Making Magic With Her Brush
She’s one of the most well-known make-up artists from Bengaluru, with effortless style and a seamless understanding of skin and facial contours. Dipthi Aashok has dabbled with several careers before she finally found her calling as a make-up artist. And standing behind a mirror in a salon with B-grade cosmetics and a picture for reference are not her style at all. She prefers to use her artistic flair and creative eye to enhance one’s face in the best possible way, keeping in mind each individuals natural looks and style
It isn’t often that one sees a student of psychology and journalism veer so far away from such subjects to finally make a lucrative career as a celebrity make-up artist. But that’s what Bengaluru girl Dipthi Ashok did. “I was always inclined towards fashion and style,” she explains. “I come from a family of creatively inclined people – my grandmother was a violinist and my mother is an artist. I was encouraged to follow my passion and soon after completing my graduation I began studying fashion under Mr Vidyasagar, one of the most prominent city-based designers in the 90s.”
Following on the same path Dipthi worked briefly with designer Manoviraj Khosla before moving to Europe with her husband. “I had started a small fashion line myself, but my move abroad made it difficult for me to manage clients in India. Hence I was forced to shut down my business. In Europe I saw that fashion and style was very different and I also began to realise that women paid a lot of attention to the way they made their faces up. Looks were more subtle and less garish. No one believed in keeping their look too loud. They accentuated the shape of their eyes and lips and kept their best features highlighted. They never tried to camouflage their natural looks,” she tells.
So once Dipthi retuned to India she had found new focus in her life and headed to MAC where she underwent a brief training course under stalwarts like Mickey Contractor and Vimi Joshi. Wanting to learn more she even chose to work there for a while, understanding all that she could about a person’s face and how to accentuate it in the best possible manner. “After my stint at MAC I even trained for a while with Swati Gupta of Bodycraft in order to learn and understand more about the art.”
Dipthi explains how make up is so different from simple drawing and sketching. “With make up one has to highlight and create an illusion on a face, sometimes flawed and hence the need to hide and enhance certain attributes and sometimes so perfect that just minimal enhancement is needed. I firmly believe that make up should be used to enhance the way you look and not change your looks completely.
Some of Dipthi’s best work can be seen on actress Suman Ranganath, a local girl and one of her most faithful clients. Similarly she’s worked with other well-known brands and people from the city, namely Sudarshan Jewellers, Mysore Sandal Soap and Unlimited for their ad campaigns, editorial work for some of the leading magazines from the city doing make-up for their cover shoots, make-up for models in Aparanje Jeweller’s TV commercial, for male models in the Levi’s TV commercial and make-up and styling for umpteen number of brides and bridal parties.
Running one of the most well-known make-up studios in the posh Sadashivnagar area, Dipthi also runs a training institute where she teaches people and aspiring make-up artists the tricks behind this art. “I have many women coming to me to learn how to do their personal make-up. Obviously you can’t head to a professional make-up artist for every occasion and I encourage people to learn to handle their daily make-up with a little assistance on how and what to use,” she tells.
She also adds that she’s keen to create awareness on make-up, what brands are the best to use, what products one needs to use, and to educate people on what looks suit them best. “Its important for a person to understand his or her looks and what suits them best instead of picking up a photograph or magazine and pointing to one particular look that they want to copy. That’s the worst thing you could do to yourself,” she tells.
Presently her studio is her sanctuary and she’s happy to share her knowledge and experience with anyone who wants to learn more about make-up. And once you’ve had an experience of the kind of magic she can create with her brush, you’re sure to keep going back for more of her expertise in enhancing your already beautiful looks!
Address: DA Studio, No 318 15th Cross, 6th Main, Sadashivnagar, Bangalore 560080
Phone: +91 9845267323
Email: dithiaashok@dastudio.co
