My experience at Diva Talk with Vidya Tikari – 3 stars to the MUA, 0 to Inglot!

I went for the Diva Talk event at Inglot, Select City Walk yesterday, where I got to meet THE makeup artist – Vidya Tikari.

Ummm…firstly, she was late. I was one of the first appointments of the day, but when I reached the store they told me she’d not arrived yet. So I gave them my number and walked around the mall in the mean time. I finally got a call almost half an hour later that I should come back to the store. And yes, I didn’t like the fact that it was delayed. I generally dislike people being late – 5-10 mins is alright, but more than that and I can see that you’ve not planned your time well. Now I obviously have no idea why the whole thing started late – whether the MUA was late, did she face unexpected traffic on her way, or if Inglot itself was not ready for her when she came in. Anyway…

Vidya seemed like a very pleasing, warm person to talk to. I had a bunch of questions in mind to ask her, but she took control of the session promptly after my first question. She basically applied primer, foundation and a base eyeshadow (it was a light brown shade). She then showed me how to apply eyeliner correctly, because I’d told her I’m clueless about eyeliners. She added mascara, blush and a lip gloss. Then I asked her to put a shimmery eyeshadow on me because I wanted to learn an evening look for the eyes. Once the makeup was done, I asked to remove it because I didn’t want to walk around the mall with shimmery eyeshadow!

Here’s what I liked about the event – I got to meet Vidya Tikari, and learn a little bit about makeup application, specially eyeliners. I also got a free product – Vidya asked me which one I wanted from all the things she’d applied on me and I chose the foundation. Unfortunately, that’s about all that I liked about this visit.

What I didn’t enjoy so much? Lots.

• Before starting the session, Vidya asked me if I had come to her with a clean face and I told her that I had applied sunscreen. When she asked one of the sales assisstant’s (SA) to give her something to clean my face, the SA said they didn’t have anything. So Vidya ended up using makeup remover on my face to clean it *sigh* Who else thinks Inglot should have had something in place for that?
• Oooh…the hygiene! I’m sorry, but I did not see Vidya dipping the brushes in any brush cleansing liquid! You know how at MAC they always dip it in…is it alcohol? To clean it? She didn’t. And I’m assuming it’s because she didn’t have access to it on her makeup table! Ugh. This was another major reason why I wanted to get the makeup off my face, quick.
• The session went by too quickly. I don’t think I got my full 15 minutes with her, and obviously since everything was happening at such speed, I don’t remember most of what she said to me. When I think back about the advice I got from her, I only remember “Prime your face *blur* Kabuki brush *blurrr* Close your eyes please *blurrrrr* Do you like it?” Oh wait, we’re done? Hmmm…
• Ok, this might be a silly point – but considering the amount of makeup I got put on my face, I needed more than just one cotton ball dipped in makeup remover! The male SA came to clean my face with it, and after 15 seconds he handed me the ball to remove the rest myself, and then promptly came over to hand me a dry napkin to wipe off the excess. Ummm…I just got mascara, eyeliner and lots of foundation put on my face – I need atleast one more cotton ball just for the mascara!

Like I said, I cam back with a free foundation. Woohoo! That’s it.