Chandni Singh. The most sought-after makeup artist in Delhi. The baap, no wait, Queen of Wedding Makeup. The one who brides want so badly that they will change their wedding date if she’s already booked on theirs (true story! Well, partially!)

How did lil ol’ me land up on her much-fought-for hot seat?

I had to attend my cousin’s wedding this September (the same one for whose Sangeet I went to Shruti to get hair and makeup done) and wanted to try out someone new for the Wedding. A chance Twitter chat with Chandni led me to her salon in New Friends Colony.

Chandni Singh Salon & Acamedy is located at 15, Community Centre, New Friends Colony. She charges are INR 25,000 for bridal makeup (rates of her senior and junior artists are lower) – this is according to her website. Please call +91-9810085243 for latest prices and bookings. Check out her Facebook page to see her portfolio, it’s constantly updated with pictures of brides who’ve gotten ready at the salon.

Why I Chose Her

I’ve heard plenty about Chandni. Brides rave about her, and I’ve only ever heard good things. Even my wedding photographer, Tarun, speaks highly of her. I was really curious to see what the hype was all about. Would she live up to the high praises?

She doesn’t travel, so I had to head to NFC to get my hair and makeup done. It was completely in the opposite direction of the wedding venue, but people have done a lot more to get glammed up by THE Chandni Singh. I reached a bit late, and wanted her to start off with my makeup immediately. But she looked at my hair and said, NO WAY! You need a hair wash and a blow dry. Eeks! Won’t that make me even more late?! She insisted, and I gave in. To be fair, I did still have remnants of hair spray & Moroccan Oil in my hair from the previous night, when Shruti had used them to style my hair.

Once my hair was a 100% free of last night’s styling products, Chandni began her work. She understood that I didn’t want to be late, so she had her staff blow dry my hair intermittently during my makeup application.

We chatted about the wedding industry, Tarun Chawla, who makes good copies of designer lehengas – there was very little we didn’t talk about! But if you’re wondering if all the chatting distracted her from her work, you’re highly mistaken. She’s a professional, through and through, and it reflected in every aspect of her work that day.

Her staff stood around her while she worked on me, lending her a helping hand every step of the way. From handing her makeup products, to doing my hair and draping, Chandni has a great set of people who help her focus on what she’s best at – makeup. Salman was standing by her side throughout, while Lata didi draped the sari on me like a pro.

What I Loved

• Correct highlighter use – FINALLY! Remember how this was an issue with my previous MUAs? Where they would apply highlighter that ended up making my face look oily in pictures? I thought that I should completely ban the use of highlighter in my makeup routine (I don’t even own one, I’m that against them). But Chandni has changed my mind. I told her not to use highlighter on me, to which she asked, “Is it because your skin gets oily?” When I replied in the affirmative, she said, “I will put something that will keep it really matte, does that work for you?” So I let her, while still keeping my fingers crossed (you can dare to experiment when it’s not your own wedding na!) She applied The Body Shop Mattifying Gel before she applied any makeup, and…did it work? Yes it did! My base didn’t look shiny when I left the salon, and I didn’t feel the need to blot my face at all even towards the end of the function. And best of all – even with flash, the highlighter she used didn’t look oily. Perfect, perfect, perfect! Now if only someone would teach me how to use a highlighter…
• Extremely professional – say what you want about Chandni Singh, but the one thing that makes her stand miles apart from the crowd is her professionalism (Tarun agrees!). Even while she chatted with me, you could see that her mind was still predominantly on the makeup she was doing. She wants everything to be perfect. Which actually brings me to the next point…
• Perfectionist & detail-oriented – She did her work like she really, really cared about what I looked like. Perfectionist. And who doesn’t want that in their MUA?
  • She gave me a winged eyeliner look, which must’ve taken her over 10 minutes to get just right. She worked so hard at making it look perfect! I’ve honestly never seen anyone else spend so much time in getting the eyeliner perfect. Really. Remarkable!
  • I felt like I was in really safe hands, where I didn’t have to bother with even thinking about what I looked like, Chandni would took care of everything. Even my nail paint! She asked if I needed to get them done, and I said “No, I already have pink nail paint on from yesterday and it matches what I’m wearing today.” You think she just left it at that? NO! She checked my nails to see if they’d chipped even a bit, and only when she was satisfied that they looked perfect did she let it go without re-touches. Please tell me if you know of any other MUA who is this thorough with their work!
  • I’m quite terrible with regular use of lip balm (ok, lazy is the right word!) and so I’m perpetually struggling with using lipstick over my dry lips – you know how lipstick exaggerates the dryness and makes it even more prominent? In the past, I’ve had MUAs just put on a nice shade of lipstick and…that’s it. But this is Chandni Singh we’re talking about. She actually made me go through a whole process to get my lips in pristine condition! First she made me apply a heavy-duty lip balm, followed by light scrubbing with a toothbrush, more lip balm, super gentle exfoliation and a final layer of lip balm (from what I can re-call). By the end of it, there was no sight of that dryness! She really does take care of all the tiny details.
• Understands the bride – Once my lips were primed for some colour, Chandni tilted her head, scrunched her eyebrows and said, “You are not the kind of girl that touches up her lipstick.” Yes, ma’am! She totally got me 🙂 So she used Kryolan’s lip fix with my lipstick, which is supposed to keep it in place all night long, irrespective of whether you eat, drink or make merry. She said it generally dries the lips a bit so she doesn’t use it on everyone. But now that I’ve seen how awesome it is, I want it! Lip Fix it’s called. Must buy.
• Large pool of makeup knowledge – The mattifying gel, the lip fix, she has a solution to all makeup problems. She put two kinds of concealors on me, contoured and applied the foundation using a brush and a sponge (depending on the area of the face).
• Nice to makeup newbies – I’ve always hesitated when getting eye makeup done – I blink too much when someone else is putting kajal and mascara on me, and I absolutely dread the eyelash curler. But she was really nice about it and didn’t make me feel like my nervousness about it was painful to her.
• Blended undereye makeup – I’m so happy to finally put this point in the “What I Loved” section of a review. I don’t know what she did, but the under eye makeup was perfectly blended. It did not settle into fine lines, did not crack up, did not melt. It was perfect, just like a part of my skin. Best, best BEST under eye makeup I’ve ever had till date.
• Long-lasting makeup – My makeup (including under eye makeup) did not move an inch the whole night. By the end of the wedding, everyone asked me – how come you’re still looking so fresh? I wasn’t feeling fresh, but I guess that’s the magic of last-lasting makeup! Even the gel eyeliner she used as a kajal substitute stayed just as is! No bleeding, no smudging, it stayed perfectly intact.
• Great with draping – Although I only got a sari draped, it was draped just right. Lata did an awesome job, and the pleats in front looked perfect! Ufff…even I’m tired of using the word “perfect” about Chandni Singh Salon, but it’s true!

