How do you handle the chaos and the stares of doing your makeup on the Mumbai local trains?
I live in town and travel toward Bandra on the local, and because I’m chronically late I just do my makeup on the commute. Now I’ve reached a new level of DGAF but also I feel very protected in the ladies’ compartment—nobody’s saying shit to me, but also some women enjoy watching it. Because universally, women love makeup and shiny, pretty things.
How do you set up your camera and check your line-up on a moving train?
My phone case sticks to the vinyl coating on the train to film and I use a mirror from Officine Universelle Buly—it’s a lip balm with a mirror personalised with your initials that I stole from my sister. My Fenty mini gloss is my favourite to use when I’m exiting the local. Everyone knows your hair will get stuck in the gloss, so that’s the absolute last step.
Your ballet background demands a gravity-defying topknot. How do you get that slickback without ruining your hair?
Controversial take, but I don’t believe in the sticks and the flyaway things because I use hair oil, which has been taught in Indian culture, right? So, I use my Fable & Mane hair oil as a slicking medium, and to hold it down I use aloe vera gel. Sometimes I’ll use the Moxie styling gel to hold it down.
What’s your go-to when you need to zhuzh yourself up after a long day?
Blush. I love coral colours, because they go best with my skin tone. Lately I’ve been using the Pali Beauty blush a lot—it’s a new homegrown brand, and they sent it in a metal dabba that has this chrome packaging. I also love a good eye look on days I’m feeling colourful; I put on a layer of concealer and add dimension by putting eyeshadow only on certain parts and blocking out the rest when I have the time. I’ve also been using the Mokae Beauty brow pencil and the Diam Beauty lip marker, but as a lip liner instead of a stain.
What’s in your lippie rotation right now?
One thing I can’t leave my house without is my Blistex medicated lip balm, which I put on as a layer underneath anything, because it is the one that has worked for me since 2017.
The Chanel lip liner in mauve is my favourite, my love, my life—it is the exact colour of my lip, and it has a lip liner and then a brush at the end, so it blurs. I can’t show it to you because I lost it at the Tyla concert while she was singing ‘Chanel’. I also carry a replacement from Huda Beauty, and I use Maybelline’s SuperStay Matte Ink purely as a liner because it doesn’t move all day, no matter how many cocktails I have.
The Inde Wild campaign catapulted you into ‘globally recognised baddie’ status overnight. How did going viral shift your perspective on south Asian beauty representation?
Inde Wild reached out about going to the Tyla concert; we shot a lip-sync thing, and while I was in Kochi the next day, the Reel blew up. I thought it was a good thing until I read the comments and was like ‘What? Have we always been looked at as chopped?’.
It was so annoying because Indian culture has always been on the map—our fashion, music, and clothing have been intensely colonised and taken from. For people to turn around and be shocked.... That shock was where I took offence: Why are you surprised, bro? I always thought we were inspirations.
But I love being seen. It gives me an adrenaline rush, and right after that brand deals started coming in, and my two-month break turned into never going back to my old job.
What are the most chaotic, non-beauty essentials sitting in your bag right now?
I carry a pair of wooden chopsticks. Sometimes I use them as a hair tie, and sometimes to eat my food. I also carry sachets of wasabi—asking for a sweet pani puri and putting a little bit of wasabi in it is a goated combination. There’s also a bottle of strawberry-and-cream tequila in my bag, which is quite surprising—but is it really surprising?
A Vicks inhaler calms my nerves before I put on makeup, so I treat it as the actual starter of my routine. And then I have my emotional support rat from Juhu Beach Studio, who was a gift. Her name is Ratji, and she’s a self-portrait with the exact same tattoos and piercings as me. She’s getting a little dirty now, so my emotional support croissant, Flaky, comes with me on shoots instead.
