India hosted the prestigious beauty pageant, Miss World, after 28 long years. Priyanka Parshurami caught up with Ojas Rajani, Celebrity Makeup Artist and Official Hair and Makeup Partner, Miss World 2024, to decode a few of the glamorous and mesmerising looks from the pageant.
The 71st edition of Miss World 2024 concluded at the Jio World Convention Centre on 9th March 2024. The beauty pageant which returned to India after 28 years, began on 18th February 2024, with 120 contestants finally saw Krystyna Pyszková of the Czech Republic crowned with the title of Miss World 2024. It was hosted by Karan Johar and was attended by the whos of the beauty and Bollywood industry.
Ojas Rajani, Celebrity Makeup Artist and Official Hair and Makeup Partner, Miss World 2024, curated some of the amazing and stunning looks at the Miss World 2024 pageant.
Here’s the low down on the creative process, inspiration, tips and techniques from Ojas from the inception till the finale.
Creative Process Behind Curating Looks for Miss World 2024
While curating the looks for the contestants, including the winners, the idea was for them to look young, they weren’t allowed to look mature. Owing to the same, we used foundations with a natural, glowy finish that truly looked like a second skin. We also used cream blush instead of powder as it looks more dewy. If anyone had acne, that was also tactfully covered to ensure their face looked natural and spotless.
Further, for the eyes, we refrained from using kajal and we opted for shimmery eyelids. We used lashes from PAC, and the lashes we used were flary and pretty. We didn’t use heavy, over-the-top lashes but instead soft lashes that had a little curve. For the lips also, we stuck to a soft look again. For all sections of the pageant, even the African section, we used light, natural-looking lips.
While curating the hair, my vision was big, sexy hair. If you see the Victoria’s Secret angels in their fashion show, they all have lovely silky and bouncy waves. That is exactly what I wanted to achieve. I could achieve these looks using hair products which were given to me exclusively by Redken.
With these ideas, we brought together stellar looks for all the contestants on the show.
The Finer Details That Made a Difference
If you notice the contestants, some of them have very strong personalities. During the costume rounds, if you notice the ones from African, Brazilian, or even South American countries, their costumes were very chic and sexy, however, the makeup was still very soft. The focal point was to look sexy while not looking over the top at all.
We used rose-tinted foundation, concealer, and even loose powder. This is because if you use too much white powder under the eye, it starts giving a funny look. So, I complimented the makeup with a translucent skin tone. We also used a cream liquid illuminator mixed in the foundation which gave that very dewy, no makeup look.
For the eyes, there was no eyeliner used at all. We used a brown smudgy soft pencil which was smudged on top of the eyelashes for a lash line. For some, we did not even use a whole lid, we just did it on the outer edge to flick out like a wing.
Further, the curled eyelash and the mascara effect did the trick because it opened up the eyes. I gave everybody very soft coloured lenses. We chose browns and greens, not grey because we didn’t want anybody to look vampish.
For the lip, there was not too much lip liner but rather we used liquid lipsticks and shaped it with a lip brush. Sometimes the lip liner can backfire and look too strong.
For the silky, bouncy hair, we used the hairspray from at least 20 inches away from the hair. These were the strict directions given to my team. I was running from table to table to make sure that I was getting the look which I had dreamt of.
The Secret to Long-lasting and Flawless Makeup for the Pageant
I always say less is more. I remember we started doing the makeup at 2 in the afternoon. The show went on till 11 or 12 and the after party till 4 a.m. But, nobody’s makeup moved at all because the skin care was bang on. That’s where my skincare partner Shiseido came in hand. We used the Shiseido eye cream, the Mattifying cream, and the Souffle cream which worked superbly with the serum.
For the makeup, we did not use any primer. We began by buffing the foundation to the skin and using it very sparingly like no makeup at all. Also, if you notice I matched their faces exactly to the neck. There was no makeup on the neck or any other body part. That’s what the contestants loved about it because they did not fear the makeup staining the clothes and also the makeup lasted super long.
I’m very anti-makeup spray and setting because I feel sometimes it removes excess makeup. Consequently, your face starts looking oily or if you have acne and open pores, they all start showing. So I’d like to stress that using a makeup fixer or setting spray is unnecessary. If your foundation is well blended in the skin you don’t need a setting spray. There are chances it’ll take away excess coating and after a while, you will start looking grey. You start looking one shade darker which is called you know oxidizing of the face.