What I Wasn’t A Fan Of

• Colour of my face – While everything else went off perfectly, better than I had ever imagined, the colour of my face was a bit off. I can’t pin point exactly what went wrong, but I didn’t look like myself for sure. It was only a day or two later that my husband suggested, “Maybe it was your skin colour!” Was the correct foundation shade not used? Chandni did say that my skin was unevenly tanned (probably because I had vacationed in Goa recently). So maybe she ended up using a foundation that was a few shades deeper than my actual colour? Or was it the contouring that didn’t suit my face – you know, not a large enough canvas and therefore too much of my face got covered with the brown shade? Or was it the effect of applying a bronzer? But I’m not sure if she applied any bronzer.Whatever the reason, the colour didn’t look right. You can see it in the pictures. I can make out in some of them how my neck looks a lighter shade than my face – but she used foundation on my neck too, so that’s why I feel it might be the result of contouring. I might’ve pulled it off otherwise, but I was wearing a neon pink sari and a tan shade didn’t look so great with it! While she spent a lot of time on the base (which is a good thing!), I didn’t end up liking most of my pictures because I looked so…different. But since Tarun likes her work so much, maybe it was also because I was not clicked by a professional photographer. Pata nahi, but have a look at the pictures (end of this post) and let me know what you think (I’ve only put up the nicer pictures, of course! But they’re completely unedited so you can see how it looked in reality)

About The Salon

• Her salon was a delight, as was her staff. They held my bag the minute I walked in, and actually put all my stuff back in my bag while I was getting ready. Wow! Proper 5-star service!
• The salon itself is so pretty and girly! You can see more pictures of it here. It provides a fantastic backdrop to pictures, and you know how important that is to a bride on her wedding day. There is this area within the reception, where there’s a beautiful sofa with glass stained windows through which sunlight streams in. Many a bride has gotten clicked on that sofa, and it makes for the perfect background for “Just got ready” shots of brides.
• The washroom was also so pretty and clean, a refreshing change from all the other Salon washrooms I’ve ever been to. It might seem like a small thing, but it really creates a feeling of comfort and assures you that THIS is a good place to visit!

Would I Go Here Again?

Of course, YES! While we’ll have to figure out what went wrong with the colour of my face, you can clearly see how completely bowled over I am with Chandni Singh’s services. All the little details that she takes care of – from my eyeliner to that really awesome washroom – a Chandni Singh experience is something every girl should get a chance to have atleast once in her lifetime. I can say now that I truly get it, why she is every bride’s dream wedding makeup artist.

Despite all the success, her feet are still firmly planted on the ground, and you can speak to her just the way you would sit and chat with any other girl in the world. I really, really enjoyed the whole experience, and Chandni & I have already decided what look we’re going to try on me next – coral lips and smokey eyes! 😉

The Pictures

*All pictures are completely untouched and unedited. Except for the first & last picture, all others are taken from an SLR camera.

You can read other vendor reviews on the blog here.

What did you think of Chandni’s work?

PS. The sari is from Roop Sarees, South Ex – and this is what I had originally bought to wear to my Reception! Before the change of plans to go for a lehenga instead.