Rizwana’s beauty canvas

beauty

This week You! talks to ace beautician Rizwana Khan regarding her work and changes in beauty industry over the years...

When Rizwana Khan started working in the ‘80s there were few beauticians in the field. Hailing from a conservative family, she was the only girl from her clan who came into this profession and faced a tough time from every quarter in establishing her  name. To date, Khan has done makeup of countless celebrities and models including Iraj, Vaneeza Ahmed, Aamina Sheikh, Fayezah Ansari, Fauzia, Nadia Hussain, actress Sana Fakhar and Meera among many others. 

“When I started my salon ‘Zara’s’ in the ‘80s there were few known beauticians like Massarat Misbah, Peng Qureishi, Ruhana Iqbal and Daulat Rahimtoola. Mostly top salons of that time like Shaheen’s, Depilex and Dolly’s were located at Tariq Road and Bahadurabad. I really had to work hard to establish myself as a reputed beautician. I opened my first salon in North Nazimabad. Then I went to Baghdad (Iraq) for a few years where I got professional training in hair, make-up and skin. The years which I spent in Baghdad were a great learning experience. I also got a chance to work in one of the top salons of Baghdad where I used to make brides. I was really impressed by the well groomed Iraqi women. They were very particular about how they looked,” informs Rizwana Khan.

“I came back to Karachi in 1990 and re-opened my salon. Then I opened my second branch in Bahadurabad about 22 years ago. It was a challenging task as I arranged for the finances, place and everything else all by myself but with the support of my family and friends I was able to manage it successfully. It was in the year 2009 that I opened the third branch of my salon at Zamzama,” she tells.

Now, in the beauty business for so many years Khan has been able to maintain her credibility owing to sheer hard work and her will to learn more and enhance her skills.

 “Gone are the days when going to the parlour was limited to high society. Now women from every section of the society go to the parlour for facials, waxing, manicure, massages etc. It is no more a luxury. Also, there has been a tremendous change in the sense that now beauticians are formally trained. Moreover, there is a growing number of professional beauticians who are willing to learn new techniques. There is so much awareness and unlike brides of the past today’s brides are more confident,” observes Khan.

She thanks the media for creating awareness and bringing change in the attitudes. “Earlier husbands were reluctant to drop their wives at salons for people did not think high of women who would go to parlours, but now it’s no more the case,” she elucidates.

While talking about the latest trends in makeup Khan says, “Dark makeup is totally over. This season make up is more glamorous and flawless and the complexion to aim toward is a peaches and cream skin. Shimmer is here to stay, but it’s appearing in mostly neutral palettes that offer one or two big bursts of colour. There are no hard and fast rules about which colours to use so long as they are bright. The secret to wearing bright colours is in the blending. Blush is also back in fashion.”

“As far as the bridal makeup is concerned, these days brides go for natural look with a bit of shimmer,” she adds.

Although Khan enjoys doing makeup, she takes pleasure in doing eye makeup; therefore she shares an interesting eye makeup tip with You! readers. “We all love kajal but sometimes a smudged kajal looks really bad so in order to avoid that after applying kajal cleanse it slightly so that it does not give an untidy look. And when applying kajal don’t use it too much.” She also advises women to use lipliner after applying lipstick. “But make sure that your lipliner should match your lipstick.”

Khan believes in using quality stuff and always uses branded cosmetics like Christian Dior, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Mac, Maybelline and Stila.

So does Khan think running a salon is an easy job? “It’s not at all easy. You just cannot leave it on your girls or on your staff. You have to work along with your staff. You just cannot sit and relax at home. You have to educate your staff. Whatever I learn I try to impart that to my staff,” stresses Khan.

For Khan, getting fame also depends on how one markets oneself. “20 years ago there wasn’t a strong concept of marketing but now if you market yourself well, you are successful. Likewise if your work is good you eventually become famous. It’s a combination of good work and good marketing strategy,” concludes Khan.