Salon owners and makeup artists use to their advantage the truth that no one wants to mess up their wedding makeup
KARACHI: When you are getting married and your budget is either maxed out or close to it, you realise there’s one tiny detail you forgot or pushed to the back burner—your makeup. What’s worse is that you can’t believe how expensive local artists’ rates are.
Though some argue that the price of professional bridal makeup is to cover the costs for the luxury of experience and professionalism, I believe that regardless of service and quality, makeup is still something that has to be washed off in a few hours. Whether it looks undeniably stunning or like a train wreck, it will not last.
Accordingly, we should not be expected to pay ridiculous amounts of our hard-earned cash for the sake of pictures. Salon owners and makeup artists use to their advantage the truth that no one wants to mess up their wedding makeup. The question isn’t, “Can I afford to have my makeup professionally done?” rather it is “Can I afford not to have my makeup professionally done?”
Just like retail brands overcharge because they have a renowned label and feel entitled to do so, makeup artists are doing the same. Though the application of beauty products is generally uniform from parlour to parlour in terms of the amount they put on, the rates for some salons have arbitrarily shot through the roof merely because they have become status symbols. This does not necessarily mean that the makeup artists at these parlours are more talented or skilled than the others; in fact, makeup artists often rotate between parlours, as they quit jobs to be hired by the competition.
Thus, I strongly believe that bridal makeup prices should be regulated and made more reasonable than they currently are.
Tara Shumaila
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2017.
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