My confident strides falter as I see a bunch of men with tea cups. This was NOT what I expected at the FICCI Ladies Organisation/Estee Lauder event. Did my invite say it was a launch of men’s make up? As I try to get my head around that, Manjusha Maheshwari emerges from the next conference room and warmly welcomes me. I realise then I was outside the wrong hall! Maheshwari is the Brand Consultant of Estee Lauder and I like her because she keeps telling me she has the best time in Coimbatore. This is the fourth year that she has brought the brand to the city. Each year, the ladies have enjoyed the make-over sessions and learnt new tips on applying cosmetics the right way.
A festive lineup at the Estee Lauder event in Coimbatore
The hall at the spanking new ITC WelcomHotel in Race Course already has that expensive smell of perfumes and creams. Aosen seats me on a chair and assures me that, when she finishes with my face, I will never know I have applied so much make up. Aosen is a “Beauty Influencer” and she gets to work. She cleanses, tones, moisturises and applies a serum making heart-shaped movements with her hands. The serum is supposed to be an absolute miracle (there are several kinds depending on skin type). There are attractively packed gift collections — a lipstick, lip liner and a lip gloss combo or a mascara, eye shadow and eye liner set, or an eye shadow pack having several shades. All this as well as perfumes and more.
Estee Lauder claims to grant your ‘skin wishes’ and its newest launch is a range called Double Wear Nude Water Fresh that fights pollution, is water-based, assures light to medium coverage and offers SPF 30. Aosen applies it on my face and somehow I look brighter without giving away the secret that it is due to make up.
New products of Estee Lauder at their event in Coimbatore
Best of all, for women who do not have the time, skill or inclination to apply make up or touch it up, this lasts for 24 hours. You can use it by itself or in combination with your other unguents. Needless to say they have all skin types covered — dry, ageing, sagging, wrinkled, pigmented, pimpled...
Sadaf Shaikh, the Education Manager of Estee Lauder, tells me how more and more women are willing to spend good money on stuff they put on their faces. “The millenials especially would rather save enough money till they can afford the quality stuff.” And the fact that Estee Lauder’s face is Kendall Jenner and Victoria Beckam makes it irresistible to them.
Shaikh says efforts are on to find a brand ambassador from India. I promise to send her my CV and, before she recovers from the shock, I move on to the lipsticks and pick a colour called Burning Love and another called Strapless, a stay-in-place eyeliner (Aosem shows me how to use it to make my eyes look smoky) and sail out.
