my husband kind of pushed me to start my page. He encouraged me to set this up and was like, “What’s the worst that could happen?” | thought to myself, yeah, he’s right, you know? So I set it up, and I never looked back. The journey has been great so far. My clients are all amazing. I’m doing what I love for a living, and I don’t think it gets better than that.
How do you ensure your makeup services stand out in a competitive market?
So yeah, the market is super competitive. I started back when I was in Pakistan, and I’ve moved to Toronto now. I feel like when I was starting out, I was catering to people like myself who did not want makeup that was too heavy. Even as a bride, I felt that I wanted to look more like myself. So I stuck to what I knew, stuck to what I liked, and basically, that’s what I try to do even for my clients. How I set myself apart is from the minute a bride walks into my studio for her consultation to the time that we’re done and she’s leaving as a bride, I really try to take into account what she wants because doing makeup is very personal. I know what I like on my face, and you know what you like on your face. So me telling you what you should like is something that I don’t believe in. So that’s basically my mantra for how I work, and I think that’s what sets me apart. Apart from that, I do subtle bridal makeup. It’s very Pakistani style, a little modern, and not too much. But yeah, I think that’s how l set myself apart.
What’s your signature makeup style, and how do you tailor it to suit different clients?
So initially, when I started, it was a little bit challenging because I thought that if I know one thing, I can copy-paste it on different clients. But over time, I’ve realized that if two eyes are different shapes, there’s no way that one makeup look will look amazing on both of them. What I’m trying to do is make you look like the best version of yourself, so my style is more on the natural, glowy side, where I’m trying to enhance your features and not change them. So I cannot copy and paste one look onto a different bride. When the clientscome to me for the consultation and the trial, we try out different things. I’ll show her the eye look with glitter, without glitter. I’ll show her a matte eye. I’ll try thickening the eye shades. Even I can’t know what would look amazing on you until we’ve tried it out, especially for the eyes, right? So yeah, that’s how we try to bring out the best version of you on your wedding day. It’s a collaborative effort between me and my brides, and it’s been working so far.
How do you balance creativity and client preferences when working on a look?
That’s a hard question because that is something that will always be a struggle. I feel like I’m more inclined towards client preferences, which is why none of my looks are the same. If you go through all of my work, it’s very client-centered. I do take into account what they’re saying. So when they walk into a consult with me, at first, a bride will have an eye look trial in which we play around with eye looks, eye shades, the thickness of the liner, and the thickness of the lashes. In that trial, I basically try to pen down everything the client is telling me, and I try talking her out of things that I think won’t work or are not very, you know, in line with current trends.
So it’s a conversation. Even after I give my suggestions, if the bride says that she wants to stick to her guns, of course, I listen to her because, again, having makeup on your face is super, super personal. I cannot tell you what you will feel most confident in. What I’m trying to say, basically, is that even if you tell me you want something crazy, I can make it work. You know, like if you want to go five tones lighter, that’s not what I like, but at the end of the day, you’ll still look like a pretty version of yourself.
As a business owner, what challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
Okay, so I think every business owner, every single one-man-show business, faces a lot of struggles in the beginning and is juggling with things you have no idea about, especially when it’s a one-man show and you yourself are the brand. There’s not a lot of room to make mistakes, even when you’re growing and you don’t know what you’re doing yourself. Making sure that everybody who comes in and walks out the door is happy is a very, very big challenge because there are so many things that you have to cater to. You are not only taking responsibility for doing their makeup, it’s their experience. It’s what you say, how you look, how you made them feel, and how your assistants made them feel on the day of their wedding. You know, it all has to be a positive experience because, at the end of the day, you are starting, and you are spending so much time with a bride. If she doesn’t leave happy, it’s like a domino effect, you’re ruining her mood, and everything from there goes south.
So there’s a lot of that. You have to be very empathetic.You have to be very conscious of everything. Setting myself apart as a makeup artist who serves the client’s preferences and doesn’t just tell them what they want has also been a very big challenge. Making sure that every client leaves happy takes a lot, and I think that’s what sets me apart and is my biggest challenge.
What trends in makeup excite you the most, and how do you incorporate them into your work?
There’s a lot of, you know, having a new canvas to work on itself that is super, super exciting. But the trends that excite me the most, I guess, are super dewy and minimal makeup with, you know, just a polished look, like very celebrity-esque. We’re talking Bollywood, we’re talking Alia Bhatt. Those kinds of trends are amazing. Like, I love what is now. Were out with the dramatic eyes; we’re more soft, and we’re accepting who we are, we’re accepting our skin tones. I’m all for that. That’s exciting.How do you stay updated on the latest beauty trends and techniques?I think with social media and trends being so global these days, it’s so easy to know what’s going on where. There are a few makeup artists I look up to a lot. There’s Yasmin Khan in Pakistan. There are many makeup artists that I admire. Staying up to date is really easy with social media now, you know what’s happening.
What’s your advice for aspiring makeup artists looking to enter the beauty industry?
It’s cutthroat out here. But no, I feel that my biggest advice would be to find your niche and stick to it.Not your style, find your niche and stick to it. You will attract customers who are like yourself. People can really see, and your work really speaks for itself. So just keep your head down, keep working. Somebody actually gave me this advice when I started: just keep your head down, keep working, and be open to constructive criticism. Be really open to criticism, especially when it comes from your brides, from your clients. I feel like criticism taken constructively is the best gift you could give to yourself. Otherwise, this job would be too hard. Any job in the service industry would be too hard.
